Saturday afternoon links post: X-Men cosplayers, 19th century Russian ballgowns, Tim Gunn discussing Star Trek costumes, and more.

Halloween! The number of "sexy" costumes I saw last night was truly mindblowing. I love them. I have very little respect for shop-bought sexy-nurse or sexy-cop costumes, but when someone goes all out and makes a sexy NyanCat or sexy male Sailor Moon outfit, well, I can only respect that shit. Personally, I was Sexy King Charles II. (ie... my embroidered pantaloons and a feathered headpiece thing, because I was too lazy to actually buy or make a proper costume) If only I'd had a camera with me. (N.B. This year the sexy female Where's Waldos far outstripped the male ones. Is this evidence of the hipster takeover of youth culture?) Anyway, I suspect a lot of you are currently still lurking in bed hiding from the sleet and/or nursing a Halloween hangover. Here are some links of stuff!

Madonna and her daughter in a funny video about her new Material Girl clothing campaign. Why can't she point this sense of humour at her terrible new movie? I mean, first of all it's called "W.E." which I immediately translate as "What. Ever." rather than, well... "Wallis/Edward? It's not totally clear to me what "W.E." is really supposed to stand for. But apparently it's so abysmal that people were laughing out loud during screenings, which makes me wish that Madonna would just release it as-is instead of re-editing it to make it "better" (ie, presumably more boring). It could be the new "The Room"!

The dresses of Tsarina Alexandra Romanova at How To Be A Retronaut.

Spider-Man themed swing dancers! (And more links beyond the jump.)

I already admired Tumblr-person Rayitastic for creating this fantastic photo of herself and her boyfriend as Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr from X-Men: First Class, but now she's also made X-Men jumpsuits for her and her friends. How cool is that? I'm not a cosplayer myself, but seeing people home-make such excellent versions of recogniseable movie costumes makes my nerd-heart happy.

Photos of young, dapper Ian McKellan. (!!!)

Tim Gunn discusses classic Star Trek costumes. This is AMAZING. Tim Gunn, I love you. Star Trek, I love you. I've never seen the first movie Star Trek, but having seen those vile flesh-coloured jumpsuits my desire to watch it grows ever stronger.

The evolution of the spacesuit, at Wired.com

Mary Katrantzou is designing a dress for Topshop! Ordinarily I have little interest in this type of collaboration because queueing for an entire day outside Topshop or H&M in order to spend hundreds of pounds on a watered-down catwalk look isn't my idea of a good time. HOWEVER. Mary Katrantzou is a genius, and even though I won't even be able to afford the dress she's deigned to make for us plebs (a mere £350), I can still appreciate that it's beautiful.

Picture via StyleBubble.

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New style crush: Nolan Ross in REVEEEENNNGGE.

Following multiple recommendations from The Oncoming Hope, I watched the first episode of Revenge. And then I promptly watched the other four episodes, because it's freaking awesome. It's like a cross between Gossip Girl and Veronica Mars, with the protagonist -- Emily -- seeking REVEEEENNNGE (this in fact is the correct pronunciation of the title -- for best effect, drawl it with the confidence and malicious delight of the truly evil) on the super-rich beautiful people who got her father framed as a treasonous terrorist. There are endless dastardly takedowns and almost every scene involves terrifying society matriarchs smiling charmingly while secretly wishing each other a painful death, but it quite never tips over into the preposterousness of Gossip Girl because the protagonist is so wonderfully dead-eyed and machiavellian. But I'm not here to tell you about the many ways the heroine of REVEEEENNNGE Count-Of-Monte-Cristo's her way around the Hamptons. I'm here to talk about NOLAN ROSS.

Nolan Ross is the only person on the show who knows about Emily's revenge plan. He's a dotcom billionaire with no friends, unlimited funds and free time at his disposal, and a serendipitous desire to help Emily ruin the lives of the rich and evil. He's a very entertaining character, and has marvellously awful dress sense. The rest of the costumes on Revenge are fairly run-of-the-mill "rich attractive people go to social galas" outfits as seen in Gossip Girl, Dirty Sexy Money, etc, but Nolan's costumes are a magnificent ode to candy colours and popped collars.

