fashionologie

fashionologie — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:20:50 -0700

>> Models Missing from the New York Runways: An Update -With only one more day of New York Fashion Week to go, a number of top models still haven't set foot on a catwalk. Anja Rubik finally appeared at Michael Kors this morning - so did Carmen Kass and Jacquetta Wheeler - but Catherine McNeil - who is supposedly booked all through the New York shows on another job - Toni Garrn, Lara Stone, Anna Maria Jagodzinska, Sigrid Agren - who's rumored not to be doing any shows this season - Tanya Dziahileva, Raquel Zimmermann, and Georgina Stojiljkovic are all totally MIA. In other modeling news, Jessica Stam joined the increasingly large number of models bleaching their hair - she debuted the new hue today at Anna Sui. [Fashin]

fashionologie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:40:56 -0700

>> The Kate Moss Effect: She's Still Got It for Cruise 2010 -The gold lame Stephen Jones turban and matching Marc Jacobs dress Kate Moss wore to the Costume Institute Gala in early May is still resonating with designers for resort: Marc Jacobs decided to use the dress in his collection; Roksanda Illincic, Alexander Wang, and Michael Kors threaded gold lame through their collections; and Yigal Azrouel used turbans to top off his looks. [Style File]

Fall 2009: Not Just for 15-Year-Old Models

fashionologie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:59:57 -0800

>> New York Fashion Week is known as the springboard for new faces every season, but for Fall 2009, it's become the springboard for comebacks - especially with models right around the 30-year-old mark. This morning, Frankie Rayder (34), who hasn't hit a catwalk since the Fall 2004 with the exception of Spring 2009 Givenchy, walked Michael Kors. The runways of Preen, Rodarte, Alexander Wang, and Marc Jacobs have been especially overrun with these mainly late-'90s, early-00's faces - from those who have hovered in and out the past few seasons: Anne Catherine Lacroix (29), Natasa Vojnovic (29), Caroline Ribeiro (29), Jamie Bochert (28), Christina Kruse (34), Carmen Kass (30), Colette Pechekhonova (28), Hannelore Knuts (31); to those who have exited the runway for a while - Tasha Tilberg (29), Kirsten Owen (38), Trish Goff (32) - all are booking some of the most coveted spots this season. Kors, Behnaz Sarafpour, Staerk, VPL, and Diane von Furstenberg are feeling it too - the mature woman is back in New York.
*image: source

Michelle Obama's Style: Unfairly Biased by Ikram Goldman?

fashionologie — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:25:10 -0800

>> The meteoric rise of Jason Wu - he has tripled his sales appointments for his sold out, yet-to-be-unveiled Fall 2009 collection - shows what an influence Michelle Obama can have on a designer. But Wu doesn't just have Obama to thank - he never actually interacted with the First Lady, but rather with Ikram Goldman, owner of Chicago boutique Ikram, and Obama's gatekeeper to the fashion industry.

In fact, none of the designers who have made clothes for the First Lady have had any direct contact with their White House client - all commissions, measurements, bills, and other directions have been mediated by Ikram, causing something of a controversy; the clothes that Obama has worn recently are predominantly from designers that Cathy Horyn points out, "Ikram sells and ultimately stands to benefit from" - Jason Wu, Isabel Toledo, Narciso Rodriguez, Proenza Schouler, Thakoon, and Mario Cornejo.

Is Obama limiting herself? »

fashionologie — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:40:36 -0700

>> INSIDER WIRE -Donatella Versace has joined the legions of Gossip Girl fans; Since the show doesn't air in Italy, she has the DVDs sent over her way: "I love all the styling, all the clothes and how bitchy they are." She even mentioned her willingness to do a cameo on the show - producers, are you listening? Michael Kors did it, so why not Donatella? [WWD]

*image: source

First Look: Diane von Furstenberg Takes On The City

fashionologie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:52:28 -0700

>> Come Dec. 29, we'll have a new reality TV show on our hands - and Diane von Furstenberg is involved. The first trailer for The Hills's New York spinoff, The City, is out, with Whitney Port replacing Lauren Conrad as main girl and socialite Olivia Palermo filling in as supporting sidekick. Both girls are employed by Diane as part of her in-house PR, and although the designer doesn't make an appearance in the preview, the whole show is sure to be an extension of her branding, targeting the show's audience of girls looking to buy printed wrap dresses.

