fashion

Seen in grocery store. Collect All 10 Grillz! With a z.

In my day, we called these bracez. And made fun of those who had them. ;)

Poodle ready for the arctic Southern California conditions. ;D

It's always weird to see the mainstream press picking up on a subculture. Kind of like when your parents drop the latest slang: it doesn't quite feel right. Nevertheless, it's nice to see Steampunk get some respectful publicity.

The LA Times blog Jacket Copy had a post Saturday from Nick Owchar, the inevitably titled "Working up a head of steam".

Steampunk is another entry point into the Victorian era by way of a wormhole: a subculture movement that is the result of an "intersection of technology and romance," as it was reported in some East Coast newspaper this week. Philip Pullman's alternate version of the world--with zeppelins, golden compasses and anbaric-powered gadgets--in "His Dark Materials" taps into it; so do the stories of Jules Verne and the movie "Brazil"; William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's "The Difference Engine" anticipated it.[...]

According to Owchar, there's a new Steampunk anthology from Tachyon that looks interesting.

The "some East Coast newspaper" referred to is the NY Times and its more sedately titled article "Steampunk Moves Between 2 Worlds", which does more tracing of how Steampunk has been embraced by various groups for various purposes, but all in good, artistically spiffy fun:

It is also the vision of steampunk, a subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives, brass diving bells and jar-shaped protosubmarines. First appearing in the late 1980s and early ’90s, steampunk has picked up momentum in recent months, making a transition from what used to be mainly a literary taste to a Web-propagated way of life.

To some, “steampunk” is a catchall term, a concept in search of a visual identity. “To me, it’s essentially the intersection of technology and romance,” said Jake von Slatt, a designer in Boston and the proprietor of the Steampunk Workshop (steampunkworkshop.com), where he exhibits such curiosities as a computer furnished with a brass-frame monitor and vintage typewriter keys.

When you think of a "cyclist," probably the first thing that pops into your head is a particular kind of outfit: skin-tight, space-age fabric, and color combinations not found in nature. And that's not counting the professionals.

It's probably safe to say that most people on a bike in the world aren't wearing spandex and lycra.

To that end, a new Flickr group has debuted recently that has some inspirational fashion ideas for the cycling set: Vélocouture.

Smart, stylish, functional outfits worn by transportational bicyclists.

Celebrate the creative re-purposing of "normal" clothes for use as a transportational cyclist. Help popularize the innovative, functional and fashionable garments that are (finally!) being created by pedal-powered fashion-forward folks around the world.

Thanks to the Blasphemous Bicycler for pointing to this BBC news story about an experiment to see if climbers back in 1924 could have made it up Everest clad only in the clothing of the time. I guess some folks have managed to convince themselves it was impossible because, God knows, people could barely walk upstairs before they invented artificial fabrics.

The findings are a step closer to proving the men could have reached the top, 29 years before Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary.

Over the past few weeks, climber Graham Hoyland has been putting the old-style clothing worn on the fateful Mallory expedition to the ultimate field test on the world's highest mountain.

Wearing replica gear made from gabardine, wool, cotton and silk, he wanted to disprove the common myth that the 1920s climbers were ill-equipped to reach the summit.

Anyhow, the experiment was successful for protection purposes, but was actually better than the newer materials for comfort and (of course) style, the latter of which being of prime importance. If you're going to be clambering around on freezing mountains unlike sane people, you might as well look good doing it. As the Blasphemous Bicycler says,

Surprise, Surprise, wool and silk work out just fine in outrageously cold conditions.

More importantly, a mountaineer decked out in stylish woollies, cuts quite the dashing figure, and is sure to be popular with any young ladies he encounters on his way up the mountain.

Nice goggles, too (also very important). I want that outfit now, or one like it, and I'm not the only one; according to Hoyland,

"All the other climbers thought the jacket was stylish and wanted to know where they could buy their own versions of the clothes!"

This story brought to mind another from a few days ago on the Commute By Bike blog, No sweat bike commute, in which Fritz writes about bicycle riding in clothing other than the latest high-tech fashions.

I spent 15 years of my life with a faster bike commute. Each year, I had a new personal best for the time trial home. I wore sport-specific gear — bike shoes, bike socks, bike shorts, bike jersey, bike gloves — to improve my performance and wick away the sweat and I carted my work clothes to and from the office every day.

A few years go I began a radical experiment: I wore my normal work clothes to the office. I discovered something that LeMond and Petersen didn’t know about: you can go slow on a bicycle! The secret to the no sweat bike commute is to take it easy.

Words to live by.

Bicycling.com: "Fly Up Hills: Four climbing secrets that'll have you soaring in 30 days"

This climbing regimen, from Ultrafit-certified coach Andy Applegate of a2coaching in Asheville, North Carolina, will put so much power into your pedals, your buddies will swear they see wings as you leave them in your wake. Start today and you'll see results by the end of the month....

Starling Fitness: "Liquid Calories Count"

A University of North Carolina study shows that liquid calories are to blame for the obesity rates in the United States....Since we don’t tend to eat less food when we consume more liquid calories, and their study shows that consumption of extra calories when they are in drinks is linked to weight gain, they have suggested the following recommendations for drink consumption...

Ready to Ride: "Fair weather rider?"

If you are the kind of rider that cringes at the thought of getting wet when riding, here is a way to stay dry and still get your miles in....

Kent's Bike Blog: "Good Gear for Bad Times"

Living and cycling in the Pacific Northwest I perhaps get too many chances to test foul weather gear. The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) decided to tap my expertise and had me write about some of my favorite bits of nasty weather gear....

I got obsessed on getting clogs a while back and started doing research. Though I haven't got them yet (I will at some point), here are a few links.

• Dansko: Karl
• Traditional Wood Sole Kitchen Chef Clog with Open Back
• Clogs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia