I made this layout for a Facebook post for work (see here), but I figured I’d use it here as well… Since I’m obsessed with both of these looks and there’s fact that I want to wear the HUE relaxed weekend leggings everyday.
Slouchy and comfy and all around perfect, these leggings bring out my inner tomboy, which I seem to be getting more in touch with every day these days :). Dress them up or down, these babies are definitely a favorite.
“If I wanted to be in an innovative industry, I wouldn’t pick fashion.”
The dirty secret of fashion is that there is nothing new. I suppose the cool thing is how we re-invent it, but when people act like something’s so new and fresh in fashion, they immediately lose me. If I wanted to be in an innovative industry, I wouldn’t pick fashion. On the other hand, I’d pick fashion if I wanted to be a historian with creative liberties. I’ve kept a skeptical eye on fashion week this season in NYC, because I honestly haven’t been that interested. More and more it seems the more things change the more they stay the same. This season (like the last) is all about contrasts, and I’m beginning to think that’s the trick to fashion in general. Call it fusion, contrasts, or a blending of complete opposites, it’s all the same concept – they all mean the same thing. Whether it’s pulling together two different styles like leather and lace (circa Alexander Wang Spring Summer 2013) or playing with different eras by pairing vintage with more contemporary pieces. Fashion is fusion, and I say that knowing that that’s both simple and complex because fashion has such a rich history of ideas to pull from.
I expected a bit more drama from the guests of last night’s Met Gala, especially with the night being a tribute to Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty exhibit. Perhaps I expected too much because, while industry titans, taste makers and stars took to the red carpet I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed.
I expected brilliance, ‘splendiforousness’ and all the wonder that come with names like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Society, Anna Wintour, Vogue, and Alexander McQueen.
My favorite gown of the night, this Zac Posen spider web dress is positively divine. It’s as if the Adams Family took to the high fashion world in a frock that embodies the Savage Beauty that the Met Gala was supposed to exhibit.
It may be Anna Wintour posing center stage in Chanel, but it’s definitely Andre Leon Talley that’s caught my eye. The Isabel Toledo cerulean blue cape has an outlandish quality and his facial expression takes the cake – his whole persona was perfectly in tune with the drama that the Met Gala is supposed to encourage. As for Blake Lively, between the strawberry blond locks and the Chanel couture gown that manages to conceal all of her assets, I just couldn’t understand it, at the very least I can usually expect something that deserves a closer look – this does not.
I didn’t much care for her Louis Vuitton corset dress to be honest, but there was this sort of startling resemblance to Audrey Hepburn in Leighton Meester last night that I can’t take my eyes off of her. From the moment I saw her in the first episode of Gossip Girl, I knew the casting director made the right choice.
In other news, here were the hits from last night’s foray onto the red carpet:
An Andy Warhol pop art can that is…
Anna Wintour’s the most iconic editrix in the history of magazines as far as the modern fashion world is concerned, so iconic that she’s officially been immortalized in Andy Warhol-esque pop art t-shirts. Christopher Lee Sauvé has taken the style icon’s mugs, along with a few choice fashion world giants such as André Leon Talley, Karl Lagerfeld, and Donatella Versace, and channeled them into a customizable collection I can’t get enough of. Anna’s claimed on more than one occasion that she was a vintage tee and jeans kind of girl in her youth, but I doubt she’ll be caught wearing her own (C)Anna Wintour tee these days. Sauvé’s also adapted the faces of pop culture darlings like Betty White, Madonna, Marylin Monroe, Elvis, and Britney Spears. Pick a shirt, bag, dog sweater, or a pair of tighty-whities and then select a saying or iconic face to be screened onto it – this could get really perverse if we’re not careful.
Josephine Baker had it all, she broke barriers, and danced her way through life with a glamor that is insurmountable. Fringe, feathers and chandelier earrings reigned over Josephine Baker’s look. Although I’m a little dismayed that I can’t find a decent modern interpretation of the iconic banana skirt (completely ignoring Beyonce’s attempt) these picks will definitely suffice. She made her mark in the civil rights movement, was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, and her risque style was just the tip of the iceberg. As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to perfect my French by laying around with a gramophone belting the sweet vinyl melodies of Josephine Baker’s ‘J’ai deux amours’. If I were to decorate a room in my house a la Madame Josephine I’d jazz up the fringe on everything from tapestries to lampshades, and ensure there was an envy worthy vinyl record collection to accompany this beautiful gramophone. As for dressing the part: I’m thinking a fringe skirt like this one from Cynthia Rowley, a fringe-y feathered kiss-lock clutch like this one from Magid, and the best part is the set of purple-blue Swarovski crystal clip on Evelyn earrings from Dannijo.
The Label: BCBG MAX AZRIA
The Collection: In true BCBG MAX AZRIA fashion billowing fabric, low slung belts and a color palette ranging from the muted browns and beiges to striking royal blues and crimson reds took over the runway at New York Fashion Week Fall 2011. There’ll be no grey in site for Fall is BCBG’s Fall Winter 2011 Collection has anything to say about it, or else they’re so pale they looks like cream. BCBG MAX AZRIA’s taking boxy collars and sharp angles and mellowing them out, bringing out layers and layers of light, sheer fabrics for Fall, using front slits and lots of piping. They might find it hard stand up to the winter weather, but that’s a risk we’re willing to take.
The Hair & Make-Up: Slicked back low ponytails, wrapped in hair are back on the catwalk, all you need to get the look is a little gel and a few bobby pins. Add in a little muted puce shade lipstick, complementary purplish brown lids and dewy pale rose cheeks and you’ve got the BCBG MAX AZRIA Fall Winter 2011 look.
The Pieces I’m in Love With: One Red Wine Pocketbook (image to come), and a royal blue dress.
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