Happy Gay Pride / 2015 / Toronto
John B. Aird Gallery
QUEER Landscapes QUEER Journeys:
Reflections of LGBTQ Rights and Struggles in Ontario Today
Great group show overall.
Highlighted here, for obvious reason (KEN)
The Ken’s are mine, the Ken images by WALTER SEGERS / PHOTGRAPHER
(better close-ups when Wally returns from holidays…)
for more Wally:
http://waltersegers.com/home.html
the John B. Aird Gallery:
http://airdgallery.org/
Attacked from all sides by a surge of competitors, how is the 161-year-old pioneer of blue jeans reasserting itself?
By Vikram Alexei Kansara
February 13, 2015 10:18
SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Levi’s is the world’s oldest and largest denim brand. The family-owned blue jeans pioneer — founded in 1853 and adopted by everyone from miners, cowboys and railroad workers to greasers, rockers and hippies — has long been linked to a potent blend of democratic, rebel-infused Americana. Bruce Springsteen wore a pair of classic Levi’s 501s on the cover of his album “Born in the USA.”
But despite its powerful brand story, Levi’s hit its commercial peak back in the 1990s. In 1996, annual sales at parent company Levi Strauss & Co. (the Levi’s brand accounts for over 80 percent of the company’s total sales) reached $7.1 billion. By 2003, however, revenues had fallen to $4.2 billion and, over the next decade, barely grew as Levi’s saw its core business attacked from all sides by a surge of competitors. Fast-fashion retailers and other value players, offering very low prices, took the bottom off the business, while new premium denim specialists targeted the top.
“There are more denim brands born this century than in the previous 104 years,” said James Curleigh (or “JC”), global president of the Levi’s brand, sitting in a conference room at the company’s San Francisco headquarters. “All of a sudden, we get attacked by premium. All of a sudden, value and own-label and fast fashion come and try to take a piece of the business. Traditional competitors, like Wrangler and Lee, also wake up to a moment of denim growth,” he continued. “So, you’re getting attacked by premium, value, traditional and fast fashion.”
While years of ubiquity had eroded much of the aspiration around the Levi’s brand, the denim maker remained much loved. “We have the highest awareness and the highest affinity of any apparel brand in the world. People know Levi’s and they love us,” said Curleigh. But weighed down by a mix of poor management and a design vision too closely tethered to the company’s heritage, Levi’s was slow to introduce new cuts, colours and fabrics and ultimately failed to translate affection for its brand into sales.
“Because you’re the leader, I think it’s natural, at first, to not be reactive and say, ‘We’re the original. We’re just going to stick with what we’re doing.’ Whereas everybody else is going, ‘Ok, I’m going to do these funky new washes, I’m gonna try use super-stretch fabrics, I’m going to offer different cuts of denim,’” said Jonathan Cheung, senior vice president of design, who joined the brand in 2009. “It’s been a big challenge for Levi’s.”
The company has since regained some ground. In 2014, revenues hit $4.7 billion, growing for the second consecutive year. But Levi’s must contend with a denim market that is not only crowded and competitive, but facing softening consumer demand in key geographies.
The global market for jeans is forecast to maintain its steady expansion and will hit $115 billion in total retail value by the end of 2015, according to Euromonitor International, a London-based market intelligence firm. But, in August 2014, American market research company NPD Group reported a drop of 6 percent, year-on-year, in overall denim sales in the US, Levi’s most important market, prompting headlines like “America’s Fading Love Affair with Denim” and “Denim is in Real Danger of Going Out of Fashion.”
So how is the 161-year-old denim pioneer reasserting itself?
Protecting the Core
“There are three components to the strategy,” explained Curleigh, who joined Levi’s in 2012 to help drive the company’s renewal efforts. “We are the worldwide leader in denim — and that’s men’s and women’s — so how do we make sure we protect that? A lot of brands take it for granted and chase something else, but then they look back at their core and go, ‘What happened?’ Protecting our profitable core is the number one priority. Our profitable core is the US market…. The 501 is our profitable core.”
Indeed, building on the brand’s classic 501 franchise — “one of the iconic products for which we’ve been known and loved for over 140 years” — is a key part of their strategy. “The biggest shift in the denim today, I would say, is the return to authenticity,” said Cheung. “I think there is a swing away from alternatives to a regular pair of jeans back to a regular pair of jeans. People want something with meaning.”
