Plastics Please

Fashion is fake. Fake with a capital F and we love it. Where else can we transport ourselves into a world of fantasy, buy into a lifestyle through the purchase of a $7.00 lacquer. Fashion and the advertising behind the looks are all based on suspending reality. So in a sense fashion is the purchase of a single pair of ALDO slingbacks at a mid-tier department store in middle America as much as it is its elaborate runway sets. Fashion endorses extreme versions of a vision, it is fake in every sense of the word, fabulously superficial. Superficial has taken off in a new way through the use of plastic props, which have been used across the globe to set off the new Spring 2010 looks.

Could it be to portray whimsy and adopt a nonsensical tone in like of dark economic times? Could it be due to those economic times? (I think if American Vogue wanted to rent-a-pony for an editorial they could swing it, so I am discounting the real possibility of cost driving the trend, though contributing is up for debate.)

Allow me to present the evidence. First up: the February American Vogue "Back in the Saddle" spread styled by Elissa Santissi and photographed by Raymond Meier features model Constance Jablonski and a faux version of a horse whose resemblance to the beloved black velvet is uncanny. Though this horse is missing a thoroughbred pedigree it has gained more attention that some real-life horses of impressive breeding lines.

It doesn't stop with a single shiny black gelding featured in an American Vogue editorial. The print ads of many different design houses are playing with plastics as a way to channel the youthful energy that fashion always favors. For example, the Mulberry Spring 2010 campaign has models Sasha Pivovarova and Viktoriya Sasonkina spinning around on a merry-go-round while gripping the English label’s signature oversized handbags. The series of print ads give me a toothache-- I worry is it too much sweet, too far a departure from the brand's identity? Mulberry resonates with consumers seeking the sophisticated with a quirky edge. While it remains to be seen if the giddy girlishness of the setting detracts from the outfits, the prints deserve credit for being on trend and on a carousel!For last Fall Mullberry ads featured girls running through a forest (read: browns and grey). These new ads help steer Mullberry away from the frumpy and toward a distinctive British style: stylish, rebellious. confident. The use of plastics help communicate that shift from more traditional to a little naughty.

Advertisers at Aldo got wild for the Spring 2010 ad campaign which features Jessica Stam playfully posing with a plastic feline co-star. The model cleverly channels the spirit of the cheetah in front of the camera lens.

Photographer Terry Richardson captures Stam roaring alongside the plastic cheetah and angles the shot to juxtapose her long legs with the lithe creature in a similar pose. The ads feature other bright red plastic accessories along side quirky shoes. The use of plastics here is playful and showcases the light and fun vibe of the spring season.

Trends via TrendHunter.com.

In the Japanese Vogue March 2010 issue photographer Terry Richardson injects his incredible brand of eccentricity for creative mix of taxidermy tigers, bear heads and buffalo. I realize this example marks a slight departure from the orignial trend of plastic animals, but these stuffed creatures are unreal! Thank goodness the experienced and skilled model Freja Beha Erichsen works the set (we all must acknowledge the potential for this to get too creepy). Freja captured the feeling of a outlandish carnivore-eal feast and went with it. She stares into the lens posing behind a backdrop of bold colors and patterns in hot-pants, plaid coats and mini dresses, mixed with statement accessories. Styled by George Cortina, this outlandish editorial is certainly one to check out and since international spreads are hard to come by I will post a bunch of the pictures here:

Sugar High

No, I am not talking about that crazy new Le Whif chocolate developed by an even crazier Harvard professor, which we all know the eccentric fashion types will be inhaling. I am talking about the extrodinary shift from black to cotton candy hues.

Black, which has always appeared in a chic closet had recently spread to a level of uncharted proportions. It seeped into every age bracket by way of nail polish and the two-button blazer. Fashion types have loved black for decades but the Spring 2010 shows marked a departure from drama and dark. (Perhaps we have all seen enough chipped black manicures?)

It makes sense to track this trend starting with an examination of the current happenings at Chanel. Chanel was a far sunnier place than usual-- not a single black item in the collection, which was displayed among a haze rainbow lights that matched the sugary peaches and minty greens of the all-pastel and silver collection. Karl Lagerfeld reportedly did away with the label's hallmark color as "a challenge." (Lagerfeld even wore gray the day he showed the collection!) The collection felt "sweet" with fancy bows sitting atop the massive winged bouffants of each model.

