Thursday, August 27, 2009
Chiffon coats the future?
No matter which way I look at it, summer has always been my favourite season. Don't get me wrong, I love warm drinks, romantic coats, leather gloves, thick stockings, warm duvets and snowmen. But theres nothing like chiffon dresses, denim shorts, bikinis, the ocean, cuddeling on a rainy summers day..... cocktails at Aardklop....Aaahhh
But what will it be like to have summer all year around? On shoppingblog.com they say that apparently Target and Kohl's have brought in temperature experts to help them forecast their seasonal sales and collections. I would have called them over achievers if they were in my class in school, but still, it seems like retailers are starting to take the idea of climate change very serious. It is said that the climate change has already brought down sales in boots and coats in the last two years and that heavy fabrics aren't selling as well as it used to. Personally I'm not going to cry too many tears about the heavy fabric issue, three kilogram coats have never been my thing...it always seems to bring me down, you know? Hehe.....
In october of 2007 on shoppingblog.com it was said that the new trend in collections these days are "transeasonal collections" for those of you who don't keep up with the daily slang in fashion...and yes, it changes daily...like the opinion of people on George Bush in America. Transeasonal has nothing to do with transvestites except for the fact that men might like it..... Its all about clothing being worn all through the year and fabrics being lighter and more adaptable to the season its worn. Except for the fact that designers will have to be very creative if they still want to show their garments four times a year when the fabrics are the same, its brings a challenge to those who doesn't like the whole layers like an onion thing (or like cake).
I have mixed feelings about this- my mother says that its bad taste to wear boots during summer and I really love my cowboy boots. It also takes me forever to tan and selftan is expensive and I look quite forward every year to the few months during winter when I don't have to worry about the freaky white colour of my legs. So I guess if mother nature wants to take votes, I'm all for the quatro-seasonal thing. Guess I'm taking my plastic bags in tomorrow for recycling. Can seqiuns be recycled??
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Being a fashionable survivor
The Diesel ad-campaign on global-warming has drawn a lot of attention from lovers and haters of the campaign. It seems that the world is no longer divided between white chocolate lovers and the normal yummy kind of chocolate (I am a very unbiased blogger), but divided between the Diesel ad-campaign lovers and the non-Diesel ad campaign lovers. If you are unfamiliar with the campaign, (the Diesel ad-campaign), here are some photos:
I can understand seeing New York underwater might not be seen as an exciting 10 year plan for the world to have at the moment, but it seems like its inevitable if we don't do something about it soon. But still, I think it makes a pretty picture and I wouldn't mind being the tanned lady in the "Underworld sequel" or the wanna-be Pringle lads in the Mediterranean Paris. I'm just worried about what I'll wear to these events, my closet doesn't seem to support fashionable sequinsed finned over jackets. And I have no idea where to find any. Maybe Mr Price should really up their game if they want to continue being known as supplying people with high fashion. We want fins on our clothing. Listen to the people!! (Though I might add, with a marketing strategy like theirs, I don't even know why I would even care)
How will climate change influence what we wear? Are we going to wear hats that can be transformed into umbrellas? Shoes that can be transformed into ski's? Dresses with protection against the sun? Who knows? All I'm saying is that I want sequins on mine please. Oo oo oo! And some fur! (fake of course)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Climate Change Couture
But what other consequences will climate change have on fashion? Will fashion be important when people are worried about not having any water the next day? Will what we wear underneath a coat matter if we are wearing the coat to prevent our fingers from freezing off? Somehow it seems like fashion will then be put in at the back of the cupboard along with Ipods and sequins (damn).
But before we get to that extreme, I would like to wear the haltered sunny dress and gladiators, and the white fur boots and the cute nineteen forties leather gloves and the black fur coat! (fake of course) Climate change must have some advantage, right?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
My shopping bags of today could still see my great great grand children!
Today when I went shopping for some much needed thickening spray for my flat and sad hair, the girl behind the counter asked me if I would like a bag (plastic) for my bottle of spray. I said "no thank you" and declared to her that I am a proud Greeny who tries to NOT buy plastic bags. The girl behind the counter looked kinda scared that I was going to break out in a dance rehearsal with matching moves about how we must save the world, and left as soon as I finished my sentence. This got me thinking: Are we living in a world, or at least in a country, where "being green" is just not "in"? We are all aware of the fact that "being green" is huge in Europe and America, but do South Africans agree with this lifestyle? Every time I buy a plastic bag, or get one for free, I just imagine how long it will take for the soil on our feet to digest those bags. A hundred years? Two hundred years? Where were the world at a hundred and fifty years ago? Cars were a new and exciting toy for men, women had no rights, there was no McDonalds, people still rode horses around town, technology wasn't even a WORD. Thats how long ago a hundred and fifty years ago is!
