fashion victims

Formerly Punk & Currently Quirky Vivienne Westwood: "Why Don't People Tear Their Own Clothes?"

You've gotta love Vivienne Westwood. The 66-year-old British fashion designer is sorta insane, but she sorta knows it, so it's all good. She hates expensive shit, yet continues to sell it (a girl's gotta eat?) and is basically single-handedly credited with creating punk. When Sabine Durrant of the Telegraph interviewed Westwood recently, Viv informed her: "I can't think without my glasses." Glad to see someone else suffers the same problem! Everything that trickles out of her mouth is somehow amazing and perversely awe-inspiring. She's kind of a big dork: "Every time I have to look up a word in the dictionary I'm delighted." And of her early days as a pre-school teacher, she says:"My sympathies were with the kids. I could understand why they were naughty." And wait until you hear what she says about punk now: More »

rag trade

Sienna Miller Attends "Kitchen Sink" School Of Fashion Inspiration

• Sienna Miller on the inspiration behind the first collection of her clothing line 'Twenty8Twelve by s.miller': "Dickensian London, French peasant style and Seventies New York rock 'n' roll." And, uh, what else? WAF Pilots, cavemen, scuba gear... [WWD]
  
• Bag designer Anya Hindmarch caused quite a stir with her faux-environmentalist "I Am Not A Plastic Bag" bags. The designer insists, though, that the idea behind them was never retail-based self-promotion: "It genuinely wasn't a marketing thing when we started out... I hope, though, that it ends up being good for us." Subtle, Hindmarch. Subtle. [WWD]
  
• WWD is even worse at crafting blind items than 'Page Six': "Rumors are rife in Paris that a major fashion house, under new ownership, offered [Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman] a hefty contract to become the house's creative director." Hmm, wasn't Halston just acquired? By Harvey Weinstein? Who is also Chapman's boyfriend? [WWD, 1st item]

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rag trade

What Do Mary-Kate, Ashley, Ralph Lauren, And Nike Have In Common? Not Enough Money, Apparently!

• The Olsen twins are launching a new clothing line, not to be confused with their other two clothing lines. Called Elizabeth and James and named after the other two Olsen siblings, it's a joint venture with the parent company of Seven For All Mankind jeans with a fascinating theme: The "clash between masculinity and femininity." Is that like when you've been starving yourself so long you don't have to buy tampons anymore? [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• A movie is being made about the life of designer and debauched punk starfucker Vivienne Westwood, and we would looove to see Alan Cumming in the role of Sex Pistol/Westwood-ex Malcolm McLaren. [Vogue UK]
  
• You thought Nike couldn't get any more mileage (HAH!) out of reissuing new colors of its retro shoes? The latest shades are that attractive shade of old-PVC yellow, dirty maroon, and weatherbeaten green. Fuck them for looking kind of awesome. [NYTimes]
  
• The Wall Street Journal's Teri Agins attempts to explain why Polo is suddenly minting so much money. One theory: Douchebags! Seriously though, can we PLEASE BAN THE WORD "ASPIRATIONAL"? [WSJ, sub req'd]

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