They are the images that sear our brains. The iconic visual cogs in the zeitgeist that are impossible to forget. The flag at Iwo Jima. Winston Churchill’s black and white portrait. Jessica Simpson in mom jeans at a chili cookoff. Okay, maybe not that last one. But as we review the year, the Tabloid Jeans of Destruction are certainly a contender for most memorable fashion moment of 2009. Here’s the rundown of the most unforgettable fashion statements of the past year. Hint Winston Churchill is not on the list, although his vest and pocket square are quite natty.
Chantal Biya meets the pope
Where have you been hiding all our lives, Chantal Biya? The fashionable wife of Cameroon president Paul Biya made a splash on everyone’s radar when she met Pope Benedict XVI in March. Her flaming hair was at least a third of a meter high, which was either out of respect for his holiness, or out of respect for fierceness. If Beyonce and the cast of Fraggle Rock got together in a lab and created a first lady, Biya would be the product. And we’re totally down with that.
Lady Gaga meets the queen
In chapter two of Uncomfortable Social Introductions of 2009, we give you Lady Gaga and Queen Elizabeth II at December’s Royal Variety Performance in England. Lady Gaga shot some much-needed caffeine into the music and fashion scene in 2009 with her outrageous looks, but this one had us scratching our heads. It was oddly conservative, which is good for meeting royalty. But it was red latex, which is best for porn. Either way, her majesty kept a poker face.
Obama’s dress
We watch every style move US first lady Michelle Obama makes, from her questionable salmon cape to her kicky purple Converse. But the white January inauguration ball dress, designed by Isabel Toledo, will be the one in fashion history books. It was flowing and funky with none of the old guard political wife starch we’ve come to expect at rubber chicken affairs. After seeing this dress we knew fans of traditional first lady fashion were going to need some smelling salts.
Sidibe on the red carpet
When you star in a big movie, you have big red carpet expectations. Gabourey Sidibe lived up to them with her tour for the movie Precious. She appeared at events wrapped in a form-fitting purple chiffon gown, a sassy navy mini dress and an elegant red satin showstopper. It was a jarring change to see someone who is actually plus sized (not Size 8, like the world would have us believe is plus sized), walking around confident, beautiful, and playing up her best features.
Aretha Franklin’s hat
One way to upstage the new president at his inauguration? Wear a GIANT BOW on your head. Aretha Franklin caused hysteria by wearing designer Luke Song’s studded wool bow, which is big enough to gift wrap a submarine. Not only did it pay homage to the rich African American tradition of formal hats, it inspired a cadre of schmoes to paste the hat onto their own Facebook photos.
Swift’s sparkle
We can’t single out one particular moment in which Taylor Swift wore a pale sparkly dress, because she wore them everywhere. The adorable country phenom has decided her signature look will be “Cinderella, Suckas!” We’re not saying we wouldn’t also wear glitter Monday through Sunday if we had unlimited funds, but it would be nice to see Swift step outside the predictable princess box in this year. Start with some Kanye West glasses?
McQueen’s shoes
Runway fashion is historically how to say this? on crack. Alexander McQueen maintained this fine tradition in 2009 with his Armadillo, a 10-inch stiletto that looks like a Ming vase with eyeballs. Lady Gaga and Daphne Guiness both sported the shoes, which is saying something for their toe strength. The Armadillos are apparently no cushioned walk in the park, proven when several runway models refused to wear them.
Corey Feldman as M.J.
Former child star Corey Feldman made everyone choke on their pad Thai when he showed up to Michael Jackson’s memorial service dressed like, well Michael Jackson. Military jacket, fedora, stringy hair, shades. It was an alarmingly Single White Female move that was creepy, wrong, weird. There are a few simple rules to dressing appropriately for a funeral. Foremost: Don’t dress like the guy who just died!
Kate Gosselin’s hair
Over the past year, Jon and Kate Gosselin have transformed from endearing and frazzled parents of a gagillion kids into sad caricatures (don’t get us started on Ed Hardy). Kate’s hair has done the same. In the early episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8, she wore an unremarkable brown cut. That turned into short blond sass. And that turned into an enigma wrapped in a mystery, a porcupine water slide mocked on Saturday Night Live.
Wooden houses wedged between concrete, crumbling brick facades with roofs gaping to the sky, and tiled art deco buildings down narrow alleyways: Taichung Central District’s (中區) aging architecture reveals both the allure and reality of the old downtown. From Indigenous settlement to capital under Qing Dynasty rule through to Japanese colonization, Taichung’s Central District holds a long and layered history. The bygone beauty of its streets once earned it the nickname “Little Kyoto.” Since the late eighties, however, the shifting of economic and government centers westward signaled a gradual decline in the area’s evolving fortunes. With the regeneration of the once
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
In February of this year the Taipei Times reported on the visit of Lienchiang County Commissioner Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and a delegation to a lantern festival in Fuzhou’s Mawei District in Fujian Province. “Today, Mawei and Matsu jointly marked the lantern festival,” Wang was quoted as saying, adding that both sides “being of one people,” is a cause for joy. Wang was passing around a common claim of officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the PRC’s allies and supporters in Taiwan — KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party — and elsewhere: Taiwan and
Perched on Thailand’s border with Myanmar, Arunothai is a dusty crossroads town, a nowheresville that could be the setting of some Southeast Asian spaghetti Western. Its main street is the final, dead-end section of the two-lane highway from Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city 120kms south, and the heart of the kingdom’s mountainous north. At the town boundary, a Chinese-style arch capped with dragons also bears Thai script declaring fealty to Bangkok’s royal family: “Long live the King!” Further on, Chinese lanterns line the main street, and on the hillsides, courtyard homes sit among warrens of narrow, winding alleyways and
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