As design after design floats across runways around the globe, the world still reels from the death of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen. It has been more than 10 days since McQueen’s untimely passing but I felt it would be appropriate to reflect upon his contributions to the fashion world.
McQueen was a pioneer in the fashion industry. He was able to seamlessly meld tough, Gothic motifs with soft feminine elements. The effect is nothing short of ethereal. When he exhibited his spring 2010 collection he said, “I’ve always been fascinated by the Victorian period of death where they used to take pictures of the dead.” I remember my first encounter with Alexander McQueen’s designs in the pages of Vogue when I was about 15 years old. The designs conjured up mental images of a trunk forgotten in an attic– the decaying lace of an old wedding gown. Victorian. Macabre. Brilliant.
McQueen’ was outspoken both in his design and in his wit. My favorite anecdote is that he famously sewed obscenities into a coat he designed for Prince Charles. His fall 2009 collection was surrealist in nature with latex smears for a mouth and Escher-esque tessellations running across structured conical dresses.
McQueen's love for eccentricity and the bizarre shows in his fall '09 RTW collection
His most recent collection, Spring Ready-to-wear 2010, entailed structured mini dresses, surreal shoes, snake-skin patterns, and Lady Gaga glitz.
McQueen was able to beautifully and artfully meld fashion and technology. Take this hologram of Kate Moss gracing the runway and stunning the audience in 2006:
This show featured an automobile robot spray-painting a model on a rotating platform
With regards to mainstream success, we can thank McQueen for low-rise jeans, skull print scarves, and Lady Gaga’s envelope-pushing fashion.
Lady Gaga in McQueen's design
In an ever-evolving industry, the fashion world will move on in the aftermath of loss. Alexander McQueen, however, provided designs that transcend the trend.
Is everybody fall-ing into the trap of this uplifting, charming, unforgettable season as much as me? The leaves starting to change, caramel apples flooding the stores, fantasy football draft madness, and who can forget…the premiere of Gossip Girl!!
So the purpose of this is to tell you a little secret. In fact it may just be your one and only source into the Gossip Girl’s fashion styles… that you yourself can have!
That’s right, Anna Sui just released a line of Gossip Girl inspired clothing for women, to be purchased at Target. She’s nailed some of the character’s styles almost perfectly, specifically focusing on the styles of Blair, Serena, Jenny, and Vanessa. If you’re looking for the perfect look for fall while at the same time wanting to model off of one of television’s most loved and sophisticated shows, this is just for you. I’ll break down each It Girl’s style, referencing quotes from Gossip Girl’s costume designer Eric Daman from his interviews on YouTube.
Blair: You just gotta love her. Her infamous hats and headbands perfectly match that go-getter New York City attitude that we’re all entertained by. While she is known to dress conservatively in fitted gowns with fine linen, Daman addresses a question a lot of us are sure to be wondering: Who will Blair Waldorf be when she goes to college? Will she wear the headband? “The headband has sort of become its own thing and kind of become its own character on the show. I think it’s Blair’s security blanket…and I want to take it to more of an adult level.” A more adult level will, in my opinion, be played with throughout the show. She’s trying to fit into college and I think instead of wearing the frilly little skirts and plaid headbands, she’ll shift to a more mature, elegant look for better or for worse. Annu Sui’s Target line features sleek black skinny pieces and bright, bold colors which fits her character perfectly.
Serena: Serena’s look is tragically hip. Sui features a lot of black and gray “throw on pieces” for a tossled Kate Moss look from her Target line. Although throw on pieces are Serena’s staple, Sui’s Serena section seems to be almost too uptight for Serena- just not “Serena” enough. While some of Sui’s pieces capture Serena’s clubbing style, I see Serena’s look as a fitted jeans, slingy tank/vest to accompany those gorgeous locks of hers. Daman mentions Serena is in an identity crisis in Gossip Girl’s third season, so she’s falling back on the old party girl style with loose tanks and short dresses. Of course she continues to look good in anything with that carefree attitude of hers. Keep notice as the episodes tick by as to how Serena’s style will evolve. Of course, Josh Schwartz has got to pick her off her feet at some point.
Jenny: Sui captures Jenny’s look pretty well- with her eccentric indie style and knit hats Jenny is not afraid to take a risk. Though I cannot stand her character, I’ve intriguingly watched her style evolve within each season. Jenny didn’t have much of an identity in the first season, and tried to blend into the mix along idolizing Serena. As her interest in the fashion industry developed in the show, her style became much more, well, eclectic. The mix of cotton-knit dresses and funky boots really did grow on me as she became a stronger person. One thing to learn, style equals confidence. As Jenny’s self-confidence grew so did her style, which ended up becoming one of the best on the show.
Vanessa: Although a lot of people seem to be bothered by her character, I think Gossip Girl would actually be a terrible loss without her. For those of us who read the books, we knew Vanessa was supposed to have a shaved head, totally not into fashion and way into film. It’s no secret Josh Schwartz doctored up her character, but really to what degree? She’s super-independent, typical New York City artsy, and a good friend. She doesn’t totally fit in with Blair’s inner crowd, but that does not seem to bother her at all which is why I really like Vanessa. Her style, as Sui features, consists of a lot of earthy colors like browns, greens, and oranges. Vanessa’s style can best be described as boho, and is very easy to obtain with the right confidence. Get a vintage-modern dress, pair it with funky jewelry and add a pair of frilled boots to piece together the whole look. You’ll never go wrong with the Vanessa look.
