Fall 2007 - Lanvin

Elber Albaz isn't out to create some statement on futurism or minimalism. He wants to say something about where to go next, how the modern woman is going to want to dress when she's done with all the frilly fluff shown everywhere else. Yes, this collection had a fair share of what may have seemed like 1980s big-shouldered mayhem, which kept on trend with all the Azzedine Alaia and Romeo Gigli references bouncing around. But this collection was more potent than that. Those shoulders were so much softer and feminine than anything seen on Dynasty (or even this season at Maison Martin Margiela) due to the fact that they were puffed up with air, a naturally constructed way to gently add volume without adding bulk. And what an easy way to dress! Lacking the severe sportif theme of last season (which was rather butch, only emphasized by the fact that Amanda Moore was the first model out), this season played up a new sense of femininity, which doesn't exactly involve frothy chiffon, but isn't as simple as deconstructing menswear into liquid shapes either. Elbaz's version of a real woman falls somewhere in between, and it's really a refreshing, even pretty thing to see. The simple-looking shifts were really ripe with much more subtle construction details, something that needs to be appreciated up close and in person, along the lines of Raf Simons at Jil Sander. The show got repetitive near the end, but when you're trying to introduce the world to a whole new way of dressing, isn't repetition the only way to really drive it home?

Fall 2007 - Miu Miu

Yikes. How to describe this latest attempt from Miuccia Prada? Well, that's a harsh way to start. There were several very lovely pieces in there, you just had to know where to look. The show was the Miuccia-typical high-concept affair, although this time it seemed to have faltered maybe just a bit. Who knows, maybe in 12 months, we'll all realize she changed the direction of fashion (as she always does), but for now we'll just have to wait and see. To start, the proportions were new and old, with jackets tailored just slightly soft and paired with extra-large pleated skirts. The colors were extremely monochromatic from head-to-toe, in camel, charcoal or black (a bold statement in a season of bold color). As the show went on, things loosened up a bit, with more familiar proportions and very wearable coats and party dresses, but kicked up a notch with signature Miu Miu attention to new fabrics and new patterns, this time with an intense focus on texture. The silvery midnight blue lurex brocade, used for coats and pants and everything in between, really struck a chord, as did the punch-red silks and cashmeres. The show ended with hoards of leather jackets and skirts, which just looked rather uncomfortable, no matter what the season. But in the end, it's the shoes and bags that will get everybody rushing into the stores, and those were all right on target this season, most especially the preppy spectator pumps for girls and the wingtips for guys. The pictures I included aren't meant to sum up Miuccia's overall themes. Rather, I chose what I thought were the five prettiest, most wearable looks, all of which are likely to hit stores.

Fall 2007 - Nina Ricci

Soon after Rochas prematurely closed its doors, Nina Ricci swooped right in and poached one of the most creative young designers out there right now, Olivier Theyskens. Best known for his previously harsh, gothic gowns that Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow screwed up on the red carpet when he was still designing for his eponymous line, Theyskens now has a chance to shine once more (and maybe this time it'll stick). Going in, everyone knew that his new line for Nina Ricci had to somehow define a house that hasn't had any clear identity. Ricci has been known for being pretty and feminine and expensive, in the vaguest of ways. So, Theyskens used the bottle of Ricci's most famous perfume, L'Air du Temps, as inspiration and direction. He also seemed to have been influenced by some mythical cross between Swan Lake and The Chronicles of Narnia. And the result? Lovely, incomparably romantic, floaty and brisk all at once. Theyskens completely recreated sports-inspired pieces into the softest blouson jackets and ballet tights. Feathers adorned the models' hair, and each look was a cross between some dreamy fantasy and some very sellable pieces (most especially the ribbon-embellished jeans). The colors were washed out shades of charcoal and silver, white and black. Near the end, color came into play with the same bright yellow that Reese Witherspoon so famously wore to the Golden Globes, as well as the slightest hints of purple and green. All in all, Theyskens had an amazing first outing at his new job, and I'm really curious to see where he goes next.

Fall 2007 - John Galliano

Following up his amazing collection for Dior, John Galliano is on a roll! For his eponymous line, he sent out seriously beautiful, frothy, tiered, embellished perfection. Like the prettiest layer cakes embellished with icing, each look was decadent and rich and oh-so-sweet. Crinkled cupcakes of chiffon and satin made for amazing coats and supreme dresses for every occasion. Supremely divine and (surprisingly) commercially viable to boot! I've always been fairly iffy of Galliano's work, but he's really catching my eye this season.

