Big Time.

Bloggers as front row denizens. The desk and the laptops were courtesy of D&G.

It's happened. The big fashion bloggers have invaded the front row. Garance Dore, Tommy Ton, Bryan Boy, and Scott Schuman displaced some of the regular top tier fashion folks in the prime spots lining the runway at the D&G show. With a desk and four laptops at the ready, the fab four were able to insta-blog the procession. This is a sea change. Yes, bloggers have increased their presence at Fashion Week, but to be stationed in the coveted front row while buyers and paper editorial directors are now seated second and third tier, is a significant shift. It's kind of exciting to be witnessing the emergence of a new era. I for one am proud of them, even though it seems that this placement ruffled some feathers.

Fashion 2.0: Bryan Boy, Scott Schuman, Garance Dore, and Tommy Ton.

The thing that I love about the bloggers who got the spots is that at least three of them are supremely talented. Their sites are photography-based and have given fashion fandom a fresh way to see the world they were coming to take for granted (sorry Baboosh!, even though I admire your style, it's just not my thing, ok?). I do find it interesting though that none of them actually blogged any immediate content during the show. I'm betting that's what D&G were hoping for.

Um, P.S., did you know that The Sartorialist and Garance Dore are a couple? Last I checked he was married with children. But, I guess that's changed:

That's one Sartorial style smooch. The only thing I have to say is that this quote that Scott gave recently is a little uncharacteristically tasteless:

TMI Scotty, TMI!

The Wee Blogger.

Ok, I'm coming really clean: I've known about Tavi, the 13 year old fashion blogger for about a year now but I've ignored her. I've simply pushed her existence aside in what I can only humbly call a raging ego trip of jealousy, but I can misbehave no longer. The wee one is a sensation and I'm now secure enough in my non-13-year-oldness to acknowledge her undeniable talents.

Tavi's outfits.

Tavi's blog, Style Rookie, or Tavi-The New Girl In Town, is a mosh of snaps of her own outfits, her sources of inspiration, her self-scribed 'zine pages, and all the things she finds rad in the world. And, I, well, I love it. I guess because the girl is so charming, she smothers any of my fiery jell-o-c (SHE HUNG OUT WITH KATE AND LAURA MULLEAVY FOR A WHOLE DAY!!!) in cute, glorious, innate fashionableness.

Tavi hangin' with the Mulleavy Sisters of Rodarte.

Pages from a Tavi-made zine.

Tavi's only Bar Mitzvah age and she already knows who Rei Kawakubo is. I did too at that age, so I totally know where the girl is coming from. I want to appeal to ration and say that I think the child needs an age-appropriate hobby or existence, and that she's too young to be a fashion industry darling, but I think all chances of that have been flying out the window for some time now. When your 13 year old is well versed in the films of John Waters, the music of Bob Dylan, the designs of Hussein Chalayan, and the art of the galaxies, I think you just accept that you have an old soul for a kid and go with it. At 13 she's about a year shy of model age and she's obviously enjoying herself. Who knows, maybe fashion blogging is just the millennial dress up.

Tavi with one of her fave Bob Dylan albums.

Tavi, I applaud you. You are a star. I will no longer smite you with ignorance, instead I will sing your praises. Rock on little lady, rock on.

All images from Style Rookie.

Swinging '60s

This is too good. A tour of London clothing shops in the '60s? It's fashion heaven.

This video really made me feel like I boarded a time machine with the dial set to swinging. The dancing at the end is fantastic.

Stylin' & Profilin': Ranna

Meet Ranna. She's a twenty-something Scandinavian chick and a freakishly adept thrifter. Her finds are incredibly cool and seamlessly mixed into her well stocked H&M and Topshop wardrobe. She throws in a few designer pieces and snags from her mom's closet for good measure, and documents it all on her blog Only Shallow.

My least favorite thing about the super fashionable is that they often appear completely unapproachable. But, Ranna is cute as a button. She's the type of girl who I'd have no trouble going up to on the street and saying, "Great dress! Where'd you get it?" Although, seeing as how she's a university student in Helsinki, I don't think I'll be bumping into her anytime soon. Fortunately for all of us Stateside, I know exactly where she scored her finds, and we can all buy them ourselves from her Etsy shop. The prices are dreamily reasonable and with what I'll save on airfare to Finland, I can afford a boatload of her cool wear without caring too much about the steeper shipping costs. It's like combing Europe's greatest second-hand stores with an expert guide, all from the comfort of my couch. Thank goddess for the internet.

Gridlock

Check the latest trend at Dries van Noten.

Squares are the new stripes!


Images: Marcio Madeira for Style.com

Good Work, Gunshoe!

