GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

Madge playing hide and seek by Mert & Marcus for Interview Magazine

Have we seen everything Madonna has to offer? Have we seen every side of Madonna? I feel like I haven't heard anything new from her since Confessions and even then it wasn't new. Nothing feels good since American Life. All feels forced and fake. Not from the heart. And with a career as long as her the question is: does she need to do anything if it's not from the heart?
Just the title of the new six songs make me roll my eyes. Really queen? I'm going to be honest, I really thought her team was behind the leak but it turns out she's innocente-ish. I just can conceive Madonna doing shallow pop music (that's what she's been doing for a while now tho). She's done so much, she made history. She doesn't need to do shallow pop music. WHY BITCH, WHY?

The only track that is listenable is Living For Love. It's feels old but it's fun and dancy. And the lyrics are cool. But still, old. The voices screaming LOOOOVE feel like some glee-esq group singing. 

I don't understand if it's bad management or just stubbornness. Has she became a atention whore and craves attention at any costs or she just suffering from bad management? Someone help her, asap, or she'll end up like Michael Jackson.

PS: And having your old photoshoped purple nippled titties on a magazine isn't a good look for you sweety.

PPS: And the Versace adds? Ouch. 

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SHE'S (NOT) JUST BEING MILEY

Miley Cyrus by Mert & Marcus

I'm a little disappointed with the colaboration between Miley and Mert and Marcus. It's so not Miley and so much like Sasha Pivovarova Vogue Paris October 2011. Why? Why would they strip her down of her Mileyness and wash away all her essence? I don't get it. I was kinda excited to see the pictures, but it's just a big blah.

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I MISS NICOLA

Nicola by Nicholas Ong

    I miss the old days when Nicola Formichetti was just a stylist and created the most amazing looks and concepts. Then he went to Mugler, then he left Mugler and now he's on charge of Diesel. And his work as a fashion director/stylist (so many names for the same thing nowadays) is closer to zero. 

    

with Gaga in the good old days

    I even miss Nicola more as Gaga's stylist. Her style is a mess right now and I really don't understand why she hasn't fired her stylist (Nicola's ex-assistant) already. She always look so normal. She's wearing looks of the runway! That's not a good thing on Gaga. Nicola please stop being a fashion designer and come back to styling! Here are great examples of his work. Check it out:

at V magazine

♡

and at Vogue Homme Japan ♡ R.I.P.

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REMEMBERING GREATNESS

♡

♡♡♡

♡ gemma ♡

                                 BALENCIAGA

 by NICOLAS GHESQUÈRE 

                                                 S/S 2007

look at this shit ♡

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THE RETURN OF GAGA

  

 

 

    Loving pop culture as I do it shouldn't come as a surprise that I like Lady Gaga. She recently release her much anticipated third album, entitled ARTPOP. Well, it was about time. I was dying for new music. But it wasn't at all what I was expecting.

    Gaga, herself, is a sucess. She didn't need to make another record forever and she would be known forever on the pop music trivia. She changed the landscape of pop music forever. Bad Romance changed pop music. Like it or not you can denied her influence and creativity. 

    Her second album, Born This Way, was a sucess like no other. In a time where records don't sell shit and artists have to tour the world to get money, Gaga's second album sold an impressive 1,108K only in the first week! Beating that is almost impossible. 

    ARTPOP debuted at #1 at Billboard album chart selling in its first week a great 258K copies. Now let's compare numbers. Selling 250K in the first week used to be a great thing for everyone until Born This Way. Katy Perry's Prism sold 286K in the first week and Miley Cyrus' Bangerz, 270K. So selling 250K in the first week it's not as bad as you'd think. These were the two greatest records of the fall. The timing wasn't perfect. It was a heavy weigh divas fall competition. The surprise of the year was Miley Cyrus and not Lady Gaga. Miley stole the spotlight (well deserved if you ask me) and her songs Wrecking Ball and We Can't Stop are a major sucess. 

    Another reason ARTPOP "failed" is because of its message. It's too artsy for the general audience. Born This Way, the lead single of Gaga's second album was an anthem of freedom and love that everyone could relate and dance, while Applause, the lead single of ARTPOP, is about what the artist loves and lives for. With amazing lyrics like "One second I'm a Koons, then suddenly the Koons is me", well this is just too much for the massive crowd that loves Gaga. Most people don't even know who the fuck Jeff Koons is. Well, know they do, so big congratulations to Gaga for educating the world. When the single came out no one could relate to the music because most people aren't artists. Applause was not the best lead single.

