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French Sports Minister Wears Crocs After Losing Olympic Bet

If her athletes returned from the Beijing Olympics with at least 40 medals the French Health, Youth, and Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot promised to wear pink Crocs. Well, France ended the 2008 Summer Olympics with just that (7 gold, 16 silver, and 17 bronze medals), so on August 27th, she attended a cabinet meeting sporting a pair of pink Crocs.

Rockstars and now the French are wearing them?

You know what that means don't you? Crocs are IN FASHION! And just in time for Fall Fashion Week here in New York too boot croc!

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News I Find Interesting, Part 1

In an exercise that will be beneficial to both me (emptying out my Google Reader's "starred" items) and to you (a whole lot of stuntastic things from around the Internets), I'm bringing back an old segment that will be familiar to my oldest readers, "News I Find Interesting!" Here, I will be posting a long list of links and such that I've encountered that I found interesting, amusing, idiotic, titillating, or hilarious, but didn't get around to sharing with you. You may have already seen few, some, or all of the links below, but in any case I hope you will find an item or two of note that YOU will find interesting.

1. The New York City's Department of Transportation has installed nine unique bike racks designed by David Byrne, yes of the Talking Heads fame, but did you know he is also a bike enthusiast? It is only temporary but I hope the powers that be change their minds and make them a permanent addition to the City landscape. More information, including rack location (hi-ho!) here.

2. Do your best Beavis and Butthead laugh when looking at this unintentionally funny sign.

3. Idiot TSA "inspector" breaks commercial airplane. TSA guy should be added to the "no-fly" list as he clearly is a danger to travelers.

4. The DUI Mario Kart experiment. Damn, I'm ready to submit myself as a subject for an experiment like this. Any fellow geek want to organize this?

5. Best $2k I ever spent!

6. Photos of cute animals + website = Profit! Cute Overload, the popular site of fuzzy wuzzy puppies and kitties, is making the owner some nice chedder from advertising. WHY DID I NOT THINK OF THIS FIRST?!?!

7. People taking photos of Obama. One dude got himself one of those green disposables just for the occasion.

8. All that music you kids are uploading and streaming from Muxtape is costin the company a whole lotta money in the hosting category. Looks like cloud computing might be expensive enough to bring a company crashing back down to earth.

9. Michael Phelps doesn't want to make a splash and piss off advertisers and sponsors. He just wants to be a corporate bitch. Post-college idealist MRod is looking to do the same. Sponsors, sponsor me!

10. Selections from H.P. Lovecraft's brief tenure as a Whitman's Sampler copywriter. Haha!

11. What makes for a good blog. I agree with many of the points, but I break most of the "rules." I think those traits make for popular blogs, but that is separate from what I specifically enjoy about blogging. In the end, there's no hard and fast set of rules. Do you. Do what you like to do that will keep you blogging, even if it is for just a month or two.

12. LGBTA L.G.P.A, the Ladies Golf Professional Association, is requiring all its golfers to pass a verbal English test or face suspension. This new rule was especially aimed and communicated to the South Korean contingent. It's so jarring to read of something so anachronistic as "English-Only" in the 21st century particularly when it pertains to professional sports which is becoming more and more globalized in a symbiotic relationship for new talent, bigger audiences, and more money. As the Times writes:

Women have been fighting against discrimination in golf for decades, as Augusta National Golf Club — home of the Masters Tournament and still lacking a single female member — shamefully demonstrates. For the L.P.G.A. to impose discriminatory rules on its own members is not only offensive, it’s self-destructive.

And IDIOTIC!

13. Campbell Soup Company's marketing manager writes to Andy Warhol. So pop.

14. Eric Ripert, chef of top restaurant le Bernardin, is blogging recipes of dishes he creates using the common toaster oven. He's JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! Okay, not at all.

15. Drawing with a cup of coffee and a spoon. Genius. I can't wait to try this at brunch next time and piss off the server.

To read more click after the jump...but you've been warned: there's a LOT more to read.

16. Another upcoming show, called The Wrong Door from across the Atlantic that looks promising. The BBC is so on point.

17. Has the identity of the Zodiac Killer been uncovered? He may be....RIGHT BEHIND YOU!

18. The most obsessed Twat Twit ever. Dude gets the Twitter error message image tattooed. I'm definitely "unfollowing" this cat. Freak.

19. Matt Harding, you know the guy who danced all around the world, now brings his schtick to the corporate boardroom to "boost morale." I would jump around like an idiot for a paycheck too. Yea, I'm hating. So what?

20. Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page got a bit of Fall cleaning right before McCain announced her as his BFF (after only just meeting her once).