This is what he looks like when he first appears on the show. My immediate assumption was, "this character is evidently going to be an unbearable caricature", since he's wearing a captain's hat at a marina, despite the fact that he can't sail and doesn't own a boat. He has tiny whales embroidered onto his trousers, and I suspect that the belt may well be somehow nautical in theme. But you know what? He's actually brilliant. He doesn't fall under the tired stereotype of "computer nerd with no social skills" that plagues so many google-detective "hacker" characters on TV -- in fact, he often expresses far more genuine emotion than most of the other characters in the show.

THE POPPED COLLARS. You know, there's a wealth of douchey fratboys in Revenge, but nary a popped collar in sight. They're all too classy. (And all the other males over thirty are, of course, wearing suits at all times except when playing golf or in bed with their mistresses.) But Nolan pops his collars like a mofo. This isn't some college kid flipping up his collar to look "cool", this is evidence of commitment. He will put on two polo shirts of complementary colours, and then pop them both. CLEARLY HE HAS THOUGHT THIS LOOK THROUGH, IS WHAT I AM SAYING.

HE'S WEARING A POPPED COLLAR UNDER A BUTTON-DOWN SHIRT. AND A POCKET-SQUARE THAT MATCHES THE SHIRT, BECAUSE IT'S A FORMAL EVENT. Apparently in the character notes he's described as having bad dress-sense, but do you know what? I don't think this is bad dressing. Thought has gone into this. And he's working it.

Nolan has a whole thing going on with his jackets. He's got several suit jackets, but they're always wrinkled and he always has the sleeves pushed up, like Miami Vice or something. I theorise that back when he was still a n00b of the business world, someone told him he had to start dressing like an adult and this was his interpretation of what that meant. Then, we finally got to see a flashback of what he looked like ten years ago:

This? Is what people expect the "computer nerd character" to look like. It's the Mark Zuckerberg look, the "I've been wearing these clothes for three days because I never matured past age fifteen and it doesn't matter anyway because I invented Google/Twitter/the internet" look. I love that this is what he used to look like, because it gives a whole new insight into Nolan's slightly baffling clothing choices in the present day. I think that all the popped collars and candy-colours and the highlighted surfer-dude hair are almost Nolan's parody of what he thinks a Hamptonite should look like. When we first see Nolan, he's already an established figure on the super-rich social scene -- so rich, in fact, that he can pretty much do whatever he wants. I think at some point he started dressing like this in an attempt to fit in with all the charity-gala Hamptons families, but soon realised that that was never going to happen so he might as well just take the piss. As I mentioned: he can get away with it.

A camel sweater tied around the shoulders? Plus the double popped-collar? TELL ME THAT ISN'T PURE PARODY, NOLAN. I DARE YOU. Which is why this next picture amuses me. That is what Nolan wears when he's by himself, and later going into the city to, uh, break into someone's house and retrieve some blackmail info. A far more subdued outfit -- the hoodie + suit + sneakers look, in fact, that practically screams "dotcom CEO".

And finally, a picture of Nolan looking fantastic in a super-tacky golfing shirt... because he's followed Emily to a golf course in an attempt to witness some exciting REVEEENNNGE action, not because he actually plays golf. Like many of his clothing choices, it shouldn't work but it does. The shirt flatters his colouring, and despite the fact that it's an orange, diamond-patterned polo shirt, buttoned up to the neck, he's still managing to work it with panache.

BEAUTIFUL.

Continued in: REVENNNGE: Nolan Ross costume analysis RETURNS.

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Alexander McQueen, Spring/Summer 2012.