     On her second record Gaga could easily choose a single, because the album was really full of great power-house songs. I don't feel that way about ARTPOP. The song that entitles the record is so beautiful written but it suffers from the same problem Applause does. It's too highbrow. Most people don't get it. And it's not really a great dance track, it's just a very good song. It won't play on radios or at discos.

Gaga + Koons. The ARTrave. Presentations of the album.

    She rushed three more singles, Venus, Do What You Want and Gyspsy. But are not as powerfull as The Edge Of Glory and You And I, or even Hair. I personally like Venus and think that was a good direction for the new record but it's the only song of its kind. MANiCURE is another great song that I don't understand why is not already pumping on the radios. I think it's one of the best tracks on the album. It should have been the second single. Being the first Venus (risky but new).

    The rest of the album is really cool but it's not as powerful and cool as Born This Way. Is it bad? No, of course not. Gaga's voice is impeccable on all the tracks and it's a really fun album. But it's not the direction I was expecting. Anyway... Even the less good tracks on the album are better than most of the tracks out there. Gaga is a great artist and this "not so huge successful record" will not have any impact on her already great career.

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FUCKING SEPTEMBER

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♡♡♡

  

                  I 

                

                                              CAN'T 

                              

♡

                        

BREATHE

Christie Turlington, Kate Moss, Daria Werbowy, Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour and Linda Evagelsita by Mert & Marcus for Interview Magazine September 2013

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ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

    

    Nowadays it seems that the new trend (besides being bff with Marina Abramovic) is to have a film crew behind you filming every step you take.

    Carine Roitfeld is the new subject of a fashion documentary. Finally one about her. I kind of like the idea of this happening because I love Carine but in other hand I'm a little disappointed at her for accepting this and joining the club that Anna Wintour founded. Anyway, it'll be fun and we all are going to love it. See the trailer here. 

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REMEMBERING GREATNESS

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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.

missing this </3

and this </3

and this </3

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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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GIMME MORE

Riccardo Tisci and his boy toys for Self Service by Maciek Kobielski

As once Britney sung: Feels like the crowd is saying//Gimme more/Gimme, gimme more//They want more?/Well I'll give them more, oh! Fashion is getting to a point where, like Britney said, more, they just want more. 

I've been thinking about this for a while but a few days ago I read Riccardo Tisci's interview for Self Service and it all hit me. He has to design so many collections a year... How does he do it? He said in the interview that he likes to make most of the drawings so I can only imagine the work he has and how very understandable (but sad) it is that he stopped doing couture. 

Britney being made fun of at 2007 VMA

The pressure that the fashion houses feel to create is frightening. How can one be creative if he has no time to create? How can one designer be responsible for eight or more collections a year and still maintain his creative vision? Well, he just can't. 

Last season (S/S 2013) Givenchy broke away from the t-shirt making and Tisci presented a very different vision for womenswear. If you ask me it was a breath of fresh air for Givenchy and for the entire fashion world. This season, Tisci went back to the t-shirt, print making that gave street glory to the house of Givenchy. Why did he decide to go back? He had already started a new path, a new vision and then, like S/S 2013 never existed he created F/W 2013-2014, that if you ask me was his worst collection to date. It was such a mess. I think it was his way to say a big FUCK YOU to all the critics and stupid bloggers that adored his angry rottweilers. The collection itself was like a best of of the last collections. All seasons revisited.

It makes me sad that fashion has to come to this point. The demand and desire for something new was never so high and the need for identity and quality was never so low. I don't know how this is going to end... Fashion houses can't compete with fast fashion retailers like ZARA or H&M. One day they'll have to stop. They can't keep it up unless they give up quality. And if they give up quality they'll be the same or worse than a fast fashion retailer. They'll end up like Britney, alone, high and fat on a stage where people laugh about how low they've come.

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HANGOVER

Courtney Love by Hedi Slimane for Saint Laurent

I'm starting to dislike Hedi Slimane. That's something I thought it'd never happen. But here we are.
I just don't know where to start... From destroying Yves Saint Laurent legacy in two seasons or from the casting of the new campaign.

It's important to get this straight: I'm not against change. I'm not against new beginings nor do I hold on to the past. Fashion is about future. But what's Hedi's doing at Saint Laurent, I'm sorry to break it to you in case you don't know it, it's not the future.

Said that, let's focus on the basic concept of the House that Saint Laurent build:  LUXURY.  Hedi's creations have nothing of luxury in them. They look like something that H&M or Pull&Bear would have sold three years ago.

Jessica Chastain for YSL manifesto by Mert & Marcus

As if that wasn't enough he chose a cast of stars to feature in the new adds. I'm sorry, I love
Courtney Love, I love Kim Gordon and I even like Marilyn Manson. But they're not the right faces for Saint Laurent. Marilyn Mason doesn't scream luxury. Courtney Love doesn't scream luxury at all.