21. A new study in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics argues that medicine tailored to specific "races" or racial groups are doomed to fail. Although two individuals may be of the same "race," a label that is a social construct in of itself, their respective genomes may respond differently to a particular medication.

22. Worst. Dress. Ever.

23. Bush eats cat on the cob. Haha.

24. This sci-fi film noir short (won a film contest) is pretty good. In a future where cloning is widespread, this detective tries to track down who is murdering his own clones.

25. LA has had a serial killer out there for awhile. Yikes.

26. This teenager started a Zune chat community in 2006. He earned $1,000 a month for a couple years from advertising and just recently sold it for $62,000. I hate my life.

27. Soulja Boy talks about the hacker who hijacked his MySpace and other pages.

28. VPILF. LOL. "Just a heartbeat away from being a PILF." LOL.

29. Headless teddy USB drive. Or in other words, "How to be even MORE creepy at work."

30. Nasubi, the naked guy who lived on freebies for an entire year for a Japanese reality show for a sort of real life Truman Show...except even more fucked up!

31. YouTube Comment Snot - A Firefox add-on that will hide all those stupid comments on the popular video hosting and streaming site.

32. Strawberries and shake, the perfect combination? YES YES YES.

33. Banksy hits up New Orleans. BANKSY -- COME BACK TO NYC! Specifically, come to Park Slope and tag up my apartment building or hell, even my apartment room itself! Thanks!

34. Militant art. ERIN, Please have your [famous] boss buy this please!!

35. I know it's a low blow, but mang, it's still funny. Old guy + young gal = Comedy.

36. Michael Jackson and Emmanuel Lewis vintage video. Back then this was probably considered cute. Today, frightening. I'm watching it and all I keep thinking is "How the heck is no one flying across the screen and tackling Michael while screaming KEEP THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE CHILD MICHAEL!"

37. Cute Overload. Damn, this puppy whistling is so cute I want to just pop it in the microwave on high heat.

38. Hysterical Nickleback parody. Seriously, I wasn't going to watch it because well, I hate Nickleback, but I'm glad I did. Hilarious.

39. Oddly compelling video put together using photos of Bush, Obama, and McCain. It sounds a lot more interesting than it reads.

40. This cat bento box should have two heads.

41. Nine breathtaking bridges. Although I'm pretty much amazed by any bridge which I think are amazing feats of engineering.

42. Obama needs to unleash his moneyed advantage and buy up some keywords.

43. GUTEN TAGGGGG! Breakfast for yo brain!

44. As Gawker says, this story is the most Onion like story yet. It reminds me a lot of the vibe of St Louis.

45. North Korean anti-America propaganda posters.

46. The most unhappy dogs in the world. I would be too if I had to wear what they were forced to wear.

47. Camouflage art.

48. If a black hole accidentally occurred here on earth, what would the repercussions look like? Like this.

49. Parking tickets for those who've crossed the line.

50. Dave Freeman, co-author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die" dead at 47.

51. Train nearly runs over idiots. It's a "HOLY SHIT" sort of a moment in the video.

52. "Old man" does magic tricks on subway trains and amusement parks. The last one is hilarious.

53. China isn't the only country that lip synched its Opening Ceremony. Those Aussies did it as well during the Sydney Olympics.

54. How did we end up with a drinking age of 21 in the first place [in the US]?

55. Zombie emergency procedure. Guide on what to do in the event of a zombie attack.

56. Heh. Evily genius in today's age of hyper-connectivity. Fake Following.

57. The Japanese Anna Kournikova...sourta.

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JT CLAIMS HE STARTED TRUCKER HAT THING

All the goodwill Justin Timberlake has earned in my book with his consistent dance pop hit making abilities just got flushed down the drain after I read this claim from him in the new Fashion Rocks supplement to GQ.

It's funny, I keep hearing Ashton Kutcher say how he was responsible for trucker caps. I've heard him make that statement before. Trace [his childhood friend] and I were wearing them when we were seventeen.

Terrible.

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NEW YORKER PROFILE ON MARC JACOBS

The New Yorker has an interesting (although what isn't interesting in the New Yorker...?) profile piece on uber-designer Marc Jacobs and chronicling his ascension in both fashion and popular culture, as well as his "super-heroesque" physical metamorphosis.

Jacobs used to be a chubby Jewish guy with long hair and glasses who made his name—and got fired—by designing a “grunge” collection (of very expensive silk shirts printed to look like flannel, and fine cashmere sweaters with the appearance of thermal underwear) in 1993, as the head of womenswear at Perry Ellis. Five years later, he was hired as the creative director of Louis Vuitton, France’s premier luxury-goods house, where he was seen as an enfant terrible, and nobody was quite sure if he would make it work. But, in the decade since Jacobs arrived at Vuitton, he has quadrupled its business and, with the company’s backing, watched his own Marc Jacobs Collection and his less expensive secondary line, Marc by Marc Jacobs, grow into a global business, with a hundred and sixty stores, in nineteen countries. You see his handbags, with their quilting and clunky hardware, on every other girl in Manhattan—like flip-flops, except that they cost thousands of dollars.

