Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 172
March 31, 2017
2017 Is the Year to Rethink Pink
Pink has been #rebranded. Once a symbol of dated gender binaries, pink is now the color of powerful optimistic statements — Trump-shading pussy hats, shapely, multi ethnic Barbie dolls, a cosmetics company that values realism over illusion. Those of us who cast aside our bubble gum pink paraphernalia the moment we grew old enough to shop for ourselves — and those of who still loved the hue but grew sick of the vaguely offensive “girly girl” associations — now have reason to reach for our rose-colored glasses.
Pink was omnipresent on the Spring 2017 runways. From toned-down pastels to electrified berry tones, pink showed up at Valentino, Sies Marjan, Alexander McQueen, Molly Goddard, Gucci, Emilio Pucci, Celine, Prada, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu and literally dozens more. Oftentimes it took the form of frilly, draped, sequined, satin or tulle-heavy frocks — but not always. At Sies Marjan, a velvety carnation button-down came accompanied by coordinating silky culottes. Haider Ackermann, Bottega Veneta, Erin Fetherston, Paul Smith and Creatures of Comfort made the case for pink power suiting. Dolce & Gabbana, Fenty x Puma and Lacoste offered up slouchy, athleisure-themed blush looks. Overall, the message was thus: Wear loads of pink and wear it however the hell you want (with an emphasis on tonal looks).
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For Fall 2017, the pink trend forged on. Much like the streets, the runways were all about colorblocking. At Valentino, Pierpaolo Piccioli continued to think pink, mixing flamingo with the brand’s signature red. Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia’s premiere Oscar de la Renta presentation saw fuchsia trousers paired with a geometric crimson knit. 3.1 Phillip Lim catered to the pantsuit nation with a paper bag-waist taffy suit that looked equal parts comfy and commanding. Proenza Schouler went with a more subtle crepe shade.
Needless to say, industry movers (of all gender identities, but for our purposes, we’re showing you the women) are down for the pink cause. Our favorite show-side sightings featured matchy-matchy mixed materials or paired hot pink with denim.
Trust us, even the most glittery pink pieces are now considered neutrals. In other words, it’s time to have some fun. Below, 25 pink pieces to get you started.
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Read more at http://www.thefashionspot.com/style-trends/741569-pink-fashion-trend/#LjMTKLJZf31QAQry.99
Kindle for iOS finally gets the “Send to Kindle” feature, challenging Pocket and Instapaper
Amazon has quietly rolled out the “Send to Kindle” feature to its Kindle for iOS application that allows you to save to the app articles and documents found on the web. That means your Kindle device or app can replace your preferred “read it later” application — like Pocket or Instapaper, for example — apps where regular web readers often store the longer news articles, features or profiles they want to dig into at a later date.
Amazon, of course, already supported saving web content to Kindle through desktop browser extensions, emails to your “Send-to-Kindle” email address and from Android phones. But now that lineup includes the default iOS browser, Safari, which will make the feature more accessible to a large number of users.
What’s funny about “read it later” apps is that they sometimes become a black hole for content. The act of marking something as “to read” instead of devouring it then and there on the spot typically means it’s not content you’re all that obsessed with in the first place. You sort of do want to read it, you probably should read it, but… well, let’s save that for another day!
Kindle, on the other hand, is more a regular destination for readers — at least those who are not “real book” purists who prefer flipping actual pages to virtual ones. With each launch of the Kindle app, you’ll be reminded of the web content you bookmarked for a later read — and that increases the chance that you’ll finally complete the task instead of continuing to ignore it, as is easier with more isolated apps like Instapaper.
According to Amazon’s App Store description, to use the new feature — which works with documents as well as web pages — you’ll first have to enable it in Safari’s settings. To do so, you’ll tap on the “Share” button in the mobile browser, then add “Kindle” as one of the destinations by toggling the switch.
From then on, when you’re on the web and don’t have time to complete your reading, you can tap on Share, then scroll over to Kindle to save the article to the Kindle app.
When you launch the Kindle app, the article will be saved at the top of your Library, ready for your reading. It will also appear on the Kindle app on any platform, not just iOS, and on Kindle hardware devices themselves — just like any e-book download would.
By saving the web article to Kindle format, you’ll be able to do things like adjust the text, font, page color and spacing to your liking. You also can use other Kindle features, like the ability to look up words in the dictionary, translations or search Wikipedia. Plus, you can add bookmarks, highlights and annotations, as well as track your reading progress, as with any other Kindle e-book.
