All posts under ‘They said/We said’

Hedi Slimane versus Cathy Horyn: How their beef went from passive aggressive non-invites to a fully publicized snarkfest

By | October 3rd, 2012 | 3:30 pm

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Hedi Slimane Saint Laurent Vs Cathy Horyn

Photography by Peter Stigter

The claws have come out in the battle of Hedi Slimane vs. Cathy Horyn. After making his guestlist, and checking it twice, Slimane chose to exclude The New York Times critic from his debut collection for Saint Laurent. WWD was quick to point out the fact that Cathy Horyn was missing from the show, and Horyn, who is known for being a bit of a loud mouth—she recently called Oscar De La Renta a hotdog—did not keep quiet about her exclusion from the show.

Horyn wrote her New York Times review based off the photos and cleared the air about her lack of attendance by saying, “I was not invited. Despite positive reviews of his early YSL and Dior collections, as well as a profile, Mr. Slimane objected bitterly to a review I wrote in 2004 — not about him but Raf Simons. Essentially I wrote that without Mr. Simons’s template of slim tailoring and street casting, there would not have been a Hedi Slimane — just as there would never have been a Raf Simons without Helmut Lang. Fashion develops a bit like a genetic line.”
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Everything you need to know about Lady Gaga’s “Body Revolution” and why she’s fighting back at those who called her fat

By | September 26th, 2012 | 1:30 pm

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Lady Gaga Body Revolution

Photography courtesy littlemonsters.com

It was 25 pounds that tipped the scales and lead Lady Gaga to launch a “Body Revolution.” While performing in Amsterdam last week a set of less than flattering photos (that appeared to be extremely photoshopped) emerged from the concert. Within hours sensationalized headlines like ‘The fat Lady Gaga sings’ and ‘Porker Face’ started making the rounds, questioning Lady Gaga’s supposed weight gain. Given the singer’s longstanding—and very public—fight against bullying, it would be hard for Mother Monster to take these mean girl comments from the media lying down.

Which is probably why yesterday Lady Gaga launched The Body Revolution on her site LittleMonsters.com. Read more »

Kate Middleton to sue! All the fall-out details since topless photos of the Duchess were released

By | September 14th, 2012 | 1:00 pm

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Kate Middleton Topless Photo Scandal

Photography by Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Just as Prince Harry’s nude photo ordeal is simmering down, the Royal Family is faced with yet another scandal. The victim this time around? None other than the cherubic Kate Middleton.

French tabloid magazine, Closer published a series of photos today of the Duchess of Cambridge and husband, Prince William while on a mini-vacation at a private chateau in the south of France. The various shots depict Kate Middleton sunbathing topless on a balcony, evidently shot with a long-focus lens. “Harry started the fashion: these days the Windsors take their clothes off,” the magazine remarked alongside the published images.

According to the BBC, Prince William and Kate are furious. A statement released by The St. James Palace earlier today described the invasion of privacy as “grotesque” and “totally unjustifiable” and within hours, it was announced that the Royal Family had filed a lawsuit, alleging violation of privacy.

“Their Royal Highnesses have been hugely saddened to learn that a French publication and a photographer have invaded their privacy in such a grotesque and totally unjustifiable manner. The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to The Duke and Duchess for being so.”

The royal couple is currently on a tour of Southeast Asia scheduled to come to an end this weekend. With a legal suit already in the works, we hope the duo’s visit resumes without incident.
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They said/We said: Miuccia Prada warns of Italy’s fashion industry becoming second rate. Could it happen?

By | July 30th, 2012 | 5:00 pm

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Photography by Peter Stigter

Miuccia Prada isn’t exactly known for being all that press-friendly, and a rare interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica may shed some light on why the legendary designer hasn’t warmed to the media in the same way chatterboxes Karl Lagerfeld and Roberto Cavalli have.

In a translation by WWD, Prada’s feature in La Repubblica details all her concerns about the flagging Italian fashion industry. More than any other nation, Italy has the most family-owned luxury fashion houses: Prada, Gucci, Missoni and Fendi are just a few brands that still have an active voice from the founding designers’ families. But with more and more Italian fashion houses looking to sell (Valentino sold to Qatar’s royal family for over $850 million) or to expand by going public with IPOs, Prada is worried Italian fashion may become “second league.”

