Fashion faux pas: What’s in a name?

Confession time.

My first semester at “fashion school” I committed a huge sin: I referred to the design house of Proenza Schouler as a “she.” (As in, “OMG, did you see the Spring 2012 Proenza Schouler line? SHE is SUCH a genius.”)

Whoops.

Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the men behind Proenza Schouler. The lined was named after combining the two designers’ mothers’ maiden names.

And shame on me, too. I should have known better. Not only for the fact that, hello, I enrolled in school specifically to study fashion, but also because others run into the same difficulty with my favorite designer and design house — Alber Elbaz designing for Lanvin — and I get beyond indignant any time Elbaz were referred to as a “she,” as though Jeanne Lanvin were still alive and in charge. (BTWs, Lanvin, a.k.a. @LANVINofficial, is following me, a.k.a @xococozoe, on Twitter. That means it’s only appropriate for you to follow me too!!!)

Alber Elbaz, the genius behind Lanvin.

But, in reality, it’s NOT that difficult to get designers and design houses confused: many designers collaborate, and unite under one house name, as in the case of Proenza Schouler, or other designers take up office the name-holding designer has vacated, either because they have long-since died (i.e. Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel), or because they were caught spewing anti-semitic obsceneties and subsequently suspended from their eponymous lines (i.e. John Galliano. Seriously, though, the most brilliant geniuses are also the most MAD).

John Galliano, displaying his signature “if-Bret-Michaels-had-sex-with-with-Aramis-from-The-Three-Musketeers” sense of style.

And with today’s business politics inspiring corporations (LVMH and Gucci Group, we’re looking at you) to play a never-ending game of musical chairs, it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep up with who’s who and where — unless you’re Alexander Wang, then in February 2013 the entire U.S. FINALLY knew the name of designer behind Balenciaga. (P.S. I love you, A. Wang, but Balenciaga will always be synonymous with Nicolas Ghesquiere to me).

Nicolas Ghesquiere, former designer of Balenciaga.

But here, to save as many poor souls as possible from future faux pas, are five hot designers and the even-hotter non-eponymous houses they design for.

So much to dress for this week part one: Sarah Burton & Phillip Treacy

Sarah Burton and Phillip Treacy will both be at tomorrow’s Academy of Art University Symposium.

Sarah Burton, as taken by David Burton. Image via Vogue UK.

Philip Treacy (left) with Iman. Image via style.com

Just to remind everyone, Sarah Burton is the brilliant force behind current design house, Alexander McQueen — which, most recently pumped out the collection that I dubbed “Cousin-Itt Chic:”

From the Alexander McQueen fall 2012 RTW collection by Sarah Burton. Image via style.com

And Phillip Treacy is the mastermind milliner, who comes up with hats like this one, on Sarah Jessica Parker:

SJP at the World Premiere of Sex and the City in London, wayyyyyy back in 2008. Image via culch.ie.

If you wanted to see more by Phillip Treacy, I came across this post from Miss Delite’s blog, with a LOT of awesome images of his work!

Wish you all could be at the symposium with me!

XO,
Coco Zoe

Alber Elbaz and peplums: Two of my favorite things

I’m sitting up late into the night/early morning (as usual, these days), working on my final project for my History of Fashion class (a ten minute presentation on a designer of our choosing, and I chose Alber Elbaz), eating what I swear is going to be my last starchy carb for at least a week, and fretting over what to wear tomorrow to work, since I feel more bloated than a set of QQQ DDD-sized saline implants belonging to a Real Housewife of Orange County due to the Chinese-bakery mini-binge I allowed myself over the past couple of days.

Custard buns as I first saw them at my now-favorite bakery in Chinatown, San Francisco.

A custard bun as I last saw it, before I detached my jaw and inhaled it.

I was starting to feel really guilty about what I just ate, until my research brought me to this piece by Leah Chernikoff for Fashionista.com which quotes Elbaz at his 10th anniversary showing for Lanvin at Barney’s:

“I created the peplum so you can eat in it,” Elbaz said. “You can have a dessert, you can have another sandwich.”

