I opened up my New York Times this morning online and found an interesting story that hits home in a way. The story was on the world of bloggers, blogging and the nastiness that dominates the blogging world in general. I can simply add my opinion through an anecdote. At fashion week in New York a couple of seasons ago, a blogger went off and decided to crash designer’s shows as loudly as possible, misrepresent herself as a member of different press organizations and basically make a fool of the entire fashion blogosphere (which mind you, was not hard to do at the time).

Long anecdote short, security measures were put in place going forward by IMG and certain designers to prevent occurrences like that from happening again. Several organizations were started prior to this event and after in an attempt to bring legitimacy to what I and many others do. Some of the most prominent and recognized ones are Blogher (one of my daily stops online) and Pop-Life-Style (of which we’re a member). These organizations basically require bloggers to check their sources, own their photos and follow a certain code of conduct to ensure we’re not mucking up the digital information world (which is already as mucked up as it can get at times).

Bottom line, as I gingerly get off my soapbox and walk away from it; reputable blogging is an idea whose time has come. Read the New York Times article here.

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I was browsing through Madonna’s H&M line (can’t help but notice the ads are everywhere) and started thinking about something she and several other celebwear designers said recently. The “inspiration” for their lines came from looking at what they had in the closet and making tweaks here and there. Simply adding chiffon on one end, lace on the other, cutting the dress a bit shorter, adding beading, what have you - all contributed to their new “lines”. But the question that begs answering is: what was in the closet prior to the “creative touches” added by (insert celebrity here)? The answer is simple: something original from (insert designer here). So the question I’m wrangling with now is, is it innovative simply to go into a closet look at something and then create a line by making it “better”? or is it just a dressed up version on plagiarism?

Looking back at this past September’s Spring 07 fashion week collections, I noticed an interesting trend. A few rebellious designers decided to remove pastellish happiness, fabric and “springy” colors from their lines and let the dark colors fall wherever they wanted. While nothing new, there was a trendshift of sorts. I singled out some notables (notables because they were my favorite) that went dark for the season:

Ann Demeulemeester

Went with a variety of cutaway jackets for the season but even more noticeable was the usage of grey and black everywhere. A black vest over a sheer top, a skinny fluted pant, the dark, long slim skirt that trailed everywhere. It’s not like Demeulemeester hasn’t done a darker collection before, but in recent memory I’ve never seen so much black…and liked it. Photos

Vena Cava

Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai went black and did so unapologetically. While there were pastels and some bright colors interspersed here and there, overall the darkness was more than noticeable; it made the line. A deconstructed seam gown, black skinny pants paired with a sleevless top, and a dark spaghetti strap dress with emroidery at the top were all strong pieces in the line. Not a “springy” color in sight. Photos

Erdem

Another dark collection for the season of renewal. Erdem’s collection consisted of several black and white stripe pieces including a strapless dress, fitted mini-skirt and a short-sleeve round collar dress. He used flowery prints against a dark backdrop to round out the bulk of his line. Innovative, not quite, rebellious? Most definitely. Photos

If these design directions are any indication, there’s beauty in gloom and why not?

While not completely familiar with Hedi Slimane’s Dior Homme works (minus the press mentions, standing ovations at shows and occasional flip through ads in Vogue), I can surmise from reading just about everywhere online in the past few days that this is a major occurence. I kind of want to ask why without seeming like an idiot. Miles Socha of WWD says,

“The ouster of Slimane — one of luxury titan Bernard Arnault’s biggest fashion talents — is bound to reverberate throughout the industry, signaling stardom is no guarantee of job security and that brand owners are not prisoners of their creative talent.”

I question that line of thought because this doesn’t exactly set a precedent. There have been many a tussle and less than amicable split between corporate parents and their designer star children. Tom Ford, Jil Sander are names that immediately come to mind. At the same time, I can easily recognize how Slimane’s departure would leave a gaping hole at Dior Homme if he is the wunderkind that everyone says he is (I’m boning up on his collections as we speak mind you). That gaping hole though apparently seems not to worry the people at LVMH, specifically because his “understudy” looks to pick up where he left off.

Needless to say, Slimane will land on his feet. If the past is any judge of future direction, I’m expecting some sort of announcement in the coming months a’ la the aforementioned Tom Ford and Jil Sander about his new line and his foray into women’s wear (where my interest will definitely be piqued).

Take a look at some photos from Slimane’s most recent Dior Homme collection, it gives hope that his not-announced-yet women’s line will be wonderful.