Fashion Worlds

2004-05-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Fashion Worlds, the site about fashion designers and influences past, present, famous and up-and-coming, with original articles and regular news updates.

Use the links to read articles and find out information about fashion and fashion designers. The links also cover influences on fashion and designers, including photographers, illustrators, personalities and the fashion media. If you would like to see anything included that is not already covered, contact us to let us know your suggestions.

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Featured Designer: Hannah Marshall

Hannah Marshall is an up-and-coming innovative designer from Colchester in the UK. Born in 1982, she was selected to show her designs on Channel 4 in 2002, whilst still a student. She was subsequently awarded a place at the 'Graduate Pioneer Programme' run by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), an organisation that invests in UK creativity and innovation. Her autumn/winter 2005 collection, 'Altered Beauty' explores both visual and tactile elements of communication through the incorporation of Braille into the fabric of her tailored garments.

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Featured Article: Fashion and the 'Antwerp Six'

An established part of the international fashion scene, Antwerp’s reputation today is closely tied to the impact of the so-called ‘Antwerp Six’. This group of talented designers, graduates of the Antwerp Academy from the years 1980 and 1981, brought the world’s attention to the inventive styles and impeccable craftsmanship of Belgium’s fashion industry. Trained by designer Linda Loppa, the original ‘Six’ are Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dirk Van Saene, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck and Marina Yee (replacing the almost reclusive Martin Margiela after his brief association with the group). Together, they staged fashion shows and events throughout the mid-80s. Their attempts to capture the attention of the international press and buyers famously included their unprecedented success at the 1988 London Fashion Week. It was this surprising event that placed Antwerp firmly on the map of the international fashion scene.
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Fashion and the 'Cult of Celebrity'

2000-02-01T06:43:00.000-08:00

Home > Fashion and the 'Cult of Celebrity'

Fashion and the 'Cult of Celebrity'

Fame is not a new phenomenon. Characters of renown were admired in Ancient Greek and early Christian cultures (1). Military, political and romantic heroes were worshipped similarly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Tales of their achievements formed the basis of the pedestal on which they were raised. However, the 'Graphic Revolution' (2) of the twentieth century heralded profound changes in the nature of stardom. Developments in photographic and cinematic technologies allowed images to be mechanically reproduced for mass dispersal in the media. The celebrity now became 'someone who is well-known for his well-knownness' (3), a name renowned more for charismatic beauty than for heroic achievement. In this 'Cult of Celebrity', superficial images began to replace ideals of virtue in a growing passion for celebrity itself.

It is unsurprising therefore to find the 'Cult of Celebrity' implicated in aspects of fashion in contemporary culture. Since the glamour of Hollywood celebrities in the 1920s and 30s, images of the female body in the media have become increasingly distanced from the bodies of real women. However, these representations of hyper-reality are compelling ideas of perfection. They convey the promise that such beauty is not only attainable for the minority but possible for the majority 'if only we knew how they did it'. Interest in celebrity lifestyles therefore extends to the make-up and clothes they wear, the hair products they use and the perfumes they favour. Consequently, the development of such celebrity styles can be related to the marketing and consumption of star-endorsed beauty products (4). The 'Cult of Celebrity' encourages the female body to be viewed as a commodity in the construction of beauty, power and desire.

Why do these images of celebrities hold such power over us? As the feminist philosopher Susan Bordo writes, 'we all know that Cher and virtually every other female star over the age of twenty-five is the plastic product of numerous cosmetic surgeries on face and body.' (5) Daniel Boorstin, a social critic writing in 1961, similarly identified false appearances in contemporary culture. He argued that celebrities are counterfeit people whose identities are staged and scripted to create an illusion of reality (6). And yet, studies show that the sale of diet foods in America rose by 10 per cent per annum between 1960 and 1980 (7) and that 37 million women worldwide attend classes run by Weightwatchers (8). In other words, we aspire to resemble images of celebrities despite awareness of their unreality.

The sociologist Jean Baudrillard suggests that the 'Cult of Celebrity' is part of a larger trend towards living in the 'ecstasy of communication' (9). We are bombarded by a succession of surface images in the media that do not connect with reality. As a result, the distinction between what is real and what is imaginary disintegrates. In effect, the beauty portrayed in images of celebrities becomes 'more real than real' in our consumer culture. This is echoed by the cultural critic John Fiske when he writes that 'fantasy can be as 'real' an experience as any other.' (10) For example, the surprisingly numerous amateur entries to a 'Make My Video' competition run in 1987 by MTV and Madonna for her song 'True Blue' pictured girl fans dressed and made up like Madonna, 'singing' her song in the relatively mundane, suburban setting of their own homes. These videos show how the public unreality of Madonna's images had been incorporated into the private, everyday lives of many teenage girls.

In an ethnographic study of women's experiences in Britain during World War II, Jackie Stacey questions why women wanted to relate to feminine images produced for the male gaze in the cinema (11). She concludes that female spectators imitated the latest styles in celebrity culture in order to become as desirable by the men in their lives as they perceived the female stars to be. In effect, Hollywood standards became the measure against which women in British society rated their beauty and power. The social critic Rene Girard (12) also argues that we are trying to become more like the people we admire when we use them as models to imitate. In other words, unrealistic images of beauty in celebrities are compelling precisely because they highlight our own flaws and inadequacies. We identify with celebrities because they seem to possess qualities that are lacking in ourselves. If we wear the same clothes and use the same make-up as they do, we too will possess these qualities. Advertising within the 'Cult of Celebrity' is therefore a potent means of increasing consumer demand for beauty products. For example, following the launch of the first celebrity lifestyle magazine in 1994, the managing director explained that 'InStyle' used celebrities to cover fashion because 'readers were weary of looking at models with whom they could not identify.' (13) When readers sought to buy a jumper that Winona Ryder was said to prefer wearing, they inevitably asked fashion designer Beth Bowley for the 'Winona sweater'.

It appears therefore that ideals of beauty are perpetuated through the 'Cult of Celebrity'. It is not enough to realize the unreality of such portrayals of celebrity beauty. Images of glamorous, attractive female stars contrast sharply with our everyday experiences and so encourage escapism, identification and consumption. The effects of stardom on contemporary culture are perhaps most vividly expressed by the actress Angela Basset: 'I'm sure you're all wondering what my forecast is for what people will be in the next millennium. I really hope to see more people wearing integrity, strength and respect for each other. The classics never go out of fashion.' (14)

(1) Braudy, L. (1986) The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and its history, New York, Oxford University Press.

(2) Boorstin, D. (1962) The Image: A guide to Pseudo Events in America, New York, Vintage.

(3) Boorstin, D. Ibid.

(4) Barbas, S. (2001) Movie Crazy: Fans, Stars and the Cult of Celebrity, New York and London, Palgrave.

(5) Bordo, S. (1993) Unbearable Weight: feminism, western culture and the body, Berkeley, CA, University of California Press.

(6) Boorstin, D. Ibid.

(7) Schwartz, H. (1986) Never Satisfied: a cultural history of diets, fantasies and fat, London, Collier Macmillan.

(8) Wolf, N. (1990) The Beauty Myth, London, Chatto and Windus.

(9) Baudrillard, J. (1985) The Ecstasy of Communication in H. Foster (ed.), Postmodern Culture, London, Pluto Press.

(10) Fiske, J. (1989) Understanding Popular Culture, London, Routledge.

(11) Stacey, J. (1994) Star Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship, New York, Routledge.

(12) see The Forces of Beauty and Desire in Fashion Imitation

(13) Martha Nelson quoted in the Autumn 1998 issue of Min Magazine.

(14) Speech to 'The Fashion Group International's Night of Star's', 2000.

The Forces of Beauty and Desire in Fashion Imitation

2000-01-31T06:36:00.000-08:00

Home > The Forces of Beauty and Desire in Fashion Imitation

The Forces of Beauty and Desire in Fashion Imitation

It would hardly be controversial to mention beauty and desire in the same sentence. We desire to be beautiful, to own beautiful objects, to be with beautiful people. Yet, whilst many theories of beauty search for its origins and role, the nature of desire itself is often neglected. Our daily experiences assure us that desiring something is a conscious, spontaneous act. The things we desire are the things we have chosen. But what if this is not the case? What would this mean for a theory of beauty?

Rene Girard (b. 1923), a French anthropologist, literary critic and religious writer, questions the assumption that desire is conscious and spontaneous. He views desire as something that is formed in the relationships people have with each other rather than as something found within individuals themselves. Perhaps more importantly, he stresses that imitation underlies the relationships in which desire is created. He claims that "humans learn what to desire by taking other people as models to imitate." (1) In contrast to the Platonic tradition in philosophy in which wanting is separated from imitation, Girard's theory of mimetic desire is significant in its connection of these two concepts. As an example, my best friend who is more beautiful than me wants to buy a dress. The theory of mimetic desire says that I also want the dress, not because I believe it to be a beautiful dress but rather because it is a dress that is desired by my beautiful friend.

Two important points emerge from this scenario. The first is that my desire to have the dress is a direct response to the way in which I compare myself unfavourably with my friend. Moreover, by owning the dress she likes, I hope to take on the qualities I admire in her but perceive to be lacking in myself. In essence, I am trying to become my friend when I copy her desires. As Girard states, "aware of a lack within ourselves, we look to others to teach us what to value and who to be." (2) Desire is therefore about self-identity. Advertising can be seen to exploit this insight. How much more fiercely do we desire a product when it is pictured in the hands of a celebrity with whom we identify than when it is held by someone unknown?

The second point is that my friend is likely to take my imitation of her desire for the dress as a competitive threat especially if there is only one such dress hanging on the shop rail. As Girard writes, when "two hands reach for the same object simultaneously, conflict cannot fail to result." (3) However, mimetic desire is not limited to my friend and myself. It is present among whole communities of people. Think about the heated tension that characterises the "I must have" attitude of buyers in shop sales.

Interestingly, mimetic desire can also be observed in higher order apes, the species closest to the point of hominisation. A chimpanzee desires to have exactly the same banana that another desires, even when alternative bananas are available. Rivalry escalates until the weaker chimpanzee surrenders and the dominant chimpanzee wins the banana. However, Girard highlights an important difference in the resolution of such conflict among humans. He claims that we lose sight of the object that initiated our rivalry. We struggle instead to win prestige over our competitors. In other words, we forget about the banana. There is therefore no natural braking mechanism in violence among humans because the weaker will not surrender. Girard claims that order is only restored when a number of people join together as a community to punish an otherwise innocent scapegoat through acts of sanctioned violence.

The Aztec myth of the sacrifice of the god Tezcatlipoca illustrates this scapegoating mechanism. The reign of the god-king Quetzacoatl ended when the ostentatious behaviour of Tezcatlipoca led to social chaos among the people who admired him. These very people who first adored Tezcatlipoca now turned against him, slaying him horrifically. The social reconciliation that followed convinced the crowd that they had in fact slain a god. Temples were built and sacrifices offered to worship the god Tezcatlipoca. It is striking that this ancient Aztec story closely resembles the fortunes of such beautifully "deified" celebrities as Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. Generating both admiration and envy among their adoring public, their mental health problems and untimely deaths are modern parallels to the slaying of Tezcatlipoca.

There is a sense in which the fashion industry itself is part of the scapegoating mechanism. We all want the same things and these are provided through the marketing of beauty products. On one side, many people profit from the consumption and exchange of goods. On the other side, however, there are many losers, or victims. Is the fashion industry, which has itself a limited life span, nothing more than a sacrificial procedure?

What does this mean for a theory of beauty? In answer to our original question, we can see that mimetic desire challenges traditional theories of beauty in a number of ways. Firstly, it argues that beauty as such may not exist as something that an object or person individually possesses, but is socially constructed through the imitation of another person's desire. This leads to the insight that the act of finding someone or something beautiful is ultimately about our own self-identity. Finally, competition and rivalry are revealed to be an inherent part of the desire for beauty. The creation of fashion scapegoats and beauty icons allows us not only to conceal our own insufficiency from ourselves, but also to avoid accepting responsibility for the part we all play in the processes of mimetic desire.

(1) Lefebure, L. D. (1996) 'Victims, violence and the sacred: the thought of Rene Girard' in The Christian Century , 113, 4, p. 1227.

(2) Ibid, p. 1227

(3) Girard, R. (1988) To Double Business Bound: Essays on Literature, Mimesis and Anthropology, John Hopkins University Press, p. 201.

