Inspirations and Preoccupations

The result of stupid weather that can't make up its mind (scorching in the afternoon, rainy and cold all night), discovering the best adventure/fantasy series I've read since first discovering Harry Potter, being left little-toenailless by a freak accident with my doorstop, and being sleepless and almost 25. Also, somewhat underwhelmed by a lot of New York Fashion Week, and by pastels- though they might grow on me yet, and I rather like the braided hair that's been showing up all over the place.

Image credits: (clockwise from top, L-R) The Sartorialist. Jill Furmanovsky, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, Style.com, Corinne Day via foto_decadent, wikipedia. So-En magazine, fashionologie, Style.com, Audrey Kawasaki.

Spot The Resemblance, Yet Another Edition

Ann Demeulemeester SS07 Menswear
Screencap from Roswell , episode #1.0 (Pilot)

I suppose it'd be beyond bizarre to think that Ann Demeulemeester, of all people, decided to take inspiration from a long-extinct teen TV show about everyone's favourite silver-handprint-leaving aliens, but the thought was too funny to pass up. Besides, I watched Twilight a couple of weeks ago and honestly cannot see what the fuss is for- if anyone wants sensitive forbidden small-town teen love between a one-part-human, one-part-not-human couple that is absolutely impossible and all the more desired for that, it was done ten years ago, and better -Season 1 is still one of the best things I've watched on TV, ever*.

And as for Cedric Diggory (I cannot think of Rob Pattinson as any character but that, blame my Harry Potter addiction), if anyone has got this far down the post you should definitely watch the video pitting Edward Cullen against another of my 90s/early 00s TV loves- it's brilliantly put together and funny too.

*admittedly, Season 2 went a bit haywire with all the alien stuff- I couldn't bring myself to like it as much, until the end. But it was still Roswell, and I still loved it for that.

picture credits: nymag.com (Ann D.) and crashdown.com (for the screencap)

Ad Campaigns AW09/10: BURBERRY

(c) Burberry/Testino. For bigger pictures, click here.

Given that I was actually not looking forward to the rumoured idea of Chanel ads featuring Emma Watson a while ago*, the above shots of the Burberry AW09/10 campaign featuring, in what's probably become classic Burberry format, that very same young lady decked out in trenchcoats and bags by the Thames, came as a bit of a relief. I can't help thinking she's really a much better fit for Burberry than she'd have been for Chanel- Young London seems like a good thing for her to represent, methinks, if she really has to model (Young Posh London, seems like). And she looks much better here than in a pile of other magazine shoots in couture clothes- more herself, maybe, as opposed to Hermione Granger dressing up - I adore Hermione, but I think outside of the movies, it's nicer to see Emma. And the pictures have a nice London-in-early-fall/winter vibe which I really like, notwithstanding the house checks, which I am no fan of. Besides, it's also probably good publicity for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which I'm rather excited about.

On a side note: I can't be the only blogger to have got this stuff in the inbox (and this is for a blog that went two months without being updated). I know more people got this- what do you guys think of getting all the PR emails and ad stuff? I honestly wasn't planning for this to be my first proper post in donkey's ages, but it just popped up and begged posting about, given that I whinged about the prospect earlier.

*Just to clarify, I think she's lovely. Just maybe a little young and doesn't seem sophisticated enough for a Chanel ad yet.
And if anyone wonders at the teeny-tiny size on the pictures, the email containing them all but ordered all manner of copyright acknowledgements (which I'm happy to give), and the squitty resolution. Fair enough, I guess.

One of those notes I hate leaving..

If anyone is still reading this, posting will resume in ten days. It's been hard of late, given that all my free time seems to have disappeared into a black hole and nearly all the fashion-related news I've been reading is bad (i-D- i-D- going bimonthly instead of monthly, Veronique Braqinho- whose clothes I always dreamed of owning once I started earning a salary I'm now increasingly doubting I'll ever get to- thank you, recession- is closing down, and doom and gloom prevails). But The Force remains with me, and this blog will restart posting fashion-related things soon, instead of silly notes like this one.

