Could Someone Tell Andre Leon Talley To Shut It? Thanks.

Christina Hendrick's look at 2010 SAG, Jennifer Hudson's A.L. Talley-styled look for 2007 Oscars, André Leon Talley with a typical look of his.

Recently I was insulted by some commentary from André Leon Talley. I read this commentary on "The Cut", NY magazine's fashion blog. The post mentioned his overall thoughts regarding fashion at the SAG awards. He said the following: "Enough of these choices of bad designer fashion and messy hair. Hollywood, call me! I have some tips for you." Hmmm...that's funny. Sounds like he's soliciting work. Maybe he's had a hard time finding jobs since the Jennifer Hudson mishap at the 2007 Oscars? I looked at the pictures he was commenting on and most of the people who he made disparaging comments about looked GREAT. This type of commentary makes me really offended. Additionally, I'm surprised that the fact that his past styling attempts have led to their own fashion faux pas won't stop Mr. Talley from flapping that trap of his. Like this mean comment he made about the beautiful Christina Hendricks (also pictured above):

(She)...looked like something from a bad bridal wear special on WE tv. Her red Carolina Herrera dress with a giant bow on one shoulder continued her unfortunate streak [from the Golden Globes]...My advice for this talented actress is to go to Lily et Cie for some sound advice on dressing for her body type.

Really? And what exactly advice would they give her at Lily et Cie, Mr. Talley? I hate to be repetitive, but if you haven't read my post on Lalah Hathaway's dress at the Grammies, you may not know that girls with a large bust like Christina's are the HARDEST body type to dress. Anything large enough for your boobs is huge everywhere else. Cleavage looks vulgar, but yet it's almost impossible not to show cleavage with all that breast to cover. Anything too loose all over makes you look like they might as well set you loose with the the cows to graze. Christina wore a well fitting, elegant dress in a color that was just divine. Her accessories also were right, simple and pared down. Her make-up and hair were great as well. It felt loose and free with out being fussy. So...if you can't wear a sleek dress from a well respected designer like Carolina Herrera, and have hair and make-up professionals work on every other aspect your look, what can you wear? Is there anything you can wear, Mr. Talley, with out being derided?

I also don't know why he is off the hook for dressing for his body type. All the huge fur accoutrements he's so fond of wearing just serve to make him more huge and ridiculous. So it's this whole no-one-can-do-anything-right-if-it's-not-styled-by-me-attitude I find negative. You are insulted if you don't work with this man, or are a follower that has obviously fallen prey to his cult of personality if you do. You wear an outfit chosen by the so called expert and it's placed in "worse dressed" the next day, a la Jennifer Hudson. You can't do anything right. It's people like him who give girls no space to maneuver and express personality through fashion. Attempts to do so obviously result in being torn down. It just made me so MAD. And I just think that Mr. Talley has sometimes missed the point.

Believe me ladies when I tell you this: fashion is about art, self-expression, and having fun. It's NOT what one huge, fur-mongering, fat man has forced us to wear. We serve ourselves better by not listening to man like this. Ms. Hendricks looked beautiful the other night. She looked elegant, full of class and grace. We all deserve the tools to look great. I won't let some job-seeking egotist like André Leon Talley take that away. Fashionistas, stand tall. Women: when this man makes a comment about fashion, I urge you not to listen. It's people like him who make fashion less fun.

2010 Grammies

I honestly was not impressed with what I saw at the Grammies. I didn't see more than a handful of musicians who seemed to give much thought about what they were wearing. Most just looked presentable. Many either looked stiff or like they were in a stage costume. Nonetheless, I tried to highlight the best, with a little bit of commentary for each. All photos from grammy.com .

Taylor Swift always looks amazing, and dresses with a maturity way past her years. I love how sinous this dress is, it looks like a second skin. It's a great look for a lithe figure and small bust. It is also a very unusual shade of blue that is also so flattering on her skin-tone. She knows what looks good on her and dresses with grace, tastefulness, and class. She makes me proud to be an American.

Let me just begin by saying I know we all love Ri-Ri. Umbrella, great song. And she has a great fashion sense. I love how she takes risks. I give her credit for all of those things. However, that being said, I can't get past the feeling that she over-does it sometimes. Although I like this dress, I love white in the winter, I do feel as if it is a tad overwhelming on her. I just wish that she would take the scale down one notch so I could see her (she's beautiful!) as well as her dress.

Ledisi. I don't even know who this person is. Whatever her music sounds like, I can clearly see her look is perfect. I love when people do short to award ceremonies. It always comes across as slightly rebellious to me. The fit is perfect on her, it's a fun dress, I love the movement of the fabric, and I love how it shows of her shoulders and legs. I also think she accessorized it perfectly.

