Alexander Wang Spring Summer 2011

The sisters—who have a successful Gap collaboration under their belt—are gradually increasing the percentage of daywear in their collections. For Fall there were tailored coats and zip-pocket pants and even (sheer and lustrous) oxford blouses. This is a smart move, not just because it will broaden their retail reach, but because occasions to wear wispy party dresses don't come along every day. But then again, neither does the Mulleavys' extraordinary talent.

Rodarte Autumn/Winter 2008

      Some designers have more bark than bite. But with their dramatic Fall collection, Kate and Laura Mulleavy proved they have plenty of teeth. And sharp ones.

It was, said Kate, "a continuation of something that started last season." Japan was again the starting point of the sisters' journey, but the happy, shiny, pastel-colored, and manga-inflected confections of Spring gave way to "slasher" dresses in black, white, and bloodred. The Mulleavys turned their imaginations loose on "the connection between the Kabuki tradition and that of modern Japanese horror films." Yes, the gothic knitwear had a torn-web quality, and the torturous, sadomachistic shoes (a reworking of last season's) wrung winces from the audience, but the show was bigger than just that, more ambitious. String sculptures by the German-American artist Eva Hesse gave birth to the shaggy pieces with a primitive rag-doll look. Romantic, full-skirted cocktail numbers looked like they could have been painted by the Impressionist Edgar Degas

miu miu musings

I can vouch for this Vogue Paris book - it's lovely! I scanned a bunch of covers here.

The idea for the Miu Miu Musings salon came about when Shala Monroque realized she never got to finish any interesting conversations that began at shows or events. The absurdly quick pace of Fashion Week and growing force of online conversations left her lusting for a setting for people to discuss fashion face to face and without having to rush off in five minutes to continue being dehydrated, and so the salon took place last month at the Miu Miu store in New York.

As much as I like the democracy of fashion blogging, this kind of event was really special. It reminded me of the feeling you get reading D.V., that Diana Vreeland is telling you these stories in person at her apartment, accentuating her jokes by lightly punching you in the shoulder and bruising you with her rings, which you don't mind because one time, Diana Vreeland punched you in the shoulder. It was awesome.

Andre Leon Talley led the conversation, which means that every now and then one of us would muster up the courage to ask a question and he would take it in a whole other direction and talk for half an hour. This was a good thing. I think I could listen to him talk forever. My personal favorites were, "Pole dancers are very iiiiin!" and "Didn't your parents just go through a messy little scandal thing?" That last one was directed at Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour's son. Not many boundaries, that Miu Miu salon! Man, such a crazy night, dudebro.

Also, there were little jars of candy everywhere! It was pretty close to my idea of heaven.

Elizabeth and Laia and I introduced ourselves to him afterwords. Way nerve wracking but he was nice and funny and never dropped the extravagance he'd kept up the whole night. I swear it's genuine. He really liked my and Elizabeth's Mandy Coon bunny bags and wanted to know about our blogs. ALT 4 lyf.

Imagine A World

I popped by the New Enland Holocaust Memorial here in Boston earlier this afternoon. They have all these quotes from holocaust/concentration camp survivors on these glass panels. Out of all the quotes, this particular one stung.

"Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf.

Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you give it to your friend."

Marchesa Spring Summer 2011 Presentation

I popped by the Chelsea Art Museum yesterday afternoon for Georgina Chapman's spring/summer 2011 Marchesa presentation.

Click HERE to see some of the photos I took.

Hope Spring Summer 2011 Final Walkthrough Video

View from my seat at the Hope spring/summer 2011 fashio show here in Stockholm. Hope is another personal favourite of mine.

I am obsessed with those leather wrap-around wedges

Prada Fantasy Motionbook Lookbook Fall Winter 2010

One of the things I love most about Prada is that Miuccia is never afraid to push the envelope. She's one of the very few fashion designers who actually makes you think about their work, not once, not twice, but over and over again. Everything she creates has some form of an intellectual reference. I don't visit official brand websites very often because I find them too static and boring but Prada's web presence is a visual feast. I love her fall/winter 2010 fantasy lookbook and motionbook.

Thoughts?

Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2011 Finale Video

Here's the view from my seat at Marc Jacobs spring/summer 2011 fashion show.

Sometimes, you have to leave it to the big guns of New York, such as Marc, to lift the mood at New York fashion week. MJ flexed his muscle and showed a brilliant, colourful collection. Even the styling was amazing -- those ginormous hats, the hair and make-up.

Prada Spring Summer 2011 Womenswear Final Walkthrough

I want to save my favourite for last but here's the view from my seat at the spring/summer 2011 Prada show a few days ago.

What is there not to love about this collection? The colours are amazing, the accessories (shoes, bags, sunglasses) are super chic. The banana and monkey prints are whimsical, the furs are to die for and of course, the stripes... I love stripes! Hands-down one of the best in Milan. I'll do my best to go for a re-see if I have the time. I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow night.

