its here its here!!!

CELINE RESORT '10 DESIGNED BY PHOEBE PHILO. It's so..sharp! It's the only resort collection i have seen thus far that doesn't look like it has been used to mop up the tears of soot covered orphans/investment bankers. In some images the rigidness of the fabric becomes almost 2D. The collection actually excites me about fashion again (sorry couture week). Also, they smartly included the shoes and bags in the look book images because people are likely going to be dying to get ahold of those. Like me. NEED!

OMFG

GAULTIER HERMES SHADOW BIRKIN!!! I would seriously reconsider buying a car if i could have this bag... ($11,000) that and if i had the patience to wait through the next ice age that will be the waiting list.

mini-mavens

Jez covered/photo galleried Bambino fashion week yesterday and while all coverage is to be taken with a grain of salt, I am kind of salty that instead of being psyched that whats 'new' and emerging in kids wear (and will thus filter down into mass markets within the beginning of next year) is restrained and NOT baby-skank. In the photo comments, Jez Editor Sadie poo-poo'ed the pepita's outfits for referencing nostalgia and GASP CHILDS PLAY! Well, since children, and parents of mass consumers reference their peers shouldn't we be GLAD that the general fashion vibe is that of classic shapes, light heartedness, fun and is thankfully devoid of glitter, glitter mid-rifts, and glitter words across the ass?
And seriously which would you rather dress your child in?

pretentious demi-savant?












or Miss Tuskaloosa 1996?








That's what i thought.

(imgs from jezebel.com)

papa bear baby bear

vice has an interview with Walter Van Beirendonck (1/(antwerp)6).

Van B sez on sezzy bears: "It’s not just “bears,” actually. There are a lot of different types. If you’re in the scene, there are the grizzlies—the dark ones—and the cubs—the young ones. There are also otters. But it’s also a very positive scene. It’s not about drugs. It’s not about aggression. It’s not only about sex. There are cuddly sides to it that I like—stuff like reunions, where everyone’s just eating and drinking and talking. It’s a nice vibe."

so! not only is Van Beirendonck mentor to the spastic fantastic Bernard Wilhelm BUT he is a fan of rituals and bears!The interview also inclines info about Van Beirendonck casting moddle bears for his next show, dressing Robin Williams, and S&M.

I am in fantasy gay brain bear love.

margiela mystery!

jez's tati.anon.moddle reports that margiela the person may be outro from margiela the brand! !!! let me re-iterate. !!! this may explain why last season was a critically panned as a re-hash of 'greatest hits'. tati nails it with "But the Italian conglomerate's(new-parent brand: diesel) advertising-drenched culture is at odds with Margiela's studied, blank, anti-individualist ethos." rumor has it that raf simons, fellow anterp-ian. both are noted alumnus of antwerps royal academy of fine arts, which is kind of a HUGE FUCKING DEAL; royal academy of fine arts and eindhoven are to fashion and design what pratt and parson are (percieved to be) in the US. sum up. i hate diesel. i DIE for margiela. though i aint hatin' at him leavin' (if thats what he did infact do) no one likes to have their lifelong ethos meddled with, increased sales or no.
in other MM ligne 22 news. someone buy me these!

resurrected

not dead yet.

thepursuitaesthetic.com links highsnobiety.com with meta-consumer culture examples from fashion week: logo'd lollipops. how many triumph sandals do you wanna bet that nary-a pop got chomped?

