Every single year the fashion pages tell us that this year the big story is nautical chic, and every single year it isn't in the shops and no-one is wearing it.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
The great unstriped
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Because you can't have depths without surfaces.
Linda Grant, thinking about clothes, books and other matters.
Linda Grant, thinking about clothes, books and other matters.
About me
Linda Grant is a novelist and journalist. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage in 2006. She writes for the Guardian, Telegraph and Vogue. Her latest novel, The Clothes on Their Backs was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. For further information including upcoming literary festivals bookstore readings etc see her website at www.lindagrant.co.uk
My other blog
Buchmendel - some words from books
Books by Linda Grant
- The Thoughtful Dresser Non-Fiction 2009)
- For further information see www.linda.grant.co.uk
- The Clothes on Their Backs (Fiction 2008)
- The People on the Street (Winner of the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage 2006)
- Still Here (Fiction 2002)
- When I Lived in Modern Times (Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2000)
- Remind Me Who I Am Again (Non-fiction 1998)
- The Cast Iron Shore (Fiction 1996)
- Sexing the Millenium (Non-Fiction 1993)
This blog believes
'A good handbag makes the outfit.'
'Only the rich can afford cheap shoes'
'The only thing worse than being skint is looking as if you're skint.'
'A new dress is a great help in all circumstances.' (Noel Streatfeild)
'The only true and lasting meaning of the struggle for life lies in the individual, in his modest peculiarities and his right to these peculiarities.' (Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate.)
'Only the rich can afford cheap shoes'
'The only thing worse than being skint is looking as if you're skint.'
'A new dress is a great help in all circumstances.' (Noel Streatfeild)
'The only true and lasting meaning of the struggle for life lies in the individual, in his modest peculiarities and his right to these peculiarities.' (Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate.)
Followers
Other sites: Fashion, Literature, Politics etc
- 60 Going On 16
- A Brooklyn Lad
- An American in London
- Arts and Letters Daily
- Atlantic Monthly
- Baroque in Hackney
- Bois de Jasmin
- Bookslut
- Carrying Contraption
- Charles Lambert
- Dave Hill's Big Britain
- Desperately Seeking Style
- El Nuevo Pantano
- Faking Good Breeding
- Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog
- George Szirtes
- Granta
- Guardian Books
- Guardian Fashion
- Harper's Bazaar
- Independent Books
- Indigo Alison
- John P Matthew
- Lisa Goldman's On The Face
- Literary Review
- Little Brown Book Group UK
- Lost in a foreign language
- Manolo the Shoeblogger
- Miss Cavendish
- Normblog
- Not Pop
- Off Tha Cuff
- On the Runway
- Prospect
- Telegraph Books
- Telegraph Fashion
- The Bag Snob
- The Hungry Camel
- The Satorialist
- The Sewing Divas
- The Sunday Best
- Thumbelina Fashionista
- Times Books
- Times Fashion
- Une femme d'un certain age
- Vienna Vegetable Orchestra
- Vogue
- WSGN blog
Labels
- about the site (80)
- Action (1)
- agnes b (1)
- Agnes b (1)
- Alber Elbaz (1)
- Alberta Ferretti (1)
- Alexander McQueen (5)
- Anya Hindmarch (10)
- apropos of nothing (1)
- Armani (9)
- Autumn-Winter 09 (2)
- Avsh Alom Gur (3)
- AW08 (49)
- AW09 (3)
- Bags (29)
- Banana Republic (2)
- Barack Obama (1)
- Barrack Obama (1)
- Biff (1)
- Bill Cunningham (1)
- Book of the Week (3)
- Book tour Feb/March 08 (2)
- Booker Prize (1)
- Buchmendel (1)
- Care of clothing (10)
- Carla (3)
- cashmere (7)
- Cavalli (1)
- celebrity (1)
- Chanel (9)
- Childrenswear (1)
- Christian Louboutin (2)
- Comme des Garcons (2)
- competition (4)
- Cos (1)
- Courreges (1)
- couture (1)
- Credit Crunch Chic (20)
- Critical faculties (42)
- Crocs (1)
- Democracy (72)
- Diana Vreeland (1)
- Diane von Furstenberg (1)
- Dior (9)
- Donna Karan (3)
- Dylan (1)
- Election 08 (1)
- Elemejavascript:void(0)nts of style (1)
- Elements of style (90)
- Ethics (30)
- eveningwear (1)
- Face body hair (55)
- Family and friends (6)
- feminism (2)
- Fendi (1)
- films (5)
- fragrance (1)
- Galliano (1)
- Gap (2)
- Giles Deacon (1)
- Givenchy (2)
- Grateful Dead (1)
- Gucci (2)
- Guest posts (1)
- Halston (5)
- Harry Fenton (39)
- Hats (1)
- Helen Mirren (3)
- Hermes (3)
- Hobbs (2)
- Hong Kong (1)
- Hussein Chalayan (1)
- Jacques Fath (1)
- Jaeger (17)
- Jean-Paul Gaultier (1)
- Jeans (2)
- Jewellery (5)
- Karen Cole (1)
- Karl Lagerfeld (6)
- Kate Moss (4)
- Katherine Hamnett (1)
- Kinder (1)
- L.K. Bennett (1)
- Lacroix (1)
- Lanvin (2)
- Lelong (1)
- Lingerie (7)
- Literature (70)
- Liverpool (1)
- Luella (1)
- Madame Gres (1)
- Marks and Spencer (14)
- Martin Margiela (1)
- Mary Greenwell goddess (8)
- Mary Quant (1)
- MaxMara (1)
- Menswear (51)
- Michelle Obama (2)
- Mod (2)
- Mumbai (3)
- Music (6)
- New Yorker (1)
- News (7)
- Nicole Farhi (2)
- Opinions (46)
- Ossie Clark (9)
- Other pleasures (1)
- Paris (2)
- Paul Smith (3)
- Philosophy (8)
- Poiret (3)
- Prada (2)
- Published work (60)
- Published work. Literature (1)
- Richard Avedon (1)
- Robert Clergerie (1)
- Roberto Cavalli (2)
- Romanek (1)
- S/S08 (2)
- S/S09 (1)
- Sadness (4)
- Scarves (7)
- sewists (1)
- Sex and the City (3)
- shirts (1)
