Fashion Sanity

Blogging Project Runway: Channeling Bobby DeNiro

2009-11-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

There are times I am so angry, despondent, tired and sad I cannot muster the energy to speak in complete sentences. My speech becomes monosyllabic. Me and my personal
assistant call that my Bobby DeNiro moods, named thusly after how Robert DeNiro was portrayed as talking in the Saturday Night Live "The Joe Pesci Show" sketches.
After writing about high-yield purification methods for DNA and RNA and total protein for use in real-time PCR, RT (reverse transcriptase)-PCR and SDS-PAGE and Western blotting and watching last night's episode of Project Runway, I was square at the corner of "Casino" and "Goodfellows". What happened last night with Gordana's beautiful dress was so FOUL I wanted to tell Heidi Klum off in my best gangster style.
So here is what happened ...
Please forgive the verbal paucity... I still have 2 more documents to write about that mind-stultifying basic science stuff. These are the times that send me running back to writing about acne and thinking it is "fun". Seriously, there is not enough money and financial security in the world they can offer me that would make 3 or 4 years of writing about lab techniques, palatable. I did the stuff when I did it because it was a means towards an end but this stuff, every day? HELL NO!
By the way the challenge (similar to that of past seasons) was to go to the museum (in this case the Getty in LA) and be inspired by something in there or around there and make a great look that would determine who would go to Bryant Park.
Here is what happened:

Althea:
Inspiration: Getty architecture

Good inspiration. I like nice building too. Horrible execution, ugly outfit. She goes Bryant Park. WTF? If this go I can too with ugly orange MC Hammer pants I did.

Carol Hannah:
Inspiration: Baroque bed-decorative arts

Rococo baroque bed pretty. Dress looked nothing like bed but was pretty and well- sewn, but a little boring. She goes Bryant Park too.

Christopher:
Inspiration: Rock Fountain with algae.

I like unusual too. As much as next dude. I loved Andrae's "Dirty Water" dress. This NO "Dirty Water" dress. This construction paper cone with green crayola scribbles.
Nice boy go bye-bye. Nice boy should have gone bye-bye WAY before Epperson and Ra'Mon and Shirin.

Irina:
Inspiration: Godward’s “Mischief and Repose.”

Nice sapphic painting. Ugly, dowdy, randomly, unnatractively styled dress that says nothing. Girl goes Bryant Park.

Gordana:
Inspiration: "Cathedral" Monet Painting (Thank you Tom+Lorenzo)

Absolutely beautiful, soul stirring, "I felt God breathing through me" ,garment with most emotional impact of the whole season in manner of Jay's "Chrysler Building" dress and Andrae's "Dirty Water" dress and Chris and Christian Siriano "Avant-garde" dress. Dress that will be remembered 5 years from now and named with the top creations in the show. Wonderful, talented, admirable woman is unjustly sent home without good explanation or chance or run-off like Chris March and Rami Kashou.

Me join choir: FUCK YOU Bunim/Murray.

That's all.

LA Opera Costume Sale

2009-11-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is too fabulous for words!!!!
James St. James from the Freak Show shows off all the goodies at the LA Opera Costume Yard Sale... Drool....the video has surprise appearances by LA glitterati..
God, I miss LA...

Pride Atlanta 2009 Images and A Little Fashion/Costuming

2009-11-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Pride Parade and Festival took place in Atlanta Saturday the 31st and the 1st of November in Midtown ( the gay area of Atlanta).
I am practicing and learning how to take photographs, especially in motion, and how to edit them and add effects and try to rescue BAD photos through those means.
Here are some images from Pride Atlanta 2009...

Gogol Bordello and The Rebirth of Punk Gypsy Soviet Chic

2009-10-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

I have been in a funk. And that is a HUGE understatement. The corporate world, recruiters, bosses, PTSD from the constant paranoia of KNOWING that someone is going to backstab you and the threat of poverty and homelessness and the proverbial Damocles sword of losing your day job (which allows you to eat and have a roof over your head) perpetually hanging over you. That is the horrible reality of working in the modern corporate world. 5 years into our careers and we are all like walking Reinfields. The fact that I am not on psychotropic medications and I am free of substances of abuse and I am not compulsively munching on insects is a testament to my strength of character. 90% of people in the corporate world ARE on anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, anxiety medication, sleeping pills, do drugs, drink too much or are sex addicts. And trying to get a new job is worse. You have to submit to proctological, insultingly invasive "investigative consumer reports" where your prospective employers want access to everything in your life from your credit score (why is it any of their business?) to you D in PE (why the hell do they care?). All of these things have turned my nerves into string cheese and completely asphyxiated my creativity and inspiration. And that is not an easy thing to do. That little light of mine sparkles like a disco ball. But lately, I've been feeling like a candle with its wicker about to give out.
I needed something to bring me color and joy.
So last night I took myself to see Gogol Bordello. I love the hell out of this band.
The show was incredible and the music and mood full of energy, theater, and that sad, funny, angry and unapologetically cool vibe that accompanies Eastern European anything.
Eugene Hutz is a gifted show man, artist and performer. And he rocks a handlebar mustache like no one's business. In 2009.
I love the whole band, the Sergey's absolutely beautiful tzingane violin, the fierce percussion chicks in their guerilla cum Sporty Spice get ups...The Spanish rap by Pedro Eraso brings me back to my Mexico City Latin urban punk roots.
I was standing next to two extremely tall Polish guys and we were jumping like crazy dancing, feeling the music, soaked in the energy of the crowd.
Here are some photos of the concert and the band:

I fell back in love with this band after I saw Madonna's directorial effort "Filth and Wisdom":

The idiot critics did not really get it, but I loved this movie because it is all about accepting yourself and your life and squeezing every minute of joy out of it and living without regrets. Self- hate and self-denial in Western culture have become the norm. You perpetually have to wear a mask of conformity and discipline as if we all were some sort of masochistic capitalism zombified Jesuit monks. I refuse to participate and Gogol Bordello joins me as a soundtrack to self-acceptance, hedonism and celebration of the sweet and sour of life.
The music of this band inspires me plenty.
How about taking your sequined leggings or boyfriend jeans or tuxedo pants and a plain black t-shirt and paring them with this:

All spiced up with some of these:

(All Loulou de la Falaise at HSN.com)

Or a pair of plain black leggings, these boots by Loulou de la Falaise($109.90 at HSN.com)

this t-shirt ($20.00 at Mr. Pitt online store:http://www.mrpitt.net/cgi-bin/store/cpshop.cgi/tshirts.ybiaw-10689200+retro-soviet-cccp-white-t-shirt.html)

With a black leather blazer or shrunk denim jacket and perhaps the Alexander McQueen skull scarf? or substitute the leggings for this skirt by Fashion Overdose:

And add a pair of black ballet flats?
I think it's absolutely Multi-Contra Culti....

Blogging Project Runway: Knockoff Junction or Wannabe

2009-10-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have been reading a pretty awesome blog called "Counterfeit Chic" that basically is about the different knockoffs of designer clothing in the market. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Knocking off even your own self is a common practice in the fashion industry. And EVERYBODY does it. One of the most priced pieces of my couture collection is a Vivienne Westwood jacket from her Anglomania range. It is so structured and complexly tailored, with so many beautiful and surprising details and a built-in corset/vest. Here are some photos:

Well, she did the exact same jacket, in a slightly different fabric, for her "Black Label" line for probably 3 times the price ( and my Anglomania one was nowhere near cheap... but finding a Vivienne Westwood tailored jacket in a Euro size 50 , like a US 16, is almost miraculous. So I could not let it pass). I know because the "Black Label" one was in the book for her retrospective exhibit at the V&A. The quality in my diffusion piece is comparable to the "couture" piece and since it was done by the same designer no one would call it a knockoff, but Dame Viv knocked herself off.

This is so commonplace, it's not even funny and more like SOP. In fashion, you are after all working with a somewhat finite vocabulary and you are always going to find similarities, homages and downright ripoffs. Marc Jacobs has ripped off Chanel. Karl Lagerfeld has ripped off Franco Moschino. Everyone has ripped off Schiapparelli and Vionnet and Adrian Gilbert. Then there are the mass conterfeiters who do it shamelessly and commit the sin of not being famous or somewhat expensive. There was a bookstore/ antiquary place/ fashion magazine archive in NYC called Gallagher Paper Collectibles at 126 East 12th Street between Third and Fourth avenues, where EVERYONE in the fashion industry from Galliano to Donna Karan went for "inspiration". Which means they went there to rip off designs. I know because I have been a Gallagher's customer. Not to rip off anybody but because they also sell original sketches at a steal which I use as art on my bedroom wall:

Original Isaac Mizrahi Sketch-Purchased from Gallager's in 2005.

In this last episode of Project Runway the copycat accusations flew wildly in the workroom. Althea saying that Logan knocked her off. Irina saying that Althea knocked her off. As if ANY of them had come up with something that had not been done before...Seriously...Using zippers as something other than zippers? It has been done WAY before Althea. I have seen this a gajillion times on Moschino clothing ( not to speak of Jeffrey Sebelia's Bryant Park collection). Shoot, I even did it myself on my apparel construction final project. Moschino (Couture, Cheap and Chic AND Jeans) regularly uses notions (safety pins, zippers, hooks and eyes, snaps, buttons) as trims or embroidery or ornamentation. Just saw a dress with a safety pin starburst "applique" at Nordstrom's last week. I even have an Alexander McQueen cardigan in my closet right now from the capsule collection he did for Target where the zipper is used around the collar.
The ginormous floppy sweater? Hardly an Irina or Althea original. Donna Karan has done them, Benetton has done them, Ralph Lauren and Valentino have done them. How do I know? Because I have some of those too. And basically the cocoon shape is a Paul Poiret knockoff. Pays off to have listened in Fashion History class.
The accusations were all pretty ridiculous I think.
But other than paranoia and a lack of self-awareness here is what they came up with this week...

Carol Hannah (aka Proenza Schouler cocktail dress)

Cute little cocktail dress. That's all.

Christopher (aka wannabe Lacroix gown):

Puffy gown with decently fitted bodice and train wreck on the skirt. Ugly fabrics. Poor design. To me this was the one that should have been auf'ed. But who listens to me? This was like the dress for a depressed Quinceanera one step away from ECT treatments...

Logan (I want to be Franco Moschino or Jeffery Sebbelia):

To me it was not that bad. Original? No. But hideous? No either. Self-indulgent and student project-ish? For sure. But with nowhere near the lack of taste and eye for design as Christopher's.

Althea (Maharaja pants -pays off to shop in the UK- and Donna Karan cocoon sweater):

At least she did it well. I would actually wear this. So yeah.. I agree with the win.

Irina (If you wannabe Versace, you got to get with my friends...):

I am TIRED of the slutty Heidi Klum aesthetic being championed on the show. Tight and short is not sexy nor elegant. It's whore wear. This was a great look for a high end strip joint in Moscow. It was well sewn and it related to her other look.

Gordana ( I wanna uh, I wanna uh, I wanna channel Rick Owens ah):

I cannot believe that after all the crap they give this poor (and incredibly talented and admirable) woman, they still have the gall to comment on her lack of confidence. NOT ALL FASHION IS TIGHT, SHORT, COLORFUL DRESSES. Some of us actually LIKE long tailored jackets and somber colors. There is a reason why Comme Des Garcons and Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto sell so well and are very wealthy designers. Some of us do not want to look like Bratz dolls. I would have made a cool pair of pants to go with that jacket. Maybe even a pair of jeans and put a red or blue top underneath to give it a pop of casual elegance and color but I actually LIKED the jacket, saw nothing wrong with the skirt and would have put this look MILES ahead of Christopher's gown.

I think that there is something terribly ironic about lots of knocking people off accusations on a show where the challenge was basically asking the designers to knock themselves off. That is the beautiful post-modernism of reality television...
And I leave you with this:

And this:

Until next time at the same bat-time and on the same bat-channel...

'Tis The Season for Cool T-shirts ... Fa La La La La

2009-10-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

Being that I am of the dark love persuasion, this is my favorite time of the year. It is even made better because here in Atlanta, Pride is celebrated Halloween weekend. So this upcoming weekend is like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. Plus, I have been reading the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris and Kelly Armstrong's "Otherworld" books. And right now I am very much in a vamp and werewolf frame of mind...Cannot wait to see who they cast as Alcide in "True Blood" next season.
I love t-shirts because it's the simplest and easiest way to add punch to an outfit, you can dress them up or down or transform them in a billion different ways. Put a cardigan on and you have casual. Leather jacket and you go rockalicious. Tux jacket and you are ready for an evening out. A t-shirt can immediately tell the world what you feel, think or love. The t-shirt is an intrinsically democratic garment. They are affordable (unless you go Lanvin or Chanel). They are easy to care for. They look good on everybody and cotton jersey feels good against your skin and breathes.
I <3 t-shirts!
This time of the year really awesome ones can be found... And with the au courrant love for all things supernatural (I was born to love them. I was named after "Carmilla", Sheridan Le Fanu's sapphic vampire tale. My Dad was so Goth I am amazed my name is not Lenore or Annabelle Lee) the goodies are plentiful.
I was checking out the Torrid website and found so many cool ones I can't even pick...

Are ready for this weekend yet? You can find all these t's at Torrid.com

Ballyhoo Vintage: Amazing Plus Vintage

2009-10-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for the Holy Grail for years. Amazing vintage plus size clothing. I am always looking and sometimes I stumble on treasures.
Finding beautiful vintage clothes in larger sizes is exactly like the quest for the holy grail. They have to be out there. There have always been larger people and they did not run around naked. As a matter of fact pre-1920, larger women would have had NICER clothing because being larger was a sign of wealth and lack of major disease.
It is difficult. But not impossible. I have found amazing stuff in my hunts. Lots of cashmere sweaters. An insanely gorgeous couture Laura Biagiotti dress from the '80's, a Diane Von Furstenberg maxi dress in one of her archival prints, tuxedo jackets, beaded evening bags.
I have been seeking for a vintage store with a good selection of 40's and 50's clothes in larger sizes and I stumbled onto Ballyhoo Vintage.
They have a GREAT inventory of mid-20th Century (40's through 60's) clothes in larger (but not above a modern 20W, I would say) clothes.
Here are some of examples:
1940s Polka Dot Party Dress. Approximately a modern size 12W-14W

1940s "Hi Ya Sailor" Cocktail Dress. Approximately a modern size 10W-12W

1930s Wool Suit with Dramatic Shoulders and Art Deco Styling. Approximately a modern 14W-16W

1940s Fitted Suit. Never worn! Approximately a modern 16W-18W

1950s Satin Cocktail Dress. Approximately a modern size 12W

1950s Sheer Rose Print Dress. Sheer nylon voile (you'll need a slip) with a soft yellow rose print. Pearly carved plastic buttons. Approximately a modern size 16W to 18 W.

Bold Red 1950s Gabardine Dress. Never worn! Approximately a modern 16W-18W.

MOD 1960s Cocktail Dress. Bold Black and White 1960s Paisley Print. Rayon acetate. Fun and frisky dress that's just begging to be taken out and, for Pete's sake, wear your boldest red lipstick! Never worn! Approximately a modern day 16W-18W

Ballyhoo Vintage clothing is patronized by movie studios and stylish celebrities ( the owner mentioned Andre 3000 when I talked to him).

You can visit their website at: http://www.ballyhoovintage.com/index.html

"Ghostwhisperer": Doing Curvy Right.

2009-10-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

I love anything Gothic and scary and having something to do with the paranormal.
And I LOVE fashion more than life itself. Seldom these two things meet and when on top of that we are talking about doing fashion for curvy chicks exactly right, then I become completely addicted.
This happened to me with the show "Ghostwhisperer". The wardrobe/costume people for the show,Costume Designer Dorothy Amos and Costume Supervisor Barbara Inglehart, really know how to dress curvy women beautifully. And I am not just talking about Jennifer Love "Your Body is A Wonderland" Hewitt but also true blue plus size diva Camryn Manheim, managing to never making them look vulgar, frumpy or dowdy.
The clothes in this show are absolutely lovely and you can see that these wardrobe/costume people really know how to work with curves. Beautiful vintage styles, princess seaming,gorgeous waist and bodice treatments, luxurious fabrics, body-hugging bias cut styles... all the things that show hourglass figures to their best advantage.
Here are some gorgeous examples of the clothing on the show:

I watch this show 50% because of the clothes....
Did you know that the song "Your Body is a Wonderland" was written for Jennifer Love Hewitt? I would think about that whenever some jerk starts talking about my thighs and criticizing my body...I bet no one has said that to Perez Hilton.

Blogging Project Runway: A Psychosociologic Study of the Classes

2009-10-23T07:03:00.001-07:00

I am here for my weekly Project Runway recap.It's getting easier because there are less designers and ergo, less photos to find, upload etc...
This season has kind of been a disappointment actually and it has little to do with the designers who are all talented and competent people.
My issue is with the producers and writers who have come up with nothing but the playbook of my sketching teacher's curriculum for any given semester as challenges.
It seems like they are going one by one through all of our assignments. Seriously.
We did the movie, we did the sparkly evening/stagewear...And of course Ms. Rhodes (who must be moonlighting as a producer on Project Runway) gave us city or country as inspiration as one of our possible collection themes.

Not for one second did I consider St. Tropez, or Palm Beach or Aspen or Hollywood.
Why? Because I do not aspire to the life of New Money. Really from far away it all seems very glamorous, but there is a very good reason why the rates for admission into rehab facilities and of depression are just as high among very rich folk and very poor folk. The ones at the bottom are hopeless. The ones at the top are hopelessly bored. How do I know? I grew up around them. I have been to the charity functions. I have been to the galas and polo matches. I have done high tea and cocktails at embassies. And I would rather go to a good gay bar or a Cure concert or a foam party. I hate caviar. Champers? I would seriously rather have an excellent Vodka (Russian Standard from St. Petersburg comes to mind) and a plate of humble Tacos al Pastor. The very rich also tend to be somewhat superficial and somewhat pretentious because I think they think it's expected of them. As I have said before, I believe that creativity feeds on adversity. Not that I do not envy the rich certain things, because I do. I envy them the ability to sleep soundly through the night without erupting in cold sweats as the first of the month approaches because they have to cough up the rent. And I envy them the ability to approach the mailbox without shaking and hyperventilating because they know it is full of bills that they cannot pay. Those are the things that make "wage slave" life and "La Vie Boheme" suck like a toothless crack whore.
But that being said, I do not find their lifestyle either aspirational or inspirational because no one is ever satisfied with what they have. The new money (as in movie stars, oil money, tech money ex: The Basses or the Wyatts or The Gates) wants desperately to be old money ( as in bootlegging, war profits, industrial exploitation of the masses ex: The Kennedys and The Astors). Old money wants to be royalty. And royalty is constantly preoccupied with its obsolescence and with finding meaning to life. The result is that no one enjoys the here and now. The wonderful life they presently have. And that is the grossness and lie of "aspirational" everything. It robs you of the beauty you have now in your hand by rubbing in your face all the things that you do not.
I know that the last thing people interested in fashion want to read about is a psychological analysis of the socioeconomic strata but you cannot discuss the work of Michael Kors without dwelling in that psychology at least a little.

Michael Kors (or as I call him The Duchess of Orange) is, like his colleague Ralph Lauren, a designer whose main inspiration and aspiration is the perceived life of the very rich. The polo matches. Summering in the Hamptons. Living on Park Ave. Shopping on Rodeo Dr. Sunbathing in St. Tropez. Sailing in a yatch to Mykonos.Yes, I read Gloria Vanderbilt's book "Little Gloria... Happy at Last" too. When I was 6.

I know that there is a market for that because both Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren have made very good lives for themselves from doing just that and selling that illusion but personally I prefer the work of designers whose inspirations are of a more intellectual or artistic nature. Give me Viktor and Rolf, or Gareth Pugh or Elsa Schiapparelli or Alexander McQueen. Any day. I like fashion that excites me and challenges me and makes me think. I think the profound longing for the lifestyle of the mythical "wealthy" has a certain pathos that sometimes actually touches me. Longing for a life and a world that they yearned to enter and that never will fully accept them because they were not born into it. It's almost like reaching out with a stretched out, trembling hand for a glimmer of hope and beauty in an ugly world that they cannot handle. The world of homeless people and unemployment rates and economic downturns and corporate bailouts. Do I blame them for their escapism? Not one bit. Reality does bite and I am woman enough to admit it.

When I was considering a geographic location as a possible inspiration for my work, the places my mind flew to were very different: Port-au-Prince, Havana, St. Petersburg in 1987, New Orleans, Hamburg, Victorian London. Places with a certain level of contrast, of chiaroscuro, like a rich red wine. Places with history and pain and the perfume of magic and revolution and change right at the very surface and layers and layers of implications and complexity.

As I told Ms. Rhodes and my class when I was presenting my collection, you can always see my politics in my work. My collection was a mixture of movie and geographical locale. I ended choosing "Sweeney Todd" and Victorian London as my theme. My classmates used to joke that the only thing missing from my boards were the scurrying rats. But after viewing my collection and hearing my presentation they all went back to watch the movie again. They did not see or get what I got. That the movie was about abuse of power, resentment and oppression and the consequences of those things. The rich on the poor. The adults on the young. Men on women. With tragedy as a result and rebellion as the redeemer. I am much deeper than people give me credit for.

In this challenge the designers had to pick from a Michael Kors-ish list of locales as the inspiration for their designs. Let's see what they came up with...

Christopher-Santa Fe:

How was this look spared the the auf? I am still mystified. The choice of fabrics, garments, silhouette everything was a big miss. Like the Other Milla (that is what I always call Milla Jovovitch, she is lovely and funny and talented and very smart and one of the celebrities I actually really like. I think she was a great judge) and Heidi said, the only interesting thing about that look was the belt. And a belt does not a look make. The rest of it was pretty tragic starting by the use of chiffon. The desert and the West inspires something solid, rugged and of substance. Denim, corduroy, leather. Not wispy chiffon and specially not THOSE colors of chiffon.

