Questions for the Zeitgeist- New York Fashion Week Spring 2007 edition!!!!

1- Doesn't the new GAP "skinny pant" campaign featuring Givenchy couture doyenne Audrey Hepburn doing her legendary "Funny Face" routine remixed to AC/DC's "Back in Black" seem a bit...blasphemous?





2- And while we're on marketing...Isn't the new MAC Viva Glam campaign (featuring new spokeswomen Eve, Debbie Harry, Dita Von Teese, and Lisa Marie Pressley)HOT??!!




3- With the power that she wields in her column, she is DEFINITELY our version of The International Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes. Sooo... why is fierce Washington Post fashion journalist Robin Givhan- whose pen,wit and fashion knowledge are as sharp as any couture gown, who pontificates on the taste level of every designer and whose succinct fashion witticisms garnered her a much-deserved PULITZER PRIZE for cultural criticism in print- such a sartorial MESS?

4- Even though she staged THE fashion comeback story of the year, wasn't Kate Moss conspicuously absent from New York's runway shows (though not absent from the after-parties) this season? Doesn't 15-year-old-sensation Tanya Dziahileva appear to be channeling Kate?






5- With Donna Karan, Badgely Mishka, and Diane Von Furstenberg's runways full of them, is the miniskirt (trapeze, empire, caftan) really back?

6- Wasn't it a brilliant idea for Michael McCollom and Michael Henry Adams to curate the Black Style Now exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York? Wasn't it also brilliant to have the opening during fashion week, when there would be more black fashionistas attending that one gala than at all of the shows at Bryant Park combined? And wasn't it overdue?




7- Didn't some American designers (Donna Karan, Vera Wang, Zac Posen, etc.) this season create pieces this season that were more in keeping with the EUROPEAN sensibility of, say Balenciaga, Rochas, Gaultier? What does that mean for the future of American fashion?


8- Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez aside, didn't Zac Posen's collection this season SOLIDIFY him as the KING of New York fashion?

Ahhhh, Spring 2007 Olympus Fashion week...

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Bryant Park has once again been descended upon by those who pontificate, espouse, predict, rename and LIVE for and by fashion. Its always interesting to watch the gradual overall wardrobe change that the intersection of 42nd and 6th Avenue goes through during this time of year. Its business as usual in the days prior to fashion week (men in ill-fitting business suits and shiny hard-soled lace-ups, women in two-piece business skirts with comfortable shoes). Then, as soon as the last stake is put in the dirt that erects what is known as "the tents", a complete fashion overhaul ensues, making this one city block the fashionista's equivalent of the Holy Grail (men in overlysexy body-conscious tailored suits and shirts- almost always in black- and women in attention-getting swaths of luxurious material and impossibly uncomfortable yet incredibly fashionable 'witch-sticks' they call stilettos). New York sees this twice a year. This time, its the Spring 2007 New York collections. This normally quiet park where the working stiff sits out on a nice blustery fall New York afternoon to eat their Au Bon Pain for lunch morphs into a bastion of editors, buyers, models, stylists, photographers, journalists, wannabees and gottabees. In a city of over 200 zip codes, 10018 is the only one that will matter for the next 8 days.

As a budding stylist (yes, I'm still a BUDDING stylist, thank you!), it becomes almost a game of cat and mouse to maneuver, politic, and strategize in order to gain entry to these venues and ogle over the latest sartorial incarnations of the fashion GODS that are Calvin, Donna, Vera, the TWO Johns (Bartlett AND Varvatos), Oscar, Zac and all the rest of the New York "ready-to-couture" clan. So, in plotting my plan to crash some shows and to also benefit from my access to FULL FRONTAL FASHION, here goes my take on the week that was...

Quite honestly the only event I was looking forward to in the weeks prior to fashion week was the Black Style Now exhibit at The Museum of the City Of New York (look for my review in a future entry of THE REAL RE-Edit). However, due to scheduling conflicts and a styling gig out of town for the first couple of days, I missed hobknobbing with the black culture/fashionista set on opening night, September 9th. So, I'll be going at some point this week.

