Green is the New Black

Since the day fashion became ornamental instead of functional the war has been waged. The gruesome duel between function and appearance has been raging in the closets of individuals for eons. Many argue that clothes are meant to keep you warm and looks are secondary, if important at all. The counter argument is usually the typical “pain is beauty” line spoken by the woman walking on 6” stilettos and squeezing into a skirt that is so tight, breathing becomes laborious. Neither extreme holds the answer in my mind. There must be a middle ground that can be comfortable and fashionable at the same time.
I will be the first to admit sweatpants do have their time and place and there is undoubtedly no feeling like a soft, warm, beat up hoodie on a brisk day. In fact as I sit here in my apartment I am adorned in both while writing this article. They are the comfort food of a man’s closet and it would be unrealistic for me to rant on and on encouraging our readers to go burn your sweats. It’s not happening. Still, like comfort food, it isn’t appropriate for every occasion. Just think, if you were having important guests over for dinner, would you toss them a box of Twinkies and a coke? No. Well, at least I hope not; if so, keep reading Eleven; we will get through this together. Like the cream filled snacks, sweats or beat up dingy clothes are to be used at home when nobody is looking. There is no need to wear a dumpy outfit to class or work when it take the same amount of effort to throw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a blazer and go. Denim that fits correctly can be as comfortable as most sweats. If you still aren’t convinced, there are great alternatives to the hoodie. Many designers have come out with high quality casual wear or even gym clothes. There is nothing wrong with taking an American classic like a sweatshirt and tweaking it to make it a seamless part of your everyday wardrobe. A cashmere zip-up can be paired with a pair of jeans and a button down and look casual without looking sloppy. Or making it a graphic print in an unexpected color to pair with slim fit stacked denim. Companies like Freshjive, and BillWillie pride themselves on making quality garments that have a relaxed and casual aesthetic while maintaining that edge and flair that makes people look twice. They have fine details that are produced with precision that can be looked at with appreciation instead of disgust. Some of their products can cost over a thousand dollars but are made with the same hand crafted diligence as a suit maker. Marc Jacobs has taken to the extreme and done hoodies and cotton fleece sweatpant’esque garments in his fall runway collection showing that casual can be taken seriously.
Function does not only address how soft the fabric feels, or how warm it keeps the wearer; An issue being addressed lately is the environmental impact products have when being manufactured. Many forward thinkers have been making a serious effort to become more environmentally aware and have created a huge effort to “go green”. Unfortunately, many clothing manufacturers that have been making organic clothing tend to market more toward the granola hippie conservationists rather than the everyday style conscious individual. In the midst of this natural fiber revolution there are a select few companies with the mainstream “green guy” in mind. Labels like Loomstate and Edun are creating lines that are modern and sophisticated while sticking to an organic foundation. This keeps the functional aspect that the environmentalists seek, while appealing to a wide variety of consumers. Who says clothing with a conscious has to be clothing without a sense of aesthetic pride? While the clothing is substantially more expensive then most retailers (averaging about $100 per garment) I would much rather pay for good looking organic clothes then spend the same amount on clothes that look like burlap feedbags.     Many of the companies have achieved this in really non-conventional ways. Instead of compromising the quality or aesthetics of the garments, some manufacturers sought out alternative routes to increase the eco-friendly nature of the brand. This includes everything from using hybrid vehicles to transport goods, to recycling fibers to create new fabric to work with. One way I choose to add some “green” to my closet is to buy vintage and second hand items. By incorporating items from past eras and giving them a new life and purpose, I not only save myself money, but I also reduce my environmental footprint.
Next time you go shopping, think about an alternative unique “green option” that will work flawlessly with the style conscious man’s wardrobe. It can be comfortable and stylish as long as you take the time to do your research and find a designer that agrees with your lifestyle. “GREEN” IS THE NEW BLACK.

By: Eric White- Style

The Making of a Magazine

This past week, one of It’s Nice That’s guest authors has contributed several posts that should resonate well with the Eleven Magazine crew. Each post contains a few words of wisdom when it comes to appreciating editorial design as well as noting that there is much more to a magazine than just aesthetics and well composed articles.

It should be noted that It’s Nice That is a great blog reference, which focuses upon graphic design but also offers several other posts that pertain to the creative mind.

