Archive for the ‘Trends’ Category
Ending the Year on a Fashionable Note
December 26, 2009
New Year’s Eve is a last chance to make an impression on 2009. It was a challenging year to be sure, but it was also one that exhibited flashes of brilliance within the realms of food, fashion, and technology. Rarely has human love and ingenuity for culture been so apparent. As you look back on the past twelve months, remember it for its many pleasant surprises, and not just its bleak economy.
Use the final night of 2009 to make your own contribution to the celebration. Since this was the year that fashion became a spectacle—with its many over-the-top fashion shows and rising pop fashion icons—it’s only appropriate that you attend your New Year’s Eve with a fashion statement of your own.
New Year’s happens to be a perfect time to take some style risks since the carefree environment tends to be more forgiving (or forgetful) towards adventurous outfits. Plus, any faux pas can be left behind in the passing year as you start fresh in 2010.
Below we’ve gathered a few “statement pieces” that should appeal to various Dining DNA strands. Any one of these will sufficiently spruce up an otherwise typical cocktail dress or blazer and jeans ensemble:
A Bow Tie
Since it’s a time of the year meant for retrospection, Suave Sophisticates can cease the opportunity to make their outfits a throwback to New Years of yesteryear. A bow tie, topped off with a fedora or a blazer is always a sophisticated combination. Agile Improvisers, on the other hand, can combine a bow tie with an otherwise more casual outfit to make for a classic and quirky ensemble. Those who strive for hipsterism can also go the extra step and select a flashy tie like a colorful, velvet bow tie, or a jewel-studded one.
A Feathered Cocktail Hat
If your date happens to be a Suave Sophisticate wearing a bow tie, try being a formidable Protagonista and one-up him with an eye-catching cocktail hat that maintains the throwback theme. This pre-war chic feathered hat from Urban Outfitters is perfect for the occasion. It’s a classic beauty that tops off an outfit without sending it over the top. Consider the white feathers a blank canvas for specks of confetti. Lastly: when else will you be able to get away with sequins on a hat?
A Shiny Belt
Shiny is the general theme of New Year’s Eve. It’s one of the few occasions on which we give into our natural attraction to all things that sparkle, glow, and twinkle. If you’re a comfortable American not prone to fashion experimentation, try the simplest statement piece of the bunch—a metallic-hued belt. It’s the cheapest and most subtle options that will literally hold your outfit together. Try it with dark wash jeans.
Metallic Outerwear
Continuing with the theme of shininess, this gold vest by Pyrenex at Opening Ceremony and shimmering jacket from Phillip Lim are strictly for more adventurous protagonistas and agile improvisers. These items are useful for anyone planning to spend a portion of their night out in the cold, plus you’re bound to garner more attention than any dropping ball or fireworks display. As a side note, metallic fabrics have been cited as an upcoming fashion trend, so you may get a surprising amount of mileage out of this ostentatious outerwear.
Frilly Slippers
Women: If there’s any chance walking a straight line will be a challenge by night’s end, why not leave the heels at home? There are plenty of ways to make a statement without the added inches to your height. These Lanvin ballerina slippers are lightweight and comfortable, and still eye-catching thanks to their cool steel blue hue and ruffled trim. If, however, you’re adamant about wearing heels, you could always bring the slippers as back-up—they come with a dust bag for easy traveling. Your feet will thank you.
A Final Note
When selecting a statement piece, remember, this is New Year’s, not Halloween. You’re not aiming for a complete costume. Settling on one standout clothing item or accessory is more practical, stylish, and affordable. Consider each of the above an extra dash of spice that will bring out the flavor of your entire outfit, whether you’re a Suave Sophisticate, a Protagonista, or an Agile Improviser (or, if you just want to dress like one for the night).
Photo courtesy of:
polyvore.com;
urbanoutfitters.com;
topman.com;
openingceremony.com;
aloharag.com;
aloharag.com;
curiouswines.ie.
Print ThisPosted in Fashion, Impress, New Year, Trends, holiday season | No Comments »
The Top Ten Culinary Trends of 2009
December 16, 2009
With the many culinary breakthroughs that bubbled to the surface of the national restaurant scene in recent months, 2009 is fated to be remembered as a year of culinary renaissance. Perhaps the recession was the muse that sparked everyone’s renewed thinking about food, serving portions, costs, and restaurant business models. It’s the year that gourmet kitchens turned mobile, restaurants discovered the benefits of local meats and produce, and Americans explored “the fifth taste.” Above all, it was the year in which America’s renewed interest in well-crafted, high quality meals reached its defining moment. There’s never been a better time to eat in America. Below are ten reasons why.
