the clackers

adrien sauvage

TheClackers — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:26:52 EST

Hardcore traditionalists may disagree with me but Adrien Sauvage defines the modern dandy man and his suit pretty darn accurately.

Mjölk S/S11

TheClackers — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:32:16 EST

I am probably the only blogger who hates dressing up during summer. And because it's Singapore, yes, that's practically three quarters of the entire year. I have always grappled with the issue of looking my best in this weather. As much as I want to pull a sweater over my shirt, my sweat glands aren't exactly the most cooperative organs in my body. I have immense respect for my country folks who aren't afraid of the heat and go all out when it comes to layering in temperatures of 30 degrees celsius all year round. Call me a hypocrite but I always believe that comfort should preside over anything else (fashion folks would readily disagree with this). And I will hardly look good if I look like I have just come out of the pool when I obviously have not. And on those hot and sweaty days, I wish that no reader of mine would ever recognize me on the streets even if I have tried my best (I really have!) in putting together a t-shirt and shorts combination (I would rather be naked if it weren't for Adam and Eve). It certainly does not hold up well with my menswear blogger reputation.

However, I think I've found the answer to dressing up during summer. Mjolk is pretty much how I would envision my summer wardrobe to look like. Clean cuts with a beautiful color palette to work with-a mix of burgundy, camel, navy and an occasional liberty print for those wild days. The play of proportions here is devastatingly spot on, and I'm amazed by how effortless everything looks. My favourite look would have to be the red 3/4 sleeved mac paired with a liberty print shirt-my idea of a perfect rainy day. I'm also quite enamored of the combination of burgundy tasseled loafers and white socks. THE NERDS ARE BACK WITH VENGEANCE!

jil sander fall winter 2011

TheClackers — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:23:41 EST

(So I guess this is my first official menswear post.)

I love Raf Simons-I'm gonna start my first post with utter designer infatuation. And while I have always appreciated clothes that have a concept behind them, there really isn't any intellectual depth to this collection. Yet Raf Simons makes up for this with an extremely well thought-out collection and a highly entertaining take on the modern dandy man.

Almost instinctively, I find myself asking, "How did he do that?" and I'm also afraid my next few sentences will be embedded with chummy love messages. This collection is funny in a way that it is somehow not the usual formula for success. Raf has employed the same use of neon colours in his previous menswear and womenswear collections and it is also a wide known fact that the fashion crowd is a very fickle bunch. In theory, this collection would never ever be lauded for its creativity. But it seems it is quite the complete opposite. There's something both familiar and distant here-the colours have gone up a few notches, the neon water-colour flowers have been stripped off, the same impeccable tailoring but with a whole different structure and ingenuity.

The best pieces are simple and at first glance, seem nothing at all- a boxy suit with a t-shirt underneath. Yet they have somehow worn into my consciousness and I keep coming back to look at them, and wondering why I keep coming back.

I am intrigued by the use of fabrics (would materials be a more appropriate term?) here. Suits are made out of what seems to resemble felt, giving it a loose, unstructured fit round the body. Knits and jackets are done up in some sort of foamy neoprene, and it will warrant my visit to the showroom. The material nerd in me wants to snuggle up to a pile of orange and salmon pink knits and because I'm a total creep in real life, there's a high chance I might start caressing them against my face and pee around the pile to mark my territory. The suits are cut up to spectacular proportions, with much emphasis placed on the shoulders. The vibrancy of colours only serves to further highlight the simplicity of Raf's clothes. While I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to afford any of these, I like the idea of layering knitwear in different shades, and might toy around with the idea of incorporating primary colours into my wardrobe. But other than that, I am going to continue my fantasies about having that orange foamy quilted knitwear (with that bubblegum pink shirt underneath because we all know how perfect they look together) and that salmon pink jacket (I don't get how it's so voluminously perfect.)

I guess at the end of this we are left asking ourselves how Raf never fails to create and invent, even if it's within a field that hardly ventures further than a pin-striped three piece suit. But the answer doesn't really matter-the mystery surrounding it only leaves us wanting more. Raf really is the new king.

worn fashion journal

TheClackers — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:32:13 EST

I haven't done a magazine review in a long time and so here goes:

Despite all that bad impressions How I Met Your Mother gives us of Canada (I'm trying to look smart here by making a cultural reference so work with me), the often forgotten other half of North America has some pretty awesome stuff to offer us: blistering cold temperatures that only seem to get colder every year, weird people who speak a mix of french and english, and also Worn. I was pretty psyched when I received my copy in the mail for Christmas because Worn is magic, like Santa Claus in paper form.

