I won’t delete anything here, so feel free to look around!

It’s a new era in fashion — there are no rules. It’s all about the individual and personal style, wearing high-end, low-end, classic labels, and up-and-coming designers all together. “ -Alexander McQueen

One week ago today, the world lost an indescribable creative force, artist and visionary with the passing of Lee Alexander McQueen.

"We miss you so bad, Lee" - Lady GaGa

Fortunately, the Gucci Group announced today that the McQueen label will continue on. McQueen’s Fall/Winter 2010 collection will be shown during the upcoming London Fashion Week with a tribute to McQueen inside the tents.

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please get help. Organizations like the AFSP National are excellent resources.

Last night I attended a seminar event called Sociable: A Behind-the-Label Look presented by Lume Creative, which featured “street fashion” bloggers Scott Schuman and Garance Dore. Although the event description was misleading (it sounded perfect for PR/marketing professionals, but was intended for media buyers), Schuman and Dore provided some interesting insights in the world of street fashion blogging.

The evening was peppered with Schuman’s clear disdain for the practice of public relations, likely stemming from his pride of complete editorial control of his blog (which is excellent, by the way). He made an intriguing point about his unbridled content control (and the content control of bloggers in general): with the unchecked power of editorial control, bloggers can make fashion lines look wonderful or like crap. This risk has held the fashion houses back in their marketing and advertising with bloggers.

This made me wonder… what if I saw a photo with Burberry looking like absolute crap in a blog?

Well, I’d think it’s funny. Burberry is luxury, Britain, iconic. To me, the image would represent the juxtaposition of the elegance of Burberry mixed up with some kind of trash… But Burberry would probably be pissed. Do you see where I’m going with this? It is not up to bloggers and third-party social media entities to create and maintain what the fashion houses stand for: it’s up to the fashion houses themselves [GASP! Just like any other brand!].

That’s why they need people like ME, to help manage the balance of brand reputation through their marketing. Just a thought.

P.S. Props to Lume for the great location, drinks and food.

Lume Creative on Twitter | Scott Schman on Twitter | Garance Dore on Twitter

• Exclusivity will become a more nebulous concept. Big fashion houses and their runway shows thrive off exclusivity. I mean, we’re talking about the same entities that pay up to $100,000 to have the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna grace the front rows at their runway shows. However, it already seems that exclusivity is fading away with the growing ability to purchase front-row tickets to shows. I like the prediction from Scott at The Sartorialist that fans will be able to attend fashion shows in the future. But how will it be decided who gets to go? Will the first two rows still be limited to the stars? Which shows will remain restricted? Which will be more open?
• WOM will become increasingly important for fashion houses to generate excitement. It used to be that exclusivity drove the excitement about fashion. The intangible, unattainable world of high fashion made it elusive and appealing. But this is the digital age. We want a piece of the action, not to sit on the sidelines (and when we get it, we’ll be sure to tell everyone we know). [Anecdotally, I can't even explain the excitement I felt over the latest McQueen livestream. You should have seen my at my computer, it was a mess!]
• Some fashion houses will reject the social media movement. Of course, just like many consumer brands, this acclimation of social media will be slow for some fashion houses. Tradition is important to this industry. We will see some integrate social media in a crazy exciting way, but others will crash and burn.

More than anything, though, I’m excited to see how these creative geniuses will incorporate social media into their activities.

Where do you think they are headed?

The Fashion for Haiti T-Shirt is being manufactured by Theory

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are aware of the devastating earthquake that tore apart Haiti on January 12. The tragedy has resulted in an unprecedented outpouring of kindness, bolstered by worldwide support coming from all directions.

Although a month has passed, Haiti still needs your help.

With ice-cold leaders like Anna Wintour, it’s hard to imagine the fashion world revealing a big heart, but-SURPRISE!-that’s exactly what is happening. The fashion industry has rallied together to show their support for the victims of the natural disaster by establishing Fashion for Haiti, which is selling $25 t-shirts to support the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. The CBHF is raising funds for immediate, high-impact relief and long-term recovery efforts to help those who are most in need of assistance.

“The total devastation of Haiti is unimaginable. I am always amazed by the strength, talent and compassion of our industry and now more than ever it is essential we come together and help make a difference” – Ralph Lauren

Please visit the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Web site to see the list of retailers selling the t-shirt or to buy the t-shirt online.

Photo Credit: 00 oo 00 blog

Fashion for Haiti on Twitter | Fashion for Haiti on Facebook | Fashion for Haiti on Flickr | Fashion for Haiti on YouTube

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending the Gen Art New Garde Show and Party presented by Plastics Make It Possible. Gen Art, an arts and entertainment organization dedicated to showcasing emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists, attracted more than 1,000 well-dressed fashionistas (despite the terrible weather outside) to last week’s presentation, which kicked off New York’s Fashion Week. Celebrity attendees included Molly Sims, Jessica Stam, CariDee, Alex McCord and Whitney Port.