Fall 2007 - Alexander McQueen

Was it a crime to produce a show filled with so many commercially-viable looks? Well, not exactly. But under the guise of something wicked, tortured, evil, and occult, maybe the commercial clothing wasn't exactly a perfect fit. From start to end, there were endless suits to wear to the office and dresses to wear at night, and I don't have a problem with that at all. Although it lacked a certain McQueen flair, just like his critically-maligned sci-fi/Greek goddess/corporate sellout show a few years back, there was still very much to like in here indeed. His attempts at his famous body-sculpture pieces and his signature catsuits felt somewhat lost and misguided in the witchy/Egypt theme. Some of the denim and shearling looks seemed to promote his new McQ line a little too obviously, but whatever works, right? I don't know, I just think stripped of all the theatrics, this was a very desirable collection that will serve McQueen well in his quest for profitability. So sue me.

Fall 2007 - Jasmine di Milo

Jasmine di Milo has the opportunity to become a huge commercial success, most especially in London. And that is all I will say about that.

Fall 2007 - Giambattista Valli

There really is much to say, good or bad. One goes to Valli's shows expecting to see a lineup of gorgeous, smart, just-flirty-enough party frocks for all those stunning young ingenues that love to fill up his front row. And yet, there just wasn't enough here to satisfy that expected model. So many stern, black coats! So many frumpy rip-offs! The opening lineup of long, svelte suits is on-trend, but unfortunately came off as less successful than Marc Jacobs' and Miuccia Prada's takes on lengthiness. The finale piece, a fleurette-covered coat of voluminous proportions, while doubtlessly masterful in its construction, comes a good season (or two...or three) too late, something straight from Stefano Pilati at YSL and already reimagined by Jun Takahashi at Undercover. So where was Valli's signature in all this? Caught somewhere between the last ten looks was a selection of origami-bow embellished cocktail looks that were distinctly young and pretty. The brightest shots of color in the last few dresses were really the strongest indication of Valli's signatures at work. Past shows just didn't prepare me for such a seriously drab show, and I just didn't feel all too impressed by what there was to see. Pics to come...

Brothers & Sisters

I am PSYCHED for episode #19 of Brothers & Sisters! All that is the Walker/McCallister love(ish) square will finally come to life! I'm not really bummed about Chad getting the boot because he was too conflicted and tricky to be likable (that Cartier watch was just damn mean!). But, holy crap, Kevin is so selfish! How could anybody break Scotty's heart like that? And to do it twice?! Everybody must watch this show! Out with Lost and in with Brothers & Sisters! As Lost's ratings plummet, Brothers & Sisters is slowly gaining. Sweeeeeeeeet.

Fall 2007 - Givenchy

Some of the silhouettes were very reminiscent of Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga and some of the detailing (mainly the gigantic punk studs) were taken straight from last season Giles Deacon (that rhymed House of Holland style!), but nonetheless, Roberto Tisci is really settling into some sort of groove at Givenchy. Yesterday, he showed a romantic naval theme, something I would imagine would fit right in along the southern coast of France in the middle of last century, if that southern coast had a bit more dark, moody, militaristic elegance than I imagine it would have. And that is exactly why Roberto Tisci succeeds. He is difficult to pin down to anything specific, without seeming entirely derivative. At times, the fact that you can't pin him down turns out puzzling collections that don't ring true to either a Givenchy spirit, nor Tisci's own romantic inner goth. But when he gets it down, there are certainly hoards of lovely, sharply tailored coats and dreamy, desirable (but not overly sweet) chiffon frocks. He was on-trend with the magnificent fur collars on his sharp navy peacoats. His wide-leg sailor trousers certainly seem more forgiving than any skinny pants ever could. The vaguely nautical theme that he derived from his latest couture show seems somewhat diluted (excuse the pun), but this may still prove to be quite a commercial success. And that's what really counts in the end, right? Pics to come...