So pick your perfect fall look, mix and match styles, and watch trends disappear and evolve this fall.
My advice: You can’t go wrong mixing and matching. I don’t care if it’s a Jenny-like floral scarf with a Blair-like modern dress. Try it, because you never know.
XOXO
View Anna Sui’s Gossip Girl Target Collection here:
Today Garance Dore posted this photo on her street style photography blog. I’ve been seeing gorgeous bright patterns like this a lot recently, and I’m really feeling it.
For example, Suno is a clothing line by Max Osterwies made out of vintage Kenyan kangas, which are big rectangular pieces of cloth printed with bright designs and a sometimes cryptic Swahili proverb or phrase. In Kenya and Tanzania they are used as all-purpose sarongs, bundles, headwraps and baby backpacks, but Osterwies turns them into tailored jackets, skirts, dresses, and even bikinis. Kenya used to have an active garments and textiles industry, which has all but disappeared today, so it is especially nice to know that these clothes were made by local tailors and artisans for a good wage.
Similarly, I was at Renegade Handmade in Wicker Park awhile ago and saw some amazing skirts and bags made of vintage African textiles by the Canadian artist Les Enfants Sauvages. I also saw her booth at the Renegade Craft Fair in September. Check out her etsy shop for cool, modern shapes made of colorful African and Indian textiles like old saris.
Today’s newest fashion icon: Coco Chanel Perez. The self-proclaimed “gossip gangsta” has recently launched a new edition to the Perez Hilton empire, Coco Perez. According to the Coco Perez about page, the LA Times called Perez, “like US Weekly, the Star, the Enquirer and Life & Style all rolled into one sweet yet snarky, sagacious yet salacious gay man.” Perezhilton.com has becoming a leading celebrity news site since it was launched in 2004 and was named one of the top five Web sites checked by college-aged women in 2008, according to eMarketer.
This new blog is similar to his original celebrity gossip blog, yet focuses completely on the fashion world. The site will feature the latest news about upcoming spreads in your favorite magazines, street style looks, celebrities on the red carpet, where to find your favorite fashions from your favorite shows and movies, interviews with up-and-coming designers and more.
For those who are addicted to Perez’s sarcastic sense of humor featured in his daily gossip posts and looking for up-to-the minute fashion news, Coco Perez will definitely be a site to check out. As Perez would say, this site looks like its going to be “pure seks.”
I love the anti-paparazzi clutch bag (another project from the Interactive Telecommunications Program), but what does it look like? And if everybody in front of the bar carries one of those bags, does the whole place just explode with one enormous flash?
At Avant Gaudy we firmly believe you can reinvent your style without restocking your closet. Here’s how you can turn that classic blazer into a fresh new look.
How to Style It: Pair a lacy brassiere with your favorite blazer for an instant masculine/feminine mash-up. Button up the blazer for a confident and sexy look. Plunge it open for the after party.
Stella McCartney’s new ad campaign is certainly whimsical. The blogosphere seems a little baffled by it right now. My first reaction was favorable – it’s adorable, it’s quasi-environmental, and it’s Disney, after all.
When putting this post together, I realized that I really hadn’t, well, looked at the clothes. It’s a topic often debated in advertising classes – is an ad truly good if you can’t remember the product? Upon further examination, I saw that Stella McCartney’s idea made sense:
I’m a huge Bambi fan, and the film reminds me of my mum… And we wanted to have some fun. The clothes in the campaign are looking quite fierce, and we wanted to contrast them with the innocence of Bambi.
Unfortunately, I’m getting “fun” and “innocent” more than fierce from this campaign. I think the colors for the cartoon characters are too bright, the model’s outfit too muted.
What do you think about this campaign, and should anything have been done differently?
If you loved The Devil Wears Prada, here’s your chance to see the real deal. The September Issue follows Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, as the magazine prepares for its infamous September issue (According to The September Issue’s official site, the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine weighed nearly five pounds, and was the single largest issue of a magazine ever published!).
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and a limited release in the US is scheduled for August 28. The September Issue won the Grand Jury Prize for Excellence in Cinematography at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
I thought ezines went the way of Geocities and animated GIFs. Not so. Most of these sites supplement the printed version, but do so very well. Here are a couple that combine the eye-appeal of a detailed, glossy magazine with the convenience of the web. Most of these magazines let their innovative photographs do the talking, so I’ll do the same.
“Created for people of the world who love fashion, music, art, & make believe. Lula is gentle, whimsical and ethereal in tone, mixing high fashion to fall in love with and interviews that feel like late night chats with people you wish you knew.”
"I feel as if I’m coming into this small shop tucked into an unknown corner of some hip town where you’d find either a hip young sales girl with a sweet sense of humour or the most awesome 50-year old with thousands of necklaces and a laugh that booms right through your body."
-Eline Renee on Avant Gaudy
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