Fun with Google Translator!

Are you bored behind your computer screen? Are you wishing for a chuckle inducing diversion? I know you are! By all means, leave it to me to come up with one for you. Fun finding happens to be one of my most highly developed skills. So please, won't you join me in a little game I like to call "Fun with Google Translator!"?

The first step is to head on over to the amazing French street style site, Garance Dore. This is the mecca of chic French fashion chicks from the mecca of chic French fashion, so it's like the holy grail of style sites. Once you recover from seeing the predictably gorgeous, effortlessly elegant girl of the day featured on the website (like Anabel and Julia here below)

mouse on over to the right of the screen and click on the link that says "Google Translate Can Be Funny: Click here for the English Translation". Let the invisible electronic Google Gnomes do their magic and voila! Instant hilarity. Here's a sample of what the Gnomes will come up with for the presumably beautiful French phrases that Garance Dore has put out into the virtual world:

"Yet, I loved Dior was gay, I strong and want a tutu-dress-in fact we all want dresses tutu, tutu skirts, micro-skirts Fly tutu, I'm too too fan of tenunue following dessussus, I want my tutuuuuu!"

I want my tutu too! Makes about as much sense as a stammering Sarah Palin. Have fun!

Image: Garance Dore

The Queen of Makeup

Buried under the fearful financial headlines on today's Times site is a lovely escape from the stress in the form of a video about Pat McGrath. The recently feted and fabulous Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune rightfully calls McGrath "The Queen of Makeup". The woman is an absolute artist and her collaborations with John Galliano are always a highpoint of any fashion week.

She can do it all, from otherworldly to simply beautiful.

Images: Style.com

Soften the Edges

Am I obsessed with the Sartorialist? In a word: Yes! He makes me happy. What else can I say? He has such an incredible eye, and people watching is my absolute favorite past time (well, that and singing along to Christina Aguilera songs at the top of my lungs while driving really fast). His blog creates a new venue for my voyeurism. And he's incredibly handsome.

Anyways, he snapped this lovely lady in Paris and commented on her beautiful mix of hard angles and softness. I agree, I'm loving the asymmetrical hair. Even though I've seen it in so many iterations over the years, she makes it look like a fresh idea.

Images: The Sartorialist

Sneaky Peek

I can not wait to find and post a video of the entire Martin Margiela SS '09 show, but let this sneaky little peek at the finale courtesy of SHOWstudio whet your appetite until I do!

Image: WWD.com

Musical Interlude with Little Dragon

Music is my second love and I've picked up a new sweetheart. Little Dragon has been around a little while, but the band is fresh to me. Vocalist Yukimi Nagano is as beautiful as she is talented. Her voice carries a rare mix of folk and R&B; it soars and dives over the electronic instrumentation of the band. She looks fierce too. Check out these videos of the Swedish group in action:

"Constant Surprises"

Glow (and sing) in the dark.

"Test"

Pretty gold shoes and really weird masked mini-creatures.

Ladies in Liberty

Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto took over design duties at Cacharel this season and presented the cutest parade of liberty print dresses and bikinis to finish their show.


How happy do these gorgeous girls look? The smiles and the strappy footwear make me heart Cacharel more than ever.

Images: WWD.com

Your Very Own Heart on a String

I need a fashion show breather. Too much catwalk makes this sartorialist sister slightly crazy!

On a recent trip to the best lil coffee shop in the city (otherwise known as Joe), I picked up a copy of Bust Magazine and found a featurette on Ms. Vanda. She makes the sweetest jewelery out of unexpected graphics, and the prices are just right for the times. At about $20 dollars a pop, you don't have to feel too guilty about buying yourself a little something pretty. If anatomically correct hearts aren't your idea of pretty, try some of the more subtle designs.



Delightful!

shop: paraphernalia at Etsy.com

Pret-a-Partay

There is an unflagging atmosphere of levity at this season's shows. Even amidst economic disaster, we've seen some surprisingly optimistic offerings from quite a few designers. Colors are candylisious, shapes are buoyant, and patterns are playful. Maybe the rest of the world is celebrating the impending downfall of the rambunctious, adolescent America? Whatever the cause, Lutz embodied the mood in their stage decor.

A background of white balloons fit the festive feeling quite well. Splashes of bright colors and smiling models (who knew they could?) also helped keep things light.

Images: Vogue.fr

Barely There is Everywhere

Ok, so the trend fairies have struck again. Once more I'm wondering where the secret hideout is. Where is it that all the designers show up and hash out the rules for the season? Who decided that every third look in every major collection has to be see-through? Galliano has definitely kept up his end of the trend pact. His Dior show was full of barely there offerings.

Now before you get tempted to rip the linings out of all of your old clothes from last Spring, please carefully consider the inherent obstacles in dressing for show. You must pay extra special attention to your undergarments. Do not throw on some Hanes and expect to look elegant, people. Success with this look will require your most careful consideration. I beg of you, think long and hard about everything beneath the surface.

As an aside, I have to compliment Mr. Galliano on his diva stance. Perfect form John!


