Cheryl Shops

Short attention span post
I was planning to write a few posts tonight--including one on new sample-sale websites--but, alas, it's been a very long week, I am tired, and I really just want to have a cocktail and watch the season premiere of Project Runway. (It's back! I'm excited! Aren't you?) So, until next week when I have my wits about me, some random notes.

Gee, have you heard the First Lady had the nerve to wear a pair of shorts whilst hiking the Grand Canyon on a Sunday when the temperature was 106 degrees? It must've been a slow news day, because The Today Show had a serious, in-depth discussion about it. Gee, I don't recall anyone discussing whether it was appropriate for her husband, THE THEN-FUTURE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD, to be photographed in nothing but swim trunks last summer. Seriously, people. They're legs. Everyone has them. Get over it.

On a happier note, I highly suggest reading Mike Albo's review of the new Hollister store in Soho from today's Times, a vast improvement over the debacle that was last week's Cintra Wilson goes to J.C. Penney (which I have refrained from commenting on, because, while I think Ms. Wilson could've handled it more delicately, she had a point that was greatly overlooked: Mass American fashion has devolved into total mediocrity). Albo's entire article is brilliant, but here's my favorite part:

On the way down I stopped in the fragrance room and sampled the Laguna Beach body mist. It smelled like Jolly Ranchers being breathed on my face by Hayden Panettiere. Here the store also sells its California fragrance, which is spritzed on the mannequins every hour; it’s a noxious concoction that, I assume, is distilled from mink sex glands and the tears of broken-hearted teenage girls.

Finally, I get a lot of irrelevant PR pitches sent to me on a daily basis, but here's one I couldn't resist: Miss Piggy and Marc Jacobs in his showroom, going over his looks for Fashion Week. Miss Piggy will be wearing a Marc Jacobs frock next week at Macy's Glamorama in Chicago.

I don't know about you, but this made me love Marc Jacobs even more than I already do. On that note, have a good weekend, everybody!

Fashion Week shakeup!
It's only Tuesday, and so far we've had two major bits of Fashion Week news. The first is that Marc Jacobs is slashing his guest list [subscription required] from 2,000 to 700; most of the standing attendees (roughly 200 people) will be employees. I think this is actually admirable--Jacobs and partner Robert Duffy are scaling down their show, as well as canceling their famed after-party, in order to avoid laying off employees. But as someone who's never been invited to a Marc Jacobs show, I find the whole thing quite amusing also. Will he invite any bloggers? What about lower-level fashion editors? Will VIPs be unable to bring their bodyguards/publicists/personal assistants? Will it still be the most glamorous show of the week? Marc Jacobs is the master of hype, and even by declaring that he's over the hype, he's created even more hype. Got that?

The other major Fashion Week news story came today: Starting in September 2010, Fashion Week is moving to Lincoln Center. I am a bit sad about this; with the exception of one ill-advised season at Chelsea Piers, Fashion Week has been at Bryant Park since 1993, and the two are synonymous in my mind. Also, I work a block away from the park, so getting to and from shows is quite convenient for me. Then again, as time goes on, I end up going to more and more off-site shows, so I suppose it won't make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. The new location--details of which aren't 100% clear in terms of layout--will be bigger and, hopefully, since it's not smack in the middle of Midtown, it will be slightly less chaotic. The funny thing, though, is that the Upper West Side has long had a reputation as being totally unstylish; hopefully this will help to change things.

Finally, I've decided to bite the bullet and Twitter during Fashion Week. This will allow me to share random tidbits that might not make it into my show reviews (celeb sightings, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, complaints about how much my feet hurt); if all goes well, I will continue to Twitter random shopping factoids throughout the year. You can follow my Twitterings (or Tweets? Sorry, I'm new to this!) at http://twitter.com/cherylshops.

The stuff blogger dreams are made of
When it comes to fashion bloggers, there are two kinds of people: those who post pictures of themselves, and those who don't. Preferring to go about my business in relative anonymity, I obviously fall into the latter of the two categories, and while a lot of post-pictures-of-myself blogs make me cringe a little, there's one that I love for being so incredibly over the top: Bryanboy. If you've never heard of him, Bryanboy is a 19-year-old gay Filipino with an epic collection of handbags and an unparalleled enthusiasm for women's ready-to-wear. And he has quite the following in the fashion world; after being photographed with an "I heart Bryanboy" sign back in February, Marc Jacobs apparently promised Bryanboy, via email, to name a handbag after him. Four months later, MJ made good on his promise; not only did he christen one of his fall 2008 bags "the BB," but he sent Bryanboy the prototype, along with a handwritten note. Bryanboy was so overjoyed, his new namesake bag inspired a weekend's worth of posts, including a faux MJ ad campaign and a night out clubbing. The story was even picked up in Women's Wear Daily [subscription required]. All I have to say is wow. Wow. And: awesome. Also, can I maybe get a bag named after me, Marc Jacobs? I think "the Cheryl" has a nice ring to it, don't you?

