July 2008 Archives

Ever wonder how your favorite Editor-in-Chief lives? Carine Roitfeld's Paris home is pure chic. Just like Carine herself, this apartment is tasteful, perfectly streamlined, and has not one hair out of place. But strangely, I could imagine Anna Wintour living here instead of Carine. I couldn't help but wonder at how airy, minimal, and beige everything was, for a woman who loves to be glamorous in her all-black dresses with her rocker eyebrows. Maybe it's just me projecting, but I always imagined Carine Roitfeld living in a place just a little more dramatic.

Lemon Magazine is pretty much my new obsession. Lemon 3 is $8.95, and this fine periodical is available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and  newsstands nationwide. According to the website: "LEMON is "Pop Culture With A Twist": a new breed of magazine that stakes its claim at the intersection of 60s-70s Pop and 21st century hyper-culture. Designed and produced with obsessive attention to every last detail, each issue of LEMON is pure Pop Art."

A blood drenched Leelee Sobieski holds an ax on the cover? A tribute to Clockwork Orange? I need a subscription.

Oh, and did I mention if you follow these directions at UnBeige, you'll receive a subscription for yourself - for free?

Chado Ralph Rucci

Gareth Pugh

Alexander McQueen

Giles

Yohji Yamamoto

Images courtesy of Style.com 

 

 

Images courtesy of Harper's Bazaar

 

Click at your own peril. This brings a whole new meaning to shoe porn.

Image source: W Magazine

Viktor and Rolf are coming out with three different styles of women's eyelashes, which will drop this August at Shu Uemera.

The eyelashes are Swirl, Wing, and Rhombus. Swirl is a girly fringe of flirty lashes, Wing is inspired by a dove's white feathers, and Rhombus is all drama: wild lashes rimmed with diamond-shaped, mirrored gold sequins.

The designers were inspired by Pierrot, a stock character in French miming art - ie, the sad clown.

According to W Magazine:

And yes, the designers do imagine real women wearing the lashes. "They can be worn as an accessory, when a woman is feeling festive," said Snoeren of the flutterers, which will be available in August ($95 per pair, shuuemura-usa.com). Then again, nothing's quite ordinary in their world. "We rarely have the feeling that anything is too much," he admitted.

Bebe hops on the ankle purse bandwagon, a year after it was introduced by Chanel (below). Bebe's are $119, on their website.

 

Would you wear an ankle purse? What are they for? If you had an ankle purse, what kind of stuff would you put in it? Band-aids for heel blisters? A lipstick and a tiny mirror? A light afternoon snack?

Bolded names mean I agree, yes, this person is extremely well-dressed and I totally see why you'd add them to any best dressed list because they're the cat's pajamas and I adore everything they wear.

Names striked through means WTF. No.

Names with a (?) after them mean, who has ever heard of this person? Is this person relevant? Who the hell?

Names left alone mean, yeah this is a well-dressed person, but I mean, maybe not best dressed. I don't have any beef with this individual, so I'll just let it slide, despite the fact that this person bores me. Neutral.

Women

• Ivanka Trump
• Michelle Obama
• Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
• Kate Middleton
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Diana Taylor (?)
  
• Julia Koch (?)
  
• Tilda Swinton
• H. R. H. Crown Princess Mathild of Belgium (?)
  
• Evelyn Lauder
  
• Fran Lebowitz
  
• Sisters Alexandra Kotur and Fiona Kotur Marin (?)
  
• Iris Apfel
  
• Sydney Finch (?)
• Angelina Jolie
• Kelly Lynch (?)
  
• Christy Turlington
• Carine Roitfeld
• Katherine Ross (?)
  
• Stacy Bendet
  

Men

• Zac Goldsmith (?)
  
• Daniel Craig
• Matt Lauer
• David Beckham
• Lapo Elkann
• H.S.H. Prince Heinrich von und zu Furstenberg (?)
  
• Count Manfredi della Gherardesca (?)
  
• Kanye West
• Morley Safer (?)
  
• Bryan Lourd (?)
  
• Brothers Rafael, the Duke of Feria, and Don Luis Medina (?)
  
• Brothers Andrea and Pietro Clemente (?)
  
• Karl Lagerfeld
• Julian Schnabel
• Charles Finch (?)
  
• Brad Pitt
• Mitch Glazer (?)
  
• H.R. H. Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece
• Jonathan Becker

What do YOU think of Vanity Fair's list? Inoffensive for the most part. But not particularly progressive, or fashion forward. My general response is merely, "meh." Click here to read more about these "fashionable" people. Glaring omissions = Tara Subkoff, Zac Posen.

The folks at Jezebel have done what SBA is too lazy to do, which is make a graph of the people on this list. Data representation = hardcore. Thanks to Jezebel for this awesome breakdown. According to them, the list comprises of "17% royalty, 100% rich people, 0% blogger."

First of all, these leggings are made by Members Only. Members Only - you know, of the ubiquitous Members Only jackets as seen on pretty boys in tight pants everywhere.

