I really do -- I envy the ladies who get all done up for the plane.

When I see the jet-set woman in my mind, I picture today’s fashion to be caught in the time warp of Jackie O, or I imagine what Michelle Obama would wear on a plane. Those two make it look easy: the perfect 'do -- straight from the salon, perhaps a little pill-box hat, a Chanel suit, and four-to-six-inch stiletto pumps. Oh, and don’t forget the perfect little gloves and purse, of course, that match either the suit or the shoes. I imagine (and have also heard) that Dita Von Teese travels this way today.

Cathay Che, MOLI’s travel writer, has much more of this ladylike travel sense than I. We flew together recently and girlfriend was in a Tocca dress set and little Coach mules/slides, me in my uniform of T-shirt, jeans, Converse hoody, and scarf. Do what you need to be comfortable, however it works for you. The point I’d like to drive home here is, whether you dress up or down, please don’t wear flip-flops. Flip-flops are for the beach, for beach towns, and for pedicures. Not for wearing on planes.

And then there’s Skymall. (Sing to the tune of "And then there’s Maude.") Have you seen it? A fascinating catalogue found in your seat back pocket on nearly any flight, filled with things you never knew you could want or knew existed. The #1 winner is the life-sized Bigfoot statue, but there are some brilliant fashions to be found in its pages, such as adult-footed pajamas for summer called Jumpin Jammerz (pictured), with fun colorful prints for the adult baby in you. Other absolutely hideous creations include the  “travel vest,†one of the most unflattering garments (if you can call it that) I have ever seen: box shaped and ill fitting, complete with a passport pocket. In the photo, the model also has ill-fitting pants on to offset the ill-fitting vest. It's so ugly they don’t have it online. I think it should say: "Travel Vest. One size fits all, water resistant, and durable, with many pockets. Box-like shape helps to offset your camel toe.â€

There is also a blanket with sleeves called a Slanket so you can cuddle up and still use your hands! Now that’s a handy blanky. Still, I encourage you to go for your own comfort, or throw comfort to the wind and take a chance with a fancy little outfit. Camel toe included or not.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Having lost my wallet and everything in it, I am on the hunt for a new one and decided it should be eco-friendly without question. I am actually amazed at how many eco-friendly wallets there are out there. Many more than I had expected.

Of course there are hippie-friendly hemp wallets, if you are into that sort of thing. Not in my bag, at least not in beige. Vy and Elle (play on words for vinyl, get it?) make wallets from recycled billboards. Apparently billboards are made of PVC vinyl and usually get dumped into landfills. Feh! According to their documentation so far, Vy and Elle have recycled over 100 tons of billboards into wallets and bags, which are durable and waterproof. I say that’s eco-fabulous.

I also just found out about (color me eco-stupid) a new material called Tope, which at first read I thought was a color, a different spelling for taupe, but it is in fact a new, animal-free material made from raw substances that are nontoxic; water, heat and cold resistant; chlorine free; non-plastic; and very durable.

Dbclay of Portland uses this tope material on their cool eco-friendly wallet, whose designs cool photos and prints of bugs, razors, underwater life, lace, and more. Their prints are made with nontoxic ink too. They work with a bunch of different designers on their wallets and they also have a kit for you to DIY out of duct tape. It's wittily called myDuctbills, in black, pink, silver, or camouflage.

Sleek and chic and perhaps my favorite, the eco-friendly wallet I want (pictured) is by Matt & Nat, of Montréal. Leave it to the Canadians to do it right. Vegan-leather wallets and bags, me likey very much. They are straightforward and sassy designs and the company did a drive for the Sun Youth organization in Canada where they hook you up with a gift if you recycle a cell phone with them. They also have a bag recycling program; if you want to give a “gently used" Matt & Nat bag back, they will donate it to the fabulous Dress for Success or Residence Project Chance. DFS’s mission is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Residence Project Chance helps get young mothers a place to live while they attend university. How awesome is that? There are fun names for the M&N pieces, like Andre 3000 and Atari, Chi. They have "mod" and "metal" collections. It just makes me smile.

