“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

There’s nothing like an awards show to warm the cockles of my heart. It gives me a chance to put forth the I MEAN…WHAT?!? Not Best Dressed List. And last night, the CFDA Awards did not disappoint. There were some mini doozies…but doozies, just the same. It is probably best that I MEAN..WHAT?!? put out the Not Best Dressed List since we are not “true” fashion insiders and objectivity is the key. A “true” fashion insider is not likely to say something like, “What the hell was Aerin Lauder wearing, doesn’t she own a mirror?” because a true fashion insider… Read More »

I’ve been an underdog my whole life. First as Jewish kid being raised in a predominantly anti-Semitic, blue-collar, armpit of a town in New Jersey. Second as a fat kid being raised in the pre-obese kids era that we live in now. I could go on, but will spare you my heartbreaking saga (the book is being written, naturally). As a new “blogger”, I am in the underdog position again, since there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on in the Internet at any given time. Reading today’s Style Section of The New York Times (yes, I still… Read More »

Being a man of many opinions, and having commented extensively on the horrendositude of what Madonna and Leighton Meester wore to the Costume Institute Gala, I’ve decided to elaborate on that train of thought and create my own worst dressed list. Having worked within the confines of the industry for years, it never ceases to amaze me how The Emperor’s New Clothes fable is alive and well and entrenched in the fashion industry. My seasonal “I MEAN WHAT?!? Was She Wearing List”, will highlight the women (and men) that made me say, “Don’t they own a mirror?” or “Don’t they have any real… Read More »

Do not go gently into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. So wrote Dylan Thomas as he watched his father grow frail with age. Not sure why, but I thought of this poem while reading the lead story in the New York Post about Madonna’s boy-toy…do I hate that expression…Jesus Luz. For there to be a lead story on Madonna’s poontang du jour, we must follow the bouncing publicist. This just means that Madge…a nickname I don’t really like…must have let out the Liz Rosenberg… Read More »

The Chinese expression “A picture is worth a thousand words” is all I have to say today. I’ve perused the images of Anna Wintour’s guests last night at the Costume Institute Gala and have three words for the following people…I MEAN…WHAT?!? (Click on each photo for full frontal horrendosity.)… Read More »

Anna Wintour must be exhausted and the party has not even started. All this negative publicity about tonight’s Costume Institute Gala is even tiring me out.  Publicity whore Michael Gross is the culprit here. His book is coming out about the Metropolitan Museum and he timed it’s release with the Gala. Naturally, any salacious tidbit of gossip is good for him. Frankly, I think Anna Wintour gets a bad rap. Yes, she might be a bit tight-assed, but she has done for fashion and New York City what few have. She created Lucky Bitches. These are the girls who work… Read More »

When the economy took a nosedive that fateful Fall of 2008, an emergency meeting of the CFDA was called at the FIT Auditorium. There was a moving sense of togetherness that brought all the most powerful fashion titans and icons to their knees and admit, “What the hell are we gonna do?” Many suggestions were made from curtailing shipping too early so that retailers would refrain from early mark downs to limiting images released on the internet. Those went over like a lead balloon, but they were sorta good ideas. One of the exciting turns of events since then has… Read More »

I was just reading on the The Daily Beast about how stylists are being cut from budgets and all other sorts of nonsense. The article was an outtake from a bigger story in The New York Observer pointing out that these “celebrity stylists” are being bypassed as the actual celebrities are going directly to designers. There seems to be less and less patience for these spotlight grabbing stylists such as Rachel Zoe, Phillip Bloch and Stacy London. Well, let me pipe in here and say hold on just one minute. Unless you have been a stylist, you can take these… Read More »