- Hot lingerie label The Lake & Stars wanted to cast some plus-size models in its first fashion week presentation. Sounds great, right? But the emerging brand ran into casting trouble because certain New York modeling agencies didn’t want to play ball. Says co-designer Maayan Zilberman, “Agencies are horrified we’re putting girls from plus division in with [skinny girls], and some agents said flat out they wouldn’t put their ‘good girls’ with plus sized models.” Alyona Osmanova — who as a 17-year-old straight-size model opened Miu Miu, how’s that for “good”? — and Inga Eiriksdottir joined a great cast of straight-size girls including Kinée Diouf and non-model friends of the designers. The world did not end. In fact, it was a pretty great show. Anyone care to relieve these agencies of their anonymity? [Refinery29]
- Erin O’Connor is again running her drop-in center for models during London Fashion Week. It boasts on-site nutritionists, physiotherapists, and representatives from the trade union that models can join in the U.K., to talk to models about their job-related concerns. “I’m a fashion model and I don’t fit into the sample sizes,” says O’Connor. “I haven’t for some time. At one show I couldn’t get into the trousers. The designer said, ‘What happened to you?’ I replied, ‘Why don’t you make your trousers bigger?‘” [Guardian]
- Daphne Guinness told Harper’s Bazaar: “I really don’t understand the idea of a celebrity stylist. Is it a real job? I know there’s unemployment, but frankly the railways need to be fixed too. Elizabeth Taylor was never told what to wear or paid to carry a certain handbag. I was sort of out of the world for 15 years when I was married. And now that I’m back in it, there are all these new things. The power of the stylist is an entirely new concept to me.” Guinness also talked to the magazine about her long-term relationship with Bernard Henri-Lévy. The public intellectual is still married to the actress Arielle Dombasle. Oh, those French. [HB]
- John Galliano thinks it’s “polite” to dress up. And when he’s designing a collection, he considers in very specific terms his muse. “I immerse myself so deeply in my narrative and my research — and it would happen to you too, by the way — that this muse becomes a part of you, and of course it has an effect on the way you look, the way you speak, the way you move. You’re imagining the color of crimson on her lips. Do you smell gin on her breath? Does she write by candlelight?” [NYMag]
- “I don’t know who that is, I’m sorry,” said Samantha Ronson, when asked at her sister Charlotte‘s fashion show if she had any advice for Lindsay Lohan. Meanwhile, at Alexander Wang, Kanye West turned his back on the front-row photographers when they wouldn’t stop taking his picture. Then he hid behind the riser until the catwalk was cleared. [NYPost]
- Johnny Weir and the other ice skaters at Elise Øverland‘s show — which was held at an outdoor rink, open to such passersby as found themselves on West 13th St. on a Saturday night — made for about the most magical fashion event we have ever had the privilege of witnessing. [The Cut]
- Apparently, male models in New York amuse themselves by participating in unlicensed, underground boxing matches against amateur fighters. Like Fight Club, but with cheekbones, and Steven Klein watching from the sidelines. [NYMag]
- Washington Post dance critic Sarah Kaufman thinks male models move terribly, artlessly, distractingly, and all-around very badly. [WaPo]
- “Talk to them? I tried to disappear! I just kept thinking to myself, ‘Don’t fart! Don’t fart! Please don’t fart.'” — Donald Glover, on sitting next to Anna Wintour and Tavi Gevinson at Band of Outsiders. [P6]
- At Thakoon‘s show, one of the two elevators in the building was reserved for Wintour‘s exclusive use. Everyone single other show-goer used the second elevator. Whether that’s better or worse than having your bodyguards carry you down six flights of stairs, we suppose, depends on whether one takes a Utilitarian or a deontological view of ethics. [On The Runway]
- Anna Wintour attended a Knicks game during fashion week, but the crowd didn’t seem to recognize her when she was on the Jumbotron. Tommy Hilfiger was admitted to a party that was “at capacity.” A promo model who was asked to pose in stilettos on a stack of Diet Pepsi cans pierced one with her heel, and fell over. Simon Doonan caught her before she crashed into a giant Pepsi can. Famous people getting into places mere mortals cannot? Sports fans not giving a fuck about Wintour? Fashion week gossip is so totally unsurprising it scarcely merits the name. [NYDN]
- Garance Doré met Scott Schuman four years ago. “A friend of mine introduced me. She was like, ‘You’re going to meet Scott, but don’t bother, you know. He comes to Paris, and he wants to drink Starbucks.’ I was like, ‘Oh, yes. Bad American.'” Despite these cultural differences, they fell in love, and travel the world taking beautiful pictures together. Awwwww. [NYMag]
- Alan Cumming is in your fashion week, taking iPhone pictures of models’ butts. [P6]
- Chanel is rumored to be considering nominating certain fashion bloggers as “brand ambassadors.” [Fashionologie]
- Kim Kardashian is promoting her perfume with this Valentine’s Day video. [TLF]
- Joseph Altuzarra and Alexander Wang each showed big, quilted ponchos that really looked similar. Weird. [On The Runway]
- Alexander Wang is about to open his first boutique, in the space formerly occupied by Yohji Yamamoto. (Yamamoto moved out during his bankruptcy reorganization.) [WWD]
- Robin Givhan, on the fashion industry’s construction of race: “The industry sees itself as open-minded and progressive. (Yes, it’s judgmental about your weight, your hair, and your clothes, but it judges everyone.) So it aims to treat race like any other aesthetic touchstone, as unremarkable as red hair or a cleft chin. Race is little more than ‘a paint chip,’ former fashion publicist Susan Portnoy, who worked for Nicole Miller and Oscar de la Renta‘s Oscar line, once told me. The fashion world considers itself so cosmopolitan and sophisticated that it can play fast and loose with racial stereotypes — occasionally shattering them, sometimes benefiting from their stubborn existence. Fashion folks naïvely — bravely? — attempt to be racially blasé in a culture that still struggles with the burdens of prejudice and the wounds of history. As a result, the fashion community in general often comes across as bumbling on the topic of race. It gets tripped up by ignorance. Fashion editorials can be thoughtful and exasperating — sometimes in the same breath.” Givhan is really on here; you should read the whole piece. Also, for what it’s worth, André Leon Talley hopes not to see any more blackface editorials. Us too. [NYMag]
- Valentino reports that its sales rose by “around 20%” in 2010. [WWD]
- Whitney Sudler-Smith’s documentary about the designer Halston has been picked up for theatrical distribution by Robert De Niro‘s Tribeca Film. [NYPost]
- The Olsen twins‘ fashion line, The Row, is partnering with Toms Shoes for fall. The resulting footwear will retail for $98-$150, steep for Toms. For every pair of Toms sold, company founder Blake Mycoskie gives a pair to a child in the developing world. [WWD]
- Greta Gerwig on fashion: “I grew up in Sacramento, California, and you were really fancy if you shopped at Banana Republic. So it’s been a steep learning curve. But I enjoy it. It’s so fluffy. It’s like a cupcake made of dreams. Dreams and lace.” [The Cut]
- Keep practicing that Mandarin. If current trends continue, by 2020, China will comprise nearly half of the total world market for luxury goods. [WWD]
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