It's Still Rock & Roll to Me

Remember how we anticipated style in the new Millenium? Would we have purple triangular collars like Judy Jetson? Would individuality be sacrificed for the greater good and mankind be forced to wear uniforms, like in Demolition Man? Unless you count Gareth Pugh's dystopic-like creations and Alexander McQueen's alien shoes, fashion is still headed for the past. Because like history, it repeats itself. Designers are easing into denim use, as it's now a mainstream luxury comparable to leather. Blending the best of both worlds is how designers like Alexander Wang and Helmut Lang are invoking the 80's to set mass trends. Welcome back to the age of jive.

 

Burberry Prorsum PF10, G-Star SS10, Rag & Bone SS10

From top left: Yigal Azourel jacket $979, Rick Owens jacket $1373, Alexander Wang bag $780, Mango jacket $44.99. From bottom left: Helmut Lang jacket $780 and skirt $275. Alice + Olivia dress $495 and pants $297.

Excerpts From “Vol de Jour” by Karl Lagerfeld

   
"why is Chanel investing in creating and publishing all this digital content? The answer is rooted in the changing nature of media, marketing and technology and underscores lessons that all major fashion brands would do well to observe"

"In the past, marketing fashion collections mostly meant buying pages in magazines or space on strategically positioned billboards. In both cases, brands paid to interrupt consumers, repeating a visual theme or message in order to create recognition, desire and conversion. By exerting their influence as advertisers, brands also forced magazines to feature their products in their editorial. But today, affluent consumers are migrating online, where the balance of power is dramatically different."

"These days, it’s not about being louder. It’s about being more interesting. To communicate effectively, brands must inspire and harness conversations amongst consumers by giving people something remarkable to talk about — something of value that they will actively seek out, amplify and share with others. In this new reality, forward-thinking fashion brands like Chanel are learning to think like media companies, creating and publishing original editorial content to earn attention and attract fans who will carry their message across the internet."

Read the Full Story: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2010/01/fashion-2-0-chanel-learns-to-think-like-a-media-company.html

Visit Chanel News http://www.chanel.com/fashion/8-fashion-trends#8-fashion-trends

Too Much Fun With Polyvore

"You Looked Like Me on Sunday" by alexandramari featuring L.A.M.B. sandals

Fun with Polyvore

Inspired by Gauguin by alexandramari featuring Alexander McQueen accessories

Because, Grunge or Diva, I'll Never Get Over the Early 90's

Because Germans do it Best

So Last Decade...

The decade of the 00's oversaw a lot of both ridiculous and forward thinking trends. Celebrities continued to have a huge impact on the fashion world and it seemed like almost every one launched a line, making it look way easier than the brilliant minds we saw on shows like Project Runway.

Designers capitalized on denim. We have the $150 dollar jean and the emergence of niche brands. 20 years ago, paying that much to look like Kurt Cobain would have been insane. My favorite is the skinny jean, which also assisted the rebirth of the embellished, platformed, heels we can now happily show off.
Which takes me to the sky-high platform, where average woman can taste the altitude of models and tower over men. Sorry guys, we don't feel bad anymore. And did I mention androgony? The growing number of women in executive positions in the workforce saw a masculization of women. I'm not talking boyfriend clothes. Think sharp and boxed. Balmain shoulders and millitairy jackets from h&m. The boyfriend blazer. Designers started to reshape women, threatening to embrace other things than her softness and curves. Perhaps this has something to do with the 00's trend of emaciation. The super skinny girl and the obessesion of talking about her-whether dieting or excercize or photoshopping or models dying mysteriously-the topic was always catching headlines.

Guilty pleasures:
velour track suits: A very embarassing trend, but luckily I was in college at the time so I could wear Juicy jumpsuits to class every day.
Leggings: To me, it's straight laziness. But they are awesome for fat days
Big slouchy bags:  They are great because you can literally carry 3 outfits, a hair-dryer, a computer and a meal at once, but they shouldn't be worn with a careless outfit outside of the east village. 
Flannel shirts: I love anything reminiscent of the grunge era.