Carol Hannah-Palm Beach:

This was actually quite good. For a minute there, I actually thought she was going to do a kaftan which would have been daring and saucy considering how maligned they have been in this body-con era but they are amazing when well done as in examples by Valentino, YSL or actually this awesome one from Ozzy Clark from when I was at London Fashion Week last year:

But the print and colors she choose very much reads Palm Beach and the dress was actually lovely.

Althea-St.Tropez:

This was serviceable and well made. Did it read St. Tropez? Like it read any other warm locale that would make the use of a chiffon cover up and shorts appropriate. It was just a'wight for me. It was not particularly French and to me St. Tropez reads a little more nautical and devil-may-care. A little more Ile de Ré. Yes the shorts but in Navy cotton. Cable knit oversized ivory fisherman's sweater. And a stripped navy and white Petit Bateau t-shirt with espadilles. Now THAT is St. Tropez.

Gordana-New York:

I loved this little dress. It reads New York and New York IS gray. New York is not kelly green or fuchsia or canary yellow. New York is not black. New York is sparkly grey and there is nothing wrong with doing entire collections in one color. Just ask Rei Kawakubo or Yohji Yamamoto. That little dress was just beautiful and perfectly balanced and well-made. Just like the Other Milla said, the only thing that bugged me was that Gordana was throwing herself under the bus when it was probably her best effort to date.Which considering the crap she has been taking all season from the judges and how tired she seemed is not surprising. It's also a cultural thing though. I have a Russian friend and he always is telling me I should be more modest. So being self-effacing and modest is a positive thing among Eastern Europeans.

Irina-Aspen:

With the time alloted and the budget constraints, I have to admit that this was a really great entry. She did three very good pieces including a knit and a pant in one day and that is pretty darn impressive because they were quite well constructed. Did it read Aspen? A little more like Park City but close enough. The aesthetic was very Russian mafioso trophy wife but cool. I think that the win could have gone equally to Gordana or Carol Hannah but I think they gave it to her because of the breadth of showing three separate garments.

Logan-Hollywood:

A work of art is as good as its inspiration and in this case Logan's inspiration is what did him in. Hollywood can be a lot of things. It can be punks and rockers from Sunset. It can be Lana Turner and Ava Gardner and Marilyn Monroe. But to pick the most vapid and bland and blah people in Hollywood as your inspiration is invariably going to lead to a vapid, bland and non-distinguished look. La Lohan and the Olsen Twins? Why not Misha Barton or Heidi Montague while you are at it? EWWWWW ... The mere thought sends shivers down my spine. The garments per se were ok and I totally agree with both Milla and Heidi for once, it was a "I really did not mind it" result but that is not what he should have been shooting for.

Nicolas-Greece:

I think Nicolas must have been tired and fed up. This look had more to do with a straight jacket or a mummy than with anything reminiscent of anything remotely Greek.
Maybe a Greek yogurt strainer perhaps. Still, the pants were pretty decent and well-fitted. I do not think he deserved the boot. I think that in this case Christopher's look clearly earned elimination but once again the judges spared him for some reason.

So there you have it... another week has gone by and we are almost on the final stretch. I really hope that they are saving the best for last... And I will leave you with my personal philosophy of life:

How could I be anything else?

Inspiration Boards F/W 2010 : "Circus" and "In The Company of Wolves".

2009-10-22T09:47:00.002-07:00

I have this uncanny knack for tapping into the cultural zeitgeist and predicting what ideas are going to be most influential as far as fashion trends for upcoming seasons.
If you watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it's kind of what Druscilla did but just with fashion. I am not the only one. The jewelry designer at N2 for Les Nereides almost always releases a line with a theme that is going to be influential years later

and Grace Coddington does a fashion editorial that does the same thing:

We are fashion oracles in a way... But hardly anyone notices.
Fashion is influenced by everything around us. Although some of the more commercially driven people would like to think that they can reduce inspiration to a simple commercial algorithm or formula, you cannot. Fashion, like any other art is influenced by what the artists (in this case, designers) see and feel all around them. What is happening socially, politically, in other artistic fields such as music and movies. A theme,all of a sudden emerges from the collective artistic unconscious and you can see it everywhere. Lots of people thinking of the same thing.
For S/S'10,the release of Tim Burton's highly anticipated "Alice in Wonderland" was a theme that echoed through many of next seasons collections, particularly Kinder Aggugini's:

For F/W '10, I am feeling two different strong "ideas" influencing fashion. it all has a very Angela Carter (the writer) influence. She is a writer in the genre of magical realism and was the author of both, "A Night at the Circus" and the screenplay for Neil Jordan's "In the Company of Wolves".

There is a movie that opens Friday called "Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant":

that I think is going to be a huge inspiration. Turn of the Century Circus/Carnival/ Side Show is a theme that is all over popular culture and has been getting louder... Britney Spears just did a hugely successful tour based on that theme. A couple of years ago, America's Next Top Model did a photo shoot (probably the best in the history of the show, using the Victorian Carnival Side Show as it's inspiration:

I think the dark romance and glamour of the Gothic Side Show and Carnival is going to be echoed all over the fall collections of F/W 2010...

I also feel a bad moon rising...

I also just mentioned Neil Jordan's movie "In the Company of Wolves". In the movie, which is absolutely visually exquisite the story of "Little Red Ridding Hood" is explored from a magical realism, post modernist and Freudian perspective. That pretty much describes all of Angela Carter's work actually...

Well, turns out Leonardo Di Caprio is filming a Gothic adaptation of the same fairy tale:(http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006895.html?categoryid=13&cs=1)

Low and behold Vogue just did an editorial ( and I can put money down Grace Coddington had a hand in this) for Prada that was inspired by, you guessed it... Little Red Ridding Hood. From what I hear the editorial also inspired the Prada store windows at the recent "Fashion's Night Out":

And a couple of years ago, N2 came out with this collection:

Double, double toil and trouble;Fire burn, and caldron bubble. The 3 Fashion Divination Witches have spoken... stock up on red gingham and white rickrack...

Designer Plus Sized Finds: La Grande Dame

2009-10-21T09:10:00.001-07:00

As plus sized women we have for a long time not been able to find the same on-trend, high-quality designer apparel options that are available for straight-sized women.
The tides are slowly starting to turn.
A great online boutique called "La Grande Dame" (http://www.lagrandedame.com/) specializes on high-end designer apparel for plus sizes with designer offerings including Marina Rinaldi ( the plus size division of Max Mara, often the clothes are the same but sized accordingly), James Jeans, Melissa Masse, David Meister and Central St. Martin's alumn, Anna Scholz.
They have great basics and career and special occasion staples, specially for those of us who love luxury materials and great construction standards.
Here are some great fall/winter finds from La Grande Dame:

David Meister LBD, $308.00

James Jeans Hunter straight-leg jeans,$207.00

Melissa Masse Lapis Blue Leggings, $150.00

Marina Rinaldi Taurus Leather Blazer, $785.00

Marina Rinaldi Angora Coat, $869.00 (I have a beautiful Alpaca Marina Rinaldi coat in chocolate brown. It is really luxurious and decadent so I call it "my affluent coat"...LOL. It makes me feel like I am Mercedes Kellogg about to rush off to lunch with Oscar de la Renta)

I love the 1920's flavour of this Marina Rinaldi sequined skirt ($440.00) and top ($271.00). The top would be gorgeous if worn with a leather or denim jacket and jeans too..

I also really love the 1940's vibe of this adorable sequined Tadashi cocktail dress ($415.00). It would be wonderful with period platform pumps, a great pair of earrings and an Ava Gardner-esque hairstyle...

As Tim Gunn said in his book Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style (Tim Gunn's Guide to Style), it is important for every woman to invest in high quality staples that are going to be go-to's in her wardrobe year after year.

Even if your personal style runs to the eccentric and super-edgy like mine does, having great building wardrobe pieces allows me to be confident and ready for any occasion since I just have to style those "workhorse" pieces to suit my personality and style.

For example this is how I styled a fairly basic body-con Marina Rinaldi LBD a few years ago for a photo shoot:

Vivienne Westwood necklace, safety pin instead of an earring, dramatic make-up and a 'fro-hawk and the look was as edgy as the shoot and my punk-goth heart required.

Frontiers Magazine Horror Fashion Editorial With Selene Luna

2009-10-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Frontiers Magazine, Southern California's oldest GLBT publication, recently published a beautiful Halloween-themed fashion editorial spread starring the fabulous Miss Selene Luna.

At Fashion Sanity, we aim to promote and celebrate diversity in beauty and we love to see fierce, amazing, confident, incredibly talented, multi-faceted and self-assured women like Selene Luna breaking ground in fashion, entertainment and changing societal perspectives.

Here is Selene Luna's bio from her facebook page:
Selene Luna is a one-of-a-kind entertainer with a look and style all her own. At 3'10", Luna is a small package with a very big presence. She is a talented performer with timeless sex appeal that makes her equally viable as a vintage Hollywood glamour girl or a modern music video vixen. She is part burlesque star and part rock and roll queen. Luna is a performer who embodies the eccentricities of 1930's screwball comedies, combining a keen sense of comedic timing with smoldering sensuality. She is a larger than life personality, with a body of work as impressive as it is eclectic.

Luna began her career performing among Hollywood's eccentric artist community. She cut her teeth performing in clubs and art venues, doing stand up comedy and acting in independent films. She quickly became a darling of Hollywood's underground scene. True to her roots, Luna has built a career performing in cabarets and burlesque, and is a well known performer in this scene. Miss Luna was a featured performer in the Velvet Hammer Burlesque, the internationally renowned troupe, which is the originator of the current burlesque revival. As the world's only little person burlesque dancer, Luna has performed internationally, has been the subject of numerous news features and documentaries, and has shared the stage with legends of burlesque such as Tempest Storm and Tura Satana. Luna's burlesque background has infused her performing style with a strong sense of theatricality, improvisation and comedy.

Luna has crossed over to mainstream film, television and print work. She has worked with respected directors including Stephen Sommers, Dean Karr and Peter Berg. Her television work includes national Snapple and Cingular Wireless commercials, and music videos for some of musicʼs biggest acts including Madonna, Marilyn Manson, Crystal Method and Billy Talent.

Miss Luna's striking look has taken her to the world of high fashion as well. She has been featured in numerous international fashion editorials. Luna has modeled the fashions of designers such as Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, and has posed for photographers David La Chappelle, Matthew Ralston and Austin Young, in addition to working on stage under the direction of legendary couture designer Thierry Mugler.

In 2007, Miss Luna won critical notice for her featured performance in comedian Margaret Cho's Off-Broadway variety show, The Sensuous Woman. The New York Times called her "a polished spitfire," while NY Metromix praised her performance as "smart and endearing."

Last year, Luna could be seen co-starring alongside Margaret Cho in Cho's new VH1 comedy series, The Cho Show. This coming year, Luna can also be seen in a supporting character role in Lionsgate's January release of My Bloody Valentine 3D and has a role in the new Crackle web series, Star-ving, opposite David Faustino. Luna has successfully performed two sold-out solo shows in Los Angeles, Pocket Venus and Say It to My Face! and is currently developing her one-woman and doing stand-up performances throughout California.

Selene Luna has carved a niche for herself and continues to break the stereotypes of little people in entertainment. She is a comedic actress with sex appeal and leading lady flair. An up and coming presence in Hollywood, Luna continues to bring her magnetic appeal to broader audiences. She plans to shake things up in a big way.

Here are the photos from the FRONTIERS editorial:

Stunning and wonderful!

Beauty and the Buzzzzzz

2009-10-18T20:22:00.004-07:00

I love honey in beauty products. Little bees gift us with one of the most delicious ingredients known in nature.Honey is composed of sugars like glucose and fructose and minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium chlorine, sulphur, iron and phosphate.It also contains vitamins B1, B2, C, B6, B5 and B3 all of which change according to the qualities of the nectar and pollen. Besides the above, copper, iodine, and zinc exist in it in small quantities in honey. Several kinds of hormones are also present in it. Approximately one half of the human diet is derived directly or indirectly from crops pollinated by bees. Today honeybees are an essential part of a healthy agricultural economy.

Honey can also be good for your skin. It has the ability to attract water and is safe for sensitive skin. You can use it as a good and easy straight from the cupboard moisturizing mask for your skin as well as your hair. To use it as a conditioner, mix the honey with olive oil. Be sure to wash your hair thoroughly before you go outside.

Famous Historical Honey Beauty Secrets:

* Madame du Barry, the infamous last mistress of Louis XV, used honey as a form of facial mask, lying down for a rest while the honey did its work.
* Cleopatra of Egypt regularly took honey and milk baths to maintain her youthful appearance.
* It was said that Queen Anne of England used a honey and oil concoction to keep her long hair lustrous, thick and shiny.
* It was claimed that another famous Englishwoman, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, used her own secret recipe for a honey water to keep her hair beautiful.
* Chinese women have a tradition of using a blend of honey and ground orange seeds to keep their skin blemish-free.

There are several beauty products available in the market that contain honey and that I am currently loving:

L'Occitane en Provence Honey and Lemon Delightful Cream. $36.00

Lush Cosmetics Honey Trap Lip Balm. Honey vanilla buttercream frosting to moisturize miserably dry lips. $6.95 and

Honey Bee Bath Bomb. Toffee and honey help calm and nourish skin
Sensitive skin not feeling so nice? "Oh, bother!" as Winnie-the-Pooh would say. Perhaps a Honey Bee bath bomb can help. With rich, nourishing Rhassoul mud from the Atlas mountains, healing aloe vera, toning sweet orange oil and soothing honey, it has you saying "all better" in no time. $6.15, both available at Lush stores worldwide and online.

Softsoap Elements Milk Protein & Honey Moisturizing Hand Soap 7.5 oz. $2.59 at grocery and drugstores nationwide.

MAC Naked Honey Moisturizing Body Wash. $19.50 at Nordstrom's

and

Africanimal Fragrance. Africanimal starts with ‘warm’ intense honey, citrus and a light floral accord; there is also an undertone of ‘spice’ (well-blended) and sheer unidentifiable ‘wood’. Honey is the star of Africanimal. Africanimal is “sweet” (not gourmand) but it’s not too sweet. As the fragrance dries down, there’s a lovely iced-oolong-tea-sweetened-with-honey phase and then Africanimal reverts to pure, piquant honey. $25.00. At MAC retailers nationwide and online at maccosmetics.com

All of this honey talk makes me think of Winnie-the-Pooh:

Spanish Plus Size Fashion: Kanak Plus Sizes y Ole!

2009-10-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

From the country that gave us such fun labels as Custo Barcelona, TOUS, and High Street staples Zara and MANGO, comes an edgy, fashion-forward and affordable new label:Kanak Plus Sizes.
They have a great collection of separates and are a wonderful new addition to the roster of labels that offer plus fashionistas the kind of clothes we want to wear.
Here are some examples:

I love this stuff! How come we cannot find clothes this cool in the US?

You can find Kanak on their WORLDWIDE SHOPPING site at:

http://www.kanakshop.com/worldwide/default_eng.html

VH1 Divas: Curves Reign Supreme

2009-10-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

I was looking at some of the photos from the VH1 Divas shindig from earlier this year.
My TV viewing time has not been focused much on stuff other than True Blood, Drop Dead Diva, Project Runway and So You Think You Can Dance.
It was SO refreshing and so delightful to see that most of the divas were beautiful, confident, sexy and fashionable chicks in all colours of the Rainbow.
Firstly the adorable former Torrid-model Miss Jordin Sparks:

Then the OTHER pride of Burleson, TX (the first one is my beautiful daughter Sarah) the rockalicious Miss Kelly Clarkson:

Then the always Fierce Effie of "Dreamgirls", the AMAZING and fearless Ms. Jennifer Hudson:

And finally the flawless English songbird, the gorgeous Miss Adele :

I love Adele's dress. That 1950's retro chic is just beautiful.

It is so wonderful to see something other than the same steady diet of Rachel Zoe-styled, blank canvas, overexposed white skinny chick celebrities.

These women truly rock!

CHOOSE LIFE or The Appeal of the Slogan T-shirt

2009-10-17T08:59:00.001-07:00

A couple of years ago I fell in love with Henry Holland's cheeky fashion slogan t-shirts. I have the one that says "Do Me Daily Christopher Bailey":

But the idea seemed familiar... Of course it did! I am a HUGE George Michael fan and I do forget a face and a name but I NEVER forget what people are wearing. What those cheeky House of Holland t-shirts were reminding me of was the "Choose Life" t-shirt that George Michael wore of the "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" video from my High School days:

God... George was a sweet piece of delicious baklava...

But where did those t-shirts come from? I mean Henners Holland was probably in his nappies in 1984 and Agy Deyn was still performing extremely cool cellular subdivision.

Well I am reading this great book called THE FASHION CONSPIRACY: The Dazzling Inside Story of the Glamorous World of International High Fashion by Nicholas Coleridge and the book gave me the answer: it was Katherine Hamnett.

Katherine Hamnett (like Henry Holland) built a brand on that George Michael t-shirt,and became the undisputed queen of the protest slogan t-shirt with thousands of imitators and celebrities wearing them everywhere as you can see in this photo of Boy George:

The other day I was at H&M and I found a wonderful slogan t-shirt from a line that H&M did to support HIV causes and prevention :

Not only is it a wonderful cause, they are right now on clearance for only $5!

Here is a little more about Katherine Hamnett from an interview she did about her influence on '80's fashion, her philosophy and her line's re-launch:

What was happening in the eighties fashion world?

My clothes became unbelievably successful - beyond my wildest dreams. Menswear, womenswear, jeans, watches and of course, my slogan t-shirts.

Sarah Mower said I was the most copied designer in the world - to the point where I had to consider designing something I would be happy to see copied.
What eighties fashion did you introduce?

I made protest slogan t-shirts a fashion, social and political staple.

I also invented distressed denim, stonewash denim, stretch denim, parachute silk, garment dyeing, the crumpled look, military inspired sportswear, power dressing, leggings, lycra, jump suits, retro revivals and ethical and environmental clothing.
You were a massive influence. Tell us more.

I art directed killer ad campaigns. I discovered photographers such as Ellen von Unwerth, Jurgen Teller and Terry Richardson.

My eighties fashion campaigns were the first for Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, Nadia Auermaan and others.
What drove the need for change?

By 1989 I was bored with success. Something was missing.

Buddhist philosophy talks about the need for 'right' livelihood (making a living without hurting anyone or anything). I thought I wasn't hurting anyone by making clothes but when I did the research I realised I was wrong.

I discovered the fashion industry was responsible for a living environmental nightmare. (See 'Clean Up Or Die Essay') Millions of people in the garment sector were working in conditions of slavery.

I was horrified and felt a moral imperative to do something.
What did you do about this environmental catastrophe?

From 1989 to 2003 I tried to change the industry from within. Forget it.

From 2003 to 2007 I realised consumers care even if industries and politicians don't. Industries must sell but consumers don't have to buy. I decided to raise consumer awareness of issues in the clothing industry.

On return from a 2003 Oxfam visit to Mali, having seen firsthand the devastating human suffering amongst conventional cotton farmers, I knew the solution was organic cotton.

I decided to drive demand for organic cotton clothing and help conventional cotton farmers' trade their way out of poverty.
What does this mean to the person on the street?

My re-launched Katharine E Hamnett menswear and womenswear includes re-issued eighties fashion slogan t-shirts made with organic cotton to the highest ethical and environmental standards in the world.

I got another pretty righteous t-shirt from House of Holland when I was in Paris last spring on a business trip and decided to stop by the fashion Mecca that is Colette. This one was a store exclusive from House of Holland's Flower Power Collection. It's Ms. Beth Ditto in all of her punk rocking glory:

T shirts are an easy way to inject self-expression to your style, they are a lot of fun and they look good on everybody. Ahh the stretchability of cotton jersey, Blessed Be :-). And they are timeless fashion pieces. Just think of how priced vintage concert t-shirts are nowadays.. And vintage Viv Westwood ones...

You can find Katherine Hamnett's t-shirts at H&M ( if you can still find any on clearance) or at her online store at :
http://www.katharinehamnett.com/shop/

You can find House of Holland t-shirts at: http://www.houseofholland.co.uk/
Click on collections and you will be directed to his shop.

http://www.piercemattiepublicrelations.com/2009/10/the_official_whats_hotwhats_no.html

2009-10-16T21:13:00.001-07:00

http://www.piercemattiepublicrelations.com/2009/10/the_official_whats_hotwhats_no.html

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I want my Shop-TV...

2009-10-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

For a while, I have meant to write a blog on shopping for fashion and beauty on TV shopping channels, namely QVC and HSN.
TV shopping is not what it used to be. Long gone are the days of just Diamonique jewelry, Precious Memories commemorative figurines and clothes that looked like a roll call of Grandma Agnes closet.
Nowadays, you can shop some of the hippest names in fashion and beauty from the comfort of your couch (or bed) and in ANY size (a lesson brick and mortar retailers should take notes on). Another thing I LOVE about the shopping channels is that they use TRUE plus size models along with straight sized models, presented in an equally stylish way, so I can see what something would look like on someone built like me.
It is of NO USE for anyone to show me a plus size garment on a size 6 girl because the garment would not look at all similar on a size 16, 20 or 22 woman. This is the reason why most plus catalogs suck.
Marc Bower, Bob Mackie, Vivienne Tam, Bradley Bayou, Loulou de la Falaise, Shoshanna, Emmanuel Ungaro, industry veterans like Victor Costa and Nolan Miller and even Project Runway alumni such as Chloe Dao, Rami Kashou, and Laura Bennett are now selling their clothes through QVC and HSN.
Accesories span everything from Sam Edelman shoes to Charm and Luck handbags and jewelry offerings feature for example Kenneth Jay Lane pieces at literally half the price of the upscale contemporary boutiques.
As far as beauty products, you can find EVERYTHING. From YSL Touche Eclat to Kiehl's body washes.
And the prices ARE better than at the brick and mortar retailers too.

