FASHION LANDFILLS
FASHION LANDFILLS
Do you love clothes? I do….How about Fashion? Are you a Fashionista?
Don’t they look good hanging in our closets? How about now……………..
WHAT IS A LANDFILL SITE?
Landfill sites are carefully designed structures built on or on top of the ground in which rubbish is being dumped. The idea is to make sure that the rubbish is kept apart from the surrounding environment, which includes groundwater, air and rain. The rubbish is kept dry and not in contact with air. Under these conditions, rubbish will not decompose very much. A landfill is not like a compost heap, where the rubbish is buried in such a way that it will rot down (decompose) quickly. Bacteria in the landfill break down the waste even though there is no oxygen present (anaerobic). A by-product of this anaerobic breakdown is landfill gas, which contains approximately 50 percent methane and 50 percent carbon dioxide with small amounts of nitrogen and oxygen. This presents a hazard because the methane can explode and or burn. So, the landfill gas must be removed. To do this, a series of pipes are placed within the landfill to collect the gas. In some landfills, this gas is vented or burned.
HOW MUCH DO WE DUMP?
When new trends and styles hit the stores each season do you throw out your old stuff to make way for the new or do you take a more fashionable approach and reuse or recycle them?
Americans throw away an estimated 10 million tons every year while over 80% of waste generated in China is land filled. The Solid Waste Management Department of Karachi in India claims that over 7,000 tons of rubbish is generated daily. Waste management is now a global concern.
Research carried out by Global Cool the climate change charity, found that women who shop online are twice as unlikely to return unwanted clothes than those that are bought in store. The charity asked 3,500 UK women who revealed that they spent an average of £470 last year on items that they did not ever wear, which is a hefty figure considering that this equates to an estimated UK total of £11.1 billion.Even scarier perhaps though, is that one in ten of the women who took the survey admitted that they just bin the unwanted clothes which actually contributes to an estimated 900,000 tonnes of landfill waste. This waste also leads to needlessly creating 8 million tonnes equivalent of CO2 through the purchase of unworn clothes.by Clare Saxon
Our “throw away attitude” contributes to the large increase in waste now being created causing, what the US Protection Agency has identified as a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, Methane Gas. Since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700’s, the earth’s methane concentration has increased by 150%. As world population grows the consumption of resources increases and the output of waste is increased.
Fashion itself promotes consumption as each season the latest styles in clothing, shoes, handbags and the like, encourage us to throw out the old and consume the new. A report published in 2006 by the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing stated that “in 2000 the world’s consumers spent around US $1 trillion worldwide buying clothes. A third of that in Western Europe, another third in North America and about a quarter in Asia”. “Fast fashion” made from cheaper materials which may only last one season, provide affordable items aimed mostly at young women and their insatiable desire to have the season’s latest styles.
FASHION WEEK BOSTON
FASHION WEEK BOSTON
Adriana Sassoon and Model’s
Fashion Week Boston starts September 25th to October 2nd.
The Boston Fashion Week started with a timid Party at the Beehive on Friday the 9/25. Saturday was ruled by “Recessionista Shopping Tour” and Sunday “Fashion Evolution”.Boston Fashion Week is evolving. It cannot be compared to Sao Paulo, NY, Paris, London or Milan.The Boston community should support their local designers.I interviewed designers during the weekend.
At the “Fashion Evolution” Forever Party I interviewed Cindy Mathieu a Canadian designer, David Chum and Delise Ana Parker.Cindy Mathieu brought over to the show one of her gowns worn by ETC show host Cheryl Hickey.Designer David Chum just re:released his women’s collection called “Sela Do’r”. At the same show designer Delise Ana Parker showed an orange synthetic Leather Gown with feathers.
“Semana de Moda de Boston, ainda nao pode ser comparada a uma Sao Paulo Fashion Week!”
