Fashion Forward #13 - Badge of Preppiness

Appliques, patches, crests, badges or decals are decorative surface applications of fabric that adds dimension and texture to the background fabric. The term derives from the French word appliquer (and the Latin applicare) that means to join or attach. While its early use was most likely to strengthen worn areas or serve as a patch over holes, appliqué developed into a creative art form used by many cultures over many centuries. (Scribner Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion, Volume 1)

Nathaniel Vanderbilt Archibald, wearing the Vanderbilt Family Crest on his jacket

The resurgence of Prep culture and its increased visibility on the runways has brought back wearing crests and patches on one's belonging. It has been customary for old families to display their family crest on suit jackets (as is portrayed by Nate Archibald, a member of the Vanderbilt family on Gossip Girl) as well as Prep School and Ivy League Alums to don badges and patches from their alma maters on suit jackets, sweaters, shirts, duffel bags and nowadays even on their laptops.

Rugby is one of the handful of designer houses that has been reinterpreting preppy elements and bringing them to the general public.

True Prep author, Lisa Birnbach states that being preppy is no longer a distant, veiled and often misunderstood way of life, non-preps becoming ever more fascinated and acquainted with it than when her Official Preppy Handbook came out in 1980. As such, preppy paraphernalia is at an all time high in popularity, and sewing or gluing a preppy crest or badge on one's possessions is one easy way of adding that so desired preppy element.

Chest badges are amongst the most popular.

Placement-wise, there aren't really any rules, however, many of the appliques I've seen were placed very similar to monograms, either on the left chest-side or on the cuff of the shirt, rugby or sweater. With bags or other accessories we truly have freedom of expression, and even going over the top with the number of crests, the sizing of badges or the discordance of colours is acceptable.

A clash of two worlds, the jeans jacket and sewed-on the crest, make for an interesting combination.

Most new appliques are iron-on nowadays, however, many machine-washes or dry-cleaning the piece of clothing can make the glue wear off. The safest and more vintage-looking option is still the sewed on look but if your needle and thread skills are lacking here's a guide to help you stitch an appliqué on successfully

A different assortment of badges and crests, ranging from school-inspired to nautical

You can find some of the appliqués featured above at these different online stores:  

• New York Design Shop (definitely my favourite)
• Family Crest
• 1FerretTreasures
• Laughing Lizards

Hair and Grooming #6 - A Rockabilly Exsufflation

Rockabilly, a fusion of the words rock-and-roll and hillbilly is a genre of music that originates from the South of the US which mixes elements of rock, blues, country, hillbilly boogie and bluegrass music. Part of a resurgence of retro hairstyles for men is also the quiffed variant of the 50s and 60s greaser hair. I have recently been searching for a new hairstyle and in the end I decided to go with a modern, asymmetrical, highly texturized version of the rockabilly quiff.

A vintage clip shows that the quiff is not for the faint of heart and just like its modern counterpart it requires a bit of time to get it just right.

Teddy boy rockabilly quiff hair cut 60s


Other modern variants of a quiff include longer hair in the back and on the sides that it slicked back:

NYC Socialite and Cognoscenti, Chuck Bass also dons a modern quiff

One of my absolute favourite male models, Jon Kortajarena, sporting a quiff in danish-designer Matinique's ad campaign

Lastly, the twins of Slikhaar.dk have featured this hairstyle, this example being the closest to what my hair looks like right now, on their YouTube channel:

The best brushes to achieve the quiff are round ball-tipped brushes and large ball-tipped brushes:

For styling you need a strong-hold mousse, a matte pomade or wax and if needed a strong hairspray:

Hair and Grooming #3 - Oil Be Gone

Summer is upon us, at least in the Northern Hemisphere and the sun, heat and humidity that one would enjoy on a vacation, are all contributing factors to an undesired oily face. Oil secretion is a natural process by which your body is protecting the skin from drying up, however there are many circumstances where a shiny face is not very desirable.

Romanian actor Sebastian Stan, who plays Gossip Girl pseudo-villain Carter Baizen on a not so great day, oil-wise

Women have been secretly fighting their sebaceous glands for some time now, and I think it's about high time more men got on the anti-shine wagon.

