For the last two years I’ve been watching with interest as polka dots creep back into the public imagination.
Mind you, the last time I was interested in polka dots I was looking at a catalog of paintings and sculptures by Yayoi Kusama, an octogenarian Japanese artist who is obsessed with obliterating objects with the stuff.
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Kusama lives in or near a mental institution in Japan. Not to say that you must be mental to wear this pattern, or anything.
Lately the runways that double as sidewalks here in the city have been teeming with dots.
A couple of days ago, Alexa Chung was spotted wearing a red polka dot blouse with cut off denim shorts while walking in Manhattan. Chung, it appears, loves the pattern as she’s worn them almost every time she hits a red carpet.
Rihanna wore a bow with polka dots in her formerly red hair earlier this year; as did Kate Winslet who wore a quarter polka dot dress by Stella McCartney.
The real culprit of the polka dot resurgence this season can be credited to Marc Jacobs, whose entire Fall 2011 collection featured them. (Dolce & Gabbana also comes to mind, but stars aren’t polka dots unless you’re thinking abstractly or stretching).
Kelly Rowland’s D&G dress in last week’s issue of Grazia suggested polka dots, even though the Italian duo used stars to flood the blue field of the dress. They’ve got polka dots in their catalogs too, but Marc Jacob’s seems to be the favorite.
Polka dots are fun to wear on women, but not men. Well, not anymore. The last time a man wore a polka dot anything was in the 1990s when rapper Kwame was king. Sure, you might see a bow tie or two here and there but no.
I’m sure there’s a photograph of me with a gumby and a polka dot shirt floating around the internet. There’s a McQueen polka dot scarf with skulls that I want but really, I haven’t seen a man in polka dots since Kwame.
Except in the Phillipines. Meet him in the gallery above.