Read More »
Posted in Culinary Trends, Eating Trends, Gourmet food trucks, Health, Ingredients, Restaurants, Tech Chic, Trends, Wine | 3 Comments »
Foreseeing the Future of Restaurant Guides: An Interview with Alain Gayot
December 3, 2009
UBI UBI is excited to welcome another highly respected, well-established lifestyle reviewer to our flourishing database: GAYOT.com. The family-owned restaurant, hotel, shopping, and tourism guidebook series has been published in France and the U.S. for nearly five decades. As one of the first to adopt Internet distribution, they continue to shape the future of culinary guides by partnering with UBI UBI, itself an innovator in smartphone-accessed, portable dining reviews on the mobile Web.
You’ll find that GAYOT.com reviews are clear, detailed, witty, and invaluable. Quickly absorbed one-sentence summaries provide an overview of each spot, while the toque (chef’s hat) rating system provides an instant snapshot of the restaurant’s quality. In the helpful Quick Bites section, you’ll find only in-and-out, to-go venues. We think GAYOT.com provides another smart, honest perspective to help you use your hard-earned money wisely while getting the dining-out experience that best satisfies your cravings. The addition of Gayot reviews also means more expert opinions, more restaurant coverage, more updates, and smarter dining decisions for the Ubi Ubi community.
Alain Gayot, the Editor-In-Chief at GAYOT.com, recently stopped by the UBI UBI office, and we seized the opportunity to learn more about his restaurant guide philosophy and his opinions on current restaurant trends. Below is a sampling of questions from our interview, in which we discussed what kind of traveler GAYOT.com appeals to, how the company made the transition from print to Web, and what justifies a negative restaurant review.
Read More »
Posted in Culinary Trends, Dining Reviews, Lifestyle, Restaurants, Trends, Wine | Comments Off
Celebrating the Split: Divorce Parties Ring in a New Life Chapter
November 20, 2009
When British T.V. personality Katie Price divorced her husband, Australian singer Peter Andre, it was, like any divorce, a painful experience. So, why, then, did she throw a divorce party? It may seem like a counterintuitive reaction, but divorce parties may soon be just another way to celebrate a newly accepted post-marriage phase of life. The divorce party, a surprising and increasingly popular ritual, is now de rigueur for recent divorcés.
When you’ve finally made it to the other side of a divorce, don’t ignore the elephant in the room, throw some streamers around it and celebrate it with your friends. At least, that’s the idea behind this modern day celebration. The goal is to put a positive spin on the decision to split, to reaffirm friendships, and to commemorate the opening of a new chapter in one’s life. “[Divorce] is part of life, and yet it’s the only major event for which we have no ritual,” says Christine Gallagher, author of The Divorce Party Planner. In a time where divorce is evolving into an increasingly common decision and a more widely discussed topic, it only makes sense that people would begin to treat it the way they treat life’s other key transitions – with a gathering of family and friends.
Read More »
Posted in Divorce, Lifestyle, Traditions, Trends | 1 Comment »
The Most Tweet-able of Halloweens
November 3, 2009
Halloween costumes now tend to come in two strains: the timely and the timeless. The timely ones try to recreate snapshots of the then-current personalities and time; think Bill Clinton or SpongeBob SquarePants. The timeless ones embrace the traditional figures associated with the holiday such as Dracula or the Wicked Witch.
This Halloween, timeliness certainly took the spotlight, capturing our observations and emotions of the past few months as precisely as possible. Didn’t it seem every costume was conceived as the potential topic of a tweet—a momentary display of wit for a passerby? If your costume wasn’t based on a Twitter trending topic, then the boos you heard had no association with ghosts. It was incumbent upon you to go back to the drawing board and rethink what you wore.
Even the once timeless costumes could no longer be. If you chose to dress as a witch in pointed hat, then you were an ironic witch. If you chose to be a witch with a wink, you were nothing more than a quaint reminder of the past.
In hindsight, this gravitation towards timely costumes is inevitable. Our society is becoming ever more entranced with the consumption of the here and now—instant messaging, frequently updated status messages, Twittering, feeds on what your colleagues, friends, and virtual friends are doing and the like. We’ve become gluttons of the instantaneous. We want more of “it” faster since what is brilliant one minute becomes completely irrelevant the next.