However, Kindle is not a fully featured “read it later” app. It lacks features you may miss from competitors’ apps — like Instapaper’s text-to-voice option with multiple speeds, or Pocket’s community-powered Recommendations section, for example. But Kindle has a sizable audience as the No. 3 “Books” app on the App Store.
Source:
Kindle for iOS finally gets the “Send to Kindle” feature, challenging Pocket and Instapaper
Japan fashion’s tough road to international success
TOKYO (AFP) – He’s been hailed a “fresh new voice” by Vogue, won admiration from Giorgio Armani and bagged an award: Mitsuru Nishizaki is hot fashion talent in Japan. But that doesn’t guarantee international stardom.
Loud applause and uncharacteristic cheers erupted from the usually restrained Japanese fashion crowd at the 38-year-old’s packed autumn/winter 2017 collection for brand Ujoh at Tokyo Fashion Week.
The models strode out to upbeat techno tempo, tearing up a multi-lane catwalk in a high-energy show starring preppy-grunge, sporty-tailored chic that would not look out of place in New York.
It was eminently wearable with bright high-necked ribbed sweaters slashed at the side, a deconstructed pale pink trench coat and crisp shirts that button front and back to be styled how the wearer desires.
Shoes were trainer-meets-loafer – black with white soles and a yellow serrated grip, which he calls shark soles, worn with gypsy-style skirts, pin-stripped suits or slouchy velvet track bottoms.
Nishizaki set up Ujoh in 2009 after seven years as a Yohji Yamamoto pattern cutter. Six years later he won a design award sponsored by DHL and then in 2016 staged a show in Milan.
Armani provided his theatre for the venue, though Nishizaki didn’t meet the veteran Italian designer in person. Vogue wrote afterwards: “this is how cool girls dress now” and predicted a bright future for him.
But what does it take to make it outside Japan? To follow in the footsteps of Issey Miyake, Yamamoto – Nishizaki’s former boss – and Rei Kawakubo, 20th century masters who have flown the nest to take their place among the greats in the fashion pantheon of Paris?
What are the hurdles that need to be overcome in a country where the fashion industry is embedded in exacting standards of tailoring, where creativity at times can take a back seat to doing it the right way?
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Ujoh is already stocked in more than a dozen foreign cities such as Barcelona, New York and Seoul. Still, Nishizaki’s chief ambition is to expand further abroad.
But it’s a tough road to take domestic success to the next level.
In an interview at his showroom in Omotesando, a chic neighbourhood heaving with high-fashion boutiques, he was polite and earnest, but also shy and nervous behind the wide brim of a black floppy hat.
Nishizaki appears reluctant to present a compelling personal narrative in the rags-to-riches or fashion-ruled-my-childhood style that has helped many celebrated US designers market pret-a-porter to a mass audience.
When it comes to his collections, he says he works in the style to which he became accustomed at Yamamoto: having an open mind and designing freely without pre-selecting a particular inspiration.
“It is a difficult question to answer and I wish you could give me some ideas,” Nishizaki ventured when asked if he thought it was harder to break through as a designer from Japan than from Europe or America.
But he does admit that the Japanese calendar is stacked against quick success on the international circuit.
Tokyo’s bi-annual style fest in March and October comes several weeks after the main fashion merry-go-round in New York, London, Milan and Paris comes to an end.
By then most international editors and buyers are too exhausted and saturated to board a long-haul flight to Tokyo.
“What I really should do now is rearrange my brand schedule for press and sales not only in Japan but overseas,” Nishizaki said.
Misha Janette, a Tokyo-based stylist, creative director and blogger who has lived in Japan since 2004, said a major challenge for many Japanese designers trying to cut it in the West are different tastes.
She summed up the Japanese market as conservative and casual, rather than expensive and high fashion, warning that simple clothes were “not going to sell” in Paris.
“I think the most important thing is to have a balance of show pieces, interesting things that show their viewpoint with simple off the rack to satisfy both. That’s hard,” she told AFP.
“Most Japanese brands don’t have the investment, it’s just girls and boys doing it alone out of their garage,” she said. “Instead of having this balance of show pieces and wearable pieces it becomes either or.”
