Retro clothing styles from '80s, '90s are back in fashion

Students may be savoring every second of their final weeks of summer vacation, but they're still stocking up on essential school supplies, like pencils, erasers and notebooks. All of that, plus back-to-school clothes.

Some students like to walk into the first day of school showing off new clothes. Others are prepared for the long day ahead and stick to the more comfortable attire. For Sarah Gammill, who will be attending Tahlequah High School for her first time this year, it's a little of both.

"I'll probably wear some type of jeans, but with a hoodie to stay comfortable," Gammill said.

Students headed back to classes should be aware of their schools' dress code policies. Sequoyah High School students can't wear dresses shorter than to the tips of their fingers when their arms are held to their sides. And Cashmere Lane has got the dresses for that.

"The majority of our dresses are actually school-appropriate length," said Mikayla Martin, sales associate. "The brands we buy are really great for that. We have a fun plaid one that we just got in. You can either roll the sleeves up to a quarter sleeve or keep them long, so that would be good going into fall. We have another dress that we call our tie-dye dress, and it kind of fades from a burnt orange to a lighter orange."

A common phrase heard in the summer might be, "sun's out, guns out," but once school starts, muscle shirts are frowned upon. So instead, kids can pick up T-shirts at Southern Bling.

"Our T-shirts with the different sayings are really big," said Pam Benge, owner. "That's the way everybody dresses their kids now. It's casual now. We try to stay with the trend. Last year, it was all vintage and lace. It doesn't sell anymore, so we have to go with the casual now."

As time goes on, fashion trends are continuously changing.

"High-waist jeans are really popular with cropped-top shirts," said Kristin Kimble, manager at Rue21. "As the shirt hem is getting shorter, the waist on the jeans are getting higher."

Everybody needs a good pair of jeans, and Kimble said Rue21 has some good selections.

"Jeans are always a big deal," she said. "This year is all about the ankle detail on jeans. There's frayed cuffs. There's distressed detail. There's relaxed hems."

Although it may be 2017, '80s and '90s clothing is becoming popular again.

"Grunge is coming back," she said. "With the men, it's distressed fit jeans. We have a lot of quilted detail on our guys' jeans, too. Camo is also popular right now."

Tribal citizens who received their vouchers from the Cherokee Nation's Clothing Assistance Program can visit select Stage department stores across northeastern Oklahoma.

There's likely no better time to go back-to-school shopping than this upcoming weekend, as the sales tax holiday is Aug. 4-6. Gammill said she already has a lot of clothes, but it'll hard to pass up this weekend's opportunity.

"I'll most likely go get some more just for the tax-free weekend," she said.

The tax-free weekend is important for businesses, too.

International fashion comes to Tieton

Comme des Garçons translates to "like some boys," which is open to many interpretations. As Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, says, the fashion designs of Rei Kawakubo are "open to interpretation, but not one interpretation."

On exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until Sept. 4, "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between" examines nine expressions of "in-betweenness" in her collections. Rei refuses to define her work. She once said "the meaning is — there is no meaning."

On Friday, Mighty Tieton is bringing the fashion of Rei Kawakubo to Tieton in an exhibit titled "COMME to Tieton | Comme des Garçons Fashion and Design." The 11 Kawakubo-designed ensembles on display are from the collection of Cynthea J. Bogel — many with shoes, from sculptural to flat, abstract to velvet and lace — and will be on display until Sept. 3.

Visitors are encouraged to attend a free reception that's open to the public from noon to 3 p.m. Aug. 12 at Mighty Tieton's new event space, 617. Bogel will be on hand.

"Comme des Garçons fashion in Tieton? Sure. Why not?" says Ed Marquand, founder of Mighty Tieton. "The art and design world is big in some ways, and small in others."

"For me, having this opportunity to show the brilliant, radical and highly influential work of Rei Kawakubo here is big," Marquand says. "Having access to the work through a good friend and occasional Tieton resident, Cynthea Bogel, reminds me how comfortingly small that world can be. The fun part is sharing it. Who knows what it might inspire?"

