Fashion is all encompassing. Do you make fashion, or fashion makes you? How much are you affected by the latest trends? Let us look at this issue impersonally. Please view some old photographs dating about hundred years old. You will see men and women wearing different types of clothes then now. Today, the trend is different.

The word trend, latest and in fashion take away our originality. We have stopped thinking about what kind of clothes we want to wear, so that we look good and feel comfortable. Instead we find out what the celebrities are wearing. We look at the latest collections of fashion designers. We make our choice from these. We don’t make our own fashion.

This does not apply to our thinking, our motions and our value systems. In these, we have our own standards. But when it comes to fashion, we fall in queue. Why? The designers are persuading us that if we don’t follow the latest fashion, we are backward and not up to date. Friends may laugh at us. Many of us display the latest acquisitions of designer clothes that we but at exorbitant prices. We don’t question the prices of top designers. Why?

It has to do with some amount of brainwash all of us have undergone by the marketing companies. If everyone becomes independent and makes his/her own fashion, how will they survive? Many of us buy the latest clothing, wear it once or twice and then never wear it again, because it has gone out of fashion. We spend money again and buy the latest. Fashion has affected us to such an extent that we don’t question about these issues. We simply follow the herd.

Affordable fashion is a contradiction of terms, or at least used to be. If it was affordable it could not be fashion and if it were fashion then it would not be affordable. However with the commercialisation of fashion this is changing.

The rich and famous pay exorbitant prices to have exclusive control over fashion but the public at large has the numbers that bring in huge profits at small margins. Therefore the fashion industry is in two minds. Some still prefer to make exclusivity their unique selling proposition and cater to the elite few. Whereas others bring in mass-produced goods and either through marketing hype or by imitating the trend setters (or both) make a fashion statement of their own. There is the third type that sells a range of products and services and caters to the classes and the masses. The masses feel contented that by using the brand name they are in fashion. This is the contemporary face of affordable fashion.

Therefore Caribbean cruises have a higher fare for the more fashionable with everything included and a budget fare for affordable fashion that includes only the minimum with extra for the frills. Fashion houses produce the exclusive high priced range of garments in thousands of numbers, whereas similar (but not the same) moderately priced garments are manufactured in millions of pieces.

Affordable fashion has another aspect as well. If one has the attitude and poise one does not need big bucks to make a fashion statement. Funk jewellery, boldly and tastefully worn, can set a fashion trend. Faded and burnt and slashed jeans that are so much in fashion today were the creation of ordinary people who wished to be different. Jeans manufacturers entered the bandwagon much later.

So if you are gutsy and bold make your own affordable fashion. If not, there is plenty of it available in the market.

Ponchos have come down from the high plains and back into high fashion on to the catwalks this season.

Women’s fashion ponchos featured strongly on the catwalks this season.

Gone are the heavy, horse-blanket style ponchos of yesteryear, replaced by delicate fabrics and sexy styles that complement every body. Fashion ponchos hide a multitude of sins.

Whether you choose silky, sheer and sexy, or embroidered ethnic style, the poncho can be adapted for all sizes and all occasions.

Your fashion poncho can be thrown over a pair of jeans for a chic, casual look, or dress it up with a glittery brooch over your favorite little black dress for night time style.

The hot fashion trend straight from the catwalk was the shabby-chic boho-style fashion poncho, ornamented with embroidery, beads and sparkles. Or the casually elegant cashmere poncho, perfect with your favorite jeans.

Ponchos also come short and long this season. The chic little shrug-style poncho clasped or tied on the shoulder in soft knits and delicate lace was featured by many European designers for spring/summer. Also featured were longer, asymmetrical fashion ponchos in a rainbow-bright display of colors and patterns.

Whatever your look for this summer, there is a women’s fashion poncho to suit.

In “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Stanley Kubrick posited that the future would bring us sleek interplanetary spaceships, commuter shuttles to the moon and, sartorially, garb reminiscent of “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.”