Por Adriana Sassoon
A semana de moda de Boston, comecou na ultima Sexta 25/9 com uma festa um pouco timida na Beehive.O final de semana ficou por conta de “Recessionista Shopping Tour” no Sabado e “Fashion Evolution” no Domingo. Nem de perto a Semana de moda de Boston, pode ser comparada a uma SPFW. O Brasil esta muito a frente neste quesito! A SPFW e considerada uma das mais conceituadas semanas de moda do mundo.Tanto pela criatividade como tambem em qualidade e desenvolvimento do Design de Moda.Entrevistei dois designers durante a “Fashion Evolution” .Cindy Mathieu uma designer Canadense, que ja teve seu trabalho divulgado pela apresentadora do Entertainment Tonight Canada Cheryl Hickey , David Chum que lancou sua colecao “Sela Do’r” em Marco deste ano e a designer Delise Ana Parker,mostrou um vestido em couro sintetico laranja com plumas.A semana promete mais.
Cindy Mathieu Mother of Pearl Dress
David Chum and Model’s
Delise Ana Parker her Orange synthetic Leather gown with Feathers
All images are courtesy of Ian Larraga Phorography
Para saber mais detalhes sobre as entrevistas acesse o site:
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PETER LINDBERG
PETER LINDBERG GOES LIGHT ON RETOUCHING
THIS TIME WITH SUPERMODEL’S FROM 90′S
Peter Lindbergh seems to be quite taken with this no-makeup, minimal-to-no retouching concept: In April, he captured Eva Herzigova, Ines de la Fressange, and a slew of European actresses without makeup or retouching for French Elle. A month after, he told the New York Times that he was tired of subjects in fashion magazines looking like overly-Photoshopped “objects from Mars”: “My feeling is that for years now it has taken a much too big part in how women are being visually defined today. Heartless retouching should not be the chosen tool to represent women in the beginning of this century.”
Lindbergh continues to lead the charge against excessive retouching, this time by capturing supermodels Amber Valletta, Nadja Auermann, Helena Christensen, Shalom Harlow, Claudia Schiffer, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, and Kristen McMenamy without makeup or excessive retouching for Harper’s Bazaar’s September 2009 issue.
“NO RE:TOUCHING”
ISABEL TOLEDO
ISABEL TOLEDO
Isabel Toledo (born April 9, 1961)is a Cuban-born American fashion designer based in New York. Toledo designed a lemongrass yellow wool lace shift dress with matching overcoat which First Lady Michelle Obama selected to wear at the inauguration of her husband, President Barack Obama.
Toledo was named creative director of Anne Klein in 2006 after more than twenty years of working solely under her own name; she was let go from that position in 2007.
Isabel Toledo was born in Cuba and moved to New Jersey where she attended high school and met her future husband and collaborator, Ruben Toledo. Toledo attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (NY) and Parsons School of Design (NY) where she studied painting, ceramics, and fashion design. An avid seamstress from a young age, Toledo’s work reflects not only a distinct design sense but a keen understanding of garment construction and appreciation for the geometric intricacies of pattern shapes.
In 1984, Toledo married artist Ruben Toledo and in 1985 presented her first collection. In 1998, she stopped presenting biannual collections, instead choosing to create on her own schedule.
Along with her husband, Ruben Toledo, Isabel was the recipient of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Award for their work in fashion in 2005. Toledo made her debut with Anne Klein at New York Fashion Week in February 2007 to critical acclaim. She and Anne Klein parted ways, however, a few months later.
Toledo was also the recipient of an Otis Critics’ award named for her at the Los Angeles-based Otis College of Art and Design.
Michelle Obama first wore a Toledo design on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 for an appearance at a New York City fashion world fund-raiser.
Michelle Obama & Barack Obama
BRIGITTE BARDOT
BRIGITTE BARDOT
AN EXHIBITION featuring rarely seen vintage prints of Brigitte Bardot, Brigitte Bardot and the Original Paparazzi, will be on display at James Hyman Gallery from September 3 to October 3, 2009.
Focusing on one of the great fashion icons of the twentieth century, the exhibition is being presented at the same time as London Fashion Week (September 18 to September 22) and coincides with Bardot’s 75th birthday on September 28.
