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Introducing Url Pickens: Denim That’s Haute Yet Humble

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:37:29 +0000

An American in the Paris fashion world for nearly 25 years, Earl Pickens has stayed mostly under the radar, working with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Lee Cooper. But his relative anonymity is about to end. Tomorrow, the 46-year-old designer will present about 60 haute denim looks under his own label, Url Pickens (a name he registered decades before the Internet era, he notes), in association with the French luxury heavyweight Bocage Avenir Couture. “The idea is to take denim high end, but with humility,” says Pickens. “It’s about giving it a French edge with fine tailoring and weaves, hand finishings, and the kind of workmanship you just don’t see any more. Some pieces look like linen—but they’re still denim.” Goodbye, boyfriend jeans; hello, “husband trousers.” Pickens is also gearing up to put the creativity he honed in France to work in his native land. Raised on Chicago’s South Side, Pickens fell into fashion as a teenager by sitting in on drawing classes at the Art Institute. Now, he’s said to be preparing a homecoming of sorts by overseeing creative direction at the recently rescued Chicago-based clothier Hartmarx, whose most loyal fan occupies the Oval Office.

—Tina Isaac

Photo: Paul Morigi / WireImage

Post from: Handmade Silver Jewelry Blog

Introducing Url Pickens: Denim That’s Haute Yet Humble

Repetto Experiences The MJ Effect

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:37:20 +0000

Michael Jackson’s death sent his fans on a buying spree—record stores have reported running out of Jackson albums, and almost three million downloads of the Gloved One’s singles had been recorded as of the end of last week. Fashion is feeling the Jackson effect, too. The Repetto shop in Paris has seen a huge uptick in sales of its Jackson jazz shoe, a pared-down patent leather loafer that comes in white or black. (Or ebony and ivory, if you prefer.) The kicks happen to be on-trend—loafers are staging a quiet comeback for Fall—and they’ll be all the moonwalking rage tomorrow, when Jackson’s funeral blows out L.A.’s Staples Center. White socks optional.

—Maya Singer

Photo: Courtesy of Repetto

Post from: Handmade Silver Jewelry Blog

Repetto Experiences The MJ Effect

Yea, Nay, Or Eh: Diaper Shorts? Depends

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:02:30 +0000

One of the most welcome things, for me, about the Michelle Obama-mania seizing the fashion industry is the fact that for the first time that I can remember, the woman that designers would kill to dress is an actual grown-up, lady-type person. As opposed, I mean, to a sloppy, underpants-optional starlet, or one of those famous-for-nothing girls who live on reality television. Maybe, I thought, when it was announced that the CFDA would be handing out a special award to MObama, we were ushering in an era of sophisticated dressing. Then I spent the weekend wandering around Brooklyn and saw girls everywhere in…diaper shorts. Sometimes called bubble shorts or bloomer shorts, or in longer versions, harem shorts, these are shorts that pouf out around the hips, crotch, and behind and taper into bands around each leg, or an elasticized hem. A good number of brands introduced versions this summer, so many that it doesn’t bear citing examples. I will note that Lauren Conrad wore a pair by Elizabeth and James to an event last week, but really, the diaper short is an under-sung trend, inasmuch as it’s swept every kind of retail: high-end, low-end, mainstream, left-of-center. To be frank, I find the style unattractive—just fundamentally unflattering on anyone—and I didn’t expect it to have any traction on the street. I was wrong. Anyway, there I was in Brooklyn, puzzling over why it was these bubble/bloomer/harem shorts bothered me so much, when I landed at my friend’s place for some hang time with her 18-month-old. That’s when it hit me—bubble/bloomer/harem shorts look exactly like the kind of shorts you put on over a baby’s diaper. They are literally infantilizing. So, for that matter, are rompers and bobby socks and a bunch of other fads sweeping summer ‘09, but depending on the execution, at least that stuff has some wit. Diaper shorts, I think, cross the line. What do you think? Just for a change, couldn’t we fetishize the elderly? Granny glasses, chintz prints, orthopedic footwear…? Comments, please.

—Maya Singer

Photo: Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images

Post from: Handmade Silver Jewelry Blog

Yea, Nay, Or Eh: Diaper Shorts? Depends