Here are some really cool examples:

Erin Fetherston Blouse and Boyfriend Cardigan $49.50 each at QVC.com

Loulou de la Falaise Metallic Foil Ring ($12.95) and Bracelets (29.95) at HSN.com

Rami Kashou for Curations One-shoulder Dress (on clearance, $69.90) at HSN.com

Tracy Reese dress, $89.90 at HSN.com

Kenneth Jay Lane Octopus Ring,$79.90 at QVC.com

Hello Kitty for Diamonique Deco Kitty Pave Ring (on clearance) 162.60 at QVC.com

Sam Edelman "Zoe" Leather Stud Boot, $325.00 at HSN.com

Vivienne Tam Printed Chiffon Kaftan, $49.00 at QVC.com

M by Marc Bower Scarf Print Long Sleeved Knit Top, $39.78, QVC.com

WD by Whiting and Davis Cinch Paisley Mesh Shopper, $249.90 at HSN.com

As you can see TV shopping has changed for the better. Now you can get an outfit and Xmas shop stylishly from the comfort of your couch. So get a cup of hot cocoa, cozy jammies, the plastic and the remote and avoid the mall crowds this season :-)

Blogging Project Runway: Diamonds (on the Crotch) Are a Girl's Best Friend.

2009-10-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

So here I am to dissect last night's episode of Project Runway. Said episode I think, broke new records of "fabulosity" and was exactly what little gay boys growing up in Topeka, KS (or little girls in Mexico City who think and feel like little gay boys) dream of when they fantasize about growing up and becoming designers.
My grandma was a dancer. No, not a stuck-up ballerina in tutus. She was a mambo and cha-cha and showgirl type dancer in Mexico City in the 1940's and 50's. She danced with all the stars of the golden age of Mexican movies and even on tour with Josephine Baker. I used to just LOVE to go into her stuff and try on her old costumes of sequins and leopard and stuff when I was a little girl.
When people would ask me what was it that I wanted to be when I grew up, I always used to pick the profession that would allow me to wear the largest amount of sequins possible. So my answer would be mambo dancer or mermaid.
Later on and through many years of reading fashion magazines, studying fashion and art and through life experience, my taste and design aesthetic have broadened and expanded and I have developed an appreciation for much subtler sartorial statements, but God help me if I don't still swoon at a beautiful, intricately beaded piece of stagewear with feathers, rhinestones and pulling all the stops.
My mom kind of favors both Cher and Sophia Loren. We used to watch the Sonny and Cher show in Mexico City at my Grandma Eve's house when we started getting cable TV from the US in the mid '70's.
And we positively gasped when we saw the amazing Bob Mackie costumes Cher wore.
When I saw the Bob Mackie Barbies, I almost died and went to heaven. Bob Mackie also (along with Robert Best who is a GREAT guy) is one of the best fashion illustrators in the industry. I worship his sketching skills. There was a guy in my class that could sketch almost as good as Bob Mackie. I was always green with envy.
I am going to be extremely candid here. Just like with the Drag Queen and Diane Von Furstenberg challenges in past seasons, I think ALL of the designers and ALL of the creations missed the mark and were a missed opportunity to show the world their skills, and let their creativity run wild. NONE of the looks had the element of fierceness, imagination, fantasy and excitement that I look for in an unforgettable costume.
Some were less bad than others but NONE told me a story. None made me catch my breath like Cher's Half-Breed costume or Madonna's Equestrian or Disco Inferno looks from her "Confessions Tour" did or her Jean Paul Gaultier finery from the Blonde Ambition tour. Even the costumes from Britney's "Circus" tour (done I think by the Blondes, David and Phillip, and Chris March) knocked my socks off. But last night? None of that. All I could think about was Christ, I wish Chris March would have been there for this challenge. He would have SCHOOLED these people.
And Christina Aguilera as fashion ICON???? PUHLEASE!!!!Audrey Hepburn is a fashion icon. Cher is a fashion Icon. Madonna is a fashion icon. Katherine Hepburn is a fashion icon. Christina Aguilera is singer. One that can wail but that is that. She is actually known among other things for her LACK of taste and having to resort to vulgarity, so there you have it.
Bob Mackie was a great judge. I think he was disappointed too at how mundane and unimaginative the looks were.
But let's take a look, shall we?

Althea:

In my opinion this look was the best of the bunch as far as WOW factor. It still did not "say" anything and it still was NOT stagewear. This is a slightly over the top, red carpet look but as far as ideas and construction and over all presentation, this one was somewhat impressive, flattering and pleasing.

Carol Hannah:

This was the winning look. It was well-constructed, I will give her that. It would have made a fairly great red carpet look for the Oscars or something. But as far as stagewear, it said nothing at all. The detailing was lovely, but I agree with Nina ( I actually missed her, she is much better than the past guest judges) that black does not read well onstage. But I think in the case of this challenge they were going for "who sucked it up less" , not who actually did the best job, because I really do not think any of them understands what exactly it is that stagewear is.

Christopher:

Although he was the only one ( along with Logan) to use the right train of thought towards creating stagewear (i.e: communicating an idea, feeling or concept through the garment) the execution was pretty, like they sometimes say, student work. It looked like what strippers wear when they go solicit table dances in between sets or what a streetwalker might think of as glamorous (which in a way makes it VERY Christina Aguilera... I want to get dirrrty!). Like Bob Mackie said, he has to be able to do a better corset. Which is not easy mind me. And impossible to do in two days.

Gordana:

My, my... she must be thanking her stars she had immunity for this challenge. It was not that she cannot sew, or design or she slacked off. On the contrary. But sequined fabric (like cheap lame) unravels and self-destructs like a mother and is almost impossible to work with. To me the only way to do a beaded garment is the old-fashioned Broderies Lesage kind-of-way. They are the ones that do the beading for the Haute Couture houses like Chanel and Valentino. And that is applying the beads to the fabric one by one by hand. My Grandma taught me and I have done the coolest garments that way including a jacket with the cover of Sting's "Soul Cages" album in the back and a black lace bra that I beaded in black and gold sequins. But in the time frame they have for the show such a thing is impossible. It takes at least 3 months to do a hand-beaded gown.

Irina:

A beaded baby-doll negligee. A well made one. Next...

Logan:

At least this look conveyed a concept: "Wilma Flinstone at House of Babes Gentleman's Club after Fred gets laid off". But I think he should have re-thought his punk concept a little bit further and then known how to infuse it with enough pizazz for the stage. Think Pat Benatar in the Love is a Battlefield video:

or Patty Smyth from Scandal in the Warrior one:

Now, THOSE are stagewear punk looks. Watch and learn...He had the hair and make-up right though...

Nicolas:

It was well-made and he did a lovely job with the feathers. But yet again what was the concept? What was the idea he was trying to convey with the dress? Which of Christina's song does this dress portray? NONE. It reads: "Oksana Baiul's costume from when she skated to Swan Lake". That's all.

Shirin:

Like Tim said, this looked like a student project. It was suprising because usually Shirin has distinguished herself for great construction skills and good taste and an ability to come up with good ideas under pressure. Not all designers have the ability to think conceptually or have the imagination required for costuming and stagewear. I think that is what happened to Shirin. The time constraints of the show really do not help and sadly she was eliminated.

One of the things that this episode showed me was that this batch of designers is not as creative and seasoned as some from past seasons even when faced with great challenge because Robert Best, Austin Scarlett, Kara Saun, Malan Breton, Jeffrey Sebellia, Nick Verreos, Jay McCarroll, Kayne, Christian Siriano or Chris March would have knocked this challenge out of the park.

And that quote " You just add diamonds to the crotch and you are done" is going down as one of the best in the history of the show. I have done exactly that. To go with that beaded bra I did, I added gold and black sequins and a star in diamante strass to a bikini bottom. And I took to the streets in those two pieces plus a gold sequined bolero jacket, a long pony tail hairpiece, fishnet stockings and 4 inch jeweled ankle boots one Halloween night many years ago in Dallas (Cedar Springs and Oak Lawn, of course!) dressed up as a "Justify My Love" era plus size Madonna. And my people loved me!

MAC's "Style it Black" Collection

2009-10-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have been doing make-up for both stage and street since High School.
I have worked on everything from guys who wanted to dress up for Halloween, a cross dressing High School pageant where I made up my drama teacher to look like "Lucky Star" Madonna, impromptu photo shoots, friends going on dates, plays, dance performances, you name it...
How did I learn? Reading fashion magazines like a fiend, becoming friends with make-up artists at cosmetics counters far and wide, reading great make-up books such as Francois Nars', Bobby Brown's and Kevyn Aucoyn's, I took a stage make-up class as a Theatre Arts elective in University and experimenting with stuff. All kinds of stuff from Ben Nye to Wet n' Wild to Chanel to Benefit to Maybelline.
One day I discovered MAC and there was no turning back. MAC is like the perfect middle ground between stage/fashion make-up and everyday/real life product.
They always have and set the latest trends in color cosmetics and have the edgy stuff I love.
Plus there are several other things I love about them, like their awesome and progressive employment policies, the fact that they started out as a Canadian-based company and their commitment to helping people with HIV/AIDS through the MAC AIDS FUND one of the biggest and most established non-profits working on helping initiatives that focus on improving the lives of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS.

As a person, I go several ways with make-up because my life is multidimensional.When I work at a regular office for my day job , I keep it fairly basic, professional, minimalistic and natural. Tinted moisturizer + concealer, mascara, eyebrow wax, brown/beige shadows, light blush and neutral lipstick or lip stain. 5 minutes and I am done.

In my private life I have a lot of fun. Mainly in the form of much more theatrical looks favoring Gothic, Punk, Retro or downright fantasy influences.
I went to a Cure concert once in full Kabuki make-up and created a fairy princess look with metallic greens and blues for a night at the Opera. On most days it's actually Goth-light or some version of a Glam-retro look.

MAC just released a Goth-tastic new line called "Style it Black" collection.

It has beautiful dark metallic shadows, a dreamy black waterproof eyeliner and my favorite: pitch black matte lipstick.

I am taking a make-up class this weekend with MAC to further my make-up artistry skills. Some people just like to tell other people what to do. Others like to know how to and be able to do everything.

You can find MAC products at MAC counters all over the world, stand alone stores and on their website at: http://www.maccosmetics.com/

Horror -Noir "Mystery In The Moonlight" Editorial: UK Harper's Bazaar November '09

2009-10-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Just found a fantastic fashion editorial spread on the November '09 issue of UK Harper's Bazaar.
It has an old-fashioned noir-horror comic book flavor and it stars none other than Claudia Shiffer who looks incredible considering she is around 93 in supermodel years.
The clothes are basic 1940's inspired pieces but what makes the shoot are her acting (she would make Mama Tyra proud!) and the graphics work.
I love the "Monster of the Black Lagoon" vibe of it all and the fact that Shiffer, and Linda Evangelista are still getting work and look just as good as they did in their heyday. There you have it for "age appropriateness"...

Urban Dandy Store, Big "A" Style: "The Executive Shop"

2009-10-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

I went to meet a friend for lunch in downtown Atlanta and we decided to go to a great Jamaican restaurant on Walton St. called Calypso. The food (I had the coco bread, and the chicken curry with sides of carrot-raisin souffle and plantains) was wonderful.
But it was next door that I discovered a jewel box of a men's clothing store.
It is a little old fashioned establishment called "The Executive Shop" with some of the most attentive and nice salespeople you've ever met. These folks are real deal old school good people.
The store is just plain fun.

For a city supposed to be the cradle of Southern Belles and Church ladies, I have not found many places that sell great hats. I am very much a hat person and have a great hat face because I have great cheekbones (thank you Mom!). It is also not a secret that I wear a LOT of menswear. That is a style thing that I have been carrying around with me since my middle school "Seventeen" reading days.

They had an editorial with a tall, amazonian, Princess Diana look-alike plus size teen model and a petite Marsha Brady baby clone showing all the trends of the season for both body types and since they could not find cool plus size clothes (surprise, surprise) they defaulted to menswear for the plus size chick. That led to me wearing my Dad's high school Bavarian lederhosen, his sweaters, shirts and especially his exquisite ties which I proceeded to shamelessly purloin. I can tie a tie better than my brother or cousins because I started wearing them younger. I have also a thing for quirky sterling silver cuff links (they smile when I go into the Thomas Pink store on Jermyn St. in London).

I have not seen a single retailer of Phillip Treacy, Eugenia Kim or Stephen Jones.
I had not even seen a good selection of Kangol or Greek fisherman's hats (a MUST for the yatchrock trend) anywhere.
Low and behold The Executive Shop is NOT AT ALL what you would imagine. You will not find a stitch of Armani or Brooks Brothers uptight yuppy-boy tailoring in sight. It's all clothes that channel the inner Shaft, Superfly, Andre3000, Usher, Prince, Michael Jackson, Pedro Navajas and Tito Puente in men. If Andre Leon Talley decided to "butch out" or "go legit", "The Executive" would be the perfect spot.

Don't get me wrong. The place is 100% pure old school urban dandy.

They have a mind blowing selection of beautiful hats in all shapes and colors of the rainbow. A huge choice of Kangol's and Aegean authentic Greek fisherman's hats.

And glorious, glorious men's shoes. They have everything from shoes that ring of Victorian or Vaudeville show spats to pointy brogues with animal prints to shoes with golden Dragons that would make Mark Dacascos, Bruce Lee or any man in a Kung Fu Blaxploitation movie shiver with delight the same way chicks do when they walk into Stuart Weitzman's.

The stock is impressive and the prices reasonable. It is an Atlanta institution and has been dressing the smooth men of the ATL since 1965. And as I said the sales people and owner are just such nice people.

Notice the sharp display window full of goodies including those spat shoes I fell in love with, the jade Andre3000 get up, the easter egg shades brogues and the of the moment MJ white gloves.

The place is definitely a hat paradise. And actually men's hats are more flattering than women's hats...

The absolutely glorious shoes...

And the only thing that was missing to channel the King of Pop...

The Executive Shop is located at 56 Walton Street Northwest • Atlanta, GA 30303.

They DO have a website : http://www.theexecutiveshop.com

Vintage Trend: Yatchrock

2009-10-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

I was watching Jimmy Fallon's show the other night and he was kind of promoting an under the radar trend that has been a guilty pleasure of mine: Yatchrock and its associated fashions.
This might be the first time you hear the actual term yatchrock. But you know EXACTLY what I am talking about.
Yatchrock is soft rock music from the late 70's and early to mid-80's exemplified by the smooth sounds of Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald... I am a punk rocker. My family and friends have never been able to understand this proclivity.

This delicious retro trend has fashion styles for men and women associated with it.
Men in vintage polo shirts, khakis, white linen pants and sports jackets, navy blazers with gold buttons...

For women this fashion trend is a delightful throw to the best of the Dynasty-esque, Regan era opulence epitomized by vintage Austin Reed, Ralph Lauren, Escada, Mugler and Montana tailoring, vintage Ungaro, Valentino, Kamali, Fortuny and Halston cocktail and evening wear.... Here are some Ebay examples:

Gorgeous Austin Reed Blazer (in a plus size)

Vintage Fortuny-pleated dress

Vintage Halston Dress
http://cgi.ebay.com/70s-Halston-IV-Grecian-Drape-Alluring-Dress_W0QQitemZ150378632174QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item230343d3ee

Vintage Escada Slouchy Cardi
http://cgi.ebay.com/VTG-80s-SLOUCHY-ESCADA-Cardi-kniT-Bold-Stripes-Color_W0QQitemZ120479662262QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0d25c0b6

Claude Montana Orange Jacket

To make it fresh and new, this trend needs to be worn differently from in the 80's.
The secret to a fresh-as-the ocean-breeze in the Bahamas Yatchrock look is to focus one one piece at a time and mix it with contemporary, minimalistic pieces. For example, a sharply tailored vintage jacket, boyfriend jeans, Repetto ballet flats and a perfectly cut, white t-shirt.

All that with large statement earrings, cocktail rings and a glass of Pims and Lemonade or Kir Royale, perfumed with the scrumptious Coco Extreme by Comptoir Sud Pacifique, Beach by Bobby Brown, or "Sea Air" by Demeter Fragrance Library... And "Ride Like The Wind" in the stereo... Cheers!

Fashion Movie Review: Chris Rock's "Good Hair".

2009-10-12T12:10:00.001-07:00

I went this weekend to see Chris Rock's documentary "Good Hair".
I am a woman of color. Exactly what color is as much of a mystery to me as to whomever the onlooker is, because I am the definition of melting pot. I think every ethnic origin in mankind is represented in my lineage.
One thing I do know. I definitely do not have "good" (see straight, blonde, silky white girl's) hair. And I am VERY self-conscious about it. My body? 100% confident about it. But my hair? The last bastion of something I do not like in my physical self.
I have very curly, thick, dark hair.I have colored it in every natural and unnatural shade in the spectrum and have had everything from a Patty Labelle circa Lady Marmelade do, an assymetrical Salt an Peppa, a Sheila E, retro 40's styles, carvings made with clippers, 'fro hawks, A Bow Wow Wow to waist length hair... everything.
More than a thin body, all my life I have longed for Marsha Brady

or Laurie Partridge

hair. Ok.. Malibu Barbie hair..

That cannot take place anymore than I can become thin because relaxing solutions would burn my hair completely and I certainly cannot afford thermal reconditioning.

Chris Rock's documentary narrates and tells the story of African ( American, Canadian, Caribbean, British... ) women, their love/hate relationships with their hair and the billion dollar industry steamed by this complex self-image issue.

I love Chris Rock and think he is a hilarious, incisive and actually extremely intelligent comedien.

In this documentary he visits beauty salons, barber shops, beauty supply stores across the US and faraway locations such as India, where the "natural human hair" used for "weaves" or wigs comes from. He also explores the economic implications of the black hair business and exposes the fact that most of it is not African American but Asian and White owned, sometimes by powerful, multinational conglomerates like L'Oreal or Clairol.

Some companies featured in the film such as Dudley and the Atlanta-based Bronner Brother's hair shows are African American owned.

The film also explores the extent to which women go to maintain their hairstyles, the mind-blowing amounts of money they spend on it ( and I thought 120 bucks for color and cut was profligate. They have weave layaways and they run in the THOUSANDS of dollars), and the grandiose spectacle of major hair shows as well as the potential health risks associated with hair relaxing procedures because of the chemicals (such as Sodium Hydroxide) it uses.

The documentary really made me think and strives to show women that self-esteem, humor and a little common sense would go a long way towards improving their relationships with their daughters, their finances, their men and specially the hair on top of our collective heads.

Steampunk Accesories...

2009-10-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to this really cool open air fall festival here in Atlanta. I met some really awesome people and was having a blast. Somehow the topic of Steampunk came up.

I am a big fan of Gothic, Punk and Cosplay-inspired couture. But I really fell in love with the whole Steampunk aesthethic when I was doing research for one of my design projects in fashion school.

Here is the definition of Steampunk Fashion:
"Steampunk fashion" has no set guidelines, but tends to synthesize modern styles as filtered through the Victorian era. This may include gowns, corsets, petticoats and bustles; gentlemen's suits with vests, coats and spats; or even military-inspired garments. Often, steampunk outfits will be accented with a mixture of technological and period accessories: timepieces, parasols, goggles and ray guns. Even modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits, after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-made objects. Aspects of steampunk fashion have been anticipated by mainstream high fashion, the Lolita fashion and aristocrat styles, neo-Victorianism, and the romantic goth subculture.

And here are a couple of photos of steampunk looks:

Personally I love the aesthetic. But like all alternative culture aesthetics it is difficult to wear on an everyday basis once one has left accepting open-minded environments such as the fashion industry (up to a point) or college.

I think that one of the joys of fashion is injecting your look with your personality and expressing yourself creatively through your clothes and accessories.

One of the best ways of marrying both worlds is to add a "teaspoon" of counterculture or trend to a more mainstream look.

And the easiest way to do this is through the "judicious use " (I love quoting Tim Gunn) of accessories.

I discovered an amazing shoe brand that makes absolutely delicious Neo-Victorian shoes called KronKron. Here are some of the stunning examples:

I am so in love... plus the heels are actually reasonable!

They can be found at http://kronbykronkron.com/

Another recent Steampunk-ish discovery was Tallulah B. Jewelry...

Her stuff is amazing. I had the chance to meet the designer yesterday at the festival and I instantly fell in love with her risque yet ladylike necklaces, earrings, corsage bracelets, sweater clips, cocktail rings...

She has these lovely creations made of turn-of-the-century vintage finds and elements including watch casings. I swooned when I found her peepshow necklaces with "sexy" antique burlesque photos inserted into antique watch casings.

Here are some examples:

You can buy her lovely creations on her website http://www.talulahb.com/ or her Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5450841

Or how about adding this delicious handbag from Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26595982&ref=sr_gallery_20&&ga_search_query=Steampunk+handbag&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=4&order=date_desc&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title) to a jeans, t-shirt and vest look?

This time of the year Gothic Victorian romanticism just feels so right...

The “”Aspirational” (unrealistic, unhealthy) Queen is Dead. God Save the Queen (or any) Size!

2009-10-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

By MillaX for Glamporium and Fashion Sanity

Recently “Brigitte” a German magazine announced that it would no longer use extra-thin models in its pages and is auditioning women from all of Germany to use them as models instead. This announcement came on the heels of a similar pronouncement and manifesto by “Glamour” magazine, a Conde Nast publication, both on its website and the “Ellen Degeneris” show.
Why the change of heart all of a sudden?
Well, it’s been a long while in the making. For decades now, the media, the marketing and advertising industry, the fashion, medical and beauty industries, and Western society as a whole have been inducing women to purchase products by causing inadequacies, low-self esteem and self-loathing in their intended target audience. And women have bought into these notions lock, stock and 38 caliber barrel.

Things are even worse in Latin American countries like mine. There is a reason why there are more plastic surgeries per woman in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina than anywhere else in the world. And that is not a good thing. Women are worth much more than their looks.

