Seven Minutes of Joy

I am delighted by Isaac Mizrahi.

Not just for this collection, but ongoingly. Overjoyed and delighted. I really do feel like Isaac is a guy after my own heart and that if we ever met we'd be "crazy besties" (which is gawdawful fashion mag-speak for best friends) and not for nothin' but redhead here would be more than happy to function as muse and walking billboard for a guy I think is one of the most consistently fabulous designers working.

I love Isaac Mizrahi because he loves a lot of the things I love. He likes day wear that is easily turned into evening, or at least cocktail, wear. He loves color -- uses tons of it. He has a sense of humor and it shows in his clothes. He is ironic about himself, but not about his customers, which means that season after season he creates clothing because he wants to please people. Not to astound or puzzle or challenge them -- he wants women to put on his clothes and feel beautiful & happy. "I still believe," Mizrahi said, "that fashion has to be gorgeous and colorful and fun." Good googly-moogly, we could use a few more like him.

This collection was inspired by Fred Astaire, an icon long worshiped for his effortless male chic (would that be chic-ismo?). Astaire famously used ascots and neckties as belts, and this ribbon on the waist of these fantastic loose trousers pays homage to that. The women-are-sexy-in-menswear thing is a bit of an overused trope in fashion, but clichés are clichés because they are true, and the power and confidence a woman gets from a perfectly fitted pair of trousers can't help but translate into sex appeal.

Such a great jacket, with that big flounce detail. I wish I could find some detail shots from this show, but no one seems to have any. (This really grates my cheese. Style.com will show me 9000 obsessive photos of Alexander Wang's dumb tightey-whitey-inspired whatever-they-ares, but they can't be bothered to show me the seaming on this jacket? Ppppflflflflflflffltttttt to them, is what I say.)

(Also, while I'm on the subject of Style.com, a website, mind you, on which I rely very heavily, can I just whinge for a moment about the unrequested video ads that keep popping up? It is the MOST annoying thing to be trying to look at photos and have your screen be unceremoniously hijacked by a video Ralph Lauren ad. If I want to look at the ad, I'll click on it, thankyouverymuch.)

No detail shots means I can't quite make out what kind of fabric this adorable, perfect sheath dress is made from. It has texture, which I love and which keeps it from being too basic to be interesting.

That's a Twenty Year Dress, that is. You could wear that forever.


Just the other day I was saying how difficult it is to do underwear as outerwear and do it well, but here's a great example of it.

What a great bustier. Sexy without being tarty. And I don't have to tell you how much I love that skirt, do I?

Jumpsuits are tricky. This one is wonderful.

This collection seemed very much about paying tribute to different golden eras of Hollywood. Usually when some mind-numbing cable television personality stands in front of a camera on the red carpet and drones on about "old Hollywood glamor," you can expect to see a starlet in a bias-cut charmeuse gown. But there were other moments of great Hollywood fashion besides Jean Harlow, and I adore this 20's-inflected dress. It plays with the "flapper" idea without being too literal. And oh, my goodness, I would rock that dress, ifIdosaysomyself.

This is too desperately short for real life, but I forgive it because of the movement and shimmer and sparkle that is somehow more bouncy and fun than the usual heavy-duty glitz of a sequined dress. Compare this to one of the crystallized suits of armor that have been coming out of Balmain lately:

How could anything so sparkly be so glum? That dress doesn't look fun, that dress looks like a chore.

This, however?

Not a chore. And yet another dress I would rock. Poor Isaac, designing all these clothes for a muse he's never met...

Here's that flapper silhouette again. Note the pink tulle peeking out at the hem. Does that not make you squee a little bit? It does, admit it.

This dress? Floats. It floats, like a flower on the breeze. Stunning. One of my favorite things about Mizrahi is how much he can do with a very simple shape. So flattering -- and would that not be a spectacular wedding dress?

This is less simple, but still a long way from being overdone. The starkness of that chalk-white, perfectly plain bustier against that shreddy tulle skirt is enough to give yours truly the vapors. What a beautiful, beautiful gown.

I've saved my favorite for last.

