Yea, Nay, Or Eh: Britney Spears In Concert

Say what you will about the troubled starlet, but we have to hand it to Britney Spears for hitting the stage at New York’s Nassau Coliseum looking surprisingly on trend. There’s the showstopping bandleader jacket, not unlike versions spotted on the Spring runways at Balmain and 3.1 Phillip Lim. And while Sienna Miller and Daisy Lowe drew ire for their hot-pants experiments, we think Spears actually pulls off these sequin briefs. What do you think: Is a Courtney Love-style fashion comeback in the works, or will the former Mouseketeer be back in trucker hats and flip-flops before she can lip-synch “Oops! I did it again?”

Blasblog: Only The Essentials At A La Perla Party

Back in January, during the haute couture shows, Liz Goldwyn told me that in these times of economic strife she’s only investing in the thing that means the most to her: designer lingerie. And then she added that she was working on a top secret jewelry line for a “very important fashion house,” which she would announce later this year. That led me to the somewhat obvious conclusion that the modern lady is only looking for two things in her life: good intimates and fun bling-bling. On Tuesday night, both were on offer at La Perla’s Meatpacking District outpost, where girl-about-town-turned-jewelry designer Genevieve Jones hosted a preview of her fall line. “If I could, that’s all I would wear—fancy jewelry and fancy panties,” Jones sighed. Joining her were the likes of designers Zac Posen and Elise Øverland and fellow fashion friends Sophia Hesketh, Bonnie Morrison, and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld. “I didn’t expect it to be such hard work,” Jones said of her design forays. (She also does accessories; Kate Moss has been carrying a black leather tassel bag of hers for months now.) “But it’s so rewarding, and something I have a genuine passion for.” Passion was a theme: Restoin-Roitfeld said that she was returning to the scene of her own crime just by entering the store. “I was just in here before I went to Europe and spent so much money on sexy things,” she smiled.

Deconstructing The Street Fashion At South By Southwest

pageant of counterculture fashion on display at this year’s South by Southwest music festival (SXSW for those fluent in indie-speak) was, as always, a study in undifferentiated differentiation. Bopping along to the Psych Folk, Proto Punk, and No Wave beats that permeated downtown Austin last week was a sea of under-thirtysomethings who, despite their best efforts, all looked vaguely alike. Today’s faction of iconoclastic youth enjoy a very limited sartorial vocabulary consisting of American Apparel T-shirts, thrift store flannels, and a pair of Wayfarer shades, which admittedly do come in a dizzying array of colors these days. Of course, that’s not to say there weren’t some risk takers, especially among the actual performers. They come to SXSW to get noticed, after all, and an eye-popping outfit is a surefire plan of attack. Shown above are four prime examples of festival participants who proudly flew their freak flag at full mast. Clockwise from top left: soul/blues singer Andre Williams, Black Lips guitarist Cole Alexander, Peelander-Z drummer Akihiko Naruse, and Alela Diane’s Alina Hardin and Benjamin Oak Goodman, who describes his personal style as “Jewish Bruce Springsteen.”

Love At First Sight: A.P.C. X Liberty Shift

Why: The easy little dress got no love on the Spring runways, but when the temperature starts creeping up, there’s really nothing a girl would rather throw on for a run around town. A.P.C. has long been the source nonpareil for these no-brainer pieces, and now brand founder Jean Touitou is throwing a bone to his trend-minded fans by introducing a few styles made from Liberty prints. The Liberty archives are having a moment—Cacharel tapped Liberty for a special Spring ‘09 collection celebrating its 50th anniversary, for example, and brands ranging from Lover to Opening Ceremony have used the company’s microflorals this season—but the pictured A.P.C. x Liberty shift seems to sum up the print’s enduring boho appeal. The unfussy silhouette is the perfect canvas for Liberty’s psychedelic paisley, and the crocheted neckline is hippie without being dippy. Now we just need the weather to get with the program.

