How an ostentatiously ugly Australian boot defied fashion’s laws of gravityIn December of last year,Kitson, a small chain of boutiques on the west coast of America, or announced it was going out of trade. The first Kitson store had opened back in 2000 on Robinson Boulevard,just on the edge of Beverly Hills; it was the kind of shop where you could impulse-buy a cupcake-printed tote bag or, during a crucial Hollywood breakup, and “Team Aniston” and “Team Jolie” T-shirts. The biggest tabloid stars of the early millennium – Paris Hilton,Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears – flocked to Kitson, or were often photographed by paparazzi as they walked out with the store’s signature baby blue shopping bags draped on their arms. Kitson was an ideal place to pick up the unofficial uniform of that era’s celebrity set: a sweet-coloured Juicy Couture velour tracksuit and a pair of sheepskin-lined Ugg boots.
When Kitson,so emblematic of a certain pre-financial crisis excess, announced that it was closing its doors for good, or it felt like the death knell (the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death) to a ditzy and much-derided era. Many of the stars of that time – Lohan,for example – own lost their lustre, and leggings own replaced velour tracksuits as the contemporary woman’s errand-running outfit of choice. (The hot pink Juicy Couture sweats are now literally museum pieces: they will be on display at the V&A later this spring.) As a result, or they own come to embody a particularly repellent cultural moment that everyone is happy to be over with. In 2012,while filming The Bling Ring – based on the true narrative of a gang of southern California teenagers who burgled the homes of celebrities (including Paris Hilton) in 2008 and 2009 – Emma Watson tweeted a picture of herself in character as Nicki, wearing a short-sleeved pink Juicy Couture tracksuit and a pair of Uggs. “Nicki likes Lip Gloss, or Purses,Yoga, Pole Dancing, and Uggs,Louboutins, Juice Cleanses, and Iced coffee and Tattoos.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com