Meet The Hilfigers

Though Tommy Hilfiger's last campaign has been out for quite some time, a recent close-up shot revealed a Duke University decal on one of the old cars in the campaign's video (00:30)

Meet the Hilfigers takes the Tommy brand into a "new direction while respecting the brand's aesthetic" Tommy tells Women's Wear Daily. I see it more like Tommy is finally getting onto the preppy resurgence bandwagon. What I like most about the campaign, is that Tommy isn't just rehashing the old Preppy look that Ralph Lauren has been regurgitating for years but rather has reinvented it. From what I can tell, he has brought elements present in Italian style and fused them with staples of the original Prep look (The model on the right literally looks as if he was hand-picked from the streets of Firenze during Pitti Uomo.

Post #100 - An Ebullient Duke Summer's Day

Browsing some of Duke University's vintage photo albums on Flicker proved incredibly rewarding when I stumbled upon this little gem of a picture. Taken in 1986 by then Duke student Mark Estrada , this B&W photo manages to encapsulate the things that make me love Duke as much as I do: the incredible architecture that gives the campus an aged and mysterious feel, the great weather of the south and the desire for learning and bettering one's self that I see in so many fellow "Dukies". If you never thought you could get a tan and catch up on your reading, all the while being part of an amazing campus, this here picture will prove you wrong. I have been saving it for a special occasion and I couldn't think of one that would be more fitting than celebrating the 100th post on this blog.

To Duke and to many many more posts to come; I thank y'all so much for reading and following!

Triangle of Fashion: Duke-UNC-NCSU

Rivalry is often the igniter of a social, cultural and most importantly educational perpetuum mobile, and few inter-university rivalries are as heated and spread as those between North Carolina's three best universities.

While still in its bud, rivalry in the realm of fashion is yet to unfold and each university has some assets that might help them gain the upper hand. UNC has its School of Journalism and a student body of more privileged origins, compared to NCSU, Duke has the most diverse body of students and plenty of material and intellectual resources.and NCSU has its feet anchored through their Schools of Fashion & Textiles Management and Design.

In terms of publications pertaining to fashion, NCSU is the only one so far that does not have (to the extent of my knowledge) a student-run Fashion Magazine. I've reviewed Duke's new publication DMAG (renamed DFaQ or Duke Fashion Quarterly as of recently) before and I would like to spend a few moments looking at UNC's own Fashion Magazine, Kaleidoscope.

From the two numbers that were available online I quickly gathered that this was a 99% for-girls-only magazine. Taking a peek at the staff roster that was available confirmed it (the only male involved with this creationary process was the photographer O_o)!

Fashion, at least in college, is a predominantly feminine issue/fancy and I could understand why the Kaleidoscope team chose to focus more on their female readers. This however, is completely antipodal to eliminating the male part all together. Even taking into consideration the fact that UNC's female population is slightly larger than its male counterpart does not explain this choice. I am by no means trying to disprove the magazine solely because it's written by Tar Heels and I am a Blue Devil, but I know quite a few UNC guys who would probably be interested in reading your magazine. The content in itself is quite nice and I commend you for your efforts, my only problem with it being as I stated, the unisexist approach.

Sadly even when a male was present at a photoshoot, the focus was clearly put on the girl. Honestly how can he show up in a fashion magazine wearing that!

Events to look out for if you're in the RDU/Triangle area are:

1. DFaQ's Launch Party at the Doris Duke Center on April 26th. Event details here

2. NCSU's "Art To Wear" Fashion Show, April 14th. Event details here.

Of Hate and Envy

What recently came up on my Facebook News Feed, via my fellow Dukie friend David O., was the following T-shirt, sold by our good old friends at Urban Outfitters.

As a good Dukie, my first reaction was that of outrage, however it soon subsided and rather turned into a feeling of glowing pride. What I realized was that if a Urban Outfitters' (*cough* Tar Heel *cough*) feelings of hatred and envy towards our University were so far entrenched that they felt the need to slap it on a t-shirt and sell it all over the nation in their stores, we should be proud of such an envy-inducing institution. I am not of course saying that we should all buy these t-shirts and wear them around, but that we should not see Urban Outfitters' decision to sell these T-shirts in a negative way. The T-shirt says Puke when it actually wants to  say Duke is better and therefore I hate it.

To all my Tarheel friends I ask you kindly not to purchase this item., which can be found here.

GO BLUE DEVILS !!!