[Cross-posted] Sometimes I surprise myself on what comes up in blog comments. In a thread about the Iraq war and the short memories of nations over on Vox, I wrote the following. And as I wrote, I believed this to be a possible truth.

To go forth in the future we need to discover our past, a hard thing in an age of short memories as you say. … Leadership might not come from size but from those nations that have steadfastly refused to give in to the prevailing decline in so many places. Switzerland, for all its refusal to join the EU, has managed to maintain one of the greatest gun ownership rates in the world yet not have a single gun-related murder attributable to its own in most years; Singapore, retaining its Confucian philosophies, manages a city-state with limited natural resources.
   Their example needs to be communicated to the world, as well as the positive aspects of certain parts of the US or China—they exist, but they are hidden.
   This is one reason to like blogs because they can cut through the shield of the MSM and government propaganda. I do not think that we have reached any critical mass among netizens, networking citizens together in a form of moral leadership. … [T]here are pockets of good people everywhere as you and I have witnessed, just that we are not necessarily visible.
   But that critical mass can come—and if warfare now is at a terrorist, guerrilla level in so many places, I suspect moral leadership itself will come from a grass-roots base.
   The system needs idealists like us, reminding people of their short memories, and maybe change will be effected not through top–down governmental, propagandist methods or the MSM, but through one-on-few communications from each of us.
   I would rather [expect] that the next superpower, therefore, is not a nation or even an ideology, but a collective of humankind cutting through the BS and revealing the truth. Who says the ’net cannot be a force for good once more? If it can propagate hate and porn, it can just as easily propagate hope and truth.

   I get reminded of this every now and then by others who feel the same way: Chris, at the Edutainment & Convergence blog, wrote to me privately and inspired me. And when I think back to books like Beyond Branding and Typography & Branding, I think there was a great deal of post-9-11 optimism and the desire to build a better, more understanding world. I find passages of my Typography & Branding inspiring, if an author is allowed to be inspired by his own work, and I can’t have been this cynical back then.
   It’s a good zone to be in and I haven’t felt this hopeful about the potential of the ’net in about a year.
   Last year, I was bemoaning the decline of the blogosphere as it began looking more and more like the darker parts of society, with gossipmongers and rude, anonymous commenters finding their way on to it. Where were, I asked, the globally minded idealists of the 1990s?
   On the other hand, their entry into this world surely puts them closer to the hands of the idealists who can now shape agenda, creating more hopeful sites and messages.
   And maybe channelling or finding the above message from my subconscious helped me put things into perspective more. If indeed the state nation is less relevant and change is better effected by people helping people directly, because technology has now made that possible, then the moral vacuum caused by various changes in society can be filled.
   All it needs are willing participants prepared to get together to make the world a better place, regardless of their political, cultural or religious stripes.
   That’s really why I got into media.
   If we agree on this target, then the rest must follow.

Our editor-at-large Summer Rayne Oakes has been named the fourth best dressed person by the Sustainable Style Foundation, up from fifth last year. Congratulations! Number one by ’09!

Online today: a preview of the H&M summer 2008 range (left), which the company says is inspired by hot, exotic locations such as India and Africa.
   This is clearly in the Zeitgeist: the same week we receive Peter Alexander’s latest catalogue (below), which has an African-inspired collection. There’s something about Africa this summer, so let’s hope that translates into awareness of the continent’s issues that we, as a planet, can help with.
  Speaking of exoticism, we do have our special on Katherine Mansfield, the famous New Zealand author—and possibly its ‘first fashionista’, online, for those who missed it earlier this month. The exhibition of her property—including her clothing, perfume bottles and jewellery—is still on in Wellington, and we highly recommend a visit to understand the New Zealand fashion character.

How reliable are these readers’ polls? The British edition of Glamour (May 2008) puts Kate Moss at number one for Britain’s best dressed woman, with Agyness Deyn not even making it into the top 50. It’s a switch from earlier polls, which had been putting Moss lower during the last four months.
   Britney Spears was named worst dressed, with Jodie Marsh and Amy Winehouse making it on to the same list.
   Following Moss were Sienna Miller, Scarlett Johansson, Rachel Bilson, Jennifer Aniston, Alexa Chung, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba, Keira Knightley and Victoria Beckham.
   Glamour attributed Moss’s success to her Topshop range and her willingness to be experimental with her clothing.
   A month ago, the UK edition of Tatler, owned by the same group as Glamour, put Deyn at number one, and Moss at number two, though the list looks very different.
   Between the two polls, Moss, Chung and Knightley appear.

It’s been three years since Summer Rayne Oakes first appeared in Lucire, as a feature interviewee rather than a member of the team. Since then, the association between the magazine and Ms Oakes has strengthened, with her taking the acting editor’s role in 2006 and as editor-at-large from 2007. Here are some shots from that April 2005 story, which to our knowledge have not appeared online, in a quick trip down memory lane today. As the United Nations Environment Programme’s first fashion industry partner, Lucire was destined to be in the same world as Summer Rayne. It’s been a great association, and we hope it’ll continue to grow.

From top: Summer Rayne Oakes in Linda Loudermilk V-neck top in sustainable silk, found lace and vintage thread beads embellishment, Linda Loundermilk vintage lace jacket, and her own necklaces. Hand-made embroidered jackets made of recycled materials from Project Alabama, Carasan Designs woollen tweed corset with hand-beaded Swarovski crystals, and beaded choker. Photographed by Sarah McColgan, make-up and hair by Deshawn Hatcher, styled by André Adkins. Summer Rayne Oakes was represented on this shoot by Boss Models.