“[…] If our brands cross our borders, the credit, glamour, fame and decision making is in the hands of others, and we are abandoned, downgraded,” she cautioned.

Prada doesn’t fault the designers themselves; after all, she shows Miu Miu in Paris because of the city’s “attraction that is called glamour,” and Raf Simons’ move from Jil Sander (which shows in Milan) to Parisian fashion house Dior will mean “his value will further be emphasized.”

According to Prada, the real culprits are the Italian media and left-leaning intellectuals. Journalists’ treatment of their nation’s fashion industry as “frivolous” instead of a relevant industry contributes to the view that Italy is seen as a place with “less resources, culture, protagonists, ideas, vitality and money,” meaning that like Simons, “fashion goes elsewhere, looking for the best.”
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They said/We said: Katie Holmes’ fashion line sales have increased since her public split from Tom Cruise

By | July 24th, 2012 | 5:00 pm

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Photography by James Devaney/WireImage

When Katie Holmes first announced her divorce, we were all shocked by the move: up until a month ago, she seemed every part the dutiful wife, playing a supporting role to Tom Cruise’s megawatt presence. What we didn’t realize at the time was just how much Holmes would shatter that old image in the weeks to come.

Since that announcement, Elle’s oddly prophetic and impossibly well-timed feature on Holmes went viral across the web, Holmes’ legal team managed to pull off what must be one of the fastest settlements in celebrity divorce history (two weeks…two weeks!), Holmes snagged sole custody of Suri, taped an appearance on Project Runway and managed to make a series of almost daily public appearances around her home in New York City, looking impeccably put-together and serene each time (in other words, not acting or looking like someone who was going through a painful divorce).

What’s particularly admirable about these appearances though is the discrete marketing tactic implicit in them: with hoards of paparazzo clamoring for a picture outside her door every day post-scandal, Holmes very wisely chose to almost exclusively don none other than Holmes & Yang, her own line with former Cruise stylist Jeanna Yang, for her jaunts about town. As the New York Times puts it, the paparazzo shots have become “a stealth ad campaign,” one that’s been put into motion right before the brand’s first-ever showing at New York Fashion Week come September.

“The way she’s getting photographed today, she’s in a position to get more exposure than ever before,” Robert Burke, a former Bergdorf Goodman executive and fashion consultant, told the New York Times. “She’s not waiting for fashion editors and stylists to come and pull her clothes.”

Whether it’s a strategy or not, it’s worked: Holmes & Yang sales have skyrocketed at retailers like Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys. Whatever your feelings about the former Mrs. Cruise are now, you have to give it to her: she’s not the brainwashed sidekick we once thought she was.
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They said/We said: Teenage activists are pointing a finger at teen-girl targeted magazines to change their image editing policies

By | July 12th, 2012 | 6:00 pm

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Image via Fashionista

Considering the fact that toe surgery has apparently become a “thing” (cosmetic surgery to slim down obese toes, for those of you not in the know), we’re apt to believe the girls behind SPARK Movement when they say that the pressure has never been stronger when it comes to conforming to beauty ideals.

These teenage activists are pointing a finger at teen-girl targeted magazines like Seventeen and Teen Vogue, saying their continued airbrushing and underrepresentation of “real” models is contributing to unattainable, unrealistic beauty ideals. They called on the magazines to completely cut out Photoshop (even down to airbrushing out pimples or brightening up a smile) and to focus on putting real girls in their publications.

“[These magazines] bombard young women with images that have been distorted and digitally altered . . . these photoshopped images are extremely dangerous to girls like us who read them, because they keep telling us: you are not skinny enough, pretty enough or perfect enough. Well, neither are the girls in the pictures!” the SPARK girls write on their home site.

Last week, SPARK member Julia Bluhm managed to pull together over 85,000 signatures for a petition to Seventeen, and the magazine actually responded. They published a “Body Peace Treaty” in their print edition, stating that they “never have, never will” alter the shape of models’ faces or bodies (which isn’t promising any change, really), and that they will make efforts to be more transparent with what goes into their editing process.

Following their co-SPARK member’s success, Carina Cruz and Emma Stydahar tried their hand at Teen Vogue yesterday, staging a guerilla red carpet runway show in front of the Conde Nast buildings and scoring an interview with Editor-in-Chief Amy Astley. Despite having racked up about 35,000 signatures for their Teen Vogue–specific petition, the girls told New York Daily News they were disappointed with their rushed conversation with Astley.

