Category: apparel

UTILIKILTS! How would you style your outfit?

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Last week, when I was in Seattle, I visited the UTILIKILTS store near Pioneer Square. Utilikilts have gotten a lot of media attention. These are kilts for men, but instead of plaid tartan kilts, these kilts come in utilitarian fabrics such as cotton twill, denim, and heavy canvas, such as that used by Carhartt. Utilikilts also feature a lot of cargo pockets and other features.


Workman’s Utilikilt

Utilikilts aren’t designed for women, although women do buy them and wear them. Utilikilts are cut straight, so you have to wear them low on your hips. What would you style around a Utilikilt?

Oh, and BTW the Utilikilts store doesn’t have any dressing rooms. The salesman (OK, I can use gender-specific language) told me to wrap and fasten the Utilikilt over my jeans and then “drop trou”! Hoot mon!

Yves St. Laurent’s perennial style

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By now, everyone knows that Yves St. Laurent died Sunday, June 1.


Yves St. Laurent in 1993

I do not consider myself a fashionista (which is why I don’t blog often on fashion), but IMHO Yves St. Laurent and Coco Chanel are the most influential fashion designers of the past century. I make that judgment in view of the way that their styles have trickled down to what the Brits would call high street fashion and have become perennials (the word “classics” somehow suggests museum relics).

Chanel introduced skirt and dress suits, jersey knits, and the LBD (the little black dress for those of us who are not fashionistas) to women. Yves St. Laurent feminized menswear such as bush jackets (La Saharienne), tuxedo jackets, pea coats, and matched jacket and pants. Those styles are with us still.

Sometimes, high fashion is best restricted to Vogue and the runways. The styles of Yves St. Laurent and Coco Chanel found mass appeal.

D&G Dolce & Gabbana rips off Marimekko Unikko print

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The print on this D&G Dolce & Gabbana Poppy-Print Dress looks exactly like Marimekko’s famed Unikko print! No word if Marimekko granted a license to D&G Dolce & Gabbana to use this print.

Marimekko granted a license to H+M to use some of its prints for a recent limited edition collection. In the fall, Avon will debut a limited edition cosmetics collection using the Unikko print under license from Marimekko.

Found through Bergdorf Goodman.

UPDATE: The Glam Guide told me that D&G Dolce & Gabbana did indeed rip off Marimekko’s Unikko print. Read her comments and follow the links to read about her campaign to alert Marimekko and retailers selling D&G Dolce & Gabbana and Charles by Charles David shoes that these two brands were stealing the Unikko print. Thanks, G.G., for the info and for introducing me to your blog!

Diane von Furstenburg Gazara Foil-Print Silk Dress

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I love ethnic prints. This Diane von Fustenburg strapless dress features gold tribal designs printed over a dip-dyed skirt in black and green. The jackard bodice features ruffles and gold beading. Great details that make a whole.

I definitely prefer the Giuseppe Zanotti sandals (top) to the flip-flops (bottom). Flip-flops are too casual.

Kate Moss, marketing juggernaut

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In the 90s, she was the target for criticism about the fashion industry promoting unhealthy body images. In this decade, she’s a marketing juggernaut. Although the notorious tabloid picture of her allegedly snorting cocaine (below) cost her several contracts, most notably a campaign for Stella McCartney’s limited edition collection for H+M, ads featuring her were never absent from the fashion magazines. Now Kate Moss is bigger than ever before.


Kate allegedly snorting cocaine

Her collection Kate Moss Topshop for UK high street retailer Topshop (“high street” is Britspeak for “chain store” for example, H+M, Forever 21, Gap, Banana Republic) was sold in US, incongruously, through Barneys. Barneys featured a countdown clock on its web site for Kate Moss Topshop on its website: orders could be placed beginning midnight. By the morning, however, the collection was sold out.

For all those who went away disappointed that they missed out on shopping Kate Moss Topshop, Barneys helpfully (or maybe not so helpfully) covered the launch party after the collection sold out. Check out Kate’s outfit that featured a sheer muumuu, cinched with a belt, which plainly shows the black bikini bottom underneath.

Kate’s latest endeavors include the projected launch of a skin care line and a partnering with hair stylist James Brown on a new line of hair care products.

Get ready for spring – 15% off from Skirt Spot

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Skirt Spot

The Style Page is pleased to announce a 15% discount on orders from Skirt Spot, formerly Boutique Ooh La La, for its readers. Browse Skirt Spot’s large collection of feminine skirts with details such as yokes, ribbon trim, ties, contrast hems, and more. This is a great opportunity to build your spring-to-summer wardrobe and also to get ready for Easter.

To take advantage of Skirt Spot’s 15% discount, enter code sp0307 (case-sensitive) in the box for Coupon or Gift Certificate on Skirt Spot’s web site. This offer is available only for a limited time – the last day to take advantage of it is March 22, 2007.

Clothes Shopping in India

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I have twice (1, 2) made reference to our layover at Heathrow Airport. My husband and I were en route from India, where we visited his family.

While the sari is the dress most commonly associated with India, younger women are opting for the salwar kameez, which allows for greater mobility. A salwar kameez outfit consists of the kameez, a tunic; the salwar, a pair of loose pants (almost like a harem pant); and a dupatta, a long scarf or shawl. Sometimes, a tight-fitting pant called a churidar is substituted for the salwar.


Salwar kameez

More recently, young women in India have taken to wearing a kurta or short kameez over jeans or other western-style pants. As my niece noted, this outfit has become the working woman’s uniform.

Salwar kameez are typically sold as an entire outfit; however, department stores in India such as Pantaloons and Westside sell the individual pieces as separates. As I was frustrated in my search for simple cotton kurtas in the U.S., I picked up a couple of kurtas at Westside.

According to my niece, tailors can sew custom kurtas at a nominal price. At the upper end of the price scale is Fabindia, which does ship outside of India.