Gossip Girl fashion breakdown :

i found these facts

absolutely fascinating.

in a sick, delicious, kind of way:

there are an average of EIGHT costume changes, per character, per show.

(it's like my dream day.)

there are SEVENTY FIVE alterations performed each day on set.

blake lively wore a pair of TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLAR crocodile boots in one episode.

(bitch.)

kelly rutherford, however, wore a SIX HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLAR

van kleef and arpels brooch.  in one scene.

the closet has TEN THOUSAND garments at any given time.

(i'm swooning. may have to take a break.)

TWELVE HUNDRED pairs of shoes.

(thud.  which is the sound of my head hitting the keyboard.)

FIVE HUNDRED BAGS.

TWO HUNDRED HEADBANDS.

(if there was a BIGGER way to emphasize HEADBANDS, trust me, i would have typed it.)

all i can say is:

XOXO

HA!

as was pointed out

on the blog where i found this little gem,

if you think a bathing suit

is going to lure him away,

check his side laces, girl.

fall 09 fashion runway rundowns are coming -

as usual,

i'll be blogging the fall men's shows for you.

this is a little pre-promise,

so to speak.

i know some of you have problems wrapping your heads around

some of the looks i've advocated.

(tights under shorts, anyone?)

but this time around, i'm going to prep you.

i will NOT be advocating these looks for men:

these are from the bernhard wilhelm show.

i applaud originality,

and lord knows i like a half naked boy on a runway.

this is not originality,

this is self-indulgence.

not chic.

not my fall 09.

more soon,

besos, babies.

what landis wore : evenings out in los angeles

things i've noticed about myself recently.

1) i am old.  

a night "out" no longer requires any of the following items:

velvet catsuits.  riding boots.  masks.  eyeliner.  

(just ask tim.  i am not kidding.)

2) los angeles is making me dress up MORE.

perhaps it's that you can walk into any restaurant in jeans and a tee here

that makes the landis want to pile on the fur.

it's dinner out, you slobs.

not a screening of a seth rogan film.

3)  i gave up trying to define my style 

in the same way i gave up trying to describe myself.

like all good things in life,

experiencing it is better than talking about it.

so:

(rick owens tee.  lanvin cardigan/wrap.  diesel pants.  bottega loafers.  gray sable scarf.)

(burberry prorsum blazer, h&m turtleneck, mochi silk twill khakis, grenson navy patent wingtips)

wait.  gets better.

2/3 of the items.  70% off.

ha.

i AM aware of "these troubled times".

eat it, pessimists.  you CAN buy happiness.

the POLO SHIRT, reconsidered :

as a child growing up in houston, texas during the eighties,
the advent of the polo shirt was something like the recent coming of obama.

people never thought it would stick,
initially found it a little working class to be a winner,
and doubted the south would adopt it.

and look where we are now.

in a world where discount stores "stack em high and watch em fly",
every joe on ever corner wears one and considers himself "dressed".

au contraire, mon frere.

the polo is the male equivalent of the capri pant.
it tends to dumb down even the chicest of people,
to drive to the lowest common denominator,
and no amount of re-invention or designer collaborations can fully remove the stigma.

trust me on this,
i am not even immune.

i own polos from dior.
ok, one.

i own "re-issued" polos from lacoste.

(important note.  i do NOT own a polo by ralph lauren.  it has become, for me, too much of the "look what i found at the factory outlet, bob" item.  it reeks of the sub-urban.  not the suburban.  the sub-urban.)

have we firmly established that i have a distaste for the polo?

so, help me here.

why is miuccia prada such a bitch?

she puts out a spring line that re-interprets american "classics",
but if seen through some twisted, malcolm gladwellian, post-blink drug haze.

and suddenly,
i am fourteen again, sitting on the quad,
waiting for booker to get out of debate so we can go make out in his car.


it is just hot enough, that i may have to subvert my own distaste.

THAT, lovies, is fashion.

HA (proof!) -

ok, remember all the clarification around the issue of deep v's?

i am in a store in l.a.

i see this guy:

yes. 

"affliction" style graphic v neck tee.  true religion jeans.  tons of chains.

and yes.  it came in a pair:

the mall is a good place to go get a dose of reality.

it both saddens, and inspires.

HA!

oh if i had a penny
(make it a dime, i've got expensive tastes)
for every time i've seen the last shirt
out "on the town" with the guys.

fashion is funny : designer t-shirts

so,
most of the time when a retailer or designer
decides to collaborate with an artist on a series of t-shirts,
i find the results to be . . . bland.

the t-shirt is not just a canvas.
i think that's the mistake.
it's not just a blank piece of paper waiting to take whatever iteration of an artist's work
is deemed size appropriate or pretty enough
or, let's face it, saleable enough.

a great t is a little conceptual.  it makes you laugh.  it makes you frown.
it is it's own medium.

which is why i loved this piece.
stupidly, i don't remember where i found it or whom to attribute it to
(any help, kidlets?)
but i adore it.  i WANT it.

hell,
it speaks to me . . . by facing me when i wear it.

brilliant!