New Garde is a unique fashion week event in that, instead of celebrating the big labels, highlights the collections of three emerging designers in separate standing installations. Live models wearing the designs are staged in a unique vignette created by the designer, while industry and audience get an upclose and intimate view of the designer’s vision. This year, the honored collections were Sophomore, GAR–DE, Nomia and WesFeld.

By forgoing the traditional runway show, Gen Art’s approach of fashion installations pulsed with excitement. Different installations included one designer shooting the collection’s spring look book as the presentation and another with models taking turns on white blocks in a sparse but elegant. Admiring the collections amidst the crowd, Patron Cosmo-Polymer in hand, you practically feel the message from the collections swirling throughout night: the fashion world is in flux. There was a lot of experimenting with new and very old looks, suggesting designers are feeling the chaos of the outside world.

However, the WesFeld collection stole the show. Designers Wesley Nault and Daniel Feld, of Project Runway fame, are FIT graduates and the winners of Gen Art’s Plastics Make It Possible design competition. Nault and Feld drew inspiration for the collection from their favorite movie, What Dreams May Come. The result was a breathtaking (literally-people we gasping as the models marched out) seashell couture fantasy that proudly declared glamor has arrived. Despite being new to the scene, WesFeld has already worked on St. Vincent, Enya and Lady GaGa, and these rising stars will likely be dressing many more celebrity clients.

Photo credit: GenArt.org

You can become a member of Gen Art by visiting here.

Photographed by Matthew Scrivens, the campaign features Marlon Teixeira, Clint Mauro, Tamiris Souza Freitas, Irina Shayk and Tomas Skoloudik in Myrtle Beach, SC

For those of you who know me, you know that I am all kinds of obsessed with the writings of New York Magazine, so when they unearthed a hate group’s family-based organization’s protest, I could not help but scream a little inside. With credit to The Cut Blog, the following is an explanation of the group’s position on this “filthy” campaign:

Malls, where teens hang out, have retailers whose window displays poison our children with 10-foot posters that are nothing but soft p*rn. In particular, Armani Exchange has recently displayed Valentine’s posters with partially dressed “couples” holding one another. These couples consist of two men, a man and woman, and two women. The women are scantily dressed while it is questionable if the men have any clothes on at all. Two of these models are used a couple of times to represent bis*xuals. If it could get any worse the text written is “SHARE THE LOVE.” (An asterisk ‘*’ is used to ensure our emails get through to those who have signed up for our alerts. Otherwise specific words referenced would be blocked by some Internet filters.)

Not every local mall has an Armani Exchange, but we need to take a stand since A|X is one of the fashion leaders and this is becoming a popular trend. You may view these on their website at www.armaniexchange.com. WARNING! Pictures are offensive.

Apparently, this group of psychos is terrified of the evil sex monster attacking their poor, defenseless children who just want to innocently shop around their town’s local mall, which, before A|X, was full of bible shops and unicorns. These little children victims, of course, thanks to the “disgusting” A|X campaign, are now at risk for promiscuous sexual behaviors, as they previously were angels with no knowledge of sex.

Puhlease.

Any mall that has an Armani Exchange is bound to have an Abercrombie & Fitch first. As many of you know, A&F sells its products solely on sex appeal. In the 90′s, this company included full-frontal nudity in its advertorial mailers. OneMillionMoms.org cannot pretend to be offended at the sexuality A|X when they see those of A&F far more frequently. Or is it better that Abercrombie promotes heterosexual sex, as evidenced by the underage girl clinging to the naked male model in their recent campaign? I guess that is a better message to send to your little girls: go for the hot older ones that take their clothes off (but don’t even think about going gay, you little bitch!)

At a pivotal time for homosexuals fighting for equal marriage rights, A|X’s Share the Love campaign is timely, open-minded and exemplary of the typically insightful nature of the arts community. Further, the message is one of love and acceptance, which, apparently, this group does not understand. Here are some of my favorite gems from the OneMillionMoms.org Facebook fan page:

“Would you discriminate if someone were trying to get your child involved with drugs?….Yes, you would. This is the same idea with homosexuality. It is harmful. It is not healthy. I am protecting my children from the promotion of this lifestyle as a healthy choice for them. It will never be accepted as normal behavior, and no, I do not hate them. I grieve for them because they are hurting and in many cases have been abused.” – Rose

“…It is VERY WRONG to have the view of homosexuality shoved in the faces of innocent children and it should not be forced in the face of anyone. As Christians, we are very tired of seeing the morality that made this country great become a wasteland. If it offends you to protect children from that, then you are simply part of the problem we face as a nation.” – Tracy

