The amount of hype surrounding Lady Gaga’s new video for her single “Telephone” has been enormous. So much so that it was bound to let me down… That’s not to say that it’s wasn’t an interesting short film (I guess), but Gaga has created such a presence in fashion that I and many others expected a lot from the costumes. Some TV stations even had pre-premiere segments with fashion “experts” interpreting the few stills that leaked prior to the premiere. ***overkill***

In the end, there was plenty of provocative Gaga-style imagery (think crotch shots and homicide), but the fashion fell flat. The highlight was a black and white skirt suit with a peplum top and over-sized hat. See the video below, then a few fuzzy stills in the gallery following.

The final Alexander McQueen collection designed by the label’s founder was seen in Paris today. Just sixteen pieces were shown to an intimate guest list in a gilded room at Francois Pinault headquarters. Though the collection was short, the impact was enormous – both because McQueen delivered a stunning couture-like pieces with immaculate embroidery and prints, and because the entire room (the entire world, in fact) knew it was the end of an era. Although his namesake brand will live on, these are the last works of the late Lee Alexander McQueen. According to WWD, the moment and the music (opera) produce tears in the eyes of many of those in attendance.

“It was a very moving experience to take a deep and serious look at his last collection. It showed Lee’s unique talent to create pieces of beauty that touch many of your senses, leaving one enriched,” said Robert Polet, CEO of the Gucci Group. “Although the sense of loss afterwards, I found overwhelming.”

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Unlike the short Fall proper collection (one wonders if that’s was really planned), McQueen’s pre-fall collection was a hulking 55+ pieces. Though still packed with McQueen drama, the collection seems more accessible to the average consumer than the one above. Almost as if this were RTW, while the main presentation were Fall 2010 couture. Hmm…

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Photos: wwd.com & alexandermcqueen.com via ana @tFS

After just one savagely criticised collection, Lindsay Lohan has been dropped from the house of Ungaro like the hot, carb-filled potato Estrella Arch above clearly never eats.

The Spring 2010 collection that the tabloid star contributed to via “artistic direction” not only flopped critically, but caused stores like Neiman Marcus to drop the label from their shelves.

So perhaps the house thought to bounce back with a stellar Fall 2010 collection? Not so much. The show was a flavorless hunk of ABC fashion – even without an untrained, uninformed Hollywood starlet on staff. So without Lohan as a scapegoat the glaring spotlight falls only on the Ungaro design team… or the lack thereof.

photo: WWD.com

Elton John AIDS Foundation
There’s a new “it” party in town on Oscar night. Arrivals for this party were packs with stars and style, including high points from Victoria Beckham (wearing a dress from the Fall 2010 of her namesake line), and Alan Cumming – showing that, yes, men CAN participate in fashion.

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Vanity Fair
The Vanity Fair party is almost as big as the Oscars ceremony itself – at least the red carpet is. Many attendees even do a wardrobe change for the party, which seems to have more fashion relevance these days than the sponsoring magazine.

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Click here to see red carpet fashion from the Academy Awards ceremony.

The nominees for best dressed include women that didn’t play it safe in pretty, but managed to be gorgeous and forward with their fashion. They are

Zoe Kravitz
It’s too bad Zoe Kravitz isn’t a bigger “name” because her amount of coverage was nil compared to many of her more famous red carpet counterparts. Zoe was on trend and very chic in a red velvet-trimmed cream gown. With more pap attention we might have gotten better views of that dramatic bow in the back, with really makes the dress extra special. Another reason to love Zoe: her dad is hot.

Maggie Gyllenhaal
Maggie has the kind of style that looks like the result of authentically good taste, rather than a high profile stylist and access to the best dress. Her silhouette is elegant, but the dress is keep fun by beautiful blues and a paint-stroke print. She tops it off to perfect with jewelry pieces that don’t rely on bling for their appeal.

Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan has been a standout on the red carpet all (awards) season. She always takes it a step or two farther than pretty and is willing to take risks. Tonight she doesn’t disappoint wearing a mid-length dress with a train. From a distrance the bodice looks like it has your average beading. A closer inspection, however, show tiny forks and scisser intersperse among more tradition floral shapes. Mulligan, though she’s nominated for a best supporting Oscar, is a relative unknown for her acting until now, but her style has gotten her plenty of attention. Anna Kendrick take note! Just a touch of quirky can go a long way.

