fashioned

Manage a fashion boutique on your Android Phone with Fashion Story

TeamLava's popular Story series of virtual-world games differ from the sort of free mobile games that typically involve zombies, weapons, and monster trucks. Instead, in TeamLava's life sims players build and develop things, such as farms, businesses, and careers. It was with a sense of relief that we sampled Fashion Story, which might as well be called Fashion Store since its premise is that you're managing a popular boutique.

You must shop for merchandise, stock your store, and cater to customers, including some who might be your friends in real life, since the Story series has great … Read more

Mario, 'Star Wars,' Chuck Taylors collide in nerdy shoe collection

Knitting, once seen as a hobby reserved for fleet-fingered elders, has become an awesomely nerdy pastime. This movement has resulted in such creations as knitted frog dissection kits, knitted Princess Leia buns, and customized knitted geek Converse.

Etsy seller PrettySneaky's store is full of wearable knitted nerd art sneakers. The shoes are made from classic Converse high tops with hand-knitted uppers crafted from wool yarn. … Read more

Interchangeable clothing uses magnets to switch up the style

Anyone who has ever worn a necklace or bracelet made of Buckyballs knows the potential of magnets as a force for fashion. Ian Stikeleather is taking it a step further by integrating magnets into his Affectation clothing line.

Affectation is up on Kickstarter, working to raise enough to put the magnetic fashion line into production. The biggest draw is the interchangeability of the clothes. For a $50 pledge, you can pick up the Duality Interchangeable Tie. It comes with an extra tail that can be exchanged and is held on by magnets. Click it together and you have a new look for your busy day in the cubicle farm.… Read more

Recycled-plastic Levis: Do these bottles make my butt look big?

Your next pair of Levi jeans may include black trays, brown beer bottles, clear water bottles, and green soda bottles. The new WasteLess collection uses polyester fiber made from crushed plastic recyclables. The bottles are collected from municipal recycling programs around the country.

Both jeans and trucker jackets will be available. Plastic pants don't sound very comfortable, but the plastic parts only take up about 20 percent of the cloth. The recycled fiber is mixed with cotton fiber so you get a pant that feels like regular denim.… Read more

Is the iPad making men effeminate?

Purses are a sensitive subject. Murses even more so.

The other week, I was in a restaurant when my friend Ariane ballistically assaulted a man because he had placed his clutch on the bar. It was a very expensive clutch.

"Men," she huffed at him, "shouldn't carry clutches."

She spent the rest of the evening bemoaning: "A clutch? A clutch?" She's Belgian. She therefore has strong opinions, especially about men.

Still, there seems to be evidence of a sort that men are carrying more purses and that technology is to blame.

Today's Daily Mail, … Read more

'Star Wars' glasses: Use the four eyes, Luke!

There are some places where it's not appropriate to wear a Wampa skin "Star Wars" dress covered in fake blood, but you still want to express your fandom through fashion. That's when you whip out your surprisingly subtle Darth Vader glasses.

Japanese company Aigan has introduced a collection of officially licensed "Star Wars" eyeglasses. Choose the Force with Luke Skywalker or R2-D2 styles. Go for the Dark Side with Darth Vader or Stormtrooper models. Can't decide which side you're on? No problem. There's a Boba Fett pair, too.… Read more

New Timbuk2 bag powers your gadgets

Timbuk2, maker of messenger bags, backpacks, Kindle Paperwhite dinner jackets, and laptops sleeves, now hopes to attract even more attention from the tech set with two new bags that can recharge your devices. And if you've ever wondered how the company's famous bags get made, we scored a tour of the San Francisco factory floor to show you how that gets done, too. … Read more

Laundry additive turns shirts, pants into pollution eaters

Last year, we heard about the first article of Catalytic Clothing, an experimental dress that pulls pollutants out of the atmosphere. Now the technology is moving along to the point where it could be used as a liquid laundry additive and become part of our regular clothes washing chores.

According to a release from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the U.K., "Within just two years, we could all be wearing clothes that purify the air as we simply move around in them."… Read more

Amazon shutters popular shoe site endless.com

Never fear, Amazon says, it's not really closing down its trendy shoe and accessory Web site endless.com -- it's migrating it to Amazon.com/Fashion.

The company posted a note on its Web site today saying that it has "exciting news." Apparently, as of September 27, endless.com will be no more. The goal for the company is to integrate this mainly shoe Web site into its bigger apparel site.

Here's more from endless.com:

This new style destination will have the latest shoes, handbags, jewelry and watches from an expanded selection of brands--including … Read more