Capitalising on the recent resurgence of the classic, straight-leg, high-waisted 501 style — last fashionable in the 1990s — the company recently launched a tapered version of the jeans, called Levi’s 501 CT (which stands for customised and tapered). “501 CT started off as a conversation between myself and Karyn Hillman [Levi’s chief product officer] and how we wore our 501s. We’d go to the store, bump into people and discover popular alterations,” explained Cheung. “For years, people have taken the iconic 501 and customised them by getting on a sewing machine and giving the legs a little taper. With the 501 CT, we’ve done that work for you.”
Not Just Jeans
Secondly, Levi’s aims to redefine itself as a true lifestyle brand, not just a jeans maker. According to Curleigh, about 80 percent of Levi’s sales currently come from denim pants, but the company is expanding its presence in a range of other product categories. “The average consumer’s closet is composed of around 7 to 8 percent denim, if you could just snapshot the value,” said Curleigh. “That means by definition that more than 90 percent is not denim. So, what are the logical Levi’s extensions?”
The company is targeting items that connect to its brand heritage, like trucker jackets and t-shirts. “The trucker jacket is one of the most iconic pieces from Levi’s that we could leverage more,” said Curleigh. “The t-shirt. These are things we can go after.” The brand is also focused on underwear, socks, footwear and belts. “We are the worldwide leader in branded belts, but nobody knows that. Belts connect to our jeans.”
“Our marketing is imaged around lifestyle and not just jeans,” Curleigh continued. “Think about the greatest apparel brands on earth. Nike was designed to go faster around a track. Northface was designed to withstand extreme temperatures at 20,000 feet. But they are now ubiquitous in any urban environment. We need to make sure that Levi’s plays a legitimate role in lifestyle choice anywhere. Than means moving from a brand of jeans to a lifestyle brand in jeans-wear.”
Tapping Women’s
A stone’s throw from the company’s headquarters, along the Embarcadero waterfront facing the San Francisco Bay, a steady stream of women in “athleisure” looks are a reminder of another challenge facing Levi’s: not just the rise of leggings and yoga pants — increasingly integrated into daily attire and often called “the new denim” — but the women’s market in general, in which the brand is underpenetrated.
“Men’s is about 75 percent to women’s 25 percent [of the business],” said Curleigh. “There’s opportunity in our gender balance and we’re going to give a big surge on women’s in the second half of the year.”
Though details are still under wraps, “what you can expect from us is simpler choice with more compelling solutions around fit, around shaping, around styling, around trend,” revealed Curleigh. “We’re also taking advantage of modern day materials and you’re going to see a few unexpected things around premium and around collaborations. It’s a complete relook at our women’s business.”
“Women’s jeans presents an underexploited opportunity for Levi’s following the success of Curve ID and Revel,” said Magdalena Kondej, head of apparel and footwear research at Euromonitor, referring to two ranges of figure-enhancing jeans for women.
“One route could be through further targeted products, moving beyond figure-flattering styles. For example, VF Corp’s Wrangler brand launched its Denim Spa collection in 2012, which incorporates moisturising and cellulite-reducing treatments,” she continued. “Alternatively, Levi’s could align its ranges to fashion trends. Capitalising on the on-going demand for coloured, printed and textured denim could keep consumers engaged.”
As for the rise of activewear, Curleigh is unfazed. “There’s not one female consumer in the world that I know of who woke up one day and said, ‘It’s about athleisure; all my jeans are gone and I’m going into black yoga pants.’ It’s about having both. What is the modern day woman looking for? Casualisation is part of her mindset, as well as comfort and contemporary style. And versatility. Something that is not one dimensional,” he continued. “Denim is ten times the size of black leggings. And the innovation of denim can continue to be casual, more comfortable in terms of stretch and fit, and deliver contemporary style,” he added.
“Jeans are not just for heritage and authenticity. They’re for purposeful intentions. It’s about lifestyle that meets with innovation.”
