the new yorker

On newstands worldwide now:


Read the article Patricia Marx, On and Off the Avenue, “Made in U.S.A.,” The New Yorker, March 16, 2009, p. 64 featuring Idil Vice's collection "Fashion Rocks".


ABSTRACT: ON AND OFF THE AVENUE about buying American. What does the label “Made in the U.S.A.” mean, anyway? According to the FTC, it designates that “all or virtually all” of the product and its components were made in the fifty states, D.C., or any American territory or possession. Where else to begin the search for indigenous stuff but at Lord & Taylor, the first major emporium to spring up on Fifth Avenue? The retailarchy Bloomingdale’s has yet to go multinational. Mentions St. John Knits. What could be more American than Early American furniture? Shakers who can’t afford Shaker can acquire dovetailed pieces for their meetinghouses at Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers (699 Madison Ave, at 62nd St). Simon Pearce’s eponymous emporium (500 Park Avenue, at 59th St) has for decades specialized in glassware, ceramics, and sundry other breakables, most of them handmade in the company’s workshops in Vermont and Maryland. In 1950, nearly a third of employed Americans worked in factories. Today, it’s about ten per cent. Mentions Sephora, Guitar Center, Kaufman’s Army & Navy, American Apparel, An American Craftsman, Etsy.com, American Girl Place, Anna Sui, Oscar de la Renta, Fresh Meat, Lingo, Idil Vice, Jacques Torres, Kee’s, The Container Store, and Dave’s New York.

"If you can't be a rock star, you can at least wear one on your chest. A Swiss-born New Yorker named Idil Vice designs cotton jersey clothing silk screened with large images of pop icons. They are cool, but do you dare to have David Bowie staring out from the front of your strapless dress? Or Elvis on your high-waisted skirt, with tulle and petticoat attached? Or Billie Holiday posed on your goth bell-bottoms? (idilvicefashionrocks.com: $98.95, $400 and $269.)"