The exhibition traces the development of a new genre of photography, showing how Bardot and the paparazzi created a whole new image of womanhood, female sexuality and youth fashion via a candid a photographic style that swiftly replaced the more controlled imagery produced by film studio publicity units.
The exhibition also times with the 50th anniversary of the birth of paparazzi, and includes vintage prints by the most famous of all the paparazzi: Tazio Secchiaroli (1925 – 1998), the basis for Fellini’s character in his seminal film La Dolce Vita (1959).
The show also includes many beautiful and rarely seen prints, including Bardot on the set of Godard’s seminal film Le Mepris; chiming perfectly with Jean Paul Gaultier’s current interest in the film and the inspiration for his 2010 collection, to be modeled by Bardot lookalike Lara Stone at London Fashion Week.
James Hyman Gallery : Brigitte Bardot et le paparazzi original
À temps pour le 75e anniversaire de Brigitte Bardot le 28 septembre prochain, la James Hyman Gallery nous fait plaisir avec une exposition de 75 photographies vintage de la blonde légendaire de plusieurs des plus célèbres photographes paparazzi de son époque. Ceci s’assortit parfaitement à la Fashion Week de Londres (du 18 au 22 septembre), après tout, Bardot est une des grandes icônes de la mode du 20e siècle. L’exposition présente quelques motifs rares et certains encore jamais publiés ni exposés.
L’exposition tombe aussi en même temps que le 50e anniversaire du concept de paparazzi et en profite pour nous éclairer sur la naissance d’un nouveau genre photographique – d’un délire VIP, pourrait-on dire. Il s’agit ici encore des débuts naïfs du genre, puis de la tentative de reconquête du contrôle que les grands studios de cinéma s’étaient arrogés en ce qui concerne l’image de la star.
Brigitte Bardot fut une des premières à agir plus ou moins en coopération avec les paparazzis pour se créer sa propre image – une image qui perdure encore aujourd’hui derrière les murs de sa cachette à St. Tropez. Les photos ou plutôt l’image représente un personnage fabuleux – un rêve érotique hétéro émancipé, vierge mais lavé de toutes les eaux.
L’exposition montre entre autres des impressions rares de deux des plus grands paparazzis Tazio Secchiaroli (1925-1998) – un exemple pour le paparazzi du film de Fellini La Dolce Vita de 1960 – et Marcello Geppetti. Mais aussi Roger Corbeau, Loomis Dean, Walter Limot, David Magnus, Patrick Morin et Claude Schwartz y sont représentés.
Brigitte Bardot and the Original Paparazzi est structurée par thèmes – de la pose à l’instantané, du privé au public, du studio à la rue. Et St. Tropez ne manque pas non plus. Pour tous ceux qui ne pourront se rendre à Londres, en voici quelques motifs ici, chez GoSee.
*Os paparazzi são associados a fenómenos como a invasão da vida privada. Mas em meados do século XX captavam estrelas como Brigitte Bardot, em imagens que hoje são consideradas obras de arte.Para Hyman, a diferença dos paparazzi daquela época é que estes não se limitavam a ter “uma grande lente e a invadir a privacidade das pessoas”.
Até dia 3 de Outubro, será possível ver 75 destas fotografias, assinadas por alguns dos mais famosos fotógrafos de celebridades das décadas de 50 e 60, na galeria James Hyman, em Londres, numa mostra intitulada “Brigitte Bardot e os primeiros paparazzi”.
A exposição Brigitte Bardot And The Original Paparazzi comemorará o aniversário de 75 anos de Brigitte e ficará aberta a visitação durante um mês, com entrada franca. Tudo está marcado já para começar no dia 3 de setembro próximo e segue até 3 de outubro.
Brigitte Bardot and the Original Paparazzi
An exhibition of rare original vintage photographs James Hyman Gallery
03.09.2009 – 03.10.2009
5 Savile Row, London W1S 3PD
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot (born 28 September 1934) is a French animal welfare/rights activist and a former actress, fashion model and singer.