My final S/S 2012 Fashion Week post! I'm now taking suggestions as to what I should write about after this. Ben-Seven suggested the theme of "top five movies, judging by costumes", which sounds damn near impossible because there are just so many choices. Although the #1 movie I saw this week was the Three Musketeers, which went something like this: 25% Orlando Bloom and Milla Jovovich gleefully over-acting at one another, 25% WTF airships, 25% D'Artagnan being unbearable, and 25% OMG THOSE DOUBLET & HOSE ARE AMAZING. Unfortunately, I think most of this film's audience were pre-teens and their parents who took the opportunity to nap for two hours in the cinema, so the internet is yet to provide me with the hi-res screencaps I've come to expect thanks to my recent cinematic diet of superhero movies with intense fanbases. Anyway, if you have any particular fashion-blogging requests, comment/message me! :)

McQueen wasn't as dazzling as last season, but this show definitely stretched the limits of "Ready To Wear". With this level of intricate beadwork, stitching and lace, Alexander McQueen is almost filling the gap left by the financial dissolution of Christian Lacroix last year.

Glam Batgirl.

This season, McQueen combines extreme feminity with monstrousness. Sarah Burton seems to have included fewer animalistic influences in this show than can be seen in some of McQueen's own later collections, but the masks and headdresses still lend an air of the sinister. Alexander McQueen designs have always been brilliant when it comes to evoking aggression without resorting to an appearance of masculinity.

pics from Style.com

With a lot of Sarah Burton/McQueen designs, you get the impression that if you kept zooming in on them then you'd uncover more and more levels of detail. This year the beaded masks were amazing, somehow managing to combine sparkly prettiness with the appearance of barnacles or some kind of organic growth.

(mask close-ups from NYMag.com)

Like Chanel, this show was based around an ocean theme, with frothy jellyfish dresses and hints of coral. I find it difficult to judge McQueen on the same terms as most designers, however, since most of these clothes are more suited to display rather than everyday life. Much Chanel's S/S 2012 collection was perfectly wearable -- providing you're richer than god and never go anywhere near dirt or cold weather -- but McQueen's gowns and masks are more suited to photoshoots, the occasional Lady Gaga video, and the New York Met's Savage Beauty exhibit.

 

Most of the looks were so ostentatious that they were Ready To Wear in name only, but that's very much in-keeping with McQueen's designs in the past. McQueen is one of the few major fashion houses that despite the economic downturn, continues to make art for art's sake rather than toning themselves down in the name of saleability -- and that's certainly worked out for them, because collections like this are headline grabbers and Sarah Burton was the one to make Kate Middleton's wedding dress this year. Why can't more designers go all-out like this?

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Haider Ackermann, Spring 2012

Haider Ackermann's Fall 2011 line was one of the standout shows of last season, in other words damn near impossible to live up to. However, the Spring 2012 show came quite close. Ackermann designs seem they'd feel like wearing stupidly expensive pyjamas, unusually comfortable-looking for catwalk fashion without going anywhere near the sportswear/t-shirt comfort offered by Alexander Wang. All the colours glow subtly as if from within, with none of the harsh seasonal colour-blocking of Jil Sander or springtime prints of Prada. Ackermann shows take place in the half-dark, so the jewel tones of the shirts and dresses aren't washed out by harsh lighting. The clothes drape luxuriously, they're adjustable to a variety of body shapes, they're adult... and they have the Tilda Swinton stamp of approval. SWINTON!

This collection was more androgynous than last season's, but aside from that it almost seemed like a watered-down version of the Fall 2011 line rather than a development. A lot of the jacket/blouse combinations -- although brilliant -- could have been taken directly from last season, and I wasn't very keen on the filmy, transluscent gowns. It's safe to say that I want every single pair of shoes, though.

I love a good paisley pattern.

Ackermann really knows how to make non-skinny trousers. Right now highstreet shops are flooded with a plethora of highly unflattering "harem pants" (I put this in disparaging inverted commas because a TRUE harem pant should look like Princess Jasmine's from Disney's Aladdin, not a hideous saggy-crotch monstrosity that makes the wearer look like they've rapidly deflated by about 20 inches around the thighs and hips), but this season Ackermann has has managed to produce trousers that pleasingly combine elements from pyjamas, real harem pants, and the traditional tailored suit.
 I'm including pictures of almost every shoe in the collection because they were all so splendid. The fabrics are stunning, and although I'm not wild about the trodden-down heels (wouldn't they slip off?) they're still far more interesting than the vast majority of catwalk-staple spike heels.

