Tag: PFW

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Fashion

Fabulous Denial Syndrome

Being Fabulous! Aspirational living! This is the lifestyle Vogue and other Conde Nast publications put in our faces. That $1500 bag matched with a $900 linen top.  Advice; Pay the rent before heading to Bloomingdales. 

Once again the magazines find themselves in the headlines, but for the wrong reason,,AGAIN!  Six years ago Conde Nast debased from Mid Manhattan to the World Trade Center. Fast Forward to the 2020 Pandemic, ad revenue flat lined. Suddenly, those palatial 1.2 million square feet became a brick tied to an ankle in a sea storm.

Fashion magazines have been in a denial stage for a decade. Bloggers and social media elbowed in once exclusive territory. Brand advertising splintered. But to the heads of Conde Nast, this was a bump on a Champagne Boulevard. They had become victims of a movement they help create, “Living In A Fake Reality”. 

Nothing says success than new digs. Trading up, moving to 1 World Trade in lower downtown New York represented the future, optimism. Anna Wintour and staff sat on top of the world. August 4th  2020, reports started circulating Advance Publications, parent company of Conde Nast, is scouting for a new office. I had to do a double take. Suddenly, Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Teen Vogue’s 21 floors lost its appeal or a need to  “trade down”. Six months ago I saw Vogue editors coming in and out of the Bristol and Hotel de Crillon hotels in Paris. 

One Minute This, Then, 

In April requesting government a bailout, today negotiating cheaper rent. No more fashion week teas in “Le Boudoir”. Have the company credit cards been cut? No worries, if a Vogue Staffer is reading this, send me a message. I know a few affordable places in Paris and Milan.

Looking over the magazines social media channels, I could see problems. Access to the best writers and photographers in the world, yet, a lack of original content replaced by recycled stories. How many pictures can be from the archives? Or Vogue Challenges every week?  HMMM! 

All smokes and mirrors, denial is a fabulous way to live until a “reality brick” hits the face. 


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Fashion

Couture Without a Runway!

A follow up to my earlier story on Couture Week without a Runway.  

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Fashion

Digital Couture,,Few Looks

Paris Haute Couture Week or days have passed. In the New Normal, runway shows are from a past era. Being front row at a Chanel is not immunity from Covid-19. 

What I did I think? Without the runway and excitement it felt a bit of a let down. Brands opted for long videos and short films. I had the feeling of watching a long Calvin Klein Obsession commercial. Fashion Week should center around fashion but for some reason it did not. I am not sure why. Fashion houses spent a lot of money showcasing film techniques. For some reason, the clothes took a backseat, a bit strange for a fashion week. As a film buff, one time aspiring filmmaker, part film critic; I would ask some teams, “What Happened”? Fashion Weeks focus on clothes.

Looking for inspiration, fashion and film have a relationship dating back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. “The Women”, director George Cukor’s 1939 black and white all starer included a 6 minute Technicolor fashion parade. Audrey Hepburn’s “Funny Face” was scene for scene showcase of the actress wearing Givenchy looks. For some reason many designers and their creators decided to take a more expressive artistic sense mixed with the abstract.

Fashion is live spectacle. I prefer fashion week with blank staring models, self important editors, and Borrowed Sunday Best Dressed Wannabes.

Let’s hope for a vaccine soon.

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Fashion

Paris Fashion Week Couture Day 3

Highlights from Digital Week.


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Fashion

Paris 2020

From France 24 reports on Paris Fashion Week. This year Diversity took centre stage at the bi annual event. 

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Fashion

Paris Fashion Week 2020

The low down on Paris Fashion Week, France 24 gives all the details. 

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Fashion

Viva Juana!

Using an impressive location in Paris, the Spanish Embassy, Juana Martin made her debut at Haute Couture Week 2020. Her collection, “Les Cours De Ma Maison”, reflected an Andalusian background influenced by Flamenco dancing and dress.  The Cordoba native gave the audience generous looks of embroidery, shawls, and headpieces.   I would call the collection “Personal”.   A reflection of a person who loves her “Tierra”.  