In her early life Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer. She started her acting career in 1952 and after appearing in 16 films became world-famous due to her role in the controversial film And God Created Woman. During her career in show business Bardot starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. After her retirement from the entertainment industry in 1973, Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist. During the 1990s she became outspoken in her criticism of immigration, some aspects of homosexuality and Islam in France, and has been convicted five times for “inciting racial hatred“.
Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris to Anne-Marie ‘Toty’ Mucel (1912–1978) and Louis ‘Pilou’ Bardot (1896–1975). Her father had an engineering degree and worked with her grandfather in the family business. Toty was sixteen years younger and they married in 1933. Brigitte’s mother enrolled her and her younger sister Marie-Jeanne (‘Mijanou’, born 5 May 1938) in dance. Mijanou eventually gave up on dancing lessons to complete her education, whereas Brigitte decided to concentrate on a ballet career. In 1947, Bardot was accepted to The National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance and for three years attended the ballet classes of Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev. (One of her classmates was Leslie Caron). By the invitation of her mother’s acquaintance, she modeled in a fashion show in 1949. In the same year she modeled for a fashion magazine “Jardin des Modes” managed by another friend of her mother, journalist Hélène Lazareff. She appeared on a 8 March 1950 cover of ELLE.and was noticed by a young film director Roger Vadim. He showed an issue of the magazine to director and screenwriter Marc Allégret, who offered Bardot the opportunity to audition for “Les lauriers sont coupés” thereafter. Although Bardot got the role, the shooting of the film was canceled, but it made her consider becoming an actress. Moreover, her acquaintance with Vadim, who attended the audition, influenced her further life and career.
She participated in various musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distelincluding “Harley Davidson”, “Je Me Donne A Qui Me Plait”, “Bubble gum”, “Contact”, “Je Reviendrais Toujours Vers Toi”, “L’Appareil A Sous”, “La Madrague”, “On Demenage”, “Sidonie”, “Tu Veux, Ou Tu Veux Pas?”, “Le Soleil De Ma Vie” (the cover of Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life“) and the notorious “Je t’aime… moi non plus“. Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release this duet and he complied with her wishes; the following year he re-recorded a version with British-born model and actress Jane Birkin which became a massive hit all over Europe.
www.brigittebardot.org
FASHION SCANDAL
FASHION SCANDAL
“Ladies marked like Cattle” by Adriana Sassoon
Have you being Marked?Can you see yourself? Which one is you?
A little while ago I posted an article about “DELUXE” a book by Dana Thomas.Well I just decided to make this new post and spread the knowledge out there! How can we address this issue?Please post your comments. Maybe we could even start a debate about this bubject.
TWIGGY: A LIFE IN PHOTOGRAPHS
TWIGGY: A LIFE IN PHOTOGRAPHS
A new display at the National Portrait Gallery will celebrate Twiggy’s 60th birthday and the publication of a new photographic biography of her life. One of the best-known and most respected models of all time Twiggy has worked with many of the world’s leading photographers and a selection of the most iconic and important of these portraits will be on show at the Gallery.
Twiggy by Barry Lategan in 1966 – the picture which made her career
Twiggy by Cecil Beaton
Twiggy by Richard Avedon
Launched with a famous haircut by Leonard and photographs by Barry Lategan in 1966, Twiggy was the world’s first supermodel. It was Lategan’s studies of her in the Daily Express that launched her as ‘the Face of 1966.’ For the next three years Twiggy helped define swinging London and she remains today an internationally recognised name and face. Appearing in all the leading magazines she has been photographed by Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Melvin Sokolsky, Ronald Traeger, Bert Stern and Norman Parkinson amongst others.