Cell Phone Fashion

2000-01-30T05:53:00.000-08:00

Home > Cell Phone Fashion: Personalizing Mass Production

Cell Phone Fashion: Personalizing Mass Production

Reprinted at Fashion Worlds February 2006 with permission of the Daily India

By Emily Sims

“Individuality: advanced features, precision engineering and couture style in a choice of elegant colors -- as individual as you are”. This is the blurb for the new Motorola Razr, one of the new breeds of mobile phone flying off the shelves. Where mobiles were once marketed as an high-tech device, a tool packed with ingenious features, the new trend is for fashion phones. The major handset manufacturers are now offering seasonal collections, joint-venturing with well known fashion designers, and emphasizing aesthetic features when marketing their products. Indeed, some companies are scaling back the technical, yet utilitarian features, offering simpler but sleeker phones; form over function. Somewhere along the evolutionary path of the cell phone, the device has reached the point where it is no longer considered a gadget, available only to the privileged few with the money and/or technical savoir faire, but an ordinary piece of equipment not unlike a wristwatch. For handset manufacturers, there is no benefit in trying to “out-tech” the competition. The technology has reached a stasis, cell phones are reliable, small, WAP enabled, contain innumerable clocks and alarms, include high resolution cameras and MP3 players. And excepting some radical departure from the silicon chip, the current technology can expect only slight improvements. For manufacturers the question is how to continue adding value to their product, for consumers it is a question of choice. A report produced by ARCchart offers some insight into this new trend: “For the consumer faced with a range of seemingly identical devices from a technical perspective, the aesthetics of a device can generate an emotional response to which they will ascribe a value and for which they will pay a premium”.

The rise of the fashion phone is inextricably linked with the consumer's desire to differentiate themselves from other consumers. The pursuit of individuality seems to be a priority, at least that is what companies like Motorola believe. The staggering growth in the mobile content industry points to consumer preoccupation with personalizing their mobiles. The catch-phrase, "Make it you own", is selling ringtones, wallpapers, phone charms and decorative cases; now it's selling fashion phones. More and more, it seems, what we own defines us. Despite capitalizing on the trend at lightening speed, handset manufacturers aren't the prophets. Personalization, the trend towards customized and fashion phones is consumer driven. In China, where mobile phone saturation is high, it is possible to see phones worn on the wrist in handmade lace cases, or covered in stickers of pop stars and smiley faces. In Japan, the omnipresent Hello Kitty dangles from every schoolgirl's phone. These small aesthetic additions are intended to reveal something about the phone's owner. A Samsung cell phone emblazoned with an image of Diane von Furstenberg serves a similar purpose. As does the Roberto Cavali phone, or the Anna Sui phone. "Cell phones have become a ubiquitous accessory-- every woman has a mobile phone by her side. I wanted to create one that makes a statement with a signature look", declares Ms. Sui on her website. Making a statement is expensive, a designer's name on a phone increases it's value by several hundred dollars. It is no longer a high-tech tool, it is a designer accessory.

Not surprisingly, engineers like Bill Schweber are wondering who stole their glory. "Engineers do design, and by this we mean the hard and slogging work of pulling together ICs and software and resolving mechanical, thermal, power, display, format, protocol, and packaging issues. Then a celebrity comes along and takes all this hard work, puts on a new case or shell—perhaps studded with crystals or glitter—and takes the bulk of the credit. Once again, engineers do the work and don't get the appreciation." Recently, Nokia has undertaken a project with the design firm of Schulz and Webb, to explore the possibilities of personalized phones. The Schulz and Webb blog describes the project as "looking at how personalization of Nokia phones can change their meaning or impact culturally. Large-scale manufacture is inevitably distanced from the very precise social context of use. Once we bring in short-run manufacture, however, the mobile can be more culturally situated." Nokia have realized, at least, the inevitable paradox of mobile personalization. At the end of the day, the mobile phone in your hand is a mass produced clone.

Emily Sims is the beautiful and talented ringtones queen at Foovely. She also keeps a popular blog.

Fashion in the News 2006

2000-01-29T04:21:00.000-08:00

Home > Fashion in the News > Fashion in the News 2006

Fashion in the News 2006

India's fashion industry finds its feet: India's top designers have been unveiling ready-to-wear collections rich in hand-embroidery with an eye toward Western markets as global buyers scout for fresh talent at Mumbai's fashion shows. Elegant jackets with subtle beadwork, fluid skirts and linen tunics in off-whites and earth tones along with silk and wool have dominated the autumn-winter shows at the five-day Lakme Fashion Week, which ends Saturday.

Better known for garment factories that make clothes for big Western retailers like the Gap and Banana Republic, India is slowly gaining a reputation as a land where high fashion can be found alongside silk saris. Hollywood movie stars such as Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench have worn Indian creations. Indian designers sell their labels at high-end boutiques in London, New York and Paris, and a handful of Indian labels are available at London's Browns and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York.

Still, the Indian designer market remains in its infancy -- about US$49 million in domestic sales compared to the sizable US$35 billion global market. India's total garment exports are worth about US$5 billion a year. While there are no exact figures for how much of those exports are high-end fashions, experts say it's likely not more than a minuscule percentage. In the past, most Indian designers looked to the local clothing market -- currently about US$4.8 billion in sales. But now -- as was clear at this week's fashion shows in Mumbai -- they are now being aggressively courted by Western buyers.

``India is hot now, everyone is interested in India. Designers must not let the opportunity slip by,'' said Lavelle Olexa, a senior vice president at American retail chain Lord & Taylor. ``With the recent trend of embellishments, department stores are looking for fresh and new Indian detail.'' Albert Morris, a buyer from London's Browns, came to India looking for new styles. ``I'm looking for new silhouettes, crisp designs,'' said Morris. ``I'm looking for something that could stand near an Armani that should make people say, `Oh, that's new and fresh. Who's the designer?'''

Reflecting a rising interest in Indian design, global and domestic buyers will move from Mumbai's catwalk to India's capital New Delhi for another major fashion show beginning next week. Designing for an international market entails toning down vivid colors and cutting back on extravagant embroidery that do brisk business locally. Indian designers say overseas recognition will be gradual. ``Designing for the precision couture segment takes time,'' said Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who has shown his collection at the Milan Fashion Week and retails in British and European stores. ``I'll stick to growing slowly -- first I need to learn the market in Europe and then move into America.''

Well-known designer Ritu Beri, the first Asian to head French fashion house Scherrer's ready-to-wear line, said she uses softer color palettes for clothes sold abroad. She said a fusion of Western silhouettes with rich Indian brocade or cotton fabrics worked well. ``What buyers are looking at is tops and jackets with an Indian spirit without directly spelling out India,'' she said.

Rajesh Pratap Singh, India's top menswear designer, makes no changes when he retails abroad -- he bridges the East-West divide with uncluttered, sharp designs. ``I keep it simple with subtle embroidery on wool and an emphasis on cut and new shapes,'' said Singh, who sells his clothes in stores from Palm Beach to Paris.

But designers like Manish Arora, who showed at the London and New York fashion week, believe bright pinks and blues can make the trans-Atlantic trip. ``My look is very embroidered and very modern. I believe the whole world will see our edge in craftsmanship and in textiles,'' Arora said.
Taipei Times: Thursday 06 April, 2006

Fashion in Art/Fashion as Art: In February of 2006, the Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri opens an exciting collaborative exhibition that displays artwork from the Museum’s permanent collection side-by-side with clothing from the Department of Textile and Apparel Management’s Missouri Historic Costume and Textile Collection. The exhibit, Dressing the Part: Art and Fashion in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, explores two hundred years of changing clothing styles, tracking the importance of fashion in the transmission of cultural and social ideas in European and American art.

Instead of trying to represent every fashion movement of the 1800s and 1900s, the exhibit focuses on certain particularly interesting social and cultural trends that are observable in both clothing and in art. The first portion of the show is devoted to fashions from the nineteenth century. Underwear, corsets, bustles, dresses and bonnets are displayed next to paintings, drawings and prints representing people wearing similar garments. Fashion in the 1800s was influenced by the social conditions of the time, and the attire on display reflects these conditions. Viewers will see how dress was connected to the restricted roles of women in society, and how clothing was associated with now forgotten social customs. For example, a number of artworks, objects and outfits displayed relate to the nineteenth-century custom of mourning. Mourning clothes, worn for months and even years at a time, manifested the ever-present awareness of death in this era of high infant mortality and short life expectancy.

During the 1800s, the wearing of particular colors, jewelry and garments indicated that a person was grieving for a dead relative or loved one. A nineteenth-century viewer, for example, would have instantly understood that the sitter in George Caleb Bingham’s Portrait of Thomas Withers Nelson was wearing a mourning pin. By displaying this artwork with objects and outfits associated with mourning..., the Museum allows today’s viewers to understand better the original meaning and context of both the painting and the clothing.

The second portion of the exhibit focuses on women’s working clothes and menswear from the mid 1800s to the turn of the century. Clothing worn by rural laborers is displayed next to pictures of working women by Jean Millet and Auguste Renoir. At the other end of the social spectrum, top hats, vests and suits complement prints and photographs representing men in formal attire by such artists as Honoré Daumier and Erich Salomon. All of these images reflect the important role clothing had (and continues to have) in representing the class and economic status of its wearers. By picturing people wearing such class-indicative outfits, the artists who made these pictures conveyed complex social and political messages.

The third and largest portion of the exhibition is dedicated to fashion in the twentieth century. Changing clothing styles in the last one hundred years reflect developing technology and evolving concepts about race and gender roles. For example, Romare Bearden’s abstract representation of African-inspired clothing in Conjunction echoes the interest among many twentieth-century African Americans in proudly proclaiming and re-claiming their African heritage through their dress. In the exhibit, Bearden’s print is displayed beside authentic African outfits. Such outfits were and are often worn by black Americans as a way of celebrating their African heritage.

People are often unaware of the social statements made by their clothing. By understanding fashion in the context of history, we begin to see how dress affects and reflects a culture’s values and priorities. When artists incorporate fashion into their paintings, drawings, photographs and prints they communicate a variety of social messages to the spectator. Visitors to Dressing the Part: Art and Fashion in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries are encouraged to contemplate these messages and consider the political, cultural and economic factors that have affected fashion design in Europe and America over the last two centuries.
Museum Magazine (Winter 2006: Number 48)

Chicos strategy wins customer loyalty: Experienced almost exclusively by women in midlife, Chicos is characterized by an infatuation with relaxed-fit jackets, tummy-skimming tunics and acetate/spandex pants. "Thank goodness they make clothes for me, because no one else seems to," says Joan Balfour, a 64-year-old retired social worker/psychotherapist.

Look around any mall and you'll see store after store kissing up to teenagers and women in their twenties. They're the cool customers, fashionably slender of hip and open to quicksilver trends, the conventional wisdom goes. "Some retailers are embarrassed by the real women who shop there who aren't as fashionable and edgy. Retail fashion is notorious for that," says marketing-to-women whiz Mary Lou Quinlan, author of "Just Ask a Woman: Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy." "Some retailers and merchandisers have wannabe customers. The customer they want is the customer they don't have, and the one they have is the one they don't like."

Chico's clearly adores its customer, Quinlan says. "They probably have pictures of her in their hallways, and they're not going to desert her or disappoint her. And they're willing to forgo fashionistas in favor of the much, much larger group of women who have a look, a lifestyle, that's very Chico's."

That much larger group of women includes Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. "This is an audience that's used to having the world focus on them, but when it came to their clothing needs, only Chico's cared," says James Chung of Reach Advisors, a Boston-based marketing strategy and research firm that studies how demographic and lifestyle shifts impact the consumer landscape. "Chico's couldn't care less if they are mocked by others outside of their core audience," he says. "All they care about is the upscale 50-year-old woman, and they do it well."

Chico's was born in 1983, in a small Sanibel Island store that also sold Mexican art. Now the publicly traded company operates 763 stores, including 499 Chico's stores and 31 outlets. White House/Black Market is part of the fold, with 196 locations, and Chico's just launched a new offshoot of lingerie stores called Soma by Chico's.

From the beginning, Chico's not only understood the psychology of sizing its clothes but also did something about it. They invented their own scale, sizes 0 to 3 (roughly the equivalent sizes 4 to 16). The psychological benefits of single digits can't be denied. "They understand women's issues of body image," Quinlan says. "They understand women, especially grown-up women who live in a world infatuated with a (traditional) size 2. It's discouraging to go shopping and find nothing but low-ride jeans and belly tops or go someplace where you feel like an outcast. . . .

