Adding Fuel To The Fire

My hands are stiff because it's already below freezing and I can't find my gloves. Ow.

Also: I don't know what happened to my post about the shoes, but Roxanne: In response to your comment,  I have had a hard time preventing the zipper from undoing itself and slipping on to my foot.

Through fashionista.com I found this article/interview with Alexander McQueen about the reasons why he wanted to do the Target collection, as well as the inspiration behind it (woooot).  I sort of see why he accepted this offer as opposed to something from H&M.  Target (or at least, my perception of Target) has a different appeal and different audience at H&M.  If you think about it, H&M has the different "departments" that range from trendy & funky, trendy & high-fashion-y, and trendy & basic.  It started off as for the "fashionistas", the ones who were far enough ahead of the curve to find the few H&Ms that had popped up in their city, and grew from there.  The perception that I have of Target is that is a lot more massive - not quite so trendy - more along the lines of "daily basics that make you look presentable and get you through life".

A very smart idea, business-wise, for Mr. McQ.  It sounds like he thought it through (read the article, it's very good).  I tip my hat to thee, and also to this:

The collection has a muted color palette of black, white, gray and tan with accents of cobalt blue and bright pink. Studs and mesh giv

e items an edge. There are studded jeans, shorts and denim jackets with asymmetrical closures, short tuxedo jackets and matching shorts, dresses in a blue and white painterly fabric, a one-shoulder dress in a gray-and-black zigzag pattern with a thick black belt, and a T-shirt with the image of Moss.........“It’s more ab

out the music scene and fashion scene in the East End area, where I live,” said the designer, adding the point of the line is not to educate people about fashion, but rather, “it’s a feeling about the time we’re living in. If you start to give the whole of America that sense of where I’m from, the undergrou

nd music scene, it’s not so much about a logo, it’s more about a feeling.”

Also, you should read the Q&A with Leila Moss.

WWD: How does it feel to be considered a muse for someone like McQueen?

L.M.: It’s sort of preposterous and delightful at the same time. I feel like I’d be a bit of an a--hole if I was really lapping it up too much, but obviously it helps you feel more justified about what you’re doing, your performances. It’s justified all of that hard work — like people have noticed your movement and the visceral quality of what you do — so, for someone to actually approach you and talk about design, it’s very cool.

I'm quite excited, and happy that Target.com ships to Canada.

El Weekend - Clothing Part

There was a bit of a "wangian" aesthetic going on with a lot of the attendees.  By that I mean the loose, silver-grey shirts and the tight black skinnies.  Like, I saw one girl who was wearing black Cheap Mondays, a loose white tank and a cropped denim jacket (wish I'd gotten a picture).

The sillhouette is interesting.  It hides a lot but I felt like to properly pull it off you had to be ten feet tall and a size nothing.

So I tried it myself for the Sunday:

I was mistaken for media twice, which was weird but got me free food, and I have never been more comfortable in the rain. I kind of like this.  Lately I've been more and more attracted to big, structured, draped pieces and what I like about Wangian-ness is that it combines this with more skin-skimming pieces.  

Like - emphasize what you like and then just throw a sheet over the rest.  Very simple.  Even a monkey like me can make a passable try at it.

Another element I really like (taken from his RTW Fall 2008) is that you can go from really dirty to really clean without looking like you're trying to look really clean if you're really dirty and vice-versa.  Both fall within Wang. Examples:

Clean v Not So Clean

Hate to ride a bandwagon, but I enjoy this.  Exciting.

The only thing it is missing is a nice, defined line or two.

Also: I did not know Erin Wasson was a stylist, I thought she was his go-to model or something. Shows how late/ignorant I am.

later: today at work someone said "I just saw a movie the other day. It was called Ghost World and you look just like the main character in it" which has never happened before.  odd.

El Weekend

I went to V-Fest this past weekend. I was the small awkward girl at the recycling store encouraging you to "trade in your cans and bottle for free stuff!!!!!".

I finally got to see SONS AND DAUGHTERS:

quote: "(Leonard Cohen) has a song called Dance Me To The End, we have a song called Dance Me In"

So excited.  Got there early, ended up face to face with the security guard (who made a special appearance in a lot of the pictures I took).  I wish I'd gotten a picture of Adele Bethel's shoes, they were wicked cool.  The interaction between her and Scott Patterson (guitarist) were really great.  During one song's bridge she just stood above him while he was kneeling and shook her tambourine over his head like some kind of little threat to him. 

The Kooks managed to make the entire audience sit down.  He said "sit down...everyone sit down, we're gonna jam" and so the band sat down.....and everyone else followed.

Weirdest moment at a concert ever.  Reminded me of a more sober Editors.

I was about a half mile back for Oasis and Bloc Party so I got no good, clear pictures of them.  I did see the guy attack Noel Gallagher though, that came out of absolutely nowhere (but right before introducing Morning Glory, Liam did say something unpleasant about Manchester United so maybe that's what spurred it? I don't know).  They finished, which I didn't expect.

I got one odd but good picture out of Oasis, this one:

Odd, but nice, surprise.  Kind of post-apocalyptic.