Savannah College Of Art And Design’s Starry Night

My best purpose is to allow creative expression to flourish,” said Russell Simmons as he accepted his SCAD Étoile Award, alongside Robin Givhan, Cornelia Guest, costume designer William Ivey Long, and NYC planning director Amanda Burden last night at Manhattan’s James Cohan Gallery. The evening was the New York kickoff for SCAD Style, two months of events at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia—including exhibitions and lectures by Rita Konig, Lela Rose, Simon Doonan, and Badgley Mischka, among others—which culminates with a student fashion show and the bestowing of the André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award. This year’s award will go to Ruben and Isabel Toledo. (John Galliano was last year’s recipient.) In the crowd last night were Yigal Azrouël and Lars Nilsson, both SCAD mentors. The former, a self-taught designer, is getting a kick out of the gig as well as appreciating the irony of teaching at a fashion school, as he never attended one. “You learn something about yourself,” he said of the experience. What lessons is Nilsson imparting to his students? “To stay focused and never give up,” said the Swede, who is working on a furniture line in Paris and keeping mum on future fashion plans. If the sparkle in his eye is any indication, there might soon be news to report on that front.

shaved catfish anyone ?

When Billy Reid was a kid, his family made the drive to New Orleans with some regularity. And every time the Reid clan piled in the car for that trip, they marked its midway point with a stop at the legendary seafood restaurant Mittendorf’s. “I guess you could say I was raised on shaved catfish,” noted Reid of Mittendorf’s signature dish. “It’s a treat.” Thanks to Reid, New Yorkers can now attest to that fact: To fête his Fall collection, the designer opened the doors to his Bond Street shop last night and flew up a Mittendorf’s chef and many pounds of fresh catfish for the occasion. The fish was shaved wafer thin and fried on site and served with a selection of special rémoulades and tartar sauces, and as if that weren’t distracting enough, Reid had also set up a beer ‘n’ bourbon bar in the basement and invited local alt-country band Railbird to play live. “I’m really not worried if people aren’t checking out the clothes,” he noted. “I mean, that stuff will take care of itself, so why not have some fun?” Adding to the southern-fried flavor of the evening: Reid’s mother, father, and sister had made the trip up north as well. “My dad was like, I can’t believe I had to fly all the way to New York City just to eat some Mittendorf’s catfish,” joked Reid. “I told him, hey, at least the bourbon’s free.”
—Maya Singer

John Galliano

With his muscle-bound physique and runway swagger (no reticent post-show wave from backstage for this designer), John Galliano almost upstages the sensational creations he dreams up for the House of Dior and his own line. Almost. A provocateur since his French Revolution-themed graduation collection at Central Saint Martins, Galliano excels at excess. Opera divas, Masai tribesmen, medieval warrior women, Austro-Hungarian royalty, and even the homeless have stomped down the catwalk at his theatrically themed shows (often inspired by his world travels). One of the most avant-garde couturiers, Galliano has stayed true to the spirit of Dior while pushing the house well into the modern age. Cate Blanchett, Charlize Theron, and Nicole Kidman have worn his showstopping creations on some of the biggest nights of their lives.Born in Gibraltar in 1960, Galliano began his career in London. After launching his label there in 1984 and being named Britain's Designer of the Year in 1988, he decamped for Paris in 1991. It wasn't easy to make it in fashion's mightiest capital: He bunked on friends' floors as he struggled to get his business off the ground. But—with a little help from Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor—his breakthrough came with an all-black show staged at the artfully decaying Left Bank mansion of the socialite São Schlumberger.In 1995, LVMH placed Galliano in charge of Givenchy's haute couture and ready-to-wear lines, an unheard-of coup for a British designer at a French house. Two years later, Galliano took another lofty step up the LVMH ladder, being crowned design director at Christian Dior. In addition to his obsessive work at Dior—where he oversees ad campaigns and even window displays—Galliano continues to design his own line, producing a dozen shows all told each year and, as ever, romancing his audiences with his knock-down-drag-out showmanship and soaring imagination.