Patricia Michaels

I was sad Patricia Michaels didn't win Project Runway this season. I watch PR because I love the creative process- selecting the materials, constructing, and watching it all come together. Of course, a lot of people end up constructing garments that look like they could be hanging in Zara, but still, you know, talent and craft.

Patricia is an extremely talented textile artist and she made most of her own fabrics, or modified them dramatically. She is Native American and considers her work part of her heritage, though she communicated this primarily with her work (and was definitely one of the nicest, best-adjusted contestants on the show.) It was very touching when she gave her speech on the finale, partially in her native language. 

I can see why she didn't win; her work was less commercially viable and some of it was a little artsy/off-trend. Plus Nina hated her. However, Patricia was responsible for so many amazing, fashion-forward looks that she actually created out of her own hands. Her clothing was unique and exciting.

And lastly, she was not boxed in by trends. As it was often stated on the show, Patricia's inspiration came from her, not anyone else. 

All the paillettes on this dress...she made them out of mica, hammered them and everything!!! The headpiece is dyed horsehair. The way it bobbed down the runway was really captivating.

Hand-painted leather jacket.

Her avant-garde look for a challenge.

Handmade eagle feather scarf.

Anyway, best of luck to Patricia. I see no way she can't have won a zillion fans and potential customers through the show. The fashion world could use more designers like her.

Dandyism: Better than Cargo Shorts

Ever unpowdered, unperfumed, immaculately bathed and shaved, and dressed in a plain dark blue coat, he was always perfectly brushed, perfectly fitted, showing much perfectly starched linen, all freshly laundered, and composed with an elaborately knotted cravat.

- Barbey d'Aurevilly, "Du dandisme et de George Brummell

That Purple Rain poster was very hard to find a photo of, which is too bad because Prince's suit is epic and was clearly custom-made for him, though you can kind of see the metallic paisley and big buttons. Not that if you are reading my blog you haven't looked up close at that poster before anyway, and are also obviously well acquainted with the naked shower Prince poster too.

This image is too small, but trust me, this shit is graphic!

Once dandies were part of our culture, and though we have some modern day dandies, they are much more rare. It seems a lot of guys these days are attempting a modern dandy look, with rolled up skinny jeans and little oxfords, but what they don't know ---and all those seen in the photos above clearly do--- is that dressing like a dandy means nothing without an eye for quality, fabric, and fit. All of these we have certainly have lost the ability to recognize, but people were probably much more aware of when most clothing was handmade and meant to last. Black men of an older generation seem most likely to be dandies these days.

People can't afford bespoke suits, but you don't need bespoke suits to be a dandy. Anyone can starch a shirt. Austin Scarlett, a consummate dandy if there ever was one, amazed me on the first season of Project Runway with his morning ironing routine. The best thing about this look is the effort put into it. It's a perfectly studied flamboyance, as opposed to the flashy and trashy flamboyance I also heartily approve of. It's the opposite of what modern dressing is all about- throwing on some harem pants/pajamas/shants and a beefy tee featuring an off-color reference. Dandies do not wear wraparound sunglasses or flip flops. They tuck in their shirts. Today people don't really have any easy way of learning about clothing even if they wanted to. It's not like you can take a trip to your local department store. There is something intrinsic about the way a true dandy dresses. They have a deep understanding of what they are wearing, an understanding so few people seem to have. "Masculine" attire need not be broad and frumpy. Today's Men's Wearhouse style suits feature clingy legs and boxy blazers, but we can do better.

In conclusion, study the photos of these dandies. Look at the cut of their shirts, their well-coiffed hair, and the ease with with they wear these clothes. This tailored and covered up look is hella fine, but does not rely on conventional good looks to make it work.

Photo Key Which I am Usually Way Too Lazy To Do:

1. Man in the perennially blighted Mid-Market district of San Francisco

2., 3., & 4. Clearly Prince.

5. Katherine Hepburn

6. Fred Astaire in a dandy-inspired number

6. Frida Kahlo and family

7. Josephine Baker

8. Portrait of Una Troubridge

9. & 10. Oscar Wilde

11. Radclyffe Hall

12. Noel Coward

13. & 14. Andre 3ooo and also Big Boi but he's not the focus here, though his suit is cool too

15. Don Cornelius, who I couldn't find better photos of

16. Austin Scarlett outshines non-dandy Tim Gunn

17. & 18. These are the type of David Bowie photos I would paste on my locker in high school. Damn, this was good look for him.

