Best/Worst of 2008

Well, honestly, for me, personally, 2008 sucked it big time for various reasons. I’ll try to be positive here, but I make no promises. Read on for my list of the Best and the Worst 2008 had to offer.

Best of 2008

1) Bandage is Back- thank you Alaia and Herve Leger
If you love “Clueless” like I do, you’ll know that Cher wears an Alaia when she is robbed at gunpoint and forced to ruin her dress. Yes, Alaia, is the 1980’s and 90’s designer famous for skin tight bandage dresses. It seems every designer paid homage to Alaia and Herve Leger on the Spring 2009 runways. My favorite was Narcisco Rodriguez Spring 2009 sexy bandage inspired designs. They are simply amazing and so sexy.

2) Betsey Johnson’s 30th Birthday!
Yep, Betsey Johnson is 30 years old! Well, her namesake clothing line is 30, Betsey is well beyond that. But when you are in your 60’s and still doing cartwheels on the runway and wearing crazy extensions and poufy skirts, age ain’t nothing but a number, baby! She had her retrospective runway show last February in the tents. Her designs are as true to Betsey’s image today as they were 30 years ago. Rock on Grandma!

3)The return of tie-dye. (although I could do without the return of hippy hipsters)
When I was in high school my mom yelled at me all the time for bleaching and dying pretty much everything, especially my jeans. It’s so easy to do it yourself too. Just grab some rubber bands, some bleach and some RIT dye in a rainbow assortment of colors, then make a mess in your tub or washing machine. Just, spare yourself from looking like a Nicole Richie clone and leave the hippy headband at home, and for the love of fashion don’t even think of buying, let alone wearing, those bug eye sunglasses Nicole is always wearing.

4) Exposed Zippers!
I’ve always loved exposed metal zippers and they were all over the Spring 2009 runways. See the zipper centric Narcisco Rodriguez dresses above. The artful details of 3.1 Phillip Lim are pretty and unique. Yeah and I’ve got exposed zippers on my Spring 2009 collection as well. They are so rock star sexy.

5) Lily Donaldson
My favorite supermodel of the years goes to the British Blonde Bombshell Lily Donaldson. She’s everywhere and I hear she’s actually nice, unlike my other favorite British Blonde Bombshell, Kate Moss.

Worst of 2008

1) The economy sucked it big time. Unemployment is high. No one is buying anything anymore. Wall Street crashed. The Second Great Depression is coming if not already here. Nuff said.

2) So many fashion companies, stores, and magazines bit the dust this year due to the economy. Here is a list of only a few of the many casualties:
Lisa Levine Jewelry
Men’s Vogue
Jovovich-Hawk
Oak (in Park Slope)
Mayle
Elle Accessories
Steve & Barry
6267
Sigrid Olsen
Alessandro Dell’Acqua
Imitation of Christ
Dulcinee
Heatherette
Cosmo Girl
Kira Plastinina
Sergio Rossi
Built by Wendy- California stores closed
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Bureau
Diabless
Te Casan
DNR
Love Saves the Day
Radar
HollyWould
Dernier Cri
Woolworths
Bill Blass

3) Not so much worst, just sad. Many notable people in the fashion industry kicked the curb this year. R.I.P.
Yves Saint-Laurent- LeSmoking Fashion Designer
William Claxton- 60’s/70’s famous photographer
Dorian Leigh- one of the first supermodels
Heather Stohler- Calvin Klein model
Mr. Blackwell- of the infamous worst-dressed list
Jerry Ford- founder of Ford Models
Lynn Kohlman- model, muse and creative director
Ruslana Korshunova- rising model
Bettie Page- legendary pin-up girl
Shu Uemura- founder of the namesake cosmetic line

4) Straight boys that keep wearing jeans skinnier than mine!
Yes, I know skinny jeans have been in for years now, but it still kills me to see a straight hipster boy wearing jeans that are tighter than the skinny jeans I’m wearing. Slender jeans are okay, but this leg condom stuff has got to stop. These girly men would so get beaten up if they wore those tight jeans in Iowa!

5) Chris Cornell goes Pop!
Seriously, I almost died and went to music hell, when I heard Chris Cornell’s new Timbaland produced Pop album. The one-time sexy-as-hell lead singer for rock legends Soundgarden and then Audioslave, is now a Justin Timberlake wanna-be. I’m going to go puke now.

Rating:

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