McQueen's Houndstooth Hobo Sack

As usual The Purse Blog is dead on with this assessment of the Alexander McQueen houndstooth tote:

"I understand the intent behind this bag, and it’s brave of designers to try and play with pattern and proportion in avant garde ways. Just because it’s brave doesn’t mean it works"

This sack should be on the end of a long stick over the shoulder of a hobo nomad. It looks like it has been crafted entirely from the shreds of inner jacket linings found at the scene of several catastrophic highway collisions. It's a rag doll of a bag desperately following that McQueen Fall/Winter 2009 RTW junk pile thesis. It shoots straight from the tip.

Ben Sherman Houndstooth

Arthur Bernard Sugarman's legacy is under attack by a misguided campaign to glorify houndstooth and associate it with the brand's pseudo-mod sensibilities. We've been seeing houndstooth in Ben Sherman clothing since the beginning but recent boutique and department store displays are peppered with houndstooth chairs, tabletops, and wallpaper. As if their constant exploitation of Union Jacks and Royal Air Force Roundels weren't clichéd enough.

Monster's Dirty Underwear

If you've been boutique hopping around Ballard in Seattle you will have certainly come across a little store called Monster. They specialize in quirky clothing and cute fantasist art. As original as they try to be they too have succumbed to the houndstooth plague. Hence the rancid blue and black trunks in their window. But ya gotta love a store that sells handmade, re-usable, felt coffee cup clutches.

Tori Amos Houndstooth

Tori Amos, while performing at the Radio City Music Hall last week. The latest celebrity to be captured siding with the enemy pattern.

Candy Induced Houndstooth Decay

Sarah Klassen's blog Haute Design features a post on the Teen Vogue September 2009 look at the fall and winter houndstooth trend. Apparently we can anticipate lots of "candy coloured" houndstooth weaves. Obviously someone at Teen Vogue isn't paying attention to the fact that candy is bad for developing teeth. These fall trends are going to be an all out war on my fragile sensibilities!

Greg Lotus' Houndstooth Sewer Steam

Greg Lotus' Vogue Italia August 2009 spread oozes across the page like a steamy, sazerac-soaked fever dream of black lace, whiskey bars, and decaying ballrooms. Why gouge the mood with a shuriken houndstooth jacket?!

Everything But The Cookie

Mmmmmmmm!


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!


Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Amber over at SweetAmbs makes beautiful cookies. But hopefully the houndstooth sells miserably and is discontinued. Skulls Amber! We need skulls on our cookies! Or paisley.

Trapped in Houndstooth

Doesn't this McQueen skeleton look like it's talking on a cell phone?

"Help me! I'm trapped inside a houndstooth!"

At least McQueen's skull graphics are getting better. His last round of skull scarves looked like they belonged in a discount bin at Hot Topic or strung up in some random Camden Market stall. It's embarrassing to think people were paying hundreds of dollars for these.


You can find McQueen's rock-and-roll silk chiffon houndstooth scarf at net-a-porter.com.

R.I.P. John Hughes 1950 - 2009

Autumn of Houndstooth

Susannah Frankel of The Independent lists eight of autumn's trends. Number one is houndstooth!! And of course she sites McQueen. I always thought his use of houndstooth was an ironic gesture heralding houndstooth's inevitable demise. But it looks like people took it seriously and its overblown popularity will be with us into next year. Hopefully it dies a frozen death in the wastelands of winter's runways.