“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

It has been a while since commenting on the bastardization of the term Fashion Week. Couple years ago, they seemed to be popping up in every God knows where and forsaken location on Earth. Reading back from older IMW posts, I found an entry which included a plan to put an end to all of them besides New York, London, Milan and Paris. Guess my plan never was activated because I just discovered another one… El Paseo Fashion Week. Where is that you ask? It just does not matter because it needs to stop now. Look, I understand that a… Read More »

Please note: This Entry First Appeared July 12, 2009 Who’d have thunk that when I MEAN…WHAT?!? coined the phrase Manzie Report, and pointed out the horrendousness of some of the things that everyone’s favorite Manzie is wearing, that lo and behold, Time Magazine, yes, that magazine that puts Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin on the cover, has an entry about Mancessories. So, now that the Manzie has been adulated by the general media, I am thrilled to say my prescient observation of this uncanny trend has now been substantiated and I am officially anointing Time Magazine with… Read More »

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bid a fond farewell to The Manzie*. (*See below meaning of Manzie for those of you new comers.) What was once a vibrant, hysterical fashion statement that captivated the runways of Milan and Paris—heck and New York for that matter—looks that left us speechless, or gagging anyway, have now gone to that great fashion graveyard beyond… Ebay. Who won’t miss those retarded styles by Thom Browne, or some of those collections from Rick Owens and Walter Van Beirendonck’s Big Bird ensembles from Spring ’10? And surely we can never forget that madcap John… Read More »

While the Milanese designers have been burning up the runways featuring loud bursts of color and floral prints that make New York’s print war seem as though we have surrendered, Mexico has been hosting their own “Little Mercedes Benz Fashion Week That Could”. By the looks of things, we can safely say that Mexico’s greatest export will remain marijuana for years to come. Well, designer goods surely ain’t it. Several years ago, I met with the IMG when they were first planning to roll out regional fashion weeks across the globe. Now, with a fashion show in every shtetl on… Read More »

Missoni has taken over the airwaves. The overwhelming marketing of the Missoni-Target collection has made me dizzy, perhaps optical illusions and fashion should not go hand in hand. This weekend at a friends house, I used the Missoni (collection) bath towels, which did not dry my hands. The paper thin towels moved the water droplets around but did not fully absorb. Granted, the stripes and colors were fun to look at, but if a towel does not act like a towel then I take issue. The Spring ’12 collection went down the Milan runway and from the looks of things,… 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 »

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 »

Milan continues to show great collections, many are strong and colorful and leaning toward manly-man. One can only be happy for companies that design to be sold. Naturally, a few nelly ditties slip through to the cracks of better judgment to create some magic or drama or giggles. Here they are some Manzies by proxy. Follow us on Twitter.com/imeanwhat or Sally Field Us on Facebook.… Read More »

Two years ago I coined the phrase Manzie in response to the men’s runway shows in Paris, Milan and New York. That phrase caught on like wildfire within the industry and in a short time after that, the looks being thrown down the runway became increasingly butch. Designers like Billy Reid set a new tone and standard for what men should look like and all was well in Glocca Morra. That was then and this is now. There is something in the air and it is living up to Lord Alfred Tennyson‘s poem, Locksley Hall when it says, “In the… Read More »

For those of you who have been reading I Mean…What?!? for a while, you might recall in my many Manzie Reports from last year and my observation that Gina Lollobrigida Orange was the new black. Naturally, I was being facetious because the way they were showing orange on the men’s runways in Milan and Paris, you would have to be insane to be caught dead walking the streets in half of these get ups, rather, you would get the shit kicked out of you by a pack of homophobes. Fortunately, orange in regards to menswear, never really took off, but… Read More »