Kubrick’s film illustrates that predicting the future is no mean feat. Nevertheless, it is human nature to predict things to come. So, as the apparel industry looks forward–perhaps with some trepidation–to next year and the next decade, what do today’s industry pundits say about clothing’s potential future? “Consumers will increasingly ask the question, ‘What can it do for me, how can it make me healthier and stress less’ when it comes to apparel,”‘ says Carole D’Arconte, president of Color Portfolio. “They’ll also ask, ‘How can I connect quickly and accurately with my portable electric devices?”‘ Forecasting fashion trends for retailers, such as WalMart, Kmart, Target, JCPenney and Sears, D’Arconte’s company, like other organizations in the field, believes that technology will have an increasingly important influence on apparel.

Some evolving concepts that are already becoming reality, range from vitamin-dispensing materials to fabrics that store body heat.

VF’s The North Face division currently is introducing a new item that may be a precursor of apparel’s future offering. Its heated jacket, which is composed of a Maiden Mills’ Polar Heat fabric, incorporates a rechargeable lithium battery that heats a mesh of proprietary filaments.
We are definitely going to see a population that is more prepared for a fusion of computer electronics and clothing, made possible by the integration of silicon into fabric as a connective tool,” says futurist Watts Wacker, chief excutive officer of FirstMatter LLC. Think solar panels that charge up electronic appliances and sleeves that monitor blood pressure–Wacker cites Philips as one of the companies exploring the “wearable electronics” category.

Avant-garde applications are expensive–The North Face jacket retails for $499. It will take time for this wizardry to work its way to mass, but adaptations of the technology are already viable in some accessory items. For instance, JanSport’s Back Talk backpack, at the suggested retail price of $34.90, features an electronic board that displays personal messages, special effects and jokes.

Electronic gadgets, in general, have become increasingly important, and many clothing designs already sport extra pockets and other features to accommodate the use of devices such as cell phones, MP3s and PDAs. There is little question that this trend will continue in the years to come.

Kari Emond, fashion director for Zellers, sees men’s “handbags” becoming a key accessory; these smaller alternatives to briefcases target consumers challenged to keep up with their electronic gear.

Apparel aiming to incorporate the James Bondesque paraphernalia that has become a part of many people’s lives will be important down the road, but technology will also influence clothing design in less obvious ways.

“I think consumers have an increasingly elevated expectation of comfort,” says Emond. “I call it ‘invisible technology’; it should be imperceptible, maintaining the hand of natural fibers, in traditional classics.”

Microencapsulation, already part of the Sara Lee roster, is a key example. This method of invisibly incorporating compounds in apparel in a semipermanent fashion has applications ranging from products to slow hair growth to aromatherapy. It hit mass this year in L’eggs Care, featuring an aloe vera moisturizer.

“Product encapsulation is an important trend in intimates going forward; for spring 2003, it’s already in the works for fruit- and flower-scented product,” says Silvia Harven, design director for Sara Lee Underwear. “There are applications for functions like cellulite control, but we’ll have to see how comfortable customers are with this technology.”

Health and wellness features take time to digest. For instance, the Champion sports bra will be among the first commercial products next spring featuring X-Tatic, a silver fabrication with antimicrobial properties made by Noble Fiber Technologies. The bra’s sanitary benefits, however, aren’t being emphasized; the heat distribution and support the “silver lining” provides will be touted.

Besides space-age applications in silver bullet bras, technology is also improving already-proven concepts. Stretch silk and faux suede are now machine washable, a characteristic that sells well at mass. Kmart and Zellers have already committed to expanding their assortments of merchandise in these materials.

Easy care is also primed for expansion now that treatments are becoming less detectable and available in more fabrications.

Stain resistance, now practically imperceptible, adds value and will gain ground. In children’s wear, VF’s permanent Kidproof knitwear technology will find application in many of the company’s brands and fabrications–fleece in 2002 and eventually denim–which Wal-Mart spokeswoman Susanne Decker says will remain steadily popular. Levi Strauss is also testing stain resistance in kids’ clothing.

