New Vocabulary 6: "The Revolutionary."

From Ruth La Ferla, "The Revolutionary, " New York Times, June 5, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/fashion/05YSL.html?_r=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin


* ehemeral: (adj) lasting for only a short time.

* adage: (n) a wise saying; proverb.

* weight: (n) respect, imfluence, trust, or importance.

* thrall: (n) 1. the state of being someone's power, or of having great power over someone. 2. a slave, servant, or captive.

"FASHION, they say, is ephemeral. But in the case of Yves Saint Laurent, that adage holds little weight. During much of his 45-year career, Saint Laurent, who died in Paris on Sunday at the age of 71, held the style world in his thrall, wielding an influence that dominated the runways and exerts a fascination to this day."


* streak: (n) an often unpleasant characteristic which is very different from other characteristics.

"A stylistic rebel with a paradoxically conservative streak, Saint Laurent arguably did more to advance fashion than any designer of his generation."


* gauge: (n) a way of judging or showing something, especially the success or popularity or something.

“I and a couple of friends would always say, ‘How would Saint Laurent do it,’ ” Mr. Jacobs told Women’s Wear Daily. “It’s a little, funny gauge of a thing being right, a kind of standard for chic, for youth, for sex appeal without vulgarity and with overall beauty.”


* cascade: (v) to fall quickly and in large amounts.

* homage: (n) deep respect and often praise shown for a person or god.

"There are the cascading ruffles on dresses by Mr. Elbaz, who briefly designed for the Saint Laurent label, a not-so-subtle homage to Saint Laurent’s gypsy looks of the mid-’70s. And, of course, Le Smoking, a women’s tuxedo revived over the years in the collections of Mr. Elbaz, Giorgio Armani, Viktor & Rolf, Ralph Lauren and others. "


* extravagant: (adj) spending, using or doing, more than necessary in an uncontrolled way.

* raid: (v) to take something from a place, usually secretly.

"There is no telling where the next impulse may come from: the Mondrian mood of the mid-’60s? The extravagant Cossacks of 1976. Designers continue to raid the archives, scour vintage shows and dealers’ ateliers for plunder."