Karl Lagerfeld Film Challenge

I have nothing against Karl Lagerfeld, but his short films are the absolute worst. I mean worst, and I do not say that lightly, I have seen a lot of bad stuff in my time. Having said that, there is a special kind of enjoyment in experiencing something like "Remember Now", an enjoyment akin to watching a particularly scary horror film or eating a particularly sour gummy worm. It's all about how much you can take, how long you can keep your eyes open, how long you can last. The longest I have been able to watch a Karl Lagerfeld movie straight is 2 minutes. I challenge you to beat that.

Super Fun/Hilarious: Couture F/W'12

Unexpectedly so far couture has been super fun, although I am not entirely sure how intentional the effects were. First of all, I think we all know where Karl got his inspiration for this season of...

...Microsoft Word! And also in my opinion, Meadham Kirchoff and riot grrrls! There was pink, pom poms and midriffs - all riot grrrl staples. And this is getting way meta because of course riot grrrl-friendly Meadham Kirchoff referenced Chanel a couple seasons back. Perhaps Karl's been looking at that as well as Petra's work over at Rookie Mag. Anyway, this interpretation is very kind, because without it the collection is just straight tacky. Karl's hella tacky, but I think it's going to take a while for everyone to realise it. Perhaps they never will.

Alexis Mabille gave us even more metallic and the best hair ever. It is like the models are those scary angler fish, but beautiful! A part from that, I admire that Mabille managed to make the models look like they have hips. 

Grouped together they look like a scary fish gang! In contrast, who knew how adorable Alexis himself is?

images from vogue.com, style.com and one great fish from The Oatmeal

Pre-Fall 2012

Pre-fall is generally pretty boring isn't it? I guess it's more of a business enterprise than an exercise in creativity (fun for those who can afford designer clothes and always want new things to buy, not so much fun for those of us who can only write about them). However sometimes pre-fall delivers gems because designers can be more frivolous than usual - they don't have to have the kind of 'serious' inspiration found in Spring and Autumn!

Case in point Proenza Schouler (I talk about them a fair bit don't I?): what was their inspiration for Pre-Fall '12? Sleeping bag quilting of course! The collection is pretty tiny and to be honest a lot of it was pretty meh, but they used this emerald green and dark navy that's very moody and regal so I'll show you those looks:

On the other end of the scale, Chanel delivered a pre-fall collection that was huge (78 looks) and much better than any collection Karl Lagerfeld has made in the last five years (at least). Old Karl was tired of everyone looking to China and Japan and stuff, and so being the envelope pusher that he is, did something <sarcasm>totally different<sarcasm> and looked to India of all places! I don't think he understands that the reason that fashion has focused on China lately is that they are having a huge middle-class economic boom, not because of some lame-ass cultural appropriation 'creative' reason. Lagerfeld himself has never even been to India, so insults the country by confusing their culture with douchebaggy students from 2001 who travel there to find spirituality or whatever (there were dreadlocks, it was terrible).
I guess it's kind of good then that this collection was met with some outrage! HOWEVER. It was outrage for the totally wrong reason. While the critics should have been getting all angsty about the condescending way that European/North American designers routinely borrow from, and homogenize, 'exotic' cultures, instead they were getting riled up about how extravagent the whole show and collection was. Because of the current economic situation in Europe. Because it's rude or something (totally not rude to India btw).

And so all things considered, I feel a little bit conflicted about the fact that - I really liked some of the collection. Chanel collections are always way too big for everything to be a hit, and more than half of this one was a miss, but what he got right here he got SO RIGHT. I didn't have a problem with all the extravagance (yeah yeah I'm contrary), so all those dripping jewels and gold embroidery satisfied the princess inside of me  (a lot of girls have this). A sari is far more fitting for a princess than any stupid pink taffeta. Here are the looks that are good, while bearing in mind that originally there were 78:

As a p.s. here is one look that didn't fit in with anything else, but the colours of the stripes and that navy are just so satisfying it makes me smile and sigh. Also Julia Nobis always gets the best, baddass looks.