Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Did you know that the Kate Moss Topshop collection includes a gorgeous beige-gold satin, bias-cut maxi skirt for just £45, sizes 6-16? This could be bad news for thebeigesite.co.uk, which features a pensioner dressed in beige as a logo and describes itself as "taking the piss out of old people since 1942". If Kate Moss says beige is cool, old people and their attire may become cool, too. When Queen Kate waves her magic wand, everything changes.

Beige has had a bad press, no doubt. "Beige to Beige", an excellent but scary song, appears on John Mellencamp's 1993 album Human Wheels. Why did Mellencamp take such a dislike to beige back then? It's hard to recall 1993 at this distance, but wasn't that the year when Bill Clinton succeeded George H.W. Bush as the 42nd President of the United States? Mellencamp may have feared a "wardrobe malfunction" in the house of Bill and Hill. Others say Mellencamp's dismal lyrics were occasioned by the release of Windows NT 3.1, the first version of Microsoft's line of Windows NT operating system. Take your pick of doomsday visions. Great song, though. Fine poetry.

If you need a thought
We'll give it to you
Our statistics show what we do is true
A world without color
Is a world without sound
A world to keep the rabble down
So close the deal, close the door
Forget about the colors that you knew before

It's just beige to beige
That's all it is these days
Little windows for you to crawl through
You just do what's expected of you
It's just beige to beige to beige
These days

Magic moment: The very lithe Cougar spins the superb Human Wheels on YouTube.

Posted by Eamonn Fitzgerald on 7 May 2007 at 6:09 AM | Permalink

"There are thousands and thousands of people who take photographs, but very few photographers, because one has to have an eye, one has to have the vision, one has to have something to say." Rodney Smith

Check out Rodney Smith's remarkable "Images of Grace" at the PDN/Kodak Professional gallery.

Posted by Eamonn Fitzgerald on 31 March 2007 at 8:54 AM | Permalink

It's been more than a year ago now, 3 November 2005, actually, since Rainy Day first posted thoughts about boots. The initial observations were made in Venice of the rising tides, where footwear of every kind, from waders to Wellingtons, is fashionable. Here is part of what we wrote at the time:

"Stores were packed and there was simply no getting inside shoe shops because excited female buyers had laid siege to them in search of the season's must-have item: equestrian-style boots. No matter where we looked, the boots were there. Teenagers wore them with black tights and miniskirts, while their mothers were wearing them with various permutations of denim or autumnal skirts in corduroy."

Since then, the boot virus has spread faster than avian flu and now everyone seems to be in on the act. From thigh-high "Pretty Woman" ones to militaristic ones, boots are everywhere. So, is the trend nearing its end? Not likely. The fashion industry is notorious for pressing the oddest fads into service and the latest helper who's coming to the aid of the party is Johnny Depp. Aye, mates, Captain Jack Sparrow sports a fine pair of knee-high cuffed boots in his Caribbean films and pirates, er, manufacturers from Burma to Beijing are ramping up production of brigand gear to cope with the insatiable appetite for sexy footwear. Think I'm making this up? The Manolo was onto the trend two months ago, but he did have a warning for fashionistas:

"If you wear the boots do not wear the buccaneer shirt. If you wear the buccaneer shirt, do not wear the Deppian mascara. This is the only way in which you can avoid looking exactly like the Adam Ant, circa 1981. And so, with this warning in the mind, the Manolo would still recommend the purchase of the piratical boot, but only those that are not ridiculous in their swashbuckling exuberance."

The Manolo knows whereof he speaks. For those getting ready to step into the Xmas shopping frenzy, he recommends a very handsome boot from the Anne Klein of New York. Only $363.95 a pair, or a mere €277.97 for Eurotrash. Of course, if you've got real "pieces of eight" to spend, it must be a pair by Celine. Be prepared to untrouser a few thousand, though.

Posted by Eamonn Fitzgerald on 28 November 2006 at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Book of the year? One certain candidate is "Mao: The Unknown Story" by the husband-and-wife team of Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. Neither has a good word to say about the Great Helmsman, who they portray as a depraved monster who did not even believe in the Communist ideology he imposed on the Chinese, while killing 70 million of them. Talking of the Mao, the Manolo, he of shoe-blogging fame, surprised his legions of admiring readers last weekend when he mentioned the tarnished tyrant in the course of a post about shopping. Responding to the Almost Girl ("Where Plato and Prada Meet"), who was soliciting views on "consumption, individuality, and the importance of fashion in our lives", Manolo condensed his political beliefs into a few short statements, and this one is most apposite for students of despotism:

2) Manolo loves the Capitalism! Nothing is more worthy of the ridicule than the fashion sense of the dictators, politburos, autocrats, and tyrants. For the example, the most horrible, deadening, life-sucking piece of the fashion ever invented, it is the Mao suit, for it reduces the individual to the mere cog in the ideological machine. Happily we live in the system in which the marketplace it is free to deliver to the peoples the beautiful clothes, enabling each individual to dress in the manner he or she chooses.

The Rainy Day loves the Manolo!

Posted by Eamonn Fitzgerald on 30 November 2005 at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)