There were a couple of collections that stood out for me this season, and interestingly enough, most of them centered around the themes of VOLUME


(even Oscar De La Renta played with extra fabric this season),

DE-CONSTRUCTED FEMININE ROMANTICISM










(Marc Jacobs nailed it!),

SUBTLE SEXUALITY


(Mr. Posen)

and considerably more subdued hues and less schtick in menswear lines. There were a couple of pleasant surprises and one label that is definitely vying for best new fashion contender.

The designer that was head and tails above all this season was Zac Posen.













His sense of restricted volume and the approaching of both dresses and suits from an architectural perspective put his designs in the forefront of all the ready to wear collections this season. His take on the voluminous wedding gown that was literally built one floret at a time was testiment to his tenacity as a REAL New York designer. He didn't show one dress repeated ad nauseum but rather a compendium of different dresses that challenges the current fashion vocabulary. While some may say he should have editted the collection a little more, Posen's collection made you think of the infinite possiblilities in dressing the female form while staying true to his fashion-forward roots.

Vera Wang ran a close second to Posen in presenting something that was a departure from what we've come to expect from her in the past and from American designers as a whole. While most designers were following the trend of allowing the volume of a piece overtake the body, Wang's creations had a flow that seemed to challenge the body to adapt to its fluidity. Most of the pieces were effortless, artful pieces the likes of which we haven't seen. While some of the looks may be a little tricky for the average fashion tart to pull off, Wang seems to lean toward the customer that sees fashion as art- not just fabric- and who wants to make a statement without shouting it at the top of her lungs. Her collection references a woman who is adept at making her fashion choices and will more than likely not see anyone else making those choices, all the while conveying an ease of wear and an artistic sensibility. It was fashion genius.











What followed was a well-edited worldly collection by Donna Karan that got back to her fashion mantra of interchangeable, decidedly feminine yet wholly wearable clothes that she made her bread and butter off of in her salad days. Though the collection still tells the story of a jet-setting woman, it is notsomuch the Upper East Side woman that heads into the boardroom daily as much as it is that same woman who has gone on an eye-opening trip around the world and whose fashion sensibilities have adapted as such. Her choice of silk and chamois were an interesting juxtaposition to the color scheme of khakis and creams-with a touch of earthen browns- which seemlessly bring her caftans from the desserts of Saudi Arabia into the harsh streets of New York City- and you get the feeling that they can definitely survive both. Something new from Donna...cool.















It seemed the trend for more fabric, less structure and more "give" permeated the runways of Badgley Mishka, Derek Lam, and the like. What was interesting was watching these rather malnourished models pushing down the runway swimming in dresses that more zaftig women would look flawless in. Even Diane Von Furstenberg, sole proprietor of the wrap dress, showed more volume in her collection than expected, while simultaneously playing with the miniskirt wrap dress.








On the menswear front, it appeared that a more pared-down, less exotic pendulum had swung through the collections of John Bartlett, Michael Kors and John Varvatos. Even the color palette lingered on the tan and grey end of the spectrum for the most part, with a splash of color thrown in for good measure. While I didn't expect the spectacle of say, Gaultier, Bikkenbergs or McQueen, I must say that it would seem as though the suits shown could use a little shot in the arm.

Although sportwear, menswear DID get a little exciting in the collection of Rock and Republic, and that's where the return of FLASH to the American ready-to-wear collections began. Michael Ball's collection for Rock and Republic took the late 80's Versace rock vibe and infused it with a dash of modern-day Euro-trash sex appeal. Tight jeans cut fuller in the seat and thighs and sweaters that accentuated gym-punished shoulders in the old John Bartlett way for today's HEALTH-CONSCIOUS guy. Denim poom-poom shorts made JUST RIGHT (the way Baby Phat WANTED to!) accompanied chic business suit jackets for today's STYLE-CONSCIOUS YET INSTRINICALLY SEXY young woman. In the age of Gwen Stefani, you have to up your "rock-star-fashionista" game; Rock and Republic did just that. Although the collection was a bit cliche at times, the story it told of bold brazen sexuality could not be denied. Unfortunately, one of the other stories it told was that this was NOT a collection for black girls, as there was not a SINGLE black female model on the runway.