Source:
http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/fashion/japan-fashions-tough-road-to-international-success
Jordan Peele Might Direct The Live-Adaptation of Akira
Rumors of a live-action Hollywood remake of Akira are a regular occurrence; the project has been on the top of studios’ wish-lists since the groundbreaking anime premiered in 1988 and brought the medium to the masses. It’s hard to overstate the power of Katsuhiro Otomo’s masterpiece, a hugely ambitious dystopian sci-fi epic whose influence stretches across nations, mediums and creators: Everything from The Matrix to Chronicle to Stranger Things. Even Kanye West expressed his love for the movie by using it as the basis for the music video of Stronger. It’s not hard to see why a Hollywood adaptation would be such a good idea, but equally a difficult thing to pull off.
Justin Lin was considered a strong favorite to direct last year when the rumors were reignited, as was Jaume Collet-Serra, and even Christopher Nolan and George Miller were suggested as the man for the job. Now, the newest names thrown into the ring are Daniel Espinosa, director of Life, and David Sandberg, a favourite at Warner Bros. thanks to the surprise success of his high-concept horror film Lights Out. Neither are huge names, nor were they previously considered favorites for the job, so this talk may be just that for now.
That talk intensified with a new potential name thrown into the ring this week – Get Out director Jordan Peele, which signals the first major blockbuster rumor attached to Peele since his debut feature crossed $100m at the US box office. However, with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games a mere three years away (mirroring the events of the manga), the timing feels right for Warner Bros. to take the leap and bring Akira to the big screen. The project, which has never gotten beyond rumors in the decade or so since its first announcement, remains the studio’s biggest chance to define how Hollywood handles anime as a source for adaptation, and possibly a real opportunity to create the definitive adaptation of the story.
The original adaptation of Akira remains a stellar piece of work – jaw-dropping in its attention to detail and vivid in its beautiful and often disturbing imagery, but it’s only a tiny part of a much more expansive story. When the film, directed by Otomo from his own work, was released, the manga was still two years away from completion, and as such the anime is a condensed version of the story, with many characters and subplots removed. Most of the second half of the 2000+ page epic was removed, which is understandable given the constraints put upon the project (Otomo retained creative control, and a considerable budget almost unheard of in anime at the time, but admitted to struggling with finding an appropriate ending).
Source:
http://screenrant.com/akira-live-action-remake-hollywood/
Amazon Can Now Function As Your Stylist, Should You Need One
The company quietly introduced a feature on its app which allows Amazon Prime customers to have a stylist weigh in between two #OOTDs and choose one for you, TechCruch reports. Sorry, designated outfit-consultant friend: Our “Do you like Option #1 or #2?” text exchanges might be over.
“Outfit Compare” lives under the “Programs and Features” tab on the Amazon app. Once the user uploads two images of themselves wearing different outfits, the company pings a stylist who will pick which one looks better, based on a series of considerations, from fit to color to trends, according to TechCrunch.
Unlike your friend who reads your texts but doesn’t respond immediately (or, worse: lets their response linger on their keyboard), Amazon’s stylist will respond in about a minute, delivering their decision on a “style scale” which has three options: “Definitely Pick This One!,” “We like this better,” and “It was a close call.” According to a spokesperson, users can get a different opinion by by swapping out one item from the original outfits and re-submitting their photos. “Outfit Compare” doesn’t host a chat or offer styling element to the service beyond the “style scale.”
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There’s no shopping component integrated into “Outfit Compare” (yet), but TechCrunch positions this launch as the next step in Amazon’s quest to grow beyond a marketplace. While the feature is only available to Prime users as of now, it’s not meant for input on clothing or accessories bought exclusively off of the site — rather, it’s meant to offer a new type of service to its existing clientele. Simply put, it’s “a free service that gives Amazon Prime members a second opinion on what to wear,” a company spokesperson explained. Plus, it’s a different way to broach the fashion space, a category Amazon has been keen on for some time now, building a whole new way to get answers to a question we already ask ourselves on the daily. (It’s not a totally new concept in the tech world, though: Tinder Stacks offers a similar capability.)
Amazon is already the go-to place for millennials to shop. Now, it’s vying to be that friend we turn to when you’re torn between a crop top and a hard place (and by that, we mean a bell sleeve).
We’ve reached out to Amazon for more information and will update our story when we hear back.