Zoe Saldana
Zoe Saldana looked beautiful wearing Givenchy couture. Her tiny frame is able to carry off the massive volume of the skirt, which is topped with a shimmery bodice. Unfortunately, she chose to wear the clunky shoes worn with this dress on the runway. A more delicate or streamlined shoe would have been in order considering all the weight of the dress. She still looks amazing!

Honorable mentions include Kate Winslet, Rachel McAdams, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Richie, Meryl Streep, Virginia Madsen, and Susan Downey. See them and more stars in the gallery below.

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WINNER: Maggie Gyllenhaal

In a world that online sample sales are becoming more common and more trashy, Gilt Groupe stands out as one of the best. The members-only shopping site originally offered mostly women’s fashion, but now has dedicated sites for mens fashion, lower-priced brands, and travel packages. Now Gilt has something for art lovers, with a series of exclusive prints by painter Katherine Bernhardt.

Kate Moss. Gisele Bündchen. Agyness Deyn. Katherine Bernhardt has painted them all, transforming magazine images into stunning whirlwinds of eyes, lips, legs and color. Gilt has partnered with art consultancy Art & Advisory to create two exclusive, limited-edition screen prints by the Pop Expressionist. The first, Mangocita, features an intense Penelope Cruz as pictured in her Mango clothing ad. The second, La Parisienne, is an image of Moss inspired by her campaign for Yves St. Laurent’s Parisienne perfume. Printed on archival cotton paper, the signed and numbered works are each capped at an edition of 100.

‘Metallic Star’, 2006. Saatchi Gallery, London

Lizard Woman, 2006. Saatchi Gallery, London.

Bernhardt’s art resonates with me in it’s fixation on the subject of fashion, yet it’s recognition of these subjects as grotesque. The women in her paintings are alternately sad and monstrous, all the while carrying the haughty attitude of the modern model. Click here for an invitation to the sale.

photo credits: artloversnewyork.com, saatchi-gallery.co.uk

There’s something going on in the fashion world. An uprising is brewing and the Wintours and Lagerfelds on high are being forced to recognize that their body ideals are destructive and unrealistic. The people are angry (low calorie diets tend to make you cranky) and ready for change. And like so many rebellions in history, when the people start to stir the powers that be throw them a bone to try to quiet them. Enter Vogue Curvy. No, it’s not a magazine, it’s a section of Vogue Italia’s online presence found at vogue.it/en/vogue-curvy.

Vogue Curvy is devoted to … women with figures. That section leads with a video interview with Crystal Renn, who talks about how amazing life became when she decided to stop starving herself and eat salad with salmon and walnuts on it. Source: The Cut – nymag.com/daily/fashion

A quick look at the site and I found it sparsely appointed and featuring content more than two years old. Then they have the nerve to list Liz Tyler as a curvy icon! If you’re looking for inspiration for plus size fashion, Vogue Curvy will probably not be your best bet. Like most “separate but equal” efforts, these facilities are outdated and underfunded. I should mention, too, that the launch of this new mini-site is simultaneous to the launches of Vogue Black and Vogue Talents – which are devoted to black people in fashion and emerging designers, respectively. The message from the biggest fashion franchise in the world: it’s okay if you’re fat, black, or unknown, but we don’t have room for you in our stately halls.

What’s next? A “fat” section at fashion shows for anyone larger than a size 4? Will a size 6 with long legs and a good girdle be considering “passing?” Can the separate but equal routine work in the longterm? American history says the answer to that is a resounding NO.

My outlook isn’t entirely cynical. I realize that many movements start with superficial, well-intentioned-but-awful measures. Ultimately, however, we can’t rely on a franchise whose High Priestess is the likes of Anna Wintour to provide us with meaningful angles on fashion for average women. Thankfully, the blogosphere is officially on fire and there are plenty of plus & real-size fashion blogs that translate fashion Culture into advice for the average woman. Here’s a quick reading list:

blackcatplus.com/blog
fatchic.net
themanfattanproject.tumblr.com
biggirlsbrowse.com/blog
thebudgetfashionista.com
fatgirlslikeniceclothestoo.wordpress.com
prettypear.com
leblogdebigbeauty.com
fatshionable.com

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards are just days away, and as per usual the main event for the Cult will be the red carpet (especially since there’s no music this year!). Here a little of what we hope to see nominated actresses wearing.

