You may know the saying “Always a bridesmaid never a bride,” but what about those men who are “Always a bridegroom never a bride”? Well, a Japanese dress rental company is now offering men the opportunity to “feel like Princesses” and dress up as brides.

When the outfitters Marry Mariee advertised a package deal to take pictures of women in a selection of dream dresses, the business was surprised to receive several calls from men enquiring about the service.

Marry Mariee manager Hitomi Iseki realized that some men want “to feel like princesses too,” and in the interests of gender equality the dress hire now offers 100 gorgeous outfits, both bridal and formal wear, that can be tailored to fit any man. There are also a wide-selection of suits for women to dress as grooms or princes.

“We want to provide opportunities for people to enjoy showing their real selves, whether they are men or women,” Iseki adds.

The company has also tied up a nearby barber to offer male clients a close shave before their fashion shoot. Sounds like a business idea with great potential.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Via BBC H/T Arbroath

Sacrosanct, 1986
 
The range of punk aesthetics is pretty firmly rooted in the brain of any fan, even for the most hopeless of fashion victims. The era just after its zeitgeist however is much hazier—we seem to recall only a loose amalgam of New Wave and post-punk bric-a-brac. Indeed subculture fashion became more diffuse, meandering and harder to pin down, but Derek Ridgers’ new book, 78-87 London Youth is a great photo account of a rich and creative time for underground style that often goes overlooked in the shadow of its (ironically) more uniform punk predecessor.

There’s a few famous faces, including a cherubic Hamish Bowles, but it’s largely anonymous faces that entrance you. You see proto-club kids, luxury goth, high femme skinheads, Norma Desmond-David Bowie hybrids and (my personal favorite) the New Romantic style virtually unknown in the US, but for Boy George and that dashing post-apocalyptic gentleman, Adam Ant. Can we have a comeback? I think I still have my marching band uniform jacket from high school!
 

Leicester Square, 1982
 

Hamish Bowles at Café De Paris, 1986
 

Joshua, Camden Place, 1982
 
More photos after the jump…
 

 
Everyone knows that one of the best things about jeans is that they conform to your body over time. The more you wear them, the more they fit you specifically, as the rugged denim wears down and molds itself to your bones and musculature.

Betabrand has come up with a clever concept that takes that one step further: the jeans start out dark indigo, like any other jeans, but as the fibers wear down, they expose a gay-friendly rainbow of colors instead of the usual white.
 

 
As lead designer Steven B. Wheeler commented, “I like the idea that the jeans come out of the closet over time, and their true colors are something that develops over time and look unique to everyone.”

To be honest, in the sample pics featuring the models, I can’t really see that much difference. But (a) the more you wear them, the more colorful they get, and (b) maybe it’s part of the fun that you see it better up close and personal.
 

 
Betabrand appears to have met its crowdfunding goal with yards to spare (402% as of this writing), but there are 21 days to go until their funding deadline is over. If you order before that time, you’ll qualify for the 10% off discount, meaning you can get a pair for $88.20 instead of $98.
 

 
via Dis

 
Another week brings further glories from the vaults of British Pathé. “Swinging Britain,” a finished eight-and-a-half-minute report on the goings-on down at Carnaby Street and elsewhere on the isle, presents the establishment’s benign take on fashion-obsessed youth of the day. The video shows us London (and Manchester and Newcastle, too), features several (apparently) noted figures from the worlds of fashion, art, and music, and generally presents a wow-gee-whiz attitude as to the fervent artistic activities of the Swinging Generation.

Mary Quant can be glimpsed briefly, and you’ll also see a “Happening” staged by one Keith Albarn (you guessed it, father of Damon), DJs Simon Dee and David Symonds, and a groovy young artist named Paul Whitehead who paints his compact automobile swirly colors (three years later, he’d be responsible for the cover art of the album Trespass by Genesis). Dee, of course, is practically synecdoche for Carnaby Street of the era, being the purported inspiration for the shagadelic Austin Powers.
 

 
The group serving as the emblem of the new generation are the folks behind the new psychedelia-tinged Intro Magazine, in which “youth talks to youth in its own lingo”; it boasted the talents of well-known fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez. In a loose “narrative,” the news piece basically cuts back and forth between footage of young people at play (whether in a park in the daytime or a “speakeasy” at night) and the industrious young editors of Intro. One of the best things in the video is a brief discussion of “paper dresses.” We see a young woman in a park wearing one with a striking b/w photo of an eye over her midsection. She peels that off and begins to sunbathe in the bikini she had been wearing underneath. When a young fellow tosses her paper dress into the garbage, she shrugs and whips out a different paper dress, only this one has the youthful visage of Bob Dylan on it! Totally priceless.

