STAMPING OUT SOCIAL NETWORKING

Writer: Paul Taylor

I have just received the third email of the day informing me that I have been super poked by one of my friends and it is only 10am. I stop what I am doing and immediately switch browser windows, open on my Facebook page, and look to see who it was. It was my friend James who is actually sitting at the other end of the room, when I look up he is smiling and waving in sarcastic excitement. I think it is fairly safe to say that social networking sites seem to have taken over people’s lives as the main form of communication between friends, relatives and even “friends” you have never met. People are finding themselves with bigger addictions than Amy Whinehouse as they communicate through sites such as Myspace, Bebo and Facebook, myself included.

POLAROID DAYS

Writer: Gracie Leavitt

Yesterday, with my precious $4.99, I defied common sense. Like our sage Simon Morgan, I find that frequenting thrift stores can have a calming effect, a restorative one-heck, in my book, a trip to the Salvation Army is as good as liturgy. Used to be I’d leave the local shop with bags full of fifties frocks and silky camisoles. Over time, though, my intemperance meant I never wore these fine things, and so I turned to the knickknacks, curios, and gadgets. Anyway, it’s in this aisle that the most offbeat regulars linger, and that’s a treat in itself.

On this occasion the gem was a Polaroid Sun 600 LMS, an instant camera several years older than I and purchased for mere dollars. The buy was economical enough, so where was my defiance? This past February, Polaroid announced that, after 60 years on the market, their instant film products would be discontinued. Really, then, I was acquiring a clock along with my camera-time was running out! I take it back. Though sentimentality did figure in here (the chunky Sun 600 had stolen my heart), there was no breach of common sense. My logic: it was not despite the discontinuance of the film that I took my camera home that day, but because of it. If I’d not been pining over Polaroid ever since I heard the news, most likely I’d have reminisced for a moment and then passed the gadget by. Now, instead, I was in a hurry to get my hands on the thing, stock up on film, and revel in depleting it in unison with all other lovers of the stuff.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Writer: Emilie Pratty

Do we really need a new chair? A new lamp? You’d expect a designer to say, “Why, of course! And let me draw you one!” Not so with 5.5 Designers, a collective design group of five graduates from the prestigious Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Art in Paris. What’s their answer? “Of course not! Give us what’s broke; we’ll fix it.”

Since 2003, they have been causing a stir in the landscape of consumer products. Vincent Baranger, Jean-Sébastien Blanc, Anthony Lebossé, David Lebreton, and Claire Renard scour our alleys and yard sales in order to return their found objects as unusual diversions from their original use.

MASCULINE MEN OR METROSEXUAL

Writer: Paul Taylor

In the last few years, modern men have become labeled with the tag metrosexual as they adopt beauty regimes that contain more products than a M.A.C. store counter display. I myself have tried to become one of these modern-day, metrosexual men who have helped the male beauty industry grow by over 30% in recent years. Throughout my metrosexual period, I’ve tried moisturising, favoured expensive hair salon experiences over backstreet barber shops, and even worn “guyliner”—all to be seen as “with it.” It is now coming to light, though, that women of the naughties are having a rethink and have decided that they want “real” men back in their lives. Even James Bond has forsaken us metrosexuals and ditched the smooth, polished look presented by Pierce Brosnan in favour of the raw, rugged, masculine image of Daniel Craig. Woman have decided that while they still want their men to take care of themselves, they shouldn’t show it and instead should present the image of masculine men who ooze testosterone and “real man” sexiness. So what does that mean for us metrosexual men who secretly enjoy our new, beautified lifestyles filled with manicures, facials, and that just-cut salon hairstyle?

Designer James Patmore realised the predicament metrosexual men are facing and set about designing a gentlemen’s dresser that could accommodate these new problems we modern men face. The Armadillo dressing table looks like a high-end work desk that transmits more masculinity than Popeye post-spinach. Wood strips housed upon a steel frame are at varying lengths, providing that rugged look, while sliding the strips reveals secret compartments to house male grooming products. Patmore’s Armadillo name was inspired by an advert he once saw as a kid, with the slogan, “crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, armadillo.” Patmore thought this slogan was ideal for playing with the stereotypes of masculinity.

ORGANIC MATERIAL

Writer: Melanie Kramers

It began with a leaf… in this case one that happened to resemble a shoe (at least, when seen from upside down). After noticing the likeness, New York-based artist-photographer Michel Tcherevkoff was inspired to design a “virtual collection” of footwear and handbags, taking pictures of carefully selected fresh plants and blooms at close range, then assembling imaginary accessories out of the images. The resulting creations, entitled Shoe Fleur, are now published by Welcome Books in a glossy volume, with an introduction from Diane Von Furstenberg.