“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

The war in the Middle East will have nothing on the war that is kicking off at retail between wanna-be-perceived-as fashion retailers Sears versus K-Mart. Think what you want about television stars being the next big fashion statement, but between the similarities between the Kardashian Kollection at Sears and the Sofia Vergara collection at K-Mart, you can just give me a friggen break. Fast fashion is perhaps the saddest thing that happened to the industry. Sure, affordable style is a good thing. But it has run a muck. So, what, now, you can have a supporting role on an overrated… 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 »

We all know about the Emperor’s New Clothes. Those designers who are really not all that, rather, they are a bag of chips and get the ooohs and aaaah from the fashion press. You know who you are, and don’t need me to call you out. Hint: P. S. But we have hit a new level of Emperor’s New Clothes with simply a group of Emperors, namely Brad Goreski. He and Leigh Lezark are like the same person. Well, have you ever seen them together in the same room at the same time? Brad was a fun ditty on season… Read More »

  It’s touching that Michael Kors is married and living happily ever after on television and sometimes in Africa, too. For someone who has upped the ante on his bitchy comments this season on Project Runway, I sure would love to hear what a bunch of Parsons students would have to say about his 30th Anniversary Collection. Does he has a farm in Africa, or was that Meryl Streep in Out of Africa? We do know it was not Barack Obama. With all that tie-dye going on, it reminds me of my sister’s baby onesie business, Baby Steps.… Read More »

Get out your mothballs ladies (and those few men) for Spring has sprung and the Little Black Dress is nowhere to be found. Lord knows there are plenty of printed dresses and surely it is safe to say that white is the new black. (Both in fashion AND politics, sadly.) But if you are one who believes in the power of the L.B.D., then you need to move off Fashion-Main Street for a bit and hide. Be sure to keep your tasteful, always appropriate, L.B.D. in a plastic zippered, hanging bag with mothballs until it is safe to come back… Read More »

Style.com quoted someone that was walking out of the J. Crew presentation saying, “Best show of New York fashion week.” Naturally they did not attach a person’s name with such a ridiculous remark. When the Gap, Banana Republic and J. Crew position themselves as a viable brand to take a slot during fashion week (New York, Paris whatever) they contribute to the watering down of Fashion Weeks in general. I get it, you want that press and attention. And surely it is a smart move. But sucking the wind out of the room, or the market, might be advantageous in… Read More »

You can cram 200 fashion shows into a week between uptown and down, but in the end, very few of these shows really matter. Sure, everyone should be able to start a business and flourish, and Lord knows I am an emerging designer-aholic. But what makes New York Fashion Week exciting and gives it that international sizzle, are the designers like Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera. Why Nicki Minaj was front and center at these elegant shows is more about ploy that plausibility. I guess the old guard needs as much smoke and mirrors as they can get… Read More »

Forget about the bold prints and new looser silhouettes. The biggest surprise statement out of New York Fashion Week for Spring ’12 is that you do not have to do anything to your hair any more. Nope. The new beauty regime is shower, towel dry, jump into your frock, plop on a bit of under eye cream and off you go. Wet hair is all over the runways. Not sure if the story they are trying to sell us on is “effortless beauty” but whenever I see girls in the morning running to work with their hair wet, I think,… Read More »

Spring ’12 is shaping up to be the war of the print worlds. How is a buyer to determine which print will sell better than another? It is a daunting task to decide which blown out floral will be the better choice. As if with two fashion show venues, The Tents @ Lincoln Center & Made (Milk), coupled with the endless other indie fashion show locations, then you have the challenge of determining what to buy. I gotta hand it to the buyers who have to navigate that kaleidoscope of color coupled with no taxis and feeling like you might… Read More »

Designers are known to have big egos. Not only do I know this first hand, but they will be the first ones to admit it themselves. Hello Michael Kors. The fact remains, it takes a big ego to decide that this dress is the new must-have or that skirt length is the only length this season, you get the drift. It also takes a big ego tho throw some things down a runway that there is no chance in hell that a retailer would buy it, let alone that a socialista would wear it… besides the hired model. Ogling the… Read More »