All American Vintage: Concept

Showing posts with label Concept. Show all posts

Black Ivy

Love this shoot on Street Etiquette called The Black Ivy, inspired by the college style of the Black Ivy League. The African bags, beads and scarf accessories are a cool update on trad prep outfits.

For some reason this avalanche of push-pinned black-and-white photos—vintage portraits, cabinet cards, and casual snapshots rivetted me. Maybe because I spend a lot of time looking at, studying, sometimes buying paper epehemera just like it but the fascinating new information this image provides I think is the display style, chaotic and organic- organized into almost eerily beautiful tableaux. Its yet another dot in the increasing interest in Victorian/19th century aesthetics- like the tintype imagery in this NYTimes spread, Just in from the 1890's clustering around a trend concept that continues to gain momentum called steampunk ( here's the British take on it). These, for example are steampunk USB's.

If you look through the other images from the source article Still Life describing Jeffery Moss' home, you'll also see a fresh combination of this era's maximalist aesthetic with more minimalistic 20th century pieces- almost like the interior decoration version of pairing t shirt and jeans with victorian tailoring and facial hair.

Cape Cod

Every year I design some kind of group of designs around anchors and boats and life by the sea. These nautical themes endure and never seem to go out of fashion. I finally got around to do some for my own store- so check out the Cape Cod section if you are in the mood for lobsters, whales, anchors and ropes - all inspired by my vacations there that I absolutely loved.

Tiki

I'm working on Summer 2011 and am looking at a lot of Tiki designs for inspiration. Love the mid century color palette of these orchid vases (nice with the orange background). I also like them for the more primitive Easter Island aesthetic which looks a little more African than the usual kitschy 50's mask versions.

Brad vs Frank

There's been a lot of Brads on the catwalks, in the magazines, lots of horn rims and clean cut American Prep Classics. But inevitably, as it always does, the pendulum swings the other way as witnessed by the arrival of Frank at the D Squared Show. Although Frank opened and closed the show, the in between part was a blood spattered nod to all the young dude vampires and more about goth than androgyny. The goth staples served up - a lot of black, some skulls, leather, metallic chain like acessories, a little make up and they threw in some Hockey (they're Canadian).

In the documentary I just added, American Goth, the Goths interviewed struggle a little with the ingredients that define a Goth. Apparently they have eclectic tastes in music and are pretty well read. They overlap Victorian, fantasy, punk and metal. There's your East Village thrift goth and your Rick Owens Paris Couture goth. I'm curious to see if there is an American Goth look that references the vintage bad boy, outsider, rock rebel aesthetics through to the modern day dark lord sportswear of new designers like Odyn Vovk that can actually have a broad commercial reach.

Sunday Riders

I just discovered that youtube has some new features like customization so I redecorated my channel. I also discovered that playlists can be embedded so I have a couple of cool playlists to show - the first is the Bruce Brown documentary On Any Sunday , the other is Wheels, a selection of various short clips spanning various eras of bike riders. These are great resources for just taking in the aesthetics of the sport like the Rin Tanaka Books. I'll be adding more to Wheels as I find them on youtube.

Board Shirt

Besides the Opening Ceremony/ Pendleton collaboration there's also the Hurley/Pendleton collaboration. Love the more modern sixties, youth/surf culture angle but - a wool shirt for this demographic? Not exactly the easy comfy care material they are more used to. Its also avaialable on the Pendleton online store- which I wouldn't think would normally attract a younger or more fashion forward customer. This is interesting. Branding, culture, availability and marketing in the internet age. Can't say what it means without knowing how well its selling for each party - but its interesting to see not just a vintage brand but a vintage product (wool/vintage fit) marketed, and sold across seemingly very different demographics- and all in the same season so its not a trickle up or down.

Pretty Boy Looks

The NYTimes has an interesting post today , It’s All a Blur to Them which ponders on whether genderless dressing is a marginal trend or has a robust future. One American icon comes immediately to mind- Patti Smith. If the wearer can pull of what she did twenty years ago - which transcended gender and was the embodiment of cool, then, robust future it is. I'm looking forward to the documentary Dream of Life airing on PBS Dec 30 to take a closer look at not just what she wore but how she wore it.

The New Outdoors

I was in the downtown Bloomingdales the other day and was immediately drawn to a jacket by Junya Watanabe clearly inspired by a classic American Hunting Jacket- complete with shoulder patch and bright orange trim. Although the aesthetics were vintage, the fabrication and construction was current. The tan cloth a light weight technological fabric, lightly quilted- it was light as a feather and had a slim fitted silhouette. The video of his AW09 collection is a dazzling look at his deconstruction of the great American outdoors wardrobe, refined, reimagined. The slices of plaid and camouflage, the mix of tweed, quilting, flashes of color against the autumn hues of olives browns and mustards and the new proportions and styling - all make this a great inspirational resource for dressing up this fall in the new outdoors.

+ Media:Junya Watanabe FW 2009

Native Inspiration

I'm looking at a lot of native american stuff. There's definitely something in the air about this inspiration source from sneakers to store installations. Love the aged colors of the Parfleche and the elegant shape of the moccassin

American Bohemian

With the increasing trend for revivalism of classic, traditional and preppy american style, I begin to hanker for the random, idiosyncratic, bohemian aesthetic of Paul Bowles in his ethnic shirt. The inevitable counter movement begins.

Racer

Looking through some Rin Tanaka books, I'm reminded of racing style associated with the motorcycle prior to the greaser, easy rider, hells angel kind that occured mid century and onwards. The style prior to that was more elegant, lot of wool sweaters. I particularly like the layouts of the text graphics and the lean fonts used.

Miner Blues

I was looking through the Milan Shows on Men Style, noting the many iconic American references from D Squared's camping to D & G's cowboys, but surprsingly the one collection I found most inspiring was Missoni's - I particularly like her washed out blues. It connected with an idea I'm working on for Fall 2010 that references Gold Miners - this puts a color scheme to the images of workers I've been looking at which is viable- faded, stained, dusty work clothes all reduced to a range of faded indigo shades. I could also see this translating into an interesting pale blanket palette for flannel plaids and overdyed sweats and chinos.