I THINK RALPH LAUREN SHOULD BE HONORED AT THE MET ,

What am I missing

I am a millennial that grew up watching (living vicariously) through shows like VH1's "The Fabulous Life" and MTV's "Cribs", "My Super Sweet 16", etc. Now I binge the Real Housewives franchises, but I was still craving more of that deep-dive inquiry/expose type of media when I came upon Amy's biography of Gwyneth and thought, here is a woman with her finger on the pulse! I love all things pop culture - high brow or low brow, consider me interested. I am particularly fascinated by out-of-touch celebrities and the lengths they will go to create a brand or achieve "wellness", no matter how delulu the methods seem. Happy to be here amongst kindred spirits 🙂

My name is Imogen and I discovered Amy's work when I narrated the audiobook of her brilliant tome Anna: The Biography. I am a fashion lover, Actor, Writer, narrator of eight million audiobooks and general colourful weirdo! 😀

I'm sure many/all of us saw the viral videos of CFDA president Steven Kolb physically restraining Peta protesters who went to the Cos show to protest the brand's use of wool... I'll be covering this in the Tuesday newsletter, but opening a thread for discussion here.

Videos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DdPfR99xkEq/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/fashionista_com/?hl=en

if you had to pick one stylish woman and one stylish man to follow on IG, etc. for a year - and you couldn't follow any others - who would you pick and why? Could be anyone - entertainer, influencer, fashion person, regular folks with a lot of swag, etc.

That's me! I love the history, politics, beauty, process and even the business of fashion. I am a photographer in NYC I shoot...yep fashion and beauty. Looking forward to interesting and illuminating conversations.

Hey - Travis here, nice to have a space to chat with y'all. Corporate drone by day but a bit of a peacock in my off-hours, and increasingly at work. Currently live primarily in workwear and Japanese streetwear, and always try to sneak in some tailoring to make the silhouette snappy but not stuffy. One of my favorite pieces, especially for transitional weather, is the Bill Cunningham-approved Le Laboureur chore coat/bleu de travail, which you can find at a few places online, like Gardenheir.

Greetings from NYC. I am a recovering fashion exec who is still in the throes of addiction to fashion itself. I have an infinite number of fashion tips, but the first rather general ones that come to mind are:

1. 1. Unless you have no access to luxury stores where you live, do not shop at outlets--at least in the US. Instead, just go to the stores when they're at 60-75% off. The prices will be similar, you'll find better pieces (especially if you've scoped them out ahead of time), and you can be guaranteed to buy things that were actually part of the main collection as opposed to just created for the outlet. (Of course you can do this online as well, but then you have to be sure of your size as the items will often be non-returnable.)

2. 2. If a sale item is not available in your size and you have access to an affordable tailor, don't be afraid to buy 1 size up and have it tailored. It will still be cheaper than buying the item full-price, and it will be custom-fit for you!

I honestly think this could save the Met Gala, and after the latest article on the huge rise in resale, would it not be amazing for 2027's theme to be...

Past Present Future: Preloved Fashion

People working with designers to scour resale sites, buy weird gems and create beautiful new looks, either just by styling or upcycling?

Obviously Kim K will use it as another excuse to butcher an old Marylin dress, but other than that, this is a theme that could actually resonate with how people shop AND saving the plent from melting in the next ten days...

Might be hitting too close to home for this year (or maybe Anna would take kind of a perverse joy in it), but how about highlighting the looks and movements/trends in the industry that received everything from negative criticism to outright banning, and stirred up a lot of crap in the process?

Not only the obvious (1920's flapper fashion, the miniskirt, Marc Jacobs's grunge, etc.), but the trends that foresaw or exemplifed social change (how 70's braless became the Wonderbra, how the AIDS crisis snuffed out so much talent, but also was somewhat responsible for new talent emerging, how the American flag went from sacred icon to sportswear design to conservative signaling) and especially the rise of social media and AI. Especially those last two, because as Amy put it so well in her column today, the four factors leading to the death of runway ready-to-wear came about entirely because of the internet and social media influencing, and are being fueled and advanced by AI. The previous post that suggested AI as the theme articulated this pretty well.

There's a risk of having Kim Kardashian show up dressed up in a radically altered Edie Sedgwick dress, but I'm pretty confident that Jonathan Anderson or Demma could come up with some kind of amazing interpretation.

It's not perfect timing, but I would like to see a dedication to New York "Downtown" design, specifically from 1999 - 2002.

Over time, many people have pegged these crucial years as the turning point in American fashion and society in general–a shift from analog to tech.

So many of those young designers from that period are no longer in business: Doo.Ri, Benjamin Cho, VPL, Richard Chai, Daryl K, Katyone Adeli, Miguel Adrover, Susan Ciancolo, Heatherette, Bruce...there are more.

This would be the last cohort able to engage with a different New York fashion system: one could live in Manhattan still relatively cheaply; fashion was still about the creative, and the business side took a secondary position; there were more independent retailers to get one's designs in; the industry was smaller.

Tomorrow will be the 25th anniversary of one of the most pivotal days in US history. It would be nice for the Met to go back and cover a group of fashion creatives who lived and worked during such an important era.