It is probably very un-fahsionista for me to announce that I HATE SEX AND THE CITY. And I am sick of hearing about it. I just never understood why it was so hyped. Aside from Samantha, the characters were lame, and aside from the occasional conversation over a cocktail (that I could relate to), the whole show was totally contrived.

I wasn’t a fan of the clothing either, although from a styling perspective, it was super well done. Carrie’s outfits were ridiculous most of the time, but I liked the style that Patricia Field gave every character. I haven’t seen many of the TV episodes, but enough to know I wasn’t that interested in the show and its plot. I saw the first movie on a plane, and although I felt verklempt when Carrie was abandoned on the aisle, I thought the movie was just one big advertisement for the luxury brands involved. So I’m basically not that excited about Sex and the City 2 either….

What really interests me is the number of parties and events that are happening as a result of this movie launch. I missed Style Republic’s party on Tuesday night (which was apparently very fun), but I am going to one at the Opus Hotel tonight, and that’s just Vancouver….apparently New York City is awash with SATC 2 premiers parties, screenings, etc… I love that the fashion industry likes to have a great big celebration, but why can’t it be about something a bit more…deserving. A movie about a bunch of 40 something semi-sluts is not deserving of hundreds of fashion parties. Hadley Freeman explained it quite nicely in her review of the film in the Guardian: “I don’t want to be filled with despair at Hollywood’s increasing inability to conceive of women in comedic films as anything other than self-obsessed babies with breasts.” Another great article, also from the Guardian, asks the question “Does anyone really care what the characters wear?” Well, the brands sure do, but as the article explains, we didn’t all go off and start wearing a “stupidly oversized corsage or a tutu.”

A page from the Sex and the City 2 book. A waste of trees.

The worst past about the movie is the blatant product placement AND the commercialization of the product placement. There is a book coming out, which will feature every single outfit from the film, with the names of the designers. So, you’ll have to pay 30 bucks for the pleasure of knowing about every single bracelet, hat, and shoe that was bought with the film’s 10 million dollar wardrobe budget. Has anyone even asked the question, do we HAVE to know all of the outfits? All of the brands? I mean, what’s wrong with watching a movie and saying “Wow, I love her dress” without then having to research the designer and the price? Will anyone actually be able to watch the movie without thinking, “there’s that Halston dress” or “Are those Jimmy Choos or Manolos?”

Tutus are for ballerinas and five year old girls.

I’ll definitely be asking myself these questions when I see the movie, which will make it even less enjoyable…although I have to state I’ll be seeing the movie for business purposes. If I didn’t see the movie, it would be on par to NOT looking at the recent Stella McCartney fashion show images, just cause I don’t like her. It is part of my job. But I won’t be going on opening night, or any night shortly after that, because I’d like to watch the film without being surrounded by groups of squealing thirty-something women gasping at the ridiculous storyline and the outfits. I won’t be drinking cosmopolitans before, during, or after the film. And I certainly won’t be wearing a tutu.

Images courtesy of Sex and the City. Keep an eye out for my review in 6 months once the film has gone to DVD and its on sale for 5 dollars at HMV.

—–UPDATE—– May 28th

The Sex and the City 2 party at the Opus Hotel last night was (as usual) a super well-organized, fun event. I didn’t get to see the Halston pop-up store on the second floor, which was a shame, but I saw a few people wearing Halston dresses and they looked great.

These Christian Louboutin images have been been circulating on the web. They are guessed to be his next advertising campaign, although nothing has been confirmed.

The photos have been shot by Khuong Nguyen, and the shoot has been named Winter Tales. If published, this would be the first Christian Louboutin advertising campaign.

I love the photos, and I am so torn about Christian Louboutin. I love his shoes, but I hate the way horrible celebrities have made him so “mainstream.” SATC almost ruined Manolo Blahnik, WAGs ruined Jimmy Choo, and Victoria Beckham ruins almost everything she wears. But Louboutins are so lovely, and that red sole really is beautiful. I think I am going to have to give them a chance.

