FASHION - Jeans will always be cool, of that there is no doubt. But its starting to look like they will have a lot of competition from the growing trend of wearing trousers. You would think that jeans, perhaps the most proletarian piece of apparel, known for durability, strength and versatility, would soar during recession times, but instead blue jeans appear to have fallen out of favour with women (sales are down world wide over the past 8 months). Denim is practically a demi-god in the fashion world, but in this David and Goliath story it seems like the lowly trousers now has the advantage. It used to be that blue jeans were kewl. Rebels wore blue jeans. Now everyone wears them. My grandma wears blue jeans. High school teachers wear blue jeans. George W. Bush wears blue jeans (he's really trying hard to fit back into civilian society). Conclusion? Blue jeans aren't that kewl any more. The hip thing these days is the more counter-culture look of trousers, sometimes made of l...
FASHION / POLITICS - Like Barack and Michelle Obama's fashion sense? You're not alone. Barack Obama is not just the next president of the United States. He's also the new face of fashion. Thanks in part to sightings of A-listers like Ryan Phillippe, Brad Pitt, Beyoncé and Kanye West wearing Obama T-shirts, as well as the constant and prominent display of the politician's handsome face on the big screen at the recent MTV Europe awards, his image has reached the status of an international pop culture icon. So it shouldn't be surprising that Toronto designer Kingi Carpenter, of the quirky label Peach Berserk, is making stuff emblazoned with Obama's face. Carpenter makes silkscreened hoodies, dresses, T-shirts, skirts and scarves... all with Obama on them. One woman even bought Obama pillows for her house. The designer, a self-admitted political junkie, follows American politics obsessively and is an Obama fan. But her inspiration for the Obama items arose out of C...
FASHION - James Laver was a museum curator for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London from the 1930s through the 1950s. Laver was also a fashion theorist and historian and having no other claim to fame he conceived of Laver’s Law — an attempt to make sense of the "fashion trend life cycle". Here is James Laver's Law of Fashion: Indecent 10 years before its time Shameless 5 years before its time Outré (Daring) 1 year before its time Smart Current Fashion Dowdy 1 year after its time Hideous 10 years after its time Ridiculous 20 years after its time Amusing 30 years after its time Quaint 50 years after its time Charming 70 years after its time Romantic 100 years after its time Beautiful 150 years after its time What is interesting is that James Laver's Law of Fashion's has become the standard by which clothes buyers now operate. ie. Stanley Marcus, the former president of Neiman Marcus, recounts in his rather boring memoir tit...