This was a bit of eccentric collection as far as these guys go, brought to you by the colours grey and red.
Although there was a hodgepodge of styles, there were a few consistent details that I found disconcerting such as lack of a tie (never dug the Forrest Gump vibe), short jackets, and ill-fitting pants with no seat.
There was also the usual display of razzle dazzle tuxedos,
but given the clunky shoes,
skinny suspenders, plaids, trilby hats, etc., the collection had a more hipster than Hollywood feel.
I enjoyed watching this short behind-the-scenes film clip profiling how superstar fashion blogger Scott Schuman (aka the Sartorialist) employs his craft on a day-to day-basis.
Scott's revolutionary idea was to snap photos of "regular" (but stylish) people on the street and post them on his blog in a simple, but elegant manner. This success of his innovation demonstrated the power and influence of blogs (and bloggers), as well as their advantages over traditional fashion media, at least in certain aspects. It is no surprise that almost all traditional media websites (e.g. GQ.com) now not only have a blog section, but a streetfashion section as well.
Schuman really is the Wayne Gretzky of fashion bloggers, and was undoubtedly the inspiration for countless other fashion blogs, including this one.
One of my favorite moments in the clip occurs at 2:40 where Scott solicits a woman for a photograph and the woman gives him a cool reception until she learns that he is the Sartorialist. I dunno, it kinda struck me as funny because the woman probably tells her friends that she is a "huge" fan of the site, yet she didn't even recognise Scott, who has been profiled countless of times in many media outlets.
Wesley Snipes has been in the news recently because he's going to jail for refusing to pay his taxes. I recently stumbled upon a picture of him wearing a dress shirt with a really interesting and unique collar. I have never seen anything quite like it.
I have no doubt that the shirt is tailor-made. In my opinion, unless you have particular measurements such that you cannot buy off-the-rack, the only rationale to get a tailor-made shirt is to create something you can't buy in stores; And Snipes' shirt is a perfect example.
I'm all of in favour of personalizing a tailor-made shirt with quirky but subtle details, but I find that men of a certain generation have had a tendency to garnish their shirts with over-the-top details (such as garish racing stripes on the collar). However, what I like about Snipes' collar is that it has a very interesting geometric look to it, yet is not gaudy.
If you like the collar, you'll likely to have see a tailor. My man Marlon Durrant is one such tailor who can definitely pull it off.
A few years ago, while searching for Gregorian chants, I chanced upon a very peculiar, but entertaining Gregorian chant that is unlikely to have ever been sung in a church. The song is composed in the typical style of a Gregorian chat (vocal music only, no instruments) but the lyrics are the names of European designer fashion labels. It's quite humorous actually, and a nice melody to boot.
As the grains of sands passed, I eventually lost the song, but recently grew curious and decided to retrieve it from the internet once again. I figured it would be pretty easy to find. It wasn't. I recalled the name of the band was Waldorf, and the song was called "Fashionista".
But after much googling, all I was able to come up with was a techno version of the song, which didn't appeal to me at all. You can get a taste of the techno version:
Finally, after much googling I eventually stumbled upon the version of the song I was searching for. Apparently, the group, which formed in Italy in the 90's, had recorded several versions of the song. You can read more about them here. The version I was looking for was called "fashionistus sakral choir" and I urge you to listen to it. Enjoy!
Is fashion art? In brief, I say no. Admittedly, I do not have sufficient --Ok, I don't have ANY-- expertise in art history or philosophy to justify my response. But even if I did, ya probably wouldn't want to read it...
Anyways, in my opinion, one of the primary purposes of art is to provoke thought and to allow us to view the world in a new and different perspective. Fashion on the other hand is influenced by more pragmatic considerations--it is clothing after all, that needs to cover our body. But more than that, I believe that the primary goal of fashion is to achieve a pleasing aesthetic effect, or put simply: to look good.
Needless to say, like any other field of design (e.g. architecture, interior design, etc.) the fashion world certainly has an artistic component to it, but it is not in of itself, art.
There is a spectrum of course where some clothing is so devoid of practical and aesthetic value it is clearly meant to be art. A lot of designers intend their runway shows to be an artistic experience and come up with some pretty whack stuff. I don't think it can taken as anything other than art.
Galliano
Thom Browne
I would put Lady Gaga's outfits in the same category. That's one of the reasons why I resent Vanity Fair placing her on its Best Dressed list. I don't think her clothing is fashion so much as it is (bad) art.
I recently came across a Chinese artist named Liu Bolin who photographs himself upon having painted his clothing in a chameleon like-manner so that he completely blends in to his surroundings. Some of the photos are amazing. It looks like there is a ghost in the image. See if you can find Waldo in these images:
And my personal favorite:
Pretty amazing stuff, huh?
I'm not quite sure what this has to do with fashion--it clearly belongs more to the realm of art. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some fashion designer is influenced by this art form and incorporates some of these elements into his or her next collection.
Nobody really likes being bothered with commercials when watching TV. What's even more annoying are commercials that attempt to be funny, but aren't. Many commercials fall into that category. One recent exception is Reitman's latest amusing ad campaign. For those of you who don't know, Reitman's is a Canadian chain of retail stores selling affordable women's clothing.
When I searched for the commercials on youtube, I discovered that the campaign isn't new at all, though perhaps some of the ads are. I guess I am just (sadly) watching more TV than I did before.
Anyways, the ads feature two guys who are essentially spoofs of a mosaic of flamboyant, effeminate designers (such as Jean Paul Gauthier, Karl Lagerfeld, etc.). They are not that different than the hilarious character Mugatu in the movie "Zoolander".
In each commercial, the guys basically compare haute couture fashion with Reitman's clothing. In each case, the model wearing the haute couture clothing lands herself in some dreadful and embarrassing situation as a result of her absurd and impractical outfit. Here is a sample of some of the commercials from the previous campaign:
Anyways, for some reason, the commercial got me thinking: If we think of fashion designers as being professionals and the experts regarding clothing aesthetics, isn't it odd that there is a public conception that haute couture is absurd, impractical, ridiculous, and ultimately ugly? When we look at other highly trained members of society, e.g. scientists, engineers, athletes, etc., we easily recognize their expertise. Why do we (at least some of us) not do so when it comes to fashion designers?
Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for this question. My best theory is that many fashion designers want to be seen as avante garde artists. To design something that actually looks nice would be too dull, too gauche and too bourgeois. I think you sometimes see odd-looking models for the same reason.
I should point out that this stereotype isn't universal. That is, though the stereotype undoubtedly exists with a significant portion of the general public, I'm sure those same people would have a favourable opinion of most well known glamorous European labels such as Gucci, LV, Valentino, etc.
I think this stereotype is unfortunate and turns off a lot of people to the fashion world, especially men. It is for this reason why in part, I usually write up a "worst of" post highlighting the most absurd elements from the runway.
Mariya and I were invited to Phillip Sparks' headquarters in Toronto at the historical Burroughes building. We enjoyed the show very much and especially the opportunity to photograph the stationary models ourselves.
The full collection can be viewed at the Phillip Sparks' blog.
Highlights definitely included the leather shoes.