Acting Like a Start-up
To put the strategy into practice, Curleigh wants Levi’s to act like “a 160-year-old start-up. We’ve got scale, heritage, authenticity, awareness and global reach. But if you’re a multi-billion dollar company that’s existed for over 100 years, you wish you had agility, focus, innovation and optimism that the future will be better than the past,” he said.
“We’re innovating sustainable solutions. We’re looking into performance denim. We’re exploring craftsmanship; attention to the tailoring details. We’re innovating style solutions off our Eureka platform, which is what a start-up would do,” said Curleigh, referring to the company’s Eureka Innovation Lab, which opened at the base of Telegraph Hill, a few blocks from the company’s main office, in 2013 and houses about 30 technicians, some of whose arms have turned blue from working with the indigo used to dye blue jeans. (Levi’s previous innovation center was located in Corlu, Turkey, thousands of miles away from the company’s headquarters, making it slow and costly for the design team to develop prototypes).
“At Eureka, we are developing rapid prototypes, which really propels the development of a product,” explained Cheung. Eureka can turn out about 30 prototypes per week. Products that have been prototyped in the lab include the company’s successful Revel jeans, which use “liquid shaping technology” to better adjust to a woman’s body shape, as well as its Commuter series: denim designed for bike commuters with a metallic finish that looks normal during the day but lights up to ensure a biker can be easily seen at night when hit with the beams of a car’s headlights. The new 501 CT was also a product of Eureka. “There have been quite a few prototypes, but the 501 CT was a singularly big idea,” explained Cheung.
“Product innovation is one of the key strategies adopted by Levi Strauss to limit further share loss to both fast fashion and premium brands,” said Kondej. “These initiatives give Levi Strauss a significant advantage over its rivals, provide a differentiation point particularly at the mass-market level and allow to protect the brand from excessive discounting.”
Yet it’s much too early to say whether Levi’s can successfully recapture what Curleigh calls “denim leadership and beyond.” Yesterday, Levi Strauss & Co. reported that fourth-quarter revenues for 2014 grew ten percent (excluding currency fluctuations), but about two-thirds of the lift reflected Black Friday sales week, which, due to the timing of the company’s fiscal year, was an additional week in the company’s fourth fiscal quarter compared to the prior year.
“I think in the end, as with all good evolutions of a category, there will be fewer competitors. We’re going to see a clean-up of the denim market,” predicted Curleigh, who sees Levi’s, with its blend of brand heritage and product innovation, as well positioned to capitalise. “We’re confident that we are on a journey of market share growth and business growth.”
http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/inside-levis-comeback-plans
Boys were the first people to wear shorts at all, so your idea of ‘appropriate’ masculine needs to be discarded like last season’s ugly cargo shorts
Zach Stafford
Sunday 7 June 2015 13.30 BST
I was walking down the street the other day when two men in a car came to a screeching stop just to yell at me. And while usually I welcome anytime I can stop traffic and even love a good catcall – and will respectfully deliver one back to a man– this time, it wasn’t particularly flattering
“Boys shouldn’t wear short-shorts! No!” one of the men screamed.
My first thought was: These aren’t even my short ones!
Since then, I’ve been yelled at a few more times about my shorts, most recently by a woman in a passenger seat of a van who angrily called my khaki shorts “hot pants”. (I couldn’t tell if her anger was at the shorts or because I had jaywalked.)
Celebrity stylist Aaron Gray – who was recently anointed the “gay bestie” to Real Housewives of Atlanta star Nene Leakes – told me that he has experienced street harassment for as long as he can remember. “I once had a man throw a glass bottle at me – not because I was wearing short-shorts, but because my legs looked too feminine in them and he thought I was a girl,” he said.
“Which says more about him and the issues he had with sexuality,” he continued.
I have a feeling that the nastiness will only continue for me as the summer gets warmer, because I love short-shorts, and other people seem to get quite hot under the collar when they see me in them.
But why are people so angry about my short-shorts when there are plenty of men around in outfits that are legitimate eyesores? Perhaps they’re just afraid of what my ability to blithely wear them says about what’s supposedly too “girly” for men to do. Because, in a world in which the male body is currently being celebrated in so many forms – guys are now being applauded for “Dad Bod” (which gay men have long known as “bears”) – showing a little leg shouldn’t get anyone admonished from on the street, especially when it’s not as though I invented short-shorts.