19. John Waters

20. & 21. Marlene Dietrich

22. Yves St. Laurent

23. David Bowie

24, Quentin Crisp

PS: There is a show on Lifetime with Austin Scarlett and Santino from Season 2 where they road trip around and make dresses for non-fancy people and it's pretty amazing!

Jennifer Lopez, Style Icon

I always like to see what Jennifer Lopez is wearing to an event. She wears plenty of whatevs outfits, but she is also one of the few stars to take fashion risks while sticking to a personal look. A lot of stars claim to be inspired by "old Hollywood glamour", but you can tell she really is! I love how her look is so statuesque/Barbarella/drag queeny- like my other love Beyonce, she really knows how to dress for her figure. It's funny what a scandal that green Versace dress caused; today it looks only mildly trashy. Also, that silver lurex mini dress and head wrap? Amazing!

Persephassa, my favorite Flickr person

Of all those who post their outfits, persephassa is my favorite. I love the way she puts clothing together and wears 30's gowns and old sweaters with an equal amount of queenly panache. With so many people, the clothes seem to be wearing them, as if they have no control over what is on their body and they were just attacked by whatever trends happened to be passing by; it is so nice to see people who are the exact opposite. In an ideal world, everyone would dress more intuitively, creatively, and colorfully, and be comfortable and happy while doing so.

Mary's Musings: I Liked It, I Am Sick of Looking at this Bitch, and More!

Issue One: Here is a dress Jezebel hated on as "one of the worst of the year." Whatever! I think this dress is cool. It looks kind of like your everyday cocktail dress crossed with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It's special and weird!

This, on the other hand, they loooved. It was one of the "best of the year." This is like the kind of dress you might look cool in when you are seventy years old and you're a grand dame type with an elegant and stately style, but if you're 23 or what this Olsen is (God, remember the Olsens??? Everyone was so obsessed with them!) you are just boring and safe as hell. Much like Anne Hathaway in this dress:
What a bunch of boring crap! I'm so sick of rewarding celebrities for wearing a $12,000 gown their stylist picked out for them. Except for the Rhianna dress in there, nothing considered "great" is risky, inventive, unique, or strays from the typical model. I love how celebrities won't even wear necklaces or jewelery half the time because they are so intent on looking classy.


Issue Two:
What the fuck is up with these new cell phone commercials starring an unforgivably bloated Luke Wilson? Who's like, "Well, if fat 'n frumpy Luke Wilson wants me to change my coverage, I will!" I remember when I was a child, and I saw stuff on TV and craved it intensely (once I made my mom buy me this red sugar goo that you were supposed to squeeze onto your oatmeal to make fun shapes- needless to say the goo just kind of smeared and melted everywhere, and I think I learned a valuable lesson.) Anyway, I would love to visit an alternate reality when female stars show up looking fat and disheveled and shilling something on a TV commercials and no one bats an eye.




Issue Three:
Hey, guess what? You suck, Tim Burton. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sucked, Sweeney Todd sucked, Big Fish sucked (I watched this in college with my new-at-the-time roommates and they all cried at the end and I was like "WTF?") , Corpse Bride looked like it sucked, and your new obsession with CGI really sucks, because at least you used to be all about this unique, hand crafted, stylized aesthetic and this preview looks like a video game. Also, much of this aesthetic has become totally cliche- ie, of all the stupid Nightmare Before Christmas plastic crap made for pez Hot Topic teens. Also, Alice is a little girl, not sexy babe with her dress half torn off. I do like Beatlejuice, but that was a long time ago!

Issue Four:
Also, you suck, Michael Jackson. I am so sick of hearing Michael Jackson songs in every place and context. It was bad enough when it was just a hipster party staple, but now you can't escape it anywhere. Of course, there are only like five songs anybody will even play, and no one ever even plays, like, Man in the Mirror. Michael Jackson obviously had a huge cultural impact and is an icon and blah blah blah, but musically those songs aren't anything special. And everyone is so intent on claiming Michael Jackson as their own, like playing Billie Jean at a bar for the five hundredth time is really going to blow everyone away.


Issue Five:
You know what else sucks? "Remixed" old Christmas songs that are like Bing Crosby's voice going "Chestnuts roasting- roasting- roasting- beep bloop boop oonz oonz oonz." It's such a travesty! I hate the modern assumption that no one has enough of an attention span to listen to something slow and complete that doesn't jump or cut into something after five seconds.