The Shirt That Came Back Home

In a galaxy far, far away, and in an fashion industry that seems to be lightyears away from what it is now, I designed. Among others, I had envisioned and created a collection called Vluxe, and for the Fall 2007 season in particular,  I had invented a particular technique.

It was simple, yet created an effect not quite seen before. I took relatively traditional patterns in men's shirting fabrications and designed a second pattern that would be printed over it. The particular uniqueness of this was the fact that I had purposefully left "holes" in the printed designs, much like port holes on a ship that one looks through, and in this case one would see the unaffected traditional pattern of the fabric. The end result turned out to be a success in the men's market, a fun shirt that looked great with a pair of jeans.

But that, is just some context for what happened next. Years later with a new brand and collection in an online store, I received an order followed up with an e-mail asking me, I believe on Facebook, if I was really me, that is, was he, Matt, actually speaking with Lucky Nahum. Well yes he was, and he proceeded to tell me a few things. Matt told me how big a fan of my work he was and how many of my shirts he had bought in the past. Then he said that there was a particular shirt he loved but had never bought, he had "let it get away", and he literally sends me a picture of it. I had to give him the bad news that they were all long gone, and the only one I had in my possession, was my personal one and it wasn't in his size (a Large), it was an XL. Quickly he said "I can make it work, you really don't know what your shirts mean to me". That was an interesting statement in and of itself, what could a shirt, or a collection of shirts "mean" for someone?

Matt proceeded to tell me how at one time he was considerably heavier and my shirts had played a role in making him feel confident with the very first Vluxe he had ever worn, confident enough to eventually shed considerable amounts of weight and picking up more shirts and more confidence along with them.

We left it that I couldn't let go of my shirt, I just couldn't, I was attached to it due to it's particular design. I was leaving for a trip to Europe and the order from the online store was about to be filled while I was in Italy. Perhaps it was the good wine I was consuming in Tuscany, but I started to think about Matt and "the shirt" he so loved. I called my office back in the U.S. and directed them to include my shirt with his order for free, as a surprise gift from me. The story had moved me and I simply felt Matt had "earned it".

Move forward to 2015 and I discover the same exact style on eBay as I check for fun every so often to see which of my shirts are being sold. There it was, "the shirt",  and in my size too. Was this Karma at work? Was this my shirt coming back home? With a few clicks I placed the order and today "the shirt", my shirt, came back home.

2000, 2006, 2014 And How GQ Magazine Made These Years Matter To Me.

"Be the first and be the loudest".

This is the advice I give all budding fashion designers as they often seek my advice. Rightly so designers want to protect their work, but how can they? Patent attorneys will take your money to do the paperwork and filing, but it's worthless, it is simply to easy to alter the design minimally enough to render the patent null and void.

In my career as a fashion designer and manufacturer I have had several designs copied by the best in the business, and I along with all others who design have been influenced by someone or something…it's an inevitability.

I have also played the game, over one too many bottles of fine wine, of trying to come up with a word, a term, that would become everyday jargon. Am I and my friends the only ones that have done this? I don't know, but in the past I have made up words to describe one of my designs, to create another category of garment or as we say, to create a new classification.

Somewhere between 1999 and 2001 I created some items that I wanted to be able to have identified by name and worn in a certain way. Although the design itself was not particularly unique, the fabrics used were and more importantly the name for them was. At the time I was living in the Hollywood Hills and the weather particularly lent itself to this garment. It was a cross between a jacket and a shirt, you could wear it alone or over a shirt or knit, easy, what else could it be but a SHACKET?

Five days ago I read on GQ MAgazine about a shacket, as they stated, "Shirt + Jacket = Shacket, but together they're worth more to your fall wardrobe than the sum of their parts." This created mixed emotions, the adage about imitation being the greatest form of flattery only goes so far, after that you want to see your name attached to it, hey, I never claimed modesty. So, I thought I would go searching through some external drives long ago put away. I quickly found two documents, the first is in Italian in a letter to the factory discussing deliveries where it is mentioned to be delivered by February 28, 2001. While in the second document it is mentioned in descriptive terms for what was going to be part of a line book. I've blurred some parts to not mention companies or individuals that may want to remain unnamed at this moment. At the bottom of each document you can see the dates of April 5, 2007 and December 27, 2000 respectively, representing the dates when these documents were last created or modified prior to me using them in this blog, proving two things: one, they were created before GQ used the term, and two, that someone with as many assigned tasks as I had, simply didn't take time off because it was the Holiday week between Christmas and New Year.

besides digging these documents up, I also was curious to do the proverbial Google search to see what I'd find. A listing for shacket, appeared in the Urban Dictionary as you see here, showing the term, the description and the date it was first entered.

