NY Fashion Week: Random Images, The Final Act

I admit it, it's far easier to just post images than write. Perhaps I've been a bit lazy for the last week while recovering from NYFW. On the other hand, I got some interesting shots throughout the week, some good... others just a little odd. I'll be back to writing shortly enough and have a lot of material to work with. In the interim, here's the final take on NYFW random images. Enjoy!

Public Relations professional Sabrina Chapman and designer Sally Wu moments before the beginning of the Sally Wu's Act 1 runway show.

Getting prepared backstage.

Founder of Secret's Of The Modeling World (somw.org), Rogelio Castillo at the SOMW cocktail party, celebrating the end of a busy NYFW.

The beautiful Zhanna Ved who was featured in the December 5, 2009 issue of the NYS.

A farewell to Bryant Park. The long-time venue with its sprawling tents bid adieu as this was the final season. In September, the Spring show will be held at Lincoln Center (home of the NYC Ballet, Opera, Philharmonic, etc.) so as to have more space. Due to the size and time constraints of the tents there has been a steady increase in recent years of shows held elsewhere. Time will tell if the move is worth it. In the interim, Bryant Park will be missed.

NY Fashion Week: Random Images, Act III

The question is... can you pick which one is my favorite of this group?

NY Fashion Week ~ Random Images, Act II

If you enjoy people-watching, Fashion Week is one-stop shopping. Fashionista's, at least self-proclaimed ones flock to the shows. This is in large part, the fashion industry crowd. Media, journalists, designers, buyers and yes, bloggers. As for their look- some are great, others... not so much. One moment your filled with hope as you see someone so well put together and the next your shaking your head wondering, "Did they really think that looked good when they went out this morning?". These are, after-all, the movers and shakers of the fashion world. Often bold, rarely dull. Enjoy!

NY Fashion Week~ Random Images, Act I

What a busy week its been! Running like a mad-man from one event to the next trying not to miss anything (of which I wasn't always successful), I have some wonderful stories to share. Since I don't have an editor pushing me for deadline, I have a number of images that don't fit into my stories but shouldn't go to waste. Some of the sights of NYFW, Act I:

For Love & Lemons Runway Show

Gillian Mahin and Laura Hall of For Love & Lemons made their New York Fashion Week debut today. Their collection of leggings and bodysuits were edgy and original while their dresses, cardi's, cami's, tanks and wraps were impressive, sexy, wearable and illustrated tremendous potential for this design duo from L.A.. I'm looking forward to an expanded line and future shows to see their progress.

Here are a few images from their show. Their entire collection can be viewed at www.forloveandlemons.com.

Lee Alexander McQueen: A Retrospective

Alexander McQueen, one of the most talented, creative and controversial designers of his generation was found dead yesterday in his London flat of an apparent suicide at the age of 40.

Awarded British Designer of the Year four times by the age of 34 as well as Council of Fashion Designer's International Designer of the Year, McQueen used his runway shows for storytelling and used his deft design ability to allow his clothes to tell stories that were typically shock-and-awe. Heavily polarized audiences were rarely, if ever, indifferent. One thing the fashion elite could always agree on was McQueen's incredible design ability and a consensus that few possessed his incredible technical skills. Because of his controversial and over-the-top shows and occasional brashness, he was labeled "l'enfant terrible".

Born in London to the son of a cabbie, Lee McQueen wanted to be a designer from a very early age. As a teenager he began his apprenticeship on Saville Row where he learned expert tailoring. Later working for Romeo Gigli in Milan, he returned to his native London in 1994 and enrolled at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design where he received his masters degree in fashion design. Friend and confidant, stylist Isabella Blow encouraged Lee to use his middle name, Alexander, upon entering the fashion world with his own designs. 

His shows in London were controversial from the beginning. One of his first shows mockingly played off the industry's latest craze of low rise trousers as he had his models wear "bumsters", cut so low that half their derriere was showing. That was only the beginning. His collections typically had historical references and later included Victorianism, falconry, "Macbeth", 60's fashion on Alfred Hitchcock's heroines, models as patients in a mental ward, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" with furs and animal horns and models positioned as a human chess match in a show titled, "It's Only a Game".

In 1996, McQueen was hired by Givenchy as head designer where he stayed until 2001. Many of the shows were a disappointment to long-time clients as he threw convention out the window and as a result were called disrespectful to the house of founder Hubert Givenchy- of whom McQueen said was "irrelevant". But then again should the House of Givenchy be surprised? It was only a year before he was hired that he staged a show titled, "Highland Rape", referencing the ravaging of Scotland. Even through all this, John Galliano, McQueen's Givenchy predecessor and current Christian Dior designer said he was "...daring, original, exciting. He was a fashion revolutionary". Indeed, McQueen's superb designs were often the choice of Hollywood starlets and celebrities; clients included Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rihanna and Lady Gaga to name a few.

