Kidult Is Lame

A weekly roundup of anything fashion-related that's made us excited about having bodies that we can dress with clothes.

Our friend Donald Crunk runs this blog Pretty Real that features interviews with guys who get beat up by their girlfriends and guides on how to become a cam girl. It's fucking great, but making money out of second hand physical abuse and sex work is difficult, so Donald started making t-shirts to supplement his writing. They're consistently amazing, as proven by his latest batch, modelled by a girl I'm now desperately in love with and a guy with the best beard since Waris Ahluwalia.

Penfield are basically classic, woodsman Americana stitched and bound into fabric, woven with the strands of a half-century old logger's beard. Warm and comfy, essentially. Considering it's starting to get cold enough for your bones to brittle up and shatter, there's little better than a jacket from the Penfield collaboration with luxury Scottish brand, Johnstons of Elgin, to tide you through the next six months of otherwise inevitable teeth-chattering misery.

They've been making coats and jackets for nearly 40 years – putting them firmly in heritage territory – as Ben Allnut, head of design, confirms; "We take our heritage very seriously and always work hard to keep our products true to our brand statement of 'For life in the open'. A statement we've been using since 1975."

CHANEL'S NEW IT-BAG

Image taken from Karl's Instagram

Karl Lagerfeld has a cat with a Twitter account, a perma-starched collar and a documentary called Lagerfeld Confidential, which is actually really good. He also happens to be head designer and creative director at Chanel, and is responsible for such classic shows as the under-the-sea-themed SS12 collection, in which Florence Welch performed in half of a giant oyster shell, or AW10, for which he imported chunks of actual icebergs from Scandinavia to decorate the show space. Um – tut tut – that’s not very eco of you Karl.

This might be why his most recent collection hinges on renewable energy, which is somehow supposed to be evident in the highly publicised lack of Chanel branding on anything, except, well, this gigantic circular hula-hoop bag. Apparently it’s for the beach, which does not explain why it looks like two industrial exercise tools held together by the seat of a souped up Punto. Look Karl, I love Chanel, I really do, but WTF is this?

I’m not one to openly admit that I used to secretly listen to the Gym Class Heroes, or that I had a genuine love-crush on Travis Barker, because I care about my reputation and know that I'd never receive job opportunities if I did. Fortunately, I now won’t ever have to, thanks to MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS (their caps, not mine).

I can listen to LA sing-rapping by guys with loads of tattoos without fear of shame or outcast. Because it’s CUTE, okay? Their song about buying clothes in thrift stores might sound like the most annoying ‘fuck hipsters 4eva’ thing at first, but, on further review, it’s a great, fun-loving, fabulous, fantastic feel-good song and I love it. K? I guarantee you will listen to this at least two and half times before you admit to yourself that you actually really like it, then show everyone you know.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

Not to be confused with equally insane (but, importantly, anti-semitic) fashion designer John Galliano, JPG is the French haute couture fashion guy who's responsible for Madonna's totally infamous and, IMO, kind of underwhelming cone bra, along with other more important offerings, like cool tartan shit and cool nautical shit. He also happens to design tour outfits for Kylie Minogue and once presented Eurotrash, which suited him perfectly.

Anyway, this season Gaultier decided to forget about fashion and, instead, re-created outfits for popstars. Michael Jackson, Madonna, Grace Jones, Annie Lennox and Boy George were a few of many recreated on models during the 11-minute catwalk show, which was interspersed with men dancing behind orange light-up frames. It was amazing. Obviously. Watch the rest here.

The thing I love most about the work of graffiti artist, Kidult, is that it's just so damn innovative. I honestly can't recall one, single time where I've seen an artist make a Big Statement against capitalism and consumerism. His Green Day-esque political imagery really hits a note that nobody's dared venture to before. Spraying the store-fronts of designer clothing shops with tags like "LOVE" and "ART"? Wow, my mind is genuinely blown.

Previously - Fashion Tidbits Roundup