Thursday, August 13, 2009

Plaid-Mad Twilight Cast Saves Fashion Industry!

Mmmmm... plaid is delicious...

If it wasn't for the radio, I would be even more clueless than I already am about anything happening in the world that isn't Twilight related. Pre-all-consuming-Twilight-obsession, I used to keep informed by reading news online, listening to the radio, watching it on television, and filling in the rest with newspapers and magazines. But as Mr. Snarky has noted, lately Twilight news sustains me on level comparable to oxygen, food, and water. I can live on that shit! Consequently, there is rarely time enough in the day for all that other nonsense... Thankfully, in the mornings while we're getting ready for work, we still have news radio on in every room at Casa Snarky (can't read blogs while showering, after all. Yet.). And then I listen to more news radio during my heinous trek to the office, although sometimes it's hard to hear it over the near-constant stream of profanity I usually feel compelled to direct at my fellow commuters.

In the very best of times, the real world and the Twidom intersect and I hear a news story that makes me think of Twilight (er, more than almost everything makes me think of Twilight). I was listening to Marketplace (I am a "left of the dial" kinda gal for both news and music...) and they were discussing the one thing that the retail fashion powers-that-be are considering their fiscal lifesaver this year: plaid.


This season they're pinning their hopes on a very familiar pattern. Marketplace's Stacey Vanek Smith reports.


STACEY VANEK-SMITH: After more than a year of being pounded by the recession, retailers think they've finally found the strategy for success...plaid [aka "the pattern favored by just about every member of the Twilight cast!"].

Karolyn Wangstad: We're just kind of mad about plaid here [us, too! Especially when said plaid is wrapped around a certain someone...].

Karolyn Wangstad is Vice President of trend for JCPenney. She says plaid is a pillar for the fall. She says it works for men and women, and you can put it on anything [like your favorite vampire!].

WANGSTAD: An assortment of tops, jackets, outer-wear, handbags, scarves, hats. You name it. We call it "total plaidness" around here. That's kind of our joke. [Er, and it's kinda not funny...]

Families are expected to spend about 8 percent less on back to school shopping than they did last year [don't forget your Twilight lunchbox and thermos!]. Plaid fits into that pattern, too, says Wendy Liebmann CEO of WSL Strategic Retail. She says you can put the print on any fabric, from cashmere to cotton, so even cash-strapped shoppers can get their plaid on.

WENDY LIEBMANN: This sense of trying to make even the trend merchandise affordable has been really a mantra for most of the retailers around the country.

And some of us may not even have to buy anything, if we can just find those old flannel shirts, which are probably somewhere in the garage with our Nirvana posters, Doc Martens and fingerless gloves. [Who needs to go to the garage? Well, not for my docs, anyway...]

[Note from JJ: I still have all my docs too. Oh, and I officially never want to read the word "plaid" again because no matter how many times I look at it it looks like its spelled wrong. And it's annoying.]

Honestly, I did plaid the first time it went around, back in the late eighties and early nineties. And along with leggings, vests, gladiator sandals (I swear they came back into style two seconds after I stuffed mine into a Goodwill box - I may have actually caused them to resurface), moccasins, bleached/ripped/acid-washed jeans, Candies, and all that other stuff, I stick to my hard-and-fast rule: if it's "back," I probably shouldn't be buying it, wearing it, or coveting it at Hot Topic.

However, that's not gonna stop me from ogling the Twilight cast in all their plaid-wearing glory (and by "Twilight cast" I mean "Robert Pattinson exclusively although some of those other guys are hot but not you Taycob you're still too young I don't care what anyone says - damn you, I'm gonna have to be totally sauced at the New Moon premiere just to deal with your adolescent 8-pack abs! sigh - moving on...):

"I love this plaid shirt, and that other plaid shirt, and that plaid shirt I loaned to Kristen..."

Kellan hearts plaid, too! Especially when he's in disguise at Comic Con and channeling his inner grunge-rocker (sorry Kellan, you are too clean-cut to pull the grunge look off - I have never seen someone incapable of slouching, but there you go... Two points for effort, though! And is that a hat AND a headband? Your stylist is messing with you, dude).

Robward and some other people at Comic Con. See how he's looking right. at. YOU?! And see, the young lad on the left is also in plaid! And that chick in the middle is wearing that tee that drives JJ nuts because Minor Threat is a straight-edge band, and well, K-Stew's totally not straight-edge...

Ashley Greene loves plaid, too! Big red lumberjack plaid! Like the kind the Brawny spokes-model
would wear, if there were such a thing.

Peter Facinelli goes for something a little more madras-y, almost, but nope - still plaid!

