News Archives -- Michele Mode

Wrap a belt around the neck as a choker or around the wrist as a cuff — as does Les Copains at River Oaks District — and you’ve got insta-fabulous, cheap chic.

 

Fashion marketers are ruining fashion. Their vehicle? Coachella.

The once modest rock event for aspiring indie bands has morphed into a celeb gawk fest that steers stores to new styles.

Problem is, the Katy Perrys and Taylor Swifts swarming Coachella aren’t decked out in duds worthy of award show red carpets, but warmed-over Woodstock wreckage.

Coachella’s fields also have become a mud carpet for celebrity spawn Dylan Penn, Jaden Smith, Ava Phillippe (Reese Witherspoon’s look-alike daughter), Zoe Kravitz, Paris Hilton, Kylie Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Brooklyn Beckham, Kaia Gerber (Cindy Crawford’s look-alike daughter) and even Downton Abbey’s Joanna Froggett.

Their stylist-abetted fashion crimes: asymmetrical and illogically one-sleeve tops with open-shoulders; droopy chiffon floor-scrapers in clashing patterns; and shredded denim daisy dukes. They’re accessorized with reflective aviators, fanny packs, belly-button piercings, piles of delicate chains, floral crowns and hair that’s crimped, braided or adorned with feathers.

Sadly, where starlets go, millennials — and retailers — are sure to follow.

And so this hippie horror show has pushed aside sleek, chic flattering styles anyone can wear.

The only good fashion fix to come out of Coachella in recent years: chokers. They’re sexy, understated yet dramatic and can make almost every woman look fabulous.

 

People keep asking me: “What did you think about the inaugural fashions, and why haven’t you blogged about them?”

 

The answer: obsessing about First Lady hues or styles – and whether she evokes another First Lady — strikes me as sexist. (Do we even know what her husband wore?)

 

What matters is how her choices influence fashion’s retail industry. The inaugural attire of Melania, Ivanka and perhaps Tiffany Trump is likely to sell and be copied.

 

Like it or not: These women’s choices have consequences.

 

Michelle Obama’s sleeveless sheaths flaunted her sculpted arms, which underscored the benefits of exercise, one of her platforms as FLOTUS. After a few years, her ensemble of ensembles revealed another mission: to boost the careers of talented, fledgling first-gen Americans.

 

Now THAT was worth noting — and respecting.

 

Melania and Ivanka appear to be taking another direction.

 

Well-established labels of Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera don’t really need their assist. But a new star may be born: Herrera’s former creative director, Hervé Pierre, stepped out from behind her shadow to create Melania’s sculpted white ballgown on his own.

 

Political parties are irrelevant. I expect many fashion labels will quietly court Melania – and Ivanka – Trump. They’ll be hard to resist: as a former model with an enviable figure, and a powerful platinum princess with an equally runway-worthy shape.

 

When the goals behind their garb become clear you’ll hear more from me.

 

 

Designers and department stores are endangered species, thanks to fickle shoppers — and investors.

 

With runway spectacles instantly posted on the Internet, consumers have become as jaded as fashion editors. Spring is so ovuh – and it’s not even February!

 

As a result, the vicious game of fast fashion extends beyond disposable duds to disposable designers. Remember when artists like Donna Karan and Calvin Klein devoted most of their careers to a single vision and an eponymous label? Back then, a bad season was not grounds for dismissal.

 

Now it is. Many fads last longer than their creators.

 

Let’s keep score for who’s shuffled their designer decks lately: Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Lanvin, Nina Ricci, Calvin Klein, Roberto Cavalli, Salvatore Ferragamo, Berluti, Brioni, Marni, Oscar de la Renta and Band of Outsiders.

 

The ever-faster roulette wheel also just claimed Chloé’s Clare Waight Keller, who voluntarily relinquished her post to Louis Vuitton’s Natacha Ramsay-Levi.

 

Who? Get used to major fashion houses with heads you’ve never heard of.

 

My bet: Only Parisian iconoclast Azzedine Alaïa is safe. Why? Because he never follows the rules!

 

That approach may be the only hope for department stores. The staple of fashion retail for over a century is on life support as customers defect.

 

Macy’s will shutter many stores in 2017, including three in Houston.

