My Fashion Life

According to Rihanna, a fashion line is on the cards (along with movies of course). Speaking to WWD the 20yr old singer said,

“I love fashion, so it’s only natural for me to want to create my own line. But I want to be very hands-on with it all, and that’s something that takes time.”

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Yes there is a boom in men’s fashion and doesn’t Tom Ford know it. From the Hip Hop elite to Hollywood’s brat pack, men have finally woken up to the importance of style. Credited for given Gucci a boost in the 90’s, Ford intends to capitalise on the growing market with a new menswear line and a store located in New York next spring. His partner in crime and luxury brand owner, Ermenegildo Zegna, said of their venture

Men are becoming more feminine. They enjoy shopping, they take more time over the way they look, they travel and they shop around, they finally are taking better care of themselves.”

So with this revelation in mind, expect male style icons with no talent, but who’ll become famous just for their stylists sense of style…

[Washington Post]

I have actually noticed the difference between American and British Teen magazines. According to this article teen mags in the U.S are more about the fashion wheras the Brits are more to do with sex. I do agree that this is very true. But I dont know which is worse to make teenagers to sexually advanced or materiastically minded…

But in the end, fashion is the be-all and end-all. One trick is to use the teenage daughters of designers as a way to make haute couture accessible to America’s mall- goers. A huge coup for the magazine (at least on Planet Fashion) was a piece showcasing Donatella Versace’s daughter, Allegra. It was one of a regular series called ‘Fashion in the Family’ that has also featured the daughters of actress Nastassja Kinski and Carine Roitfeld, edi tor-in-chief of French Vogue . But are teens really aware of fashion at such a young age? Do they really need their own dedicated fashion bible? ‘Everyone now has heard of Gucci,’ says Astley. ‘Kids carry Prada bags.’ But is that a good thing? ‘That’s debatable, of course. But that’s the world we live in now.’

I think I prefer Margaret Cho’s take on the whole “Tom Ford” saga….

Tom Ford is walking away from Gucci. I am beside myself with grief. Ford and some other dude Domenico De Sole who nobody cares about but is the money side of the famous fashion house are leaving because the shareholders, the Louis Vuitton mafia and the dynamic duo cannot come to an agreement about some shareholder bullshit. This is a real tragedy. Tom Ford is a genius. I hate fashion, I hate the fashion industry, I hate the fashionistas, I hate fashion shows, I hate most of the couture culture, but goddamnit - I love clothes. Therefore, I must love Tom Ford

This is a very interesting article which highlights the point that unlike the music and film industry the fashion world accepts rather than rejects imitations. I have never actually thought about this in depth before and I have always viewed copying as the norm in the fashion industry. It is not unusual that you have the runway shows full of new trends and creativity and within 6 months there are duplicates in the high street shops. If there are complaints from designers I don’t hear about it too much and I think this is probably the reason why.

For virtually all players in fashion, some form of derivation, recombination, imitation, revival of old styles, and outright knockoff is the norm. Few denounce, let alone sue, the appropriator for “creative theft.” They’re too busy trying to stay ahead of the competition through the sheer power of their design and marketing prowess.

Designers are always are trying to keep ahead and if they attempted to sue all those that copied their work they would never work themselves. Whether its right or wrong for their creativity to be re-worked I cant really say. I can completely understand why they would be irritated. But to be honest I have always viewed it as a compliment for the designer and not as if they are being ripped off.

For me, when I make it big one day, I would feel a large sense of happiness to walk into a high street shop and see an imitation of my design. Mainly because if I do make it to the level of the Prada’s and Gucci’s, I would appreciate that not everyone could afford my clothes. I would want them to wear my vision and if they couldn’t afford it then fine wear a copy. At the end of the day it is my creativity they are wearing and which they like, that would be enough for me.

The legendary designer Coco Chanel understood this reality. She once said, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only; fashion is something in the air. It’s the wind that blows in the new fashion; you feel it coming, you smell it … in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening