I’m intrigued by designers that go deeper and go almost to the level of the atom, where we’re co-creating with data. I’m thinking about materiality and assembly, where products are moving more harmoniously, more symbiotically on your body so that it’s almost like a secondary skin. | | | | Monks wait to collect boiling milk for devotees participating in a prayer attended by The Dalai Lama during the Kalachakra. Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Jan. 4, 2017.
(Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I’m intrigued by designers that go deeper and go almost to the level of the atom, where we’re co-creating with data. I’m thinking about materiality and assembly, where products are moving more harmoniously, more symbiotically on your body so that it’s almost like a secondary skin.”
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| | rantnrave:// Shopping in the year of our universe, 2017. It's all a global database to sift through, and with aggregators like LYST and SHOPSTYLE, it's no wonder so much of fashion merch operates like a slowly traded commodity. There's real-time price discovery, discount notifications, and in-season merch popping up on THEREALREAL with a fair amount of frequency. EBAY has always been the place to randomly find pieces from ALEXANDER (LEE) MCQUEEN's final collection next to vintage PATAGONIA next to a stunning array of GARFIELD merch. I love eBay. It has its limitations. I enjoy the quirks. The company has cultural roots, with connoisseurs of amazing variety flocking to the site to swap and trade. It hasn't been great at capitalizing on the folkloric, enthusiast aspects of its history. The 22-year-old company announced an authentication service Monday, and it gives me the opportunity to re-up WILLIAM GIBSON's wonderful essay about online bidding circa 1999. What will the future hold for the beloved auction site? CHAVIE LIEBER looks at how eBay has fared, from its early days going up against upstarts (like this quaint site called AMAZON.COM) to today, where a fresh crop of companies is segmenting resale into a gold rush space. Go surfing... I'd be remiss not to highlight these profiles on AZZEDINE ALAÏA and DRIES VAN NOTEN. The two designers are among the most highly respected living practitioners today, and they have legions of loyal fans and sales to match. Their stories reveal how fashion, at its best, can simply be about enjoyment: the elevation of creativity, craft, and dedication to design as a lifelong pursuit... DONNA KARAN says she regrets comments she made regarding HARVEY WEINSTEIN. She may not have realized the gravity of her words; she may not have been fully aware of what was going on; she was clearly lacking sound judgment about the situation. Yet she said it—to a reporter. BRIDGET FOLEY doesn't let Karan off too easily, and no doubt there are lessons to be learned here about victim blaming, public shaming, and media training. Who hasn't been in a situation where one wishes there was a reality-rewind button? Karan should apologize. She did. Now let's move on to breaking the patterns of behavior that allow these abuses to go unchecked for decades... NORDSTROM's plans for going private are on hold... Shoutout to RICHIE SIEGEL for sharing the news that LOOSE THREADS INTEL's latest in-depth report is dropping today. The company's reports are backed by extensive research and refreshingly void of conventional wisdom. More on this tomorrow... PARSONS alum JI WON CHOI is one of the most promising designers coming out of NYC. You guessed it, she's using her creative output to promote sustainability. Would you imagine her stunning collections are sustainable at first glance? Not necessarily. Someday, "eco-fashion" may no longer need the prefix—or the justification—after all. | | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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| For decades, the Belgian designer has created sumptuous fashion for thinking women. In an age of tattered luxury, he has also come to stand for independence. | | |
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| Azzedine Alaïa is a diminutive Tunisian man habitually dressed in black cotton pyjamas, with a wide grin and a shock of black hair. He is also the greatest fashion designer in the world. Fashion designer isn’t really the right term -- it should be couturier, because Alaïa both creates haute couture and works on even his ready-to-wear clothes in a couture manner. | | |
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| The online shopping giant has the user base, but lacks relevancy. | | |
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| John Hoke invited us into his office in Portland, Ore., where he talked about his dyslexia, his doodling and some weird shoes that inspire him. | | |
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| Several East African nations have curbed used clothing imports from the US to support the growth of the local industry, but the move could come at a cost. | | |
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| There's been a lot of speculation about where fashion is headed, in terms of sustainability and diminishing waste. Plenty of eco-friendly brands have popped up over the years, but all they've really done is scare high-end designers into using more and more fur-because, let's be honest, no hype machine has ever gone crazy over anything beige. | | |
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| Uniformity may be the rule, but there are signs that personal expression has not been entirely crushed. | | |
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| "I think that role that I've played has kept the narrative of this struggle," said the two-time Oscar nominee. | | |
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| Denim is the fabric of American influence. How do designers use it to explore American values on the runway? | | |
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| Young Chinese designers filled the catwalks with gender-neutral styles, sporty futurism, ruffles and ruches at the nation’s biggest fashion week. | | |
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| One got in trouble for wearing Yeezys. | | |
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| Call them clunky, chunky, or flat out frumpy, intentionally unattractive kicks have taken over men’s fashion. | | |
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| Amidst our contemporary technopolis, Ziggy Chen mans a remarkable bastion of quiet creation. Inside, we find a driven man, polite, sincere, outspoken, with a sense of truthful purity. Ziggy walks at his own pace, opens the doors he likes and follows his instinct. | | |
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| In her sapphire-blue trouser suit and platform sandals, Marie-Claire Daveu doesn’t look like your generic eco-warrior. | | |
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| The "Vogue" editor has transformed publishing, fashion and culture with energy and style. | | |
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| Eva Chen on how Instagram has created "a new level of transparency and expectation.” | | |
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| "In Saudi Arabia, a kingdom where postal codes are rarely used, most people pay in cash, and shopping is done in giant air-conditioned malls, building an online retail business is no easy task," per Reuters. And yet, the e-commerce sector in the United Arab Emirates has been rapidly growing, | | |
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| One of fashion's most intriguing figures talks about starting over without forgetting the past. | | |
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| Tyler Haney has a motto: "Doing Things." And it's how this runner kept going, despite the setbacks. | | |
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| After almost nine years in business, Rent the Runway is getting one step closer to making a rented wardrobe realistic for more women. Today, it's expanding its unlimited subscription option to include four rental items, up from three, with inventory from 500 different brands. | | |
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| © Copyright 2017, The REDEF Group |
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