Sweet and dainty aren't usually what fashion aims for. Dark, futuristic, yes and yes but the sheer frequency of pushing the envelope has left the fashion world in a place where the only way to send shock waves is to embody the image they often pushed against. Of course, dainty and sweet done by new talent in the fashion world is going to be subverted and tweaked-- and therefore cool.

For example, Lady Gaga wore a wacky dress to The Brit Awards. The dress was constructed with three distinct tiers causing her to look less like a lady and more like a wedding cake. But I would expect nothing less from her, perfectly capturing attention and on trend while walking the red carpet (in London, England on February 16th).

Other than Lady Gaga and Chanel, though you could argue that when they align a trend is born, there has been a resurgence of pastel colored hair. For the past couple of years women have been throwing money at stylists to dye their hairs various shades of "something enhancing, but natural" and now whimsical rainbow shades are being requested. Mainly it is the hipsters and the wild that are jumping head first into this interpretation. Some are dying mermaid long tresses robin egg blue and never looking back.

Famed half-pint blogger Tavi dyed her hair and was pictured at all the shows sporting looks that she explained will "give her something to tell the grandchildren". She seems a bit young to start dreaming of telling grandkids remember, "when I lived in a house like Grey Gardens and my hair was the same color." But she is a dreamer by nature, I suppose.
So this is not the type of trend that is only for 12-year-old eccentric blogger and celebrities and then the people who can afford a Chanel tweed suit in a buttery yellow. This is a trend for all. That is why it is better explained as a shift.
Anyway, check out Emanuel Ungaro's Spring 2010 collection shown at Paris Fashion Week and you will see vibrant pinks, from pink collared shirts right down to Pepto Bismol loafers with some cotton-candy colored fingerless gloves thrown in for good measure.
As a reward for all my readers I decided to end this post the most delicious way I know how-- I made a fushia sandwich! Yep, men embrace the philosophy "think pink" but do yourselves a favor and separate these shall we say statement pieces to avoid looking like our friend to the left.

ADVICE: It is always a sign when a model can't pull it off. But do be brave and embrace the cotton candy wonderland of it all! (If Mr. Lagerfeld did it no one has any excuses!) Add a dash of color because a shift this sugary is sure to crystalize.

Creative Critters

If the thought of interlocking hearts makes you double over then you should gather all your single friends and have a post-Valentines Day event. On February 26 from 7:00 - 10:00 the OBSERVATORY, an art and events space in Brooklyn, is hosting an event of epic Entomologic proportions. The showing lasts until April 4th, 2010 but they always say the early bird gets the worm...

Okay if I just ruined it for you (with that corny joke) please note all the one-liners I enjoy cracking have no place at this exhibit. The art is grouped around a central theme: inspired by insects. But the levels of interpretation and deep symbolic meanings are scattered like leaves on late autumnal day. There is a private world of highly intellectual individuals who dedicate themselves to studying insects. French Author and Entomologist Jean Henri Fabre explains the life cycle of a Cicada with fervent passion:

“For four years he has dug the earth with his feet, and then suddenly he is dressed in exquisite raiment, provided with wings that rival the bird’s, and bathed in heat and light. What cymbals can be loud enough to celebrate his happiness, so hardly earned, and so very, very short?”

The deep metaphorical meaning engraved in the segments of this tiny miraculous creatures is often lost. We tend to focus on human narratives, and if we include other creatures they are made-up (Ahem Avatar) or steeped in zoological fields of study.
Something is charming about critters. Appendages of iridescent shades, the nets of webbed wings floating in motion-- there is art inside the segments of some of our smallest creatures. I think they are making a modern-day comeback. This exhibit features the work of many talented artists. Jennifer Angus' work from Worm's Eye View is posted here but click her name to view the full collection.
Chirstopher Marley is an example of an artist not showing at OBSERVATORY but who has been bitten by the bug-trend. He uses bugs in elaborate visual compositions the same way that painters use color, texture and form to paint.

Marley pays local collectors for the exotic specimens. (Don't worry that his interest in art is draining the fragile tropical ecosystems; Marley says the money aspect helps preserves them since there is an economic incentive to find the critters.) It seems like artists are striving to capture the mythological magic of bugs on a large scale and mimic the intricate detail on the tiny limbs and thorax on the smaller.