New project (b/c I need a new sweater :D) & other things

Since the weather's been getting cooler, I've been on a yarn kick. Don't ask me why but I've been crocheting and knitting like crazy. I'm currently working on this:

 

This is a free pattern offered by Red Heart that you can find here. But instead of using Red Heart Shimmer as asked in the instructions, I'm using Loops & Threads Charisma in deep purple mainly b/c I bought it for another sweater project and never got around to doing it. It's oooo soft so I like how it's coming out. I'd say I'm about 15% done right now. So far the instructions are super easy despite being for "experienced" crochetters. Here's what it looks like so far:
 

 

Also, I'm working on another cardigan from Loops & Threads but I left it at my sister's house, which is why I started on the other project. it's to tied me up till I get it back XD I was very determined to get this book after seeing it on a forum thread on Crafter.org. The book is called Loops & Threads Wardrobe Essentials and the book costs about $4. The majority of the patterns are for intermediate crafters who know how to crochet and knit. I can't give an opinion on the instructions yet till I get back all my stuff later this week.

I guess the whole reason why I'm doing all this is b/c I have this obscure obsession for wanting a cardigan yet I can never find the right one when I go shopping. I end up buying shoes instead. And since there's billions of free patterns online, I thought I'd find some. Of course, the one I really like wasn't and I had to pay for it, but it was worth it b/c the book does contain other nice patterns as well.

I never did get around to posting about how NYAF went for me. I'd say it went very well. I sold quite a few necklaces and some bows but what I never planned on selling were mini top hats. According to everyone that's bought from our table, we (ATNYC) were the only ones selling them so they were very pleased to buy what we had. I even ended up doing some custom work despite how busy it was but it was worth it. I hope we'll be able to get a whole table this time so that we have all the room we can work with.

No, I did not get to do the shirts as I had hoped for. Whole reason being that when you're the only person in your production team that knows exactly what to do, it really brings down productivity when it comes to spitting out product. Since NYAF is already set for next year, I got plenty of time to do what needs doing and hope to get everything together by then. Will I have more of the necklace I made? I dunno. I do have a few left but depending on how things go, it may remain a limited edition thing. I'll keep you posted on that :3

"Japan Fashion Now" Opening Night @ Museum at FIT

Japan Fashion Now
Special Exhibitions Gallery
September 17, 2010 through January 8, 2010

Gothic/Punk duo Hangry and Angry (singers Hitomi Yoshizawa and Rika Ishikawa). The singers’ aliases were inspired by the cartoon cats Hangry and Angry created by illustrator GASHICON for h. NAOTO. © HANGRY&ANGRY 2009 Project. Photograph courtesy of S-inc

Last night I attended the cocktail celebration of The Museum at FIT's opening of their new gallery showing "Japan Fashion Now". Curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, the museum's director, it has the honor of being the first exhibition to "explore contemporary Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity, from designer fashion to street style," including the latest in menswear. Dr. Steele said it best, that "Japan continues to be on the cutting edge - maybe the bleeding edge - of fashion". Bleeding edge is right! With today's youth being so interested in such a culture, it's only right that NYC be graced with the presence of such a viewing. As a person who knows a good many who'd kill to get such designs as h.Naoto and Alice and the Pirates, I was honored to be able to attend the opening. Set in 2 sections, it was a true testimony to the beginning and the now of Japanese fashion.

Number (N)ine. Man's ensemble, autumn/winter 2009, Japan, museum purchase

In the 1980s, Japan's fashion revolution was started by such creators as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, Kenzo, Kansai Yamamoto, Hanae Mor, and Matsuda. Simply displayed, the smaller of the 2 galleries housed the somber navy, gray and black palette and served as a great introduction to the exhibit. My personal favorite was being able to see Miyake's Molded Plastic Red Bustier from the Museum's "Love and War: The Weaponized Woman" exhibition.

Issey Miyake, molded plastic red bustier, 1983, Japan, gift of Krizia Co.

