Hey hey Thursday, I'm sitting here listening to The Replacements, having a nostalgic moment for my misspent youth. How great a song is "I'll be You"? Loving it.
And speaking of misspent moments, I'm going to chalk the New York shows up to a huge identity crisis on part of American designers, and as the week nears an end, I've never been so disappointed by the offerings of our talented fashion folks. I'm wondering if the acute schizophrenia and lack of cohesion of most of the shows is tapping into how we are feeling in this country this day- a bit lost, rudderless, and all over the place. Sure there were obvious themes of color blocking, bold color like orange, and a sporty mood punctuated by ankle braced shoes.
But as I looked at the shows and wondered how it is Michael Kors could send down a knee high gladiator sandal, it became clear to me that there is a strong possibility that just like the state of the nation, designers are a bit out of touchthese days with their constituents- and as manic Missoni mavens searched for bargain basement zig zag and almost trampled each other in the process, the shows went on, with no sense of how a non American designer was tapping into what many of us really want here in the good old US of A- a moderately priced yet iconic piece of clothing, without a whole lot of bells and whistles. And the Target collection was very, very cool, from what I could see of it anyway. I'm thinking of buying the black and white bike.
I will say one designer who kind of killed it for me was Phillip Lim, with his 3.1 collection. The looks here felt far away from color blocking and loud color- they were wearable, cool, and stood for American sportswear when it is at its best- sexy, unpretentious, and ultimately stylish in that casual chic way that we love so much. There was a weightlessness there, a lifting of restraint that I loved- and a sentiment that all of us need- life has been tough of late and these clothes feel remarkably on target for such tough times. I dig them wholeheartedly, and you should too. Pics below from fashiononlogie.com tell the story- great pieces for one and all.
And with the economy being the way it is and all this talk of douple dippity do, designers would be smart to not create such unwearable and altogether weird collections- now is not the time- we simply need clothes we can depend on, without a lot of trickery. Of this I am sure...cause that's what's up this hoping 7th Avenue gets the message kind of Thursday in the MIA. Only a few more shows to go in NYC so we shall see, won't we? You be me for a while and I'll be you. XO