I was initially quite bothered by its title because Worn is obviously not a fashion journal. I somehow can't quite grasp why this magazine is being grouped along with other pretentious publications that seem to exploit rather than educate. But other than that, this magazine is obviously made up of fairy dust. I am a huge essay nerd so I tend to love long lengthy elaborate articles and Worn seems to hit all the right notes with this. The articles here are incredibly well-researched and the magazine also provides highly intelligent and opinionated feminist social commentary (mainstream fashion magazines really do need to include more of such articles). It is clear that this is not your regular fashion magazine, one that pretends to cloaks itself around feminist ideals. In short, Worn is pretty much an anti-fashion fashion magazine. The topics of the articles are as varied and unexplored from the history of tweed to vintage glasses to the history of the uniforms of air stewardesses. There are hardly any ads in this magazine which means that this magazine practically revolves itself around its readers rather than any sort of commercial activity. The editorials here also do not contain any trendy, seasonal clothes but works its way round vintage finds and one was done entirely out of the editor's wardrobe (tell me how cool is that). There's a zine-like free spiritedness to this: if I like it, I put it in.

Do note that there is nothing glamorous in Worn, everything is just straight in your face sincere, honest and fun. And as Worn puts it, "we're an idea bank and a what-if-you-try-this list." I DO NEED A SUBSCRIPTION SO BADLY.

P.S. While I'm fully aware that this blog is primarily about menswear, I feel that Worn is not specifically a girl-fashion kind of magazine. It's for anyone who enjoys clothes and good writing. And because the magazine does not work itself around seasons and trends, it will still be relevant even if the pages start turning yellow.

An interview with Grant Heaps, costume director of the National Ballet of Canada. And whose enviable collection of neckties and bowties I must steal......

You do not know how excited I was about this section. Tweed is of course my favourite material ever.......

Incredibly fresh and insightful article about the history of air stewardesses and their uniforms. Goes to show how much research is done here...

public service announcement

TheClackers — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 10:11:06 EST

Tommy Ton for GQ for Pitti Uomo (Oh god, I feel so guilty for using a picture that's not mine. Also I would like to be this guy but I look like an egghead when I have a beanie on. Also this is a really long caption.)

Not too long ago, I was planning to take the lazy bum way and sneakily ease back into my weekly blogging routine of putting up spring 2011 reviews for which I have dragged for quite a while now and blabbering about designers that I'm really excited about. It just seemed so easy then, but it was really hard to actually lift up my fingers and write stuff that honestly would not be doing my conscience any favor. I think I have dragged this way too long and avoided it to the point of me questioning my sanity. I have lost my interest in womenswear. Those following me on twitter would probably have gotten use to me lamenting about how bored and angry I am with the whole fashion sphere. My more recent posts have also unconsciously hinted at the possibility that I'm not finding as much joy as before when I'm writing about womenswear, and needless to say my long absence from this blog speaks for itself (you people do know that those photo blogposts are just fillers right?). I don't think It's possible to avoid this any much longer, persisting in the thought that I would be able to seek out any fervor that I once had. Oh god, I hate sounding so morose but really, I don't think this is the end for me. I am in no way planning to lay this blog into the ground and quite the opposite, I'm planning to take this blog into a whole new direction. MENSWEAR. Somehow I feel that menswear is where my calling is and I get all hyped up when I spot a immaculately dressed man on the sartorialist as oppose to maybe a Anna dello Russo wannabe. It's also so much more fun obsessing over clothes that you can wear and save up for (you do not know how excited I am about the new upcoming menswear talents) and menswear on a whole is just a whole lot less "fashion-y" and of a much more slower pace. And well you folks should know that I am actually a 70 year old grandpa, typing this post on my windows 1997 desktop, with a cigar pipe in one hand and a hot chocolate in the other.

P.S. I got my own domain (theclackers.com) to mark this change. Whoopie.

this is not singapore (and more k-pop) part 2

TheClackers — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 09:15:42 EST

this is not singapore

TheClackers — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:15:17 EST

Firstly, I know I should be apologizing. I haven't blogged in weeks, have not done the ceremonial end of year retrospective and of course I have not reminded everyone that it is the new year (and I do not give a bloody damn about it). For those who have always grumbled that a week is hardly enough to soak in the whole christmas atmosphere before the dreaded new year arrives (just like me), crumbled under the unavoidable fact of facing a new school year (just like me), or just love lazing around during school holidays (like me), you can thank me for not reminding you it is 2011. But by doing so, I think I reminded you it's 2011 so you can hate me all over again.

Anyways, because we are such good friends, I'm giving you a free (and so freaking awesome) k-pop experience complete with photographs from my trip to South Korea.

yvan rodic - singapore

TheClackers — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 07:30:34 EST

listen by an horse

sinking into suicidal mode

TheClackers — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:07:36 EST

I'm one of THOSE species now-lying down in bed till mid afternoon wondering about the uncertainty of life. And this has carried on almost throughout my school break. I think I have slowly morphed into a massive depressing slob. Recently, I've been thinking about my wardrobe and my clothes and I've realised that I may have well out-grown my 15 year old mindset of trying to pull together layers and layers of mismatched clothing (read edgy but not really), and I have abandoned any thoughts of standing out of the crowd by looking a little off and largely different from the most common of beings. So well, I've gotten out of that delusional funk that being different and edgy is cool, I'm not Susie Bubble or anything, I think it's time for me to move on in a new direction of style, perhaps more sartorial of sorts.

It may be a coincidence or a big contradiction but DEPRESSION (the label and not the illness) seems to sum up my past pretty well. Not that I'm trying to discourage anyone from being "different" from the rest, I've realised that "edge" is not something I want to express through my clothes and I'm moving on to something that I want to spend my teenagedom and grow old with. In fact, I've always applauded those who have a bit of fashion spunk in them, but I can only choose to admire from a distance. Kenny and Andrew who were previously art directors and writers of various advertising companies have chosen to focus their creative energy into their label 4 year old label DEPRESSION, which currently resides within Singapore's uterus for young budding talents-Parco Marina Bay (and sad to sad I haven't visited it there yet. Someone kill me or at least provide me with a ride.). Their latest Spring 2011 collection, "Dysfunction" is quite literally, well dysfunctional. If you're expecting prim and proper then I, being such a good friend advise you to look elsewhere. This collection celebrates being different, and to quote the duo "something that doesn't quite fit into mainstream society".

The pieces do look like that there was a thought process behind it but having said that, nothing really looks too over the top and can be easily incorporated into the wardrobe without looking like a breathing sci-fi musuem exhibit. Adapting a largely monochrome color palette, the focus is pretty much on the silhouettes and shapes of the clothes. Take for example the "balloon blouse"; clean lines but unique construction or the "upside down dress" which seems pretty wearable without being too overbearing. (When I wear my jacket backwards, I feel like a cool freak in a poorly made but very fashionable straitjacket. Sources have told me that Rei Kawakubo obviously looks damn good in one. True story.) And can we please talk about the polka dot t-shirt with leather dots hanging off the front, as crazy as it sounds, I feel like they are the cutest-thing-I-migh-own-but-will-not-because-I-don't-have-balls-to-wear-them.

Lanvin or H&M

TheClackers — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 07:33:05 EST

Alber Elbaz for Lanvin for H&M is basically a major turn off.

Right now, I have conjured up in my mind Lanvin's designer, Alber Elbaz, sitting in his bow tie printed wallpaper office, in his bow tie printed office chair, wearing the humongous of humongous bowtie (when I wear a humongous bowtie, I feel like I'm obligated to take the most ridiculous photos ever. Oh I think I did that! Note: see post below) giggling over the massive lines of people who have lined up to buy Lanvin H&M merchandise at the giant H&M stores even before the actual event. Alber Elbaz is giggling because he has gotten away with the biggest heist in H&M history (in this history, Kawakubo plays second fiddle for the first time), selling H&M quality clothes at more than double the H&M price. He is giggling because he has skillfully mastered the art of deception, giving due recognition to Lanvin's archives by mass producing it for the high street. To sum it up, Lanvin is making a killing. It's hard to say where the "consultation fee" might end up; Alber, Lanvin, or that rich Taiwanese woman who owns Lanvin whose name I can never remember. But it seems that sales for this collaboration might end up as additional funds for Lanvin's actual Fall 2011 or Spring 2012 show.

