THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2002
LIFESTYLE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 11
Male student gets Mass. Street makeover, loses sweatshirt for shabby chic style
FASHION
Sara Behunek
sbehunek@kansan.com
I like to think of myself as a fashionologist, a scientist in the ruthless pursuit of style. Monday afternoon, Massachusetts Street was my laboratory. My roommate's boyfriend Bo VanOrnum, Bloomington, Minn., junior, was my guinea pig, for lack of a better metaphor.
In general, just as college males have an affinity for watching football with their buddies while shot-gunning beers, they also have an innate aversion for shopping. So let us take a moment to commend Bo for his bravery when he agreed to meet me downtown for a little experiment.
The question: what duds does downtown Lawrence have to offer for men this season?
We began with my two fashion consultants, GQ magazine and Bo's girlfriend Sarah. My hypothesis: after one hour, I will make Mr.Hooded Sweatshirt into Monsieur Fall Suave.
The goal look: shabby chic.
We began at Urban Outfitters, 1013 Massachusetts St., the ultimate in shabby couture.
As
At Urban, I chose a cable-knit zip-up cardigan by NYBasics, a Perry Ellis lookalike that was modeled in the August GQ.
Sarah commented, "It's very, um... 'frat boy.'" We needed to de-tidy, and quick. After skimming through racks upon racks of faux-vintage tops, I settled on a baby blue sleeveless tee with a green Puma logo.
For more contrast, we picked out an orange and light blue button-down by BDG. Kind of cowboy, kind of cool. Now I'm thinking "yee-ha" and snag a raffia cowboy hat before we go to the check-out counter.
Later, we made our way to The Gap, 647 Massachusetts St., the ultimate in preppy chic, arriving just in time to avoid collapsing with heat stroke. Despite my fashion vision, it was hard to concentrate on fall style when sweat was beading on our foreheads.
We must persevere. We must find pants.
"The question: what duds does downtown Lawrence have to offer for men this season?"
I immediately fall in love with a pair of gray, cotton-polyester blend slacks. The look is complete. Bo is now a little shabby, a little chic, a hint of preppy, and very stylish. I pat myself on the back and head home.
All decked out back at our air-conditioned pad, Bo is looking devilishly dapper, and Sarah is checking him out while he poses for pictures. Have I kindled a little sumthin'-sumthin' on this hot afternoon? Maybe not. Clothing does not make the man. But Sarah is begging him to keep the button-down shirt instead of returning it (you didn't actually think we could afford all this stuff, did you?) And I'm convinced she's thankful that Bo gets to keep the cowboy hat overnight.
So after careful investigation and analysis of my findings, I have concluded that the shops on Massachusetts Street will certainly suffice this fall if one is so inclined to rely on our cozy town for fashion needs.
Brandon Baker/Kansan
Bo VanOrnum, Bloomington, Minn., junior, models his new clothes. VanOrnum was a test subject for a fashion makeover.
But men, I highly recommend that you take a female shopping with you whether it's your girlfriend, gal pal or even your sister. Because even though you have to pay up, with the right advice it will pay off.
'Cribs' glamorizes celebs' everyday lives
Today, as I was taking my Parmesan Herb Chicken Create-a-Meal out of the oven, I couldn't help but think, "Hey, what if I were on MTV's Cribs?"
Random thought, you might say, but in my mind it makes total sense. Because the show is basically a bunch of celebrities showing you stupid everyday things that they do around the house. So as I was taking my chicken out of the oven, I was contemplating the fact that at that moment, there was a small chance that even one person in the tri-state area would be interested in watching me do that, yet LeAnn Rimes doing the same exact thing as me could probably draw millions of viewers.
No disrespect to my honey LeAnn, but is she (or any other celebrity) really that much more interesting than me or anyone else cooking a Create-a-Meal?
POP VULTURE
Marc Ingber
mingber@kansan.com
Probably not, but for some reason, millions of other people and I are willing to tune in and watch this sort of stuff week-in and week-out on Cribs. I'm not going to lie — I watch it whenever it comes on. Yet, I'm still not really sure why.
Maybe the show is interesting because MTV adds all these neat little effects when showing the house. For instance, when I motion my friends in my apartment to come upstairs, noth-
cool really happens. But when Sisqo does it, you'll suddenly see a quick triple-take of him pointing to the upstairs, and it will all be set to the tune of Jay-Z's "Hard-Knock Life." Then, of course, there are the really strange camera angles that MTV uses. For example, while my bathroom isn't that bad, it isn't really anything to write home about. However, if MTV came in and tilted the camera 75 degrees and added an infectious Jessica Simpson tune in the background, it would magically morph into Bathroom Extraordinaire.
Obviously, the main draw of the show is looking at all the celebrities' cool furniture and such. However, most of the stuff that people at home drool over never gets used. Almost every celebrity has that room where all the furniture is imported from Sri Lanka or some other country in the Far
East, but they don't use it because they don't want to mess it up. Or, of course, there's the classic, "Here's my indoor pool that I don't use because I don't know how to swim."
So while my life isn't incredibly interesting, I trust that MTV will at least make it appear to be when it films its University Daily Kansan Celebrity Cribs edition. Millions of viewers will "ooh" and "aah" as I make a burger on my George Foreman grill.
Until that day arrives, I will have to live vicariously through celebrities as they give tours of their exorbitantly big homes.
People like you and me can practice for our big day. Next time you're showing your place to someone, gesture to your bedroom and say, "This is where the magic happens." I'm sure it works for Aaron Carter.