Flash back to 1995, when the fashion tide was turning against fur. Supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington were appearing nude on billboards to show their anti-fur sentiments. Women who wore fur — on fashion runways and elsewhere — risked being splattered with red paint by animal rights activists, who also could be counted on to scream at the occasional fur-cladpasserby on city streets.

But that was then. Pick up any fashion magazine today and the pages are full of photo spreads extolling fur as one of the must- have accessories for fall. Lucky magazine names the fur stole one of its three chic looks for the season. Harper’s Bazaar declares chunky knit scarves out and fur scarves in. Nationally, fur sales were up 7.5 percent from 2002 to 2003, according to the industry trade group the Fur Information Council of America.

On sale locally

Many Bay Area retailers are displaying fur clothing in their windows. Brisbane-based Bebe is showing dyed rabbit fur in a plethora of colors, from a teal rabbit capelet to a lavender rabbit fur handbag to detachable pink rabbit fur collars.

Nine West has in its stores a $219 rabbit fur coat in mottled tan and cream or cocoa and cream. Ann Taylor is carrying a brown rabbit keyhole scarf for $99. Nordstrom is selling $164 rabbit-fur stoles in a number of colors, including robin’s-egg blue, as well as $78 faux- furcapelets and $649 chinchilla and rabbit ponchos “All the major designers are using fur,” says Barbara Beccio, head of the fashion department at the Art Institute of California in San Francisco. “I was going through magazines, and there are so many pages with fur coats, accessories, trims, handbags. Apparently it’s back.”

And the trend isn’t in full-length mink coats, although they’re getting their share of magazine ink, says Los Angeles-based fur- industry spokesman Keith Kaplan.

“More than an outerwear necessity, fur has becomea fashion item,” he says. “The weather up in the Bay Area doesn’t dictate the kind of need for fur that the weather in New York and Chicago does. Here you’ll see more of the sheared furs, more of the stoles, capelets, boleros to be worn with either an evening gown or even with jeans, little pieces that work for that 55-degree evening.”

Beccio, an East Coast native who now lives in Emeryville, says she can’t imagine fur coats coming back into fashion, especially in our mild clime.

“What would probably catch on is little ponchos or handbags or scarves,” she says. “That I could see catching on here, or maybe lightweight rabbit fur clothing.”

Where’s the protest?

You may be wondering, “When did fur get so noncontroversial?”

It did, and it didn’t.

The supermodel crowd — even ones who got naked for those “I’d rather…” billboards –largely have changed their minds and are modeling fur on the runways. You may have heard that model Cindy Crawford reneged on her fur-free status when she signed on to model fur coats last month. She was never actually affiliated with the anti- fur movement, although she also didn’t make a big stink about it when her image was appropriated by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The protests, such as the ones in San Francisco’s Union Square, have been toned down. Earlier in the decade, protesters from the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade-San Francisco, spent many a weekend blocking the doors of Neiman Marcus.

Those tactics were abandoned when three protesters were sentenced to house arrest for six months, animal-rights activist Anita Carswell says.

“The real lockdown ethos changed to ‘Let’s try to get Neiman Marcus customers on our side,’ a more low-key approach,” she says.

Carswell, the volunteer coordinator at Mill Valley-based In Defense of Animals, still protests in Union Square from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays, armed with photographs of grotesquely mangled foxes and other animals. Carswell’s anguish over the death of the minks, foxes, chinchillas, rabbits and other fur-bearing animals is genuine, and she says she’s committed to sticking with the fur issue until fur is no longer sold.

“It’s an incredible amount of suffering for something so frivolous,” she says. “It’s just the height of selfishness.” But if it seems like there are fewer protesters than you remember from past years, that’s true, she says.

“About five years ago, a lot of the animal-rights movement people figured fur is dead and moved on to other issues,” she says. At the weekly San Francisco protest, she says, “we’ve made up for less people with more signage. It looks like a lot more people.”