In 1970 Twiggy embarked on her theatrical career. She played the lead in Ken Russell’s film of Sandy Wilson’s musical The Boyfriend (1971), for which she was awarded two Golden Globes -Most Promising Newcomer and Best Actress in a Musical. She went on to star in the Broadway musical My One and Only (1983-4), for which she was nominated for a Tony award. Twiggy continues to make regular appearances in print and on television and has more recently modelled for portraits by leading contemporary photographers including Bryan Adams, John Swannell, Mary McCartney, Steven Meisel and Sølve Sundsbo. This display of over 20 photographs will encompass the Twiggy’s life in portraits, from early shots by Lategan to the present day.
Twiggy by Ronald Traeger for Vogue
To accompany the display, the National Portrait Gallery will publish a hard-back book Twiggy: A Life in Photographs in September. A range of portraits from the Gallery’s Collection will be included in the book along with insights by Twiggy and an introduction by Terence Pepper, Curator of Photographs. An illustrated chronology – including Twiggy’s private collection of photographs, snapshots, cuttings and memorabilia – will explore her extraordinary life in front of the camera. The book (RRP £20) will contain over 100 illustrations, and a current retrospective of the portraits in Twiggy’s own words.
Recent: Solve Sundsbo’s shot last year (left) and Bryan Adams’s in 2000
TWIGGY: A LIFE IN PHOTOGRAPHS
From 19 September 2009 – 24 March 2010
Room 33A
Admission Free
For further press information and image requests please contact:
Eleanor Macnair , Press Office, National Portrait Gallery
Tel: 020 7321 6620 (not for publication)
Email: emacnair@npg.org.uk;
To download images: www.npg.org.uk/press
THE LITTLE SEED
THE LITTLE SEED
The Little Seed, a children’s specialty boutique carrying eco-friendly and organic products, opens its doors in the hip, urban enclave of Larchmont Village at 219 Larchmont Blvd. Co-founded by new mothers Soleil Moon Frye and Paige Goldberg Tolmach, the goal was to create a one-stop shop for parents seeking products from skincare to bedding to toys that are made with organic or eco-friendly materials – healthy for babies and healthy for the planet… because it’s never too early to sow the seeds of care and responsibility.
Soleil’s party was a huge success ! Private Label launch party sponsored by Weleda skin care!
WOMEN’S FASHION 1930
WOMEN’S FASHION 1930
WOMEN’S FASHION 1930
In the 1930s there was a return to a more genteel, ladylike appearance. Budding rounded busts and waistline curves were seen and hair became softer and prettier as hair perms improved. Foreheads which had been hidden by cloche hats were revealed and adorned with small plate shaped hats. Clothes were feminine, sweet and tidy by day with a return to real glamour at night.
The French designer Madeleine Vionnet opened her own fashion house in 1912. She devised methods of bias cross cutting during the 1920s using a miniature model. She made popular the halter neck and the cowl neck.
The bias method has often been used to add a flirtatious and elegant quality to clothes. To make a piece of fabric hang and drape in sinuous folds and stretch over the round contours of the body, fabric pattern pieces can be cut not on the straight grain, but at an angle of 45 degrees.
It is sometimes said that Vionnet invented bias cutting, but historical evidence suggests that close fitting gowns and veils of the medieval period were made with cross cut fabrics. The Edwardians also made skirts that swayed to the back by joining a bias edge to a straight grain edge and the result was a pull to the back that formed the trained skirt. She did really popularise it and the resulting clothes are styles we forever associate with movie goddesses and dancers like Ginger Rogers.
Using her technique designers were able to produce magnificent gowns in satins, crepe-de-chines, silks, crepes and chiffons by cross cutting the fabric, creating a flare and fluidity of drapery that other methods could not achieve. Many of the gowns could be slipped over the head and came alive when put on the human form. Some evening garments made women look like Grecian goddesses whilst others made them look like half naked sexy vamps. Certain of her gowns still look quite contemporary.
There was a passion for sunbathing. Women tried to get tans and then show them off under full length backless evening dresses cut on the true cross or bias and which moulded to the body. To show off the styles a slim figure was essential and that was getting easier for women who were educated and aware as many now used contraception and did not have to bear baby after baby unless desired.