We have believed that our hair is not shiny or bouncy enough. Our complexion is flawed. And especially, that we can never be thin enough. We are offered skeletal women, some with the same body characteristics as malnourished people in 3rd World, famine-devastated countries as “ideals”. I saw photos a couple of years ago from a new collection by Marchesa with Alice Abreu in a blue evening gown where she looked like a war camp survivor. It was inducing pity, concern and even a little bit of disgust on me. Not lust for the dress.
I am a plus size woman. WELL into plus size territory. Not a pseudo plus size (and actually a fairly normal straight size) 6 or 8 like Whitney on America’s Next Top Model or the size 6 model Tim Gunn called “zaftig” on Project Runway. No, I wear a size 18. Sometimes even a 20.
Ten years ago, aspirational marketing would have worked on me. 25 years ago aspirational marketing and the obsession with thinness almost killed me. I developed serious eating disordered behavior. I have been in remission for almost 17 years. I have never binged, emotionally overeaten or sat on my butt being “unhealthy”. I am just larger than average and MUCH larger than the imposed ideal. And guess what? I am also MUCH healthier than I used to be when all my energy was spent in efforts to meet that ideal, both physically and mentally. I am no longer purging. I am no longer getting up in the middle of the night to do sit ups. I am no longer taking amphetamines, laxatives, diuretics or anti-depressants when I do not need them or the health risks associated with their use or putting my life at risk in the hands of a surgeon to perhaps, one day, finally be good enough to live, dress or love.
I am all of that NOW.
I refuse to weight myself. I refuse to let my doctors weight me unless they have a legitimate scientific reason to do so like dosing anesthesia. I do not allow them to humiliate me, guilt me or judge me because of my size. If they want to assess my health, they need to use truly objective measures like my fasting blood glucose, blood pressure (with the RIGHT size cuff) or lipid profile. All of those happen to be stellar. I am HEALTHY. Much healthier than when I was trying to be thin. I let them know that weight loss advice or measures are neither wanted nor welcome.
And most of all, my body is MINE. No one else gets to have an opinion on it. Period, end of story, case closed. I do not aspire to look like anyone else but me. Beautiful, healthy, one of a kind me.
I am not the only one who thinks that way. Website after website, testimonial after testimonial, women all over the world are tired of hating themselves or hurting themselves to meet an impossible and actually inferior ideal
The fashion industry has been a culprit of this trend. They have fostered this impossible ideal and very few magazines, modeling agencies or designers have done much to reverse it.
They just shrug their shoulders and say “Let’s face it, that is the way things are”. They are that way because they let them be and because we have let them. There is NO good reason why a designer’s sample size has to be a size 0 or 2 or even 4. It takes only 1 more yard of fabric to make a size 14 garment than a size 2 garment. Just check the fabric yardage requirements on the back of any commercial pattern. They just believe that we “aspire” to look like starved concentration camp victims. Do they think we are really that crazy?
Finally the women of the world have started to make their voices on the subject be heard because really, things could not get any worse.
When a size 6 woman is considered to be plus size or a size 10 is considered extra large, sanity has left the building.
The media and the fashion industry have started to get the message. Glamour got thousands of letters after publishing the photo of a lovely looking woman with a tiny little belly. “Drop Dead Diva”, a TV show about a beautiful and vibrant size 16 attorney is a big hit.
More and more mainstream designers are making clothing in larger sizes.
Women all over the world are embracing the idea that they are worthy of love, happiness and great clothes regardless of their size and weight.
It is time the fashion and beauty industry start treating their target customer base with respect and love and start addressing their various needs and desires. It is up to fashion designers to make clothes that fit our bodies, not for us to manipulate our bodies to fit their clothes.
Very few among us look like Linda Evangelista or Natalia Vodianova.
No 35,000 dollar dress, hair cut, lipstick, diet or surgery can make us look like them. What we want is things that help us celebrate our differences and individual beauty, just the way we are.

Blogging Project Runway: And the Bride Wore Hydrocarbon Chains

2009-10-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here I am for the weekly dice and slice of the latest episode of Project Runway.
This week the challenge was to take the wedding gowns of divorced chicks and turn them into something wearable.
As far as a challenge, yet again in theory, this was pretty 101. It is basically a student project. In almost every fashion school I know of, including the one I attended, they have a "recycle a garment into something different" show/contest entry in the annual Fashion Show. And yet again in theory, this would be pretty easy to do with a wedding gown because wedding gowns commonly use a lot of fabric (aka yardage). But not always.

The first thing I asked myself when watching this episode was: Where on the Baby Jesus Green Earth did they find these chicks? Who the h-e double hockey sticks gets married in polyester and acetate????? I would rather get married in my cotton panties (knickers for my UK readers) and Chantelle minimizer bra than get married in a wedding gown made of synthetic fibers.
Polyester, nylon, acetate... that stuff is a) cheap in a cheap way, b) looks cheap in a cheap way, c) does not breathe, d) holds on to stains and odors , e) feels horrible and clammy and scratchy against your skin, f) has subpar drape and clings to the body and tend to need other synthetic layers underneath to prevent static ...ewwww... and it goes on and on....

If you need to get a wedding dress on a budget, it is much better and smarter to either buy something nice second-hand and alter (there are always a PLETHORA of wedding gowns of all sorts at thrift, eBay and consignment stores) or think out of the box completely. Why a big dress? Why white? Why a dress at all? I mean you can find a nice cream pant suit for less and THAT you can actually wear again. Why not get married in pink, or red or black? Indian brides get married in all the colors of the rainbow. Why not a tux? To me there's no more elegant and edgy choice. I have no idea why so many women cling to the idea of virtuous white (or a shade thereof) when it's their second, third or fifth wedding and these ladies have seen more penises in their lifetimes than the urinals at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City at a final match between the America and Cruz Azul teams (the Mexican versions of Man U and Arsenal).

And you are going to ask yourselves: then what did YOU wear on your wedding? Well that is an interesting story. My wedding has thus far the record for the cheapest wedding in history. The whole thing, including reception, cost under 100 US dollars. I got married, 4 months pregnant with my daughter Saffi, at the justice of the peace in Fort Worth Texas, sadly, not to a Bass ($25 for marriage license). My dress was a $25 ecru summer cotton jersey dress from Express that was completely simple and minimalistic. I had an ivory ribbon in my half-up, half down hairstyle (which I did myself), ivory shoes from chez Payless, and the silk flowers bouquet was borrowed from a recently married friend. Otherwise I would not have bothered with the whole flowers thing. I wore no make up. Just a killer tan (speaking of tans... The Duchess of Orange is looking more and more like an angry Goth Oompah Loompah with a receding hairline). My bridesmaid (my lovely Irish- American, porcelain-skinned, best friend) wore a Kente cloth dress that her mother in law had brought from Nigeria. Everyone wore shorts and Hawaiian shirts and the reception was at our favorite Mexican restaurant (Benito's in Fort Worth) where everyone chipped in for their food. Why so little effort and fantasy? I was done with the wedding (and marriage) before it happened. I married for very good reasons including having a child in wedlock, and none of them were romantic delusions. By the time I married, the wedding was a necessary procedure, much like a pap smear or a root canal. I felt like Ann Boleyn walking to the executioner, not a bride going down the aisle. I would not wish that on my worst enemy. If I had been marrying a man I actually loved, I think I would have been a lot more into the wedding.

Needless to say, the day I received my final decree of divorce was one of the happiest days of my life. The song "Freedom" by George Michael (including cameos by supermodels) played in my head for months. So I understand these ladies wanting to celebrate their freedom and independence.

Another thing that occurred to me while watching the episode was how right I was when I told my apparel construction class how crucial it is for a fashion designer to know organic chemistry. They laughed at me and were mocking me and were asking me why should we? In typical ignorant, popular, non-intelligent girl fashion. Because fabrics like polyesters and acetates ARE made of organic (carbon-based) materials. They are exactly hydrocarbon chains with substituted atoms (aka functional groups) such as esters ( as in the case of POLY- ESTER) that determine the properties of that particular fabric including at which laundering or pressing temperature they take on the texture of pork rinds or chewing gum. Moreover, most successful fashion designers end up making most of their fortunes through licensing, namely in fragrances. If you do not know organic chemistry, then when a perfumer tells you that the dominant accords in your scent are mostly amines or thiols (versus esters or aldehydes), you cannot prevent your signature scent from reeking like a boat full of week old mackerel or rotten eggs. Knowing organic chemistry is a must. And that is why the materials of the dresses the designers had to work with were such a big challenge from the get go. Synthetics are hard to sew, hard to work with, hard to dye. If the dresses had been made from silk moire, charmeuse or shantung, things would have been MUCH easier.

So let's see what they came up with...

Althea:

This dress was pretty boring, the construction was wonky and it had MAJOR titscrepancy. If you are going to go for the trompe l'oeuil bra-on-the-outside thing, at least have the decency to make her mammaries even. It was styled in a really unimaginative way too, so not her best work.

Carol Hannah:

This was not bad at all... I like the grey color and what she did with the tulle and how she turned the poofy Cinderella gown into a pretty decent cocktail dress. I though the little bolero vest thing was completely extraneous and unnecessary but the rest was really ok.

Christopher:

Two words say it all : Glad Bag. This dress was unflattering, the construction was shoddy and it was unimaginative. Really bad.

Epperson:

Yet another good designer that I hated seeing booted and an unjustly maligned design.
Heidi said "Oktoberfest" and some other judges "serving wench". I tend to disagree. I actually liked the silhouette of this dress and it was flattering to the woman's body, emphasizing her waist. The issue with the judges is they sometimes judge as if they were buying for themselves. Heidi Samuel has a very SLUTTY, trite, trend of-the-nano-second body-con (scious) taste. There was a life before Herve Leger and Azzedine Alaia. There will be a life after. Not all fashion has to look like a 14 year old's idea of sophisticated and sexy. And not all women are Vicky's Secret Angels. Some of us like something other then tight, short, colorful dresses.
I thought Epperson's was actually interesting and well-constructed and presented a different aesthetic with a slight Asian bent.

Gordana:

I did agree that this dress was the winner. It was original, edgy, laborious, intricate and beautifully constructed. Knowing how to sew pays off. Not everything was awesome though. I thought that a strapless dress was not the right choice for that woman (small-breasted women are not shown in the best light in strapless dresses because it calls attention to their LACK of assets) and the styling was a bit kick ass biker babes of South Dakota. Which detracted from the great craftsmanship of the dress. Cliche does not edgy make. To do edgy, you have to BE edgy. It was a bit as if Oscar de la Renta or Carolina Herrera or Alice Temperley tried to do LA rocker chick. As I have said before, the designer's soul can be seen in the clothes. So don't try too hard.

Irina:

The judges were virtually having orgasms over this one. And I was thinking .. WHAT??? Ok, so she got lucky, the dye job turned out well. But as far as the dress is concerned it was a Robbie Bee or Jessica Howard dress I can find at any mall's Dillard's or Macy's "special occasion" department. It was decently sewn and constructed, but really nothing spectacular.

Logan:

This was God-awful. I have seen better pants come out of my apparel construction class. The vest and top were tear inducing . The bottom spot was well-earned. It was just bad...

Nicolas:

How in the Baby Jesus God's Green Earth did this horrendous fug get a pass and Epperson gets auf'ed? The legendary Project Runway crack pipe makes its rounds once again. At least Nicolas was conscious that this look was hideous. It was unflattering, poorly constructed and just plain ugly. Seriously...I ask myself sometimes if they actually have eyes in those sockets.

Shirin:

It had been weeks ( since the pregnancy challenge) since Shirin had done something memorable. This dress to me along with Gordana's were the strongest contenders for the win. She had the least yardage. In polyester. And with a lot of skill and creativity she re-invented that dress into an adorable cocktail dress classic despite her ill adviced client who wanted to look like a tired drag queen in a Vegas low-end lounge. Great idea to create a pattern with stitching embroidery and that was truly what I think the challenge was about.

This seasons' challenges really show that the show was undergoing turmoil when it was being filmed. I really miss the days of dresses made of grocery store items, the clothes on the designer's backs or the contents of a flower shop. And soon we have to endure Christina Aguilera as a guest judge... Tickety tack coming full speed ahead..

Tim Burton Fashion Editorial for Harper's Bazaar

2009-10-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Tim Burton.
As a matter of fact many people tell me I am possibly his and John Waters' and Richie Rich's and Vivienne Westwood's love child.
I just understand the way he is wired because I am wired much the same way.
To celebrate a retrospective of his work at the Modern Museum of Art in NYC (http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/313), the October issue of Harper's Bazaar produced a candy-corn Halloween-a-licious spread with photography by Tim Walker featuring jaw-droppingly beautiful clothes by Balmain, Ralph Lauren, Alexander McQueen, YSL, Atelier Versace, JPG, Armani, Nina Ricci, Chanel.. the list goes on ...
One of these looks strikingly reminds me of the much ridiculed human hair collection that Chris March did at Bryant Park for Project Runway... Goes to show how much those judges know...I championed and still champion that collection and everything I have seen Chris do. In my opinion, he is by a landslide more talented than Christian Siriano. There, I said it.
Tim Burton makes a cameo on the spread dressed as Jack from "The Nightmare before Christmas" with really great tributes to characters from his movies like Lydia from "Beetlejuice" and my favorite "Edward Scissorhands".

Happy Couture Halloween!

Fashion and "Age Appropriateness".

2009-10-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

I was checking out a website with tips for "Women over 40".
I am 42 years old.
I do not look at all like you would "expect" a 42 year old to look like. 0 wrinkles, 0 sagging, 0 signs of aging except gray hairs.
Thank you to being ethnic, great mommy and daddy genes and yes, one of the few advantages of not being thin. Chub keeps stuff in place. Thank you oily complexion.
A make up artist once told me " every pimple is one less wrinkle". In France they say :" Il faut choisir, la face ou le cul" (you have to choose between having a youthful face or having a small bum. Genetics made the choice for me. I am happy with it)
I have a sister that is 11 years younger. You would be darned if looking at the both of us together you could assess more than a 2 year difference in age.
Here is a photo of me and my baby sister Monkey...I am in Tokodoki and Marc by Marc Jacobs and LB Right Fit Jeans, she is in Custo Barcelona and 7 for Mankind jeans, we are at an open air Rufus Wainright concert in London:

NO ONE can believe I have a 16 year old daughter.
What bugs me about the whole "dressing for your age" is that it's a blanket statement.
No two people carry or feel their age the same way.
According to most "How not to look old" or "Dressing for my advanced old age", I should not even be looking at 90% of the stuff I wear. I should be in Eileen Fisher or neutral suits with "bold jewelry" and assume the Dorothy Sbornak look already.
Vintage finds, Hello Kitty and Tokidoki stuff, Custo Barcelona, extremely trendy clothes, darn, I even wear Juicy. I shop mostly in the Young Contemporary (plus and straight size) department of the stores and in places like Shopbop, Kitson, etc.
And no one really bats an eye in reality.
I hate that it is assumed that because the last time I saw the right side of twenty something was in the Clinton administration, I should look matronly, serious and conservative.
If I dressed like that, I would look so wrong. Like I borrowed my mom's clothing ( dang, even my mom who's 65 dresses younger than that because SHE looks about 47) or I am wearing my "serious" costume.
Of course there are things I would no longer wear out of sheer self respect and aesthetics like micro minis (my legs are not long nor lean so the proportions are not right and I think they are slutty).
But mostly I look at garments and the statement I am making on a "case by case" basis and there is nothing I say no to without trying it on first.
I am usually a jean, cool top and blazer or cardigan person but I tried on a shift dress the other day and I look amazing in it. Why not?
There is also the issue of personal style which Tim Gunn so eloquently addressed in his book.
I am a Goth/ Punk/ Rocker woman at the core, with a bent for wearing menswear inspired or menswear proper garments.
A skull graphic or a tattoo print looks ever so right on me and so does high quality leather and dark denim. I also look great in a minimalistic blouse, a cashmere cardigan and a great pair of slacks.
I hate fashion dictates based on my demographic, age, or body type (I am plus, I am hour glass and the right skinny jeans look awesome on me) and that "prohibit me" from wearing something.
If the so called "fashion experts" have not seen what something looks like on me, the way I would wear it, how can they make those pronouncements?
I think that part of being fashionable is using your own imagination, criteria, and creativity to express yourself.
It's about time we take that power into our own hands and stop leaving it to others to tell us what we can and cannot wear.
Viva La Juicy!

P.S: I will get to reviews of Fashion Week Collections soon.

Movie Review: "The September Issue".

2009-10-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw the movie documentary "The September Issue". It narrates the inside making of the September issue of Vogue magazine, traditionally their biggest issue of the year, mostly because of all the adverts and because it features all the new fall/winter trends.
The movie gives a great insight into the work and personality of Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Andre Leon Talley, Mario Testino and other major players in the fashion industry.
I saw a lot of similarities with situations that have arisen in my life.
For many years I have asked myself, Why Anna? Why HER?
I have also read her biography (Front Row: Anna Wintour: What Lies Beneath the Chic Exterior of Vogue's Editor in Chief by Jerry Oppenheimer) and it shocked me in a way. This woman is disputably the most powerful one in the fashion industry and she has done NOTHING right.
She dropped out of High School. She dropped out of fashion school. She is KNOWN for being problematic, political and not getting along with others. If you look at her with completely objective eyes, she does not have the best personal style, really.
She is not congenial, caring or even very innovative. All she did was scheme, and put celebrities on the covers and maybe increase advertisers but I am not thinking that was that much of a stretch of the imagination as far as strategic thinking is concerned. I mean she does NOT write, edit, style, ANYTHING. She just vets the incredibly good hard work of others including the incredibly talented Ms. Coddington.
I have always thought that in order to run any business, you have to be able to do all of the jobs of the people working for you except you have to be able to do them better so you can tell them how to improve the work.
In my career in medical writing and marketing I have so far encountered several of these women who cannot do ANYTHING on their own yet through politics, intrigue and backstabbing maintain high positions of power without any talent or hard work to back it up. It drives me crazy because I am one of the Grace Coddingtons of the world. I graduated and toiled through degrees in Biomedical Sciences AND Writing AND Fashion. I CAN write and edit. For any audience I choose. I CAN style, Geezus, I can kick Rachel Zoe's bony, non-existent arse, because I can style on-trend for a size 18, 20 or 26!!! I can sew. I can do make-up. I can edit and use word and powerpoint like nobody's business. I am, like Grace Coddington, a nice, classy, cordial, ethical, decent human being who plays FAIR. I believe in moving up in your career because of what you have accomplished not who you blackmail, who your Dad is or who you slept with and in treating people with kindness. And I KNOW you can run a successful business under those principles because one of my best supervisors operated by them.
What I came out of the movie thinking is that Anna Wintour is a genius at getting others to submit to her authority unquestioningly (or at least questioning it very little) and at surrounding herself with very talented people.

Andre Leon Talley is a trip and a half and as over the top as you would expect him to be. Louis Vuitton monogram EVERYTHING including towel and what not. And who is Anna to comment and dictate on the body shape and size of everyone who works there?
I have followed Andre's weight saga and I think the poor man is a Luther Vandross waiting to happen. All the yo-yo dieting and dysregulation of glucose homeostasis is going to eventually kill him. Not the weight. If he embraced HAES and sent the "thin is better (or healthier)" mentality to hell he would be just fine.
It is a good and very entertaining movie and it gave me a great insight into what goes into publishing a major fashion glossy. I also got to get a glimpse into the work of incredibly talented and inspired people like Mario Testino, Miss Coddington and Patrick Demarchelier.

Here is a clip of the movie.... If you are a fashion person, it is a movie that it would be worth getting on DVD. And yes, the clothes are to die for!

Gothic Manicure-Minx

2009-10-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

I needed a mood pick-me-upper yesterday. I am in a funk because of the job situation and very anxious.
So I went to get my eyebrows threaded and got a manicure to relax and cheer me up.
Since I left San Diego I have not been able to find an esthetician who "gets" my eyebrows right. In San Diego, Beverly at the Benefit Brow Bar did them and gave me the retro "Marilyn Monroe" eyebrows with dramatic arches I love:

Most estheticians just default to more modern shapes and moderate arches and it's not what I like best. I wish I could take Bev with me everywhere.

I really wanted to try a new product that has been getting a lot of buzz in the beauty press called Minx.
They are like vinyl decals with really cool designs including Alexander Henry prints (I saw the one with the sugar skulls) and metallics that they bond with heat and nail glue to your nails. The designs are very cool and the metallics the most true I have seen in any nail color product. But they do not come cheap. They are about 55 dollars a set. They also last about two weeks and they do not chip or scratch. The application is not the most comfortable thing on earth because they put your hands under a heat lamp at a pretty high temperature.

I did not want to commit to a full set because I just wanted to try them so I got OPI's "Witch Arm" on the rest of my nails ( since I am in a funk I am extra Goth right now) and got the Minx in black with silver spider webs on my thumbs.

Here is the end result:

I like them combined with polish as an accent. I also saw a couple of full sets applied and they seem to look and work best on the metallic designs and on long nails.

I think that they are a great idea for special occasions and they have great designs for bridal etc.
Since they are pricey and they are not exactly subtle, it is not the nail treatment I would do on a regular basis. But as an occasional pop or accent or for a party? They are awesome and a great idea.

Freaky Good Hair

2009-10-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

There was this one really cool Asian chick that was in fashion school with me. I think her name was Crystal.
She had tattoo sleeves. Not tattoo prints on her shirts as in an Ed Hardy or Yellowman shirt but her arms are completely tattooed.
I LOVE tattoo art. I love for example Kat Von D or Pink and the way they carry their tattoo art.
I only have on itty bitty tattoo of vampire fangs on, let's call it, my lower hip where no one can see it.
I am tired of being a coward and wearing my weird on the inside for the sake of a career that really ... has hardly been a success. I am talking about the science and medical thing.
Why is it that I am expected to look like a stockbroker or a nerd or a school teacher? I know the same stuff about ICH GCPs, enzymes, protein inhibition, anti-angiogenics, anti-TNF's, dermatology, writing AMA style, Power Point... you name it, regardless of what I look like.
And I really resent having to look "conservative".
This is where Crystal comes in. I was complimenting her ink one day and I asked her if she was not worried she was going to have a hard time getting a job with all the visible tats.
She said that she had gotten them on purpose so she would never be tempted to get a job that would not accept her with her tats. I agree 300% and I so admire her courage and self-assuredness.
I have been keeping my look pretty mainstream for about 5 years because of my job and it makes me angry. It is like I have to give them everything.
So I decided to follow my heart. Since right now I do not have a pharma day job, I am going to look like me. This is what I have decided to do to my hair for a bit :

If I get any interviews they'll have to love me just the way I am.

