Can Fashion Survive Any More Shrinkage?

If Vogue scaled back from being a monthly publication to a quarterly, would anyone notice?

The latest, discouraging news about cutbacks in magazine staffing and expenditures makes one wonder if definitive voices in fashion coverage are going the way of the dinosaur.
Recently, Conde Nast CEO Chuck Townsend reportedly sent a staff-wide memo saying that the chain of glossies would have to achieve "more with less" until "the recovery" comes.







ESS shudders at the thought. (Good gracious! Who knew they run Golf Digest too?)
As much as top-tier fashion news sources like W, and the New York Times' "T" tend to overshoot the boundaries of common tastes, they at least break through with savory new ideas on occasion?




Wouldn't you miss them if they were gone, or missing in action?
Voice your opinion below...

Etta James Proves EyeSeeStyle Right!

Now, I ask you: Whose version of "At Last" should the First Couple really have danced to at the Inaugural: Etta James' or (ugh) Beyonce's.



Faithful readers of EyeSeeStyle will recall that it was declared here on December 9, 2008 that Ms. Knowles (-Z?) had no business emulating Etta James on film in "Cadillac Records", in the first place.

EyeSeeStyle takes solace in knowing that Etta, deep down, feels the same way.

For the first time, ever, read below (and then comment liberally) on an EyeSeeStyle review of the play...

BEYONCE'S NOT FIERCE ENOUGH TO PLAY ETTA

(12/09/08)
The critics are weighing in on vastly different sides on how well Beyonce portrays a character based on R&B priestess Etta James in the film, "Cadillac Records".

VIDEO: YOUTUBE/

Some scathingly report that Ms. Knowles (-Carter) lacks any genuine spirit to bring to the role. Your thoughts?

Letter From Rome: Yes We Caftan!

How do you like this look, shown last week at the Fall '09 couture previews in Rome?


(FLICKR/MashGet)

The Reuters news service reports that Guillermo Mariotto designed a free-flowing gown stamped with newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama's visage for the house of Gattinoni because witnessing Obama's inauguration via satellite in Times Square gave him "the sensation of flying".

Mariotto went on to gush to Reuters that Obama's "definitely a fashion icon".

The winds of "change" also breezed through the couture collection of Fausto Sarli, who reportedly produced a "made for one person, for one occasion" gown devoted to the luminous new First Lady.


(FLICKR/Soriansky)

Sarli's spokesperson told Reuters said the frilly frock was a testament to Michelle Obama's "audacity of hope and youth."

If you could afford them, would you ever wear either of these gowns? And which do you think is the better fitting tribute to the President and his First Lady?

Black Designers Diss Michelle Obama

It was only a matter of time...


FLICKR/wumpiewoo/"Giving Eyes"

...As soon as the world got wind of "who Michelle Obama was wearing" for the Inaugural festivities of President Barack Obama, her husband, any designers who thought themselves deserving of the honor and felt snubbed by the First Lady would get their collective noses out of joint.

Unfortunately, a cadre of African-American fashion designers may join the whiney chorus before Mrs. Obama's Inaugural gown has time to be pressed and shipped to its rightful place at the Smithsonian.

According to a post-Inaugural report by Women's Wear Daily, black designers feel slighted by Mrs. Obama's choice of daywear by Cuban-American designer Isabel Toledo for the swearing-in festivities, and a shimmering silk chiffon gown by Asian-American designer Jason Wu for the galas that lasted late into the evening.

They couldn't even take the higher ground and compliment her on her choices; not even for a day.

My feeling is that the former model, Amnau Eele, who's said to be leading the Black Artists Association protest against Mrs. Obama needs a reality check: none of the black designers she referenced in her assertions to WWD were any more deserving than the ones so chicly selected.

Am I wrong?