Ralph Lauren is in trouble with the Internets. Some bloggers seem to think the designer’s opening ceremony clothes for the US Olympians were offensive, heralding his iconic Polo horse more than the iconic Olympic rings. We say big deal. How this is any different than every other day in America in which corporations are triumphant over amateur dreamers? But Jeff Koopersmith at the American Politics Journal is outraged:
Mad Men, the Most Important Television Show Ever Reviewed, isn't just a marketer's wet dream, what with all the obvious product placement opportunities. It's also a retailer's boon: The 1960s period drama on AMC has made the era's fashions du moment, with designers looking to the show for inspiration on what to deliver this fall. Michael Kors and Theory have hopped on board, and Bloomingdale's is all but whoring out its display windows for the show. Magazines like GQ are looking to the show's stars for fashion spreads on the season's new suits. Mad Men, just like its ability to influence drinking in the workplace, also influences what you'll wear to work. Thanks to the show, retailers are "offering a refreshing alternative to the flip-flops and baby-doll dresses that had become de rigueur," says AdAge. Which is all well and good — until 90210 premieres Sept. 2 on The CW, and spring fashions are re-stuffed with gladiator sandals, skooter skirts, and polo shirts.
Did you know Fox News publishes an Internet magazine? WE DID NOT. It is called iMag, and it includes a lot of video content you'd expect to see from a women's magazine. We know this because we watched several of their video clips and started feeling bad about ourselves.
But that doesn't mean we understand what iMag is for. Or who it's for. But who cares when there's content like … this office makeover? It's part of Fox News' editorial mission to not only make crazy right-wingers feel normal, but bland people seem interesting.
Ralph Lauren, the founder and CEO of Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., was paid $34.2 million in total compensation last year, the fourth consecutive year he was the highest paid in his category. [WWD]
Know what you get when you spot isolated instances of various television personalities wearing a tie of a certain color? A Times trend story! Eric Wilson spotted folks like Brian Williams, Keith Olbermann, and Bill O'Reilly all wearing ties of a purplish hue in recent weeks, which is apparently their way of announcing they're staying neutral in this heated political climate, where, duh!, wearing a red tie is an obvious sign you're in McCain's camp and wearing a blue tie is the equivalent of licking Obama's feet.
So certain of this trend, Wilson even hooked semi-respectable people into his charade, getting GQ creative director Jim Moore to declare, "Purple is the new neutral," and Bergdorf Goodman's men's fashion director Tommy Fazio to insist, "There are other ways of not being partisan.”
We've seen pure coincidences manufactured into trends before, but OMG, this is ridiculous. Here's why: CONTINUED »
If you're going to be named the face of Burberry, there is a tradition you must follow: get photographed using drugs.
Kate Moss has the honor of beginning the hazing, what with her cocaine snorting photospread. Now, Burberry's new lead model (as of a month ago) Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is following suit, with this photo of her holding "appears to be" a bong.
As the Daily Mail helpfully explains to Mormon parents, "Also known as water pipes, bongs are used to smoke tobacco, cannabis or other herbal products. They are filled with water which cools smoke before it enters the lungs, making it easier to inhale. Users can therefore draw in a large amount of smoke quickly, rather than smaller, more frequent puffs on a pipe or cigarette."
This is notable because while Moss was enjoying a weight-reduction drug, Huntington-Whiteley was subjecting herself to nature's appetite inducer, and that's just bad for business.
You know what's totally worth taking credit for? Trends! Especially the ones we wish would go away, or had never happened! It's like Lindsay Lohan claiming credit for leggings, even though the painted-on pantyhose look existed long before she first shoved her thighs through a pair. So you can imagine what god awful former fashion obsession Justin Timberlake and Ashton Kutcher might be "feuding" about. CONTINUED »
This is type of service journalism we'd like to see out of Men's Vogue, rather than reading Hudson Morgan's tales of wealth exhibitionism: How to pronounce designer names. This is a handy tool in case you've ever found yourself saying "Comme des Gar-cons" or "Zeg-na," or simply limited yourself to saying things like "Tom Ford" or "Theory" because there's no way you could screw those up.
Two weeks late with the news, OK! reminds us that L.A. boutique Kitson has dropped Lauren Conrad's fashion line from its shelves. Blame poor sales — or the fact that Conrad refused to do in-store appearances to promote her own goods. But the real scandal? That Conrad didn't even design her own wares! An "insider" tells OK! "it’s the best-known secret in the fashion industry," which is to assume Conrad is even an after-thought in the fashion industry. "The real designer is named Sherry Wood." What's next, Heidi Montag isn't the actual creative mind behind Heidiwood?
While the FCC worries itself over product placement on television programs, who is worrying itself over the product placement in literature? Sorry: "literature." A quick look at the latest crop of chick lit finds itself, much like Sex and the City's title track, obsessed with designer labels. Brand names pop up all over the place, in Lauren Weisberger’s Chasing Harry Winston, Kristen Kemp’s Breakfast at Bloomingdale’s, Bringing Home the Birkin, and Sunday at Tiffany’s. This is sad because while at one time you could already guess the plotlines of these books — girl meets dreamy guy, gabs about dreamy guy with her girl friends, sleeps with dreamy guy, discusses pros and cons of being with dreamy guy — you now already know which fashion labels their authors are whoring themselves out to. [NYT]
Marc Jacobs, the reborn Louis Vuitton designer who has a thing for playboys and press, is a perfect fit in Provincetown, Mass., the East Coast's gay mecca where he has opened a store. "As you can imagine, when Marc by Marc opened last summer, some Ptown regulars grumbled that it was too snooty for this salty, sexy town and would dilute the charming local flavor. But anyone with a speck of taste would choose the place any day over that irritating Black Dog store down the street." [NYT]
In between gossiping about Madonna's marriage woes and the possibility that she was mounting Alex Rodriguez complete with riding crop, you may have noticed that the soi-disant Queen of Reinvention is looking pretty bland lately. Sure, her theme for Hard Candy is boxer/fighter/angry lass, but the girl is wearing track suits, boring tees, and children in the public square.
The woman once known for reshaping her image era by era is sliding into her half-century age mark not with a bang, but a bland fashion apogee that's not a statement. It's a question mark.
Is this the most we can expect from a middle aged popstar? CONTINUED »
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.
Editorial Director
