Suede

Suede /ˈsweɪd/ is a type of leather with a napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, shirts, purses, furniture and other items. The term comes from the French "gants de Suède", which literally means "gloves from Sweden".

Suede leather is made from the underside of the skin, primarily lamb, although goat, calf and deer are commonly used. Splits from thick hides of cow and deer are also sueded, but, due to the fiber content, have a shaggy nap. Because suede does not include the tough exterior skin layer, suede is less durable but softer than standard ("full-grain") leather. Its softness, thinness, and pliability make it suitable for clothing and delicate uses; suede was originally used for women's gloves. Suede leather is also popular in upholstery, shoes, bags, and other accessories, and as a lining for other leather products. Due to its textured nature and open pores, suede may become dirty and quickly absorb liquids.

Alternatives to suede

Fabrics are often manufactured with a brushed or napped finish to resemble suede leather. These products often provide a similar look and feel to suede, but have advantages such as increased liquid or stain resistance, and may appeal to consumers who prefer a non-animal product.

Suede (band)

Suede are an English alternative rock band, formed in London in 1989 and currently consists of singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Richard Oakes, bass player Mat Osman, drummer Simon Gilbert and keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Neil Codling. Having split up in 2003, the Coming Up/Head Music line-up of the band reformed in 2010. The band's original guitarist Bernard Butler left the band in 1994.

In 1992, Suede were described as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted much attention from the British music press. The following year their debut album Suede, went to the top of the charts by becoming the fastest-selling debut album in almost ten years. It won the Mercury Music Prize and helped foster Britpop as a musical genre. However, the band's follow-up, Dog Man Star (1994), showed Suede distancing themselves from their Britpop peers. The recording sessions for Dog Man Star were fraught with difficulty, and ended with Butler departing the band after confrontations with the rest of the band. The album was completed without Butler, with the band touring the album with new recruit Richard Oakes. Although a commercial disappointment at the time, the album was met with a generally enthusiastic reception on release and has, over time been lauded with universal acclaim from critics.

Suede (singer)

Suede is an American pop, cabaret and jazz singer. She was born in Nyack, New York and went to high school in Severna Park, Maryland. She began playing music in high school, getting bar gigs before she even graduated. She lived in Baltimore for the majority of the 1980s and became a fixture at many local clubs. Suede's popularity steadily increased and she began playing sold-out shows in some of the US's most respected concert halls.

She is best known for successfully suing the British band Suede for the rights to the name, meaning that the band's subsequent albums were released in the US under the name "The London Suede".

In addition to being a vocalist, Suede plays many instruments; trumpet, piano, and guitar. She currently lives in Cape Cod.

Suede toured briefly with The Flirtations and was on their album, Three.

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Rent

Rent may refer to:

Rent (MUD)

Rent, in MUDs (primarily DikuMUDs), is a mechanism for both enabling and limiting persistence of a player character's possessions. In the "traditional" rent paradigm, in order to keep belongings between game sessions, the player must travel to an inn and use the rent command there, and is assessed a price, in game money, for each inventory item; items that cannot be paid for are not persisted. If the player simply uses the quit command rather than rent, inventory items are not kept, and fall to the ground. Many evolutions of this approach exist: the rent command is often made to be performable anywhere rather than only at an inn, sometimes costs are removed or made negligible, and so on. At times, in MUDs where inventory is made to simply persist automatically when the player quits the game, the conceptualization of inventory persistence as "rent" is sufficiently ingrained that this is referred to as "autorent".

Rent is often considered an annoyance to players, which is a factor that drives the many variations seen on the concept. On the other hand, the need to pay to retain one's items can provide an impetus to engagement with the game, though this may be seen as unduly coercive.

Rent (song)

"Rent" is a 1987 single by the Pet Shop Boys. It was released in the UK by Parlophone on 12 October 1987.

Song information

The lyrics are commonly thought to deal with a financially one-sided relationship, i.e. that of a kept man, the title implying more specifically the lot of a rent boy. Neil Tennant, however, stated in the Actually: Further Listening liner notes:

It peaked at number 8 in the British charts. Producer Stephen Hague remixed the song for single release.

Video

The video for the song was directed by Derek Jarman. It features two intercut storylines. One, filmed in black and white, shows Chris Lowe arriving at King's Cross station by train and walking past various low-life characters. The other, filmed in colour, features Margi Clarke as the partner of a wealthy man (played by Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath), who is hosting a dinner party. The lyrics are sung by Tennant, who plays her chauffeur. The woman becomes annoyed when the man pays her no attention. She then gets Tennant to drive her to King's Cross. There, she meets Chris Lowe on the platform and they embrace.