The main gallery, in contrast, is done up in a21st Century Tokyo mise en scene designed by Charles B. Froom and touched on many of the more popular and modern themes seen in Japanese fashion today. Besides the traditional plaids and leathers seen in the goth/punk scene, there were also playful prints and extreme cutouts shaped like skulls. From Kamekazi suits to elegant lolitas, there was plenty in representation to all that can be seen in the streets of Japan, including Cosplay, or Costume Play, a well known tradition done by fans of popular anime and manga.

h.NAOTO. Gothic Lolita dress ensemble, autumn/winter 2008-09, Japan, museum purchase.

Not only were the displays worth the trip, but there were plenty in attendance dressed to impress. And while I wasn't decked out to the nines, I was wearing my Putumayo pocket watch necklace and D&G snake skin trimmed high tops. I was even asked if I was a designer, which I am even though I wasn't one of the many featured. And while I wish there was a Baby, The Starts Shine Bright gown in the giveaway bags, alas it was not to be. However, the reusable tote and free bottles from Sokenbicha, one of the sponsors of the night's event were appreciated just the same. They were passing out tastings of their selection and I do recommend you try it. (Yes, a tea review and what?) It's light and not overbearing despite the black tea being strong. You can find their products at your local Whole Foods.

Jun Takahashi for Undercover, coat from the “Earmuff maniac – evolving comfort” collection, 2009-10. Photograph courtesy of Maria Chandoha Valentino.

Also sponsoring the event was Yagi Tsusho Limited, the global marketing and merchandising company specializing in fashion, including brands like Moncler. Mr. Tsusho himself was present and gave a little speech prior to the beginning of the evening.

Overall, I highly recommend this exhibit to anyone interested in fashion and cosplay. The published work "Japan Fashion Now" is available for pre-order from Yale University Press and will be released November 8, 2010.

Gunn's blazing: TV's favorite fashion guru Tim unleashes some serious dish

Gunn's blazing: TV's favorite fashion guru Tim unleashes some serious dish

By Jim Farber
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tim Gunn built his reputation on being sweet, supportive and scrupulously polite. So why, in his latest book, does he spend key pages flinging mud and gorging on gossip?

In the deceptively titled "Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work" (Gallery Books, $23.99), "Project Runway’s" nicest star lets loose on Anna Wintour, Isaac Mizrahi, Padma Lakshmi, Martha Stewart's daughter, Alexis, and some of the very designers he seemed to boost on the show.

In conversation, Gunn amplifies the charges. Of Anna Wintour's diva-like antics — including allegedly being carried down the stairs at one fashion event like an ancient queen — Gunn says, "It’s insane that people don’t call her out on the things she does. Is it fear? I was certainly afraid of her. When her office called me, I thought I’d have to go into the witness protection program."

On calling Mizrahi a spoiled snob in his book, he says, "Oh, please, I was so kind to him. I mean, I wouldn’t have the words to describe some of the more abhorrent behavior. He really is a terrible, terrible, terrible person."

In the book, Gunn calls Alexis Stewart "one of the angriest people I’ve ever met. [She] kept cursing under her breath in anticipation of her mother coming — 'goddamn bitch,' almost as if she had Tourette’s syndrome."

To the News, he explained, "I was so horrified by how she treated her mother in front of a lot of people. Good heavens, you’re an adult!"

Ironically, all these swipes emanate from a tome that’s ostensibly a guide to good behavior. Then again, it’s the snotty or condescending antics of both public and private figures that earns Gunn’s ire. So, in that way, the gripes fall in line with his theme.

Gunn, 57, says his book expanded from its initial premise as a straight etiquette guide because "I don’t like the word. It connotes fish forks and wine-glass placement. And it sounds elitist and stuffy."

Still, he did want to provide "an antidote to all the bad behavior that abounds around us. One of the themes of the book is 'Take the high road,' you’ll never regret it." In fact, "Golden Rules" does more than just promote a cool demeanor while punishing what he calls "potty-mouthed ruffians."

It also serves as Gunn’s autobiography — an unexpectedly revealing one.