Ackermann's love of tying scarves and belts around his models rather than resorting to buttons or zips always adds to the softness of his designs, and I really liked the small slits visible in several of his suit-jacket designs this season. A lot of designers have been experimenting recently with putting gaps and peep-holes in unexpected places, but most of the time I view it is as rather impractical for those of us who a) aren't as toned as a 15-year-old gymnast, and b) occasionally have to expose ourselves to real-life weather. Also, I've noticed a distressing number of dresses with a sort of slot directly above the midriff area, showing off about six inches of sternum -- it just seems so vulnerable and unappealing. Like in Buffy when vampires wander around wearing t-shirts like, YOU ARE BEGGING TO GET STAKED THROUGH THE HEART, WEAR SOME ARMOUR OR SOMETHING. OK that was pretty tangential, I admite, but it bothers me a bit is all I am saying.

With a jacket like this one you could wear a brightly-coloured shirt underneath and have it show through the gap, like the slits in a 17th Century doublet. Nifty! And no need to have your bottom right rib be 100% chillier than the others.

 

Seriously, Haider Ackermann is a master of the jewel tone.

The shape and cut of Ackermann's designs are usually so sleek and modern, but I love that he's used this incredibly rich, old-fashioned fabric to make them. It looks like a smoking-jacket or Victorian gentleman's dressing-gown, almost.

More beautiful ties and folds.

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More from Fashion Week: Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, Tsumori Chisato

Vivienne Westwood

I have a lot of time for Westwood because she very obviously makes clothes for herself. It's silly to expect all designers to wear their own label, but I do sometimes get a little tired of seeing amazing collections being acknowledged at the end with a sheepish bow from someone wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. There's something to be said for creators who visibly value their own product. Betsey Johnson, for example. And Galliano to a certain extent, although towards the end he had definitely entered self-parody territory. (Some, of course, have their own uniform: LAGERFELD.)

Pictures from Style.com

The platform shoes were a delight, and pure vintage Westwood. The draped, messy robes and experimentation with rag-like fabrics plus were more 21st century, but still unmistakably Westwood. See, that's one of the many advantages of making clothes for yourself! Instant brand recognition. Almost every aspect of the styling in this show made the models look like shades of Viv herself.  

Three very plausible options for Helena Bonham Carter's next red carpet outfit.

Comme des Garçons

The theme of this collection was "White Drama", which aside from sounding vaguely racist is more or less meaningless. Truly, the movie Zoolander was practically a documentary when it comes to the fashion industry's inability to explain itself coherently. Having now seen every look from this collection, I feel qualified to inform you that the real inspiration for it was "blanket fort formalwear". My evidence:

I do rather like these hats.

I look at these pictures and I can't even tell you if I like or dislike them. Someone else might look at this collection and see some kind of underlying message, but I can't really see much of an arc or trend other than white. And a lot of it seems like it's being unusual for unusual's sake. Not ugly or lacking in quality, just... confusing.

Bedsheet.

Top half: textile experiment. Bottom half: cotton ball drying rack??

I don't even know.

 Junya Watanabe

The dresses were little more than highstreet casualwear, but the jewel-tone colouring appealed to me and the hats were brilliant. I'm a sucker for feathered headdresses (making me a traitor to the vegetarian cause, I guess).

Tsumori Chisato

A Weetzie Bat-esque selection of Pacific island-inspired, girly-retro summer outfits, interspersed with traditional-Japanese influences and accessorised with parasols. I LOVE PARASOLS. If only I was enough of an adult to carry one without a) breaking it, or b) immediately leaving it in a bar or on public transport, the ultimate fate of all my umbrellas.

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CHANEL: Karl Lagerfeld, Lord of the Sea addresses the proletariat via harp and conch-shell.

