boot bravado

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You're welcome.

Tom Sachs

What do you think of these Tom Sachs creations? He's obviously inspired by fashion, Marcel Duchamp and, um, grotesque objects.

Vogue: Out of Vogue

I should admit as I commence this screed that I've been going through a serious crisis of faith. As a fashion blogger, it's gauche to acknowledge flagging fidelity to Fashion. (I capitalize it because I'm talking about the institution and business of Fashion.) Here is my confession nonetheless:

Lately, reading fashion magazines makes me feel dirty. There is something wholly inauthentic and hypocritical about them. Fashion is expression - not giving a damn, as Gore Vidal so wisely said; but Fashion (with a capital F) is dictated expression (which is hardly expression at all). Magazines are mostly advertisements and pages and pages of nepotism in high gloss.

I've read magazines for many years and have even been a subscriber in the past. My beef with magazines arose and then sat stagnant at a liminal phase for sometime, but now I've officially crossed the threshold and am throwing down my gauntlet.

Magazines underrepresent people of color in a world where people of color are already woefully underrepresented. One might argue that magazine content is just a product of racial inequality, and I'd partially agree, but I think magazine content also perpetuates inequality. The spring runways were another embarrassing reminder of just how WASPy the fashion world insists upon being. (Jezebel did a nice article on the subject, calling out magazines by name. Click here to see the offenders.)

Second, and much less importantly, I don't even necessarily like the fashion that's being dictated to me. See the "Need It Now" section from the latest Vogue, for example, to see what Anna Wintour thinks we all need to be wearing: J.Lo circa 2002 Blahnik Timbs. Really? Anna Wintour - methinks you've got your head lodged firmly where the sun does not shine. No one wants 2002 back already, so don't try to make it happen. I didn't even want Jenny From The Block back then because, honestly, I was completely fooled by the rocks that she got. (Thanks to Jezebel for the scan.)

So I'm boycotting magazines for now. I'm boycotting them till I see some sort of noticeable increase in quality. In the mean time, I'll be watching old movies for fashion inspiration.

The Passion of Tara Subkoff

The New York Times has an interesting write-up on the new career path of erstwhile Imitation of Christ designer Tara Subkoff. Read it here.

I typically like the gist of IOC, so I'm curious to see what happens to it now.

Subkoff sure likes to keep the fashion world on its toes.

Marion Cotillard

Earlier today I was looking at a picture of my grandmother taken in the early 1940s. I was marveling at her hairstyle. She had glossy dark brown hair looped and waved complexly, then carefully molded into an massive bouffant.

French actress Marion Cotillard, best known in the U.S. for playing Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, has a more contemporary version of my grandmother's coif. I'm glad, because it gives me the opportunity to post another picture of a stunning and talented non-blonde. If any of you receive the Sunday New York Times, be sure to read the interview with Cotillard in last week's Style Magazine in which she describes playing the iconic "sparrow." You won't regrette it.

Buy Nothing In One Month

Just a reminder to all you readers that Buy Nothing Day is coming up in under a month, on November 24th and 25th.

Dubai International Fashion Week

Designer Rabia Z. from the United Arab Emirates and a model
From Pakistani designer Hassan Sheheryar Yasin
From Dubai designer Raakhee Raipanchola
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Green With Envy

Eva Green, my favorite Bond girl, in Vanity Fair. She strikes me as an intelligent woman with gravitas, and, fortunately, Old Hollywood appeal. I get excited when someone breaks through who doesn't look like a generic Orange County girl.
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Thandie Eye Candy

Thandie Newton looking incredible in Matthew Williamson.

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I haven't covered any of the spring shows, not because I don't care, but because life is pretty busy. I've followed them faithfully on Style.com, and I'm pretty sure that Dries van Noten and Etro were the most amazing shows.

Any dissenters? Which were your favorites?

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The Socks Get Better!

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Plaid on Plaid, Red on Red

Perpetuating my obsession with red (see here, here and here), I've decided to start pairing red plaids. I never seem to tire of red experimentation. Because I live in the Pacific Northwest (home of Pendleton), I find myself attracted to a somewhat more chic version of the lumberjack look (note rhinestones and excessive eyeliner). Here's what I wore today (red flats on my feet not pictured):

James Rieck

I'm enjoying the paintings of James Rieck. Almost photographic and very retro, they could be clippings from a 1960s Bazaar.
Danbury II, oil on canvas. 2004
A Blaze of Glory, oil on canvas. 2005

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Stam looks like an older Frances Bean dressing up as her mother.

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