Blogging Project Runway: Blue Velvet

2009-10-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

So for this episode's challenge the designers had to create two looks in the color blue to be sold as part of the I.N.C house brand from Macy's.
I was particularly interested in this challenge because I was recently approached to become a vendor for Macy's. It was a fantastic opportunity, but one I have to put on the back burner, because I do not even have at this point the resources necessary to produce professional samples, let alone the production I would need for an order from Macy's.
Designing for mass market as a mental exercise is extremely interesting.
I tend to be a fairly theatrical designer, because the first stuff I designed were costumes for my dance recitals, plays and Halloween costumes.
I am also a big fan of Cosplay, Gothic Lolitas and period costuming, so no surprise there.
Paring down my aesthetic for mass market is a huge challenge. I am kind of "Hot Topic" for adults, like Thomas Wylde I guess. I could see my stuff being sold at Maxfield's in LA, Colette in Paris, or Harvey Nichols in London if they sold plus size clothes, but Macy's is a GREAT opportunity for any designer.
Another issue to consider is that a lot of people in the fashion/ retail industry are women and they do business as if they were shopping for themselves and carry their own needs and wants and taste into business. The person in charge of minority vendors in this case, is very into the whole "What Would Shelley O' Wear" thing. I am SO not a Shelley O designer.
I love the First Lady and have all the respect in the world for her. But she is entirely too conservative and East Coast/ MidWest preppy. I am not that because nothing in my sensibility or life experience echoes that aesthetic. I am a fossilized Goth/Punk, former dancer/ actor and stuff, from Mexico City with very British (as in Camden and East London), Southern Californian (as in LA), Parisian and Japanese influences. No Kennenbunkport or Martha's Vineyard in my context, I must say, much to my mother's regret. And I do not think that is a bad thing. Like Tim Gunn says, a chacun son gout. On top of it Macy's price point is brutal for an unknown designer. They want to sell retail at under 100 bucks per piece which means that they have to be 50 bucks wholesale and 25 in total production costs in order to make a profit. This translates to having to manufacture in China, Sri Lanka, India or El Salvador or bust to also meet the quality they are expecting in the garments. To do that you need to have huge orders and serious cash behind you. And as of yet, I do not.
But translating my taste to mass market is going to be a huge challenge. One day.
The brief for the challenge also specified that the two looks they had to create had to be blue... EEEEKKKKK. I do not hate color as much as most other punks/goths do but the color has to almost emerge organically. Having a color thrown upon me like that is hard. Of all shades of blue I guess I would have picked indigo as in dark denim or ink or midnight blue. To me those would have been the most elegant.
I go to Macy's all the time and know the INC line for both straight and plus sizes pretty well. And they do carry cute, quasi-on-trend stuff.
But here is what they came up with...

Althea.. This looks would have NEVER passed muster with the buyers at Macy's. I usually love her work but the skirt was WAY too short for a suiting look and the construction and tailoring were shoddy. Seriously. Just look at the fit. And if it looks like that on a size double 00 model, what do you think it will look like on a size 14 when they grade up the pattern? INC DOES go up to 16 in their Misses AND 26, if I am not mistaken, in their plus.

Logan:

I love the idea of a high-waisted pant and this one was decently executed. The top was actually pretty cute and Marc Jacobs-ish. There was an issue of fit with the pants and they were not well fitted at the waist and crotch leading to a bit of the "insane crotch" effect which I was amazed HRH the Duchess of Orange (she's back) did not comment on. I like the more muted palette though and the fact that it was not an in-your-face blue.

Carol Hannah's:
It really was not all that. I mean to top looked a bit simple and cheap in a Rainbow kind of way, and the skirt was far from a universally flattering fit. Only women with trim middles are flattered by high waisted garments. We are in the minority. When designing for mass, you are designing for a majority, so that is what you have to keep in mind. That size 14, apple-shaped, 5'2 chick in the sales office of your apartment complex? THAT is who you are designing for. NOT a 5'10 size 0 model. Capish? If you don't that garment will end up on the clearance rack at the GOODWILL. It was well constructed and sewn though.

Gordana:
Like Randy Jackson would have said in American Idol, that was just a'wight for me. Not blown away, not grossed out. It was ok. It would sell but not fly out of the shelves. As with most of what she does it was well sewn.

Irina:
This was the winning look. It is a lovely dress. It was beautifully constructed. Very good design and pleasing muted palette. The problem? The freaking bust line and neckline. It was well constructed, that is not the problem. The problem is that bust line will not work for ANYONE over an A cup. Since the majority (yet again you are designing for mass market, not models) of women over the age of 14 are a B cup or more, that dress will yet again, despite its cuteness, languish on the clearance racks. It's one of those cute on the hanger, self-esteem bomb in the fitting room dresses. It is a cute dress though. Add some wider straps and a real V neck and it could work:

Christopher:
This one was the highly maligned disco ball pumpkin pinata or whatever. The neckline was a bit Little Lord Fauntleroy, I have to say. The fact that is was shiny did not help, but it was not quite as bad as they made it sound... If you go to Macy's they actually have a lot of shiny, satiny, ballooney mini dress tunics in the INC, Rachel Roy and BCBG lines. I know. I go though those racks almost weekly.

Epperson:
I actually LOVED the idea of this dress. I love menswear re-interpreted as womenswear and the idea of a Thomas Pinkish blue pinstripe and white collar and cuff shirt as a dress is something that I would buy immediately and full price. The better to wear it with a boyfriend blazer or cardigan, tights and ballet flats.
The problem here was construction, fit and the shiny nature of the fabric. The styling was also not 100% up to par and a bit lazy here...which surprises me coming from Epperson:

Nicholas:
This guy is out to sabotage and throw under the bus every single partner he gets, isn't he? He has an issue with letting other folk have their time in the limelight, I am afraid...That is not nice. I know, I know... It's a competition, capitalism, every man for himself, yada... I can not help myself. My Daddy taught me Noblesse Oblige (the name of my label BTW) and I take it to heart.
The design I have to say was not thoroughly thought through (wow,that was hard to write) The ruffle placement and fabric choice were kind of awkward although there is nothing wrong with the idea of ruffles of their own accord when they are well done. Just ask yet again, Marc Jacobs. I think that when you are making or creating something a bit of your soul goes into it (I know I have watched too many "Tales from the Darkside" and "Twilight Zone" episodes. But the thing is MY soul is in my sketches and garments and you can see it clear as the sun. So I know it is true for other designers) and since he was so negative about the design and ruffles I think that was translated into the garment:

Louise:
I freaking HATE that she was eliminated. I have seen her past work and love it. She went to a good school (El Centro in Dallas, the Dallas version of my fashion alma mater Ghetto Mesa College in San Diego. It's not Parsons, Otis or Central St. But I learned my stuff) and really wanted to see a Bryant Park Collection from her. Probably one of the few ones I would have bought something from, along with Chris March's and Jeff Sebbelia's and Korto's. But the judges were overly harsh with her and did not see that the simplicity of her little shift dress would have made it a pretty decent candidate for the INC line (and it would actually have made that vendor selection person happy. It is VERY Shelley O). They have it in for "different" people this season. I really did not think her dress was bad at all:

As I said designing for mass market is not as easy at it seems and requires a lot of thought. It is a trial and error process and it's something that they most definitely do not teach in fashion schools. Coming from a one-on-one, Etsy, or even Couture background it is a huge readjustment. But I do not think the judges in this case with the exception of Michael Kors (even the lady from Macy's) knew all the variables they had to take into account to predict the potential commercial success of a garment in that context.

Glamour Pledge: To All The Girls (and Boys) I've Loved Before

2009-10-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day in fashion history and in womenfolk's history. I was watching the Ellen show on the telly and who is on it but Kate Dillon, Crystal Renn, Lizzie Miller, Amy Lemons, Anansa Sims,Jennie Runk and Ashley Graham. If you have not heard, Lizzie Miller was the "model on page 194" in Glamour:

This photo has literally been the water-cooler topic at PR, marketing and advertising agencies worldwide because women all over have been confirming what we all have known for a long time: "Aspirational" marketing is dead. Dead and pronounced. Women are sick and tired of "aspiring". They just want to be. And they want more realistic and diverse representations of women in the media.
Women of all sizes are beautiful. We are tired of being directed to hate ourselves so that we can spend our hard-earned cash on products to stop the pain.
We want to feel beautiful and respected and valued.
All of us.
We will no longer be told what is a "healthy weight". If you are not sick, you are healthy, regardless of your weight. Period. That simple.
We will no longer be told that you can only be beautiful if you make it a full time job. We will no longer starve ourselves or take dangerous drugs or exercise our knees to arthritis or mutilate our bodies to please other people or to make them rich. It's a new day. Sell me something I actually need please.
Glamour has made a public commitment to diversity, size, ethnic, and otherwise which is a great step for a fashion magazine and for the fashion industry as a whole.
And they published this AMAZING photo to prove it:

I loved the manifesto that Glamour put out:
http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2009/09/on-the-cl-are-you-ready-to-sta.html

Well all of that could not have happened without the people that have been fighting in the trenches for years to bring awareness and justice to the issues of sizism, fatphobia, size acceptance and eating disorders.

These are awesome people that I would like to acknowledge:

-Marilynn Wann
-Kate Harding, Fillyjonk and Sweet Machine
-Paul Campos
-Joy Nash
-Velvet D'Amour
-Jessica Weiner
-Margaret Cho
-Cameryn Manheim
-Mo'Nique
-Queen Latifah
-Kate Dillon
-Crystal Renn
-Any and all plus size fashion designers that have said yes, I will dress them including: Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Gianfranco Ferre, Calvin Klein, Kimora Lee Simmons, Pam and Gella at Juicy, T-Bags, Torrid, Max Mara, Zang Toi, Malan Breton, Fashion Overdose, Abbie Z, Jessica Svoboda, Anna Scholtz, Henry Jackson, Crystal Frazier, Bradley Bayou, Carmen Marc Valvo and the list goes on...
-The editors of the remembered and always loved Mode magazine including Ceslie Armstrong
- The ladies who publish great plus magazines including SKORCH and Plus Model (hey Maddy!) and blogs like Too Fat for Fashion, Fatshionista, Manolo for the Big Girl
-Magali Amadei and Claire Mysko at 5 Resolutions
-Jezebel, the blog

And the list goes on and on....

Thank you you guys! I think we have made a difference.

This may mean that maybe a girl like my daughter will grow up thinking that she is beautiful just the way she is and does not have to hate herself and hurt herself to please the world like her Mom did.

And that makes it all worth it :-)

Of Sensible Shoes...

2009-10-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

I was doing my blog browsing and stopped by "Fashion Preserve". As usual, Christa had a great post on sensible shoes.
Sensible shoes are the only kind I can wear. I love the Manolos and the Giuseppe Zanotti's and Roger Vivier's and what not but as art, not something that can go on my feet if I am expected to either stand or walk upright.
I can walk on pointe on Capezio's better than on high heels and that has always been the case.
Since I was a dancer, my hips and gait are naturally turned out. So walking in heels gracefully has always required a significant degree of effort but for a short time in my life I was even able to dance hip hop (like Janet Jackson or MC Hammer, around that point in history) in 4 inch stilettos.
Two years ago, when I was in Recanati (close to Ancona, in the Marche region of Italy) for my baby sister's (her nickname is the Little Monkey)wedding, I had a really bad Naomi Campbell-esque accident. I was wearing 5 inch white and perspex platforms with a tie-died Monsoon dress for the collection Liz Hurley did for them. Here is a photo of me and Monkey in matching Fornarina T-shirts:

and of the Monsoon dress I wore:

The issue is the streets of Recanati are cobbled. My platform got caught between 2 stones and down I went like a fallen sequoia. I completely tore both of my lateral ligaments which were already damaged from dancing and teaching aerobics. I was six months either immobilized in a cast to my thigh or walking with crutches or a cane.

It took me almost a year to regain my normal gait and the ability to go up and down stairs in the London Underground, dance to Abba songs and all the normal things of daily life.

That means the only shoes for me are sensible shoes and since the choices are not many, that means I cannot exclude any option. I took photos of the ones I currently have on rotation:

From top to bottom, left to right:
Bakers' silver gladiator sandals, Sam Edelman beige loafer flats, Prada pointed suede oxfords, Cole Haan loafers, Isaac Mizrahi leopard ballet flats, Cole Haan gold kitten heels, Tokidoki for Fornarina sneakers, L.A.M.B sneakers, Converse black patent leather sneakers, Alexander McQueen for Puma sneakers, special edition Doc Martens with skull art, Naturalizer classic black pumps (for pharma job interviews exclusively. They make me feel like I am a saddistic Rabbi about to do a brissmillah on unsuspecting innocent puppies. I HATE conservative business clothing)and regular classic Doc Martens.

Being that this blog is all about Sanity in fashion, I thought this was a good subject. Very high heels, ill-fitting shoes and shoes that force poor posture and unhealthy gait is something that fashion often requires. I do not think that we have to sacrifice the health of our spine, limbs, feet and joints in order to be fabulous. Just ask any podiatrist or orthopedic surgeon.

There are a billion cool options for shoes that are sane and gorgeous and stylish. It's just a question of looking and thinking with your brain. Not Vogue's.

Fashion and Beauty Book Recommendations :-)

2009-09-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

Talking about books (which I love), there are four or five I have recently read that bear recommendation.
I cannot praise enough Christa Weil's Secondhand Chic: Finding Fabulous Fashion at Consignment, Vintage, and Thrift Shops :

Just the sections on "Taking Care of your clothes" (laundering etc) and on spotting quality with the different seam finishes etc... is worth the price of the book alone. Really if you are interested in fashion this book is a must have.

I have also read lately Danny Vosovic's Fashion Inside Out: Daniel V's Guide to How Style Happens from Inspiration to Runway and Beyond:

It is a great book if you are a new or aspiring fashion designer with great interviews with industry icons like Tim Gunn, Diane Von Furstenberg, Todd Oldham, Heidi "Frau Seal" Klum, pattern makers, model bookers, stylists, you name it...
It also has great tips and instruction of the basics of pattern making, sketching and draping (which is why I got the book). And on top of it, it is a beautiful book.

Speaking of my eternal crush (his posture, vocabulary and wit make me swoon. That and the gorge baby blues) Sir Tim Gunn, I have also recently read his book, Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style (Tim Gunn's Guide to Style)and it is delightful:

As far as style advice, his is very basic. Invest in quality pieces, stock great basics, etc. But what I loved were his views on personal style and shopping and closet cleaning philosophy and the narrative is a delicious peek into his intellect which is just effervescent ;-). He makes me wish I was a 6'2, gorgeous, 42 year old gay male architect who looks like an older and distinguished Jack McKenroth, so that I could propose and be reciprocated and we could live happily ever after in Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" and be served rumaki by our houseboys while we drink very dry martinis and watch old Joan Crawford and Gloria Swanson movies and attend brilliant charity balls. Here is the incomparable and Adonis-like Jack so you can see what I am talking about:

Well, personality-wise I am kind of exactly like a combination of that and Chris March.

I do not know if he would approve of my style though since I am more Vivienne Westwood and Franco Moschino than Diana Vreeland or Audrey Hepburn. But he would love the fact that like Coco Chanel and Kate Hepburn, I am one of those Masculin/Feminin women you have to lock up your men and womenfolk for. Which would be a very fair assessment and something that has been often said about me (I loathe false modesty, so Anglo-Saxon. I am very Gallic that way).

Another great fashion book I am in the process of reading is Fashion Conspiracy, The - The Dazzling Inside Story of the Glamorous World of International High Fashion by Nicholas Coleridge. It is a great book that gives an inside view of international high fashion straight from the mouth of legends like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Bill Blass, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake. It really tells it all. It is a great insight into how the major fashion players came to be and how a garment path can be traced from the runways of the fashion capitals to the sweatshops of Mumbai or El Salvador. It also speaks of famous feuds and the careers of people like Andre Leon Talley pre-Vogue, Grace Coddington etc...

It is an older book so a little harder to find but well worth the hunt.

Another great book that is legendary is Kevyn Aucoin's "Making Faces".

This book is the Bible of make-up really. It teaches you all the basics about applying makeup, techniques, fantasy make-overs, the works. I have copied so many of his make-up designs and they work like a charm. It should be on every woman's library.

Another great book I have found is Born-Again Vintage: 25 Ways to Deconstruct, Reinvent, and Recycle Your Wardrobe by Bridgett Artise and Jen Karetnick:

It has great ideas on how to de-construct and re-constitute new wardrobe pieces from stuff you can find at thrift shops or in your wardrobe and which you might have given up hope in. Incredibly creative and fun.

Try these books. They are all wonderful and amazing knowledge for those of us for whom fashion is a lifestyle.

Dove Soap-Good Soap :-)

2009-09-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

For a few years now Dove soap has had marketing campaigns aimed at boosting women and girl's self esteem and has created the Dove self-esteem fund contributing to causes that help enhance the self image and self esteem of women.
The spokesperson is a great lady that I am very proud to be internet friends with, the fabulous Ms. Jessica Weiner, author of " A Very Hungry Girl" and "Do I Look Fat in This?".
Ok, when I was studying medicine and science in Canada and working at hospitals, all the gynecologists and dermatologists that crossed my path always swore by Dove White soap because it has the perfect PH balance for the skin and those sensitive female bits (how clinical ;-) ).
Since I have been using Dove white soap exclusively for those purposes, I stopped having any issues and have recommended it to everyone who crosses my path with likewise results. Well that and complete chastity and monogamy and safe sex of course, for those who are lucky enough to remember what that is all about.
Well, firstly , I have to recommend reading Jessica Weiner's "Do I look Fat in This" book. I am reading it right now and it is chock full of wisdom and good advice for women.
Last full time gig I had, There was this group of 2-3 chicks. One of them, she did not have the best personality, but I think that was her biggest problem, was one of the most weight obsessed individuals I have come across. I mean 97% of everything I heard her say was about weight ( hers and other peoples), calories, diets, what she ate, what she did not... It was incessant and sad and annoying. And she was not the only one. One of the women in executive management was talking about her upcoming vacation and how her husband's sisters were going with them and were thin and perfect and how she had special ordered a skirt to her knees to wear over her bathing suit. I told her I wear a freaking bikini and I am bigger than her. Thin does not equal beautiful and my big body is as beautiful to me as any skinny one. I am not going to waste any time in my life hating my body. Her poor self image, led me to discover that she was plagued with a myriad insecurities (fairly well founded) and instead of facing her real issues (she is under-qualified for her position which she maintains through office politics) she focused on her body insecurities.
And it goes on and on... "The Language of Fat" is something that as women we really need to unlearn and in her book Jessica shows us the way.
Right now the Dove self-esteem fund is donating a dollar to causes that enhance women self-esteem when you enter the UPC code from a bar of Dove at http://bit.ly/3aAvP8.

Here is Jessica Weiner's page on Simon and Schuster: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Jessica-Weiner

And The Dove Self-Esteem Fund's Campaign for Real Beauty site: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

Here is a great video they produced:

RAGE-The Movie: Fashion, Izzard, Leguizamo and Judi Dench...

2009-09-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

Sounds Divine!

Thin is not an ideal... it's a cop out.

2009-09-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

I am a plus size designer and woman. Plus designer by choice, plus size woman by pure genetics.
I have been on every weight loss program imaginable including medically supervised, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, Human Growth Hormone shots, medically prescribed amphetamines, liposuction and tummy tuck and I am an eating disordered individual in recovery since the social and medical obsession with thinness led me to anorexic behavior for over 13 years. I never binged, but compulsively exercised (8-10 hours a day... I used to wake up in the middle of the night to do sit-ups), purged (vomited and abused laxatives) and abused ephedra to speed up my metabolism. The kick is that I am much healthier now that I live with my weight then when I was making all these attempts to satisfy an arbitrarily imposed beauty and health ideal. Not one day in my lifetime have I "emotionally" overeaten or binged. I was a dance major and an AFAA certified aerobics instructor. For years I did not have a car and my feet were my sole mean of transportation. So no, I do not sit and stuff my face with Big Macs and Twinkies.
I do not have high blood pressure. As a matter of fact I have really low blood pressure. Usually running around 100 or less/60. I have also low blood sugar. Could not be further from type 2 diabetes. My blood lipid profile is stellar. In short I am a beacon of shiny good health by any objective measure except for the sequella from attempting to lose weight (Barrett's esophagus). Yet, I am fat and a size 18. And nothing short of very unhealthy and self-destructive behavior can change that.
The saddest part is I never was unhappy about my appearance. Other people could not live with it and pushed the need to lose weight on me.
Being fat or being thin is nothing more than an arbitrary physical characteristic like height or eye color, yet it heavily determines how you feel about yourself and how people perceive you, and your chances in life even more at this point in history than I would venture to say, skin color.
The RTW and couture sample size is either a 0 or a 2. For no good reason. It takes only 1 more yard of fabric to produce a size 14 garment than a size 2 garment. So cost is not the issue.
It is MUCH harder to design and sew for a body with actual curves. You have to take into account the shape of actual breasts and hips and engineer the pattern pieces accordingly.
So the only reason I can see for extremely thin people being held up as an ideal in the fashion industry is laziness and lack of ability on the part of designers. The do it because it's easy.
I do not like looking at thin people better than at medium size or fat people. As a fat person I do not aspire to be a thin person nor do I think them to be more beautiful, sexy or morally superior. I do not envy the thin.
As a matter of fact, they are usually a lot less happy with their looks, always on diets and a lot more insecure than I am. So thank you, but no thank you.
I resent them a little. I would be lying if I did not. They get privileges I don't and they get treated better. Designers make for them the clothes that they refuse to make for me. For no good reason. Thin privilege is EXACTLY like being treated better because you are white or because you are a man or because you are heterosexual. So most designers should understand this.
By making beautiful, well-designed clothes in larger sizes NO ONE is promoting obesity. Like homosexuality, NO ONE would choose to be bigger. You just are. And like gay men say, how can anyone believe that I would purposefully put up with ostracism, discrimination, upturned noses, contempt and constant judgment? I really do not have a choice unless I want to be less healthy and miserable. I prefer to be healthy and happy and accept my genetics and the way that I am.
I do not see why fat people ( yes, we are fat, not overweight since no weight is the one we all should be and not obese since that is not a legitimate medical diagnoses or construct) should be constantly punished by the fashion industry too under any logic.
Even if it was a disease (which it is not. For SOME people higher weight MAY increase risk for certain conditions. But so does being a woman ex: breast and ovarian cancer, being a man ex:heart disease, prostate and testicular cancer, being older ex: everything, being Jewish ex: Gaucher and Tay-Sachs, Greek ex:CJD and B-thalassemia, African-American ex: sickle cell anemia, White ex: many cancers, Alzheimer's,cystic fibrosis, gay ex: HIV, you name it ... yet none of these "risk factors" are considered diseases or stigmatizing on their own, so where is the logic?), it is NOT the place of the fashion industry to judge. They would not refuse to make clothing for people with cancer or type 1 diabetes would they? I mean I do not see them sending Halle Berry or Sheryl Crowe or Kyle Minogue to the muumuu shack but yet they think it's ok to do that to ANYone over a size 4.
Discrimination and segregation are NEVER ok and most people in the fashion industry should know better.Specially when the root for it is to justify lack of ability or laziness.