*For a better close up, click on the image above. Once you’re brought to a new window, you should see a magnifying glass icon, click once more and the image should enlarge.

By: Ryan Haigh- Design ◊

Eleven Takes on NYC

Photo By: Antonio Aresco

Two of Eleven Magazines executives took on New York’s fashion district today. Stay tuned for more updates.

By: Antonio Aresco

Illu-Fashion

A small portion of Jean’s sketches drawn for Prada’s new line of clothing and new found marketable image.

A screenshot of Prada’s website.

Quite some time ago, Prada utilized one of my favorite illustrators, James Jean. Jean, a comic book artist, has provided a collection of sketches/drawings that now decorate the background images of Prada’s website. They also find their way onto a new line of Prada clothing. I believe this integration of illustration alongside fashion is a confident move on Prada’s part, while it also suggests that fine art and illustration aren’t as one dimensional as some of us may have previously thought.

By: Ryan Haigh- Design ◊

Glossy

Glossy is a Belgium firm that deals with graphic design, art direction and photography. I feel like this firm represents a new generation of designers very well. 

By: Antonio Aresco

Things That Make You Go Ooo…

         

Tim Hamilton is an emerging young designer from New York City. He learned his trade in under the wings of the Ralph Lauren and J Crew design houses. He has fresh new take on the the classic American pieces we have all come to know and love, but with a slight twist in every piece to keep us on our toes. The unexpected details of his spring/summer line for 2008 give the feeling of a boyish sophisticate who knows what he wants and isn’t out to follow trends. The simplicity and elegance of a superbly designed collection is displayed here… and its about time someone did something innovative.

See the collection at: TimHamilton.com

By: Eric White- Style

For the Inquiring Mind

Inquiringmind Magazine, is an online magazine that does it right. Not only do they offer a great online magazine, but they also feature multiple interviews with influential designers/artists/musicians and “Buyer’s Buybles” as their called, which showcase some flavorful clothing options for the particular season each “Buyble” is released.

They have an incredible blog as well, so be sure to check out both.

By: Ryan Haigh- Design ◊

Chair Hacking

Martino Gamper combines his love of chairs and unwanted objects to evoke emotion. He believes that each piece tells a story of materials, people, places and techniques.

By: Antonio Aresco

 

My beef with ‘Top Chef’

 

Imagine being drafted into the NFL straight out of college. After 4 years of entertaining the crowd, making the big plays only to get to the big time to be ostracized because you   make your cuts too early and in doing so you merely stopped the ball instead of intercepting it…

            This concept works fine for the big NFL Franchises and the superstars they pay millions of dollars to make the big plays and ultimately get them the coveted Vince Lombardi trophy but not so well for Top Chef. This is a show where chefs are given challenges and expected to use their knowledge of the culinary world to make the dishes their own, to add flair and create something that is both original yet fundamentally sound in a very short time span. Essentially, they are expected to be clutch players at all time. And don’t get me wrong, I fully expect these contestants to have a more extensive knowledge of flavors and combinations than the average person (or chef for that matter) but give them a break. Here are just a few of my beefs wit the show:

 

• The contest is set-up for entertainment first

 

The show is outright good but when the better chefs are booted instead of the asshole that effed up and blamed it on someone else because of the producers’ desire to boost ratings, then the whole concept of “Top Chef” goes right out the window. For instance, on “Top Chef Season 4”, Antonia (my personal favorite by the way) was eliminated for the finals in Puerto Rico because her gandules or ‘pigeon peas’ were “slightly” undercooked for the judges preferences while Lisa got away unscathed even after serving an overall poor menu. Immediately after Antonia leaves, Lisa proceeds to complain and stir up drama because she wasn’t congratulated on her win even though she admits she should’ve been the one eliminated. Lisa is the “bitch” of the show. We get it. Now give us a real chef.

 

• The Judges aren’t perfect

 

We all get the fact that the judges are experienced in their field and that they are able to distinguish flaws and fundamental errors but they don’t know everything. I am hard-pressed to believe that they can taste something and tell you whether or not the masses would enjoy it beyond whether or not something is prepared “properly”. I like liver pudding. Yes, liver pudding. It’s a North Carolina delicacy.  I like it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, serve with grits and egg, scrambled hard and I dare a judge to tell me that “this pate like dish should never be burned or prepared that way.” The way that I think it tastes good. And most of my family would agree, even some of my friends. And in real life, those are the people we cook for. So, until I see Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio whip up some soul food, put in front of some of the South’s finest and do everything “perfectly”, Ill take what they say with a grain of salt.