Marc goes postal
I think we can safely say that the criticism struck Marc Jacobs particularly hard this time; today's WWD featured an expletive-laden tirade from Mr. Jacobs himself in response to all the critics who bitched about his show being late (Suzy Menkes, in particular, ripped him a new one)--this article alone was worth the price of my yearly WWD subscription.

In response to allegations that he was having cocktails at the Mercer before the show:

"That is bullshit! That is bullshit!" he retorted. "I was at the f---ing office until the last fitting was over. I came back to the hotel — I hadn't been here in three days! I hadn't showered in three days! I slept on the couch in my office for 20 minutes three nights in a row — anyone at my office will tell you that. I got 20 minutes sleep Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night. The first shower I had was Monday at 8 before the rehearsal of our show. I did not have lunch, I did not have drinks, I did not have tea at the Mercer, I walked through the lobby; I live in this hotel. I hadn't been there — ask the reception at the hotel. When they saw me on Monday, they were like, 'We haven't seen you in days.' I lived in my office for three days in a row....My boyfriend was downstairs having dinner. I wasn't. I was at the rehearsal, I was at the office until the last minute. I took 20 minutes to shower and shave — I stank like a raccoon! I could not go to the show like that."

On how he's "sorry":

"I'm very sorry that I inconvenienced anyone by having a show two hours late," he continued. "I really, really am, and so is Robert. We're all very upset that people got their noses bent out of joint. But I think this is so unfair. We do a huge production show, we try to give fashion and do a major fashion show in New York. I have no say in the show schedule, the show schedule has been moved up a week, and another week, and as far as I'm concerned we showed two weeks early not two hours late.

"Another thing, everybody talks about these families they have to go home to. I mean, every person who works in every factory in Italy, and every person who works in our sample room, they didn't see their families for six weeks so that we could do this show two weeks early. So I'm really appalled that people have absolutely no perception of what it takes to do things. And when we complain about the show schedule our voice is not heard, nobody does anything about it, the CFDA does me absolutely no service whatsoever as an American fashion designer."

On perhaps ditching NYC for Paris:

"I don't really feel a part of the American fashion community," he said. "I really feel like an outsider, I think we all do, and we feel unloved here, so we want to go somewhere else."

On his inspiration:

"I've never denied how influenced I am by Margiela, by Rei Kawakubo, those are people that inspire my work; I don't hide that. For her to turn this into this hate fest for me and my collection I think is ridiculous....I expect people, whether we're two hours late or two hours early or we don't show at all, to look at what they see: the clothes. Of course there are comparisons to other things. I'm a designer living in this world who loves fashion...I'm attentive to what's going on in fashion, I'm influenced by fashion, that's the way it is. I have never ever hidden it. I have never insisted on my own creativity, as Chanel would say. I have my interpretation of ideas I find very strong. Jil Sander is influenced by Comme des Garçons, Miuccia Prada is influenced by Comme des Garçons, everyone is influenced by Comme des Garçons, Martin Margiela. Anybody who's aware of what life is in a contemporary world is influenced by those designers. She [Menkes] wants to observe a Jewish holiday, but I start a show two hours late [and] she gets her nose bent out of shape."

On his work ethic:

"I work my ass off," he said. "I don't take vacations, I don't have homes all over the world, I don't ride horses: I f---ing work for a living. Again, like this idea, you have a family? OK, well that's nice, I don't, and I work. So leave me alone and don't come to the show next time."

On his show:

"I'm actually as happy as I could possibly be," Jacobs said. "I think I did a great job. I love what I did."

I think referencing Jews' noses probably wasn't the best idea, but otherwise you have to admire Jacobs' fire--better he deal with his emotions than drown his sorrows in a glass of Scotch. Then again, he needs to grow up and start his show on time--everyone else does, so why can't he? Jacobs' work is strong and important enough that he shouldn't have to resort to hijinks like this to get attention.

Cheryl Spots
So, I was in Soho both Friday and Saturday afternoons last weekend and managed two big fashion-celeb spottings: Friday, outside Dean & Deluca, I noticed a guy wearing Free City sweatpants. I nearly lost my own pants when I realized the wearer of said pants was...Marc freaking Jacobs, my idol. I had to pull over and compose myself before I continued walking down the block. I wonder if he noticed I was carrying one of his (several seasons old) bags. Probably not. Either way, I am happy to report that Marc is tan and healthy-looking.

If I hadn't seen MJ himself the day before, I probably would've been more excited about America's Next Top Model's Jay Manuel, who was walking on Prince, just west of West Broadway, on Saturday afternoon. He was walking on the wrong side of the crowded sidewalk and just as he was about to get all up in my grill, he offered a lispy "sor-ry" and got out of my way. Let me tell you, I saw him half a block away--he has the strangest spiky silver hair, and it is by no means "fierce."