Hmmm...


But black girls would not be ignored, and the FLASH continued on the Baby Phat runway. Kimora Lee Simmons, queen of ostentation, gave a little nod to overt bling by way of inserting "grills" into the models' mouths.


Whether it was a styling coup de grace or an ugly attempt at grabbing editor's/blogger's attention is debateable, but it was certainly shaping up to be a BLACK STYLE NOW moment. The fact that she used perenially loveable model Omayra also upped her editorial cred.








While its obvious that Simmons paid closer attention to the construction of her wares this season (thank GOD!), she MAY have struck gold with her accessories; the bags were great.




Beautifully appointed hardware on luxe leather made me sit up and take notice. While I'm not necessarily a Baby Phat fan, I applaud Ms. "Fabulosity" for raising her fashion IQ a couple of points. Maybe now she'll chuck the Louis Vuitton every once in a while for one of her OWN bags...

One fashion footnote that came as a somewhat of a suprise was what seemed like a record number of BLACK models on the New York runways. Not just the cafe au lait confection of say, a Liya Kibede, but the infusion of the darker-skinned Alek Weks and her ilk in shows that traditionally had not necessarily been using unapologetically DARK models. The catwalks of Marc Bauwer, Imitation of Christ, Badgley Mishka, Lacoste, to name a few, teemed with mahogany skin. To that, I must say THANK YOU ALEK WEK!!! Its one thing to have the "black barbie doll dipped in caramel" aesthetic of a Naomi Campbell (who was uncharacteristically low-key this week!) or the ethnic ambiguity of a Chrystele swiveling their hips as part of the designer's attempts to seduce editors and buyers, but to see beautiful DARK skin ramping down the runway speaks volumes as to what we as a country are finally opening up to as an expansion of what BEAUTY is. THANK YOU, Alek! As Trace magazine puts it- BLACK GIRLS RULE!!!








The other fashion suprise came in the form of CFDA finalist Costello Tagliapietra. To the untrained eye, Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra appear to be tattooed musclebear daddies, whatwith their flannel lumberjack shirts, pork chop sideburns and hefty midsections. However, the beauty that they sent down the runway betrayed their backwoods getups. Not since my friend Andrew Nowell- all 6'3, 240 muscle-bound pounds of him (who does terrific menswear, by the way)- have I seen anyone physically defy the male fashion designer stereotype (i.e., the nonthreatening italian puff of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, the chiseled beauty of the twins from D Squared, the old-school highlighted homos known as Badgely Mischka, the brooding intellectualism of the dynamic duo that is Proenza Shouler, Austin Scarlett from Project Runway- need I say more?). And not since the day that I came across Costello Tagliapietra have I seen this defiance, dare I say stereotypical anomaly, begat such fashion elegance. Expertly draped and tailored jersey dresses, knitwear and separates is the LAST thing I would have thought would be the product of this decidedly masculinized pair. But it works, believe me.





Overall, while I'm no Robert Burke, Anna Wintour, Michael Fink, Nina Garcia, Linda Wells or Mr. Andre Leon Talley, I found this season to be chock full of editorial slam-dunks and commercial grand-slams. It makes me excited about fashion all over again. But that's what Fashion week is supposed to do, isn't it?

The 2006 MTV Music Awards...the REAL RE-Edit!!!

Being that I wasn't home when the MTV awards aired (I mean, I DO get out SOMETIMES!!!) and having ready access to my DVR, I must admit that I watched the awards AFTER a loud, social, bumping and grinding, energy-draining evening at Luke and Leroy's, so some of this commentary may be a bit...HARSH.

I must say that the production values of the show definitely reflect that this is THE event of the year as far as MTV is concerned. I mean, the MTV Movie awards are cute, and "The Real World" and "Next" and all of those other NON-music-themed shows that MTV has greenlighted over the last couple of years have their own intrinsic value (I'm guessing the value lies somewhere in the advertising revenue that the network must rake in from silly sponsors who still think that the MTV audience is a shrewd, cool group of early adapters of all things popular and therefore pay top dollar to land their commercials on its airwaves- who knows?), but the MTV Video Music Awards have been and continue to be the jewel in MTV's crown.