Photos courtesy of Khuong Nguyen.

Would you like to smell like this? Bruce Willis in Die Hard.

When I see a headline like this in my inbox:

“Bruce Willis Sets Fragrance Deal”

I want to cry.

Why the hell would anyone want to buy a Bruce Willis fragrance? Does any man want to smell like him? Does any woman want her man to smell like Bruce Willis? I didn’t realize they could make a fragrance that smells of sweaty, dirty American “hero” crashing cars in order to save the world/USA/Los Angeles.

In fact, why would anyone buy a celebrity fragrance? I don’t think I could bring myself to buy a celebrity fragrance even if I loved the smell, because it is sort of implying that you want to smell like that person. And a smell is so individual, you can’t emulate the smell of a celebrity. Designer perfumes make scents (ha ha, ok, sense) because when someone wears a recognizable perfume, it still develops its own unique smell on that person. But trying to smell like a celebrity is just weird (unless you are 9 years old, that’s ok.) I’m all about idolizing people (like I idolize Patty Hewes) but I wouldn’t want to smell like her, or look exactly like her. Maybe I’d copy the way she manipulates everyone to get her way, or pairs those crisp, untucked shirts perfectly with classic tailoring, but I wouldn’t buy her collection of clothing (and Glenn Close would never stoop that low anyway.) And by the way are there any celebrities with credibility who have their own fragrances?

A fragrance by Kim Kardashian. Who wants to smell like desperation?

I am so sick of celebrity collaborations, unless there’s a really good reason for it (the only one I can think of is charity. And a serious contribution, not just 5% of profits…)

And speaking of bad celebrity collaborations, this quote in Vogue about Sarah Jessica Parker’s involvement in Halson makes me want to be sick.

“She says it took a long time to make the decision. “There was every reason to say no, and there were very compelling reasons to say yes. They were very persuasive,” says (Sarah Jessica Parker), although she gave them every possible excuse to walk away. She told them they were taking “a very untraditional route” and that they’d be bludgeoned for it.”

Here’s a reason why she should have said no to getting involved with Halston: SJP, you are not a designer, and Patricia Field is responsible for making you look good in Sex and the City, so get out of the fashion industry. And please stop making bad perfumes too.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Covet perfume. I covet your SATC collection of Manolos, not your cheap fragrance.

Yesterday we looked at one of the most influential shoe designers of the 20th century, and today I am going to introduce you to another shoe master. I am obsessed with shoes, and Roger Vivier is definitely one of my favourite footwear brands. He started off as a shoe designer in the 30’s, worked for Christian Dior in the 1950’s, and his signature shoe was a pump with a buckle on the front, called the Pilgrim. Roger Vivier is thought to have been the inventor of the stiletto, so ladies (and men, let’s face it, who doesn’t benefit from the stiletto,) lets take a moment to honour this VERY important man.

A signature Roger Vivier Pilgrim buckle shoe.

These are some more fabulous Roger Vivier for Christian Dior shoes from the 50s and 60s.

Image source.

When I was planning my wedding outfit, there was no question in my mind that the shoe was going to be the most important part of the outfit. I knew I was going to be wearing Valentino, because it was sort of a childhood dream, and it was the last season of ready-to-wear that Valentino was actually designing, so the collection had significance. (I wore a short, “Valentino red” knit dress, which was possibly the easiest shopping experience in my life. We happened to be in Sloane Street area, and I went into the Valentino store with my friend Nora, we tried on three red dresses, two made me look fat, so I bought the third. SO easy.)

Anyway, back to the shoe. The brand was just as important as the shoe itself, because I had to buy a fabulous shoe brand, not a WAG brand (Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin), not a predictable brand (Manolo Blahnik), and not just any clothing brand’s shoe (YSL or Chanel.) Pierre Hardy would have been an acceptable brand, but his stuff was too chunky.

