Fashion for the Bearer, Not for the Reviewer

Ears were ringing amid the fashion press Friday morning during a panel discussion moderated by Decades’ Cameron Silver at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, at which honorary degree recipient Ralph Rucci, sitting alongside fellow degree honoree James Galanos, lamented the demise of modern fashion due in part to “unwearable” editorial pieces. “I think we’re in a state of mediocrity,” Rucci told the students. “Magazines are totally unrelatable to what you look like. The future depends on your pressing for individuality and not fitting into a form that’s been preordained.” 

Co-panelist Michael Fink, vice president and women’s fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue, then asked the crowd, “Where are the ideas that are relevant to modern women? Where are the clothes that are well thought out? As a retailer, we have to sell the clothes. If there are things that are meant for a museum, wonderful, but don’t put them on the runway.” 

Rucci, who started his business 26 years ago, added, “To show a garment that’s difficult to wear, that just has a concept to it, is not fashion.” 

When asked by students which designers he’s excited about, Fink mentioned Alexander Wang, Doo-Ri Chung and Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. 

Galanos, who is 83 and retired in 1998 after a career designing form-fitting dresses for women including Rosalind Russell and Nancy Reagan, agreed with the panelists, noting: “You can do works of art and they can still be commercial. If it’s good, it’s going to relate to people. Young people must learn the difference between something that is stylish and elegant and something that is ridiculous.”

Courtesy: WWD

First Image Of The New Louis Vuitton Monogramouflage Handbag!

As far as I can tell, this is very first image of the upcoming and hotly anticipated Louis Vuitton “Monogramouflage” handbag. The bag appears to be crafted in a very sporty form with what appears to be relaxed handles, golden brass hardware press buttons on the exterior side pockets, and a fabric constructed shape sans a rigid structure. What I don’t know is : “What are those red tags on the bag?” Maybe it’s a placeholder for where the “Louis Vuitton” logo will go? Who knows.

I am definitely looking forward to this bag when it comes out in June. Just in case any of my readers are anxious for one, the supposed launch dates are for sometime in early June exclusively at the Brooklyn Museum (June 5ish). Following a 2 week exclusivity at the BKLYN Museum, the Monogramouflage line should be available in select LV Boutiques worldwide.

Thanks again to Karen Kooper.com for the wonderful inside peek to the upcoming Monogramouflage line!

Diane Von Furstenberg Loves her Louboutin

“I have more of his shoes than in the exhibition.” So joked Diane von Furstenberg in introducing her close friend Christian Louboutin at a talk he gave last Wednesday evening at FIT, which is currently holding an exhibit of his footwear. She wasn’t the only Louboutin enthusiast in the crowd. In a charming anecdotal manner, the designer ran through his 16-year career, starting at the beginning with his years as a teen interning at the Folies Bergère in Paris. (Fun fact: the ladies would stuff veal carpaccio into their soles for padded comfort.) When he began talking about his 1994 “Trash” shoes, which were covered in a collage of dreck like train stubs and gum wrappers, a brunette called out that she was wearing a pair and proceeded to pass one around.

Marty Markowitz’s Wife Hogs Swag at Murakami Gala

Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner wasn’t the only one causing controversy at the Brooklyn Museum’s gala celebration for the Takashi Murakami retrospective last Thursday night. Some attendees say Jamie Snow, wife of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, was rather boorish in her accumulation of freebies at the event.

Each diner at the gala was entitled to one special edition technicolor fiberglass placemat designed by the trendy artist, but it seems Snow’s sense of entitlement was big enough to accommodate eight of the souvenirs, which she snatched from abandoned place settings and had autographed by Murakami after dinner. The mats have been sold for up to $1,000 on eBay by revelers who took them from previous events.

When some attendees at Thursday’s gala realized they missed out on the placemats, they went crying to Snow for one of her eight. According to Radar, she had little sympathy: “You guys really should have acted faster. This is Brooklyn!” Other placemat pleas reportedly elicited responses such as, “You snooze, you lose, buddy. Forget it.” And when her husband, the borough president, was asked to intervene, he responded with a shrug: “Just try being married to her.”

The Daily News confirmed the contretemps with Snow, who admitted it was “a little true.” So Marty Markowitz has vowed to sell the placemats to raise funds for Camp Brooklyn, a program that sends low-income kids to camp. “She didn’t steal, she didn’t thieve, she didn’t take from anyone else,” Markowitz told the News.

It’s here on eBay! click click ——> murakami plates

Article from http://gothamist.com

© MURAKAMI: Brooklyn Museum Photo Gallery

© MURAKAMI, a retrospective of the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, opens Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, where it was on view until February, the exhibit primarily focuses Murakami’s work between 1991 and 2000, when the artist began exploring “his own reality through an investigation of branding and identity.” (One additional work, Murakami’s 6,613 pound, 18 foot-tall Oval Buddha sculpture, will be on view at the Sculpture Garden at 590 Madison Avenue at 56th Street.)

Within the Brooklyn Museum exhibit is a fully operational Louis Vuitton store, where consumers can choose from a selection of Monogram Multicolor bags, including the “Monogramouflage,” a new pattern created by Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton that for now is only available at the Brooklyn Museum. (It hits stores in June.)

Speaking about the inclusion of the Louis Vuitton shop within the exhibition, Murakami states, “The shop project is not a part of the exhibition; rather it is the heart of the exhibition itself. It holds at once the aspects that fuse, reunite, and then recombine the concept of the readymade. The Louis Vuitton project brings to life a wonderful new world.”

Britney Spears Looking Gorgeous!

Britney Spears Looking Gorgeous on the set of “how I met you mother”. Britney received amazing reviews!