If I had a credit card I would order one now. But I will have to wait till I get my replacement cards in the mail. You with the other kind of green in your wallets can order now.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Munich, Germany at the moment, (and knowing MOLI has just launched in Germany) I was hoping to find some new hot frau wear, like the old timey brau haus frauen (beer hall gals) wore - like on the St. Pauli Girl bottle of beer. I found it in the company called  Angermaier. Not sure what the word means, but the clothes are fierce. Embroidered wench corsets over white and black tops, knee-high lace up boots, in black and red (zipper on the side for quick on and off). Sexy lederhosen for men and women. Your basic ‘traditional’ German wears with a modern fetish twist.

The lederhosen I speak of are generally worn by kinder AKA babies and children and also formerly by Bavarian men - and are usually a sort of  brown leather shorts with attached suspenders further accoutrements are stylized embroidery. I have been keeping my eye out for adult lederhosen for years and the only ones I have seen have been for kinder.  The Angermaier Company has them in black as well as brown in different lengths and even full-length trousers for men. Along with the lederhosen for men are traditional men’s vests and blazers for men and women. Not my stein of tea, but there they are and someone must be wearing them.

Some of the dresses look like they came right off of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella – before or after she passed out in a barn, castle or brew hall, or ate a bad apple. (The Neuschwanstein Castle in Salzburg that Walt Disney based the Sleeping Beauty castle on is not far away from Munich - only two hours). Maybe this is actually the real Never-Never Land?

There is a gothic looking silver-grey corset with a modest (for this collection) long skirt. The ‘sexiest’ outfit is a beautiful emerald green embroidered wench dress with a see-through lace baby doll top underneath and a sheer black apron (pictured). Meow. Fabrics for many of these pieces are satin and silk brocades, some have aprons, and some of the models look like Paris Hilton.

I will say that this is quality stuff at least from the looks of it and they have full outfit sets for men and women as low as 169 euros each, complete with shoes. There are fancy accessories and belt buckles, and, of course, clothes for kinder.

I have to wonder, is this ultimately based on a beer hall waitress fetish? Is it for those obsessed with Disney Character /MILFs? I guess that’s for you to decide.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

We all love an ongoing drama. Lady in Red wrote to THEOlogy back in December ’07 and, lucky for us, has written again for advice.

Here’s a recap of the first letter:

Dear Theo,

I got involved w/a friend of mine when he was in a bad relationship. He finally broke up with this girl after being with her for two years, and he moved away.  When I told him how I felt about him, he got defensive. Can you go from having great sex with a friend to having a relationship, giving it time, etc.? He's 11 years younger than me. And I realize he probably has some growing to do, seeing as how I'm 37.

-Lady in Red

Dear Lady,

That’s a hefty age difference, which can most certainly work, depending on the person. Casual sex segueing into a relationship can also work. Yet I have a feeling this guy may have some oats to sew. Are you aware that you could also end up as his "rebound," which isn’t likely to last? To put it bluntly, if he was cheating on his last girlfriend with you, he will most likely cheat on you too. Could you handle that? I say smoke ‘em while you got ‘em. Enjoy the sex, and find someone for a relationship who isn’t a cheater.




And here is Part Deux:

Seven months later, July 2008

Sunday, bloody Sunday and all the shops are closed
Ahh ... Berlin.

A city teeming with energy and life. I get one day only to go there. I have been in Halle, Germany, performing with Big Art Group in the Theatre Der Welt – Theater of the World, a festival that changes cities in Germany every year with shows from all over the world. This year, 18 countries are represented. Halle is a small city, and we're thirsty for a big one.

A small group of us decided to take one of our only days off to see Berlin.

