Maxi Dresses: Almost as Bad as Gladiators

Once again, some influencer, perhaps Dallas’ famed Sam Moon, has delivered a trend so un-hot, it is the perfect complement to gladiator sandals – the Maxi Dress. When will women stop taking seeking fashion inspiration from the movie 300? What’s next? Gold leaf tiara-things? Homes with huge roman columns? Segways scooters decorated to look like chariots? Tom Ford… The men of the world are begging you. Please design for women again. Sunglasses and fragrances are not enough.

Get Cornified

Me on Twitter, Round 3

It took me at least three solid attempts at blogging before it stuck, and now I think I am up for a third attempt at twitter.  I have had my account for a couple of years now, deleted almost all my posts at one time thinking I was done for good, had another half-hearted attempted at doing it again, quit, and now here I am again.  Thanks to all these tools that now make it so painless, I think it may stick.

Thank god for Ashton Kutcher.

I am in serious need of followers, so hook it up.

2008 Predictions… A Look Back

Last year, actually towards the end of 2007, I made some streetwear predictions. As an industry outsider, I deserve a little freedom to get things wrong, but they were not really all that bad. I put together this super slick excel spreadsheet that factors in posts from Hypebeast, Selectism, and other blogs and media outlets coupled with photo sites like Cobrasnake and Last Nights Party to give me a ‘Percentage Accurate” with 100% meaning I nailed it. It is easy to make predictions every year, because NOBODY ever goes back to see how they did. I have nothing to lose, so I did:

Prediction 1
Bulky, dirty sneakers will complement tight jeans. Think Jordan 6-10s with skinny jeans on hipsters. Note: This is not a sneaker-head thing… more of a waify, pasty hipster thing. Hipsters will rebel against the current trend of wearing women’s Keds.

Calculation: 72.5% Accuracy. According to a sweep of major blogs and photo sites, everyone from Lil Wayne to 12 year old skate kids were wearing skinny jeans with bulky high-tops, but they were not necessarily dirty. Keds and the like were still spotted with relatively high frequency on pasty hipsters.

Prediction 2
The lines between streetwear and luxury will continue to blur. The more mature streetwear kids will step their game up, which will no doubt require new jobs. Nigo has been spotted in a vest/tie/jacket combo more in the last 3 months of 2007 than in the last 10 years. You’ll hear streetwear kids rattle off high-end designers/labels with ease.

Calculation: 90.5% Accuracy. Shit! Have you looked at Hypebeast lately. You could slap a Brooks Brothers (shit, even lower, a J Crew) logo on some of the items featured and nobody would question it. This would have been 100%, but the number of new consumers entering the space offset the older streetwear kids’ effort to move towards more luxury to a small degree. Yes, there were a ton new luxury brands that became must-haves, but unfortunately, far too many brands still spit out nothing but t-shirts and New Eras.

J Crew? The Gap? Merona? Nope, it’s a brand called Useless (from Hypebeast).

Prediction 3
Legacy will be the dominant theme of 2008. Brands with a real history will reign supreme. Think Levis, Vans, Stussy, Reebok, Carhartt, etc. The hot new-ish brands will stick around, but nobody will be excited about new brands, and nobody will want to endorse them. That is not to say that new brands won’t give it a shot, but it will not be pretty. Hypebeast has already reached total laughable status.

Calculation: 80.25% Accuracy. According to the spreadsheet, all of the brands above had great years and some superb collaborations. With the influx of newer, higher-end, more sophisticated brands and looks making waves, if your name wasn’t Levis, Vans, Stussy, etc… you simply did not get noticed.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

2009 Trend: Bucket Service

It’s a recession – apparently it has been a recession for at least a year now – but you probably haven’t noticed much a of a downturn in excessive nightlife expenditures.   That is about to change.   Forget bottle service.   Get ready for bucket service.   Of course, I am only partly joking.  I say ‘partly’ because I actually saw a table hip-hop industry types (that will remain anonymous) at one of the super trendy NYC spots rockin’ a bucket of Coronas.   Get ready!   Better start slangin’ some beats.

George Michael – Allover Print Pioneer (and Extras Cameo)

My old friends know that strange importance that George Michael plays in my life. Yeah, I know, cheesy. But at least I admit it. I could (and eventually will) go on about his continued influence on pop culture and eventual rise back to glory, but in the mean time, check out this example of George Michael’s influence on follower-wear – I mean streetwear. He was an allover print pioneer:

Check his brief, but brilliant cameo on the HBO show ‘Extras’. How could you not love a guy that takes a shot at himself like this:

Images courtesy of el Arab Parrot.

Video Mash-ups – I Love Them!

I have always been impressed by high-quality song mash-ups. The likes of Party Ben and the Bootie crew are incredibly creative in my opinion. But kids these days are reeeeeally blowing me away with VIDEO mash-ups. What will the kids do next? Give a kid a Mac and they’ll flip your original content into something arguably more amazing (considering their production budget was ZERO). If you have never seen one, the audio for two or more songs are mixed and played over a mix of multiple video sources – typically the videos for the songs. I have pulled some of the better examples, one of which I found during my Eric B and Rakim search just minutes ago.

UPDATE: See the comments on this post from the founders of Bootie for more info on their contributions to this phenomenon! And definitely add their blog to your reading list. It is the THE source for the best mash-ups out there. They make one excellent point that is important to note… quite often the mash-up videos you may encounter were not created by the same person that created the audio mash-up. Just a little FYI!

Eric B and Rakim + Beastie Boys

Kanye + Linkin Park (Note that the video content was lifted straight from TRL!)

Kanye + Maroon 5

Gorillaz + Killers

50 Cent + Eninem + Linkin Park

Justin Timberlake + Corey Hart

“Bitchassedness”

Or is it:

“bitch-assedness”

or

“bitchass-edness”

or

“bitchassed-ness”

Regardless, I rank #1 for the term in Google, for now.  Thanks Diddy. Now we have a new word. I still like ‘tornadic‘ better.

The Party – Dallas (and a trend emerges)

A few months back, I mentioned what I felt was sure to become a new trend – the video party flier.  Now my favorite party crew from back in Texas, The Party, is not letting me down with their rendition above.

Estelle’s “American Boy” Will Save Hip-Hop!

I was fully expecting to not like this song, but I absolutely love it. At some point, I will officially get off Kanye’s jock, but I believe this song could actually save hip-hop record sales. Here is my rationale, and I am only half-way joking here. Of all of my friends, the people with the largest – entirely paid for – music collections are my gay friends that are over 40. These are people clearly not buying hip-hop right now, so they are a completely untapped audience. The only music that even remotely resembles hip-hop in their collection is Blondie! But this song has such an M People meets hip-hop feel, that it may just be the most culturally significant song in years! This is entry level hip-hop for gay listeners. It starts here, then they buy Graduation, record companies identify the trend, and start cranking out loads of this gay friendly hip-hop. Problem solved!