He Said, She Said | Vol. I

"I get so confused. Everyone in Condé [Nast] dresses so fucking well...except the girls at Glamour."

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     Somewhere along the line, someone told you that chic is about being fashionable, about being trendy. And that is a boldfaced lie. When someone is chic, they are not fashionable, they resist the very notion of fashion. When someone is chic, they declare independence from the tyranny of fashion. What does fashion have to do with being chic? Fashion is our need for newness, for luster. But being chic is our need for constancy, for definition.

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TRANSFORM

I started out like this:
But a rush of customers, needing to put up a sign, dusting, and changing window displays meant I wound up like this:

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Bored and boring.

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As Told by Dior

     I snagged a copy of Christian Dior ... Man of the Century from the library and have been voraciously consuming it. Published in conjunction with the centenary of M. Dior in 2005, the book was a complement to the exhibit at the Dior Museum, housed in his original home in Granville. But this book is more than just a side dish to a museum exhibit, it also contains a copy of Je suis couterier, Dior's famous autobiography.

     More than anything else, I'm struck my Dior's sense of humility – there are pages upon pages of his thanks for his friends and business partners whom he obviously treasured – and his earnest desire to create something beautiful. His descriptions of his aesthetic dreams (women with waists like reeds, skirts blooming like flowers) showcase a mind obsessed with the perfection of form, the construction of beauty.

     I'd recommend anyone to check it out, but my searches online have yielded nothing (hence the lack of cover art or link to a bookstore), but if you ever get your hands on this, it's an absolute dream to just flip through; Bar Suit here, embroidered gown there, gorgeous sketch somewhere else. Long live, Dior!

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Animal skins have just been popping into my imagination and the Fates of Fashion have sent a couple lovely pieces to the forefront. This Natalia Brilli studded wristband ($310) is just the coolest execution of studs, one of the most played-out looks in recent memory; thanks, Hot Topic. Topman's LTD 100 series features designers from the London College of Fashion and Maria Sheremeteva made a fantastic drapey, one-size sheepskin coat ($757). The ragged edges and drapey construction just add such a great dimension to shearling outwerwear. This Rick Owens two-tone leather jacket ($2,365) was part of the surprisingly sporty Spring/Summer '08 collection and having seen it on plenty of people around town, I can say that I genuinely covet this piece. Oh for want of cooler weather to make such things reasonable.

Oh who am I kidding? Since when has that ever gotten in my way?

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~The principle aspect of my personality.~

Over-indulgence in my own interpretation of the universe.

~The quality that I desire in a man.~

An appreciation of the need for weakness.

~The quality that I desire in a woman.~

Zeal for independent thinking and living.

~What I appreciate most about my friends.~

Their patience.

~My main fault.~

My lack of understanding about my own impact on others.

~My favorite occupation.~

Exploring.

~My dream of happiness.~

A new city every year.

~What would be my greatest misfortune?~

Blindness. I would miss the sight of letters and the warmth of colors.

~What I should like to be.~

A man consulted for his opinions.

~The country where I should like to live.~

France, Hong Kong, or America. I need to be in a place that feels self-important.

~My favorite color.~

Grey.

~The flower that I like.~

The bud. I'm enamored less by the flower than by the promise of the flower.

~My favorite prose authors.~

The ones that make me believe they are more right than I am. The ones that make me doubt my interpretation of things. A few off the top of my head: Hesse, Woolf, Ishiguro.

~My favorite poets.~

Those unafraid to speak as they wish to be heard. Whitman, Pope, Eliot.

~My heroes in fictions.~

Batman. The repressed sexuality of it counts for a lot.

~My favorite heroines in fiction.~

Electra. I think she's a concept of feminine heroism that is completely foreign to my universe. And I can't help but be entranced by it.

~My favorite composers.~

Philip Glass, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and those guys who did the Safety Dance.

~My heroes in real life.~

My mother and father, for their courage in seeking a home on the other side of the globe.

~My heroines in history.~

Marie Curie.

~My favorite names.~

Malarcus. A butchered rendition more genius than the original.

~What I hate most of all.~

Willful ignorance.

~Historical figures that I despise the most.~

Traitors, although you don't see much of that nowadays.

~The military event that I admire the most.~

A soldier's first step into a war-zone.

~The gift of nature that I would like to have.~

The ability to draw. I'm always frustrated by my inability to translate my mind's eye into my hand's pen.

~How I want to die.~

Surrounded by a small, but close circle of people.

~My present state of mind.~

Restlessness.

~Faults for which I have the most indulgence.~

Vanity and pride.

