Wear To Be Seen

It was the opening night of the exhibit about Creativity in Everyday Life presented by the Goldstein Museum of Design  at the College of Design of the University of Minnesota. The mid-size common area was made almost cramped in the poorly lit space that dusk had begun to shade. What shone were Macke and Chanel. When you write about and comment on fashion, and go to events that maybe irrelevant, you risk wasting your time and energy? But the exhibit surprised this writer by showing a lot of clothes relative to other kinds of creative expression. This could have been tunnel vision. A jacket (it seemed) from Bob Mackie , a dress from Gabrielle Chanel , and a flour sack dress stood out. The Mackie piece is flamboyant. If memory serves, he was not known for embracing subtlety. In wearing this piece you will command attention; the orange, black and white jacket had horse heads at the armpits, and feathers on the shoulders with feathers as their manes. The flamboyance and mel...

In a world where despite reality, fashion is derided as petty, most of the candidates treated it so at the debate. The men wore dark suits. Castro, Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, O'Rourke and Steyer wore white shirts, and Rep. Gabbard a white blouse. O'Rourke and Buttigieg wore blue ties. Mr. Castro a red and green diagonal one. Among them, Steyer and Yang chose to stand out as much as the theatrical conventions allowed. I believe the fundraising and poling numbers show them struggling among and straggling from their rivals. From what I could see Sen. Klobuchar wore a purple suit and blouse with a mid-low collar. Sen. Warren wore a purple jacket also and dark blouse with a similar collar. Sen. Harris conveyed the most flair. She wore a purple jacket with a silver-is blouse and adorned herself with a necklace. In her bearing she was less rigid and constipated than Klobuchar and Warren seemed to be at times. Beside their and Harris' choices of color, Rep. Gabbard's choice o...

When you get by on an undergrad's budget despite being well past that phase of life, food and shelter claim your money. What you need: Clothing that fits, presents you as confident, trustworthy and friendly. What you deserve: clothing that makes your color, features and shine, fetes your culture, and you carry yourself with the swagger that you feel. What you can afford is different. If falls short. When you're ambitious... I'm fond of the 1930s when flair and flamboyance were common. Peak lapels went to an extreme. And first impressions seem to have been more important. I derided casualness as a pox in an essay , I'm a snazzy dresser in a Land of 10,000 slobs for the 10,000 Takes  project at StarTribune.com four-years-ago. I remember having found some trousers that lifted my self-image! When Dockers weren't enough for me to express the grandeur I saw within myself, I found a pair of grey trousers at a department store. They were flat-front and flannel...

It is difficult to be black in the Twin Cities. And to be black, a dandy, and educated makes for a small circle. The fashion community of Twin Cities is small, and cliquish. So the branch for blacks, and brown folks is even smaller! Natalie Morrow, known for the years-old Twin Cities Black Film Festival marks three years of fall Black Fashion Week MN . The collaborates with Tim and Thom Navarro who are known for the Black Hearts Ball , to use their respective event production talents, and social networks. They want to make a stand and statement about the value and beauty of blackness and brownness. The fashion and beauty industries struggle with this! Above: the panel discussion among designers and producers This fall Black Fashion Week MN held several events after Fashion Week MN closed in late September. The small crowd that came to its A List mixer at the Moxy Minneapolis Downtown says that the initiative is too new to have a strong reputation. Fifteen people may have watc...