Bogel, who usually rides her bicycle to the subway station in Japan wearing Comme des Garcons, says, "Someone once wrote, 'If they are going to stare at you, at least make it worth their while.' This has nothing to do with my reasons for wearing Comme des Garçons. Although Rei Kawakubo's clothes may be difficult for the observer to understand, when you wear them, they are easy to understand.

"I wear Comme des Garçons because of the feeling the clothing elicits in me, not on me. The clothing feels intentional — and it brings out the creative and philosophical in me. Comme des Garçons is also extremely well crafted and — with the exception of recent runway pieces that are, as Kawakubo said of her spring 2014 collection, "clothes that are not clothes" — very comfortable to wear. Other clothing feels thoughtless."

How Android Wear is clawing its way back from the dead

Google's Android Wear smartwatch platform isn't dead. It's just pivoting from a do-everything experience on your wrist to one that's better customized for your own fashion and lifestyle.

That's good because I don't want a world where the Apple Watch is the only smartwatch that matters. It'd be too dystopian.

No matter how much you might adore your Apple Watch, the Samsung Gear S3 or LG Watch Style smartwatches can be described in a single word: disappointing.

The smartwatch market declined by 51.6 percent in Q3 of last year, resulting in a year-over-year drop in volume, according to IDC. The only one reportedly thriving is Apple Watch. But still, as a product category smartwatches simply haven't lived up to expectations.

Tech companies are giving up

Tech titans that were first to champion Android Wear and challenge the Apple Watch have largely given up on making smartwatches.

Motorola and Huawei both announced they have no plans to release new models soon. Huawei's CEO Eric Xu Zhijun said in April that smartwatches are essentially pointless. "I am always confused as to what smartwatches are for when we have smartphones." This is the company that released the Huawei Watch, the first promising and fashion-oriented Android Wear smartwatch.

Asus, one of the last of the well-known consumer electronics companies that supported Android Wear, is reportedly planning to axe its ZenWatch smartwatches altogether.

And Samsung hasn't supported Android Wear since its one-off Gear Live in 2014, instead choosing to iterate on its Tizen-based Gear S smartwatches.

LG's the only one that's still batting for Android Wear, but it can't save it. The company's Watch Sport and Watch Style released last year haven't moved the needle at all.

With everyone tossing in the towel, you'd be forgiven for thinking smartwatches are over.

Hitting the reset button

Android Wear will get better — 2.0 brings some useful updates — to its software, but having a variety of smartwatches is also key.

"It's a platform we're very committed to and investing in and the rest of Google is as well," David Singleton, Vice President of Android Engineering, told me.

"This is a pretty important and in some ways a potential breakthrough year because we're seeing more sticky experiences than we would have seen years ago. We're definitely seeing the number of people purchasing devices in the category has grown very significantly, but then we look at what people are actually doing with them — are they still active with them several months down the line? — we've seen that change positively pretty significantly as well so we're excited about that."

While most of its consumer tech friends have turned their back on the platform, Google's not worried at all because it's got new buddies that are keeping the flame alive: fashion brands.

In the last year, fashion labels have gone crazy with their Android Wear offerings. Brand names like Fossil, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Emporio Armani, Guess, Diesel, and even Movado have embraced Android Wear. They're flooding the market with dozens of styles and sizes to cater to their fashion-conscious customers, and it's working. People are buying them. And they've got even more smartwatches in every size imaginable coming out this summer and fall.

Fashion first, tech second

Whether it's got a processor in it or not, a wrist-worn accessory needs to be stylish first and tech second.

"One of the big things for Fossil Group is that we take this fashion-first approach. We don't really say design is a second thought and tech comes first," says Hannah Liu, Director of Wearables Strategy and Strategic Partnerships at Fossil Group. Like other fashion labels, the brand's got a handful of Android Wear-powered smartwatches like the Fossil Q series. "For us, we've flipped that model where we're saying we'll never compromise on design and style because we know that's why customers buy our products and what kinda differentiates us from others.

"Android Wear 2.0 allows us to have these limitless options of what our customers care about. We did a study of our own — consumers trust in the tech because of a name like Google and Android and they know that it's a good platform — but what was really important to them was style and brand. Those were the two biggest purchase drivers."

