Breakin' The Rules

Who writes the "rules of fashion" and do we really need to follow them?  White after Labor Day?  I say, why not?  Black and navy or black and brown? These combos can look super chic when combined the right way.  And I know that Wendy Brandes, who lives by her motto, "wear what you want," mixes her white and yellow gold jewelry! So, go for it, break the rules!  Of course, there are always exceptions.  I don't like to see tasteless or ill-fitting clothes -- I'm talking to you, WalMart peeps!

 

Dress: Alberta Ferretti, 2006

Denim Jacket: Vintage

Boots: Frye, 2007

Handbag: Francesco Biasia

Sunglasses: flea market in Florence

Ring: Metal Pointus, Paris

I'm also ignoring the "age-appropriate" rules and I'm wearing shorts this summer.  I'll probably wear a bikini too.  I'm not saying that I'll wear a micro mini and pull a "Brittany" or anything, but I'm not really concerning myself with whether or not my skirt length reveals my knee caps.  I'll wear my military style boots for years to come and I'll wear them with skirts (that reveal my kneecaps!)...

Fun Stuff

Just another day in NYC's Garment Center...

Summer's End

May has not been kind to the music industry.  On May 4th, we lost Beastie Boy, "MCA" Adam Yauch and less than two weeks later, disco diva, Donna Summer on May 17th.  LaDonna Gaines was born in 1948 in Boston where she started singing in church.  Later, she moved to NYC and toured with the musical Hair before she wowed the world with one of my favs, "I Feel Love."  Summer's career spanned four decades and the talented songstress had success in both disco and pop. RIP Bella Donna...

Met Costume Institute Gala 2012 - The Best And The Worst

Monday evening, I was lucky enough to cover the 2012 Met Gala for the fashion web site, Lookonline.  Yep, it was pretty cool to get a VIP press pass and hang out in the holding room with other writers, photographers and news reporters.  They rounded up the writers first and brought us out in groups of twenty-five.  I was lucky number twenty, therefore I got to pick a really great spot to position myself for the two hours of red carpet arrivals.

 

Vogue editor Anna Wintour was the first to arrive

Photo credit: Stacy Lomman

And what a spot!  I have always liked Hugh Jackman, but after seeing him ten inches from my face, I can say with certainty that he is one of the most handsome men on the planet.  And Marc Jacobs is in great shape -- I could see everything through that lace dress he was wearing.  The "tighty whities" killed me though!

Marc Jacobs in a sheer Commes de Garcon shirt dress

Photo Credit: Stacy Lomman

From my vantage point I could see more than a few starlets trip up the last step before the entrance.  What a shame... they came so far just to fall at the very end!  LOL.  And then there was gorgeous Rene Zelwegger who, despite her sausage casing dress, didn't trip at all.  She kind of hobbled up each stair in a funny and very vertical fashion placing one foot and then the other onto the same step before moving on -- kind of like we all did when we were small children.  Brooke Shields managed to conquer the giant staircase with a cane due to a recent injury and actress Leslie Bibb, who was wearing a voluminous "Gone with The Wind" gown, navigated the menacing stairs all by herself.

Actress Leslie Bibb in Zac Posen

Photo Credit: Stacy Lomman

So, let's talk fashion.  Since the event was honoring the innovative designer and pioneer of "ugly chic" Miuccia Prada, we saw lots of ladies outfitted in Prada dresses.  I've selected my top three below...

Top to Bottom: Carey Mulligan, Milla Jovovich, Diane Kruger

Photos: my pal Randy Brooke

Moving on to the top three hottest dames of the evening.  Say what you will about model Anja Rubik's hip bone or her attempt to outdo Angelina -- she was breathtaking.  

Anja Rubik in Anthony Vaccarello

Photo Credit: Style.com

Gwyneth Paltrow in Prada

Photo Credit: Style.com

The Clarins sisters -- all in Thierry Mugler

Photo Credit: Style.com

My top five disappointments because I couldn't limit it to three...

Actress Elizabeth Banks in Mary Katrantzou //  the dress worked great on the runway, it just didn't work on Elizabeth.