Beccio says she remembers furious anti-fur protests, but isn’t sure that the current crop of fur consumers do.

“It’s a different generation that’s shopping now from the last time that fur was really big,” she says. “Most of the people who are buying fur are under 40. It’s a different customer that has been coming of age since the last time there was major opposition to (fur).”

When ethnic fabrications, dashikis, and headwraps first appeared on the fashion scene a few years ago, many people thought that they were merely fads that would last a season or two. But what has emerged is an expanding influence into the broader fashion industry, an industry that has been reluctant to embrace African features as beauty symbols and, in the not-so-distant past, shunned “ethnic” attire and labeled it as an expression of racial militancy.

But now, that same industry sees dollar signs, signs that signal profits to be raked in from people craving more and more African-influenced styles and fabrics. A large portion of that demand comes from African-American students.Hoards of African-American collegians all over the country are reaching back to embrace their heritage. They are not only studying their history, to get a deeper sense of self and a truer understanding of African contributions to the world, but they are also expressing their knowledge by wearing fashionable attire inspired from “home”–Africa.

African-American designer Andrea Morgan said she has noticed a definite ethnocentric movement on college campuses, as many diverse groups try to assert themselves culturally.

“A lot of the younger Blacks are really into their heritage and where they come from,” said Morgan, who’s been designing since 1978. “And they’re not satisfied with the fashions that they’re given by society as a whole. Out of frustration, they lean toward the diverse Afrocentric types of looks–because they want to go back to their roots.

Morgan’s unique designs start at $60 in the Boutique Meiling Technique in Los Angeles.

“I have always liked a different type of look,” said Morgan. “I’ve always liked the Afrocentric look, but I wanted to see different colors.”

Morgan said wearing your culture is only one step toward success.

“Stay positive and achieve whatever goals you want to accomplish in life–through perseverance and diligence,” she said. “Always strive for excellence and believe in yourself.”

Dalmatian

print tights, pounds 6.99,

by Jonathan Aston,

from major dept.

stores. Tel: 01162 862388.

Printed gloves, pounds 5, by Cornelia James at Ad hoc, 153 Kings Road, London SW3. Tel: 0171 376 8829.

Black fake fur crop jacket, pounds 59.99 (item

no. WK 64084) and black

and white fake-fur print skirt, pounds 39.99 (item no. MQ 36064), both from Freemans Catalogue. Tel: 0800 900200. White crop top by Sub Couture, pounds 40, at 204 Kensington Park

Road, London W11. Tel:

0171 624 9378.

Dalmatian

print bra, pounds 13, and

matching briefs, pounds 5.50, both by La Senza Tel: 0181 445 0099 for stockists. Black fake fur jacket, pounds 325, by Sub Couture, details as left.

Dalmatian

printed fake fur

belted jacket, pounds 99.99,

by Oasis,

from selected branches

nationwide.

Tel: 0171

377 5335.

Dalmatian

print mules, pounds 45,

by Ad hoc, details as bottom left.

Printed bag, pounds 50, by Dollargrand. Tel: 0171 794 3028 for

stockists.

Black fake

fur jacket, pounds 189.99,

and matching skirt, pounds 69.99,

by In-Wear at Fenwick, New Bond Street, London, W1.

Tel: 0171 629 9161.

Dalmatian print cuffs, pounds 14.95,

by Johnny Loves Rosie. Tel: 0171 435 0089. Dalmatian print

collar by Cornelia James,

pounds 25. Tel: 0171 499

9423.

HE HAS become one of the most successful tycoons on the high street, the pounds 250m man who turned French Connection into a fashion powerhouse.

Not surprisingly, Stephen Marks has a lifestyle to match, with homes in Chelsea, St Barts in the Caribbean and the Hamptons outside New York.

As his business career reaches new heights, however, the entrepreneur has run into problems in his personal life. And yesterday he found the two entwined when he sold pounds 40m of shares in the high-street chain to fund his divorce.