As this is the case it stands to reason that music's most popular artists, who continually rely on the "Billboard chart carte-blanche" that MTV bestows upon them in the form of heavy video rotation, feel the need to step up their game be sexier, trendier, more publicity-generating and more outrageous every year. Sometimes it works (ask Panic at The Disco!!), and sometimes it doesn't (isn't that right, Christina Aguilera?)

I felt that I was watching something both new and subversive when Madonna first blazed the MTV awards stage with her legendary rousing "not-so-much-a-virgin-as-a-vamping-bride" rendition of "Like A Virgin". I know how I gagged when Madonna kissed Britney AND Christina on that memorable opening performance that some felt somehow passed the pop icon title over to Britney. It felt like the beginning of something new when Justin Timberlake blessed the awards show with his FIRST performance of his FIRST song on his FIRST solo release, leading young women and some women beyond the 25-29-year-old-demographic to look at him differently. (And, for the record, he ROCKED IT!) I was there when Jennifer Lopez cemented her fashion icon status standing next to David Duchovny in a dress so provocative for the time that it led Duchovny to comment "this is one time that I'm sure no one's looking at ME!!!"

These are the memories that I have about the MTV Awards, and every year I think a new memory will be indelibly burned into my pop culture subconscious by the end of those 3 hours of rock-n-roll mayhem and hip-hop posturing. But it seems of late- like, the last FOUR years or so- I can't think of a single moment in these shows that I can look back on and say "yup, yup, I remember when that happened...it was HOT!!!". I mean, the last time I thought the pre-show had ANY balls at all was when Ludacris performed "Move, B#*^$" on the street outside of Radio City or when Puffy showed up IN A TRICKED OUT 18-WHEELER, or when DMX's last minute cancellation opened the population's eyes to the coming of the St. Louis phenomenon that would become Nelly. That was a while ago. Sad to say but Fergie, this year performing her new single "London Bridge" (which shamelessly rips off the vibe of Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl") in Burberry-print poom-poom shorts definitely pales in comparison. As for the actual show itself, While Puffy TRIED to get sexy with his "anything can happen" mantra from last year's awards show by semi-shocking the audience with a surprise performance by Rap Footnote MC Hammer, the bar had been raised too high for that moment to make MTV Award show history. I'm guessing one of those "memorable" moments was supposed to be when Lil Kim (who was recently released from prison due to good behavior- and not for good fashion sense!) came onstage in an orange prison jumpsuit flanked by faux security guards, peeled out of said jumpsuit and shouted "You can't keep a good bitch down...I'm bringin sexy back...".




Wrong again. Inappropriately glamorizing, incorrectly irreverent and completely enabling, but definitely NOT hot, NOT sexy or memorable.

Which lends the question- in its quest to be THE coolest music awards show, has MTV gotten...OLD???

Well, if aging is the question, then John Norris may be part of the answer. Let me put it out there. I like John Norris. I applaud him for being forever ensconsed in the VJ seat, and being thus a pertinent part of the music PR machine. But...let's talk about the hair for a minute. First came the obvious hair transplant two years ago or so. Fine...the industry is youth-driven and appearing youthful is undoubtedly an important part of that. So fine, get hair plugs. It was even done subtlely, with more and more hair appearing on Mr. Norris' head in a gradual fashion as opposed to the SHOCK of a "miracle toupe" on a head that we saw the day before shining off the studio lights. So, bravo on the "gilda" John. However, to dye it that garrishly conspicuous blondish brown REEKS of a desperate Nora Desmond "I'm ready for my Close-up, Mr. Demille" vibe. STOP IT!!! Moreover, if he INSISTS on paying so much attention to the "reinvention" of the hair, why hasn't he fixed those uneven chiclets that he calls teeth? (Sorry, I just HAD to get that out. I'm sure I'll be blacklisted from the MTV/Viacom offices now...)

