The youth statement

Fashion these days is being targeted to the young more than it was a decade ago. Seventeen-year-olds are slowly abandoning mother’s advice and becoming their own – or each other’s – stylists. They know what colors bring out their skin tone and what cuts flatter their booty best. They are overly-familiar with trends and go after them like a broker in the stock market. Today’s youth is a fashion-ferocious mob, cool-cognizant, and hip beyond labels. Nothing satisfies them for long. They go through trends like a female praying mantis on a sexual binge; brands lose their appeal – and possibly their heads – as soon as they’ve been exhausted of every possible style idea. Which is why in the realm of the trend-hungry young gun, fashion brand XOXO, has proved to be a godsend.

A brand that knows the young female market well enough to have been successful for so many years, XOXO lobs off trend pieces as fast as you can say "Is this cool enough?" It has built its reputation on becoming pieces that border on the hankerings of the most style-conscious consumer: The girl-woman.

XOXO embodies the kittenish appeal of pubescent girls – the ones who could have inspired Nabokov’s Lolita – and satisfies the craving of the young adult woman whose self-assured disposition requires equally confident clothing. Their ad campaign for their Fall-Winter 2003 collection is composed of sultry, brooding images of a young girl in a vaudevillian setting. Heavy makeup, stage lights, and intricate cabaret headdresses accent contemporary clothing to come up with a raw, sexy look that is both defiant and attractive.

It is choice wear for Hollywood visibles from Mena Suvari and Britney Spears to Farrah Fawcett, and attracts a following with women from different ends of the personality spectrum – candy sweet pop star Jessica Simpson wears it, and so does punk rap icon Pink. XOXO has also seen movie features with the era flick Almost Famous and the indie film 100 Girls, and is also glimpsed on tube shows such as Ally McBeal and Charmed. The US editions of Glamour, Cosmogirl, and Elle Girl are big fans of the brand, making it a regular on their must-buy lists and editorials.

XOXO is trend-responsive but its pieces are built around styles that may still be worn seasons down the line. This season’s styles bank on the philosophy that fashion should be fun, flirty, and feminine. Four collections revolve around exotic locales and various moods. The Bali collection focuses on the energetic and fun vibes of the provocative color red. Soft, stretchy fabric takes off in sexy asymmetric cuts. The vibrance of the Bali collection is balanced with the more classic brown, blue, and khaki hues available in the Coconut collection done in intricate prints and more conservative cuts. XOXO brings back the hippie decade with the Psychedelic line. Flared pants in vintage washings, corduroy jackets, retro prints, and delicate embroidery take the heyday of the peace sign to a new level. XOXO’s take on Oriental fashion – the Shanghai collection – is an interesting blend of floral prints, cheongsam collars, and sleek, form-fitting dress cuts. The color white plays a big part in all the collections available this season. White tops in feminine lace, knits, jersey, and cotton make it easier to play up and combine XOXO’s pieces.

The ubiquitous denim is not pushed out of the limelight. Jeanswear options range from faded denim capris to flirty minis to flattering bootcuts. Details such as buckles, buttons, and stitching add an exuberant factor.

Life may be wasted on the youth, but fashion surely isn’t. As long as brands like XOXO keeps on churning out style possibilities, there might be hope for the world yet.

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XOXO is exclusively available at the U floor of Rustan’s Makati, and will open in Rustan’s Shangri-La at the end of the year.