Judas Priest's Rob Halford Sets Out to Dress the Metal Gods

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While it might seem like a difficult task to reinvent that fashion staple of heavy metal music fans, the t-shirt, if anyone has the right credentials for the task it’s Rob Halford, lead singer of legendary metal band Judas Priest.

Halford just launched Metal God, his signature brand of t-shirts that have all the soft-worn appeal of a vintage concert t-shirt but with all-new original graphics that he’s betting will appeal to die-hard metal fans and aspiring rockers alike.

“The imagery is simply an extension of what I do with my music,” explained Halford at a preview of the collection on Wednesday, Sept. 30, at a New York hotel in the East Village, not far from dive bars where heavy metal music aficionados like DJ Lady Starlight spin Judas Priest classics. “Metal God” refers to the nickname given to Halford by fans.

“Quite simply, Rob Halford invented heavy metal style,” said DJ Lady Starlight, who writes a fashion and music blog chronicling the history of hard rock and airs a heavy metal podcast, “Metal for Muthas,” on American Apparel internet radio. “The biker and leather boy look Halford adopted for promoting 'Hell Bent For Leather' in 1978 became the look every metal band emulated going forward.”



At Wednesday’s preview, Halford was sporting one of his own designs. “If you see something like this thing I’m wearing, with this fantasy mythical creature with a guitar, it says something strong and powerful,” he said. “That’s just been a natural progression over the years in rock and roll, to try and find a way of saying something about yourself with the item of clothing you’re wearing.”


“A metalhead is rarely seen without a t-shirt or at least one patch or badge of their favorite bands,” said DJ Lady Starlight. Other signatures of heavy metal style, she explained, include studs, spandex, lace and most definitively, elements of fantasy literature and art like chainmail, armor and other Medieval and Renaissance influences.

As such, many of the Metal God t-shirt designs feature mythical creatures, like the Cerberus, a ferocious three-headed dog that guards the gates to the underworld in ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Fantasy in heavy metal, said Balford, is “a cool association.”

“You can see I’m covered in tattoos of dragons and all this other mythical imagery, and that’s again a part of my background as a lyricist,” he said. “I’ve got a very vivid imagination and a lot of characters I create are made up in a fantasy kind of way. They always carry realistic virtues and attributes. So if I’m writing a song like ‘Painkiller,’ it may be, like, about, this really evil, menacing guy, which is the persona of the creature that you create, but he’s doing good. I always have a lot of fun with that.”

So far, the collection only features t-shirts, for both men and women, retailing between $55 and $65 – but eventually Halford hopes to branch out, albeit dependent on the economy.

“I think that you have to have a little bit of a leash on what you do, otherwise it’s chaos,” he said. “But we always see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t think we can suddenly stop, Don’t make records, don’t make clothes, don’t make movies. I think we have a responsibility to try and keep that creative optimism going, no matter what we do.”

Halford’s confident that his particular take on things – he is the Metal God, after all – will distinguish his brand of rock-related apparel.

“I think that my connection is a little bit more personal than some of the other great things that are going on around me,” said Halford. “This is a direct connection to me. It’s called a ‘Metal God’ t-shirt. I think we’ve all got a bit of Metal God inside of us.”

He’s also hoping to extend the heavy metal spirit beyond just music fans.

“I was talking to someone earlier and they were saying, it’s like everybody wants to be a metalhead, but people are like, ‘Can I really be one? I don’t really know what this is about, but I see it, and I look at what they where and the shows they go to, and I see it on VH1 Classic Metal Mania, and I’m like, wow, it looks so cool,’” said Halford. “But if you’re into that rock and roll, edgy, exciting type of passionate world, then I think that these t-shirts and this initial launch have a way of connecting to you as a person.”


Source: www.fashionwiredaily.com

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Balenciaga: Haute Warriors

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At the latest women's ready-to-wear collection from Balenciaga, unveiled Thursday, Oct. 1, in Paris, the mood was futuristic, though with clothes that somehow seem pulled out of the earth.

Excellent leather mini skirts in colors that recalled transactional photos of the earth's crust, woolen cocktail dresses in marble hues and leather pants that recalled Amazonian plants gave the collection an organically earthy feel.

This was a highly decorative collection, cut with a stark symmetry, where the contrast between hard colors like blood oranges or painterly reds with soft grays, white woven leather and plastic tops was elegant and very new.

Though strikingly inventive, the collection did reference a lot of the ideas that Balenciaga's creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere first began developing half a decade ago.

"I wanted to go back to the graphic ideas that are part of Balenciaga," said Ghesquiere backstage. "It's true that I was trying something similar three or four years ago, but this time a little softer."

A faint sense of the prehistoric also wafted through the show, from the reptilian teeth shaped baubles used on bracelets to animal skin platform shoes and black eye shadow smeared back to the hairline.

Staged in the gilded opulence of the Crillon Hotel, the show opened with a series of hooded tops, though the leather used did look a bit hot for a summer soiree. But the sheer panache of the tops construction - cut off at the armpit, made with flared hips and finished with arcane straps made them all look great.

The designer also showed snazzy men's dress shirts, largely transparent except for a cotton pique breastplate, a look that will likely be highly influential.

And Ghesquiere sent out a sensational collection of shoes - zigzag patterned high-heels with slim conical heels and earth-crust, laced mini platforms that will be bestsellers.

Source: www.fashionwiredaily.com

Vêtements De Marque Online est une boutique de créateurs de vêtements et d'accessoires de mode en ligne. Offre une grande collection de Polo Ralph Lauren pour les hommes et les femmes. Ralph Lauren Tous leurs produits sont 100% authentiques.