trend

One of the trends seen in many lines for Spring 2007 was the men's business suit with shorts, rather than pants. The Perry Ellis design, pictured, illustrates the idea. Designers love it and seem to be convinced that it is the wave of the future.

Not one to dash their hopes, but this is one trend that won't carry over once it is off the runway. Men don't want to wear them and the buyers for stores like Neiman Marcus and Saks know it; the suits are being passed over at almost every level. While the idea of being cool and comfortable in a professional environment is appealing, it doesn't seem like the business community is ready to embrace the business short look.

The two reasons that men can't wear the short suits are (1) a lack of appropriate footwear and (2) hairy legs.

• Did anyone else notice that the title character in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby wears a whole lot of Façonnable?
• I saw a 2007 Mercedes S 550 parked next to a Maybach 57 the other day at Ghost Bar and those two cars have quite a bit in common - the rear ends are almost (almost) identical.
• The men's fall shoe selection at Neiman's isn't really all too thrilling this year. No Tod's in anything but brown.
  

With celebs playing up dark-rimmed eyes with heavy lashes, it's not surprising to see false eyelashes more prominently displayed. The limited edition Fantasy Eyelashes from shu uemura are decorated with real feathers to give the wearer a very unique look. One pair is chocolate brown, with white speckles, and the other option is for jewel-toned blue, black and green lashes that are reminiscent of a peacock's feathers. Price: $50 each pair.

[via Flypaper]

Neiman Marcus has identified what they feel are the top ten fall trends in women's fashion. They stuck with broad categories, rather than picking individual items, so it's easy to pick out items that will fit in with the trends and your personal tastes. Of course, a top ten list isn't going to cover every single fashionable item (they're missing bows and animal prints, for example), but it's a good place to start. The list includes:

• Black/Gold Handbags
• Red Accents
• Belts
• Tunics
• White Shirts
• Skinny Pants
• Gold Jewelry - and lots of it
• Black Leggings
• Booties and Boots

The only real question here is why they don't offer the same type of list to men, too.

The pieces can cost hundreds of dollars, depending on the size and style desired. Styles include: "Yappy Hour," a cascade of curls; "Peek a Bow Wow," reminiscent of Veronica Lake; and "Rover R-r-r-rug," which give an appearance similar to bangs. All can be dyed to any color you (or your pooch) desire.

Vogue may have picked the Dandie Dinmont Terrier as the top dog for the summer, but celebrities and celeb-wannabes in Los Angeles all seem to be picking up Pit Bulls instead. Jamie Foxx has two and one even has a staring role on the TV show Veronica Mars. The dogs are being welcomed with open arms by the dog-loving community in the city, and registrations have doubled in the past few years. But unlike the toy dogs that can be simply tucked away in a bag if they misbehave, pit bulls require excellent training and many precautions in their care before they make safe pets - and hopefully the trendy pooch lovers will keep this in mind before getting their own.

The 20-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan thinks that the next hot celebrity trend is going to be tattoos -- as if plenty of celebrities don't have tattoos as it is -- and that they do not want to go to any old tattoo parlor to get theirs done. She is planning on opening a "classy, boutique-style" parlor of her own in Hollywood. Lohan's place will have a glass front, like a fashion shop, and will feature many of her own designs.

She also wants the shop and her designs to be a foundation for her own brand in the future.

We've mentioned before that taxidermy is a surprisingly popular trend among city-dwellers apparently so desperate for contact with nature that they're content to put dead animals in their apartments. Of course, some refrain from using real animals, but Kate Moss has just bought into the trend with the purchase of a £4,000 piece called "To Every Seed his own Body" from British taxidermist Polly Morgan. The piece has a blue tit (a small bird) lying apparently dead on top of a prayer book, all under glass. It appears that the piece also has a tiny chandelier inside that can be lit via a cord strung through the bottom of the case.

Socks are at the base of men's fashion and, for many years, they were an often-overlooked aspect of the wardrobe. More and more men are placing as much importance on their socks as on their ties in a change that makes sense, since socks have much more contact with your skin even if they're not as visible as a tie. V.K. Nagrani makes some of the finest men's socks you can buy, and the Dirt Dozen is the ultimate sock assortment. It contains a dozen pairs of unique socks and no assortment is ever the same. There are past and present collection socks as well as future prototypes. Nagrani markets it as a "starter set" for your feet, and once you've made the switch from cheap, mass-produced socks, it would be hard to go back. Price: $175.

While the iBar isn't something that many people are likely to have installed in their homes, it may just be the next big design trend for upscale eateries and nightclubs. iBar is an interactive surface system on which any visual content can be projected, including still images and videos. More interesting than that is the fact that the surface uses an intelligent tracking system to digitally keep track of objects on the bar and their position and movements can be tracked with colored lights. The virtual objects can even be interacted with, which would give bar patrons yet another way to entertain themselves.

[via MocoLoco]

Someone recently told me that leopard print is "ladylike" and never goes out of fashion. While I find that first point to be debatable, leopard print has a certain timeless appeal to it and it is definitely in style for this season. Prada's Leopard Platform Mary Janes are perhaps the ultimate application of leopard, mixing the conservative style of a classic Mary Jane shoe with a wild and slightly naughty animal-print calfskin. Of course, there is nothing conservative about these shoes, since they are stacked on a 4" heel. The shoes also feature gold leather trim and a golden buckle. Price: $695.

One of the best things about fall - aside from a change in brutally hot weather - is that it means it is once again acceptable to wear boots with most outfits. This year, the trend of wearing boots over jeans continues, so higher boots will be better options than low, ankle-type boots. Of course, a mid-calf boot is always a great height because it goes with both jeans and with skirts. The Chloe Paddington Prince Boots are a great choice for versatile fall boots. They are made of classic, textured black leather and given an edge with funky, wrapped straps. The recognizable Paddington buckles are adjustable, so the boots will fit perfectly on anyone, not to mention that with 4" heels, they'll make your legs look fantastic. Price: $885.

Some people take their pets everywhere and, while a few do it for the attention, others do it out of love or a slightly misplaced codependence. Whatever the reason, the presence of pets is becoming more socially acceptable and a few animals are even being given human resposibilities, like bearing the ring at the wedding of their owners. The practise is catching on quickly and pet boutique owners report that they are selling tuxedos, mini wedding dresses and veils at a brisk pace. This isn't the first time that a pet has played a part at a wedding - Adam Sandler's pooch Meatball was actually the ringbearer/best man at his nuptuals - but a fad is definitely on the upswing when it leaves the realm of celebrity quirk and moves on to be an accepted (and perhaps expected) wedding event.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a piece on how the Portuguese cork industry is keeping itself afloat as wine manufacturers increasingly turn to plastic stoppers and other alternative closures for their bottles. It seems that the manufacturers targeted companies that used eco-friendly production materials, from furniture makers to architects, promoting cork as a useful, under-utilized material. This led to cork floorings, couches and even wallpapers.

When fashion designers got wind of how versatile the tree bark was and how much less stiff it was than in the past, they began to incorporate it into their lines, adding novelty and an eco-friendly appeal. Instead of simply mimicking the time-honored trend of making cork heels, designers are now making cork clothing. The material, called "cork leather" or "cork fabric," is made of very thin, pliable cork, often coated with Scotchgard to protect it. It costs nearly half of what leather does, as well as offering a similar feel and longevity to the animal skin. It also can be machine washable.

Stuart Weitzman has natural cork pumps and DDC Lab features a cork leather jacket (pictured) for $2,400, as part of their fall lineup. As eco-consciousness is on the rise at the moment, it wouldn't be surprising to see more cork on the runway in the future.