Going from the Halle Hauptbahnhof (central train station) to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, do buy your tickets in advance and you will pay about half of what we did on the day of. It cost a grand 34 euros each way from Halle, which is in East Germany, to Berlin on the fast train with no connections (one hour and 20 minutes). This is a steep price that could have been avoided had we purchased tickets the day before. And I was warned, so I can only blame myself. The train from Halle had no air conditioning on top of that, which was not fun as it was a 90-degree day.

We left Halle at noon. We arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, which is overwhelmingly huge and modern. It has a glass-paned roof and glass-paned walls and, with three levels and many escalators, it truly feels like the future. When we arrived there, we got on another train — the subway there has two lines, called the U Bahn and S Bahn.

They don't have turnstiles like in the subway in NYC, but you must have a ticket, stamp it on the platform, and hold on to it, for if you are caught without it by the undercover train cops, you will be fined 50 euros on the spot. Also, be sure to get a subway map.
We each got a day pass for six euros and hopped on the S Bahn to the Hackescher Market stop. We walked straight over for lunch at Mr. Wong (Monsieur Vuong) on Alt Shonhauser Str.

Mr. Wong serves Vietnamese food and is usually packed, but since we went on a Sunday, it was very easy to get a table for six with no wait. On a Saturday, good luck, they do not take reservations. The meals are cheap and there are great specials and fresh fruit drinks and they have booze if you are in the mood.

We had a fresh watermelon drink and, being a vegetarian, I had tofu and veggie curry over rice noodles and a delicious Vietnamese espresso afterward, which had a bit of condensed milk in the bottom of the glass. Yum. Lunch cost about 12 euros.

In Mitte, we could only window shop because all the shops were closed, an important fact to remember if you are there on a Sunday. This made me very sad, since the same street as Mr. Wong (Alte-Schonhauser Str.) has some of the best boutique shopping in Berlin for a fashionista who can afford it, or a window-shopping fashionista who wants inspiration and might get lucky and find a sale.

Directly across the street form Mr. Wong is Herr Von Eden: gorgeous suits for men and women, both formal and informal, with impeccable tailoring. Claudia Skoda Knitwear is made in Berlin and seriously the most beautiful knitwear I have ever seen or touched with my own hands. There is also Best Shop Berlin, which features an eclectic array of clothes with interesting shapes, patterns, and colors. That's just naming a few.
Luckily, on Sunday, museums are open, so we hopped back on the subway over to the Hamburger Bahnhof museum of contemporary art. Four to eight euros for entry. We were there for two hours while we viewed Wolfgang Tillman's Lighter exhibit and looked at some of their permanent collection, including a room of Andy Warhol, which was fabulous.

Suddenly it was 6 p.m., so we were kicked out of the museum and we were pooped. Time for a drink. Continuing on the modern art vibe, we went to the Newton Bar, named after photographer Helmut Newton, which has a life-sized photo of Helmut Newton's Nudes Walking covering one wall. It's a very glamorous spot. A glass of Roederer champagne, 11 euros.

This was a costly day but well worth it.

Then we zoomed over to Friedrich Str. to see Checkpoint Charlie, even though by now it was getting dark. Checkpoint Charlie, an important part of Berlin's history, was the checkpoint by foot or by car between East and West Berlin before the Berlin Wall fell in the late 1980s. It is a symbol of freedom for East Berlin and a Cold War memorial. There are graffiti-covered pieces of the wall up as memorials all up and down Friedrich Str. Right there is the Mauer Museum, but, alas, it was closed.
After that, we went to have a bite and some of us stayed in Berlin, but a friend and I went back to the big old Berlin Bahnhof, thinking we were getting on an 11 p.m. train back to Halle, only to find we had misread the time of the train for the date and had to wait until 12:45 a.m. to get back to Halle. I tell you this so you don't make the same mistake. Still, a late train is better than no train. So to kill time, I tried about 10 different hand creams at the 24-hour apothecary in the station. I paid 80 cents to take a piss and finally got on the train, arrived back in Halle at a little after 2 a.m., and slept like a baby.

