Attack of Nature

Avant Garde fashion is the topic of this series. Check out the intro here.
The Avant Garde hairstyle of the hour is:

Can you say bird's nest? No girl would be caught dead looking like this outside of a fashion show... or Halloween. As much as this hairstyle is impractical, I would have to say that it is the most "Avant Garde" -do so far, if we go by the definition given in the intro. There is no doubt that this hairstyle is very different and artsy, but the hair design really does have a plan here. It is not just a big mess like Bed Head, but it actually looks like something- an attack of nature! The hairstyle here says something, and perhaps it even matches the style of the clothes that are being shown off too. I have no idea why girls like this stuff.
...
Also, the girl looks like a creepy mannequin.

Bon Bons

Once again it is time to critique a poor design. This series is about "Avant Garde" hairstyles. Read the intro here.

The hairstyle of this post is not exciting.   I'll say this right off the bat.

I suppose if you're a girl you might find this exciting. Nadia seemed to think this one was interesting. In my opinion, this hairstyle is boring as all get-out.  Two asymmetrical bon-bons of hair that are probably just extensions... ooh!
Whatever. Looking at this hairdstyle makes me wonder about more than why she did her hair that way; it makes me wonder what people think is pretty. A hairdo like this is neither trying to evoke any feeling other than confusion, nor being practical or functional. I am sure that a 5 minute ponytail would have worked just as well in this "Avant Garde" fashion show of clothes that no one will ever wear.

Bed Head

This is the first commentary on Avant Garde hairstyles. Backtrack to the introduction to the series by clicking HERE.

This is a hairstyle? was my first thought. I could not believe it. Somebody, somewhere, aspiring to "fashion", thought that this was pretty.
It looks like bed head to me.
The hair does have tell a story, probably not the one it was going for, but a story nonetheless. (To me it says this: "This fairy, after a long night of wild flying and nectar-drinking with her fairybffs , awoke to find herself in a strange meadow, with flowers glued into her hair, wondering how on earth she ended up there.")
As for the "fashion design" of this poor fairy's hair... there is none. To mess up a girl's hair and call it "fashionable" is not going to be fashionable. It is always going to be called "attacked by the five 9 year-old girls I was babysitting."
Avant Garde... Is fashion, or is it laziness?

Avante Garde

My girlfriend recently introduced me to a style called Avant Garde. I wasn't sure exactly what that phrase meant, so I asked the dictionary. Dictionary.com defines it as "the advance group in any field, esp. in the visual, literary, or musical arts, whose works are characterized chiefly by unorthodox and experimental methods."
I came away from this thinking that Avant Garde just means "amateurish-on-purpose."
Many Google-images later, and much the wiser, I have not become convinced that Avant Garde is an "art form" (complete with quotes).
My definition was wrong only in that it was too kind.
Now I know, with proof, that Avant Garde means "weird and ugly on purpose."
And so I give to you, the blog-follower, the following posts all about Avant Garde hairstyles as examples of the movement as a whole.

The Build-A-Couch Couch

It's time for the very last edition of couch critiquing.  If you're not caught up start with the couch intro here and work your way forward.

http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2008/03/31/misfits_58.jpg
I don't know what to think of this couch.  Apparently the couch-user is supposed to reorganize the couch each day depending on mood, weather, or whim.  This is the ultimate sectional.  What a cool idea!
Apart from the obvious fun nature of this couch, is it practical in the slightest? My answer: No, the couch is not practical.

• I probably would have other furniture in the room which would also have to be rearranged every time you rearrange the couch.  What a bother.  This will get old really fast.
  
• The couch looks heavy. What a bother. This will get old really fast.
• The couch only appeals to my silly mood. I will not want to sit on this couch while watching a movie. I will not want to sit on this couch while socializing. I will not want to sit on this couch anytime I happen to be acting like an adult.

This is a big problem. What is the moral here? Just because it seems like a novel idea does not mean it is any better than what we already have. Why not just pick a regular three piece sectional in cobalt blue (and even pick the fabric), have the freedom to switch up the room arrangements, and keep a full(er) wallet?
Despite the impracticality, I cannot deny that this couch is art. But maybe art should stay art, and stay out of my living room.

Tour de France Couch

Welcome once again to the series all about couches. If you need to update yourself on what we've covered so far, help yourself to a dose of the intro here.

Maybe it's just me... but i think this couch is awesome. No, I would never own it. Although awesome, the poor couch screams, "tacky" in every setting other than here, at a bike shop.  Still, in the proper context (like a wonderful bike shop) this is the most creative couch idea I've seen yet.

Let's face it-- bike seats (especially the type used for this couch) are ridiculously uncomfortable. My least favorite thing about biking is the seat. But what an amazingly creative design! This "Scarabike" company really got a creative couch designer. The seats seem retro, but at the same time remind the viewer of innovation.  It's a perfect mix.
I like it.

Flying Cars and UFO's

This is yet another edition of the Couch Series. If you do not know what the Couch Series is, read the introduction here.

Ok, ok… I suppose this couch is really more of a chair. But chairs and couches are pretty similar; they are both supposed to be welcoming to the bottom of humans, dogs, cats and in-laws.
I have to admit, I like furniture from the future. It brings in an edgy, cool look to a space. This specific couch-chair didn't quite make it though. The potential was there. It just didn't turn out all that appealing in the end.
While it probably was meant to be different, new, and artsy, the result is more reminiscent of "scrap metal" and "plastic rings from a 12 pack". I cannot imagine that the cold metal is comfortable, nor that the backrest actually stays in that position long. And, come to think of it, the whole couch-chair will tip right over if the person sitting shifts even a little bit!
Maybe after a few chair legs are added, the curved seat is flattened out somewhat, and the backrest is made to look like anything other than a chain of swimming floaties the couch-chair would be presentable to men who come to us from the future.