Pop-up stores, ‘retro,’ platform shoes -- enough already!
When it came to noteworthy trends, 2009 did not disappoint. We were bitten by the vampire craze, found comfort by returning to familiar brands such as Pendleton, Woolrich and Red Wing, and couldn’t stop talking about what Michelle Obama was wearing.
Men’s designers went mad for “Mad Men”-style suits -- as dapper as Don Draper’s, favoring shades of gray and old-school Prince of Wales checks. Women did the time warp too -- but stopped in 1985 with animal prints, accented shoulders and thigh-high boots. Both sexes marshaled a martial vibe, with a battalion of epaulets and military braids, armor and chain mail.
We watched “mass-tige” (a mass-class mash-up) become the message, fashion collaborations gain even more currency and the denizens of the blogosphere and Twitterverse move into the front row at the runway shows.
But, as we bid adieu to the current year, there are a few things that have overstayed their welcome: overwrought ideas, overused verbiage, overplayed trends and overexposed celebrities. They’re the kind that make us cringe -- even though we in the media know we’re as much to blame as anyone for making “Kardashian” click-worthy. Take a look at this list of pet peeves we’ve taken the liberty of compiling and see if you’d care to join us in saying: enough already.
Pop-up stores
In the beginning, the temporary retail spaces that “popped up” unexpectedly -- and for a limited time -- were welcome novelties that helped cut through the cookie-cutter shopping landscape, attract new customers and test new retail concepts and products. But the recent proliferation of pop-ups has made the strategy more the rule than the exception. And when one retailer pops up elsewhere in the same city, and another hosts serial pop-ups in the same location (Gap, you know who you are), it’s clear the concept is starting to lose its snap and crackle.
Game-changer
Correctly used, it refers to someone or something that causes a fundamental reassessment and rewriting of the script. Unfortunately, overuse has changed the game for using game-changer. The housing bubble, Twitter and Bernie Madoff? Total game-changers. The world’s largest cruise ship and Manny Ramirez? Not so much. Off to the sidelines.
Couture
Champagne doesn’t come from Napa Valley, and the phrase haute couture isn’t a synonym for “high fashion.” Strictly defined by French fashion’s governing body, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne, and protected by French law (like the term “champagne”), couture refers to one-of-a-kind, custom-made pieces from member fashion houses. Therefore, Chanel, Jean Paul-Gaultier and Givenchy can create haute couture, whereas Juicy Couture, “Project Runway” alumni and Affliction’s Xtreme Couture cannot (that mixed martial arts champ Randy Couture worked with them on the line is a technicality).
Boyfriend
Not the man who buys the flowers after you fight, but the adjective that refers to the slouchy, oversized clothes you steal from his closet. We all understood what “boyfriend jeans” were, and we think calling the white, oversized button-front Oxford a “boyfriend shirt” even makes sense. But when the boyfriended bunch blossoms to include boyfriend belts, boyfriend hoodies and even boyfriend maternity jeans, it’s time to break up.
Green
On the color spectrum it’s neatly bounded and clearly defined -- you can point to it right there between yellow and blue. But when it comes to describing the environmental impact of a product, especially apparel and accessories, pinning down green is as difficult as nailing vegan gelatin to the wall of a yurt. Does it refer to “carbon neutral,” “organic,” “sustainable” or some combination of the three? And what takes precedence? We touched on the topic of “greenwashing” in April and agree with model-author-environmental activist Summer Rayne Oakes, who said the fashion industry needs transparency -- a way to show the consumer a product’s effect on people and the planet at every step in the manufacture of a garment. Until that happens, the descriptor green should be put out to pasture.
Curate
The concept of curated retail started with the best intentions;it referred to a thoughtfully edited selection of products that spoke to a certain aesthetic or point of view. Stores such as Colette in Paris and Moss in New York were pioneers in the curated movement. More recently, the J. Crew men’s-only shop in the former Liquor Store bar in SoHo also pulled it off brilliantly, showcasing Globetrotter luggage, Red Wing boots, Timex watches and Thomas Mason shirts alongside the J. Crew product. Whether or not you wanted to be him, you understood who the J. Crew man was supposed to be. But as of late, “curate” seems to emphasize the picking and choosing part of the equation and less the thought process behind it. Rule of thumb: Art collections and exhibits are curated; iPod playlists, flea market booths and Facebook friends are not.
