Fat Tuesday is Fashion Tuesday Too!

Get out those Masks and Dresses! It began in Italy to celebrate the season of Lent, however today it is celebrated around the world. Whether it’s called Carnevale, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, it’s a great day to get dressed up, eat too much and have a blast. This weekend, my best friend living in Rome, Araceli, jumped on a train to Venice, where the Carnevale festivities began, and took some pictures for Fashionation readers to ooh and awe, get inspired and—as in my case—get a little jealous.

According to Araceli, the legendary sight included thousands of tourists artistically dressed and embracing overindulgence. It was about class and fashion, creative elegance and—my favorite—people roaming the canals half-naked. Check out the fashion below! Unfortunately we can only post photos featuring individuals in actual clothes. However, we agree that nakedness is a fashion statement too, which probably says, ‘You’ve had too much to drink, it’s time to go home.’

For more of Araceli’s endeavors, you can check out and 'Like' her RomeToday page on facebook.

Gilbert Zarate Jr. Printing ‘Sweet gzas’ Collection On American Apparel Tees

Its popularity rose in the United States during the 19th century when soldiers were given the garments during the Spanish-American war. T-shirts eventually caught on with skilled laborers and basically anybody challenging the heat. But hippies and tie-dyed t-shirts taught us that the garments are as much about comfort as they are about displaying important messages, political statements, and art. While some tees feature a favorite band or quirky slogans such as, “I Write about Fashion, Bitches!” the best t-shirts remain those that are not only comfortable and convey a message, but are real works of art. Sweet gzas (pronounced Sweet Jesus), the art alias and digital signature for an up-and-coming clothing line, is founded by Gilbert Zarate Jr., an award-winning graphic artist and illustrator from Brownsville, Texas.

A graphic artist for over 12 years, Zarate previously worked at the Brownsville Herald, the Express-News, and in advertising. He holds two Associated Press Sports Editors awards (APSE) and an Associated Press Managing Editor (APME) award for his visual journalistic work. Today, Zarate is the senior graphic designer at one of the top multicultural advertising firms in the nation, Interlex, headquartered in San Antonio. The source for Gilbert’s success, however, is his passion for art, which he’s pursued since childhood. “Since I was in junior high, I drew digital mazes, at home, in the classroom, everywhere, and then I began to see M.C. Escher, one of the first artists I was inspired by,” Zarate says. “His pencil drawings of varying shades and textures are incredible. He did a lot of mathematical patterns that were well drawn and penciled in—shaded but it’s almost like his drawings were computer generated before the computer was generated because he had fluid transitions and very intricate designs.”

Zarate is also a fan of Juxtapoz and Empty, two international magazines that taught him about the world for modern artists as the digital age has changed. Today, artists rely more on getting published than the more traditional gallery exposure at exhibits. “It got me thinking,” Zarate says, “my goal is to publish a book of my art work, sort of like how a writer looks to publish a novel.” Zarate is well on his way to achieving that goal. Based in Sydney, Australia, Semi-Permanent is a world-leading design conference (kind of like SXSW) that publishes a book each year featuring the best creative artwork in the industry, and in 2009 Zarate submitted his artwork for publication. He did not get selected.

However, in 2010, he got a call from Semi-Permanent and now his design, Monkeyboy, is published in Semi-Permanent’s 2010 1st Edition Art Book, which is a design you can buy in print and will soon be available on his t-shirts. “It was my proudest moment and makes me believe that I can publish and continue creating artwork,” Zarate says. It is his passion to share his art with the world that inspired Sweet gzas to produce their designs on comfortable American Apparel, 100% combed cotton tees. “My most popular designs are the ‘Jayberd’ and the ‘Elephant’, so I began by printing those on the t-shirts,” Zarate says.

The “Jayberd” and “Elephant” are also a little bit more “mainstream” fashion, a little less urban than some of Zarate’s other designs. A mom and/or the boy and girl next-door can wear them as well. If you’re more of an artist, check out his famous “Monkeyboy” design or one of his intricate, fully-functioning mazes by logging on to sweetgzas.com and make sure you check out the t-shirts — yours truly got to be a model for a day :) . Additionally, check out the designs that are going toward Zarate’s artbook at Behance Network.

Academy Awards Fashion Includes Nods to Starship Enterprise and Easter Bunny

Well, the results are in and the competition was tough. So tough it’s a three-way tie. The theme of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Red Carpet Show was Aliens, The Easter Bunny and Table Cloth. On February 27, 2011, Gwyneth Paltrow landed in Los Angeles, California from outer space, in a long silver space suit designed by Calvin Klein. When the hosts at E! News asked Paltrow who designed her dress, I was just glad she didn’t respond with, “Aliens,” because we all know how hard it is to get those celebrity red-carpet knock-offs for our own night-out-on-the-town. Dear God, Italy is far enough to go for a good imitation Versace gown. It’s good to know that while Calvin Klein may work for NASA he also works on planet earth.