Photo Credit: Style.com

Kirsten Dunst in Rodarte //  It might work in a Bonnie & Clyde film, but this outfit makes Kirsten ten years older -- very dowdy.

Photo Credit: Style.com 

Kristen Stewart wearing (and posing with) Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga //  I don't know what happened here, Balenciaga is usually spot on, but I don't think this is working for Kristen.

Photo Credit: Style.com 

Actress Christina Ricci wearing and posing with designer Thakoon // This was just too much dress for the petite Ricci.  The bow covered her completely from the back.  And I'm not thrilled with the placement of the front bodice detail -- it is placed too low and makes the dress look like it's falling off.

Photo Credit: Style.com

I am hesitant to criticize the president of the CFDA, but I'm really "puzzled" by this DVF dress.  Von Furstenberg must have had a better option after four decades as a designer.

Photo Credit: Style.com

Funky and fun.  These outfits may not have been traditionally beautiful, but I wish that more people would have pushed the envelope a bit at this event.  After all, it's the Met Costume Gala so if there is a time to take a fashion risk, this would be it.

Singer Florence Welch wearing McQueen

Model Coco Rocha wearing vintage Givenchy

Actress/designer Chloe Sevigny wearing Miu Miu (Miuccia Prada's other label)

Photo Credit: Style.com

The most noticeable trend of the night was gold and silver.  Sequins, shimmer and sparkle were all over the place!  Here are my top three picks...

Carey Mulligan in Prada

Actress Camilla Belle in Ralph Lauren

Model Karolina Kurkova in Rachel Zoe

Photos: Style.com

And finally, here are my overall favs...

Actress/model China Chow in Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture

Rene Zelwegger in custom Pucci

 Carey Mulligan in Prada

Photos: Style.com

White Castle Will Miss The Beastie Boys And So Will I

On May 4th, Beatie Boy Adam Yauch lost his battle with cancer at the tragically young age of 47.  We lost one of musics modern day innovators.  A game changer.  It took me a few days to put together this post because I was sad, but also because I wanted to pay homage to the band in a different and clever way.  After all, they were different and clever.  And I say, were because without Adam, I don't think there is a band anymore. 

 Adam Yauch

Photo: Mick Hutson/Redferns

To me, the Beastie Boys will go down as a funky, fearless band with surprisingly widespread mass appeal.  The boys started out in their early days in Brooklyn as a hard core band, but by the time they released "License to Ill" in 1986, they had developed their groovy, rappy, rhymin' sound for which they became known.  While the mainstream high school kids were identifying with the Beastie's single, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)," I was a die hard new wave girl, but completely embraced "Slow and Low."  Even my little brother, who was just starting to develop his own taste in music, danced his twelve year old booty off to "Brass Monkey" in his preteen bedroom -- I dared not enter!  I can still picture him to this day every time I hear, "that funky monkey!"

I noticed a strange thing (and I'm not the only one) about many of the Beastie Boy's songs.  It occurred to me that they talk about the fast food chain, White Castle an awful lot.  I decided to try to count one time, but never really wrote anything down.  So, I recently did some research.  Let me know if I've missed anything...

HOLD IT NOW - HIT IT!

Dow with Mike D. and it ain't no hassle
Got the ladies of the eighties from here to White Castle

THE NEW STYLE

I chill at White Castle 'cause it's the best
But I'm fly at Fat Burger when I way out west

POSSE IN EFFECT

I got a girl in the Castle and one in the pagoda

You know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda

SLOW AND LOW

We got determination - bass and highs

White Castle fries only come in one size

SLOW RIDE

Because being bad news is what we're all about
We went to White Castle and we got thrown out

BRASS MONKEY

Drink Brass Monkey and I rock well

I got a Castle in Brooklyn - that's where I dwell

GIRLS

And I can always make them smile

From White Castle to the Nile

 *I played "Girls" in my Spinning class at New York Sports Club -- it's a great song for a full out two minute sprint, FYI.  