~My motto.~

None of the ones I've tried to stick to have worked for me yet, so I'm still looking.

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Random weather, so random clothes: Obscur hoodie I picked up off Sufu, a random BDG tank off Urban (sometimes when it's hot I just run in and grab a pair), the same old Aprils, and these cheap Zig-Zags I ordered in the mail.

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Misadventures in Fashion #1

(Scene opens on an Ann Taylor; track lighting, sales racks, 40-something sale associates and all. L. diligently browses the racks while I absentmindedly flip through a couple of marked down shirtdresses.)

Me: (looking around) You notice anything, L.?

Her: (not looking up) No...what?

Me: You're the youngest person in here by about...30 years.

Her: (turns away from rack and looks around) Oh shut up.

(The two stand around while L. continues going through the racks. She stops abruptly.)

Her: Let's get the fuck out.

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It's hot.

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     Not what I wore today, but rather a few days ago. Work and errands have been keeping me busy, so I snapped the shot but didn't post the result. The heat has had its desired effect upon my wardrobe and I have shifted to light garments and taken to rolling a sleeve or two every now and then. I'm thinking of perhaps object dying my Zuriicks, since they aren't as dark as I'd like, and I think it'd be cool if they had a slight yellow cast, too. Inspiration comes from both the Margiela dyed high-tops and the Raf ones, but a devoted Zuriick customer made a couple custom dye jobs (all sold out, unfortunately), which is the real impetus behind this daring foray into any experimenting.

     And while it very effectively raises my pant cuffs, summer also has a tendency to lower my attention span and idle dreaming quickly overcomes any other thoughts. Connie's recent score of some Yves Saint Laurent pants (timely, no?) from the 70s is totally Le Smoking, what with the wide leg and the fabulous row of sequins down the outseam. The sequins got me fixated on sparkles and – surprise, surprise – I find myself browsing through Net-A-Porter's sale section. And when I stumbled onto this Burberry Prorsum jumbo paillette top ($1,046.25 on sale from $1,395) I couldn't help but see the same sense of glamour.

     Naturally, I clicked over to Marc by Marc Jacobs and found the same sense of flash (though more subtlety executed) in this double-breasted sheath ($321 from $428). And the item that Net-A-Porter suggested you should "Wear it with"? This oversized cardigan ($299.60 from $428). I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that pairing (and I don't), but I must say that it's a piece that has lots of mature glamour. And so does this Marni patent leather envelope ($797.30 from $1,190). Now somebody go out and get these so I can live vicariously through you.

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Who's Next?

     As I recently observed over at the BARE blog, there's pretty universal acknowledgement that Yves Saint Laurent's passing marked the end of something significant. As Christian Dior's successor and a ceaseless innovator with his own label, Saint Laurent was the pivotal figure in shifting the commercial focus of fashion from haute couture to ready-to-wear. But with his passing and the continued march of time, maybe it's time to look at who is forming the new vanguard, who are forces that are shaping the boundaries of our creative landscape? My list, in no particular order:

• Helmut Lang, for making simple beautiful again.
• Alber Elbaz, for making me smile. Always.
• Raf Simons, for thought-provoking, forward-minded collections.
• Yohji Yamamoto, for exploring every frontier, as well as making some up on his own.
• Hedi Slimane, for bringing danger back to sex.
• Christian Lacroix, for reminding us of craft.
• Martin Margiela, for four white stitches.

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Dunkin' Donuts Now Dyeing Garments

     Though he isn't one of the usual suspects for designers that drain my wallet, Kean Etro certainly has a clever idea for what to do with white shirts that you've ruined: ruin them some more. Although I'm a very careful drinker of coffee – black, no sugar, no milk – even I am not immune to the effects of overly full cups of joe. The founder and designer of Etro suggested taking any accidents to their natural conclusion by cooking your clothes in coffee. His recipes for how to properly prepare cuisine-inspired fashion also includes salt baked and blueberry soaked shirts, too. Très chic, bon appétit!

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     The setting summer sun's leaving these long, lazy rays of light across my living room and the colors and shapes have me jonesing for jewelry. My ever vigilant eye had been on a few pieces anyway and I can't resist the combination of bright summer clothes and darkly brilliant accessories. This clever ring from Margiela, modeled after the one that bartenders frequently wear, (£65/$127) has "Cheers" inscribed on one side and a bottle opener on the other. Jewelry focusing on the mundane has been another favorite, especially Kiel Mead's necklace cast from a mathstick and 22designstudio's seven-sided ring crafted from concrete, of all things. Surface 2 Air also picks stands out for its simple, stacked two-finger ring. Life's more fun with shiny things.

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