In case you haven’t noticed, purple is the super hot color for fall. I have a love-hate relationship with purple. My high school’s colors were orange and purple. Here’s something I don’t often admit: I was a cheerleader. And our outfits were, you guessed it, orange and purple, with an emphasis on the orange. Also, purple was my favorite color in third grade, and therefore every item my grandmother buys me to this day is purple. I have drawers overflowing with purple hats, scarves and socks.
Still, the purple of fall 2008 is rather pretty. This Max Studio dress’s deep purple satin (from an email they sent) is reminiscent of Purple Rain rather than my natty cheerleader skirt. And I think we can all agree that Purple Rain marked a major high point in 80s fashion. It was a refreshing departure from Crockett and Tubbs’ pastel jackets. A man who can pull of puffy shirts, make-up and heels and still be hot to the opposite sex? Clearly sent from some magical land where logic does not reign.
Also, when I was working on the fall colors story (below) for Wired magazine (it was killed for space, sniff), I spoke to Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, the organization that designers go to to help them choose what fabric’s they’ll use every season. She said this year was surprising because the typical oranges, greens and browns took second row at the fashion show. The hottest colors were blue iris and purple, and she said the trend will persist into next year. She also said we shouldn’t be too surprised.
Sometimes people forget that all fall colors are not necessarily warm. If you think about walking through a forest in the fall and you look down at the leaves and the colors you see some of those gorgeous pinky-purples and colors that we don’t normally think about as fall colors.
Damn, why did I get rid of all my Prince-esque regalia from the 80s? Schauplatz, here I come.
A Dutch photographer’s 14-year experiment in finding people who are dressed alike proves that no matter how hard you try to be unique, there’s most likely someone out there who’s got on nearly the same outfit as you. Rotterdam-based Ari Versluis and his partner Ellie Uyttenbroek were inspired by the “striking dress codes of various social groups” to document sartorially similar people on the streets of Rotterdam, Paris, London, Rio de Janeiro and maybe more (I haven’t clicked on all of them yet!).