In early 20th century, shorts emerged exclusively as attire for boys: boys in “short trousers”, instead of knickerbockers, began appearing in photos in the 1920s. Back then, when boys reached the age of 13, they transitioned into pants as sign of maturity. By the 1930’s, shorts became something everyone could wear for casual comfort – women included – and for very specific events.
But there wasn’t an explosion of men’s short-shorts until the 1960s – when they were popularized by the short-shorts of basketball uniforms, with three-inch [7.6cm] inseams. Basketball shorts (and men’s shorts) stayed short until the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan requested otherwise in the 1980s: he requested that the Bull’s manufacturer, Champion, drop his inseam because he had a habit of tugging on his shorts while playing defense. Other basketball players followed suit and, today, we commonly see basketball shorts four inches [10cm] below the knee (or lower).
And as basketball shorts got longer, so did those in society at large: the 1980s prep-style mirrored the shorts of 1950s tennis courts; once the 1990s hit, those hemlines dropped. Images of skateboarders and rappers in baggy shorts – cargo shorts even – dominated the media until last year.
Last year, the hemline of shorts began to rise above the knee and flirt with the male “private parts”: immediately anti-men’s shorts sentiments exploded across the internet debating whether men should wear short-shorts, or even shorts at all. Even famed photographer Annie Lebowitz chimed in and said that men in shorts were “repulsive”, and that shorts made men look like children, harkening back to the origins of the apparel.
Their hate couldn’t stop us short-shorts lovers. But I wanted to understand why they felt it.
“I never thought about it until this interview,” Miss J Alexander told me when I asked him how short is too short for shorts. “How short is the short-short?”
Alexander, who came to fame as a runway coach and judge on the television show America’s Next Top Model and coached the likes of supermodel Naomi Campbell, is known for showing off his own incredible set of legs.
“Short-shorts for the city? Perhaps no,” he continued – echoing comments made by Tom Ford in a 2011 interview. “But short-shorts for the country side or Fire Island? Yes! Yes!”
Alexander noted that he will regularly “serve a pair of legs” in shorts, but has never had someone yell at him on the streets about it – but thinks that the lack of harassment might have to do with the “shock” of seeing someone 6’5” [1.96m] walking down the street so unapologetically.
When I asked him why someone would feel so uncomfortable that they would yell at me about my shorts, he told me that maybe it’s a “gender thing.” “Women in mini skirts and daisy dukes are the norm in society through the eyes of men, but a man wearing shorts shocks men.”
Like Alexander, celebrity stylist Gray thinks any backlash against men’s short-shorts is really about gender and even anxiety around the accuser’s sexuality.
“The idea that men should only wear pants is such a rigid and old-fashioned way of thinking,” Gray told me. “Which is why I think it’s so important that we have this new generation of creative thinkers in the public eye like Jaden Smith, and even Kanye West to some extent, who seek to challenge the norm and step outside of the boxes they’ve been forced into.”
Men are stepping out of their gendered fashion box more than ever – and doing so in ways that are even more dramatic than wearing shorts with a three-inch [7.6cm] inseam. But even celebrities like West and Smith have faced backlash for playing with gendered dress expectations because doing so is scary to many men who cling to traditional tropes of masculinity. It’s maybe even scarier when heterosexual men do it than when men like Alexander, Gray or I go against gender rules – but all of us are starting to reimagine what being a man actually means. Me doing something “feminine” is a threat because it challenges old ideas of what it means to be a man – ideas that need to be challenged, if not discarded like last season’s ugly, outdated cargo shorts.
In the end, I showed Alexander a picture of myself in the shorts I wore that caused a stir. “You have a healthy ass and a pair of thighs to fill out a pair of shorts and give them an extra fit,” he said. “And that perhaps can be a visual threat.”
If my ass can threaten outdated ideas of masculinity, then prepare yourselves for a long summer, sexists: I’m wearing my short-shorts everywhere. Including to a city near you.
It is time to fight back, brothers. Make like Pharrell and bare your knees with pride
Joe Stone
Wednesday 22 April 2015 14.28 BST
Tom Ford may be a branding genius but he is not always a brilliant source of life advice – this is a man who has four baths a day and doesn’t know his own phone number. His rules include the edict that men “should never wear shorts in the city”, and where popular opinion is concerned, that is an argument he seems to be winning.