This quote gave me more relief than any de-bloating laxative could have even advertised. Like, OMG, one of the most brilliant minds in fashion believes that stylish women can eat? Insert sigh of relief number one. And, HELLO, tomorrows wear-to-work wardrobe crisis solved (black peplum top with a gut-sucking high-waisted pencil skirt…why didn’t I think of that?). Insert sigh of relief number two (no laxative-referencing pun intended).

Tomorrow's wear-to-work style inspiration. One of the peplum looks from Lanvin's fall 2012 RTW collection, designed by Alber Elbaz. Image via style.com

And now, in fact, I feel so relieved that I may actually be able to get some sleep. Inspiration really does come when you least expect it!

Have a thoughtfully thunderous Thursday!

XO,

Coco Zoe

Guiseppe Zanotti, I’m cheating on you with Charlotte Olympia

Charlotte Olympia is a shoe genius. Her shoes have a tendency toward girl-hot fashion more than guy-hot fashion, but that’s a trait shared by most accessories and apparel that double as wearable art.

Charlotte Olympia S/S 2012 Collection by xococozoe

A video of Jean Paul Gaultier at AAU

HERE is the video of Jean Paul Gaultier’s visit to Academy of Art University.

And while I originally watched this packed in a room full of my peers, instructors, and exponentially-rising body heat, when I see this video what I am most reminded of is how the rush from across downtown SF, the wait, and the extremely uncomfortable auditorium situation was TOTALLY worth it, just to hear The Man speak.

If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, make sure you skip to 16:00, when JPG shares some inspiring words of career wisdom.

Freakum Dress Friday: St. Patrick’s Day

So, I’m kind of not really a fan of dressing up for St. Patrick’s Day. :X

I was as a little kid, though. Oh, I was ALL about it: green top with black or printed leggings, green tube socks, green scrunchie. And it had to be a GOOD green too, like a kelly green or a clover green.

Not unlike a lot of other things we find exciting as children, as I grew older wearing green on March 17th started to feel corny and, as I got busier and more distracted with “life”, more like a pain in the ass.

It’s Kanye, b!tch [yay for 'Ye]

Kanye at his Fall 2012 RTW show.

Kanye West presented his Fall 2012 RTW collection earlier today in Paris. My initial reaction: OMG, SO much better.

Some early tweeting by @missjourdandunn (“…shoes are sexy as fuck but you can’t walk in them!”) had me and many other pro-’Ye fans a little nervous about the wearability and appeal of what would be presented, but Kanye’s fall ‘fits were far more cohesive, polished, season appropriate, better fitting, and, yes, wearable. And Kanye definitely knows his leather and fur [*drool].

Sneaker Chic: Mother of Pearl

So, most of my friends know me as this crazy heel-nazi, right? And being only 5’2.5″ it’s no wonder why my philosophy when it comes to shoes is “the higher the heel, the closer you bring yourself to heaven.” But there’s always been a hidden part of me (blame it on the childhood-tomboy or former hip-hop-dancer personas that are both tucked away amongst my alter-egos) that has always had a soft spot for cute sneakers.

My fave from the penultimate day of NY fashion week.

Gilles the Genius.

Gilles Mendel, your name is not mentioned any number of times CLOSE to enough in my fashion school, or in hip-hop songs.

In what was my favorite show of the day, the J. Mendel Fall 2012 show sent look after look after fabulous look down the runway using a palette of cozily-bad-ass fall/winter neutrals, with pops of moody forest green and uber-glam mustards and bronze hues.

While the show lacked the feeling of trippy other-worldliness that Marc Jacobs achieved when he transported fashionophiles to his  Dr.-Seuss-inspired wonderland earlier this week, Mendel still succeeded in sending me on a trip to the United States of Fashion Euphoria — a place where visitors find themselves unable to speak using anything other than broken, barely-sentences (“OHHhhhemgeee…”), or full sentences littered with hyperbole and superlatives galore (“…that coat just made me find Jesus”), and upon leaving suffer a slight case of Post Traumatic Dress Disorder [corny]. It’s a place one only reaches after seeing fashion that connects to his or her ideal aesthetic on a variety of levels, which Mendel did for me, 44 times.

Fave looks from J. Mendel Fall 2012 RTW.

…seriously, that show pumped my brain so full of endorphins, I think I may actually be able to begin my gluten-free diet tomorrow sans crankiness.

If you missed the live stream, you can still check out all of the looks here.