Vice Style

Charity shop rummaging is really never that fruitful. But sometimes, amongst the piles of disgusting Primark playsuits and Monsoon skirts, you’ll come across a gem such as a book called Worst Fashions: What We Shouldn’t Have Worn… But Did. At first I thought all the 70s retro was ugly as hell, but then I noticed that author Catherine Horwood's list of fashion trends she thinks are absolutely stupid—published in 2004—reads like a pretty accurate guide to the Dalston wardrobe of 2007-2010. Or Beyond Retro’s complete stock inventory as written by your grandma.

When we tracked her down to ask how come she had such a vision, she said, "I have a background in fashion history and I was a child of the 1960s, so it wasn't difficult. While it was written tongue-in-cheek, it also involved a lot of research into fabric developments in particular and I think that's valuable research for anyone interested in fashion trends. Many of these 'innovations' have hit the dust now and might be forgotten if it wasn't for this book."

Right. These days, Catherine is well-known for writing about gardening, but maybe she should write a follow-up to this book so everyone will know what to keep in their closets, because just about everything she wrote about came back in the next couple of years. Since she is unlikely to do just that, we asked if there’s anything missing in the book we should know about: "I do regret not including the boys' fashion for wearing trousers so low slung they look as though they've pooped themselves." There you go.

Below are some of Catherine’s fashion trends which you apparently you shouldn't have worn, but almost certainly did at some point in the last half-decade.

For some reason, the 90s—in the footwear part of my mind—has no room for adidas other than reissues of the Gazelles, Sambas, and Superstars Blur and Oasis fans wore. Actually, though, some of the shoes adidas were making at the time are looking seriously good, all of a sudden, even if way back then I probably thought adidas had lost their minds. I guess part of this had to do with adidas' performance items now being rebranded as adidas Equipment back in 1991 when they replaced the traditional adidas Trefoil with the new simplified adidas logo. I guess the Trefoil's three rugby balls had little place on a basketball boot. B-ball being the sport all sporstwear manufacturers were obsessed with, when Nike owned the NBA's floors, and signing Kobe as a rookie in 1996 certainly put adidas basketball on the map forever.

I <3 to get my nails done. I'm a pretty low maintenance girl or tomboy even, so if when I've forgotten to brush my hair or I'm in trackies at the studio, at least I've got my nails done. Makes me feel special.

Last Friday, The Creators Project’s global editor Julia Kaganskiy put together a blog post in response to Bruce Sterling's almost unreadable “Essay On The New Aesthetic”, which basically argues that the way imagery works on the web is having an increasingly huge influence on style. Like me, you're probably thinking, 'Well, duh!' Even so, it's still probably worth posting The Creators Project's survey of the fashion implications.

This week, Carri shows us the sneakers and men she's obsessing over.

Hello. The sun is finally out in London and dudes are acting like they haven't had sex all winter, so I thought I'd dedicate this column to babes <3

Through some empirical research, and looking to share some national facts with our colleagues all over the world, we in the VICE Mexico office have concluded that Mexico City is the place with the highest levels of hair gel consumption in the entire world. We’re so damn sure of it, that we challenge anyone to prove us wrong.

We decided to get in touch with one of the most knowledgeable figures on the subject—no, we’re not talking about presidential candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto. One of the most popular brands of gel amongst the gelled Mexicans is Xiomara. When we asked them how much of their sticky product they sold every day in Mexico, their answer left us speechless—Xiomara sells more than seven tons a day, that’s five liters every minute or 2555 tons a year.

Xiomara is already being used in America and it will soon reach Panama. We’re talking sticky, shiny heads all the way from Chicago to the Panama Canal. But not all hairdos are the same. Sky’s the limit. Therefore, we give you a brief—but in no way definitive—catalog of Mexican hairdos.

Shopping for new clothes can be pretty fun, but in a world of hyper-low wages, child labor, and other exploitative practices, often any contemplation of the fashion production process is a total bummer. A typical shopping excursion might begin innocently enough—with me jauntily making my way to the shop, eventually trying on a nice dress—but as soon as I read that Made in Bangladesh tag the stark reality hits. I'm instantly fraught with guilt and find myself haunted by images of a 7-year-old working feverishly on it in a factory on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Stalking out a gay bar, buying expensive drinks, and putting in facetime with a real person just to find a fuck buddy is a lot of work. This is exactly why Grindr exists—it’s a smartphone app that enables you to skip the old-fashioned way of getting things done and get to the only part of the night you really care about. It’s not a complete cakewalk, though, and if you respond to a potential conquest the wrong way you could end up half-naked on your bed with blue balls as you weep ever so softy into your pillow. So to help you learn how to do things the right way, I’ve created a simple style guide that will ensure your Grindr love life is nothing but an absolute success—the occasional trip to the doctor’s office for antibiotics notwithstanding.

The Global Trend Report is our annual round-up of what kids are wearing in every country on Earth. Well, not every country, but the ones we have offices in, anyway. In this post we look at how people dress when they don't know what the word zeitgeist means. If it's music and fashion kids you're after, head down to the bottom of the page. All of this is to tie in with our 2012 Fashion Issue.

I asked our fashion editor what "real people" means, and he said:
- "People who aren't deluded and think they work in music or fashion."
- "People who don't want to stand out from the crowd because they love being part of the human race."
- "People who want to look street, because street life is life affirming and fun and exciting."

I think that sums it up pretty nicely. So here you go, here's how the real people of the world are dressing this year. If you wanna gawp at the fashion or music kids, scroll down to the bottom.