Posted: May 14th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: design, stuff to buy | Tags: design, fabric, home, mass market, shopping, target, trends
I don’t know about you, but I have a had to institute a moratorium on spending on spring clothing and accessories. I have no reasonable excuse for buying anything else. So, trying to steer clear of my favorite websites, I thought it was time to check out the Shops at Target. Without question, my favorite is the Privet House shop (I’m not a dog owner, and after my dear friend was awoken on Mother’s Day by a poop covered dog who had been sick in his crate the night before and let out by a mischievous five year old, I have no interest in becoming one — so I have an aversion to the Polka Dog Bakery shop without even checking it out so it could be just lovely but I wouldn’t know). The Webster shop is a little preppy for my taste, but there is some nice merchandise if you go for that kind of thing.
Not surprisingly, many of the Privet House items have sold out, but there are still some cute pieces left. The dishes, napkins and glasses are very pretty. Admittedly, at this point nice melamine dishes are a dime a dozen, except that they aren’t remotely a dime a dozen so the Target prices for these dishes makes them pretty hard to resist. $15.99 for a set of four dinner plates isn’t half bad given that comparable French Bull melamine dishes, while beautiful, retail for $11.00 each. The bad news is out of four styles of printed melamine dinner plates, only one is still available online. Truth be told, it’s my favorite of the four.
Privet House at Target Brown Toile Dinner Plates
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Posted: May 7th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: art | Tags: art, art exhibitions, artists, humor, mass market, popular culture, shopping
Gotta love it when all of your favorite things come together in one place. At the Proof of Purchase show on Saturday I was carefully examining every postcard to find one by Rachel Perry Welty, an unbelievable contemporary artist with whom I am absolutely obsessed, and scoring that for $50 would have been a major coup. Sadly, we learned that her postcard had already sold, and that Rachel herself had in fact purchased one of the most coveted items in the show, a postcard by artist John Baldessari, and from there the conversation drifted to Perry Welty’s spread in the December issue of Vogue magazine. I had seen the spread at the time but somehow had forgotten about it (which doesn’t make much sense to me given how much I love Perry Welty’s work, but there you have it, yet more evidence of my early onset Alzheimer’s, and led to the mind-boggling realization that I had just thrown that magazine into the recycling the week before). Now I cannot stop thinking about that spread (and what an a*hole move it was that I managed to throw it away).
Rachel Perry Welty Vogue spread – December 2011
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Posted: April 5th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: designers, fabric, fashion, fast fashion, h&m, mass market, popular culture, shopping
Fashion Star may prove me wrong yet. Love this dress!
Nikki's High End Maxi Dress - Episode 4 - Bought by H&M
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Posted: March 23rd, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: designers, economy, fashion, haute couture, mass market, shopping
Picking up more or less where yesterday’s post left off, the flip side of H&M’s ability to produce incredibly refined looking clothing for low prices, is this vital role that styling plays in how we read the value in what we see, and how much poor styling can bring down truly lovely clothing. I know that sounds like a mouthful of justification for connecting two posts. I do think the connection is there. But the main inspiration for today’s post was a Chanel ad that I came across yesterday. I was blown away when I saw it — knew I had to blog about it — because I couldn’t get over how cheap it looked.
Generally, Chanel’s photography and ad campaigns are exquisite. The images themselves are so refined, that it’s hard not to think that you desperately want the clothes.
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Posted: March 21st, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: alberta ferretti, designer collaborations, fashion, fast fashion, Macy's, mass market, shopping, spring 2012
Bargain shoppers, get your wallets ready … the next designer collaboration will be on you before you know it. The lookbook for the Alberta Ferretti for Impulse collection at Macy’s has been released. The collection is by and large subtle and understated, but extremely pretty. I imagine wearing one of the dresses would make anyone feel a bit like she was a sophisticated woman on an island in the carribean. And presuming the quality is there to back up the design, the prices are fantastic. These are my four must have pieces from the collection (I am sure if it were at H&M, the first dress would blow out in the first five minutes. I’ll be interested to see how it goes as Macy’s, but if past experiences is any indicator, you can probably get on your computer at a sane hour and still nab one.):
Alberta Ferretti for Macy's Impulse dress $99
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Posted: March 15th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: designer collaborations, fashion, fast fashion, h&m, mass market, popular culture, shopping, trends
Seriously? A third fashion post in a row? I know, I’m a little annoyed with myself for it, but I finally feel ready to address the whole Fashion Star thing. And the fact of the matter is, it’s really not a fashion post, but a retail/pop-culture/popular-mentality post. Because Fashion Star is only tangentially a show about fashion. Critics can’t resist the temptation to compare it to Project Runway, and I am certainly guilty of that inclination myself, but the fact is, they are apples and oranges. Project Runway is about the art of fashion — the process, creativity in the face of constraints, talent, blah blah blah. Fashion Star is about retail. It’s about understanding what sells, about marketing, getting clothing to market quickly and selling through even more quickly.