"Their sizing is brilliant. It's genius. Why it took so long for someone to stop saying Extra Large. . . . Right away there's permission to be who you are and be happy about it." When Margot Banke learned that she could wear a 2 or 3 at Chico's instead of a 12 or 14 somewhere else, "you don't know what that did to me." One thing: It kept her going back for more.

The fact that most Chico's items are machine-washable and wrinkle-resistant in even the fullest suitcase adds to their appeal. "Women are stressed," Quinlan says. "They don't need more work to take care of their fashion."

Quinlan says women can sense when a company respects them. "They respect women in the way they design clothes and sell clothes, and they're loyal," she says. "They keep certain styles. They don't make you start from scratch each season. What Chico's knows is it's not just about the clothes. It's about the heart. That's what they've got nailed."
The Austin American-Statesman: January 09, 2006

A Year Full of Eastern Promise: Oriental designs, the Sixties look and the duster coat will be big in 2006, predicts Clare Coulson. Memoirs of a Geisha promises to be the most sumptuous film of the year. Oriental designs have already been seen on the spring catwalks of Dries Van Noten and Hermès, while at Lanvin, Alber Elbaz cinched his pared-down looks with beautiful obi belts.

Biba, the label that defined Swinging Sixties fashion, is making a comeback, French Sole is introducing a Sixties collection of ballet slippers and Bath's Museum of Costume will hold a retrospective of John Bates, one of the most influential designers of the Sixties (from July). For spring, hemlines are heading well above the knee, with swinging mini-dresses and Mod-inspired short skirts.

Further predictions of trends for 2006 include bows; duster coats; chunky, long gold chains and pendants; luxurious fabrics; A-line skirts, shift dresses and straight coats worn with platforms and a Mod-inspired bob.
The Daily Telegraph: January 04, 2006

Symbols of Radical Change

2000-01-28T02:10:00.000-08:00

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Symbols of Radical Change

Reprinted at Fashion Worlds October 2005 with permission of the The Nation (Nairobi)

By Kamau Mutunga

The current trend on the local fashion scene is a T-shirt bearing the portrait of Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara. But although his familiar beard and beret are entering our fashion scene 38 years after his death in Bolivia, Guevara has long been a fashion statement and cultural icon in Latin American countries, where paraphernalia ranging from posters, buttons, watch faces, photos, coins, flags, medals, Cuban currency, murals, album covers, postage stamps and refrigerator magnets bear his image.

"Guevara T-shirts are part of the current fashion fad worldwide of leading trends from past heroes and legends like Bob Marley, Bruce Lee, Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela. The young want to be associated with revolutionary symbols of rebellion," says Hakim Adero, a clothes dealer at Sunbeam stalls on Moi Avenue in Nairobi. He adds: "A good number of gullible fashion slaves don't even know who Che Guevara was. Some think he is a Rastaman while others just fall for the romantic appeal of the Marxist firebrand because they think it looks cool. The T-shirts go for between Sh800 and Sh1,000."

In Kenya, it has been cool for those with a patriotic bent to wear T-shirts with images of Mau Mau heroes such as Dedan Kimathi. Subukia MP Koigi Wa Wamwere, for instance, wears one with a portrait of former Nyandarua MP JM Kariuki.

The trademark dressing of these heroes also dictated fashion trends. Take Kenyatta's fez, belt and leather jacket, which were considered chic by men from the '70 to the late '80s. The stiff Mao suits, often worn by Prof Anyang' Nyong'o, Njeru Kathangu, Mukhisa Kituyi and the late George Anyona were the trademark of Chinese strongman, Mao Zedong, much in the same way the Kaunda suit defines founding Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda.

Then there is the Nelson Mandela shirt by Ivorian designer Yusuf Surtee. The "teardrop" shirt, as it is called, was popular among Kenyan men in the early to late '90s. It is cut at the waist and buttoned up to the collar, but it was Mandela who made it a symbol of dignified simplicity.

And from the sandals presumably worn by Jesus Christ come the "Jesus sandals," a low-heeled canvas sandal with straps that are tied around the calf. They are popular among young women in Nairobi, where heroes are fast becoming money-minting projects.

Take 18-year old Samuel Chege for instance. His soon-to-be launched Samzi Wear will be exclusively designing T-shirts depicting Kenyan heroes. "I am wearing a Jomo Kenyatta T-shirt to advertise the images my clothing line will be printing. Kenyans have suddenly become patriotic and I'm sure they will identify with them," he adds optimistically.

John Biko 22, named after the late South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, does not print images of heroes but collects them. "I collect Bob Marley T-shirts because he was a hero to me through his revolutionary reggae music, which makes sense to date."

And now the Che Guevara T-shirt. It has lingered longer as a fashion craze than that of any other revolutionary, dead or alive.

It all began when photographer Alberto "Korda" Diaz took Guevara's picture during a funeral in1960. The photo, known as "Gurrillero Heroico" (Guerilla Hero) was published seven years later when Korda gave a print to an Italian journalist, who printed it as a poster when Guevara died in 1967. The poster's popularity was spurred by the student movements then, which identified with rebellion. The eager market they provided shortly spread all over Europe and around the world.

In South America, young Latinos consider him a hero while older ones still see him as a merciless army major who ran Castro's firing squads, killing people in cold blood.

Strangely enough, his tragic early death created a legend that still lives.

But why is there renewed interest in heroes?

"Heroes are a fashion fad because the fashion industry has matured to become one of creativity with a cause. In the case of Kenya, we are celebrating African heroes through fashion. Again courtesy of the patriotic turn-around created by local music, Kenyans are slowly discovering who they are. They would rather have a T-shirt portrait of Kenyatta than that of American rapper 50 Cent," says Ritchie Ekhalie, head designer of Shujaa Kreations.

His two-month old design house prints Tshirts and spaghetti tops, caps and sweat shirts bearing images, not only of Guevara, but also Dedan Kimathi, Julius Nyerere and General John Garang ,who died in a plane crush in July 2005. Besides Guevara, Garang is currently the fastest selling hero image.

Beneath Historic Fashions

2000-01-27T01:06:00.000-08:00

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Beneath Historic Fashions

Reprinted at Fashion Worlds October 2004 with permission of NPR

By Scott Simon

History's unmentionables come out of the closet in a new calendar from the Costume Society of America called Underwear: Beneath Historic Fashions. The calendar depicts undergarments from the early 18th century to the 1960s.

Some scholars wonder about the place of knickers, bustles and thongs in history, but as calendar editor Sally Queen tells Scott Simon for Weekend Edition Saturday, underwear can tell us much about how people's habits and behaviors change over time. "Clothing is really culture at the most personal level," she says.

For instance, in contemporary society, "many fashions of underwear have become outerwear," she says. This shows how "we are a more open society in what we are wearing." The trend started earlier than most people believe. One shot from the calendar, from the Cowgirls Museum and Hall of Fame, depicts a woman wearing a spangled rhinestone brassiere covered by a sheer blouse. The year: 1950. "I was quite surprised with the date," says Queen.

Undergarments, at least those made for women, have been designed with appearance in mind for six centuries, says Queen, though for most of that time the garments have been meant for an audience of one. Men's underwear has generally been "less interesting and more utilitarian," she says. That's why "the majority of garments in collections are women's clothing… To look at the men's side of underwear is different." One page of the calendar (April) does depict men's undershirts from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Even the English language has been influenced by undergarments. Several popular expressions make reference to underwear: "Loose woman" comes from the connotations associated with uncorseted or loosely corseted women, Queen says. A similar case is "shiftless"; a shift was an 18th century support-providing undergarment, and Queen says the term was meant to characterize someone "without support."

Many people believe that underwear for women has changed as it has because of feminism and changing social attitudes. To a large degree, that's true, Queen says, but there are other factors as well. In the past, undergarments were often designed for their "body-shaping" features. But these days, thanks to the increase in exercise and athleticism among women, "the body has become its own foundation" and women no longer need to rely on cloth and whalebone for this purpose, she says.

"The choice," says Queen, "is do we want to spend three hours a day in the gym to sculpt the body, or do we want to put on a piece of cloth?"

Fashion in the News 2005

2000-01-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

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Fashion in the News 2005

Well, look who shop till they drop now...: The secret's out - men enjoy retail therapy as much as women, and they spend a whole lot more, too. Menswear is having its moment in the sun. Topman recently exhibited its first collection at London Fashion Week to much acclaim; shortly afterwards, the company launched its first Design Range, which sold out almost immediately. Says Gordon Richardson, Topman's creative director: "Blokes are far more informed about fashion than they used to be, and in turn they are more confident about it. They're no longer scared to go out shopping in groups, or to critique each other." Meanwhile, a recent survey by Brunel University found that men's genetics make them far better shoppers than women, while another revealed that while British women spend £8.3 billion a year on luxury goods, they are outstripped by men, who spend £11.6 billion. This article reports the views of four men who have made a significant contribution to that sum.

When Henry Conway was just 11 years old, he started keeping a fashion diary made up of cuttings from the pages of magazines. He believes that Prince Charles has a nice aesthetic and always dresses immaculately.

Darryl Samaraweera spends £500 a month on clothes and buys things knowing that he will never wear them, just because he likes the look of them.

Jonny Ward-Manning, with his tanned skin and dyed blond hair, is the epitome of metrosexuality. He wears a Gucci ring on one hand and a Tiffany ring on the other, while a pair of Ray-Ban aviators covers his eyes. His friends don't ever make jokes about it, because - he says - they are exactly the same. "It is partly down to the MTV culture. "We were teenagers in the mid-Nineties, when boy bands were at their peak. Before that, everything had been grunge or punk. Suddenly, it was OK for men to exfoliate. I did it partly to impress the girls, but strangely, also to be one of the lads."

Jonas Andersen thinks it is very important to know about the quality of what you are buying. "You see a lot of expensive things that are actually made of cheap material with a huge mark-up. I like to know about fibres, so that I know what I am buying. If you buy quality clothes, they last and you don't have to throw them away."
The Daily Telegraph: October 19, 2005

Cultural gem at height of fashion: Turquoise has been part of the culture of Native Americans from the Southwest for hundreds of years. In recent months it has seen a revival, thanks to all the Western-inspired looks flooding the fashion aisles of stores. New products, from Ralph Lauren's Pure Turquoise fragrance to designer Luca Trazzi's turquoise cappuccino maker to party planner Colin Cowie's turquoise votives, attest to the popularity of its color. Fashion lovers seeking inspired looks can turn to "Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest". Key themes of the exhibition — organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York — include jewelry as portable symbolic art; motifs transferred to jewelry from other art forms; and how artists today are both drawing on, and departing from, tradition.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: October 12, 2005

Step aside Armani, NCSU is on the runway: Thirty top designers, including Diddy, Armani and Abercrombie, make up the Young Menswear Association. The YMA was developed to highlight men’s fashion in a woman’s world. Over the past few years, it has scoured the nation’s top design schools to find 30 of the most promising young talent in the field. About ten percent of recipients of the annual YMA fashion award, which includes a $5,000 scholarship, are from North Carolina State University (NCSU). This past year, Amanda Barrett, a senior in design and textile and apparel management, Chris Jordan, a senior in textile and apparel management and Kendall Smith, a senior in textiles and apparel management and multicultural studies, kept the tradition alive. “Textiles gives a really good, very technical background. You learn all the properties of fabric which gives a real edge in fashion design,” Smith says.