Lacroix Couture: Alert Ab-Fab Pats and Edina

For the Lacroix show, Style.com sites Mssr. Lacroix's inspiration as "Little drummer boys, chichi soubrettes, Belle Époque madames, southern Mediterranean exotics". I get a little more quinceanera and House heritage; but there is no confusion over the sensory overload the viewer experiences in each look. Full of textures, pattern, volume, layers, and contrasts each look is a complete idea as opposed to a piece of a whole; in contrast to the equally gorgeous clarity seen below at Chanel. It is clear as to why , "darling it's LACROIXXXXXXXXX" was a phase with celestial-like power on the fashion fiend series, Absolutely Fabulous. If only the characters in the remake of Ab-Fab hold on to the O.G. legacy and continue pedestalling Lacroix and his luxurious, imaginative signatures. Fingers crossed!

oh couture you say

Yeah, it's couture season, the amuse bouche to the all out fashion binging that will come up very soon with fall 09 fashion week starting in February. So far, the great majority of media surrounding the Paris shows are pertaining to the appropriateness of showing $40,000 dresses during a recession. Well, mes petits choux, couture doesn't really care. As I have intimated before, couture is the grand hand of a fashion house lending fantasy and escape to the grind of the RTW calender. Not to mention that not everyone is feeling the tightening of their Dior crystal purse strings and there will, inevitably, always be a Middle Eastern princess or Oil heiress to support this art form in cloth. My main point of interest is the Chanel show. Not because OMG Chanel or LOLZ Krazy Karl. But because the hats and hair wreaths were made from recycled paper from the Chanel offices. The entire collection was as well inspired by paper, crisp white and inky blacks, but the hats just put it from elusive and aspirationally beautiful to hyper modern, current, and still historically enduring. If it were up to me and my bank account I would wear the head-pieces with a see through tee shirt, washed down black jeans, silver flats, and a navy blazer. You know for my spring 09' "greco-roman sculpture goes all Pygmalion and had to rush getting ready for its first day of liberal arts private school". That's the money shot.

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.

kittttiez

Conversely to W, this months FLAUNT is pretty righteous. The cover(above) is done by Hisham Bharoocha, artist, RISD grad, former member of Lightning Bolt and Black Dice, and pretty much an all around enviable dude (see this on point Vice interview esplaining this). The entire thing is devoted to aural pleasures, including a fashion piece where looks are illustrated and paired with songs, ex illustration of a designer outfit which exemplifies part of an Ariel Pink song. On top of all of this, a thoughtful look at the life of Prince. Really, I am not asking much from printed media, just for it to tell me more about things I am interested and maybe show me some new tricks. Flaunt, for sure, consistently delivers.

kenley makes me want to vomit

how the fuck are you going to argue with LLcoolJ about what is and is not hip hop?! i am so glad she is getting ripped a new asshole behind her back right now. fashion schadenfreude on p.runway right now takes it to the top. after hearing that lindsay lohan is a guest judge on the upcoming lifetime network proj runway and that some other hills skank face is getting a tv show for nothing (fun fact: the hills one with fake tits, whitney, and possibly that other one, were told at san fran art institute that if they wanted to be famous designers the needed to move to LA. ie: you are unskilled at design so try your hand at parlaying your vapid lives into cash. congrats), this short 15minutes of reason is trying it's best to put things right. look for a regular post this weekend.

push it! push it real good!

spring 09 runway time! just as the first cool night, signaling the beginnings of fall, comes around it's time to think of next years effusive frocks and sculpturally winding sandals. so far just NY has shown and there is a heavvvvvvvvy homage to el-80s; mutton sleeves and stiff shoulders galore not to mention a quick return to body concious silhouettes. out of the gate there appears to be three camps of trend: 80s lady as just described, future forward with clarity in form and saturated color, and a mind-fuck of 90s executed as an archival design direction and not something that just recently happened. salt n' pepa's push it music video came on as i was flipping through runway photos and every member of the video's outfit was represented one way or another for sp09. innovators in every way. below are my favorites thus far. you can see i am erring my favor more towards future-90s. also, scope the marc by marc jump rope web necklaces. (designers l-r: chris benz, dkny, jenni kayne, marc by marc jacobs, rachel comey, vena cava; images from style.com)