"One thing I hear with frequency is that people don’t know very much about me," says Gunn. "They see me interacting with people and probing into their backgrounds because that gives me a context for who the designer is. But I haven’t opened up about myself. This book does that."


Gunn writes with surprising candor about his chilly relationship with his parents. He paints his mother as remote, his father as a homophobic brute. "My mother is truly, deathly ill right now," says Gunn. "She has congestive heart failure, kidney failure. If she’s still alive on Sept. 7 [the day before the book’s publication], she won’t be on the eighth."

Despite such statements, Gunn insists, "I love her dearly. But she’s a stone."

The author’s father served as an FBI special agent and ghost writer for the legendary chief of the organization, J. Edgar Hoover. In his book, Gunn speculates on Hoover’s alleged homosexuality and wonders about his dad’s own orientation. "You have to wonder about the identity of an individual who’s so blatantly homophobic," he says of his father. "Then there’s the whole Hoover FBI, with all these really good-looking men. It’s a little spooky like Hoover’s hand-picked club."

Gunn’s own sexuality comes in for hard scrutiny in the book as well. He says he didn’t come to terms with being gay until his 20s. "I knew what I wasn’t, but not what I was," he says.

Gunn also writes about a terrible relationship he had over 20 years ago, which ended with a betrayal so wounding, he has not risked a romantic involvement since. It’s been decades since he has had sex, he says, though he stresses he’s happy with the decision.

"I wanted to say that, whether you’re gay or straight, you can live a celibate life and be perfectly satisfied and happy." Gunn considers himself a gay role model, not only for his caring persona, but for his work on a show like "Project Runway," which accents talent and achievement over backbiting and table-flipping.

While many have felt the show lost much of its buzz when it moved from Bravo to Lifetime, Gunn prefers the earnest aura of the latter to the wild campiness of the former. It irked him that Bravo tried to make his own offshoot show, "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style," more confrontational.

"They were desperately looking for a co-host with whom I could have conflict and antipathy, and I said 'I won’t work with someone like that. I don’t want a battling diva.' But that’s what they wanted."

Gunn knows that his desire for something more supportive puts him out of step with much of the culture. He also knows that playing etiquette guide can make him sound like, in his words, "an old fart."

"But I am an old fart," he says. "You really do need to draw the line and set up boundaries."

Luckily, he has no shortage of hard and fun words for those he feels stray beyond them.

jfarber@nydailynews.com

Tim Gunn Calls Isaac Mizrahi A Spoiled Snob, Talks Celibacy

Tim Gunn Calls Isaac Mizrahi A Spoiled Snob, Talks Celibacy

We already knew Tim Gunn's new book "Gunn's Golden Rules" was packed with fashion world gossip after we read an excerpt in June revealing that Anna Wintour's bodyguards carry her down stairs...but what else does Gunn have to say? The New York Daily News talked to the "Project Runway" mentor about what else is in the pages. In the book, Gunn takes on designer Isaac Mizrahi, calling him a spoiled snob. He explained to the Daily News, "Oh, please, I was so kind to him. I mean, I wouldn't have the words to describe some of the more abhorrent behavior. He really is a terrible, terrible, terrible person."

But "Gunn's Golden Rules" also serves as an autobiography and Gunn discusses his own sexuality. He came to terms with being gay in his 20s, but hasn't had sex since he ended a terrible relationship decades ago. According to Gunn, "I wanted to say that, whether you're gay or straight, you can live a celibate life and be perfectly satisfied and happy."

"Anti-sweat" suit promises to make subways more tolerable

"Anti-sweat" suit promises to make subways more tolerable ***from amNY***

Monday July 19, 2010 6:53 PM By Heather Haddon



(Photo by Andrew Hinderaker)


For the chic New York City man sweltering on the subway platform, there is now the “anti-sweat” suit.

A Manhattan tailor catering to city bigwigs has started peddling a $1,200 suit that promises to be 10 degrees cooler and deter subway “shvitz.” The custom-made Zegna suits is made with Australian wool, which is said to wick moisture and cool the skin.

