When Times Are Tough

In this blog we separate style from substance. This is not necessarily the difference between surface and depth, instead, I like to think of it as the how and the what. Substance is what you wear, style is how you wear it. I also think it's important to separate style from fashion, although fashion can be stylish and style is always fashionable.

We mentioned before the question of creativity during tough times. Creativity needs a box to break out of. This can be an issue of economics or any factor that sets a limit or barrier. I always liked the example of old Hollywood. In 1930, the Hays code was a self imposed censorship upon the Motion Picture Industry. One can see a definite sense of style or creativity in films of the 1930s as they found ways around blatant use of profanity, sex and violence.

With the small pockets in our tight jeans holding less cash how much more creative do we get? Don't deny the ingenious of forgoing the bologna on our sandwich and just having mustard and mayonnaise.

Style is everywhere and the more we are forced to think about our choices, the more we see it flourish.

Kanye's Nostalgia

I ran across some info, as we often do wasting time on the internets, about Kanye West's new line Pastelle. In an interview with Marc Ecko, he discusses his love for throwback fashion, and how he connects to his grandfather's dress game. There are some other interesting excerpts which I plan on borrowing from (sigh...) Complex Magazine, and is featured below:

M: Do you think you’re nostalgic for that look, generationally? Was he more dapper?
K: Well, yeah, he was dapper—I don’t want to diss my dad’s style, but my dad would wear some JCPenney’s khakis and stuff. He wasn’t really into style like that. I remember one summer, when high-top fades was out, I was like 13 years old, and he told me, "OK, you can get your hair cut once a month." Which means that an Afro would start growing on the side of my head, so I had like a high-top fade and a high-top side.
M: [Laughs.]
K: And I remember I started crying, and he was like, "Yo, why you crying? I didn’t know your hair meant that much to you."

M: When you were growing up in Chicago in those early adolescent years, who’d you look to as an aesthetic role model?
K: Well, I always was really into clothes and stuff like that. And they used to have a store called Merry-Go-Round in the mall and it was that store I wanted to go to and just stare at stuff. It was all that In Living Color–era stuff with the baggy Hammer slacks and the—
M: You were rocking Hammer slacks?
K: Yeah, I actually wore some Hammer slacks.
M: See, I had you for polka dots…
K: Oh yeah, I had both. So, uh, not my finest moment. But, I wore that to school—and this is back in grammar school. It’s like people wore that in videos, but people would never actually really wear that in real life. And that’s when I figured out that I didn’t really dress how people dressed in "real life." I was like on TV before I was on TV.

M: When you visit family, do you dress more modestly?
K: People say you’re supposed to dress for the occasion. What I always say is dress like you’re coming from somewhere and you got someplace to go. You’ll probably be a little bit more yourself. That’s the attitude I had walking into Bassline studios in Italian shoes. I wasn’t dressing like I was supposed to stay in Bassline, you know what I’m sayin’?

M: Talk to me about your clothing line, Pastelle. We’ve had countless conversations about it, you’ve talked about your aspiration to get in this industry and be taken seriously. What’s going on with Pastelle today, why is it taking so long?
K: Just getting the right designs. It’s a gift and a curse. You’ve got all eyes on you, so if you deliver something great, it’s gonna get held as, "Oh, it’s supposed to be great." And even if it’s good or it’s OK or something, it’s gonna get bashed. There were phases where I could just do the bear on a Polo and it would’ve made $100 million. At a certain point. But I always say I was a designer before I was a rapper, and I really wanted to get into design. So then, trying to start designing and goin’ with my girl down to the fashion district and stuff, and looking at fabrics and stuff like that, I’m like, "Oh, shit. This is real." I’ve learned so much about materials and fabrics and applications and sequence and shiny fabrics and fits and all type of shit.

M: Our entire lives, white folks have copied black trends, from fashion to music. And now we’re in this moment where it seems like things have flipped, with black kids dressing like hipsters and bikers. What happened and where is it going?
K: Style just keeps changing, and that’s what it is right now. What is the true take on hipster? Why do hipsters like the most gangsterest of the gangster rap music? What is the reason behind that? I think it’s a little racist. But it’s equally as racist as why we like the movie White Chicks.

