FASHION Magazine

We’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Miss Piggy lately, and we couldn’t be happier. This is the pig that taught us to love fashion, to go after what we want, and that self-confidence is everything. Her fashion tastes have always been a little dramatic for our tastes, but with a new movie coming out next month—in which she plays Vogue Paris’s editor in chief wearing Zac Posen and Christian Louboutin—Miss P. is being given a modern makeover.

Our favourite little diva has been busy recently: she’s collabed with M.A.C and Opening Ceremony—she even appeared at the brand’s Soho store during Fashion Night Out, agreed to be a judge on the much-anticipated Project Runway All Stars (will she be sassier than Michael Kors?), and inspired OPI to create a Muppet-themed nail polish collection. Most exciting, however, is the news that several of fashions biggest names have designed outfits for her—Jason Wu, Prabal Gurung, Suno, Opening Ceremony, Brian Atwood, and Giles & Brother—and that an editorial of her in the wears will appear in the November issue of InStyle mag. We’ve got to admit: we are very excited.

Fashion week can be stressful to say the least, and usually, days (hours!) before LG Fashion Week, we’d be feeling the strain of confusing or conflicting schedules. This time around we’re much more prepared, thanks to Frank Griggs and fashioncalendar.ca, a site that Toronto fashionistas have been desperate for.

Our curiosities were uh, piqued last month when we saw the sneak peek of the Kim Kardashian­–inspired wedding gowns Vera Wang designed for budget bridal company David’s Bridal. In a move that brings multi-million dollar bridal fashion to the masses, Wang re-designed the three dresses she made for Kardashian’s wedding in September, and they’ll be sold for a mere fraction of the cost of the originals.

In the market for gold? Neither are we, but Jean Paul Gaultier has designed a bar of gold for French investment company CPoR Devises. Known for his outrageous designs—including Madonna’s infamous cone bra and a dress made out of bread—Gaultier has gone for a simpler design this time around, adorning the bar with his heart logo.

Sure, it’s always smart to invest during tough economic times, but you can’t really do much with a bar of gold other than brag to your friends that it was designed by Gaultier. If you do change your mind, though, and really want to impress everyone you know, the 25-karat bar is going for the modest price of US$1,861.

Urban Outfitters has their illegal panties in a knot. The American retailer is once again under fire, but this time it’s for selling a pair of printed underwear called “Navajo Hipster Panty.” What’s so wrong about a one little pair of underwear? Under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, it’s illegal in the United States to market a product by falsely suggesting it is a product of or produced by a particular tribe (in this case, the Navajo tribe).

You’ve already heard about the kafuffle caused by fashion week scheduling next fall, that timing for MFW is going to overlap with both LFW and PFW. Quelle horror! To make matters much worse, a press release surfaced this morning from the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana in which Milan responds to New York, London, and Paris’ unwillingness to alter their fashion week schedules, and claiming that a written agreement from 2010 had MFW scheduled to take place between the 19^th and 25^th of September—as per usual—and which they’ve decided they’ll stick to. Dun dun dun…

But here comes the real drama: today’s statement from the Italian board of directors reads: “Such an accuse, in addition to representing an aggressive and arrogant attitude towards CNMI, used unfair argumentation in order to impose—in a unilateral way—not shared decisions. In conclusion, the Board of Directors and the Designers’ Roundtable have unanimously decided to confirm the schedule as it was previously announced on March 17th 2010: [MFW] will be held from Wednesday 19th to Tuesday 25th of September 2012.”

For the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing little buzzes about Duchess Kate being featured in Vogue. The magazine’s been in hot pursuit of the young royal, and have reportedly been hoping that Mario Testino’s close relationship with the Royal family, having shot of the Duke and Duchess’s engagement photos, would help the connection.

Alas, the rumours can now be put to rest, as the Queen has made it clear that she is not for it. A palace aid has told various sources that the Queen “would definitely not be amused,” if Kate decided to model. All sources seem to say that Kate will stick to philanthropic projects that will make a larger difference in the lives of those in need. Take that, Anna.

