“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

Look, I think Sarah Jessica Parker is great. Who does not love Sex and the City and who does not think her willingness to wear ridiculous hats makes her even more sympathetic…to the cause of fashion uber alles. But, today, Women’s Wear Daily is reporting the SJP is going to take an active role at the Halston Heritage Collection…whatever that is. Seriously, Halston must be turning in his grave. From Randolph Duke to the Rachel Zoe nonsense, to the current Marco Zanini, who will surely be overshadowed by SJP. I don’t know, perhaps Harvey Weinstein and Tamara Mellon should just… Read More »

Matthew McConaughey What? Anyone who is anyone knows that I Mean What has been a voice against celebrity designers. These Johnny Come Lately non Academy Award winning, or Emmy, or Tony, or any any award winners try their hand, rather, they sell their name to a schmatta peddler and take some dosh. Lindsay Lohan, the slew of Kardashians, heck even Sarah Jessica Parker threw her hat in the ring at Halston, and today the news is that Matthew McConaughey has entered the ring for a bout of utter nonsense. This is more than anyone should bare. And when I say… Read More »

Just when you thought it was safe to come out from under the falling dead celebrity fashion collections—I mean where is Zooey Deschanel‘s crap, Katie Homes’ nonsense and Sarah Jessica Parker for Halston—comes the worst bit of fashion news yet. Gossip Girl, that Shakespearean television show is getting its own fashion collection. Yes, this is true. Now we will have to live through the painful process of extensive cross-marketing between retailers and a list of television shows-turned-fashion designers. I cannot wait to see what Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC and Bravo have in store for us. As you may know, the… Read More »

Just when we thought it was safe to get out of the water, that the celebrity-turned-fashion-designer trend was coming to an end—hello Sarah Jessica Parker—comes news that fashionista-slash–DJ Leigh Lezark, part of the trinella of sourpusses, the Mishapes, is doing a mini-collection for H & M at Selfridges in London. So, what, now all you need to do to become a fashion designer is know how to borrow clothes? The requirements have gotten so much easier. Surely pretty, and clearly not stupid, Lezark has made a career out of not smiling while standing behind a turntable flanked by two grumpy… Read More »

Let me be the first, well, perhaps the second person to congratulate Macy’s for doing a fashion-focused series of collaborations to generate heat and foot traffic. The newest collab is with Giambattista Valli for Impulse. All I can say is that creating fashion designer collaborations sure beats the celebrity-turned-designer nonsense from seasons past. Sure, Jessica Simpson is a billion dollar brand, but there will always be exceptions to every rule. With the demise of the Sarah Jessica Parker for Halston hullabaloo, maybe the fashion industry can rejoice and enjoy fashion designers again. And while I am at it, perhaps with… Read More »

Gee, tell me something that I couldn’t have told you over a year ago when the Halston land grab was originally getting under way. Women’s Wear Daily reports that Sarah Jessica Parker and Harvey Weinstein are out at Halston. Why isn’t anyone saying, “Why were they in, in the first place?” The celebrity fashion designer phenomenon was in full boom right after the economy tanked and by 2010, there were more celebrities hawking schmattas then members of the CFDA. My guess is that all it takes are two lame seasons and the proof is in the pudding. Sure, there will… Read More »

You have designers like Kris Van Assche and Kris Van Assche showing perfect menswear collections and then there is Thom Browne, using Paris to show his US brand of retardo fashion. Whenever we go there it is never a good thing. Case in point Zac Posen. I don’t even want to go on and on about how pretentious the Thom Browne collection is. I have said it all before and will sadly continue into the future.  Browne is so hell bent on replacing John Galliano’s fashion bad boy reputation in light of the him missing from the scene, that it… Read More »

I would hate to be retailer right about now. Forget the fact that the economy is still in the doldrums. Only the luxury brands are cleaning up now because Wall Streeters and their wives are shopping like they have just been told that the end of the world is really nigh. Meanwhile the rest of the world who misses shopping and spending, has been reduced to “just looking” and trying on…the poor man’s retail therapy. Brace yourself, the retail environment is about to go through yet another shift…if not slump. Google announced their foray into the schamtta business joining the… Read More »

Oh, admit it. You were just sitting there, waiting for Adam Levine from Maroon 5 to announce that he is doing a new clothing line. Right? Chances are you were not a tween and have nothing that you can purchase from Madonna’s Material Girl collection currently at Macy’s. And there was not much by way of smart tailoring at  Jay’s Z‘s or P. Diddy‘s collections that have you rushing to the stores either. And you are not a size 2, so squeezing into Posh Spice’s Victoria Beckham collection is not happening either. And like me, you are still holding on for… Read More »

Merle Ginsberg (Editor-in-Cheif, fashionrules.com) and I continue our cross continental SKYPE dialogue and compare notes on the CFDA Awards. MERLE: Shall we start with worst dressed? ABE: Is there a better place to start? How about the Olsen Twins? MERLE: Dumpster chic. ABE: I saw this fantastic video look book that The Row did on style.com, it featured nothing like those schmattas. They are such fashion icons….why I don’t know…but they are and they never get the red carpet down. MERLE: They are too young and too thin, to hide under all this fabric at a black tie. I also… Read More »