  • Designer Martin and actress de Palma take a bow.

Spanish Actress Rossy De Palma showed up at the end for a touch of authentic flamenco.  I have been a fan of hers since “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”.  But you will have to wait for that video.

Stay Tuned for more coverage.  

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Fashion

From Paris Haute Couture

Some images from our Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture Coverage. Never a dull moment in the French Capital, the mode this season, prudence,  not flash. 

  • Juana Martin 
  • Chanel 
  • Le Sorbier 
  • Flora Mirandi 
  • OFS 
  • Ali
  • Boucheron 
  • Grimaldi

Stay Tuned for more coverage 

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Fashion

Paris Impressions

Tension 

Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture is over. This season, a strange feeling hovered over the French Capital.  Numerous strikes have paralysedFrance.  President Macron’s reform policies have not gone down well the citizens. I am not familiar with Gaul politics and economy but Paris was a city filled with tension. How many strikes occur in Paris on a weekly basis? I knew this would be a different fashion week when my flight was delayed. When I arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport, the first announcement I heard, “Due to industrial action,,,”. “Welcome!”

Secondly, Paris was really cold and gray. One day the temperature hit -4. Not pleasant weather for running around from show to show or standing outside for an extra 30 or 40 minutes. This fashion week events never start on time.

All shows had extra security on hand. The entire city has been on alert for threats.

Is This Worth It? 

My problem with fashion has been the democratization has been haphazard at best. I am beginning to wonder if it is worth attending a fashion week. Standing in lines, Fighting crowds, the expenses, the ROI seems to diminish. Has Instagram and social media has been a blessing or a curse? A lot of invites, a lot of attendees, but why? The agencies cannot keep up with the requests. The crowd control situation is the same as a South American Bus Station.  However, strangely, many shows were not at full capacity. 

At one show, I saw how exasperated the staff became. All of the sudden there are so many stylists, photographers, and influencers. HUH? I asked a few to show me their work. An Instagram Selfie is now an editorial. Then, there are those who borrow or buy clothes (later returned) for a fashion show appearance. The people who really work during fashion week cannot dress as if their are attending the Red Carpet Met Gala. I can spot them a front row seat away.

Thankfully, I do not have the need to be seen at every fashion show.  If I sit five rows back, I ususally say, “send me the pictures”.

GoodBye

The big news from Paris Haute Couture Week, sadly, the last show for Jean Paul Gaultier. Sexual, imaginative, and ahead of the gender curve designer bowed out after 50 years on the scene. Gaultier stopped making Ready to Wear designs years ago, now, no more Couture looks. The star studded show was packed with his friends walking the runway. His classic breton stripes interpretations and ethnic chic influences, his frivolity will be missed.

I am still going over the looks from Haute Couture Week, please stay tuned.  A lot of reviews coming soon.

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Fashion

Get Over Yourself

There was a “protest” at the last Paris Fashion Week. Marie Benoliel crashed the stage. The YouTuber confronted Hadid at the Grand Palais. The stunt was boring. Her excuse: “Fashion makes people unhappy”. Get over yourself Marie!

Fashion makes me happy. If I were unhappy with the state of it I would not protest on the Chanel Runway. The big houses are machines with bottom line pressures. The world works, the way the world works. Secondly, Chanel is an iconic brand with a classic aesthetic.

I support smaller brands. Independent labels where creativity has a chance to blossom into success. Traveling to Milan or Paris, I make it a point to attend the trade fairs as well as presentations. It gives me the chance to meet designers and go over their pieces. Fashion creators with genuine enthusiasm are infectious. They explain the vision behind the collections. I get a sense of their story; the past, present, and future.

When a person goes to a big fashion to protest. It is more about themselves getting attention than a matter of making a statement. Next time, someone should tell Marie instead of making a grandstanding nuisance of herself, why not post a picture of an unknown designer you like on your Instagram account?