But aren’t they going after the wrong Middleton? With Pippa hot on the scene as of late (she recently sat front row at Alice Temperley’s Spring 2012 show), she could be just the willing fashion icon the doctor ordered.

Has True Blood fever hit France? In celebration of Carine Roitfeld’s new book, Irreverent, she held a vampire ball in Paris last night where fashion’s biggest stars were expected to dress up and get into character. Naturally, some were more enthusiastic than others. Riccardo Tisci showed up with fake blood dripping from his mouth and Anna Dello Russo wore a Stephen Jones X Giles scarlet swan feather headdress that she described as “aggressive.” Other partygoers like Kanye West and Karl Lagerfeld dressed as per their usual. Perhaps they didn’t get the memo. Perhaps Kanye was still mid-fit.

Is Roitfeld is a Bill or Eric fan? We’re hoping the latter.

Fashion week schedules are about to get tighter: Milan is bumping up the dates of next year’s fashion week so that it overlaps with both New York’s and London’s. Attendees barely had enough time to make it from place to place this year (our own Susie Sheffman was rushing the gates at Pearson to make it to Gucci on time).

What’s to blame for this headache? New York fashion week always kicks off on the second Thursday of September, which will fall late in the month next year. NFW won’t move their dates up for fear of working on the Labour Day weekend. Milan suggested Paris move their RTW shows to July, which Paris politely declined. Condé Nast is particularly un-jazzed about Milan’s change and announced that their editors will not skip out on New York and London. No Anna in the Prada front row?

If the schedule stays as is, editors will have to choose between cities and just like gym class, no one wants to be picked last.

It’s no surprise that Kanye West’s debut ready-to-wear collection in Paris on Saturday received mixed reviews. We’re also not surprised that the rapper-come-designer obnoxiously responded to his critics before any reviews of his show were actually published. It’s just his… thing, we guess.

Delivered to partygoers including Karlie Kloss, Lindsay Lohan, and Olivier Theyskens, West whined about the amount of hard labour he had put into his line, and how he’s “different” then other celebrity designers (different i.e. better?). To boot, he mentioned a hope that critics would be “easy” on him, considering it was his first shot out of the gate. “I took out motherf—ing loans to get the best models, to get the best designers, to get the best venue. I gave you everything that I had,” he reportedly added. Can we LOL now, or later?

Everyone knows Andrej Pejic, the gorgeous, androgynous male model who’s been ripping up the men’s and women’s runways this past year—and soon enough, Queen Elizabeth will know him too.

Liz will soon be visiting Australia, where Pejic spent his formative years, and Pejic has been invited to Buckingham Palace for an event to celebrate her upcoming visit. He will join other British-based Australians at the event, but we’re certain he will stand out in the crowd—not only is he uncommonly attractive, but even his laid-back-femme off-duty style is covetable. The question on everyone’s mind is what Pejic will wear, as he’s known for some pretty outrageous and sexy outfits (with or without a baby bump!), but we suspect that this guy knows how to dress for the occasion.

Balenciaga’s SS 2012 show is all over Twitter and fashion news sites this morning, but not for the reasons you would expect. The headlines were enough to make any fashion editor cringe with sympathy: “Broken Benches Send Editors and Buyers Crashing to the Floor at Balenciaga Show” and “Balenciagea Attendees Forced to Stand Throughout the Show Because of Faulty Benches”. No one was hurt, thank God, but standing during a runway show? How terribly gauche!

Thanks to live Tweeting, we get to experience the event almost as if we were there. Runway show veterans the Traina sisters were the first to hear the bench creaking, and jumped up seconds before it came crashing to the floor. (Kate Lanphear and Eric Wilson weren’t so lucky!) But despite the surprise of a standing-room-only presentation (and difficulty for the shorter members of the audience), the show did go on. Everyone present, including the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Salma Hayek, and François-Henri Pinault, stood like champs, and watched the show as though the models were brides heading down the aisle. We can’t even imagine how horrible it would have been had Anna Wintour been one to fall on the floor.