Pajiba

1. VOGUE SUCKS. They have no clue.

2. My sister and I went to see "The Devil Wears Prada" and as soon as we saw Meryl Streep come on screen, we both shouted, "MOM?" Same haircut and fashion sense.

3. Later that same day, Mom called me and said, "Turn on such&such show. Anna Wintour is on and she looks just like you." I immediately went out and got a different haircut.

It would be funny if it weren't real.

I find fashion incredibly boring. I am always pissed when the New Yorker's fashion issue comes in the mail. No interest whatsoever - and I'm somebody who likes clothes and likes to look nice.

as a vogue subscriber for 15 years, i'm actually very psyched to see it.

This stuff is important, to the extent that it is, because the dumb shit they're shown in Milan this year will be tweaked and turned into the stuff actual people wear two years later.

That said, "September is January for fashion." What the fuck does that even mean? It's cold and everybody is broke from over-spending in August?

I know a LITTLe about it, only because my boyfriend is a doorman near where the Bryant Park Fashion Week tents are, and because I work for a wholesale fashion merchandising company.

It goes like this:

Besides the fashion weeks in Paris and Milan, Bryant Park Fashion Week in New York city is an entire week of every major fashion designer (and some newcomers) showing off their seasons lines to buyers, the press and celebrities. Think of it like an open house only your display is strutting down a runway. Buyers from all over the world come and decide what designers they'll showcase in their stores (this can run the gamut from Target to Nordstrom to Saks.) Designers usually show 20-40 pieces/outfits, and their asses are on the line because the more people like their clothes, more companies will buy them. If they suck, the press crucifies them and they don't sell their product.

The Fashion Week in January (combined with the Weeks in Paris and Milan) pretty much decide what the "in" people will be wearing that year; it could be a specific time period, a color, a texture, etc. That "look" will be incorporated into the mainstream markets during the year (like the trucker hat, the skinny jeans, oversized purse, leggings, etc). The September issue of Vogue for the "in" people is basically a culmination of what was shown at the fashion tents. It literally is the "Bible" if your job is clothing and designs, because it shows what you need, what to buy, how much it all costs, and the trickle down effect of trends.

Here's a big scene in the Devil Wears Prada that basically explains it. People in the fashion world literally hang on one trend from moment to next because it makes or breaks careers. I actually don't care and that's why I'm the Executive Assistant :-)

"This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."

Hoped the classroom lesson helped!

Hey now. NY hipsters are way more annoying than ours.

Ours prattle about how much meaning they got after reading freaking Catcher in the Rye for the 47th time and how amazing LA Mill Coffee is.

Theirs blather about....actually I don't know what they blather about because I was too busy walking away as fast as my legs could carry me. In LA I have to wait to sober up so I can leave.

You know what, you're right. LA hipsters ARE more annoying, if only because you're usually trapped six deep at the bar at 4100, wishing, just wishing, the bartender who might be sort of cute under all that irony would SHOWER, and you can't leave because your DD isn't ready yet and you've sucked down 14 vodka tonics just to deal with all the douchebaggery.

Not that that's ever happened. To me.

I'm not a regular Vogue reader, but I believe September is their big fall fashion issue, and it's huge, like close to 1000 pages or something like that (per Google, their 2007 version weighed over 3 pounds).

And yes, people care about this shit. They're called "rich people." And unfortunately, yes, these fashion nitwits decide, in part, what the rest of us wear (thanks for all the ugly-ass styles in Target the past couple years, Anna, you hag).

RE "September is January for fashion" - it means that fall is kinda like the start of the fiscal year for the fashion world. It's considered the most important season, I assume because it's full of more expensive winter clothes (coats, formal dresses for holiday parties, etc.).

I'm pretty sure that's designated driver. That fits in with the few things I know about LA--nobody walks.

Wow, she looks like such a happy person. Move over, Rabindranath Tagore. There's a new role model in my life and she's got a bob.

I love discussing TDWP with people who take things at face value. Oh, she's the villain? "Miranda" took a kid straight out of college and full of idealism and taught her (or inspired her, through sheer terror and emotional torture) how to rule the world. I don't think I'd have lasted a week, but I'd apply anyway.

"Everybody wants this. Everybody wants to be us."

Nobody walks in LA? Maybe if it was all centralized and had public transportation like NYC, that would be great. But when everything is spread the hell out and traffic is always miserable, one must band together and kiss the ass of one's DD (designated driver, yes).

Now now, some intelligent, non-superficial, and in my case, very poor people do care about this stuff. I took fashion studies for years in high school, and I can draft my own patterns, do my own alterations, and create my own garments. The process is difficult and steeped with creativity and requires tremendous skills.

I also find fashion incredibly interesting. Look at how style has evolved over time and the meanings that go with it. In Victorian times, pink was associated with powerful masculinity, while blue was seen as tranquil and serene, so more feminine. Fashion also reflects changing times, think of flappers, women during the war effort, hippies, and even shoulder pads. They all represent something bigger that's going on in society, so fashion is very much worthwhile to pay attention to.

Do you have to read Vogue, or wear what is on the pages of Vogue? No, but Scorzi is right, the stuff on those pages ends up in stores anyway. Couture inspires fabric, shape, volume and colour trends, which ends up in our closets as ready to wear garments.

I would totally read a Fug Girls live blog of this movie. But I too think this could be a somewhat interesting movie, if only for the fact that Anna Wintour is a crazily interesting person. I also love flicking through old editions of Vogue when I'm at the doctor, dentist, etc. Whilst it basically sells the unattainable dream, I'll be damned if some of it isn't art. Art, people.

I find fashion incredibly boring. I am always pissed when the New Yorker's fashion issue comes in the mail. No interest whatsoever ...

Posted by: samantha t at June 25, 2009 11:54 AM
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I give TNY credit for actually making the fashion issue articles (most of them) interesting enough for even a fashion idiot like me to read.

Now the fiction issues ... OctoJeebus. Whatever happened to stories with beginnings, middles and ends?

Fashion? Everything I know about fashion or need to know about fashion I learned from "Pret-a-Porter."