I just keep saying to myself…only 1 and a half more years. Then I read the Washington Post today and looked a little different on the Bush Administration. Al Kamen of the Washington Post delves into the fashion Dos and Don’t at the Bush White House. According to Kamen, the Bush administration has placed fashion signs at staff and visitor entrances stating the general dress code. Here’s what it reads like:

NO JEANS, SNEAKERS, SHORTS, MINISKIRTS, T-SHIRTS, TANK TOPS and Kamen goes on to mention that in blod face and caps — “NO FLIP FLOPS.”

A couple of musings in no particular order. It’s great to see the administration concerned with what people wear considering all the super important things going on. You know, like that pesky war in Iraq, health care, some terrorist hiding out in Afghanistan that wants to make sure fashion week doesn’t happen in New York (I threw that one in). On the other hand I see the logic in telling people, hey, you’re in the White House, try not to look like you’re going to the beach.

It’s similar to one of my pet peeves here in New York: the tourists that wear shorts, a backpack and dirty sneakers to a Broadway play on a Friday night. That’s the snob in me talking and… I digress.

Kamen goes on to point out how the Clinton rules were much more lax. I’m thinking mini-skirts were not only allowed, they were encouraged. Go Bill! I steer clear of making any further political statements, but you can read the whole article here.

If Reuters attended last season’s New York fashion week, they would be signing a different tune.

I was going to end the post there but you know how sometimes I get all wordy and attempt to explain myself while not making any sense in the process. Try as I might and how it may be futile I will simply say this: New York is daring, New York has money, but is New York creative? Je ne sais pas. I’m going to personally go with London. And if you don’t believe me, check out their runways.

Read about the closing of Jane Magazine yesterday on the New York Times website and couldn’t help but think that maybe this is an ongoing trend with print magazines. While I still love to hold a fresh new fashion magazine in my hand either from the store or delivered to my cramped apartment mailbox, there’s nothing like waking up in the morning and seeing just a bunch of new fashion items with the tons of blogs and online magazines all over the place. It makes me think that since the news is so new, what do you get with print magazines now? Even Elle Girl went online. The difference with this Jane thing though is that they are not going online, they are going to their grave.

The article states that the founder and former Editor-in-Chief, Jane Pratt, is working on a new magazine. Let’s hope she’ll put it online. It may fare better.

I stopped by Cathy Horyn’s blog this morning and found musings on her attendance at Karl Lagerfeld’s couture party yesterday. (How wonderful it must be to be her) I then scrolled down a bit to find an super beautiful preview of Lanvin’s Spring 2008 collection. Yes, soon we’ll be looking at Fall 2008/09. It’s downright scary. But how can you not look forward to January 2009. (Political reference for those “in the know”). I digress.

The short of it is, Alber Elbaz’s spring preview photos on Horyn’s blog are nothing short of beautiful. The piece in particular that has me tripping over myself is the Lanvin white shirtdress described on her blog as a “double-layered silk inspired by a man’s dress shirt, with a triple-layer navy chiffon minicoat.”

The one thing that really got my attention is how Horyn ends her blog post by stating:

His other accomplishment is to bring clear design integrity to shapes that appear simple, in fabrics like polyester (yes!), washed silk and organdy, so that the clothes are hard to copy.

wha.. wha.. wha what??!?! Not that designer’s clothes are relatively easy to copy, they add intentional intricacies to keep the retail masses guessing, but if he’s taking an additional step, the folks at Forever 21 may be shaking in their flats.

Read her post here.

Had to brush off a little bit of the French this morning. If you’re in this industry and don’t know how to fake it, you might as well go into accounting or something. I can think in two ways when it comes to the couture shows that go on in Paris: How wonderful that the filthy rich have their own shows where they can select pieces specially crafted for them. They can go to their cotillions and soirées and have a conversation like this:

Muffy: What a gorgeous wrap-around! Dior?
Buffy: Chanel
Filthy Rich Ladies: (in unison) OH…

Kind of reminds me of that business card scene in American Psycho. The second thing I think of is…How I want to be Buffy, even for only a quick minute.

Top photo: Elie Saab Fall ‘07
Bottom photo: Chanel Couture Fall ‘07