The Boys went on to release several albums: Paul's Boutique, 1989 (which some consider to be their best work); Check Your Head, 1992; Ill Communication, 1994; Hello Nasty, 1998; To the 5 Boroughs, 2004 and The Mix-Up, 2007.  In 1994, the single, "Sabotage" was nominated for 4 MTV Video Music Awards and in 1999, the single, "Intergalactic" won for Best Hip-Hop Video.  I also played that when I taught Spinning!  The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2012.  Sadly, Adam, "MCA" was too sick to attend the ceremony, but he wrote a speech for band mates Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz to read when they accepted the award.

Though Adam is gone, the Beastie Boys' music will live on.  I'll leave you with this video because as I type this post, "Time For Livin" just started playing on my Pandora radio which I have set to shuffle.  Spooky :-)

You Can Stuff Your Sorries In Sack Topshop!

Well, it's not surprising that a trendy and cheap, monster corporate chain store copied a design to sell in their own doors and make loads of money, but what is surprising is that they thought the hyper aware and socially tuned in, Wendy Brandes wouldn't notice!  I mean, Wendy is an incredibly gifted jewelry designer with a unique artistic vision, but she is also a former journalist who reads the New York Times, WWD and the Wall Street Journal every day before I've even had my morning java.  Not to mention, she peruses CNN's web site, various blogs and even Dlisted to keep up with her pop culture.  So, suffice it to say that nothing gets past this chick.  In other words, she's too smart for you Topshop beyotches.  And that's why she did the "punctuation rings" FIRST!  But, she called them "swear-rings" which is way more clever.

"YOU CAN STUFF YOUR SORRIES IN A SACK, TOPSHOP!"

*Unfortunately, this video does not allow embedding, therefore I had to just give you a screen shot.  The link (below) will redirect you to YouTube to view the hilarious bit if you want to hear George tell Jerry to "stuff his sorries in a sack!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fscN4yfuJs

Wendy introduced these fun, conversational rings back in 2008, (here, let her tell you herself) so while it has taken Topshop four whole years to knock her off (hardly keeping up with the trends Topshop!), you can be sure that they still made money for ripping off somebody's idea and cheapening it for the masses.  And if they're selling to the masses, they are likely to be raking in masses of money.

  Topshop's "apology" via Twitter

Due to the commotion on twitter and the solidarity of bloggers bitching, the popular store agreed to remove the product from their web site.  But, if you ask me, I think that Topshop should split the profits of what they sold  prior to the removal of the product with Wendy, the original creator.  That's fair, no?  Or, they could have just placed an order (and maybe they still can) with Wendy to begin with and then everybody would have been happy.  But corporate greed just couldn't be helped and they cut out the middle man and went straight to their Chinese factory (well, I'm assuming it's China) with a picture of Wendy's rings and instructions to copy them in brass -- which they called "gold look" to make them sound expensive!

 

Darn!  None of these videos are permitting embedding today.  Here's a funny "stuff your sorries in a sack" clip from BP CEO, Tony Hayward as interpreted by South Park.  Click the link below to view on YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDqatJPvOfk

Okay, so Topshop apologized.  Big Deal.  It doesn't hurt them to simply say, "Oooops, our bad.  Sorry."  Their pathetic tweet doesn't even technically admit that they were wrong and that they copied Wendy's design.  They sound like a politician... "the misinterpretation and similarity..."  Are they kidding?  In a way, that's kind of like saying that they had the intent to copy, but didn't do it well.  Idiots.  You'd think they'd be getting good at making up excuses and coming up with lies by now -- this is the second time in just over a month the store has had to pull merchandise.  In March, they got in trouble for copying British designer, Yasmin Kianfar's dress design.  After getting tons of flack on Twitter and pressure from Blogger Susie Bubble, Topshop offered this response -- wait for it -- it's sooo sincere and well meaning --

"The style in question has been removed from sale with immediate effect. We apologise for any misinterpretation of the design and its similarity to Yasmin Kianfar's work."

Sound familiar?  Yah, I thought so.  I mean, they didn't even change ONE word.  Apparently, the "powers that be" at Topshop have this safe, non-incriminating response ready to fire off ASAP.  I guess they need it when all of their products are copied.  I say, boycott those MOFO's!