Museum of Vancouver presents Fox, Fluevog & Friends: The story behind the shoes, May 14 to September 26, 2010 at 1100 Chestnut Street in Vanier Park. Opening Party on Thursday, May 13 at 7pm. Tickets available at www.museumofvancouver.ca.

Meet John Fluevog, Peter Fox and Ken Rice: friends, collaborators, trend-spotters, businessmen, and artists. MOV’s fashion retrospective explores the story behind their footwear companies, from their early days making the scene in 1970s Gastown to acclaim and powerful brand loyalty on an international scale.

“2010 marks the 40th Anniversary of John Fluevog Shoes and I’m thrilled and humbled that my work is being fêted in Vancouver, the city where it all began,” says John Fluevog of this feature exhibition.

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I guess being in the design industry, I tend to look at details more closely than the average person. I’m very responsive to packaging design, typography, colours & layout. Design is a big factor to my purchasing decisions only second to quality of course. It seems like the movement is towards stronger, bolder & cleaner lines using fonts that are less traditional and more modern. A lot of the changes have been moving from serif fonts to sans serif fonts. You’re probably wondering what serifs are?

In typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”. Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as “grotesque” (in German “grotesk”) or “Gothic,” and serif types as “Roman.”-Wikipedia

I’m sure many of you haven’t noticed but lately there have been many major company logo revamps… some of them for the better and some of them I’m not so sure about. Here are a few examples of branding revamps in the last few years. (Left-Originals | Right-Revamps)

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Here it is folks, Gaga’s new video for Bad Romance. In true Gaga form, it is full of strong imagery, fashion, sex, love, and everything in between.

If you have missed any of her live performances over the past 6 months, she is throwing in all the outfits from her most memorable performances including the MMVA spark bra, the SNL atom suit and the VMA blonde wig.

The video starts off with Gaga holding court with her subjects from what I am assuming is the Haus of Gaga. Cut to the start of the video in the Bath Haus of Gaga which I’m sure is a nod to gay life. She goes through so many version of her most memorable outfits over the past while, and even throws in a product shot of her new headphones. It’s a pretty strong video, with a pretty fierce middle when she rocking the McQueen shoes that we have all been gagging (no pun intended) about.

Funny enough, with all the ferocity in the video, my two favorite parts of it, where I think she looks the most stunning, is the closeup on the white background where she’s crying, and the mirror shot with the long blonde hair and black outfit.

Check out the video after the jump…

As the season changes from Summer to Fall, so does our footwear and various styles of boots are pulled out from behind the closet or new ones are purchased. In the past, men’s boots were usually limited to ankle height and either in a pull-on or a lace-up style, but in the last couple of seasons we’ve been seeing boot shafts rising from mid-calf, knee-high and even over the knee styles. Although the styles that go past mid-calf seem more feminine, I’ve seen a few guys actually pull off the look. The trick is to commit to it and wear clothing that go with the the overall feel of the footwear. Generally these boots are worn with slim leg jeans. You want your jeans to neatly tuck into your boots with as little bunching at the knee as possible. The boots featured are from Marc Jacobs, DSquared2 & Jean-Paul Gaultier. For the more budget-conscious shopper, similar styles can also be found at Zara, ALDO & John Fluevog. Here are a few example of the different style boots mentioned:

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So let’s talk shoes. They do make or break your outfit. There is a fine line between distressed & aged and dilapidated & gross, know when to throw out shoes. Because I love shoes, the second thing I look at after what type of clothes someone is wearing are their shoes. I don’t know how some people can live on 2 or 3 pairs of shoes but if you must it is always good to have at least 4 different types.

Fashion Runner

– This is the pair you should be wearing out if you don’t wanna go too dressy. A less ‘gym type’ runner from Diesel, Energie, Puma and others works well and can be dressed up or down with either a T shirt or a button up shirt with a pair of jeans. I’m a huge fan of hi-tops right now and my favourite pair to date are my burgundy patent Supra.

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So what do you have in your wardrobe? Do you have the basics? Too many trendy pieces will leave you feeling like you have nothing to wear. Specially when pieces are too identifiable. The key is to be able to mix and match and limit your patterns and prints. Here are the Top 10 things you should already have in your wardrobe before even thinking about trendier pieces.

Dark Denim
Typically this pair should have very little to no distressing and not too much details. A nice dark indigo or black pair goes a long way and can take you from day to night. Over processed jeans are out… yes that means you’re TRs should probably be given a rest.

What else should you have in your wardrobe? Find out on the second part of the post. Click on each thumbnail for a larger view.

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