the jumpsuit thought process.

Sometimes, when I get new clothes, I wear them over and over and over. Then, sometimes, I get tired of wearing the same thing over and over (if you know me, right now you're probably thinking that I need to temporarily retire my black shorts-navy tights combo). Then, sometimes, I think that trying new things is a good idea.

Like a jumpsuit, maybe? I think: Look, Lily Donaldson looks so cute in this Stella McCartney jumpsuit! It's so chic and casual and perfect for spring! Maybe I could wear a jumpsuit!


Then I saw this:
And then I thought this: MK, you kind of look like a little gremlin, but often you're a cute little gremlin, and often I'm secretly jealous of how you pull off sort of ridiculous clothes and still look impossibly cool. However, this jumpsuit was a bad idea.

And then I saw this:
And then I thought this: Agyness, you're even cooler than Mary-Kate Olsen. But you look absurd.

And then I decided that I'm just going to stick with this black shorts-navy tights combo for a little while longer.

vogue hates fat people

This is not anything new, obviously: the idea that you need to be skinny in fashion.

I don't even need to get into it, really. From a teenage Ali Michael being sent home from Paris for gaining a few pounds to Carine Roitfeld famously hiring only thin girls at French Vogue, it's something that we've all talked about until we're blue in the face. The fashion industry has a very specific idea of what a woman's body should look like, and it's just unfortunate for everyone else that that body is only realistic for a tiny percentage of (generally unhealthy) women.

For a while, two talented, gorgeous, real women - Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters behind Rodarte - seemed an anomaly, in that they were not only part of the fashion industry but revered in it - and were hardly sample sizes.


And then Vogue suggested that they go on a diet.

It's disappointing.

have you seen me?

It's that time again, kids: a C'est La Mode POP QUIZ!

Identify this person correctly, and you'll win either: an all-expenses-paid trip to Tahiti, or all of the love in my heart forever. I get to choose.

Clues:
1. At different points in her life, she was a mime, a communist, and a women's rights activist. At present, she is a designer.
1. This person is not me, despite what you might think based on the previous clue. (This is a joke. I'm no women's rights activist!)

Start a-guessin'!

gavinchey?

Yeah, I saw it. No commentary needed, just this little gem of an image that I stole from the clever editor over at Fashion Intelligentsia:

shoes are the new bags?

Watch this -- The New York Times' Bill Cunningham looks back at the best of the shoes worn to shows during Paris Fashion Week, and wonders if maybe outrageous shoes are replacing bags as the new It item.

I sort of like this idea. Actually, I really like this idea. And I really need to start saving for these:

a plea.

I've ranted on and on about my disdain for Rayban Wayfarers, but let me just say again:

Please, friends, get some new sunglasses.

With spring arriving, more and more people are breaking out their shades, and - I kid you not - I saw 8 pairs of Wayfarers during my 15-minute walk home today. I don't care if your style icon is Bob Dylan or Mary-Kate Olsen - I'm tired of them. This might even be worse than last summer. Please. This is supposed to be New York City. Be creative.






















I like these clear-framed ones - on the top from Oliver Peoples, and in the middle from Tom Ford, both on shopbop.


And though I would probably make fun of you for wearing these brown aviators from Urban Outfitters, bottom, after I noticed the little gold horse in the middle, I would secretly be jealous.


And me? You know what I'll be wearing: I'll be trading off between these and these.

je suis retourné

I'm back from Paris!

I'm both devastated to have left one of my favorite cities in the world and happy to be back in my other favorite place (and just in time for New York in the spring)!

I brought back wine (shhh, don't tell customs!), a million stupid Eiffel Tower keychains to give my friends (hoping they'll think they're so tacky that they're cool and not just that they're so tacky), and the good stuff:

A Lyie Van Rycke necklace with this little charm on it ("toujours" means "always," for all you non-francophiles). It's tiny and gold and on a little gold chain and it's so pretty.

A new scarf! It's big and square and silk, black, red, and gold, and I found it at the Marché aux Puces, a very cool flea market.

A couple blouses, and an adorable skirt (short and pleated, navy with white polka dots) that I found at a vintage store in the Marais.

I am very much in debt, and very happy.

a bientot!

I'm leaving for Paris tonight - see you lovelies in a week!

it's no use

My pal Mr. Wade said it first: Pat Fields, there will never be another Carrie Bradshaw. Isla Fisher, filming the Fields-styled Confessions of a Shopaholic, just looks goofy:


I'm sorry, Pat. I really do like you, and I think you're really talented. But I'm so tired of seeing these girls going for quirky-cool and just looking like a poor man's Carrie.

honestly?

I had heard rumors, but I guess it's true: LeBron James and Gisele on the cover of Vogue. I don't care if it's the shape issue - I don't think there's any reason for LeBron James to be on a Vogue cover.

This is not an anti-athlete thing, this is an anti-LeBron thing. I am not rushing out to buy this one.

cfda nominees!

The CFDA (that's the Council of Fashion Designers of America, kids) Fashion Award nominees were announced last night!

Womenswear designer of the year:
Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler
Marc Jacobs

My vote: The Proenza boys, derr. I'd be happy if Costa took it, though. If Jacobs wins - I'll be pissed. He's been annoying me lately.


Menswear designer of the year:
Tom Ford
Thom Browne
Michael Bastien

My vote: Tom Ford's the babe, obviously, but I think I'd like to see Mr. Browne take it, even if all his models looked like zombies in his fall show.


Accessory designer of the year:
Tory Burch
Michael Kors
Marc Jacobs

My vote: Wait, are we serious with these? Seriously? No comment.


Swarovski Award for Womenswear:
Thakoon Panichgul
Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte
Alexander Wang

My vote: The Mulleavy sisters, definitely. They're blowing up, sure, but their hype is way more than deserved (sorry, Alexander).