The last shacket I designed and manufactured was for Vluxe in a cotton/linen blend as you see it here in a washed & crunched charcoal gray and bright royal blue inside.

There, I got it off my chest, or perhaps I should say, off my shoulders for it to be worn by new designers and customers.

New York: Making Things Happen

It shouldn't be a shock to anyone at this point that New York City is just one of those places where you're bound to see things you'll only see in a handful of cities in the world.

My many years in the fashion industry has exposed me to many possibilities of scenarios, so shock at this point is sadly, a bit rare. And yet....and yet.

While taking a respite for an espresso I became part of two waves converging, the popularity of cafes and the continued desire to "make it". Meet Marisa, a budding designer.

As I was also interested in catching up with e-mails I looked for a more secluded, quieter area. A second floor seemed ideal, and it was. As I turned the corner I immediately realized "fashion" was happening. After all, I'd seen it once or twice before.

I discovered a young lady "presenting" a series of garments to a woman and her assistant. I knew the woman wasn't a buyer as I have also seen a few of them in my time.

I followed intently with a grin on my face, witnessing what I soon came to understand what was a meeting between designer and her model maker.

Once the presentation was done I introduced myself. The young designer was packing the remaining garments after giving some to her model maker to take back to her workshop. She said her name was Marisa and I concluded of Eastern European origins. Pleasant but in a rush to her next appointment, who knows, perhaps to select trimmings, I thanked her and encouraged her on.

She left get working area spotlessly clean as she headed down the stairs while I contemplated how we all adapt on the way to "making it"...thank you Starbucks.

Fashion Star on NBC, Another Unreality Show

It's that time again where one more reality show I'll be asked about is about to premier. Fashion Star on NBC  will invade America's homes tonight as yet another "reality" show that is anything but real, but let's not get lost in the facts right away.

Wanna-be-designers will compete for the privilege of being selected to have one of their garments chosen by buyers from H&M, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy's each week as explained in the shows preview.

As in any "reality" show there's nothing real about having one's life in from of lights and cameras, but then there are the particulars of the specific shows. One can't truly present the life and mindset of a survivor when that "survivor" has a safety net which is that he knows he doesn't risk starvation and death because the show's producers will always be there to ensure that doesn't happen.

As a disclaimer let me say that I have not seen the show, I am commenting based on what has been presented so far and my considerably vast knowledge of the fashion world having worked in it my entire working career. I would also like to make clear that at the moment the only thing I can say about the participants is that I understand their wanting to be part of this show as they will get a huge leg up on any of their counterparts in the real world.

So, what is so unreal about this show? Everything!

Starting designers do not get John Varvatos as a mentor. They do not get pattern makers, sewers, make-up artists and stylists at their beckon call. They do not get the opportunity to show their collections to the type of buyers they are talking about here, let alone being able to show any buyer a single item as they are doing on Fashion Star. You would never see these stores participating in any way were it not for the incredible amount of publicity they will receive and have already received by being part of the show. Like all other "reality" shows the amount of publicity received by the participant and/or product would be utterly unaffordable and so good, bad or indifferent they are automatically elevated superficially.

So, what is real? The viewer's insatiable desire to be a voyeur, to be a spectator to a car crash, that is real. There will be real people in unreal situations with plenty of drama generated by drama queens and expert editors that will keep you glued to the TV. There will be enormous desire to want to suspend disbelief to the point of even criticizing me for showering you with the truth because reality is a harder pill to swallow. And because we have gotten to the point where as a society we know not about much of the topics to make our own educated determination as to what is or isn't reality.

The Emperor And The Designer Have No Clothes.

I'm ready, go ahead and tell me that I just don't get it. but before you do hear me out.

