Renaissance Street Fashion

Gentle Reader -

If one is going to paint an ideal city, shouldn't the fashion match as well?

Italian fashion has a long legacy of dressing to complement both oneself and the surroundings.

The street as fashion inspiration goes way before YSL and Mary Quant.

But which streets to choose from? Tokyo or London? A global stylist will take from all the major cities and then sift for key themes.

In the above painting, it's all about harmony and balance.

- AP

The Future of Artiface

 

The face that stares out in the photo is from the 18th Century. Yet there is something in the eyes that suggests the future of fashion. Artifice always has a front row seat in fashion. What are commonly seen as 'fake' or 'false' (as in hair and eyelashes, respectively) are really transformational aids.

The 18th Century, particularly in Paris and Venice, took artifice to an extreme we now find ridiculous.

However, the future will have a renewed use for artifice that will be:

- practical (embedded applications in clothing or skin - but not implants)
- dramatic (always a favored purpose for artifice)
- chic and nomadic (wear only the sleek things you need to survive)

Some things to consider as the ultimate transformational day approaches, Halloween.

- AP

Alex Light: Fashion Themes to Ponder

Gentle Reader -


We return once again to the serene light of Alex to ponder the following:

1. Jean-Louis Scherrer: in his heyday (when he ran the house), Scherrer was code for that elusive mix of bourgeois, sensual and chic. That mix doesn't work in every time period or place, but in the 70s to mid-80s, it was right. Vintagers, that's a hint.

2. The overuse of coral: both as material and color, coral fascinates. However, it is time to give both a rest - before it factors into another trendbook...again. Can carnelian and lapis lazuli make a return?

3. Moiré: it is amazing how impressive or tragic the iridescent ripples of moiré can seem - depending on the season. Use moiré with velvet for the best effects in winter; with white in spring.

Is it just this writer, or does moiré look completely wrong in summer and autumn?

Have a great weekend.

- AP

Rio Male Beauty Secrets

This just in -

The simplest dictum for the streets of Rio de Janeiro's Zona Sul:

- be easy and take care of yourself

Nothing is as hard to accomplish as effortlessness.

- AP

Orientation and Alignment

Gentle Reader -

How do you know when it is time for a change?
I am referring to the internal compass which, from time to time, indicates that some shift in direction must be made. It could be as simple as changing one's fragrance or shade of lipstick.

But there are other moments, much rarer in occasion, when a complete upturning, a revolution, is in order. In these cases, it's not just a matter of an internal compass, but a true shift of fashion's poles of attraction.

Examples from Western Civilization's Past:

The shift from robes to pants
The abolition of the corset
Pants as part of female attire
The abolition of ornamental male daywear

I am predicting that by the 2030's we should really see the transition to the future of fashion. This is really sooner than you think.

- AP

Weekend Assignment: Fashion 2016

Gentle Reader -

While togas are so yesterday, glimpses of the future can be had right now.

The weekend assignment: fashion in 2016. What does it look like? Why? How did certain trends emerge? How much does fashion diverge from right now?

In other words, become an armchair trend forecaster over the next few days. The results may surprise you!

- AP

Roman Toga: Material Wealth

Gentle Reader -

After several weeks of fashion collections in the now, a quick trip into the ancient past felt right. The lines of the toga speak of a time when wealth was in part indicated not only by the quality of material, but the length.

A marked contrast from current fashion, to be sure.

As for future fashion, who knows?

- AP

A Quick Word to Maison Ungaro

To those readers at Ungaro:

Strongly consider returning to the couture with a small collection from your new design duo.

You have created the publicity, now use it.

- AP

Paris Fashion Decoder

The messages of the recent collections in Paris?

Answer #1: knowledge of manual technique can push what is possible in industrial production.

Answer #2: more effort is really needed to keep haute couture not just alive, but viable.

Answer #3: this was a season - and not just in Paris - where there was a real search for what was both directional and wearable. Not easy at all.

Not Ready to Wear Yet

Gentle Reader -

Should we be calling ready-to-wear by this term? In the past few weeks, various sites have posted photos - and reviews - from the collections for Spring-Summer 2010. Excitement has been built, but orders have to be placed and clothes made. And so we wait. Not very ready, is it?

Here is the observation, once again: the more the images of collections are published and click-on around the world, the more those images reflect the now, and not the intended season. It does the fashion system no good to have rounds of image hype that gets digested faster than, well, you get the idea.

One has to be very inventive to keep the momentum going until deliveries are finally made.

- AP

Sphinx: Collect Alexander McQueen Now

- Alexander McQueen's recent collection is instant vintage: directional, important and well-made. Arguably the best collection of the season. There are implications in those dresses. Also, were those shoes, or futurized chopines?

- Fragrance is so much better when it is refrigerated.

- A note to fashion editors everywhere: your subscribers need you to guide them through deconstruction.

- Vintage-vintage: late 60s Hanae Mori, 1970s Cardin, 1980s Mary McFadden.

Spring-Summer 2010: Hyperfashion

Gentle Reader -

After the barrage of looks for next season - and we won't mention the show at Ungaro - it is clear that we are solidly in the age of hyperfashion.

While fashion editors have either solidly made up their minds, or need a week in St. Barts to sort it all out, fashion has now become a bit arbitrary - with a hint of a point-of-view. But why do I say 'hyperfashion'?

Call it a fashion theory of non-relativity (sorry, Albert E.): clothes that don't relate to women; aesthetic mixes that are cultural pastiches; the over-detailed with not-enough-detail.

There are probably enough people who, with thoughts of YSL in their heads, are lamenting this current state of fashion, "Bring back the standards of elegance and beauty!" - you can almost hear them...if only because that voice we too hear.

This is not a time to be dour-faced on current fashion. Far from it. Hyperfashion allows for freedom, experimentation and creative voice. The passion for clothing design is still there in the hearts of those who bow on the catwalk after the show, hoping that their presentations will make a mark and hopefully sell well.

But is this the end of Big Fashion?

- AP

Summer in the City: Chicago (2016) and Paris (Now)

I couldn't think of a better picture to say "The Summer Olympic Games".
This is the Chagall Mosaic in Chicago.

A quick note regarding the Paris P-E ("Spring/Summer") 2010: are we still waiting? Safety in fashion is something Paris has never done well.

- AP