While there are plenty of cosmetic solutions that involve creams, toners, serums and other concoctions of a similar consistency, I feel that most men wouldn't want to go through all the trouble of finding the right cosmetic products for their skin type.



The easiest solution that you can carry around in your pocket would be a little pack of blotting paper. There's not much to blotting paper: you blot (that's patting not wiping) the oily areas on your face and the paper absorbs the oil, after which you throw it away.

Blotting papers have a long history dating back to around 517 A.D. in Japan when Japanese professional dancers, called maiko, and Kabuki performers used specially treated paper made with hammered gold to blot their skin.

eHow.com 

When shopping for blotting paper/tissues don't go for the more expensive options. Not much can be added to blotting paper to make it worth paying more.

For the more independent and crafty of you, here are instructions for making your own blotting paper:

One other thing that you can use on-the-go to ward off any shiny areas on your face is applying a colourless blotting powder that absorbs oil particles on your face and leaves you with a matte look throughout the day.

Purple is the latest fashion

Purple is the color of passion,
Purple is the color of love,
Purple is the color I dream of.
Purple is the color of glad,
Purple is what you look like when you're mad.
Purple is the color of laughs,
Purple might be the subject of gaffes.
Purple is the color of me,
Purple is the best of the world you see. 

Luna Moon

Ever since the times of Ancient Greek when Tyrian Purple was only available to the Elites, the colour purple has been associated with nobility, royalty and sophistication.

In the time of Newton purple was not even on the colour wheel, however things have changed a little since then and a purple is now defined as any non-spectral colour between red and violet.

While there are many shades of purple that are used in art and fashion, only a few shades strike me as especially appealing to the eye: Amaranth Deep Purple, Mulberry, Heliotrope (slightly pinkish shade), Palatinate Purple (colour of Durham University), Tyrian Purple, Han Purple and my very favourite, Royal Purple (colour of the European Aristocracy during the Middle Ages)

Probably the reason why most guys avoid wearing purple is because matching it is not as easy or at least not as evident as with other colours. Consulting a colour wheel, which I always advise when in doubt, reveals that purple's complementary colour is yellow, its neighbors are bluish and reddish purples, its adjacent complementary colours are yellow-greens and orange-yellows while the triad that contains purple also contains orange and green.

In the case of purple, black is an even more suited colour (well technically non-colour)  than usual to match with. 

Amaury Nolasco of Prison Break in a very simple and classic yet stylish outfit, featuring purple matched with black. Source: splendicity.com

My personal favourits are gold and purple together (one should be subdued while the other dominant) and sometimes blue and purple. Remember always to try avoiding strident nuances if your intention is not to look like a circus clown.

As is my custom, I have put together a collage of some of the interesting purple pieces I have found around the internet. Please feel free to comment and add links to any other purple items you find to be to your liking.

Starting from the left we have a superb Ralph Lauren Cable-Knit Sweater, the ever so stylish Chuck Bass of GG, and a shiny purple Horn Dimora followed by a pair of nice purple mocassins from The Sartorialist. The Purple Watch from the top middle can be purchased here, while the Navy Purple Repp Cufflinks here. Following these two is a Hype Coach Purple jacket and a pair of Carolina Amato Driving Gloves.

Trim It Up...Chuck Bass Does

There has always been a certain allure to non-conformism. Untucking your shirt as a kid, staying up late or missing your curfew as a teenager and the possibilities are endless now that we are adults. Stylistically however, to step outside the boundaries of the "norm" and get away with it requires either an unshatterable ego (i.e. Chuck Bass) or icon status (i.e. Anna Wintour, Lady GaGa). Anything else is a clear fashion faux-pas and should not be recreated.

From these experiments of unorthodox fashion, the contrast trim blazer was born, and the great Design Houses were not far behind in adopting it. I personally love the added possibilities with regards to the colour and width of the trim, since I always bemoan how little we men can really do to vary our outfits in comparison to women. I have perused the market and came up with these great blazers for all of you to look at!

