What Is the Moment?

Hot Pants Supplement: Guess what you need, Hot Pants? Legs! And...

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:23:49 -0400

Hot Pants Supplement: Guess what you need, Hot Pants? Legs! And you demand that anyone who wears you know how to use them. This song may not be about you, but it really couldn’t be anymore about you, Hot Pants. ZZ Top totally gets you.

Hot Pants Supplement: I love you, Sean Connery, and you’re...

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:12:14 -0400

Hot Pants Supplement: I love you, Sean Connery, and you’re great and all, but I’m going to have to use you in Zardoz as an illustration of why it is never alright for dudes with hairy legs to wear hot pants. And no, that boss ponytail does not make up for it. Nor do the boots (which I totally love, btw).

Hot Pants Supplement: We can’t talk about your hotness,...

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:09:13 -0400

Hot Pants Supplement: We can’t talk about your hotness, Hot Pants, without paying homage to Catherine Bach, a.k.a. Daisy Duke. This is a woman who knows how to rock a pair of barely existent shorts. And in a very Southern fashion too. Forget Jessica Simpson, this is hot pants realness that cannot be touched. Gotta love the plaid addition too.

womensweardaily: Highlights From Resort ‘13 Oscar de la Renta...

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:23:04 -0400

womensweardaily:

Highlights From Resort ‘13

Oscar de la Renta Resort 2013

Hot Pants Supplement: Oh look, Hot Pants, you’re still going strong for Resort 2013. Keep up that leggy work, gurl.

The Moment Is: Hot! Hot! Hot! (Pants)

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:21:22 -0400

Dear Hot Pants,

I judged you. I admit it. I thought you were slutty. But I’d never say it to your face. I’d just think it behind your back every time I saw you. Maybe we were frenemies. You were always nice to me so probably you thought we were actual friends. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I just want you to know how wrong I was. Totally wrong. And I admit it freely. Maybe you are a little slutty (you do leave so little to the imagination), but you’re also remarkably practical. If it’s sweltering out, I can always count on you to keep me cool. And you’re truly the best wing woman ever. I feel like I understand you better now than I ever thought I would. I want you in my wheel house, Hot Pants. I want you in my wheel house because you’re literally the only thing I want to wear right now.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw you in Taxi Driver. I remember thinking how fabulous Jodie Foster’s outfit was and how desperately I wanted to wear something like that. Then I was creeped out because it seemed inappropriate for a child prostitute to be so chic, but it was the seventies and you know better than anyone how that was.

I keep seeing you on the runways now too. From Givenchy to Balenciaga, everyone is so into you right now, Hot Pants. You’re totally hot.

I think it’s safe to say you demand a lot from a friendship and you can be pretty superficial (I mean hello, you make Helmut Newton’s leg fetish look tame by comparison). But you know what you like and what you need and you aren’t afraid to go after it. You’re confident. And frankly, what girl doesn’t want to be? Paired with my way-too-tall Miu Miu clogs, I feel like a towering disco inferno of Me Decade goddess-ness.

So I guess what I’m asking is: do you like wanna hang out sometime? I think I might be cool enough to hang with you now.

xoxo

References

Fashion

From left to right: Versace Spring 2012 Couture, Louis Vuitton Spring 2011, Givenchy Spring 2012, Balenciaga Spring 2012, Alexander Wang Spring 2010

Film and Television

Taxi Driver. I don’t know that there’s ever been a better hot pants outfit ever. Especially with those too tall shoes. That seems to be key for you, Hot Pants, you like those big girl shoes.

Sex and the City. Mostly Carrie seemed to favor hot pants, but really, I feel like all the ladies sported them at some point. Except maybe Miranda. She’s above you, Hot Pants, and your obvious ways. No one ever said you were intellectual.

Photography

Helmut Newton. I think there are really only a few hot pants in his oeuvre, but he loved a good pair of legs. So do you, Hot Pants.

David LaChapelle. Connoisseur of all things American and maybe of questionable taste, this guy is always down for some hot pants, strippers, and Jesus references. And Britney Spears.

Baroque Supplement: There’s no better way to celebrate...

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:37:13 -0400

Baroque Supplement: There’s no better way to celebrate Friday than with a little Labyrinth. While this scene is clearly fantastic, I’d like to point a few key things:

1.) Jennifer Connelly’s completely shocked expression throughout the scene is priceless.

2.) David Bowie’s jacket (and winged eyeshadow and golden lip gloss, etc) is everything.

3.) These might be the happiest extras I’ve ever seen. They are having such a (masked) blast.

Stop being so ambivalent about David Bowie and his raging eye make-up, Jennifer Connelly. You will never meet a guy with a wardrobe this good again. Yes, he’s evil. But I’m pretty sure the heavily embroidered jacket makes up for at least some of that.

Baroque Supplement: And here we have the Lestat jacket that...