I should know. I’ve been wearing shorts all month – and the reaction I get is so weird that persevering with them has started to feel like a political act. when I enter the office, female colleagues feel impelled to exclaim, “Ooh, you’ve got your legs out!” as if I’ve come in a Peppa Pig costume, rather than simply dressed weather appropriately. Outside of work, friends have been catcalled for baring their knees. It’s as though wearing what are essentially just shorter trousers is an affront to traditional masculinity. The reasoning seems to be that shorts are childish or not formal enough. Even designer Raf Simons – a man who knows a thing or two about elegant dressing – has had his shorts treated as breaking news; when he wore them during recent documentary Dior and I, the fact that his legs were visible was described by the film’s director as a psychological “turning point”.
But since when did being uncomfortably hot equal looking masculine? Imagine if people began declaring that women should wear bobble hats in summer, or they would look like idiots – this is the kind of rubbish we are dealing with. It’s also symptomatic of a much wider problem in men’s fashion, which is that it is either treated as a comic curiosity or something that must be handled with extreme dexterity otherwise you can be publicly shamed.
So, I say, fight back. It’s time to end this tyranny, and accept that man cannot live on trousers alone (especially during the forecasted heatwave). I hereby declare short season officially open.
Thankfully, renegades such as Pharrell Williams are doing noble work to spread acceptance of short-wearing men. He memorably catapulted the formal short to prominence last year, wearing a tuxedo jacket with Lanvin shorts to the Oscars, and a similar Adidas short-suit to this year’s Grammys. Nicknamed the king of men’s street style, Nickelson Wooster is another high-profile shorts advocate, looking neither childish nor unmanly in his trademark collection (the stern expression helps).
On the catwalks
The spring/summer 2015 men’s collections were awash with shorts, from military inspired short-suits at Commes Des Garçons to loose-fit ones paired with oversized knits and tailored jackets at Bottega. The Paul Smith show had a relaxed bohemian vibe, with billowing shorts in satin, and E Tautz showed voluminous pleated pairs with built-in belts. Even Cerruti 1881 Paris abandoned its usual sharpness in favour of slouchy shorts – providing the missing link between tailoring and sportswear. Forget cargo shorts and England strips, shorts can be a stylish addition to any man’s wardrobe – and stop you developing heat rash in the process.
What to buy
The gateway short
After last summer’s splurge of short-shorts on the high street, there are more looser and longer styles now available, which are a bit easier to pull off. For an unfussy affordable pair, head to Uniqlo, where chino shorts in an array of colours will set you back £19.90 They’re cut just above the knee, allowing you the option to roll them up should the mood strike. For simple, masculine styling, team with a grey marl sweater, converse and a denim jacket.
The Nu-Lad short
American brands like Tim Coppens, Alexander Wang and Public School provide a good route in for anyone who is nervous about trying the trend out, by doing the urban street luxe thing so well. For London-based alternatives, check out Christopher Shannon and Nasir Mazhar.
The jazzy short
If you fancy pushing the boat out, team a patterned bottom – such as this Tomorrowland pair, or a failsafe pinstripe – with a plainer top. For the truly brave, experiment with print clashes as Frank Ocean does, and he never looks less than exemplary.
The City short
At the smarter end of the spectrum, Reiss does a tailored pair in light check which shouldn’t feel too out of place in the office. (Look away now, Tom.)
And then it happened…
KEN
with a complete wardrobe of perfectly tailored clothes of unmatched quality
see where the romance will lead
mix and match is fun to do
what KEN will wear is up to you
there are sweaters and slacks and socks and shoes
the guest of honour is
KENS buddy ALLAN
backstage you can feel the excitement
new theatre costumes you can buy separately
Mattel was one of the first companies to market directly to children via the television.
They offered an endless array of dolls and clothes and other accessories…
And they made money!
SMALL CHANGES,
FROM MAYFAIR MAGAZINE
JANUARY 1956
VANITY FAIR
MARCH 2015
A great example of menswear’s changes from 1937 to the early 1960s. The garments may have been the same in name, but what a difference in silhouette!
kenswearmenswear 