“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

It was “the only” time, and for sure, the best years of my life. Though it’s still not clear when or how, but at some point, I began running with the Beautiful People (BPs). … Read More »

What to wear when you are coming out of the closet?… 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 »

Let me be the first, well, perhaps the second person to congratulate Macy’s for doing a fashion-focused series of collaborations to generate heat and foot traffic. The newest collab is with Giambattista Valli for Impulse. All I can say is that creating fashion designer collaborations sure beats the celebrity-turned-designer nonsense from seasons past. Sure, Jessica Simpson is a billion dollar brand, but there will always be exceptions to every rule. With the demise of the Sarah Jessica Parker for Halston hullabaloo, maybe the fashion industry can rejoice and enjoy fashion designers again. And while I am at it, perhaps with… Read More »

Gee, tell me something that I couldn’t have told you over a year ago when the Halston land grab was originally getting under way. Women’s Wear Daily reports that Sarah Jessica Parker and Harvey Weinstein are out at Halston. Why isn’t anyone saying, “Why were they in, in the first place?” The celebrity fashion designer phenomenon was in full boom right after the economy tanked and by 2010, there were more celebrities hawking schmattas then members of the CFDA. My guess is that all it takes are two lame seasons and the proof is in the pudding. Sure, there will… Read More »

Jil Sander was always the epitome of cool, chic, sophisticated, clean lines, muted palette. Perhaps that was when Jil Sander was actually Jil Sander. That story has turned upside down. The German-born designer, Sander, is now designing for Japan-based Uniqlo and Belgian-born Raf Simmons is at the helm of the Milan-based headquarters of Jil Sander, who sold out to Muccia Prada, which ultimately pissed off Jil Sander, causing her to split, hence her current deal with Uniqlo. The saving grace for Jil Sander in this scenario, as opposed to what happened to Halston when he sold the rights to his… Read More »

Merle Ginsberg (Editor-in-Cheif, fashionrules.com) and I continue our cross continental SKYPE dialogue and compare notes on the CFDA Awards. MERLE: Shall we start with worst dressed? ABE: Is there a better place to start? How about the Olsen Twins? MERLE: Dumpster chic. ABE: I saw this fantastic video look book that The Row did on style.com, it featured nothing like those schmattas. They are such fashion icons….why I don’t know…but they are and they never get the red carpet down. MERLE: They are too young and too thin, to hide under all this fabric at a black tie. I also… Read More »

While dilly-dallying this morning, I came upon a few people who were recently photographed that somehow fit into a nice neat box. A fotz box. Now, I know that not everyone can be a supermodel or Gwyneth Paltrow, who has been on more red carpets lately than…well…red carpets. I just thought there was a through line between these subjects and wanted to see them up on the IMW screen-a-tron. I can not quite put my finger on it…but there is a certain yenteh quality that these folks share.… Read More »

There is no doubt that the future holds many keys to the age old question: Where can I find that dress that So-n-So was wearing in that movie I saw last night? As technology marches on, you can be rest assured that the movie going experience is headed in the direction of “escape to the movies for retail therapy”. We are talking about a far more sophisticated situation that what we have now, which is that tacky, knock-off, dress company ABS by Jewish Guy that gets featured on The Insider the night after ever big award show. “Wanna look like… Read More »

Last night was the big kahuna of the New York City social whirl, The Costume Institute Gala, a.k.a. Anna Wintour’s Playground. If you were not there, then you do not exist. If you are not on Anna’s guest list, you might as well just curl up and die. If you are not BFFs with a top fashion designer, then you might as well just call it a day and move out to the suburbs. Sounds harsh? Perhaps…but it is true. The theme this season was American Woman. There’s all sorts of good reasons for this theme since America’s schmatta business… Read More »