big whoop

NYmag is semi-losin' it over Ya Girl B(eyonce) wearing Gareth Pugh at the MTV europe awards. Jez and Fashionista both commented on this as well. None, however made a deal about her wearing the Balenciaga gold plated outfit (leggings also owned by Terrence Koh). To be a performer who can command crowds in the katrillions at 70$ a head and be tied to HOVA, one needs a little flash. If she wants to wear Pugh Klingon uniforms, Herchovich trashbags, or Westwood bondage, good for her. At least a contemporary music artist is taking a bigger fashion risk than suspenders or prom dresses and trainers and there's nothing wrong with bringing a little avant guard to the masses. Mizz Thang below. (photos from NYmag and myfashionlife.com respectively) peaceeee.

crispy critcs

I've highlighted NYT critical shopper reports before; sometimes with delight and sometimes with disgust, but, perpetual smart ass critical shopper contributer, Mike Albo is all good (in the hood). Now, before I get started, I have no ill vibes for Cintra Wilson's acid tongue and epic taste levels; Mike Albo is just fucking on all the time. To the point: Albo's current review of the Gap flagship (which occurs after Wilson's review of the Mcqueen store; how fair considering the Dow is plummeting faster than Brett Michael's hair line is receding). Quoth Albo re: the economy and our aging child star american sportswear brand, beloved by yours truly, Gap: "...o my right, a Frenchman wheeled a baby carriage onto my foot until I moved out of his way. There must have been 100 Europeans in this store: men wearing sweaters tied around their shoulders, women wearing sunglasses inside, entire families chattering and pointing. All of them had rapacious looks in their eyes because they knew time is money. They needed to buy as much as possible before the increasingly global financial meltdown turned their powerful euros into a currency as pathetic as, well, the United States dollar..."
This installation of critical shopper is a rarity in which the reviewer does not have a positive opinion at all of the selected store upon arrival, but is mostly pleasantly surprised; "..and if I were a literature grad student visiting from Strasbourg, I would have bought all three and then gone home and worn them while smoking loose tobacco cigarettes and reading Houellebecq."
However, being the whip quipper, Albo does not let some fug merch slide by, "..One look at those items and I wanted to breathe into a paper bag....a perfect purchase for someone who works in catering or an office and needs at least to pretend to care about his job."
Though, marring Albo's final assement is his realization that in Gap, like every other box brand in the U.S/earth, you will never look as good in the clothes as the visuals people dress the manniquins, unless you invest in a basket full of binder clips and pin the extra folds of the off the rack garb to your flesh. Albo's verbage on the matter: "..it is my hope that during the next presidential administration I can form the Truth in Visual Merchandising Commission and put an end to this travesty. Be warned, retailers: End this deceitful practice now! Either stop clipping or tucking your clothes, or get fatter mannequins!"
Outside of nymag:sex diaries, this is easily the best archive to pour over while pretending to work in those last eternal fifteen minutes of work.

crispy critcs

I've highlighted NYT critical shopper reports before; sometimes with delight and sometimes with disgust, but, perpetual smart ass critical shopper contributer, Mike Albo is all good (in the hood). Now, before I get started, I have no ill vibes for Cintra Wilson's acid tongue and epic taste levels; Mike Albo is just fucking on all the time. To the point: Albo's current review of the Gap flagship (which occurs after Wilson's review of the Mcqueen store; how fair considering the Dow is plummeting faster than Brett Michael's hair line is receding). Quoth Albo re: the economy and our aging child star american sportswear brand, beloved by yours truly, Gap: "...o my right, a Frenchman wheeled a baby carriage onto my foot until I moved out of his way. There must have been 100 Europeans in this store: men wearing sweaters tied around their shoulders, women wearing sunglasses inside, entire families chattering and pointing. All of them had rapacious looks in their eyes because they knew time is money. They needed to buy as much as possible before the increasingly global financial meltdown turned their powerful euros into a currency as pathetic as, well, the United States dollar..."
This installation of critical shopper is a rarity in which the reviewer does not have a positive opinion at all of the selected store upon arrival, but is mostly pleasantly surprised; "..and if I were a literature grad student visiting from Strasbourg, I would have bought all three and then gone home and worn them while smoking loose tobacco cigarettes and reading Houellebecq."
However, being the whip quipper, Albo does not let some fug merch slide by, "..One look at those items and I wanted to breathe into a paper bag....a perfect purchase for someone who works in catering or an office and needs at least to pretend to care about his job."
Though, marring Albo's final assement is his realization that in Gap, like every other box brand in the U.S/earth, you will never look as good in the clothes as the visuals people dress the manniquins, unless you invest in a basket full of binder clips and pin the extra folds of the off the rack garb to your flesh. Albo's verbage on the matter: "..it is my hope that during the next presidential administration I can form the Truth in Visual Merchandising Commission and put an end to this travesty. Be warned, retailers: End this deceitful practice now! Either stop clipping or tucking your clothes, or get fatter mannequins!"
Outside of nymag:sex diaries, this is easily the best archive to pour over while pretending to work in those last eternal fifteen minutes of work.