Steampunked Up

I can't pinpoint when exactly I developed a soft corner for steampunk (the why, however, is easier to figure out: apart from the obvious aesthetic merits, it was introduced to me by someone I'm really fond of). At a time when anything futuristic was generally imagined as clean lines and pale colours in the vein of the average modern Apple product, I rather liked the throwback feel to it and the slightly rougher, less sanitised look all the gadgets had. It was just a pity I had no idea where to get to see things looking like that in real life, and even less of a chance to acquire them.

Which is why it came as quite the surprise when, on flipping through old articles on Pingmag (my favourite online magazine, and now a victim of the recession- RIP), I found a feature on Haruo Suekichi, real-life maker of steampunk-style timepieces, whose watches are not only beautiful and unique, but innovative too- I bet not too many other watchmakers make watches that don't need two hands to strap on. And even if I can't buy them, I do appreciate the fact that they fulfil the one condition any watch MUST fulfil in order to be loved by me- large faces! It's a wonderful lot to lech at, even if they're not sold outside Japan..pics are above and below.

pics from pingmag.jp and chiefmag.com

In Which I Vociferously Object To Internet Snobs

It isn't exactly breaking news to anyone who's been to Chictopia in the last couple of days, but I was really rather kicked to know that three of the site's users (Karla, Melissa and Linda) had been picked to feature in an American Apparel campaign run in collaboration with Chictopia. I'm not a regular user of the site, but there's no denying that a lot of the girls on it are really incredibly well-dressed, and (as with most personal/streetstyle sites out there) complimentary comments on the outfits invariably follow. And the fact that a lot of bloggers use it as a way to share outfit pictures makes it a fun site to browse- I haven't really see Go Fug Yourself-ish fashion criticism on anyone's pictures. And although American Apparel has more than its fair share of controversy (esp. regarding sexual harassment charges against CEO Dov Charney and their rather, erm, risqué adverts), there's nothing about the Chictopia-collaboration shoot- or what's been seen of it, anyway- that makes me think the images are exploitative, or otherwise suspect.

Which is why I was more than a little surprised to find this post on Jezebel- longtime anti-AA stanceholders, if I remember correctly- with the enlightening caption 'American Apparel Now Sponsoring Bloggers And Porn Stars'. Turns out the 'porn stars' bit of the title referred to some ads run by AA in December, featuring three girls who actually were porn stars, in a rather more advanced state of undress/non-dress than the average American Apparel ad. And I'm not even going into the whole objectification-of-women argument in that particular part of the post, so I'll just (finally) cut to the chase and bang on about why that post irritates me so much.
Simply put, the answer is that it's bloody patronising. Please do tell me if you could read the following lines any other way:

"Chictopia, a fashion social networking site whose genius idea is that users can upload pictures of their outfits for other users to comment on so everyone can feel comfortably supported in her precious online fashion-maven status"

"Chictopia is one of those places where the internet telescopes and distends to the extent that being on Chictopia for other people to comment on and rate becomes prima facie evidence of supposed fashion expertise, which supposed fashion expertise becomes a reason to be on Chictopia for other people to comment on and rate. "

"The entire vain and mindless feedback loop was aptly (though unwittingly) summed up by Mashable, which noted newly minted American Apparel model, Chictopia girl Karla "is a beautiful stylista actively pursuing her passion via Chictopia and creative expression on her own blog." Actively pursuing, people!" "And just as blogging and uploading self-taken pics of your original hipster creations is an ersatz kind of fashion activity.."

"It's unethical to paint this experience as some kind of entrée into fashion modeling. It's just another chance to get your kit off for Dov Charney, only now to even do that, you're expected to be an internet Somebody who can write a gushy post about it."

I suppose the writer really intended to call out American Apparel for exploiting women in its ads (and I can see her point there), but the wording of everything I've placed in italics is just IMO horrible, snobbish and when taken in conjunction with the title, misleading to boot- the post was illustrated with two sets of NSFW photographs of the AA ads featuring porn stars, with no images of the Chictopia shoot- so anyone reading the post could probably assume all the images were like that, if they wanted to. And outfit photo sharing is nothing new- TFS, MyStyleDiary, Modepass and a whole range of sites including personal fashion blogs have long been places for people to do exactly that.

