Where Sports Meets Fashion

The blatant sportswear influence in Miuccia Prada's Miu Miu FW0809 collection — color-blocked jumpsuits, long-sleeve netted onesies and track jackets worn with cone-shaped heels and bright skullcaps — made some mixed reactions amongst friends and peers in the "fashion community," but I knew Miuccia's athletic expression in the hardly wearable clothes would serve as inspiration to me and many others.

The influence in design and function of sport is actually quite pragmatic and refreshing, two elements I'd believe to be necessary for selling clothes at a time when 1) economy's in the dump and 2) retail sales are down, way down. And while maybe none of the aforementioned designers' collections are exactly

"wearable," looks from designers like Raf Simons sleek, slim silhouettes for men, Balenciaga's austere, architectural forms and Undercover's spacey, tailored outerwear could be, has been, styled in sporty fashion in magazines. The look is more than believable, it's a reality. A sexy one at that.

And thank be to independent designers like Romain Kremer and Louis Goldin who on their own have integrated the aesthetics of sport making the surreal sleek linebacker-chic a reality on the runway. In them lies fashion's actual optimism; their exploratory trips on what's possible and "impossible" makes dreams played out in editorials and from your closets onto the streets.

Maybe you buy this, maybe you don't, but this is the first set of three posts dedicated to you finding an inspiration, or at least appreciation, for what's sporty in fashion. On the next update, find store items — new, vintage, slightly pricey and those comparatively cheap — from a list of international shipping stores.

There's so much to look to!

Fashion-Fashion-Fashion

Skip the nonsense when searching about designers, houses and stores  when scouring the 'net — Fashion-Fashion-Fashion.com is a search engine that "visits 1000 authority sites to bring you the most refined search in fashion and beauty." The search engine, sponsored by McEye Media Publishers (who brings you ZooZoom and FashionWars), accepts site suggestions in the categories of beauty, designers, fashion and shopping. So search and suggest, find and help find. 

Peknov, pixelpark innovate a barcode in fashion for the information society

In a video interview at last month's Berlin Fashion Week, designer Bernadett Penkov and Petra Raddatz, the marketing director of the digital media corporation pixelpark, presented their "hardlinking technology" with the "so called QR-Barcode."

The barcode would grant access to stored information on any given item or product to interested consumers. It will provide information on the "point-of-interest," Raddatz explains, "the moment you see the outfit in front of you."

Designer Bernadett Penkov says the innovation is "interesting for buyers and also interesting in the shop." Imagine instantaneous lookbooks on your phone, video footage of the piece on a runway and even commentary from the designer on the article of clothing. As of now, Penkov provides clothing material and washing instruction information, as well as video of a model wearing the garment on Penkov's "microsite." 

Raddatz predicts the software that makes the information accessible will come installed on all mobile phones in the near future. 

Head to modabot.de to watch the video interview, a demonstration of the software in practice and further commentary on the link and direction of fashion and technology from Penkov and Raddatz. 

MONDblog

MONDblog intends to approach a unique dialogue recognizing style and fashion as a hybrid notion. The blog will observe and partake in the fascination with stylistic fashion and inform you on where to find it in the world.