pls, allow me, to geek out for a piece

so! News! Wwd reports that Phoebe Philo is designing for French brand Celine! Philo was most recently designer for cool boheme french brand Chloe. During which she posed classic French chic-itude with nostalgic mid-century silhouettes a la demure virgin suicide attire. At the same time the juggernauts that were/are the paddington and the less apocalyptic bay bag dominated the accessory scene. Philo designed for Chloe after Stella McCartney who in turn was after K.Lagerfeld all of whom-along with current designer paolo melim andersson-have all put their own twist of laissez-faire cool into chloe. Chloe is doin' alright with andersson's effusive looks anchored by semi-cubist architectural shoes and accessories, but Philo is so good! Which is why I am freaking to hear that she is lending her talents to Celine (owned by lvmh. Previous head of rtw design was michael kors. Started as a made to measure childrens shoe company). Not too much has been going in with Celine which is why I am psyched that Philo was chosen. She is perfect to bring the house back to the future with a clean effortlessness and tight style.

again. with the rationalizing.

Below I already discussed H.Bazaar's take on the sinking economy -buy expensive! you can just buy less cheap shit!- but this morning New York Times' fashion doyenne, Cathryn Horyn, has another reasoning system consumers can ascribe to as we near the beginning of the most expensive (to produce and consume) fashion season of the calender year. Keep buying the same things, just buy the ones that are negligibly less! Follow the trends, but buy expensive because you wouldn't want to look tacky in a knock off of a 850$ gold sequined Proenza Schouler skirt that you'll likely wear twice (cost per wear is only 425! a steal!) BECAUSE YOUR ASS IS COVERED IN GOLD SEQUINS. People tend to remember a look like that. I digress, you can also buy the premium M.Jacobs velveteen trousers for $1100, but, caution shoppers!, don't tread into iconic french house Lanvin's territory in Bloomingdales! Their tweed, also timely, trousers are a whopping 150$ more and you know, in these times, we really need to limit ourselves. If you are spending over $1k on pants. Pants that may or may not last more than a season, 150 really isn't that much more to spend. That amount of money is so negligible to these designers that it will not even buy you a coin purse from their accessory lines. Do I deny that the economy is hard times for fashion houses, designers, and avid consumers? Not at all. Do I dislike any of the people or designers listed above? Bish pls, you know me. It is just laughable that the wealthy are buying down into 'cheap' categories where a blouse is still 495-695 in a feeble show that just comes off like 'See the rich! They're just like us! They are hurting! They can't take a private jet to pre-shop fall collections in invite-only showrooms! So sad!' Though, if they looked or at least instructed their assistants to look, they would find impeccable merch from new designers where the retail cost accurately reflects the worth of the garment and not the perceived worth of the label stitched inside by tiny ladies situation around 38th st and 8th ave. Though, with that much net worth, one does have to keep up appearances and cannot shame their family by wearing anything not found in Lord & Taylor or the pages of Vogue. That might insinuate that one is a liberal hippie with a rouge streak for designers not sanctioned by years of breeding and privilege. They might even be communists. Fall fashion is dangerous business. On a serious note, the article is well written and might help you put your own buying habits, or fall wardrobe acquisition plans into perspective.

best product name of all time

Olympian swimmers have broken more world records at this seasons games than any other season EVER! Is this attributed to performance enhancing drugs? no. Zero Gravity water cube where they compete? no. It is the "Speedo LZR Racer"! Which is the compression suit almost all of the swimmers are wearing this year. Compression capri pants for men and slick looking matrix-y jumpsuit pieces for women. Like spanx, but for competition that falls outside of squeezing your ass into the last pair of size 25's on the sales rack. As someone who values living fast and being fast, this is a HUGE benefit to these athletes and brings the level of competition up to a zeus-ian level.