 

• Every Chef has there own style and that gets lost.

 

Each of the chefs on the show has probably worked very hard to get were they are. They are respected in their circles, in their cities and in their restaurants and that is an accomplishment in it self.  90 % of all restaurants fail within the first year. And many of the contestants fall within that other 10%. They have done something right. People must enjoy their food or else this would not be the case. I ask myself would the judging be as it is if it took place randomly in one’s restaurant and the judges and chefs were to never meet. Would the comments be the same? I can bet money that Emeril could make a dish and the judges could find something wrong with it if they didn’t know who made it. But if they knew it was his dish, would they be more forgiving? I don’t know for sure but that is the perception I get.

 

I say leave well enough alone. Most of these chefs are not trying to earn a rating from “Le Guide Michelin”, they just want to make good food that people will enjoy. Food that is based on their culture, background, family and experiences and they don’t need a judge to tell them that Granny’s recipe could have used less salt and a fennel salad on the side. So if they can get an “interception” that’s great and if they only stop the play that’s great too but at the end of it all, it the dash in the “win” column that counts.

 

By: Alvin Roberts- Food Correspondent

 

Champagne: It’s Not Elitist, It’s Educated

It’s Not Elitist, It’s Educated

So everyone has heard of champagne, be it from personal experience, word of mouth, or rap song. Champagne carries with it an image of luxury and celebration. When someone says they’re getting champagne it is usually followed by “…for my party” or “…because I just got (promoted/married/divorced/etc).” What isn’t taken into consideration though is that champagne is in dire trouble. People of the world hear me out. ALL SPARKLING WINE IS NOT CHAMPAGNE! Surprise! Yes, I know, this may not come as quite a big surprise to many people but it needs to be said outright so it’s out of the way. So many wineries have rudely and maliciously mislabeled their sparkling wines as champagne to make money. This is unacceptable. And please don’t mistake this as a snobbish wino nit-picking at something that the masses couldn’t care less about because, frankly, this is something that you all should care about. As wine drinkers it is our duty to help right this case of mistaken identity. It is our right to not be taken advantage of and lied to as well. We drink wine. We want to get what we’re paying for.
Identity plays a huge role in our lives whether we realize it or not. But what is identity if not the way that people remember who we are. Take South America for example. Peru, Argentina, and Ecuador are all South American countries. Each has a very unique and personal history that has led not only to the development of the nation, but to the shaping of its people as well. To generalize all the people of these three, very individual nations as simply South American would be to ignore the history and culture of each. In this sense Champagne is no different. It is an often-used expression that the grape is merely a vessel through which the earth expresses itself. Soil types change every few feet so even if you plant the same grapes just across the street from each other, the wine produced will still differ. This being said, Champagne, France has been recognized as one of the premier regions to grow sparkling wine. Being an old-world wine country, they label their wines after the area because they understand that what is more important than the grapes is the land on which they are grown. Land isn’t the only important factor though in assessing Champagne’s history of quality. The way that Champagne is made is equally as important as the land on which it is grown. Champagne is made in only one way in Champagne, France and that is in the méthode champenoise, or traditional champagne method.
It is difficult sometimes for people to understand why champagne is so expensive. One way to gain insight into this is to understand the extensive steps taken in creating what we know as champagne. After primary fermentation and bottling, a second alcoholic fermentation occurs in the bottle. This second fermentation is brought on by adding the winemaker’s specific choice of yeast and rock sugar. At this time the Champagne bottle is capped with a crown cap. The bottle is then riddled, or turned a quarter of an inch everyday, so that the lees, deposits of dead yeast or residual sugar, settle in the neck of the wine bottle. The neck is then frozen and the cap is removed. The pressure in the bottle forces out the lees, and the bottle is quickly corked to keep in the carbon dioxide produced during the secondary, bottle fermentation. Sparkling wine from this region can also not be sold until it has aged on the lees in the bottle for at least 15 months. The bottles are stored slightly tilted downward on its side and stored underground in a controlled temperature so that no sunlight can penetrate and spoil the wine. As you can see, there are many conditions that must be met for a bottle of sparkling wine to be called Champagne. It has no less of an identity because it is simply an alcoholic beverage. If anything, Champagne is as much to the history of France as Prohibition is to the history of the United States and its wine industry.
