chanel ss13

blech. who wants to look like this?

it's the styling, stupid

lots has been said over the past week, since marc jacobs showed the collection for his main line at new york fashion week.

as is usually the case, most people were shouting from the rooftops how much they loved it. but a number were not so sure.

i thought that alexandra suhner isenberg made a good point in her blog, searching for style- that there were many nice pieces on that runway, but that the horrible hats & shoes (my god, particularly the shoes!), as well as other accessories like scarves & shawls totally obfuscated anything interesting, or exciting....

i had a similar feeling myself, and was looking forward to seeing the individual pieces in editorial coverage, and then in stores, to see what i really thought.

fortunately, i didn't have to wait too long. below are the runway shots (via style.com), paired with shots of just the clothing itself (via moda operandi), without all that awful styling:

look! this is actually a totally cute jacket and skirt combo, not a bulky, ugly dress to be worn with oliver-twist style fingerless gloves!

obviously, the blouse underneath is imminently wearable. i want.

the leather and printed lamé combo looks pretty interesting too. i'd love to see this off-the shoulder dress on its own, showing off the collar bones & arms.

ok, i had a funny feeling that i was going to be pretty excited about this dress, even when i saw it on the runway, with the dr seuss hat & pirate of penzance shoes....

turns out that i was right- a floral, sculptural dress done in magenta holographic sequins is just too great to totally obscure.

but, man oh man.... those shoes! they are just too awful. i thought about cropping them from all of these photos, but thought you should see them, as the designer intended.

do you really think that we'll see girls wearing these, come october & november? i really hope that someone proves me wrong, and wears them in a way that is totally awesome.

i'm not holding my breath.

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i've been thinking & wondering about what marc jacobs might have been trying to achieve through this ridiculous styling.....

and i think i may have hit on something - maybe it's a little bit of secrecy? 

 i'm wondering if he's thinking about tom ford's no-photos-allowed shows, and feeling a bit jealous? it is such a brilliant idea- actually keeping the collections a secret from the public until the pieces are actually available for sale... maybe jacobs has presented his own version of this approach.

it's a self-imposed bit of confidentiality- intentionally obscuring the collection from the hoi polloi, while knowing the the important buyers will be able to see each piece, up close and personal, when they have their buying meetings.....

yet, still playing the game of putting on a runway show, and taking advantage of all of the pr, and the buzz and the chatter of a super strangely presented show....

considering this possibility makes me think much, much more about the show..... mr jacobs certainly has a pretty clever brain for pr stunts and tongue in cheek ideas....

and whether or not this was his actual intention, i love that i'm thinking and talking about it more & more....

certainly, that was not an accident on the part of monsieur jacobs!

what do you think about the show, and his intentions??

do-in it right

last night was the versace for h&m fashion show here in nyc.

versace is not really my thing, so it wasn't a collaboration that i was anticipating with any kind of excitement....

but of course, this morning the blogs are full of it.

one of the most consistant elements of many of the looks in the show were black leather do-rags, worn on the head:

which reminded me, immediately of a similar look that alexander wang showed for spring:

(all runway photos are courtesy of style.com)

i don't believe the wang pieces will be available for sale, although maybe if the versace ones blow out of h&m, they will consider making them for retail?

my first thought was to wonder what alex might have though.....

but he doesn't look too mad ;)

(above shot is courtesy of hanneli.com)

i read somewhere on twitter that their inclusion in the versace show was a reference to a show of gianni versace's, before his death.

i have no idea about that, since i was not a big follower of fashion in those days....

wang, or versace, these accessories are not for me, but....

maybe you'll be wearing them someday soon?

theory

these photos have been making the rounds on a lot of the fashion-watching blogs and websites:

 

you've probably seen them. 

they're from the louis vuitton spring 12 show....

i'm pretty sure that i can explain what's going on here...

it's called crocking, and it's pretty common.

you've all seen it when you've put a bag with a red strap onto your white t-shirt clad shoulder, and gone for a walk on a warm summer's day....

i'm guessing that these girls were wearing a different style of shoe at another show earlier the same day, and that the shoe was of a red / purple / dark color. the simple fact is that there was probably a bit of sweat involved (i heard the temperatures during paris fashion week were off-the-charts hot), and the color rubbed off on her foot. once that happens, it can be pretty difficult to get off....

the fact that there are clearly two girls in the same show with similarly stained feet only strengthens my argument. it's very likely that the walked in the same show previously, and had similar colors rub off on their feet. the one on the left even looks like the shape of a boot!

also, since the shoes that the girls wear on the runway are not production quality, a lot of the materials used are not finished to prevent crocking.

don't worry. by the time the offending shoe gets on a selling floor, the materials will be perfected, and they won't make your feet look this way, i promise.

so, there... mystery solved. 

i'm not going to argue that modeling is a dangerous & unhealthy profession. however, spending 5 minutes walking down a runway in sample shoes that are not meant to be worn on the street is not doing these girls any harm.

i'd spend more time making sure they are above the age of 16, and are eating decent meals every day, before we freak out about a couple of ugly photos of feet!!

a little late on the nyfw tip.....

a little while back, i had the tremendous opportunity to do some freelance work for alexander wang.

i wanted to share with you the fruits of some of the work that i did there, in case you didn't happen to obsessively follow all of the press coverage of the runway shoes...

you can see all of the runway styles on style.com here.

but this is not the whole ss12 collection.... you'll have to wait a bit longer for those. and there are some goodies, for sure.

working with the team there, including alex himself was a treat. everyone there is talented and professional, and the design team are sweet and funny individuals.

i'm hoping that i'll have the chance to work with them again in the future!