its on the walls

there have been two major fashion awards/prize/money contests as
of late and i felt compelled to make a comment about it after reading
this today on the nytimes blog the moment.

"The down-to-the-wire decision by the jury, which included members
like Andrew Bolton and Isabel Toledo, was a difficult one, but in the end
a jury source revealed that Wang’s cool commercialism had won the day
over Peter Pilotto’s intricate artistry, which had the second highest
number of votes." the moment on Alexander Wang winning the
Swiss Textile 100,000 euro prize

the day that 'cool commercialism' (what does this exactly mean?)
wins over 'intricate artistry' is a sad one. maybe i could be considered
biased as i do have a special love for Peter Pilotto's work (i'm wearing
a piece by the design team right now) but i feel this statement is simply
the writing on the wall of what is wrong with fashion. yes, i fully understand
pieces must sell and that fashion is business and not art but what about
providing an amazing platform to a young and not as financially secure label.
i am sure Alexander Wang will be able to use this prize to his benefit and
it will most likely help him diversify his fabrics from the usual denim, leather
and jersey that have become part of his signature, but my god, dude is already
so well off! to think what Peter and Christopher (or others well deserving
of the prize, Ohne Titel for one), who are truly innovators in their fabric
approach, could have done with the well needed money?

i was quite 'public' with my personal pick for winner of the CFDA/Vogue
Fashion Fund prize this year. (see my blog entry for Scout here) and
was more than disappointed to hear that Ohne Titel was not awarded
with the cash. Yes, winner Sophie Theallet makes beautiful, totally
well crafted clothing and she has a hefty amount of respectable
experience under Jean Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaia. She is
unarguably deserving of her win but again why not award true creativity
and fashion innovation instead of perfect wrap dresses? Ohne Titel
soars in their craft, handwork and completely creative approach to dressing.

is this the way American Fashion goes? or the whole fashion world?
everyone is wondering during fashion week why everything looks the same
especially in New York, but young talented designers get the shaft every
chance there is money up for grabs. we still sit here and wonder how
we could loop a majority of NY shows together in one non stop stream of
video footage because there is next to no difference between many designers.

support independent designers, enough said.