“The market is businessmen and lawyers ... who still have to wear a suit in the subway,” said KJ Singh, a sales manager for Mohan’s Custom Tailors, which has sold a hundred of the suits since introducing them this year.

It’s no wonder business has been brisk. So far this month, temperatures have been above 90 degrees for 11 out of the last 19 days, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.

emperatures have trended 4 degrees above normal all summer, and experts said that the worst is yet to come, with late July and August tending to be the most brutal.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Scott Yarwood, 30, a Wall Street banker when told about the suit. “You get what you pay for.”

“With the weather these days, it would be worth it,” said Matt Saidman, 25, of Forest Hills.

So are the threads worth the hefty price tag?

“It’s not like I’m wearing an air conditioner,” said Christopher Sabatini, amNewYork’s design director, who tested the anti-sweat suit in the subways Monday. “But sweat is not rolling down my back.”

It took Sabatini 10 minutes to start sweating on the Penn Station platform; he said he would usually “be a flood” by then.

Thoughts on "The Last Airbender"

So, everyone's split on The Last Airbender". I, personally, have been looking forward to it for a long time now and when I got to see it on Saturday, I saw what people meant. But here's the thing, and I don't think people see it that way: M. Night Shyamalan took it from the perspective where people are not split by race but by elements. Yes, the original tv series ( Avatar: The Last Airbender") was based on all Asians but you have to remember that the concept was created and written by non-Asians so, theoretically, it left it open to the interpretation of the person running the show. In this case it was Shyamalan who took it from the aformentioned persective and I respect that. Maybe in the future the world will be run by the Chinese but this isn't an epic where all the major martial arts stars come out and play. Avatar was about kids discovering that they have to be responsible and save the world.

There were a few things that could have been better, like saying Sokka's name. It's said like the biggest football game in the world minus the r, not "Soka". There were other names that were mispronounced but I ignored that fact.It happens. People mispronounce names every day. Just... like... research, yes? Condensing a whole season into 2 hours made it seem shorter b/c there were several episodes that could have been put in to explain things a little more. What if there were people that never saw the series? I saw every ep so I know what's up. And the kids should have been allowed to be more kid-like as the characters are pretty much kids. Aang was played too seriously, even though his role is pretty serious.

But I do like the idea that there will be a movie for each "book" and that the actors look like the main characters. Except General Hiro. Uncle coulda looked a little more Uncle-like but his character acting was really good in portraying the person.

I expect people will say what they will on this subject but this is my take on it. I like it and look forward to the other 3 movies-to-be and hope that they'll be done better.

Malcolm McLaren, Seminal Punk Figure, Dies at 64

***From the NYTimes***

Malcolm McLaren, Seminal Punk Figure, Dies at 64
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: April 8, 2010

Malcolm McLaren, an impresario, recording artist and fashion designer who as manager of the Sex Pistols played a decisive role in creating the British punk movement, died on Thursday in Switzerland. He was 64.

The cause was mesothelioma, a cancer of the linings around organs, said Young Kim, his companion of many years. She said he had been under treatment at a Swiss hospital. He lived in Paris and New York.

Mr. McLaren, a former art student, found an outlet for his ideas about fashion, music and social provocation in the inchoate rock ’n’ roll scene of London in the early 1970s. Operating from the clothing boutique Sex, which he and the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood ran, he brought together four obscure musicians, called them the Sex Pistols and provided them with an attitude suited to Britain in decline: nihilistic rage, expressed at high volume in songs like “Anarchy in the U.K.” and the vitriolic anti-anthem “God Save the Queen.”

Mr. McLaren was a keen student of the French Situationists, who believed in staging absurdist or provocative incidents as a spur to social change. He arranged for the Sex Pistols to sign their contract with A&M Records outside Buckingham Palace and organized a performance of “God Save the Queen” on the Thames, outside the Houses of Parliament, on a boat named the Queen Elizabeth. The police quickly intervened, ratifying the group’s incendiary reputation.

Until their breakup in January 1978, the Sex Pistols epitomized the look, the sound and the attitude of British punk. All three came, in large measure, from Mr. McLaren’s restless brain.

Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was born on Jan. 22, 1946, in London and was raised mostly by a wealthy grandmother. He attended more than half a dozen art schools. At none of them did things go smoothly. He was expelled from Chiswick Polytechnic, and the Croydon College of Art tried to have him transferred to a mental institution.

He terminated his education, such as it was, in 1971 at Goldsmiths’ College in London, but not before completing a series of paintings titled “I Will Be So Bad.”

In 1972 Mr. McLaren and Ms. Westwood took over a store on King’s Road in Chelsea called Let It Rock and began selling hipster Teddy boy fashions. The business was run along unconventional lines.

In a 1997 article for The New Yorker, Mr. McLaren recalled, “We set out to make an environment where we could truthfully run wild.” On most days the shop did not open until the evening and closed within a few hours. The goal, Mr. McLaren wrote, “was to sell nothing at all.”

After the New York Dolls visited the store, renamed Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die, Mr. McLaren followed the group to the United States and became its manager. He dressed the band members in red clothing based on the Soviet flag, placed politically provocative slogans onstage and presided over their swift demise.

Back in London, Mr. McLaren, now at Sex, took an interest in a group called the Strand (later the Swankers), three of whose members formed the nucleus of the original Sex Pistols. The group gave its first performance at St. Martin’s College on Nov. 6, 1975 — hostile audience reaction caused the players to leave the stage after two songs — and soon emerged as the leader of the punk scene. Reliably or not, Mr. McLaren explained his strategy for packaging and selling the band in the 1980 film “The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle.”

“Anarchy in the U.K.” and “God Save the Queen” (whose release was timed to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee) rose to the upper rungs of the pop charts in Britain, and the group’s only album, “Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols,” reached No. 1 in 1977. On the band’s first American tour, in January 1978, John Lydon, the lead singer known as Johnny Rotten, walked offstage at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, and the Sex Pistols dissolved.

Mr. McLaren briefly managed Adam and the Ants and then, with several ex-Ants, created Bow Wow Wow around a teenage Burmese singer, Annabella Lwin. The group recorded the hits “Go Wild in the Country” and “I Want Candy.” Through his clothing store, now called World’s End, he sold Ant and Bow Wow Wow fashions.

He went on to record his own music. His album “Duck Rock” (1983), a blend of world music and hip-hop, generated the hit singles “Buffalo Gals” and “Double Dutch.”

“I’m much more of a magician than a musician,” he told The Globe and Mail of Toronto in 1985. “I steal other people’s songs and try to make them better.”

In 1984 Mr. McLaren released the album “Fans,” a mixture of opera and urban music, which included the hit single “Madame Butterfly.” “Waltz Darling” (1989), “Paris” (1994) and other albums followed.

In recent years his name was linked with film, television and radio projects, most of them never realized, although he did help produce the film “Fast Food Nation” and presented two series for BBC2 radio, “Malcolm McLaren’s Musical Map of London” and “Malcolm McLaren’s Life and Times in L.A.”

He is survived by his son with Ms. Westwood, Joseph Corré, a founder of the lingerie company Agent Provocateur; a brother, Stuart Edwards; and a grandchild.

Mr. McLaren spent much of the last 30 years trying to explain punk. “I never thought the Sex Pistols would be any good,” he told The Times of London last year. “But it didn’t matter if they were bad.”

ATNYC @ Sakura Matsui May 1st!

So, that fashion show I mentioned in my previous entry fell through. Not my fault that people on their end can't work but at least get back to me about it and tell me I'm not needed after all *shrugs* Oh well.

On the brighter side, ATNYC will be making an appearance at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden for the Sakura Matsui Festival! The event is May 1st-2nd but we will only be there on May 1st so if you want to have your photo taken with your fave ATNYC personality, better show up then. We'll be doing a photoshoot and meet&greet that day and be at the garden all day. We do plan to be there early so if you see a cluster of young attractive people walking about, that's probably us *lol*

Also, we're still working with the Hoshi no Hikari Host Club to get an event together for the end of July. We got many promising things for this event, including the posibility of some bands and new designers outside of ATNYC. I'll have more on this as soon as possible.

As far as I know regarding conventions, Anime Next is very interested in having us there and NYAF is, of course, our hometown convention. Once I've got the confirmation on those, I'll post up when we'll appear. if you have any other convention suggestions, let us know~

And on a personal note, I just love how it's all sunny and warm outside where I'm wearing a tank top and capris to work :D

Shows in the works!

Well ain't life just quirky? I'm sitting at my desk at work and I receive a call from someone who I worked with last year. TJ organizes the fashion shows that are held at John Jay College every year and has asked me to work it. it's a bit last minute for me but I'll see once I get all the information. Who knows? I might just work it.

Also, the Hoshi no Hikari Host Club has asked ATNYC to help in working a fashion show that they've been planning for a while. I can't say that we are or we're not working it but things are looking promising.

NYAF is a far ways away but the next thing you know, it's all up in your face. ATNYC is working to see if we'll be able to participate this year and bring our fans yet another fashion show. I'll keep you posted on that when I find out new information.

And on the commission front, one of ATNYC's models, Kathy, has asked me to make one (of possibly several, I'm sure) dresses. Will it be used in the show? Maybe. You'll just have to wait and see.

But right now, it's official that ATNYC is having a get together at Sakura Matsui May 1st-2nd. ATNYC will be meeting on the 1st and it'll most likely be an all day event. Another event coming up is Japan Day. We're thinking of having a huge picnic and everyone's open to bring food to share.

That's all I got for now. Short and sweet ^_^ More later!

WWD Fashion Scoops:Remembering Alexander McQueen...

Now I have something to look forward to in 2012 :D
WWD Fashion Scoop: Remembering Alexander McQueen

GUINNESS SHOW: One of Alexander McQueen’s closest friends, Daphne Guinness, will exhibit part of her wardrobe at the Fashion Institute of Technology in September 2011. About 80 to 100 pieces including outfits by the likes of McQueen, Balenciaga, Comme des Garçons, Dolce & Gabbana and Azzedine Alaïa will be in a show on her personal style, which will run at the school’s museum through January 2012. The socialite and Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, will co-curate the show. Yale University Press will publish a book to accompany the exhibit. “She is so creative and inspirational in the way that someone like Tina Chow was,” said Steele. For the show, Steele plans to identify the components of that style, which range from Guinness’ interest in sleeves and ruffles around the neck to accessories like hats, veils and ribbons.

Misako Aoki event photos!

Misako Aoki event photos plus Dekoden!
I have 6 blisters (3 on each foot) but they're worth it! I got to meet Misako Aoki and made a few new friends ^^



Photos were taken by Tokyo Rebel. For all the photos, check out their official blog:Misako Aoki event photos!

Earlier that morning, I just felt the need to start my Dekoden ^^:



Pretty cool huh? Now my phone looks so girly Japanese XD it kinda feels like an addiction now. I'm eye balling my camera and tempted to Deko it out! <3

Save the date! February 20, meet Misako Aoki!

Save the date! February 20, meet Misako Aoki!


Some of you may be aware that Misako Aoki is coming to New York for the Tokyo Fashion Festa on February 19. Well, the next day, she will be at our store! And she wants to meet you guys!

This came up rather suddenly so we still need to work out the details, but we wanted to let you know now since it's already short notice.

When: Saturday, February 20 (exact time TBD)
Where: Tokyo Rebel, 170 Avenue B, New York NY 10009 (between 10th and 11th Sts.)
What: Misako Aoki meet & greet

This will most likely be an informal event since there's not a lot of time to plan. She just wants to meet Lolitas from the area, take some pictures and write a report from our store.

Because we're a small store with limited space, we will have to control the number of people inside at any given time. We're now figuring out the best way to do that. Don't worry, everybody will get to meet Misako.

We'll announce more details very soon.