Harper's Bazaar: unlikely Gap enthusiast

Harper's Bazaar the magazine who's official motto should be 'price upon request' is pushing Gap HARD this fall. I love Gap, I really do. What other 10yr old saves their chore money to buy gapkids straight leg jeans and jelly sandals? Have I bought anything at Gap recently? No, however that will change this fall with the new fw08 reworked collections. But I can't help, but be wary when HB has all 8 pages of the Gap fall ad-campaign, complete with Julia Restoin-Roitfeld-as in CARINE Roitfeld's baby-as in Editrix of Paris Vogue Roitfeld. Not to mention the mag prominently displaying a Gap woven top in the 'Newest Hottest Latest' picture rundown. Also, noting the Collette pop-up store that will be outside of the Gap Flagship til Oct. 5th in the NewHotLate news rundown. AND verbally propping Gap in the editorial titled, "New Buys You'll Love Forever" which is most odd as it is an editorial that aims to hand-hold the reader as she swipes her AMEX black for the new Hermes messenger bag because 'its an update on a classic! its cool! you'll have it forever! think of the money you'll save on not buying shitty bags like Coach or Tods!" (buy that 900$ Stella McCartney blazer instead of that ratty 300$ jcrew one! It's good for you!) All of this pressure only 309 pages into the 620+ pages that is the fall fashion tome. I am not hating on Gap's PR for getting choice spots in a magazine that doesn't exactly speak to their current consumer as much as who they want their consumer to be; it's good to grow. Though I do find fault with (a) the instances of Gaps brand placement being so close together and (b) that it appears that PR is not confident that the designs can sell themselves. Seriously, 148$ for a heather gray flannel puff coat that is slimming and chic!? I am fucking there!! I want Gap to rise again and bring accessible American sportswear in the face of a fast fashion pool being over-run with forever 21s and their ilk, but I can't help but feel like pushing something so hard is jinxing it.

american apparel brand extention that EXCLUDES hitachi magic wand

American Apparel has a new money makin' outlet that is neither vibrators (they've got that, obvs) nor overpriced thrift store sunglasses (ditto)! I'll give you a clue, it's what the average american apparel consumer wears with their glitter hot-shorts and tube bras. Give it second to sink in...IT'S RE PURPOSED THRIFT STORE GARMENTS! Is my usual curmudgeon-y self angry, irate, or even minorly peeved at this? No, because yours truly loves a good cash cow and that, my BFFs, may as well be a license to print money. The micro-offshoot is called 'California Select' and is an ebay store that contains hand selected cleaned up garments sourced from salv. armys and thrift outlets across the globe. The clothes are modeled on the spaced out ladies of questionable age that we have grown to love/loathe from AA's current ads and conveniently one can also buy sample AA garments. The items for sale are mostly dresses that appear to have been shortened, which makes sense as changing the skirt length is the fastest way to modernize a vintage garment. While they have quite a few items worth watching or even bidding on, don't expect to nab a stellar deal. A vintage Chloe dress just sold for over 250$, but most items can be had for under 50$ before s&h. It still begs the question, wouldn't you rather just get your own thrift store jams and alter them for 3$ total? Though, I would wear the above dress from Cali-select to it's and my own spotty death bed.

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)

cold stores with warm inhabitants

NYT reviews the new Jil Sander store on Howard st and I am PINING my evening away wishing I were there. Much like the Marni store on Mercer, the Jil Sander store is clean, clinical, chilly, and reflective. It also possesses the same breed of gentle, accommodating staff. There is nothing I enjoy, or respect, more than genuine, kind sales staff especially in high end stores. In every fancy-pants-y store I have stepped into, ones with actual runway shows and often fragrances to their name, I have been welcomed and more often than not offered tea or a light snack.
Am I a gajillionarie, no, but with today's increasingly youthful billionairesses and starlets no one is the wiser that I, perhaps, am most likely clad in Cheap Monday and American Apparel instead of Chanel and Alaia. Though, I like to think, especially since I have spent time in their shoes, that they really do want to bring warmth and a helping hand to what can be an intimidating situation. There is a big difference between being confident about your product and being self-righteous about it. One leads to confident users, the other to scorned shoppers who will probably egg your fixed gear bike/vespa while you are on a smoke break.

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.