Saturday, October 24, 2015

Britney Spears’s “Overprotected” Music Video Brings The Flawless Fashion



When you hear the words “Britney,” “Spears,” “music,” “video,” and “outfit,” what’s the very first image that pops into your mind? Is it the Catholic schoolgirl uniform? The red latex catsuit? The flight attendant costume? The pink bikini and low rise jeans? The white turtleneck crop top? I totally support any of those answers. Every last one of those ensembles is totally iconic, totally stunning, totally life-changing, etcetera. But let us not forget about a certain underrated denim ensemble. The all-jean getup that should not be slept on for a second. And no, I do not mean that all-jean getup. I am talking about the embellished denim two-piece worn by Godney in the original “Overprotected” music video.

In April of 2002, the music video for the non-remixed version of "Overprotected" was released in the U.S. The Brian Friedman-choreographed, Bille Woodruff-directed clip is peak Danceney: Spears shimmies, chaines, stomps, arm dances, and body rolls all over the empty warehouse where "Overprotected" was filmed. This video also happens to be peak Outfitney: "Overprotected" features some of my very favorite Britney Spears music video looks (the denim two-piece is just the tip of the early '00s iceberg).

This Entire Outfit

Go ahead and take a moment to bask in this outfit's glory. You may say this is an embarrassment of denim riches, but I would have to disagree. It's just the right amount of denim riches. This is a perfect outfit. I've only just begun singing its praises.

First Of All, The Sleeves

Oh, what have we here? Sleeves made up of studded patchwork denim? We are not worthy.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Fashion, Finance And Coco Chanel

It would be easy to think that with all the crises in the world today – economic stagnation, wars with ISIS, refugees from Syria to name three – that there’d be some diminished enthusiasm over the just-ended Fashion Week in Paris. But you’d be wrong on two counts.


First, there’s the French attitude towards fashion and beauty, succinctly put by Gertrude Stein in her seminal work, Paris France, published on the eve of World War 2, when she resided here with such other artistic ex-pats as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Note: the punctuation below is famously Stein’s)…

Leading Export

And so it is interesting to note that the person whose shows are the most coveted, whose fashion leadership is alive and well today is someone who has been dead since January 10, 1971: Coco Chanel. Not to disparage 77-year-old Karl Lagerfeld whose helmsmanship rescued the line from becoming moribund when he took over the reins in 1983; but it was Chanel who led the revolution and set the groundwork for the modern woman. She did it by creating the “look” for her own life…and it is a life worth examining.