Second of all, they're rubber. Yes, rubber.

Third of all, Faran Krentcil (my idol) at Nylon Magazine did a write up on them:

"PVC leggings are so 2006... at least according to Members Only and their latest invention.

Today the hipster label releases rubber leggings, which are cut skinny and shiny for optimum hotness.

The tights-are-not-pants stick very close to the skin, but unlike PVC, you won't have to coat your legs with baby powder before you pull them on (though if you want to, it's actually not a bad idea)."

I'm definitely going to snag a pair of rubber leggings. They're $88 at Urban Outfitters. Can you imagine the possibilities?

Meow.

A type of carp called garra rufa, or doctor fish, nibble on toes during a fish pedicure treatment. These fish pedicures are becoming huge in the DC area, after a place called "Yvonne Hair and Nails salon" started offering them earlier this year. Do you think fish pedicures will take off in SF? So far, none are available here.

Hunger is the biggest cause of death in the developing world, killing more people than AIDS, TB, and malaria combined. Child hunger is particularly devastating, and more than 50 million children in the world are starving and not receiving any aid. By buying a FEED bag, you feed 1 child in the world for an entire year. Caring is always in style, and you can get your FEED bag today, here.

"In 74 countries, the UN World Food Program (WFP) offers a nutrient-packed meal to children in school. This food gets kids to school, who might not attend otherwise, and gives them the energy to learn and empowers them to better their lives." "FEED Projects goal is to reach hungry children through the sales of our FEED bags. FEED bags raise much-needed funds for WFP school-feeding operations and awareness of the problem of child hunger."

"All FEED products are made as eco-friendly and fairly as possible. Our bags are produced with high-quality,100% organic cotton and natural burlap.  We work with only audited and certified fair labor facilities. It's important to us to visit the places our products are made AND the places our donations are going."

Have you seen a cuter bunny? These bunnies model Proenza Schouler. Fifi Lapin is a blog I found via Coquette and which I've been addicted to ever since.

FASHION SHOW at Lime SF. Two collections will be shown, Sweet Marie by Kaylin Marie Andres and Busted by Jany Nicole.

SWEET MARIE
Sweet Marie's latest collection is named Precious Metal" and is inspired by 'visceral excess'. Look out for her great use of contrasting ideas and materials. She'll show leather gloves (handmade, metallic) styled with "delicate floral silks, exaggerated silhouettes, and massive knit chains that seem to engulf the wearer". Visit www. hellosweetmarie. com for more info.

BUSTED
JanyNicole started her Busted fashion line in June of 2007 in North Beach San Francisco, an area known for its strip clubs. JanyNicole is inspired by the local party scene "to create styles that make you want to take your clothes off have a pants off dance off". Busted uses bold colors and sexy silhouettes to make "garments bursting with energy and oozing back alley sex appeal". This is definitely some club style that's worth looking into.

She speaks with the husky tones of a girl from Croydon who has smoked Marlboro Lights since she was fourteen. When asked if she has any intention of quitting, she replies, "No, because it's who I am. I don't want to create a phony facade. I think I just have to be myself; otherwise, I'd be a paranoid mess."

Read Kate Moss's Vogue interview. Read it now, and read it because she is quite possibly the most fabulous woman on the planet.

There is a perception that heavy draping (the kind that swaddles you in some places, and parachutes you in others; that inarticulable kind of draping that makes you look like you're halfway between actually being an inpatient at a halfway home) does not look good on anyone unless they are pencil slim and six feet tall.

As a petite lady myself, I think oversized and slouchy clothing has the ability to be extremely cute on small women if it is done correctly. For petite women, the key to wearing oversized clothing is to draw attention to the waist, and to make sure that at lease some of the arm and leg is visible. A slender forearm peeping out of a 3/4 sleeve can be chic - sleeves that roll over the hands like you're in feudal Russia is not chic whatsoever. When I wear a voluminous dress without giving a silhouette to my body at all, I look like a child in a burlap sack. You really can't tell what's going on under there. Not attractive.

This dress is a perfect example of where cinching at the waist comes into play, with its sash belt. It also has a rolled sleeve, and a heavy drape to the shoulder, which draws attention to the shape of the upper body. Though this dress looks sack-like, it has enough architecture to still bring attention to the body's form. Tres chic, and completely wearable, no matter how tall you are. No wonder it's $725.

StyleShake is an ingenius idea that has finally come into being. In fact, I wonder at how no one thought of this earlier! StyleShake allows you to go online and design your own clothing, by picking the color, choosing the cut, the length, the design - as well as your individual measurements so that the garment fits exactly as you desire. You plug the info into the site, and presto! 10 days later, your design has been ready made and arrives in the mail. If the dress isn't what you wanted, they will do alterations on it for you, free of charge. The above dresses are just some of the looks that have come out of the site. It's not that expensive either. Dresses go from 85 pounds, and shirts and skirts each go from 49 pounds. Cheers!

