Heave and smile
I didn’t want to write anything about this at all and I’ve deleted the entry twice now. It feels a bit false and voyeuristic to mourn celebrity.
This morning, I read a piece by Penelope Trunk where she writes of her fascination with suicide. I am not fascinated with suicide. I say, perhaps simply, that we should live until we don’t and not go at our own hands. But Trunk writes poignantly and straightforwardly, she almost convinces me:
It’s true. I am fascinated by suicide: Why don’t more people kill themselves? Life is very hard. And there is no sane reason to believe it will, at some point, get easier. So why do we keep going? I don’t know. This fascinates me.
This morning, Alexander McQueen killed himself.
McQueen was my first encounter with couture – with fashion, really. His art had whimsy and it was curious. It was maniacal and fantastic and kind of strange, but never just because. His clothes made me heave and smile in one go. At his best he took me somewhere else to think and stare at my too-plain shoes.
I’m not fascinated, but I want to understand. Maybe they’re the same thing, in the end.
[all images via]
Effortless
Dear Mr. Sartorialist:
Sometimes we deeply disagree. Often I question the Olsen-esque ensembles you feature. We go through phases when I feel like this flow chart was secretly created and circulated by you. But these past couple weeks, I’ve gasped and sighed at your subjects too many times to count. Please keep taking such beautiful images.
Fondly -
Maria
(All images: The Sartorialist)
Dressed
I have a secret heart for fashion. Not, sadly, for wearing it since I long ago embraced that I’m 5’4 and busty and not 5’10 and spindly. But I love to study it and soak it in and live vicariously through the seasons.
Anyway, here are a few of my favourite collections from 2010 RTW at New York Fashion Week. And now my feed reader reverts to the mundane.
Oscar de la Renta
Is it tired to love de la Renta’s clothes almost every single season? Always so effortless and elegant and impeccable. I just can’t help but admire a designer who keeps me interested and wanting to dress up like a lady with each new collection.
3.1 Phillip Lim
I’ll pass on the really sparkly, baubly bits at Phillip Lim, but I loved so much of this show. The subtler embellishment and feminine details – especially the skirt-pleating, bits of crocodile-texture and great t-strap shoes – were so pretty, and pretty in a way that was even wearable. (Aside: I want to don that top-left dress when I hand out Hallowe’en candy…)
Sophie Theallet
My favourite collection this season for two unexpected reasons: print and orange. She sent the best prints of fashion week down the runway, and has made me crazy about orange, a colour I usually am very ambivalent about. Burnished and sienna and tangerine and almost-persimmon. There was so much good orange in this collection.
Calvin Klein
Floating and minimalist and I keep zooming in to admire the detail, texture and painting of the fabrics. I think what I love most about Francisco Costa is how he subtly plays with gradients within the always-restrained Klein palate.
Narciso Rodriguez
Silhouette! It was like he let out a big, deep exhale and with it came this collection. The clothes flowed in a very good way. I loved the zippers and barely-noticable seaming details but hated the shoes. Still – that grey silk dress at middle with a subtle circular print and billowing racer back was my favourite piece of all the collections this season.
[all photos: style.com's S2010-RTW coverage]
Pops of chartreuse
Alberta Ferretti, I will happily wear most of your Resort 2010 collection. Preferably riding on the back of a scooter through the Italian countryside with my hair flying behind me. Pops of chartreuse, just enough structure, whimsical but classic prints, perfect styling (those shoes!). Gorgeous.
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