Sunday, September 13, 2009

Oh to be Young Pretty and Stupid...

so ...clicking thru some fashion links via the Mad Fashionista...I end up at the new york times.....coverage of Fashion Week in teh big shitty......

When my wondering eyes should appear to land on this asshat statement:

"Sometimes they’re wearing everything they own at the same time because they have no choice,” said the designer Keanan Duffty, who sometimes plays a game on the street that he refers to as “Fashion Stylist or Homeless Person?” “It is not intended as a lack of respect for people with no homes and no means,” he said. “It’s more a kind of admiration for improvisations people come up with in a dreadful circumstance.”

and for more asshattery:



Erin Wasson, a model turned designer, seconded Mr. Duffty’s view that the professionals could take some tips from the homeless. And she defended remarks she made last year in an interview with Nylon magazine. “The people with the best style for me are the people that are the poorest,” Ms. Wasson said....“It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Oh, God, that’s so inspiring — you got your clothes from a garbage can,’ ” Ms. Wasson said. What is she saying then? “When I moved down to Venice Beach, I found these people with this amazing mentality, this gypsy mentality — people that you couldn’t label and put in a box,” said the designer


Yes, let's not glamorize the homeless while glamorizing the... homeless....Oh, it's just sooo Hard...to be young and pretty and wealthy and successful and completely devoid of:

1. Morals and empathy.
2. Talent.

This recent spate of "designers" of "fashion" have lost all ability to think of something unique, clever, fun, inspirational, or with a bit originality...so they turn to ripping off the young or older, ahem, DIY designers like uh, me...and thousands of others who actually think, ponder,create and give to the world of vapid fashion-addicts...something resembling Dressing Artfully.

Long gone, for the most part, are the days when those who populate the world's runways to inspire and have a wee bit of fun...

The Fashion Designers...oh, Yves, oh Mr. Dior...Oh, Miss Cashin...Oh Claire McCardell........

I still can somewhat respect quite a few ..don't misunderstand...Mr. Lagerfeld and his team still astound me how they can reinterpret Chanel...again and again...Those tweeds...Those pearls ! over and over and never bore me, and I don't even like Chanel!



We know the story of Marc Jacobs and his wholesale theft of the Grunge..back in the 90s....and it's been all downhill after that...

So, I sent some vintage clothes to New York or LA...or SF.. or Paris...I know they are used for inspiration and that is just fine...we are inspired by that which has come before ...

What I see too often on the runways...are designs that are simply ripped off from the clever ones all over the globe...via...all the blogging that's going on...

I stand and sit and stare at the multitude of materials I have in my workshop..."Where The Magic Happens" and try to come up with something a bit different...as I assemble ...bricolauge...collage....

But looking at the homeless and thinking "mmm Fashion!" and thinking no more. Stop. It. Now.
It's nothing new to look at Gypsies (Roma), Africans, or peasants, in general....it is crossing a line of morality to use the homeless for fashion muses, and do nothing about the homeless...

I could feel better about this (maybe) if the Young, Pretty and Vapid...would be less smug about the tremendous good fortune that has fallen into their collective nimble laps...to be Young and Pretty is just a gift...You did not earn it, You did not request it...

Please do not brag about your fortune, on the backs of those for whom Misfortune has befallen...these folks are on their knees....

the least you could do, is to stand up on your feet and act like a caring feeling grownup...and if you really must mock the homeless as "fashion", Keep your mindless PieHole shut.
We don't want to know you for an asshat....we'd prefer some mystery there.

3 comments:

Mad Fashionista said...

So utterly true! Cathy Horyn pointed out in The New York Times that the firm of Ungaro picking Lindsay Lohan as "artistic advistor" was a new fashion low. It must be maddening to be creative and see non-creativity rewarded.

From my perspective inside the tents this week, I have been surrounded by the young, the pretty and the vapid. But one must remember--there is nothing more disposable than a pretty young woman. Pick up a few Vanity Fair covers from five or six years ago and you will see what I mean.

Christine said...

So fiction becomes reality again! Thinking of the movie Zoolander and the Mogatu fashion empire creating the new line called "derilicte" based on the style of the homeless.

What a joke that so many designers took a farcical look at the fashion industry as a great inspiration. The world is a strange place.

propriatress said...

yes! and Galliano did a collection a few years back (quite clever and artful, really) based partly on homeless/gypsy/wanderer theme....I find it a pisser/ amusing that they will go to Tres Homeless..(but I made that point in the blog post).......for ...something...to copy a copy of a copy...and they probably don't even realize they are channeling Zoolander...so self-absorbed are they.

;-)