FASHIONAIR

2009-09-28T17:30:00.001-07:00

FASHIONAIR

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Sewing Project: Gothic Run Around Outfit Part Zwei-Herr Rolf

2009-09-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have been working on my Arkivestry Gothic Run Around Outfit, but I have run into a big problem....Rolf, my Bernina 1010 sewing machine, is not working and is under the weather. It probably needs to be re-adjusted because of the move to Atlanta. I got sick when I got here too. Leaving San Diego is entirely too painful, so I understand.
I named my machine Rolf after Rolf Snoeren from the design duo Viktor and Rolf, being that the machine is Swiss, Germanic and about the approximate age of both Rolf and I.

Here are photos of Rolf in my studio/apartment in San Diego where we were very happy:

And now in my little house in Atlanta:

I called my design BFF Mardell back in Diego to see if it was the machine or me, because I was having an impossible time winding the spool.

Well I did everything right, so it's Rolf being depressed.

She told me that when you move, sewing machines sometimes need to be re-adjusted. The woman is a sewing goddess :-)

I am taking it into the repair shop to get re-adjusted in the morning.

So far I have pulled out all the notions that I am using, have cut the fabric for the tunic top, and have laid out and pinned the ribbon lattice on the front pieces of the garment:

Here is the skull organza for the contrast ruffles:

Stay tuned....

Interior Design: My "Tim Burton" Living Room and Car

2009-09-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

I think that if you are a creative person, you kind of automatically use all of your surroundings and everything you come across as canvas for expression.
I "customized" my car (2006 Scion xB) and turned it into a rolling tribute to the life and work of my favorite fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood. Here are some photos:

The interiors are done in McQueen tartan (after Alexander McQueen) and I embellished with "Anarchy in the UK" and a Marx patch from her "Only Anarchists Are Pretty" collection. I added the chandelier and cherub fresco on the ceiling to emulate a t-shirt of hers I have with Renaissance art. She does a lot of skull jewelry so that is why my rims are skull-ish and her logo runs along the sides of my car, orb and all.

I live in an adorable little house in the Garden Hills part of the Buckhead neighbourhood of Atlanta. It's the part of Atlanta where the Real Housewives of Atlanta would not want to come because everything is kind of staid and forest like
and kind of European. Not shiny and huge and well, vulgar like New Money people like. New Money here lives in suburban subdivisions so they can have sprawling, obscenely large properties and make their wealth conspicuous.

Well, the space and the forest like surroundings reminded me a little of Snow White and a lot of Tim Burton's movies. When I first got here, it was the dead of winter and cold like a corpse's bum.

And all the Xmas decoration were on clearance. Which lead to my Gothic Ice, Tim Burton inspired living room with elements that speak to many of his movies: "Edward Scissorhands", "Batman", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Sweeney Todd", "The Corpse Bride".
My furniture is all the same one I have had for about 5 years now from Ikea and I just changed the pillows and slip covers. Got some lamps and a white, sparkly rug on clearance at Homegoods ( the TJ , TK for my British readers, Maxx for interiors)and some art that I have collected with my finds from the post-Xmas clearance sales (icicle lights, Xmas ornaments in vases, silver branches in arrangements).

The curtains are also home-made with about 12 dollars worth of fabric from Walmart.

Like Billy Shakespeare used to say "All world is a stage". I am out to be the set and costume designer of as much of it as I can be.

Sewing Project: Gothic Run Around Outfit

2009-09-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

I seriously need sewing practice to review my basic skills since I have not sewn in over a year. See, I moved to London and put my sewing machine, patterns, and fabrics in storage and when I got back I moved to Atlanta, worked like a maniac , got really sick, had surgery and my machine was sitting there sad and lonely.
I have a learning disability kind of like dyslexia called dyscalculia. Most of my issues are with numbers to a lesser extent but mostly with visuospacial stuff, sequences, mechanical stuff and hand-eye coordination. And then I go and become a dancer and a scientist and a fashion designer...No one can tell me I am unwilling to take on a challenge.
When I sew (or drive or dance) I have to do it often or my brain "erases" the mechanics. My body has to know the motions by heart and tell my brain what comes next. And I have to be doubly careful when sewing straight seams and so on.
It's the same with algebra. I can do it. I just have to commit the process to muscle memory, like a dance routine.
That is why I am a slow sewer and why pattern making can be such a challenge for me and the reason why I cannot try out for Project Runway by myself.
So I am trying to get it back before I start sewing for other (actually paid, maybe) people.
So I am making a little "running around town" Gothic pant and tunic set.
Here is my pattern:

And here is the fashion fabric I am using for the the tunic:

I am adding ruffles with black and ecru crocheted lace and in a silk organza with skulls designer yardage from Thomas Wylde that I scored last year. I am also appliqueing ribbon lattices like Marc Jacobs did for the S/S '10 show... Like this:

Then I am doing the longest version of the bloomers in a black cotton twill with ruffles made from the fabric of the top, the skully organza and the laces.

For the drawstrings I am using black silk cording and little silver skull beads I got a while back....

I already cut the pattern pieces for the top. I will keep documenting my progress...

Styling: Me in Custo Barcelona

2009-09-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to show another example of cool styling looks that I have worn lately...
One is me in a Custo Barcelona dress with Rainbow zipper leggings, vintage Gap classic denim jacket, Petit Bateau t-shirt, TOUS comic bag, black patent Converse, Forever 21 jewelry and Kangol hat:

And then me (completely make-up free) in a random trompe-l'oeuil t-shirt, Erin Fetherston for QVC boyfriend cardigan, the same Rainbow zipper leggings ( they were 2 pairs for $15.00 and a brilliant fit!) and the same Converse and bag...

I like those :-)

WWMD (What Would Milla Do) Project Runway : Avant Garde Surfwear

2009-09-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

In a recent episode of Project Runway, the designers were challenged with designing an Avant Garde look inspired by surfwear.
I decided to take a stab at the challenge and this is what I came up with:

It was actually inspired by this photo:

I know that juxtaposing the ideas of fashion and whales is akin to blasphemy...LOL

But they said avant garde!

The look is a black and white neoprene dress with a hood and exaggerated cloche skirt with a visible YKK zipper, sequin leggings and blue ombre ankle boots.
What I took from the whales was the basic color blocking and the idea of a belly patch that follows the general shape of the body. Being literal without being too literal and actually adding depth to the optical illusion of a more pronounced waist line.
I am trying to "flesh out" my basic croqs (drawings of bodies on which I sketch the clothes) but it's hard... it's going to be a process....

Styling a boyfriend jacket...

2009-09-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

I was reading my favouritest new blog "Fashion Preserve", by the super amazing Christa Weil, author of the second hand shopping Bible "Second Hand Chic".
This woman is a fashion encyclopedia and I have learned so much from her and reading her book and blog.
She is doing this amazing series on how to style a boyfriend jacket and she was trying to do it for different body types and sizes.
Well, I thought I would post this picture of me in the boyfriend jacket and the way I styled it for plus-hourglass since the likelihood of finding something that on-trend, for plus and hourglass is the same as that of finding a real Birkin bag at the Goodwill for 15.99 ( we keep dreaming and looking though).
But I did it. Like Joy Nash says, fatshion requires even more creativity and imagination that skinny girl couture.
So here is the photo of me in the boyfriend trend:

I am wearing a real vintage men's jacket that I got at the Junior League's thrift shop, my Ashley Stewart skinny black jeans, a great plaid shirt I found for 14.99 at Rainbow, enamel flower earrings and heart necklace from Forever 21 and my trusty Kangol grey flannel newsboy hat. I am also wearing my black patent Converse but you cannot see them in the photo next to my Vivienne Westwood tribute DanyCalifornia Scion xB (I pimped my own ride with the help of all of my boy cousins in Tijuana, B.C).
The make-up includes the most awesome dark purple lipstick called "Confession" by Urban Decay which is uber-flattering but requires lip lining with a reverse lip liner. A great one I just discovered is DuWop's reverse lipliner. My blush is NARS Super Orgasm, Some Kind of Gorgeous by Benefit foundation, Sephora brand mascara, and Sephora liquid eye liner in sparkly black.
So you can see that trends can be done on the cheap and in plus.
Please visit and read Fashion Preserve (http://fashionpreserve.blogspot.com/) . It's one of the best fashion blogs on the internet.

Blogging Project Runway: Girls on Film

2009-09-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

So in this next challenge, the designers had to tackle movie costuming from several genres.
Yet again, the challenge was bit vague and disjointed. I mean there are so many crossovers!You can do period action adventure (as in The Time Machine), contemporary Science Fiction (how about "Outbreak"?), futuristic Science Fiction film noir ( BladeRunner, anyone?)... The sky is the limit really...
I would have preferred if the producers/judges would have taken the path of my sketching teacher in fashion school and made them pick a movie as inspiration and create a garment. We had to create a mini collection with at least 6 looks for our assignment.
Fashion history was my favorite subject in fashion school and I LOVE taking period costuming and modernizing it. Specially Victorian and Edwardian being that I am, well, a Goth freak.
As far as the people who picked Period Piece, only Gordana's was accurate to period. I was AMAZED they were so harsh and critical. Christopher's although a beautiful interpretation, was terribly anachronistic as Tim Gunn mentioned during his critique. His costume was Victorian-ish. But NO Victorian garment, not even a Victorian prostitute's, would have been sleeveless.He might as well have put her in platforms and a 'fro. Plus he used panniers in a Victorian garment????Those are 18th century babe...pick a period, ok? And an Obi sash in manner of a pseudo-corset... Really in a way his look was kind of Baz Lurhman-ish because he does anachronism too.
I mean I really find unacceptable that designers, even self-taught ones, act like it's ok not to know fashion history. It's NOT ok. It's something that is critical as a designer to know and it enriches your knowledge and craft as much as I guess pattern making or whatever.
I mean right now I am in the middle of projects with clients that want Egyptian-inspired garments, 1920's stuff, a myriad of things.
Althea's was great and well constructed but it was a very wearable, contemporary look. I did not see the essence of Film Noir though. It was not dark or smoldering. I just happened to be black. Not the same thing.
Carol Hannah's and Logan's were appropriately "Matrix-ish/Tomb Raider-ish". I bit too shiny though... I would have loved a little more leather and maybe some distressed elements.
I loved Epperson's. Although less costume-ish than the rest, his look had a lot of interest and soul. For a 1 day turnaround the amount of detail was incredible. All that gathering for ruffles in 1 day????
As I said, I thought Gordana's was the most true-to-period, and the one that looked most expensive actually.
I was not fond of Irina's. I did not understand the reason for the organza wrap and the lace insets were a bit sleepwear, a bit vulgar. Yet again, just because something is black, it does not necessarily feel "dark". You can make a garment in white or even baby pink and it can be tremendously dark and twisted.
I thought for sure this was going to be Louise's challenge and she was going to hit it out of the park.
But her design was not on track because of 1) design issues and more importantly fit issues and fabric choice. I have seen her stuff and she could have totally nailed this challenge. What happened? It's like she did not really try...
I thought the winning look, Nicholas', deserved the win. But I think he owed 55% of his win to Collier Strong and the bang up job they did on hair and make-up. As far as "dark" his look was darker than those who picked Film Noir even though it was white.It's about the feel and spirit, the soul of the garment, as much as about the color.
I feel so bad about Ra'mon. He is lovely and very talented. It is always bad to double guess yourself. He should have carried on with his initial jumpsuit design, I think. I feel that in this case the choice of colors was what hurt him most . Had he chosen a metallic or earth tone ( more python than frog) palette he could have pulled off that unitard look.
I designed lizard/reptilian inspired costumes when I choreographed a piece called "Reptilium" in college. I had three dancers in unitards with peeling reptilian skin at different spots but my palette was silver and gold.
I actually kind of loved Shirin's "Saloon girl" look. Although it was the most costumish of the bunch, the color choices were excellent and it looked more sophisticated and yet again darker than the "Film Noir" entried. It was kind of interesting how the designers who got a genre they did not really want actually did better with their designs that the ones who got their choices and actually stuff that would have been ideal for them. Maybe you need adversity in order to truly fuel creativity...
This was a great challenge, but as a I said in the beginning of the blog, I think more focus on direction would have led to much more interesting garments on the runway.
By the way, this is one of the pannels from the class project I did with the Victorian "Sweeney Todd" inspiration... As you can see, although the elements are very true to period, the fact that I used a lot of menswear silhouette's made it a lot more contemporary. And the general feeling of the sketches in unapologetically dark and goth.

StyleList Tweets

2009-09-22T12:04:00.001-07:00

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NY Fashion Week : Costello Tagliapietra, Erin Fetherston, L.A.M.B, Marc Jacobs

2009-09-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am covering highlights of my favorite shows from New York, London, Paris and Milan Fashion Week. Why in a plus size blog would you ask? Don't those @#%^&*!!! hate ALL of us and think that we are less than roaches and they will not make clothes for us?
Well, a little. There is still a lot of stupid stigma in the fashion industry attached to not being alarmingly thin. Prejudice galore.But things are starting to turn around a little. For example, Erin Fetherston and Vivienne Tam recently made lines for QVC and yes, they went up to size 3X (and the quality is PRIMO... much better than the designer collections at Target, same price point). Plus... If they know that plus size women ARE indeed interested in on trend, well-designed clothing, designers are that much more likely to make it and buyers to stock it at stores.
As things are and I have it from the people who choose the vendors at major retialing outlets, they think that the "plus size woman" is afraid of taking on new trends and is not very interested in edgy, designer clothing.
I say NOT. I cannot be the only one who longs for Moschino and Comme and Marc Jacobs and L.A.M.B and House of Holland and Giles Deacon and who is completely revolted by the sight of shapeless Eileen Fisher clothing or another Nygard polyester business suit.
So here are some pictures and commentary of my favorite shows from NY Fashion Week...

Costello Tagliapietra's collection was happy, wearable and universally flattering. I can see these color trends influencing what women of any size will love to wear this upcoming Spring and Summer... Mango and Lemon :-)

I love L.A.M.B and I always have. Gwen Stefani's line always has that California Punk Edge that I so strongly respond to. I need rock and roll in my clothes and she gives it to me without failing but in a mature and grown up and refined way. It's Hot Topic for the grown woman and that is what my little black punk/goth heart so ardently desires...

Erin Fetherston makes clothes that are unfailingly adorable and romantic. Clothes for the 13 year old ballerina girl in me that lived for the beauty of her pointe shoes. Bows and rosettes. Exquisite pleating and gathering. Refined, Chanel-esque color palettes. Sometimes even the darkest of the Goths and the hardest punk of punk rockers wants to feel like a Parisian princess walking down the 16eme arrondissement.
I have personally checked out her QVC line and her plus sizes are very true to size (I took a 1X/18/20 and could be a fit model for that size if hourglass models were the standard ... I am 49-37-52) and they are BEAUTIFUL and the quality is divine.

Marc Jacobs can be hit or miss. Bu when he hits, he hits it out of the park. When I saw the outfit he did for the Costume Institute Gala for Madonna with the blue bunny ears I was mostly horrified.
The S/S 2010 collection was the opposite of that. With lingerie touches and a vintage, "artisanal" sensibility Marc won me back. These dresses and pants and jackets with their lace-like ruffling details remind me of a little shop I went to at the Rue du Temple in Paris many years ago called "A La Bonne Renommee" that made the most exquisite things. These clothes are truly confections and would be lovely on women of any size.

What I loved about Charlotte Ronson's collection are two things: One the fresh and romantic colour story. The second was that it is casual clothing well done. I love pale pink and black and I love the juxtaposition of a rock and roll sensibility with the softness of a ballerina.

These are all looks that with creativity and inspiration can all be adapted and worn by women of all sizes.

Stay tuned for coverage of my favourite collections from NY and London Fashion Weeks...

Carmacoma: Plus Size Comme Des Garcons :-)

2009-09-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered a new extremely cool plus size label (a very affordable one at that) hailing out of Denmark called Carmakoma.
They ship to the US and their clothes are fantastic. They have a very edgy, modern and on-trend aesthetic and a very Asian fusion inspiration. They kind of remind me of Comme Des Garcons.

Their online offerings are amazing and they have all the clothes I saw in straight sizes when I was recently in London and Paris.

Here is a little more about the designers, their philosophy and inspiration and the label:

Behind carmakoma we find the young Danish designer duo Weiss&Lykke that was formed at the acknowledged Danish design school Teko in Herning in 1997. From the beginning it was clear that Angelica Weiss and Heidie Lykke complemented each other well. They developed a close friendship and began working on a concept for their own line of clothing. Each of them having gathered experience from major Danish brands as Designers Remix, O by Isabell Kristensen, Junk de Luxe og mbyM they launched carmakoma in the summer of 2008.

Carmakoma er dansk design.
Carmakoma is Danish design. The Head Office is placed in Vejle, while the Design Office is located in Copenhagen. At the same time the style is rough and feminine, and all the collections are targeted at curvy women with charisma. It is of key value for carmakoma to create designs that give opportunity to style the clothes to suit your own mood and personality.

According to carmakoma fashion is closely linked with music. The inspiration comes mainly from music and the urban life of the world's metropoles, and all the clothes are created with special focus on slimming cuts and effects. The quality is high, the prices are competitive and all the collections reflect the hottest current trends.

Carmakoma.com
Carmakoma is sold exclusively at carmakoma.com. The site is more than just a webshop, it is a unique fashion portal. You can find lots of styling tips that make it easy to find your own personal expression. Also you will find a size guide and competitions. And lots of facts and "behind the scenes"-clips, where you get close to the team behind the Danish fashion brand.

Dialogue with our customers is of major importance to carmakoma. Therefore, you can meet carmakoma at fairs, via internet blogs and in Denmark also via special VIP-nights. Altogether, this stresses the exclusivity that comes with choosing carmakoma.

The unique: The fit and the details. Carmakoma is able to unite the latest catwalk trends with a perfect fit.

The milestone: When carmakoma was chosen to participate in "Fashion Accelerator" - An EU-sponsored project promoting Danish fashion companies with international potential.

The vision: To make carmakoma the preferred brand for curvy women worldwide through constant development of both clothes and the personal and unique universe at carmakoma.com.

You can find and shop their fabulous clothes at www.carmakoma.com

Blogging Project Runway: Dirty Laundry

2009-09-22T07:07:00.001-07:00

Sorry about taking a couple of days to post but I just wrapped up a giant paying freelance project and you know, a girl's got to eat and pay rent...
Last week's installment of the Project Runway was the first "creative" challenge of the season.
So the designers had to construct garments out of newspapers gathered at the LA Times.
I was kind of looking forward to this challenge since thus far, all they have had to produce is nice, normal clothing.
My great grandmother on my Mum's side, Mama Paz was a professional seamstress. She only had a 3rd grade formal education. She could make just about anything.She worked in clothing factories in Cordoba and Orizaba, Veracruz (mostly owned by Spaniards). She also worked at her sister's couture atelier (really a seamstress shop)in Mexico City at the turn of the century through the 1920's, basically during the Mexican Revolution as a single Mom with 2 daughters.
I am giving all of this family history because Mama Paz (who looked in her younger days like Lena Horne or Halle Berry) used to make her sewing patterns out of newspapers.
So I did not think that there would be a big jump from making a pattern out of newspaper to actually fashioning a garment out of it.
The designers got a HUGE break by being allowed to use muslin in their creations. Muslin is the "scratch" fabric used to make the "prototypes" for your garments so you can test the pattern and fit on inexpensive yardage before you cut into your expensive fashion fabric. And it can be expensive. I have sewn on cashmere and silk fabrics that can cost up to 300 dollars a yard.
So let's see what they came up with...

I really loved Irina's winning coat. It was a great idea and I liked that she kept the color scheme in black and white. There were construction issues but with such a fragile material that can sort of be expected.

I think that they judged Gordana's dress sort of unfairly. I thought it was lovely though not spectacular. It was very well constructed though.

Althea's dress was gorgeous and fitted and tailored as if she had been working with an easy fabric like cotton. The design was innovative and the way she used the print to create a print was inspired. To me this was a great contender for the win.

I really liked Epperson's dress. I have a think for Japanese design so this dress really appealed to my aesthethic.

Carol Hannah's lines were a bit over complicated and I did not like the red color she used over the whole dress but it was well constructed.

I really liked Shirin's but it reminded me of one of the dresses that someone did on the Fashion Show.

Logan's was ok and so was Louise's. Usually I love Louise's work but in this case I could not see as much of her in the garment.

I was actually excited about Nicholas' concept because I have a very punk/goth influence as a designer. The idea was actually good and I do not believe that fashion has to always be pretty. I did not think it was really as bad as the judges made it sound.

Ra'mon's was pretty good and I wish it had gotten more attention.

But the one I thought deserved to win was actually Christopher's. To me it was a fairly spectacular look and really well executed. The skirt moved beautifully and the bustier was well made and a very interesting juxtaposition of texture.

