Move

I advise against watching the entire video as the quick cuts can induce a feeling similar to motion-sicking, but I suppose that’s the point of MOVE.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Our ability to extend ourselves through media has given us meta-problems…being car-sick without leaving the couch. Feeling like you went with your friend to Prague, extending your voice via phone has been enhanced with FaceTime and Skype and the like.

So all this media helps drive us forward (perhaps at such a rapid pace we begin dependent on it to record our travels and correspondences so we can refer back to the cyber-trail of our travels). What are the ramifications of this network expansion and democratization of technological advances for the fashion industry?

For one, luxury brands are forced to jump in the social-media water and hope that the instant exposure doesn't level the field too much. Basically, that the technological plane we all operate on doesn’t erode the platform of exclusivity their houses worked hard to bolster. For the most part though, it means fashions can be shared as quickly as a trip to japan can be uploaded to facebook or (RIP) Flickr.

The rapid sharing can been sited as a positive but the impact to our self-image can be splintering. Shot by Ben Sandler for Amusement Magazine "Net Effect" is an editorial that explores the issue of our digital identities affecting our corporeal identities in the real world. Net Effect project, according to their website, depicts the “philosophical dialogue between the human form and the immaterial representation of our digital selves.”

The metallic installations created by Bonsoir Paris “serve as metaphors of representations in the digital realm.” The caged-in models showcase the shadowy side of instant-sharing: a psychic scattering of the self. With interaction linking us indefinitely to the opinions and thoughts of our peers it becomes challenging to have untainted thought instead of a reactionary thought to the stream of encoded messages we receive.

The emphasis on communication means look-at-me looks can be uploaded to websites and validated with an audience of eager participants consuming a screen image of the idiosyncratic style of one trend-setter and appropriating it the very next day. The Museum of Modern Art “Talk to Me” exhibition demonstrates the cybernetic quality of our interactions from a broader platform. The predominant point of the exhibition is that communication has become the driving force in design.

Trends spread across the blogosphere like super novas, burning brightly, not sustainably. What is a stylish gal to do? Embrace the experience and soak it up but don't let all the other opinions stand in for your own. One should never get dressed in front of a computer screen as a mirror.

Toast Points

If you know me personally, it is not news that I am an unofficial spokesperson for toast. The way the farmers have started to brand milk as a general commodity, I have begun my work, to get everyone excited about the four-cornered, dry-humored carbohydrate that is often forgotten about-- toast. The dry-humored bread needs better pr, and lucky for it the majority of my conversations with my roommates position us as brand ambassadors: long live the loaf! But besides the obvious outreach we do on behalf of hung-over party-girls in the tristate area, I have decided it is time to appreciate the way wheat-shaded fashions are dominating the runways. (You didn't think I was really going to write an entire post about toast in the middle of fashion week, did you?)
Anyway, to me toast is the basic staple of a diet the way that wheat is the grounding force in a collection (and both are underrated and overshadowed by "experts" throwing around opinions on high-protein rigor and the omnipresence of black).
Once you find the right shade of cream, wheat or beige for your skin you will never go back. Just as the life-saving properties of toast on an uneasy stomach are not soon forgotten. The key to finding the best shade for you is to figure out the undertones in your complexion. Magazines, sephora sales people, and mirrors are your best allays here. Cheat-sheet: if you are Asian, Mediterranean, Italian or have olive or golden skin tone consider yourself yellow; if you are British, polish, German or have fair to flushed skin, think pink. If you have deeper hues than olive you don't need to worry about wash-out and can move along to step number two: choosing your dream crème. If you have yellow undertones avoid yellowed cream because you will look bright and vibrant in pinker shades of beige.
When thinking about the variations in cream words like sensible-dressing, or blah may pop into your mind. Don't be fooled, tapioca is exciting in the fashion world. Just ask Francisco Costa whose women’s collection for Calvin Klein marked the last of the major shows in New York's Fashion Week, and showed the flirty side of the trend when Lara Stone came out in a gold jacquard shift-dress.
Costa referred to the number as "wheat" which reminds me that the girls at Rodarte where literally swaddled in full-length evening gowns that had been dipped in wheat at the hem. Kate and Laura Mulleavy cited the American Plains as their inspiration.
According to style.com the operative word to describe Micheal Kors’ collection was sleek, and the luxurious looks featured monochromatic take on beige—it was breath-taking and all the better to create that long, uninterrupted line Kors favors (Nicole Phelps reporting for style.com).