Versus by Christopher Kane Spring Summer 2011

Here's the view from my seat at the Versus by Christopher Kane show yesterday afternoon.

I think it's fabulous that Donatella & Co. are resurrecting Versus. Like D&G, it's a brand I grew up with. Christopher Kane did a stellar job this season. Talk about a kaleidoscope of colours and prints.

Vivienne Westwood Spring Summer 2011 Final Walkthrough Video

Here's the view from my seat at the Vivienne Westwood spring/summer 2011 fashion show here in Paris.

My favourite piece from this collection was the heavily embroidered and beaded jacket, look 23.

Miu Miu Spring Summer 2011 Show Invitation + Live Broadcast

Don't forget! The spring/summer 2011 Miu Miu fashion show is going to be streamed live, online on the web or iPad.

Visit http://www.miumiu.com later today, Wednesday at 7PM Paris Time/1PM New York Time.

Valentino RTW Spring Summer 2011 Show Finale

Here's the finale of the spring/summer 2011 Valentino fashion show.

It took me quite some time to find the correct remix but for those of you who want to know the track used in the finale, it's Florence and the Machine's Rabbit Heart (Leo Zero remix). Click HERE for the track. Enjoy!

The Inevitable

John Galliano - I know for Galliano fans, every show has its magical moments but this one centred around 1920s con artist Maria Lani was especially pictoresque (picture frame...geddit...).  Trend headlines?  Probably not but then again that isn't really what Galliano is gunning for.  I just know there were definite tingles felt at the Opéra Comique that day.   

 Alexander McQueen - Sarah Burton hailed a softer but no less dramatic mood at what will be a new era at McQueen.  It's sort of childishly exciting to see how Burton responds to this flux and of course to be beady-eyed on Burton's collections, whilst never being able to forget what was it that made an Alexander McQueen collection extraordinary. 

I'm about half a day late on the deadline for all 'Let's look back and ponder' review, best of, and round-up posts.  I'm supposed to be getting started on the 'Let's look forward to', predictions for the new year, crystal ball-type posts.  Except I'm rubbish and can't actually pre-empt time.  I also haven't quite let 2011 sink in yet and I'm unable to let go of /10 when writing dates, even if today's particular date notation is a ridiculously memorable one. 

More importantly, in the whizz of last Paris Fashion Week descending into a blur that was never actually reflected upon, I forgot to properly thank backstage photographer Morgan O'Donovan for going through the Paris show rounds with me, putting valuable images to my text as well as providing a vivid backstage insight that breathes a different life into front-on-views and stony expressions of catwalk images.  Sharing an apartment for fashion week, along with Streetpeeper's Phil Oh, we'd come back late each night exchanging metaphoric war stories - Phil about the battleground that is the Tulieries Garden where 150 streetstyle photographers descend upon one human subject, me with undeserved pithy cries of trying to make five shows, four appointments and evening events on time and Morgan with a deserved whinge about bullish security guards at backstage entrances, odd accreditation processes and the general macho one-upmanship present amongst front of house and backstage photographers.

It's all a collective momentary moan that is quickly forgotten though because *palm face*, it's our supposed profession/vocation and of course, we secretly love the scrum of it.  Therefore it's on to the obligatory and now tardy 'Best of Paris' post that I very nearly omitted for fear of its predictability.  On this blessed 1/1/11 though, when nothing much is going through my head except for "Wow...Channel 5 decided to show THAT cheapsville Titanic film?", I'm going to allow a 'Best Of' post to slip through. 

Rochas - !!Slinky PJ's meant for the outdoors alert!!  Dolce & Gabbana's S/S 09 pyjama-filled collection has had a more varied trickle down effect that means this Rochas piece is causing the likes of Topshopto get in on the PJ action.

To Phil and Morgan: More of the same come March, guys?

Dries Van Noten - It's exceedingly clever of stores to be selling the new Dries collection as per how it was shown on the catwalk - as in watercolour, floaty tops contrasted over a crisp white shirt.  It tricks dumb-arses like me into thinking that a Dries crisp white shirt is superior to my existing perfectly-ok white shirts as well as coaxing me into buying the floaty feminine frippery piece that sits on top of it. 

sleeping beauty

6.12.10

i have found meaning

J.W. Anderson's SS11 collection lifechangingly came to my attention via Maddie and I think I have finally found everything I ever want to be, that is to say, compiled of and exuding perfect hippie/Weetzie Bat/teen angst/murky/good ugly/bittersweet/ladies of the canyon/witch vibes. The thrown togetheredness of various references suggest that every piece was picked up at a different stop on a road trip or were homemade and have been happily lived in. Matching up such different textures and prints seems random but each layer serves a purpose, preventing the styling from getting sloppy, and details like the skirt pleats keep the pieces from teetering into easily-found-in-thrift-stores territory.