Source:
http://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/146339/amazon-outfit-compare-app
March 30, 2017
With the First Trailer for It, Stephen King Reclaims the ’80s
WHEN STEPHEN KING’S horror novel It came out in 1986, the book’s arrival was part publishing event, part worldwide dare: Weighing in at 1,138 pages and carrying a then-shocking sticker price of $22.95, King’s epic was a backpack- and budget-busting time-sucker that many readers dragged around for months on end, and that others abandoned before the 50-page mark. So it wasn’t until a few years later, when ABC broadcast a hugely successful two-night TV version, that It crept out of the sewer and into mainstream consciousness, thanks in large part to Tim Curry’s giddily nasty portrayal of Pennywise, the killer clown who torments a group of friends from the 1950s through the ’80s. The four-hour It remains a goony delight, full of blood-splattering balloons and creepy-crawly fortune cookies and genuine intra-character connection. And even though the whole thing wound down with a campy killer-spider attack—and was forced to adhere to prime-time standards—the TV version of It still mostly floats.
That’s something you can’t say for a lot of the horror-leaning King adaptations that dominated movie screens and video-store shelves throughout the ’80s, films that ranged from scarily great (The Shining and Carrie, obviously, but also underrated thrillers like Christine) to garbage-y great (the hare-brained schlock-fest Maximum Overdrive) to straight-up children-of-the-corny (Silver Bullet, Firestarter). With a few exceptions, those initial King-flicks emphasized the author’s love of EC-inspired scares and pulpy melodrama, and made only cursory nods to the more adult issues beneath, from alienation to addiction to abandonment. This changed a bit in the mid-’90s, as filmmakers finally started taking King’s spookier works more seriously, first through a series of post-It TV-movies (The Stand, The Shining), and eventually with films like the unsettling, nightmare-feeding version of The Mist.
But a lot of King’s Reagan-era efforts never quite got the fully grown-up, properly budgeted treatment they deserved—which is why so many people, myself included, are excited for the new theatrical version of It, the first trailer for which debuted today. The two-minute-plus glimpse focuses on the book’s terrifying first few pages, in which a young boy named Georgie heads out into the rain with a brand-new paper boat made by his older brother, Bill (played by Midnight Special’s Jaeden Wesley Lieberher). When the boat heads into the sewer, the story claims its first major victim—and we get our first look at the shadowy Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård).
Shortly after Georgie’s death, Bill and his small group of pals, nicknamed the Losers’ Club, realize that their hometown of Derry, Maine has an uncommonly high death rate, and ultimately discover that Pennywise has them in his sights. The teaser is full of ominous moments, all of them briefly glimpsed: A red balloon floating through a library; a swarm of hands trying desperately to open a door to exit a burning building; black ooze exploding from a bathroom faucet.
But there’s not a lot of Pennywise to be found in this first teaser, which is a promising sign. Thirty years ago, a Stephen King monster would have been the front-and-center selling point for an adaptation like this, yet director Andrés Muschietti—who last worked on the 2013 hit Mama, and who joined It after True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga abandoned ship—appears to be favoring slow-reveal dread over the low-end shock that dominated movies like Creepshow 2. The teaser’s scariest moment features no gore or gotcha-ness; instead, it involves a misfiring slide-projector and a barely discernible clown-grin. Nothing in the It trailer feels like a cheap thrill, which is all the more thrilling.
Yet there’s another, slightly more subtle reason to get excited for this latest take on It, especially for long-time King-lovers. As if you couldn’t tell from the trailer’s surplus supply of ringer tees and station wagons and latchkey kids, the new adaptation begins in the ’80s—a move that resettles King’s characters to the decade that both confirmed his super-star stature, and nearly ravaged his big-screen reputation. For some viewers, that may give the trailer a distinct Stranger Things vibe (which is fitting, given that King’s DNA was all over that show). But for those who always hoped that the author’s earlier scare-fests would finally be elevated beyond just a few gory big-screen jolts, it’s more proof that, after all these years, Stephen King may finally get the ’80s movie he always deserved.
Source:
https://www.wired.com/2017/03/it-trailer-stephen-king-reclaims-80s/
Fashion trends you might see at Coachella 2017, but should avoid
Fashion is to Coachella goers as oxygen is to humans – okay, maybe it isn’t THAT important, but it is still pretty darn vital to the festival going experience.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival returns to the Empire Polo Club in Indio April 14-16 and April 21-23 with Radiohead, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Father John Misty, The XX and more than 100 others.
We already offered some Coachella fashion ideas on T-shirts to wear to the festival (and the Coachella essentials packing list), so now we are going to give you some tips on the fashion don’ts of Coachella. Please listen, because this could save your fashion reputation.
