It Caught My Eye, over the past month...
March 27, 2003

Fashion world is changing...

The world seems to be changing. Countries falling out of each other's good books, like US and France. EU just won a WTO trade fight over the US, on its tariffs on EU steel. French fries are now "Freedom" fries, in the US (with Canadian bacon possibly facing a name change there too).

Non-US fashion shows this past season had a anti-American tone to it. Will trade barriers and loud mouths in opposing countries, like the US and France, cause a rift in fashion. Time will show. I expect it will. A Ebay vendor locked out recently a Canadian buyer. Stating: If you're not with us (in the war against Iraq). Then you're against us. We don't want your business. Ebay Canada, last week, held an online fashion auction for the Fashion Design Council of Canada.

This could be a real disaster for the fledgling Canadian fashion industry. Europe seems more interested in just plucking top Canadian talent and adding it to its own. The best market for Canada has always been the United States. Canadian fashion picked to not back the US' side (on Iraq). Canada fashion will have only itself to blame to what should happen next to it. Or maybe Canadian designers do it just for fun? If so, then not being able to make much of a living thanks to a possible lost in the US market, shouldn't bother them. It's Canada after all. Lots of Industry Welfare here. Canada: Home of designer handout plates.

Firstview (firstview.com), an American company, has been locked out in showing French designers. L'Espresso MODA (speciali.espressonline.it), a similar idea site, based in Italy. Still is able to show French designers on its site.

How this will effect how fashion is ran and shown in countries like France and US, in the future, remains to be seen. Will magazine bibles, like Vogue, in both countries, America and France, go a more patriotic root? Will Russian, German, Canadian and French models have to forget about working in New York? Designers too? Could German Bridget Hall fans have to go without the American? Will US Vogue become unreadable with a non-stop army of English Blueblood, along side Hollywood actresses? Will models who did protests against the US and UK's position on Iraq face during NYC fashion week get blacklisted in US fashion? If so, then at least the continuing misidentification of the Gucci "G" being wrongfully thought of being Carmen Kass, will be straighten out.

I doubt it. At least not to that extreme of a level. Not in the US, at least. Fashion flies under the radar enough not to get noticed. So I suspect Covergirl won't have to hunt for new models. Unfortunately I could see more Blueblood models in US magazines in the near future.

Model comebacks...

Veteran Linda Evangelista returned to the runways. She's not the only model who seems to be trying for a comeback.

Remember Kylie Bax?

She used to be in important magazines women fashion magazines like Vogue. She was in various lad mags not too too long ago. Most notable being Sports Illustrated. She's back. Working with the porn company Girls Gone Wild. She'll be the host for some GGW Ibiza DVD (source: Stance magazine). She was recently on the GGW PPV, as a judge for Miss GGW. Sadly.. I could see Kylie's road in getting her back into high fashion working better then Linda's runway route.

Long time Fashist! visitors will remember a story a couple years back. A Fashist! regular visitor, who had owned the domain name Kyliebax.com, wrote to me, telling me Kylie sent out her lawyers to get her cyber name back. Which he did. Then Kylie did nothing with it. The official Kylie Bax web site project is back! It's to open on January 1st, 2003. So it's a race between Kylie and Terry Richardson's site, in "who will open first!?"

Michele Hicks is inside the 4th anniversary of Nylon. Another comeback.

Who's Carrie Tivador?

She's a Canadian model who recently was on the cover of Quebec Elle. She models for Maybelline and Buffalo jeans. According to WENN.com, she's also now Nicolas Cage's new girlfriend. (Canadian fashion magazines are starting to have some real model stars to choose from. Tasha Tilberg, Marie-eve Nadeau, Liisa Winkler, Yasmin Warsame, and now Carrie Tivador.)

SALTYT (salty.com) posted a Q&A from V magazine, with Jessica Miller

(V asks if she 'wears a bra'?)
"none. I sometimes wish I had something to put into a bra. Bras are so pretty".

(V asks if she 'shave or wax'?)
"Definitely wax".

I like Jessica Miller. She's a great addition to the world of modeldom. Too bad for her Dutch went under. She sure poses nude a lot. She's sure giving Karen Elson and Kate Moss a real for their money in who can pose nude the most.

Tommy who?...

Owner of Nine West, Gloria Vanderbilt and Jones New York; Jones Apparel, is in talks to buy Tommy Hilfiger.

Speaking of strange owners in fashion....

And I quote from a past Studio Briefing (studiobrf.newshare.com):

Saddam Hussein owns a $90-million stake in Lagardere SCA, the French parent company of Hachette Filipacchi, the publisher of numerous U.S. magazines, including Premiere (And, Elle! Elle Girl, and American Photo), and the backer of several French and Hollywood motion pictures, the New York Post observed. The newspaper said that although word of Saddam's holdings in Lagardere first came to light during the Gulf War in 1990 and although Hachette execs announced at the time that they planned to buy out his holdings, Saddam continues to hold his stake in the company. The Post said that Hachette has been conducting tests to determine whether it could be harmed by "guilt by association" because of the Saddam connection.

(Come to think of it... I don't ever recall seeing Lauren Bush in Elle? You don't think??? :-p)