While Samantha Potes is covering Toronto Fashion Week for Lucire (welcome back, Samantha!), we did receive a release about Kolor Shades from Canada. They’ve just had their opening party in Toronto and sent us some great images from their shoot.
   They’re very youthful and apparently these are the latest styles in eyewear, though older readers may see that it’s a case of the cycle swinging around again, albeit with a late 2000s’ bent. There are more women than men pictured, but Kolor Shades does sell men’s and women’s versions.

As we head into the national pageant season in many parts of the world, the winner of Miss Surrey—who will go on to contest the national Miss England title—has been announced as Chloë Marshall of Guildford.
   Miss Marshall, 16, is already a model represented by Models Plus. She may be the first normal-sized entrant to contest the national title.
   Her agency comp card lists her as a (UK) size 16, measuring 38–32–42 and 5 ft 10 in height. She is a beauty therapy student.
   The Miss Surrey contest was held at Champneys Forest Mere, a Hampshire health resort. Judges were seeking a contestant who had ‘confidence, beauty and personality’.
   Marshall once told the Daily Mirror, ‘I didn’t give my figure a second thought until my first day of secondary school, when I realised I was bigger than many other children. …
   ‘[B]y 13 I was already a C cup. Flat-chested girls were jealous. Being curvy gave me kudos and from then on I embraced it.’
   Lucire has been concerned about too-skinny models long before the outcry over Ana Carolina Reston, a 21-year-old model who died of anorexia. In our opinion, Miss Marshall—and the Miss Surrey judges—have taken a step in the right direction.  

I have spotted a rise in the use of illustration in recent months—Lucire commissioned some for issue 25 and I understand there is an entire editorial in issue 26 that has been illustrated, by Steph Prowse.
   Our latest online story on the use of Marimekko prints for an H&M range for April is illustrated by Nyköping-born, Dallas-trained illustrator Lisolette Watkins.
   When done well, I believe illustration has a place in fashion publishing. I was very impressed by Kelly Thompson’s work, which I covered a few months ago when she had an exhibition opening. In addition to being a skilful illustrator, Kelly was the first New Zealander to photograph a retail Lucire cover.
   If there is a trend toward illustration, I shall be interested to see how it develops, particularly with the reliance these days on digital drawing tools such as Adobe Illustrator.

 
The Mercedes-Benz C200K Avantgarde gets the Lucire road test treatment—rather than analysing horsepower and acceleration, we weigh up the style quotient. It passes—if you are looking for a car that expresses Germanic rationality with something special. It’s got a fight on its hands this year, with a revised BMW 3-series and a new Audi A4, though it seems to have the Jaguar X-type licked. We seem to be in an age where the straighter edges of the German cars are considered more modern than the curves of the Jaguar—it’s the 1970s all over again.
   The road test appears in issue 25 of Lucire in print, but also online as from today, including links to our sister site Autocade, currently in beta.

H&M has signed an agreement to acquire the privately owned Swedish fashion company Fabric Scandinavien AB that is running the store chains Weekday and Monki. The Group also designs and sells fashion through a number of own brands, such as Cheap Monday. The turnover for the financial year 2007–8 is expected to reach approximately SKr 400 million. The company will be run as a stand-alone subsidiary within the H&M Group. 
   ‘We have been impressed by Fabric Scandinavien’s development for a long time and we see a potential to develop stores and concepts in other markets. By working together we can accelerate the growth further. We can also do it in a more efficient manner by drawing on H&M’s experience and knowledge of, for example, production, logistics and establishment,’ says H&M CEO Rolf Eriksen.
   ‘H&M is a fantastic company and we have found that we share the same values. Together with H&M we will have better opportunities to truly develop our ideas within fashion and design. H&M’s knowledge of for instance production and international expansion will be extremely valuable to us,’ says Fabric Scandinavien CEO Lars Karlsson. 
    The subsidiary Weekday Brands designs, produces and runs wholesale selling of young fashion. Its largest own brand is Cheap Monday, primarily a denim line. The idea behind Cheap Monday is fashion at good prices, something that goes well with H&M’s business idea; fashion and quality at the best price. Cheap Monday is sold in more than 1,000 stores globally. Among the brands are also MTWTFSS Weekday and Sunday Sun. 
   The store chain Weekday is an urban unisex concept with a total of six stores in Stockholm, Uppsala, Göteborg and Malmö. In March the first store will open outside Sweden in København, Denmark.
   Monki is a store concept and an own brand for young females. Since the start in Göteborg in 2006 Monki has expanded to Stockholm, Uppsala, Malmö, Karlstad, Sundsvall and Norrköping, amounting to a total of 12 stores.  
   H&M acquires 60 per cent of the shares in Fabric Scandinavien for SKr 564 million in cash. Sellers are the founders Adam Friberg, Lars Karlsson, Örjan Andersson and Linda Friberg. They will all continue to work within the company. In connection with the transaction the parties entered into agreement according to which H&M has the possibility or obligation to acquire the remaining shares in the company within three to five years. The total turnover of the Group’s business was approximately SKr 250 million during the financial year 2006–7, with an operating result of SKr 67 million. The expected turnover for the financial year 2007–8 is approximately SKr 400 million with continued good profitability. The employment conditions for the 300 employees will not change as a result of the transaction. 
   The transaction is conditioned by acceptance of relevant competition authorities. SEB Enskilda has acted as financial adviser to H&M in connection with the acquisition.