There are 9,673,821 different pics of Robward in THIS plaid shirt on the internets - he REALLY loves this shirt - and I REALLY love this pic, short hair and all... I still wanted to run my hands all up in that! You know you did, too... He's gonna shave his head when Breaking Dawn wraps, mark my words...

Edi Gathegi's workin' his plaid, too! Just a tiny bit. Just a lil' bad-vampy accessory piece...

Ash also likes to accessorize with a tad of plaid...

What? Oh yeah RPatts, wearing more... um... something... Er, what am I talking about? Sorry, can't concentrate - too busy focusing on that straw... Nothing wrong with a man with an oral fixation...

KStew loved one of Rob's plaid shirts SOOO much that she made a dress out of it! Clever DIY girl...

She also likes to rock the bad-girl plaid... (And I am SO glad I live Jersey and never EVER have to pump my own gas.)

Jacksper's a good indie-rocker/hipster and mixes his plaid with stripes...

Even Dakota's getting in on the act! Oh and I think I threw those jeans out in 1993...

Nikki must have been rooting through KStew's closet - how sweet!

Is it wrong that I will probably knock down a bunch of hapless tweeny boppers in the Brass Plum section of Nordstrom just to get my mitts on this jacket? No??? Good.

"Beg pardon - I have to take this very important call from the Plaid Council of America..."


So thanks, Twilight, for keeping all those retailers in business! These days, I think Twilight and Cash for Clunkers are the only things holding the economy together... Now I'm gonna go buy me some more Twilight merch to decorate JJ's apartment while she's away (more on that to come!).

P.S. Here's the official plaid of Clan Snarky!

Maybe I should send RPatts a Clan Snarky shirt? Or plaid boxers... Hmmmm...

Mini-E shows his Clan Snarky spirit! My grandma would be proud! Er, maybe...

37 comments:

  1. I was totally and completely thinking "I have Twilight to thank for this" as I squealed over numerous adorable plaid items at the mall last night. I love plaid. I grew up in grunge. It's just me.
    Rob + plaid = even hotter than usual.
    I heart this: "Robert Pattinson exclusively although some of those other guys are hot but not you Taycob you're still too young I don't care what anyone says - damn you, I'm gonna have to be totally sauced at the New Moon premiere just to deal with your adolescent 8-pack abs! sigh - moving on..."
    I cannot say why... It couldn't be that it sounds like it's coming from my own brain... hmmmm

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  2. I love me some plaid, but you know what I love and miss more? Robward's sexy sexy hair (or lack thereof) in picture #7. That picture screams "Look at the circles under my eyes. I stayed up all night... reading the bible with KStew".

    Tell Rob I can cure his oral fixation. I'll wear plaid if that's what he's into.

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  3. Late 80s?? I wore plaid (Tartan) in the mid 70s as a Bay City Roller fangirl!! LOL!

    And then, the plaid lumber jacket in my last year of high school....

    (but Rob's blue plaid shirt with the missing buttons, frayed collar, unhemmed right sleeve really needs to be put to sleep...)

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  4. @ to twicat - Ah - the bay city rollers - yup, i had the 45s & played them on my orange plastic record player - lol! I guess i was wearing plaid toughskins at the time, now that i think about it - does that count? holy crap - when i am around for the THIRD coming of something, do i just need to be put out to pasture or something?! NOOO!!!

    @jess - loooove me some long rpatts hair but he looks zexy in that pic (and i don't think they were reading the bible - lol!).

    @etomyb - you should check out "children of the ninteies" good stuff there! and they liked flannel... and jordan catalano in flannel... mmmm... he knew how to wear plaid, too, for sure!

    http://childrenofthenineties.blogspot.com/2009/06/flannel.html

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  5. It's funny how that plaid flannel will never go out of style. Each generation just adopts it as their own. I gues like in Wide Awake, it's Rob's version of a hoodie. Maybe he feels safe in his stinky flannel. :) (had to throw the stinky in there, I'm sorry. Sometimes our Rob looks stinky) Ahhhh the grunge era, Nirvana, lots of coffee (still haven't changed), rain (lived in socal so it didn't rain that much but let's pretend it did), Lolapalloza (memba that?) I miss those days.

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  6. @STY - jordan catalno!!! my first bad boy crush!

    I had plaid Chucks in middle school!
    And I would beat some tweens for that jacket as well!

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  7. OMG this is hysterical! I love this blog...

    (and i have many plaid shirts i'm itchin' to wear when it's not 95 degrees outside. why this hot weather but wearing long plaid sleeves thing doesn't bother the twi cast, i'll never understand)

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  8. ummmm i bought a plaid shirt the other week and one today...... although today's had a purpose..... i went and took lessons for country line dancing and wantd to somewaht look like i fit in......

