Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Hey, it's fashion week



Did you know it's fashion week in New York City? True story. Photographer Lauren Greenfield made this odd video after visiting various fashion weeks around the world. You may recognize Greenfield for her Girl Culture series, which has become pretty iconic, or her HBO documentary on eating disorders, "Thin," or Fast Forward, which is about growing up Hollywood, and the cover of which always reminds me of Spencer Platt's World Press Photo of the Year 2006.

In any case, I don't quite get why Greenfield chose to edit the video the way that she did, breaking her shots into squares that blink on and off; mostly, it simply serves to fragment their beautiful cohesion. And that soundtrack is awful mopey; although, the grind has a strange appeal after a while. But if you keep watching, you do see her take on the strange bird that is the fashion industry. She really gets at the peacocking of it, that it is simply surreal to have girls that look like weeping willows parade around in 21st century bedazzled armor, while everyone looks on, fussing over how important it all is, what it all means.

At my day job, the style editor is going to be on vacation for a week, so I'll be the de facto style editor while she's gone. I'm really looking forward to it. Fashion is my pornography, my vehicle to escape, what makes everything else fade. Those glow-in-the-dark heels. Those blow-up doll lips. Those crystal ball effects.