Johnny's dress was really not all that bad. I think what did him in was that he had been in the bottom several times and he was making too many excuses. That is sadly a very Anglo-Saxon frame of mind. That people should just "do it" and there are never mitigating circumstances. It's all about the highly touted "personal accountability" and the cultural lack of compassion. But it is a reality show and a product of that culture so what can you do?

I am actually sorry that they booted off Ari and Melvin. As I mentioned before, this season the designers are very competent and professional and they make rather serious clothes. That is great in the case they were vying for an industry job. But in the context of a reality tv show it has taken most of the entertainment value away and has made it into a fairly academic show.

I long for the days of Blayne and Santino...

Project Runway, NY Fashion Week and more coming up...

2009-09-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

Please keep checking. I am going to have to watch a re-run of Project Runway. I did not get to see it last night because I had a "paying gig" that is due today and was up annotating psoriasis journal articles and abstracts until 5 am.

Blogging Project Runway: I am BAAACK...Crystal Clear

2009-09-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

So I am back from a long blogging hiatus. As I said in the previous blog: life, evil day job, depression, yada, yada, yada.

Now I feel like (a much younger) Madonna in Evita on the Balcony of the Casa Rosada, ready to tear and shred the new Project Runway season.
So far a few of the designer have shown a lot of potential. My picks for top 4 finalists are as follows: Louise Black, Epperson,Ra'Mon, and I am flopping between Shirin and Althea.

All of them have very solid construction skills. All of them have great backgrounds.
Let me start by saying that what these peeps do is bitching. Sewing a decent garment in 2 days requires serious skills. That is why I do not try out for the show. I am a good (actually pretty awesome) designer. I am a somewhat novice seamstress and I am slow sewer. So doing a garment from conception to finish in 2 days is HUGE accomplishment. So hats off to all of them.

On this actual challenge they got a huge break though: Design a dress for a model you have actually sewn for to wear to a party. As far as PR challenges go, that is SO 101. I mean it's not make a dress out of Charmin Mega Rolls or sweet potato peelings or the foil in Marlboro Lights packs or Ex-lax boxes. So really they all should have done pretty good.
Now, the actual looks...

Love Johnny. I have seen his sketches and they rock. But Heidi nailed it on the head when she said bridesmaid. That was EXACTLY the word that popped into my head as soon as I saw it walk down the runway.

I LOVED Gordanna's dress with all my might. That dress had SO much work! It was subtle,elegant modern and tasteful. If it had been longer and in a size 18W, I would have done without something to get it.

Nicholas. It was cool. It was well tailored and it fitted his model well but it was not the most memorable dress ever.

Epperson: What Marc Bower said was scripture. Sewing and tailoring stretch fabrics is extremely difficult. My teachers in fashion school were so terrified of stretch fabrics (and knits in general) they would not teach us how to sew them. Total lycra-phobia. I have only seen stretch jersey executed to a level that made me cry with awes and joy once. That was when I saw the Halston collection that Marco Zanini put out a couple of years ago before Harvey Weinstein booted him off. I saw, touched, smelled and fondled the entire collection at Selfridge's in London. I turned the garments inside out. The seams, stretch jersey seams, were Frenched.... OMG... The drape was like butter... it was awesome.
But the Weinstein aesthetic ( and the Heidi Klum aesthetic for that matter) is very BRATZ doll. Short, tight, bright, and shiny. ZEEXY....A 14-year-old's idea of sexy perhaps.
I keep constantly thinking: "Would my garments sell well at the Harrod's or Harvey Nichols in Dubai?" So there you have another reason why I am not a good candidate for Project Runway. But I digress.
Doing stretch fabrics well and superimposing stretch fabrics is incredibly difficult and takes major construction knowledge. Epperson did an excellent job. Again, too short for me, but for a young Israeli model, lovely, interesting and edgy.

Logan: I designed a dress very similar to his model's specifications for my award theatre banquet in college.Except in iridescent dark red taffeta instead on blue. Mine had a strapless bodice and a pencil skirt but I added a see-through long sleeved black lace blouse on top of it, added a wide black lace sash and wrapped myself in yards and yards of black tulle. Very Goth...After all if you do not wear a dramatic look to a theatre banquet at age 22 when the hell do you get a chance again?
The problem with the dress was mainly that the lace was not used to its best advantage and that the shape of the dress was unfortunately reminiscent of 80's prom dresses.

Christopher: Nice green cocktail dress. That is about it but it was good enough.

Qrystal: I love this woman to bits. A woman to my own heart. She is an inspiration. But that dress was just a black dress and needed something to make it memorable. So, with two previous finishes on the bottom 2, I was not surprised she was sent home. It broke my heart but I was not surprised. But girl, I am proud of you and you represented for all of us Plus Sexy chicks and specially for all of us plus size designers. Power!

Althea: Girrlll... 3 pieces???? A tailored jacket??? That shit takes me an ENTIRE semester... LOL That was hella ambitious and executing it well payed off. Her tiny petit four of a little mini tux was adorable. And it was a deserved win.

Carol Hannah: I liked her dress. It was beautifully constructed. Fabulous use of contrast of techniques (draping vs. tailoring), color (black vs. fuchsia), and texture ( satin vs. brocade). Really interesting concept all around.

Shirin: Therein lies the problem. I have seen the show twice now. I have an almost photographic memory for clothes and I cannot remember this dress for the life of me. That is a problem. So far I have loved her work.

Ra'Mon: I really loved the color and that giant rosette detail. I can see evolution and growth from the first episode and that is great. It was also less hurried and better finished than his previous work.

Louise: I love the collar on the dress and the fact that the rest was so classic an minimal perfectly balanced the effect. Now, was that revolutionary? No. Was it beautiful and well done? Certainly.

Irina: That look was very cute. Not my personal aesthetic but very wearable and ladylike and it looked well executed. I can certainly see that on Reese Witherspoon or even on Shelley O'.

So, here is my fist Project Runway blog in over a year. They will get better as the challenges get more imaginative. It feels good to be back on the saddle....

Carry on :-)

P.S: The comments on all the garments and designers are kind of low-key and positive.
But this season they booted off all of the designers who did and were likely produce crazy stuff very early in the season, leaving us bloggers with a litter of talented, low-key, competent designers who produce competent, interesting and rather serious garments. That, married to the fact that so far 3 out of the 4 challenges have been fairly bland and the 4th one was puzzling, ill-explained and disjointed, has not let to eliciting the usual hilarious, snarky and inspired repartee.

Skinny Jeans for Plus Hourglasses: The Last Word

2009-09-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

I have been away from blogging. As it tends to happen, life got in the way. Went home to Cali for the holidays, got a job in Atlanta, lost the job in Atlanta, working freelance for the day job, waiting to hear on a big fashion (actually accessories) design break... Same thing, almost a year has passed. I am mostly on facebook keeping up the witty fashion repartee. If you read me, friend me on there. I am an easy acceptor unless you are a potential employer, past employer or ex-bf. But I hold ax murderers in higher regard than my exes, so no surprises there.
The time in gypsy mode has given me ample opportunity to test and try a jeans trend that was a "Thou Shall Not" commandment for those of us of the non-skinny variety.
The aptly monikered "skinny" jean (previously known as the stovepipe or cigarette).
The pursuit of a skinny jean that fits me has been to say the least, challenging.
The reason is the indiscriminate use of the word "curvy". Seriously.
Curvy is used by the straight size fashion press to describe skinny chicks with proportional boobs and hips ( i.e hourglasses) or any and everywhere in the plus size fashion/fatosphere, to describe each and everyone of us plus size chicks.
This is confusing.
So when a plus size retail outlet advertises as "for women with curves" or " designed to fit your curves" I automatically ass-u-me that not only will their clothes accommodate my size but will also be tailored for hourglass figures. As you read, when one ass-u-me-s, you make an ass out of yourself and your audience.
As in every business pursuit, plus size manufacturers try to tailor their clothes to fit the MAJORITY of their potential customers. The word majority is the hey here. I was reading some study and it seems that the vast majority of plus women are apple shaped.
So the skinny (or otherwise) jeans options offered by the majority of plus size outlets are so very much not a good fit for me. Usually my go-to brand is Right Fit Jeans Blue from Lane Bryant. The only plus ones specifically designed for hourglasses. But they don't make skinnies.
I tried Evans (from the UK) and the results were disastrous. Insane crotch (please consult with Project Rungay blog for meaning of the word), gaping waists, pants that would not go past my knees. All the telling symptoms of jeans designed for apple girls when I try to wear them. I am in the minority of minorities. Not only I am extreme hourglassy (to the point of making people wonder if I wear corsets for fun every now and then), I also have a pretty flat stomach, a 31 inch inseam and I do not wear high heels much. So pretty much mission impossible.
I had no luck whatsoever at Torrid either trying 25 pairs of jeans (no lie) without being able to find one that fit.
My salvation came in the shape of Ashley Stewart. This brand mostly targets the "urban" market (read African American and marginally, us Latinas). Which statistically constitute the majority of us, the plus hourglass minority.
Ashley Stewart skinny jeans in Petite fit me beautifully!
If you are taller and wear heels by all means, try the regular or tall inseam lengths.
As with all jeans, I have to go one size up on the darker washes (rule of thumb: the darker the rinse, the less give in the denim). But the waist gap is minimal, the leg fit is good, the insane crotch factor contained and the look VERY Sloane Ranger/ Patti Smith circa 1980. And the price is right at under 40 bucks a pair.
So my vote for plus size skinny jeans for the hourglass goes to Ashley Stewart.
You can find them at http://www.ashleystewart.com/ashleystewart/ and you can find a store close to you for them there too.

These Are a Few of My Favourite Things...

2008-10-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

>So I have been going through a pretty schizoid time, in a pretty schizoid city and it has been trying to say the least. Having twenty bucks two days before payday in Diego is bad. Having 2 quid in you bank account 2 days before payday in London is Dickensian.
But getting an apartment in this city costs close to 10k (US) smackers. And I ain't talking NYC style loft. I am talking about a completely average little 2 bedroom apartment.
And not in Kensington or Holland Park or anything.... Freaking EALING!!!!
And that is why I am skipping meals and living off the candy and chocolates people have around the office. That and PG tips with milk...
So inspired by Francesca at Manolo for the Big Girl and Maria from the Sound of Music I decided to list a few of my favourite things including my 5 "freebies". That means MILFs ( Men I would Like to F.... or like my Celebrity Aunt Lulu would say " slap bellies with") without any guilt whatsoever...
Since they are fantasy guys it does not matter if they are married or gay...
So here are mine:
Daniel Radcliffe

No one gets it....

James Marsters

How can someone possibly NOT get it?

Alan Cumming

He is just mhhhhh intriguing....

Hugh Jackman

Geezus... he's fine...

Ewan McGregor

I feel the force Obi Wan....

See.. that right there cheered me up already...

Nothing to make you feel less poor and hungry than thinking about the things you'd like to eat and you'd like to buy....

So firstly...

Marshmallows and Turkish Delight from Fortnum and Mason
No photos but trust me, YOU have to try them...

A proper Sunday Roast from the King's Arms's Pub in Fulham

A Weeping Jesus from Balan's in Soho...

A huge bottle of Suggo di Orangia Rossa ( blood orange juice)

A bowl of Menudo from Lalo's in Hillcrest in Diego...

A choripan with lots of chimichurri sauce from anywhere...

Thing I would like to buy....

A new coat and scarf and gloves...One that is warm and long... I am freezing in manner of little matchstick girl.

This handbag

A plane ticket home to Cali....

Changing the World

2008-10-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

So, today I was having a day... work, work work, photocoagulation work , work, work, macular degeneration, work, work work, renal carcinoma, work, work, work, The Declaration of Helsinki was derived from the Treaty of Nuremberg which came to place because of the Nazi medical atrocities and unethical clinical research exemplified by the Tuskegee Syphyllis experiment.. call from recruiter, call from recruiter.. Same shit, different day.
So I come come back from a tream lunch with my co-workers and I check my emails and one of them made me cry....
You have to get the story. I was still in Montreal. I was starting to get hard -core into realizing that what I wanted to do with my life was fashion. Not really good timing since I was in the middle of an advanced degree in biomedical science, but that is how my life goes.
And I started to realize the discrimination and limitations that exist in the fashion industry when it comes to addressing the needs of women who are not super thin.
I mean when a size 12 is considered an XL, we have hit an all time moronic record.
So in my sweet , adorable innocence I wrote Pam and Gella at Juicy and asked them to make Plus Size Juicy Couture. The label was at its height of popularity. It was a sweet, angelic letter, almost like one a child would write to Santa.
Of course they blew me off. I was a fat chick who did not realize being a fat chick was BAAAAD. Despite years of abuse and battling eating disorders and self-hate. No, of course I do not know.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned again the fact that I have written many designers and asked them why are they not making plus size clothes because their clothes are what a lot of us want to wear. And they would make a LOT of money in the process too. Now I am someone who writes about fashion all the time and I attend Fashion Week and I am on people's radar if nothing for my persistence.
On the career day at ghetto Diego ghetto Mesa ghetto College ( I love it with all my heart) about 3 years ago, because I was in Apparel Construction, the lady who was the main buyer at Nordstroms was speaking there. In front of the whole department, I got up and I gave her a massive bollocking because of how SHITTY the offerings were in their plus size department. I started by telling her how much money I spent in her store. And how the offerings in the rest of the Womenswear department differed significantly with their "Encore" department. She said that they were doing well in sales. What she did not understand is that they could have been doing WAY better and that the only reason people plus women bought that hideous, hideous polyester pantsuit, mom jean, empire-waisted top and mother of the bride beaded evening suit crapola, is because WE COULD NOT WEAR ANYTHING ELSE UNLESS WE BLOODY MADE IT.
But I am sure it's a bollocking she did not forget.
I have been writing my fingers off since trying to effect change in regards attitudes towards plus size clothing and women within the MAINSTREAM fashion industry. Mostly everyone would say "Girl.... like getting blood from a stone".
But Michael "The Duchess" Kors put out a Plus line. And Calvin Klein put out a Plus Line. and Rachel Pally put one out too and so did Norma Kamali. And guess what? Now THIS has happened:

Plus Size Juicy Couture!!!!
I think for some reason I have had a part in this change and this catalysis. I am changing the world. As I read on another blog "No cause is too small for a true revolutionary".
My reason for fighting in the ditches of this revolution is that I do not want any little girl to go through what this little girl went through:

I was the one all the way in the right hand corner... The one they called "the fat one".

This is me, a few years later ( exactly 2) after ana and mia made their homes in my body...

I am the one in the sweater with red stripes. And they still called me "the fat one".
I was a train wreck. And now I can see that I looked just like everyone else. They were making me fat. I was not fat.
And I could not fit into Gloria Vanderbilt jeans like the little evil bitch sitting right next to the teacher on the second row who said to her friend sitting right next to her :" The fat one would not be so bad if she lost weight and got a nose job and straightened her hair..." I was my daughter's age.
I do not want any other little girl to go through not being able to go to a party because she did not have any jeans like her friends'.
Specially not MY little girl. I want my little girl to wear whatever she wants to and to not hate her body for one second in her life.
So I am very proud I am fighting for these things to happen.
These are the things that matter to me. For this I put up with a "career" I hate in a field that bores me where people once again treat me horribly, so I can one day do what I truly love and change the world full time. I know I have what it takes.
On the other hand, I also got this in the mail...

Dear Milla,

The International Team thanks you for your support of London Fashion Week September 2008.

As the Spring/Summer09 collections unveiled you were there to witness and report on another stage

in the evolution of London design and creativity. Please do send us any coverage you produce on the designers and

their collections as this is vital part of the LFW September 2008 report we are compiling.

From the established Big Brits to the emerging talents of New Generation & Fashion Forward,

The September 2008 London Catwalks and Exhibitions provided something exciting for all tastes.

It has been an amazing season and we thank you for uniting with us once again to celebrate

25 incredible years of British Fashion.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,

Anna, Katie, Alessandra

International Team

Not bad for "the fat one" , eh?

Weird Fashion Happenings In London Town...

2008-10-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went walking around Sloane Square because I wanted to go fondle a certain hand bag at the Lulu Guinness store.
I will not name the bag, but it got mixed reviews when it first came out.
It is not every woman's cup of PG tips like a Fendi baguette or a Chloe "Paddington".
But it is my personal cup of tea all the way and not surprisingly, Dita Von Teese's too. The woman likes the exact same stuff I do.
Maybe it's a cue I need to die my hair my natural colour (blue black) and wear bright red lipstick (MAC's Russian Red, to be exact. My go-to-reds are Chanel's Rouge Star and Benefit's "Such a Red).
The bag IS WAY marked down and the girls at the shop are LOVELY.
But I will not name the bag or else another savvy fashionista is going to snag it up.
I went to the store next door since I was around there and I had the most fortuitous and strange encounter.
The shop next door to the Lulu Guinness Boutique is... Selina Blow's.
Yes, as in Isabella Blow.
She is her sister-in-law.
The legendary "Mad Hatter" prodigy of the ungrateful fashion world was married to her older brother Detmar. Without her there would not be an Alexander McQueen. Without her there would be no Phillip Treacy.
And I got to meet her and her heart-meltingly adorable daughter, Violet.
Selina was really enthused and helpful.
And she really seemed like she wanted ( actually needed) to sell some of her actually beautiful clothes really bad...
She, unlike most designers in London, MAKES plus size clothes and her tailoring and quality ARE impeccable. Yes, granted it is NOT CHEAP, but this is bespoke tailoring people....
The finest tweeds. Lovely linings. Her finishings are flawless. I went over her stitches and seams with a fine toothed comb... Why is this woman not selling like pancakes or is being carried at big stores?
Beats me...She has the right friends...
Here is a coat I particularly liked :
http://www.selinablow.com/home.html
It's called the "Barbarella"...
Violet and I made good friends...
She slipped me an adorable note in my purse...
Here is a little bit about the Blow family from a recent interview...
By the way isn't it coincidental that just before I left the house I wrote a blog on Bipolar Disorder?
Yep, like attracts like.... I said it before.. like magnets.

From The Sunday Times
February 3, 2008
Relative Values: Selina Blow and her brother Amaury
The fashion designer Selina Blow, 41, creates clothes for such clients as Anjelica Huston, Joan Collins and Debbie Harry. She lives in London with her husband, Dr Charles Levinson, and their children, Augustus, 9, and Violet, 5, and has two stepchildren, Bessy, 19, and Johnny, 15. Her brother, Amaury, 42, runs the family estate in Gloucestershire. Their elder brother, Detmar, 44, a gallerist, was married to the late fashion icon Isabella Blow, who committed suicide last May. Their father, the writer and historian Jonathan Blow, took his life in 1977. Their mother, Helga, runs the hotel Helga's Folly in Sri Lanka

Beverley D'Silva

SELINA: Amaury and I spent a lot of our childhood playing together in these big arable fields above our parents' home in Stroud. It was like Swallows and Amazons, a make-believe world with us repelling armies, battling dinosaurs and killing Vikings. We lived in a large Arts and Crafts house, Hilles, which was designed by my grandfather, Detmar. My father grew up there. He loved history and writing, and he wrote for The Times. Then he inherited the family estate, and he stopped his writing and journalism. He was 42 when he married my mother, who was 17. She came from Sri Lanka; her grandparents, George and Agnes de Silva, had been critical in gaining independence for the country. My parents ran the estate, and never had much life outside it. I think my dad really wanted to write, and that haunted him.

I was quite headstrong; Amaury was very kind, gentle, sensitive, aware. There were people around me who loved me, but we grew up in chaos. I didn't have good social skills and I got bullied, and Amaury always protected me. He was this huge totem pole of security for me.

But when I was 10, my father died, and our lives changed for ever. He died very sadly and traumatically. It was unbelievably awful. He had suffered from depression since he was young. We didn't really notice it or understand it. He was so gregarious and charming, with a flamboyance and warmth. He was quite like Amaury: a big, manic presence who made life exciting and fun. But when he was depressed, he'd drink. He wasn't a wild drunk. He would go into the library and drink, in the hope he would wake up feeling better. He had electric-shock therapy and drugs for depression, which helped, but he slipped back. My mother was beside herself. Theirs was a big love marriage. She tried to give him the will to live, but she had no support, and his family were in denial about his illness.

The day it happened, Amaury was at home. My mother had taken him out of school; my father was tutoring him at home. He got on very well with Amaury, and my mother thought: anything to help his depression. Maybe that was wrong. Amaury tried to help, but it was too late. When I got back from school my dad was still in the house. There were police all over the kitchen. My mother, who has always been very glamorous, was there in these big sunglasses and a beautiful red dress. It was kind of insane.

After my dad died, everything died. The house went silent. My mother was traumatised — she still is. Detmar looked after her; he took on a father-figure role. My mother would stay up all night playing my father's Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich records. Her life stopped. My father's ashes were kept in the house for 25 years. She could never let go of him. She still can't. It's like Miss Havisham: her future is her past.

Amaury and I clung to each other like two children in the woods. He kept a bit of childhood going for me. He'd create a dinosaur museum. We cooked together. We parented each other. I don't think anybody asked how we were. I was at boarding school and Amaury, who was at Millfield, would send me sweets and Tintin books. It was a silent allegiance. We felt we had to be like soldiers.

My mother was only 32 when my father died, and she still had the estate to run. She remarried when I was 13, a businessman who was critical of me, and who I found controlling and unpleasant. He was aggressive to me. My mother tried to protect me, but Amaury protected me more, and later, when I had to leave home, he found me a place to stay in Oxford and gave me £700. He was always utterly generous.

My mother separated from her second husband and went to live in Sri Lanka. Detmar went to work at the bar and married Isabella. I went to New York, to work in fashion. Amaury stayed in Gloucestershire, running the estate. He held it together and made it possible for the rest of us to get on with our lives.

But it diverted him from his great passions: archeology and architecture. He wasn't happy. We'd always seen him as a romantic; his melancholy got worse and more chronic. In his thirties he got really ill. It was like my father all over again: looking tortured, eyes shiny. The illness was twisting him. It terrified me.