Theo Kogan is giving MOLI View readers an insider's look at her world travels. Look for her regular column, appearing Tuesdays and Thursdays in the MOLI View's Fashion & Design.

Halle, Germany, which is in East Germany and was formerly Stasi-controlled. Halle is most famous for its production of salt and notably was home of the Baroque composer George Frederich Handel. This East German town still has a crushed feeling to it. Abandoned buildings, a dark aura, and mostly conservative fashion; workmen's one-piece uniforms abound. It feels pretty much like any small town USA, such as Allentown, PA. Do you get the picture?

The things that stand out are the hairdos. The women are really into big hair, and I mean big, like early-1990s hair. Teased and sprayed high on top in a mullet-like shape, but with super light to super dark contrast dye jobs, whether it’s a white blond/black combo, or a sandy blond/dark brown combo, or dark maroon/blue-black combo. They also are very into a pink or purple/raspberry bang with the rest of the hair a dark or light shade of brown, black, or blond. The bangs are very severe, one straight flap of hair over the forehead.

No one with these somewhat jovial hairdos ever smiles. Well, at least, not at me. The other fabulous thing with some of the women here is they look like retired porn stars. Take this past Saturday afternoon: a woman over 60, very painted, hair bleached white blond with bangs, chin-length bob, huge pointy breasts, sporting a low-cut, skin-tight black top with shoulder cut-outs (bra straps showing), tan pants, and red strappy heels. Love it!

All the barbershops advertise with photos outside with fancy buzz-cut designs shaved into the side of a male model’s head or beard in tribal tattoo shapes. Yet I have only seen these cuts in the flesh once, and it was on a train in Berlin, and it was on a man who had a receding hairline. Ouch!

So, Halle is inspiring me like being trapped in a New Jersey mall. Yet, I saw a woman with huge red hair and felt like I had seen a strange German-inspired Dolly Parton. Someone wrote and asked me why I didn’t cover the backwards clothes wearing of Kriss Kross, and I have to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if that made its second go-round in Halle.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

ICFF last week.  I too went to the show at the Javits Center in NYC. It was truly overwhelming. After walking around about 3/4 of the show, I was stopped in my tracks by Studio Tord Boontjes Witches’ Kitchen (not to be confused with a kitchen witch). This is one of Artecnica, the LA-based company's ‘Design with a Conscience’ projects, which employ production methods that are human and environmentally friendly. It’s fabulous to see handcrafted objects that are created with so much imagination and thought about where they come from and who is making them. The materials are eco-friendly and sustainable, the whole process of creating these magic-looking pieces is socially and economically thought out and carried through. Therefore, not only were they fascinating to look at, but also super awesome in their production.

Part Edward Scissorhands, part medieval temptress and warlock, this collection knocked my ruby slippers off. Black Columbian clay pots are painstakingly made by artisans in the jungle, who imprint fresh leaves into the clay, which makes a fossil-like imprint and no two are alike. The pots have interchangeable parts, so a pot top can be used as a serving dish, two pots can be stacked to create a double boiler with a saucepan, and a pot can also work as a casserole dish. They also wear well and the red clay well under the black will eventually come through a bit with time. Sounds bloody gorgeous to me. It’s also somewhat unbelievable looking at them that you can just throw these pots on the stove.

Then the utensils: Medieval and evil-looking wooden utensils (pictured) carved by Guatemalan craftsmen named things like Extra Hands; two wooden salad tossing hands, and others that look like friendly torture devices, named spurk, dagger, point and spoonchela.

Next, Kitchen Couture black cotton His and Hers (a.k.a Wizard and Witches) aprons and oven mitts, called gloves. These were the most Tim Burton-esque looking to me, with the patchy and crudely hand sewn quality, they also have a sense of humor about them, which makes the whole thing all the more alluring. If you are planning a nightmare before Christmas on 4th of July feast, or a midsummer night’s Hallo-weenie roast, this is the kitchen set for you. Just leave your toil and trouble and the door.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every other Thursday, she answers your questions with her tough-love advice. Send your questions via e-mail or here on MOLI

The Sex and the City movie’s coming out, so you might want to know what the fashion in NY is really like. There’s a plethora of Carrie-esque girls, especially at night in the meatpacking district and west 20’s, where the big clubs are. But I will tell you that the real city that you see when you are not in those places is what makes NY so special and unique. I had a "three’s a charm" week.

