May 9, 2008
[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 Chinaâthey 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 comeâand 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 topâdown 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 ânet 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 ïŹnd passages of my Typography & Branding inspiring, if an author is allowed to be inspired by his own work, and I canât have been this cynical back then.
  Itâs a good zone to be in and I havenât felt this hopeful about the potential of the ânet 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 ïŹnding 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 ïŹnding 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 ïŹlled.
  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.
  Thatâs really why I got into media.
  If we agree on this target, then the rest must follow.
April 30, 2008
Itâs not that we havenât kept up with the row over the Miley Cyrus photographs taken by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair, which sexualize the teenage star, but I have to draw the line somewhere when it comes to news coverage.
  There are quarters in fashion publishing which would deem these photographs appropriate and artistic, just as Leibovitz claimed, and we ourselves have featured teens in and even on the cover of Lucire, looking probably older than they really are.
  But if a subject comes to me and tells me that she is embarrassed by a series of photographs, and for a cover decision she may well be in the know, then thatâs good enough reason for me to have a meeting or a big ofïŹce poll about it.
  And thatâs just what Cyrus, star of the beloved Hannah Montana series, has said of her half-naked bedroom shot.
  In normal circumstances, this matter would be worked out privately between the Cyrus family and Vanity Fairâs publishers.
  Which makes this all rather odd: has the crisis surrounding these images been manufactured? One commenter on a Murdoch Press website seems to think so and, knowing how cover decisions are made, especially those that are potentially controversial, I am seriously tempted to agree.
  Reports suggest that Cyrusâs father, singer Billy Ray Cyrus, was present through most of the shoot.
  What I do know is that the modelling agencies we would work with are protective of their talent and we agree on many aspects of the shoot prior to starting when it involves a young girlâand that means overt sexualization is out.
For once many of the press have taken a moral high ground and that is, at least, pleasing to see, even if I have questions on their consistency. The Fairfax Press noted:
  Interestingly, the op-ed in the Fairfax Press touches on similar subjects to a blog comment that I wrote in discussion with William Shepherd, a marketing expert based in Californiaâone of those smart netizens who reminds me of the days in the 1990s when most people on the ânet were of a certain intellectual level.
  He wrote, on the topic of pornography in Brazil:
  When I think about these words today, itâs not just the online media, as Vanity Fair and others have shown us.
  I do, after all, see the irony of citing the Murdoch Press when it popularized the page-three girl and sensationalist stories founded in sex.
  At the risk of offending fans of certain TV shows, I responded:
  While sex is as woven in to Desperate Housewives as it was into Benny Hill, and those watching it at its late hour (past the watershed?) know what to expect, it gets an awful lot of publicity in TV promos with their share of suggestive imagery at other times. OK, it wasnât the best example of a TV show (which I watched at one point), but the old Friends certainly was. I think itâs difïŹcult to disagree that we have become too obsessed with sex in our society and those early seasons of Friends depended less on characterization and more on innuendo, not often that subtle.
   At the idealistic level there is nothing wrong with this when it comes to showing behaviour between consenting adultsâitâs less objectionable than seeing the extreme violence that has now made it on to prime-time televisionâbut we now face the danger of it going further and further into promoting promiscuity among the young. Expand sexâs reach, and you arouse greater curiosity in our youngest citizens at an earlier age. Itâs like lowering the drinking age to 18, as had happened in New Zealand: now itâs not 17-year-olds sneaking in three years before they are legal, but 14-year-olds with fake IDs.
  That curiosity around sex has always been there with those who are 11 or 12, as any of you reading this will know, but the signals are telling us that as adults we need to give more guidance, and we need to take a stand against marketing that encourages sex at a time when mentally, young people are not prepared for the consequences.
  And it was interesting to read that I am not alone in my assessment; in fact mine seems ill-educated alongside that of an author who has devoted a book to the subject. Fairfax again:
  As long as we sit back, tut-tut when the items make the news but fall back on not caring at other times, then we have lost yet another value. Add that to a huge list in the westâand the eastâsince the end of World War II.
  If certain institutions are being so aggressive as Liebau writes, then adults need to be as aggressive. âBenign dictatorshipâ, in the words of Carr-Gregg, probably describes the families many of us hadâand we turned out all right.
  It was a sort-of democracy in my household because my parents involved me in every family-affecting major decision and I earned their trust so I never had a curfew. But that was earnedâand I was probably lucky I had a good conscience or spirit guide, or something directing me.
  Not everyone is so fortunate, and in this day and age, itâs not a bad idea to be strongly involved in our childrenâs lives because that moral compass no longer comes from those cohesive, homogeneous communities of old, nor does it come from the media, at least not regularly or consistently. We, the regular people, are the last and possibly only resort in our respective families.
