In Memoriam...

Guess the Musician

Courtesy of Moxy Creative, try to guess each male musician by his trademark ensemble. 
Answers at bottom (poster available for $30).

Cut Up Your Shoes, Win A Prize

Melissa is a Brazilian brand that's been creating recycled-plastic shoes for quite a while, overshadowed by other sweat/stink inducing brands like Crocs.  They've been on my radar since they moved beyond basic jelly flats and into the growing galaxy of designer collaboration...

Vivienne Westwood (mimicking her Anglomania ankle straps and peep toes)

Jean-Paul Gaultier (remarkably comfortable!)

The latest collaboration is with Gaetano Pesce, who has contributed this futuristic bootie:

The fun part?  The little circles can be snipped away to create a personalized design.  The company is even running a contest, rewarding the person who contributes the most unique visualization of a cutaway shoe on Facebook.

Body Chains

Not just for belly dancers anymore!  I was surprised to see these roll out alongside the heavy winter boots and chunky sweater since they really seem like more of a summertime accessory.  Nonetheless, body chains are here!  These dainty chains make a statement as loud as the biggest bibs or heaviest collars, so wear accordingly... best paired with modal T-shirts, soft tanks, and a well-heated office.  Why layer over these beauties?

Festoon your torso with the following:

Armor Jewelry $275

Bliss Lau $330

Bliss Lau $500

Ellen Arthur $215

'Surrounded' necklace by Brook&Lyn $285

'Surrounded Day' - agate, rope and leather. 
Check out the designer's site here.

Casablanca

Maria Bello in an undone tux look.

While I was unemployed I ran through the entire American Film Institute's Top 100 Movie list.  It was quite the UN-accomplishment.  Although, it felt good to finally see, in their entirety, those films that have become part of cultural zeitgeist and hear famous quotes as part of a greater dialogue.  I never knew what "Plastics" meant until I finally saw The Graduate.  And now, I can appreciate "the beginning of a beautiful friendship" in the full flower of it's context.

Casablanca  (1942) is so perspicuously beautiful, the moody film noir lighting especially (see above).  The costumes are simple and elegant, invoking the reality of unoccupied Africa without losing that Hollywood gleam.  Costumer Orry-Kelly won three Oscars for other films (Les Girls, Some Like It Hot, An American in Paris) and worked on countless other films over a thirty-year career.  When you watch classics like Irma La Deuce, The Maltese Falcon, 42nd Street, or Arsenic and Old Lace think of Orry-Kelly.

Orry-Kelly's official screen credit was often that of "Gowns", but he managed to make male leads like
Bogart, Stewart, and Grant look just as devastating as their female counterparts.
Then there was the time he had to make the male leads devastating AS females...



Orry-Kelly and Tony Curtis on the set of Some Like It Hot



Casablanca was based on a play, Everybody Comes to Rick's.  Several sell-traveled tales of the script sale involve it's comparison to the very successful film Algiers from a few years earlier.  It's often both ridiculed and lauded for the same reason - it is broad and easy to love.  The storyline and dialogue are corny (even by 1940's standards), the characters drawn and acted with wide strokes, and there is just enough tension to keep audiences entertained but not so much as to alienate anyone. 

It is romantic and appealing.

Hokum, but appealing.

This is why Casablanca lives on more Top Movies lists than any other title.  Yes, Citizen Kane (AFI's #1) is in many ways a superior effort, but it is far less lovable a film.  I quite like the Umberto Eco quote: "Two cliches make us laugh.  A hundred cliches move us".  Casablanca is such a series of stereotypes, made more powerful through simplicity. 

Casablanca.  Simple.  It epitomizes that Golden Hollywood era, all the sweeter for having passed.



 Pencey blazer ($498)

  
 



Vintage sewing patterns: sweetheart necklines, flounced peplums, bishop sleeves, etc...



Eugenia Kim fedora, almost as good as the real thing.



Vintage Yves Saint Laurent pencil skirt.  eBay seller: mintmallstore

Abaete 'Lilian' blazer ($298)



Vintage garbadine suit ($158) ebay seller: Violetville Vintage



Vintage 40s suit eBay seller: Mill Street Vintage

Vintage 40's dance pumps in navy satin and gold velvet.



For leather gloves with a vintage vibe, try: Portolano



The classic Burberry trench.

Is that a battery pack in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

When technology and fashion collide, it can be a poetic statement on the human condition:



Alexander McQueen: robots spray paint Shalom Harlow's dress,
in one of the most spectacular & ingenious runway finales ever.

 It can also produce malformed little bastards, so horrific and needless that they call into question the validity of all human progress.  Witness:

Why display your emotions on your stupid old face when you can write them on....
The 'Update Me Tee' by Fashion Geek.  Includes a mini dry-erase board to update your status a la Facebook.

Tired of getting a sore back while you wait in an 8-hour line to have
George Takei sign your Limited Edition BluRay at ComicCon?
TRY: C.P. Company's inflatable armchair coat!

The "M Dress" is a concept garment (release date: 2011) that allows the wearer to
answer the phone by simply raising her arm to her ear.  It will fit any standard SIM card. 
Sadly, any men who aren't up for crossdressing will just have to carry their cell phones around like total schmucks.

Now, The Social Network can take over your soul... AND your soles!
Shoe concept by Gerry McKay, sure to be snapped up soon by Adidas.  *shudder*

Technology + Fashion = ?????

For me, it's a not-so-fine line.  The good children of this marriage result from synergy of design; the function of the garment is enhanced, not overshadowed, by the addition of technological elements.  The redheaded stepchild is the crazy-ass novelty item that is neither useful nor beautiful. 
In other words: the invention of Goretex = good, the invention of glow-in-the-dark underwear = grody.

So, buy with caution.  It's bad enough when your laptop's on the fritz or your iPod breaks.  You don't want to have to call IT support to come fix your pants.

Here are some of the cuter current offerings: (Most are from ThinkGeek, which is a great site for nerdy gift giving.)




$100 rhodium and silver 2GB USB cuff links.



Voltaic Systems $249 Solar Backpack charges all your gadgets on the go.

$30 guitar T-shirt (comes with mini amp-shaped battery pack)
Also comes in kids' sizing and in 'Drum Kit' version.

'Wired' hoody from Rusty (about $40).
Best Part: built-in earphones that still allow the garment to be machine washed.

BONUS: light up Christmas sweaters, totally acceptable if worn to win Ugly Sweater Contest.

Worth A Thousand - my eyes... MY EYES!!!

In response to Tim Gunn's assertion that men can wear 'jeggings', Conan dons them for last night's monologue
proving Tim Gunn, TBS censors, and the laws of physics wrong.