Cathy Horyn

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• The reason Jessica Chastain's hands are covered by purple paint in the ad for the highly anticipated Yves Saint Laurent fragrance Manifesto is that "it was the color of absolute seduction for Mr. Saint Laurent," according to a YSL executive. [WWD]
  

• As many as 20,000 pairs of counterfeit Christian Louboutin shoes have been seized over the past month by US Customs and Border Protection officers. The agency estimates the fake shoes' value near $18 million. [Los Angeles Times]
  

• Garance Doré says the print she designed for her collaboration with Kate Spade blends New York style with Parisian chic. "I actually think I dress in even more of a French way now that I live in New York," she says. "I'm more conscious of my Frenchness!" [Vogue UK]
  

• Cathy Horyn suggests Paul Ryan, announced this week as Mitt Romney's vice presidential running mate, might want to visit a tailor before the campaign is over. Of the blazer he wore when the announcement was made, she writes, "He was swimming in his coat, like Tom Hanks in Big when he becomes a kid again." [The New York Times]
  

• Emma Watson says the reason she started doing ad campaigns — notably for Burberry and Lancome — was to create "public identity for herself separate from the brainiac character of Hermione Granger." [T Magazine]

Photo courtesy of Yves Saint Laurent.

Raf Simons says the focus of his first collection for Christian Dior was to "change the psychology of people who are interested in couture."

Simons may have accomplished that goal: the reviews of the show have been universally positive, and many noted that Simons's work might cause a shift in the way couture is viewed. Cathy Horyn said Simons "gets the most and the best out of couture," while Tim Blanks observed that the designer "can't help himself; he will bring a heart-on-his-sleeve human dimension to this remote and rarefied world."

As Simons later explained to Blanks, he's doing that by re-imagining the possibilities and limits of the couture customer.

"I want to make it more dynamic, appeal to a person who has a different energy," he said. "A younger person, in mind, not necessarily in age. And I think couture is very much about curating something unique for women. Fashion is so mass-produced now; I hope there will come a refocus on how people see couture. And I would also hope for a new focus on the craft. . . . It's mind-blowing when you start investigating what is done here. But I want to approach it with a new energy. I'm interested to see how people will pick up on it."

>> Even the critically-infallible designers are taking a jab or two this season. First Tom Ford, and now Phoebe Philo. Cathy Horyn writes of the Spring 2012 Celine show: "Phoebe Philo knows how to put a statement on the Celine runway. Everyone knows that by now. But the collection she offered on Sunday was a club sandwich of cleverly reworked ideas, with some others that didn’t have a particular urgency. My main problem was that her military-style jackets with wide belts and matching skirts were derivative of old-school Yohji Yamamoto, as were cropped, wide-leg trousers with oversized black leather jackets. Also, if you recall, Miuccia Prada opened her fall 2011 show with rounded jackets; she, too, had wide belts dropped on the hips. It was only a year ago that Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons showed black fake-leather dresses with extra-wide belts. Maybe fashion goes by so quickly today that everything becomes an unrecognizable blur, and maybe a new generation of shoppers is indifferent to this kind of debate, but Ms. Philo’s reputation is based on being her own person, so you expect more from her." [On the Runway]

>> 'Tis the season for fashion critics to sharpen their pencils — and, so it seems, do the same with their words. Both Cathy Horyn and Robin Givhan have some choice thoughts on Nicolas Ghesquiere and Zac Posen, respectively.

Horyn writes in the New York Times: "The fact is, some forms just become worn out ... though he is not a showman, there is a growing impatience with Nicolas Ghesquiere. His experimental treatment of materials at Balenciaga has been exciting to behold, and necessary, but more and more the effect is like jumping on a spring-shot mattress. What happened to the cool street chic of Mr. Ghesquiere of a decade ago, when you actually saw women wearing his clothes? People who followed his career from the start probably appreciate his technical leaps and are willing to indulge him for the sake of creative freedom and the sheer hope of being knocked off their chairs ... But I suspect that our extremely materialistic culture, with the grab-and-go mentality fostered by the Web, just makes new fans itch for something to wear."

And Robin Givhan tells Page Six Magazine of Zac Posen: “Zac reminds me of another era in fashion. He’s a maestro. It reminds me of a time when there was an embrace of fashion as this fun, entertaining industry. He’s got a lot more competition now. [Early on in his career] he was one of only a few young guns. But people like Jason Wu have cut into a lot of the razzle-dazzle that he once owned. When you burn that white hot, eventually you burn out. That overwhelming hotness has cooled off.”

>> Not a day after the Financial Times's Vanessa Friedman predicted a return by John Galliano to the fashion industry — "People love a redemption story," she noted — Cathy Horyn reports that LVMH is considering re-hiring the designer:

"On Thursday, I ran into a number of executives who work with LVMH, and they would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of their close dealings. One individual said there had been casual discussions among LVMH executives about the feasibility of Mr. Galliano returning to his own label. Would the media and the public accept his return? This individual said he thought so. Another executive with whom I spoke had the same view. He cited the appeal of Mr. Galliano’s ultrafeminine fashion and added that in recent years the designer had lost touch with that sensibility (and indeed reality). 'It became a kind of Lady Gaga show, and he’s more talented than this,' the executive said."

Horyn, too, wants to see "what in time will be the rehabilitation of Mr. Galliano’s career. I hope he continues to get treatment. He should have a second chance."

>> After producing last Summer's runaway favorite — the Houlihan skinny cargo pant — J Brand has an even bigger hit on its hands this year: the colored jean. Over 100,000 pairs of the brand's brightly-hued skinny jeans have been sold since March, according to J Brand founder Jeff Rudes, already outpacing the Houlihan.

