Lectura de sambata dimineata

Sper ca v-ati inceput anul cu confetti in par, paharul de sampanie in mana, lumini in priviri si sarutari pe buze. It’s the best way to start the year, nu-i asa?

Si pentru ca incepem anul imbracate festiv, in cele mai frumoase si catifelate rochii, in cele mai pretioase dantele, in cele mai pufoase tricotaje si in cele mai stralucitoare accesorii, va las cu un citat minunat despre haine.

”Clothes sit inside the closet, the shapes of people. They have their personalities: the chirpy little floral skirt like the chattering girl you can’t put down or shut up; the mean brooding dangerous leather dress, which will lead you over the other side of tracks where the bad boys are; the dependable jeans that hold and hug you, like an older brother; the ephemeral flighty blouse, that ever hopeful romantic. The severe black dress without ornament, like a woman who sits in a cae smoking a red-stubbed cigarette and draining a cup of scalding espresso, reading a copy of Liberation.

[…] Clothes as text, clothes as narration, clothes as a story. Clothes as the story of our lives. And if you were to gather together all the clothes you have ever owned in all your life, each baby shoe and winter coat and wedding dress, you would have your autobiography. You could wear, once more, your own life in all its stages, from whatever they wrapped you in when you emerged from the dark red naked warmth of the womb, to your deathbed.”

Fashionable page-turners – ”After co-opting technology, homeware and pets, the latest everyday products to make the leap from objects to accessories are books. They aren’t just for reading any more. In fact, they are barely for reading at all. They are for looking at.” In Financial Times.

Back to black – ”Black may be fashion’s inky security blanket and the panacea for lazy dressers, but the approaching holiday season is exactly the right time to wear it in every derivation.” In Wall Street Journal.

The clothes make the ”Girls” – ”The fashions on the HBO comedy series “Girls” may not be aspirational, but they are very much intentional.” In NY Times.

Smart designs – ”Though at this time of year it can seem as if advances in “heat-sensing/retaining/wicking” are the breaking news of the fashion world – as an exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York illustrates – fashion and technology have, in fact, been intertwined for more than two centuries.” In Financial Times.

Mencyclopedia: John Smedley –  “Today around 380 employees work at the same Matlock site where the company was founded in 1784 by John Smedley and his business partner Peter Nightingale (a forbear of Florence). Ever since, for the full span of the flow and ebb of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, Smedley has spun fine-gauge knitted goods.” In The Telegraph.

Celebrating Sarah Burton OBE – “The powers that be at the world’s most famous fashion school advised Burton to study fashion design and print: ‘I used a lot of colour and loved silk-screen printing.’ Among her teachers was Simon Ungless, a close friend of Alexander McQueen’s who had known and worked with him since the very early days.”  In AnOther.

Shop and bop till you drop – ”In order to differentiate real-world shopping from the virtual, new retail spaces are created to resemble members’ clubs. ” In Financial Times.

On Instagram, a thriving bazaar taps a big market – “Instagram, the picture-sharing application that Facebook bought earlier this year, has not yet figured out a way to make money. But some of its users have.” In NY Times.

Chinese models in spotlight – “It may be some time before the catwalks of Shanghai and Beijing reach the showy heights of Paris or Milan, but with the country’s increasing commercial power and influence, China’s fashion models are grabbing more of the international spotlight.” In China Daily.

Singapore welcomes French Couture – “When Yiqing Yin showed her gentle, beautifully crafted collection under the banner of Haute Couture Fashion Week here this month, she was, to a certain extent, going ‘home.’ The Chinese-born, Paris-based designer was one of a handful of experimental designers, high on handwork, who were picked to show their creations in Singapore at the beginning of December.” In International Herald Tribune.