Sunday, March 22, 2009

Moustache


Shaving with stone razors was technologically possible from Neolithic times but the oldest portrait showing a shaved man with a moustache is a Scythian horseman from 300 BC.
In more modern history, moustaches have been worn by military men. The number of nations, regiments and ranks were equalled only by the number of styles and variations. Generally, the younger men and lower ranks wore the smaller and less elaborate moustaches. As a man advanced in rank, his moustache would become thicker and bushier, until he was permitted to wear a full beard.
In Western cultures women generally avoid the growth of facial hair; though many are capable, the majority of these women would use some form of depilation to remove it. However some women choose to embrace this growth, often in the form of thin moustaches. The artist Frida Kahlo famously depicted herself with both a moustache and a unibrow. This tradition is followed by some contemporary women in the arts.
An English moustache was formerly used in melodramas, movies and comic books as a shorthand indication of villainy. Snidely Whiplash, for example, was characterized by his moustache and his cape.

SKYY vodka


SKYY vodka is produced by SKYY Spirits LLC in San Francisco, California. SKYY Vodka is 40% ABV or 80 proof; SKYY 90 Vodka is a 90 proof high-priced brand aimed at martini drinkers. When SKYY Spirits LLC first launched in 1992 SKYY vodka was its first product; its creator, Maurice Kanbar, claims the vodka is nearly congener-free due to its unique distillation process. The distinctive bottle is a cobalt blue with a plastic label. In 2008, SKYY launched a series of five new flavor brands, named SKYY Infusions.

Diesel denim


The company was founded by Renzo Rosso and his former boss Adriano Goldschmied of the AG Jeans company, in 1978. Diesel's milestone years include 1985 (Renzo's complete acquisition of the company), 1988 the hiring straight out of fashion college of current head designer and Creative Director Wilbert Das, 1991 (beginning of the international marketing strategy) and 1996 (opening of Diesel's first flagship store on New York City's Lexington Avenue). In February 2007, the company launched a major intimates and beachwear division for men and women that is carried in the retail and department stores. Diesel Black Gold was announced in November 2007.

Leather jacket


The leather jacket has often been associated with bikers, military aviators, rock stars, punks, goths, metalheads, and police, who have worn versions designed for protective purposes and occasionally for their potentially intimidating appearance.
In the 20th century the leather jacket achieved iconic status, in major part through film. Examples include Marlon Brando's Johnny Strabler character in The Wild One (1953), Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale in The Avengers, and Michael Pare in Eddie and the Cruisers (1983). As such, these all served to popularize leather jackets in American and British youth from the "greaser" subculture in the 1950s and early 1960s. A later depiction of this style of jacket and time was "The Fonz" in the television series "Happy Days" which was produced in the 1970s and 1980s but depicted life in the 1950s and 1960s. The Fonz's leather jacket is now housed in the Smithsonian Institution, and the Grease movie duo has also since popularized leather jackets with their T-Birds male clique. Back then a leather jacket would have cost between $7 to $20 which was expensive considering the time.
Most leather jackets are producing in Italy and Sialkot Pakistan. The leather jackets worn by aviators and members of the military were brown and frequently called "Bomber jackets" as seen on numerous stars in the 1940s and 1950s such as Jimmy Stewart in the 1957 film, Night Passage. The brown leather jacket has been a de rigueur part of the wardrobe of a Hollywood adventurer, from Gary Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls to Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones film series. While the black leather jacket fad ended in the early 1960s, bomber jackets, often with sheepskin collars, have remained popular. They can be seen in the 1986 film, Top Gun.

Sixpence


In British popular culture the flat cap has been associated with older working class men, especially those in northern England, as personified by Fred Dibnah and comic strip anti-hero Andy Capp. The strong working-class connection of the flat cap has and the East End of London has depicted by EastEnders' Jim Branning and Only Fools and Horses' Del-Boy Trotter. The popularity of the flat hat also remains strong with fans of English country clothing, rural and agricultural workers, the country set or those who simply find them practical, though it tends to be associated with an older generation of wearers. The English Royal and Heir Apparent, His Royal Highness Prince Charles is often photographed in a tweed or tartan flat cap at his various country residences. Taxicab and bus drivers are often depicted wearing a flat cap, as comedically portrayed by Norman Hale and Gareth Pace's (Hale and Pace) "London cabbies" sketches. The flat cap defines the 'Alex Wooldridge Smith' image in the East Midlands region.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Tattoos


Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. The symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures. Tattoos may show how a person feels about a relative (commonly mother/father or daughter/son) or about an unrelated person.
Today, people choose to be tattooed for cosmetic, sentimental/memorial, religious, and magical reasons, and to symbolize their belonging to or identification with particular groups, including criminal gangs, but also a particular ethnic group or law-abiding subculture. Some Māori still choose to wear intricate moko on their faces. In Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, the yantra tattoo is used for protection against evil and to increase luck. In the Philippines certain tribal groups believe that tattoos have magical qualities, and help to protect their bearers. Most traditional tattooing in the Philippines is related to the bearer's accomplishments in life or rank in the tribe.

Adidas Superstar


When the shoe was introduced, it was the first low-top basketball shoe to feature an all-leather upper and the now famous rubber shelltoe. The shoe caught the attention of some of the best players from the NCAA and NBA, most notably, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, with its rubber toe protection and non-marking sole. Within the first few years of its introduction, it was being worn by over 75% of all NBA players proof of its revolutionary technology which remains relevant today. Over the course of the next few years it would advance from the court to the sidewalk and, consequently, further into the public's consciousness.
In 1983, straight out of Hollis, Queens, came Run-D.M.C. a rap group that refused to conform to pop standards, and decided that they would dress on stage, the way they would dress on the streets. The trio was most notable for wearing the Superstars without any laces and pushing the tongue of the shoe out, imitating the fashion inside a prison. The Superstar received a lot of promotion from the rap group as they went out on tours across the US, increasing adidas' sales on the Superstar shoe. Responding to a anti-sneaker rap song by Jerrald Deas called "Felon Sneakers", the trio released a song of their own called "My adidas" in 1986. The song paid tribute to the Superstar shoe, and attempted to flip the stereotype of the b-boy. adidas eventually signed a deal with the rap group for 1 million dollars after realising how much promotion their product received from the trio. The deal made between Run-D.M.C. and adidas was the first endorsement deal between hip-hop artists and a major corporation, and a Run-D.M.C. line of clothing from adidas was subsequently released.
No longer a performance basketball shoe, the Superstar has become part of popular fashion culture and have become popular as casual footwear due to its all leather upper and wide variety of styles and colors. The Superstars, like the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, easily made the transition from the basketball court to street as it was sported by hip-hop aficionados. In the late 1980s, b-boys wore the shoes with extra thick laces called "fat laces", usually matching the colour of the laces with the colour of the three stripes on their shoe.
The Superstars are now being sold in adidas stores, with brand new colorways and designs that are tailored to the different NBA teams.