Manolo says, 1981, it was the simpler time, when hot chicks wore “mom jeans” and monkeys danced in exultation because of it.
P.S. Many thanks to Mr. Isidore Gallant for finding the old jeans commercials.
Manolo says, here are the spirited and sexy ankle strap pumps from Donna Karan, shoes that would make any occasion festive.
Manolo says, there is the new exhibit that has just opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute entitled Blog.mode Addressing Fashion and sponsored by the Maestro Manolo Blahnik. This morning there was the very good article in the Wall Street Journal about this show.
Fashion criticism has long been the exclusive realm of an insular band of journalists who traveled the big runway shows in Paris, Milan and New York and seemed to speak their own esoteric language. But the Met’s new exhibit, “Blog.mode Addressing Fashion,” is inviting anyone with an Internet connection to critique the clothes on display. With its new blog, blog.metmuseum.org/blogmode/, which went up this week, the august museum is also acknowledging that traditional fashion criticism is over.
The Manolo has been talking about this very thing, the democratization of fashion and fashion reportage and criticism for more than three years now.
The article continues.
“There’s a whole new field out there,” says Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator. He decided last summer to turn a retrospective of important garments acquired by the museum since 2000 into a three-way conversation of sorts between curator, designer and outside observers. “We wanted to further the practice of fashion interpretation and appreciation,” he says.
The exhibit features 65 garments arranged mostly chronologically, from a circa-1730 British waistcoat to Mr. Theyskens’s ballgown from a 2007 Nina Ricci collection. It contains work from prominent designers like Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons’ creative director, Rei Kawakubo, and Donna Karan. […]
In the middle of the exhibit, a “blog bar” invites viewers to post their own thoughts on the clothes. Curators decided to invite anyone to post comments on the blog after noticing over the past year and a half that fashion blogging is gaining momentum and respect. As influential blogs garner large audiences and advertisers shift ad spending to the Internet, designers and retailers are also beginning to view the medium as a new opportunity to reach people. […]
Many bloggers are “cultivated amateurs,” Mr. Koda said this week, while admiring the 18th-century red wool waistcoat. “I do not think bloggers will change the direction of fashion, but they can inform our interpretation of objects.”
The exhibit also illustrates how the Internet is making high-brow cultural institutions more accessible to a mainstream audience. “Curators aren’t these godlike creatures,” Mr. Bolton says.
[fashion]The Costume Institute’s democratic approach to criticism surprises some industry experts. “What is astonishing to me is that the fashion industry is allowing these people to become important,” says David Wolfe, creative director at the Doneger Group, a New York retail consultancy.
Here is the person who does not understand how the new media works.
The fashion industry can neither “allow” nor nor not allow the fashion bloggers to become important. It is not within their ability to restrict us from writing what we think about various things. Nor is it within their power to keep many of us from becoming popular voices about matters sartorial. And if we become popular voices, then they, the fashion nabobs, must pay attention to us and our readers, for if they do not, they risk alienating their market.
Thus the importance of the fashion bloggers is entirely dependent upon whether or not they are being read, and has very little to do with the acceptance or non-acceptance of the fashion industry.
The good news, however, is that there are many in the fashion world who understand what is going on.
But some designers find it refreshing. “Fashion is supposed to be this exclusive world that nobody has access to,” says Hussein Chalayan, who uses elements of technology in his designs, such as a remote-control-powered dress in the show. But the Internet is changing that perception. “At the end of the day when you have a critic write about your work, it is just one person who is supposed to be an expert,” he says. “Why is this taken more seriously [than a blogger]?”
For designers, bloggers also represent a useful tool for market research and brand promotion. Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, who sponsored the Met’s exhibition, says he thinks bloggers have been partly responsible for getting a younger generation of consumers excited about his shoes. One popular blogger who calls himself Manolo the Shoe Blogger has built a community of people who treat footwear criticism as if it were a team sport. “I love it,” Mr. Blahnik says.
Ayyyyyyy!
Did the Maestro Manolo just say that he “loves” the Shoe Blog of the humble shoeblogger?
This is one of the happiest days of the in Manolo the Shoebloggers entire life!! (Although, this is not the first time the Maestro has mentioned the Shoe Blog.)
The fact that Manolo Blahnik, himself, would sponsor the exhibition about the intersection of blogs and fashion says everything we need to know.
Manolo asked, whose shoes?
Manolo answers, it is the Hilary Swank!
Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend 3 to get Ready, who was the only person to get the correct answer to this, the most difficult Whose Shoes Wednesday ever!
As for the Hilary Swank, the Manolo loves her, but girlfriend does have the giant, manly feets.
Manolo says, the Manolo reminds you that the Never teh Bride is blogging up the amusing home-based storm at the Manolo’s new blog Manolo for the Home.
Please, go there now and offer her your support and blog-reading attention.
Manolo says, so it is not even officially winter yet, and already you are sick of the snow and the cold and the slippery ice on every surface, to say nothing of the incessant playing of “Silver Bells”.
So, what must one do?
The Manolo suggests visiting the Stuart Weitzman Spring Trunk Sale at Nordstroms, where you may look at the beautiful shoes from the Stuart Weitzman Spring Collection, 2008, and imagine that the first crocus has just emerged, signaling the return of warmer weather, and gorgeous sandals.
By the way, if you have the gigantic wide foot, these beautiful shoes are available up to the size 14 EEE, but only if you preiorder for spring delivery.
Manolo says, there is hope for the Manolo’s modeling aspirations.
Manolo says, after much deliberation the Manolo has finally selected the winner of the latest episode of the Manolo’s Build the Outfit contest, and there it is above, the winning ensemble put together by the Manolo’s internet friend Rachel.
Here the Rachel, talking about her entry.
I’d go with a short dress to show off the over-the-knee boots. The ribbed tights make the leg look even longer. The earrings and bag complement the blues of the dress. And the coat, I just love the coat. I was going to go for a hat, too. But as I pictured the long-legged girl wearing the ensemble hurrying down the streets of Manhattan to meet friends for an informal party, I just knew she wouldn’t want to ruin her look with hat hair.
For the Manolo it was the very colorful short dress that made this outfit. Tall, dark, and handsome boots like these require a the short dress, so that the tiniest bit of thigh might be shown. The splash of color here enlivens the boots and makes what could be somber, more festive.
For her winning effort the Rachel will receive the $100 worth of credit at the
Heels.com, the brand new online shopping venue, one that brings the Web 2.0 to help with the search for the perfect pair of heels.