Fashion icon
Jackie Kennedy, Coco Chanel and Whitney Port. Which one doesn’t belong? First ladies, royalty and legendary designers can be fashion icons; reality and faux-reality TV show personalities, bloggers, weather girls, cheerleaders and celebutantes cannot -- no, not even if they’ve launched a clothing line.
And any candidate from the performing arts requires a mandatory posthumous 10-year waiting period before earning the right to have the phrase appended to his or her name.
‘X’
Anincreasingly common bit of typographical shorthand cribbed from sneakerhead and street fashion blogs, the “X” (as in “times”) is supposed to telegraph the idea of a supercool collaboration between two labels, designers or retailers. Maybe it’s annoying because it’s reminiscent of math equations (which are also annoying), but it’s also lazy lexicography. Some of the more memorable multiplications include Obey X Levi’s, Opening Ceremony X Where the Wild Things Are, Erin Wasson X RVCA, Colette X Gap and the tripartite Adidas X UNDFTD X Estevan Oriol. An equation we’d like to see? 2010 = 2009-X.
Retro
A byword of the nostalgia movement, it refers to the look or feel of a bygone era. Iterations include retro glam, retro chic and the metrosexual’s arch nemesis, the retrosexual. The only problem is it’s too broad to be of much use beyond that. For example, “Mad Men,” handlebar mustaches and tiki revival are all retro, and where does that leave us -- chasing a hoop down the street with a stick for retro fun?
‘-ista’
While we’re tackling tired terminology, how about a permanent moratorium on any more cute “-istas”? The suffix that refuses to die lumbers on like a zombie in the zeitgeist. Once there were only baristas, Sandanistas and fashionistas, but the ranks have since swelled to include recessionistas, frugalistas, bargainistas and even a “foodinista.” (OK, we actually like the last one, it’s the title of a blog that muses on food and fashion. It’s a perfect fit there, but that’s as far as we’ll go.) Instead, going forward (and let’s retire “going forward” while we’re at, shall we?), we’d like to suggest appending the more professional-sounding: “ist.” Fashionists, frugalists and bargainists sound like folks we’d want on our team in 2010.
Platform shoes
At the spring 2010 women’s ready-to-wear shows, backlash against the tottering platform shoe had begun to bubble up. Alexander McQueen’s aggressively aquatic lobster claw kicks notwithstanding, it’s time for this high-stepping shoe to step aside. And if no less august a luxury cobbler than Manolo Blahnik declares the reign of the platform finally over (as he reportedly told the Daily Telegraph in October), who are we to argue?
Spending guilt
We get it, with double-digit unemployment and the worst economic malaise since the Great Depression, buying an island in the Maldives or a junket to the International Space Station seemed downright callous. But as we try to jump-start the economy, the rules are changing. If the number on your annual bonus paycheck has more than one comma, you should feel guilty if you’re not buying one of everything Louis Vuitton makes -- and a custom-made steamer trunk to stow it in.
Bandleader jackets
The one-two punch of Balmainia and the unexpected passing of Michael Jackson have made the braid- and epaulet-festooned jackets from the likes of John Varvatos, D&G and Phillip Lim so ubiquitous (and unisex) the whole world started to look like one giant “Sgt. Pepper” album cover. When the Stella McCartney for GapKids collection includes a band jacket for baby, it might be time to start marching to the beat of a different drummer.
Pointless celebrity
By what algebraic equation of cosmic importance does reality TV dad Jon Gosselin merit a five-page piece -- in GQ magazine? And what gives with the cluster of Kardashians camped out around the TV dial from “Today” to “The View” to flog their thin gruel of a reality show? We’ve had ham sandwiches more interesting. Shouldn’t admission to the celebrity club require something more than a sex tape or the ability to sire multiple offspring?
And while we’re at it, let 2010 be the year that the world stopped encouraging the “overshare.” Just because technology has made it possible to publish every last sex tape, tummy tuck Twitpic and YouTube tirade doesn’t mean you should. No matter how many “hits” it might get.