Magazines have caught on to the power of TV as part of their business model - Teen Vogue with The Hills, Elle with Stylista and Project Runway, Vogue with Model.Live - if Diane has as much success with this as Michael Kors has on Project Runway, there could be a lot more designers investing time in TV in the future.

Princess Donatella, Elbaz, Alber Elbaz, and More Live Out Their Fantasies for Harper's Bazaar September 2008

fashionologie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:26:18 -0700

>> Designers spend an awful lot of time projecting their fantasies onto others, so the good people at Harper's Bazaar decided it was time to turn the tables for their September 2008 issue by asking ten designers to dress up as a fantasy character. How else would you know that Karl Lagerfeld loves rap, Alber Elbaz wants to produce a James Bond spinoff movie called "Jane Bomb," and Donatella Versace wants to wake up as a princess? Well, you might have guessed about that last one . . .
*image: source

fashionologie — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:52:12 -0700

>> INSIDER WIRE —Spotted: Michael Kors filming a guest appearance on Gossip Girl Tuesday at Capitale on the Bowery as part of a fashion week-themed episode. Unsuprisingly, he's a fan of the show: “I was glued . . . from Day One. I think it truly is the ‘car-crash-that’s-glamourous.’" [WWD]

Michael Kors, Coco Rocha Uncover Fashion's Nasty Habits at CFDA Health Event

fashionologie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:45:21 -0700

>> At last night's CFDA-hosted "Beauty of Health" discussion, Michael Kors, Coco Rocha, and casting agent James Scully all stepped up to the plate to address the waning weights of models.

Kors threw in a designer's perspective, suggesting that his peers should "stay away from child-size clothes unless [they're] designing for children," and pointing out that when designers offer such small sample sizes and celebrities starve themselves to fit into them, their super-skinny aesthetic has a far-reaching impact on the general female population. He also advised agents to only send the most suitable girls to castings: “Sending a girl when there's little chance of her being booked throws a 16-year-old into a tizzy. The odds of a girl being booked for my show and Rick Owens’s are slim.”

Next up to the podium was Coco Rocha, who just like Natalia Vodianova and Ali Michael before her, admitted that the job comes with some very unhealthy habits. Two years ago, she weighed 108 pounds (at 5'10"), and yet people were stilling telling her "you need to lose more weight. The look this year is anorexic. We don't want you to be anorexic, we just want you to look it." Even crazier, an agent once advised her to throw up after meals.

Eventually, she submitted to the pressure. "Last season I took diuretic pills. Once I took so many on an empty stomach that I was doubled over for hours. That's the last time I ever did something so terrible to my body." She asked designers to provide healthier food at their shows — "No one wants to be caught with that photo 'Model Eats Cake'" — and to make their fit models, and therefore their sample sizes, bigger — models are humiliated when zippers won't zip up at castings.

Finally, casting agent James Scully advised insiders to consider the weight of their words. "Let's stop treating models like greyhounds we plan to shoot after a race. We have to remember we are dealing with real people who have real feelings."

Francisco Costa, Georgina Chapman, Keren Craig, Donna Karan, Richard Chai, Marcus Wainwright, David Neville, Derek Lam, Doo-Ri Chung, Diane von Furstenberg, Phillip Lim, and Anna Wintour, plus several other Vogue editors, were all in attendance at the event — which leaves quite a few American designers unaccounted for. But as Michael Kors pointed out, designers aren't the only people responsible. "The next one we need to do is about skinny people who work in fashion: editors, buyers, stylists. That’s called ‘Why Does This Sample Fit Me?”

*images: source

Will the CFDA's Health Discussion Tonight Make a Difference?

fashionologie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:42:12 -0700

>> Tonight is the night the CFDA convenes to hear president Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Kors, and Coco Rocha wax philosophical on "The Beauty of Health: How the fashion industry can make a difference."

The event's expected attendees "include Donna Karan, Francisco Costa, Nicole Miller, Tory Burch, Doo-Ri Chung, Amanda Brooks and Michael Vollbracht." I hope that's only a smattering of who actually attends, considering the lengthy list of CFDA members, because if it's not, how does the CFDA ever expect to make any headway when no one's ready to make a change?

*images: source