Jacobs’s physical appearance has come to reflect his success. At the age of forty-five, he is no longer remotely plump. His hair is cut short (and was, briefly, bright blue), and he has started wearing contact lenses. He looks like a cartoon superhero: muscular, bronzed, shining with diamonds. And he has accomplished the comic-book feat of transforming himself from hardworking Everyman (Bruce Banner, Clark Kent, Peter Parker) into something elevated and different and not merely human. But this is fashion, not crime-fighting, so the goal isn’t to fly or to leap tall buildings or—God forbid—become invisible. No. What one wants is to be a cultural touchstone, to represent and embody a life style, the way Karl Lagerfeld does, or Donatella Versace, or Carrie Bradshaw.

Read more here.

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MIND THE GAP

The latest fall season merchandise at the Gap is the first big test for their new and much buzzed-about head designer Patrick Robinson, whose arrival at the Gap has been welcomed by analysts as well as the fashion peanut gallery where a fashion magazine recently eye-rollingly anointed Robinson a "megabrand messiah."

Reinventing Gap, the nation’s largest specialty apparel chain, has been fashion’s equivalent of Merlin’s stone for much of the last decade, as sales and profits have dipped, along with its image among young consumers. Mr. Robinson, 41, is the third designer to attempt to pull the sword since Gap began to publicly acknowledge its creative personnel in 2003, and the most closely watched because of his popularity with industry insiders and his finesse with casual American sportswear. His fall designs have generated promising reviews, but also concern about whether a single designer — one with a mixed track record — can revive a brand with 1,155 stores in the United States in the midst of an economic crisis.

The next time I pass a location, I may stop in to see what all the buzz is about. Maybe with Robinson at the helm, this iconic yet problematic store will fill a gap in my apparel needs.

Read more here.

Update: Color me very unimpressed. The issue of fit still hasn't been resolvedL their "smalls" fit me like a medium. Dear Gap: I am not built like Howie Long.

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THE CATORIALIST

Cats, the Internet meme that doesn't die has now been fused with the Sartorialist, the street fashion photographer. Behold: The Catorialist.

Great. This means that I'm going to run into more cats loitering in Soho hoping to be spotted by this self-trained photographer. This does not bode well for my allergy.

View more here.

[Via]

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JOHN VARVATOS SAMPLE SALE

Gents, take advantage of John Varvatos' summer sample sale beginning this Thursday, August 21, through Saturday, August 23, where the designer's signature sportswear, classic suits, footwear, and accessories are up to 75% off. Items include his signature tailored suits (now $450), jeans (now $55), and boots (now $200), as well as select items for the ladies. Thursday and Friday, from 8 to 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, from 10 to 5 p.m. John Varvatos Sample Sale, 260 Fifth Avenue, (between 28th and 29th streets); no phone. Update: I went today after work to this sale. Brilliant. I got three shirts at the following savings.

$198.00 $35!

$145.00 $35!

$167.00 $35!

Ah, comfort.

Yippee.

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NEW STORE: 21 MERCER NIKE SPORTSWEAR

Located in Soho at 21 Mercer between Grand and Howard (No street location arguments all you Tumblrs) Nike is opening up its first Nike Sportswear retail store. In the world. Booyah! They will be carrying all the latest and newest including a few store only exclusives. I've been really keeping an eye open for a light-weight rain-athletic jacket and I have a feeling this place just might have what I'm looking for. I can't wait to check it out when they open on August 22, Thursday.

No doubt its already occurred but if any of you have a connection to this and maybe a soft launching opening let me know and good karma will come your way.

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THE SARTORIALIST'S GAP AD

I'm continued to be amazed at the ascendancy of amateur fashion photographer/blogger Scott Schuman--the eye and lens behind the hugely popular street fashion blog The Sartorialist. Just google him and you'll see that he now has relationships with nearly every magazine, not to speak of his monthly column in GQ. Anyway, here's him in a brand new Gap ad.

While I find Gap's clothing too ill-fitting on my wiry frame--As a friend recently said to me, "[MRod] you are a so skinny, you're like a cross between Jackie Chan and Kate Moss." Fuck you was my appropriate response.--I think the Gap's celebrity photo series is nonetheless pretty cool.

Anyway, a combination of me, Jackie Chan (No, we don't all look alike you assholes!), and Kate Moss with the assistance of Photoshop would result in something frightfully horrifying.