All three took advantage of these technologies when creating their portfolios for the YMA last year. Barrett designed a pink and grey argyle pattern, which she describes as “very 80s preppy, Lacoste-ish.” She then used a machine at the textile school to knit the fabric. Barrett says her design sense has ready-to-wear in mind. Jordan’s designs are a little different. “I design a lot of things that are crazy. I like to start with something that is art and funnel it down into practical clothing,” says Jordan. Smith hasn’t experienced an internship yet, but she hopes for one next summer as she gears up already for this coming year. In only a few weeks, her designs made out of non-woven fabrics will be showcased in a St. Louis fashion show. Non-woven fabric consists of materials randomly being rolled together, rather than woven or knitted as in traditional fabric. It’s quickly becoming in high demand for its efficient production and low cost. Using theme in high fashion is hardly a new concept, and Smith is excited to branch out and “be more couture.” The couture side of fashion design has nothing to do with the clothes currently walking the street. Especially as American society becomes exponentially more causal, the high art of couture is pinned to the runways. Embellished denim and screened T-shirts are at the height of popularity everywhere.
Technicianonline.com: September 09, 2005

The "killer hat" crusades: Hats were a fashion necessity in the 1890s and early 20th century, with feathered hats and accessories among the most stylish. Millions of birds were killed to provide decoration for hats and other fashion until socially conscious women started a crusade for bird protection that's now considered to be the first modern conservation movement. The crusaders against "killer hats" joined concerned scientists to form the Audubon Society, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

"Killer Hats: Birds on the Brink" at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma tells the story of this crusade, with feathered hats, capes and fashion prints from the early 20th century, along with reproductions of 12 original paintings of birds by John James Audubon from his classic "Birds of America." Displays tell a story of environmentalism from then to the present, including efforts from the 1940s to preserve the bald eagle.
The Seattle Times: September 08, 2005

Cancer be damned, kids wanna tan: The Canadian Dermatology Association says, "No tan is a good tan," since all exposure to solar radiation -- whether from the sun or a tanning lamp -- damages the skin to some extent. To the sun-obsessed, you might as well be saying, "No air is good air." Young people, especially, have re-embraced tanning with a vengeance, heading to tanning salons and, in warm weather, soaking up the sun. Last month, the American Academy of Dermatology released a survey indicating 79 per cent of youths between 12 and 17 know suntanning can be dangerous. And 81 per cent recognize that sunburns during childhood up the risk of skin cancer. Yet 60 per cent said they burned last summer. It gets worse: while more than a third of those surveyed said they knew someone who had skin cancer, almost half said people with tans look healthier.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, pale was in. European women would casually twirl frilly parasols to shield themselves from the sun, notes Stephen Katz, a sociology professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. Back then, if you showed up in public with a tan, a man could be mistaken for a field hand, and a woman for a prostitute. "Tans were labour tans," explains Katz, "and not leisure tans like they are today." In the early 1920s, "sun therapy" became popular and was prescribed for everything from fatigue to tuberculosis. Also in the '20s, fashion fixture Coco Chanel made a splash with her divine golden hide, compliments of the French Riviera. Baby oil hit the scene in the 1950s, and in '53 Coppertone unveiled its iconic ode to the tan -- and one of the advertising world's most recognized trademarks -- the little blond girl with pigtails and the cocker spaniel tugging at her bathing suit.

Silver metallic UV reflectors were common tan enhancers by the late 1950s, and the '60s revelled in the sand-and-surf ethos epitomized by the Beach Boys. Then, the Me Decade of the '70s gave rise to the tanning bed. A bronzed and perky Farrah Fawcett gleamed from posters on the walls of many a teenage boy. In '79, sun-meister George Hamilton became the first actor to portray Dracula with a tan, in Love At First Bite. Also that year, Bo Derek scored a perfect 10 for tanning and other attributes in 10. In the 1980s and '90s, tans took a hit, when the world looked up to realize the ozone roof over our heads was raining down radiation.

But by the late 1990s, while many continued to be mindful of the sun's harmful effects, all seemed right again in celebrity land, particularly when Bündchen hit the scene. Soon afterwards Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez appeared all nice and brown. Aniston gleamed on Friends. By 2003, spray booths offering guilt-free tans took off. "Tans are what sociologists call a signifier, or a sign, because here we have something that doesn't really mean what it means," says Katz. "Unlike good posture, and an appropriate weight, having a tan does not mean you're healthy -- at all. It is the 'sign' of health, or myth of health, ruggedness, being outdoors, as well as a sexual sign."
Maclean's: June 27, 2005

Muslim women combine tradition and trendy fashion: The trend of stylishly veiled young women is growing in Lebanon's Muslim communities today. Dr. Hassan Hammoud, associate professor of sociology at the Lebanese American University, explains that women in Lebanon are bombarded by messages and images of how fashionable a woman ought to be in terms of outfit and physical shape. "Young girls try to fit into this model," he says. "They build an image of themselves made out of what they hear, see and expect themselves to be." And if veiled women come from an immediate environment that values fashion, then their clothes will be fashionable, too. "A veiled woman, like any other woman, holds an image of what is acceptable versus what is unacceptable, based on the values of her peer group, her family, her community," Hammoud explains. The Koran and Sunnah, or teachings of the Prophet, instruct Muslim women to cover their whole body, except for the hands and face, with loose and nondiaphanous clothes. They make no mention of form, style and color, leaving the door open to personal interpretation. A much stricter interpretation came from Salafi scholars. Salafi tradition, mainstream in countries such as Saudi Arabia, advocates a return to the lifestyle of the salaf, or ancestors, who lived during early Islam. Its understanding of Islamic laws is extremist. Hanadi Shehabeddine, a 29-year-old media and advertising professional, finds that "it is not wrong at all to be influenced by the West." In fact, she finds such an influence very "normal" given the power of globalization and the United States' leading position in the world.
The Daily Star: May 17, 2005

Last Supper advert is the final straw: Supermodels have fallen foul of France’s blasphemy laws with an advertising campaign that parodies Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, The Last Supper. The Parisian media and fashion establishment have denounced a court ruling for advertising posters to be removed yesterday from billboards across France within three days or risk a daily fine of €100,000 (£70,000) as an act of censorship. The advertising campaign for the Girbaud fashion house shows designer-clad women in the pose of the apostles and a half-naked man as Jesus Christ. Girbaud said that it would appeal against the ruling. French bishops are particularly upset that the advertisement shows a shirtless man to the right of the model representing Jesus in the arms of one of the female “apostles”. This appears to be an oblique reference to claims that the effeminate-looking apostle seated on Jesus’s right in da Vinci’s work was his follower, Mary Magdalene, and not John, as is usually stated. These claims were renewed by the American author Dan Brown, who suggested in his bestselling work, The Da Vinci Code, that the Church had conspired to hide Jesus’s marriage to Mary Magdalene. Thierry Massis, the bishops’ lawyer, said: “When you attack sacred things, you create a moral violence that is dangerous for our children. Tomorrow we’ll have Christ selling socks.” But Bernard Cohen, acting for Girbaud, said: “The work is a photograph based on a painting, not the Bible. There is nothing in it that is offensive to Catholic religion. It is a way of showing the place of women in society today.”
The Times Online: March 12, 2005

Licensed to click: Indian fashion photography is traditionally a male domain dominated by names such as Prabuddha Dasgupta, Atul Kasbekar, Tarun Khiwal, Denzil Sequeira, Farrokh Chothia, Subi Samuel. There’re no women on top in a profession that is for most part centred on women. Sumiko Murgai Nanda, over a decade old in the profession, blames it on mindsets. “In the beginning, clients would be reluctant, and apprehensive till I actually delivered the pictures. But as my work began to speak, gender issues started melting away.” New entrant Ronika Kandhari says the odds have been challenging but not insurmountable. “I began with fashion photography and portfolios, and moved on to wedding photography where women are even rarer.” Is a woman behind the camera more likely to produce better results with a female subject? Yes and no, says Murgai. “Female models have told me they’re more comfortable working with me, and I’d agree that a woman instinctively knows how another woman would look in a picture. But then, it all depends ultimately on how artistically the work has been presented…” No, says lensman Hemant Khandelwal. “Men understand the female form better than women.” According to him, the issue in fashion photography is competence, not gender stereotyping: “The fact is there are very few female photographers in India who are actually good… Nisha Kutty is outstanding, and Sumiko has made it big. That’s about it.”
Hindustan Times: March 10, 2005

Closets overflow with cheap clothes: For about a decade, almost without realizing it, Americans have benefited from falling prices for coats, dresses, men's slacks, women's skirts and blouses, toddlers' outfits, and other apparel as global quotas on clothing manufacturing have been systematically dismantled, boosting low-cost imports. Also keeping prices down is fierce competition among retailers who have to sell more to maintain profits. So fashions change in the blink of an eye, with as many as 13 seasons in the new clothing world. For American consumers, the decline in clothing prices is one upside of the trend toward globalization. Another result of inexpensive clothes is a burgeoning used-clothes economy that is filling the racks of local thrift shops, creating jobs, and producing a windfall for some nonprofit groups. Even high-fashion brands have not been immune. Ten years ago, a jacket from Jones of New York was priced at retail for $180 to $200, said Jones spokeswoman Anita Britt. It still sells for that amount, she said. "Have we taken prices up? No, not even to match inflation." Boston College sociology professor Juliet B. Schor, who wrote the recent book "Born to Buy", estimates that women bought 32 garment items a year in 1991. By 2002, according to her analysis of census data, they were buying about 50 percent more: 50 pieces. The gain was nearly as high for men.
The Billings Gazette: January 02, 2005

Fashion in the News

2000-01-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

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Postcard #2

2000-01-24T06:35:00.000-08:00

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Postcard #2

Dear Fashion Worlds,

Did I ever tell you about ‘The day after’? Being a personal shopper means that I also have to deal with my clients’ wellbeing. ‘The day after’ a shopping tour is dedicated to relaxing. Fortunately Milan offers lots of possibilities as this same holistic concern is also emerging between Italian fashion brands and health industries in the city.

Stylists are not only concerned by ‘trucco e parrucco’ (hair & make up) during their fashion shows but they have enlarged their views, taking care of external image without forgetting psychic health. We already have branded cosmetics lines, branded make-up lines, branded restaurants, branded hotels. But now we also have branded Healthy Spas!

In my packages I always offer the possibility to book an ‘after-shopping day’ treatment at Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferrè or Bulgari. A day of ‘shopping till you drop’ and a few hours of pleasant abandon to recover. Located in peaceful buildings, I find that all of these new Spas offer exhilarating treatments.

You just need to come over to Milan and try them!

Love,
Simona
Shopping & art advisor in Italy

12 July, 2004

Postcard #1

2000-01-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

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Postcard #1

Dear Fashion Worlds,

A tight relationship between the fashion world and hotel industry is emerging in Italy. In the last year a number of new hotels have been launched in Milan’s scene. And more is to come. Park Hyatt, Bulgari, Armani… The new Milanese hotel, The Gray is described as selective, intimate and mysterious. A new place for fashionistas: a truly modern design hotel finally!

The ‘see and be seen’ does not work here because only established names with their chosen guests enter this private, club atmosphere hotel. 21 rooms. In suite gym. In suite steam bath. High speed wireless internet. Design and technology. Located between the Duomo Cathedral and La Scala Opera House, under historical facades that give no clue to the modernity of this hotel.

Giovanni’s Menu at the ‘Le Noir’ restaurant is an exquisite mixture of traditional and modern Italian cuisine.

There is a new reason to come here to Milan!

Love,
Simona
Shopping & art advisor in Italy

17 June, 2004

Postcards from Milan

2000-01-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

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Postcards from Milan

Simona Iulini writes to Fashion Worlds from Italy about the fashion scene in Milan, the city in which she lives. She gives first-hand accounts of its shops, outlets, trends and exhibitions. Simona's experiences in public relations for Armani and Romeo Gigli, together with her organisation of fashion tours for her own personal shopper's agency, place her in an ideal position to gather the most interesting details about life in the city.

Postcard #1

Postcard #2

Visit Simona Iulini's website, The Art of Shopping for further information about her personal shopper's agency in Milan.

Do real men wear sandals?

2000-01-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

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Do real men wear sandals?

Reprinted at Fashion Worlds June 2004 with permission of the Staten Island Advance

By Jessica Jones

It's hot. Really hot. And both men and women are bearing it all in an attempt to keep cool. For the ladies, it's natural: Cute tank tops, shorts and flip-flops are a summertime staple. But for men, showing a little extra skin can be an issue. Especially where feet are concerned.

"The more skin one shows, the less power the person has," explained Beryl Wing, an author and image consultant with a practice in Great Kills. "Men know that the less clothes you wear, the less power you have. And I know sandals sound like a small part of the body to be uncovered, but it makes them feel vulnerable. Not a happy state for most men."

Despite this philosophy, sandals have always been a warm-weather option for men. There's been open-toe designs for the athlete, the bohemian and the business-minded man. But a recent trend in fashion has produced a whole new range of stylish flip-flops and sandals, making the flat-soled, open-toed shoe a dominant force in the market. Still, experts, say, men's opinions about the shoes have not changed.

Ms. Wing quoted Ruth P. Rubinstein, an F.I.T. professor of sociology, who points out in her book, "Dress Codes," that lack of clothing in ancient art symbolizes defeat and victimhood. Men, intensely attuned to power, she said, know that that aura of the undressed victim has survived into our own age.

