Downton Abbey & Zara in Trouble : Fashion Frontline Season 3 Episode 67

Tiffany Schultz of Fashion Frontline returns with another roundup of all the news in the fashion and entertainment world.

Widely popular British TV series Downton Abbey chronicles the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants lives during the post-Edwardian era. The show takes great pains to ensure an authentic recreation of the social milieu and aesthetics of the age, and in an effort to maintain the highest level of period continuity, the producers of Downton Abbey have banned the cast and crew from bringing any contemporary items onto the set after the release of a publicity shot in which a modern water bottle could be easily discerned on a mantelpiece behind cast members. The ban extends to items as intimate as modern underwear, with exemptions on set given only to asthma inhalers and glasses.

High street retailer and fashion power house Zara has faced the wrath of the internet, being forced to pull stock of a shirt from its global stores. The blue striped shirt featured a prominent six-pointed yellow star, and incensed social media users who equated it to the uniform worn by Jewish prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. The shirt, aimed at children aged three months to three years, was intended to be a recreation of the classic Western sheriff style. The star itself did bear the word “sheriff” but was not clearly legible on the fashion chain’s website, hence many online users felt the shirt bore too strong a resemblance to the garments of concentration camp victims. Zara has apologized for any offense caused and claims that the remaining stock will be destroyed.

To coincide with the the beginning of the US Open, American fashion label Ralph Lauren has partnered with Canadian tech company OMsignal to release a wearable tech apparel collection. Sensors in the garments measure heart rate, breathing rates and depth, steps and calories burned, sending this data wirelessly to any smart device—an exciting new venture and one that signals bold changes to the public’s perception of how fashion can impact everyday life.