    Jeans, white wife beater, plaid shirt tied in the front..... and chucks, lol, didnt wanna trip over my feet while learning

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  9. I think I need to get me some plaid... preferably with RPatz still in it...

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  10. I so loved plaid before is was "back".

    But that is okay, I guess I have an excuse to splurge now.
    =]

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  11. Wow, plaid... you just flooded my memory with my college days! Gotta love the plaid. My husband still has about 100 LL Bean plaid flannels - it's definitely a prerequisite for living in Maine.

    @STY - The whole paragraph about fads - had 'em all. And I still have all my Docs too! [You have officially made me feel oooooold!]

    @Honolulu Girl - I was going to UHawaii in the early 90s - how the hell do you wear plaid there? It's too HOT. I saw Pearl Jam at the amphitheater on campus in 1992 and definitely had to leave my plaid at home!! Gawd, I'm totally dating myself. Yikes!

    @Sarah (SA) - I have to agree you. Plaid with RPattz in it - that's the only way to go!

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  12. I hadn't ever noticed how they all wear plaid..hilarious...and I think someone forgot to send me the memo that my docs were supposed to be relegated to my garage...they are in my closet as an homage to my rebellious punk stage of my life where, like KStew I was 19 and knew it all

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  13. I think I have some plaid somewhere... But it's probably from when I was a younger. I do have docs though. They're only 5 years old. Ya know, sometimes I wish I was older and lived through those great decades. It looked like SO much fun back then. Everyone's trying to be too prim and proper now. bleh (:

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  14. I've always had a thing for plaid stuff, but with a certain someone from the Twilight cast using it... Well, I love it now!

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  15. I forgot to mention in my last comment... while I love the crazy, longish hair, I'll have to admit, I absolutely love love love him with the buzz cut. Totally hopes he does it again!!

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  16. @Honolulu Girl - I think the first time I truly felt "too old" was at a Lalapalooza concert - lol! Some youngster beside me was letting some other creepy kid pierce her naval. There in the middle of a very sanity field teaming with cooties. All I could think was "what would her mother think?!"... ah, good times, good times. Come to think of it, I saw Pearl Jam there, and they weren't even close to being the headliners (which I think was the Red Hot Chili Peppers).

    @Track 10 - plaid chucks - nice! And that jacket it waaay too nice to not covet - gotta have it! (Yeah I'm lookin' at you all you people out there with Nordstrom connection - I wear a size large, okay??). : )

    @showme - thanks!! and i think the fact that nobody in the cast of twilight has more than 6% body fat explains why they are always cool. just my theory. or maybe it's the beauty knows no pain thing. whatever - they look gooood so no complaints from me!

    @IPW4F - yup, i've had the plaid shirt tied at the waist... er, wasn't line dancing at the time but still! and I thought you were supposed to were shit-kicker boots for that?? might be an excuse to get some new boots! do those come in plaid, i wonder... : )

    @sarah (sa) - if you find out where they sell that, I wanna know! definitely need one myself... : )

    @lisa - I agree - we all really need to do our part, support the cast, and go clothes shopping ASAP. it's only right.

    @LKW - how did you end up @ U of HI?! that's a looong way from Maine - lol! must have been a nice change of scenery, though! I wanted to go to college as far away as possible but ended up in NJ. oh well!

    @Sally - nope, the docs have fad amnesty - they'll always be cool & classic! And only Rachelle and Elizabeth/Esme were immune, somehow. No plaid pics of them that I could find!

    @Shiny Volvo Owner - funny! i never think of people being MORE prim & proper - maybe just more mainstream, but then docs haven't been fringe for decades - i think all the stuff that used to be more subversive is now just the norm. And i still wear my docs - so does Mr. Snarky!

    @lala - i wish i still had my big ol' plaid shirts! sigh... who knew they could have been added to my arsenal of secret-ish things that remind me of twilight?!

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  17. My husband wears plaid shirts sometimes, but it just isn't the same. Sigh.....

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  18. Haha I don't know how pump my own gas either.

    I can't believe Nordstrom is pro-plaiding this Twilight deal! I'm going to spot you my plaid collage! http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UWL9avDDvdE/SnpuWFVZEwI/AAAAAAAAAEs/IxpsAy_qOw0/s1600-h/twilight+plaid+brigade.PNG

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  19. @LW Ha, ha! I grew up in Southern California, so yeah we sported those flannels! Actually they still do, surfers seem to love flannels in the morning.
    @STY, It was Chili Peppers head lining the second Lalapalooza and yeah I remember Pear Jam wasn't even famous yet and memba Ice Cube performed. Weird arrangmenet of bands. You know what killed the flannel for a while. The movie Singles! Do you remember that one? I think that about killed the whole grunge trend. I have to admit I do love the movie though.

