Monday 27 June 2011

Fashion as Sadism: Men's Fashion Weeks

IN THIS SLIDESHOW, the Daily Telegraph picks out the runway looks that best incarnated the French saying, "Il faut souffrir pour ĂȘtre belle." — "To be beautiful one must suffer.":

"Bizarre trends from men's fashion week, spring/summer 2012" [Daily Telegraph], Photos from various agencies (June 24, 2011)

It seems far too early for Spring/Summer 2012 fashion weeks; in fact these are only for men's apparel. The outfits here — some of which are fairly conventional for the extreme aesthetic of the catwalk and some of which, like the giant green egg in the first slide, verge on the extraterrestrial — appeared in the Paris and Milan showings.

Mythdusters: The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus

IN HONOUR of Seven Sleepers' Day, observed today here in Germany: The day itself is founded on the old Catholic myth of the sleepers at Ephesus and like a religious Groundhog Day it is traditionally considered as a harbinger of the weather for the following seven weeks:


Cave of the Seven Sleepers, Turkey (1987)
by user Kpisimon, via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 3 Unported License)

TO BE honest, I'm fond of the tale in a secular way because I'm very fond of sleeping, especially at epic lengths if there are no particular responsibilities to fulfill and therefore relaxing is in order.