“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

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 »

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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 »

Don’t get me wrong, I have been a cheerleader for Fashion’s Night Out since the day it was first announced over three years ago. In fact, we rallied retailers that first year as there were plenty of skeptics. Naturally, Anna Wintour prevailed. The 3rd Annual Fashion’s Night Out was a zoo, especially down in the Meatpacking District. So zoo-like, that it was unpleasant in certain spots, with lines to get into stores, blaring dueling DJ’s in the streets and plastic cups strewn on the ground, like a bad weekend street fair. The street activities need some curating, benchmarks, something, because… Read More »

Months after the horrendous mistake of John Galliano‘s life, comes the verdict. The French court found him guilty of “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” stemming from two separate incidents at a bar in Le Marais, his neighborhood in Paris. He is ordered to pay court fees, no jail time and a few other little remarks here and there, which puts an end this disastrous chapter of Galliano’s life. I, for one, am glad this is over. You can see my comments and sentiments below, but what impresses me here is how French court really does… Read More »

Everyone is getting fresh cheeks these days. It all started with Bernie Madoff’s wife Ruth, then several Real Housewives and plenty of actresses in Hollywood. But now that young starlets are getting them, well, oy. Ali Lohan used to be a fresh-faced cutey. Sure, no beauty like her sister Lindsay, but still, fresh-faced. Now she is fresh cheeked. See below image of Lindsay, freshly cheeked at Kim Kardashian’s wedding.… Read More »

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Ever since Madonna jumped into the schmatta business, it has been a head-scratcher. Why the lame move from musical icon to tween celebrity-turned-fashion-designer extraordinaire? Sure, she’s made some cute moves like hiring Taylor Momsen, the Gossip Girl cast-off as the original face of the label, Material Girl. But overall, Madonna & Schmatta was just an odd lot job lot. The news that LA Triumph, a garmento company in California, is suing Madonna, claiming the rights to the name Material Girl is really annoying. Sure, the tween Macy’s fest is somewhat beneath my Material Girl but Madonna is and will always… Read More »