By Nadine Kam

Mainichi photo
Considering the state of the union, we may all be longing for childhood naivete and the comfort of Teddy bears, Ugly dolls other cuddly toys, soon.

There’s a small contingency of Gothic Lolita fans in Hawaii, who may not care about the shows in New York, Milan or Paris, but may want to see the latest from the Marui Individual Fashion Expo IV that took place Tuesday in Tokyo.

For more photos and details, you might want to check out Carmen Yuen’s blog at Lacarmina.com and patrickmacias.blogs.com

Meanwhile, fashion historian Valerie Steele says a Goth revival is hitting the mainstream with this week’s opening of the “Dark Glamour” exhibition at New York’s Fashion Institution of Technology, the start of HBO’s new vampire series “True Blood,” and the film version of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” vampire novels slated to arrive at theaters in November.

Wearing black will be easy. Sort of fits the somber mood that has gripped the nation this year. Anyone who has watched their stock portfolios steadily decline is probably already walking around in a zombie-like haze.

One of the things said about Japan’s fondness for things kawaii, is that it emerged in the 1970s as a response to teens’ feelings of powerlessness against rigid social hierarchies. They reacted by retreating into passivism and infantilism. Many believe it is a delayed reaction to the nation’s loss during World War II, from which they certainly recovered financially and materialistically, but psychologically, the mistrust of institutions and sense of nihilism that grew out of the experience isn’t something easily dismissed. It just makes me wonder what lasting damage is taking place within our own country at the moment.

By Nadine Kam

Bravo
Rachel Zoe, left, and her assistants Brad and Taylor.

The latest must-see TV for the fashion set, especially anyone with stylist ambitions, is Bravo’s “The Rachel Zoe Project” that airs Tuesday nights.

I know, I know, she’s the stylist so many seem to hate and she’s an easy target with her high-profile Hollywood glam-boho style, and all the celeb dressing, in her own image. I just read where a New York Times reporter reviewing the show said Rachel is “a pox on humanity—exploiting an aesthetic of dissipation, invading our collective consciousness and spraying it with dummy dust.”

Them’s pretty strong words, but my feeling is that the woman deserves a lot of respect because styling is tough work. It’s extremely stressful to have the responsibility to both client and for her, A-list designers. There’s been a lot of political talk lately about putting lipstick on pigs, and the fashion equivalent is putting the wrong designs on the wrong bodies. Major designers are very careful about their image and few people are able to earn the trust of both clients and the designers, which makes me think there’s a lot of sour grapes in the criticism out there.

One legit piece of criticism is the sameness of the red carpet because of stylists’ fear of a misstep. But consider the celebrity client. They’re not out to challenge anyone with their fashion sense. Their only concern is looking pretty, and for the vast majority of the American audience, pretty and extravagant is as good as it gets.

Rachel Zoe inspects some of the water damage on Episode 2. Wonder how the designers reacted on seeing the episode.

What’s funny is her deadpan reaction to the most dire circumstances. On last night’s episode, her studio flooded and thousands of dollars worth of designer gowns were sitting with their hems in water and colors running. A lot of sh** happens in styling and you try to prevent it and cope as much as possible without freaking out, which gets you nowhere. (more…)

By Nadine Kam

Rebecca Taylor look for Spring 2009. Nice shoes.

New York Fashion Week starts tomorrow, so I am moaning at my desk, wondering why I decided not to go while beauty bloggers try to offer some consolation, telling me on Twitter, “Don’t worry, we’ll spare you the sore feet,” and “Hopefully, we’ll cover it so you’ll feel like you’re there.”

Well, yeah, now I remember the sore feet bit, and I guess that could be equated with childbirth, painful but the pain is forgotten by the time the next one comes around.

I am sure if I were there I would be moaning about the distance and the timing of the shows and why I am killing myself trying to get to as many shows and parties as possible, when, of course the answer is, “You only live once,” and it’s not every day you can share space with Diane Von Furstenberg, Damien Hirst and the Olsen twins.

Check out the schedule here.

I have the feeling that the Spring 2009 garments to be shown will be exceptionally pretty because, given the state of the economy, designers will have to work extra hard to entice people to buy.

By Nadine Kam

The dress.

Well, I guess I spoke too soon when I said I wouldn’t be adding to my wardrobe over Labor Day weekend. After I wrote that Friday, I headed home, then out for dinner, when a friend called and said a top I had admired at Betsey Johnson had gone on sale and did I want her to buy it or put it on hold for me. “It’s $75, $75!” she emphasized.

“Uh, well, I have to try it on,” I said, but told her to go ahead and put it on hold.

