Fashion 2008 [The ZOO]
Fashion :: Close the Door
The Fifties conjures up images of June Cleaver, women declaring freedom by way of dishwasher, and postwar economic constraints affecting fashion by making it extraordinarily uniform through the burgeoning mass marketed ready-to-wear industry. At least that’s what the Fifties look like in the photographs. Had an odd thing happened after the Liberation? Women were able to drive their own cars, and had the right to vote… but most of the fairer sex chose to ‘wear clothes that bore nostalgic echoes of the Belle Epoque.’ Women were granted choice and a lot of them chose Gone With The Wind. more...
Fashion :: Cake or Death?
A Google search for "fashion" returns over 398,000,000 links to a variety of sites offering hard news, blogs, photo/video features and retail shopping options. Independent voices now have the means to distribute their own philosophies, preferences and opinions. Glossy print publications remain highly influential, but they are no longer the sole arbiters of style. 'The web is the most fashionable thing out there,' says Senior Fashion Reporter for ZOOZOOM, Xenia Viray. She adds, 'I don't know anybody... who... doesn't find half of the information they talk to their friends about that day from the internet. And that's exactly what fashion is about. It's about drumming up buzz. It's about doing it quickly and it's about making people want more. And the web is the perfect place for fashion.'
Can fashion shift from dictator to facilitator? more...
Fashion :: The Woman in the Window
Bettie Page was a mix of the girl next door and the object of sexual desire; and while that fifties notion is appealing, it comes with a lot of campy baggage. To take the coy sex appeal of the Page era out of its 'Beach Blanket Bingo' context, throw in other notions. Intellectualize the sex pot.. more...
Fashion :: Tony Duquette, for the Sake of Decadence
Tony Duquette is an American design icon. After studying design at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Yale School of the Theatre, Duquette was hired to create 'special environments' for the latest fashions. Discovered by Lady Mendl (who later made Duquette a receptor of her patronage), and hired to costume and design sets for Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Duquette's career has been recognized by great social and artistic institutions including the Louvre, which honored Duquette by choosing him as the subject of its first one man show. more...
Fashion :: The Will of the Dreamer, La Sylphide and Pierrot
The imagery of ballet has long been intertwined with fashion in its use of elaborate costumes. Because of its portrayal of women as swan-like, graceful, and light it's easy to see why designers have been beckoned into its imaginative environment of point shoes and tulle for inspiration. more...
Fashion :: Scenes From A Marriage
Ingmar Bergman has been recognized as the world's greatest director by his peers, among them Kusturica, Lynch, Coen and Coppola. His Academy award-winning pictures and prolific body of work including 62 films and over 170 plays were known for their existential questions, romantic despair and provocative eroticism, and Bergman's personal life was equally complex. The death of the artist in July 2007 prompted many to look at his influence on other filmmakers as well as other art forms. Bergman wrote the screenplays for many of his films, and although they were carefully structured, there were elements of improvisation from the actors increasingly in the latter part of Bergman's career. more...
Fashion :: Ashley Dearborn
Ashley Dearborn's path to becoming a shoe designer has taken many twists and turns. Born and raised in Los Angeles she obtained a BFA majoring in photography from Cornell University, NYC in 1996. Immediately after graduating she was offered a job in Portland, Oregon with sports giant Nike, helping to edit their NBA commercials; a job which was to last only 7 weeks. After just one night school semester at Parson's, NYC studying small business and shoe engineering, Ashley decided to strike out on her own in 2001. For the next two years she tirelessly applied herself to getting her own business off the ground. She sourced funding, she incorporated and worked as a manager/accessories buyer for designer Tracy Feith. In the process she garnered an invaluable grasp of fashion market trends and a taste for what sells. more...
Fashion :: Urban Essence
It takes a certain amount of creative license to create memories of the city. In tribute to each of our unique experiences, Urban Essence is a distillation of what we see, and the subversive but chic style that defines those who choose to brave metropolitan existence. The way we experience the city is rarely linear. Our eyes may dart from a telephone line down to a stranger sitting at a bus station. But once our memories absorb the arpeggio of happenings, we take all the disparate elements and synthesize our own impressions of urban scenery. The same synthesis occurs when we create our own style. more...
Fashion :: 'Scuse Me While I kiss the Sky
Enjoy the wonder of spring fashions flowing linens, billowing chiffon and sheer layers in your own isolated windy city. Whether you're watching moments of uncanny chaos or the strange way the city grid eventually finds its own fluid motion, there's no better place to sit and have a think (or an afternoon drink.) more...
Fashion :: Roberto Verino, A Retrospective
Roberto Verino is a Galician powerhouse of fashion, the mitochondria in the making of modern Spanish fashion history. It is no wonder, then, that the Spanish Ministry of Culture is hosting a 25 year retrospective exhibition at the Museo del Traje (Garment Museum), the first exhibition dedicated to a single designer, and on view in New York from March 3-10th at the Gabarron Foundation at the Carriage Center for the Arts. more...
Fashion :: Breed. Designer Profile
The Breed has been about utilitarianism since its birth. Under the creative wing of both Ling Chen (specializing in illustration at Parsons) and Mujadid Shah (having experience in the cashmere market), the collaborative creation of the line began in 2005 and continues in its various incarnations. more...
Fashion :: Need For Speed
French sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre called the automobile the 'epitome of possessions,' something comparable to a diamond necklace. The make and model of the latest sports car is virtually the same as Louis Vuitton insignia, and with the Birkin bag's prices and limited production transforming accessories into collector's items, the price gap between wheels and handbags is narrowing somewhat. more...
Fashion :: The Blue Angel
During the Jazz Age, European cafe society retreated onto darkened stages and cellars to be entertained in the cabaret style. Worn on the body of Marlene Dietrich (who witnessed the blossoming of the dark, gender-challenging culture of postwar Berlin's hedonism), the lingerie-inspired costuming of Jean Louis was later to chisel a place in fashion iconoclasm in both Europe and America. more...
Fashion :: Peter Soronen
You don't have to be a Fashion Editor to figure out that Peter Soronen's designs have their origin in corsetry. After making made-to-order evening and wedding gowns in Chicago and then New York City, Peter's collection made its runway debut in 2007, the thread through each of his garment evolutions being the aesthetic of Elizabethan Louis XIV, the Victorian era and the '50s (which are all eras when the corset was visible in outerwear.) He made the jump from runway into Barney's fairly quickly with star power like Sarah Jessica Parker behind him. (Hey, if you're going to play the celeb game, it's good to have someone with personal style rather than that more...
Fashion :: Ruthie Davis
Ruthie Davis has been obsessed with shoes for as long as she can remember. Her mother likes to tell the story of when she took Ruthie to get her first pair of shoes, a pair of red patent leather mary-janes. When the sales lady tried to take them off her feet to put them back into the box she started wailing; her first public tantrum.
"There was no way those babies were coming off my feet. I wore them out of the store. Growing up, my father would say that I either needed to marry rich or get into the shoe business to support my shoe habit. I chose the latter." more...
Index [The ZOO]