“The ad slogan ought to be changed from “Share the Love” to “Share the Disease“. Same models with various partners? So in addition to blatant sexuality, the marketing team went for an endorsement of indiscriminant sex with multiple partners. Why not just abandon the clothing and sell dog colors? Animals seem to be the target demographic.” – Catherine

I spoke with a friend recently about the perils of this lifestyle who couldn’t stress the importance of work-life balance enough. “Your life shouldn’t be about work, your life should be about your life.” Ruminating on this easier-said-than-done mantra, I couldn’t help but feel that maybe I’ve been doing something wrong. Although I have had great feelings about the direction of my career lately, that doesn’t feed the puppy at home who is anxiously awaiting my return so he can get to the much-needed nap in my lap.(In a similar vein, I read an amusing (but insightful) blog post recently that avised to “Find your passion. No matter what it is and follow it!”)

After a brief Google investigation,  discovered Laura Berman Fortgang, personal coach (what the hell is a “personal coach,” anyway? Do you get a degree, or do you just have to be good at telling people how to live? Alas, I digress…) She advises filling out the following:

1. If my life could focus on one thing and one thing only, what would that be? [music]
2. If I could add a second thing, what would that be? [personal relationships]
3. A third? [exercise]
4. A fourth? [...i'd like to read more...]
5. A fifth? [uhm...]

As you can see, I have some work to do.

Skimming through my recently refashioned Google Reader, I paused at a Hypebeast post describing a current exhibit at collete featuring Monsieur A. Monsieur A, or Monsieur André, or André, depending on the circle you run in, is a French (duh) graffiti artist who has grown to fame since beginning work in 1985 with his distinctive stick figure. André’s exhibit at collete features a plethora of fantastic drawings, spray-painted surf boards and graffiti on some of the surrounding space. The result is simply beautiful street art, charmingly unique yet slightly reminiscent of Seussville.

On my late walk home from work along the park, I pondered the delightfully sinful juxtaposition of graffiti, which litters the bare spaces on many of Manhattan’s structures with offensive markings or indications of gang territory lines, and art. What if everything that seems pedestrian to the point of irrelevant, such as graffiti, could in fact be beautiful works of art?

That thought led me to dangerous territory. Ha, I thought. What if every piece of bullshit that we think up could be packaged and sold as glamorous art? That would explain a lot that goes on in this world (i.e. Britney Spears, CEOs with mediocre talent, we could go on for ages). But, I asked myself (in my head, obviously, as those who talk out loud to themselves get avoided on the streets), how could this be, especially with all the buzz chitchat about being original, taking pride in innovation, etc.? Have I inadvertently stumbled on the secret of success here – all great work is actually convincingly-described crap?

Alas, I will reject the loose theories of my late-night wonderings and ponderings and stick to the less convenient and more comfortable theory: art is art, and crap is crap (but sometimes crap is art and sometimes art is crap, but that doesn’t mean you can fill your bank on it). When it comes to your creative thoughts, please don’t settle for crap and package it as art. Mr. A wouldn’t appreciate it (and you shouldn’t, either!).

Graffiti is not vandalism but a beautiful crime.

social media is pretty effin’ awesome.

Exhibit A: Imogen Heap. Imogen got the digital big wigs buzzing a long time ago with her unnatural dedication to Twitter (she tweets way more than you think a busy celebrity could). [Recently, she caused a geeky stir with her self-crafted Twitter dress at the Grammy's last weekend.]

I adored her online dabblings for being particularly fun, specifically, her YouTube channel because she documented so much of the process of creating her latest album, Ellipse. As a longtime singer, I ended up listening to watching each of the videos as I worked while she chatted aimlessly about writing and recording. Fascinating for a musical nerd.

I could go on and on about her Flickr page that she leveraged to create album art from fan art and whatnot, but I have a more fun story to tell.

One magical day, around the time of my awesome birthday, I noticed on my TweetDeck that Imogen was on Vokle, an awesome online video streaming service, chatting with her fans. Since I was at work, I decided to discreetly listen in. Basically, she webcams with a bunch of fans, answers their questions, laughs at a fat kid’s chihuahua and talks about her upcoming album release (the next day) and how she was about to go film her Letterman appearance (which I couldn’t get tickets to like a lame-o). Suddenly, she says something that changed my life forever: the first 10 people to tweet using the hashtag #imminorwood would be invited to her CD launch party at the Norwood House (a members-only club for prominent persons in the arts). I naturally lose my mind and immediately indulge contest (I believe a total of three times, because I get compulsive when nervous), which resulted in me securing a spot on the guest list.

#1. The Norwood House is beautiful. #2. She bought us two glasses of wine, because we are kindred spirits. #3. While drinking her vodka-Red Bull, she sat with us and discussed her music, shopping for Gareth Pugh and her friendship with Mika.

…and none of this would have been possible without the power of the internets.