So I went to Ala Moana first thing Saturday morning, just before the store opened, but what I had really looked at that night was the same design, as a dress with a feminine 1930s-40s vibe. I tried both on, and even though the top was on sale, I still liked the dress better for ease of wear. With the top I’d still have to hunt for the right pencil skirt — darn, I had just passed on a good M Missoni one on sale at NM weeks ago — or jeans, which I rarely wear. So I got the dress AND a peace dove bracelet.

The bracelet.

I interviewed the designer at the time the Honolulu boutique opened and it’s amazing to think it was only then that — although she’s been in business for 30 years — she was just starting to license her brand, which seemed very belated. Girls would have killed long before now for Betsey Johnson jewelry, shoes, sunglasses, purses, etc. But, I get it. When you’re so engrossed in the day-to-day biz, it’s hard to address the future beyond the next collection. I don’t envy designers. It’s a tough business, hard to predict consumers’ future desires and you pretty much have to make the right call every season.

Anyway, my friend called while I was in the store and goes, “Are you buying it and would you mind if I buy the same thing?”

She was in the mall so walked over and ended up with the top, so I guess it all worked out. I don’t know how other people feel about friends buying the same clothes, though it seems to happen to me now more than ever. I guess it’s natural for people who hang out together to share or grow into similar tastes, but it makes it hard when you have to check in with each other to make sure you’re not wearing the same thing at the same time.

By Nadine Kam

Yahoo photo

Ahh, one of the great mysteries of the Olympics has been solved by opening the Yahoo home page this morning.

I guess a lot of people had the same question I had when looking at Kerri Walsh, which is, what is that black stuff she’s wearing on her shoulder? Many thought it was a tattoo, but it was raised and looked velvety to me. Turns out to be medical tape.

A lot of feature stories are born this way, out of those hundreds of trivial things that make you go huh? in the course of a day.

Check out the feature here.

By Nadine Kam

ABC photo
The happy couple, DeAnna Pappas and Jesse Csincsak.

I wasn’t going to post anything on “The Bachelorette,” but you know how after the finales people sometimes just want to talk about it, and some people were snooping around doing searches for the show, so I thought I’d add my 2 cents.

I started watching the series after Andy Baldwin’s turn, so I’ve been keeping up with poor DeAnna’s story since she was ditched by her bachelor Brad.

What’s funny is how the audience can get so involved and feel like we’re getting to know the bachelors as well, though I think the premise is a little weird. It’s like sending a person into an office of 30 people and saying, “OK, fall in love with one person.” It’s kind of eww-y, not to mention limiting. I’m so thankful to be in a relationship. I think in the past 10 years I’ve only met two people I’ve been attracted to. One was gay; one was like Ashton to my Demi and as cool as it may be to find a guy who’s not ageist. I don’t think a big age difference works for most women. As smart, creative, gorgeous and interesting as this guy was, when he talked about stuff it was all the sort of thing I’d already been through. Having been there, done that, I have no need of repeating any stage of my life. In Hollywood, freedom and financial stability can be great equalizers. In the real world, you really want to be in the same place. Or at least I do.

So DeAnna’s choosing snowboarder Jesse over stable Jason made sense to me. Both seem like such great guys. With Jason I could see her settling into comfortable, happy routine. With Jesse, there was more of a sense that, at 26, they are both in the same place and that life would be an adventure in terms of personal growth and building a life together.

Of course we hate unrequited love and lack of closure to our stories, so one poster has already suggested that ABC make Jason the next bachelor. That would be great. He deserves a second chance like DeAnna.

By Nadine Kam

eLuxury.com photo
I now have the adult version of this 3.1 Phillip Lim children’s clipped feather swing skirt. (It’s not actually feathers, but fabric.)

It was with great sadness that I discovered a 3.1 Phillip Lim skirt for $250 on eLuxury, after I had paid more than $300 on sale. I was relieved to find it was a children’s skirt I was looking at, though if I had known there was a children’s size available, I definitely would have tried to squeeze into the 9/10 or so.

Maybe the sales gods just haven’t been with me, because I had eyed a black See by Chloe top at Nordstrom when it opened. It was more than $400, and now, it was gone. All the See by Chloe and Phillip Lim stuff were gone. I was kind of mad that my boyfriend had told me earlier not to get it, not because of the price, but because it had a rather large bow in front and he hates extraneous, fussy, frilly things — which I guess makes me wonder why he likes me.

It’s not like he runs my wardrobe or anything, but if he speaks I must listen because when it comes to clothes, he’s generally right. A guy with a good eye can be your best shopping ally because he’s less likely to indulge your fantasy life and dress the real, often dumpier you.
It’s a fact that in a dressing room I’m another person, so I come out with some choices that are good for someone else, and pretty bad for me. It helps that I’ve sought the opinion of one of our photographers here, Craig Kojima, who was pretty brutal. So now when I try things on, I always hear his voice saying, “That does nothing for you.”