I think a shopping bag made from natural fibers feels nicer than plastic, its more comfortable to carry around and it can be a name brand. I think greeny friendly bags are in FASHION.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
My Jimmy Choo's as Camouflage
So there are a few imagines that come to mind when I imagine the end of the world as we know it. Images of me being the last person on earth like in the movie "I am Legend", or the whole world being covered in ice like in (the movie) "The day after tomorrow", and these images got me thinking. If I was the dude in "I am Legend", running away from freaky assed monsters and suspicious computerized-looking lions, what would I be wearing? And you know what jumped out at me from my closet? (No, not freaky looking monsters or suspicious computerized-looking lions) My ANIMAL PRINT leggings! What better opportunity for animal print apparel than the end of the world? Not that I'm saying that that's why animal print is so in this season....but hey! there could be link between the two. Maybe Roberto Cavalli was dreading the day the world would be made crisp by the sun (like in the movie Knowing) and be left the only person alive on mother earth (or on whatever freaky planet the aliens would place him if they should think he looks childlike enough and can breed the next human race in a place that looks suspiciously like The Garden of Eden). Maybe he was like "If I'm going to have to run away from really big lions (but is still able to run away from them, because we are The Humans and we can run away from the King of the Jungle with our SUPER evolved legs or fool them with our SUPER sidestepping skills, and all people in America think an African lion will reach you just above your knee in hight) I might need a fashionable piece of clothing that can be worn while hiding from the wild animals trying to eat me". That is if there are any life left on Earth and some alien hasn't come to destroy all life on earth because we are killing it and that would be the humane thing to do (hahaha) (like in the movie "The day the earth stood still"..... Is it just me, or are there plenty of movies made on this topic??
My point? I'm getting myself some nice clothes in animal print in case I have to grab it on my way out on the last day of Earth.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Black Coffee for President!
When I was dressing in my top and leggings this morning, a thoughts struck me. Firstly, I ended up putting on the same top that I promised myself last week I wouldn’t wear again, because one can only accessorize one top in so many different ways before someone notices that I’m wearing it like, every second day. But the thing is, I just REALLY love that top! But I do have some pride, and when I noticed the girl next to me in class was trying to get a sniff of the top so that she can report to rest of the class that yes, it is the same top as two days ago, I realized a change must be made. Now see, true love lasts a lifetime, and I LOVE this top. So I decided I’ll have to find a different way to wear this top, without anyone noticing that it was still the same freakin’ top, just in disguise under the rows of pearly accessories. So anyway, I was feeling very creative this particular morning (I call it my creative juices, but my boyfriend calls it my loony- lapses), and I decided to...wait for it!!...put my top on, UPSIDE DOWN. It looked really quite cute, actually. The final product was a cowl-necked top with a nice tight waist. It might be viewed as slightly SHORT and too small by some, but I use the word SEXY.
Anyway, the thought that struck me was that, if half of the world is going to be underwater soon, should we not be planning our wardrobes and making sure we are ready to escape our houses when the time comes? Already I have this image of myself dressed in a lovely princess coat with fur along the rims of the hoody, running dramatically through the night as the coat floats behind me in a white haze.... But the reality is that things might not be as romantic. We might get to keep the fur in the image, but the rest will have to go (see future post). The thing is, we might have to look into clothing that can be worn over and over, without ever actually LOOKING like we’re wearing the same thing twice. I mean, how many things can one grab when running for one’s life ( I like using “one”, it sounds professional)
The point is, designers like “Black Coffee” who design dresses that can be worn over and over again in different ways, by changing its actual look, might be the future. I just really hope someone thinks to design one of those with sequins, before the whole "Water World Thing" happens. I LOOOOOVEEEE sequins.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Fashion Fever on a planet who's temperature is rising
Now I sit here with a few questions of my own about this subject:
* How can we take anything seriously that people say who have fought to be the first people on the moon, just to check whether it is REALLY made out of cheese?-Which, by the way, it is....I think...? How do we know this is not all just a scam to keep us in order and on our toes, like the boeggers- (like-in nose goo) monster of my childhood?
* How can I take my life as a fashion student, serious, when the world is supposed to come to an end any second? Suddenly admiring Blair's cute pair of shoes in GossipGirl seems pretty ridiculous. I mean, is it not obvious that I should be thinking of planning furniture that can be folded into chairs like that of Chalayan?
*How do I get myself to care enough about this planet dying out when I'm not here anymore? How do I make a difference? I mean, I'm just a tiny person in a country seemingly so insignificant that I always stress that, when I have to choose the country from which I am, it might not be listed.
How do we take ourselves seriously if everything we attempt to achieve, might be useless, because it won't save this planet, and it won't be remembered if there's no one to remember it?