1. Friday: On East 68th Street I saw a man, in his fifties for sure, in bright pink spandex tights -- yes, only tights -- with a Golden Girls-type multicolored jacket, black construction boots, and long, very receding gray hair, pulled back in a high ponytail with a multicolored scrunchie holding it up. Not a pretty face, and not feminine at all minus the obvious.

He also wore glasses like Ma from the Golden Girls and he was standing, reading the paper, waiting for the bus, sheltered from the rain, totally innocent and somewhat unaware of what an impact he was making. Yet at the same time, totally aware of it.

I was blown away; my only regret was that I didn’t have my camera to capture him, or any of these gems!

2. Saturday: Waiting on a subway platform in Brooklyn, sitting on a bench, and a woman with long dark hair, also in a scrunchie (are they making a comeback?  I hope not!), and lots of costume jewelry sat next to me. In her early fifties, unless she had work done, she was wearing white wire-framed full eye/face coverage sunglasses (it was 6:30 pm and we were indoors), red lipstick, a long blue skirt, and a white jacket. More jewelry, dangling earrings, bright colored enameled bangles -- and she had about three boutique shopping bags with her. I noticed more bracelets on her left wrist (both arms were heavily adorned) made of multi-colored evil-eye beads. She sat next to me and immediately struck up a conversation about my ear buds, which are covered in fake Swarovski gold metallic crystals; they were a promotional item from a party. She liked them very much. She told me she had Swarovski’d her phone herself because it’s so much cheaper to do it yourself, but don’t use crazy glue because it dulls the crystals! She said she was getting a glue gun to do it next time, and on and on. Then it segued into gold and that she used to work for a very famous designer, who she named, and who died and left her all his grandmother’s gold jewelry, and how expensive gold is, and how her friends tell her to sell it but she doesn’t want to, and then she says in a lower voice, and a with a bit of a Brooklyn accent: “Oh my god look how weird her toes are," motioning to a woman’s foot a couple of seats over whose second and third toes were exactly the same length and the fourth and fifth toes were shorter but also matching. “I notice everything," she said.

Me too!

3. Monday:  On a west-side subway line, a man in his late forties, early fifties with Beatles/Ramones jet-black wig. The shape of Javier Bardem’s wig in No Country for Old Men but with bangs covering his eyes. It was a "no mistaking it" wig! A "not even trying to pretend it’s not a wig" wig! He had on a handfull of silver rings and a casual khaki suit and two large Molton Brown shopping bags with addresses on them. He looked so bizarre that I thought for a minute that he was Bruce Willis -- or some celebrity in disguise. But he wasn’t. I could not figure him out at all, and then I thought, maybe he’s a messenger with those bags?

All I can say is, I got the message, loud and clear. And I am in love with this city all over again! New York inspires with its fashion thrice more; you just have to go underground to find it sometimes. Literally.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Bklyn Designs, a design show in Brooklyn! Ah yes, I am a Brooklynite and so had to attend, especially since I’ve been covering more fashion here on MOLI -- it was definitely time. Held in four buildings in Dumbo, our Bklyn council member Bill De Blasio welcomed us at the press breakfast (bagels, croissants, and muffins) along with the borough president for as long as I can remember, Marty Markowitz. The designers are all based in Brooklyn, and we like that. A good portion of green items: pieces made of recycled materials, sustainable materials, bamboo, "reclaimed" hardwoods, etc.