Swarovski Award for Menswear:
Tim Hamilton
Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders
Patrik Ervell

My vote: I won't pretend to know much about menswear, so I'm totally unqualified to vote here. But I do love Band of Outsiders, so let's say Scott Sternberg.


Swarovski Award for Accessory Design:
Justin Giunta for Subversive Jewelry
Philip Crangi
Joy Gryson

My vote: Gryson! Woohoo!

quel scandale!

Paolo Melim Andersson, creative director at Chloe, is OUT.

He's being replaced by Hannah MacGibbon, a designer for Chloe since 2001, when she came on board with the revered Miss Pheobe Philo. Andersson's lukewarm reviews must have been too much to handle. Can't say I'm too disappointed.

frightening.

Keith Richards, Louis Vuitton's latest model:


I have no words.

mes vacances!

I'm going to Paris!

I'm leaving in a week, and I can't wait. I'm going by myself, and I am going to wander my city and drink red wine in cafes and go to my favorite crepe restaurant in the Marais and Franck et Fils and Sandro and Et Vous in the 16th and the cinema at Odeon and I'm just so excited. I have been trying to keep myself from shopping for weeks, because I know that I am going to need a whole new French wardrobe when I get there.

This is what I'm going with:

Above: It's insane how many button down shirts I have. Men's and women's. I wear them every day.


Above: In an effort to stop wearing jeans so often, I've gotten these: a black bandage-y miniskirt and high-waisted shorts. Have been wearing them with thick tights recently, and usually the aforementioned button downs and flat black boots.

Above: A total no-brainer. With navy or plum-colored tights, layered under or over something. Easy.

I also will have to bring a few pairs of jeans, cardigans, flats, my gray patent oxford heels, and my navy Chuck Taylors.

The problem, of course, should be obvious: these things are all totally boring.


Which brings me to part two of this post: My Paris shopping wish list!

1. A killer pair of heels. I've been pretty good at keeping my new year's resolution to wear heels more often, but my collection is still a little weak. I need something a little ridiculous - I'm not talking about black pumps here. Something colorful, maybe? A platform?

2. A new silk scarf. There's that one I wear every day, I know, and I'm totally bringing that one. But I have this vision of walking into this consignment store in the 16th or a great vintage store and finding an amazing colorful big square scarf.

3. Some piece of jewelry. I know this is very vague, and tricky because I go through such phases with my jewelry that it needs to be something I won't get sick of. I love the idea of a charm I can wear on a bracelet every day, or a delicate little gold ring. Really, I just want something I can wear every day and think of how I bought it in Paris.


I may just get myself into beaucoup de trouble while I'm there...

chloe

Cathy Horyn said it better than I could:

"At Chloé, the press notes came right out and declared that “the Chloé girl belongs to the magpie school of looking good.” That amounts to throwing in the towel. Chloé, under its former designer Phoebe Philo, was a fashion ringleader. Every editor and copycat paid attention to her youthful designs because they were real and distinctive.

Her successor, Paulo Melim Andersson, cannot create a look that is either uniquely Chloé or interesting. He creates pastiches from three or four trends, like the filmy draped dress and tweed boyfriend jacket, and then adds splashes of embroidery and sexy pointed footwear. Paisley and floral prints, in rose and slate-blue tones, at least looked fresh, but as with any magpie operation, most of the styles had a half-consumed look."

Busted!

anna fakeout!

I'm a couple days behind on this one, but apparently there was an Anna Wintour impostor running around Paris, even faking her way into the Lanvin show.

I feel another C'est La Mode contest coming on! ONE MILLION DOLLARS to anyone who can identify the above three people (and of course, by one million dollars I mean I will give you serious props and a big hug).

This might be my favorite thing since Trovata's Romanian socialites prank.


UPDATE: Cathy Horyn reveals the identity of the faux Anna!

miu miu

In response to Miu Miu's fall 2008 collection, I am:

A. Loving the initials
B. Thrilled to see Sasha back on the runway (the poor girl was sick, I hear!)
C. Curious to see how this will translate in stores

lanvin

THANK GOD FOR LANVIN.

It's no secret that I was getting a little burned out on la mode. It's been a solid month now of looking at several shows a day and trying to keep them all straight in the style file cabinet in my brain. General fashion fatigue coupled with an extreme lack of inspiring collections had made me want to give up on fall 2008 altogether and take a vacation.

I should have known that my darling Alber would have something up his sleeve for me...











From the most basic of sheath dresses to the most ornate and everything in between - coats pants skirts fur! - Elbaz managed to put together a collection that was not only fashion forward but incredibly beautiful.

His fabric, made from yards and yards of grosgrain and satin ribbons wrapped around the body, was an innovative touch that kept basics like the navy one-shouldered dress from being boring (albeit gorgeous). The fur was so luxurious - I love that patent and fur trench on Liya. His over-the-top jewelry, like chunky cuffs and heavy, sculptural necklaces balanced perfectly the prettiness of the clothes. And can we also please acknowledge these shoes?



Seriously, Alber. Thank you.

alexander mcqueen

I don't think I'm the only one that's been a little underwhelmed by this fashion week, and it's too bad. It might be that we're all just cynical, or that our impossibly high expectations are not being met, or that we're just haven't seen anything spectacular so far. No offense to Chris Benz, Kris Van Assche, and Rag & Bone - but when those three are my favorite shows of the fall season, something's off in fashion.

Which is why I was so relieved to see Alexander McQueen's fall 2008 collection:


I can't imagine being in the audience at this show. This is one of the first shows of the season that would have taken my breath away had I been there.

This is shockingly beautiful, pure fantasy and fashion, and something I think we've really been missing this season.