Celebs like Mary Kate&Ashley Olsen (though they dress up well) and Lindsay Lohan introduced Homeless chic. The intersection of starvation and homelessness.

LA fashion scene zzzzz. Lauren Conrad just keep to your coast.

Massive Collaborations for retail giants like H&M, Target, Uniqlo. The wave of the future, as fashion becomes collective.

As luxury and materialism have been questioned in times of recession, let's hope the fashion industry continues to think ahead by being socially responsible. The first step is an educated consumer.

Ambience & Apparel: Shopping in the City

Shopping in the city on a Sunday is a brave undertaking for a New Yorker. Areas to avoid are 5th avenue uptown and Broadway in Soho. While there are two faces of Sohos that are received by the Sunday afternoon pedestrian: casual brunching and shopping on a mission, I  braved the latter. Today I helped one of my girlfriends find work clothes for a new job. Restraining from spending money, I put all my effort into playing stylist for my friend and observing holiday retail and merchandising techniques at America's favorite stores.

The store that surprised me the most was Banana Republic. The Gap Inc. label has successfully marketed conservative yet modern business clothes to the American working woman for years, while avoiding the mass-produced cardigan epidemic of its sister stores Gap and Old Navy. The lay out reminded me of a holiday-pop up exhibition. Sort of like Macy's annual Santaland spectacle in Minneapolis. People waived in and out of individual rooms to admire the different clothing displays. The store itself felt like being in a mini-museum or large apartment. Was this BR's way of an exclusive shopping experience? While the e-shopping world has worked so hard to compete with the fully branded shopping experience stores give, it's sort of ironic that stores now have to compete with the isolated online consumer experience.

All over Soho I was greeted by extremely overzealous salespeople that offered "20% off cash-a-mere" products and hoped your experience in their store was euphoric. I think their strategy must be to create such an infectious energy that the customer wants to buy!buy!buy!.  Au contraire, my hangover radar kicked in and mapped out the safest route to avoid unneeded sales lectures.

Here are a few observations:

Top shop crams their sections together and I was constantly running into people. Also, I am not paying $70 for leggings.

Club Monaco: What is with the drifting racks of clothes that are always in the center of the back room? Are they on sale? Are they in transit?

Mango: Everything was too glitzy, cheap, and overdone. I have always been a huge fan of the spanish chain, but was unimpressed. Also, I am a lazy shopper and don't want to invest in the 3 step process of walking past the long row of chairs only to have to bend down and unfold the shirt I couldn't see from across the room.

Gap: Again, as a lazy shopper, I advise to never put women's clothing on the second floor. I got dragged up the stairs only to reach disappoinment.

Uniqlo: the store was freezing inside. Is this a ploy to get people to try on coats? Asthetically, it's like Old Navy meets Dylans Candy Bar meets a Library. I was lost.

Speaking of Old Navy, that sam's club of a store is one breath of fresh air. I don't really like any of the clothes (Minus the holiday pajama pant collection) but for some reason Old Navy has just always made me happy. And I still know half of the performance fleece song.

This said, I am spending next sunday brunching, because I am exhausted.

SS10 Runway Trends>>Put Your Party Dress On

From Left2Right: BCBG Max Azria, Derek Lam, DKNY, DVF, Emporio Armani, Just Cavalli, Marc Jacobs, Matthew Williamson, Moschino cheap&chic, Moschino cheap&chic, Paul Smith.

Swiss Textile Awards 2009

“While some designers look to the past or future, Alexander Wang is as right here, right now as it gets. The American designer is zeitgeisty, he’s of the moment and in fashion-speak he’s also having a moment; quite an extended one to judge by his growing popularity.”

-The Independent

SS10 Runway Trends>>White on Black

Celine, Givenchy, Chanel, Jean Paul Gautier

Michael Kors, Karl Lagerfeld, Oscar de la Renta, Jil Sander

Hermes, Aguri Sagimor, Philip Lim 3.1, Jonathan Sanders