"Men don't ever want to be laughed at," Ms. Wing continued. "It is their worst fear. Wearing sandals -- shoes with very limited guaranteed appropriateness (the beach really is the only place you're sure they belong) -- opens one up to ridicule. Men will avoid this at all costs. Being laughed at, again, means you've lost your power."

Plus, sandals have the hint of the artist in them, Ms. Wing said. While women love the artistic and being "different," men tend to follow the leader and shun the creative.

"Being artistic has many less-than-manly connotations, even in our age when many men are more progressive," the image consultant explained. "This may not be a top-of-mind reason for many men (and many of the more liberal ones might not even admit to it), but it's there. Again, you open yourself up to ridicule or worse. Another power issue."

PRACTICAL?

Practicality is also another concern. Men like to wear what's functional and a pair of shoes that only pops out of the closet on weekends during the summer months is not usually a smart buy.

"They don't want 1,000 pairs of shoes like Imelda Marcos, or even a closetful, like the women in their lives," Ms. Wing said. "They want a few pairs of versatile, functional footwear that can do multiple duty. Why invest in a pair of sandals that are only foolproof at the beach or the pool when you can spend the money on an extra pair of sneakers that you can wear multiple places?"

Ms. Wing recommends that men buy sandals only if they're totally comfortable with it.

"For a man who really wants to, I say go for it," she said. "This man is possibly a superb dresser, maybe a bit artistic or a bit of a rebel. He probably knows to buy the finest quality he can afford., to match the styling to his personality (be it elegant, rugged, functional, artsy or whatever) and to wear them only in venues that are appropriate. But it's definitely not a look for everyone. Nor should it be. It's a risk."

Jessica Jones is the fashion editor for the Staten Island Advance.

The Cycle of Fashion

2000-01-20T07:52:00.000-08:00

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The Cycle of Fashion

Fashion is fuelled by conversion. Designers continually persuade the public that their new ideas, however shocking they may seem, are in fact everything that a stylish wardrobe requires. Next season, the same designers convince everyone to give up their allegiance to such out-modish designs and embrace instead the innovative visual trends of the latest collections. The same garments are successively dubbed ‘outlandish’, ‘in fashion’ and ‘out-dated’ according to the apparent vagaries of prevailing fashionable sensibilities. Are we really duped by such duplicity? Or are we willing participants in the cycle of fashion? And perhaps more significantly, what relevance does the cycle have today in Western society’s culture of mass consumerism?

The idea that fashion in dress follows a cyclical phase structure is not new. The sociologist, Quentin Bell made such an observation over fifty years ago in his book, On Human Finery. Moreover, his observation was based on accumulated evidence of an uninterrupted cyclical flow in dress change in Western society since at least the thirteenth century.

The sociologist, Ingrid Brenninkmeyer describes this flow by comparing it to the rolling of waves in the sea. As one fashion gains popularity, crests and dissipates, another stylistic wave is already forming behind it. Further extensions of this metaphor liken different stylistic features to variations in the waves themselves. For example, just as different wave patterns form on the basis of their force, size or length, so also different overlapping patterns can be traced in changes of fashionable hem length, silhouette, fabric, décolletage and colour.

Mere descriptions of the fashion cycle however do little to explain exactly why successful designers’ ideas typically rise and fall in popularity. What is the motivating force behind such changes in fashion? What causes the cycle to move from one phase to the next? These questions cannot be answered simply. Perhaps sheer boredom inspires the continual search for something new. Or can novelty be related to ideas of sexual allure and attraction? Do competing market interests in the fashion industry play a role in animating the cycle? Or could changes in dress function as markers of class differentiation?

These factors and more have been variously proposed and analysed by researchers into the sociology of fashion. Bernard Barber (1957) depicted a ‘trickle-down’ theory of fashion as a symbol of social class whilst Gabriel Tarde (1903) outlined a theory of imitation. René Konig (1973) emphasised the displacement of sexual urge and Herbert Blumer (1969) formulated a theory of collective selection. However, each of these theories ultimately fails to provide a definitive account of the processes shaping the many vicissitudes and disparate progressions of contemporary fashion innovation.

Long waves in which a single style dominates for a season and is replaced in the next are no longer the norm. There are no modern equivalents of the crinoline, the bustle, the flapper dress, Dior’s New Look or the three-piece single-breasted man’s suit. The journalist Holly Brubach captures the current pace and diversity of the fashion cycle in an article written for the New Yorker on December 31st, 1990: “Fashion as it’s presented on the runways is nowhere near as unanimous as it used to be, but coverage of it in the press still focuses on hemlines and colours and items – on what the collections have in common … The truth is that these days you can find practically anything in somebody’s collection somewhere.”

The apparently random, rapid overlapping of new fashions is not restricted to changes in dress, but can also be noted in areas of modern culture as diverse as painting, music, architecture, entertainment and systems of health care. In Western society’s media-based culture of mass consumerism and against a background of globalisation, fashion appears to serve reactionary purposes that both structure and affirm the identities of groups and individuals. From surfers and students to alienated middle-class youths and married working women, weekly changes in fadlike styles give a sense of belonging whilst also distinguishing them from the masses.

Changes in the fashion cycle since the end of World War II therefore indicate an interweaving of complex and multiple processes. A uniform acceptance of single fashionable styles across the class structures of society has been replaced by a rapidly- changing, many-faced, identity-defining drive. It remains to be seen whether these phenomena signal the eventual disintegration of fashion’s long-enduring cycle.

In troubling times, pink is hot hue again

2000-01-19T06:19:00.000-08:00

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In troubling times, pink is hot hue again

Reprinted at Fashion Worlds June 2004 with permission The Mercury News, San Jose

By Joyce Gemperlein

I'm a ``True Honey-Toned Spring,'' as decreed by a woman named Ruth who, in 1987 for $35, eyeballed my hair, eyes and complexion and handed me a two-inch-thick fan of fabric swatches marked ``personal color palette.'' The deck of cards -- I have it still -- is heavy on aquas, blues, soft yellows, cool pinks and corals.

Which was really a happy coincidence, because at about that time, the stock market tanked and, almost exactly two years earlier, Palestinian terrorists had hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.

Right now there's a similar situation: We're reeling over revelations about the mistreatment of detainees in Abu Ghurayb prison as violence intensifies in Iraq, and two years ago we were still counting the dead from the Sept. 11 attacks. So, wouldn't you know it: Pink is everywhere, even in business suits for women, transforming the aisles of department stores from seas of gray to gardens of color. Pinks are ruling the fashion industry, and orange and apricot hues are creeping in beside them to color fall fashions.

Do you see something of a pattern here? Horrible things occur, and then, two years later, when we're glum over one grim situation or another, lo and behold, we're dressing in Pepto-Bismol or cotton-candy pinks and Cinderella blues as if we didn't have a care in the world!

It's axiomatic that when the world is at its cruelest, fashion turns to frills, innocence and caprice. But it's somewhat spooky to find out that the industry believes that it knows at least two years ahead of time that the world will be messy enough for us to want to dress like Barbie.

Color prognosticators

To hear more about this contention, I telephoned Margaret Walch, director of the Color Association of the United States, one of several organizations that determine what colors will be in vogue. She described a process for selecting color palettes for fashion and other industries that is intriguing, sometimes contradictory, and even a little creepy.

``Fashion and color are barometers of the times; therefore they are always reflective of what is going on in the world,'' explained Walch, who said she was wearing a tawny yellow suit over a vintage Mickey Mouse T-shirt as she chatted from her New York City office. You'd think, then, that the color seers would put us in blacks, grays and browns -- time-honored colors of mourning and depression in Western tradition -- but that's not the case, Walch said.

``What is going on right now in color is pretty logical. We have a real wish for soft, comforting colors in stressful times to make ourselves feel better. Between the weather, the economy and the war, people are freaked out. We have no answers, and problems are being generated constantly. We want color that flies in the face of reality,'' added Walch.

You hardly need a newspaper to know, then, that the world's in bad shape. Just look around: Clothes, hair bands, breast-cancer ribbons and even shoes are pink and other rosy shades. The latest issue of the J. Jill women's clothing catalog contains approximately 55 pink items in its 100 pages. Even men are increasingly wearing shirts and ties ranging from fuchsia to pale pink, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. Actress Jennifer Lopez caused a run on pastel diamonds when she held her pink rock (from former fiance Ben Affleck) up to a TV camera.

There's even a pink KitchenAid mixer and a coffee mill (part of the company's participation in a breast-cancer fundraising effort).

Paradigm shift

What has the world come to? Time was when women wore shoulder pads and feminized traditionally male business suits to show that they were as solid and dependable as men, that they faced the world head-on. Pink was as much a no-no in the office as was crying at your desk -- even if you did so in pure anger. And those flouncy skirts that are all the rage now? Women wouldn't have been caught dead in those in the 1980s.

Now women are being told -- what? That they are confident enough to wear whatever color and ruffles that they like? Or is it that they've given up the fight to be looked upon as equals?

Meredith Wood of Knoxville, Tenn., past president of the Color Marketing Group, another color prognosticator, described 2004's shades as ``spa'' colors that promote peace and tranquillity. They're girly, childlike tints that foster people's need to ``be pretty and innocent, to go back to a time when we felt safer and more secure,'' she said, adding that ``we are in such a fragile state right now!''

Back in 2002, the color analysts seemed to know that we'd still be a mess around about now. President Bush was warning about the ``axis of evil'' and a drawn-out war against terror. So they predicted the current, diverting palette of cheery pinks, oranges and marine colors. It was in all the best fashion magazines, but can you believe that world leaders clearly ignored this early warning of events to come? They did nothing to improve things so that, at the very least, you and I would not be scrambling to buy a pink Gap jacket on eBay because it sold out so quickly in stores.

Sure, Walch and Wood concede that some other factors figure into what colors we wear. For example, we don't always have control over our color options.

Other trend factors

Before the world wars, the fashion industry didn't stray beyond Paris. During World War I, our supply of dyes was cut off, resulting in a drab fashion scene. In addition, fabric, hosiery and buttons were regulated, which led to utilitarian clothing.

The ``red carpet'' effect of movie stars' frocks on Oscar night can't be discounted. (Consider Gwyneth Paltrow's pink gown in 1999.) And there's no disputing that color palettes cycle in and out and that decades can be lumped into categories.

You can think of the 21st century so far as being dominated by a spectrum of rich-but-muted colors -- for example a range of oranges, pinks and greens -- rather than merely one color; the 1990s as being a decade of khaki clothing until shots of color appeared as the economy heated up; the 1980s largely as the black, confident computer decade; the 1970s as the earth-tone era bespeaking an environmental focus; and the 1960s as a brightly colored, flower-child era. (And also one that wanted to divert emotions away from the bloody Vietnam War.)

But ``to be honest, the way the colors are chosen is intuitive, it is as if they are pulling things from the air,'' Walch explained about those who analyze colors. A good forecaster uses world events, psychology, sociology and other factors to set a palette.

``It can get kind of eerie, in that oftentimes a forecast anticipates an event,'' said Walch. Here is her example: The forecast produced by her group for spring 2003 had a red-white-and-blue cover and, inside, were similar colors and a nautical and patriotic theme. It was published in May 2001, only four months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent Afghan and Iraqi wars.

``It anticipated very strong events,'' said Walch, who has been in the color industry almost 30 years. ``It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen.''

Jean Dilworth, a professor at Eastern Illinois University who lectures on the sociology of clothing, noted that Sept. 11 had a great impact on fashion's use of red, white and blue. ``We haven't seen this much of it in clothing since World War II.''

Interestingly, pink had a great impact in the 1950s, right after that red, white and blue period in the 1940s.

Color analysts are just now coming out with their predictions for 2006. The good news is that colors are clear ones, rather than muddy or murky, and becoming a bit more vivid. Historically, they say this has tended to mean that the economy is recovering.

But the bad news is that it appears that we will be dressing in ``fairy-like'' or ``escapist'' colors even more as we approach 2006, said Walch.

Self-fulfilling prophecy?

But wait just a minute.

Isn't the fact that color analysts set the palette two years ahead of time and manufacturers churn out all manner of like-colored goods a somewhat self-fulfilling prophecy? Consumers can only buy what is offered.

``Absolutely not,'' said Wood.Consumers will walk away from the colors if they don't feel they are right for the times, she insisted.

