February 25th, 2008

Hollywood Plays it Safe for 2008 Oscar Red Carpet:
"'I thought people looked generally really good -- and really safe,' Hal Rubenstein, fashion director at InStyle magazine, told The Associated Press. 'I don't know if it had to do with the mood out there with the strike just over and parties canceled, but in fashion now so much is about sheer, print and color, but this was one solid strapless dress after another' . . . He labeled French actress Marion Cotillard's ivory-and-silver gown by Jean Paul Gaultier with scalloped fabric that looked like fish scales the most distinctive of the night."

"If I tone it down for a recession, does that mean you won't carjack me?"

The Jelly Is The New Entry Level Luxury Item:
"The jelly sandal is back -- and this time it's not just the floppy rubber shoe in the bins at the 99 cents store. Luxury brands such as Givenchy, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Fendi (as well as Chanel) are all making jelly shoes for spring that cost vastly less than anything else they make . . . Some of the top-dollar styles -- such as the $165 Mod peep toe sandal from Givenchy -- have great thick straps, which add an architectural element (a big trend in spring shoes). And the shiny rubber makes them look sleeker than your average jelly."

The Encroaching Cult of the Supremely Thin:
"Yes, extreme thin is in, and not just for the reimagined Karl Lagerfeld (whose dramatically reduced circumstances I had the opportunity to observe not eating at a nearby table in a New York restaurant) . . . Even the names for what we want are getting smaller: The aptly named Wii is outselling the much-hyped PS3. Jeans are "skinny" and our cottons and cashmeres mere 'tissue weight' . . . Face it, folks, we are so into thin that the real reason we shell out for a new TV is that the old one is looking, well, kind of fat."

NY Mag Offers Its 100 Most Fabulous Looks for Fall:

"Excuse me, but did someone say 'fabulous'? Cuz we are so there!"

***You can check out their "hideous" list here: 100 Most Hideous Looks

Paris Fashion Week Opens with Cacharel Show:
"The husband-and-wife team of Eley Kishimoto, one of London's best-known design duos, are making their Paris debut as the new creative force at Cacharel . . . Their 170-piece, autumn/winter 2008/09 collection for Cacharel, a household name in France, features knitwear, tailoring and cocktail dresses in more than a dozen different prints and embroideries including eccentric florals, trompe l'oeil stripes, camouflage clouds and a Paris cityscape inspired by pavement artists."

Bottega Veneta is Shining Star in PPR Portfolio:
"Designer Thomas Maier, who had worked at Hermès before joining Bottega Veneta in 2001, reintroduced soft woven bags from the company's archives and added shoes. The company went from an operating loss of about $26 million in 2003 to an operating profit of $82 million in 2006. 'Bottega Veneta has turned into one of the biggest value creators of the luxury world in the past three years,' said JPMorgan analyst Simon Irwin. 'Nothing else has had such spectacular success.' . . . Profit at the fashion units is likely to rise by almost 50 per cent in the next two years, Mr. Irwin estimates."

The Fashion Industry's Dislike of Computers Remains Its Biggest Flaw:
"Why does it matter if Alber Elbaz of Lanvin doesn't know one end of a laptop from another, when he makes such stylish, modern clothes? If Paul Smith can wow the Japanese with his wit and style, who cares if the designer is not surfing the Internet or that, as his wife Pauline admits, neither of them even has a cellphone? The answer is that fashion is spawned from the culture that surrounds it. So designers who turn their backs on the virtual world are not getting inside an intense new culture."

***A designer that rejects modernity is a designer that rejects your need for wearable, accessible clothing.