Fall 2007 - Dior

BEST. DIOR. SHOW. EVER. (or at least in a very, very long time.) John Galliano made a sort of greatest hits with this collection, taking his last couture show's Asian themes, like origami accents, and combined them with the 1940s screen siren glamour of the era that Monsieur Dior worked in, without actually referencing any New Look proportions directly. The biggest hits were the coats, incredibly lavish with their endless yards of fur along the collar and sleeves (and even on the pockets). Some were a little reminiscent of those that Nicolas Ghesquière did for Balenciaga a few seasons back, but Galliano managed to firmly stamp his signature on every piece that went out. And he was spot-on trendwise, with an endless sea of fur shaping up to be the biggest must-have next winter (everyone from Michael Kors to Donatella Versace used swaths of it). He was equally successful with his eveningwear, which managed to maintain all the technical wizardry of his couture show's pleating and folding, yet displayed in a lot more accessible (and thus, commercial) manner. This looks like a blockbuster collection indeed! Pics to come...

Fall 2007 - Balenciaga

Sweet glory, Nicolas Ghesquière's ethnic/athletic/preppy collection featured some of the most amazing jackets and blazers I've seen in some time. Impeccable tailoring and perfect candy striping made for wool blazers that Brooks Brothers would kill for. The fabric ranged from somber charcoal to eccentric tie-dye and electric stripes. The shoes were some cross between Timberland boots or football cleats and Birkenstocks or Crocs. Or something like that. They are very hard to describe, but they were certainly more amazing than those Timberland boot Manolos that were all the rage (blegh) a few years ago. Delicious and dreamy down-filled puffers and snorklers and fur-trimmed parkas also made the cut. FUR! FUR! FUR! Everybody everywhere will be wearing fur next winter! Pictures to come...

Fall 2007 - Undercover

Undercover by Jun Takahashi was, once again, a spectacular show. Jun is severely underrated and passed over far too often in the fashion community. Now that he has gotten his shows a little more under control (read: commercial), there's so much in there to love, while still recognizing that he hasn't lost a bit of his subversive, underground wit. Gosh, this sounds like an indie music review. Pictures coming soon...

Movie Watch! - The Chumscrubber and Tsotsi

1) The Chumscrubber (2005) - I have to admit, this made me fall in love with Camilla Belle. Jamie Bell plays Dean, a boy who discovers that his pill-dealing best friend hung himself, and he decides not to tell anyone. Instead, he just walks out and doesn't know what to do. Justin Chatwin, Camilla Belle, and some ugly guy play a trio of kids who kidnap Dean's brother, only it doesn't really turn out so perfectly. In this typically picture-perfect community, the parents are oblivious and the kids are all self-medicated and mildly neurotic. So, okay, it got crazy at times, but there was something somewhere in there to like. Jamie Bell is exceptional, as is Rory Caulkin (the little brother indeed). Rita Wilson and Glenn Close were sharp and tireless. But still, I don't know, it was very derivative at times, and Ralph Fiennes and Carrie-Anne Moss were vastly underdeveloped. Actually, most of the cast was, without a feasible explanation for why many things happen, other than chalking it up to coincidences that happen for a reason. Yikes. But Camilla Belle is so irresistibly sweet and effortlessly effervescent that I just had to fall in love. Even with that butt-ugly haircut. 6.5/10

2) Tsotsi (2006) - Tsotsi, a minor gang leader from the shantytowns of South Africa, goes and carjacks a wealthy woman's car, but then he finds out that there's a baby in the backseat. Yikes. Actually, this movie was startling and astonishing and impossible to turn away from.
Tsotsi learns to be human again and we all melt just a little in our seats. 9/10

New Obsession

Brothers and Sisters! Oh, ABC has stolen my heart! I don't care for Lost and I'm a season behind whatever's going on at Seattle Grace, but most certainly, ABC has stolen my heart with Ugly Betty and Brothers and Sisters. I think you should watch them. Plus, Scotty wore the same green Trovata tee in episode 5 that just so happens to be the new favorite tee in my own closet.

Silly Interview

Paolo Nutini gets interviewed in a way that I can only imagine as awkward. Read it out loud, and alternate between a hot, raspy Scottish accent and a silly, girly British one.

Paul Smith S/S 2007 Ad Campaign

Holy crap, they're gorgeous. Julian Broad shot 20 people for the campaign, with the most notable being Mika and Tyson Ritter. Hot is Tyson Ritter in a Paul Smith suit. That's Mika in the first pic, Tyson in the second. Hotter is a bespectacled Tyson Ritter a Paul Smith suit. I love geeks. I'll be keeping an eye out for the latter to post.

Sweet Lego!

Escheriffic!