Sebastic lingerie for men, via Diane, a Shaded View.

A friend sent me this article from Lesbiatopia today, and I was struck by some of the coincidences between lesbian fashion and that of modern day Mission hipsters. I mean, mullets, fauxhawks, wifebeaters, and flannel (staples of lesbian fashion) are all wardrobe staples among the unwashed and emaciated youth of San Francisco. The mullet and flannel combination is the most popular of all - near fatally hipster and most of the time, completely unbearable.

According to Lesbiatopia: "Flannel. Finally, the paradigm of lesbian fashion stereotypes. Thank god this specific trend has mostly died out."

Well, what's old news to lesbians has become the look du jour amongst shaggy haired boys in tight pants, as well as Mary Kate Olson. One of the first people to really showcase the flannel trend was Mary Kate Olson, who wore flannel before anyone else even knew it was cool.

 

Taking cues from the ladies, boys have jumped on the flannel bandwagon.



Angela Chase wasn't a lesbian, but I always thought she looked like one. Lately, I've been seeing guys dressed like Angela Chase and even donning Angela Chase haircuts, like Jackson Pollis.



Let's face it. Lesbians have a way bigger influence on fashion than people realize. I hope the next lesbian trend to come back in style is Stephane Audran's late 60s-era powersuits in the film Les Biches. They are totally ferocious.



Stephane Audran, in fur and fedora (obivously).

The Wall Street Journal reports that Vogue and IMG are teaming up to create a reality series called Model.Live, and according to the journal, "The show, called Model.Live, tracks three models as they navigate casting calls, catwalks and airports for fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris. The first of 12 eight-minute episodes will debut Aug. 19 on-demand on Vogue.tv, a site that runs advertiser-sponsored videos and allows consumers to buy the featured products. The shows will also be syndicated on sites such as Veoh.com and hulu.com. From Vogue.tv, viewers can connect to Bebo.com, a video-based social-networking hub, to watch updates and interact with the show's stars."

"The Model.Live series cost $3 million -- about $31,000 a minute -- to produce. That puts it among the biggest-budget Web-TV projects to date. By contrast, marketers spent an average of $4,500 for an online video in 2007, according to Forrester Research." Express, the clothing line, is the show's lead sponsor, and the models will be given closets of Express clothing - though, for the sake of authenticity, they will not be required to wear them (hah!).

Unlike airbrushed reality television, this online show promises to deliver the goods. In the sense that we will be privy to these models' insecurities, depressions, unhealthy eating (should it arise, which is inevitably will), castings, successes, and rejections. But this is Vogue. I doubt we'll see the crying, catfights, and drama of trashy television. In real life, models are friends. And this show also merely tracks them - it does not pit them in competition against one another. I'm really looking forward to seeing the result.

According to the De Young's website, "In the 1960s Yves Saint Laurent made an indelible mark on fashion with clothing emblematic of the new modernity. Yves Saint Laurent, organized by FAMSF and The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, explores the designs that made Saint Laurent famous, and his inspirations drawn from art, theatre, history, literature, and nature. This exhibition contains more than 100 accessorized garments and sketches illustrating the lines, colors, and fundamentals of Saint Laurent's work. This is the only U.S. venue."

The exhibit will be divided into four main themes. La pointe du crayon (the pencil tip) will look at the progression of design from the starting point of a YSL sketch. La révolution Yves Saint Laurent (The YSL revolution) will examine the designer's menswear inspiration for his womenswear - i.e. Le Smoking. La Palette will look at his métissage and use of color. Les sources lyriques (The lyrical sources) explores his inspirations, literary and otherwise, for his designs.

It gets even better. On the opening day, the museum will host a symposium of speakers, including Hamish Bowles. Yep, I'll be there. You better be, too.

So the much hyped V magazine, graced by the buttocks of cover girl Gisele Bundchen, is finally here. Photographed by Mario Testino, Gisele's spread consists of a variety of NSFW pictures of her wearing clothes shredded to near invisibility. V magazine is one of my favorite periodicals, because it publishes pictures no other periodical would. But I'm not sure what I think about this photo.

Regardless, Gisele looks stunning in anything she wears, and she had some very interesting things to reveal about herself (besides her derriere).

On Mario Testino
"Only Mario [Testino] could make me take those pictures. Ah! The only person that can get me to do stuff like this is Mario. You know what he's like . . ."

On revealing her backside
"You know, people are going to say my butt is showing too much in these -- but, I'm sorry, my butt showed more in Victoria's Secret. For seven years my butt was in every catalog. It's hypocrisy: those [paparazzi] pictures ran everywhere, and everyone was talking about my butt. This is V Magazine--if you're going to do something like that, you do it for V."

On not wanting attention
"I've been a model for ten years and . . . I am the only person I know that does not have [a publicist]. Do you know why? Because I don't want them to talk about me. For my job I need an agent. Where am I going? What time is my flight? Who am I working with? That's what I need to know. I have nothing to say to people who gossip about me."