Something is very wrong in that company. They chose Jessica Chastain to be the face of the fragrance and then they put Courtney Love and Marylin Manson on the adds? WTF? It looks like they're trying to sell two productos from two different houses. It's insane, it makes no sense.

But I guess Saint Laurent can take all these attacks from Slimane. Saint Laurent is a house full of history and even if Hedi is making all this changes people will still think of Saint Laurent as something luxurious. But I wonder how many hits can the house takes. Eventually the ship that Yves once build and drove is going to sink. Unless somebody stops captain Slimane.

And some other issue I don't quite understand: why the fuck did they change the logo from everything except the beauty products? Guess they didn't let Hedi touch where the money is...

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REMEMBERING GREATNESS

  




                     


                                                Gemma Ward

                                           

                                                            

                                              
   by Nick Knight 

 

for W Magazine 

              

wearing Balenciaga by  Nicolas Ghesquière 

                                                              S/S 2006

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BYE, BYE PARIS

Miu❤Miu

Well, that was boring. Maybe I just can't get excited about anything fashion related. Maybe it's me who's wrong. But I don't think so. This season the collections bored me to death. With a few exceptions, of course.
I always say I won't post anything about fashion week but I just can't be quiet. I have to say something, all the time. It's a blessing and a course.

❤details at Miu Miu❤

For me, the peak of amazingness at Paris was Rick Owens. I'm mean, what's not to like? I already did a post about him, sooner than all the other posts about fashion week. I just couldn't wait. I had to share my love for those jackets. Those details! YUM!
Closing that I have to say that I loved Miu Miu and where Miuccia Prada is taking the brand. It's so much more mature but with that quirky touch that is so Miu Miu. I also hate when designers who have more than one brand to design tend to mix it all up and it all looks one big collection. This time that didn't happen. Miuccia hit all the right notes. Loved the skirts with the stripes. Loved the handkerchiefs and the socks! It could all went so deeply wrong but it's Miuccia that we're talking about. The woman makes no mistakes.

the set and even Moss can't pull this look. It's so not working for me

Then I have to say something about Louis Vuitton. Marc outdid himself this season with the sets. In his own brand and at LV the sets were amazing. I really liked his collection but what he did for LV was kinda boring. I miss the old LV days where Marc used to  made some of the most amazing things. But this pj's stuff and lingerie... I mean, it's only amazing because it has a LV stamp on it. You could find some of the pieces at Intimissimi or other lingerie shop and would not have to pay 10000 dollars for it. But loved the set.

So many things to talk about, god!

Malgosia's in marble and fugly shoes

Alexander Wang presented his debut collection for Balenciaga and it wasn't that bad. I have to admit I was expecting a lot worse. It had few looks. I didn't understand that one well. It was obviously inspired by marble. Lawl. While the shoes were hideous, I liked some of the tops. It's not near as good as a Ghesquière collection would be, but I'm not gonna be bitter about it. It's a good collection.



Talking about bitterness: HEDI SLIMANE. OH-MY-GOD! I have no word to describe what he's doing to Saint Laurent. I mean, this second collection… Really? Is he alright? Gurl went nuts. It's so irrelevant that hurts. I'm starting to think that he lost he's touch and he's still stuck to the past. Grunge is dead. Punk rock is dead. I mean, you want punk rock you go to Vivienne Westwood. She can do punk. You want grunge you go to Zara or H&M. Not to Saint Laurent. I mean, can you imagine Catherine Deneuve wearing anything from the collection? It was just a mess. Yves is rolling in his grave.

☠☠☠Hedi Slimane ruining dreams for a Saint Laurent custumer☠☠☠

Saskia with terrible hair and Mariacarla wearing f/w 2011 lawl

To finish: I say meh at Givenchy (crying inside, so many things gone wrong: the hair, the prints… It's like he glued all the past collections together), loved the shoes at Stella McCartney. Comme des Garçons was awesome. Rei Kawakubo did it again, almost.

Haider Ackermann is solid and beautiful. Raf Simons show more of himself at Dior which I still don't know if I like or not.

Stella's shoes ✌

Balmain

❤❤❤Felipe Oliveira Baptista's awesomeness❤❤❤

Balmain in starting to be a mess, AGAIN! Olivier Rousteing is such a cool guy but I'm afraid he's just one trick pony. And the oversized clothes, please, enough. Stop interfering Emmanuelle Alt!









































And last but not least I loved, as always Felipe Oliveira Baptista.
The final dresses…
#Breathless. 

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