The new improved fabrics like rayon had several finishes and gave various effects exploited by designers eager to work with new materials. Cotton was also used by Chanel and suddenly it was considered more than a cheap fabric for work clothes. But nothing cut and looked like pure silk and it was still the best fabric to capture the folds and drapes of thirties couture. Fine wool crepes also moulded to the body and fell into beautiful godets and pleats.
Schiaparelli liked new things as well as new ideas. In 1933 she promoted the fastener we call the zip or zipper. The metal zip had been invented in 1893 and by 1917 it was somewhat timidly used for shoes, tobacco pouches and U.S. Navy windcheater jackets. Her use of the new plastic coloured zip in fashion clothes was both decorative, functional and highly novel. They soon became universally used and are now a very reliable form of fastening.
Health and fitness was an important aspect of thirties lifestyle. As sun worshipping became a common leisure pursuit fashion answered the needs of sun seekers by making chic outfits for the beach and its surrounds. Beach wraps, hold alls, soft hats and knitted bathing suits were all given the designer touch.
Swimwear was getting briefer and the back was scooped out so that women could develop tanned backs to show off at night in the backless and low backed dresses. The colours of the beach holiday were navy, white, cream, grey, black and buff with touches of red.
Pyjamas introduced as informal dinner dress or nightwear for sleeping died quickly as fashions. However the third use of them as a practical beach outfit caught on and every woman made them an essential garment to pack. They were soon regarded as correct seaside wear. The trousers were sailor style, widely flared and flat fronted with buttons. They were made up in draping heavy crepe-de-chine. Blue and white tops or short jackets finished the holiday look.
MEN’S FASHION 1930
MEN’S FASHION 1930
The decade of the 1930s saw dramatic changes in men’s fashion. It began with the great Wall Street Crash of October 24, 1929. By 1931, eight million people were out of work in the United States. Less or no work meant little or no money to spend on clothing. The garment industry witnessed shrinking budgets, and going-out-of-business sales were prevalent. The Edwardian tradition of successive clothing changes throughout the day finally died. Tailors responded to the change in consumer circumstances by offering more moderately priced styles.
In the early part of the decade, men’s suits were modified to create the image of a large torso. Shoulders were squared using wadding or shoulder pads and sleeves were tapered to the wrist. Peaked lapels framed the v-shaped chest and added additional breadth to the wide shoulders.
This period also was a rise in the popularity of the double-breasted suit, the precursor of the modern business suit. Masculine elegance demanded jackets with long, broad lapels, two, four, six or even eight buttons, square shoulders and ventless tails. Generous-cut, long trousers completed the look. These suits appeared in charcoal, steel or speckled gray, slate, navy and midnight blue.
Dark fabrics were enhanced by herringbone and stippled vertical and diagonal stripes. In winter, brown cheviot was popular. In spring, accents of white, red or blue silk fibers were woven into soft wool. The striped suit became a standard element in a man’s wardrobe at this time. Single, double, chalk, wide and narrow stripes were all in demand.
Plaids of various kinds became popular around this time as well. Glen plaid checks, originally known as Glen Urquhart checks from their Scottish origin, were one of the more stylish plaids. Glen plaid designs are sometimes referred to as “Prince of Wales” checks. Initially the design was woven in saxony wool and later was found in tweed, cheviot, plied and worsted cloth. (See glossary for definitions of these terms.)
In 1935, as a result of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, signs of prosperity returned. The rebounding economy demanded a redesign of the business suit, to signal the successful status of the man who wore it. This new look was designed by the London tailor, Frederick Scholte and was known as the “London cut”. It featured sleeves tapering slightly from shoulder to wrist, high pockets and buttons, wide, pointed lapels flaring from the top rather than the middle buttons and roll, rather than flat lapels. Shoulder pads brought the tip of the shoulder in line with the triceps and additional fabric filled out the armhole, creating drape in the shoulder area. As a result of this last detail, the suit was also known as the “London drape” or “drape cut” suit.