Perhaps his quintessential show was for the Fall 2009 collection, unveiled in Paris. The show was somewhat a slap in the face to the industry and a statement about the absurdity of the race to build fashion empires. The runway was a garbage heap of props from his previous shows, surrounded by broken mirrors. The clothes were a parody of designs from the last century and included Dior's New Look, Givenchy's little black dress made famous by Audrey Hepburn and reinventions by new designers (including himself) in the last decade. Models wore hats made of trashcan liners and aluminum cans as well as other recycled household items. After the show, McQueen said, "The turnover in fashion is just so quick and so throwaway and I think that is a big part of the problem. There is no longevity". He went on to say that designers say that fashion is constantly being reinvented, yet they continue to show the same shapes and trends of the past. In all, the show was brilliant. The staging, props and incredible designs told the story he wanted to tell. As far as the clothes on the runway not being commercial and using the runway to challenge the status quo? "People don't want to see clothes. They want to see something that fuels the imagination." He certainly gave them something to think about.

So what happened? How did he get to a point that things seemed so bad that (alleged) suicide was the only remaining alternative? For starters, his much beloved mother died last week. Long time friend Philip Treacy said, "Creativity is a very fragile thing, and Lee was very fragile. He was a fragile person with a front of whatever you want to call it. It's not easy being Mr. McQueen. We're all human. His mum had just died and his mum was a great supporter of his talent. I don't really know what happened". 

Lee Alexander McQueen was indeed a very complex individual. Unfortunately, history is full of artistic genius that self-destructed. Perhaps the very same attributes that in the extreme makes such incredible talent possible; deep sensitivity, emotion, feeling and realness are the same attributes that are so hard to live with. It definitely wasn't easy being Lee Alexander McQueen. 

Fashion Week in Brazil: São Paulo or Auschwitz?

Spring Fashion Weeks are kicking off for the Fall 2010 collections all over the world. São Paulo Fashion Week was last week in Brazil and Paris Haute Couture was this week. Many of the top models headed down for the Brazilian runways and will inevitably follow to New York, London, Milan and Paris over the next six weeks. 

I ran across this image from São Paulo last week and it hit that nerve of mine. I know too many models, their progression (regression) in the industry and the grave sacrifices they make to not say something. As long as I have a voice, I'll speak out about it. With all the recent commotion over stick-figure models, designers are not moved. For that matter, I don't know what will realistically force a change. Uproar, bad press, deaths and tepid boycotts hasn't worked. The likelihood of the models and agencies uniting and taking a stand against those who employ them is far-fetched. What gives? Why? Why insist as a designer that you only want shapeless, coat-hanger models? Why have size 2 sample sizes the girls must fit in or hit the road in disgrace for being too "fat" and fired for breach of contract? After-all, as a designer you do have the capability of designing more than one emaciated size that's only one size above a children's size 14.


There are a minority of models, and for that matter the general population, that is naturally very thin. They, however, don't have to starve themselves and put their health at risk to be that size. That's the exception. The rest have to go to extraordinary lengths to be this thin. Another caveat: I don't blame the models. The problem is simply with the designers. The buying public doesn't find this attractive. I hardly think it helps sales- quite to the contrary I'm sure. Agencies, buyers, stylists, photographers and the fashion media are simply followers. The designers are to blame.


Instead of looking in horror at images of the survivors of Auschwitz, do designers think to themselves that it would have been a fruitful place to find models that would look best in their latest collection? That's pretty sick. Overstatement? Look at the bones and ribs protruding in this picture. Not far off.

Do we have a group of designers today that are so bad at designing clothes that they can only design for a broomstick? Perhaps. 

Are the designers really wanting little boys instead of grown woman walking the runways because that's the look they personally prefer? Could be. Could very well be.

There seems to be a general position that they want a clothes-hanger to model the clothes so as to not distract from their design. Yes, God-forbid we notice the person wearing the clothes. True fashion design accentuates good physical attributes and minimize our less favorable ones. Ideally clothing will blend with the individual as if they're one in the same and good cuts draw the eyes to the face. So what the designers may be telling us is that they aren't capable of making good designs that draws pleasant attention, flatters an anatomically correct human body and will lead admirers to actually notice and remember the wearer's face.

Think how egomaniacal it is that designers will only design so people only look at their work. Oh don't dare notice who's wearing it! That may send them into a dramatic high-pitched hyperventilating frenzy. They have either forgotten, don't know or don't care that high fashion is about working in concert with the individual with the goal of making them look good. If they want to be an artist with no distractions like people wearing their work, get a paint brush or go sculpt something- you're in the wrong business and taking up space from someone who may actually get it. 

Perhaps that's why I'm personally drawn to previous periods in fashion than that of recent years. We used to have real designers who knew what they were doing. They knew how to maximize or minimize certain attributes to make the individual look their best. They liked the fact they were designing for woman and they celebrated that there was shape to design for. They could create focal points. They used to design for people and not for their own self-important glorification. Today, they're telling us the optimal size for their collections is that of an under-developed child or concentration camp survivor. 

Is there little wonder the clothes-buying public would rather just go to the Gap?