I was training staff at Harrods about fashion trends one day (which is really good money, but pointless if you spend four times your wage as you walk through the footwear department on the way to your room) and I found these Roger Vivier shoes. Roger Vivier had recently been relaunched, with Bruno Frisoni as creative director, and it was the perfect footwear brand: luxury, respectable, a wonderful history, French, not over-exposed, and beautiful. Plus, these shoes were exclusive to Harrods, so there were a very limited number of pairs made. And, they were rock’n'roll.

It was love at first sight.

(I’ve condensed this into a collage for the benefit of my readers…but I could easily write about 15 blog posts about my wedding shoes and their significance, and my love for them and blah blah blah, but I’m afraid I might lose most of my readership. And don’t ask me about the story behind the D&G shoes, that’s another hour long tale of search, desperation, hunting, luck, and glory.)

So, the reason why this post came to be is because, after searching high and low, I finally managed to find a fairly complete selection of photos from the Roger Vivier Spring Summer 2010 Couture Collection. Here’s a blurb and some of the photos that I found from this article on Telegraph.co.uk.

“…brace yourself for fashion’s latest excess – the £30,000 pair of Roger Vivier heels.”

“They feature an assortment of life’s little luxuries such as 24 ct gold-coated mesh, semi-precious stones, jet, satin ribbons, silk chiffon, diamanté and crocodile skin fashioned into dainty rosettes.”

“The “Dovima”, an 11cm, spike-heeled confection of gilded silk mesh and jewels, is embellished with a pair of rose pink-dyed, taxidermy birds with gold and crystal heads.”

“The collection is called “One is Too”, for each pair can be inserted into and buckled onto matching crocodile or snakeskin protective “platforms”, based on the “pattens” of the Middle Ages. They add height and save the expensive, fragile works-of-art for the feet from actually making contact with anything as rugged, commonplace and downright dirty as the pavement.”

Read the rest of the article here. And the article tells you where to buy them, if you’re interested in remortgaging your house. These shoes certainly make yesterday’s $2700 pair a bargain.

Sometimes I read news about the fashion industry that truly send shivers down my spine… and today was another one of these moments. I thought of waiting until later to hear if these rumors were denied, but then I thought it would give me the opportunity to discuss one of my favourite brands ever, and one of my least-favourite TV shows, which I want to feature anyway, so here I go.

Womens Wear Daily, and The Cut have both announced rumors that Sarah Jessica Parker may take on an advising role at Halston, similar to the role that Lindsey Lohan took at Ungaro. Now, considering the utter and complete failure that was the first collection by Lohan at Ungaro, wouldn’t brands hesitate about repeating this “celebrity” advisor concept? Plus, SJP at Halston???? She wears fluffy skirts, not fabulous, streamlined jersey dresses, she has big curly hair, not slicked-back buns, she wears girly, overdone shoes, not statement, strong accessories. She is so wrong for that brand.

A little background on Halston…

Roy Halston was a American designer who came to fame in the late fifties and early sixties, starting as a miliner and then becoming famous for his minimal, jersey dresses. Here are a few photos from one of my Halston books.

Halston, like Helmut Newton, are one of my first reference points for creative research when I am designing. I love his work.

He is known for dressing women like Jacqueline Kennedy, Bianca Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor, and Liza Minnelli. He was also a regular at the famous Studio 54 nightclub, and would be known to turn up with a gaggle of women looking fabulous and wearing Halston. These women were referred to as the Halstonettes, and he was one of the first designers to openly use the concept of a brand ambassador, which is now something used by many large fashion brands (Daslu, the famous luxury store in Sao Paolo uses Dasluzettes to promote their store, they are beautiful Brazilian women who go to all the good parties wearing Daslu clothing. If you want to read more about the best luxury store in Brazil, scroll down to the bottom of this article.)

Remember this famous Gucci dress by Tom Ford? Inspired by Halston. Image source.

