“Pink is the navy blue of India.” Diana Vreeland
Okay, so bunnies are gonna be maj this year–trust– the best of friends and even better of sweaters. ‘Why don’t you…‘ try pairing a cotton candy’licious angora knit with jacquard ankle pants? Where Now & Then meets Giorgio meets a Korean Betty Draper in Prada. Delish.
(The Pumps: Jimmy Choo, The Jacquard: Topshop, The Bag: Marni, The Blouse: Stella McCartney, The Cuff: YSL, The Angora: The Row)
“Is [maryjane] addictive? Yes, in the sense that most of the really pleasant things in life are worth endlessly repeating.” Richard Neville
Okay so I’m a serious leapfrogger when it comes to friends, work, music, food, fashion. I get super into a look slash thing, wear it to death for a few weeks slash months and then find a new style-lily to laud on. Repeating this process over and again. It’s kind of always been my thing. Before summer camp one year my mother staged an intervention in protest of the plaid AF skirt and logo tee that had been plastered on my body for the two weeks prior. Then there was the black linen pant, black tank, denim jacket moment– before the Juicy sweatsuit takeover– and after the prep revival. Loafers. Pleats. Knee highs. I tried really hard to bring it back. And in a way I totally did. For me.
Championing the retro prep scene this season is Prada. Swankyyy.
Prada, 841 Madison Ave, 212.327.4200
Images courtesy of Prada.com
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” Audrey Hepburn
So I finally got my lazy butt to the Met for the Impossible Conversations, Schiaparelli and Prada exhibit. It was fab… The crowd, not so much. What, now smelly war vets care about fashion? Hash tag no thanks.
In case you missed it here are some highlights:
A play on beauty.
Through the looking glass of the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
Not hard up for style.
How sheik.
Sometimes age is just a number. Other times, just scary.
Surreally really great.
Prada, 841 Madison Ave, 212.327.4200
Images courtesy of Met.com
“It took me years to work out what was so special about Vuitton.” Marc Jacobs
Louis Vuitton’s FW is so Marc I think even Helen Keller noticed. In all fairness he has been their creative director since 1997– but where in the past he’s been successful at keeping apart the luxury brand from his own eponymous label, LV FW12 is a page torn right from MJ’s book… The amish cousin to Jacob’s pilgrim parody, Louis Vuitton is dramatic and WWII chic, even if slightly overt and redundant at times.
Marc/ Louis/ Marc
Louis/ Marc
Marc/ Louis/ Marc
Louis/ Marc
There were also some serious Anne Frank moments:
And even a little Amish on acid:
Somehow, Prada made its way in there too:
The whole flared ankle pant situation isn’t doing much for me, but it’s really big this season I guess.
Images courtesy of Style.com
“Mighty is geometry; joined with art, resistless.” Euripides
The first fall window of the season has arrived (with turbans). Sorry. I know its barely even mid summer but fashion just really doesn’t give a fuck about my personal need for sun and sand. So, like Prada’s collection this season kind of confuses me, or maybe it’s just Tim Blank’s review that Miuccia ”was making a statement about the enduring human aspiration to beauty, inspired, in part, by the natural world around us” (Style.com). Which as thoughtful and decadent as the collection is, seems only to whisper to, or of, the sound of nature. On the one hand, the geometric shapes that epitomize this collection do sometimes show up in a natural landscape (honeycomb, Okra, starfish, Morning Glories), they are for the most part idealized mathematical concepts applied to organic life. If you want to talk fractals, okay, Miuccia’s patterns are recurring in and of themselves like fractals, but the shapes of whole of the garments don’t reflect this.
And like I guess what’s bothering me most, is the static definition and repetitive perfection of the patterns; which doesn’t exist in nature. Believe this narcissist when I say that obsessed as I am with “perfection,” it’s just not attainable. for you. Hair can always be longer, teeth whiter and weight, 5 lbs less, or more if you’re that girl.
Did you know that the Big Bang was actually a result of an imperfect balance of molecular activity? Which is to say that none of this, you, me, life would even exist had there been perfect symmetry amongst the elements. One would think it was the other way around, but no, nature loves imperfection. Which I guess would mean that this collection is totally rooted in nature because it’s far from perfect. Which is just really confusing…
But, enough about geometry, physics and nature- here are some looks from the runway.
Images courtesy of Style.com
I seriously need to stop dropping my iPhone camera, or from now on all windows are going to start looking like this. shit. Normally I try not to post mediocrity, I have artistic integrity to uphold, yadda yadda, but I ran out of windows last week and was actually busy being really cool this weekend.
Friday was pretty regular. A total me night (what night isn’t actually?)– I like to spend them working out, full body scrubbing, cocooning in cashmere and séancing the greats–Gabrielle, Heath and Yves, who, let me just say is fucking livid with Hedi right now. Anyway, you should totally try it, its the only true way to spend a Friday.
Saturday I woke up at 4, soaked, sauna’ed and re’slept until it was time to go out for a birthday thing, which was literally tour de New York. Normally I don’t do birthdays, other people’s not mine silly, but every so often I make an exception. The night went as follows: Mondrian (gorg), Back Room (vintage), Spitzers (fail safe), Home Sweet Home (un-chic, sweaty and taxidermied), Le Bain (I’m moving to their rooftop like now), pizza cart (delish), befriending bouncer Wayne on random ledge (drunk), Lamar Odom and sidekick (hi.) and more pizza (vomit). Khloe was nowhere to be found and apparently neither was I. Two fucking pieces of pizza? Someone must have fat cursed me earlier in the night, it’s the only thing that makes sense.
