HOLY MARINA

Marina Abramovic and Tyson Ballou by Mario Testino for V Magazine

    Guess what's the biggest trend of 2013? MARINA! The girl is on fire. She is everywhere. I have to give her credit. She has an amazing career and has only recently been fully recognize for her contribute to the art world. BUT that doesn't mean that she has to be everywhere and with everyone.
   She has become Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci number one groupie and seems to be involve in everything that has a lot of exposure. From going to auctions with Gaga to performances with Jay Z, Marina is EVERYWHERE.
    Her work hasn't felt any repercussions of these mainstream lifestyle she has now. And I have a big concern about it, should it feel repercussions or not? I mean, she can be an artist and hang out with pop stars, can't she? Andy Warhol did it... But why can't I accept it so easily with Marina?

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LOVE?

Left to right: Cara Delevingne, Georgia May Jagger and Edie Everywhere These Days Campbell by Mert & Marcus

    LOVE magazine hit is 10th issue! HURRAY! LOVE used to be one of my favourites magazines. But I don't know what went wrong, maybe too much Cara, maybe too commercial, I don't know fellows. I just know that the last two issues were a big fat disappointment. And looking at these new covers for the 10th issue all I can say is MEEEH. I'm not feeling the Minnie Mouse ears thing, I think it's so Lanvin three seasons ago and the use of the same models of the last issue. C'mon Katie, give Cara a rest. We know you love her and think she's the most amazing super model but I miss the old LOVE, filled with amazing editorials and interesting interviews. I thinks this is going to be another blah issue, but lets wait and see, maybe I'll be surprise, or not. Congratulations to LOVE for its 10th issue.

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WANTED: AMERICAN COUTURIERS

Karl being himself on Rodolphe Marconi's Lagerfeld Confidential

    Today I read a very interesting article on Fashionista. It was about American couturiers, more specifically about the their non existence
    Suddenly it hit me. Oh my god! There aren't any American couturiers. How is it possible? Why? So I went twenty thousand leagues under the internet to find out about American couturiers and they're work. The most recent American couturier to show at couture week was Ralph Rucci and it last happened in 2009. Ages ago. Before him we have to go sixty years into the past to reach the name Mainbocher who was famous in the 30's. So basically in all fashion history there was only two Americans who did couture. WOW.
    By the end of my journey to the depths of the internet and fashion history my questions changed. The whys and hows changed into this: Do Americans really want couture? Does couture makes sense in America?
    I think that's really interesting. Think about it. They created McDonald's and all the fast food you can imagine. They created everything fast and cheap. Does couture sound fast and cheap to you? No.
When I think about American fashion I can only think about fast fashion and sporty fashion and a lot, I mean a lot, of street wear. Not a single couture piece. Then I think of the king of American fashion, uncle Jacobs himself, and think about him doing couture. It makes no sense. I, for sure would be curious about it, and would stay in line to see it, but, I mean, it's probably, for the best, never going to happen. The same with Alexander Wang. Big American designers don't rhyme with couture.

   Other interesting point is that it takes time to make couture. And most of these designers have so many work on their hands that it's impossible to create two more couture collections per year. It takes a big house, with a big name and a big designer to handle so much work. Not all designers can be Karl Lagerfeld. That's why Riccardo Tisci decided to stop presenting couture collections. Too much work, too little time.
    But I see, or would like to see things changing. There are American designers who I think have what it takes to create couture. In this day and age where couture is really changing from what it used to be, the options are endless. I for sure would love to see what Proenza Schouler would do.

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BUYING THE CRITICS

Left to right: Cathy Horyn, Bryan Boy and Tim Blanks.

    Recently Jean Paul Gaultier lashed out to Tim Blanks about Blanks review on his latest couture show. Tim, which is one of the critics that I take most in consideration, only said the truth about Gaultier show. JPG in my opinion is nearly dead. Tim was right, he was once one of the best and now he is almost irrelevant. Which is sad. But for Gaultier to feel the need to lash out to Blanks the way that he did was so... tacky. And for a designer like JPG to feel that way about a critic is not good. It's like JPG is questioning his work.
    Anyway... This has been a huge deal for me since I got into fashion. The critics. Because I looked everywhere for good reviews of the shows and honest opinions and I couldn't find any. It was like critics were afraid to say it was bad. I didn't understand it. Sometimes it was so obvious that the collections were lacking something or the designer's work was just a mess.
    Then I found out Cathy Horyn. I read a lot of what she wrote, and Suzy Menkes too (although I think Suzy is a bit less sassy than sister Cathy). I like Cathy Horyn. I don't agree with her every single time but I like that she has the balls to say what she thinks. Cathy has been banned from many shows for bad reviews. That's just nonsense. For a designer to feel that frustrated with a critic. I know artists have huge egos but this is just nonsense. I follow Cathy's posts on NYTimes.com.
    Then, it came Bryan Boy. The boy who had nothing and now has everything. Is he still a blogger? Does he still have an opinion? I don't think so. He's a sold out. He is Jacobs favourite blogger and receives little gifts from all the major brands. Which basically means that he can't say negative things about the designers work.
    Then I found out one reasonable critic. The guy who stands in the middle of a sold out and the devil. The guy who is not afraid to say it's bad when it's bad, and the guy who doesn't look like a complete sold out from head to toe. Talking about Tim Blanks here!
    That's why I got so sad when I read that open letter JPG wrote to Tim Blanks. What the actual fuck? It seems that a journalist can't be honest otherwise it's banned from watching the show... It's like a designer is a spoiled child and can't hear a bad thing about his work. We all know that not all collections are good. Even the greatest designers have, from time to time, less interesting collections. That's normal, they're human beings. To lash out to the critics and journalists just for being honest is something that makes me sick. Most of the journalists or critics are too afraid to say anything bad, otherwise they might not be invited to the show next season. It feels like there are less and less honest critics in the fashion world.
    People like Cathy Horyn make me believe that it's possible to be honest in the fashion business. It's possible to have an opinion and stick with it and not be afraid. I'm not really into writing reviews of shows or even being a fashion journalist. Fashion is just something that I really like and I just can't be silent about what's going on around me so... I had to say something.

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