Fashion is no longer only an exclusive category that only the wealthy and connected can be successful in,  Project runaway has demonstrated that fashion can be for everyone, it’s all a matter of whether you have the right style. However the show does not omit the glamorous energy behind fashion, style and design as its host is Kristy Hinze - Australian model and actress, as well as including Rosemount fashion week as a top priority for its designers.

Survival of the fittest takes its toll in the fashion realm where each competing fashionista sows for their life. Project Runway Australia, a highly rated TV show, gathers skillful designers to exercise their passion for fashion – literally. The competitors of the show are eliminated one by one after each ‘task’, demonstrating a feisty industry as it truly is every man for himself.

Style and creativity both collaborate to produce a lifestyle for these competitors where they are critically judged by professional opinion leaders in the fashion world. The TV show epitomises how serious a lifestyle fashion is to those who wake up every morning to ensure a dress is in the making and a winning collection is on the road.

Project Runway challenges the competitors to use all different sorts of material to create a unique look. It demonstrates that fashion can emerge and exist in anything and everything, so long as one has a needle. It positions fashion designing as a career which is only measurable against others and in order to succeed a collection must trump another collection. As Project Runway would put it, ‘life is too short to have on a bad outfit’.

This is the ultimate Television show for all aspiring style wanna be’s as although its focus is on fashion, ultimately its about style, your own personal style that is able to be versatile enough to accomodate for the world.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/armani-presents-new-smart-phone-amid-fashion-mobile-trend-1802327.htm

Armani has joined the rest of the fashion world in shaping his empire to embrace the colours in technology and not just those spalshed on fabric and materials. The new exciting Samsung  Georgio Armani phone is another addition to the designer brands that have branched out to reach to technologically aware people, and in doing so has added more versatility to the industry and more competition against not only high fashion houses, but electronic manufacturers. This adds on the post I created regarding the Prada phone, just to prove my point that fashion is heading in a direction where lifestyle choices are now determined by what others tell us to buy. Fashion is not what u cloth yourself in, but the decisions  regarding how you choose to live and what items you choose to purchase and this time it comes at a heavy price of 700 pounds. Armani is keeping its exclusive clients as exclusive as ever and only providing the best, just like with its unique sheik suits.

Links

Georgio Armani article

Launching wesbite link

Sydney Morning Herald Article

“Fashion is made to become unfashionable “ - Coco Chanel

“I dress for the image, Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men” ‘ -Marlene Dietrich

“I don’t do fashion, I am fashion.”  – Coco Chanel

“The goal I seek is to have people refine their style through my clothing without having them become victims of fashion.”  – Giorgio Armani

Further more it is interesting to note that fashion, models and photographers have the potential to create this heated topic and move modelling and fashion from the magazines and bulletin boards and onto the field of social and political study.  This takes fashion out of the back bench and places it in the center of the spot light, what is interesting is the Sydney Morning Herald’s description of Vogue magazine, states that the magazine is renowned for its attention seeking spreads. Whether this is true is arguable, I would frankly argue otherwise as Vogue isn’t specific to attracting attention, but effective in being innovative, creative and at times pushing against mainstream ideas of fashion, their work is usually deep enough to stand in a gallery.

Thus the media in this instance shouldn’t be so quick to jump to the conclusion that vogue was being insensitive, ignorant and politically incorrect, as their very work is made to create different perceptions of the one product and most times their agenda is not to offend anyone.

Similarly to the Hey Hey its Saturday stunt which was in the media regarding a very similar act, news.com goes into depth about the matter, Australians must remember that we are not American and our culture is our own, meaning not just because one thing may be interpreted as offensive or insulting must be adopted by our own culture. Australian’s are known for their easy going nature, sense of humor and unique adaption of ideas. To have that stunt appear to be a racist appropriation is the equivalent of not knowing the national anthem – that is being so un-Australian.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,26181031-10229,00.html

The hey hey its Saturday stunt should have been watched from within an Australian perspective and if it was contextually analyzed the extract would make perfect sense  and not appear to be racially discriminative. As many people state, if a black person was to paint their face white that would undeniably be either a racist act, an act of vilification or for the purposes of making a statement. Yet the painting of a white person as a balck person could be a veneration of beauty. Some of the world’s most beautiful and successful models have been black models, must we mention Naomi Campbell who is in her 40s and still one of Victoria’s Secrets best kept secrets. Tara banks who is now not only successful for her incredible modelling shoots, but for her America’s Next Top Model show that has been popular across the world to the extent that countries now have their own competitions, this includes Australia and New Zealaand.

