fashion and culture

while at multisport spin last night, my friend and owner of KAT Clothing, Kate, delivered me an inspiring folder of finds from her various trips to sourcing and fashion shows over the past month. she and Interwoven Threads new shirt printer were my eyes at the shows i couldn't make. i may blog on some of these later on the Do Better Blog, but the various T-shirt companies further underscored the saturated market Interwoven deals in and the importance for maintaining and evolving the compelling social story interwoven (couldn't help myself) into the brand.

later at dinner, got into a discussion about the importance of attending these shows, fashion weeks, etc. not just to gauge style trends related to the fashion industry, but to understand overall cultural trends and cues. fashion, in my opinion, is the most accessible manifestation of personal style. more telling than home design, more on-display than music and entertainment tastes. it is a fascinating way to monitor micro trends that might otherwise go unnoticed.

as Interwoven's spring and summer designs are finalized and i am looking through 2008, i've been inspired by a deeper dive into the fashion chatter online. however, monitoring the weird world of clothing is as relevant to my ad job as to my side project.

here are a few examples of what gets me thinking:

The Sartorialist: great snapshots of street style (skews toward tailored, high-end threads) and even better on-the-street interviews featuring everyday peeps describing their outfits and personal style.

Rock Racing kits: may be that the Tour of California is on my brain, but ask any cyclist for his or her opinion on Rock & Republic founder Michael Ball's new pro team, and their wild ensemble is the least controversial element of the team's identity. (see below, Michael Cipollini finally at home in an equally-as-edgy-as-he RR kit. note that the TT holder, pictured behind Cipo, rides next to me at spin class...now i don't feel like such a bonker when he's pushing huge gears faster than i'm spinning the small ring.)


Andre 3000 (aka Andre Benjamin)'s new clothing line. Kanye West gets a lot of credit for challenging conventional hip-hop style, but Benjamin's been doing it longer, and in my opinion, much better than the simple West preppy.

international street style roundup, courtesy of the Coolhunter.

street clash. great photo/blog competition.

what fashion info do you follow? i'd love to add more feeds.