It reminds me a lot of this hippie goddess girl I saw in the hall the other day wearing a long black velvet dress and clogs and a woven backpack and I really wanted to know what she was doing in school because it was obvious that she should've been traveling in a painted van or something, but at least this way I'll probably see her again and will have the opportunity to ask if she'll carry me around in her backpack and let me smell her hair, whose scent I imagine is probably a cross between jasmine and hibiscus with a dash of mint. I think the odds of her letting me be in her painted van club are even more in my favor if I tell her that last part!

joel sternfeld

elizabeth hoeckel

locker

of the holy blood


1976 crochet


still from proenza schouler's the patent ps1


gabriel orozco and a page from my journal with the lyrics to "old age" by hole glittered on it

grace miceli

frida kahlo's sun and life

blackmagicalcat

4.12.10

candy store cat lady

Lady Miss Kier's ring game channeled through blue plastic thrifted belt and Goody daisy hairclips, the Edward Scissorhands (yes, this is a constant reference for me) neighborhood channeled through the hand-me-down skirt, Twiggy & clones sweater game channeled through sweater dress from PollySue's Vintage, and librarian cat channeled through purse I got as a gift and I Love This Kitty pin from artenergyalchemy on Etsy.

The shoes are a combination of all, and were sent to me by Kron by KronKron. By KronKron by KronKronKron. Kron.

Pros: Bows! RUFFLED SUEDE! All fun and girly but not vomitly so, thanks to the color palette. Surprisingly walkable, and they're even too big for me.
Cons: I'd prefer a platform whose color doesn't feel so random in relation to the others.

Unfortunately I had to opt for more walkable shoes when I wore this outfit to my friend's play last night, because LOOKY:

It's so pretty! Sure, the walking-to-school-at-7:30-A.M. version of me might beg to differ, and oh, you know, throw her backpack down in a fit of rage every few steps or so, but look at how it glimmers from just the right angles!

I'm way too into artenergyalchemy, which is where I got this little glitter cat. Good thing my ears aren't pierced or it'd be an easy way to go broke. Though maybe I could self-pierce them with the Jack Nicholson Shining ones, and blood would gush out of my ears due to my insanitary job, but it would look cool because then it would just drip off the sides of the tiny axe charms as though it had just finished off the family!

What? Something about blood and murders? That wasn't me! Divert your attention and stop getting suspicious! Look, a cat! I hear you like those on the Internet!

1.12.10

he believes in beauty

I had Bjork and Gwen on the mind yesterday morning. (Better quality of Venus here but the embedding is disabled, grumble grumble.)

Bindis, braids, t-shirts, semi-sportiness, something slightly off kilter. Also, how lifechanging are both of these songs and videos?

Thrifted Gap tee, mesh marshmallow (meshmallow?) Comme des Garcons skirt from last year's Barney's Warehouse Sale, and Jil Sander sandals (Jil Sandals?) for the sportiness, and a tiny sweater (hand-me-downed) just seemed necessary. The bindi came from a set I got for Jul (this kind) a few years ago. Unfortunately I had to wear boots instead of sandals to school. That's funny, weather! I don't remember granting you permission to shed your dandruff all over my beloved fall leaves! It was pretty perfect for the first night of Hanukkah, however.

My friends told me the patch is from Girl Scouts but I wouldn't remember because I was a horrible Brownie and really lazy and would just ask my parents to buy a couple boxes of Thin Mints and then feel disappointed in myself when the other girls proudly accepted their CD holder wall-hangings and I was stuck with a dopey stuffed animal. I still have that stuffed animal. And probably the Thin Mints, somewhere, too.

Seriously though -- Brownie patch on a sweater!! Why didn't I think of that? I need to find my sash and rip off all those bowling patches. That was the other thing I did as a Brownie.
The ladies at Pamflet (which I've written about before here) had a bit on the Just a Girl video in the new issue which I happily received in the mail in the other day. More favorites bits of mine are on boys not crying, nuns and nuns in culture, vanity, indie boys-to-men, and, yeah, a spread on fashion bloggers, and I'm in it, but I genuinely like the issue! Nuns and vanity! Looks like it's going to be their last issue for a while but they'll keep fighting the good fight online. Still, I recommend a print issue. It's barely $3 and you can buy it on their site.

30.11.10

sleeping beauty

Ugly nature and the supernatural were displayed at Chris Habana's SS11 presentation and I was obviously smitten. My favorite pieces, like the gold nails necklace and thorns bracelets, were the ones that looked less like jewelry and more like randomly found bits of ugly nature themselves. Some fancy cubic shape happenings helped to modernize the rest of the collection but I don't think it was necessary, as those really felt like shiny new jewelry and mildly disrupted the old and dusty vibe that the other pieces had. The combinations of pearls, chains, and crosses brought to mind a much darker Sleeping Beauty, like these pieces had been locked in an attic and got all possessed by spirits and the like.