Glam Damn It
Spring has sprung into action, and so have all your favorite designers of menswear. For years now, fashion for men has been developing from more than just suits and slacks, into daring pieces that play with silhouettes, experiment with color, and give innovation to the consumer. This year is no different. Three key trends men should be ripping from the runway this spring are Prints & Patterns, Fit &Tailoring, as well as Color.
Prints & Patterns are great for the budding businessman and the more classic male who doesn’t want to get to out there with his wardrobe, but still wants to stay current. This season the runways were a blaze with prints from designers like Vivienne Westwood, and Sarah Burton who awed with a bronze combination gold and silver metallic blazer with matching trousers for Alexander McQueen (see left). The bolder male “fashionistas” can go to the extreme, while the further subdued can opt for more subtle approaches like Viktor & Rolph’s zigzag patterned black and silver suit also featuring a metallic finish (see slideshow).
It has been said many times that "everything will change in 2013" and so far it seems true for the direction of the Fashion Industry. As we slowly everyday are heading into the future the fashion industry is moving at a light year speed. Incorporating technology into fashion has been on the rise and is evolving behind the scenes everyday. Just 4 years ago the "Fashion 2.0 Awards" launched which is the only awards celebrating online innovation by fashion brands whom embrace social media and online technology.
Lilly Pulitzer's fashion empire confirmed the death this week of the beloved 81-year old fashion designer. Pulitzer passed away on Sunday, April 7th at her Florida home. The socialite turned fashion designer was known for her preppy, bright, and stand-out tropical prints. Always featuring bright colors and using fruits and plants as a print landed her the title "Queen of Prep."
Besides the infamous women's collections, Pulitzer produces a strong line for children, men's clothing, shoes, jewelry, swimwear, bedding, pajamas, stationary, and even maternity clothes. Most recently in 2010, Pulitzer released a bridal collection. Each design ever created is the epitome of prep. "We focus on the best, fun, and happy things, and people want that," explained Pulitzer. "Being happy never goes out of style." This can account for the reason why she often channeled lime green and bright pinks into a majority of her designs.
Clashing prints, maxis, cropped tops, John Lennon sunnies, wide brim hats, and cross-body bags in the sun can only mean one thing! Hello Festival Season! The festival that started it all was Woodstock of '69 but now you can find a music festival no matter what part of the world you reside in. Almost every leading retailer has a festival fashion segment on their homepages and high fashion designers such as Dsquared have created a collection inspired by festival fashion. It is time to channel your down-to-earth, inner hippie, and frolic around the grass fields to your favorite music.
Christopher Fischer stuns us all again with this super chic cover-up. The Kehinde Cover-up ($275) is a great, easy look to go over any swimsuit. Best of all, it's mesh fabric allows onlookers to admire that to die for bikini you've got on underneath it.
Blue Glue has so many amazing cover-ups for this season, it's hard to pick a favorite. Every style you can imagine, they've got it. We particularly love this Alhambra Paleo Cover-up ($50), which is sensual without being overtly so. Best of all, you don't need to go far to find a great accessory to pair with it—Blue Glue collections offer matching bikinis, jewelry, beach bags, and more.
Derek Lam's new line for DesigNation hit Kohl's April 5th—two whole days earlier than expected. Lam, a Parson School grad and former apprentice to chic Michael Kors, is a master of elegance and good taste. The price range is affordable: $36-88. It is his first swinwear line, and his second Kohl's collection. The line is inspired by Brazil's Rio de Janeiro and are quite spectacular.
Coco Chanel was a woman of perfect grace: everything she designed was flawless and so was her perfume. To this day, when women want to smell elegantly and just right, they dab two drops of Chanel N°5 on their wrist. Ernest Beaux created the legendary scent in the roaring 1920s.
Paris' Palais de Tokyo museum plans to exhibit the famous scent, alongside work of Picasso, a close friend of Coco's. It makes sense (or scents?) that the famous perfume will find its showcase in France, Coco's home base. The grand designer of sporty chic, she took women out of corsets and put them in tennis dresses and casual clothes. She boasted: "a girl should be two things. Classy and fabulous." Coco pioneered the little black dress, the Chanel suit, the Chanel bag, and the health of a good suntan. With all of these accomplishments though, the petite, dark-haired designer is remembered for her distinctive floral fragrance.
Splurging at the spa after a job well done, a promotion at work, birthday, or celebrating just about anything is incredibly tempting. After all, spas allow us to drift into a tranquil environment while we indulge our bodies with treatments designed to boost our appearance and free our minds of the stresses of everyday living. Yet, massages, facials, paraffin treatments, hair care, and my personal favorite, manis and pedis, can easily add up to thousands of dollars spent each year.
Although at-home spa treatments may not provide the same allure of going to a super posh spa, just think about all the thousands of dollars that can be saved. You can put what you've saved toward more desirable purchases such as an exotic vacation, a designer handbag, or even a new car. Here are seven spa treatments that can be done in the comforts of your own home for a fraction of the cost.
XEX Magazine has long been an online and print publication that allows professional, as well as up and coming artists, to display their work and creativity. This past weekend was the launch party to celebrate the magazines first ever men’s edition, and neither the party nor the fashion disappointed. From a live model exhibition, and photo shoot to a gallery-like display of the magazine’s inaugural issue; the night was painted to be a success from the get go. Combine this with free booze and a hot DJ and you were in for a treat!
Music and video footage featuring editorial material since the magazine's conception set the pace for a live model exhibition. Their highly stylized and outlandish looks featured some trendy pieces like a leather glove featuring cut-outs and leopard print and a distressed leather fanny-pack with gold trim. But if you think the models were the ones to be watching, then you'd be wrong. This party gave way to some of New York City's local trendsetters to strut their stuff. And because this was a men’s fashion event, the guys did not disappoint, also rocking some of today's hottest trends.
To top things off, Editor-In-Chief Sailey Williams rounded his team, including fashion editor Inoisell Miranda, and decided to turn his guests into models with a live photo shoot where no one was safe. To delve into the plethora of fashions of the night, click here. In the midst of it all, there was still the magazine. The first men’s edition of XEX has the right amount of substance and features fabulous editorial material styled by some of New York’s hottest stylists. The “mode home” is everywhere to see, trying hard not to alienate the classic male, while still catering to the fashion forward. This launch had all the ingredients for a good party, and if you like a good party then you’ll love a good read!
For more info and recent issues of XEX Mag click here.