Ever wear your Fred Perry polo to work? Ever sport your casual Ben Sherman pants to the company luncheon? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you might as well forget pursuing your hopes and dreams of becoming an officer in the Berlin police force. Police in Berlin, more directly undercover officers, were banned from wearing Fred Perry, Ben Sherman, ACAB, Alpha Industries, Consdaple, Lonsdale, Pit Bull, Outlaw, Troublemaker, and Thor Steinar for their common association with neo-Nazism. In layman’s terms, officers can’t sport a Thor Steinar sweater simply because of the designer’s popularity among a certain group. According to that rationale, police should be banned from wearing black and white stripes and bright orange too, since they are commonly associated with imprisoned criminals! Now, I am in no way defending neo-Nazi thinkers, I am simply defending man’s right to choose what he puts on his back. This is not a dress code, this is just ridiculous. Do people honestly think that a tiny Fred Perry logo is going to promote neo-Nazism? I highly doubt it. It’s pretty hasty to assume that all people who wear these labels are neo-Nazis or will sway others to believe in their ideals. 

Thanks NY Mag!

PPQ  loves collaborations… After teaming up with Peaches Geldof and Ben Sherman for collections, designers Amy Molyneaux and Percy Parker lined up another — this time with Adidas, for sportswear debuting for fall/winter 2009.

Molyneaux says you can expect to see a mix of PPQ’s party girls with sports, like jumper dresses styled with “brothel creepers.” Kinda exciting!

LINKAGE: NY Mag via Grazia

Rock and Ska

Britpop and Indie 

Ben Sherman has just put out a collection of dresses from London-based label PPQ.  The dresses cover multiple time periods, each with their own style inspiration and name. According to Racked.com, there is a black-and-white 60’s Mod frock, a paisley-print 70’s Rock number, a gray-and-black 80’s Ska outfit, a stripey 90’s Britpop look and a boho 00’s INDIE design. That’s right indies we are in the generation of INDIE. (Aren’t you special for reading fashion indie)

Who’s PPQ: Think British Heatherette with Peaches Geldoff taking the place of Paris Hilton on the runway.

The dresses are going for $300 a piece, but their limited nature makes them worth the cash drop. Head to Ben Sherman’s 96 Spring Street location to get the indielicious dresses.

(photos from NYMag)

A very mod thought meets “real” models and a 50- year old brand all wrapped up in red, white and blue! What better way to launch a collection than with Ben Sherman’s nightlife photographer-blogger extraordinaire, Merlin Bronques from Lastnightsparty.com and a collection of his edgy, provocatively raw photos.

During the late 60s, Geoffery Mead of the Brighton Mod thought that Ben Sherman and anything having to do with the brand was, to say the least, the first British definition of ‘cool’. On Saturday night, all wrapped up in Soho, was a party of 300 people, dancing to 80s punk at Sherman’s store on Spring. A collaboration of the famous Sherman logo, American Apparel type photos and short films were all screaming the plectrum of the city’s preppy and mod come together in matrimony.

Someone is in the right place when Agnes Deyn walks through the door and stays the whole night dancing and blending nearly without notice.  While standing in line for the one and only bathroom I caught up on some reading, getting tips from Sherman’s book on how to perfect your grass lawn tennis game.  There was also the joy of talking to an independent designer or two who seemed to flood this spot to connect to it’s “x” factor.

One could come to appreciate that this brand has taken a long drive throughout generations and has reckoned with every kid who had a pick in hand and the Sherman logo posted across their chest. It was no wonder that the beautiful people who showed up for this party could understand the young kid dressed as a police officer with a sex pistols vibe taking photographs of the crowds spontaneity and the indie films of Merlin Bronques projected on the walls of the stores fine construction!

React to the images, enjoy dancing with kids from brooklyn and have your picture taken by the occasional paparazzi. This was the party.

-Nichole Werhner