Q Dear Marylou:   I always thought embroidery meant needlework, sewn with yarn or thread.  Today, I see all sorts of things called embroidery.  Please explain.__ G.C., Iron Mountain, MI. 

     Dear G.C.:  In today's fashion world, embroidery means almost anything ornamental worked on fabric, as in sequins, crystals, studs, dimensional yarns, etc., etc., etc.
   The newest, most modern take on embroidery comes from JSong's gifted designer, Way Zen.  Applying technology to fashion, Zen went to a QR Code generating website to achieve the barcode-like embroideries illustrated here. (QR Code is an abbreviation of Quick Response Code, a trademark for a type of matrix barcode — or two-dimensional code — first designed for the automotive industry.)  While printed QR Codes have appeared on T-shirts, the JSong versions are, to my knowledge, the first to be embroidered.
   Technically, any hyperlink can become QR Code. With the modern technology that's built in with Smartphones, any hyperlink can be scanned and the website will pop up immediately.
   So if a girl goes into a bar wearing her QR-Coded cotton top, illustrated here, can guys scan her clothes to find out who she is — her name, address?  According to Zen, this all depends on what the girl would like to disclose about herself in her website or on Facebook.  Whatever is there will be disclosed.
   The QR Code-embroidered linen top and irregular cut-out basket weave linen skirt (above, right) is $180 for the set, sizes s-xxl.  The multi-color pintucked linen dress is $250 and the code-embroidered linen bag is $90.  For more information, visit www.jsongcollection.com or write JSong International Inc., 499 Seventh Avenue, 2 F South, New York,  NY 10018.   

   Q Dear Marylou:   Are tight, show-every-curve-and-corpuscle clothes still in?__ M.N., Baltimore, MD.

      Dear M.N.:   In many quarters the squeeze is still squeezing.  But I believe the newest direction for spring comes from a newly relaxed silhouette.  Ease is replacing squeeze.  This looked especially appealing on Marc Jacobs' spring runway, where bold stripes skimmed the body in what you might call the new geometry.      

      Q Dear Marylou:  What is the hottest look in fur?__ P.A., Birmingham, MI.

       Dear P.A.:   Paris designer Riccardo Tisci's laser-cut mink for Givenchy was the talk of the Paris haute couture shows.  Said mink was cut in Moorish patterns, overlaid with tulle and then embroidered with red heart crystals, some shielded in red leather.  This look may not make the trend charts, as it is truly a work of art, but it may inspire others.       

(Marylou welcomes questions for use in this column, but regrets she cannot answer mail personally.  Send your questions to info@fgi.org.)

©2013, International Fashion Syndicate

      Marylou Luther, editor of the International Fashion Syndicate, writes the  award-winning Clotheslines column, a question-and-answer fashion advice feature read weekly by more than 5 million.

   In addition to her syndicated newspaper column, Luther is the creative director of The Fashion Group International, a non-profit organization for the dissemination of information on fashion, beauty and related fields.  Her twice-yearly audio-visual overviews of the New York, London, Milan and Paris ready-to-wear shows are must-seeing/reading for industry leaders. Her coverage of the European collections appears in newspapers throughout the U.S.

   The former fashion editor of The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Des Moines Register is biographied in “Who’s Who in America.”  She won the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s coveted Eugenia Sheppard  award for fashion journalism, the Women in Communications award and, in 2004, the Accessories Council’s Marylou Luther Award for Fashion Journalism, which will be given every year in her name.

Her essays have appeared in “The Rudi Gernreich Book”, “Thierry Mugler:  Fashion, Fetish, Fantasy”, “The Color of Fashion”, “Todd Oldham Without Boundaries” and “Yeohlee:  Work.”  A book with Geoffrey Beene was published in September, 2005.   A graduate of the University of Nebraska, where she received the prestigious Alumni Achievement award, Luther is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Tau Alpha, Theta Sigma Phi and Gamma Phi Beta.