If you’re about to make a mistake, just say those words and see if they’re true or false. Something worth buying will make your body look better than it really is. The no’s will be obvious. Something marginal will be just OK, neither excellent or bad on you. It’s the marginal things that pose the greatest problem, because they could be easily be yesses. But if you can say, “It does nothing for me,” and walk away, you could end up saving a lot of money, though it still doesn’t stop me from falling in love with individual pieces, rather than the way they look on me.

I wish I could be one of those with classic, appropriate adult style day in and day out, but I have a feeling I’d be bored.

By Nadine Kam

Hawaiian Island Creations photos

Roxy’s now open at the Kailua Village Shops, in the strip between Starbucks and Teddy’s Bigger Burgers. They sent over some photos of their grand opening May 30.

They should do well. It’s how Kailua dresses. I know because I lived there for about a decade when I never had much excuse to wear more than a skimpy dress, shorts or a skirt hiked up over my boobs. I never left the beachy bedroom community on the weekends. Honolulu seemed too far away, though it is closer than Hawaii Kai. And the drive is shorter.

By Nadine Kam

Nadine Kam photos
A detail of an Eli Baxter installation.

From time to time the way other people dress can inspire me to bust out my camera. So it was when I spent Friday afternoon at The Contemporary Museum during a walk-through of the TCM Biennial of Hawaii artists featuring site-specific installations of Eli Baxter, Vincent Goudreau, Javier Martinez, Yida Wang, Cade Roster, Wayne Zebzda and Meidor Hu.

I enjoyed walking around Wang’s exploration of breast cancer with an installation of hanging Latex breasts, Cade Roster’s series of manga-inspired Plush Gaiden, and Eli Baxter’s sculptures of recycled, polished bicycle tires, inner tubes and molded wax, somehow reminiscent of Alexander McQueen fashion designs.

While there, I ran into TCM’s PR officer Pualana Lemelle and took a photo of her in the museum shop next to the Art-O-Mat, which dispenses miniature pieces of art, whether jewelry, collage or a small sculpture for, last time I checked, $5.

Pualana Lemelle wears an Express wrap dress and gold Western boots from Catherine’s Closet in Manoa.

That reminded me I had a couple of photos of Neiman Marcus’ Contemporary Sportswear/Theory Specialist Alen Ajed. I’m in that department a lot, most of the time just looking, and he’s typically wearing designer, top to bottom, though in his own colorful style. I like that he’s not afraid to wear color and have fun with clothes.

Alen Ajed at the recent Hip Event wearing an Etro shirt with a watercolor-wash print, D&G jacket, Cicinnelli pink pant, Prada belt and Paul Smith tie. His favorite part of the ensemble are his Paul Smith floral design shoes.

On another occasion, I took Alen’s photo (below) with Donna Walden, who also caught my eye because she was wearing this season’s flora-, insect- and fantasy-inspired Prada shoe. Shoes that beautiful have to be uncomfortable, I thought, but Donna said they’re really comfortable.

Alen wears an Etro jacket over a heart-print Prada shirt with a Gianni Versace tie. I cut off the toe of Donna’s shoe, so below are details from Prada’s ad campaign.

When I highlight some of these pieces, I get emails or on Twitter, tweets along the lines of, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Well, to most people, nothing. I don’t want people to walk around looking like fashion clones or slaves. These are just the things I find particularly beautiful and enjoy seeing because they bring an element of beauty into daily existence. It serves the same function as a flower arrangement in an office or lobby, or, if so inclined, a Precious Moments figurine on your desktop. I don’t intend to encourage people to go out and consume, but I am inviting people to train their eyes to see more and to see the ordinary elevated through art.

By Nadine Kam

Second Style
Haver Cole’s interpretation of one of Christian Siriano’s “Project Runway” winning styles in the virtual Second Life magazine Second Style.

Back in earlier days of Second Life, I nosed around for a while but didn’t get that into it. I guess the problem was, my avatar looked just like me.

I could have made my avatar more beautiful, taller, curvier, a Glamazon among women, but I didn’t want to be one of THOSE people who tried to pass myself off as something I’m not.

But I guess I missed the point of having a Second Life, which is to somehow make it better, on every level, than the one you do have.

Ah, who was I trying to kid? I knew exactly which avatars were doubles for their real-life counterparts. I knew which were inauthentic because of their telltale impossibly thin figures and cartoonish beauty. And I shied away from the weirdos with spikes portruding from their bodies, odd hairdos, those that looked like Cartman. I couldn’t help but think that, far from showing humorous traits, they were the embodiment of personality disorders.

Now, a Stanford study tells how, just as in real life, looks matter in Second Life.

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/03/stanford-study.html