Pre-Ramble:

German costume designer, Heather MacCrimmon, noticed some children’s drawings on a friend’s refrigerator of “princesses in fantastical dresses.”

She thought it would be fun to actually MAKE the dresses exactly as they were drawn … to “bring to life the clothes in children’s artwork, designs by children too young to be influenced by commercial fashion.”

An example of her work is shown at right (the drawing below) – A red linen dress with appliqued white geometric designs imagined, drawn and modeled by 7-year-old Anne Marie Perelwitz (photo by Heike Isenmann).

The Take-Away:  How awesome is that!?  I love it when people have an interesting, fun idea like this and follow through on it.  And, if only there really was a way to get the perfect clothes that you can imagine in your mind’s eye — and never find on the rack!

Pre-Ramble:

Yes, this is a time to celebrate the Beautiful People, … in their Beautiful Clothes, with their Beautiful Sunglasses, tucked into their Beautiful Handbags, hanging on their Beautiful Shoulders, as they strut around on their freakishly long Beautiful Legs. It’s the long legs that really tick me off.

People with long legs look fabulous in everything.  And the rest of us look like trolls.  (That’s us, shown above.) People with long legs look good in vivid sorbet yellow dressy shorts. … Even if a short-legged person is wearing vivid sorbet dressy shorts with super-tall shoes, she really still looks like a troll, … on stilts.

Beautiful people are everywhere. Heck, even the the National Football League is getting into the act. Yesterday’s WSJ sports section ran a piece on the ranking of NFL teams according to cumulative scores around their “facial symmetry.”  (I LOVE the Wall Street Journal.) Apparently, research findings show that the degree to which the features on both sides of an individual’s face are symmetrical is a reliable indicator of human attraction. The “Pretty in Pigskin” rankings answer the question on everyone’s mind – ”Which NFL team is the handsomest?”

Turns out the most attractive group of players, with an average symmetry rating of 99.47 is the Buffalo Bills.  Clearly, beauty does not correlate with games won — the Bills had one of the worst records in the league (4-12 last season).  The least attractive team was the Kansas City Chiefs, who came in last with a symmetry rating of 94.6 (but won its division title and made it to the play-offs).  My hometown team, the Detroit Lions, came in at a respectable 98.1 (we won’t talk about their record … ), while the Minnesota Vikings ranked 30th out of 32 teams rated with a pitiful 96.4.

The Take-Away:  In all fairness, very few of us can carry off that shade of purple and nobody looks good in those stupid horn/braid hats.

Post-Note:  Speaking of beautiful people, is it just me, or did the GOP debates look like a homecoming court?  The only thing missing were boutonnieres and a tiara.

Pre-Ramble:

In a series on New York Fashion Week, Journal writer Elizabeth Holmes takes us inside the closets of the uber-sub-strata of shoppers who are willing (and able, clearly) to pay full price for the latest runway looks. 

Holmes profiles a couple of gals looking for their perspective on the costs and benefits of being fashion forward. Most of them are in the 40 to 50 year-old age range and lead lifestyles that necessitate a lot of gala-going.

Do the math – Cindy Rachofsky, for example, is a 54-year-old Dallas philanthropist and art enthusiast. She considers her wardrobe “a collection that she is curating” … adding that she hopes “someday someone will find it important and significant.” In recent curatorial activities, Ms. Rachofsky has purchased pieces from deceased British designer Alexander McQueen including a $12,000 gown for a charity event as well as 13 other garments. (14 X $12,000 = $169,029)

That’s Cindy in the photo above, wearing an important and significant Alexander McQueen jacket from the Fall 2010 Collection.  In addition to the fact that the design is possibly inspired by something out of Acme Tent & Awning, I think we can all agree that Ms. Rachofsky is looking very happy, and arty,… we’ll even give her “philanthropic” in those pricy designer threads.  

The thing is – and this is my issue with most designer runway looks – I don’t think they look good on regular people.  Compared to the runway version (scroll down in linked article) which is paired with over-the-knee black scrunched boots and a turtleneck (extra points for that, btw), the look somehow moves from “colorful, edgy and eclectically austere” to “curious get-up.”

It’s not personal.  As far as I can tell, Ms. Rachofsky is a lovely woman … beautiful eyes and smile … decent bone structure …  nice figure, etc. But, I don’t care who you are, the minute you step out of the suspended context of the runway and strut your stuff into the real world, an outfit like that looks ri-dic-u-lous. 

Well, and paired with dyed-to-match shoes and custom-made earrings?  We don’t need to know who Stacy and Clinton are to know that matchy-matchy-ness is so “what not to wear”!  (Even our man Tim Gunn couldn’t make this work.)

The Take-Away:  Fashion is fun.  I secretly enjoy fashion.  Truth be told, as a lowly writer (unlike artists, musicians and curators, we’re SUPPOSED to be dowdy … ) my station and pay grade don’t afford me the opportunity or wearwithall to indulge my inner fashionista as thoroughly as I might like.  Plus, it’s not my gift.  Anyone who knows me knows that most of my attempts at fashion are confined to boxy, off-the-rack, black or grey sweaters.

