Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Party like it's 1979


Remember the that great classic Model/fashion movie of the late seventies"Lipstick" starring Margaux Hemingway? It was my road map. Margaux Hemingway was my reason for living. Talk about Model as Muse, she was my sun , moon and stars. There were others like Renee Russo and Lisa Taylor , but absolutely none came close to Margaux. When that film came out I bought the soundtrack before the credits finished rolling and it became the soundtrack to my every waking moment. There was a song on it that repeats the line again and again, "my body, my body...everybody wants my body...". I am a little confused if this is a "Lipstick" attribution or am I mixing it up with "The Eyes of Laura Mars"? Both flicks focus on fashion, super models and serial murders, which makes them uniquely appropriate themes relating to the Gala.
Well that's what spun around my brain last night channeling the thoughts of Anna Wintour and her posse. It was such a Lipstick/ Laura Mars moment . An exhumation , if you will of the days when models were the inspiration for so much that was life changing in fashion. Models as Muses are a thing of the past. They have been replaced by iron fisted magazine editors who've sold them down the river for actresses. ANY ACTRESS .
So the models and actresses turned out in droves. Oldies , the current indistinguishable faces and the new preteens on the scene. The fact that so many were in short couture was a welcome and sexy change that gave the evening it's sizzle. Designers were there en masse as well. Marc Jacobs has had the most incredible transformation of all. Escorting Kate Moss, it was tough to choose which of them was more striking. He's grown very handsomely into his mega-stardom. She looked so good you barely recognized her,maybe that's what was so great about Kate. You almost thought she was someone else. She exuded glamor as did he in that movie star sort of way. Kind of a polished version of a tired looking Tom Ford.
The only downer , besides Anna and her Peeps( that whole Vogue gaggle) was the unexpected Azzedine Alaia debacle. It appears his clothing ,photographs and influence as a torch bearer in the exhibit was conspicuously absent. Someone at Vogue screwed up and forgot to invite and include him. Considering his place in the line up of super greats and only one photograph by Gilles Bensimon from Elle was included , he decided to pull his clothes from the exhibit along with the designs he created especially for Naomi, Stephanie Seymour and Linda Evangelista to wear that night.
BIG BOO BOO. This of course was mentioned in the New York Times blog" On The Runway" by Cathy Horyn. It's not like they forgot to include Zac Posen or Proenza Schouler, but the giant of design Alaia. Well there will be hell to pay and this debt will take some time to work off. What could Ms. Wintour and her minions, especially her Go-To Girl Alexandra Kotur NOT have been thinking?
With the air so thin on Mount Olympus where they frolic, someone must have had a brain fart. I can safely say that an unpleasant odor will settle on this town for some time to come.
The party went on, but it was one of the biggest faux pas thus far. Maybe it's just a sign of age.....
Perhaps it's because Alaia doesn't buy ad pages in Vogue....Maybe LVMH, the exhibition's sponsor has a bone to pick, though I doubt it. I'd say it's early senility on the part of Conde Nast , it's irreproachable Editor and a support staff that only knows the words Brilliant and Yes.
A new phrase they should add to their lexicon should be " S***, did we ever F*** Up....."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

great post! i wonder if JPG was invited, along with Anna Sui. Maybe they did not have the money... but with prices starting at 7,000 something, I was very surprised to see a few designers that I do not think make that much money from their collections... maybe designers got in for free... whatever! yes, they really messed up with Azzedine. I bet he was furious! That Vogue! and i am not really buying that it was the curators that mess up. Vogue is very controlling... I bet that Vogue will do something special for Azzedine very soon. Whatever, we will get over this soon anyway. one day you are in and one day wearing short skirts! the models looked great. I envy those creators, they are everything.

Anonymous said...

Anna Winter and her magazine have grown old and tired. I no longer subscribe to it or even page through it. It has become a boring perspective on what she thinks fashion should be.

Anonymous said...

I have a bet with myself on how long it will be before Marc Jacobs hires Levi Johnston to model his men's line. He'll follow that up with a spread in Vogue.

angry deacon said...

maybe anna wintour missed mr. beene so much that she decided to turn the great alaia into the new geoffrey, for her own pleasure of course.

Anonymous said...

I don't think any one designer can claim to be so important this the ommission of his work from a museum show is an unforgivable sin. BUT: Zac Posen and not Alaia? Proenza Schouler? Puh-leaze.

The Met's credibility just dropped a few notches.