Muse Magazine

Friday, February 29, 2008

WARDROBE: Rest in peace: Katoucha

Katoucha, one of the first black models to achieve international fame, was found dead in the Seine river yesterday. She had been missing since January. Originally from Guinea, she's probably most known for her runway work with Yves Saint Laurent. Her career began with Lanvin, where she worked as a fit model she later got her big break on the runway with Thierry Mugler in the 80s. She was awful an activist, speaking out against female genital mutilation and talking about her personal experience with the ritual in her memoir, Katoucha, In My Flesh.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

SOUNDS: Music videos are becoming cool again: Okay, well at least one video: Erykah Badu




We love this video because:

A) It takes us back to 1998 when Erykah Badu released the clip for "Bag Lady," which was a really clever riff off of Ntozake Shange's book and play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf: A Choreopoem. It was so smart and just plain good.

B) It takes us back to a time when we used to love channel surfing through BET and MTV to see what new music videos were released each week and talk about them with our friends. It's no secret the videos shown on major networks are lamer than lame.

C) The song is fire in a low-key kind of way. Her entire new album, "New Amerykah" makes us think of Alicia Keys' "As I Am" in that it's not necessarily breaking new sonic ground, but plays to her strengths: soulful, spaced-out (for more spacey things that we like, read our Balenciaga post below) music. She also seems to meld the narrative approach she took with her second album, "Mama's Gun" with the jam session quality of her third, "Worldwide," which is a smart move considering that the last album made us wish that we were hearing it live rather than on a stereo.

(And random silly question: When did Erykah go and develop thighs and a booty? Remember when she used to be all bony? She's giving Beyoncé a run for her money. We're not mad.)

WARDROBE: The highlight of Paris fashion week: Razor sharp

Gabbing with a friend who's in the trenches of Paris Fashion Week, our conversation turned to how lackluster fashion has been looking for fall 2008 (yes, even in Paris). Of all of the collections that have shown there so far, she says Balenciaga was hands down the best. And after taking a look through all of the shows posted at Style.com, we have to agree. We love Nicaolas Ghesquière's attention to line and the space age-yness of it all. The opening series of cocktail dresses are how we imagine guests dressing for Truman Capote's Black and White ball, if it took place in 2040.



























































































































































Wednesday, February 20, 2008

WARDROBE: The Milan collections: A really big deal























The Prada runway shows (like most of the others in Milan) have always been notoriously white. Miuccia Prada is also one of the fashion world's definitive directional designers, an industry leader. When she makes a statement, other designers follow. So sadly, when she began showing her clothes on a series of young, wide-eyed, blank-faced Eastern European models, it began a trend in fashion that made it hard for girls who didn't fit that mold to get work. So the fact that she cast model Jourdan Dunn in her fall 2008 show is a huge deal. The last black woman to walk a Prada show was Naomi Campbell. And that happened in the 90s, quite a long time ago. Let's hope more designers follow.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

PALETTE: Fun with Fafinettes

Fafi, our favorite Parisian street artist, has decorated M.A.C. lipstick tubes, carrying cases, compacts and other items with her too-cool-for-school animated characters. The limited edition makeup colors are very 80s bright (think hot pink for lips), which could be kind of fun for spring.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

SOUNDS: On today's playlist

FILMS: Channel surfing: Sitting on the couch recovering from Fashion Week














We're sitting on the couch, happily not at a runway show, and happen upon a random short film mixed in with the movie offerings on HBO onDemand. While NY1 and NYC-TV are running recaps of New York Fashion Week, this short called "African Booty Scratcher," looks at a different kind of wardrobe situation: a high school senior struggles with her African roots (she's first generation American) while trying to find a dress for prom. Her West African mom, who owns a restaurant, makes her a traditional dress from her region for the big night, the daughter balks. Later, while helping her parents out in the restaurant, a neighborhood knucklehead walks in and asks for chicken wings only to find out the place only serves stews and jollof rice. He has a fit and starts ranting about the differences between Africans and black Americans. The scene is a bit forced and slightly preachy, but the short film, written and directed by Nikyatu Jusu, is really sweet and poignant overall. It's also cool to see it sitting in an HBO lineup that includes blockbusters like "Alien" and "Matrix Revolutions."