Post-Note:  The WSJ article also offers this jewel of insight from the young, hip and serially fashionable Christine Chiu. Apparently, Ms. Chiu, who is married to the founder of Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery, goes to events every night of the week — often making multiple wardrobe changes in a single night. She cautions,

“If you’re going to a gala for some kind of disease and then you go to a hip art event, you can’t wear the same thing.”

Gratefully noted.

Pre-Ramble:

I mean no disrespect when I say that I found the vibe of the Olympics’ opening ceremonies to be an odd mash-up between Lord of the Dance, Hee-Haw and Peter Pan. The choppy step-dance moves executed by giant rag-dolls in lime green and buffalo plaid were curious enough, and then to have solo flailing denim boy swooping back and forth on a wire … I couldn’t decide if the display was innovative and magical or quirky and lame.

In the spirit of positive international relations with our close neighbors to the North, Vancouver’s efforts in the “Best Opening Ceremonies for an Olympics” event get the Bronze.

Mean girls – Another odd Olympic fashion moment occurred on the podium following the Women’s downhill race. American sweetheart, Lindsay Vonn had edged her team rival, Julia Mancuso by 0.56 seconds to win the gold medal. During the award ceremony, in what can only be described as an envious-kindergartener-trying-to-upstage-the-birthday-girl move,  Mancuso stood on the podium next to the radiant Vonn to accept the silver, wearing some kind of little rhinestone princess tiara. It was sad. 

Faux=no!  And, somebody needs to take the men’s figure-skating athletes aside and give them some do’s and don’t's on wardrobe. DO wear sleek monochromatic suits with some subtle, manly detail, … even a little fuchsia or bling is acceptable. DON’T even lace up your skates if you have the shape of a vest and necktie glued onto the front of your skating suit in red and blue sequins. Feathers of any kind are also out.

Ready … Aim … Fire … What really caught my fancy this time around though, was the biathlon – Wow! These gals cross-country ski up and down a bunch of trails with a sharp-shooters’ rifle strapped to their backs. At designated sites along the course, they stop, lie down, and fire away until they have landed 5 precision shots on their target, at which point they are allowed to continue with the race.  What a blast!  As far as biathla-fashion goes, the tight, colorful, spandex unitards are very flattering – kind of like Spanx outerware. Based on the beyond-grueling ordeal of the multi-calorie-busting biathlon event, I’m guessing that body fat and visible panty lines are a non-issue.

I’m thinking that we can adapt the biathlon event to the local scenario … Our 9-hole golf group can jog around the neighborhood with a 7-iron and a bucket of balls lashed to our backs … stopping every now and then to punch a few chip shots onto peoples’ front lawns.  It’ll be great! I’ll start designing our uniforms!

The Take-Away:  Fashion forward or not, the Olympic games are both daunting and inspiring for the spirit and vigor that they celebrate. And, if anyone can find a spare pair of those adorable red official Olympic mittens, please send them my way. I’ll pay ya back in Canadian, there ey.

Pre-Ramble:

I don’t think anyone is going to want to look overly flashy, overly glitzy, too Dubai, whatever you want to call it… I just don’t think that’s the moment.

Well, phew! I am so grateful for that insight, since I was just planning to stock up on desperately glitzy resort wear for our upcoming trip to Duluth. I think Anna is so right-on in her assertion that the pricing in fashion has become excessive, that a “sense of reality is needed,” and that there is “a very correct correction going on.”  

In these challenging economic times, it’s no wonder that designers, shop owners, and fashion plates are ruffled. Other sources echo Wintour’s sentiment, like this weekend’s headline in the Village Voice — “Grim, downscale fashion week starts today,” or USA Today — “… fashionistas have turned into recessionistas, … fearful of spending in a tanking economy.”  Obviously, these editors should be issued a fashion violation for their use of the words “grim” and ”tanking,” respectively; both clearly on the list of “words-which-shall-not-be-used” to describe economic conditions… (see related post from Feb. 4)

Quick primer: For those of you who don’t have teenage daughters and season’s pass to Project Runway, Bryant Park is an annual week long series of fashion shows that bring designers from all over the world to strut their stuff. Located in New York’s fashion district (duh), Bryant Park will host somewhere around 70 invitation-only events this year. According to city sources, last year’s shows drew more than 230,000 attendees and brought in over $465 million in visitor spending. Some of the “top drawer” designers who will show their collections during 2009 fashion week are Nicole Miller, Marc Jacobs, Caroline Herrera, Jason Wu (the young man who designed Michelle Obama’s dress for the inauguration), and Mattel.

Mattel, as in Barbie. According to her very own predominately pink blog, every girl’s fashion icon will “celebrate fifty years of fun, fashion, and friends” during Fashion Week, “… Everything from the most talked about runway moments, hottest parties, chicest trends and … all the latest must-have goodies!”  OMG!! … The Barbies didn’t get the memo! … Quick — somebody call the Dream House and let them know that glamour, bling, and big hair are out this year.

The Take-Away: A missive from luxe life fashion blog, ChicToday, says it all:

… we must remember that in these dire times, fashionable doesn’t have to mean expensive, but simply and stylishly elegant.  

Ms. Wintour’s under-the-radar ensemble — marigold print Carolina Herrera dress ($2,490), Burberry sateen trench ($1,595), and Manolo Blahnik alligator sling-backs ($2,685) – reflect these modest times perfectly.