That aside, there were only a couple of things about the show that stuck out for me, so here goes:

- 50 Cent and LL present Best Female Video (which eventually goes to Kelly Clarkson- pulling an upset for Clarkson for the SECOND year in row!). Okay, so LL has finally been roped into the 50 Cent G-Unit machine and is doing some promotional appearances to amp up the fact that they will be working together on LL's new album. Fine. 50 has had great success with generating publicity for any past rapper he is slated to work with (Mase, Mobb Deep, et. al). LL has been a mastermind at marketing his superiority in the rap game and his "I got nothing else to prove, I'm the greatest of all time" swagger he has perfected. But...why was LL, in 50's presence, LOUD AND IRRITATING? If I'm not mistaken, he even reverted back to the "one pant leg up" thing that many have ridiculed him for. Its almost like having your father crash your teen sleepover and embarrassing you by trying to show your friends how "cool" and "with it" he is. Cmon LL. You've come a long way, baby, your street cred is NOT in question, so acting like you're in the booth on BET's "Rap City" rather than an accomplished lyricist representing for the "grown ass man" contingent is just disheartening. Stop IT!!

- Lucacris and Pharell performing Luda's new song "Shake that Money Maker". Luda is the shit. But that song sounds like a Neptunes-produced B-Side as far as I'm concerned. Interesting enough, Luda's new braidless brush-cut has him looking straight-up DOMINICANO!!!!!


Not bad, chulo...



-Jessica Simpson presenting an award in that TIRED late 80's "Robert-Palmer-blowup-doll-model from the 'Addicted to Love' video" getup. Yes, this looks like it may shape up to be the year of the miniskirt in the fashion world, but that "Herve-Leger-meets-Canal-Street-fashion-victim" emsemble she threw on was just SAD...

- Johnny Knoxville and the morons from the "Jackass" movie franchise performing various acts of self-mutilation and overall idiocy onstage to the horror of viewers everywhere (I think!). You know, watching Johnny and company staple, cut and damage almost every appendage on their body strikes me as particularly assinine and destructive. Not only does it communicate to the young impressionable 10-year-old boys watching the show that its okay and even hilarious to literally risk life and limb for the sake of a 10 second guffaw, but it also is incredibly insensitive to those born without all their body parts or those that have lost them through legitimately unfortunate accidents through no fault of their own. I'm speaking for those paraplegics and amputees out there when I say this...Johnny Knoxville and company are ASSHOLES!!!! Like the old saying goes...its ALWAYS funny until it puts your eye out!!! SICK ASSHOLES!!!

- Sarah Silverman's "roast" of Paris HIlton. Absolutely GENIUS!!! You know how The REAL RE-Edit feels about Paris Hilton, right? Silverman engaged the appropriate amount of hilarity, hubris, sarcasm, and camp to say what we have been saying forever- the idea of Paris Hilton- i.e., nontalented clueless celebrity debutante (dilletante?) is RIDICULOUS. And on the subject of her highly publicized "split" with Nicole Richie: cut out the stupid feud already!!! To be fair, Hilton's "Stars Are Blind" is the SHIT!!! I'm not mad at her for lining up the right producers (Scott Storch, et. al) for her new project. To be continued...

- The All-American Rejects ROCKED!!! That's all I have to say about that...

- Props to MTV for giving Pink the "Best Pop Video Female" award. In a "six degrees of separation" moment, Pink (who was channelling Kelis' 80's assymetrical haircut) was presented her award for the satiric "Stupid Girls" song she wrote eschewing the airhead "Paris/Nicole/my-super-sweet-sixteen-vixen" personalities that teen girls have lately adopted BY NICOLE RICHIE!!! Classic!

- Best Rap Video goes to Chamillionaire. Now if the category was Best Rap SONG, then maybe he should have walked away with it. But for best VIDEO, the moonman should have gone to Busta Rhymes for his "Touch It" Remix video with Mary, Missy, Lloyd Banks, DMX and Papoose- hands down.

