tim blanks

Turns out Suzy Menkes isn't the only person with thoughts about all the bloggers and street-style stars armed with cameras outside fashion shows. In Take My Picture, a new minidocumentary created by Garage Magazine, a variety of people in the fashion industry — from critics and stylists to designers and even bloggers themselves — address the phenomenon.

Tim Blanks is perhaps the most vocal person in the video, even though he says he initially found it "charming . . . for so many different kinds of people to be so enthusiastic about fashion." Now, he's just had enough.

"It's empowering, but it's empowering in the way that reality TV has been empowering," Blanks says in the video. "It makes monsters. It doesn't make gods; it makes monsters. It's coarsened, but that's always the process, isn't it — with everything? You can't think of any leap forward that didn't at some point become a parody of itself. But then what happens next?"

And while some of the people in the video agree that the throngs of people outside shows have gotten to be a little too much, others defend street-style photography and the growth of blogging as having redeeming qualities.

"Of course now it's one of the strategies," says Vika Gazinskaya, an oft-snapped Russian designer who first started showing her brand in 2007. "And as I always say, it's a great opportunity for young designers who have no budget for advertising. It's the best way, of course."

A look at what others from the industry, including Tommy Ton, Susanna Lau, Phil Oh, and Hanneli Mustaparta had to say on the matter in the video below.

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."

Donatella Versce had a wide-ranging talk in front of the Oxford Student Union on Wednesday, addressing everything from how she coped with the death of her brother Gianni Versace to how women can use fashion as means of defense.

"Fashion is a weapon that you can use when you need it," Versace said in a live interview with fashion journalist Tim Blanks. "I think my own look makes people think I'm tough but when they get to know me I'm very different. It's like armor that was useful to me in the first years after Gianni's death. . . I don't mean to sound like a martyr — just to make the point that I used my personal image to hide all these emotions."

Versace also talked about selling fashion in a tough economy, saying that she was glad to work with H&M on a lower-priced line. "I had no idea how they'd make my designs come to life at those prices, but they did it without restricting me at all," she said. As for her main collection, Versace said high-end clothing still sells because she pushes the envelope in terms of aesthetic and innovation.

"Designers have to ensure that their brand stays in the real world — like we have, hopefully, with Versus — but then you have to work hard to make sure the creativity survives," she said. "In hard times you still have to be extreme. My job now is to make our aesthetic evolve while remaining truly Versace — I want to make dresses that every woman wants: sexy and jaw-dropping — I always want it to be relevant but I also want it to be always about glamour."

>> It's going to be a big year for Stella McCartney. Her sporty Fall 2012 collection garnered nearly universal rave reviews, and 900 of Britain's finest athletes will compete in her wares during this year's Olympic games in London.

In a recent interview with Tim Blanks, McCartney explained how she's keeping all of her success in perspective. "When I feel myself getting nervous and stressed and self-absorbed, I try to just go, 'Oh, come on,'" she says. A few more highlights from the interview:

On the demise of designers like John Galliano: "I don't think anyone can give an exact reason. Yeah, there's a lot of pressure in our industry. We all feel it. But I think there's a lot of pressure in a lot of industries. Sometimes the fashion industry can get a bit kind of isolated and it's all 'Oooh! It's so relentless!' But I don't see our industry as the only one like that. But I do think that personality comes into play a lot. I also try not to take myself too seriously."

On her famous parents: "Imagine . . . everyone knows who your mom and dad are, and they know something about you and you don't really know anything about them or who they are. So you get a little bit defensive and you sort of want to go up to them and say, 'Hi! Who's your mom and dad?'"

On the death of her mother, photographer Linda McCartney: "I feel like a different person since my mom passed away, like I'm driving a ship with my husband alongside me and we're leading these four children into unknown waters . . . Sometimes I'll get into the bath with all my kids and they'll look at me and say, 'Oh, it's just us! It's just our family in the bath!' And I remember that feeling, when it was just our family. It's such a powerful moment."

On whether she's changed how fashion uses animal products: "I don't think I have, no. But I think I am definitely in the process of doing something very different from other luxury brands. I did always say I wanted to infiltrate from within. That was always my reasoning behind going into partnership with a luxury group that uses a lot of leather in their products. I'm also a real believer that just doing a little something is really a lot better than doing a lot of nothing."

Photo by Craig McDean for Interview

>> After much speculation, Style.com has confirmed it will launch its first print magazine on Oct. 31, just a few weeks after the Spring 2012 shows finish. The first issue is "going to be very much focused on Spring/Summer 2012 collections," according to Style.com editor-in-chief Dirk Standen. "We are going to spotlight the most interesting people, places and clothes of the season, but beyond that we are hoping to convey to the reader what the experience of going through that intense four week cycle is like ... Starting today I will be using our Twitter feed to let our readers know what we’re up to as we shoot the photo shoots, meet the designers and models, and rush to put together the first issue."

The magazine's editorial staff — in addition to Standen — centers around Style.com executive editor Nicole Phelps and contributing editor Tim Blanks, while the creative team includes Fairchild Fashion Media editorial director Peter Kaplan and Style.com magazine creative director Lina Kutsovskaya, formerly of Nylon and Teen Vogue.

As for the reason why Style.com is moving into print? Standen explains: "If you look at the big picture I don’t think [media] brands can afford to be tied to one medium anymore. Obviously you see that with magazines paying a lot of attention to their websites now. But even on the web, it’s not enough to just have a website. You have to be on various digital devices. You need to be on the various social media sites. You want your content to be available in as many places as possible. Now that we are within the Fairchild umbrella, which has a lot of experience and a great deal of expertise in publishing, it became a natural extension for Style.com to do a magazine."

The website is also testing e-commerce, concurrent with the magazine launch, Standen says: "We are working with six New York City designers to be announced during fashion week. They are going to make a very limited number of pieces available directly from their Spring [2012] collection, so that people will be able to buy them right away. We are going to coordinate it with the launch of the magazine so, technically end of October. They will be able to buy it and will receive a nice package in the mail within days."

The Style.com magazine is currently available for pre-order and will be available on newsstands in select cities across North America and in Europe.

>> Instead of shuttering Style.com, as many speculated would happen after Vogue.com's big relaunch — which comes right after Labor Day — Drew Schutte, SVP and chief revenue officer for Conde Nast Digital, is ready for the two to take over the web together: “In my mind, why not have two of the leading brands in the online space? There’s lots of competition coming up, so instead of letting someone else become the number-two competitor, I’d like to make one ourselves and have the number one and two in the space.”

Style.com was once the online home of both W and Vogue, but all three are now entirely separate — no pooling of resources. Style.com will send its own reviewers (Tim Blanks, Nicole Phelps, Meenal Mistry) to the upcoming fashion shows, as will Vogue.com (Jessica Kerwin, former Style contributor Sarah Mower, as well as Vogue senior staffers Mark Holgate, Hamish Bowles, and others).

There's good reason to keep Style around »