Author Archive

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The Avant Guardian, like most women, is a fickle beast. Last week I hated Ricardo Tisci for ripping off my favorite dark mastermind, Tom Binns. This week I don’t care who he rips off, as long as he keeps doing what he’s doing. The Givenchy Fall ad campaign was just released, and it made me... »

Last week wunderkind and Lagerfeld protogé Jean-Pierre Braganza unveiled his A/W 09 collection, entitled ” Totempyrean” at Milan’s Fashion Week. Braganza, a Brit-born Canadian, used to show in London, but switched over to Milan recently. The collection, Braganza told Coutorture, was inspired by Native American imagery and futuristic, sculptural tailoring. The hard-edges of the... »

Givenchy recently debuted their Fall 2009 “fashion” accessories line by Riccardo Tisci. For anyone confused about how this line differs from their ordinary accessories line, “fashion” means cheaper, as in lower quality and (supposedly) higher accessibility. Apparently it also means ripping off hot new designers. The neon jewelry from the collection looks extraordinarily similar... »

okay, well forgive my recent absence, cherished purveyors of the avant garde, but i have been waist high in you know what. well, even if you don’t know, just forgive me.  i’ve always felt like i could become the person i want to be by mimicking the habits of those i admire. sometimes, though, the... »

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What happens when Amanda Lepore, MC Escher, and the ghost of McQueen season’s past collide on the runway? Duh, magic. Absolute and total magic. It looks like a car crash gone terribly terribly right, and I can’t get enough of it. Okay, so I’m actually pretty sure that Ms. Lepore herself was not in attendance... »

Mark Fast is a young upstart knitwear designer from Canada who is fast making a name for himself in the international fashion community. He grew up in some secluded forest fairytaleland outside of Winnipeg. The solemn quietude of his childhood pressed tightly against his growing genius, and he eventually found his way to London,... »

So, I neglected to mention that Gareth Pugh also released his first-ever menswear collection for A/W 09, and it is every bit as swoonworthy as the women’s collection. With baited breath, I wait for a world in which all men dress like this. This leather jacket on the right is so effing hot, it’s black,... »

Remember in 1992 when Marc Jacobs sent all those ripped apart, layered looks down the Perry Ellis runway? The ones that simultaneously spawned nearly a generation of plaid-clad youth and also got MJ fired? Well, back in those days my all black, leather and lace aesthetic was deeply influenced by that grunge runway, and... »