I love me a big girl sometimes. Seriously though, I've nothing but respect for any woman with this body type. I've been working with clothes for a long time, and big-busted gals have the hardest figure to dress. Anything that fits their boobs is too big everwhere else, if it shows to much cleavage its distracting, and it's really easy to look unbalanced or grossly overweight fast. So taking that into consideration, you can see how stunning Lalah Hathaway looks. This dress is elegant and fits her like a glove. The color makes her positively glow. Great work Lalah!

Oh Fergie. For a girl who peed her pants on stage, you sure know how to dress. Fergie has a great figure and really knows how to show it of. She's doing short and sexy, and as you know by now, I love stuff short and sweet. Great power color. I love how the strong silver line turns into a strap, and follows her body contours with out being vulgar. I also love how this dress has a sort of superhero-esque quality. What working woman today doesn't want to feel like a superhero sometimes?

Spring 2010 Couture: Chanel

Favorites, and some who didn't make the cut, with commentary. From the Spring 2010 Paris couture shows. All photos from Style.com.

These were the words running through my head when I viewed the most recent Chanel collection. They're partly based on some sound bites Mr. Lagerfeld gave before the show: Karl. Silver. No gold. Lagerfeld. Pastel. Confections. Communion. Space Age. Now. Future. Old lady. Infantile. Mixed. Contradiction.

Karl Lagerfeld mixed in all the things I loved and hated about the couture shows. Something fresh and modern (tweed suits with shorts?) with old lady (again, like at Christian Dior, I thought I spied some Esmeralda hair from 101 Dalamations). Exquisite details rife in couture were abound, and I was impressed with the creativity and technique. But still, I felt like only a few of the pieces stoked my desire.

Spring 2010 Couture: Thimister

Josephus Thimister couture show. All pictures of fashion shows Style.com

Absolutely loved this show. I found it to be extremely relative to the times, but also including a bit of fantasy. Exaggerated and wearable. And again, the red! It's really just enough to raise ones blood pressure. Mr. Thimister, you just may give me a heart attack with all this red. But please, give me more anyway.

Spring 2010 Couture: Valentino

Valentino could be summarized like this: pure genius. The color palette was something only a mastermind could come up with. More flesh tones, sure, but also acid yellows, the perfect shade of tomato red I've been lusting after and brick (brick!). The workmanship felt exquisite, like couture quality should. There were all the special details and workmanship you would expect from couture. He referenced trends, and then built on them, making them his own. Now here were some clothes that I would pay top dollar for.

Spring 2010 Couture: Alexis Mabille

Where did this guy come from? He's so young, fresh, and ready to just take over the world one fashion show at a time. Loved the looks at this show. It was a little Batman-esque, with these outfits that I could see the joker grabbing right off the runway. That's what I liked though. Sometimes, it feels so good to be bad.

Spring 2010 Couture: Christian Dior

Sometimes I feel I'm crazy because I think the opposite of what all the fashion editors think. I consider myself an expert on all things fashion related. After all, I've been wearing and admiring clothes for 30-odd years now, so I would think it would give me just as much right to comment as anyone else. But whatever. Rest assured that everything I thought about the Christian Dior show was different than the feedback I read. Because I hated it. What was to like? I mean, the ball dresses at the end, they were nice, sure, sure, but there's a whole beginning part I have to review too, and the over all feeling towards that was hatred. First of all, I hated the buttoned blazers over turtleneck with long skirt look. It was very 2010-meets-old-lady. I think they show more skin in Saudi Arabia. You made stuff my grandmother would want to wear, not fashions for the next generation. It just seemed so staid and stuffy and overwrought. And then the next set of looks didn't get any better. You took the old lady and sent her off to Sunday school. Egads! All those frilly over done confections, what were you thinking John Galliano? People may say all that ends well bodes well, and the show ended well enough, with some lovely and wearable ball gowns at the end. But I say never forget, and with those frocks I had to look at in the beginning I'm having a really hard time wiping the old memory slate clean. Isn't that one of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder?

My Brightest Diamond

My Brightest Diamond, before, after, during aforementioned rave-dance solo. You can see bits of her feather-like cape dangling in back.

