Saw this:

On Manolo’s Shoe Blog yesterday and it scared me to a gasp. Unlike Tyra who has a ridiculous fear of dolphins, on the errant chance that one might come running after her in her studio, I have this sort of fishphobia. I never walk past the Fulton fish market near the South Street Seaport (when it was there, never though I would say this but thank God for the South Bronx) and the idea of walking around in flip-flops made out of fish (even if fake) sounds not too appealing.

So Thank You Manolo, for scaring the shit out of me.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions pertaining to what I am most looking forward to during fashion week. I never really go, save that for the team of Michelle, Ali and Mike who are going in my stead. My fashion sense tends to be topsy turvy and a complete 180 from what everyone else (read the fashion blogging intelligentsia) thinks is “cool.” I think that is primarily one of the reasons I hold back my preference of what I want to see coming down the runway. But if we were to talk in abstract, just flowing extemporaneously, I’d simply say that I’d want to see London, coming down a New York runway. It’s not that American designers aren’t any good, far from. And maybe that was a weak way to preface what I am about to say. It’s just that I actually like seeing the names that are not necessarily in super bright lights that everyone tends to fawn over. Move over Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs. I’m partial to Nicole Miller, Bill Blass, Joanna Mastroianni, Tracy Reese and Reem Acra. So what am I looking forward to in New York?

Some imagination.

I want a bit of the daring, bold concepts, possibly a design that doesn’t make functional sense, (thank you Alexandre Herchcovitch) but is on the site of artistic freedom. Maybe something a bit de classe’ for Spring, an impractical long, flowing, multi-colored skirt from Heatherette that questions and answers whether this will be a commercial success (it probably won’t, but who cares?)

So what am I looking forward to in New York for Spring? To give a rather ambiguous answer… I’m not sure.

Magazines were my obsession as a child- back home there are probably still stacks of 89-94 issues of Vogue and Bazaar under my bed. The shoots and covers that mesmerized me eclectic looking models in extravagant poses wearing the most up to date fashions. Here recently it seems like the industry-meaning beauty, fashion, and designer ads have opted for celebrity as opposed to models. Once upon a time models became the celebrity based on on how many covers or runways they graced. Now you can’t find a model on the traditional high fashion magazine or beauty commercial. There are plenty of models starving (literally) to be picked I’d prefer to buy lip-gloss based on that girl rather than Rhianna or Penelope Cruz. Our celeb obsessed society should welcome back the model or at least that’s what I think….

We’re taking a purely spectator view on this considering we truly know no one at Elle. Seeing as how The New York times blew the lid off of the inner workings of Elle as it is now, we decided to sort of deconstruct what it means in the grand scheme of things; on the periphery, if you will. Elle has been behind Vogue for as long as anyone can remember. It’s also been behind Instyle as well in terms of ad pages. For awhile it seemed as if it was listing along. One person was solely responsible for their photoshoots for the most part and the editorial was neither here nor there. The elephant in the room that no one wanted to talk about seemed to be Gilles Bensimmons. The elephant may be gone and assigned to a lesser role, but that might not be enough. I’ll explain.

I went to a shoe designer’s fall trunk show/preview and met up with an editorial assistant at the time (no telling what she does there now) and she said behind the scenes it was a mess, even then. She also talked about their online efforts and how it left a lot to be desired (I believe the correct word was what a vaccum does to particles). She said that Style’s efforts seemed light years ahead and that was saying something considering Style kinda does the hole vaccuum particle thing too. Hearsay you say? I say, possibly, but to use a clumsy oft-repeated saying, where there is smoke there is fire. The smoke being the dwindling ad and subscription base at the time (they’ve managed to turn it around somewhat recently), the fire being Bensimmons’ pseudo departure.

It left us thinking that someone at Elle’s parent company was in the mood for changes. That turned out to be wrong as the New York Times article said that change mostly came from within. Already Elle for September is trying something different with Lindsay Lohan on the cover. A move that has half of us saying blech… and the other half saying… ok.. controversy.. not-bad.

So the question is, is Elle going down faster than Paris Hilton’s panties at a frat party? Or is a resurgence in the making?

This time last week I was remarking how Michael Vobracht really came into his own at Bill Blass creating a resurgence of sort in the line’s fortunes. I lamented his departure to walk the earth and find himself. His reasoning for leaving was that he wanted to create art and pursue his own work. That was Bill Blass’ loss at the time. The rumblings were going on for awhile now as to who would replace him and the who became Peter Som for the women’s line and Michael Bastion for the men’s line. Vogue UK reported that Peter Som has officially been tapped to head the design efforts at the company.

For his own imprint this Fall, Som showed that he was adept at layering and creating texture while at the same time moving away from the sugary sweet looks that dominated past collections. There is a distinct difference between what you see from Volbracht and Som. I expect this difference to show up at fashion week, quoted from the same Vogue article Som states that

“…My current focus is to evolve and modernise the brand by incorporating my own aesthetic, while staying true to Mr Blass’ vision and legacy.”

Vollbracht seemed less worried about staying in tune with Blass is vision and more with laying a different direction.

Here’s a link to Peter Som’s fall line at Style.com. This could theoretically be a preview of what’s to come at Bill Blass.