"Today ripped jeans, fraying shirts and laddered stockings stand in metaphorically for a disintegrating social climate"

Some prophetic words from the Parson's students in this article, and more observations on their blog. 

I'd comment, but I am so on-par with their observations, for once...I've got nothing to add here.

Or I'm just getting lazy.

An original favorite (ok, original revival)...from Rodarte Fall/Winter 2008.

Vogue Italia...Dying for Sales?

 

The greatest magazine promo just went down at Vogue Italia for the August 2010 issue. 

Newsstand numbers low? No problem. Just drown Kristen McMenamy in faux industrial waste and let Steven Meisel go to town.

The photos are beautiful...but bizarre and in my opinion tasteless, but hey, August is never a high-grossing month for magazines so they had to do something!

My favorite part of this whole thing is the caption: 

Kristen McMenamy in the "survivor" version, where she interprets in images the environmental drama that's afflicting the Gulf of Mexico. She keeps her skin golden thanks to Self Tan Face Bronzing Gel Tint (to wear alone or with foundation): it takes care of the skin, while giving it a hint of color.

Photo credit: Vogue Italia, August 2010

A note to Alexander Wang

I will preface the note below by mentioning that every day I see  beautiful vintage pieces of clothing, jewelry and accessories as a part of my job. I get paid to work in a very, very, very big closet. And I love it.

And, I often see things that I think certain designers should immediately buy and use for their own work. Sometimes a textile, a belt, a necklace, etc., calls to me and I answer.

Today I am writing to Alexander Wang to I release some of my inner inspiration (angst?).

Dear Mr. Wang,

I have never met you, though it is not  too crazy to think that perhaps our paths will one day cross. 

I have just unwrapped several Whiting & Davis mesh handbags that are probably more than 100 years old. The metal is worn, but not rusty, and the delicately broken down fibers are cool to the touch. In short, they are beautiful and amazing and just holding them in all their splendor sends a shiver down my spine. (Who once used this little purse to attend Victorian-era society parties? I ask myself.)


But I digress.

Since you're so set in your minimalistic ways, I'd like to propose the introduction of vintage W&D mesh into your next collection. Think: tanks, lined shorts, harem pants? Sasha Pivavarova and Aggy Deyn would rock that shit.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. 

xoxo

Jen

Summer Solstice, hath returneth to the blog

I am going to pretend that I stopped blogging for so long because I was so dejected about Alexander McQueen's suicide, which caused my hope for the future of fashion innovation to completely cease (not too far from the truth). 

With Sarah Burton now as McQueen's creative director and Pina Ferlisi as the CD at McQ, my faith is slowly but surely being restored. 

And, well, I just missed writing about this shit so I'm going to make time again.

For your viewing pleasure, a diagram of Pina Ferlisi's career to the present. Courtesy of me.

Mourning McQueen: A Senseless Suicide

At the risk of sounding like another whiny platform-clad fashion student at the NYFW tents...I must admit I'm devastated by the news of Alexander McQueen's suicide.

His designs set the tone for fashion since the early nineties...it's sad to think the young designer's inspirational force will never again affect the global aesthetic.

But, instead of writing another obit commemorating the iconoclastic Brit (I did this already for Slant yesterday...), I'm just going to rip some photos that instill pleasant memories of McQueen's visionionary and pervasive influence...

McQueen & Isabella Blow, Vanity Fair March 1997

McQueen's “Oyster Dress,” from Spring/Summer 2003. Ivory silk chiffon and silk organza.

From his Spring/Summer 2008 collection, in honor of Issy Blow after her suicide in May 2007.

The infamouse Armadillo shoes from Spring 2010.

Theatrical gothic at the Fall 2009 runway show.

A brighter vision in Spring 2008.

Out of this world...Spring 2010's Avatar-inspired collection.

Alexander McQueen...1969-2010. You will be missed.

GALLANT STRIDES: Galliano Through the Lens

Hello, 2010!

There's no better way to start the new year than by celebrating a living legend -- and one with whom I was lucky enough to spend some time this past year, Mr. John Galliano.

He's got a lot going on in 2010; launching Galliano, his menswear collection, his role at the helm of Christian Dior (going on his 15th year as lead designer), and the continuation of his visionary namesake label.

Tracking the ongoing success of a the designer, photographer Mark Leibowitz took a backstage look at the John Galliano ready-to-wear shows for fall 2008 and spring 2009. The images are stunning, and so thoroughly depict the mayhem that's typically hidden from the lens.

If nothing else, they're absolutely an inspirational way to start the new year...

And now you can take Galliano home with you, too. Photographer Roxanne Lowit just published Backstage Dior, a compilation of shots she's amassed from backstage access to the runways at Christian Dior throughout the last 10 years. There's nothing quite like a book of flashbulbs and haute couture to bring in a new decade. Bonne Année!

Photo credit: Backstage at the John Galliano exhibition; photographs by Mark Leibowitz.