This Friday I went to see My Brightest Diamond, who sings rock pierced with staccato guitar licks, replete with yelps and howls. They played at the Bowery ballroom. The singer enhanced the performance by doing everything from singing the blues to doing a spastic rave dance during a drum solo (my favorite part). They also wore costumes that make any fashionista die. The costumes were dazzling: black leotards with white, asymmetric shoulder embellishments replete with a feather like cape in the back. Genius. They sorta looked like misplaced black condors after a particularly spectacular flight. Very Rodarte. I wish I was able to capture them better in my photographs, but what I have featured here will have to do. The best thing about this show is how seamlessly the musicians blended art forms: there was costumes, music and dance. This was not an attempt to cover bad music, but rather the opposite: it stemmed from an appreciation of the arts, and how each art form works together to create beauty and meaning. The show was in a word: captivating. I wish you could have been there.

Video "Bull in the Heather" by Sonic Youth from 1994.

Some people may remember the 90's as all flannels and mom jeans, but there was really so much more to the decade. How could we forget the ravers, and also all the girls (including the ravers) who sported those sweet, infantile looks. I think this Sonic Youth video is a great example of those looks. Here, and very young and sweet Kathleen Hanna (you must remember her from Bikini Kill) prances around in pigtails. Kim Gordon writhes around a bed in a baby doll dress (very Courtney Love, who she played bass for on "Violet" by the way). Later, she is seen in a synthetic pink mini-skirt, a look borrowed from the rave scene. I also want to point out that the rave scene and skateboard scene were very connected initially. I remember raving being a viable alternative scene at the time, not a home for lost, drug addled youth as people seem to remember it. I would like to see these looks explored next in fashion.

Street Smarts

Watch My Back

Cool kids bag of choice lately? Turn around. The backpack has taken on new cache. It's practical and chic. Found in all materials, it appears to be most popular in leather. The girl below said she got hers at the thrift store, telling me there needs to be more of these on the market. Designers, get your pencils going!

No. 6 Clogs. Click here to see more of Refinery 29's suggestions for floral shoes this Spring.

I don't care what anyone says. Clogs are the new Doc Marten. And flowers are the new plaid. Making these shoes the cutest ones you could have this spring. (And on another note, don't be afraid these won't match with your stuff. I had floral shoes once, and they looked great with everything, promise.)

Golden Children

Key Looks from the 2010 Golden Globes

Drew Barrymore encapsulated the important trends of the night with her skin tone dress, assymetric neckline, and accented hip. Dress by Versace Atelier. For source click here.

Stunning as always. She also went with an assymetric neckline, and a va-va-va- voom thigh high slit. Dress Valentino. For source click here.

Diane Kruger was a refreshing pink gem floating in a crowd of wash-out muted colors. This dress by Christian Lacroix Haute Couture. Picture Style.com.

Shoulder flourish and asymmetric neckline were popular trends at the 2010 Golden Globes. January Jones in Lanvin. Picture CBS.com.

Cameron Diaz made me want to toss all my orangey-reds back in my closet. Just so stunning. Dress Alexander McQueen. For source click here.

Maggie Gylenhaal, possibly my absolute favorite dress of the evening. Dress in RM by Roland Mouret. Picture CBS.com.

Sandra Bullock wore my color of choice for 2010 (see Pantone's color of the year post). Dress Bottega Veneta. Picture CBS.com.

Golden Children

Meryl Streep's assymetric neckline and red lipstick embody the over-all look of the Golden Globes. Photo from CBC news.

What can I say? The Golden Globes were just so, so glamorous. So many favorite dresses, how can I mention them all? Cameron Diaz: gorgeous, loved the red. Same to you Amy Poehler. Whoever said orange is the new red hasn't seen a woman in a classic red dress for a while. Loved Maggie Gyllenhaal: an irresistable peach who I just wanted to take a bite out of. Jennifer Aniston and Meryl Streep, keeping the black dress interesting with either a high high slit or a asymmetric neckline. Speaking of asymmetric necklines, this was seen on many of the dresses. There were also hip flourishes spotted on a few numbers (think Drew Barrymore, Jody Foster) and cut-out looks (loved Felicity Huffman's). Overall, colors were relegated to soft peaches, pinks, blacks, with a punch of red (and red lipstick). Golden Globes, you go and let your stars shine.

Love Will Conquer All

So funny that Dazed and Confused had this article about Courtney Love this month because I have been so meaning to dig up some ol' Hole videos and give them a go on here. The best one doesn't have and embed link, so to see a complete version click here. Ms. Love is THE definitive grunge era girl. With all this hoopla about the 90's being back in fashion it's time to give her some r-e-s-p-e-c-t. Note the sweet slip dress with her matted hair and smeared lipstick. Here's to a woman who eschewed traditional forms of femininity and gave male patriarchy a big fuck you with every performance. Courtney Love, I heart you.