you better work!

You better believe this fierce hot tranny mess is going to ride the fame train as far as it will take him: Project Runway's Christian Siriano is designing for Puma now.


Evidently, the hot tranny mess on Christian's arm is a musician named Estelle, and she's wearing his work: a dress made from three deconstructed Puma tanks. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of Mr. Siriano - I think he's incredibly talented and totally deserving of the win.

However, I think this Puma thing is a joke. And that dress? Hot tranny mess. Hot mess. Tranny.

coachella fashion

ELLE.com, Style.com, and every street style blog that ever existed is at Coachella, which apparently is the new fashion capital OF THE WORLD. Let me sum it up for you:


A lot of colorful wayfarers (groundbreaking!).
A lot of gladiator sandals (shocking!).
Agyness Deyn (DUH! Oh, also now she's a singer?).
A lot of really offensive jumpsuits (see Anouck Lepere above).

Yeah, that's about it.

I'm sorry I'm such a jerk. It's just that every time I hear someone praise all these ridiculous hipsters for their incredibly original style, it makes me die a little bit inside. I feel like Mugatu, from Zoolander. I can't possibly be the only one that notices that they all look the same, can I?

ninawatch 2008

Nina Garcia spotted at the Hearst building!

Quel scandale!

giorgio the great

So I just heard that Giorgio Armani will be awarded the Legion of Honor this summer, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be the one to give it to him. Pretty fancy, Mr. Armani!

Two questions:
1. What will Carla wear to the ceremony??
2. Remember how I kissed Giorgio Armani in Paris one time??

the cutest thing since caroline trentini:

trouble in paradise?

ELLEgirl's Heatherette story may have just gone up yesterday (I assisted on this shoot!), but for weeks, rumors have been swirling that the boys' magical world of glitter and unicorns may not be as picture-perfect as it seems...



Macky, their technical designer, broke off to start his own line. Lysee, their publicist, got a job at Paper. Someone said Traver was moving to LA. Richie is putting out an album (??). Now, the Daily News is reporting that Richie is starting a solo line, and that Traver "can't deal with Richie anymore."

Harsh (if it's true), but potentially understandable. That guy is absolutely like a cartoon character - watch ELLEgirl's video if you don't believe me. But though I doubt anyone would consider their breakup a devastating loss to the high fashion industry, if you've ever been to a Heatherette show, you'll understand that it is sort of the end of an era.

If it's true, that is...

happy friday!

Charlotte Gainsbourg for French ELLE.

pro-dress

ELLE's Anne Slowey says the dress is dead.

Barneys' Julie Gilhart disagrees: "Certainly [the dress is] much more efficient. 'Instead of spending days thinking about your wardrobe,' she said, 'you can concentrate on who you’re voting for for president.'”


Above: The dress I wore nearly every day last summer.

Me? I love a dress. You'll have a hard time getting me into a pair of pants in the summer, and for now, I don't care what Slowey says about fall. But Julie: are you serious about that whole thinking-you'll-concentrate-more-on-the-election-if-you're-saving-
time-by-wearing-a-dress thing?

costume institute watch 2008

Diane Kruger will be wearing Alberta Ferretti. Yeah, I asked her.

preppy, please

With words like "grunge" and "boho" (both words that strike fear into my little preppy heart) being thrown around all over the place for spring, I'm on a mission to find the classic details in even the trendiest looks:



Top: Chris Benz, spring 2008. Bottom, Alexander Wang: spring 2008.

So what am I taking from these looks? I actually do love Benz's yellow pants, but I wouldn't touch Wang's crop top with a ten foot pole. I'll be wearing, with my little blazers and skirts, these:

Above: Cole Haan.

hm.

Exhibit A (below): New York Times T Style Magazine:


Exhibit B (below): Stam in some spread (Italian Vogue, maybe? I don't know):



Exhibit C (below): Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony:



So this means that we're supposed to be wearing socks (with bare legs and cute shoes) now?

I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I think my generalization is going to be that if they're Prada socks (as in exhibit B), I'll let it slide. Otherwise, save it for middle school.

oh luxury, up yours

Below: Angry music fans protesting the opening on Thursday of the new John Varvatos store on the Bowery - in the space previously occupied by CBGB.


