The laws of fashion

If you are serious about fashion, there are a few ground rules to follow. Never wear white after Labour Day (only for pusillanimous Americans), never be seen wearing the same outfit day after day, don't wear Stella McCartney unless you're a size 8, don't wear daytime glitter, do wear daytime glitter. The rules are endless, often confusing and sometimes conflicting. Yet there is one rule we all fear breaking: being caught wearing a trend that is on its way out.

According to fashion journalist Marilyn Kirschner pins and brooches are the latest trend to suffer this fate. And just when we had cottoned on to their trendiness! Although Kirschner condones the wearing of pins and brooches with a gallant "it all goes back to this: if you like pins- go ahead- wear and enjoy them", she is quick to proclaim their datedness. Her prediction for the next hot accessory is beads. Whether vintage, plastic, real, wood or bakelite, beads are on the agenda for the coming season. The December issue of American Elle features actress Nathalie Portman on its cover wearing vintage chunky Missoni beads around her neck. The look is fresh, young and colourful and works well in any setting, be it on a beach like in the Elle shoot, or as an accessory to brighten up a sombre winters day. So leave the brooches to your grandmother and invest in a couple of beads - if you don't want to risk following far behind the trends, that is.

For us mere mortals who are confined by our bank accounts to commit another crime of fashion - repeating outfits - Kirschner offers some solace. Socialite and former Vogue editor Helen Lee Schifter was recently caught wearing the same Proenza Schouler bustier three times in a row. Shock, horror! The fashionista delighted Kirschner with her simple response to the question "why". She loves the item so much, she wants to wear it as much as possible. And coming from someone in the know, this explanation is as acceptable as they come. According to Kirschner, this freedom to wear what you want, when and how often you want comes as a breath of fresh air and she applauds a woman's right to chose her own outfits. So, now it is time to chose yours.

Check out eBay or your neighbourhood vintage shop for beads and don't worry about wearing them day in day out till the next hot thing comes along.

15 November 2004

Pop culture's fashion icons

The fashion market is catching onto a new trend. Although the term "new" is debatable. Pop culture's up-and-coming stars are selling fashion better than any supermodel ever could. Popular shows and teen movies are featuring hot young things sporting looks that appear to be lighting a flame inside the bellies of many teen fashion wannabes.

The MTV reality hit "Newlyweds", starring clean-cut Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, has catapulted Simpson to star-status and fashion icon. Every item of clothing she wears is scrutinized and copied. Particularly the luxurious crocheted wrap worn by Simpson repeatedly throughout the show, has spawned an enormous trend. The wrap, which was created by Argentinean designer Cecilia de Bucourt, has become one of the most widely copied items of this season and the designer is suddenly inundated with orders. It is therefore no wonder that Simpson was recently appointed spokeswoman for Tommy Jeans.

Tommy Hilfiger is always quick to cotton on to the latest trend, and therefore continues to appeal to the younger generation. His latest perfume campaign, "True Star" with Beyonce is a tribute is his branding savvy.

Dooney & Bourke, the bag retailer, recently teamed up with teen movie star, Lindsay Lohan, for its autumn/winter 2004 ad campaign. Lohan replaced Mischa Barton, another iconic teen actress and star of the hit show The O.C. According to designer Peter Dooney, Lohan was chosen to represent the youthful spirit of the new collection. And no doubt to attract a more youthful public that has assumed increased purchasing power. As a survey that was held earlier this year by US market research firm, Teenage Research Unlimited, has shown, teen girls prefer shopping to almost every other activity. They have therefore become an exceedingly important target group for the fashion industry.

3 November 2004

Look like a fashion icon

If you dream of looking like your fashion idol, look no further than the site net-a-porter.com. For all the looks from the catwalks and the front row at the fashion shows, a simple click of the button will allow you to adopt the same looks. All you have to do is click on your choice of bag, shoe or outfit and within hours the item will be delivered to you.

www.net-a-porter.com
2 November 2004

Fashion And Fantasy

The motto of haute couture has always been one of freedom, fantasy and beauty. A world where handmade dresses of fine silk are embellished with jewels, where an exquisite corsage will take hours to make, where exotic muses guide designers' hands.

Haute couture is an area of fashion where designers - unfettered by practicality or price - find their most flamboyant expression. For John Galliano at Dior, that meant a vision of Sissi, empress Elizabeth of Austria, in jewel-coloured, corseted mermaid gowns and lavish embroideries; for Jean Paul Gaultier; swaggering musketeers in draped chiffon and sequined capes. Fashion is intimately entwined with fantasy, whether it's a bejewelled shoe or a couture gown. Long live their imagination.

