I have a confession to make, ladies - for once this is a minor issue that few of you, if any, will take offense at. So here goes: I hate Stella McCartney's eponymous design line. I dislike her aesthetic (awkward - but without Prada's breakthrough spirit); her vegan maxims; her penchant for making the body look unattractive. This distaste has been brewing for quite some time.
I suppose my dislike could be seen as an insight into the 'what is fashion? art or craft" debate, in the sense that I do believe that fashion should have beauty as its guiding light (what constitutes beauty is a different, and not at all neutral issue). But I don't think that the deliberate awkwardness of McCartney's designs has much to do with that debate. Unlike the fantastically innovative work of the late Alexander McQueen, or the deposed John Galliano - her point of view offers no radical newness or insight, has nothing in it to transcend craft into art. Parenthetically, yes, ladies, despite the post-modernist attempts to erase said distinction I do think it exists. We all know it when we see it.
So why this exegesis on Stella? Well, she presented her Resort Collection. Here is the write up setting the scene:
In case the balloon arch at the entrance didn't tip guests off, last night's Stella McCartney resort presentation was her usual carnival-style affair, with diversions like a human statue, live chamber music, and models blowing bubbles, drinking champagne, and dancing. (A much better gig than presentations where models have to stand still on a podium for two hours with the occasional water break.) And as is typical with McCartney's events, a wide swath of friends and admirers joined her, from models Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn to artists Jeff Koons and Marilyn Minter. (SNL honcho Lorne Michaels was there too, deep in conversation with a corporate-looking crowd.) As the model Liya Kebede put it, "People like her alot."
Many of the friendships go way back — we're talking Paleozoic era. As Liv Tyler told the Cut, "We have been friends for 300 million years. We’re dinosaurs." Helena Christensen said that the two have been pals since McCartney's early days. "[We met] like 20 years ago. When she started, we did the shows together. Back then we were just a bunch of girls hanging out, having fun. I didn’t even feel like I was working. It was just like hanging out with your friends." Christensen added that this was a rare appearance for her: "I don't really go to a bunch of shows. I feel like I checked that box," she said, adding that she did attend Dior's resort show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. "I got a little seasick."
[....] When attendees weren't partaking in outdoor activities (the human chessboard was a popular photo op), they were talking about the throwback yin-yang prints on many of the pieces. It got several attendees thinking about the '90s. Said Hanneli Mustaparta of her attempt to revive the decade, “I’ve been wearing a mom jean — well, it’s kind of a mix between a mom jean and a boyfriend jean, so it still looks kinda hot. It’s a weird fit but in a nice way. A nice weird fit.”
Tyler said, "That’s my era, so I love it, I love it. There was something so much more relaxed about it, a little bit more playful. A little bit more of an edge. I think it wasn’t as thought-out, people were just creating looks from what they had in their closet or what came to them. I’m very nostalgic for anything '90s — music, fashion, films, all of it. I have a lot of things that I still never got rid of. ."What do I think about the clothes, not the scene, ye may ask?
Well, I hated it all yet again - the boxy shape, the oh-so-old-news cutouts; the prints OR the solids; and even the very look and weight of the fabric (the shoes seem ok - but any major shoe chain has a variation on them at the moment):
Heck, I don't even like these stripes!
This is Stella herself surrounded by her model friends.. and yes, I do think something about HER annoys me as well, to be perfectly honest. But mostly it is about her designs. So there.
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