Movie Watch! - A Home at the End of the World, Le Souffle Au Couer, Imaginary Heroes, The Dreamers, and Ma Mere

Yikes! Netflix has me hooked on movies! Here's my recap:

1) A Home at the End of the World (2004) - Blegh. Didn't like it. I mean, it started out pretty great, with one really ugly kid playing Colin Farrell's character as a youngster. He's supposed to be this ambiguous, free, intuitive kid. But, I mean, he was really ugly. Distractingly so. And he wasn't that great of an actor either. Ryan Donowho (aka Johnny from The O.C.) as his free-spirited older brother was a bright point, but I wish they could've developed his character more. Robin Wright Penn made me want to vomit on her obnoxious face. The first 30 minutes were intense, poignant, witty. The next 30 I fell asleep for. The last 30 made me want to scratch my eyes out. I give it 4/10.

2) Le Souffle au Couer (Murmur of the Heart) (1971) - Wow. Quite excellent. It's a bitter comedy about a 14 year-old Laurent Chevalier, a bourgeois Catholic boy growing up in Dijon, France, in the 1950s. He's hopelessly hormonal and his two older brothers aren't exactly the greatest mentors. His mom was a 16 year-old Italian refugee when she married Laurent's gynecologist father. So their family is fairly screwed up to say the least. I won't ruin anything else, but I will say it's very much worth watching. It was nominated for a foreign language Oscar and for Le Palme d'Or at Cannes back in 1971. Ribald and colorful and oh-so-comedic! 9/10

3) Imaginary Heroes (2004) - Decent enough. It's a dramedy about the ways a family copes after one son commits suicide. Emile Hirsch (from The Girl Next Door) is game enough to take on a fairly intricate role, but it really seemed kind of a stock character. Sigourney Weaver, who was charming as a stilted housewife in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, makes another coping housewife turn here to varying degrees of success. She has surprisingly good comic timing, but her emotional range never seems to expand beyond a few stolid glances. Ryan Donowho makes his breakout turn as the ambiguous, pill-popping boy-next-door. He's unbelievably skinny and exceptionally attractive, but even that can't belie his insouciant, rebellious charm here. Jeff Daniels, who played the unbelievable father in one of my favorite films, The Squid and the Whale, once again takes up the role of a father who fails (quite bizarrely) in the face of adversity, and he pulls it off flawlessly. Interesting for a while, but a little long, and nobody ever gets fully fleshed out enough to keep me watching. Give me more Johnny! 6.5/10

4) The Dreamers (2003) - Bertolucci is crazy. Bertolucci is awesome. Bertolucci is probably very horny as well. It's the tale of an American student who gets caught up in Paris (in rather unexpectedly ways) when he meets two fellow cinema-obsessed French siblings. The American is played by Michael Pitt and the brother and sister are played by Louis Garrel and Eva Green. Garrel and Green are both fiercely attractive. She just played the latest Bond Girl, opposite Daniel Craig, so it's quite crazy to see her in her breakout role. It's a bluntly sexual (rated NC-17) exploration of cinema, politics, manipulation, and the like. I can't really describe it without ruining it. But it was pretty funny, pretty interesting, absolutely gorgeous to watch. 8.5/10

5) Ma Mère (2004) - Holy crap. Wow. Umm... This film was rated NC-17 for "strong and aberrant sexual content" and I definitely agree with that rating. Isabelle Huppert plays Hélène with Louis Garrel (see above) as her son Pierre. After Pierre's father dies, everything goes haywire. Insane. Psychotic. Set in the unbelievably gorgeous Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco, the scenery is just as stunning as the cast. I can't even describe how psychotic the film gets. Like Le Souffle au Couer, this film revolves around the son's Oedipus complex, but this takes it to an extreme new level. This isn't a light, innocent comedy. This is intense, psychological manipulation at it's freakiest. Huppert (who was in I Heart Huckabees) is incomparable in the role of the psychotic whore/mom, and Garrel is exceptional and intense (and ungodly attractive) as the son who just can't resist his mother's disgusting attempts at maternal love. Not for the faint of heart. 7.5/10

Rodrigo Santoro

I love Brazil. I love Brazilians. Check him out. More later...

Fall In Love With Rachel Roy

Rachel Roy is finally coming into her own! No longer just the insanely gorgeous, model-tall wife of Damon Dash, she has finally started to make a name for herself as a genuine designer. Her clothes are exceptionally fresh, made for the perfectly sweet, incredibly put-together girl who knows how to fit in everywhere from dinner at Pastis to a party at Diddy's. Oprah gave her approval, Bergdorf Goodman had a trunk show for her, and now she's carried everywhere from Nordstrom to net-a-porter.com. Her party frocks are the American counterpart to Giambattista Valli's European flights of fancy, and that's saying a lot for a relative newcomer like herself. Sweet!

