The Year in Style

We asked local fashionistas what they'd like to see less of, and more of, in 2003.

MONAH LI, designer and writer

DISAPPEAR NOW
George Bush's smirk
Anyone who calls Donald Rumsfeld one of the "10 Sexiest Men in America"
Clothes made where people aren't paid living wages
American Idol
"Designer" clothing manufacturers who never have an original idea of their own

ENCORE, ENCORE
Ideas of designer Jared Gold, especially shows and events
Books by Haven Kimmel
Designs by Oliver Twist
The "Ethicist" column in The New York Times Magazine
Stories about Miguel Adrover

 

 

BRYAN RABIN and DAVID RODGERS, event planners

RABIN:

ENOUGH
Anything by Juicy Couture
Fake tits and pumped lips, especially pucker pouts fattened up with cadaver skin
Dressing for your tattoo
Buying your manufactured cool life from corporate America
Himbos
Real women (think Pamela Anderson, Christina Aguilera, Carmen Electra) who look like trannies

CELEBRATE
Age-appropriate dressing
Wearing things that make you feel good, not because the latest starlet is wearing it
Having a sense of humor about how you dress
Not listening to the tastemakers
Buying like the French — one good garment instead of a dozen cheap ones

RODGERS:

Go Away
Botox
White rappers
SUVs
Japanese hair-straightening treatments
STAY
Electric cars
Macaulay Culkin
National pride

 

 

DARA WAXMAN, goldsmith and jewelry designer

OUT OF BOUNDS
Camouflage
Bling bling
Listerine tabs with plastic case
Pre-washed/-worn "I wiped my hands on my ass" jeans
Glade plug-ins
French manicures on acrylic nails
Apathy
Pop stars

IN THE KNOW
Cuff links
Culottes and gauchos
Solar power
Rose gold
Bicycles
Scarves and brooches
Trees

 

 

LUCAS MICHAEL, photographer

LESS
Hollywood
Crewcuts
McMansions
Charlton Hestons
Peels
Shaved chests
Cosmetics

MORE
Bollywood
Afros
Shelters
Gregory Pecks
Wrinkles
Male frontal nudity
Prosthetics

 

 

SKOT ARMSTRONG, artist and curator of Science Holiday Museum of Fun

VETO
Hubris
Talking in theaters
Tattoos
Cell phones
Absolutism

VALUE
Masquerade parties
Good manners
Intelligence as a sex symbol
Moderation
Reasons to wear tuxedos

 

 

JENNIFER PHILLIPS, owner of Sirens and Sailors

BEGONE
Shredded and cut-up T's — hide the scissors from those with a bag of old clothes
Pop stars turned fashion designers
Baby punk
$500 cotton shirts
Tight hip-huggers on men

BRING IT ON
Early-Hollywood starlet elegance
Vivienne Westwood- or Zandra Rhodes-inspired designs
Honey Behave Lingerie
Roaring '20s flapper fashion and speakeasy-style haunts
Fashion shows set in non-traditional spaces
1960s muscle cars driven by females

 

 

LISA TEASLEY, writer

JUST SAY NO
Bachelor and dating "reality" programs
Ben Affleck
The Gap
Dragging pants hemlines
Corporate pandering to teens
Hummers
Trent Lott

YES, PLEASE
Skirts and barrettes on men
Raw food
Multigenerational models
Don Cheadle
Freedom of information
Tree huggers
Gardens with blooms

 

 

RON MEYERS, interior designer

REJECT
Uninspired cathedrals that cost too much to park at
Dream kitchens in the houses of people who don't cook
Uncomfortable furniture disguised as art
Design magazines featuring people with too much money
Beige anything

RESPECT
Sexy cinemas such as the ArcLight — best first-date destination in town
Dinner parties in homes that aren't quite finished yet
More than one flower at a time in the perfect vase
Ashtrays in the gardens and terraces of non-smoking homes
More personal style than the Joneses have