Topic: Fashion

The legacy of Yves Saint Laurent

By Christine Anne Piesyk | July 12, 2008 |

When I read of the death of legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent at the age of 71, I felt a generation of masterful design slipping away. He was among the last on a list of greats that include Coco Chanel, Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Nina Ricci, Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Balenciaga and Christian Dior.

That hallowed group spearheaded an era of glamour evidenced in romantic and elegant couture, offered unparalleled, unequaled garments that now grace fashion institutes and museums. [At left, First Tuxedo: 1966 Fall/Winter Collection No 76, Nap and satin silk jacket and trousers, madarin Tuxedo shirt. Tie, Cumberbund and satin silk ankle boots, metal cufflinks with fancy pearls. Foundation Pierre Berge -- Yves Saint Laurent, Photo Foundation Foundation Pierre Berge -- Yves Saint Laurent]

The creations of these master craftsmen of fashion were emulated, a source of inspiration to ensuing generations of fashion designers. They were trendsetters too, shaping fashion to match the shape-shifting of global cultures. Nowhere was that more evident than in Saint Laurent’s transformation of the pantsuit for the world of working women. His adaptation and softening of the suits men wear to fit the emerging world of women in business was groundbreaking, changing the face of fashion in the workplace.

Actress Katherine Hepburn years earlier broke through boundaries with her confident stylish wearing of women’s trousers in the 30s, but it wasn’t until Yves Saint Laurent introduce pantsuits for the professional women in the 70s that the change took hold. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Business, Events, Opinion | No Comments

Face of fashion: You can be too thin!

By Christine Anne Piesyk | February 16, 2008 |

Europe’s fashion community made a bold move this month with the enforcement of Body Mass Index requirements for its high fashion models, refusing to use runway models who fell below BMI standards. In other words, you can be too thin.

Yes, the models will still be tall, thin, willowy, perhaps angular, but emaciated is OUT. It is a long-needed move toward better health with a long range goal of changing the perception of beauty from bone-baring thin to a more healthy shape.

In Hollywood films, on every TV channel, and in thousands of pages of fashion magazines, the icon of beauty for the past 20 years has been the ever-diminishing body mass of models. The concern exploded into public consciousness a few years ago with the skeletal form of TV’s Ally McBeal, and cross cuts social strata in the form of bulemia and anorexia, the health-endangering weight loss tactics used by too many women and girls in their efforts to be fashionably thin or meet some unrealistic standard of beauty. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | No Comments

T-Shirt Musings

By David W. Shelton | June 6, 2006 |

I lost my favorite shirt a few years back. It reads, “I’m not ONLY deaf, I’m ignoring you!” It was my favorite t-shirt. An old friend of mine suggested it to me years ago. I loved the idea so much I went to the mall and had one made. It was basic, but it was perfect.

I guess one of these days I’ll grow out of my fondness for smart-aleck t-shirts. For example, I still enjoy wearing my “Relax, God is in Control” t-shirt whenever I travel. And yes, even I need to be reminded, especially when I had a flat tire in Sulfur, Louisiana. And then there is the one that are ubiquitous on beaches on both coasts that have fake bird droppings all over them that spelled out “Damn seagulls!” «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment »

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