Rudes says he was feeling color earlier this year, but after he saw a fuchsia Jil Sander men's suit on display at Jeffrey in early February, he ordered his team to speed up production, Cathy Horyn reports. “Most people don’t get that we’re interpreting fashion through a jean, including our competitors,” Rudes explained.

Rudes is banking on the continued popularity of the super-brights, with a spread of neon jeans done in collaboration with known neon-afficionado Christopher Kane set to be introduced this October, retailing at $250.

Shop the Look: Colored jeans from J Brand, Current/Elliott, and more, below.

>> Kate Middleton's wedding is just over two weeks away, and now reports are circulating that she has commissioned three wedding dresses from three different designers. That way, she has two "backups" in case the designer of her chosen dress is correctly leaked, allowing her to choose one of the other dresses instead. Word is that Jasper Conran may be one of the dress contenders — and Fashionista notes that the designer has taken the images from his most recent bridal collection off his website. Middleton is also expected to change into a different dress for her wedding reception.

Cathy Horyn, meanwhile, is still betting on Alexander McQueen's Sarah Burton as the winner in the dress sweepstakes. Horyn points out that when consulted, Alexandra Shulman reportedly recommended that Middleton wear McQueen, and notes that Shulman's wedding-themed May 2011 issue of Vogue UK features models wearing Oscar de la Renta, Bruce Oldfield, Vivienne Westwood, and Marchesa bridal gowns. "Ah, but no McQueen dress in the mix," Horyn writes, "Its absence raising speculation that maybe Sarah Burton, the creative director of McQueen, is making Ms. Middleton’s dress after all."

The wedding guest list was partially leaked today, and one designer is expected to attend: Victoria Beckham. Last month, it was reported that after Beckham sent Middleton a selection of three of her Spring 2011 dresses, the bride-to-be phoned Beckham to thank her and asked her for general advice on eveningwear for her honeymoon.

>> The Carine Roitfeld biography retrospective that Olivier Zahm has been working on for the better part of two years finally has a publication date: Oct. 4, 2011. The 400-page tome, Irreverent, will be published by Rizzoli, and while Zahm edited what is sure to be an image-heavy compilation, the book is listed as written by Carine Roitfeld, with text by Cathy Horyn and New York's Amy Larocca, and contribution by Anna Wintour. Amazon already has the book on pre-order for $67.50. [Fashion Copious]

>> Between Alexander McQueen committing suicide last year, John Galliano's drunken, anti-Semitic outburst, and Christophe Decarnin being sidelined for depression treatments, many are starting to wonder if the fashion industry and its current pressures — particularly the demand for more and more collections, released faster and faster — are to blame for designers spinning out of control. Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors, and more address the issue:

Karl Lagerfeld: “I see designing, running a company, like a high-level athletic activity. I don’t want to hear anything about the fragility or any of those things. If an athlete is too fragile to run, he cannot run. And this is exactly the same. You don’t accept this kind of business if you’re too much of an artist. I believe in discipline, so I’m not the right person to cry about weakness and things like this, but maybe I’m not human.”

Marc Jacobs: “You don’t think bank tellers have problems? You don’t think people in the middle of the suburbs have problems? Blaming is such a complete waste. I mean, it’s so pointless. To say, you know, my mother was absent and therefore I ran amok, it’s ridiculous. It’s a self-destructive nature, it’s a mental, physical and a kind of spiritual malady . . . people who are happy and healthy and spiritually well don’t do things to hurt themselves.”

Yves Saint Laurent's longtime business partner Pierre Berge: “I have a lot more sympathy for people who have to take the train to work every day. What a load of nonsense! No, no, no. Designers are artisans who are extremely privileged to have a poetic profession. They are not artists. We have to stop saying that they are.”

Marc Jacobs's longtime business partner Robert Duffy: “You cannot blame the industry. The majority of actors are not drug addicts, the majority of designers are not drug addicts.”

Theory founder Andrew Rosen: “I don’t see fashion as an industry being ahead of the world in terms of this issue. It’s a devastating and unfortunate condition that happens in every walk of life. It doesn’t make it better or OK, it’s a devastating illness to all those around it. Drug addiction, and addiction in general, is unfortunately part of society today. Maybe because we’re so close to our industry, we feel it more. Whenever it happens, it’s horrible.”

Michael Kors: "No question . . . I mean, I forget what season I’m in sometimes. I think every designer in today’s world, I don’t care whether you’re a designer who makes clothes that are phantasmagorical or very pragmatic, you have to figure out something that can ground you and bring you back. Whatever it is, if you go to the gym too much or you travel too much, you’ve got to have time to escape. I always tell everyone the crazy conversation I’ve had forever with actors, if they do two films in a row, and they’ve lived these characters and they’re on the set away from their friends and family, but then they take a year off. What are designers supposed to say? 'I’m tired. I’m not doing fall. Wear last year’s clothes, and maybe get some new nail polish.' It’s endless."

Photographer Mert Alas: “I’m the kind of person that I live under pressure, but I enjoy the pressure, so it very much relates to your own personality. Of course we’re all under pressure. The bus driver is under pressure. But, you know, it’s how you come out of it. If you can make good fun with it, pressure can be enjoyable.”

New York Times's Cathy Horyn: "For designers already at big houses, the pressures must reach absurd levels . . . Many people in professional and creative fields are under intense pressure, but for designers that pressure is manifested on the runway. The problem goes beyond having to produce multiple collections a year; it’s the nearly brutalizing feeling that something new and relevant must be communicated each season."

Co-President of PR firm KCD Ed Filipowski: “As a publicist, I have also taken on many times the role of ‘fashion therapist’ to my clients. Globalization, digitalization — the speed and scope of our work — has added a tremendous amount of pressure not only to the creative field but everyone in this industry. I would venture to say we are all doing at least twice as much work twice as fast as we were five years ago.”