Four design-filled venues to peruse through! There were some beautiful furniture pieces: a lot of metal/wood mixtures, some of which looked like super-modern patio furniture, some with an Eastern twist. My faves were Laidman über-comfortable outdoor lounge chairs and loveseats that you’d never know were so cozy if you didn’t sit your butt down in them. John Laidman, the designer, encouraged us to test them out. (No one else did.) It was nice to take a load off in sweet wooden comfort.

In another huge space -- actually, a big tent -- were the show’s accessories. Most notable in jewelry was the stingray collection by Lauren Wolf; she casts actual stingray skin in gold and silver (she reuses the same skin, I was glad to hear). Swizzlet was the other standout in jewelry: silver bracelets and pins cast from vintage swizzle sticks and cocktail picks, kitschy and fun. The winner for me in accessories was Sorapot, a teapot like I have never seen. Truly futuristic and beautiful. It's also green, not in color but made from recycled metal and glass by designer Joey Roth.

Aside from these, most impressive in the show was the lighting.

Maybe it’s my inner child and teenager that still rule my taste? I think it’s true. That being said, the microphone lights by re-surface killed me!  SSD creature lights also got my goat, with their friendly, giant sea-creature and insect shapes -- love 'em!

Nicholas Furrow’s light pieces were shown in display pods/towers built from vinyl records and album covers, which the artist found on the street (a person after my own heart). Each lamp had its own explanations you could listen to on a Discman hanging in each pod. My favorite was his Honey Jar. The lamp hangs as if it’s pouring out honey and is covered unevenly in beeswax, which gives off a light scent as the lamp heats up from the bulb. Winnie the Pooh would crap himself.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Beacon’s Closet, which is in my neighborhood and is truly like a second closet to me. I get things there and I bring my old stuff there; it’s a revolving door of clothing. They buy, sell and trade clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry, etc, and you get either store credit or cash -- it’s usually better to take the store credit than the cash, you get more value in store credit, but it depends on what you want.

Sometimes I can feel it calling me from my apartment, and I just know there will be the most perfect dress for stage or a top or shoes waiting for me there. And I am usually right on when that happens. The energy is calling me.

They donate the stuff they won’t trade with you -- if you are willing to part with it for no $ or store credit to a women’s shelter.

Today they took nothing of mine. My spring-cleaning turned out a bag, really of Halloween duds. So I can’t say I am surprised they didn’t want it because they are seasonally strict. But I couldn’t part with my load of sparkly crap and I plan to bring it back before Halloween and I bet you they will take it. Disclaimer: I usually donate my extraneous goods.

While I was waiting for them to go through my Halloween-ery, I searched through the racks. I wasn’t particularly in the mood to shop, but as I squeaked the hangers around one by one, I got the rhythm and got into it. I found a copper sequined sweater jacket that was just lovely and a total eye catcher, super metallic. (Nicknamed “eagle eyes†by my family, I was always finding coins and jewelry on the street as a kid.) I held it up to look in the mirror and it looked just right. I found a couple of dresses and decided to go into the dressing "stall" and try everything on.

I actually hate trying things on. Especially in those big open mirror-walled group dressing rooms like in Loehmann’s. But even in my own room I dislike it. And in this place they have a curtain as a closure that doesn’t close out all views. I hate it. I am a performer, but when I am performing I have already tried everything on and no one sees what I don’t want him or her to.

So I try on an electric lime green 1970’s bell-sleeved dress with sort of an ethnic style – although I am not sure what ethnicity it was, but it was too big. I tried on an eighties charcoal glitter fabric dress with shoulder pads, which was simply ill-fitting. And then I put on the aforementioned copper sequined sweater. It was perfect. Really perfect, in every way. The fit, shape, sequins, all in tact. The buttons all there too. It is a second hand store so I always make sure all parts are there and really they are pretty good about it. But even with all this perfection, it just felt icky! It gave me the creeps and it was because of the energy it held. Whoever it’s former owner was slimed all over it. Maybe it was a serial killer for all I know, I have no idea but I know I wanted no part of it.