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ALTERNACROC SANDALS

While Crocs (previously) are sandals that wraps your feet in a cushion of rubbery ergonomic goodness, this neocroc sandal goes in the opposite direction and strips the sandal to its most minimal and basic function.

And it's a bargain at $12 a pair!

Read more here.

[Thanks Mun]

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I WANT THIS

I've been over the graphic t-shirt phase of my life now for a couple years I think, but man, I saw this and immediately thought "I WANT THIS."

I would like to wear it most especially around the neighborhood I work which seems to be mecca for tourists, thanks to the double decker tour buses and their ticket selling minions, as well as the presence of Macy's, H&M, and Old Navy.

[Via]

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M IS FOR MODEL

At this website click on the appropriate first letter of the model's name to see her latest campaign. Not really my cup of tea, but I like the site's funky design (and the LOLstyle editorializing). [Via]

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SCENE IN PARK SLOPE: I WANT THIS

I thought this concave mirror would be great for my new apartment starting next month. And then I checked the price tag. How much do you think it is?

Another view:

Gah, I really want this mirror! Note the matching look that the random guy standing behind me and I am sporting. I know everyone must be getting really sick of the white v-neck t-shirt and jeans thing that has practically become the summer menswear uniform du jour. I'm just hooked to its easy, versatile, and comfortable quality. Ladies, yes or no?

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IN DEFENSE OF CROCS, PART 2

Many of you are aware that I am a card carrying member of the ACLU (American Crocs Liberty Union) and have defended Crocs and Croc-wearers in the past here on my soap box that I call a blog. Recently I've been compelled to elaborate on this matter further. If you are new to this thread and before you put your foot in your mouth with comments about how I am "teh stupid," please read my previous (Part 1) thoughts on this issue first. Otherwise, lets jump right into it with our Croc wearing feet:

So I'm aware that hating on Crocs is as popular as Crocs are unpopular. Everyone walks all over them and treat Crocs like the perennial whipping boy of footwear. And yet like all persecuted revolutionary movements Crocs manage to maintain a loyal following of revolutionary freedom feetdom fighters, if you will. Revolutionary radical groups rally and form around certain nonnormative principles and theories, just like the way Crocs (ergonomically) conform around one's feet and envelopes it in, not ideology, but biodegradable rubber. Croc proponents happen to rally around the seemingly non-radical principles of practicality, comfort, and as you'll soon see, versatility: ideals that certainly cause less violence than other revolutionary concepts, and in fact, as podiatrists will testify to, accomplishes more good than harm. I personally think that is quite a "feet" to be applauded rather than stomped on. Nonetheless there are those who continue to hold animus towards crocs, such as the usually perceptive Ms. Simko who states, "Try as I might, I just don’t understand the cult following of Crocs."

Cult? Peoples Temple was a cult. Branch Dividian was a cult. The Manson Family was a cult. Alcoholics Anonymous IS a cult (it's true). Crocs wearers are merely slaves of utility and air circulation. And unlike cults which are narrow minded and exclusionary, Crocs embrace all lifestyles and people from all "walks" of life. In addition to its benefits I've previously highlighted, Crocs are also versatile as demonstrated by this photo sent to me by Randy. Crocs also come in a business casual appropriate black color. My creative director was on to something after all.

If all this makes Crocs a cult, then I'm drinking that Kool Aid.

"But what about appearance?" asks Ms. Simko and others. "Doesn't that rank??"

I thought this line of argument was addressed and resolved with the age of minimalism where the philosophy of "less is more" and the concept of multi-functionality dominated. Clearly Crocs represent the culmination or apex of that legacy. Surely in the 21st century this isn't a radical notion.

I'm not asking you to run out today and buy Crocs. Change can be difficult. All I ask is that before you judge, try first walking in their Croc wearing feet. Someday progress against anti-Crocism will be measured in "feet" rather than inches and will be eventually defeeted and erased. That is my dream.

RELATEDLY

Don't forget to check out this video of Water Buffalos versus Lions versus Crocs.

[Take a shot for every pun intended and unintended you find in this entry. You should be soundly drunk by the end.]

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IN DEFENSE OF CROCS ACCESSORIES

As a follow up to my passionate manifesto In Defense of Crocs, it appears that one of my friends has had a change of heart by switching from the team of hate to the team of support and empathy, because that's what true friends do.  It's kind of like how in Philadelphia Denzel Washington loyally stood by Tom Hanks while Hanks' character slowly withered away due to AIDS. As a sign of his friendship in spite of (or because of?) my decision regarding Crocs, Clay forwarded me a link to these amazing accessories for Crocs.

[Thanks Clay!]

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