After a Fashion

THE RANT I hate the word "lifestyle." It's too modern, too Martha Stewart-ish. It used to refer to the way a person lived their life. No longer. It now refers to the way particular people live their lives. What's worse, it has also come to be a merchandising category. It's not really your lifestyle or mine (unless you live at Pottery Barn), but it incorporates the kind of streamlined folksiness that used to be charming. And what's worse, "lifestyle" includes this aromatherapy business, which is out of control. Do we really need more things that smell? What did we call it in the Seventies when everything smelled? (Grass. HaHaHa.) And don't get me started on feng shui.

Modern technology has ruined fashion. Because we now demand everything at the speed of light, we also demand new products. The fashion business struggles to keep up with the demand, but it seems to run out of ideas fairly regularly, and we become retro-victims. The retro look, be it Twenties, Thirties, Forties, Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, or Nineties, comes around so often that soon we'll all be saving everything we wear because in a few minutes it will be back in style. Fashion no longer lingers for any length of time -- unless it's something truly despicable, like feathered hair, and then it lingers forever. Since most of the designers who promote these looks weren't around to see them the first time, we get a skewed vision of what it was really like. But in their haste to capture the look of an era, they often pick out the wrong things to emphasize, overlooking the very details that made the looks click.

It's popular to say that the Seventies were an awful time for fashion. And yet, the Seventies abound on the fashion scene. And looking at these "new" Seventies clothes makes one agree that, yes, the Seventies were awful. But there was a beauty about the Seventies that has been barely touched on -- the beauty of fluid lines, sensuous cuts, and a modern-ness that no retro look can ever achieve. It was the first time that American designers reached international recognition for a look that was purely American. Halston was a master of it, and his influence was strongly felt by the likes of Gucci's Tom Ford a couple of years ago. Since it seems to take a couple of years for a trend to trickle down from the runway to the mall level, perhaps we can look forward to seeing a bit of that influence in the stores soon.

UP-DO UPDATE Your style avatar takes great pleasure in announcing an early victory in the battle against bad hair. The very day two weeks ago when my rant against unkempt long hair on guys was published, Chronicle associate music editor Chris Gray submitted to the shears and had his hair cut from an unbecoming, scraggly mess into what can only be described as a Sassoon geometric cut. The old style said, "I'm young and carefree and do not own a hairbrush." The new style says, "I'm young, smart, and sassy, and I am beginning to understand the theory behind low-maintenance hair." Congratulations are in order for both of us. Are you ready for your close-up, Mr. Lieck?

WWJD I have been informed that WWJD stands for What Would Jesus Do, not What Would Jackie (Onassis) Do. What would Jackie do about that?

I COVER THE STOREFRONT The sign at Tesoros Trading Company (209 Congress) says it has folk art from Latin America. That is an understatement. Not only do they have merchandise from far beyond Latin America, but they also have something that cannot be purchased -- atmosphere. With an environment that is part art gallery, part ancient bazaar, it is possible to lose yourself for a little while amidst the treasures displayed. All manner of crosses and cross-embellished items are available, as can be expected, along with a great assortment of Day of the Dead accessories. But alongside that are contemporary and antique textiles, some incredible pieces of furniture, German pewter accessories, antique Turkish pottery, paper balloons from China, scarves from Guatemala, and musical instruments from Southeast Asia. I was particularly taken by the beaded curtains from Vietnam. Treading the line between artistry and kitsch, the curtains reproduce great works of art in beads. So if it's a beaded curtain you're looking for -- with Grant Wood's American Gothic on it (or the Mona Lisa, a Van Gogh self-portrait, and The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, among others), drop in and experience Tesoros Trading Company.

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