The Celebration of Mediocrity.... or not!

I was invited to a Fashion Show in Dallas last week. I generally do not attend these things unless it's A) for charity or B) for work. My time is valuable, I have a young child and to go out at night is a production in itself sometimes. However, for my friend, Couture Snob Heidi-- I attended... just for fun. The event was at a beautiful location poolside at a local hotel. We grabbed a couple of glasses of pink champagne, seated ourselves immediately and awaited the show to begin. The music pulsated, I got excited as I always do at shows... until the models came down the runway.

First off, the clothes didn't fit, it would have taken mere minutes to pin, tuck and straighten the dresses to make them look presentable. You are sending models down the runway, make sure the clothes fit. I have been backstage at Oscar de la Renta where he and his stepdaughter Eliza Bolen were bent over, tucking, fussing, pinning last minute so that the models look perfect when they glide down the runway (Oscar himself even stands at the entry of the runway to make sure the models walked properly and nothing was amiss). Yes, those are high standards to follow but I have also been at shows like Milly, a fabulous contemporary line similar to the one that was shown last week, where Michelle Smith and her team of girls did the same. The rule in fashion, especially runway, is that no matter if you are sending out a $300 dress or a $10,000 gown, make damn sure it looks as perfect as possible! Not that accidents don't occur (Naomi Campbell tripping for instance), but it was apparent there was not much attention paid to details here.

To our horrified surprise, a few of the models even had hanger straps dangling out at the bustline! How can you miss a giant black hanger strap hanging out of a strapless dress??? Tuck that in before you let the model walk out! I was seated next to a friend, an editor for WWD, she was bewildered and turned to me and asked "is this a trunk show?". I twittered the entire event, giving my thoughts, without naming names or even the designer. It was nothing different than what I write or twitter on a daily basis. I'm known for being brutal but it's never in malice. I just didn't think it was done well. It's nothing personal, it was what it was.

Apparently my twitter tweets ticked off a group of people-- yup, you guessed it-- the very people who put on the event. These people are now harassing my friend, putting her responsible for my tweets and sending her rude emails (how is it childish and mean to voice your disappointment!?!?). Let's see, I have ragged on almost every designer at some point-- from Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton (yet they both still welcome me to shows, events etc), my beloved Hermes and yes, even Michael Kors (whom I adore! He also told me that if one can take criticism they will learn a lot from it)-- why should I suck up now and pretend all was great when it was far less than par?

I was told later that it was a 'fake' show so we shouldn't have had high expectations. What?!? Had I known it was a fake show I would not have attended. In any case, the lesson of this long story is: Don't follow me on twitter, don't friend me on Facebook and don't read my blogs if you don't want to read what I have to say. Why can't these people take what I wrote and file a mental note for their next show?

I love fashion and my enthusiasm and passion for fashion has gotten me where I am today. I'm sorry but I will not celebrate mediocrity!