The brands are spreading themselves thin. They cannot take any risk anymore. They focus on the small things, primarily the leather goods since they are easier to sell, and their employees are sick of this style of work. So fashion takes a step back and becomes the accessory to the accessories. | | | | | Shephard Fairey for Saks Fifth Avenue, NYC, 2009. (Vernaccia/Flickr) | | | | | | “The brands are spreading themselves thin. They cannot take any risk anymore. They focus on the small things, primarily the leather goods since they are easier to sell, and their employees are sick of this style of work. So fashion takes a step back and becomes the accessory to the accessories.”
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| | rantnrave:// Some excellent commentary on the politics of fashion today. Trend forecaster LI EDELKOORT says fashion can be political “when clothes become uniforms.” We can think about fashion's politics in a symbolic sense, such as when international leaders wear traditional dress as a mark of diplomacy. Twenty-one world leaders recently wore Peruvian alpaca scarves at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in LIMA, PERU. That's a whole lotta alpaca. For further reinforcement of the concept, here's a slideshow of past APEC summit looks. And here's a meme...VANESSA FRIEDMAN considers what influence designers have—and the choice they have to make—in dressing political figures, in this case, the US president-elect and incoming first lady... There’s also the power dynamics at play in how fashion is made, as low-cost apparel manufacturing jumps from one developing economy to another. A little over a century ago, those low-cost wages were in places such as lower MANHATTAN… ROBIN GIVHAN asks, with brands like PATAGONIA, is it even possible to make a stand without being political? Did the brand's creative directors ever imagine it would come to be identified as the new uniform of SILICON VALLEY venture capitalists? These are the kinds of questions that make sartorial choice fun and interesting… What about the politics of digital fashion? From communities on TUMBLR to bloggers to fashion forums, these groups exercise power in speed and numbers. There's also the issue of #thedata! Who owns it? Who should own it?… If culture is a battlefield, will you wear your colors on your sleeve or shrink into oversized goose-down layers as a form of protection from it all? With this collection you can wear CHEETOS without it being an unintentional smear of orange cheese powder… In the tropical heat of some remote island, would you rather wear a full-length latex hoodie, or thigh-high latex boots? Make a choice with this cheeky game of "would you rather?" courtesy of LOVE magazine. Thanks to the spring 2017 collections from BALENCIAGA and YEEZY, we have both options. | | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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| Patagonia directs sales to environmental causes. A designer vows not to dress the first lady. And the Trump boycotts begin. | | |
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| Is fashion dead? Lidewij Edelkoort tells DW why greed is eating away at fashion - and how technology can secure its future. She also explains how the rise of the right-wing in Europe and the US will change how we dress. | | |
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| R. J. Hernández's passion for fashion knew no bounds, but then he got a job in the business-and with that, an unsentimental education. | | |
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| Some designers have announced their disdain, and a website plans a new approach. | | |
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| How the musician, fashion designer, and artist plans to make the world a better place. | | |
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| A selection of art and fashion experts, including Lou Stoppard, Philippe Garner, Oriole Cullen, Stephen Jones and Joseph Bennett, discuss 'Fashion Beyond the Body' as part of Art and Fashion Forum by Grażyna Kulczyk in Poznan, Poland. | | |
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| The designer talks about the future of 3.1 Phillip Lim, industry challenges, and why he’s focusing on footwear. | | |
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| Madame Paulette is legendary in New York, and you might recognize its owner from TV. | | |
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| With an Instagram archiving everything from Gucci ashtrays to Dr. Dre tees, @procell is this week’s must follow. | | |
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| Roitfeld’s "CR Fashion Book" has inked a new digital partnership with Hearst and enlisted PubWorX to execute print production and distribution. | | |
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| Wearables are a frontier for both technology and policy. | | |
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| Google has significantly rethought its approach to hardware with the new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, devices designed and created by Google itself. It’s also rethinking how it sells devices, with the new Google Shop. | | |
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| FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Mike Rodrigues, who owns Swan Dyeing and Printing, remembers a time during his youth when sprawling textile mills dotted the New England landscape. They provided employment for people like his parents and thousands living in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. | | |
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| An exhibition in Mumbai focused on the historic labels which became collectibles only because of the religious iconography on them. | | |
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| In the first of a three-part series about denim brands changing the way jeans are made, we interview Story mfg, a fashion-forward slow denim brand mixing ancient techniques with contemporary aesthetics. | | |
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| Charlie Porter interviewed acclaimed artist Cao Fei over tea at the Serpentine Gallery in London. The two talk about her infamous photographs, those fictional films and why Cao's children are so important to her. | | |
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| The very public October 2014 announcement that John Galliano would take the helm of Maison Margiela was one of the few times that Martin Margiela, himself, made headlines in recent years. And even then, of Galliano's appointment, Mr. Margiela simply told sources that he "approved." | | |
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| His label Visvim is beloved by tastemakers, and the founder is a style icon in his own right. | | |
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| University of Massachusetts Lowell |
| Textiles%20Help%20Teach%20STEM%20Concepts%20%7C%20UMass%20Lowell | | |
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| We unravel the story, and woman, behind forte_forte, an Italian brand whose heritage is firmly rooted in knitwear expertise. | | |
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