Fortunately my husband, who is a doctor, helped us find a good psychiatrist. Then Amaury found a wonderful treatment centre in Arizona, and he was doing very well there. But then in May our sister-in-law [Isabella Blow] died; Amaury came back to support Detmar. It's been very painful. Amaury had been going to get married, but then he decided not to: he was worried, I think, about his illness.

Amaury was very emotional when my children were born, and they're very fond of him. I'd go to hell and back for him.

I had a lot of criticism as a child, but Amaury was never judgmental. He listened, and accepted me for what I am.

AMAURY: Selina and I formed an alliance early on. She was in my gang when I was six: we stood for virtue. When the leader of a rival gang went on a recruiting drive, everybody in my gang deserted me except Selina. And when I was chased by 30 or 40 children, Selina was the only one who helped defend me.

My father was ill with depression for much of our childhood, and my mother was preoccupied with him. Selina and I were left much to our own devices. We grew up in a very magical house, full of tapestries and ancient furniture, a place of dark forests and maidens to rescue. Hilles is like a stage; it makes you perform. Selina and I created a farm in our minds where we were both men, Jack and John. We had a newspaper and we'd write stories about her toy pandas.

But we were also expected to be adults: we had to do much of the housework and the gardening. My mother would say: "Don't mix with other children — adults are more interesting." She once took Selina's toy pandas from her, and my father gave them back. He had more of a sense of childhood. When things were good he could be the best father: he'd jump on all fours, growl and chase you. It was exciting. It was Narnia. But it wasn't always so, and I still have a fear that anything good will be snatched away. And if Selina has a box of chocolates, she has to eat the lot.

My father was a powerful, charismatic man, and a very capable writer, yet he never thought he was good enough. My mother tried to keep his illness from us, but we were aware of it. Christmas could be cancelled, birthdays deferred, because he'd go into a depression. He was drinking, and receiving electric shocks. My poor mother was at her wits' end. She took it out on us, occasionally in the form of mindless violence.

My father was 58 when he killed himself. That day I came downstairs and I walked in, and my father had just taken the poison, and suddenly that big event comes in, bang. Childhood ended that very day. My mother said, "We have to look after each other," and hugged me. It was the only time she had hugged me. I was 11. She said to lose a husband was far worse than losing a father, and I felt guilty that I was suffering for myself. A few weeks later, Selina and I were playing and she said: "How can you play? Your father is dead." So you can't mourn your father, because my loss is greater; but you can't show you're not mourning by playing. My poor brother, Detmar, had a difficult role. My mother used him to take charge of us and, I think, as a surrogate husband for a time.

I was told my father sacrificed himself for the house, and I accepted it. But it's been very difficult for my mother to accept his death, even today. In her mind, he lives through Hilles. By serving the house, you serve him. She would be happiest if we were all there, working for the estate. She doesn't live there herself — hypocrisy runs through the family.

My mother married again and became largely absent. I was 14 and we were left in charge. It was fun, but we all grew up quickly. As children we were adults; now we've become children. The world is more exciting as a child. Detmar complains Selina and I speak to each other in nursery voices. We have a code.

My father was brought up in 1930s England, when they thought ignoring mental illness would make it go away. It doesn't. Depression steals the sense of self. I didn't begin to understand my dad's illness until I was in my late teens, when I myself was feeling this… loss of self. My mind shattered when I was 17. I couldn't speak for two weeks. Through my twenties and thirties I suffered depression. About five years ago it became murderous. I tried various treatments, I went to a centre in America; I've made some improvement. I have my doubts, but I reassure myself life is enormously beautiful.

In my early twenties I took on the estate. I enjoyed it but perhaps I became too obsessive. I have tried to get away. One day I went out for a pint of milk and I stayed away for eight months. Cheap flight to Milan, I jumped it. I built theatrical sets in Florence. My mother tracked me down and I came back. I didn't really mind.

I thought if I suffered for the estate I'd gain virtue. It's taken a lot to realise that is an abusive way to work. Putting my needs first has been difficult but necessary.

Detmar married Isabella: each was the eldest child and came from a broken home. My sister married Charles, who had two siblings who committed suicide. Like seeks out like. But Selina is making a huge effort to ensure our early life is not recreated with her children. I sometimes think it would be nice to have a family. But, though I love people, I don't necessarily trust them. In some ways, I still feel abandoned by my father.

When I was young I gave up on myself. But I'm realising I am capable of a huge amount. We are separating out our interests in the estate. I feel a lot of sadness about it, but I recognise this is essential if we are to become healthy. I adore my mother, but the fact is every one of the family is sick to some extent. Some of us are working on a cure.

Interviews: Beverley D'Silva.

Main portrait: Ivor Prickett
By the way I saw another ladybug. On my window. In October. In London.

Celeb2Plus Couture: Dita Von Teese and Me

2008-10-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

I am a big believer that with imagination, good taste, consciencious shopping and confidence, anyone can wear the same styles ( and sometimes the EXACT same clothes) as skinny chicks and pencil thin celebs.

Case and point the fabulous Dita Von Teese who is one of my style icons.

Recently, I attended my best friend's wedding in Austin.

And Ditta attended some sort of Patrick Demarchelier/ Dior event.

And we both anchored out looks on the EXACT same couture piece; Thomas Pink's Tuxedo Shirt from his luxury White Collection.

This is how Ditta wore hers:

And this is how I wore mine:

I did the bow tie because I was going to leave it undone like Dita but the Bride rolled her eyes and made me tie it.

I am wearing my Thomas Pink tux shirt with a vintage men's tux jacket from Marks & Spencer, a Ralph Lauren silk skirt, a vintage beaded evening bag, Taryn Rose flats and crochet gloves from the gift shop at the Victoria and Albert Museum. You cannot see my fabulous skull ring, but it's from Topshop.

Here is a photo of my absolutely fabulous hairdo which was 50% Marie Antoinette, 50% Elvis...

Rocking it and still eating our cake ;-)

Hand-me-down Haute Couture

2008-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is a repost from Joy Nash's blog...
It was entirely too perfect not to promote...
AAAMEN to Lesley at Fatshionista and the The Rotund with their posts on dressing like YOU.
I've been thinking about this a shitload too.
I kind of have a problem with "dressing for your shape". To me it means "tricking people into thinking you're less fat." It means forgetting about what you like and tossing out what you want people to think about when they look at you, all in the hope that they will not be thinking about your fat.

Who cares. If they care about fat, they're going to see it whether you swathe it in jersey or not. Whether you wear all black and structured everything or not, if rolls on other people's backsides are the stuff that keeps them up at night, IT'S WHAT THEY'RE GONNA SEE. Big deal.
So what? People like that are toxic and wastes of space. Quit trying to make them happy. I say quit trying to make ANYBODY happy. Make you happy. It's the only thing you can do anyway.

Growing up, I was the oldest, but my family didn't have a lot of money, so with the exception of 2 or 3 outfits that grandma bought, all of my clothing came in giant garbage bags from the neighbors with older kids.
I mean they were hand-me-downs transported in garbage bags. They weren't dumpster trophies. Although that would have made a way better story.
Anyway, I thought this was AWESOME. My mom pretty much gave me free reign to dress myself and I was all about wearing ridiculous crap to school just because I liked the texture of the turd colored knee socks. One of my very favorite outfits was a short-sleeved brown floral cotton top with a matching ankle-length patchwork (all patches being variations of brown floral) skirt. The brown was the same color as the haircut I'd given myself, and I was thrilled with the way that everything matched. It was total hippie 70's, and I wore it to 4th grade in the super-rad late 80's. I didn't have a lot of friends. Okay, ANY friends.
The other girls were busy in fuschia bike shorts with little skirts sewn on top, and I had more in common with Laura Ingalls .. or Nancy Drew. Or Trixie Belden, depending which garbage bag I had been pawing through.
I vividly remember Dana Vanderschaaf asking me why I was wearing knee socks and penny loafers. It was because I found them in the garbage bag and they fit just perfectly! They were ribbed and the nylon was squinchy and they had tassels!! "My mom forces me." That's what I told her.
She still didn't invite me to her birthday party.

Anyway, in middle school we moved, and I kept wearing my dad's jeans and my mom's sweaters from the 60's and 70's and it still didn't cost me anything, but suddenly I had a bunch of friends!! My clothes were COOL! Or more accurately, I finally met some kindred spirits who could recognize the glory that was a corduroy FFA jacket with my Dad's name and 1969 stitched on the side. (Dad was the Vice President!)

The moral of the story is: the haters are gonna hate. Shockerooney. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe it's superficial and naive, but I can't be the only one who can make people go away by refusing to think about them. I've forgotten all my "embarassing moments". Why on earth would a person dwell on something that makes them feel terrible? If that's the dress you were wearing when you did something monumentally and horrifically awful, GET RID OF IT! Or reframe the situation or hack it in half and make it into a headband. Just quit living there.

The girls I see on fatshionista and wardrobe remix, the ones who make my jaws drop every time they post their mugs are the ones who don't ask for permission. They don't attempt to appease the masses; they don't assume that anything is off limits. There's nothing that "shouldn't be done", nothing their fill-in-the-blanks are "too big for". No doors are closed, no options are inaccessible. They shop in catalogs and the old stand by brick and mortars, they scour thrift stores and ebay, friend's closets and museum gift shops.

For a good 7 or 8 years, once I was larger than a size 14, I gave up on thrift stores. I shoved them into the same category as Wet Seal and Anthropologie. Why on earth would I set foot in a store that doesn't carry my size? But the fatshionistas and a few real life friends busted me out of my little box.
"Do you think no one was fat before 1990?" "Where do you think old Lane Bryant clothing goes? It doesn't just vanish out of fat people's closets..." "Where do you think 6-foot-tall, 300 lb female impersonators find their first sequined dream?"
Granted, I'm partial to obnoxious prints and dramatic EVERything, but I personally think the key to looking frigging incredible is to decide what you want to look like. Who do you admire? What do you want people to be reminded of when they look at you? Marilyn? Diane Keaton? Ally Sheedy, Bettie Page, Richard Nixon? Pick something!
And then shop for things that make you happy. Is it too small? Says who? What if you wore it backwards? Inside out? Make it a dress!

Fat Fashion, even more loudly than straight-size fashion, demands creativity. No, you're NOT going to find exactly what you want in your size. Big deal. Now, what are you going to do about it?

Blogging Project Runway: Working 9 to 5...

2008-09-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

I got to see this last week's episode from a real TV in Austin,TX.
The whole make over a young graduate gave me the impression that NO ONE in the fashion industry has the foggiest clue of what the real working world is like at all and that Nina, Michael and Heidi ( and Cynthia Rowley) have NEVER interviewed for a regular job in their frail little fashion universe lives.
If you read the "What to Wear to a Job Interview" section on any job board from "The Ladders" to Monster.com, it pretty much tells you clearly to err on the side of conservative, to wear a suit and dress up from the people who work there. This effectively means that if the worplace is " business casual" , you show up to the interview in a suit.
This even applies to creative or fashion jobs. I can hardly see ANYONE applying for an editorship at Vogue or Elle in anything BUT a Helmut Lang or Chanel suit maybe with a nice TSE cashmere tee or Anne Fontaine shirt or for a buyer position at Neiman's, Saks, Harrod's or Barney's in more the same.
I have a lovely black Louben suit ( a high end Canadian label) that has a spectacular fit and that I wear with a bevy of Thomas Pink shirts and works like a charm. I try to promote Canadian fashion every time I get a chance :-)
So the judges "you made her look old" complaint was completely misplaced. Funky, sexy and cool is what you wear when you ALREADY have the job, not when you are interviewing for it.
I can hardly see myself walking into a pitch at, let's say, Astra Zeneca, in a DVF printed dress or a Pucci top or a Temperley cocktail dress. There is a time and a place for everything.
I was actually intrigued by the thought of them dressing a girl who works at a biomedical lab.
It was going to give me the chance to laugh my ass off.
I worked at a lab for AGES.
I had to do it all, treat animals, run Western blots and RT-PCR's, mix buffers and solutions, animal husbandry, dissections , cultures, slides, immunohistochemistry and wash dishware.
EVERYTHING.
Including writing reports and papers.
The nerdy labgirls in their majority dress like utter crap ran on them.
There was one who wore overalls and reminded me of my Uncle Chico Che except my uncle was less hairy and looked better groomed. This chick had hair like Mafalda, the Argentinean cartoon character. So you undertand, like Gilda Radner's character's Rosanne Rosanna-Dana.
Others dressed like Quebec versions of washing women.
And they all were MEAN as vipers.
There were 3 or for of of who were nice, pretty and who actually cared about fashion and these chicks ( who believed themselves to be smarter and more dedicated than us) were BITCHES.
And they humiliated us and often left us the most menial tasks.
My friend ( who is French and beautiful and looks like a model) and I decided " We might be washing the glassware but goddamn it, we are going to do it in motherfucking Chanel!!" And we always did..
We were ( the French girl, a Romanian sexy lady and me) the best dressed, best put toghether fashionistas the science world has ever seen. We turned those labs into a perpetual Fashion Week Montreal.
And it was a better place for it.
How many of these mustached bitches can reproduce off-the-runway Carolina Herrera AND run a Western in it?
I was ever so curious to see what the PR peep were going to come up with...
So let the corporate backstabbing, bullying and pink-slipping begin...
Jerrell's:
This was actually pretty decent. I don't know if I would wear it to an interview but it would be a good thing to wear to work everyday at a "business casual" place. Which was totally surprising coming from Jerell, official designer to the co-ed burlesque team and a couple of schools. At the Rio Carnivale.
Joe:
This was the closest to a suit but the styling was APPALING. What is up with the dominatrix/ hooker heels? WITH BARE LEGS!!!!! And the shirt that made her boobs look like melons in a Whole Foods eath friendly canvas bag. SUPPORT is not a 4 letter word... and he is supposed to be the straight guy.

Kenley's:
Le dicen "Betty La Fea"....I think she forgot her "Guadalajara" poncho on the set... And the only place of employment she would thrive at would be "Mode" magazine....eeekkkkk

Korto's
This is SHOCKING and disappointing coming from Korto, the only decent designer in the bunch. This is one major fug and I would have never been caught dead in it in any of the labs I worked at. Which probably would have made it an A-1 choice for the Le Chateau-wearing quetaines or the ubiquitous lab-ho's.
But seriously NO ONE wears bare legs and high heels in a lab. Pants are always preferable and the skirt is FAR too short for any lab in this planet.

Leanne's
To me this was the one that most ressembled workwear.... actaully decent for an office...

Suede's:
OMFG!!!! This wa atrocious, hideous and it made my eyes hurt.
The dress looked like a cocktail party in suburban Italy and the jacket came off of wardrobe at a traveling 3rd rate circus. This one was the one that most certainly deserved the boot not only because the contruction SUCKED witha capital S, but because NO ONE could wear it to any job without expeting to have all co-workers and supervisors think that you just wandered in from an orgy with the carnies.

Unitl soo when i will cover the PR Bryant Park Collections and the rest of NY and London Fashion Weeks. And please remember kindly... I have a day job :-)

Cheesecake Liberation

2008-09-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Article by Lady Becca for Fashion Sanity
This past weekend I went to an amazing social salon. Every month this group gets together and presents on topics they know, feel passionate about, or are interested in. It’s a varied group in terms of gender, economic background, sexual preferences, and lifestyles and so the topics are equally varied. During a break I ended up getting into a deep conversation with this super hot red head about the fat acceptance movement, the fashion industry, skinny models, fat hate, skinny hate, medical science and self love. I realized a few things:
1. the media half truths are more pervasive than I thought.
2. even “fat chicks” will think of anecdotal evidence that reinforces the media’s half truths
3. I really dig red heads
4. I need to do more home work on the subject.

So I did. I sat my cushy ass in front of the computer and stuffed my brain with facts and figures. The more I learned the better I felt about myself, my body and my ability to have this discussion with people. I looked at myself, and what I do and don’t eat. I knew I was ok, but now I see where I’m doing better than ok, and where I could be doing just plain better. I’ve also become more aware of people.

Last night I went to a certain big name home improvement store. No, the other one. Along the way my housemate, boyfriend and I stopped into Trader Joe’s to feed her addiction to dried mango and my addiction to chocolate…and dried mango. I bought a box of cheesecake bites, enrobed in deep dark chocolate and we wandered about the home improvement store eating chocolate covered cheesecake and dried mango while discussion devious plans for a Rube-Goldberg device. And I noticed something…I didn’t care.

A week ago, I would have bought that box, put it in the car and waited until I got home to open it and enjoy those little morsels with my boy and a few Heroes episodes. Instead, I walked proudly, defiantly, through a major chain store nibbling on cheesecake and my boy. I know, for a fact, that several of the older women manning departments and registers looked. I could see the thought as it marched passed on their faces, the thought that I could be so pretty if I would just put down the sweets and get moving.

I wanted to laugh in their 40 something plus, pursed lipped faces and ask if they had any idea how much moving I do? I wanted to lustily grope my boy right there in front of them, and show them just how hot he is for me. I wanted to rub their faces in their own self loathing and ask if they were really happy with swallowing the bullshit fed to women every day about our bodies and how they should look.

Instead, I smiled coquettishly and had another bite. The effect was better.

London Fashion Week- Ozzie Clark Review

2008-09-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

I, like the looser I am, had to actually work the high powered nerdy day job today, instead of attending fabulous Fashion Week events which my sister did for me. ( No, the PR twinkundchick fashionbots did no scare me off. I actually had to earn more than they get paid in a.... really long time)
A couple of the best shows took place today including two of my favourites: Luella and Paul Smith.
It is kind of my fault to not have gotten invites since I should have queried for them a long time ago. But I had no clue ALL shows were by "invitation only".
NO ONE informs you of that.
It was a shame that the Ozzie Clark PR-chicklet was such a harpie because I would have LOVED to see the show now that I have seen the photos. Maybe the tanning machine and the excess of UV rays have fried her sense of human decency.
Avsh Alom Gur who is now designing for Ozzie Clark showed some of the most all around universally wearable garments and something that I had not seen on that scale since St. Laurent and Pucci in the '70's: the Caftan.
I love Caftans, maligned as they have been.
See, I am from the "Studio 54" generation. Not the ones that partied there with Bianca and Andy and Harlston but of the teens who saw that as it was happening.
The ones that drooled at the DVF wrap dresses, and "Le Tuxedo" and yes, Talitha Ghetty's Caftan in Vogue.
Women of all sizes look regal in a caftan and these ones are beautiful, fluid and languorous. They have a little bit of St. Tropez with a dash of Casablanca and Haifa for good measure.
I am going to give up food for a while for one of these....

They are fairly exquisite... The prints somehow remind me of Provencale pottery.
And they would be the perfect thing to wear with a pair of breezy sandals to host a party at home. I think for my housewarming party, I will be wearing an Ozzie Clarke... God I AM the bigger woman!!! In every sense of the word.
As I always say... God gave me a big body because I need it to fit in my giant heart and enormous brain. (Pstt: Ask Bianca what a PDE-5 inhibitor is... or why is it that nosocomial infections such as MRSA emerged...)

London Fashion Week: Ozzie Clark and more

2008-09-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, I am at the press tent for London fashion week.

I think the best thing so far has been the protest that was happening outside. A flock of absolutely FABULOUS plus size compatriots were dancing to Mika's " Big Girl You are Beautiful" dressed in very Harajuku Super Kawaii outfits. That and the MAC press lounge which is divine. They do touch ups to your make out and have a glorious gift/swag bag with awesome MAC stuff.

I am wearing a very Goth/Alice in Wonderland inspired getup. My Marc by Marc Jacobs polka-dot pinafore dress and Tarina Tarantino skull jewelry with black leggings and my Kitson Zebra and Patent ballet flats.

My make-up is to die for. Black smokey eye and pale sugar frosted lips.

The girls at the MAC lounge were ADORABLE.

Another business altoghether with the Ozzy Clark catwalk show.

Some PR bizziches acting in manner of " Studio 54" doormen, were deeming who from the press was and was not worthy of getting in, particularly a rude duckfaced woman named Bianca.

I was reminded of those days back in the mid-80's when we used to stand outside of Mexico City's most popular club called " Magic Circus" begging some a-hole that under ordinary circumstances would have been our driver or gardener to let us in ..we would go " Juan-Jo, Juan-Jo" begging for his attention and he acting like he was motherfucking St. Peter, waiting to open the gates of Heaven.

It's a FASHION SHOW people!!! If we are press, you SHOULD be grateful.

We are there to review your clothes and are making people think in a positive or negative way about your product.

Turns out most of the catwalk shows are by invitation only.

Otherwise you need to deal with the Juan-Jo little witches.

I think my fashion website is probably the only objective source of fashion information since I am not sponsored by ANYONE.

Thus, my opinion and that of the people that contribute for my site is completely unbiased.

We are like the PLOS or Mother Jones of fashion.

When I look at and review a designer's clothes, I do so on their merit alone.

And you'd think people would value that....

Well, I did not get into Ozzie Clark.

I think I am trying to get into PPQ.

What I do know, is that I am not standing for an hour outside a tent begging some bitch on a power trip to let me in only to be sent away after an hour of waiting.

Shit, now my feet are swollen. If I get DVT, I am billing Ozzie Clark's PR company for the medical treatment....

Stay tuned to see if I actually get into any of the catwalk shows...or I have to watch them all from the press exhibition tent...

Boys and Ghouls...We are Big Time!-London Fashion Week

2008-09-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

Well people... we are in as legitimate press at London Fashion Week.
I accredited without a problem.
I am covering some of the catwalk shows today.
I am wearing my Marc by Marc Jacobs black polka dot pinafore dress, black leggings, a vintage velvet blazer, and Tarina Tarantino jewelry.
There is a BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT protest going on outside with a flock of GORGEOUS plus size beauties dancing to Mika's " Big Girl You Are Beautiful" and REPRESENTING..
As I walked in, I gave the the rock on sign and told them " I am here for you sisters".
Stay tuned for all London Fashion Week coverage...This is amazing!
Love,
MillaX, Editor-in-chief and UK correspondent, Fashion Sanity ( Anna who, you said?)