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  20. @Honolulu Girl - Loved the movie Singles!! I think I actually bought the soundtrack while in Hawaii! LOL!

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  21. It's funny you posted this cuz I'm going to see Bobby Long next week and I was asking my friend what to wear. We were talking about how to avoid looking like a Twi/Rob fangirl. I was thinking of wearing some skinny jeans and a plaid shirt and my friend yells at me "No!! You will for sure look like a total fangirl!" Lol.

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  22. No lie, I bought a plaid shirt the other day from ModCloth.com. My inspiration may or may not have been RPattz-inspired...

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  23. @TO Twicat Gad! I was a bay city roller fan girl too... I had the outfid even went to a concert. Ugh hangs head in shame...

    Up here in the great white north or great wet north as it's raining today! The plaid jacket is referred to as the "Harewood Dinner Jacket"

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  24. Ha! I come from the grunge capitol of the world---love me some plaid. My man wears certain plaids and looks quite nice in them but holy crap does RPattz do things to plaid that no man has done before.

    I, too, still have Docs in my closet and still wear them. In fact, I was just looking at getting another pair soon. I have been wearing them since I was 15 (bought my first pair in London) years old and still love them. Love it when Rob wears his Docs. Yummy.

    @STY--Jordan Catalano was totally HOT. I watch all the episodes of "My So Called Life" every year. It still makes me all weak in the knees....one of the all time greatest television shows.

    @JJ--I will now always look at the word 'plaid' and be annoyed now..thanks.

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  25. In solidarity with the Twiworld I will be wearing a plaid dress to the barn dance I am attending tonight.

    Oddly enough, I grew up with a million (okay, not really) farms around me and I have never been to a barn dance. Now I am in Portland and am going to a dance... in a city. Go figure...

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  26. holy crap SFT - that's awesome!! And i am blinded by the plaid - lol! well done - makes me wanna go get them there plaid eff-me shoes, for sure! You even found a pic of Rachelle in plaid! i almost went blind looking for her and Elizabeth/Esme...

    @VitaminR70 - I still heart MSCL and would let Jordan Catalano press my up against a locker any day of the week (but not present-day Jared Leto 'cause he's got the crazy eyes these days. I found a scary creeptastic pic of his the other day - eek!

    @Red Bella - no shame there - Robin Zanders (or whatever his name is) was a hottie!

    @Annie - it's only a matter of time 'til I break down and buy something plaid... Maybe a cheeky accessory would do the trick...

    @Perpetual Fangirl - you can't go wrong with the skinny jeans/plaid shirt combo imho - sounds perfectly cromulent for a Bobby Long show - have fun!! : )

    @Twilove 1 - um, yeah I hear ya' - JJ and I were watching a video on youtube the other night and we were all "why don't our men look like..." oh never mind! we lurvs em but I wouldn't mind it Mr. Snarky could rock plaid & jeans like Robward - lol!

    @Federico Zarco - thanks! checked out your site - you've got some amazing work there! Nice...

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  27. Although I'm old enough to have been around for all the various plaid fads, I didn't recall any affection for plaid, so wasn't going to contribute. Then I recalled my mountain man phase. I loved 'borrowing' plaid flannel shirts from my boyfriend and wearing them with the wife-beater and tight jeans. I don't know how an oversized shirt could make me feel sexy, but it did. And I still wouldn't kick the right mountain man out of bed for eating crackers.

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  28. STY, I made a post about plaid too a few days ago that's explains the massive collage haha. I went to see The Time Traveler's Wife today, and there was a lot of plaid going on with Eric Bana. Makes sense though... it was supposed to be mid-90s, but still couldn't help thinking of Twilight!

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  29. I love most plaids, it's just so awesome, comforting, hot, whatever, but, my favorite plaid of all time has been that yellow and blue robward one since the photoshoot pix came out!! SO HOT!

    I will be loading my fall wardrobe heavily with the plaid!

    Also, STY, SO jealous that your fam has it's own tartan and clan crest! How cool is that!

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  30. JORDAN CATALANO FTW! The original "Badward"! Haha

    Oh I miss the 90's :~

    *picks up dvd of MSCL and braces herself*

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  31. Good lord...I spend so much time looking at all things and people Twilight that I'm beginning to morph into them. I'm 31...and just bit the bullet and bought skinny jeans. Oh, and the plaid has been calling my name. Meanwhile the Converse sneakers have been giving me googly eyes. What the hell, I'm an old school shelltoe Adidas girl. How could I turn my back on them, after all the good times they've brought me?!

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  32. Plaid has been very popular this fall. We have trouble keeping the plaid lunch and computer totes in stock.

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  34. He has been one of my favorite actor of all time and also my fashion icon.


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