This was a jaw-dropper for me. I gasped so loud I startled the cat. I haven't seen very many things that I think are more perfectly me than this outfit. As I just said, I am a sucker for the strict tailoring paired with the over-the-top flou, and we all know how much I love tulle. I took one look at that and decided I had to have it. Unortunately, my checkbook does not agree with my racing fashionista heart, so I'm going to DIY it. I've already gotten started -- I bought a knit tube skirt from American Apparel (longer than this one, FYI) to use as a base, and I've found the perfect ballet pink fine-gauge tulle. There will be much draping and pinning (and consternation, probably) before it's all done, but I think I can pull it off. I have a couple of good alternative for the jacket, and I just get all kiiiiinds of happy imagining the various shoe alternatives I could work with this outfit. (Complete Fashionista Accessories Geek-Out, coming up!) I'll keep you posted & let you see it when it's done, don't worry. If I pull it off, you must all promise to invite me to every party and/or formal function you attend for the next six months, so I have somewhere to wear it. Deal?

Cathy Horyn, on her blog, mentions "that sublime quality of feeling that Mr. Mizrahi manages to inject in his fashion shows" and (as usual) I wholeheartedly agree with her. Besides the exuberance and wit in his clothes, there is also a quality of generosity and almost a tenderness about them, as if they were all made as a gift for someone he loved very much.

I'm going to do something unusual and post a video of the whole show here. Watch it. It's about seven minutes long, and it's seven minutes of joy. Not a bad way to start your Monday.








Images: Style.com

Boredom Is Madness

Lookee here! My buddy Isaac Mizrahi has a new tv show!




The show premiered last week (sorry I didn't get a heads-up posted, it completely sneaked up on me) and I of course watched with rapt attention. It's different from Project Runway in that... um... well, okay, it's not significantly different from Project Runway. There are some tiny procedural variations, but basically it's the same show. I'm not sure how they're getting away with this, but I don't care. I'm already hooked. And a lot of it has to do with Isaac.

There are several designers I would like to be on pick-up-the-phone-and-order-
fabulous-new-duds terms with. But I think of all the designers working today, the one I'd most like to be best girlfriends with is Isaac Mizrahi. I just love him. Look:

Here's Isaac with model Coco Rocha at the Met ball last weekend. There are no end of photos of various designers with the model "dates" standing around looking bored by their own cheekbones, but these two far and away win the award for looking like they're having the most fun. He just seems like someone you could go out for drinks with and spend the entire evening just yak yak yakking away, dishing about fashion and boys and politics. I get the impression that talking with Isaac is like eating a really good meal.




See?

I also love his clothes.

Pre-Fall 09

Mizrahi's clothes are exuberant. Not necessarily wackdoodle or over the top, but full of life and energy and like me, he loves color. I adore the stuff he desings under his own name, but it's expensive and not all that easy to find around my parts. He started the trend for "masstige" by doing a line for Target for several years, as we all know, but that has come to an end now because he's taken over design duties at Liz Claiborne. And so far so good over there.

I just love both of these things. So fun and colorful and just all-around good and the prices, as one would expect from Liz Claiborne, are great. (As a matter of fact, that shirtdress is on sale -- click the photos for links.) Important fact about this line: there are Misses sizes, Petites, Plus, and even a range of slacks in Petite Plus. Woo-hoo! I expect the quality of the garments to be a little higher than the Target line was. Liz Claiborne hasn't been known for making exciting fashion for quite a while now, but they make dependably decent clothes for their price point. As a matter of fact, I have a bright red LC trench coat that has done very well by me for several seasons now. Every time I wear it I am besieged with compliments -- high-end fashionistas wearing head-to-toe designer duds have enviously inquired after that coat many times. It's pretty perfect.

So I love Isaac. And I'll be watching his show, and I'll definitely be checking out the Liz Claiborne goods in Macy's next time I swing through there. How about you guys? Did anyone watch last Thursday? I'm not ready to make a call on a winner yet, but I'm intrigued and entertained and the show has made it into the regular DVR recording schedule. If you missed it & you're interested, you can watch full episodes online at the website. Give it a look-see and tell me what you think!




