Former New York Times science writer and current Santa Fe Review blogger George Johnson, who set up a live webcam feed of the lot neighboring his home — which just so happened to be where Tom Ford was building his new house in the Santa Fe area — is the victim of a burglary, where $7,000 of equipment, including "a brand-new Apple Mac Pro computer, two display monitors, two digital cameras, a digital recorder, an iPod, a cell phone, two older monitors, a copy machine and, perhaps worst of all, his backup hard drive and backup power supply" was nabbed while he and his wife slept downstairs. Oh, and the webcam aimed at Ford's house. Johnson plans to replace it, with insurance money.
With more than $20 million in debt still yet to be paid off, Hillary Clinton will do anything to get supporters to throw money at her campaign, even though her campaign's only purpose right now is to, uh, pay off her debts.
Barack Obama is doing his part, asking supporters to send her a cheque. Now, Hillary has moved on to gimmicks.
In exchange for sending a $50 contribution sent her way, Clinton will ship you one of these "limited edition" tees. The gender-ambiguous silhouette there at the bottom? A subtle reminder that pantsuits work for any body type. [Swamp]
Project Runway judge and catchphrase coiner Tim Gunn on lady style of the presidential campaign:
Michelle Obama
"From a fashion viewpoint, Michelle Obama looks so comfortable and relaxed in her style and her fashion, and she exudes that. She has a presence that gives you confidence in her."
Cindy McCain
"Cindy McCain looks like someone has twisted her pony tail into a knot and tried to give her a face lift."
There are two ways to present A Guide to Spotting Fake Louis Vuitton Bags. In the first scenario, an author might offer tips to fashion insiders who like nothing more than to point out the pitiful girl who slung a Canal Street knockoff over her shoulder and thought she'd get away with it. In the second scenario, it's the buyers of such fake goods who get the service-y treatment, with a how-to on how to spot fake Vuitton goods before buying them. This is one of those guides. But, uh, word to the wise? If you find yourself in a place — and that includes eBay — where you even have to question whether the bag you're buying might be fake, well, then it is.
Though Gossip Girl is in re-runs and will not return to The CW until Sept. 1, the show's cast is spending the summer shooting the episodes you're going to concern yourselves with when season two appears this fall. In a brilliant twist of newspegs, this allows the show to be fair game on the culture beat year-round, which explains how articles like this one — about how the show influences the fashions that tween, teen, and twentysomething girls are buyings — get printed. That what S, B, or little Jenny wear impacts what young girls are wearing, and what the stores they shop at will be stocking, it of little surprise; designer Stefani Greenspan, who creates the Priorities line sold at Macy’s, Dillard’s and Bloomingdale’s, says GG "definitely" influenced her collection of "trim blazers lined in men’s tie fabric, oversized cardigans and ruffled plaid shirts with gold buttons."
The real Gossip Girl twist is that while designers are paying tidy sums to The CW to get their duds on the show's characters for some heavy hitting product placement, it's the incessant paparazzi coverage of the show — with cameras following them all over Manhattan and the Hamptons — that's impacting its "trend-ability." CONTINUED »
The label A.P.C., whose clothes often rival Jil Sander for their slim fit, is coming out with a new line of overpriced denim called "Butler Worn Out." The jeans, which feature a distressed, worn-out look, are named in part not for their look — which is usually achieved using sandpaper or some factory device — but the way their look is achieved: by having somebody else wear the jeans before you. You'll even know the name of just who walked around in your pair before you, because the person's name will be written inside the pants. We know these type of jeans by another name: used. [HS]
The money, which often isn’t as much as one might think, that recording artists make off of their music these days is enough to make the average person very happy, but not quite enough to fund the crazy, extravagant lifestyles that they like to publicly flaunt. Hence, the ubiquitous clothing lines, colognes, footwear lines, and other branding deals. In recent days there have been a flurry of such deals, from high brow to low brow.
Don’t expect to see many black models at Paris Fashion Week. Top designers, who are doing some preemptive damage control, say so themselves. They blame the agencies, which they say have a limited selection of models and color and an overwhelming number of Eastern Europeans.
Harper’s Bazaar is v. v. excited about the new fragrance from Estée Laude, Sensuous. So excited that they've booked Gwenyth Paltrow, the face of Sensuous, for the cover (considered a major get!) and dedicated 40 – four zero – pages to Paltrow as well as Elizabeth Hurley, Carolyn Murphy and Hilary Rhoda, who also, in their off time, collect fees as the faces of Sensuous. Critics might say that there's some sordid pay-for-play advertising/editorial deal going on at Bazaar, but that's nonsense! After all, do you see an ad from Estee Lauder in the magazine? Nooooo! And the magazine said in a statement, "Like many magazines, we often feature celebrities to coincide with their beauty and fashion launches." Obviously, "coincide" does not refer to some outlandish sponsorship deal set up by the publisher, but a pure editorial decision that gives readers what they want: beautiful women in a magazine. CONTINUED »
Christian Audigier, the ridiculous fashion "designer" who prints cursive letters in gold colors on hideous T-shirts, and the guy who pays Michael Jackson to show up at his birthday party (Britney Spears came free), is opening his own nightclub in Las Vegas, aptly titled Christian Audigier The Nightclub. It is, and we believe you'll agree, the most grotesquely themed nightspot Vegas has ever seen, and you know how much weight that statement carries. Look at this crap, below. CONTINUED »
Suddenly, after several years of being at the bottom of the fashion heap, black models are back on top. In a big way. Not only are they exclusively populating the pages of this month’s super-hyped Vogue Italia, Wintour & Co. also begrudgingly gave them some attention. At Milan’s Men’s Fashion Week, the designers of Dsquared used a group of models, led by Tyson Beckford, made up almost entirely of black men. And rumor has it that Lanvin’s show next week has an “all-ethnic lineup.”
“24-year old beauty and Victoria’s Secret model Karolina Kurkova is being criticized over her appearance in recent days at Sao Paulo Fashion Week, especially after a runway appearance in a bikini.One Brazilian paper blasted her back fat and cellulite, as did other outlets. The impetus for the stories were two still photos taken at the Cia Maritima fashion show at the end of last week.”
Vera Wang, who's lent her name to everything from Serta mattresses to HP computers, will now lend it to Brides.com. In the form of a byline. The designer today begins blogging there for the week, which, as we guessed before we even clicked on over, is less an opportunity for Ms. Wang to wish you a happy ever after than a chance to plug her latest offering: VeraWangWeddings.com.
This is the work of Walter Van Beirendonck and, while he's quite frank about his desire to "shock and amuse" the industry, and despite what we may tag this post, this man does not create fashion. He creates pranks. "Models wore full-body leotards, some emblazoned with skeletons, some with fleshy muscles and, ahem, appendages. Others came down the runway in T-shirts with cartoonish prints and superhero-inspired tops. But all sported beards meant to look like twigs and leaves (garden-gone-to-seed versions of Van Beirendonck's own). That may have been the provocateur's most wearable look: faux facial hair fit for a wood nymph." Do not buy this garbage, unless you are looking for a very, very expensive Halloween costume. CONTINUED »
How did fans react to the public unveiling of David Beckham's new Emporio Armani underwear campaign? You're looking at it. The bulging soccer star, who was on hand to sign photos of his package, appears in a giant billboard, a half-dozen stories tall, on Macy's store in San Francisco's Union Square. But this photo doesn't give the real manufactured pandemonium. That's below. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
