perfect summer dress

Now maybe you have just like me been on the lookout for the perfect summer dress..?? Something for when I am not in the mood for the trendy shorts... Ummmh,.... I found it! It will be perfect for all the outdoor concerts this Summer, not to mention the hot, humid and sweaty days in the city... of course I'll bring it to the beach too... P.E.R.F.E.C.T.!

John Lennon & Yoko Ono 'Bed-In' peace & love scene, hippie, anti-war protest, photo printed dress by Fashion Rocks.

shoebamania

Hey, I just designed this shoe...



...made from my pictures taken during the day of the election November 4th, 2008 and you can be sure: more will follow! Especially the ones matching all of the Fashion Rocks clothing pieces... exciting isn't it?

copyright idil vice fashion rocks, 2009.

obama as seen in nyc

Getting closer to the finish line... here some more impressions from around town:

damien hirst got punk'd

Yes, we all don't want punk to be dead and we all wish a time as true to itself as this, will come back soon as we could use a fresh and free movement that has no boundaries, but here's the awful truth my dear readers, you can't fake the real thing, I mean it undermines the whole point of the punk movement NOT to be fake and NOT to be commercial.

So here is this tale I have been hearing about fake punk gear, supposedly from Sex + Seditionaries, the boutique founded by McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, circulating the art market.


I can't help but NOT feel sorry for the dumbish museums and galeries as well as Damien Hirst, who went ahead and bought that fake stuff up for about $200'000.- on the internet. As if someone actually owning the genuine items would get rid of them...?!

Someone greedy with an eye and knowledge of the real thing, created distressed punk clothes and put it on the market. An asshole yes, but the ones that bought it even more. This example is a sign of the time and really shows that punk IS dead, as at this rate it cannot come back even if it wanted. Thanks to dummsies like these...

So let me finish the story, Damien was planning to put the collection on display until Mclaren declared the bounty to be fakes. Thanks goodness, Malcom! Thanks for saving us a punk exhibition, which would have undoubteldly been hard to take in it's commercialism.

Damien you're a punk, but not a geniune one! You miss the point and you put shame on our generation (aren't you one of the most successful artists of our time?) as you wanted to sell us out by exhibiting clothes from a subversive movement a few decades ago that garnered such high prices! Shame on you!

Punk still exists in it's pure form, yes, sometimes it still lives in a personality here and there, but only in a few places, genuine relics? Mostly right at home of a punk, at his home in the cellar.


I for once took a picture of my original (and originally distressed by actually wearing it) The Damned shirt, and I won't sell it to you Damien.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

People like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspire me. It's been 40 years since the day he's been assassinated. He is an icon and his legacy lives on...

R.I.P

idilvicefashionrocks MLK tribute skirt honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 4 - Gerry Hudson, Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), issued the following statement today:

“As we commemorate the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, it’s time for an honest assessment of just how far we’ve come to achieve his dream of freedom and justice for all."

"A quick snapshot of today’s income inequality and continued health and educational disparities suggests that we haven’t come far enough."

“Economic disparities alone are higher today than it’s been in this country since 1928. Today’s minimum wage is just $5.85 an hour, which buys significantly less than the minimum wage of King’s time."

"Health disparities are also grim. More than one in five African Americans are uninsured and they have the highest rates of death due to diabetes, heart disease, and breast, lung, and colon cancer than any other ethnic group. And perhaps most sobering—segregation and inequality continue to define our public school system. Most recently we learned that in 17 of the nation’s 50 largest cities, less than half of the students who entered high school in 2003 graduated."

“We’ve got lots of work to do."

politics and fashion

We do always question what fashion is most inspired by and whether it is art or if it is just commercial, etc. I personally think fashion is, besides being commercial art, also a opportunity for political statements.

I for example rebel against establishment, against what people think one should look like, etc. with my collections. When I design a skirt with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s picture on it, I state that I find his personality and message important and I pay tribute to it and when I put a substance abuse party print t-shirt under a police officers jacket I expose the corruption of certain authority figures, etc.

It is a fundamental desire of people to be able to express themselves and that is the reason for sales of merchandise with a political statement factor. Of course all fashions are here to make statements because even the guy that sports a classic outfit from Brooks Brothers, makes the statement that he believes in a more conservative approached style. Style can also be used to mislead peoples perception of ones self.

The most recent political fashion accessory (be it worn consciously or unconsiously) is the Shemagh ("kufiya", "keffieh" or "kaffiyeh", "hatta","yashmag" the Arabic terms).


Seen on every street corner for sale in New York, Tokio, Berlin and other major cities around the world and worn by all kinds of people as reported on many fashion/style blogs, etc. The typical fashionable person wears the Shemagh "street style", simply tied around the neck like this:

In the Arab world the scarf is either worn "Kufiya"-Style (A Kufiya is part of the formal Arab attire and is bound by a "aqaal", the cord that goes around the wearer's head)...


...or it is worn like this, "Shemagh-Style"...


Here are a few ways to tie a Shemagh scarf:






Now, my opinion is that the latest popularity of this scarf (originally an 80's trend which started popping back up in 2003 after the US lead invasion in Iraq and by now has become a widespread fashion trend) - also worn by the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat (The Kaffiyeh is the most recognized symbol of support for the Palestinian intifada) - is rooted in the desire of the Western world to balance out the injustice that is being done by our President, namely George W. Bush and his administration, in the Arab world.

At a time when most Americans wish for the troops to come home and the war in Iraq as well as the Israeli and Palestinian conflict be ended, it is only fitting that people show their colors (and patterns) by wearing this unmistakable political accessory.

The trend has become so huge though that there is a vast amount of youngsters now wearing it, while having no clue about what this scarf stands for and why it has become a trendy fashion accessory, and they simply don't care (!) which is too much of course... and it is also the reason why many people have different ideas about this new trend.

Below an opinion about it from Germany (NOT my point of view however).





And finally here some variations: The collection of the official brand and the matching video...





....by the way here is my way of wearing the Kufiah... after all: I got to show my Turkish roots once in a while!