General Idea

Mark Zuckerberg is having quite a month. The Father of Facebook just turned 28, bought out Instagram for $1 billion and is now facing the most lucrative point in his career: Going IPO on Friday. We’d offer him a congratulatory “poke” but sadly, that option’s no longer available. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the IPO acronym, it stands for Initial Public Offering-- meaning that the company will finally be open to stock holders where the likes of Wall Street—-and even you!—- can purchase a part of the social media company. But with the estimated $100 billion that’s supposedly coming his way, we’re wondering whether the Harvard dropout will invest in a new wardrobe. Will he finally change out of his usual uniform consisting of dowdy college hoodies, sweat-drenched Adidas shower flip flops, and tattered baggy jeans, into something more uh, dapper? Better yet, the question posed is this: Can all the money in the world transform someone from HTML geek to sartorial chic? Fashionistas can only hope! To give him an extra boost, we’ve enlisted the help of several fashion experts from designers like Carlos Campos, Alan Eckstein from Timo Weiland and Simon Kneen of Banana Republic, to editors from GQ and Esquire, to buyers and the likes to see what kind of advice they’d shed onto Silicon Valley’s hottest star. And regardless of whether he takes our suggestions or not (note to Marky Mark: you really, really should!), happy IPO Day! We’d definitely like to send you a congratulatory poke soon—- this time, live and in-person.

• By Hayley Phelan
  May 16, 2012

SEOUL--Seoul is a powerful and wealthy mega-city with a large consumer base--that means there's a huge appetite for branded luxury goods. The city's Cheongdam-dong, a 12-lane wide boulevard, is lined with so many luxury shops that it's earned nickname ‘Street of Luxury Goods.’ The 10 Corso Como on Cheongdam-dong, which opened in 2008 in partnership with Samsung Cheil (the Samsung Fashion Group), is even larger than the Milan flagship. Due to high demand for avant-garde fashion, a second 10 Corso Como opened just last month at the high-end mall Lotte Avenuel, joining Prada, Givenchy, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin and more. Despite the obvious appetite for luxury designs, there seems to be an absence of good risk-taking design in Seoul.

• By Long Nguyen
  Apr 25, 2012

If you've watched Bridezillas, you know it's difficult to plan a wedding. Every detail is mulled over ad nauseam: the music, decor, seating arrangements, the dress, and, of course, the invitations. Fashion Week is kind of the same way. Design houses are in a frenzy, burning Lana Del Rey MP3s, obsessing over the set design, sitting in on model castings, making sure the most prominent editors get choice seating, and sending out creative invites to garner excitement (rather than panic attacks) over the several shows they will have to sit through and ultimately, report on. Just as every bride wants her invitations to capture the essence of her wedding, designers are behooved to get a little creative with their invites. To show you how funky some brands get, we've compiled the most interesting invites we've received. From embossed flasks to digital picture frames, click through for the fashion show invitations that got us most excited.

• By Jihan Forbes
  Feb 7, 2012

Fashionista contributor Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt. SEOUL, KOREA--"I am in my second year at Seoul Arts College majoring in modeling," says Lee Sang Min, wearing a wool cotton double breasted coat, black and white striped turtleneck sweater, black slim pants and black leather boots. He was waiting in line to get into the CY Choi show in the main hall at Korea Fashion Week with a group of five of his schoolmates. Surprised, as I thought they were just fashion kids rather than college students studying modeling, I asked through my interpreter: “How long is the modeling school program?” “You can do a two year associate or a four year bachelor’s program,” said Back Min Kyu, who stood nearby wearing a black button down shirt, a white double side button pea coat, black pants, and black leather boots. “Have you come to the shows here before?” “Yes, we came the last time,” replied Choi Min Suk wearing a pair of light sunglasses, grey beret, black double breasted side button coat, grey knitted cardigan, black slim jeans, and black boots.

• By Fashionista
  Apr 7, 2011

Fashionista contributor Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt. SEOUL, KOREA-- “The weather is pretty weird today,” said a guy in front of me to his friend while we were waiting to enter the MVIO show on the first day at Seoul Fashion Week. He was right--it was nearly 74 degrees and sunny on a Friday morning late in October. I was told that it has been a strange year for weather in Seoul, as it had been in most of the world. But this conversation wasn't meager chitchat. What the man was really concerned about, according to my interpreter/fashion student Etty Kim, was that he had on the right clothes.

• By Fashionista
  Nov 1, 2010