Sometimes an inner voice yells out yay when things like this happen. But Armani’s question in which he asks why so many people dislike the US Vogue editor is a relevant one. Did she step on anyone’s fingers on the way up that notorious success ladder? Did she fire one too many assistants? Did she diss an influential designer by shrugging them off? I surmise it is another reason altogether. Success brings a lot including people who may not “like” you. Reminds me of a scene in American Gangster when Armand Assante talking to Denzel Washington after Washington’s character was almost rubbed out by a competing gangster. Assante says to Washington and there’s a bit of a paraphrase thrown in, “your success just just took a shot at you, what are you going to be unsuccessful?” That is the essential answer to Armani’s question and the question for everyone else. Sometimes that success breeds contempt. Let’s just say that the editor of US Vogue were Carine Roitfeld, Nina Garcia, Grace Coddington etc…, the end result might still be the same.

Don’t be fooled by Lindsay Lohan going nude in New York Magazine’s Spring issue. Yes, it reminds us and everyone in the free world of Marilyn Monroe, yes there’s this tragic allegory, yes it is a great looking shoot. But that’s celebrity fluff and we only read celebrity fluff occasionally (hiding copies of Star, People and turning off Tivo’d Access Hollywood). The real gem in this issue is Andre 3000’s new clothing line, Benjamin Bixby. And while we’ve seen the whole rapper does clothing line thing before, there’s some truth in the advertising on this one. Just take a look at any old Outkast video and you’ll see that Andre is the real thing.

We may wonder why EVERY rapper needs their own clothing line, we believe Benjamin has transcended the MC label and has become messianic in his devout belief that short shorts (for men) will make a comeback. (read the NyMag.com article here)

The self important fashion bloggers who complain about not getting into shows (sheepishly raising hand) should take note from Cathy Horyn. Although her reasons seems wholly related to her review as opposed to her status. Today she goes into detail on receiving an invite then having that invite from Armani called back. Why? Because she told “the man” a little something about his collection and where he could collectively stick it. Ok, she didn’t go so far, but she did say what I guess were unflattering things about his posse and their gear and faster than you could say Sam not getting into Custo Barcelona, she was dissed. Here’s a bit of an excerpt from her self-inflicted public flogging:

Armani had decided not to invite me to his show and, of course, that was the intent of the letter, once I had read it. He didn’t like the tone of my comments about his January couture show in Paris; specifically, he thought I was “belittling” of his family and friends. I had described their appearance and manner in the moments before the show. It was pretty innocuous stuff.

This isn’t the first time journalists from reputable publications have been left out in the cold. Remember the D & G debacle a couple of seasons back? We were certain that the feud would come to rival the Hatfield & McCoys, somehow they were able to patch things up. We’re certain that envoys will be sent before the next season and all will be forgiven. Now if we can only get our blogger into his show…

I get this question a lot during the fashion week period. Sure you’ll end up reading a bunch of reviews that talk about the fabric used, the effect, how good something looks, what the crowd response was, but you’ll find that you rarely read a bad review.

Even with publications like Style.com and Elle who are “the industry” as it were you will find that reviewers often hide their negative thoughts in some sort of veiled praise. The example that most often crops up is the comparison between movie reviews and fashion reviews. There are a few brave souls in the industry that will actually say…hey this collection on the whole sucks. Lesser known publications do it all the time, but I’d venture to say they are lesser known for that reason among others.

So how does one pick a favorite, how can you truly know whether a collection really did stand out? A good number of times it comes down to personal preference. Though they will try to fool you, the reality of it is, voting with your money often is a good indicator of whether a collection is successful or not. There’s also Cathy Horyn at the New York Times who rarely minces words when it comes to a collection. The saccharin sweetness of Style.com will definitely leave a lot to be desired. Go through their reviews, it’s hard to find a bad one in the lot. Even at Papierdoll, I find sometimes that it is hard to tell whether Davina, Michelle, Caroline etc liked a collection or not. For the most part though when something is truly bad they will let you know and sometime be very vocal about it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, do you think fashion show reviews are heavily biased towards positivity? Drop me a line: eva@papierdoll.net

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