Why hire a model, a photographer, and a shooper to get that super-unrealistic fashion look when you can just put famously unreal virtual people who are already digital in your clothes? I guess you’d have to digitize the clothes, but they’re probably designed in software now anyway — custom gown sewers are being replaced by small shell scripts!

Here’s Prada 2012 on a Final Fantasy model (meant in the technical and artistic sense simultaneously). Ladies:

Gentlemen:

Fashion Week awesomeness.

I “need” some new shades, and I’m looking for these:

There’s a rumor they’re Raleighs from the 50s. Ibid claims that Ray-ban RB4109 Olympians are similar, but they’re not gold enough…

[Update: Supposedly they’re “Spectaculars by Renauld of France, circa 1964″.

Beeb doc on the suit, via Baroing:

Great, hope it gets picked up (via BB):

Kate Middleton’s wedding dress was actually very plain. Discuss?

The two most important people in the history of men’s clothes:

1. Beau Brummell, one of the buddies of King George IV, killed foppish dandyism and started the trend of men wearing less flashy clothes than women.
2. The Duke of Windsor, who abdicated as King Edward VIII, started the trend toward less formal clothes, set the standards for a number of functions, and invented a number of significant details (including cuffs on trousers).

Note that individual designers have not had significant influence, probably because they’re all busy stealing from each other. Those of us interested in men’s clothes have been waiting for the next British courtier or other role model to revolutionize men’s style. Charles, William and Harry aren’t it: they dress respectfully, but none of them has any particular flair. Obviously it’s doubtful that society is structured in such a way that any single man could have such a great influence, but it’s fun to dream about like how religious people fantasize about the second coming of their gurus.

The only individual woman I’m aware of who has had much influence is Queen Victoria, who popularized both the white wedding dress and wearing black for mourning. Women’s designers (eg: Coco Chanel) seem to have more influence, and so women end up with a fashion cycle instead of stylistic periods. Within each fashion cycle, women of note can be influential. This article discusses Kate Middleton’s move into influence with her wedding dress by McQueen (her influence will be of a more upmarket variety than Michelle Obama’s).

The new McQueen show dropped a couple of weeks ago. I like the sci-fi look:

A few of my friends have been asking their social networks for help finding ugly Christmas sweaters to wear to a themed party (full disclosure: I didn’t get invited). I’m sure they’re at least vaguely aware of the politics of such a theme, but I’m going to make it explicit: the wealthy and the cool distinguish themselves from the poor and the square by arbitrarily categorizing some sweaters as “ugly”.

Stuff White People Like imagines this exchange at such a party:

“Hey man, nice sweater. It’s so ugly.”
“Yeah, when my family first got to this country we had to shop at Goodwill, this is the first one my father bought to get him through his first winter here. Good thing they didn’t have these parties back then, right? He would have died.”
“Geez, man, I’m sorry, you can cut in line for egg nog.”

The Critical fashion blog Threadbared talks about sweaters in a larger (and ongoing) discussion about the politics of thrift stores:

At the Salvation Army closest to campus, there is an “ugly sweater” rack for all the students purchasing these as novelties for themed parties. Similar sweaters are not separated at the store that serves the non-students, and that is located in the same building that provides other services to low-income or homeless persons. And because bodies and clothes interact and activate certain ideas about each the other, the same sweater on a college student going to a themed party is funny because it is outdated, and on a young fashion blogger pairing it with leggings is innovative because it is renewed, and on an older woman imagined as its appropriate owner the sweater will be “just” unfashionable because (supposedly) so is its wearer.

In other words, poor people just call them “sweaters”.

Value Village is the largest thrift store in Victoria. In the past year or two I’ve heard a few people complaining that it’s too expensive. For the first time they have a “Christmas sweater” section – coincidence?

Gladiators with a cloth ankle are huge in Milan and Cannes. Pictures possibly to follow if I can get my effing photography pipeline to cooperate.

Milan is also the place to buy fake (or stolen) bags. I have pictures of the vendors set up around the fountain in front of the Sforza’s castle. Supposedly.