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The devil, fashion and … baseball?

Laura A. Ball
** FOR USE WITH AP WEEKLY FEATURES ** In this photo provided by Twentieth Century Fox , Anne Hathaway's character in `The Devil Wears Prada' wears a David Rodriguez boatneck top, Miu Miu white shirt, Chanel cap and Chanel jewelry. (AP Photo/Twentieth Century Fox)
AP | TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

Donatella who?The man next to me whispered to his wife in the dark theater.Versace.She whispered back.

Ah. Versace. He said noddingly.Why is it that some people know fashion stars by their first names like others know the names of baseball players. While “The Devil Wears Prada” at once draws criticism and praise to the world of high fashion, it got me thinking.What is fashion, and why do I love it?

Well, why does Vail Daily Sports Editor Chris Freud love baseball? Of course fashion is different to different people. I’m not a fashion designer and Chris Freud’s certainly not a baseball player. The yin and yang of it is fashion is silly to Chris and baseball is silly to me, but I respect his passion for the game.To me, fashion is art. Fashion is a form of expression. Fashion is image.Fashion is an evolution. It’s a reaction. It’s a tale of history.



Like the stock market, fashion is a cycle. It follows trends.Fashion comes in seasons that gives Mother Nature a run for her money.Fashion is a business and a luxury.Its mere existence suggests the kind of world we live in. A world filled with war and disease, it is also a world considerate of opulence and indulgence.

Fashion is positive. It leaves room for the imagination. Fashion is dramatic, but fashion is not serious. It sometimes makes sense and rarely makes sense.Fashion is one color. Fashion is one woman. Fashion is a leopard print scarf or no scarf at all. It’s big glasses or painting your face like a geisha. It’s wearing your name on your necklace or a pin in the shape of a flower on your lapel. It’s pointy shoes, square-toed shoes or boots up to you-know-where.Fashion is careful attention to detail. At times it requires a great amount of effort, and at others is nearly accidental but never accidental.

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Fashion is about having fun, making mistakes and not caring.It’s about being modern, up-to-date, in-the-know or simply giving the illusion that you are, which can get you far with the right people.Fashion is a matter of choice and then it’s a matter of choosing what’s already been chosen for us.Mysterious to some, fashion is predictable to others. Boring and futile to some, fashion is thrilling and fulfilling to others.

I never thought I’d see the day Chris Freud made the fashion column. No one will be more surprised than he, as he sits writing his sports column in his purple Giants T-shirt. By the way, Chris, purple is indeed the new pink. Staff Writer Laura A. Ball can be reached 748-2939 or laball@vaildaily.com.Vail, Colorado


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