Wow that's Fugly

Fugly is a wonderful word that combines the emotive power of an expletive and the strong affirmative of a noun.

This shoe by Raf Simons x Adidas is fugly.

It looks like a fashionable boot for Frankenstein before he descends down the castle to terrorize the unsuspecting townspeople below.

Several things make this boot, sneaker, ice hockey shoe meets track and field sneaker a fugly piece of footwear.

1. The shape is boxy and blunt with no foreseeable function.

2. It's supposed to be a winter boot; but the product description never mentions insulation.

3. The price of $1,280 for a piece of molded rubber that looks as good as porto-potty at the end of a music festival is just dumb.

YES
You will see this at an Adidas outlet store in the near future.

NO
I don't think Raf Simons is pulling a joke on the fashion world.

MAYBE
You have a club foot like Oedipus. Well, have I got a shoe for you.

All That Glitters is Saint Laurent

I bought these shoes over the summer and I'm obsessed.

Looking down actually makes me happy because the glitter taps into my inner Dorothy of Kansas and allows me to travel to a magical land called Oz of My Childhood.

In a way, it's therapeutic. At least that's how I justify paying so much money for them.

Wearing them in a city, which no longer prizes individuality and creativity, my feet get a lot of stares from strangers. Luckily, my feet don't have feelings of insecurities because they are just feet.

And these are just another pair of shoes.


YES
I love my new pumped up kicks. Mahalo Hedi.

NO
Watching Wizard of Oz doesn't cheer me up as much as wearing these shoes.

MAYBE
You don't need shoes to cheer you up some days because you have Prozac. It beats alcohol.

Trendspotting: Street Style Homogeny

Watching all the pageantry of fashion week especially off the runway, I realize that modern style is taking a nap this season while everyone dreams of homogeny.

Slideshow after slideshow on Style.com, Fashionista, theSatorialist, NYMag etc. everything looked the same. I was about to post a picture of street style shots from 2012 versus 2014 to make my point, but I bet everyone realizes that at the end of the day, I'm right. Hence, there's no pic with this post. It's all words and potential emojis like :-( for all the things I've seen around fashion week.

It was the usual cast of denim cut off shorts, fringe, boots, funky hats, tiny bags on straps and lots of expensive sneakers. The only difference from the previous year may be the faces. But even they all start to look the same. I did notice that more models have popped up into the street style slideshows since...let's face it, they look good in anything and in every picture.

Perhaps it's because fashion as entertainment has reached mass consumption that all the peacocks have sprouted the same feathers. Each one trying to out do each other with well-practiced poses to show off their outlandish get ups.

Or, I'm a jaded person who realizes that the bloggers were gifted the outfit, the photographers set up the "casual" shots and the real individuals who still have lots of personal style are camera shy.

YES
Wake me up when this homogenous nightmare is over and I can start dreaming again.

NO
Street-style star is no longer a viable career. We can see right through you and your bought Instagram friends.

MAYBE
The street style photographers should be taking pictures of the hairdressers, make-up artists and "real" creatives behind-the-scenes as they leave the venues in their outfits. Those are the people I want to see.