Other versions of the new suit included four instead of six buttons, lapels sloping down to the bottom buttons, and a longer hem. This version was known as the Windsor double-breasted (D.B.) and the Kent double-breasted (D.B.), named after the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Kent respectively. Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Fred Astaire and Cary Grant were a few of the Hollywood stars who lent their endorsement to this style by wearing the suits in their movies. From there it became popular in mainstream America.
The famous “Palm Beach” suit was designed during the 1930s. It was styled with a Kent double or single-breasted jacket, and was made from cotton seersucker, silk shantung or linen. (See glossary for definitions.) Gabardine was also used to make this suit. It quickly became the American summer suit par excellence and was touted as the Wall Street businessman’s uniform for hot days.
During this time, blazers became popular for summer wear. Blazers are descendants of the jackets worn by English university students on cricket, tennis and rowing teams during the late nineteenth century. The name may derive from the “blazing” colors the original jackets were made in, which distinguished the different sports teams. The American versions were popular in blue, bottle green, tobacco brown, cream and buff. Metallic buttons traditionally adorned the center front of the jackets, and they were worn with cotton or linen slacks and shorts
A discussion of men’s fashion during the thirties would be incomplete without recognizing the gangster influence. Gangsters, while despised as thieves, paradoxically projected an image of “businessman” because of the suits they wore. However, they didn’t choose typical business colors and styles, but took every detail to the extreme. Their suits featured wider stripes, bolder glen plaids, more colorful ties, pronounced shoulders, narrower waists, and wider trouser bottoms. In France, mobsters actually had their initials embroidered on the breast of their shirts, towards the waist. They topped their extreme look with felt hats in a wide variety of colors: almond green, dove, lilac, petrol blue, brown and dark gray. High-fashion New York designers were mortified by demands to imitate the gangster style, but obliged by creating the “Broadway” suit.
In 1931, “Apparel Arts” was founded as a men’s fashion magazine for the trade. Its purpose was to bring an awareness of men’s fashion to middle-class male consumers by educating sales people in men’s stores, who in turn would make recommendations to the consumers. It became the fashion bible for middle- class American men.
Over the next three decades, American garment makers rose to a new level of sophistication, successfully competing with the long-established English and French tailors. However, the eruption of war at the end of the decade brought an abrupt halt to the development of fashion all over the world.
On September 3, 1939, England and France declared war on Germany for invading Poland, and refusing to withdraw troops. Once again, men’s fashion would change as a result of historic events.
1930 GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Cheviot: A British breed of sheep known for its heavy fleece. Cloth produced from this wool is a heavy twill weave.
Gabardine: A firm, tightly woven fabric of worsted, cotton, wool or other fiber with a twill weave.
Glen plaid: Vertical and horizontal stripes intersecting at regular intervals to form a houndstooth check.
Herringbone: A pattern consisting of adjoining vertical rows of slanting lines suggesting a “V” or an inverted “V”. Also known as chevron.
Houndstooth check: A pattern of broken or jagged checks.
Saxony: A fine three-ply yarn. Cloth produced from the yarn is a soft-finish compact fabric.
Seersucker: Originally from India and named after a Persian expression, “shirushakar”, meaning milk and sugar. It is a rippled or puckered cloth resulting from the vertical alternation of two layers of yarn, one taut and one slack, which also creates the characteristic stripe.
Shantung: A plain weave silk cloth made from yarns with irregular or uneven texture.
Tweed: A coarse wool cloth in a variety of weaves and colors originally from Scotland. (Many tweeds are multi-color and textured.)
Twill weave: One of three basic weave structures in which the filling threads (woof threads) are woven over and under two or more warp yarns producing a characteristic diagonal pattern.
Worsted: Firmly twisted yarn or thread spun from combed, stapled wool fibers of the same length. Cloth produced from this yarn has a hard, smooth surface and no nap (like corduroy or velvet).
Written by Carol Nolan-Edited by Julie Williams