Miss Misshapes herself, and fellow Jersey Girl, Leigh Lezark (pictured above left with Parissienne rapstress Uffie) showed up to the Paris Chanel show wearing the house's gun-heeled heels from their Resort '09 collection.


Pumps that could pump you full of lead? I love a little danger with my fashion. Lagerfeld, Karl Lagerfeld does his best Bond impression with the sly stiletto below.

Don't mess with the well dressed.

Images (top to bottom): handbag.com, jakandjil.com, Shoewawa.com

You Should Be in Pixels

Ladies and Glentlepeople, you each have a front row ticket to the SS '09 Viktor and Rolf show! In fact the entire world does (sorry, were you feeling special for a moment?). Produced over a two-day period for a healthy budget, the webcast-only presentation features a clan of Shalom Harlow clones stalking a white runway in an empty room. You get to play the editor of your choice (Back off! I call Anna Wintour!) as you witness the clothes in motion and close up, from an omniscient VIP seat.

The looks were an ode to pixelation. There were sparkly labor intensive, hand-made dresses in crystal-studded organza. They looked like a television screen seen under scrambled conditions with a magnifying glass. There was also a T-shirt with a pixel graphic of a dragon. The T-shirt was paired with black and white graphic tights that will hopefully inspire some exciting alternatives to the solid black leggings that need to be put out of their misery by the time Spring rolls around this year.

The whole show, with it's virtual bent and finale of Shaloms dissipating into a pixelated ether, reminded me of the scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where Mr. Wonka introduces Wonka Vision:


Something tells me Viktor & Rolf would get along swimmingly with Willy.

Images: Courtesy of Viktor & Rolf via Style.com

Dress Rehearsal

When I was a wee fashionista I took dance lessons largely because it was the only place my mom would let me wear leotards and legwarmers. I loved those things, man. So, I have always had a bit of a fascination with clothes that remind me of plies and tap routines. Jean Paul Gaultier's SS 09 collection is equally dance happy. From obviously body conscious and costume inspired dresses like those above, to the more subtle touches pictured below, Gaultier choreographed a show that would have made Martha Graham proud.

So go ahead; add a stretchy, sparkling body suit to your look and let the straps show. Or, wrap some silk ribbons around your sleek ankles in homage to satin toe shoes. But, pretty please leave the actual leotards in the closet. Do not be sporting them in public unless you are still a wee fashionsita or your performance with the American Ballet Theater starts in five minutes.

This is a look best left to the professionals. And models. Or, hell...you if you really, really want to. Whatever, go crazy kids!

Images: Alessandro Lucioni for Style.com

The Shape of Things

Images: Marcio Madeira for Style.com

Rei Kawakubo's latest show for Comme des Garcons was a love letter to black and white hexagons. Maybe she's a secretly huge soccer fan, or perhaps she's trying to reach that coveted goth-glam-football-hooligan demographic. Whatever the reason for the shapes, she certainly made them her own.

Ms. Kawakubo's work for Comme des Garcons is always something of a phenomenon. It is usually shocking in its unique way, but her vision always seems to filter into other collections a season or two later, and ripple on down until every girl in Forever 21 has an outfit on that somehow quotes Kawakubo. In fact, you too can have your very own Comme clothes when Rei teams up with H&M and takes over the duty of translating her fashion for the masses herself.

Images: Courtesy Nitrolicious.com

This collection WILL sell out like Japanese hotcakes so you better go line up now for the November release. I'll see you there.

Flowers for Africa

While I find the dried flower head-bouquets beautiful, I can fully understand how they may be a little distracting to the rest of you. Are you imagining Carmen Miranda in a tribal setting? If so, try and look past the flowery headgear and focus on the clothing. Junya Watanbe is one of those singular entities in the design world who maintains a strong personal vision, but still has a firm grasp on the current pulse of the new.

His African patterns are playful in their composition. Animal stripes layered against powerful paisleys and geometric shapes keep things new, not copied. Throw the tribal garb over generously cut, rolled jeans and you have the perfect look for the modern urban villager.

I'm also enamored of the accessories. There are so many towering, clunky, super sexed-up shoes out there that Watanabe's leather laced, flat sandals are a relief. The leopard print belt with baggy denim is so neo-90's a la Marky Mark (ahem, sorry Mr. Wahlberg). And, upon first glance I thought the stripes running up the models' legs were courtesy of sheer seamed stockings, and now I sort of wish they were. Something about lined legs is so sexy. But, I think I'd have to hire someone to paint me with a little more patience, precision, and reach than I have. That could be costly. And awkward...

Images: Marcio Madeira, Don Ashby & Olivier Claisse for Style.com