Choice is arguably the most attractive thing about Android Wear compared to an Apple Watch. Sure, you can customize the Apple Watch by swapping out different bands, but you're still stuck with the square screen and limited watch faces. Like the hundreds of Android phones to pick from, Android Wear offers variety.

"That's why our play is actually going style first. You pick on style, you pick on some brands you love, and so the choices aren't as overwhelming because you're able to cut through all the diversity pretty quickly," Liu says.

I got to take a look at dozens of fashion-first smartwatches from Michael Kors, Fossil, Tommy Hilfiger, Movado, and more, and the sheer amount of choice is dizzying, but in a good way. Android Wear is not one size fits all and that's great for people who like to express themselves through what they wear.

Being true to the brand

"You have to make it familiar," a Michael Kors spokesperson told me. "For Michael Kors and Fossil Group, all of our smartwatches are based off of existing models that have been in the line for years and are tried and true styles that either have been constant or have stayed in the line and have evolved since then."

Style is important, but so too is the smartwatch software experience. Android Wear hardware has always come in all shapes and sizes, but the software has mostly been the same across the board to the point where it felt generic.

And that's where fashion brands are also mixing things up. Their smartwatches still run Android 2.0, but they're adding watch faces and features that are true to the brand and why people love them.

West Nile found in Wayne, Macomb mosquitoes

The Wayne and Macomb county health departments reported finding mosquito pools that tested positive for West Nile virus.

The announcement follows Oakland County Health Department's finding of a pool testing positive in July.

No confirmed cases of West Nile virus in humans have been reported in Michigan.

Macomb County warned residents Wednesday to protect themselves from the deadly virus.

According to a news release, the county said it was the first time the virus was detected this summer in two separate samplings of mosquitoes gathered in Macomb County. The location of the finding has not been released.

Carol Austerberry, division director and deputy health officer of Wayne County, confirmed the county's first positive finding of West Nile virus in a mosquito. The mosquito was found in a Westland mosquito trap.

"The Wayne County Health, Veterans and Community Wellness Department has actively trapped and tested mosquitoes for many years," Austerberry said. "Every year, our agency has had mosquitoes that test positive for WNV."

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, West Nile virus spreads to humans through mosquito bites. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds. There is no West Nile virus vaccine currently available.

Most people infected will not show severe symptoms. According to the CDC, about 1 in 5 people infected will develop a fever with a headache, body ache, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea or a rash.

Recovery could take months and about 10 percent of people who develop neurological infections due to West Nile virus will die, the CDC said.

HBO chief says emails were not compromised in cyberattack

HBO is still trying to figure out the extent of the cyberattack on its computer systems — but so far there is no evidence that employees' emails were stolen, the company's top executive told staff.

"At this time, we do not believe that our e-mail system as a whole has been compromised, but the forensic review is ongoing," HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler told staff members in an email sent Wednesday afternoon. The note was an effort to calm the rattled nerves of employees and provide a brief update on the review of the hack.

Emails purloined during the massive hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014 became the source of much grief for top executives at the Culver City studio. In addition to the exposure of employee contracts, phone numbers and personal bank information, countless embarrassing exchanges between employees as well as former film boss Amy Pascal and producers were made public.

The contents of the emails weakened Pascal's standing, and she was eventually forced out of the studio. The U.S. government blamed North Korea for that particular break-in.

HBO confirmed Monday that it experienced a breach that compromised some of its programming and is working with law enforcement. The network has not said who might have been behind this particular hack, which became public last weekend. The hackers sent email messages to news organizations, including The Times, to announce their break-in and the theft of a script for an upcoming episode of HBO's blockbuster fantasy drama, "Game of Thrones."

HBO has confirmed that proprietary information, including some of its programming, was stolen during the cyberattack. Some reports have suggested that episodes of HBO's "Ballers" and "Room 104" also were taken.

Hollywood studios increasingly are ripe targets for hackers trying to get access to unreleased TV episodes and films. HBO's "Game of Thrones" episodes have long been among the most coveted treasures for hackers.

"We are also in the process of engaging an outside firm to work with our employees to provide credit monitoring and we will be following up with those details," Plepler told employees Wednesday.

"Meantime, continue to do the excellent work which defines this company across all departments and know that the appropriate teams are working round the clock to manage our way through this difficult period," he said.