Though Cruz and Stydahar evidently did not get the response they were looking for, Teen Vogue’s publicist Erin Kaplan issued a statement saying the magazine is already careful to not retouch models’ body shapes in their pages.

While we doubt magazines can honestly promise a full rehaul of their image editing processes, considering how entrenched they are in years-long practices, we do commend the girls for trying to encourage their peers to seek real beauty. What do you think: should glossies continue to offer aspirational if unrealistic images of beauty, or should they start featuring girls that teens can more easily relate to?
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They said/We said: A new exhibit will explore the impact that queer designers have on modern fashion

By | July 11th, 2012 | 5:00 pm

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Photography by Peter Stigter

Leave it to Valerie Steele, the first person to ever tout a fashion studies PhD, to tackle an industry-related question that’s rarely been explored before: why is it exactly that modern fashion history has had so many iconic gay designers?

Steele, a bona fide fashion expert who has pioneered fashion-related academia, said she wants to celebrate gay designers in an upcoming exhibit at The Museum at FIT, where she sits as director and chief curator. Along with these designers’ deserved nod of recognition, she wants to explore the ways in which their sexuality has helped develop the industry into what it is today.

It’s true: even when compared to other creative fields, many if not most of fashion’s influential leaders are gay, including (but obviously not limited to) Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

Despite the fact that generally speaking, this density of gay designers is common knowledge, Steele points out that no one has ever really delved further into the question of why so many gay people seem to flourish in the industry.

“[…] Nobody’s ever really thought consciously to put the gayness back into fashion history and say, ‘Why are there so many gay people in fashion?’ and ‘Is there a gay aesthetic?’ and ‘What have been the influences of having so many gay people in fashion?’” Steele told Fashionologie.

It’s an interesting and potentially groundbreaking point: given fashion’s runway-to-streets trickle down effect, is it even possible that the fashion industry’s early embracing of homosexuality has helped encourage similar acceptance outside of the industry’s confines? And Steele’s question of aesthetics makes us look at some famed designs in a completely different light: for example, could a straight man have ever created Le Smoking, or was Saint Laurent able to create such a game-changing design thanks in part to his sexuality?

Though we doubt these questions could ever be answered in full, given Steele’s past thought-provoking exhibits, it will definitely be interesting and insightful to see how she navigates her way through these questions.
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They said/We said: Azzedine Alaïa returns to the retail world after 20 years

By | July 6th, 2012 | 4:29 pm

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Photography by Julien Hekimian/Getty Images

One of fashion’s most revered yet reclusive players has finally announced a return to the retail world after more than two decades of absence: Azzedine Alaïa, whose last store shuttered in New York City in 1992, will be settling into a new home at Rue de Marignan, right off of Avenue Montaigne (otherwise known as French luxury mecca).

Also known as the “King of Cling,” Alaïa’s heyday in the ‘80s had him dressing everyone from Grace Jones to Stephanie Seymour in his figure-flattering, body-con designs. Even Cher (not that Cher—the Clueless Cher) knew the gravity of Alaïa – remember the scene when she tells the armed robber who screams at her to get on the ground “Oh, no. You don’t understand, this is an Alaïa”?

After the death of his sister though, the Tunisian-born designer retreated from the industry for most of the ‘90s, only catering to a small group of clientele and presenting his collections (on his own time, of course) in his apartment/atelier/headquarters in the heart of the Marais district. In other words, Alaïa had the fashion world come to him: he didn’t advertise, he didn’t get online and he didn’t get sucked into what he called a “stressful” system. He didn’t even bother kissing up to Anna Wintour, even daring to say “who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion?” Unsurprisingly, she didn’t take well to that — the two have been engaged in a longstanding feud for years that’s seen Alaïa completely ousted from the pages of Vogue.

Even without Wintour’s backing, the past decade has been a period of revival for Alaïa’s eponymous brand, especially after partnering up with luxury goods group Richemont in 2007. For instance, last year Barneys doubled their Alaïa space, the designer showed his Fall 2011 couture collection to rave reviews (also marking his first time at Fashion Week in eight years) and as any Sofia Coppola fangirl knows, he designed her stunning lavender wedding dress.

The question now is, given the designer’s well-known skepticism of the business side of fashion, will he be able to make a return to the retail world without sacrificing his independence?
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