10 October 2004

Fashion Plays Dress-Up

Bare midriffs, utility trousers and wife beater vests are officially last season. The public are rebelling against the tyranny of cool to enjoy the fine art of dressing up. Grown-up, proper and polished or elegant chic, is the new fashion movement in full flow. The seeds were planted some time back as men adopted tailored jackets with jeans and women fell head over heels with little tweed lady jackets and round-toed shoes.

For autumn/winter, the 'proper' movement is in evidence everywhere with numerous designers world wide cottoning onto a popular desire for a more elegant and put together style. You could tell things were shifting when those arch-ironists Dolce & Gabbana sent out models in floral print pussycat bow blouses and mincy pencil skirts wrapped with strings of pearls.

Marni, usually a Mecca for Bohos, delivered sober tweeds and slipper satin skirts in shades of blue and stone with little cropped jackets hung with that ladylike essential; brooches and fur tippets. The pussycat bow blouse and pencil skirt - once favourite of your high-school librarian - looks like the quintessential outfit for the new season with numerous versions featured at Moschino, Chloé and Giles Deacon.

Men are dressing up too, with a new repertoire of pieces to play with. Smart suits and shirts, trench and city coats and proper shoes from the likes of Dolce, YSL and Gucci are very in vogue. And rather than look so minimal and basic, there's a real interest in the trimmings. Corsages, tie pins - even cravats - all point to dandyish indulgence.

1 October 2004

British Fashion Contrasting Fortunes

Contrasting fortunes in the high street were highlighted yesterday as clothing retailer Austin Reed informed the market with a profit warning, while fashion house Burberry said first-quarter trading had seen good sales. The different performances also had management implications, with Burberry saying chief executive Rose Marie Bravo had extended her contract for two years.

However, David Lowbridge, managing director for Austin Reed's British retail arm including the troublesome Country Casuals brand, has carried the can for the profit warning, and will leave the company. Austin Reed's shares dropped 6p, or nearly 5 per cent, to 127.5p, as the group said it would make a first-half loss because of slowing sales at its Country Casuals range.

Nick Hollingworth, Austin Reed's chief executive, said: "Country Casuals was a particular look that appealed to a particular woman who liked dressing up. Those women still like dressing up, but as if they were 35 not 55 and we have not changed enough." Austin Reed forecast a loss before tax and exceptionals, of GBP2.5 million to GBP3m for the six months to 14 August. That compares with a profit of GBP1.1m in the same period last year. In the 23 weeks to 10 July, sales of Country Casuals, which account for half of Austin's Reed's turnover, were down 10 per cent on a same floorspace basis.

Meanwhile, Burberry, whose colourful new lines include a pink trench coat, ponchos and mini capes, said revenues for the three months to end-June rose 14 per cent at constant exchange rates to GBP111m, with retail sales pushing 15 per cent higher to GBP60m.

21 July 2004

Fashion For Thought

These days, keeping track of what's hot and current in fashion is not as easy as it once was. Not so long ago browsing store windows of directional fashion outlets or thumbing through the popular consumer magazines was enough for fashion insight, however diluted. Nowadays it's the off-the-trodden-path shops - such as Martin Margiela's store - that are setting the trends just as much as fashion and challenging magazines such as Frank and Strippedbare.

On the publishing front, a new wave of cultural arts magazines has appeared and it's changing the underlying structure of the dialogue between fashion and art. Publications such as Berlin-based 032c, Strippedbare, and The Berliner, along with New York's Archis, and Milan's Boiler, have become required reading for multidisciplinary designers such as Hedi Slimane and Helmut Lang. Picking up where magazines like Purple started a few years back, these journals delve into heady discussions about the uncertainty of the interrelations between commerce, art, fashion, literature, and technology, while uncovering a wealth of ideas and creative possibilities.

Each challenges established notions of readers' definitions of beauty, form, and prose with a visceral intensity that provokes us to distort and re-evaluate our visions for the future. In contrast to the prettied-up images of conventional publications, these magazines create a new architecture of language (in both text and image) which shows the current landscape to be bleak and apocalyptic.
Voices of dissent declare war against topics such as the obvious, perception, solitude, ignorance, and of course, the status quo. With a roster of contributors that reads like a veritable who's who of fashion, art, and contemporary lit, we are, without question, witnessing a revolution in how the creative world will convey ideas to its audience.

21 June 2004

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