1. Flower crown
We understand the temptation and we want you to unleash your inner hippie, but cool it with the flower crowns. If you really need to get your flower crown on, just use the SnapChat filter – it’s fun and fashion-friendly. And remember that a flower crown won’t save you from a scalp sunburn.
2. Choker
In the desert heat do you really want anything hindering your breathing or constricting your neck while you’re dancing around with tens of thousands of people? We thought not. Save the chokers for a breezy summer day and just go with a necklace, you will thank us later.
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3. Native American headdress
This is just downright offensive and an example of cultural appropriation. Please, just stick to a hat.
4. High heels
Again, YOU ARE IN THE DESERT! Wear comfortable shoes so you can dance and walk around with ease. You will be spending the majority of your time on your feet at Coachella, so take care of them.
5. A onesie
This is another fashion no-no that should be self-explanatory. Onesies are great for a night in with Netflix and pizza, but the comfortable and warm garments have no business being at a desert festival in the high heats. Also would you really ever want to be photographed in a onesie at Coachella? Embarrassing. And also, um, porta-potties. The same thing goes for those full-body spandex suits.
6. Denim boots
Yes, this is a thing and it is offensive to both denim and boots. For footwear, we suggest breathable and comfortable shoes – like sneakers or sandals. These boots will just make your legs even sweatier as well as showing off your lack of fashion sense.
7. Glitter butt
Apparently, this is actually a real thing and a recent trend. If you see someone at Coachella that has a glitter-covered behind, it might not be because they fell in a glob of glitter – it is probably intentional. Don’t be that person.
8. Crochet boots
Yes, crocheting is fun, but just save these boots for those cooler days next year. Your feet and legs (and fashion pride) will thank you later. Also, anything in a light neutral color is going to get wrecked by the dirt.
Source:
http://www.pe.com/articles/humans-828474-darn-pretty.html
March 29, 2017
LuLaRoe is getting sued over claims that its popular leggings rip ‘like wet toilet paper’
LuLaRoe is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims that its popular leggings tear and develop holes after as little as a few hours of wear.
The lawsuit, brought by two LuLaRoe customers, accuses the women’s clothing brand of ignoring thousands of customer complaints about the quality of its leggings and knowingly selling defective merchandise that rips like “wet toilet paper” to enrich the company’s top executives.
The suit also claims that LuLaRoe refuses to issue refunds directly to customers for defective leggings, and instead instructs them to address the problems with its sellers, or “fashion consultants.”
But when sellers turn to the company for refunds of defective merchandise, they also face a roadblock, according to the suit.
“Thousands of customers across the United States are now stuck with defective products because Defendants will neither issue refunds or make exchanges for customers and instead steer customers to the fashion consultants to deal with defective or damaged products,” the lawsuit states. “Unfortunately for customers, Defendants will not make refunds to fashion consultants for defective products, and impose various barriers for exchanges. As a result, most fashion consultants will not take back defective products from customers.”
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LuLaRoe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The clothing company has grown rapidly over the last two years, with sales soaring an estimated 600% to $1 billion last year, according to another recent lawsuit that accuses the company of charging customers the wrong sales tax.
LuLaRoe doesn’t sell any products in stores. The company relies on “consultants” to sell the clothing it makes at parties held in their homes. The number of consultants selling LuLaRoe products grown from 38,277 in September to nearly 80,000 today, according to data obtained by Business Insider.
Plaintiffs Julie Dean and Suzanne Jones are seeking compensation for themselves and all customers who purchased foreign-manufactured LuLaRoe leggings after March 31, 2016. They are seeking an award for damages, plus reimbursement of court costs and attorneys’ fees.
Dean, of Boston, Massachusetts, says she wore a pair of LuLaRoe leggings for only a couple hours before they developed tiny holes throughout.
” Another patterned pair developed a hole so big she could put her finger through them,” the lawsuit states.
Jones, of Lafayette, California, said she received a pair of leggings that were incorrectly sized.
“One pair of the leggings she could not even get past her knees because they were so small as if they were manufactured for a child,” the lawsuit states. “Two other pairs of leggings developed holes when she pulled the leggings on with her fingers.”
The lawsuit accuses LuLaRoe of eight counts related to unfair, illegal, and fraudulent business practices, as well as violating laws meant to protect customers and vendors from such practices.
Source:
http://www.businessinsider.com/lularoe-leggings-lawsuit-2017-3