Much of the money will go to Alisa Marks, who until last year worked alongside her husband as French Connection’s creative director and who is partly credited with the money- spinning FCUK logo. In selling off the equity, Mr Marks joins a select band of businessmen who have ended up liquidating huge tranches of stock in their companies to pay off their ex-wives.

The payments have raised eyebrows about the size of the divorce settlements and questions about whether the companies themselves may be about to experience problems.

David Harding, the chief executive of the betting giant William Hill, sold one million shares earlier this month in order to raise pounds 5.3m. Maintaining that he was still committed to leading Britain’s second-biggest betting shop chain, Mr Harding admitted he needed the money to fund a divorce settlement with his former partner Lucia Similarly, the founder of the drugs company Skyepharma was forced to sacrifice shares in his business as part of a bumper settlement when his marriage came to an end. Ian Gowrie-Smith, the Australian who named his company after his daughter Skye, handed his ex-wife shares worth pounds 6.5m.

In the latest example of equity for alimony, the wife or rather ex- wife had a prominent role in the business. Ms Marks was credited with contributing to the idea of playing on French Connection’s initials, creating the controversial logo which put the company on the radar screen of both the fashion world and the conservative lobby. Although how much she will receive is not known, her divorce settlement could turn out to be one of Britain’s most substantial.

When they were together, the Markses appeared to be the epitome of glamorous wedded bliss. Mrs Marks, 20 years her husband’s junior, was a former fashion editor of Elle and Marie Claire magazines.

The couple had three children. They lived in one of London’s most desirable addresses, The Boltons, in Chelsea, and mixed with celebrities including Madonna and Sting. However, Ms Marks moved out of the family home at the end of last year, six months after she ceased to hold the post of creative director at French Connection.

French Connection would not comment on the official reasons for Mr Marks’ sell-off. It released a statement which said it was “to meet personal requirements”. But the move prompted a flurry of anxiety on the stock market that the 58-year-old could have decided to wind down his involvement with French Connection. Shares dropped 6 per cent on the news, reflecting the confidence the City has in Mr Marks, who left school at 16 and built his retailing empire up from nothing.

The son of a Harrow hairdresser, the flamboyant Mr Marks met the designer Nicole Farhi at the French fashion house Pierre D’Alby in Paris. She joined his business and they had a child together in 1975. The two never married and Ms Farhi is now the wife of the playwright David Hare.

French Connection, which also owns Toast, the new upmarket clothes and accessories brand, as well as the Nicole Farhi label, attempted to reassure the market that Mr Marks had no plans to jump ship to pursue full-time other interests, which include investing in films and restaurants.

He will still own 40 million shares or 42 per cent of French Connection Group, and the company said that he would not sell any more shares for six months unless he had the support of French Connection’s board of directors.

Those who know the retailer - who holds the posts of both chief executive and chairman - say he is showing no signs of tiring. While much of the day-to-day running of the 61-store chain is handled by its chief operating officer, Neil Williams, and finance director, Roy Naismith, Mr Marks is still very involved in the business.

And he will not be reaching for the begging bowl quite yet. His holding in the company is worth about pounds 172m.

What is ethical fashion, why is it important, and why are we just hearing about it now? Well, to answer these questions we start with what is wrong with clothing production today. Most clothing available in stores today is produced in an unethical manner using sweatshop and/or child labour to ensure a larger profit margin. Manufacturers use unsustainable fabrics like non-organic cotton (dubbed as natural, it accounts for almost 25% of all pesticide use) and polyester (which is a petroleum by-product). They use conventional dying practices which release chlorine, chromium, and other pollutants into the environment posing a health risk to the farmers, assemblers and wearers (7 of the top 15 pesticides used on conventional US cotton crops are “possible” to “known” human carcinogens). The shift to ethical production practices in the clothing industry has been undeniably important for a long time making the market ripe for a positive change. Consumers are starting to demand better.

What is Ethical Fashion?