Anyway, Halston was relaunched for the umpteenth time a few seasons ago, but this time with a “super team” behind it, that included the smarts of Tamara Mellon from Jimmy Choo, the cash from film mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the, uhhh, ideas (?) of stylist Rachel Zoe. The collection did not do very well, neither did the second one, so they got rid of Rachel and the head designer, did one collection with their in-house design team, and hired Marios Schwab to come in as the new creative director. We are all awaiting Marios’ first Halston collection, to be presented in February, with feverish anticipation…He is an Austrian-Greek St Martins graduate young designer based in London that makes pretty beautiful dresses.

Halstons first relaunched collection that didn’t do so well…

Images from Style.com

Some of Marios Schwab’s designs:

Images from Style.com.

Now, why, when you have the fashion world at the edge of their seat anticipating the first Halston by Marios Schwab collection, would you then try and throw Sarah Jessica Parker into the mix? Why? It sounds ridiculous, she isn’t very Halston, she certainly isn’t very Marios Schwab, and she is not a fashion designer of any sort.

I am going to save my Sex and the City rant for another day, since they are releasing their next movie in the summer, and I am sure I will have a lot to say about that. I personally found the series a bit predictable, the characters were annoying, and I just wasn’t a fan (sorry…I know its about fashion and Manolos, but it just didn’t do it for me.) I did enjoy some of the conversations between the four women, and I think their outfits were worth checking out, but I find SJP to be pretty irritating. But I am not wasting energy saying mean things about her, its not worth it. She looks good for her age, wears some pretty interesting clothing, and his quite respectable, so good for her. But she isn’t worthy of Halston.

How can this

work with this.

Sarah Jessica Parker images source.

It can’t. Please god let this be a rumour that doesn’t come true, for Marios’ sake (it must feel pretty crap if you just got a new job, and before you even proved yourself, they hire someone to “help you”),  for Sarah’s sake (she is bound to make a fool of herself, and you need to be really tall, thin, and angular to pull off Halston jersey dresses) and for Halston’s sake. I have every confidence that Marios can do Halston, but its gonna be a lot of work, and he needs our support. But not  Sarah Jessica’s Parker’s help. She should stick to flouncy skirts and pretty colours and curly hair…

—- UPDATE —-

The rumors are true (according to WWD), SJP is taking on an “advisory” role for Halston Heritage. This is a very bad start to the day.

—- SECOND UPDATE —-

It seems to be confirmed that SJP will be involved in the Halston Heritage collection, which is the Halston diffusion line focused on re-launching some pieces form the Halston archives. She won’t have anything to do with the line  Marios is working on, but still. It is wrong.

Here is Part 2 of my summary of the last decade. Click here for Part 1.

New Blood in the fashion industry and on the catwalks. Images from Style.com

Christophe Decarnin for Balmain.

Tomas Maier for Bottega Veneta.

Christopher Bailey for Burberry Prorsum.

New designer Gareth Pugh.

Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy.

Alber Elbaz for Lanvin.

New designer Marios Schwab.

New designers Rodarte.

New designer Giambattista Valli.

Stefano Pilati for Yves Saint Laurent.

New designer Zac Posen.

Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga.

And I am not forgetting Jonathon Saunders, Proenza Schouler,  Alexander Wang, Philip Lim, Richard Nicoll, and many others (including revivals of Halston and Ossie Clark.) In fact, when I was researching this post, I realised that in Fall 2002, Style.com showed 114 designers’ catwalk collection on their website. For Fall 2009 the number was up to 262.

A New Retail Perspective resulted in an shopping evolution, or revolution.

Dover Street Market in London.

Dover Street Market, considered one of the “best” stores in the world, opened on London’s Dover Street. Curated by Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garcons, the store continues to innovate.

Primark’s first central London location had people queuing over an hour to buy £1 tights and £3 t-shirts. Dubbed “Primani”, the store continues to attract crowds and has not felt the recession as badly as most high street retailers.

A new retailing concept: The Pop-Up Store. A temporary retail space, opened for a short period of time, sometimes with a limited edition product. This one is a pop up for Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garcons for a collection of handbags.

Net A Porter changed the way consumers shop for luxury online.

