CFDA Awards

Womenswear Designer of the Year: Marc Jacobs

Is this real life? Did I time travel to 2005 in some kind of Ashes to Ashes situation? Someone pinch me.

I Am Over Karl and His Bardot Fetish

...after seeing these. Pretty lackluster for a Chanel campaign. I don't care for the styling for the setup, and I'm not feeling Georgia May Jagger. After Claudia, Lara, and various gap-toothed others, I really don't feel the need to see a new Bardot-lookalike thrust upon the fashion world. Also, Karl did the Bardot thing far better that other time:

Something I Noticed

While I was posting to the imdb boards for Criminal Intent (yes, I know! for shame! I like the lowbrow and take the low road from time to time), I got to thinking about how I have never liked any fctional Serena I've come across on tv (OTOH--Williams and Altschul, you girls are fine):

Exhibit 1:


Name: Serena Southerlyn

Portrayer: Elisabeth Rohm

Reason for Hateration: Being so stiff and horrible that she was officially christianed "The Rohmbot" by The Internet (originating from TWoP).

Real Not-So Rational Reason for Hateration: She was the first blond A.D.A. in a history of brunettes (Richard Brooks, Jill Hennessey, Carey Lowell, Angie Harmon).

Exhibit 2:



Name: Serena Celia Van Der Woodson

Portrayer: Blake Lively

Reason for Hateration: In a nutshell: she has a case of marble mouth, is an adultress, slept with her best friends boyfriend; is not very bright (she thought she killed someone....when she really just witnessed them accidentally overdose). Instead of making things happen, things happen for her -- a huge sin in fiction and literary terms.

Real Not-So Rational Reason For Hateration: She's not as awesome or as interesting as Blair.

Exhibit 3:




Name: Serena Stevens

Portrayer: Saffron Burrows

Reason for Hateration: Cold, stiff, and lifeless. Her main entrance began with this line: "I respect the heriarchy." Did I mention she's fun at parties?

Real Not-So Rational Reason (s) for Hateration: She and Nichols horned in on the Goren and Eames going away episode, angering many fans; she's not as awesome or as interesting as Eames, Wheeler.....or even Falachi.


In summeration, televisions Serenas are all a comely bunch, long limbed for the most part, but just missing that vital 'something' or 'it'. All in all, if you name your fictional character Serena, be forewarned.

"The thing whole thing about fashion is that everybody wants that one moment where they look fabulous, they feel fabulous, when they step out of that limousine, when they make that entrance, when they slap that man's face, where everything is perfect.... it's about going for that one 'fuck you' moment, and we are all relentlessly trying to get it."

-Veronica Webb in Catwalk (1996)



I finally watched Catwalk. After years of trying to find it, I found it on youtube. It's akin to watching a french new wave film as we follow golden girl and Prom Queen of the modeling world Christy Turlington from show to show, Paris to New York -- it's largely plotless, but engaging nonetheless. I felt like I was actually a 90's era model catwalking and bouncing from one job to the next. Turlington doesn't exactly make for a completely engaging subject -- she's largely congenial and passive, but she doesn't need to be 100% engaging because there's so much going on and so much to see.

It's worth it just to get a taste of the golden era of modeling. For instance, we get to watch as Christy negotiates and schemes with her agent (on a car phone) to get her in and out of a show as quickly as possible, skipping the crucial dress rehearsal. We see her maybe not- so- inadvertently stir up some minor shit with Veronica Webb and Kate Moss to pass the time whilst waiting for the Versace show to start up; we get mildly uncomfortable with her as a make-up artist voices his open hatred for the magazine he's working for. We face palm with her as a young Helena Christiansen keeps putting her foot in her mouth as she continually and unintentionally insults Sharon Stone. These juicy tidbits are enough to satisfy from scene to scene.

All in all, I give it ***1/2 out of *****

P.S. Carla Bruni and Kate Moss are absolutely adorable in this. We also curiously see very little of Linda Evangelista for some reason.

So I'm Back.....

^Shout it from the rooftops Sasha P!

About a month ago, my gmail was hacked by spammers, and I got so frustrated with google, gmail and the whole shebang that I just threw in the towel and deleted my account. Little did I know that when I deleted my account, every picture I ever upload to blogger was deleted too. Arrgh! Stupid me! If you scroll back further, you will notice that there will be sad, blank placeholders where photos used to be. I am currently attempting to re-upload everything I can, so it may take a while until things make sense again. When it all went down, I immediately registered a new google identity so I could keep up the blog. I made a couple of posts, but I soon got so overwhelmed with my missing pictures and my lack of time, that I just closed the whole blog down. :-(

So this month, I opening my blog to the public again, and like a beautiful phoenix rising from the ashes (except not really) I will try to pick up the pieces and restore this blog to its former glory. No one hardly reads it, it wasn't much, but it was something dammit! And I spent hours on it!

Plus I miss having a place to rant and share pictures. Facebook is good, but my mom, whole family, aunts, uncles, basically everyone but my granny is on it. I just feel the need to vent and rage about certain topics - models, the fashion industry, random life musings, tv shows, movies - without hearing "it's just a dress/movie/show etc." And also, I know barely anyone in my real life actually wants to hear about what a genius pairing Tom Ford/Gucci was back in the day. So yes....I am back, and I will be hitting it harder than ever. Hopefully.

I Miss Old U.S. Vogue....

Shalom Harlow, by Steven Meisel, U.S. Vogue, October 1994

Remember the days of Shalom and Amber? When Isaac Mizrahi was still relevant? I don't, but sometimes I wish I did. Why did U.S. Vogue have to turn to shit once I came of age?

P.S. If you're a fan of fashion of the 90's , you simply must click on that link. It's seriously one of the best documentaries about fashion ever made. Also, Linda Evangelista is so horribly bratty in it you either want to shake her or love her.