C M Y K C10
DAILY 03-09-10 MD RE C10 CMYK
C10 R KLMNO TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010
TODAY: Sunny
HIGH LOW vorite
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ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELLE J. and vote.
PARRALES, 8, CULPEPER, VA.
25TH ANNIVERSARY 30TH ANNIVERSARY
NINTENDO: In 1985, the NES, which stood for RUBIK’S CUBE: The
Imagine
Nintendo Entertainment System, was about the world’s top-selling
size of two shoeboxes and played a great new puzzle game was
game called Super Mario Bros. The first 50,000 invented by the
NES consoles were available just in New York Hungarian architecture
and didn’t quite sell out. But by 1987, as more professor Erno Rubik. It
no TV or
games became available, the system took off was originally called the
and millions were sold. At the time, people Magic Cube, but when
thought the original NES was really Rubik let an American
futuristic-looking! company manufacture
Internet
and release his invention in 1980, the
MICROSOFT WINDOWS: On early versions of
name was changed to Rubik’s Cube. Even
personal computers, you had to type your
people who can’t solve it love
commands on the keyboard. The display on
to play with it. More than 350
the screen was just text. In 1985, Microsoft
million of the original Rubik’s
introduced the first Windows 1.0, which had a
Cube have been sold
O
ur lives are full of things we
colorful, graphic display, used a mouse to
worldwide!
can’t imagine not having. But
point and click and let you keep several
think about it: Many older
“windows” open on your screen at once.
NINTENDO
Windows is now the biggest
Americans were born before
computer-operating system in the world.
television was invented, or at least
50TH ANNIVERSARY
before it was common (ask your
grandparents!), and your parents
XEROX PHOTOCOPIER: It is hard to
didn’t have the Internet when they
“GREEN EGGS AND HAM”: When Dr.
BUBBLE WRAP:
imagine a time when you couldn’t
Seuss wrote “The Cat in the Hat,” the
Bubble Wrap started as
were kids. It’s fun to look back at
make a copy of something. But that’s
publisher bet the author $50 that he
a mistake: Two engineers
when stuff was invented, and 2010 is
what life was like before 1960, when
could not write a book using only 50
trying to create a new kind of plastic wallpaper
Xerox began selling the first copy
different words. (“The Cat in the Hat”
ended up with sheets of plastic full of air
a good year to do that. This year
machines that used plain paper. The
had used 225.) But Dr. Seuss came
bubbles. They weren’t upset; they thought,
marks the anniversary of some really
copiers were an instant success, even
through, and in 1960 released one of
“Aha!” In 1960, the pair founded a company
well-known things in kids’ lives,
though Xerox’s first model would
the most popular children’s books of all
called Sealed Air Corp. to manufacture their
sometimes catch on fire when it got
time. “Green Eggs and Ham” uses
Bubble Wrap. Sealed Air is now a huge
including these cool milestones. too hot! Until that problem was solved,
exactly 50 different words — and 49 of
company making all kinds of products used for
Margaret Webb Pressler
the copier came with a miniature fire
them have just one syllable. (The
packaging, though millions of people like
extinguisher.
exception is “anywhere.”)
Bubble Wrap just because it’s fun to pop!
75TH ANNIVERSARY
FRAZZ JEF MALLETT
MONOPOLY: Handmade versions of a
Monopoly-like game were around in
the 1920s and ’30s, but Charles
Darrow is credited with selling a game
he called Monopoly to Parker Brothers,
which released it to the public in 1935.
It became the best-selling game in
America that year, and hundreds of
millions of Monopoly games have been
sold worldwide since then.
MARK SEXTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
FASHION
Elbaz’s show
of strengths
and cocktail dresses outlined with feather
In Paris, empowerment is at
trim. The collection was tribal in its sensi-
bility — fashion’s generic way of embrac-
the heart of his Lauvin line; ing an African, earthy style. That timbre
Watanabe, Kawakubo shine
came through in the adornment, from the
feathers to the jewelry and the crystal em-
bellishment. The bodice of one exquisite
by Robin Givhan dress was thick with jewels laid on in a
pattern that hinted at an African mask
paris — The most valuable asset in any but never crossed the line into a literal in-
designer’s arsenal is a solid sense of tim- terpretation. Elbaz’s garments are, in a
ing. It may also be the one skill that can- way, unfinished. They are mood and atti-
not be learned. Yet it’s essential that every tude awaiting a story that only a woman
designer be able to sense when the cultur- can provide.
al mood is shifting and predict how the No designer could be further from El-
new landscape will look once all the emo- baz’s aesthetic than Watanabe. His collec-
tions have settled. tion, shown Saturday morning, focused
MARIA VALENTINO FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
And designers don’t just have to look on color and pattern: olive drab, military WOMEN ON THE MARCH: Alber Elbaz’s collection has an unfinished look that nonetheless taps an emotional chord.
into their crystal balls once or twice over green and jungle camouflage. Typically,
the course of a career. They must do it when those colors and patterns appear on removed and discarded, and made it the desires of women into silk and cashmere. and itinerant show people who have pop-
consistently — season after season. The a runway, one expects a collection that is star of the runway. Pinstriped skirts In his work for both Christian Dior and at ulated Galliano’s runway over the years.
fact that designers ever manage to con- aggressive and hard-edged — fashion as bunched around the models’ hips and his namesake house, his collections were Knowing what’s right for the times
jure up clothes people want to wear is a antagonism. But Watanabe did just the jackets puffed up from hidden pillows of reconstituted — poor facsimiles of gar- doesn’t come out of obsessive research in
modest miracle. opposite. He used yards of army green foam. Kawakubo made suits from materi- ments that once oozed with emotional history books and National Geographics.