The following. is excerpted from the Pinkertons Shoppe Blog.

That’s a touch of what we’d like to see, but what about what we’re likely to see. According to Sharon Graubard, SVP Trend Analysis for Stylesight:

“After years of playing it safe with draped goddess gowns and subtle tints of color or black, we think the stars are ready for a little bit of boldness. Expect to see more rich, jewel tones, with wines, purples, blues, deep emeralds, and ruby reds.

Lamé is making a big comeback, in expected silver and gold, as well burnished shades of deep gold, copper and bronze.

Couture dressmaker techniques are explored to the max with ruffles, placed drapery, and spectacular beading. The newest will be pieced collages that mix lace, satins, velvets, and sheer insets, often intricately ruched.”

Above: Looks by Roksana Ilincic, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Rodarte

Who knew MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had to ability to influence anything fashion-related (we love you Rachel, but um…). It turns out Andre Leon Talley coined his term “drecktitude” after watching an episode of TRMS. If Talley’s term wasn’t already common knowledge, it will be after the 14th cycle of America’s Next Top Model. The word is sure to enter the zeitgeist of fashion slang as a foil to the over-used “fierce.”

Talley promises to bring a much needed does of fashion cred to the Bankable show, which arguably jumped the proverbial shark several cycles ago. And not only will he lend legitimacy, the Vogue Editor-at-Large is hilariously entertaining. Talley is known for his blunt commentary, which doesn’t stop at unknown model hopefuls. Even mogul-in-the-making Tyra Banks had to prove herself worthy of his attention.

“I saw her four years ago on the red-eye from Los Angeles. We were both sitting in first class and exchanged numbers. But I put her number in a flower pot or something and I lost it,” he told Wall Street Journal blog, Speakeasy. Banks asked Talley to join the ANTM production when it first began in 2003, but he turned it down.

Tyra’s humility and persistence is well placed in courting Talley. As the person that introduced Jason Wu to Michelle Obama, he is essentially responsible for the designer’s straight shot to the upper echelons of the fashion food chain. That’s why 21-year-old queens designer LaQuan Smith should be kissing Talley’s fur-trimmed feet right about now. When asked who he’d like to intro to the First Lady next, Talley named Smith.

He showed 15 looks [at New York Fashion Week] for the first time this season and it was simply outstanding. His point of view was totally contemporary. He makes clothes for urban ladies. Lady Gaga and Rihanna have worn his leggings. He had the courage to go ahead and his father, a retired postal worker, gave him the wherewithal to pull that fabric together and turn it into magic. I went to that show and I saw magic. I can only hope that one day we’ll see our first lady wearing LaQuan Smith:

LaQuanSmith clothing has been seen on big names like Rihanna and Lady Gaga, but his own name was still fairly obscure. Now, with such a resounding endorsement the young designer is squarely on the map. A quick peek and Smith’s Website shows a Fall 2010 collection with incredible polish and sophistication – especially for a designer so young.

Source

Earlier this week fashion blogs and even business sites were buzzing about a new outfit creation called Couturious.com. Okay they weren’t buzzing, but they mentioned it. The site is made by the people behind polyvore.com and like.com and it seems they were trying to combine the creative drive of Polyvore with the super cash cow element of Like. Not a bad idea… too bad it was a complete rip off. If you’re into styling (and spending all day online) they way I am, you already know about Looklet.com. And if you know about that you’ll recognize how similar the concepts are.

Before I jumped to any conclusions, I reached out to Olle Hemmendorff – the creator of Looklet – to find out if perhaps he had collaborated on this new venture. No, he didn’t.

I’ve heard plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery. But i’m not flattered. Apart from the glaring lack of original ideas, i also think couturious doesn’t show much of the quality or attention to detail, essentially the LOVE we’ve put into Looklet. I hope others recognize this as well.

WE recognize, Olle! I’m sticking with Looklet.