Eugene Rabkin is the founder of stylezeitgeist.com. He has contributed articles on fashion and culture to The Business of Fashion, Vogue Russia, Buro247, the Haaretz Daily Newspaper, and other publications. He has taught critical writing and fashion writing courses at Parsons the New School for Design.

Op-Ed: The Return of Ugliness

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

This past summer a pretty girl in her twenties I know cut her shoulder-length dark hair to military grade shortness, which made her look decidedly less attractive. When I remarked on this to another friend, also in his twenties, he said without hesitation that unattractiveness has become a trend among his peers. You can also see it quite clearly in fashion, especially in the rise of brands as seemingly disparate as Hood by Air, Vetements, Gosha Rubchinskiy, and Gucci, and their calculated ugliness and awkwardness.

BORIS BIDJAN SABERI FRAGRANCE RELEASE

Events, Fashion

This month the Barcelona-based designer Boris Bidjan Saberi launched his first fragrance. Saberi is best knows for his intricately constructed leather jackets, and it was no surprise to learn that the fragrance is inspired by the smell of vegetable tanned leather. Saberi also wanted the fragrance to reflect the sensory imprint of his daily work routine, the scents of raw materials that surround him in his atelier that at the end of the day mix with the odors unique to his body. This is how Saberi thinks of his work; each product he produces inevitably contains a part of himself as a designer and artisan.

The New StyleZeitgeist Website

Events

Welcome to the new StyleZeitgeist website. Over the years the StyleZeitgeist universe has grown to include a forum, a magazine, and a web shop. For various reasons we have created different websites for them to operate in ways that seemed suitable at the time. But Internet technology evolves quickly and we must keep pace. Besides technical reasons, we wanted to make it easier for our audience to understand the StyleZeitgeist universe. I have met many people who know the magazine but not the forum, and vice versa. Taking the StyleZeitgeist magazine from print to digital was another major reason for this change.

The new website combines all the elements of our venture in a website that satisfies the contemporary Internet standards. We want you to think of StyleZeitgeist as a platform that combines a fashion forum, a magazine, and e-commerce. Some major upgrades include:

SZ10 Pop-Up Shop Products – Part 1

Fashion

As part of StyleZeitgeist’s 10th anniversary celebration I decided to open a pop-up shop in New York City. So much of what we do is digital that I thought it’s time we should do something in 3D. The pop-up shop will take place at the new Atelier New York location in Greenwich village and will open this Saturday at noon. I will try to be on site for most of the time, so feel free to stop in and say hi.

A1923 Personalized Footwear at SZ10 Pop-Up

Fashion

As part of the StyleZeitgeist 10th Anniversary pop-up shop and in conjunction with Atelier New York, we are helping launch the personalized footwear program by A19123. For the first time ever customers will be able to order three classic A1923 styles in fabrication and color they desire.

On September 13th, from 6-8 p.m. the A1923 designer Simone Cecchetto will be on site in order to guide customers through the available choices. If you miss the launch, you will still be able to order a custom pair of A1923 footwear at Atelier, exclusively in New York City. A1923 will subsequently roll out the program in select boutiques worldwide.

As part of the StyleZeitgeist 10th Anniversary pop-up shop, we collaborated on the 2-piece capsule collection with the Australian label Song For the Mute, whose work we have championed since the label's inception. The collaboration combines the signature structure of Song for the Mute garments with a custom fabric developed exclusively for this collaboration. The handmade Japanese fabric execution of the Raised Neck Coat is a homage to the Peter Saville’s iconic ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album artwork for the post-punk band Joy Division.

Song for the Mute x StyleZeitgeist

Fashion, Retail

As part of the StyleZeitgeist 10th Anniversary pop-up shop, we collaborated on the 2-piece capsule collection with the Australian label Song For the Mute, whose work we have championed since the label’s inception. The collaboration combines the signature structure of Song for the Mute garments with a custom fabric developed exclusively for this collaboration. The handmade Japanese fabric execution of the Raised Neck Coat is a homage to the Peter Saville’s iconic ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album artwork for the post-punk band Joy Division.