The dates of September 6th to 10th feature some very interesting holidays and I couldn’t feature them all but I have to give a special mention to Blame It on the Large Hadron Collider Day which is ‘celebrated’ on the 10th. I guess if anything goes wrong for you on that day now you know what to blame it on.
If you’d like to read about the first September set (1st to 5th), which includes the very appropriate for me National Be Late For Something Day, click here.
The featured image shows (l-r) Prada AW2023, Valentino AW2023, and Rick Owens AW2023, and all runway and lookbook images are from Vogue Runway unless otherwise stated.
6th September: Barbie Doll Day
You’re probably sick of Barbie by now, either from all the articles about the Barbiecore trend (I’m guilty of that too), the tweets about the supposed agenda of the Barbie movie (yeah I don’t know what’s up with that either), and misogynists complaining about a movie catering to and empowering women (oh no!).
To be honest I haven’t even watched Barbie, and I most likely won’t as I haven’t watched a movie in years – I just don’t enjoy them, so any information I have is just based off articles I’ve read and may be entirely wrong.
Back to fashion – Barbie collaborations have existed for years, and I’ve picked two where the Barbie logo’s font has been used to rework brand logos within the collaborations. The first is Moschino’s SS2015 by Jeremy Scott, the second is the Balmain x Barbie capsule collection from 2022 by Olivier Rousteing which was so delightfully 80s.
The image for Balmain x Barbie is from Nylon.
7th September: National Beer Lover’s Day
I’m not sure how fashionable beer is, but this holiday did make me think about the headpieces in Alexander McQueen’s AW2009 collection which were made of cans held together with plastic and latex, piled on top of the models’ heads.
8th September: International Literacy Day
International Literacy Day has been celebrated since 1967 by UNESCO, with literacy being declared a human right. Every year there is a different theme; this year the theme is “Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces”.
The UNESCO headquarters in Paris will be holding the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes award ceremony on this day – it can be followed virtually and will be held using English, French and Spanish.
9th September: National Lacemaking Day
Lace is a beautiful fabric and is celebrated every year on the second Saturday in September. There are a number of ways to handmake lace, although nowadays it is rarely made by hand.
In Needle Lace, the thicker outlines of the pattern are embroidered first, these are then filled in with more detail. Bobbin Lace uses thread wound round bobbins. Pins are placed onto a pillow in the shape of the pattern, with the threads then woven through the pins. Many bobbins are used at one time. Leavers Lace is woven on a loom which has 5,000 shuttles – the process is so complex that it takes years to learn.[1]
Irish Crochet uses very fine thread to make motifs that are joined together, giving the effect of lace. [2]
10th September: International Makeup Day
This day isn’t actually about makeup, but about making up – mending any broken relationships and reaching out to people to rebuild any friendships that need saving.
I’ve interpreted the day in its literal sense and had a look at the makeup looks on the AW2023 catwalks. The looks tended to be natural, although there were a lot of bleached eyebrows (see Balmain). All the models had a healthy glow, and I think it’s time to switch to liquid highlighter rather than powder. Some charms (or maybe sequins) under the eyes at Louis Vuitton gave a bit of sparkle.
Any actually visible makeup was unnatural looking – the extended eyeliner at Valentino, pink eyelashes at Prada and alien-like eyes and eyeliner at Rick Owens, again with bleached eyebrows to emphasize the look. If you do decide to bleach your eyebrows proceed with caution as it does change your face quite a bit – I’ve been shaving off my eyebrows for the past four years and people do notice, and they certainly do comment!
