rocking the fashion world, one low-res screen at a time

houston we have lift-off

only thing missing was lighters in the crowd

ss15: gareth pugh the brit fashion cult-icon and ex-intern at rick owens, rocked new york city two nights ago the way only rock stars can… and what a breath of fresh air that was, in this desolate world of new york fashion. how many marc jacobs (even he ran away), donna karans, calvin klein, ralph laurens shows can you go to? and once you get there what surprise is awaiting you? more merchandise to sell… in bulk. m. arnault is counting big on marc jacobs IPO. they may all be rich but not very interesting, atleast to me. “oh come on” you may say, but then there are the accused alternative gang of poor, richard chai, rodarte, narciso rodriguez and the like who do their very best in an atmosphere of drab-ery and politics, driven by the end dollar sales, aiming to inject an ounce of creativity if they can manage to sneak that in… just ask, in private they will all agree. you add to this the fact that every manny, moe & jack celebrity who has started a line (gwen stefani’s L.A.M.B. made the harper’s bazaar hotlist!!) and that every editor with a paying job is obliged to cover the crap, and you end up with a uninspiring cycle that has every average citizen in milwaukee sporting a designer hand bag, from canal street. success? maybe? but not really. i mean the minute every joe and sally wants something, its clearly not that genius or that special anymore. because by default in order to be “that popular” you have to pass everyone’s acceptance meter. well we’ve all seen what committees do to brilliance, now make that committee half the population of earth, and that’s what you get. mediocre but still over priced rags we have to all accept and choose from. pink slime… sort of.

in the midst of all this, with mercedes-benz buying out fashion week on wholesale, little lexus rocks the boat by funding gareth pugh. and what a show that was. the waiters, food, and drinks aside, the impression of the presentation was epic. i cant remember a single outfit, and editors will be quick to justify just that. how the show was great but will not sell a single piece. well last time i checked half the runways looks never got produced thanks to buyers who second guess the public, and rightly so, after all they are after the mass. and the designers have obliged. but the show has always been about the philosophy and direction of a designer (if they happen to have one), much more than a single piece that sells… and if there is one thing you can take home with you from gareths show is that hes a genius, he is a true creative, with a new vision and great taste. that’s going to get me into the store or the site, and only then, as with everything else, i will chose to buy something or not. as for lexus, hats off to them supporting such a great talent and saving new york from itself. after all new york is what it is today thanks to thousands of fleeing souls from europe and across the world in WW2 who came here and were able to do what they couldn’t do elsewhere. looks like we need to import a bunch more, gareth is welcome any day. it seems like once they get here, and sit a while and get comfy they forget what it was all about. well-done lexus for your smart jab at mercedes for a fraction of their investment… just stay off the cobalt blue car at the entrance next time… or check with us before picking colors… otherwise a silver one would do just fine. you can also read tim blanks thoughts from style.com he had nice things to say but was rather more diplomatic than us. by dd