Our editor-at-large Summer Rayne Oakes has been named the fourth best dressed person by the Sustainable Style Foundation, up from ïŹfth last year. Congratulations! Number one by â09!
April 26, 2008
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 Alexanderâs latest catalogue (below), which has an African-inspired collection. Thereâs something about Africa this summer, so letâs hope that translates into awareness of the continentâs issues that we, as a planet, can help with.
 Speaking of exoticism, we do have our special on Katherine MansïŹeld, the famous New Zealand authorâand possibly its âïŹrst fashionistaâ, online, for those who missed it earlier this month. The exhibition of her propertyâincluding her clothing, perfume bottles and jewelleryâis still on in Wellington, and we highly recommend a visit to understand the New Zealand fashion character.


April 8, 2008
How reliable are these readersâ polls? The British edition of Glamour (May 2008) puts Kate Moss at number one for Britainâs best dressed woman, with Agyness Deyn not even making it into the top 50. Itâs 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 Mossâs 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.
April 6, 2008
Itâs been three years since Summer Rayne Oakes ïŹrst 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 editorâs 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 Programmeâs ïŹrst fashion industry partner, Lucire was destined to be in the same world as Summer Rayne. Itâs been a great association, and we hope itâll 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.
March 28, 2008
Stanley Moss (left, pictured with designer Tadashi Shoji), travel editor of this title, CEO of the Medinge Group and well known branding expert, is recovering from surgery in California. We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to him being up and about and motoring in his Chrysler CrossïŹre soon.
While Samantha Potes is covering Toronto Fashion Week for Lucire (welcome back, Samantha!), we did receive a release about Kolor Shades from Canada. Theyâve just had their opening party in Toronto and sent us some great images from their shoot.
  Theyâre very youthful and apparently these are the latest styles in eyewear, though older readers may see that itâs a case of the cycle swinging around again, albeit with a late 2000sâ bent. There are more women than men pictured, but Kolor Shades does sell menâs and womenâs versions.

March 22, 2008
With all the negative attention that Britney Spears gets, is it a good time to be marketing her Believe fragrance? Itâs what weâve alluded to in our beauty article online today.
  We hope Ms Spears will get wellâand that the paparazzi lay off her a little. Unfortunately, the Britney economy is worth hundreds of millions of dollars per annum, thanks to an appetite out there for negative news on the pop star.
  Thereâs a valid argument to say she brought a lot of this on to herself: driving without restraining her child properly in her car, or going out on the town with an absence of underwear.
  Her family is wise to rein in some of this behaviour: her father, Jamie, for example, is selling some of her seven cars and trying to bring Britney back down to earth.
  Itâs a double-edged sword. The quirky, inexplicable behaviours she has engaged in have helped up her proïŹle, and that, in some way, drives the Britney economy. The quieter she gets, the less likely that she stays in the public consciousness.
  The best thing to do is probably to lie low and come out with a comeback single or album, having reinvented herself and ïŹnding an image that ties in more accurately to how the public is feeling. History might give hints on where Britney Spears can position herself by the turn of the decade. She can brand herself out of her troublesâand she might just have enough clout with the record labels to do so.
  But, if she lies too low, what happens to products such as Britney Spears Believe, bearing her name?Â
  Answer: they might be able to maximize their investment through authenticity. Rather than say that a certain product has been inspired by Britney, go inside her home and show that she is actively working on it during her recuperation.
  âBritney gets her act together,â the headlines might readâand she can slowly begin showing that she is not a victimized pop star but someone prepared to take charge and deal with her problems. Get agreement with her family to do this.
  Make it realâand feed the Britney economy, paparazzi, licensees and the public. By the time sheâs ready with her new image and new music, sheâll have based it on two years of more positive press. Her core fans, then older, more sensible themselves, will appreciate a more inspirational Britney.
  In fact, her recent downfall is a good catalyst to this new direction: if thereâs one thing the public loves more than a feel-bad story, itâs the turn-your-life-around story.
  Ask Oprah Winfrey. You can do exceptionally well with them.
As we head into the national pageant season in many parts of the world, the winner of Miss Surreyâwho will go on to contest the national Miss England titleâhas been announced as ChloĂ« Marshall of Guildford.
  Miss Marshall, 16, is already a model represented by Models Plus. She may be the ïŹrst normal-sized entrant to contest the national title.
  Her agency comp card lists her as a (UK) size 16, measuring 38â32â42 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 âconïŹdence, beauty and personalityâ.
  Marshall once told the Daily Mirror, âI didn’t give my ïŹgure a second thought until my ïŹrst day of secondary school, when I realised I was bigger than many other children. âŠ
   â[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.â
  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 Marshallâand the Miss Surrey judgesâhave taken a step in the right direction. Â
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