Within the zeitgeist, Pantone-mania has reached its boiling point. Sephora recently released a makeup line centered on Pantone’s color of the year, food artist Emilie de Griottes showed a series of Pantone-inspired fruit t(art)s, and the daily practice of Pantonism presses on. But some are looking beyond the color authority’s perfectly plotted squares, embracing the entire color spectrum as a way to express an artistic mission or just make things pretty.
Clear: There’s no shortage of methods for remembering to complete your daily tasks and chores, but few are as straightforward as Realmac Software’s to-do list app, Clear. The app features a gesture-based interface that foregoes buttons and features (like recurring task and notification options) for the sake of sleek simplicity. Users can manage lists exclusively by pinching, pulling, and swiping their screens. Most compellingly, tasks are ordered according to priority, which is indicated through a heat-map-reminiscent color gradient: high priority tasks are tomato red, and those of lower import degrade from orange-red to goldenrod. The app’s clean interface and unfussy design secured much media buzz upon its App store release.
Networks like Fashism and Lookbook.nu are favored among clothes horses for providing new means through which to embellish their wardrobes. Social shopping sites allow fashion fans to source the looks seen in these amateur editorials, but there remains a need for tools that track the expanding contents of their closets. Enter a nascent crop of digital wardrobe tools that are helping consumers get closer to making Cher Horowitz’s closet navigation a reality.
Cloth: Even those with a knack for style face occasional choice paralysis – and the inevitable tornado of garments – when it comes to putting together an outfit. Cloth eliminates all that with a digital register of previously assembled ensembles. The iOS app offers a simple way to catalogue photos of outfits for easy recall. It’s both a timesaver and a strategic way to avoid any repeat offenses when figuring out what to wear to, say, the twelfth friend’s wedding of the season. Users can share photos with a locked network of friends or with the entire Cloth community, enabling real-time feedback when a mirror doesn’t cut it.
Although Paris Fashion Week still remains to be seen and analyzed, styles on the fall 2012 runways in New York and London already point to one significant trend. From the deconstructed cat eye that evokes sixties chic to “skinny” hair that pairs nicely with the wearable clothing on recent display, makeup artists and hair stylists are turning to the classics for inspiration.
Headbangers: Celebrities often take their style cues from the runway, but it seems that one new look may have been borne on the red carpet—the return of the headband. After the hairpiece made multiple appearances at the Golden Globes, it was featured prominently at Oscar de la Renta, Doo.Ri, Carolina Herrera, and Moschino Cheap & Chic. The form varied (jeweled, skinny, knotted, ballerina-esque) and the styling ranged (some kept hair down, other pulled it back), but it injected all with a touch of regality. While it might just be coincidence, stylist Orlando Pita saw it coming, predicting just a few days in during Fashion Week that headbands would have “a big moment this season.”
While some attendees grumbled about boring shows and uninspired collections, a trove of unusually wearable clothes were on display for fall 2012 at New York Fashion Week. Call it the Kate Middleton effect, but no longer are designers catering to just their most cutting-edge customers. Instead, anyone with a cable knit or a closet stocked with leather can join in.
Closely Knit: Despite this year’s mild winter, designers didn’t shy away from featuring snow-ready wares. Indeed, it was the humble cable knit sweater that provided the biggest surprise during New York Fashion Week. Derek Lam paired his with red carpet-worthy skirts, dressing up the traditionally dowdy wardrobe staple, while Yigal Azrouël’s exaggerated knit links and chains were used to create discreet cut-outs (and, perhaps a bit of circulation should it get too hot). At 3.1 Phillip Lim, the sweater was worn upside down, and seemingly inside-out, adding a post-modernist twist. But few designers paid homage to the iconic pattern like Tommy Hilfiger, who showed a trompe l’oeil cable knit dress.
Every traveler knows that packing light is a talent worth perfecting. Meeting TSA weight regulations requires patience, versatility and an exceptional display of restraint—which means items like wooden-heeled platform shoes and War and Peace are best left home. Innovative new luggage designs, however, are making packing less stressful by provoking a minimalist, utilitarian aesthetic that seems intended to send packrats scurrying.
Tumi Tegra-Lite: To create its new Tegra-Lite line of ultra-lightweight, sleekly contoured luggage, Tumi enlisted Milliken, a producer of plastics that counts race car builders and football gear designers among its clients. This high-tech collaboration required Tumi to overhaul its design process. Milliken’s super-strong Tegris composite isn’t pressed and stretched like the luggage brand’s traditional method of shaping; rather, it’s cut into sheets and folded to maintain the bonds that make up a lattice of highly durable plastic. The result is a 65-percent lighter rolling bag that’s built to withstand the battery of frequent travel. This is one suitcase that’s ready to get down to business.
