We’re going to be bringing you a gift idea a day, but what else would you like to see on Brandish this Christmas? We’ve got a few things up our sleeves but take our poll and let us know what decorates your Christmas tree!
If you have some bright ideas or want to mention something I’ve missed out then send me an email to isabelle@shinymedia.com
American Apparel is a brand that I can’t help but be suspicious of. Yes, the adverts are provocative. Yes, Dov Charney supposedly walks around his office naked. Yes, their shop assistants look like they’ve just walked out of a NYLON spread. My problem is that whenever I see someone wearing American Apparel, it tends to be the case that it is the not the clothes that are great but how they are styled.
I can’t imagine this ‘Winter Ski Hood’ (£10) looking good on anyone who isn’t a model but I am wary of giving it a firm ‘Nay’ as I just know that as soon as this post is published, some edgy fashion editor will decree it the It-item of the season.
After taking on the lack of model diversity, Franca Sozzani (the editor extraordinaire behind the Black Issue of Italian Vogue) now wants us to sit up and pay attention to a different cause- the immense need for aid in Africa.
As part of her campaign for fashion to stand up and act, Sozzani has made the latest issue of L’Uomo Vogue the ‘AFRICA ISSUE.’ This means that every feature or person included in the issue has some sort of relation to the need of Africa. It features Nelson Mandela, Naomi Campbell, Forest Whitaker and Bernard Henri-Levy (the philosopher and co-editor of the special issue.)
New York Magazine tells us that Sozzani “not want to make an aesthetic statement about Africa…unlike a recent issue of India’s Vogue magazine…this one won’t show peasants posing with $5,000 handbags.”
See after the jump for pictures of contributors including Nelson Mandela and Michelle Obama and e-mail isabelle@shinymedia.com to tell us what you think of the issue.
What’s your opinion on Ugg boots for men? Everytime I’ve seen a man sporting Uggs I’ve done a double take and then tittered to myself. I’m not a fan of Uggs for women, let alone Uggs for men. Ronnie Wood and Brad Pitt are some of the many male slebs pictured in Uggs and now apparently the US company is aiming their furry boot firmly in the direction of men.
An anonymous fashion editor was reported to have said: “They are a monstrosity. They are like glorified slippers. You may as well shuffle down the street in your pyjamas and a pair of incontinence pants.”
What do you think about men in Uggs? Take our poll after the jump or leave a comment on our Facebook Blog Network page!
American Apparel, the brand synonymous with androgyny and men in skintight jeans, has just launched their Unisex Oxford Shirt. I have three sisters and I’m no stranger to borrowing the odd jumper (actually, that would be reclaiming,) and I have in past borrowed Ralph Lauren shirts and vintage blazers for a better fit and a slimmer silhouette. Russell Brand, a man who walks on to a talk-show in a jersey tunic dress and girl’s jeans from Topshop but still manages to be a sex god, would be a great example of unisex dressing at its best but what do you think? Is it worth the sartorial risk when you might see a girl in the same tee as you?
Would you go Unisex- vote in our poll after the jump!
In previous months, I have reported on the possibility that maybe Brandish is read by major celebrities. We preempted Russell Brand’s short shorts, the change in mood of Mr Mill’s Style Column in the Sunday Time’s Style Magazine and now, it appears that our editor Isabelle may have inspired Coldplay frontman Chris Martin’s new haircut. Days after Isabelle claimed skinhead-inspired film ‘This Is England’ as style inspiration, Chris Martin has appeared at a BBC Radio 2 song session with his previously curly locks shaved off. Simple chance or Sartorial steal?
Anyway, what do you think of this new look? Continue reading to vote in our poll.
Forgive that awful title but let me explain; Executive Item Execution (EIE) is the official ruin of an ever-so-stylish item as the result of a figure of authority telling you they have the same piece (and no, this has nothing to do with the fetish trend.)
To paraphrase and avoid any further confusion, I will put it into the context of my own life. Yesterday, a figure of authority commented on how “insane” my shoes were.This person went on to reveal that they actually had and often wore my shoes and broke into hysterical laughter as I stuttered and muttered a response that attempted to convey my anguish.
Call me vain, on a high-horse or simply unrealistic but how many names have been ruined for you by the child who used to pick their nose and eat it or mutter to themselves as they drew pictures of dead people? Sadly, the same applies to Margiela as it did to McDonalds (thanks, Morgan Spurlock.)
We’ve made you endure some pretty terrible things on Brandish (see here and here,) and now I present a sneaky snap of New Look’s new adjust-a-length jeans. The trick is you have to button up each different level of the jean depending on what you’re after; shorts, the semi-crop, full jeans or the button-embellished. Is it just me who gasps at this fashion indictment?
Mr Mills (yes that is the third week running we’ve mentioned him but this is truly relevant,) reported on this trend for the David Cameron-trouser-in-a-sock style only last Sunday and he also came to the conclusion that it was a modern-monstrosity.
Coldplay’s latest album was released without too much fanfare confirming their status as indie stadium monoliths. They recently played the Air Canada Centre in Toronto where they sported their new military look. It’s a kind of shabby military look apparently inspired by French painter Eugène Delacroix which the band have taken to wearing as their tour uniform.
What do you think of their new look? Take our poll after the jump!
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Fashionista has been sent a pic of one reader’s wardrobe (above)- her shoeboxes are transparent, her clothes are colour-coordinated, everything is obsessively neat and you can only imagine she has an itsy-bit too much time on her hands. Brandish Editor Isabelle has opened up her wardrobe for a new Catwalk Queen feature and it’s certainly isn’t that meticulous!
So, while my wardrobe is most definitely not as organised as the Fashionista reader (I keep all my clothes in drawers and after too long away from home have a habit of living out of a suitcase,) we at Brandish want to know how tidy your wardrobe/closet/clothes space is?
As Beckham’s ‘people’ deny he’s been at all enhanced in the Armani pants department and Matt McConaughey is seen in D&G ads being hounded for his bod, it occurs to me that more than ever we men are striving for physical perfection.
More and more I am left sulking at lunch as male friends tell me they are banned from certain foods and no, before you ask, they’re not all gay. Or vain.
So, are you in with this phenomenon? Have you ever dieted or are you more of an iron-pumper?
Uniqlo are always chock-full of sale bargains, but I wonder if anyone would go for their pink skinny jeans even with the reduction.
They’re down to £14.99 from £24.99, which a good price, but pink is a bit of a tricky colour to wear.
The shade of pink itself is a nice dusky colour which will look good teamed with neutrals in a colourblocking fashion. A nice touch is the dark stitching which gives the jeans a little bit of contrast.
So what do you think of these pink jeans? Would you wear them? Take our poll after the jump!
Thom Browne and Tom Ford are without a doubt two of Brandish’s favourite designers and so imagine my surprise when I got e-mailed this article from the New York Times. It compares the work of both men and includes such literary gems as “the Tom Ford man is an Anglicized gloss on Hollywood style, while Thom Browne’s designs evoke the hipness of eternal adolescence” and Tom Ford’s brilliant definition of masculininty; “to be masculine is to fuse the debonair cut of a Savile Row suit with the swagger of a star from 1970s pornography.”
I made the Brandish team answer this rather sadistic question and you can see their (unwilling) answers after the jump along with a Brandish Poll.
For every Emile Hirsch there are a thousand badly made, ill-fitting suits out there that routinely make me weep. You can get a good suit on the high street nowadays, but I still think that bespoke is the best way to go if you want a quality three-piece. Take our poll after the jump and let us know whether you’re a bespoke kind of person or a high street fan.
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