In an interview with Britain's Telegraph, Calvin Klein says Kate Moss was always a "difficult" model to work with: "I have worked with so many women, great ones, and Kate was always difficult." That may very well be true—working with any supermodel is never easy, especially one that subsists on a diet of vodka and Marlboro Lights. But what's it like to work for Calvin Klein?
Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley makes his debut as a judge on America's Next Top Model when the new season begins on March 10. And although he says he'd never watched the reality TV competition before deciding to join his dear old friend, Tyra Banks on the show (he says his boss, Anna Wintour, has never seen the show either), it looks like he'll fit in just fine. In addition to a special outfit for each episode—"13 custom-made Chado Ralph Rucci cloaks, varying only in color or fabric"—he'll be unveiling his very own catchphrase, too: "dreckitude," a combination of his favorite word, "dreck," and "quackitude," a "term he'd heard Rachel Maddow use on her show. 'Dreckitude was whipped out when I thought the challenge was not met or if [the contestants] showed up in perhaps an outfit that I just couldn't wrap my mind around.'" [WWD]
The world's most precocious blogger, Tavi Gevinson, will be in town to cover New York Fashion Week, which kicks off next Thursday. In the meantime, the 13-year-old fashion industry sensation (who is looking a few years older now that she's decided to follow the trend and die her hair grey) was asked about the most memorable moment of her two-year-old career covering fashion: "Probably meeting Rei Kawakubo, or meeting Karl Lagerfeld and him saying some very nice things and also I could SEE HIS EYES (there were no lasers)." [Fashion Informer]
How much do celebrities get paid to attend shows during Fashion Week? More than you might expect!
The idiotic "trend-tracking firm" that announced this past fall that New York had lost the title of "fashion capital of the world" has returned with another silly list. Global Language Monitor, which is based in fashionable Austin, Texas, says its "proprietary algorithm" has identified the "top 15 fashion buzzwords" of 2010, a list that begins with "Lady GaGa" [sic] and is followed by "leggings 2.0":
Body armor isn't just for rappers and security-obsessed paranoiacs. Thanks to the trend in all things militaristic, more and more people are picking up bulletproof vests, or jackets, shirts, and coats lined with bullet resistant kevlar. Even faux bulletproof vests are in, apparently:
Just when you think there isn't anything left for Chanel to stamp its brand on—maybe you'd be interested in buying a temporary tattoo for $75?—and Karl Lagerfeld comes through with another surprise. Yes, Chanel-branded footballs can now be purchased for $175. Don't forget to share the good news with all the fashion-forward football fanatics in your life! [FWD]
You could have stayed at home to watch horrific, bloody scenes of human misery unfold on TV. Or you could have jetted over to Milan, where the espresso is better and this week's menswear shows have been all about death and violence. Before you go and ask whether some members of the fashion industry are a little out of touch with what's going on in the world—is it really appropriate to send models down the runway covered in fake blood when every news network is broadcasting images of bloody survivors of the earthquake in Haiti?—keep in mind that war and other forms of human tragedy are actually good for the fashion biz. After all, they stimulate creativity! As Guy Trebay of the Times explains it:
