i think miss vreeland might agree with e.b. white and me.

“design is an act of faith, not a trick of gimmick.”

“style is the designer, and therefore what you are, rather than what you know, will at last determine your style. if you design, you must believe - in the truth and worth of the fabrics, in the ability of the customers to receive and decode the message. no one can design decently who is distrustful of the customer’s intelligence, or whose attitude is patronizing.”

the element of style is a great book for anyone who wants to write. i just didn’t expect that it can help a designer as well.

on the last page, e.b. white concludes, “it is now necessary to warn you that your concern for the reader must be pure: you must sympathize with the reader’s plight (most readers are in trouble about half the time) but never seek to know the reader’s wants. your whole duty as a writer is to please and satisfy yourself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one. start sniffing the air, or glancing at the trend machine, and you are as good as death, although you may make a nice living.”

a fashion designer is not an artist, never mind a writer. but lots of us are too busy pleasing everyone that we forget about the most important one - themselves.

i wonder if helmut lang will disagree.

the new york times fashion critic cathy horyn is always insightful and inspirational. here is her take on the rumor of miss wintour being replaced at american vogue:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/01/style/01anna.php

seeing though the juicy speculation, miss horyn managed to add depth to it. there is grace mirabella’s observation that we’ve “got a fashion market that doesn’t know how to do good, inexpensive clothes”

how ture!

i mean: would any fashion editors worth their weight considers cheap monday or h&m, or topshop fashion? i doubt it. there is no room for that in the fashion bubble world.

my input to the whole situation: publish a minor league vogue on paper and on the web. much in the spirit of the minor league baseball team system, let the kids have a place to play. groom the young and the restless fashion writers, stylists, designer. pick them out to the bigs when they are ready.

more importantly, the failure in vogue is a reflection of the failure in the fashion business. it has become stale and predictable. too much time are spent chasing socialites. fashion has lost its touch with women in their 20s. there is a complete lack of awareness of changes like social networks and web-based subcultures and their influence on women’s identity. is fashion fading out of fashion? or is there a 21st century dior or saint laurent out there waiting to shock the world?

the TT looks dated now. but back in 1998 when it first appeared, TT single-handedly put the excitment back into audi, bringing the name back from obscurity. it redefined the company, and lended its magic to audi’s bread and butter A4 and A6. without the TT, the message wouldn’t be so loud and clear. now that’s just terrific branding.

come to think of it, why can’t we consider them fashion brands? when was the last time fashion produced a TT or an iphone?

during my trip to shanghai last week, i was curious to see the local fashion creations. by chance, i found them on both change le lu and xin le lu. names like even penniless, liu2, na(too), ne!ther nor (onebyone), estune, jade en plus are all part of the emerging scene.

as items, the garments are surprisingly good (and surprisingly expensive). however, on a collection level, much work will need to be done. identities are nowhere to be found. there is no clear sense that they had something they need to communicate. the looks are all pretty similar, even though everyone is trying to be different. one wish there is a master to lead, much like rei kawakubo with junya watanabe, tao kurihara (tao), and jun takahashi (undercover).

p.s.  i fully enjoyed the sports of spotting the real from the fakes. lots of factories made excess products and leak them out without the labels, as in mutli-stripe knit boxers, calvin klein briefs, and beams reversible beanies. fun.

egon schiele
hedi slimane
zaha hadid
moët et chandon
louise bourgeois
loewe

if you can’t pronounce it, go to pronounce it right. look under ‘categories’, ‘brands’ and ‘fashion’ are right there.

can you say ‘ha ha’?

next to the ceos, the pr department should be the first one to be fired. the american auto big (ego) 3 were begging for money from the government for a bailout, and the 3 ceos had to fly there by 3 different private jets? they couldn’t share 1 plane? they couldn’t ‘downgrade’ to fly first class?

it serves as a reminder for entrepreneurs, designers, and (really) everyone that when you are so far removed from your own time, you can expect failure in the near future.

p.s. now we know why robert nardelli was passed over by jack welch for the ceo of general electric.

you could say that the clothes are disappointing, the hype overbearing, or the wait exhausting, but we should notice 3 other points:

1 - was it a coincidence that kawakubo timed both collaborations - lv and h&m - so closed together?

2 - the picking of the simple concepts - polka dots - is beautifully appropriate for the masses. anything more intellectual, which she is more that capable of, would be too limiting.

3 - it is a lesson of how to push a single idea to the max cohesively, efficiently, and artistically.

fashion is mainly an old world technician. some loves being inspired by the vintage pieces or an ancient-period theme. most are proud to use the century-year-old unchanged embroidery and beading methods. how exciting could it be?

those who are really moving garment forwards are the sportlifestyle brands such as puma and adidas. just like at the lzr racer; ‘ultrasonically bonded seams’ sure seems more interesting to me than any embroidery from françois lesage.

on nov 4 2008, he showed all african-americans that to be something great, they don’t have to be funny, to entertain, and to play sports to succeed. they, too, can aspire to the highest office.

to be something great, chinese don’t have to copy, to knockoff, and to sell fakes to succeed. we, too, can aspire to the luxury brands. maybe there will be a chinese designer in charge of a gucci, a chanel. better yet, there will be a ture fashion label created, ran, and competed by a chinese.