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.

"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.

Great Editorials: Black Magic, Hilary Rhoda for Vogue China, photographed by Greg Kadel, January 2006

I love this editorial! The simplicty of it makes it so dramatic and Hilary Rhoda looks great. She goes from looking a little scary (the lone, stoic portrait of her in the long black dress), to looking like a rock star. Also, sorry if the pictures are a little out of whack, it was a nightmare trying to get them to look right at all. If someone knows any tricks to posting a lot of photos at one time (other than don't do it, heh), I would be grateful to them for life.

The Cats

Irina Kulikova from img.com

Move over Gemma, Lisa Cant, Lily Cole and the rest of you with oversize doll faces. Your days on the catwalk are numbered and it's time for a new breed of model (at least according to The New York Times anyway). Make room for the cats:

"Sometimes there is a hankering, more felt than articulated, for types with snub noses, shortened upper lips, eyes set on a slight diagonal, and petulant expressions that inspire one to offer them a dish of cream."

"I call them the cats," said Pat McGrath, a make-up artist who has worked with virtually everyone of importance in the business. "When I first saw Irina [Kulikova]," Ms. McGrath said, "I thought to myself, "She looks just like a little cat."

Clockwise from top: Behati Prinsloo and unidentified male model (who kind of looks like a young Malcolm McDowell from "Cat People" btw), Irina Kulikova, Marina Linchuk, Caroline Trentini, Jessica Stam, Madalena Frackowiak, and Sheila Marquez
Center: Sasha Pivovarova

The original article can be read here: In Paris, a Fevered Pursuit of "It" by Guy Trebay

Also from the same article:

"Wherever at the dozens of parties during fashion week one finds the pretty cats, the old dogs can also be seen sniffing around. And there at the Tuesday night party the models Carmen Kass and Jessica Stam gave for "the green cause" of some sort at Le Baron-a charming dingy dive first popular decades ago- was Bruce Willis , in uh, very antic form.

Was Mr. Willis there to learn more about the neoprane florals at Balenciaga? Was he there for a lesson from Ms. Kass on carbon neutral living? Was he there to dance with Ashley Olsen hiked around his waist? (oh, wait, that was someone else, in another corner of the bar)."

Oh Bruce, give it up. You're old. Don't you think it's time to throw in the towel? Especially when your conquests are friends of your daughters? I mean, at least think of them. That's got to be totally embarrassing for their dad to be pulling a Ryan O' Neal.

Balenciaga RTW S/S 08

pictures from style.com

I got a look at the infamous S/S 08 Balanciaga collection yesterday. Of course fashion writers and editors are wetting themselves over this collection. Many are calling it fresh, innovative, well constructed, and very daring. It does look different from any other collection. However, what bugs me about it is that it's supposed to be Ready to Wear.

It sort of reminded me of those old back order McCall's prom dress patterns you see at Wal-Mart, looking all neglected because it's got puffy sleeves and is from 1992. Maybe it was the floral print that was throwing it off for me. Though the designs were beautifully beaded and made of silk, those floral patterns made the designs hard to swallow for me. I think it was Anna Sui that said visualizing everything in black makes people understand a design better, but I tried to envision Ghesquiere's gladiator-like ensembles in black and they still looked odd. Maybe these designs are just too foreign for my feeble little mind to "get". I mean, didn't people think Coco Chanel was crazy when she showed everyone the revolutionary sack dress? Weren't people pretty peeved about The New Look? Or the Marc Jacobs F/W 05 collection that helped kick start the volume craze?

Of course the there is a fine line between "mad cool revolutionary crazy" and "weird nerdy crazy". But as I kept looking at these designs, I began to wonder how us common plebians would even approach wearing these clothes. Possibly a bright yellow blouse with the blue and yellow floral skirt? As I thought about it more and more, it began to haunt me like a David Lynch movie. At first you're all "wtf did I just see?" Then as you keep thinking about it, you begin to analyze everything you just saw. You then start to seeing something interesting and want to watch it again and again.

However, I'm still on the fence. Check back with me next year when I'm wearing the hell out of puffy sleeves and looking like a flower garden just threw up on me. Kelly Kapowski, eat your heart out.