M: Right now, in this moment, it seems so about the aesthetic. Which is king, content or aesthetic?
K: Well, you focus on the music first. That’s one of the reasons why it took me fuckin’ four months to finish the lyrics on "Stronger," because the beat was just crazy and I hadn’t had people react to an instrumental like that since "Jesus Walks." So then it’s like, "OK, we got this song that’s incredible. How do we match up a visual that could be on the same level and have all the layers that the song had?" I love that challenge: How do you become fuckin’ Disney and Shrek and Anchorman, those things that across the board are commercially successful—you know what I’m sayin’.

The Economics Of Style

So, my last post is taking on a little growth, and instead of trying to flush it out behind the scenes, I figured we can work it out together. I was speaking with a very pleasant woman who works at Macys.com, and I presented my very novice ideas on style. She suggested some things about economy and its connection to comfort that piqued my interest.

Nostalgia holds its greatest power in the fact that it is a comforting memory. Warm and fuzzy; it takes us back to a time where we remember things as safer. Of course, time is always hectic and intense, but the memories we look back on as "good" seldom harbor the negative tint of those times. When times get tough we revert back to these things, and using contemporary events as an example, flashbacks happen when comfort is needed. Embracing those elements helps get us through bad spells until we can move into periods of prosperity.

The questions that I have yet to flesh out, and plan on doing so with this, is to see, historically if these sentiments hold weight in the long run. How much more creative and innovative are we when times aren't tough, and is there any data to back that up? This of course ties into music, and other facets of creative expression; all of the outlets that one would expect to fall under the umbrella of a discussion about style over substance.

The Futuristic Vintage Man of Yesteryear & Tomorrow

When I was younger, I was obsessed with the idea that time travel could cause galactic collapse if done improperly. The possibility that a limbo could be created where we are all trapped in a loop of things past, present and future baffled me, until I grew up and realized I was to live in such a great time.

Now that Fashion Week 2008 has passed us, I’d like to be able to offer that I have learned enough about fashion for the next season to make an educated selection of wardrobe items. Not the case. I have, however, noticed an aggregated movement towards the older elements in every facet of dress.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have taken vintage through the actual feel and look of its fabrics, with aged sepia-esque color schemes and rigid, narrow cuts. Michael Kors has fallen in line with a similar approach with stylings that mix “timelessness & tabloid.” Marc Jacobs’ Marc has upped the sophistication of his line, which apparently recalls the Perry Ellis grunge feel. It’s nostalgia in every stitch.

The takeaway from this is the same vibe of nostalgia that ebbs in music criticism, the inescapable element of referencing. Fabric DJ’s who progress certain newer elements (different stitching techniques- new looming processes- horizontal corduroy) with older, refreshing takes from the old school. The most exciting aspect seems more so the combinations that are possible, instead of the actual “new development” in fashion. And this idea helps to strengthen the bond between fashion and music further. It’s not necessarily a twilight zone, just a Sepia hallway, with lighter & more drastic tones; it both sounds, and looks like the changes of fall colors are in full effect.

On Cool

If you worry about whether or not you are cool or uncool, chances are you are probably uncool. Whether or not cool is a facade or something deeper is not the issue. Cool is the lack of the anxiety over being cool.

Green Jeans

Planet Earth Clothing has gone green and introduced an environmentally friendly clothing line, using naturally organic and sustainable materials. To ex-skaters, the name will be familiar from the monthly CCS catalog. Aside from birthday cards sent by distant relatives, CSS catalogs were the only piece of mail I received as an someteen. If I remember correctly, Planet Earth decks were a little too wide for my tastes and their artwork seemed so-hippie to my adolescent tastes. Few could compete with the Jason Lee deck for Blind that I had my eye on.

Now, Planet Earth don't seem so out of touch. Their earth-friendly name and artwork have aligned nicely with their environmental interests. A pair of their Green Jeans are almost as bad-ass as that Jason Lee deck. The jeans feature a vintage low fit and now are only available in gray. They are a 52/48 hemp cotton blend which aims to reduce the pesticides and fertilizers used to grow cotton for denim production.

Check the Planet Earth website for more Green Label styles and clothes.

Planet Earth

American Apparel Ad

I found this very early American Apparel advertisement from 1997. I thought I would share it.

Past-Rocking Redux

I'd like to piggy-back from the previous post. E. mentions sampling as the future of hip hop. In this sense, sampling accounts for the cross-section of hip hop's interests and effects, but in another sense, sampling is also hip hop's past. 