Sunday. Well, I just woke up an hour ago, so Sunday didn’t really happen for me. But its all good because neither did food.
Prada, 45 East 57th, 212.308.2332
Here is another installment of Prada being the shit– revving my engine with a collection that’s Grease, Dazed and Confused and American Graffiti all rolled into one. Gracing Madison Ave with automobile awesomeness- I’m just waiting for Sandy and Danny to start dancing to Foghat’s “Slow Ride” while friends race for pinks up the Ave.
In other fashion news- bare bellies are the “it” spring summer accessory. I’m not even kidding- why do you think I’m hitting the gym so hard? Bustier and bandeau season is just around the corner ladies.
And in other car news- the New York Auto Show just came to a close. Did anyone go? I was going to in the hopes of meeting my first husband, but then I realized a private jet show- or dealership is more my speed.
Ginta Lapina & Anais Pouliout
Ymre Stiekema
Marihenny Riviera Pasible & Daphne Groeneveld
Abbey Lee Kershaw
Megan Will & Nadine Ponce
Prada, 841 Madison Ave, 212.327.4200
Images courtesy of Style.com
Check out Prada’s florally inclined spring collection & other fabulous floral fashion moments here.
And here’s me channeling neon, light switches and other such electricity.. Hey, I may be reaching but I’m pretty sure you missed seeing this “happy face” :)
Shirt: H&M, Skirt: LF, Jacket: Gap, Jewelry: Vintage
Prada, 724 Fifth Ave, 212.664.0010
During the Cretaceous period flowering plants arrived for the fist time in nature, revolutionizing plant reproduction, the face of life in the natural world & countless catwalks.
Christian Dior Couture Fall 2010
Relying on insects and animals to carry their pollen from flower to flower, producing nectar ensured an animal’s return and a flower’s success. And although it was nectar these pollinators were after, flowers initially needed a way to attract insects and animals. After all, the sugary rich nectar bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and bats crave is hidden deep within a plant’s stamen. Cloaked in vibrant colors of intricate patterns and innumerable varieties, petals became the external marker of a flower’s internal sweetness.
This change in plants from spore germination to pollination marks a most important time in biology that affects all species today. It is the moment in which Beauty became a function of the natural order, wherein living things had to be aesthetically pleasing enough to ensure their survival in the long run. For the first time in nature, individual and collective survival was directly linked to the ability to visually stimulate; the flower’s attractive form necessitated by its function to thrive. And just think how beautiful flowers had to be to attract members of other species. Could you imagine if human survival hinged on our ability to attract flamingos or be found beautiful by zebras?
Viktor & Rolf Spring 2003 RTW
The flowers that didn’t make the cut, didn’t attract pollinators, didn’t pass on their genetic information and ceased to exist. On a grand scale this weeding out of nature’s most beautiful flowers from the rest gives us evidence today of what our ancient fellow creatures considered to be the most beautiful, and thus the fittest of flowers.
And because flowers are still thriving and we humans today are no less bewitched by beautiful things, natural and man made, it can be said that Beauty is an innate drive hardwired in all species to aid in evolutionary processes. It is no accident that our eye and brain are pre-programmed to pick out beautiful things from the rest. And serve nature well Beauty did, angiosperms are the largest group in the plant kingdom!
Diane von Furstenberg Spring 2009 RTW
Because flowers are so unanimously appreciated by many forms of life on Earth they set the universal standard of beauty. We don’t know if bees find alligators attractive or if birds think horses are sexy because their evolutionary mutualism would be evident today. And while there are many symbioses between the species, their profitable bonds were not born out of an aesthetically pleasing visual appreciation of the other like the flower. So we must give thanks to flowers for their part in making Beauty a survival necessity of the natural world.
Flowers have been an inspiration for countless works of art, bodies of literature and compositions of music. Millions of bouquets are given annually as a kind gesture and sign of good will and they grace the runway season after season; and rightfully so. Fashioning ourselves in the most beautiful of foliage is a way to appear more attractive, which as it happens to be, is the function of fashion as well. Talk about a double whammy!
Anna Sui Spring 2012 RTW
Although floral obsessions have since decreased from Tulip Mania, the period in time where the Dutch went so manic for tulips that a single bulb sold for the modern day price of a Fifth Avenue townhouse; we are no less behooved by their grandeur.
And grand they are. Whether you favor Lilacs, while I prefer Orchids, flowers are loved by all, to which we owe our thanks for bringing Beauty into the world and aesthetic appreciation into our lives. In honor of the flower, and in celebration of the birth of Beauty (145-65 million years ago this Spring), here is a look at some of my favorite floral moments in fashion:
Christian Dior Couture Fall 2010
Prada Spring 2012 RTW
Christian Dior Couture Fall 2010
Prada Spring 2012 RTW
Anna Sui Spring 2012 RTW
Viktor & Rolf Spring 2003 RTW
Images courtesy of Style.com
