Writing for today’s New York Times, Rhonda Garelick, professor of English and performing arts and cultural biographer of Coco Chanel, lays out the historically troubling relationship between fascism and high fashion in France. Garelick links the initial charges against Galliano to Nazism’s often successful attempts to harness the French fashion industry as a way to propagate an Aryan standard of perfection and assert the relationship between ethnicity and beauty. [NYTimes]
Backstage at the John Paul Gaultier show, Andrej Pejic, the 19-year-old transgendered model, said that he would undergo a sex change and breast implants if he were offered a contract with Victoria’s Secret. Even though it might make plenty of us happy to see the striking young model rocking a pair of Angel wings, as a brand, Victoria’s Secret relies too much on its male oglers to risk adding a dash of gender confusion to its catalogs and runway shows. [Telegraph.co.uk]
Kanye West has been creeping around the fashion weeks in both New York and Paris, and it turns out he’s looking for more than just a good time. Undoubtedly inspired by the ultimate celebrity degree aspirant, James Franco, the rapper is apparently interested in pursuing a Masters in Fashion at Central Saint Martins College in London. Although he’s yet to receive an acceptance letter, Kanye West met with Professor Louise Wilson, the director of the program, last week. Wilson’s former students include Giles Deacon, Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab, Todd Lynn, and the late fashion legend, Alexander McQueen. [TheSun]
Lately everyone’s been gushing about Gossip Girl star Blake Lively. The blonde actress landed back-to-back profiles in WWD and The New York Times’ T Magazine, and both articles underscore Lively’s bubbly, California girl commercialism as an antidote to the “sad” rebel look that’s dominated fashion for the past few years. Of course, Lively isn’t a model, she’s a fashion figurehead, and I suspect that her visibility in the industry is dependant on the success of her film and television career. And if you’ve seen her pout and hair-toss her way through just one episode of Gossip Girl, you know that though her looks might be memorable, Blake can’t act. [The Cut]