Images: Vogue.fr

Camera Shy

This sparkly little lady outside the Gareth Pugh show seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the interest in her superb style, but the attention was definitely deserved. Leave it to a four year old to outshine the fashionistas and get snapped by the Sartorialist!

image: The Sartorialist for Style.com

I Can See Right Through You

Nina Ricci's spring line designed by Olivier Theyskens showed some skin. No need for x-ray glasses here, just ogle with the naked eye. My goodness, this sheer trend is proliferating faster than generations of rabbits. When done right it looks classy and leaves as much to the imagination as it reveals but, I think Theyskens would have done well to add a bit more fabric to some of his dresses. Maybe the nakey looks were just PR bait, but it smacks of attention for all the wrong reasons. I don't know many women who get dressed to show some nipple. I don't want to either.

Perhaps Theyskens could have lent the leaner dresses above some fabric from the fussier gowns he sent down the runway.

Theyskens is responsible for my favorite Oscar gown from last year.

Reese Witherspoon's tiered dress in gradated shades of purple is just one of the many beautiful pieces he's created in the past, but this collection just felt imbalanced. There was too much or not enough.
images: Vogue.fr

The Bold Shoulder

Remember the 80's, when women in and out of the workforce looked like line backers? Well, soon the memories will be a little more short term than long. Looks like shaped shoulders are making a comeback. While the right woman could possibly carry off a little more on her shoulders a la the Balmain looks above, this is one of those trends that goes really wrong when left to the general public. Proceed with caution ladies, or leave it to the trendy and keep it classic. That's always a winning strategy.

Dark Matter

There are actually some really beautiful, wearable pieces in Rick Owens' latest collection. It may be hard to see past the "Nuns From the Underworld!" accoutrements, but look beyond the black habits and garbage bag/flipper footwear and you'll catch a glimpse of the real deal. The garments are structured and tailored, yet have feminine touches like silk tie closures and curvaceous cuts.

I love the drapey, collared leather outerwear.


images: Vogue.fr

Gareth Save the Queen

Gareth Pugh has never been one to shy away from the slightly absurd for the sake of his art. From the moment he sent his signature inflatable garments down the runway, he announced his presence as a renegade bad boy on the fashion scene. Gareth seems to be seeking a royal pardon with his debut Paris collection, where stiff, origamiesque, Elizabethan collars give the girls a regal flair. He seems also to have created an army of white washed warriors to get things straightened out if his pardon gets denied.

While I always applaud a little mold-breaking, performance-art fashion, I'm slightly confused as to how these garments qualify as ready-to-wear. I'd love to follow them from the runway to the retail floor and see who takes these babies into the dressing room for a test spin.

images: Vogue.fr

*Update: I didn't have to wait very long! The Face Hunter caught this woman rocking a Pugh ensemble on the streets of Paris:

Futurama Mama. That's all I have to say about that.

Image: Face Hunter

Allons-y! (That's "Let's Go!" in Francais)

Hold on to your berets kids, it's Paris time! We are right on schedule for the opening of SS '09 Paris Fashion Week, the biggest kahuna of them all (sorry New York, but it's true). We've got a lot of shows ahead of us and here's some of the info you'll need to prepare: You can click here to view the official itinerary of the week. The biggest of the big guns come out locked and loaded in Paris: Gaultier, Pugh, Galliano, Yamamoto, Ghesquiere, Lagerfeld, McQueen. Ooh la la! I'm so excited I could oui, oui! Oh, I just couldn't resist. How declasse of me!

The Parisienne streets are alive with mode. Take a look at who Face Hunter caught stalking the Rues in the city of light...

The cutest little gamine that side of the Seine, and a serious heavy metal fan. Plenty more are sure to follow. Stay close, mon chers!

images: FaceHunter

Big Love

Aside from being an incredible actor, Paul Newman was one of the planet's sexiest men. His inimitable charisma was matched only by the size of his heart. He was married to the same woman, the lovely Joanne Woodward, for 50 years and his Newman's Own line of products donated nearly $220 million to charitable causes. What an honorable legacy.

Tie-gate

I hope you all did your civic duty and tuned into the debate last night to watch Obama stand firm against that other guy, what's his name? Tom? Jim? Whatever... no matter.

What did matter was that Obama rocked McCain in the wardrobe department. The overly orange patriarch's tie was one of the worst wardrobe malfunctions we've seen since Janet shared her boob with a certain Sunday event audience. That stripey mess was flickering all over the darn screen. Did Cindy help pick it out? Possibly. She herself was distractingly festooned with lapel pin ornaments.

Of course, the real winner of the debate last night (at least from this fashion blogger's perspective!) was Michelle Obama. When she first walked across the stage her dress looked like a saucy leopard print number, and I was a little concerned that the right wingers would scream "Scandalous!". However, when the camera closed in a bit, the pattern showed itself to be a perfectly appropriate floral print.

I know, I know; the politics are more important than the outfits, people. If you want the real news head on over to The New York Times, or watch the Silver Fox on CNN.

But before you go, let Obama show you his victory dance!