Tag Archives: MADesigns

Can you feel the punk?

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The other day I witnessed a passionate discussion about the rise of punk, one person quite rightly insisting that punk music was born in the United States while the other gamely tried to agree while asserting equally correctly that punk in the UK was very different, bringing with it a complete cultural aesthetic, with art, fashion and music coming together to make a punk scene. One of the people who made punk in the UK less a musical evolution and more a cultural revolution was Vivienne Westwood. How fitting that she is a style icon at The Style Icon, the grand fashion event running until the end of the month. This gown from Legal Insanity incorporates many the tempestuous and wild themes that distinguish Westwood’s designs and make her a fashion revolutionary – not just a fashion designer.

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Quiet Contradictions

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I love when designers do the unexpected and take something that has been around a long time and use it in a new way. The Fall/Winter collection from Legal Insanity is all about fusing contradictory elements into something new and exciting. One element is the fabric. Through most of the collection, designer Datrip Blackbart uses traditional menswear fabrics – pinstripes and plaids. However, you never see them made into the traditional suit. For the men, they show up in dropped-crotch pants and hoodies and other urban casuals. Meanwhile, for women you see the quiet contradiction of the traditional menswear pinstripe in a strapless formal gown. These pieces deny the expected and take us in an unexpected direction – but more importantly, they work. Looking at this gorgeous pinstripe gown, you can see how perfectly it works.
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Strictly Legal

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It’s near the end of Fashion Week and my fashion hunger has been well-fed. I spent the afternoon enjoying the Legal Insanity show that featured men’s and women’s clothing that formed a cohesive collection, not just because of rich autumnal colors and frequent use of pinstripes and plaids, but no matter what the color, fabric or print, each piece captures a duality of the modern and traditional – nearly always a modern form executed in traditional fabrics.  I cannot wait to show you more.

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Color and Contrast

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I love the new casual releases from Kunglers. The top and pants I am wear are both from their newest release which included three tops and one pair of pants, all in a range of colorful prints that are the Kunglers hallmark. The soft blue and green print in this top is so subtle and subdued that it made an easy and elegant pairing with the boldly patterned pants.

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MiaMai Makes Magic

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I am loving the spring/summer collection from MiaMai that was released for AVENUE fashion week. These are great casual pieces and comfy resort wear that suit the season. With romantic florals and flirty hems, the entire collection is full-on feminine. This is the Sagi dress which comes in several print sleeveless asymmetrical dresses worn over a lace system layer blouse.

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We Take the Pressure and We Throw Away

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We take the pressure, and we throw away conventionality, belongs to yesterday.
There is a chance that we can make it so far.
We start believin’ now that we can be who we are. Grease is the word.

Grease is the word, is the word that you heard.
It’s got a groove, it’s got a meaning.
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion.
Grease is the way we are feeling.

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Reflections, Not Resolutions

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Chic is the word for this Drift jacket. You can see its lineage in the glorious history of Chanel with its short-cropped waist, it’s beautifully tailored fit and the rich wool fabric. The skirt, from CIA Designs, is beautifully made. With its relatively high waist, it will work well with all sorts of tops and jackets. For the With Love Hunt, it is only 10L and comes in red, brown and blue. It is one of the can’t miss hunt items. Make yourself comfortable and you should find it. 

New Year’s Eve has never been a big holiday in my family. Most of the day was spent cleaning and preparing for New Year’s Day which was much more important. We always had a sparkling clean house and a feast on New Year’s, honoring a folk tradition that what you experience on New Year’s Day is the harbinger of the coming year. Well, one thing you would not want on New Year’s Day is a hangover! We didn’t make resolutions either. This was probably more the influence of my mother more than any tradition. She always said that if you plan to do something, just do it. If it’s important enough to do, it’s too important to delay until the new year. What we did do, though, is look back at the year and appreciate our good fortune.

Those traditions continue. I have been cleaning today. I am having a New Year’s dinner party tomorrow. And I have been looking back at 2012 and appreciating my good fortune.

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If It’s Sunday, It Must Be Jazz

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I play a classic jazz set every Sunday morning from 9 to 11 AM SLT at The Velvet. Usually I focus on the oldies from Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Zoot Sims, John Coltrane and many others. I have a strong preference for the old jazz greats but the old jazz forms are still powerful influences on today’s jazz. With the year end upon us, I am doing a special set looking back at the fine jazz of 2012. I hope you can swing by.

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Sissy Pessoa of Baiastice has created a fabulous dress perfect for any jazz chanteuse. I wish I could sing well enough to be a chanteuse of anything. However, I am perfectly dressed to sing. The heavy silk charmeuse drapes as beautifully as a caress.

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Heat Rises

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One of the blessings (curses) of living in an upper floor apartment is the simple law of physics that heat rises. What that means in practical terms is that my downstairs neighbor pays for heat and I get most of it. I don’t turn on the heat. Right now it is 48°F outside (9°C) and I have two windows open and the fan running and it’s 76° in here. I imagine my downstairs neighbor as a lizard cranking up the heat and basking by the heater, warming his cold blood. It is hard to imagine a warm-blooded creature needing that much heat.

Heat rises in fashion, too, and I think the heat is bringing some really great stuff to the top at faMESHEd. Take this fabulous bodycon dress from Pink Outfitters. It’s figure hugging as any bodycon dress should be and comes in rich, saturated colors such as this fabulous eggplant. It also comes with fitted belts in silver and white. I love the long sleeves and simple round neckline that makes it perfect for big statement jewelry. My only quibble is that while dancing, there is an occasional break on the back of the legs where the leg will come through the mesh in some movements. This doesn’t bother me since coming from the era of sculpties and system skirts, that is a minor glitch.

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