And these people, with all their camping gear and sleeping bags ready (fashion sources have told me that those who came a day early have even brought a week supply of baked beans), seem pretty psyched to be risking their lives and forgoing their dignity to be willing victims of this evil scheme. Alber Elbaz then looks down at all the miserable campers (though I can never ever picture Alber as Pierre Berge) and at the same time, picking up his shiny red telephone with a direct number to his fabric supplier (similar to those used by presidents to call presidents), and places his order for more tulle and silk. (You see, that's where your money went to. Here, "your" refers to those who are planning or have already punched three old ladies in the face and wrestled with desperate socialite wannabes in the process of getting that flower printed dress.) Alber then grabs each of these fashion-wannabes by the hair, threatens them with a knife to their neck and with all his chubby cuteness, hypnotizes them to hand over their money, and they then merrily skip home to blog “OMG I JUST GOT LANVIN!!!! EAT THAT SUCKERS!".

I don't really hate Alber, if that's what you're getting since you've started reading. I adore his work for Lanvin and I think he hasn't the tiniest bit of evil within his soul. But this is the designer who can drape cotton candy coloured tulle into cotton candy and can bewitch any woman that wearing a Lanvin cocktail dress in broad daylight (note: this is not during fashion week) is pretty normal. This is the designer who works with notion of " I have a problem with doing a collection that is a secondary line. I mean, you don’t want to be the stepsister. You want to be Cinderella. Show me one girl who wants to be the stepsister". This is the designer who can come up with sketches in a matter of seconds while others struggle to even draw a stick figure, and might have a successful career as a children book illustrator if he doesn't get the job at Chanel when our dear Lagerfeld can't dream his dreams anymore. He walks into a room, and editors bow down to him, and he curtsies.

The clothes aren't terrible. Neither are they awesome. I want to go under the tulle dress and look around and let the tulle brush against my very cheek. The price for doing so is 249 dollars, US. I also like the dust bag that comes with it. The only problem with the clothes is that they look very much like Lanvin. And by that I mean it looked like Alber specifically picked one dress from the archives of 2007-2009 that seemed like it could be replicated into thousands and did just that. The grouse I have with this collection is that there's nothing really original about it. Yet, it's still all very decent, jewel-toned dresses, ruffles, and leopard prints-they are all going to be sold out on opening day in an hour. But honestly, I wouldn't bat an eyelid at most of the pieces from this collection. It's difficult to accept that Alber would make clothes that look horridly cheap by the Lanvin standard. The usual aplomb that Lanvin ruffles now look like it was thrown off its throne and demoted to commoner status. It's like Cinderella in reverse. I also cannot imagine anyone going about their mundane human activities in a.......cocktail dress that definitely wasn't made for grocery shopping or fetching the kids to kindergarten. Were the dresses still sell? Yes, because Lanvin for H&M is the label whore version of the original House of Lanvin or even H&M for that matter.

Also, I cannot help but have a stinking suspicion that the "Lanvin Haute Couture" show was organized to mask how badly made the dresses were. Imagine a dress approved for production was modified so that it would be appropriate for Anna Dello Russo to put on and for editors to give their stamp of approval. I pity those who have bid on the dresses (yes, you can bid and pay thousands for a H&M dress, albeit slightly different), and then it dawns on them that-did I just buy a H&M dress for the price of an authentic Lanvin dress?

In the end, Lanvin for H&M is still a H&M product. I can't find the link on the Lanvin website to the Lanvin for H&M collaboration while this collection is unabashedly splayed out on the mainpage of the H&M US website. The collection, however mediocre, will still command legions and legions of desperate wannabes, even more than when Kawakubo was at the helm. So god bless whoever might be caught in the struggle to get a piece of the "Lanvin dream." And really, Alber has outdone himself-convincing people to get a H&M dress to fulfill their Lanvin dream is simply quite genius.