Read More »
Posted in Community, Fashion, Halloween, Social Media, Traditions, Trends | No Comments »
Spotlight on Dining DNA:
The Search for the Elusive Protagonista
October 23, 2009
There is a kind of woman who, when seen at a restaurant or lounge, seems to give off a glow. You might try to pinpoint what makes this woman so effervescent. What gives her that ethereal aura, that mysterious halo? Is it her confidence? Is it her strong sense of self? Is it her liberated spirit?
Then you realize: It’s the ambient light reflecting off her glossy pair of Manolo Blahniks.
There are some women who are comfortable with eventually settling down and retiring their social lives, but don’t ask this woman why she doesn’t follow the herd. She’s a protagonista, and her desire for new friends and new experiences is as alive and kicking as ever.
Read More »
Posted in Crowds, Dining Culture, New York, Trends | No Comments »
Fashion Sees an Increase in Asian Names, But What About Asian Faces?
October 14, 2009
The Wall Street Journal recently announced the arrival of a rising generation of fashion designers – namely, the new Asian-American designers. With 25 designers of Asian descent sending their designs down the runways at last month’s New York Fashion Week, the prominence of Asian-Americans in the world of fashion design couldn’t go unnoticed by the mainstream media for much longer.
Names like Peter Som, Phillip Lim, Doo Ri Chung, Thakoon, and Jason Wu, have elicited warm praise from the critics with their cutting edge designs and knack for skillful tailoring. These designers are also meant to represent a triumph for a group that, until recently, was underrepresented in the creative realm of fashion design. Consequently, they’re used as symbol of progress in an industry that is often criticized for its lack of racial and ethnic inclusiveness.
Yet, as the fashion industry gets comfortable with more Asian names appearing on the labels of clothes, it hasn’t fully embraced the idea of putting more Asian faces on the covers of magazines. With all the designers of Asian descent working behind the scenes, Asian and Asian-American models still struggle to get on the runways and in advertisements.
Read More »
Posted in Community, Fashion, Trends | No Comments »
Covert Cocktails:
The Rise of the Speakeasy in the Information Age
October 8, 2009
When you walk into Crif Dogs – an unassuming hot dog venue in New York’s East Village - you might find the phone booth by the entrance to be just a quaint, if oddly placed, remnant of the past.
You should know better.
If you wait around long enough on a weekend night, you might see someone enter the booth, pick up the phone, and suddenly disappear behind a hidden door. Your eyes wouldn’t be deceiving you, you would just be witnessing the theatrics of PDT (it’s short for Please Don’t Tell, but we can’t keep a secret), one of New York’s many speakeasies.
We’ve noted in the past how mystique is at the heart of everything hip, which helps to explain why speakeasies, hidden bars, and secret parties are showing up (or rather, not showing up) around the world. PDT may have one of the more enigmatic entrance protocols, but it’s only the beginning of the story. Read More »
Posted in L.A., London, New York, Restaurants, Trends | No Comments »
As the Mobile World Turns
October 1, 2009
The US mobile phone industry is far from perfect. In a system where consumers are left to find their way through a bafflingly complicated and illogical system of service contracts and stripped down versions of the Web, sometimes it’s easier to view mobile technology in light of its limitations rather than its advancements.
That was until the iPhone came along.
It was sleek, ingeniously designed, and had more sex appeal than any phone that had come before it – not to mention all the frills of a near-complete mobile Web experience. It had network operators trembling with desire like cell phones set to vibrate. But the iPhone showed up at the ball with its hand on the arm of a rich hot shot: AT&T. Passions flared and desire brewed. AT&T had something that everyone wanted. Read More »
Posted in Dining Reviews, Mobility, Trends | No Comments »
Dear Observer, Sharing is Intrinsic to Dining
September 26, 2009
The only thing worse than listening to so-called « foodiots » is listening to someone vent their misguided angst toward them. That’s the conclusion we can draw from “The Foodiots,” Joe Pompeo’s recent diatribe in the The New York Observer that ends up offending essentially anyone who has had a conversation about food.
We here at UBI UBI are particularly disturbed by the piece, which only serves to demonstrate how out of touch with reality Mr. Pompeo and his cohorts at The Observer really are when it comes to the public conversation about food. At UBI UBI, we are all about dining and dining culture, and it is no secret that we are like the many food enthusiasts who spend a large share of their personal and professional time “yapping about what they’re shoving down their pie holes,” as Mr. Pompeo describes in his “investigative” piece.
What Pompeo’s article lacks in substance it attempts to make up for with a litany of adolescent complaints that would be more at home in a schoolyard than in a professional newspaper. Read More »
Posted in Language, Social Media, Trends | No Comments »