I don't actually like Chanel very much, but I sure as hell love Karl Lagerfeld. He's like the Chuck Norris of fashion, in the purest pop-culture sense that you probably don't want to hear his opinions on politics or society but he's sure as hell a crazy crazy badass. The eternal question is, is Karl Lagerfeld taking the piss? Answer: Never. OR: Always. Possibly both. Because he's Karl Lagerfeld. He's known for saying things like "I have no human feelings," and "If you throw money out of the window throw it out with joy. Don’t say 'one shouldn’t do that' - that is bourgeois." He does not operate by normal human rules.

In characteristically overblown style, Lagerfeld's Chanel Spring 2012 show involved a vast array of expensive paraphernalia, including but not limited to: a set designed around the theme "under the sea" (but in pure snow white, because colours are gauche), Florence Welch rising out of a giant half-shell to sing during the show, Lagerfeld playing (or perhaps just posing beside) a snow-white harp, and models toting giant iridescent conch-shells. Lagerfeld spits upon the recession. He can't see it through his sunglasses, which are treated so as to only show the rich, the thin, and the monochromatic. The thing that makes Lagerfeld a great designer rather than a mere attention seeker, though, is that while loves nothing more than to make a spectacle of both himself and his catwalk shows, the clothes themselves are the precise opposite of loud.

Photo: Patrick Kovarik, Getty Images

I'm glad they really hammered home the Under The Sea message, because the sparkly-clean whiteness of the set-design was almost overwhelmingly reminiscent of ice and snow. In close-up shots where Florence Welch and her seashell have been cropped out and all you can see is white dresses and white backdrop, it's hard not to be reminded of all those idiotic "wintry" magazine editorials where a model in a bikini and a fur stole lies supine on an ice-floe while glowering sexily at a snow-leopard or fir tree.

Photos from Style.com

"Vanity is the healthiest thing in life"-- Karl Lagerfeld

"When I was four I asked my mother for a valet for my birthday." -- Lagerfeld

I'm a bit torn, here. On the one hand, I don't actually like Chanel. Most of these outfits are simultaneously too conservative and too delicate for my tastes. However, with this show Lagerfeld has put together what most established labels mostly fail to do: a collection with a coherent yet subtle theme. Once you know the theme is the ocean, you can see motifs of water and coral and anemones and filmy jellyfish, but as individual outfits they are all acceptably "normal"-looking. I can think of several designers who would take this theme and end up with models parading down the runway wearing a dress made from seashells and a hat in the shape of a cartoon fish.

"Chic is a kind of mayonnaise, either it tastes, or it doesn't"-- Lagerfeld

"I’ve never voted in my life -- for any kind of politics." -- Lagerfeld

With regards to coherent themes within collections, the problem there is rather similar to that current favourite topic of music critics: the demise of the album. (I hear it's my generation's fault for downloading and making online playlists.) The fashion equivalent would be that my aforementioned giant-fish-hat outfit is guaranteed to make the fashion pages of most newspapers whereas only a tiny quantity of fashion nerds with too much time on their hands (me) and very rich people (Anna Wintour) are ever going to carefully look through the entire line and then review it according to overall thematic consistency. But despite the habitual absense of an eye-catching piece to use as shorthand for each season's collection, there's a reason why Lagerfeld's still in charge.

"The most important piece in the house is the garbage can." -- Karl Lagerfeld (No, I don't know what that means.)

"Like poetry, fashion does not state anything. It merely suggests." -- Lagerfeld

"I can forget by indifference, but not forgive. I prefer revenge." -- Lagerfeld

"Sunglasses are like eyeshadow. They make everything look younger and prettier." -- Lagerfeld

Have you ever felt the desire to spend over £100 on a Shepard Fairey-style scarf with Karl Lagerfeld's face on it, plus the word CHIC in block capitals? Well, today's your lucky day because he just made one.

Alternatively, you could just go check out Go Fug Yourself's "Lagerfeld & Friends" caption tag, because it's hilarious. The idea of Lagerfeld posing for photos with Blake Lively while saying things like "You are a wig factory of LIES," is dangerously believable.

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