There is a new moon tonight and perhaps I am extra sensitive today but it got me thinking; we don’t think about it all the time but clothes hold energy! This sweater creeped me out to the point where even though I absolutely loved it, I could not buy it. I felt gross after putting it on. I want a psychic bath now!

Then I thought of this blue metallic jacket I bought in Paris at a second hand store filled with crazy people and great deals. It is pictured with my cat on it, which tells me it has good energy. There were all kinds of nutters in that store shopping but the jacket -- again, shiny, don’t be shocked -- jumped out at me and I purchased it immediately after trying it on in the middle of the store! So maybe this garment’s energy was calling me from my closet at home telling me not to bring it any competition? Not that it’s the only metallic number in there, mind you. I wonder what the rest of my clothes are thinking?

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

There are combos of new wave meets glam rock 'dos. Emo rockers and hipsters are sporting cock rock hair, cock rockers sporting new wave hair -- it’s all one big tangle! Rockers with beards and 'fros, rappers with long straight weaves. Flavor Flav on his show Flavor of Love has the highest flat-top hair -- with his own flavor, of course -- that I have seen since Kid N Play!

Big hair has cometh in all shapes and textures. The afro is and has been back, bigger than in a long time, for all races. There's mid-length skater and surfer hair on young men and pre-teen young boys all over the world; it’s like stepping into the movie set of Dog Town and Z Boys.

The thing is, back when hippies grew their hair in the '60s, they grew it in protest of lots of things. It was a political statement of civil rights, peace, dodging the draft. Bikers, rock bands, students -- everyone was growing it. Having short hair was being a part of the system, long hair was anti-system. Later, when '80s glam rock took it to the next level with super-feminine makeup, it seemed long hair was less of a political statement and more of a teetering line of a femme style coupled with overt sexuality. Straight-up metal and grunge took it back to more of the classic hippy style. Today we see all of these happening at once.

And even though I don’t see it so much today as a rebellion of today’s youth, I can’t help but equate long hair with politics. Whether we are seeing it on the TV or not, which, generally we are not, since it’s blatantly being hidden from us, we are at war, in two countries.  Young and younger buzz-cut men are being killed everyday and killing everyday for no good reason. If a draft happens, I have a feeling our youth may wake up and protest, even if only to save their hair.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Mandee, the store that used to say it was to the rescue, now has screamingly higher prices!

I was there for the first time about a year ago. My sister had told me I would be shocked that there was actually some cool stuff. I was pretty surprised, there were definitely deals. Although I didn't get anything but a pair of bright pink sunglasses for $10, I did appreciate what Mandee was trying to do. Things were cheap, and some looked a lot more expensive than they were. T-shirts for $8.99 to $12.99, skirts, even some cute pinup-girl-looking shorts and things. There were a couple of tattooed punk girls shopping in there at the time too. Well, things have very much changed in a year!

Now with the slogan "Must Be" in front of Mandee, it is no longer friendly to your wallet, and it's not saving anyone from anything, certainly not the economy, or from child labor. (I don’t know that they use child labor, I am just guessing.) Mandee even has a so-called Eco Friendly line (made in China, Bangladesh, India, and Mexico). Well, it’s pretty far from eco-friendly. There is a long brown dress that is 92% bamboo rayon -- OK, that’s cool. There’s a tote made from supposedly recycled polypropylene -- a plastic polymer and byproduct that can be melted at a very high temperature. (Tupperware that is microwaveable is made of this and emits horrible BPAs into your food and the environment that can cause cancer and all kinds of other horrors. Don't microwave plastic, people!)

The Eco Friendly Line is mostly about slogans: "Green is the new black," "Save water, get dirty," "Don’t be trashy, recycle," and "One is greater than no one " with "(Be part of the occasion)†below it. The latter Tee says it benefits a nonprofit organization but doesn't say which one and is also made from bamboo rayon in China! It’s $20. Other winner slogans are “I recycle boys" and "Save energy, turn ME on"; both those shirts are made in Mexico.

