“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

Last night I went to a screening of A Single Man, Tom Ford‘s maiden voyage into film making. There has been plenty of hype around his wanting to be a director since the day he left Gucci five years ago. He made all the right moves, too. Bought a fierce house in the desert near Palm Springs, schmoozed up Bryan Lourd at CAA and totally made the scene in Los Angeles, yet chose New York to launch his signature clothing company. Ford’s return to the schmatta business was a subtle hint that Hollywood was not waiting for the fashion superstar… Read More »

THE I MEAN…WHAT?!? BEST DRESSED OF THE EVENING AWARDS…AT THE APOLLO CIRCLE BENEFIT Welcome to The Softer Side of I Mean…What?!? I was recently invited to join the Patrick McMullan family of bloggers, so I thought it would be fun to fill the Mr. Blackwell void and determine the I Mean…What?!? Best Dressed of the Evening Awards. Each week, I will select an event covered by Patrick and stick in my two cents about who were the Best Dressed of the Evening. Since I don’t get invited to these glammy evenings (hence I do not own any gowns or a… Read More »

Ladies, get out your underwear. In light of the hard hit economy, and the teetering luxury goods business, there’s a great way to be up to the minute in fashion without buying a thing. The answer? Wear nothing. I kid you not. I am not saying buy nothing new. I mean wear actually nothing. Now you can  prance around in your skivvies AND be in vogue. How fantastic is that? I’m a little jealous because men cannot get away with that, whereas women can. I have been grappling with myself (schizophrenia) about this lingerie as outerwear fashion trend that has… Read More »

Last night, Bryan Bantry invited me to the special screening of Michael Jackson’s This Is It, the documentary film, directed by Kenny Ortega, based on “the making of the” This Is It Tour. “It is a must see.” Around the time of Michael’s’ passing, rumors swirled that he was in no condition to do 50 shows and endless other horrendous stories therein. With the non-stop, 24-hour-all-Michael-all-the-time, barrage of media reporting on his condition, from the pundits, people-out-of-the-woodwork, past employees, doctors and even his family members, you just didn’t know who to believe…until now. The reason to see this film (besides… Read More »

Men, we’ve come a long way since Fred Astaire and the Golden Age of Hollywood, when slicked-back hair, a clean-shaven face, spats, a top hat and tails were in vogue. Today that combination sounds more like a costume than a reality. Through the years our wardrobe has become much more casual, hair lengths went from the top of the ear down to the middle of the back, while beards and mustaches adorned our faces in countless variations. Fred was Elegant Chic and now we have Casual Chic, a term that is readily bandied about. This look could even be a… Read More »

A couple of months ago, I made the declaration that I was longer gay…homosexual yes…gay no. Click here to refresh your memory of the 15 plus reasons including: I don’t go to discos on weeknights, well, or most weekends for that matter. I don’t cruise the internet, just write for it. Don’t own any Diesel anything.… Read More »

By this phase of Word Fashion Week having seen two million looks from (what seems like) six thousand runways on two million models having sipped eighteen thousand glasses of champagne…phew. I am sure glad I am not a fashion editor or Anna Piaggi…which begs the question…does she still work at Italian Vogue? Anyhoo, doesn’t matter. She needs a nap. My point is: that is a lot of dresses to sift through and surely the eyes must be glazed over and I’d imagine the judgment is questionable by this point. For instance, I see plenty of blunders in such wonderful collections… Read More »

The Paris shows are where we loook for the answers to: What is fashion? What will we be wearing next season? What length will skirts be? Color palette? It’s really way to much pressure to put on one city. Especially when so much of what is shown is borderline nonsense. I wonder no more why so much of the editorial in Vogue centers around the main French houses, well, that because they are the ones worth featuring. I saw Jane Campion’s Bright Star last night and sobbed through the sheer beauty and majesty of her direction and costumes. The bright… Read More »

It started in New York Fashion Week…continued at London Fashion Week and this trend was also prevalent in Milan. Shoes were no longer just shoes…they were a statement…the focus of the catwalks. At Phi, all the girls wore heavy shoes…even with little mini dresses. Anna Sui also showed heavy shoes with mini skirts. In London, Matthew Williamson covered the foot with fabric and bows which drew attention away from the clothes, if you ask me. So, what does this trend tell us? That the shoe makes the outfit? Or was it trying to dissuade the consumer from considering such a… Read More »

Before the Paris shows get under way, I wanted to stop and take stock of the images I saw today from paparazzi-land that struck me as either annoying, or questionable. Just because these people are photographed, does not make them interesting. I have done several editions on IMW, called The Party’s Over, where I feature images of “party people” that are basically a bunch of nobodies who think they are somebody, or shall we say, a wanna-be somebody that really is nobody, or perhaps, a wanna-be who will always be…in essence…a never-was. Am I clear? Does that make sense? It… Read More »