The American President is now an African America, must society still stand within the shadow of the past and not endeavor to move into the future. The more society clings onto this notion of sensitivity and cautiousness when mentioning blacks or creating art through different ideas, the more we revert back to 18th, 19th and 2th century teachings about cultural differences, racism and racial segregation. Australia should lead the world in its examples of harmonious co-existence with many different cultures and races, if farmers can co-exist with Aboriginals through pastoral land leases, then the world is far behind if it can’t co-exist artistically, culturally and socially.

Nonetheless it’s not the entire art and fashion community who is offended by the white model painted black, it is an exclusive few that have shunned this masterpiece, including the media who in this case are looking for any means to create a public outrage. Rather than looking to the deeper value of the image, some have taken it on face value if that even, and some how pointed out why it was so politically incorrect.

What made these images even less offensive was that French Vogue was using its culture, Renaissance creations – meaning props, photography and effects were meant to transcend the image back to a 14^th/15^th century film still. This is a mere appropriation, in essence a work of art with the likes of artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman who have all aimed to appropriate artworks to make them more relevant today. Vogue’s aim was to most probably paint an image of what didn’t happen back then, meaning having black person’s in the role of a white person, stating a fact isn’t offensive especially a fact that existed centuries ago. Isn’t it high time people understood our history, so that when artworks appear that venerate the blacks rather than dismiss them, the message can be interpreted correctly and not mistakenly confused for a racist act.

If we look to the similarities it is clear that Vogue was not making a racist statement, but rather appropriating its photography and making a piece of art – something that is paramount to the Vogue manifesto.

Jezebel an American blog, goes through audience discussion regarding the severity and impact of the image – Jezebel discussion

The upper image is the Alforini artwork, a popular painting created during the 14th Century, if you look  closely between that and the neighbouring image of Lara Stone, the Dutch model, you can see similarities in the props and style of both images.

It will be hosted at Favela at Potts point, one of the most exclusive clubs in Sydney, it will feature celebrity guests, judges, contestants and a real glamorous atmosphere that Fashion TV is renown for.

The LG KF900 Prada II was among the first phone of its kind to integrate the latest technology that only the most sophisticated and technologically up to date person would possess and merge its sleek and ultra-modern features with the legendary house of fashion -  Prada. Together it  created an audience of its own, combining technologically aware consumers with those that breed an obsession with the fashion world.

http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/prada%20phone.jpg

What is increasingly fascinating is that, these fashion dominating brands are attempting to seek out new audiences as they explore the boundaries that consumers wont stop at to win the ‘most stylish award’ and have themselves ‘keep up with the ‘Jones’ ‘.

The Prada phone is not just a technological investment and has not been advertised and promoted only through technologically related means, but Vogue has double paged spreads enhancing the product and contributed to its success by commenting on it being a fashion accessory. It also stated,

“HAVING teamed up with the LG Group for the second time, Prada won’t just have us coveting its bags, shoes and clothes for the new fashion season – add to that its stylish new phone.” - Vogue UK article

This innovative approach for Prada, is capable of placing it beyond the rest. particularly due to its strength in developing a phone that was one of the strongest in terms of features that was out in the market. This shows that Prada like its attention to detail and accuracy in fashion clothing does not lack the essential quality guarantee that all retailers should have.

The president of Prada = Patrizo Bertelli has stated  ” As we do with ready-to-wear and accessories, we were looking at a breakthrough. Consistent with our approach, we are not branding an existing product,”  adding that the phone would have a “very strong character and unique style”.

It has also been stated that  “LG and PRADA have worked closely together on every aspect of the product, from handset development to marketing combining the attention to detail and uncompromising quality of PRADA design with the trademark technological innovation of LG mobile. PRADA’s involvement extends beyond exterior aesthetics to the key elements of the user experience such as the advanced touch interface, ring tones, pre-loaded content, mobile phone accessories and the exclusive leather case, inspired by the classic Italian craftsmen tradition.” – Dr Scott Ahn, president and CEO of LG – article

Through this Prada and LG have worked together to create not just a handset,  another luxurious option for those who wish to be the empitomy of style.

“We at LG are exceptionally proud of the PRADA Phone by LG” says Dr. Scott Ahn, President & CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. He continues, “The two companies have worked together seamlessly towards a truly shared vision, to develop one of the most beautifully stylish handsets the market has ever seen.”

prada was among the first to initiate this trend and what we have seen follow is other similar high fashion houses extend their approach to what fashion is, by including mobile phones as the ultimate fashion accessory.