A.P.C. Summer 2007

Good glory, I am absolutely taken with every single item in the A.P.C. Summer 2007 collection.

Fall In Love With...

Louis Garrel! The lovely French star of Bertolucci's The Dreamers, with all the offbeat charm and daring so lacking of Hollywood offspring. His role as the irresistible and bedeviling sibling was the highlight of the movie. His insouciant self-destruction and ignorantly idealistic political agenda came together in an intriguing (if not slightly disturbing) way. I would even say his performance shadowed Eva Green and Michael Pitt in their own breakout turns. He's almost like the French Jake Gyllenhaal, vraiment!

Oh Dear!

Who wouldn't agree with Dan Savage after seeing this?

Dear Lord...

Yikes! Here's Paolo Nutini's horrible impression of a toothless, neurotic, hunchback grandpa, as seen on Conan O'Brien.

This appearance on Today is only marginally less octogenarian.

Awesometown!

Oh, Andy!

Question...

How does Max Azria make the skinniest girls in the world look absurdly fat? Answer: too much pleating. His dresses look like scraps from Marc Jacobs, a good two or three seasons back. Jebus, what's his problem?

More Lovely...

Also check out...

- Jovovich-Hawk - Model/actress/"singer"/designer Milla Jovovich and her less notable cohort Carmen Hawk are so impossibly cool and so impossibly stylish right now, it's amazing. Their dresses are big sellers, and their fall collection looks as light and perfect as ever.

- Marchesa - Their spring show sucked balls. Hard. The hems were unfinished and it all looked like floating piles of shit. But, alas, their latest collection shows how badly Harvey Weinstein's girlfriend (aka Georgina Chapman) and that other girl want to redeem themselves. It was beautiful, and a heullva lot more polished than before. Good work! A for improvement!

- Oscar de la Renta - Perfect coats and amazing sweaters, awesome cardigans and furs and suits and everything. It was just perfect, polished, and spot-on for his target customer. He's always a big seller at Nordstrom Downtown Seattle, catering to all the Puget Sound ladies-who-lunch. They'll be well-dressed for fall.

- Ellen DeGeneres! I love her, and she's on the cover of the new March issue of W! Congratulations! She's also hosting the Oscars, so watch out. It should be awesometown.

Fall In Love With...

A.P.C.! The summer collection is making me hyperventilate. But even more importantly, it's making me ache for summer and warm and the beach in ways I never knew. It has everything I've ever wanted in a summer line: blue and white stripes, dark denim, streamlined shorts, crisp cotton jackets, badass sunglasses. If I had a million dollars, I'd spend it all on A.P.C.'s summer line. And maybe a little Marni or Balenciaga.

Garbage Alert!

Alexandre Herchcovitch showed his trash bag collection on the New York runway. He showed actual Tyvek garbage bag dresses, cinched with a belt. If those weren't $0.25 garbage bags, I don't know what they were, but you know what? It worked. I expected the looks, being a reprise of the show he did in Sao Paulo, and it still had all of its signature Herchcovitch Brazilian charm intact. Only someone like him could get away with that.

Also, check out the 3.1 Phillip Lim show. He showed amazing menswear, as well as his beloved women's line, and all of it looked absurdly expensive, which is glorious, because it's really priced a lot better than you'd expect. Lovely and amazing.

More to come...

Marc Alert!

Marc Jacobs' fall/winter 2007 show was yesterday, and I absolutely loved it. It had all the mature sophistication of Yves St. Laurent (the actual YSL, not Tom Ford or Stefano Pilati) mixed with the sleek, youthful charm of Miuccia Prada's Miu Miu last collection, with a hint of Raf Simons for Jil Sander for good measure. It was a little bit Bonnie (of "& Clyde") and a little bit Diana Vreeland. So I really don't know why I loved it so much, seeing as it felt so familiar, but Marc Jacobs mixed it up and added his own signature charm, and pretty much everybody is biased to love Marc anyways, so there you go. Everybody's going to be crazy about it for the next six months, until he shows for next spring, so just deal with it. I loved it.

Oh Lizzy!

Oh Lizzy!

Check out my first project for Portrait/Homage/Embodiment. It's pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.