Alexander McQueen Is Dead

Original Article

Alexander McQueen, the British fashion designer known for some of the most controversial collections of the last two decades, was found dead Thursday morning at his apartment in London, said Ed Filipowski, a partner in the public relations firm KCD.

The cause was apparently suicide, though Mr. Filipowski said Mr. McQueen’s family had not yet made a statement.

Though he apprenticed on Savile Row, Mr. McQueen, who was 40, thumbed his nose at the conventions of English style by staging often lavish runway productions that included clothes made with animal bones, and models made to look as if they were patients in a mental ward or participants in a life-size chess match. Yet he was a tailor of the highest order, making impeccably shaped suits that were also surprisingly commercial.

But Mr. McQueen’s troubled personal life was often the subject of concern among his colleagues and close friends. He was deeply affected when Isabella Blow, the eccentric stylist who discovered and championed the designer, committed suicide in 2007, and he was said to be devastated by the death of his mother on Feb. 2.

Mr. McQueen was the youngest of six children and the son of a London taxi driver, who survives him. He left school at 16 to apprentice at Anderson & Sheppard and then Gieves & Hawkes, two of the most revered English tailors. He worked briefly in Italy before returning to London to pursue a master’s degree from the Central St. Martins design college, where Ms. Blow discovered his work and bought his entire thesis collection. His first shows in London, in dark underground places, were received as a break from the traditional luxury collections being shown elsewhere in Europe.

For five years, until 2001, he also was the designer of the couture label Givenchy, where he turned the classic French house on its head, often drawing the ire of longtime fans of the label known for its elegant black dresses. He offended several French journalists for calling Hubert de Givenchy’s past work as “irrelevant.” That year, he sold his own label to the Gucci Group, a rival of the parent company of Givenchy, LVMH, following several conflicts with its management.

During his early days in London, Mr. McQueen’s collections often made audiences uncomfortable, as when he referenced the ravaging of Scotland by England by showing brutalized women in a collection called “Highland Rape.” But since he began showing his collections in Paris in 2001, he became more widely respected for designs that were seen as commentary on the often surreal, and self-referential, world of fashion.
Tags: alexander mcqueen, fashion

Fashion, Fashion and More Fashion! - Fashion for Dummies: NY Daily News Reporters Test-Drive Wierd Fashions of the Season

***Original Artical***


Fashion for Dummies: Daily News reporters test-drive weird fashions of the season
BY Amy Eisinger, Leah Chernikoff AND Nicole Carter
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS



The fashion hybrid has never been so weird.


Designers have combined two totally different shoes - the peep-toe pump and the boot - and created a piece of fashion confusion."

Givenchy's $1,440 spike-heeled booties have got style junkies salivating. Proenza Schouler has made them, Beyoncé's worn Balmain's, and both Lindsay Lohan and Rihanna have teetered around in Alexander McQueen's zip-up version. The improbably popular peep boots have become so pervasive, next month's Vogue calls them "the perfect transitional shoe" (and also suggests "the must-do when it comes to this must-have: a great pedicure").



So, fine - they're meant for warmer weather. Why, then, are they in stores now? The Daily News set out to answer whether it's even possible to wear them in midwinter.



If the fashion police are working overtime to convince us they're wearable and chic, after all, the least we could do is try them out on the streets of the world's fashion capital.



I took the 5-inch-tall "Korset" boot ($104.97) from Steve Madden out in the cold. My tights were no help - the freezing morning air ripped right through and after a few steps, my toes had started turning blue.



Then came the stares. At the end of my block in Brooklyn, the construction workers did a double-take at the impractical shoes. Those snickers and scoffs were hardly the attention I expect Sarah Jessica Parker gets when she steps out wearing a pair.



I hit my first puddle on the next block and as you may have guessed, suede isn't exactly waterproof. Though I tried my best to avoid the big ones, in winter, there are wet spots at every turn. It took only one small misstep - and now my feet weren't just cold, but there was street water inching its way between my toes.



When I finally made it to the subway, I felt for my toes. The good news? They didn't hurt anymore. The bad news? They were completely numb.



