Wednesday, June 30, 2010

“MEN IN SKIRTS” : FROM THE RUNWAY TO THE STREET

Men in skirts has been one of the biggest taboo’s in western culture for as long as we can remember. Though almost everywhere else in the world besides North America and much of Europe skirts (of different types) are widely accepted and employed, our culture still holds some prejudice against skirts as a form of masculine dress.

However, history shows that the concept of men wearing skirted garments was all too common. Pants were originally an invention to make it easier to ride a horse. The idea stuck, and the two-legged garment became standard apparel for working men, a way to counter the cold and abrasion. The political rise of the working class in the 1800’s transformed the workman’s attire into a symbol of raw power against the pompous and flagrantly dressed gentile statesman at the polar ends of the political and fashion spectrum. Since then pants have appropriated the symbol of masculinity in menswear.

Certain designers, like Galliano, have always promoted and highlighted the skirt as a form of masculine dress, but it was not until last seasons fashion shows for Fall/Winter 2010 that we saw such an emphasis on “Men in Skirts”. Nearly half of the designers who presented had some form of a skirt in their runway collection. Designer Marc Jacobs has been drilling the kilted skirt into our heads for the past few seasons, wearing it almost as a uniform, which is quickly becoming a staple of his personal style. With all this fashion buzz it comes as no surprise that we see these images of fashion forward men around the world wearing skirts in The Sartorialists diary. Though all these group of men are most likely making a statement, and also the men beginning to rediscovering the comfort and practicality of the skirt.

“If one follows the cardinal rule of design; “form follows function”, then it is obvious that the idea of restricting men from wearing skirts today is largely a fashion argument.” – said Jay Dezelic in his essay on “Why Men Should Wear Skirts”.

The Day Before DVD

The Day Before is a fashion documentary series which originally aired on Arte (French-German art's network), includes sneak peaks into the studios, ateliers, and PR offices for the directors of fashion high flyers like Sonia Rykiel, Karl Lagerfeld for Fendi, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler, and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

The Social Network: First trailer for the Facebook movie

The film is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, and focuses on the creation of the network. The script, written by The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, gets to the heart of the Facebook phenomenon with lines such as, "Who are we going to send it to? Just a couple of people. The question is, who are they going to send it to?" It's pretty clear that The Social Network won't be a terribly flattering portrait of Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg. The film also stars Justin Timberlake and his sexy back, alongside Brit Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones from the US version of The Office and the wee lad from Jurassic Park all grown up.

“COLOR ME CRAZY” BY SARAH ST. CLAIR RENARD

This beautiful editorial was photographed by Sarah St. Clair Renardfor Yen Magazine’s spring issue 2010. It's absolutely lovely the reference to Holi, the Hindu festival of Spring, one of the most beautiful celebrations of any culture in the world.

AGNÈS B. X PHILIPPE STARCK WATER BOTTLE

France Libertés, Agnès.b presented this bottle at her men fashion show. Created by Philippe Starck, the Feuille d’eau, literally “the sheet of water” is a bottle to be filled with tap water, and to be used and reused.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Lacoste Porcelain Polo Shirt by Li Xiaofeng

Lacoste challenged Chinese artist Li Xiaofeng to create two different polo shirts for its 2010 Holiday Collector’s Series. For both, he had to adapt his work methods slightly, choosing blue and white shards with lotus and children designs from the Kangxi Period of the Qing Dynasty. The lotus grows from mud underwater to emerge as a flower, symbolizing purity and rebirth. Images of babies represent fertility, as during that period the high infant mortality rate meant that people decorated ceramics with babies hoping they would be blessed with children. The printed Porcelain Polo is limited to 20,000 pieces for both men and women, and comes packaged in a silk pouch stamped with the red seal Li Xiaofeng Lacoste logo. The Porcelain Polo will be unveiled in Paris on June 25th at the Musée des Arts et Métiers and then in Bejing in the Fall at Li Xiaofeng’s first one-man show organized by the Red Gate Gallery.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Kenzo Spring 2011

Inspired by travels between Paris and Japan, designer Antonio Marras told that the collection "It is a mix between all the traditional Japanese aesthetics such as the animals, the landscapes and the watercolour prints, and some really European styles such as the traditional stripe. That was the link point between all this Japanese blue with something that is very French, translated for the contemporary Western customer's wardrobe."

Saturday, June 26, 2010

5 top Summer Stylish shoes

Bally
Diesel
John Varvatos
Neil Barrett
3.1 Phillip Lim

Moncler Gamme Bleu S/S 2011 Runway video

Moncler Gamme Bleu Spring/Summer 2011 Runway from LAT Videos on Vimeo.

SCOTT CAMPBELL FOR LOUIS VUITTON SPRING 2011

New York based tattoo artist and bff of Marc Jacobs (whom he tattoos), Scott Campbell was recruited by the designer for the Louis Vuitton Spring 2011 menswear presentation in Paris. Campbell also tattooed LV logos all over the runway models necks and he also customized a number of leather bags.

John Galliano spring 2011

Galliano's poster boys this season spanned from the young but beautiful Tadzio of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice to the "athletic, nervy outsider" Matt Dillon. But his principal anchor points arrived in the form of two silent movie greats.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Street Style

The eyes on the street capturing the style moves of European Fashion Week's men-about-town.

Givenchy Spring 2011

Bug-like masks, vertebrae necklaces, skorts, suits that are really jumpsuits. This collection is all about statements, including the lacey, chasuble-like shirts and the black/white/tan limit on color.

ALLSAINTS LOOKBOOK SS 2010