Archive for July 2011

Mercedes-Benz Picks Up Japan Fashion Week: As even further proof that Japan is becoming a big international fashion player, they’ve been added to Mercedes’ roster of fashion weeks. The car company, sponsor of New York fashion weeks since 2001, reportedly signed a multi-year agreement with event organizers. The re-christened “Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo” begins October 13th. {WWD}

Meet The CFDA’s Steven Kolb: A cute new post on the CDFA’s Tumblr introduces the people behind the scenes at the organization via a fill-in-the-blank questionnaire, beginning with Executive Director Steven Kolb. The best answer? His favorite movie is Breakfast At Tiffany’s. {CFDA}

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Textbook

Textbook for Fashionista: Amanda Brooks!

Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 / 12:30 PM

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The Helmut Lang is really over being a fashion designer. As in, the designer-turned-artist, who gave up fashion in 2005, is shredding all 6,000 remaining pieces in his archives to turn into sculptures, WWD is reporting.

That may sound like sacrilege to those who worship at the altar of Lang, but rest assured, many thousands of pieces are already safely installed at fashion and design museums.

Lang will create a dozen “stalactite-like” sculptures from his 6,000 shredded garments culled from 25 years in the fashion biz (materials include fabrics, fur, feathers, leather, plastic, hair and metal), according to WWD.

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So Snooki was spotted on the Jersey Shore sporting a new ‘do: dip-dyed ends a la Lauren Conrad, in platinum and pink. Now, our first snobby reaction is to officially claim that this trend is over, because who wants to look like Snooki?

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“This issue might again look like a chic skin magazine. But Purple Fashion isn’t a sex magazine hiding behind the façade of fashion. We prefer to think of nudity as Roland Barthes did, that it’s the Degree Zero of style. Nudity imprints itself on time, along with architecture, fashion, music, and art.”

Olivier Zahm in his Editor’s Letter from Purple Fashion #15, now available to read for free online. It’s in your best interest to go check it out. You don’t want to miss part 5 of Terry Richardson’s biography, do you?

In case you weren’t aware, DJ Pauly D, like several of his Jersey Shore castmates, has a clothing line. It’s called Dirty Couture (not to be confused with Filthy Couture, J Woww’s now-shuttered clothing line) and, judging by the website, is comprised mostly of very tight t-shirts, hoodies and accessories with phrases like “Keep it Dirty” and “I Heart Pauly D’s Dirty Beats” on them. Since Pauly and the rest of his castmates are busy filming their reality show and being on the cover of the Hollywood Reporter, Dirty Couture, like any emerging clothing brand, needs interns! This was posted on Craigslist yesterday under New Jersey jobs:

Want to help DJ Pauly D launch his clothing line, Dirty Couture? We are looking for guys and girls in the NYC/ NJ area… Must be enrolled in college for the Fall 2011 semester or just graduated from college and must have own transportation and be willing to travel… Please send resume and photo to us…

He may as well have just said “no grenades.”

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Eagle-eyed Gawker scribe Maureen O’Connor noticed that one of the contestants on the upcoming season of Project Runway is Anya Ayoung-Chee, an ex-beauty queen with a scandalous past.

In 2008, Ayoung-Chee was Miss Trinidad and Tobago and participated in the Miss Universe pageant. She didn’t win but she became notorious for a steamy sex tape that leaked after the competition. If you want to watch it, here you go (it’s obvs NSFW).

You know Ayoung-Chee is a party girl because when she’s giving Project Runway a tour of her house, Cribs-style, she says she doesn’t cook “at all” but “once and a while you can enjoy a little of this,” and gestures to a shelf full of tequila. She also pretty upfront with the casting panel about the fact that she only started to sew when she decided to apply for the show.

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The London Fashion Week S/S 2012 schedule is official, and Tom Ford is on it. You’ll recall that his first show took place under James Bond-ish secrecy in New York. He showed his second collection in London, but it was in a series of private appointments at which attendees had to sign privacy agreements. Critics were not welcome.

Now it seems that Ford is playing nice and doing a proper presentation, you know, like everyone else does. Who will be invited, and whether or not they’ll be “allowed” to share images or impressions of the show remains to be seen. Further adding to the confusion is the way Ford’s show is listed on the official London Fashion Week schedule.

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This morning, the UK’s Daily Mail published a story that is headlined “Make-up free Ashley Olsen is unrecognisable in casual jeans and a shirt as she shares a smoke break with mystery man.” However, the four pictures that accompany the article, each of which are captioned with Ashley’s name, are all clearly of Mary-Kate (a lack of makeup is no excuse). To make matters worse, at the end of the story, they include a picture of the real Ashley Olsen with the caption “Usual style: Last week Mary-Kate was pictured taking her dog for a walk in an Amish-inspired white shirt and navy blue circle skirt.” The thing is, that outfit is so Ashley’s “usual style.”

What is particularly ironic about this mistake is that, in these photographs, each girl’s outfit is an unmistakable representation of its wearer’s style. This kind of mix-up was forgivable from the ages of 0-16 when they basically just wore the same outfits in different colors to every appearance, but now the recently-turned 25-year-old fashion designers have developed their own distinct way of dressing. Without studying their facial features (which look identical to me, even though they’re fraternal), I can identify an Olsen in a snap based on what she’s wearing. So, I’ve put together a guide on how to tell the Olsen twins apart based on their style, since there will obviously be several critical points in your life when you’ll need to have this ability.

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Name: Hyoni Kang

Age: 23

Occupation: Model and owner of clothing store Reborn Princess.

How would you describe both your personal style and the style of clothing that you sell at Reborn Princess? My style is vintage mix and match. I like basics with something that has a crazy twist. For the store, we buy vintage and redesign the clothing with different trends.

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