Antlers Are In! (For Now…)
Pagans, Heathens, and outdoorspeople everywhere, take note: antlers are now a fashion item. According to the New York Times Fashion & Style section, antlers are sprouting in all sorts of trendy places in New York, including the Soho men’s store Odin. They were also featured on headwear in a recent John Galliano fashion collection.
The story has great list of antler sightings, as well as a photo slideshow. It also takes a stab at analyzing the Zeitgeist:
“It’s an iconic indication of some sort of rural lifestyle, I guess,” said the designer Rogan Gregory, who briefly displayed antlers in his store on Franklin Street. “It’s like, if a store has antlers on the walls, that somehow makes them legitimate.”
The author goes on to to spin various theories for the antler boom, including a reaction against 1990s minimalism, war fatigue, yearnings for Nature, and childhood nostalgia. Nowhere does the idea of Paganism rear its ah, horned head.
For a brief moment, Nature is In, at least in New York. If we are aware of this vogue, however, it is probably nearly over: by the time the mainstream becomes aware of a trend, it has probably already been chewed up and spit out by the fashionistas. Anyone who already has antlers around should seize the moment, and have some people over while you are still trendy. By June, this is going to be SO first-half-of-2007.
Mike H. on 26 Apr 2007 at 10:40 pm #
LOL I’m not at all sure this is just a passing fad.
Why shouldn’t headgear assume towering, impractical proportions? Perhaps we’ll even see a similar rebirth of women’s hairstyles reminiscent of France in the 1700s:
http://www.englishcountrydancing.org/frenchfashion2.html
Ooh-la-la!
Ryan on 27 Apr 2007 at 10:18 am #
Lessee now,
recycled Darth Vader helmet; $180.
Cyberman head from Dr. Who; $90.
Leftover sheetmetal from Manga Japanese monster head project, for horns; $5.
Gold paint; $18.
Stupid look and whiplash from walking down a windy city street;
priceless.
And let’s not forget the outfit that is a cross between a stillsuit from DUNE and the garb from Han solo’s laundry pile.
Chas S. Clifton on 27 Apr 2007 at 10:14 pm #
I had a little fun with that article too.
Considering that the antler-furniture and antler-chandelier craze started in the West several years ago (a revival of an 1890s fashion, actually), it sure took the New York Times a long time to hear about it.