Oh, please, chided Dilworth. Of course there's an inevitability that consumers will buy what is there -- and not buy what is not. ``I think we mostly buy clothes that we like in colors that we haven't seen for a while,'' Dilworth said. She noted she was in her university office wearing a new, lively striped cowboy-style shirt the likes of which she hadn't seen since the 1970s. Some of the stripes are pink, but she didn't buy it ``because I'm depressed about Iraq. I just like how it goes with my khakis.''

``Besides, she added, `I don't look that good in pink.''

And let's remember a recent miscalculation: Clothing makers were poised to roll out ``Middle East chic'' just at the time of the fall 2001 terrorist attacks. The plans were shelved.

Still, if Walch is even partly right about the fortunetelling capability of her cohorts, I can only think that this means the world is going to feel like one of those unrelentingly depressing episodes from the television show ``24,'' in which one bad thing happens, then a worse bad thing occurs, and then an even more extremely bad thing takes place. I'm not sure I want to be here for that, even if I am wearing a lovely shade of rose.

And although the color industry's sense of its importance may be a bit out of joint, shouldn't the Department of Homeland Security, Alan Greenspan, and the Pentagon, for planning purposes, be subscribing to Women's Wear Daily? Just in case?

Temperley, Alice

2000-01-17T04:58:00.000-08:00

Home > Temperley, Alice

Alice Temperley

Alice Temperley was born in England in 1975. Following her studies at the Central Saint Martin’s College of Art in London, she gained a Master’s degree at the Royal College of Art where she specialised in fabric technology and print. As a student, she designed one-off evening dresses for the boutiques of Fred Segal and Giorgio in Los Angeles. She was headhunted during her final year by Ratti, one of the leading Italian fabric companies. Turning down positions in international design in order to start her own label with her husband, Temperley pursued further research into the best silk mills and beading factories in Asia. This characteristic discipline and attention to detail is evident in the exquisite embroidery and traditional beading techniques of her handmade garments. Celebrity clients include Courtney Cox, Emma Thompson, Elizabeth Hurley and Claudia Schiffer. Actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristen Davis wear designs by Temperley in the final episodes of ‘Sex in the City’.

Designed from her studio and showroom in London’s Notting Hill, Temperley’s Autumn/Winter 2004-5 collection is inspired by the gangsters of the early 1900s’ Parisian cabaret scene, the apache. It includes signature silk, empire-lined dresses in vintage prints of plum, navy, apricot and black, and strapless Fifties’ dresses in stripes of chiffon and silk. Glittering beading, pearl detailing, corseted buttons, pale pink piping and prints are featured throughout the collection.

Awards
Central Saint Martin’s College of Art: Award for Innovation
1999 English Print Designer of the Year at Indigo, Paris

Antwerp 6

2000-01-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

Home > Fashion and the 'Antwerp Six'

Fashion and the ‘Antwerp Six’

Despite their shared background in the fashion department of Antwerp’s Royal Academy, the styles of the six designers are distinctly varied. Whilst Van Noten’s scarves of exotic fabrics, beaded saris and dyed skirts are inspired by the traditional practices of countries such as India, Morocco and Egypt, Van Beirendonck’s bold graphics and daring designs are rooted in a futuristic concept of fashion that is both theatrical and challenging.

It is notable that the ‘Antwerp Six’ have largely chosen to remain in their hometown. Together with the next wave of innovative designers from the city’s Royal Academy, their work is located in Antwerp’s south and city centre rather than in the fashion scenes of Paris and New York. Anne Demeulemeester’s first freestanding boutique is found on the corner of Leopold de Waelplats, opposite the Museum of Fine Arts. It is a stark white shopping space in which mannequins are suspended from the ceiling on steel cables. Linking the city centre and the south, the Nationalestraat houses the his-and-her collections of Dries Van Noten, the designs of Dirk Van Saene, Bernhard Willhelm and Kostas Murkudis, and the avant-garde fashion of Mici de Merode. The up-and-coming designers Stephan Scneider and Anna Heylen are also within walking distance, at Reyndersstraat 53 and Lombardenvest 44 respectively.

The striking reputation of the ‘Antwerp Six’ is pivotal to the attention received each year by the graduation show of the fashion department of the Royal Academy. Held each year in June, the city welcomes a flock of international reporters, magazine editors and photographers expecting to find promising new talent. For many in the fashion world, Antwerp has become a strong rival to Brussels as Belgium’s capital city.

Marshall, Hannah

2000-01-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

Home > Marshall, Hannah

Hannah Marshall

Hannah Marshall is an up-and-coming innovative designer from Colchester in the UK. Born in 1982, she was selected to show her designs on Channel 4 in 2002, whilst still a BA (Hons) student in Fashion and Textile Design at the Colchester Institute. She was subsequently awarded a place at the 'Graduate Pioneer Programme' run by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), an organisation that invests in UK creativity and innovation. Her autumn/winter 2005 collection, 'Altered Beauty' explores both visual and tactile elements of communication through the incorporation of Braille into the fabric of her tailored garments. She has a signature style of clean and simple garments, yet modern and wearable, with fine attention to detail.

Recent Exhibitions and Awards
July 2003 - 'New Designers', Business Design Centre, London
June 2003 - Received the 'Franklins Needlecraft' award
June 2003 - Graduate Fashion Week, London
2001, 2002 - Alternative Fashion Week, London

Contact Information
E-mail: Hannah_marshall@msn.com
Web Link: http://www.hannahmarshall.com

Stretton, Annah

2000-01-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

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Annah Stretton

Annah Stretton is a designer from New Zealand, based in Morrinsville. She was best known for the label Annah.S. with which she opened her stores in 1992, before rebranding to her full name of 'Annah Stretton' in 2003. Her 2003 designer T-shirt promoted awareness of Breast Cancer and 100% of the profits of every sale were donated to The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation. Finding inspiration from vintage clothing, she designed clothes for her collection, Time Pirates, which showed at L'Oréal Fashion week 2003. Her interest in the styles of many different eras is expressed in a rich combination of fabrics and accessories including safety pins, jewels, pearls and luxurious embroideries.

Prairie Girl, Annah S

Highlander, Annah S

Photos courtesy of Annah Stretton

Lindbergh, Peter

2000-01-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

Home > Lindbergh, Peter

Peter Lindbergh: Photographer

Peter Lindbergh was born on the Polish border of East Germany in 1944. His childhood background of stark industrial greyness in the West German town of Duisburg is an influential theme running through his work. A renowned master of black and white photography, Lindbergh typically uses mechanical, industrial scenery that lends a contrasting trademark directness and honesty to models in his fashion photography. Working with supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford, Lindbergh's photographs have appeared in every major fashion magazine and been commissioned for advertising campaigns by leading international fashion designers.

Fonssagrives, Lisa

2000-01-12T01:33:00.000-08:00

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Lisa Fonssagrives: Personality

Lisa Fonssagrives (1911-1992) was perhaps the first 'supermodel'. She was described as 'the highest paid, highest praised, high fashion model in the business'. Born in Sweden, she moved to Paris in the 1930s. Whilst training for the ballet, she met her first husband, the Parisian photographer Fernand Fonssagrives. Photographs of her subsequently appeared in publications, including Town and Country, Life, Vogue and the original Vanity Fair. Her background in ballet was evident in the grace and poise for which she became famous as a model. Although she described herself as no more than 'The clothes hanger', she became one of the most highly sought-after models in both Paris and New York. She posed for the photographers George Hoyningen-Huene, Man Ray, Horst, Erwin Blumenfeld, George Platt-Lynes, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Norman Parkinson, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn (her second husband). Her image appeared regularly on fashion magazine covers during the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

Kobayashi, Yukio

2000-01-11T00:50:00.000-08:00

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Yukio Kobayashi: Designer

Yukio Kobayashi was born in 1951 in Niigata Prefecture. He entered the Matsuda (Nicole in Japan) menswear line in 1976 and began his career as a chief designer in 1983. In 1995, he took on the role of chief designer of womenswear. His work with the photographer Nan Goldin is published in photo collection books and exhibitions, including the New York: The Art Director's Club award-winning book of the autumn/winter 1996 Matsuda collection, Nan Goldin meets Yukio Kobayashi. His own design company, Kobayashi Design Office, follows his mission to create 'liberating' and 'genderless' clothes. Interested in ecological and environmental issues, Kobayashi ignores conventional brand-marketing strategies. He believes that fashion should be fun and 'synonomous to play'. His designs typically use sewing and decorative techniques such as needle punch and quilting.

Fashion in Weimar Germany

2000-01-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Home > Fashion in Weimar Germany

Fashion in Weimar Germany

Leave your troubles outside!
So- life is disappointing? Forget it!
We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful...
The girls are beautiful...
Even the orchestra is beautiful! (1)

It is Germany, 1928. Raucous laughter from the cabaret seeps outside as Lotte passes in the shadows of the cold Berlin night. The streets are sexually charged, lined with a heady concoction of prostitution, homosexuality, transvestism and drugs. Still spinning from the collective lust roaring unashamedly through the theatre that evening, Lotte heads now for the café bar at the Eden Hotel where she lives. Jostling with leggy glamour girls as she takes her drink, Lotte pushes a straying strand of short hair behind her ear, settles her slender trouser-suited body into the deep folds of an armchair and smiles provocatively as she lights a cigarette.

Berlin's interwar reputation of hedonistic decadence and debauchery is familiar through scenes from Metropolis by Fritz Lang, images of Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel by Josef von Sternberg and stage productions of The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht. A ferment of artistic and sexual experimentation, the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) privileged an outpouring of cultural creativity in the Bauhaus movement of modern art and the development of the International Style in modern architecture. Against a background of inflation and depression, Berlin drew the talent and energies of the rest of Germany towards its glittering cabaret performances and burgeoning sex tourism industry. From within this hotbed of frenzied immorality, supposedly constitutional sexual equality worked to create the myth of the sexually liberated and financially independent 'New Woman' in Weimar German society.

Born out of Germany's disastrous defeat in World War I, the Weimar Republic exercised democracy amidst continuing chaos and political upheaval. Economic crisis followed the devaluation of the German Mark in wake of the undermining of payments demanded in the Versailles reparations clause imposed on Germany at the end of World War I. The political and economic collapse resulted in the "destruction of the inherited framework of beliefs and certainties which had given Germany its particular reassurance" (2). Unable to maintain the image of a strong, victorious Reichswehr, or Reich Defence, former Imperialistic values of hard work and national pride were subsumed in the emergence of a new decadence and urban proclivity.

The socially correct role of women was similarly transformed in face of the erosion of old traditions and moral principles. In the 19th century, Kaiser Wilhelm II had defined women's position in society as centering on the 'Kirche, Kueche, Kinder', or church, kitchen and children. After the adoption of the Weimar Constitution in 1919, women were guaranteed a new status of equality with men in terms of their enfranchisement and legal and economic standing. However, these advances were little more than token gestures of appeasement. The 1919 Constitution was never enforced through legislation, and the Kaiser's restrictive Civil Code of 1900 continued to control the legal and financial rights of women. As the historian Claudia Koonz states, "[the] Weimar leaders grafted a democratic state onto a traditionalist and conservative social structure and a thoroughly capitalist economy" (3).

Nevertheless, the myth arose of a 'New Woman' challenging men in the realms of politics and economics. Mass advertising in the Popular Press capitalized on the power of this image in selling branded products and promoting specific lifestyle choices. A magazine article from the period described the new generation of women, claiming "They go to the cinema in the evenings, wear skirts that end above the knees, buy 'Elegant World' and the film magazines" (4). Portrayed in films, newspapers and Pulp fiction, the 'New Woman' was typically depicted as a sexual object for the satisfaction of male desire. Sexually predatory and educated, she achieved financial independence through employment and spent her earnings on fashion and fun. She had short bobbed hair, wore relaxed masculine clothes, smoked cigarettes and enjoyed the globally notorious nightlife of Berlin's theatres, cinemas, cafes and bars. According to the historian Ute Frevert, the Weimar women were "children of the new age who were variously celebrated or accursed" (5).

Despite their apparent emancipation from oppressive tradition, they were feared by the older generation for their individualism and selfishness. Much of this fear lay in the promulgation of a childbearing strike by the Syndikalistische Frauenbund or SFB (Syndicalist Women's Union), established in 1920. An article written in 1921 stated that "the advancement in the intellectual development of women [could] not be possible without the liberation from the slavery of childbearing" (6). Accordingly, many young women campaigned at public rallies, calling for the criminalization of contraception (paragraph 184.3 of the Constitution) and the prohibition of abortion (paragraph 218) to be revoked. However, these moves towards allowing women the possibility of legitimate birth control were deemed inherently selfish rather than sexually liberating in light of the falling birth rate and depleted population at the end of World War I.

In general therefore, the 'New Woman' was represented negatively and blamed for the degeneration of Weimar society and culture. However, the reality of life for the majority of women in the Weimar Republic was vastly different from that of the 'New Woman' they avidly desired to emulate. Confronted by exploitation and underpromotion in the workplace, many women continued to embrace the 'Kinder, Kueche, Kirche' ideal of the former monarchy. Notions of political liberation were also tenuous. Despite enfranchisement in 1918, their representation at all levels of Weimar German political party leadership was minimal. It is therefore an inescapable conclusion that depictions of the 'New Woman' were media-generated and founded in male constructions of sexuality that reflected the underlying social, economic and political insecurities and anxieties of the era. Indeed, the very popularity of misogynistic and distorted images of the 'New Woman' among women themselves reveals the impossibility of their liberation at even the level of being able to reject their own stereotypical depiction.

Notes

(1) From Cabaret, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb. Carlin Music Corp., 1967.
(2) de Jonge, A. (1978) Weimar Chronicles, New York, Paddington Press Ltd., p. 13.
(3) Koonz, C. (1987) Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics, New York, St. Martin's Press.
(4) Wehrling, T. (1920) 'Berlin is becoming a whore' in Das Tage-Buch.
(5) Frevert, U. (1989) Women in German History: from Bourgeois Emancipation to Sexual Liberation, New York, Berg.
(6) Wittkop-Rocker, M. (1921) 'Frauenarbeit Frauenorganisationen' in Der Frauenbund, Monatsbeilage des Syndikalist , 1, October.

Onassis, Jacqueline

2000-01-09T02:36:00.000-08:00

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Jacqueline Onassis: Personality

Born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in East Hampton, New York, Jacqueline Onassis (1929-94) became First Lady in 1961 through her marriage to the President of the USA, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Her stylistic mixture of ladylike formality with a youthful spirit was widely copied. Characteristically timeless and elegant, trademarks of the 'Jackie' style included simple coats, white gloves, round or bateau necklines, court shoes and slim-line, A-shaped skirts that grazed the knee. Designed by Oleg Cassini from 1961, her clothes were typically unpatterned and unexaggerated. Although she rarely wore jewellery, her gilt-chain handbag, bouffant hairstyle by Kenneth and pillbox hats by Halston were popularised and widely imitated.

Lepape, Georges

2000-01-08T02:36:00.000-08:00

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Georges Lepape: Illustrator

Georges Lepape (1887-1971) was born in Paris where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Working as an illustrator of designs for pantaloon gowns by Paul Poiret from 1909, he captured the shocking yet anticipatory move towards allowing greater physical freedom in women's fashion. His collaboration with Poiret included the innovative compilation of limited-edition albums displaying fashion illustrations. Lepape illustrated the collections of Jean Patou from 1912 and worked freelance to illustrate fashion deigns in magazines including Femina, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. The sculptural simplicity and curvilinear style of his work was influenced by contemporary trends towards orientalism and movements such as Cubism.

Illustration by Georges Lepape (1887-1971) from Les choses de Paul Poiret Vues par Georges Lepape, Paris: Pour Paul Poiret par Maquet, 1911

Dahl-Wolfe, Louise

2000-01-07T01:13:00.000-08:00

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Louise Dahl-Wolfe: Photographer

Louise Dahl-Wolfe (1895-1989) was born in San Francisco, California. Following her attendace at the San Francisco Institute of Art in 1914, she spent the next twenty years travelling. She returned to her interest in photography in the mid-1930s, working first as a fashion photographer with Saks Fifth Avenue store in New York, and joining Harper's Bazaar in 1936. She frequently worked with the editor-stylist, Diana Vreeland.

Noted for her use of bright sunlight, many of Dahl-Wolfe's compositions feature beaches, deserts and sunny landscapes. Her luxurios photographs of exotic swimwear and playsuits are noted for their painterly use of colour.

Tyler, Richard

2000-01-06T00:46:00.000-08:00

Home > Tyler, Richard

Richard Tyler: Designer

Richard Tyler was born in 1946 in Australia, the son of a seamstress and costume designer. His first shop, Zippity-doo-dah, was opened in Melbourne when he was eighteen - only two years after leaving school to work for a Savile Row-trained tailor. His background and education were to prove invaluable in his recognition as a craftsman of women's tailoring. Moving to Los Angeles in 1974, Tyler's skills brought him success in designing clothes for rock stars. Together with his future wife, Lisa Trafficante, Tyler expanded into menswear with the opening of a boutique in 1988. This was followed by a womenswear range in 1989.

Many of Tyler's meticulously crafted clothes are styled on updated 1940s fashions. His celebrity clientele include Sigourney Weaver, Elton John, Cher and Diana Ross. Embodying a masculine, sculptured approach to tailoring, Tyler's collections are noted for their silk-lined jackets and exquisite craftsmanship.

Alfaro, Victor

2000-01-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

Home > Alfaro, Victor

Victor Alfaro: Designer

Victor Alfaro was born in Mexico in 1965. He emigrated to the USA in 1981, and graduated from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology in 1987. He became an assistant of designer Mary Ann Restivo in the late 1980s, then worked for Joseph Abboud, an American prêt-a-porter designer. Alfaro's clothes are worn by celebrities including Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Demi Moore, Mariah Carey and Winona Ryder. His eveningwear is characterised by designs embodying a spirit of sexuality and power through body-clinging garments in leather and sheer fabrics. Alvaro's style is avant-guarde, sleek in cut and line combined with the use of luxurious fabrics.

Awards
The Council of Designers of America Perry Ellis Award for New Design Talent in 1995
The Dallas Mart Award
The Vidal Sassoon Most Promising Designer Award
The Omni Fashion Designer Award for Best American Designer

By Victor Alfaro
Photo courtesy of ExpFashion

Fashion Statements

2000-01-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

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Fashion Statements

The declaration that clothes say something about their wearer is perhaps undisputable. It is certainly neither novel nor shocking. Whether in contemporary Western societies or the traditional practices of other cultures, a person’s choice of clothing is loaded with details that both describe and define aspects of their life as diverse as status, religion and life-style attachments. Moreover, judgements of personality and even intelligence are often made about an individual on the basis of their clothing alone. Appearance matters and first impressions of tastes in fashion count. Whilst these judgements may be made intuitively however, it is more difficult to determine the exact play of elements that combine to make this language, or code of clothing. The meanings conveyed by different styles change across time and place so that definitions are unstable and contextually embedded. According to the sociologist James Laver, a costume that is ‘indecent’ this year may be seen as ‘smart’ in ten years time, ‘ridiculous’ in a further twenty years and ‘beautiful’ in the next century. How then do fashion and clothing achieve their symbolic communications both to wearers and their viewers?

The symbols that form the code of clothing are both tactile and visual. All clothing styles and fashions must express their meanings through various permutations and combinations of texture, fabric, colour, pattern, line, shape and form. However, the psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler attempted to centre fashion’s key terms on psychological complexes rather than on the materially expressive elements available in different cultures. In 1953, he wrote, ‘Stripped to its essentials, fashion is no more than a series of permutations of seven given themes, each...a part of the female body: the breasts (neckline), waist (abdomen), hips, buttock, legs, arms, and length (or circumference) of the body itself. Organs ‘appear’ and ‘disappear’ as the theme of fashion changes, and one and then another part of the body is emphasized by succeeding styles’. Whether through elements of design or psychology, it is clear nevertheless that the clothing code draws on greatly limited constituent resources in comparison with the rich semantic resources of speech and writing.

Such a restriction of key expressive terms both accounts for and necessitates a high level of ambiguity in the statements made by fashion and clothing styles. In Western society, the same constituent symbols that proclaim beauty one year may also declare unattractiveness the following year and impropriety in another culture. The anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapir noted, ‘The chief difficulty of understanding fashion in its apparent vagaries is the lack of exact knowledge of the unconscious symbolisms attaching to forms, colours, textures, postures, and other expressive elements of a given culture. The difficulty is appreciably increased by the fact that some of the expressive elements tend to have quite different symbolic references in different areas.’ If a wide and contradictory range of meanings is communicated by so few key terms, it is because the source of this ambiguity itself lies in the socially negotiated associations of symbolic references. In other words, searches to uncover the exact rules and taxonomy of the clothing code will always be thwarted by its continual shift of meanings within common cultural understandings.

Statements are therefore conveyed in clothing through linking the elements, or key terms of the clothing code, to prevailing concepts of the elements of fashion and style in a society or community. Furthermore, for fashion to ‘say’ the same thing to all wearers and viewers, everyone must share an appreciation or perception of the images invoked by different items and styles of clothing. This is not to imply that all members of a society have to ascribe to the same values in order to understand the statements made by fashion. Rather, meanings are conveyed through insight into the differences and similarities between the ideals held within a community. Whilst admitting that clothing styles display high social variability, the eloquent rebellions of the Beatniks and Teddy Boys in the 1940s, Mods and Rockers in the 1950s, Skinheads and Hippies in the 1960s and Punks in the 1970s could all be easily understood by those fluent in the vocabulary of alienation from mainstream values.

Links

2000-01-03T11:54:00.000-08:00

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Links

Lucire - The global fashion magazine, with features on international style, beauty, lifestyle and travel.

Apparel News - A comprehensive online source for fashion and apparel information.

Vogue - Online magazine featuring all the biggest names in modelling, with photos, articles and beauty tips.

Fashion-Era - 100+ content rich, illustrated pages of Fashion History, Costume, Clothing, Textiles and Social History.

Daily Fashion - An online fashion resource for girls with lots of tips, ideas and stories about fashion.

Focus on Style

- Reality based fashion, beauty and style tips.

Fashionweb UK - Run by fashion professionals, unravelling the web for the fashion industry. Showrooms, Magazines, Directories, Recruitment and a whole lot more.

The A.M.A. Consultancy - A one-stop creative house that provides event management services and marketing solutions.

Anita Jewelry - Online store offering a wide range of products inluding rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, chains, charms, children's and religious jewelry.

Ragdale Hall Health Hydro - The ultimate leisure resort for day spa visits and weekend spa breaks. Combines state of the art facilities with the charm of traditional Victorian architecture.

Shirley of Hollywood in Knightsbridge - Lingerie boutique situated in the heart of London's most fashionable shopping districts, moments away from Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

All Dress Forms - Offer miniature dress forms, mannequins, fashion figurines and historical fashion clothing art prints. A family friendly site.

FashionShop - An online UK family-based business offering authentic high-brand fashions with discounted prices, exclusive membership discounts and seasonal special offers.

Fabric Link - The Educational Resource for Fabrics, Apparel, Home Furnishings, and Care.

Rivers - Online Rivers store with fashion information and links.

Beautylink - Gateway to the world of beauty on the web, with news and expert advice.

Fashion Network - Body, style and fashion news (in German).

Fashion Biz - Stories and product promotions from the fashion industry.

Beauty Matters - An exploration into the human creation of objects of beauty and the nature of beauty itself with original articles and teaching resources on aesthetics, visual arts, fashion, the culture of beauty and more.

Hint Fashion Magazine - Online magazine covering many aspects of fashion and style.

Female First - Female interest website with fashion reviews and celebrity gossip.

Sixties Central - Information about the fads, fashions and famous people of the 1960's, with a focus on sixties fashion design and fashion designers.

Jolique - A website that explores dress and culture across space and time.

Isabel Gallery - Fine art reproduction oil paintings of Masterpieces: Van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Botticelli, Gauguin, & more.

The Costumer's Manifesto - One of the World Wide Web's largest, and most eclectic, costume sites.

FashionSenseClub - dedicated to the promotion, support and training of Beauty Consultants throughout the US and Canada.

Fashion UK - Features the best of UK fashion from the street to the catwalk.

Fashion TV - Features FTV program guide, store and club, including fashion links and online video and music clips.

Leah Feldon - Style expert offers valuable fashion advice, tips on finding good buys, and style alerts that provide the lowdown on the latest trends.

Bruce Janz - Academic resources pages include supporting material for courses in aesthetics, visual culture, philosophy, contemporary culture and more.

A Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace - This site features commentary, data analyses, essays and links to stimulate the sociological imagination.