Photos: Style.com

Felinity

Last week I mentioned this little cat sculpture I got at the British Museum while I was in London last month (OH! Sad!! It was last month already!!). It's really quite a tiny little thing, not even two inches tall, but it's been sitting on my desk near my computer and I've grown increasingly fond of it, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.

I try not to be a Crazy Cat Lady, but I do love cats. I have no embellished garments with cats on them, no porcelain figurines or "Hang In There, Baby" posters, I do not have a cat watch or cat earrings or a cat shower curtain. Total inventory of cat-related objects consists of one coffee cup, one calendar (soon to be outdated) and one actual cat. ONE. One cat.

But I do love cats. Some folks might say it's because I'm a Leo, and that may be true, but I just like 'em. I like their self-sufficiency and independence, I like their mystery, and I love their graceful slinkiness.

Although my girl seems to be letting down the side a bit in the gracefully slinky department, as you can witness here:

She's not fat. She's FLUFFY.

I just like their overall felinity. (I just made up that word, but I think it could really take off.)

And I'm also drawn to clothes that have felinity, and with my little sculpture keeping me company lately I've been reminded of that even more. What defines felinity in a garment? Well, the aforementioned slinkiness, which has a lot to do with fabric. Velvet, jersey, charmeuse have it. Sometimes chiffon, if it is good silk chiffon with a nice hand. Taffeta does not have it, nor does corduroy. You want some sweep or swing or drape in the garment -- babydoll minidresses don't have felinity, nor anything painted-on snug, contrary to what some folks seem to believe. Simplicity is important, too, not too much embellishment or foofaraw to detract from the lines. Here's a great example:

From Isaac Mizrahi, a guy not usually big on the felinity (not that that stops me loving his work). I've been smitten with this dress ever since I saw it and if there were any way I could squeeze my pear-shaped self into it I might even get over my allergy to gray enough to wear it. It looks like it's made of cotton or wool jersey -- effortless. And the exposed shoulders -- lots of felinity there.

Michael Kors gets felinity:

Even in pants. Pants can have felinity, depending on how they're cut. Look at those. Those are downright languid, those pants.


And this gorgeous thing

More Kors. What's not to love there? Slinky. Sparkly, but not overly so. One bare shoulder (asymmetry adds felinity). Drapey gathers & folds of fabric. Mmmmmmmm, I really love this.

Costello Tagliapietra get it in spades:

These guys are GEE-niuses with jersey.

Oh, how pretty is that? Completely covered up and utterly sexy.

Here are some other things I've noticed lately that made me purrrrrrrrrr.

From my boyfriendAlexanderMcQueen. God googly-moogly, what an amazing dress. And it comes in burgundy, as well, which is one of my favorite colors to wear. Stunning.

More from Mr. McQueen. Be still my heart. A nice long leg slit (provided the leg merits it, and the slit is not so high that you cannot sit down without much nervous rearranging of skirt) is has lots of felinity.

Delicious slinky jersey from Issa. Silk jersey is very high on the felinity scale.

Everyone can use a little felinity in her life, a little quiet sexiness to help you prowl through the chaos. It will make you more serene, more mysterious. Walk slowly & purposefully. Arch your back. Stretch.

Purrrrrrrrrr...

Photos: Style Spy, Style.com, yoox.com

A Man After My Own Heart

I love Isaac Mizrahi. I think he's funny, original, and most of all I think he's a fantastic designer.


Would you look at that yummydelicious jersey dress! Although I must admit I have my doubts about the furry shoes...

He's got a really gorgeous website going now with amazing photos and fun tidbits, and a feature called Revamp wherein readers send him photos of wardrobe pieces they don't know what to do with and he turns them into something else. I love this! You have to check it out.

I mean, really -- who would you rather have coffee & dish with -- Martha Stewart or Isaac Mizrahi? Martha may make beautiful napkin rings out of discarded diaphragms and sequins or whatever, but I've yet to see her crank out something as lovely as this:


Very swoonful. Is it just me, or would that be the most beautiful wedding dress ever?

Anyway, check out Isaac's site. It'll make ya giggle.

Photos: Style.com