The Fashion industry and the world at large is certainly ever evolving as it should be, we apply words to objects, concepts, entities and so on. We use words so that we can understand each other when we communicate. If we were to use the word "car" we know that we're talking about an automobile, we understand that two cars may look different from one another but we still know they are cars. We wouldn't and shouldn't call something that isn't a car a "car". If and when a car evolves into something beyond what our original definition stands for it should be called something else that more appropriately reflects it. If you invite me to go see a movie, I don't expect to see a play.

You get that? Good!

So, with this in mind I believe that we should re-evaluate Fashion Shows, break them down to no less than two categories and perhaps more and appropriately named them as to appropriately depict the difference between them.

Certainly we can agree that there's fashion shows that exhibit clothes that will actually be produced and sold in clothing stores and then there's fashion shows that exhibit conceptual clothing that look more like costumes in a theatrical production and that at best will only be sold in considerably modified versions of the original.

Here are some examples of what I'm talking about using two Fall 2012 Collections, Thom Browne (top two) and Giorgio Armani (bottom two). Strictly concentrating on the clothing (hair and make-up aside),

it's obvious to see which designer designed for theatrical effect and which one designed with practical salability in mind. I'm not criticizing, I am making what I believe is a valid point.

These are not quirky outfits in the collections, these are very representative of what the collections are.

 I get the role of both, I just don't think they should be labeled in the same manner. After all,  you wouldn't want to be served meatloaf if you ordered a cheeseburger would you?

IF

Right & Wrong

About 14 years ago I designed shirts I called "Mixed Media" because of the different patterned fabrics used to make one shirt. Often placing one patter under the cuffs while another on the rest of the shirt. The placket or an under collar would be other placements and there were many combination possibilities. The Robert Graham brand is perhaps the most known for this look today and seen often on the popular ABC show Modern Family. 

Surely anyone is free to dress the way they want to but are there situations where there might be a right and wrong? Should you expect your haberdashers to educate you to as to how to wear the clothes you purchase from them? Yes. 

I'm not sure at what age we learn to roll our cuffs, but we learned to roll the cuff once in the amount of the actual cuff and then we do it again. Doing it like this tends to secure the cuff relatively well in keeping it from coming undone. However, when the cuff has a contrasting fabric underneath rolling it in this manner will completely defeat the purpose of using the contrasting fabric.

The majority of the time I see men resolving this issue by rolling the cuff once as you see on the picture on the left, thus exposing the contrast but it doesn't secure the cuff in place very well at all. In the picture on the right you see what I consider the correct way to wear this type of shirt. It is easily achieved by rolling the cuff the first time more than the usual length of one cuff but at least a cuff and a half. The second roll, now is actually done not using the cuff, but part of the sleeve fabric to end up looking as you see above.

On the right you also see that this shirt has contrasting fabric on the inside placket which I prefer in a shirt. The man on the right added insult to injury in my opinion by wearing a white tee shirt underneath. If you feel uncomfortable due to excessive sweating I recommend a v-neck undershirt and making sure the shirt is buttoned enough to cover it.

You only get one opportunity at the right first impression don't miss it.

DETAILS

Life it seems...is in the details.

I've known this for a while. I learned it as a child of a Master Tailor and a Seamstress, in the care they put into their work. Reflected in every stitch was pride, giving, love, passion and this...this told me a lot about them as people. I wish I had learned it early on, as early as my first spoken words, so that I might have been able to verbally express my gratitude right there and then. Instead, I also learned that appreciation for the details wasn't merely a gift that could or should be handed over, if it were, I am sure my parents would have gladly given it to me. They gave me this gift just the same and perhaps, the way it is meant to be given...by living an exemplary life.

I watched with amazement as a bolt of cloth could turn into a garment. I watched the garment's worth "split" to bring pride to both to the maker and the wearer. As a child I strolled the boulevards of the seashore city of my birth, Tripoli,  I saw the joy in the wearer and his wife as they too strolled with a step that might have otherwise had a lesser bounce. This was infectious and it spread to everyone that came in contact with what was....a piece of cloth, some buttons and thread in the hands of those that gave me the gift of detail.

In my work today, as in my life, I try to instill that same detail which of course means so much more than one might think off at first glance... but then, life is in the details.