come back FTW: brand extentions and controlled equity

Short story: American Mall Sportswear; goin' for the (amex)gold. Long story: Coach is buying back a BILLION shares to 'increase economic value for shareholders' i.e. increasing the individual value of shares, there-fore increasing brand equity and giving the overall brand a more profitable appearance. This is effectively, Coach buying themselves back from the shareholders, since they are a privately traded company they can't 'own' themselves, but buying back that many fucking shares really helps then guide who does own them. Since when did Coach become worth over a bill? Who do you know that has recently bought a Coach bag/boot/whatever? Coach was one of the first (after A&F in '98) 'mall' brands to reinvent itself as a up-market retailer with prices creeping in the the $1K territory for limited edition-or "heritage"-merch.
Following on it's heels is Jcrew, who opened its men's only "liquor bar cum haberdashery" in Tribeca. Again, exclusive merch such as vintage tie clips! Globe Trotter luggage! pre-chewed pencils by famous writers!!! Complete with a visuals scheme approved by Andy Spade.
This is in immediate timing with reports that J.Crew will issue an accessories only catalog replete with Norwegian leather goods and real gold and precious stone jewelry. These choices made to, apparently, increase the brand's perceived worth by the consumers while growing their customer base.
Even Gap is skipping along with brand boosters! Are you shocked? Probs not. The Gap flagship is partnering with Collette to make limited edition products which err more on the Collette side than the Gap side. This may be lost on what was Gap's majority consumer; seemingly more intended for consumers who (a) know what/where Collette is and (b) are probably buying their basics from Alexander Wang or at least Velvet. Though, still in the vein of making their products more worthwhile to the consumer.
All of these brands, with the exception of Coach (to my knowledge), have previously been playing the fast fashion game and turning over cheap, new, trend driven product by the truck-full to middling results. Gap suffering the most for the poor design judgment. Now, all seem to be making a 180 (that likely took 12-18 months to plan) away from un-sustainable design and trying to entice the consumer's limited budget with quality and not necessarily value. This all comes at incredibly good timing for the above brands as fast fashion retailers are being whipped with a cat-o-nine tails for contributing to the insane amount of waste on the earth! While, some articles read closer to the thesis that forever21 should be blamed for all the world's ecological problems most are dead-on with bringing to light that, yes, selling shitty product that has a minute shelf life will cause people to throw these items away faster. With notes on small movements for 'local' design by sustainable, independent designers who's pricing is a little higher due to the higher cost of NOT outsourcing to elementary school children who will never see an actual school. A movement that is encouraging to hear, but yours truly is still skeptical that in country that still pushes quantity over quality these brands will get off to a running start with their extensions and growth options. Though, I would love to be proved wrong.

resort 09 oh mine

Damn gina, resort 09 already? I guess that makes sense since it sets in November. Then again I don't generally know what year/month/day it is so I am not all that surprised at my own shock. This year's offerings are ridic wearable and seasonless. Which, considering consumers are taking sales staff's suggestions of buying resort because it can be worn nearly year round with the addition of a coat or removal of a sweater. This coupled with the fact that consumers are just not buying bigger items right now makes resort one of the few cash opportunities for both young and established designers. Resort originally started out as being a cruise-wearish season with the implications that the wealthy would be it's main clientelle. Since, they are more likely to buy those linen hot shorts and silk sarong to wear on their annual winter vacation to the Ivory Coast. Now, resort is becoming more ready-ready to wear. It is trend driven, but not trendy nor will it probably be included in most magazines 10lb fall fashion issues, despite it getting to stores at about the same time as fall deliveries. Young designers, who already have spring/summer fall/winter lines, are expanding into resort that will cover gaps in their shipping times. This will allow retailers to buy smaller amounts from the designers and turn that product over faster, refreshing their assortment, and supplying the designer with a steady stream of income. Though NYmag reports that the sale of many young designer's wares is, unfortunately, extremely low. So low that there are rumors that the young designers will be holding intimate showings of their spring 09 collections instead of showing at the tents. They also note that consumers are saving up for larger branded items (prada, lanvin, etc) when they are making a purchase instead of going for smaller designers like Alexander Wang and Phillip Lim. Despite these bunnies having superb shows with fantastic reviews they are hurting too. Moral of the story, buy resort; buy young. It's good for your closet and good for fashion.
(imgs l to r: ADAM, alexander wang, balenciaga, 3.1 phillip lim; from style.com)