I know in some ways it’s a good thing simply to get people in the mindset of the eco-friendly world, but why not do it for real, Mandee?

Some of these items really aren't too much money, especially in the grand scheme of fashion. But the $12.99 disco blouses of last year are long gone. $28 for a blouse at Mandee? $49.99 for a dress? Na-ah!

I must attribute this hike in cost to gas prices skyrocketing and George Bush's war. Everything has gone up lately, even the chips at the grocery store. Who will rescue us now if Mandee won't?

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Vogue in hand, excited for fabulous Parisian fashion, I have to say that at first I wasn’t really impressed with the street fashion in Paris. It was a lot less exciting than in Berlin, where some people make a real effort every day and look very much like what you might think of when you think of Berlin. I was there in January and most memorable on the street was a fabulously dressed woman walking and sobbing, literal tears just streaming down her cheeks! Trés Berlin! She was wearing a gorgeous 1920s/future hat, a sleek black coat, a skirt, and low-heeled black boots, and it was raining. What is more fierce than looking fab and crying in the rain in Berlin? Not much. Except happiness, perhaps …

I was impressed with people’s outfits daily in Berlin. A clothes artist came to the show we were doing there with Big Art Group. She was literally wearing a tiny lampshade, which looked truly fantastic on her mostly shaved head. She was also sporting a tutu and gave us a tip-off for an outdoor market that weekend (which ended up being so-so, but I am sure there are some gems to be found there when the load of goods is “onâ€).

With Paris being the land of couture and hi fashion, I had high expectations. And at first I was not terribly impressed. People on the Metro and the streets near the Bastille, where we were staying, were looking far less than chic. It got better, including seeing an extremely stylish older woman with a white bob who just reeked of perfume -- a line of scent like Pepe Le Pew followed her.

Then came a day of shopping. Actually mostly drooling in The Marais. Two stores blew my mind and were seemingly so Parisian I tasted my morning croissant again -- in a good way. One was the store Shinji, an eclectic gallery of wears for both men and women, killing me softly with the collection. It was part store part gallery, and had a warmth -- including the shop maven named Anne, who demonstrated how to wear some of the pieces. It was all in all incredible, and I was almost in tears because I really can’t spend 425 euros on a Diana Brinks (pictured) (who is from Copenhagen, Denmark) sweater that has 40 ways to wear its attached, draped-to-the-knee scarf/hood/vest -- though God damnit I wanted it! And it came in black and white! There were a bunch of different designers featured in there, including Pleasure Principle -- slaying me with soft cotton sweatshirt/T-shirt material, draped "everyday Goth" fab hood /cloak/capes, aaaaah! I caould hardly stand it! Pleasure Principle, I found out, are from Brooklyn! Woohoo! You bet I will be finding where to get their goods in NYC.

The other store was 0044 Paris. Both had rows of black clothes and white and gray and red red red. 0044’s walls are bright red and there are black draped curtains; it is full-on modern Goth. A table/altar in the front greets you with black feathers and a gigantic mammoth skull (pictured) above it in all its grandeur -- mon Dieu! I was gagging. I don’t care where the trends fall; skulls will never be out for me. I have loved them since Edward Gorey got me hooked as a little girl with Gashlycrumb Tinies, and I will continue to until I am a skull myself.

0044 Paris has its own line of clothes and candles, one of which smelled like the incense in Russian Church myrrh. Sweaters and hoodies with exaggerated perspectives feature an extra piece of material draping down in front, creating a completely different shape than a usual sweatshirt. Soft, worn-feeling material and knitwear-woven stripes; racks of black, red, white; men’s and women’s. Me, drooling away.

I was determined to find out more.

After some Internet snooping, what I found is that both store are Paris to a T, via Japanese directors/owners. The name Shinji doesn’t hide it, whatsoever. And 0044 Paris is connected to the store chain no.44 in Japan, but all the garments in 0044 Paris are made in Paris, merci beaucoup!

I guess it’s time for me to get my butt to Japan again.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.