Ethical fashion is that which is produced using: fairly-paid and fairly-treated adult workers; sustainable fabrics and materials like organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, and reclaimed or recycled materials; low-impact fiber-reactive dyes or vegetable dyes; respect for a healthy environment and/or product for the farmer, the assembler, and the wearer of the clothing.

Why Ethical Fashion?

We are all responsible for how our own lifestyles affect the environment. Simple measures can be taken to achieve big changes by simply switching our buying patterns to include products made of low impact materials. Positive pressure on businesses who have yet to volutarily clean up their acts is very easily applied by simply choosing not to spend money on their products, and helping – little by little – to grow the businesses who have made an explicit commitment to responsible business practice.

Why Now?

The wonderful thing about the booming ethical fashion industry is the huge variety of designs, colours, cuts, fabrics and sizes now available. Long stigmatized as cousin to the burlap sack, the ethical offerings today are design-oriented. Designers with heart are creating beautiful, sexy, edgy, classic, current, imaginative, and, yes, flattering pieces – ethics will simply not be compromised and thankfully neither will the look and feel of their work. Reducing our footprint can be done without making any sacrifices.

One of the main driving forces of the ethical fashion boom is public awareness. Thanks to exposés on large manufacturers, the fact that sweatshop labour is used for the overwhelming majority of production can no longer be ignored. The power of boycotting has been demonstrated, as has the power of voting with our dollars to support good practice. Thanks to accessible work like “An Inconvenient Truth”, the lay person is no longer free to assuage their environmental guilt with the denial of the existence of climate change. Thanks to alternative medical practitioners, who deal with cause instead of just symptom, we’re learning that we can build health by surrounding ourselves with and consuming healthy things.

Consumers are growing weary of the quantity without quality mentality. Most designers with an ethical bent to their art, work in small batches, producing high quality goods with exceptional fabrics. Consumers are, in growing numbers, appreciating the right to vote with their dollars; and are exercising it to support expansion of the sustainable textile industry, small farmers and farm co-operatives. We’re all looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact, increase our social contribution, ease our consciences, hold on to some creature comforts, and continue celebrating art in all its forms.

It’s that time of year again – football season is in full swing, the leaves on the trees are turning red, orange, and yellow. Little goblins are fantasying about the pile of candy they will bag on Halloween Night. When the days grow short and the air gets crisp the fashion-conscious male knows it’s the perfect time to take a look at the wardrobe. Are you ready for Fall with the stylish clothing staples that this time of year dictates?

Over the past few years, men’s sport coats and blazers have become an autumn necessity. Not only do they help keep the cold away, they look great and are incredibly versatile. Many guys choose to wear a sport coat or a blazer instead of more bulky and much less convenient outerwear. A sport coat as outerwear is, in fact, a terrific look that combines fashion sense with the versatility that allows you to change settings easily – go from the office to a late lunch or a night on the town and your blazer or sport coat allows you to fit in, feel comfortable and look you’re best. An awesome look for autumn includes pairing a blazer and Polo shirt with your favorite pair of jeans. It works for so many reasons, and in so many different situations

Another great item to consider for the fall season – and something to add class and style to the sport coat or blazer look – is corduroy. Corduroy pants work well not only as relaxed, weekend garb but also for business casual attire. Cords look rich and sophisticated – the name itself is derived from a word that means cloth fit for a king. But Kingliness aside – this is darn comfortable material! The more tailored kind of corduroys can be worn for those dressier days, especially when coupled with a nice fall dress shirt and tweed jacket.

Another key item for your fall wardrobe is the simple striped shirt. Every fashion designer and shirt manufacturer has come out with some kind of striped shirt that works for a fall look. Your choices are virtually endless. The nice thing about striped shirts is that they can be worn independently with jeans, with a suit, or even hidden under a sweater. Fall fashion is about layering – and from bold and thick stripes to thin ones; it’s a good look that you will find easy to incorporate into many ensembles.

Now that the weather is starting to get chilly, think about checking out your wardrobe. Make sure you’re ready to make a fashion statement that “falls” in line with the season.