ASOS (As Seen On Screen) started as a site selling copies of celebrities outfits, but as turned into one of the largest, most-successful multi-brand online retailers.

Gilt Groupe is one of the many discount luxury retailers thriving in the recession.

American Apparel sold basics tees with a new angle: using sleazy and sometimes pornographic images to sell a product made in the US in factories where workers had holiday and sick pay.

A Decade to be Forgotten. How many of these fashion trends do you look back on and smile, or cringe? (in no particular order…)

Kate Moss wearing gladiator sandals, first seen at Balenciaga.

Luxury denim, aka the $300 pair of jeans. These ones from Rock and Republic.

Lingerie becomes fashionable again, thanks to brands like Agent Provocateur.

I remember when there were one hour lineups outside the Birkenstock store.

Bling: a trend I definitely did not embrace.

Nu Rave. The worst trend of the 00s. What were they thinking? This look by Cassette Playa.

The IT bag: Chloe Paddington anyone?

and we certainly cant forget the Motorcycle bag by Balenciaga.

The new IT bag: The IT shoe. From top to bottom: Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, and Christian Louboutin. I think we have Sex and the City to thank for this.

On second thought, Crocs were definitely the worst trends of the 00s, with Nu Rave coming in a close second.

Not wearing pants. A Lady Gaga phenomenon, lets hope this one doesn’t last. Image source.

Leggings. These ones by American Apparel.

Boho, Hippie, Hobo, whatever. A look that kept on giving. Sienna Miller image from Dave Hogan/Getty Images.

Skinny jeans helped us to discover the muffin top. These ones by Topshop.

Maybe it was a decade of really bad shoes…. But unfortunately we still haven’t seen the end of the Ugg boot.

Wellington boots by Hunter. Remember when there were for farmers, not festivals?

If anyone had told me that a company would make millions buy selling velour jogging suits, I would have never believed them. Nauseating.

The Birth of the Recessionista and the credit crunch will probably be one of the defining events of the last decade, even though it took place at the end. The losers were the big luxury brands that didn’t have a strong brand identity, hedgefund managers, department stores, anyone selling cars or furniture, and the millions who ended up unemployed and homeless. The winners were the discount retailers, online retailers, anyone selling an education, and MacDonalds.

Susie Bubble as a Recessionista.

Catch Part 3 of 3 “Remembering the Noughties” posts tomorrow!

All images from the brand’s or person’s website, except all catwalk images from style.com, unless otherwise noted.

I just read on Ajax World Magazine that the Luxury Institute has just announced the top luxury brands in Europe, based on the “2009 Best of the Best European Luxury Brand Status Index.” What I love about their results is that this is not based on what fashion people think, or fashion experts, this is based on the “unbiased ratings of wealthy European consumers.”

Wealth does not necessarily equate taste, as we can see by these results, and I am sure if the Vogue team got their hands on this the results would be very different. However, these are the statistics based on people who can actually afford the products, and unless you have family money or a rich husband, the Vogue salary is not going to make you one of those. The ratings are based on Consistently Superior Quality, Uniqueness and Exclusivity, Making the Customer Feel Special Across the Entire Experience and Being Consumed by People Who Are Admired and Respected.

Here are the results:

So, on Women’s Fashion, Chanel deserves top spot, I won’t argue that. I’m not surprised about Valentino (they probably haven’t been into the store since he stop designing), and although I love Louis Vuitton’s clothing, it is pretty hard to find (only sold in their own stores) so I am a bit confused about that one.

Women’s shoes: god this list depresses me. Christian Louboutin, as far as I am concerned, has been ruined as a brand by celebrities, notably Victoria Beckham, overwearing it. So has Manolo, although he is still fabulous, and Jimmy Choo, well, no thanks.

Handbags: Hermes, of course, Chanel, definitely second after Hermes. Jimmy Choo???? I can think of a hundred handbag brands I would buy over Jimmy Choo, unless I was looking for a royal blue snakeskin clutch with gaudy hardware. I guess rich people don’t have much taste after all!