So far (and admittedly it has only been one episode) Fashion Star is getting mixed reviews as entertainment. As reality television it is not likely to garner anything resembling the cult following of Project Runway. But it seems to be succeeding where it counts — maybe not for the network, but for the designers and above all the stores. Consensus is, the format plays like one long infomercial and leaves plenty to be desired. But bottom line, the show aired, the winning designs became available online and in stores, and the clothes sold like hotcakes. No, not in the blow out in 2 hours fashion that Versace for H&M sold. But still, the show aired Tuesday and by mid-day Wednesday H&M online had sold out of the winning dress. If you ask me, that’s pretty impressive. Karl Lagerfeld for Macy’s didn’t sell that quickly. The inevitable question is “Why?”.
Fashion Star Ep 1 Blue Dress Designed by Sarah (really, just look at the description, you can't get much more generic than that)
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Posted: March 6th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: fashion, humor, mass market, popular culture, trends
The fashion industry, it would seem, knows no limits. It will suggest that you wear just about anything and everything, and will play pretty fast and loose with how it sells it to you to. And well it should. I’m not sure I agree that everything should be fair game when it comes to marketing — free speech and all that, I’m not suggesting anyone regulate how people can advertise — it would just be nice if some companies (not naming any names) would exercise a little more discretion. But when it comes to design and staging a runway show, no doubt pushing the limits is a critical component of the fashion industry. It is on the edges where the most interesting and exciting things happen. But that doesn’t stop me from being a bit flabbergasted by some of the ideas that emerge in the process.
Ridiculous/weird ideas this week:
1. Hose for Men
Apparently the sanctioned term is “mantyhose” — I think that really says it all. (And check out e-mancipate.net – the site warns that it will be down over the weekend for maintenance, but back up next week.)
Emilio Cavallini unisex tights
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Posted: February 13th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: fashion | Tags: British style, designer collaborations, designers, fashion, fast fashion, mary katrantzou, mass market, shopping, spring 2012, topshop
In anticipation of the Mary Katrantzou for Topshop launch on Friday, I am trying to brace myself for intense disappointment. Fortunately, Topshop has an answer for that — at least I hope it’s an answer and not yet another set up with too many customers and too little stock. Friday also marks the launch of Topshop’s NEWGEN designer t-shirt collection. I like the whole designer t-shirt thing. It may seem like a lot of money for a t-shirt, but looked at the other way around, it is the perfect way to grab something affordable and absolutely fabulous! Unlike the dresses I buy that then sit in the closet waiting for the right occasion, t-shirts are a great everyday wardrobe staple. A nice designer t-shirt can even be appropriate for work. Maybe not where you work, but I wouldn’t bet on that. I’m pretty sure I could figure out how to wear a t-shirt in almost every kind of a situation … ever since Sharon Stone rocked a t-shirt with a taffeta skirt (if you ask me, the all time best outfit around). Nice crisp t-shirt, a tailored charcoal suit from All Saints — you may not be able to get away with it in the most traditional business-like environment, but I would sure as hell try.
There is a Mary Katrantzou shirt among the offerings, but oddly it’s not my favorite. Shirts are £30 each. There is pretty much something for everyone, but I think the JW Anders, Meadham Kirchhoff, Peter Jensen, Emma Cook and Marios Schwab shirts are fantastic. Do you think getting five is overkill.
JW Anderson
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Posted: February 9th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: art | Tags: art, artists, mass market, popular culture
In the ever-changing world of the art market, kind of a la easy but less crafts focussed, Society 6 is a venue for artists to promote and sell their work. Not unlike 20×200, but more artist driven than curator driven. Artists can submit gallery quality art prints (or tshirts, hoodies iPhone cases, iPhone skins, and laptop skins). Society 6 will reproduce them, sell them and distribute them, while allowing the artist to retain rights over his work. One format they offer is stretched canvases — and you can imagine my feelings about that. But there is one project I am particularly excited about. (I have yet to explore the site thoroughly. I suspect there are a lot of additional hidden treasure there.) In conjunction with 23 artists, Society 6 has put out a limited edition zine entitled Us and Them. (I addition to being offered as a zine, the individual prints can be purchased on the site.)
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Posted: February 2nd, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: art | Tags: art, art exhibitions, artists, Doug and MIke Starn, economy, mass market, photography
Love, love, love 20×200.com. It’s really a terrific site. Right now they have some photos I am lusting after – and I’m hesitant to share this because I really want one – but what the hell, here it is …
In 2010 Doug and Mike Starn had a great exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see. (Yup, there we are …)
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