In case you can't read the signs, they say : "$800 PANTS KILL MUSIC IN NYC," "ONE 'SMALL' LOSS OF A MUSIC SPACE, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR PANTS," "$1600 USED JACKETS DESTROY COMMUNITY," "SAVE THE MUSIC, BOYCOTT HIGH RENTS," "OH LUXURY, UP YOURS," etc.

I mean, I'm pretty bummed too that a place as epic as CBGBs went under because they couldn't pay rent. It was truly the end of an era, and a really tragic event for a lot of people. However: John Varvatos didn't put anyone out of business, he simply moved into a space that was available. Also, from what I hear, he's worked hard to preserve the history of the original space, leaving up walls and keeping a general rock and roll vibe to the place.

As far as the absurdity of the luxury industry: well, I can't really disagree that $800 pants and all that are a little nuts. But maybe I'm just having a hard time making the connection between said pants and the killing of the music industry.

Thoughts?

currently channeling:

Today was another gorgeous day, and I decided that I want to look like this about every day this spring:

Thakoon, spring 2008.

NOOOO

Recognize this?
(Marc Jacobs, fall 2008)

Please, please, tell me this is not the new turban.

irritated, rather than riveted.

"But how can he be both a messiah and a mess? How can an industry titan, the most important person in fashion, be so fragile? Or is the fragility endemic to the success, the very thing that keeps us so riveted?"

Lucy Kaylin on Marc Jacobs, for GQ

iron man comes out may 2

Oh, I'm sorry. This is the new May Vogue cover? I thought it was a movie poster.


I mean, I guess the everyone's got the upcoming Costume Institute's Superheroes exhibit on their minds... but the Iron Man helmet is awfully specific, isn't it?

this is a problem

I try to stay away from the celeb style-bashing here at C'est La Mode, but I can't resist:


Scarlett O'Hara may have rocked a dress made from curtains, but Leann Rimes just didn't have the same luck when she tried to make a dress from the window blinds for the CMT Awards.

Yeah, she was asking for that.

ninawatch 2008

Now Fashionista's starting rumors that Kate Lanphear is up for Nina's old job...

don't forget!

Go go go! Phillip Lim, Michael Bastian, Band of Outsiders, and ThreeAsFour for GAP today!











Me? I picked up these two: The Phillip Lim tie-front one (above), and (below) a men's Michael Bastian roll-up (you guys know me and men's button-downs - and if you don't... well, I wear the boys' ones nearly as often as the girls').

Have you gone yet?

dvb is a bust

Marc Jacobs' unlikely poster girl, Victoria Beckham, may be a Spice Girl and a business woman and British (hell, American, too) royalty, but she's no clothing designer. Apparently, her DVB line of denim is being pulled from shops like Fred Segal and Kitson for poor sales. They're saying it's because she hasn't been promoting the line enough, but I think maybe it's because no real human being is a size 23?

I think they call this feeling schadenfreude, don't they?

nina nina nina

Staffers were tight-lipped in the Hachette offices today (I have some sources...), but the latest is that Ms. Garcia's been offered a lower position as an Editor at Large or contributing editor. No word yet on if she's accepted, but at least this way she'll be staying on with Project Runway (for at least one more season, until the show moves to Lifetime. BUST!).

STAY TUNED:

Nina Garcia's leaving ELLE!?


!!?

quantum physics has always turned me on...

Speaking of Mr. Doonan (see below), the Barneys Creative Director has come up with a Rag & Bone "story" for the Barneys website. The premise? Model Abby Lee's looking for a new job:


It's a cute campaign, and it's no secret that I'm a huge Rag & Bone fan - but my favorite part (aside from the quantum physics bit) is the BABUSHKA in the last shot, obviously. Love it. LOVE it.

Click here to see the whole thing.

good taste doesn't exist.

Simon Doonan is such a funny little man.

Above, at the party for his latest book, Eccentric Glamour.

I was on my way to the Jason Wu show last September, walking up 10th or 11th Avenue, and I saw a little man in a floral shirt, plaid pants, and a Goyard bag walking on the other said of the street. I figured it was him, but he was still a ways away - it wasn't until I saw the SD monogram on his bag that I knew for sure.

I don't love the way he writes (he's responsible for the ELLE's Madonna cover story), but I think he's a clever, funny character, and while I would hardly describe myself as his "eccentric glamour" girl, I can certainly get behind the idea of a little more creativity in our collective wardrobes.

oh, snap

IRINA AND FREJA, SITTING IN A TREE...
Above: Irina Lazareanu and Freja Beha Erichsen, from May's ELLE.