Yet small, creative miracles have been fabric to create polished and tailored als that mimicked the gray foam that exuberance. Timeliness can’t be found in the first-
unfolding as designers unveil their fall coats and trim-fitting blazers. Sweet cushions electronics for shipping; skirts Dior is a resolutely French fashion class cabin between Paris and New York.
2010 collections in a dicey environment. dresses that gently crumpled around the looked as though they’d been cut from a house. Indeed, it is the most-favored label Relevance doesn’t even come bubbling up
Consumers are feeling more optimistic body were stitched from camouflage moving company’s packing quilts; and of French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. from the streets on a walking tour of Mar-
than six months ago, but only barely. Re- print. Thick tulle skirts exploded from the dresses, seemingly composed of uphol- But its Frenchness is also a problem, at rakech. Designers have to engage with
tailers argue the surest way to lure con- hem of calf-length sweaters in drab green. stery stuffing, had Michelin Man bulk. least in the way it has been interpreted by people. Soak in the mundane. Notice
sumers back into stores is with clothes The mix of military camouflage, gospel The results distorted the body — and ref- Galliano. Every country has its design what women carry on the walk from the
that are exceptional — unlike anything soundtrack and charismatic devotion can erenced a collection Kawakubo put on the houses that expertly celebrate its partic- subway to the office. Hear their com-
they’ve seen before or already have. be read in a multitude of ways. To some, it runway some 10 years ago that asked her ular national spirit. The United States has plaints about the unyielding speed of life.
What does that mean in practice? If a could be a distressing blend calling up vi- audience to question the body ideal. Ralph Lauren. Italy has Dolce & Gabbana. At Celine, designer Phoebe Philo of-
dress is too odd and bizarre, shoppers will sions of religious armies. To others, the But this collection went even further. It Britain has Burberry. Each has been able fered a collection of such pure restraint
dismiss it as a gimmick sure to be obso- references and riddles could be read as a suggested that something hidden inside to transform a caricature into something and control that it wafted down the run-
lete before it even gets into their closet. sweet prayer of peace, a call for grace in- was struggling, fighting to get out. What modern, dynamic and international. In way like a gentle exhalation. By the time
How do designers give customers an ex- stead of aggression. do we hide beneath our pinstriped suits an interconnected world, Dior’s sensibil- the last unfettered model walked past,
hilarating high without giving them verti- This genre of fashion, which thrives and traditional plaids? Are the things we ity seems stuck in an claustrophobic you felt like even the buttons on your top-
go? By thinking smart, thinking deeply outside the mainstream, was recently struggle to protect really of intrinsic value French cartoon: an overly fussy, inconsid- coat were frivolous distractions.
and breathing in the air around them. thrust into the Washington spotlight or is worth just a constantly shifting cul- erately extravagant style. To be sure, there Philo cut lean black trousers with a
Designers as disparate as Junya Wata- when former White House social secre- tural construct? were women in the Dior audience Friday slight flare at the ankles. They were a bit
nabe and Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz took famil- tary Desirée Rogers wore a Comme des Some people aren’t interested in afternoon lovingly costumed in the label. short, as if it was excessive even to have
iar ideas and rephrased them using their Garcons dress to the Obamas’ first state clothes that pose questions like that. They But they also looked more done up than the pants brushing the tops of the shoes.
own unique vocabulary. Elbaz has always dinner. It was a head-turning, change- just want a nice dress or something ap- dressed up. She paired them with white shirts with
admired female power, but he never al- has-come fashion moment. Watanabe de- propriate to wear to the office. And that’s As fashion speeds onward, Galliano tiny Peter Pan collars. And then, for add-
lows a woman’s strength to overshadow signs under the Comme des Garcons um- fine, too. But what some of the best de- seems to be spinning ever faster in place, ed warmth and polish: a navy turtleneck
her playfulness, her vulnerability and her brella, and the flagship label, created by signers showing their work here seem to unable to move out of his more-is-more tunic. Ivory dresses had flowing bodices
romantic nature. He incorporates all of Rei Kawakubo, once again underscored understand is that at this moment, every- philosophy. and nubby skirts. A handbag was little
those emotional chords in his work with- the way fashion can unsettle and provoke. thing is in question: what we buy, why we His signature collection was inspired more than an envelope of chocolate-
out letting his clothes become a confusing It’s hard to imagine that one of the gar- buy, how we define ourselves. And of by nomads — wild women who travel the brown leather with a simple shoulder
mash-up of a year’s worth of therapy ses- ments from Kawakubo’s fall presentation course, there is the eternal, nagging ques- world with an enormous trousseau of chain.
sions. One characteristic is always the will find its way into some White House tion: What on earth are designers think- furs, coats with exaggerated panniers At a time when the day-to-day over-
star, and the rest play supporting roles. event, but one never knows. There were ing? and, of course, those lingerie-inspired whelms and life’s stubborn mood can be
For fall, power was center stage in a certainly a host of apt metaphors on her One might well pose that question to evening gowns. And while his show was a summed up as “it’s all just too much,” Phi-
mostly black collection of sack dresses runway, not the least of which was a John Galliano, who seems to have lost his beautiful sight, it was awfully difficult to lo offered a way to lighten the burden. If
with exaggerated sleeves, blazers with “stuffed shirt.” Kawakubo took what is sense of timing, his ability to read the tea distinguish these nomads from the vari- only a little. If only by a few buttons.
nipped-in waists and pinched shoulders normally hidden, perhaps even typically leaves and his aptitude for translating the ous Eastern European damsels, Gypsies givhanr@washpost.com
C M Y K C10
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