Features and opinions on a range of topics from politics to technology. Sometimes the features are serious, sometimes they are fun. Check them out.
At the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, a new series opened titled POLAROIDS. The exhibition centers on Polaroid pictures shot by many famed photographers. The once popular instant camera were a big part of the creative process for professional picture takers.
Polaroids run from until July 25, 2025.
I was not familiar with Lineapelle, the Milan trade fair for luxury leather. For three days this massive gathering focuses on the real work of fashion, sourcing. Designers come here for the purpose of searching for the materials. The cavernous halls filled with suppliers big and small showing desired skins to clients.
After gathering my thoughts together, I had to hit the ground running. The public sees the fashion shows, the glitz and glamour of the industry. Lineapelle is where the real business starts. So many tanneries, different leathers, ways to stitch, number of pieces, quality of the skin. In one day after speaking to attendees and exhibitors I had the equivalent of a one-year university course from the best fashion university. Experienced professional colleagues explained many details involved in the transforming a skin component to a sought-after product. For not only small items, interior design requires a high degree knowledge and skillset. For instance, upholstery leather gets wrapped in order fit a living room sofa or car seat.
Leathers have different characteristics, various suppleness, grades. The dying techniques used to color skins can range from simple to complex. The process of pattern printing leather intrigued me. A designer used this practice to design a youthful collection shown on the Lineapelle runway.
Farmed animal skins are traced from beginning to finish. The sustainable aspects of using quality leather explained to me in one sentence, “A good leather endures.” Quality controls employed by brands and producers for certain products. I discussed the recent bag scandals. The “masstige” handbags made under questionable circumstances are not produced in the same factories as the more prestigious items. Expensive skin handbags are put together in closely monitor controlled conditions by experienced craftsmen. An alligator skin’s one-piece skin can cost thousand of dollars versus a cow skin which costs far less. As mentioned earlier, the stitching methods used for exotic leathers are more intricate.
After attending my first Lineapelle, I have a new appreciation for well-made leather products. Buy better!
Today another creative head departed from a big house. Keeping up with who is where, for how long is getting harder. This time Sabato De Sarno “quit” Gucci after only two years. It is no secret the Italian Fashion House has struggled in the past years. Sales have fallen to the point of panic for parent company Kering as buyers turn to other labels.
Kim Jones walked away from Dior. The shocking news came right after presenting his latest collection in Paris for menswear week. The British born designer made a mark at the top of the heritage house with a modern interpretation of tailored pieces.
There was a time in the fashion business when longevity matter, not anymore. Taking the job as a head designer should come with a stylish 48 hour bag.
Once upon a time Kodak was one the largest companies in the world. Digital cameras hit the market. General Motors controlled 60% of the US auto market. The Corolla came along. Nokia sat on almost 40% of global mobile phone sales. iPhone was released. AOL had 30 million users in 2000, by far the largest in the world. Customers switched to broadband. MySpace was the social media site. Suddenly young people moved to Facebook. These giants fell, some faster than others. They were unable to adapt to changing times. As the shockwaves continue to pulsate throughout the global tech sector. Could this David slay the giants? That is the question.
DeepSeek, the Chinese start-up founded in 2023 scaled the walls of success to become a conversation. AI was supposed to be the terrain of the giants, not anymore. A brazen newcomer crashed the scene. Even President Trump weighed in saying “It’s a wake-up call.” A new competitor arrived, one that cannot be bought or suppressed.
Not only did DeepSeek beat the US giants, the young Hangzhou young upstart did it cheaper and faster than expected. While Silicon Valley sat back raking in investment for the AI, High-Flyer, DeepSeek’s parent company, outflanked the Goliaths. In one day, tech stocks dropped $1 trillion in value. Maybe Wall Street knew had a premonition of what is coming. In the past it took years for companies to fall from the top. For the hyper connected age where change comes fast, within twenty months a once household brand could be regulated to the graveyard, then forgotten. Technology is an unforgiving field that moves forward, stomping over stumblers.
For the first time, The United States tech platforms must change to a catch up plan in a field they dominate. A nightmare could become a reality, a decline to irrelevancy. So significant is the threat, Fortune Magazine reported Meta head Mark Zuckerberg has convened a war room to counter DeepSeek’s new Chatbot.
The well-known expression from the Chinese philosophy Taoism: What goes up, must come down. These words are resonating in Silicon Valley.
Wishing you a Happy 2025 and may the New Year bring success.
Hopping you have a Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings during the holidays.
2024 is the year where less is more, nothing over the top. This gift guide is about keeping it down to Earth with style. Do not spend a fortune to give something nice this Christmas.
Another day another fashion accessory scandal hits the airwaves. Once again Prato finds itself at the center of suspect labor practices. This time Aljazeera uncovered more shoddy production in the Tuscany city. Major fashion brands employing contractors, sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors engage in cat and mouse games in order to circumvent Italian Labor laws.
As luxury increased prices on one end, they sought out cheaper production on the other. Capitalism rewards those who exploit more efficiently Workers earning as little as 3 euros an hour work a twelve-hour day, sometimes six days a week manufacturing glamorous leather pieces that sell for as much as 3400 euros in high-end shops.
There is nothing wrong having a labeled expensive handbag. But the dilemma is the hidden or not hidden mechanics of the product coveted. An expensive leather handbag is a sought of trophy. However, what if the prize comes from an unscrupulous source? The most convenient human emotion to access is denial.
The brazenness of luxury brands and producers to almost flaunt their less than ethical ways is baffling. Supply chains are easily traceable in 2024. Everyone has a camera and a social media account with potential to post a brand damaging image.
A big leather factory with illegal sweatshop labor wouldn’t go unnoticed. Yet, why are the companies relaxed about sourcing products? Because executives know consumers will forget a scandal. Certainly the outrage will be hot and loud at the beginning, then back to normal.
While watching the investigative report, the saying “It is morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money” came to my mind. When a factory owner details the nebulous agreements then the manufacturing price of a handbag, the world of luxury accessory is a sucker’s desire. One item made with a third party inflated added cost of 84 euros in Italy, retails for 2800 euros in soft lite carpeted outlets around the world.
Now when I see a person with a designer handbag proudly walking down the street with an air of style superiority. I will have to hold back my snigger.
The Donald Trump influence on Fashion and Masculinity will be felt in the fashion industry. Professionals should not underestimate the influence of a President’s outlook on style. John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, the President went hatless on a cold January day, that styling decision placed a once accessory staple to the back of the men’s closet for a generation. Men dropped the headwear. Of course, his First Lady who needs no introduction, Jackie, is a timeless fashion icon.
This election could mark an unexpected shift in many ways. People turned away from mass media for opinions. Mainstream channels took a credibility hit. Not only did they get it wrong by a September Issue Size Vogue issue, television commentators could not hide the disbelief on live television. The fashion press misread voter sentiments, publications placed a bet on the wrong horse, then lost. What does that say about their insight? No amount of deflection or no comments can cover up the scale of this pubic misread. After putting Kamala Harris on numerous covers, no one expects Head Editor in charge Anna Wintour to have a public make up phone call to Melania Trump.
Creative directors will need a rethink over the next months and years. Since the term “gender” became a political toxin, consumers may move away from gender free fashion, out of style. Sure, the houses can produce it. Who will buy the collections outside of four stores in NYC and SF? The marketing and messaging will take a different course. Companies are ditching DEI initiatives faster than a Shein can copy a runway look. Bottom line decisions trump social movements in boardrooms. The 47th Unites States leader’s 75 million voters are too big a market to ignore.
There could be a silver lining, style hope. Brands could become counter reactionary, more underground. The Gap was born in the counter culture of San Francisco. The Mini Skirt shock off the feminine rigidity of the fifties.
The 47th head of the United States will leave an imprint on the way we dress, like or not.
Drink Champagne on days with a “T”. Today and Tomorrow.