Sociology Central - One of the best sites for A level sociologists, this offers downloadable resources, specifically designed for post-16 sociology students.

The Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences (ATSS) - Information relating to the teaching of Social Sciences, including resources, links and conference news.

Sociology Online - An extensive, interactive web site, with reference resources, quizzes and games.

Esociology - A site for AS and A Level Sociology students, with PowerPoint presentations and links to online tests and study skills advice.

Virtual Hair - Let us give you a virtual hairstyle makeover! Get results, without going to a salon.

Hair Boutique - Banishing bad hair days with news and information about hair care and products.

SWD Gems - Wholesale website of Ruby stone and Sapphire gemstones at a competitive price.

Zyra - Interesting eccentric site with thousands of pages of useful information on a wealth of subjects, oodles of fascinating and amusing items, and an encyclopaedic set of things connected together conceptually, plus a gateway to thousands of places around the world. Includes links to fashion sites, as well as sites in beauty, jewellery, lingerie, denim and shoes categories.

Fashion Glamour Model No.1 - Clothing advice, visual modelling and personal fashion advice as a means to beauty control.

Fashion - Fashion and Beauty - Galleries, Magazines, Ezines.

Clickstyles - A high traffic portal targetted to Clothing and Apparel, Health and Beauty, Business Opportunities, Fashion Accessories, Web Design and Hosting and more.

Fashion Cosmos - A site created as a tribute to the old Fashion Model Index.

The Video Beat - 1950s & 1960s Rock n Roll Movies on DVD.

Alumbo - A self-help website that includes pages of fashion resources.

UK Pages - Search for fashion-related information in this UK-based directory.

- Home and Lifestyle Chapter of this Web Directory contains beauty and fashion information.

Fashion in the news 2004

2000-01-02T11:54:00.000-08:00

Home > Fashion in the News > Fashion in the News 2004

Fashion in the News 2004

The Guardian profile: Tamara Mellon: The society princess who spotted a gap in the luxury shoe market has transformed herself into a fashion mogul. On Monday it was announced that Jimmy Choo, the shoe label she has presided over for almost a decade and by whose commendable efforts has been made essential for the fashion-conscious, is considering selling or floating itself on the stock market. This article traces Mellon's career from accessory editor at Vogue through to stiletto moguldom. While her fans coo over how a pair of Jimmy Choos will make them look thinner/sexier/cooler, Mellon recently cited a tellingly different benefit: "I feel so empowered when I put on a pair of heels. I like to be taller, to look a guy in the eye."
The Guardian: Friday 05 November, 2004

London makes an exhibition of itself: Tomorrow, the Museum of London will stage a celebration of London fashion through the ages. "The London Look: from Street to Catwalk" explores all aspects of London style and its influence on fashion worldwide. It also aims to show the industry's influence on the city's character. Edwina Ehrman, the exhibition's curator, believes that putting contemporary fashion in a historical context makes more sense of how influential London has been to fashion, both in the past and now. "Ultimately, fashion is a trade, but it is also the perfect barometer of social trends," she says.
Telegraph/Fashion: 28 October, 2004

Fashion's future is a 6-figure job: Fashion trend forecasting is a very small but lucrative field, with free trips to Paris. Trend forecasters take the pulse of the public's psychology and spot upcoming trends and products that will be hot next spring, next fall or even a few seasons beyond. David Wolfe, creative director of the Donegar Group expects to see a lot of apparel made from newly manufactured natural fibers in what he characterizes as a fear-based quest to get back to nature and downsize our lives. Trend analysts can work for forecasting firms, of which there are only about a dozen worldwide, Wolfe said. Or they can work directly for fashion retailers, design houses and clothing and shoe manufacturers, which often have their own in-house trend teams. A college degree in fashion (such as a bachelor's in fashion design or fabric styling) is a plus. And an internship with a forecasting team is one of the best ways to break into the field.
CNN/Money: 29 September, 2004

Fashion spread irks Spanish feminists: Spain's new Socialist government, which has won praise from women's groups for its support for gender equality, is now drawing their wrath. The government's eight Cabinet women, held up by the Socialists as a symbol of the party's commitment to equality for women, are being criticized for appearing in a fashion shoot on the grounds of the presidential complex for the September issue of Vogue magazine's Spanish edition. The article opens with a two-page photograph of the eight ministers, some reclining on a couch, one leaning against a pillar and all wearing fashionable if conservative clothing. The criticism of the article is the first significant attack on the government's feminist credentials since it came to office in April.
New York Times: 20 August, 2004

WOMAN: Designers cross first hurdle: The Malaysian-International Fashion Awards (MIFA), which was launched last year, has created a platform designed to unfold the talents of young designers. One of the three categories that make up the awards, the Upcoming Fashion Designers award (the other two are for Established Fashion Designers and Special Achievements), is designed to discover, recognise and groom a new generation of fashion designers. Panelist Geoffrey Thomas said that there has been a dramatic increase in fashion interest throughout the years. "There are a lot of talented fashion designers in Malaysia but they seem to concentrate on local influences. I believe that while you have to be proud of your heritage, it is also important to see yourself as a global designer," he added. In the first round of judging, candidates were expected to interpret their designs in a narrative form and they had to convince the judges that their designs carried interpretations of the 1910s.
New Straits Times: 12 July, 2004

Latest fashion is wearing your 'tude on your tee: Quotes on T-shirts that run the gamut from "Note to self: Breathe" to "I don't trust people whose names I can't pronounce" and worse, provide the wearers -- mostly young adults aged 18-22 -- with a venue to broadcast their likes and dislikes, political and sexual preferences, recent heartaches and just plain nonsense. Psychologists claim that wearing your beliefs on your shirt is often much more comfortable than speaking up. It appears that attitude T-shirts can contribute to self-esteem, as well. "The possibility of shock value can draw attention to a person, and that's an aspect of self-esteem," Wade says. "It makes the person feel as if they are someone of worth. It's a strong factor for adolescents who are trying to establish their identity. It's part of self-discovery.".
Contra Costa Times: Thursday 08 July, 2004

Bold Glory: As Independence Day approaches, Americans are buying Old Navy's flag T-shirts like crazy. "We are somehow affirming our identity," said Ruth P. Rubinstein, associate professor of sociology at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. "We wear the appropriate attire for the appropriate occasion. . . . We want to let people know that this is the United States." Old Navy introduced its "Famous Flag T" 10 years ago. This year, the company held a contest for kids to design a shirt, and the grand-prize-winning design already has sold out online.
The Arizona Republic: July 1, 2004

Fashion designer's 'half baked' idea is saved by the British: The fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, whose latest exhibition in Paris displays his famous creations in bread form, was obliged to use British bakers after leading French boulangers dismissed the job as impossible. The baker-exhibits at the Fondation Cartier, which include a dough version of the designer's infamous dress with a conical bra, are all dressed by Mr Gaultier.Yet when he asked French bakers to recreate his most famous garments, they said it could not be done. Moulds and resin were created instead by a team of young British sculptors, engineers and a baker based in Wandsworth.
The Daily Telegraph: Sunday 06 June, 2004

Designing for everyone: Michael Kors's simple but stylish creations draw on the suburbs for inspiration. The Council of Fashion Designers of America nominated Kors as the best womenswear and menswear designer of the year. In the fall women's collection, there's a moss paisley chiffon jersey, sleeveless long dress and fur shrug and a complementary purple paisley silk georgette minidress with fringe from the hip to the knee. Men get a camel cashmere coat that hits just above the knee with flared suede jeans or an olive coated cotton twill mac jacket. Kors says he now favours simple and well-made garments over trendy items, since time is the ultimate arbiter of style.
The London Free Press: Tuesday 01 June, 2004

It is FAB - but is it art?: Fashion and art are no strangers to each other. Elsa Schiaparelli collaborated with surrealist artists including Dali, Cocteau and Giacometti as long ago as 1936; Hussein Chalayan produces catwalk presentations that are more performance art than runway show; museums present much-lauded exhibitions of dress, not just historical but contemporary: Westwood, Versace, Ossie Clarke. A new exhibition, "Fashion at Belsay", held at stately home Belsay Hall in the Northumberland countryside makes a further contribution to debates on the artistic status of fashion. 12 British fashion designers (including Alexander McQueen, Eley Kishimoto, Paul Smith, Hamish Morrow and Stella McCartney) have been asked to make non-garment contributions to the "Fashion At Belsay" (FAB) exhibition. The results include a series of three-sided confessional-style cubicles, a spiralled tendril of unfinished, joined-up shoes reaching from floor to ceiling and a spectacle based on a concept of how fabric would behave in zero gravity.
Financial Times: Tuesday 01 June, 2004

WoMan: Helping designers go global: The Malaysian-International Fashion Awards (Mifa) 2003, a platform to discover, recognise and groom the country's aspiring fashion designers, sees the recent showcases of six of its recognised talented designers. The elite team, part of the renowned "KL Six", was selected through polls by fashion professionals in the run-up to Mifa 2003. The KL Six are Chandran, Daniel Cho, Khoon Hooi, Melinda Looi, Tom Abang Saufi and Villiam Ooi. Their exposure in the foreign fashin scene was made possible with the implementation of Global Fashion Inspiration (GFI), a programme which is part of the Kuala Lumpur Asia Fashion Week, to be held in conjunction with Mifa 2004 this November.
New Straits Times: Monday 31 May, 2004

Fashion designer Nicole Miller putting 'Sesame Street' on kids: Fashion designer Nicole Miller is working with Sesame Workshop on "Sesame Street by Nicole Miller," an apparel line for newborns, infants and toddlers.
Houston Chronicle: 25 May, 2004

Wellington Fashion Designer, Emma Pahl: Emma Pahl is the designer behind new Wellington-based apparel label PAHL. Already catering to a strong base of private clients, the label will be officially launched to the public later this year with PAHL's Distinctive Spring/Summer 2004-05 range. The range will feature PAHL's signature detailing embroidery, beading and unexpected fabric manipulation.
Thread, New Zealand: 25 May, 2004

About us

2000-01-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

Home > About us

About us

We are a group of enthusiastic students from villages across Dorset in the UK. We have varied backgrounds in fashion, design, art history, graphics and computing. This site is our combined effort to further the information freely available on the internet in the areas to which we are most devoted. We hope that you enjoy the results. The content of this website is being regularly updated, so please check back. Do let us know if you'd like to contribute - all polite emails will receive a reply, and any suggestions are welcomed.

Fashion Worlds

Welcome to Fashion Worlds, the site about fashion designers and influences past, present, famous and up-and-coming, with original articles and regular news updates.

Fashion in the News

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Featured Designer: Hannah Marshall

Featured Article: Fashion and the 'Antwerp Six'

Fashion and the 'Cult of Celebrity'

Fashion and the 'Cult of Celebrity'

The Forces of Beauty and Desire in Fashion Imitation

The Forces of Beauty and Desire in Fashion Imitation

Cell Phone Fashion

Cell Phone Fashion: Personalizing Mass Production

Fashion in the News 2006

Fashion in the News 2006

Symbols of Radical Change

Symbols of Radical Change

Beneath Historic Fashions

Beneath Historic Fashions

Fashion in the News 2005

Fashion in the News 2005

Fashion in the News

Fashion in the News

Postcard #2

Postcard #2

Postcard #1

Postcard #1

Postcards from Milan

Postcards from Milan

Do real men wear sandals?

Do real men wear sandals?

The Cycle of Fashion

The Cycle of Fashion

In troubling times, pink is hot hue again

In troubling times, pink is hot hue again

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Fashion Worlds: More Articles

Temperley, Alice

Alice Temperley

Antwerp 6

Fashion and the ‘Antwerp Six’

Marshall, Hannah

Hannah Marshall

Stretton, Annah

Annah Stretton

Lindbergh, Peter

Peter Lindbergh: Photographer

Fonssagrives, Lisa

Lisa Fonssagrives: Personality

Kobayashi, Yukio

Yukio Kobayashi: Designer

Fashion in Weimar Germany

Fashion in Weimar Germany

Onassis, Jacqueline

Jacqueline Onassis: Personality

Lepape, Georges

Georges Lepape: Illustrator

Dahl-Wolfe, Louise

Louise Dahl-Wolfe: Photographer

Tyler, Richard

Richard Tyler: Designer

Alfaro, Victor

Victor Alfaro: Designer

Fashion Statements

Fashion Statements

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Fashion in the news 2004

Fashion in the News 2004

About us

About us