Speaking of garbage, the voiceover explicitly praises the new generation for being so good about picking up litter, which may remind some viewers of “The Gold Violin,” from the 2nd season of Mad Men, which featured a pointed scene of the middle-class, suburban Drapers heedlessly leaving the remnants of their picnic all over the park in which they had been spending the previous afternoon. Maybe series creator Matt Weiner had a point, there. The whole tone of the documentary is one of indulgent compassion, as one might have for some harmless alien race from another planet.
 

 
There is a band identified as the Intro Group (somehow affiliated with the magazine) as well as one called the “117 Group,” and we hear a bit of their music, I think. Those names mean anything to anyone?
 

 
via { feuilleton }

 
I blogged about Cliff Muskiet’s world of stewardess uniforms back in 2009. Shamefully, I haven’t visited it in a few years, but I did today and completely forgot what a treasure trove this site is! Muskiet has collected every single flight attendant uniform that has ever existed on the face of the planet. (Okay maybe not all of ‘em, but it’s pretty damned close!)

Ever since my early childhood, I have been interested and fascinated by the world of aviation. I used to collect everything that wore an airline name or logo, such as posters, postcards, stickers, timetables, safety cards and airplane models.

Sometime in 1980 I was given my first uniform by one of my mother’s friends. I was so excited and I wanted to have more uniforms. In 1982 I heard that two charter airlines were introducing new uniforms. I wasted no time, I called these airlines and as a result I was invited to pick up a set of old uniforms. Between 1982 and 1993 I didn’t do much to obtain any more uniforms, something I really regret now as I could have had many many more! Most of my uniforms were obtained between 1993 and today. At the moment my collection contains 1246 different uniforms from 469 airlines worldwide.

Uniform Freak—the name of Muskiet’s site—is truly a labor of love. And some serious eye candy if you’re a fashion designer or just someone who likes cool threads.

You’ll get lost there. I did. It’s an endless goldmine.
 

Air West / USA 1968 - 1971
 

Allegheny Airlines / USA 1969 - 1979
 

American Airlines / USA 1950 - 1979
 

Delta Airlines / USA 1958 - 1978
 

 

 
Last month it was reported supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un had (supposedly) suggested that all loyal citizens of North Korea should trim their hair in “accordance with the Socialist lifestyle.” In other words, get that very unflattering haircut the supreme leader (and fashion icon) has himself. Apparently, legions of indoctrinated followers queued to have their follicles trimmed in accordance with their leader’s wishes.

Now, the supreme leader, or at least a spokesperson on behalf of North Korea, has become involved in another fashion war this time over a London hairdresser using a picture of the supreme leader to advertise his services.

Mo Nabbach, who runs M&M Hair Academy in South Ealing, put a poster of Kim Jong-un in his shop window with the headline:

“Bad hair day? 15% off all gent cuts through the month of April.”

Since the poster went up, Mr. Nabbach claims to have been targeted by officials from the North Korean Embassy, based in nearby Gunnery. He claims men from the embassy took pictures of the salon, wrote notes in their books, and then asked for the poster to be taken down, as it was “disrespectful” to their leader.

Mr. Nabbach told the London Evening Standard:

“I told them this is England and not North Korea and told them to get their lawyers,” he added.

“We did take it down but then some of our clients told me to put it back up because we have a democracy here.

“The two guys were wearing suits and they were very serious. It was very threatening.”

Mr. Nabbach contacted the police, who then spoke to both parties over the incident. The police came to the conclusion that “no offence has been disclosed.”

A spokesperson for the North Korean embassy refused to confirm or deny the story, other than to say, “We are not in a position to comment.” Maybe they were too busy getting haircuts?
 

 
Now here’s ten things you might not know about his supreme leadership.
 

 
Via the ‘Evening Standard’
 

 

 
Here are some amusing illustrations of what fashion might’ve looked like “in the future” according to W. Cade Gall from the January 1893 issue of The Strand magazine.

Oddly, the fashion styles really don’t evolve much from decade to decade. The change is nearly nonexistent. Everyone seems stuck in a Wizard of Oz meets Hieronymus Bosch mode throughout the 20th century.

