Fashion does not enjoy a whole lot of intellectual respectability -- unless it comes from distant lands, different cultures, the past. Then it might get a museum show.
Two such shows are taking place now, and both include clothes from Asia that were in their own time what Prada and Armani are today. One exhibit, at the Textile Museum, 2320 S St. N.W. in Washington (202-667-0441), is about Indonesian batik. The show's hip wrappers (called sarung, from which I assume our word sarong comes) would look quite at home on the most stylish of today's beaches, although some of them date from as long ago as the early 19th century.
Ikat fabrics (left) from silk-route cities like Bukhara and Samarkand are the stars of the other show, at the Jewish Museum, Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street in New York (212-423-3200). These brilliantly colored and patterned 19th-century textiles were, like today's couture, a barometer of how well-fixed their owners were. The fabrics were made by skilled artisans, something like those who work in a couturier's atelier, and a single hanging could take months to dye and weave.
The batik show continues through April 26, and the ikat show through May 16.
The manly way to dye
My hair stylist told me the other day that hair coloring for guys is definitely out of the closet -- the wig closet, to be specific, which is where she used to do the dye jobs for one prominent but secretive Baltimorean.
Nowadays, though, more men are getting their hair colored, and they're no longer hiding it. Not only that, says cosmetics giant L'Oreal, but fashion-forward guys now want "very intense results" -- none of this let's-pretend-it's-natural stuff that most women prefer. In recognition of these male trendsetters, the company is putting guys as well as gals on its Feria-brand home hair-coloring kits.
The four new colors with a male face are Bleach Blonding, Camel, Cherry Cola and Gothic. But "both men and women can use any of Feria's multi-gender shades," L'Oreal says, never one to limit consumers' equal opportunities for a good hair day.
Each kit costs about $9.95 at chain drugstores, supermarkets and mass-market retailers.
A toe in the waters
MacKenzie-Childs Ltd. has made a distinctive name for itself in items for the home -- majolica dinnerware, glassware, linens and accessories -- and now they are branching out into at least one form of clothing: socks.
I say "they" because the company was founded by a pair of formally trained artists, Victoria and Richard MacKenzie-Childs. Their housewares light up with artistically exuberant color and pattern, and so do their socks. Made of wool, chenille and cotton, the socks' suggested retail price is $32-$40. They are available from the company's Web site, www.mackenzie-childs.com.
Dressing up the kids
There can be something fishy about dressing kids in the latest fashions -- but it can also be a lot of fun. The line between fishy and fun is getting harder to draw, though: Children are now seen as a market for high-style or luxury items such as $150 sneakers or cashmere baby clothes, and the heat is on to buy such items.
The heat from Kenneth Cole, the maker of stylish shoes, is pretty low, as such things go. The company's ads play more on jokeyness than on status -- a pleasant relief.
Cole has been making children's shoes for about a year and a half, and its latest spring catalog has moved on to children's outerwear as well: a couple of unisex jackets, one in black leather ($198) and the other in red (right), gray or black suede ($125). If that's not too hot for you, the catalog number is 800-487-4389.