In the 1997 film Men in Black, Will Smith played a NYPD officer turned secret government agent who investigates alien activity on earth. We can see a direct link between a string of hits Smith had in the 90's made popular by obvious and easily identifiable sample material and the classic line from the film that Smith says, "I make this look good."

While Will Smith's early career can be defined by his ability to use comedy to soften hip hop's hard edge, I'd like to define his later career by his use of sampling and how he, "makes this look good." His first album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, took the urban soundscapes of LL Cool J and Run DMC and catalogued them to a more relatable suburban experience. "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" are two examples of Smith's comedic sensibility and skill at hip hop storytelling. By the time Men In Black was in theaters, Smith was a television and movie star. His comedic outlets allowed him to explore other areas of his music. This is to say, as Smith became an actor, his music became less cinematic. This shift is characterized by an emphasis on style not substance. The song "Men In Black" keeps the entire chorus of Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots" in tact and "Just the Two of Us" samples the Bill Withers song and includes lyrics from the original. 

The obvious reference to sampling in the 90s as an example of hip hop's style and sophistication is Puff Daddy. From a stylistic standpoint, his use of other people's music borders on bricolage. But in the case of Will Smith, he truly does make this look good.

Like the Will Smith quote suggests, sampling, is not about music, it's a stylistic choice. That is why when we talk of sampling, we should not only discuss melodic elements in hip hop, but what designer Kanye West chooses to wear, what producer Rihanna chooses to work with, or who is going to direct OutKast's next video.

A Few Words On Hipster Hatin'

I’m tired of articles, written in hopes to defame, discredit, and respond to hipsters mucking up the world. All of those correspondents from the realm of "in the know” are repulsed by the cultural void of the world that they are privileged with the journalistic duty of guarding yet through some lapse in consciousness or better judgment you let the all encompassing title of "hipster culture" and its leaching lifestyle slip through your fingers? Taste makers, fuck off!

You made this reality a horrid nightmare. You propagated the look, sold your ad space to clever sales teams who are capitalizing off of and study decisively the next trend, and are clipping every organic we try to produce. Now through the symbiotic nature of capitalism, the artistic fulling the trends of popular culture, we are left with what you equate to uninspired mongers of society. So, please tell us what did you expect?

In a time where everyone wants to report on things that aren’t news, or important, or even interesting, this bastardization of a lifestyle that magazines and the internets helped create, how can you simply abandon it because it is vapid? You, an army of marginally educated scenesters, took hold of everything that was deemed cool, and raped it- rode it bare back until it was lifeless, dour, and trite, and then refuse to take blame for what you consider an uninspired aggregation of youth trends. If you're seriously tired, and not just jumping on the bandwagon of deadbeat artist wannabe corporate bedfellows, stop writing about hipster’s and let it fall out of favor. Then ditch your ad-riddled publication of choice for something that doesn’t propagate a look you don't feel represents the "real"; one you helped create, yet despise. And if that’s not possible, deal with the reality that with every word you write about how much you hate hipsters, you just hate on your uninspired life and want for change.

The Biggest Perpetrators:

Ad Busters

The Independent

Hip-Hop Flip Flops Past Rocking Only High Tops

The “Everybody” Video for Fonzworth Bentley is an example of the transformation of Hip-hop, and coincidently, it’s battle with maturity. And we’ve (those who care about the gene’s development, not so much it’s exploitation) been saying it for years, that its high time that hip-hop stops trying to combat certain elements of high fashion, and the result is a progression into middle age which has presented an inverted perspective on mid-life crises. If you adjust your scope to circa 1999, Outkast were the progenitors of the Southern Gent meets dough boy sophisticate look, and that has spread, interestingly enough, to Chicago.

I’ve made the claim before that the south is where hip-hop’s soul lives, but Chicago is where it’s heart and future is currently residing- so it’s only right that Mr. Fresh-to Death West help progress both the music, and it’s appeal. However, the most interesting angle at which to look at this growth, is not from its maturity, but from its second generation, where an infusion of different cultures is cluster fucking both the scene and how hip-hop is captivating our minds. Populated by a larger sampling of, well, everyone, will definitely help change what we see as street culture and create some interesting moments as well.