- Most anticipated yet most disappointing performance of the evening- Beyonce. I LOVE Beyonce. I commend her for redefining the pop diva category. I can't knock her talent both in front of the mike and behind the producer's board. However, the one thing I look forward to the MOST from Ms. Knowles are her PERFORMANCES. She singlehandedly vaulted "Crazy In Love" to classic status with her performance of that song initially on The Today Show, then she let you know she officially arrived by performing it on the BET Awards, and then she cemented it with her performance on the MTV Awards. She has come out of the ceiling hanging upside down, dropped it like it was on FIRE in stilettos, and even gave the chicks in the club a new move with "the booty dance". The bar was set HIGH for her return performances. Coming off of her electrifying performance of "Deja Vu" on the BET Awards earlier this year, the expectation was that whe would definitely come with it for her performance of "Ring the Alarm" for her sophomore return to the MTV stage. However, it just didn't happen.
Yeah, she looked lovely and writhed onstage with reckless abandon and didn't sound half bad, but...I wanted her to surprise me with a classic performance- gag me with something new. While not bad in comparison to say, a Christina Milian or Amerie, it was wholly disappointing as a Beyonce set. Especially since the song is FIRE! But...there's always next time, B!

- Hype Williams tribute/performance and presentation of the "video vanguard" award. This was one of those times that COULD have been a seminal MOMENT at the awards show. The premise was GREAT: have artists whose videos have been truly BLESSED by Hype Williams re-create a portion of those groundbreaking videos onstage. Don't get me wrong; I loved the fact that Busta and Missy were able to lend a hand, but...with the ARMY of rappers/R&B singers, and dancers that have benefitted immensely from this man's artistic contribution to their visual careers (Brandy, Jay-Z,R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Ja Rule, Usher, Q-Tip, Puffy), are those the ONLY artists that the all-encompassing MTV could muster up to perform during the tribute? This man has been INSTRUMENTAL in the formation of material that has kept MANY artists in the limelight, sometimes on the strength of their video alone (Blu Cantrell, Ashanti). Could anybody else have performed?

Even the show's hosts have gone entirely mainstream in years past. The zaniness and on-the-spot irreverent hilarity of the Dan Ackroyds, the Bette Midlers and the Arsenio Halls have been replaced by the flimsy antics and overproduced semi-comical taped segments of the Chris Rocks, the Puffys, the Marlon and Sean Wayanses and...THE JACK BLACKs????!!! Gone are the expressions of subversion and outrageousness that once fueled the "anti-awards show awards show", replaced by a somewhat numb feeling of obligatory pyrotechnics, the presence of a "who are you wearing?" Red Carpet presentation and the absence of genuine SURPRISES. So in trying to answer the question "are the MTV Music Awards getting old?", I think the better question may be: is the franchise just mellowing with time... We'll see next year.


Questions for the Zeitgeist- MTV Music Awards edition...

1- Is Panic at the Disco (who also rocked!), with their elaborately staged and costumed performances, the New "Duran Duran"? Did they get upset in the "Best New Artist in a Video" category by 'Avenged Sevenfold'?

2- 30 Seconds to Mars walk away with the MTV2 award. Would they have gotten it if teen girls around the country weren't hopelessly devoted to movie hearthrob-turned band frontman Jared Leto?

3- How unnecessary was the taped Britney-Kevin Federline schtick they did before presenting the award for Best R&B video?

4- Why did MTV beat BET to the punch in honoring video director-extraordinaire/visionary Hype Williams, who singlehandedly re-invented black videos as a whole and indirectly affected all music videos since?

5- With all of these non-music oriented reality shows that invade its airwaves during prime viewing hours, Did Lou Reed have a good point when he said "I'd love it if MTV would play more Rock and Roll"?

6- How cool was it firstly for MTV to book The Raconteurs as the house band for the awards show (the first house band they've ever had) and then to rally ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons to turn out a SMOKIN' performance of "Cheap Sunglasses"? Isn't that how we REALLY want our MTV?

7- Is Extremer Sean Ryant "Carrot Top 2006"?

8- Did Kelis get mad that Pink bit her asymmetric haircut?






9- In keeping with the "People's Choice" award, shouldn't MTV create a "VJ's Choice" award and allow only the MTV VJs, both past and present, to nominate andvote on an artist/band?

10- How many people really thought Jack Black was funny as the host?