 

Meanwhile, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue hope to survive by thinking outside the brick box.

 

Women would rather splurge on a mani-pedi than yet another pair of shoes? No problem. Neiman Marcus – rumored to be for sale — is launching Le Métier de Beauté salons, offering blowouts, brow waxing and mani-pedis at select stores. Not only that, the chi-chi chain has invited Millennial darling Rent the Runway – where shoppers borrow top designers’ wares at a fraction of the cost – to set up shop on its premises.

 

Houston’s Saks Fifth Avenue is banking on a dazzling new Galleria home and personal service. The temple to taste now makes sartorial house calls in a sleek, fashionably black Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. Call ahead to express your whims (and sizes), and Saks at Your Service delivers a wardrobe and personal shopper to your home, office or hotel room.

 

Ultimately, that’s the only way retail wins: seducing fashion’s most valuable asset – its customers.

 

 

Fall 2016 Fashion Trends: When Should You Proceed With Caution?

By Michele Meyer

Few of us are models, storks or starving starlets, so here’s how to be on-trend if you’re over age 30 and 100 pounds:

GREEN LIGHT. Menswear Mania: The pant suit is back. The taller you are, the wider the legs can be. FYI, this trend has legs.

GREEN LIGHT. Soft Touch: Enjoy the plush life for the feel of it: Velvet is a keeper.

GREEN LIGHT. Heavy Medalists: Gold, silver and bronze win day and night. Shimmy up to shimmer via metallic threads, beads or sequins. Odd as it sounds, you can bank on bling as a fashion perennial. Just don’t sparkle head-to-foot.

GREEN LIGHT. Fringe Appeal: Designers hit repeat with hippie chic nouveau dripping from jackets, skirts, satchels and shoes. Why not, but one piece at a time!

GREEN LIGHT. Coachella Cachet: Multicultural pleasant peasantry is another music festival fave: flowing embroidered tops and skirts. This could be a keeper for a few seasons, but again, one item at a time or it skews costume. Do not wear Heidi braids. I repeat…

GREEN LIGHT. Warmth is Wonderful: Outerwear is in, from puffer jackets, cropped bombers, capes and fur for men and women.

GREEN LIGHT. Comfort in Chaos. Don bathrobe coats, hoodies or cashmere sweatpants as athleisure goes uptown. But mix them with more traditional garments so you don’t look like you’re sleepwalking.

YELLOW LIGHT. Supersized Sleeves: Fashion throws a belle curve with bell, Edwardian mutton and elongated sleeves that are sometimes — OK, often — impractical, but celebs are wearing them. Please pitch yours by next fall. Please!

YELLOW LIGHT. Military Muscle: Apply braid, epaulets, honors and capes – with restraint. You don’t want to evoke Michael Jackson wannabe heading to war.

YELLOW LIGHT. Gender Benders: Some of us support this trend in concept for men and women. But is it practical? The look skews sexy for femmes. But guys shouldn’t appear in public in Saint Laurent’s fuchsia, ruffled blouse — unless they want to honor Prince. Better to wear a Hawaiian floral shirt on weekends.

RED LIGHT. Sheer Shock: Transparent evening gowns and/or latex and pleather. Spare us all and save 50 shades of shock value for the bedroom.

RED LIGHT. Fur Real? Trapper hats courtesy of Louis Vuitton. Seriously? Sorry, but this runway special existed only to wake up jaded journalists. If you must, save it for Halloween.

 Images courtesy of Alberta Ferretti. Sold at Moda Operandi and Alberta Ferretti Boutique, LA.

1. All sorts of wrong in one:  The almost-always tacky leopard print, clashing prints and over-priced, dry-clean-only sweatpants. Need I go on?

2. Vague, lazy hype in fashion stories. “Iconic,” “timeless” and “kicky” are clichés for the clueless.

3. Trends that need to go away already, in fall 2016: Hot pants, jeggings (why look like a stuffed sausage?) and nude platform shoes (if you’re short own it, rather than stumbling on stilts). And the hanging shirt tail — it’s not cool. It’s contrived — and sloppy.

4. Rompers. Take a hint from the old TV show Romper Room. It was for children!

— Call me couture’s curmudgeon