- Shoes (48)
- Shopping (99)
- size issues (1)
- Sleeves (2)
- SS09 (9)
- Stewart Weitzman (1)
- Surrealism (2)
- Technology (1)
- Terence Stamp (1)
- The Clothes On Their Backs (11)
- The Dress (14)
- The fabbies (1)
- The Great Mutton Debate. (24)
- The Great Mutton Debate. Menswear (1)
- The Sharp Dressed Man (1)
- Theology (1)
- Things I like (20)
- Thought for the day (107)
- ties (1)
- Travel (1)
- Trousers (1)
- Uggs (5)
- Valentino (6)
- VandA (1)
- Victoria Beckham (2)
- video (28)
- Vienna Vegetable Orchestra (3)
- Visual art (6)
- Vivienne Westwood (4)
- Vogue (2)
- Wit and wisdom of Hadley Freeman (14)
- YSL (1)
- Yves St Laurent (6)
- Zara (4)
19 comments:
I find it hilarious that the same old stuff gets touted out year on year - if it's spring then it must be nautical and florals, if it's summer then it must be safari and ethnic. Unlike Linda I have seen some clothes that pick up on the nautical trend but I won't be buying them. Can we bury this trend once and for all - red, white and navy is not chic but is a frumpy colour combination that makes you look like an air hostess.
Having now looked at the article I see that this is a more casual version of the nautical look. So it's merely frumpy rather than the air hostess look.
And another thing - one of the dresses shown (stripey blue number - very nautical) is by Chanel and costs £4,770. Can anyone come up with a more ludicrously overpriced piece of clothing?
The fashion pages see one damn stripe and instantly label it "Nautical Chic" every-time. There is NO SUCH THING as Nautical Chic and we all know it!
Well-said.
Those poor magazine writers! What's an editor to do? The same thing as last year.
Hmmm. I actually think I've seen quite a bit of "nautical" things. I see stripes and cords a lot. I'm in the US, though.
I agree wholeheartedly with fiona. The nautical look is one of the least seductive looks around. The ONLY time to wear stripes is on holiday in Brittany where a striped Breton sweatshirt can look great with white jeans and a tan and shield you from Atlantic winds.
When I was studying fashion many years ago at university, my fashion history tutor pointed out that throughout history stripes and spots tend to reappear on the cusp of design trends. I think it is safe to say that we are on one those cusps this year as we wave goodbye to 1970s revival and adjust ourselves to the 1980s revival.
By next year low slung trousers, bare bellys and hair straighteners will all be a thing of the past, thank heavens, and we can settle down to the new design trend and wave goodbye to nautical for another few years.
"flattering, ageless and easy to wear" says the article. Yeah, right.
A little stripe goes a long, long way, lest the wearer start looking "cute."
About the only nautical look I can stand is a subversive one: Catherine in Hemingway's Garden of Eden who crops off her hair, dyes it platinum, tans her skin, wears a blue sailor's shirt, and calls herself a boy.
Hmm. In the plus size departments here, it's polka dots rather than stripes.
Living in Hamburg the "Nautical Trend" is sort of an eternal fashion thing - oh so understated in blue, stripes, white and occasionally beige if you're feeling adventurous.
If I had to think about it, I couldn't decide what I dislike more - the eternal nautical thing or the neverending 80s revival. I want both to go.
I am avoiding BOTH eighties and nautical look.
I wore a strapless gray dress tailored like men's trousers from Club Monaco and purple suede YSL tribute mary janes today instead.
Like honestly, who wants fattening blue and white stripes across the torso?
Beige stripes in hamburg.. Yea gads the mind boggles....
I agree that the best place for stripes is the Cornish/Breton coast, but I confess to a sneaky liking of the stripey T shirt.
Every spring I get my natty nautical blue and white striped t-shirt out of storage.... Every year it sits in the cupboard, unworn, until it is winter again.
I can throw away every other item of clothing I haven't worn in the past 2 years. So why can't I give this one up??
(PS Please don't tell me to move to Hamburg....)
I have a theory that the reason they bring in the nautical trend every year is that it gives the fashion editors and models a nice jaunt to the seaside for the photo shoot... the glammer the better obviously.
I love using snippets of nautical (no anchors, please!) in the summer.
This young woman has a very sweet take on a timeless seaside look. (The Sartorialist blog. south of France)
http://bp3.blogger.com/_qjpwnPW4c1o/SBgj8oTnXiI/AAAAAAAADU0/gt4dHlcqjYI/s1600-h/30BeachSoccerweb.jpg
-- desertwind
The nautical is quite overhyped, I agree. However some elements here and there are fun, like white shoes or a stripey scarf. But seriously, fashion mag editors, give us something new next summer. We've seen the tribal/ethnic, safari, florals, and nauticals for years now. I do give them credit for showing the painter-y stuff this season, though.
Oh yes this trend-recycling drives me crackers too. Florals, nautical and safari are CLASSICS! Anything that could conceivably be seen in a Ralph Lauren collection is a classic so shall we add tartan, velvet, denim, 'Hollywood glamour', military...YAWN! It's all so predictable. I have to say though, I have nothing against a natty nautical striped Breton, I have several, just don't tell me it's a trend. And please don't dredge up that awful head 'Nautical But Nice'!
Post a Comment