Nicole Kidman claims to have arrived from Australia; however her strapless, form-fitting white evening gown was encrusted with moon dust and a V-neck. While designed by Christian Dior and for the red carpet, it was clearly a nod to the very first Star Trek. But the number one Starship Enterprise fact every Trekker and Vulcan should know is that V-necks are not for the waist or the red carpet, but rather, the neck, as its title clearly implies.

Cate Blanchett, while she did not arrive on the same space ship as Gwyneth Paltrow or Nicole Kidman, was still transported to the red carpet from the future—Easter. Probably inspired by the giant egg Lady Gaga wore at the Grammy’s earlier this year, Blanchett’s Givenchy Couture was a tribute to Peter Rabbit as it included a violet purple rabbit hole on her chest, punctuated by yellow M&Ms across her back, so that kids everywhere—from outer space as well as the planet earth—could find her while on an Easter Egg hunt. To respect the Easter Spring theme, Hillary Swank showed up as Big Bird in the color gray. Her Gucci Premiere Couture gown was donned with feathers around her legs, ankles, and nowhere else. Perhaps Big Bird sheds during this time of year instead, I don’t know. You’d need to get with Gucci for further details.

There were a couple of stars who did not hail from outer space or the future this evening, but rather the present as they were spotted rummaging through my dining room earlier today. Scarlett Johansson’s lacy, flowered see-through Dolce & Gabbana gown is a memoriam to my great-grandmother’s nineteenth-century table cloth—before it was dipped in the color fuchsia. I couldn’t have picked a more beautiful girl than Johansson to carry on my great-grandmother’s memory, except for Natalie Portman, who was wearing purple tassels from the holiday curtains that go with the table cloth. Portman swears that the earrings are from Tiffany & Co, but since diamonds remain to be seen on her ears I’m going to have to call bull-shit on that one. Sorry Natalie.

Those were the highlights of this year’s 83rd Annual Academy Awards Red Carpet Show. Looking forward to next year!

The above photo attributed to Roobee’s Photostream. Check out more of the above mentioned red carpet fashion at Flickr.

How The Devil Wears Prada Brought Fashion to the Rest of Us

In 2006, David Frankel directed The Devil Wears Prada, a film that coincidentally became an overnight success. Based on the 2003 New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Lauren Weisberger—arguably one of the best representations of the Chick-Lit genre—the film became a smash hit for a variety of reasons, but one in particular: it finally explained fashion to the rest of us, those outside the elaborate and expensive fantasy, while also inviting us to participate. Not only did Andrea Sachs evolve from the ignorant and unresourceful bystander to Fifth-Avenue fashionista, so did we. The storyline also portrayed two opposing males juxtaposed to Andrea’s world, pulling in our boyfriends, who noticeably began wearing darker fitted jeans, sexier cologne, and tight Calvin Klein underwear like the hot Christian (played by Simon Baker) probably wore once he took off that tiny towel, the morning after.

Before The Devil Wears Prada, fashion might have been synonymous with words like pretentiousness and snobbery, as it was often referred to in eccentric intangibles only an elite group of individuals— rich people—could understand and afford. Now, we all have joined the spectator sport—just Google “fashion over the centuries” or Coco Chanel and you’ll find terms like “modernist philosophy”, Art Noveau and the Victorian Era, while becoming overwhelmed with the history of movements occurring across the globe in urban areas like London, Vienna and New York City. Labels like vintage, and contemporary sums up progressive, and sometimes oppressive, sweeping moments in history, that included Expressionism, Cubism, our dear friend Picasso, World Wars I, and II.

While a few years old now, I mention this film because there were two really great monologues in The Devil Wears Prada that I often think about when referring to and trying to understand this crazy world of postmodern-day fashion. Unfortunately, sometimes these two monologues put me in a humble place and make me think about when I naively moved to Italy—Prada’s heartland—in 2003, and picked up Lauren Weisberger’s book, before it was a famous film. While I was trying to figure out how to live simply and buy affordable meals day-to-day to make my dreams of living in Europe my reality, these monologues made me think about a certain heir that I went to school with who bought a Prada skirts for 600 Euros. How could I be in classes with these people who are not in my class—totally déclassé I wondered? I hated them, and yet, I still wanted a 600 Euro Prada skirt too! Alas, I am only human. Have a look:


Fashion, while it has been here for centuries has finally arrived for the rest of us and we should aim to understand what Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci) meant with their monologues. Fashion today is absolutely created by “some of the greatest artists of the century,” as Nigel states, however, unlike centuries before, the great artists of our century are including the rest of us as their art can be purchased anywhere from designer boutiques down to the local “Casual Corner,” as Miranda Priestly states, or even online. Similarly, today fashion designers, and great artists are aspiring, friends-next-door, or even wordsmiths—as we often see T-shirts with catchy backwards slogans meant to be read in the mirror.

In the coming weeks we’ll hear from some of these friends-next-door like Gilbert Zarate Jr., a local graphic designer turned artist who’s featuring his own designs on American Apparel Tees, and Jonathan de la Garza, a successful broker/realtor whose Positive Pins are showing up on CEOs around town.

Photo by: Vancity Allie