Gender confusion is one of the great psychological dilemmas of dressing well for the fashion set so its little surprise to us that fashion couples often share wardrobes, from Steven Alan button ups to Barbour barn coats, sometimes the out fit for the run to the coffee shop in the morning tells you more about gender roles than a Camille Paglia screed
In business they say "always be closing" but in fashion it is "always be delivering" and Maison Martin Margiela is taking that to heart with a collection they are calling Avant Premiere that will be unveiled to the trade late next month and delivered to stores in May. A Margiela spokeswoman told WWD the collection would consist of about 60 styles for women and 60 for men, plus a small selection of shoes and accessories: less expansive than many pre-collections.
With a little help from stylist Ilaria Urbinati handbag designer Rebecca Minkoff is relaunching her contemporary clothing collection. Minkoff said they were inspired by Elizabeth Taylor in the Fifties and the darkness of the 1982 film “Blade Runner.” We have never before associated the two and are having a hard time making the leap looking at the garments.
Garmentos can feel evern better about their support for Barack Obama. While campaigning in North Carolina he made the most definitive statement yet about his positions on trade as it relates to textiles. He pledged to support five key textile industry policy positions, including a monitoring program for Chinese apparel and textile imports.
Speaking at London College of Fashion, Stefano Pilati reiterated his position that he prefers seduction over sex.
The Anand Jon sexual assault trial heard its closing arguements yesterday.
Swahili Fashion Week is set to start from November 5 in Dar es Salaam.
The International Quilt Festival is apparently quite fashionable. We would just settle for cute.
Purple is the new black. Except that black is in fact still the new black.
There is a new 12-piece Damien Hirst X Levi’s Collection
>> Karl Lagerfeld has landed in Vermont to shoot the Chanel campaign, and the local news picked up on it. They captured the house in Grand Isle Karl dropped less than a million on, the designer checking the place out with Brad Kroenig in tow, and then give you a good closeup of Karl's new duck-hunting neighbor, Loomis Bean. So far, Karl's been friendly with the locals — the caterer who is working his four-day Chanel photoshoot says he was "very nice," but "spent most of the time in the house . . . he really just dashed in and dashed out."
>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Nicolas Ghesquiere was reportedly in New York this past weekend meeting with models to determine the Balenciaga Spring 2009 multi-girl campaign cast, which promises girls "who barely set foot on anyone's runway this season as well as girls who are riding all those expected covers." A commenter chimes in, adding that Prada, which is also a multi-girl campaign this upcoming season, "will be very blonde and European." [TI]
*image: source
We've been running around this city, freezing our little mitts off, while our Network is busy at work--Today SheFinds reviewed Planet Botanicals Body Balm which sounds to us like a winter-skin dream come true. Trust Your Style admits her obsession with pin cushion fruits and veggies which is just about the sweetest, and most non-controversial obsession we've ever heard of. Meanwhile, The Beauty Of Life was up to to some mid-week funny business, finding different uses for MAC makeup remover wipes and Shoe Smitten gushed over a pair of cherry red Marc Jacobs cut out heels.
>> Scott Campbell, also known as Marc Jacobs's exclusive tattoo artist, recently asked the designer to pose for a tattoo portrait with Terry Richardson. Marc, who has no qualms about going shirtless these days, of course obliged. The result is below — cartoons like SpongeBob SquarePants, an M&Ms character, a Simpsons version of Marc, a couch on his hip, the word “Shameless” on his chest, two renditions of the logo for porn magazine Oui, a forearm tattoo that reads “Bros Before Hos,” "Perfect" on his right wrist — all on display.
In September 2008, Marc told The New Yorker he had 28 tattoos, but if you look back a year or so ago when Marc went shirtless for Out and Arena Homme+, the only tattoos readily on display are the Oui logos, which means he presumptively went from two tattoos to 28 (or more) in the span of a year. He told The New Yorker that he had rechanneled his addictive personality into working out, but it seems like some of that has spilled over into his passion for tattoos, as well.
*image: source, source, source
Harlan Bel had us at hello with her silk one-pocket crop tops and cage-like pullover accessories (left)--when we saw them in the showroom in suede and leather, we nearly started jumping up and down. The brand's designer, Brandy Lunsford, has been wowing editors and buyers with such things since she started her line just a few seasons back. Mixing sex appeal and femininity with architectural sensibilities it's hard to turn away from her designs. These are the basic elements of modern dressing--plain and simple. Check out our snapshots from the showroom below, our coverage of the collection at Coterie (yes, we are that enthused by her) here, and her proper Spring 2009 runway show, shot by photographer Jonathan Melamed, here.
Opening Ceremony Spring 2009 Look Book. Credits: Photographed by KT Auleta, Assistants James Stone & Ben Werth, Art Director, Susan Barber, Digital Capture, Maria Karas, Stylist Benjamin Sturgill, Stylist Assistant, Holli Smith, Make Up, Jillian Chaitin, Model Rachel Ballinger @ Muse.
>> INSIDER WIRE —Starting Monday, Tom Ford will officially be a director — that's when he starts filming his debut movie in LA. Colin Firth and Julianne Moore are confirmed for A Single Man, he as a gay professor and she as his longtime friend, while Matthew Goode is picking up the student's role that Jamie Bell was originally in talks for. The movie is set in 1962 — which explains why Tom's asked Mad Men's production designers for their help. [E! Online]
*image: source