But what really surprised me was the snarking about the Chictopia participants themselves- none of whom were directly quoted (even if someone else's gushy post about Karla was used as evidence that Karla needs to be snarked about, too). That, and the bitchiness about Internet outfit-sharers. Apparently our vain, mindless feedback-loop-stuck wannabe hipster fashion-maven selves (wow, we wear a lot of hats don't we? though I must admit, I'm no outfit sharer) haven't any business engaging in 'ersatz fashion activity', and somehow active pursuit of one's interests via a blog isn't really active pursuit, or any kind of creative expression, at all. By the time I got to the middle of the post (which is where the last line quoted came from), I was wondering just why the writer sounded so bitter- and then I scrolled up and discovered that it was Tatiana, The Anonymous Model, Jezebel's (it's self-explanatory, really) anonymous contributor who is in fact a real-life fashion model.

To be honest, it makes a whole pile of sense that someone who is a professional model would feel annoyed that a bunch of regular girls with nothing more than their cameras and computers, are doing something that resembles her job (posing and making clothes look good) and doing it well enough for a large clothing company to sit up and take notice. Sure, maybe no one's getting a modelling career out of this, as Tatiana pointed out, but it's well and truly possible that no one even assumed that this was going to lead to anything of the sort. And IMO it's rather blindingly obvious that the 'ersatz fashion activity' Tatiana seems to hold in such contempt is intended to stand- at least, so the article seems to imply in direct contrast to Tatiana's own- more legitimate, by inference, given her professional status- 'genuine' fashion activity, the kind girls with cameras don't (and shouldn't, is the feeling coming off this) get to engage in.

I'm all for questioning suspect professional ethics and the objectification of women, and sexual harassment in the workplace is not cool AT ALL. But frankly, Tatiana's post on Jezebel seems to direct more bile at Chictopia and at the bloggers from there who participated in the campaign, than at the murky workings of American Apparel- and I don't buy the bullshit that any of it was somehow cool, or feminist in any way. I've enjoyed many of Tatiana's behind-the-scenes accounts of what it's like to be a model and a girl working in fashion, but this time, really, shame on her, and shame on Jezebel.


picture from Chictopia

Hoods Up

I've always been a big fan of hoods on clothes, and living in a place with next to nothing by way of a proper winter tends not to be a good thing if one is fonder of wearing winter clothes than summer clothes. Hoods have had a bit of a bad name in recent years thanks to their sweatshirt avatars (which I love anyway, so-called chav/other associations notwithstanding), but a slightly structured hood is, IMO, one of the coolest ways to add drama to an outfit while simultaneously letting it be practical. In fact, no one puts it better than Dreamecho, who once said, in response to my drooling over the lovely Prairie Underground hooded jacket she'd showcased on her blog:

"The drama of the hood...where at one moment we can cloak our faces in shadow and at another be visible to all the world."
That pretty much sums it all up, really- it's odd that a simple attachment to a garment has so much potential to look austere (I keep thinking of monks) and relaxed at the same time. And I suspect this dichotomy is what keeps my fascination with hoods going (that and the fact that they saved my ears from freezing off through five successive North Indian winters), and it's unlikely to stop any time soon. Spring might be not too far away, but large chunks of the Northern hemisphere are still cold, and sometimes hats are just too much of a pain to take on and off.
And now, in pictures:

Needs no explanation, really: probably the first character one thinks of when thinking of the word 'hood'.

Though I bet Queen Michelle could kick a wolf's ass: the hood might not have been the main focus of her outfit here, but I do prefer her version of the look for its lack of 'scared little girl' vibe.

Hoods are whimsical, cutely worn, and above all, they look warm.

And dramatic, too (L: by Michelle Lowe-holder, R: by Prairie Underground)

And who says they're for girls/winter only?(Yoshio Kubo SS09)

pictures from: (1: elfwoordart, 2: Kingdom of Style, 3:The Facehunter, 4: pic from Michelle Lowe-Holder via Bored&Beautiful, pic from Prairie Underground via dreamecho, 5: pic from The Imagist).