I mean, it's not like we've never seen two girls kissing before, but it wasn't expected for a spread in a real mainstream fashion mag. I mean, (American) Vogue wouldn't touch that. Cheers, Joe Zee and Robbie Meyers.

SCENE

Style.com's got a story up today about the new cliques in the fashion world. There are the New Bohemians (starring indie darlings like my archenemy Leigh Lezark, Tara Subkoff, and Waris Ahluwalia), the European Union, below ( beautiful foreigners like Vladimir and Julia Roitfeld, Margherita Missoni and Stavros Niarchos), the Swans 2.0 (with socialites Tinsley and Lauren Santo Domingo), the Art Crowd, the Supermodels, and the "New Kids on the Blog."


This whole concept frustrates me to no end. Fashion has become so much about the scene rather than the clothes, which, in my opinion, is totally backwards. I don't care if Lily Donaldson is dating Carine Roitfeld's son. I don't care if Olivia Palmero is in or out. I don't care who's out at Socialista. I care about the work, the runways, the fashion. When did I become the anomaly?

I'm sorry about the rant. Here, to lighten the mood a little bit, I'll leave you with an unintentionally hilarious, incredibly unintelligible sound byte, brought to you by New Bohemian Arden Wohl (at least, even if I never make it big in this industry, I will be comforted by the fact that I have a brain):

"We're always looking for answers. Some people are looking for it in a socialite maybe. But you know, it just depresses me: Some girl named Peaches who lives in the Bronx…looks at this world and says, 'Oh wow.' And I would never want to give off something that is an illusion, because you hurt people that way. And they're already struggling so much—the people." —Arden Wohl to The New York Observer, 2007

I'm sorry, what?

i don't really hate valentino.

I don't, I swear. I just think it's time for a little freshening up for the house, which is why I'm thrilled about Alessandra Facchinetti (though admittedly a bit underwhelmed by her debut collection).

So I hope I'm not reading too much into Suzy Menkes' implications here.

almost there...

Yesterday, it was springtime in New York. It was sunny. It was 60 degrees. I wore a dress without tights. My legs have not seen the sun in months (thank the LORD for that Jergens Natural Glow moisturizer, or I'm sure most of the city would have run screaming from my blindingly white legs).

Even though today was not nearly as nice, yesterday's teaser was enough. I can't even express how excited I am to wear dresses again. All of a sudden, I hate all of my jeans and boots and sweaters and I want to pack them all away and only wear sundresses and flats. Like these, maybe?


Jay Godfrey dress: $495. J. Crew flats: $145. Not having to wear a cardigan, jacket, tights and a scarf: priceless.

athletes invade the costume institute

We've all heard that the theme of the upcoming Costume Institute exhibit is Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. But now, according to this bit from the Daily, we're hearing that there will be some special guests at the party of the year: today's superheroes - athletes. Some of the sporty guests are obvious choices, like Anna's favorite tennis boy-toy Roger Federer (above) and this month's Vogue stars LeBron James, Michael Phelps, and Apollo Anton Ohno. Lance Armstrong used to date Tory Burch, so he's in with the fashion crowd, Andre Agassi scored himself a Louis Vuitton campaign not long ago, and didn't Andy Roddick just get himself engaged to some model? Kelly Slater and David Beckham are total babes, so there's that...

But what is golfer and otherwise normal guy Phil Mickelson going to do with himself?

enjoy

one of these things is not like the other:

A. Ashlee Simpson for Wet Seal
B. Kimora Lee Simmons, Fabulosity for JC Penny
C. Heidi Montag, Heidiwood for Anchor Blue
D. Phillip Lim, Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, ThreeAsFour, and Philip Crangi for Gap

Let's just say that I'll be lining up somewhere on the morning of April 15, and it won't be Anchor Blue.

Thank the LORD for the Gap.

And if I hear about any more of these absolutely offensive "fashion" collaborations, I'm quitting this business.

(That's not true.)

unnecessary foresight

"I came up with the name 'The Sartorialist' a year before. I figured if the blog was just an embarrassment, no one would know it was me."

-Scott Schuman, at the Met's "Blog.mode" discussion on Sunday