But since high fashion has embraced the breezy boot, I soldiered on and got off the F train in SoHo, where I figured I'd fit right in.



The only problem: the nabe's cobblestone streets. After teetering slowly between the bricks and nearly tumbling face-first at a stoplight, I caught the attention of one passerby.



"You some kinda model?" he asked. I knew from his expression that it wasn't meant as a compliment.



"I just figured," he continued, "somebody would have to pay me to wear shoes like that."



Yikes-spikes!



Thanks to Rihanna's predilection for spiked shoulders, metal hardware as fashion has gone from punk to mainstream.



Celebs like Fergie and Adam Lambert have followed suit, spiking out their shoulders on the red carpet. Major fashion retailers have caught on, too - offering spike-heeled stilettos, prickly cuff bracelets and studded bags.




Next Tuesday, Topshop releases a spike-laden line by designer Ashish, which includes a cropped bomber jacket-style sweatshirt ($310) covered with 124 1-1/4-inch metal spikes clustered around the shoulders and elbows.



Now let's get real. I am not a fashion-forward 21-year-old Barbadian pop princess. I am neither edgy nor punk. So when I got my hands on the sweatshirt/weapon, I balked: The spikes were actually sharp and the thing weighed around 5 pounds. As I hoisted my purse over my shoulder, I scraped my fingers.



The worst part: Making the thing work in the context of my other clothes. Oh, I tried: dark lipstick, ripped jeans, high-heeled lace-up boots. But I looked completely ridiculous. Judging by the wary once-over looks I was getting from passersby, they thought I looked ridiculous - and scary.



Four-year-old David Reed, who sat next to me on a bench at the Bergen St. station, scooted away like I was a monster. As he clutched his mother's arm in fear, I told him to think of me as a dinosaur, and he gingerly reached out to touch the spikes on my elbow.



I got off on Wall St. to see if I could get a rise out of the suits. Jim Price, 46, who works in securities regulation and was in town on business from D.C., told me: "You could stab someone with those things."



"That jacket looks dangerous to me," said policeman Dimitrios Kalbouros, 28, from Middle Village, Queens, on patrol outside the Stock Exchange.



"I'm more of a peaceful guy - that's why I took this job," he explained.



"People are probably looking at you and wondering why you look like a porcupine," he added.



Indeed, I did feel more porcupine than pop princess.



Back on the train, I realized I had overlooked one major asset: The spikes serve as an excellent deterrent for sleeping passengers who try to use your shoulder as a pillow.



Great! Pants that make your butt look big



They're called harem pants.



Flashy, saggy and baggy, they prompted the name of a certain '90s rapper more than a few times on a night out on Smith St. in Brooklyn. And though they looked okay from the front, from the back, they gave what we'll gently call Diaper Butt.



Trendy retailers from H&M to Forever 21 offer versions of the slouchy trousers, which first appeared on the runways at Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors and Jill Stuart. I put on Topshop's sequined gray pair ($160) with a cropped jacket and heels. Sure, they look like pajamas. But I figured I should dress them up.



"Those are loud, lady," said a young man as I passed him on the subway platform. "You are rockin' those."



They're comfortable and easy to move in, seeing as they have enough fabric to make a circus tent. So I sashayed to my favorite bar and made my grand entrance to gasps and giggles.



"Do those come in other colors?" joked bartender Jeremy Swift, pouring me a cocktail. "I think you pull those off."



The bar stool proved to be a challenge, as the extra fabric snagged on the seat as I climbed up.



"I know someone with pants like that," piped up Kate Sims, a server at the bar. "But he's a man. And he's gay."



I took that as a compliment.



Outside the bar, a parked cab driver hailed me.



"Those are nice," he said.



But no matter the size of your rump, the low crotch line - fierce from the front - looks like Huggies from behind.



And just as the Hammer's pants had their 15 minutes of fame, so did these. Pants shouldn't be this loud, complicated or unflattering, even if they get attention.



I hung up my one-hit wonders for good and put on sweatpants.