Many fo the world’s leading high fashion designers have merged with the technological successful brands of the industry to stylize and elevate it to target the audience who are fashionable but keeping up with high city busy life.  This includes new models from Porsche and Bang & Olufsen

Links

Prada Phone

Iphone v Prada

Amidst the trenches that have captured us young fashion soldiers, Nissan as been able to  introduce the perfect opportunity for an affordable economic car that just screams fashion as it struts its features whilst  driving down fashion capital cities. This technique of targeting us desperate- to- look -stylish recession victims, have removed the spot light off the stereotypical expensive cars such as Mercedes – Benz, BMW’s, Porshe, Alfa Romeo etc and placed it on the modest Nissan Micra- now the pinnacle of stylish cars

The marketing schemes that Nissan has employed has done an effective job of showing how this economical car can communicate the language of fashion extending to high city life, shopping and luxurious lifestyle choices, without financially burdening the purchaser – article

The Nissan website includes their latest Australian advertisement which places a large emphasis on high fashion culture, and not just normal fashion, but vogue style fashion and this has need I say effectively marketed the product and reached out to the audience it aims to attract, that is young females, with a passion for fashion

The tagline for the product is cities love Micra Nissan, and when you look at the cities listed in its campaign it includes, Rome, New York, Vienna, Tokyo, London – The cities that not only host extreme and lavish fashion shows, but also cities that most people like to be a part of or travel to.

The below video is also another video, not featured on the Nissan website, yet still an advertisement promoting its desire to be fashionably loved.

Blasting through society is the fashionification of products and choices that all consumers are exposed to. The higher end of  the fashion spectrum as I have suggested earlier has transcended to include those lifestyle choices we make that makes us more fashionable. An interesting development in this has been the creation of Birthday cakes that make replicate designer hand bags, shoes and gift boxes. These creations include real eatable cakes that look identical to Chanel and Louis Vuitton Handbags as well as Prada heels and Tiffany and Co gift boxes.

These have all been instigators of this new tradition which has the potential of immediately elevating ones style and fashion at a moment of very high significance – mainly birthdays.

The cakes look so much like real designer products that a company in the UK who specializes in cake imitations, has been threatened of being sued by Louis Vuitton due to the striking similarities between the handbags and the cakes.

It’s a laughable matter, that Louis Vuitton one of the oldest fashion houses in the world, is threatened by little cakes from a small cake shop in London.

Article of Louis Vuitton wanting to sue

Aside from this, this little trick of ordering designer cakes can change a person’s style from being known as fashion zero, to a fashion hero and although the cakes may be a little pricey they are by no means as expensive as the real hand bags. So guess what folks? I guess you can have your cake and EAT it too!

The emergence of consumers was a highlight of the early 20th century- so it seems that fashion and spending go hand in hand, its not just an urban legend. The 1920′s was a boom for the economy where credit was introduced to assist in expenditure greatly targeted at women. This integration in the economy augmented the development of fashion, where there was a genuine market to sell and develop shopping habits.

The 1920′s were famous for their flapper years, for Chanel and accessories which carried through past the Great Depression, which was an immediate affect of this “credit” failure. Gatsby was a great advocate, what with his lavish parties he had a lot to express in those years, the New Yorkers, luxury houses and beautiful women. It was the shore of a new era which swept out to be an ocean of fashion reform which is still prevalent today.

Image by Sacheverelle

Now whilst I babble on, my point here is that if it wasn’t for this introduction of credit that generated  great consumers, then the fashion industry would not have been able to pick itself up. Apart from that also is the fact that if you were lacking the opportunity to buy on credit then you weren’t regarded as the upper tier in society, the fashionable crusade for you wasn’t your battle to fight.

This carries on TODAY. The introduction of the legendary Visa Black Card, which has an unlimited spending amount, one can in fact buy a yacht specifically on it. What I found most appealing was that when i entered one of the most fashion orientated website, the massive advertisement was this very black Visa Card, with all its carbon beauty and construction of a fashion social class, higher than what most can afford to buy into.

What makes this card so exclusive is the fact that the usual method of attaining on is that you must be invited to become a member of its luminous club, where a membership fee applies. This is the epitomy of what fashion is today, the point of this card is not that it can buy you great fashion, but rather make you look like a piece of fashion simply by becoming a member of its secluded club. We see fashion taking on a much broader role defined by the medium you spend you money. For example although it is highly fashionable to have a wallet with you monies in there, what makes you even more exclusive and fashionable is that you have the black card as an accessory to that.

Whilst most of us cannot even afford to pay our standard credit card amounts, I await the time where I am included in higher society and holding tightly onto this miraculous card that can buy you into anything including style – Article

The online website which shows this image of Kylie is not critical enough in drawing the obvious flaws, but commending her curves. This is not the way high fashion is headed and Kylie who should want to be part of this high fashion genre, like the likes of Keira Knightley, has failed her test in being tasteful and elegant – the article

Kylie's 1930's dress up