Posen launched the cheaper Z Spoke line just a few short months ago, declaring it to be the new ‘fashion-tainment’, but the A/W 2011-12 collection debuts a decidedly more serious look. Posen told Style.com, ‘Last season was about launching it to the media, this season, it's about direct to the consumer and retailer.’
And launch it to the customer he certainly does - while the S/S 2010 show was considered too exaggerated by some, the A/W collection is pure, unadulterated chic, with classic pieces in black, inky blue and grey softened with the occasional dash of pink. Grown-up, tailored shifts in wool and hammered silk and liquid jersey dresses contrasted sharply with structured leather accessories and dark eye and lip makeup. The slinky cut-out gowns and structured/flowing contrasts in newly toned-down shades are more universal when compared to the line’s previously over-vibrant incarnation. The new aesthetic for Z Spoke is serious without compromising on style, with the added twist of Posen’s characteristic edgy cool - culminating in a visual smorgasbord of fashion delights.
As for the upcoming show for his signature line in Paris, Posen implies there will be plenty more of this new, grown-up philosophy, ‘I think in general with collection and with Z Spoke, we're moving into a more streamlined identity of my original language.’
You may remember from a post waaaay back in December, my huge love for O.P.I's Special Edition Burlesque Collection, especially in 'Bring on the Bling'. Well, some lovely little elves in the form of my housemates have bought me the liquid [glitter] gold, and I don't think it’s a hyperbole too far to say it Has. Changed. My. Life. Just two coats of the wonderfully gloopy lacquer creates gold glitter encrusted nails worthy of a unicorn on LSD - and here's the picture to prove it.
How tardy that this is the first blog post of the year! Between finals, illness and of course, partying in the New Year, this poor blog has been very much neglected - but, as Elton once said, the bitch is back. To start 2011 as we mean to go on -positive action in fashion;
Lea T is brilliant, an absolute beauty and by far my favourite model of the moment. Her bravery, courage and overall tenacity in becoming one of the first successful transgender [soon-to-be super] models is, without meaning to sound trite, truly inspirational. And while everyone keeps going on about that kiss with Kate Moss on the front cover of Love, [Erm, hello? Coronation Street’s Hayley, anyone? Not exactly groundbreaking] I say get over it- instead, revel in her overall loveliness and admire her unique position as both spokesmodel and role model for the transgender community.
The 28-year-old Brazilian model and muse made her debut catwalk appearance at San Paulo Fashion week last week, walking for designer Alexandre Herchcovitch’s A/W 2011 show, leaving many fashion critics excitedly speculating whether she will walk in the Givenchy show in Paris in the upcoming weeks.
It was when working as an assistant to Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy that Lea began experimenting, telling Vogue; ‘One night, he [Riccardo Tisci] encouraged me to wear heels to a party. We went shopping for these drag queen high heels and bleached my eyebrows. It was a revelation.’
She then went on to star in the Givenchy A/W 2010 campaign, has appeared naked in French Vogue and in haute couture for Italian Vanity Fair, speaking candidly to the latter about the physical and emotional challenges of gender transition.
Yet Lea is not without her detractors - some critics have dismissed both Tisci and Carine Roitfeld's use of her in shoots as ‘gimmicks’. But as a positive spokesperson for the transgender community, Lea’s increasing fame and candid interviews can only be seen as having an overwhelmingly positive effect, through encouraging understanding and empathy.
Reactions towards Lea amongst the transgender community have been overwhelmingly positive, with many activists seeing her fame and increasing popularity as a step towards greater tolerance. ‘It's a good, positive example and this is very rare,’ said La Roche, a transsexual who heads a Brazilian government department fighting for transvestite and transsexual rights. ‘It is important to have Lea in a magazine. All positive press shows society that we are capable of things other than prostitution or being hairdressers.’
The prejudices and everyday humiliations incurred when changing sex are all too familiar for Lea. From being laughed at by strangers to the disorientating effects of sex change drugs – ‘I would wander the streets, full of hormones, depressed, with people laughing behind my back’, Lea is proving to be an eloquent and quietly inspirational ambassador for a very much marginalised and maligned community.
‘We transsexuals are born and grow up alone. After the operation we are born again, but once again alone. And we die alone. It is the price we pay.’ Yet the choice, she says, ‘is between being unhappy forever or trying to be happy.’