here is a new frenglish phrase for you, mon petit chou: gauche idiot

This fine FIT studying fellow lists interest as 'like clothes. all the time', using 'frenglish' like the oh so nouveux fashion appropriated word 'outre', and using abbreviated fashion speak. Oh, you blue collar proles are unaware what I mean? Let me school you. Mssr. Kane here refers to illuminated designers by their first names, surely he and Karl have sat down and had an intimate lunch of non-food, dreamily staring into each others eyes, and pushing their 400 ipods around the cafe table. He also is far too harried to say such lengthly phrases as Conde Nast, so he abbreviates it to 4TS, that is the location of the building, he has probably been there and wants you to know this. Do not fret! He is just like you and me! He, charitably, only thinks about clothes for others, not himself. When dressing he only does so to clothe himself, though judging by the photo, NYmag left out 'only to clothe myself...like a deleted extra from the chinese dvd$1bootleg copy of Fast Times at Ridgemont High'. It's no small wonder that FIT continually accepts and displays to the public such fine, grateful, and obviously entitled humans, to brighten our dreary casual-sportswear-garbed lives.

spicy, icy couture

Dior Couture opened the Couture shows in Paris yesterday and I know I say this every time a new season rolls around, I want it. Sure, I'll put on a reworked Ball Jacket and some tweaked C. Dior 'New Look' via Galliano. Frothy, yet structured with a fair handful of sheer thrown in. In all reality, monetarily and life-stylistically, I will instead use this gorgeous brain-candy to justify my wearing a completely sheer dress with severe nipped in waist to a party last week. Told you it was good! NyMag and Style are both covering the couture shows with great detail (nymag gathers industry and news sound bites from the shows as well)and in light of the near-melting heat I am experiencing I'll just have to let the icy-glare models and effusive dresses cool my heated brow before I even attempt to put on fall-ish clothes.

recanted statement and icy vid

Hedi Slimane has "no interest in Diesel". whew cause the only good thing about diesel is that Terry Richardson shot/shoots their campaigns. also, NYmag has a short video talking to Karlie Kloss who is only 15 but has walked 64 shows and is every magazines dream girl. i was going to say wet dream but that feels inappropriate even for me. She is a gorgeous girl and I hope she sticks around. I'm a fan of the pony stomp walk and death glare visage. I'll rep that for life.

Tv Fame is just what is sounds like

NYmag is running an article profiling the winners and contestants of such Bravo reality shows as TopChef, TopDesign, and Project Runway. Its 7 pages long, but a kind of sad look at what happens to your favorite characters after all the stage lights are shut off. Though in the end, it really is up to the contestants to 'make it work'.

resort 08

YSL resort 08 is up on nymag.com. I'll take it all thanks. Especially the black half-sleeve single-button jacket and pollack-esque skirt. I most like the clean, semi-blasé, loose, but straight-lined asthetic. They have more coverage of resort 08 showings so far if you go through the main fashion page.

thank you fug girls

An article from NYmag on how to hire a celeb stylist. Which also takes a stab at Amanda Bynes and Sarah Jessica Parker designing lines for discount retailer Steve & Barry's

A few gems:
"Amanda; simply saying you want to move to New York because it's chic (and while your roots are showing) does not make you qualified to design good pants."

"Just because Patricia Field can stuff Carrie Bradshaw in something avant-garde doesn't mean Sarah Jessica Parker knows what she's talking about in real life. There’s a big difference between being able to pick out a pretty dress (or having a pink-haired crone do it for you), and being able to design one."

I, personally, love this. Especially after SJP said her clothes were going to be for 'real women..who need to decide how to pay the electric bill and look good'. SJP is from Nelsonville, Ohio. For those of you who have never paid a visit, the only thing worth while there is a boot factory. Also, in order to make these 'celeb-designed' lines as chic as their creators desire, but still fit into the mandated $9.99-$19.99 retail price range, a lot of quality and construction will have to be sacrified that or they will alllll be made of cotton jersey. I can't wait to see what comes from this. In a schadenfreude sort of way.