Personally, I think fashion has gone tits-up since the late 80s. I studied fashion design and today the topic just bores me to tears. There’s nothing “new” anymore. I get that fashion trends usually just recycle old designs from yesteryear and add a “new” spin on ‘em, but honestly, recycling 90s fashion in the year 2014 is not very interesting. Neo-grunge??? Gimme a break! It was boring then, and it’s boring now. I’d far prefer to see W. Cade Gall’s idea of what the fashionistas of 1993 would be wearing on the streets of LA or NYC in 2014, now that would be interesting. Perhaps slightly uncomfortable and a bit stifling, but interesting nonetheless…

 
Via Public Domain Review and h/t WFMU

 
Isac Walter sure does love his band T-shirts. With a small number of exceptions, for 1,000 consecutive days he wore a different band T-shirt—and he documented the process. This is a lad who positively luxuriates in the golden era of AmerIndie: the Tumblr project is even called “Minor Thread.” Click through and you can see Isac’s torso several hundred times, each time draped with a bit of fan memorabilia. He only revealed what he looked like from the neck up after the project was completed.

I’m guessing that Isac is an Angeleno—these pics were taken at XIX Studios in Eagle Rock—and from all appearances he loves his SST records—there’s lots of Descendents here, Black Flag, fIREHOSE, Hüsker Dü, All (not SST but Descendents-related), Dinosaur Jr. and so on. Some of them are label shirts, I definitely saw Sub Pop and Dischord. 

Then there are the curveballs: a David Lee Roth Eat ‘Em and Smile tour T-shirt, a Foreigner Agent Provocateur shirt, a Phil Collins But Seriously tee with the cursive handwriting in the corner, a Slayer shirt with the Dodgers’ “LA” logo between the S- and the -yer, and my absolute favorite, a Belle and Sebastian shirt done up in the style of a Bad Brains rasta shirt.
 

See a much larger version of this image here.

As Isac says of the above picture, “if you click on the picture it should take you to a full size version you can nerd around on and look in more detail. have fun with it, spend some time kooking out.  share it with your friends.  then go make something like this yourself.” 
 
The question I’d love Isak to answer is, Is it OK to wear the band’s shirt when you are seeing that band’s show? I’ve had this conversation with a lot of music fans, and opinions vary widely—some people feel strongly about it. I think Isak should have the final word on that one.
 

At least he’s tidy….. this is just a fraction of the full 1,000 shirts
 

 
via Das Kraftfuttermischwerk

‘Gay Girls in Trousers’ from an era when “gay” meant “happy” or “carefree”...

Usually, the prurient fodder of the past is merely the quaint cheek of the present, but this 1903 “article” from Vanity Fair (a short-lived trashy mag unrelated to the Condé Nast publication of today or its 1913 to 1936 predecessor) just screams Dangerous Minds—“Bifurcated Girls” is downright tawdry! First of all, the term “bifurcated,” meaning “split in two,” has some distinctly labial implications. I think the last time I referred to a woman as “bifurcated,” it was in reference to a pair of yoga pants that appeared conducive to very intimate frictions; to me, the term implies a cleft right up to the fundaments. But while it’s hard to imagine the social vulgarity of an inseam that remains a safe and comfortable distance from the vulval cleft, it’s the overtlesbian subtext that steals my heart.

The “spread” itself (no pun intended), is has a distinctly Russ Meyer kind of vibe, with models engaging “tomboyish” behavior like “rough-housing,” and spanking—you know, just the sort of normal stuff that totally platonic and heterosexual lady-friends do! There’s one man in the entire shoot, but his presence feels very, very incidental, with only a handful of women even acknowledging him. (“Oh him? That’s Jeff. He’s cool.”) And if you’re not sold on the obvious Sapphic symbolism, please note the photo depicting a femme-ier lady actually pulling a giggling bifurcated woman out from under her bed.

Dian Hansen, author of the fascinating History of Men’s Magazines series, believes this issue of Vanity Fair to be the foundation of American girlie mags, and the single pampered man in the midst of some kind of gender-bending trouser orgy seems to support her claim. But I like to think a few actual girlies-who-like-girlies got a kick out of it—there’s some solid cleavage and thigh on display!
 

 

 
More “Bifurcated Girls” after the jump…

 
Ask Me, Don’t Tell is a very cool documentary that deals with San Francisco teen gangs of the early sixties and the Youth For Service organization that tried to tame their wild ways. It features some great proto-rapping backed by bongos and surf-a-billy guitars and absolutely beautiful black and white cinematography.

Overall, it’s a captivating glimpse into a world when being in a gang was more club-like than criminal.
 

 
Thanks Blackie