Beautiful Navy Linen Sportcoat from Ralph Lauren. Retails at $495

An Outfit that manages to pull itself up to par despite the intense matchy-matchiness going on. Interesting cotton Tennis Crest Jacket from Rugby Ralph Lauren. Retails at $298

Left: Cotton Jersey Club Blazer from Rugby ($119.99) on top and Seersucker Blazer from United Bamboo (Retailed at $565) on the bottom Center: T Wolf Trim Blazer by French Connection ($135): Right: Black Edjules Blazer from Peoples Market ($88) on top, Purple Velvet Sport Coat from Tallia Orange on the left and Velvet Tuxedo Blazer from Black Rivet on the right

Ed.: Just found this great Stone Piped Contrast Trim Trenchcoat ($140) from topman!

An award does not necessarily make you a better (fill w/ noun)

…but is sure does get you the extra attention designers need nowadays, in times of financial recession.

Yesterday marked the day of the 2009 CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America), which to all American-based designers and a lot of fashion-aficionados is a day to look forward to. For Designers an award can represent the culmination of a lifetime of work or the beginning of nationwide exposure while for followers of mode it was something on the lines of a mini-Oscar ceremony.

Founded in 1962, CFDA is a not-for-profit trade association, whose 350 members are amongst America’s foremost fashion and accessory designers. The CFDA awards have several categories but the most important ones are of course Designer of the Year (Menswear, Womenswear and Accessories), the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award and the International award.

Womenswear Designer Of The Year

The Award in this category went to the Californian-based Rodarte, who has seen a meteoric rise to celebrity since the two Mulleavy sisters started their company in 2005, after graduating from U.C. Berkeley. Rodarte’s founders have been featured on the cover of Women Wear daily and have even met with the infamous Anna Wintour, Edito of American Vogue Magazine. Several Rodarte pieces have been seen on celebrities such as Cate Blanchett, Kirsten Dunst, Keira Knightley and Dita von Tesse.

Menswear Designers Of The Year

This year, the award was given to two designers since results of the voting declared it a tie. Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders (Left) and Italo Zucchelli (Right) of Calvin Klein Collection both received an award. Scott Sternberg had received the Emerging Talent award last year so this year’s achievement only enforces his talent and vision, showing that he has not disappointed his fans.

The Award for Accessory Designer Of The Year went to Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler. There were also three Swarovski awards which went to Alexander Wang for Womenswear, Tim Hamilton for Menwear and to Justin Giunta for Subversive Jewelry.

The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Anna Sui for her long and successful career in fashion. Having started working out of her apartment in the late 80s and early 90s, following with the launch of her store in 1991, Anna Sui is now a staple in womenswear as her clothing, shoes, fragrances, cosmetics, and accessories are recognized globally in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Sui now joins the ranks of Yves St Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Diane von Furstenberg and Bill Blass, who are all past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

International Award

Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton was recognized again this year by being awarded the International Award,his fourth CFDA award having won one the erry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent in 1987 and thus becoming the youngest designer to ever receive this accolad, one in 1997 for Womenswear and one in 2002 for Menswear. This year Jacobs was ranked 15th on Out magazine's annual list of "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America" and this month he has announced his intention of marrying Brazilian advertising executive Lorenzo Martone, his boyfriend of one year, in Provincetown, Massachusetts later this year.

Popular Vote Award

This year also marked the first ever Popular Vote Award. Through a website hosted by wwd.com, the public was given the opportunity to vote for its favorite fashion designer. An overwhelming number of votes were cast and the winner of the Popular Vote Award was Ralph Lauren, who came alongside his beautiful wife Ricky. His award is definitely well-earned and goes to show the recognition and gratitude shown by the American public for one of the founding fathers of Modern American Style.

Besides the usual crowd of designers and Fashion magazine editors and photographers, this year’s CFDA Award ceremony had two special guests that are very dear to me. One was the First Lady, Michelle Obama who was awarded the Board of Directors’ Special Tribute Award. The other person was Gossip Girl’s own socialite Serena Van der Woodsen aka Blake Lively who wore a beautiful neon-pink/fuschia dress by Michael Kors, a former CFDA Awards recipient himself in the Womenswear and Menswear categories in 1999 and 2003 respectively.