Earlier today I chanced upon a short post by Cathy Horyn on OTR about a competition for twenty Parsons seniors to restructure looks from the Louis Vuitton archive into new avant-garde creations.
Filled with jealousy and intrigue I investigated further. I soon found out that the competition took place on September 17, with the mind-blowing prize of $2500 and an invite to the Louis Vuitton FW10 show in February 2010.
And it gets crazier: the young designers had only nine hours to complete their garments while working in the gallery windows of the Parsons building on 5th Ave, their creative processes exposed to the streets of Manhattan.
We would have easily lost our cool and panicked Andre style (Project Runway season 2 for all you PR buffs out there), but designers Min Sun Kim and Lydia Kim came out victorious by restructuring a Vuitton trenchcoat and men’s wear pieces into a gorgeous dress with a hand painted hem.
“You could always write a book and get it turned into a movie.” —The fabulous Suzy Menkes, to a soon-to-be Parsons grad lamenting the poor hiring market, during a panel discussion at MAC & Milk.
Steven Alan might be the trickiest Life With subject yet.
He doesn’t just design men’s, women’s and children’s collections; he doesn’t just run a showroom representing over twenty of New York’s hippest designers; and he doesn’t just operate ten of his own stores - he also hangs out with his seven-year-old son.They like to eat things like seaweed with rice and salami and tuna and rank their favorite chefs.
But when he’s working, Alan works hard, scouting the best new designers to fill both his showroom and his store while maintaining one of the most cohesive design visions around.
After the jump, I try to understand just how he wears so many hats, so well.
(And since the Life Withs get longer and longer as I get more curious, check back tomorrow for Part II.)
I spent a rainy afternoon hanging out with Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra in their Brooklyn studio.
The boys, who’ve been working, living, breathing together for over fifteen years without ever fighting - they swear - live and work in a warmly decorated brownstone with their lovable bulldog Sammy.
We listened to their i-pod shuffle and talked about when Madonna lived across the hall and what happened when Vogue called. I tried to get Jeffrey to talk, but he’s shy and Sammy’s barks were more than willing to fill in.
The two of them do everything - from sewing their samples to filling their own orders to casting their own shows and love every minute of it. If you’re wondering just how much work that is, read on.
There don’t seem to be any plans for Rihanna to perform, in case you that informs your decision. But just in case you can’t make it to either, you can at least check out the video at left, to watch the filming of Gucci and UNICEF’s first ever international campaign featuring the pop tart herself.
As fashions do, the green movement is increasingly out of the spotlight, while its newer, younger cousin, the slow movement (less consumption, more thoughtful purchases, handcraft, etc) seems to be the on the verge of ubiquity. Jump on the trend early at a Parsons panel this Wednesday at 6pm, and watch:
1. Mary Ping, adorable designer of Slow and Steady Wins the Race (aptly named)
2. Hazel Clark, author of Slow + Fashion: An Oxymoron or a Promise for the Future?
3. Leslie Hoffman, Executive Director of Earth Pledge
4. Shona Quinn, Sustainability Leader for Eileen Fisher (what?)
At Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street, Fifth Floor (Enter from 66 West 12th Street)
Go. Learn. (Did we mention its free?) But do it slowly.
Got Her: In front of the Parsons building on 5th Ave
Stalked Her: Because we couldn’t believe we saw a leather fringe jacket on a girl instead of a cowboy. To be honest, we stopped her because we were confused.
Shot Her: Because upon closer inspection, her sunglasses were great, the shoes were cool, and we had to reach out our hands to touch her shirt.
She Says: “When I like something I wear it everyday. I pick key pieces for each season and I get obsessed with them and only wear that. I fell in love with this shirt because the fabric was so soft. When I asked the designer how she did it, she said it was because she got the materials from a prison!”
We Say: Um, ok (But yes, the shirt did in fact feel incredible.)
Season 5 of Project Runway starts at 9 sharp on Wednesday. Needless to say, we’re just a tiny bit excited.
Because, really, what are they going to come up with this season? Not much will beat raiding the Hershey’s store and making dresses out of Twizzlers, wilting corn husks and beach chairs. Today Bravo announced the cast for PR5 and we’ve made a few predictions:
Jerry, a 32 year old from Montana, will be this season’s Daniel Franco - constantly be promoting his vision for his brand FORM.
Joe, a Parsons grad from way back, will try and pull the “I’ve been in the industry for 18 years” card as an excuse for being bossy.
Blayne, “Seattle’s Most Stylish Male”, will try and be Christian Siriano…and fail horribly.
Our guesses for the top three:
Emily, she worked for Jeremy Scott and we love him. Plus, she looks like she won’t take crap from the other contestants.
Wesley, because he’s young, cute and worked for Marc, which means he has real talent.
Leanne, she looks quiet and reserved but we’re guessing that means serious sewing skills and little drama.
Attention designers, fashion students, interns and magazine addicts: Gallagher’s on 12th Street is (almost) officially no more.
WWD reports that the 17-year old basement store, piled high with what seems like every copy of every magazine ever (they have over a million editions), will close up at the end of this week, due to a steep rise in rent.
The Gallaghers are moving their archive to their barn in the Catskills, and you can still buy certain editions from Vintage Magazines.
We have no idea where design assistants will go to flip through old issues of Charm, but we guess Gimbel Library (Parsons) and Gladys Marcus Library (FIT) might get a lot more interesting people hanging out in the study cubicles now.
All they could confirm was what we already knew - that there’s no way the ads are real Marc.
It looks like nobody has any idea who shot them, or even the identity of the two guys who played dress-up for it.
Our bet goes to a Parsons photography student making a show of his final project. In which case, we’ll all be dancing at the exhibit opening in no time.
That rumor we spread about Mark Fast doing a line for Topshop? It's true. And it's in last week's Sunday Telegraph magazine which means it was true before we even said anything and we've had it in our lap since... Read More
Meet Blue Logan, if you haven't already. A couple of years ago a friend dragged the soft-spoken Brit to a show at London Fashion Week, Aquascutum he thinks, and he started to draw the models as they walked down the... Read More
Earlier today I chanced upon a short post by Cathy Horyn on OTR about a competition for twenty Parsons seniors to restructure looks from the Louis Vuitton archive into new avant-garde creations. 