What we see happening, however, are $4.00 bottles of “champagne” on the liquor store shelves. What might be even more deceptive, though, are the more expensive bottles of imitation champagne. For example, Casa Larga Vineyards, located in Fairport, NY, has a bottle of “Blanc de Blanc Champagne” priced at $19.99. If they put Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine on their bottle instead, it can be assumed that it would not sell as well. Champagne has earned all the meaning that come with its name. These other wineries are simply attaching this title in an attempt to sell more wine. In defense of Casa Larga they do make it in the méthode champenoise, but the grapes are not from France, they are not grown in France, and therefore are mislabeling their wines. To speak frankly, they are stealing some of the image that has emerged from the hundreds of years of hard work and experimentation that brought Champagne to the quality and recognition that it now enjoys. There are risks to ignoring this problem of generalization in the wine industry that must be recognized as well to really understand the importance of remembering the identity of Champagne.
If we were to let this continue what might be next? Might we start labeling all sweet wines as Riesling? Or maybe we will refer to all the wine produced in Europe as European wine instead of Spanish, Italian, French, etc. This may sound extreme, but it has already started to happen with Champagne. People are forming their opinions of Champagne without ever really trying it. It seems like the U.S. might be the guiltiest in this degradation of Champagne’s name. Finally though, as recent as 2006, the United States made an agreement with the European Union that no new wines shall be allowed to call themselves “champagne” if not from that region, but wineries that have already been calling their wines champagne may still do so. The truth is, the most reputable producers of the traditional sparkling wine method, méthode champenoise, like California, Oregon and Washington have long ago abandoned the use of the name champagne. They recognized the importance of the name in reference to style, climate, soil type, and even the laws that govern production in that country. We seem, as Americans, to only have begun to catch up with the rest of the world in this view. It appears, also, that we as Americans lack a local identity. This defies us the ability to sympathize with this cause and understand why the designation of the origin of a wine is important, but instead all that interests us is just that it is affordable and delicious. That is not to say that American companies aren’t trying to spread their own falsely labeled “champagnes” around the world. On January 10, 2008, Belgian customs officials smashed 3,200 of Andre sparkling wine that held reference to “California Champagne” (as paradoxical as that sounds) and “Andre Champagne Cellars.” The rest of the world has realized the importance of this view for a long time and it is about time we as Americans caught up to them.
There are some benefits for the commercialization of sparkling wine, though. What is happening is that that particular style is being marketed and publicized and as a result of that more people are trying the wines. There seems to be no roof on where wine can go and how it will develop. The more people that try wine means that there will be more people who continue to drink wine throughout their life. That is good for business and for wine education worldwide. As a “student of the wine industry,” there is really no other goal than to incite the passion of wine in other people and to educate them about some of the intricacies and subtleties that make wine so complicated. So why am I complaining? Shall we blow up the world to prevent any more human atrocities? No, that is an absurd idea. So then shall we generalize wine and rob them all of their personality and uniqueness so that more people might try them? I will leave you to answer that to yourself.
We have seen the history and tradition behind Champagne and heard its cry for help. This isn’t meant to bring down the corporations that still misrepresent their sparkling wines, although that would be ideal, but to simply inform. I don’t expect the average person to take into consideration the culture, history, tradition, laws, climate, and soil type when choosing every wine they might purchase. But what I can hope for is that you at least realize what you are sacrificing and what you are perpetuating by buying these false prophets of champagne. If this only makes one person think twice when choosing a sparkling wine, then it was worth the effort a hundred times over. In a world where everyone is trying to be something else, let us respect and encourage those that would be who or what they truly are. Let us rejoice in individuality rather than wallow in commercial generalization. So, if you’re reading this with a glass in your hand, raise it high and cheers with me to the epitome of class, the star of celebrations, the one and the only champagne. And let’s keep it that way.

Other possible title ideas are:

Stop Identity Fraud: Drink Champagne

It’s Not Elitist, It’s An Identity

I welcome any ideas for other articles or criticisms on this one. Just hit me up yo.

By: Ryan Evans- Wine