Fashion Theory: The Skinny Jeans Effect

I was reading an article about Urban Outfitters' fourth quarter's earnings in WWD a few issues back. The company keeps showing a nice growth, but are looking for profits to slow down in the next year. (Don't worry, I'll get to the interesting part right about now.) Some corporate someone-or-another in the article said something fascinating as the reasoning behind this, being that women are slow to embrace the change in silhouette that has been emerging in fashion lately: the skinny jeans and voluminous top, essentially, as opposed to the bootleg pant with form-fitting top. While the company's Urban Outfitters customer may be quicker to adjust, the older Anthropologie customer probably won't. (But then again, I have to wonder who buys pants at Anthropologie? No one I know--everyone seems to be into their tops, lingerie and dresses.) I'm sure there is a clever cultural historian who can align the disappearing waistline with some sociological trend or another. (I'm going out on a limb and guessing that the girls attracted to such a silhouette are rejecting the midriff-exposing, nymphet, Paris Hilton-type stereotype, which practically advertises an appealing hip-to-waist ratio that is supposed to attract the attention of the opposite sex. But I'm just making stuff up.) I'm just fascinated by how a company's whole corporate strategy can shift to accommodate a trend. What do you all think? Do you think skinny jeans are here to stay for awhile? There is always a push-pull between what a company senses its customers want and what those customers really want, but it seems like this company is forecasting that skinny jeans and the like are here for awhile.

Faux-Shopping As a Psychological Defense: Prudence Dahlia Coat

Man, I am so sick of the heat. I've taken to looking online at fancy coats and boots, and daydreaming of the time when I can wear such things in a cool, crisp climate: the brisk wind nipping, bundled up in scarves, coats, sweaters, sigh. One of our favorites: the Dahlia coat by Prudence, available for ordering at letrainbleu.com:

Winter Fashion: Practical vs. Chic

There's an amusingly lengthy article in today's WWD about the challenges and travails of winter style, i.e. stylishness vs. comfort from the cold. There was discussion, of course, about fur, the ascendance of the fur vest as an accessory, coats and a reference to Ali Macgraw in Love Story (of course!) Naturally, I perked up with the stuff about shoes:

As is the case with the cyclical nature of fashion, there are, of course, other contenders to the crown — the first being the Native American beaded suede and fur boot called the mukluk. The look recently got a big boost after being photographed on style icon Kate Moss. “It was insanity with the mukluks,” says Kirna Zabête co-owner Sarah Easley, who owns a pair herself. “They arrived at the store on a Wednesday, and we sold out over the weekend with no advertising or editorial.”

But big, bohemian and functional is not for everyone. “I will literally wear the nice shoes, knowing they’re going to get ruined,” says Zani Gugelmann. “I’m not the person who wears the tennis shoes and switches when they get to a party.” Ditto Marjorie Raein, who sniffs, “I don’t care for winter footwear. I’m always wearing no pantyhose and sort of delicate shoes that are never appropriate.” But, she adds with a laugh, “I’m probably the person who is wiped out in the ice patch.”

(Good Lord, I'd hate to be quoted as sniffing about anything in an article!)

On the Correct Usage of "Fashionista"

After over a year of fashion blogging, you realize how tiring and silly it is to be using the same words over and over again: "chic," "eclectic," "bohemian," "edgy," bleh. Of course, the most overused and overabused word of them all is "fashionista," which this lovely site defines as a "gently sarcastic term for a person who is an enthusiast for fashion." It's interesting how slowly the gentle sarcasm has been leeched out of its general usage, and the word itself is reclaimed as a badge of pride among, well, self-identified fashionistas. I'm all for returning to the roots of things, though, so from here on out: I will no longer use the word "fashionista," unless employed in a gently sarcastic manner.

Getting Theoretical: The Fashion Concept

Ach, where does all the time go? The entire month of September was spent in hospitals, which means that the only style I can comment upon are the semiotics of nurse fashion. (Lots of bright colors and loose lines, kind of like if Heatherette took a Vicodin.) I did have time to read all the big September issues of W, Vogue, V, Harper's Bazaar, and blah blah blah, not to mention all the October ones. All those brooches and jackets and tweed pencil skirts must have dulled my senses with monotony, though: despite absorbing all that information and all those images, the only thing I remember is Chloe Sevigny saying that her fashion concept for the season is prairie meets grunge.

Long past the ephemera of image and object, the fashion concept remains. The fashion concept is short, succinct, the perfect distillation of aesthetic into a few simple ideas. It's like conceptual art, only less boring. And it's much easier than it sounds. Remember in junior high when you'd obsess over your new look every fall? ("Hmmm, how about True Blue-era Madonna meets Alice in Wonderland?") That was fashion concept in action. Most every designer's seasonal collection can be distilled into fashion concept, which more often than not can be broken into components:

pop culture reference (for relevance) + historical period/setting (for depth) + something personal and/or obscure (for that extra bit of spice)

For example, Alexander McQueen can be pirates go to Tahiti on a S&M vacation. John Galliano: pirates go to Egypt disguised as Solid Gold dancers. Rick Owens: Pirates watch Solaris and get depressed. (What can I say? Pirates are very popular.)

If anyone wants to take a look at the spring collections and offer their fashion concept summations, be my guest.

September Issues and the "Phantom Fashion" Effect

The massive September issues of all the fashion magazines are rolling in, including Vogue's largest issue ever. Packed with ads from nearly everything in fashion, or so it seems, Vogue is so large that you could probably do some major damage if you chucked it at someone's head. I haven't even cracked open W or Harper's Bazaar - I think that my head would explode from too much information.

Functioning like huge catalogs, the big fall fashion issues are supposed to "inspire" and coalesce a strong vision of the season, but I'm sure everyone's hoping it'll more inspire a glut of shopping and consumption. Yet despite all the visual information crammed into the September issues, I still couldn't really find what I'm looking for, the only thing I want for fall: a grey herringbone wool coat, in 3/4 length, with a nice big collar that can stand up and a sharp sleeve and shoulder. I've been missing the strict cuts and lines of the jackets from my equestrian days, and I'm dying to find a cold-weather coat that has this. Don't you hate it when you can just see what you want but can't find it anywhere? (I call this the "phantom fashion" effect.) I may just have to commission a tailor or local designer to make it, since the only thing I can sew are skirts. If anyone spots such a coat, let me know. Or if you find it in the magazines, do tell me.

A PAGE FROM THE PREPPY HANDBOOK

Polo shirts are definitely back, as I've spotted them on every other jeune fille while out and about today. (They've always been worn by a certain type of middle-aged executive playing golf, but this is fashion and they don't count.) Whether they're prepped up or punked out, they come in a rainbow wide spectrum of hues, from pastels to brights to simple black-and-white. Worn mostly with jeans or casual pants, of course, although one girl deconstructed her black polo shirt into a halter top and wore it with a long, equally deconstructed denim skirt. From what I've observed, this is mostly a lady thing; perhaps those middle-aged golf-playing executives are keeping their more style-conscious younger brethren away, although polo shirts have been spotted on the more extreme guy hipster.