FASHION BY THE RULES: April 2019

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

DIOR RESORT 2020

Dior in Marrakech.........

The show was spectacular… well, the production and setting were … but certainly not the clothes. There must have been an explosion in a dashiki factory and all the remnants were shipped to Dior. Supposedly this was an homage to YSL when at Dior in 1960 … let me be the first to say out loud that there is no way in hell YSL ever designed anything that looked or even resembled the likes of any of this.

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When one conjures the era of Marrakech of that time frame, one thinks of Talitha Getty and YSL and that whole entourage wafting in lighter than air caftans and djellabas as well as peasant blouses and zoave pants. So Ms. Meatball delivered one of the heaviest handed and ill-conceived collections of her less than glorious career chez Dior.

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If this was to evoke that hippie era ... I have a news flash for her... this was an epic fail and a head band doesn’t make it hippie time! I can’t find words to properly describe the ill proportioned clothes and the tsunami of ethnic prints which are more indigenous to Africa … the heart of Africa, as in tribal, than they are indigenous to Morocco which is Northern Africa but who’s paying attention ... it’s Africa.

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From the clumsy boots to clumsy silhouettes to the totally unappealing clothes that look more like they came from a souk or a stereotypical black ghetto of the era than from the YSL tenure at Maison Dior. It’s inconceivable that this ... well let me blunt ... this trash was shown and is even taken seriously. This woman hasn’t a clue, not an inkling of the house codes and this time around not only has Monsieur Dior spun a mile deeper in his grave but so has Yves.

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To give this any sort of positive review is living proof that money talks… advertising rules the roost as no women in her right mind wants to look like 95% of this and the other 5% only marginally so. It is no wonder that Dior never breaks out the numbers when it comes to clothes in their yearly earnings. I don’t see this playing well in Tokyo or Shanghai.

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BTW I am now of the school of thought that Maria is a misogynist!

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FYI….The dashiki is a colorful garment for women and men worn mostly in West Africa. It covers the top half of the body. It has formal and informal versions and varies from simple draped clothing to fully tailored suits. A common form is a loose-fitting pullover garment, with an ornate V-shaped collar, and tailored and embroidered neck and sleeve lines. It is frequently worn with a brimless Kufi cap, which is worn in Islamic communities in Africa and the African diaspora, and a pair of pants.

The djellaba is a long, loose-fitting outer robe with full sleeves that is worn in the Maghreb region of North Africa; its origin is Morocco.

African wax prints, also known as Ankara and Dutch wax prints, are omnipresent and common materials for clothing in Africa, especially West Africa.

Friday, April 12, 2019

RUFSKIN swim 019

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Today we do have a very solid and faithful clientele that has embraced our California lifestyle way of thinking and follows RUFSKIN’S evolution. We have been designing new and original product from day one which certainly set us apart from what was readily available in the marketplace. (At the start, guys were buying girl’s stuff in order to feel sexy) Today’s RUFSKIN collections manage to keep our core customers and flirt with new audiences across the board, women too, providing a wide assortment of exclusive looks in every category. RUFSKIN is definitely a lifestyle brand and very California…. Hubert Pouches, owner, designer, photographer

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SPOLIER ALERT: buying and wearing any of these pieces will not magically transform you into the face and body (Logan) of RUFSKIN but they will surely give you a sense of confidence as well as the attention your body deserves when you appear in any of them!

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Without question RUFSKIN is a lifestyle brand, just not in the way you might think that Ralph Lauren is a lifestyle brand. RUFSKIN is hugely emblematic of the California active way of life and mindset as well as conceived and designed for those who take pride in their bodies as well as what they put on their back or torsos as the case may be!

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Fabrication and seaming are some of the most important elements of RUFSKIN as Pouches is always searching and developing new ways to complement the body and provide that extra bit of fashion with inventive new constructions, shapes and prints that are easily identifiable as RUFSKIN. The trained fashion eye can easily see that the drape of the newest cloth is not the standard lycra/spandex base that is used in most swimwear. Here we have a thinner stretch nylon base (photo reactive micro fiber to be exact) with an inherent shine that enhances the latest prints and designs. The constructions are tweaked in various ways whether the rise of the suit or how the back side is shaped … full coverage, high cuts, standard and thong backs. Now embracing an even boxier looser cut to accommodate and attract still more men who want more than just one look.

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Never underestimate the impact of a little piece of cloth, especially when it’s all that sets you apart from the others…. let it shine! HB

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At the risk of sounding like I’m critiquing fetish wear, you will even notice that the pouch of the briefer swimwear pieces has been adjusted so that one’s “equipment” is not mashed into some mound of flesh. The ease of the construction and the new drape of the fabric, for me, create an even sexier look than ever before... if that’s possible.