WARDROBE: A few things about the big finale: Marc Jacobs

1) The online reviews have all reported conflicting times. By our watches, Marc Jacobs started his show promptly at 7:15pm after spending about ten minutes walking around the stage inside the Armory announcing to everyone that he was ready to start the show. Half of the venue's seats (it was designed to feel like an arena rock concert) were empty. We're still not clear if all of the industry's top editors had made it inside when the first model walked onstage to a live performance by Sonic Youth. So was it a big f-you to the critics who chastised him for being over two hours late last season? Possibly. Many editors were still struggling through traffic from the Sean John show, which happened roughly 20 blocks further uptown at Cipriani and, coincidentally, also started earlier than expected. We got to Puffy's show 25 minutes late only to be told that the show had already started. That turned out to be a good thing, otherwise we would have missed the low-key series of architectural coats and jackets that stood out from his collection. As Kim Gordon sang "Cool Thing," ranting against corporate oppression, Marc showed one cool, recession-proof, Jacobsian take on one sportswear classic after another. The shapes he created were the really cool part of the show and unfortunately those can only be seen by looking at the profile angle, which you can't see by viewing the straight-on pics posted on most Web sites. Bottom line, we'd totally wear it (minus the head ornamentation and a few of the evening looks including the oversized tunic jackets and wide-leg pants). We're guessing it will be about four weeks before we start seeing knockoffs.

2) Marc's collection included leather pants, which haven't really been popular since '98. Could this be the beginning of a comeback?

3) Most of the models wore flat boots and slip-ons, which means fall will most likely be a season of flats knowing the power of Marc (and keep in mind several other designers showed flat boots this week including Phillip Lim and Richard Chai). But we should also remember that the "Sex and the City" movie also hits theaters in all of its Manolo Blahnik/Christian Louboutin stiletto-sporting glory. And remember how many girls started teetering around in heels at the height of that series' popularity? So everybody wins.



































































WARDROBE: More favorites from the week

1) Peter Som's glittery sequined cocktail dresses for Bill Blass. Very 70s. Very early Bill Blass.




































































2) Jenni Kayne's effortlessly cool urban work clothes.























Thursday, February 07, 2008

WARDROBE: Baby steps

While the New York collections haven't exactly been the Rainbow Coalition on the runways, the shows have looked markedly more diverse than last season. We guess Bethann Hardison's efforts really are working. Michael Kors had one of the most colorful casts we've seen so far. It's kind of cool to see the industry redefining it's concept of beauty again.

























































































WARDROBE: More looks that we wanted to lift from off the racks backstage

Y&Kei






















3.1 Phillip Lim






















Richard Chai






















Shipley & Halmos

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

WARDROBE: The girl just loves to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time

That song lyric from Eddie Murphy's super cheesy 80s hit "Party All The Time" came to mind this week after spotting Genevieve Jones all over creation. She seems to have fully rebounded from WSJ-gate.














































Tuesday, February 05, 2008

WARDROBE: Food and fashion really can go together

The models at Rodarte were looking a little skinny, so we went around the corner after the show to our favorite between-the-Chelsea-shows spot, Tía Pol, to eat enough patatas bravas for all of them.



WARDROBE: More looks that made us happy

Thakoon













































Rodarte

LIFE: Disturbing Super Tuesday moment of the day

Setting: #2 train headed downtown. A middle-aged Jewish mother explaining politics to her son and daughter who looked to be about 10 and 5 years-old.

Mom: "Here's the thing, if the race ends up being between Obama and McCain the Republicans will win. There's no way Obama can beat McCain."

Son: "Why?"

Mom: "Because you just have to be honest about the reality that people will never vote for him because he's black. It's the reality, just the same as the reality that I'm never going to be 6' tall."

WARDROBE: Looks we wanted to snatch off the models' backs

Because this Peter Som ensemble looks effortlessly cool in an "I just threw this on" kind of way.























This dress by Preen because it's sexy, but not trashy. Body-conscious without being uncomfortably form-fitting. And the jumpsuit because, well, how cool are jumpsuits? We love relaxed, easy dressing like this.












































These dresses by Proenza Schouler because the craftmanship is superb. It's the kind of thing you can one day pass down to your daughter 30 years from now, and she in turn wear it and get cool points because the construction is so undeniably special.






















WARDROBE: The people who make people-watching fun

Riding in a cab from the Hervé Leger by Max Azria show to the DKNY presentation this past weekend, we drove past Andre J who was standing alone in the West Village, talking on his cell phone, and tossing his long, luxurious (faux) tresses over his shoulder. His legs, glistening. His beard, tighter than tight. He was a vision in bronzey brown and passerby did double-takes. One of our favorite aspects of the collections is the gathering of the fashion world's beloved eccentrics, the people who often get puzzled stares on the subway, in their element. Here are some of our favorites.
































































WARDROBE: Love the newbies

The crop of designers showing in New York seems to grow with each season thanks to European designers looking to capture the American audience, famous people who drink the celebrity clothing line Kool-Aid and recent design school grads hoping to be the next Proenza Schouler. The schedule can be hit or miss. Here are two newbies whose work impressed us.


Frank Tell






























































José Ramón Reyes





















Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Sign up for our Email Newsletter