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:18:56 -0400

Baroque Supplement: And here we have the Lestat jacket that started it all. Brad Pitt is clearly very distraught he didn’t get one too.

womensweardaily: Chanel Resort 2013 Baroque Supplement:...

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:13:02 -0400

womensweardaily:

Chanel Resort 2013

Baroque Supplement: Here’s a closer look at what Karl’s up to at Chanel. Everything about this look is kind of perfect including the metallic flatform oxfords. Oddly enough this is pretty similar to Lestat’s awesome jacket. Just in denim.

Baroque Supplement: This Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2006 ad....

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:54:22 -0400

Baroque Supplement: This Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2006 ad. Frankly, I don’t know why more ads aren’t referencing classical painting. Beautiful. Artistic. There’s even a dead male model. What happened to him? He was struck down by the decadence of it all.

Baroque Supplement: fuckyeahhistorycrushes: Prince Rupert of...

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:46:52 -0400

Baroque Supplement:

fuckyeahhistorycrushes:

Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1719-1682).

The most brilliant young general of the English Civil Wars: if the King had listened to him, he’d have won quite early on. He was very tall (even taller than his cousin, the future Charles II) and looked splendid in the clothes of the time. Rupert was such a magnificent horseman and fighter, the enemy began spreading rumors that he was a magician, able to appear in 2 places at once. He could ride through a hail of bullets and never be touched. He eventually took up a career as a pirate, with his ships being the last bit of English territory loyal to King Charles I. Sigh. When I visit London, I always bring red roses to Rupert’s tomb in Westminster Abbey.

Prince Rupert really was a bodice-ripping bad ass. So dashing. So suave. He knows it too. Show off.

Baroque Supplement: Falco’s seminal eighties classic (I...

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:20:00 -0400

Baroque Supplement: Falco’s seminal eighties classic (I guess it’s a classic?) “Rock Me Amadeus”. Great use of jackets and jabots in the video. Also, someone should make it a point to bring back rainbow powdered wigs. Now, that is a moment.

The Moment Is: Bodice-Ripping Baroque Bad Ass

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:09:58 -0400

This one’s been percolating for awhile, and even though it’s almost summer and soon to be ridiculously hot, now seems like the perfect time to discuss brocade frock coats, ruffled puffy shirts, et al. Karl Lagerfeld feels the same way. He just sent out a collection inspired by the opulence of Versailles at Versailles for Chanel’s 2013 Resort show. Everyone’s thinking dandy. Everyone’s feeling very Valmont. Let’s rip some bodices.

My love of the Baroque moment started with that Balmain suit in the middle, from Christophe Decarnin’s Fall 2010 collection. Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate. It started with Interview with the Vampire, one of my favorite childhood movies (that should tell you about what sort of child I was). In the film, Tom Cruise wears a divine midnight blue velvet jacket with a high collar and gilded embroidery. I’ve been obsessing about it since 1994. And that Balmain suit was a close approximation that actually made some sense for life post-early nineteenth century New Orleans vampirism.

The seventeenth and eighteenth century are nothing new in fashion. Dame Viv references it all the time (top right is her handiwork for Red Label, Fall 2012), but there seems to be a current in the atmosphere churning towards poetic decadence, something that eschews that classic, no-one-could-possibly-have-a-problem-with-this minimalism we’ve been force fed for a few seasons now. That Spring 2006 collection from Balenciaga (bottom right) is looking suddenly so right, ruffled jabot and all.

Let’s do this. Bring on the debauched grandeur of a Louis XIV or a Charles II. Let’s turn up the Purple Rain and study Justineand Fragonard. It’s romantic yes, but maybe just a touch evil. You know those dandies weren’t good boys. Just ask Lestat.

References:

Fashion

Chanel Resort 2013 (top left); Gucci Fall 2012 (bottom left); Balmain Fall 2010 (center); Vivienne Westwood Red Label Fall 2012 (top right); and Balenciaga Spring 2006 (bottom right).

Film

Dangerous Liasons. I actually prefer Valmont because hello, Colin Firth and Fairuza Balk and Annette Benning together is awesome, but this one is considered the better of the two. And the costumes are worth it.

Interview with the Vampire. Not actually Baroque as it were. Watch it for the jacket.

Labyrinth. Not at all Baroque, but damn David Bowie’s suit in the ballroom scene is everything.

Amadeus. Brilliant and funny, Tom Hulce werks it in a powdered wig and at one point a unicorn head.

Art

Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Famous for such discreetly erotic classics as “The Swing” and “The Stolen Kiss”.

Michaelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio. That “Bacchus” painting is always (always!) associated with the Rococo movement. It’s delicious and beautiful. Look at that succulent fruit.

Music

Prince. Lover of all things purple and high collared, Prince rocks a jabot and leather jacket like no one else. Plus, nothing compliments a angsty frock coat like “When Doves Cry”.

Adam Ant. Of all the New Romantics, this dude embraced the pirate/dandy/rogue look wholeheartedly (with face paint too!). Winner of the prestigious Best Use of Jackets Since Napoleon Award.