the best and the worst: week 08

what an interesting week this was! in particular, president barack obama was re-elected into office for a second term. 

hugz!

in the last forty years of american history, no incumbent has been returned to office with a national unemployment rate over 7.5%. the current unemployment rate in the usa is 7.9%. of course, here in singapore, most that i spoke with are happy with the win. i do have certain opinions about both camps but i shall reserve them for coffee talk.

anyway, this week was a return to fashion writing. though i need to confess that there was not much writing that needed to be done. a large portion of it was to copy, paste and format. that said, it was a good return to talking about clothes as compared to history and animals. 

so, any lessons that i learnt this week? definitely! i am no longer an over-achiever but i have gone past that to become an over-doer. i just keep doing. keeping an exercise regime, going to work and writing... i have somewhat figured out a system that i have to strictly adhere to in order for my life to not spin out of control. *pats on the back* i live another week to write you the best and the worst. 

*drum roll* the results!

best: haute, haute, haute

everyone loves a title with a double meaning. i guess it's always encouraging to have readers appreciate the wit. i can write nasty and flaming posts like these but i do it not out of spite or malice. instead, it is to make readers laugh. laughter, i strongly believe, is the best medicine. anyway, it's good to see the opening post of the week make it to number one again (the last time this happened was in week four). personally, i actually like the first post of the week because it usually coveys my personal thoughts and the 'writer' in me speaks more freely. once the rest of the week's material come about, i am often bounded by the content.

as for the worst post of the week...

worst: massaro

why, why, why? i actually like the material in this post and i thought it would be refreshing for readers to realise that haute couture is not all about clothes. shoes form an integral part of couture fashion as well. plus, massaro does have an entire range of pretty footwear. it was a tad disappointing to see the post fall flat with a single digit readership. hopefully it gets better. this is the third time that the final 'content' post hit rock bottom. well, let's hope that it doesn't happen too often.

in closing, i truly appreciate ALL your support of The Online Edition. it's wonderful to see unique views daily but what gets me going are also all the return visits that you make to this blog. that shows my writing is interesting and relevant enough for a second glance. i will try to better myself with each week!

fash'on... BAM!

azzedine alaïa

azzedine alaïa is a tunisian-born couturier and shoe designer, particularly successful since the 1980s. his parents were wheat farmers but his glamorous twin sister inspired his love for couture. a french friend of his mother fed alaïa's instinctive creativity with copies of vogue. he lied about his age to get himself into the local ecole des beaux-arts in tunis and began studying sculpture where he gained valuable insights into the human form.

Azzedine Alaia

after his graduation, alaïa began working as a dressmaker's assistant. he soon began dressing private clients and in 1957, he moved to paris to work in fashion design. in paris, he started to work at christian dior as a tailleur but soon moved to work for guy laroche for two seasons, then for thierry mugler until he opened his first atelier in his little rue de bellechasse apartment the late 1970s. it is in this tiny atelier that for almost 20 years he dressed privately the world's jet set, from marie-hélène de rothschild to louise de vilmorin (who would become a close friend) to greta garbo, who used to come incognito for her fittings.

Grace Jones

Naomi Campbell

his seductive, clinging clothes were a massive success and he was named by the media 'the king of cling'. in 1996, he participated at the biennale della moda in florence, where along with paintings by longtime friend julian schnabel, he exhibited an outstanding dress created for the event. schnabel-designed furniture, as well as his large scale canvases, are decorating alaia's boutique in paris. 

Michelle Obama

Lady Gaga

alaia refuses the marketing-driven logic of luxury conglomerates, continuing to focus on clothes rather than 'it-bags'. alaia is revered for his independence and passion for discreet luxury. catherine lardeur, the former editor and chief of french marie claire in the 1980s stated in an interview to crowd magazine that 

'fashion is dead. designers nowadays do not create anything, they only make clothes so people and the press would talk about them. the real money for designers lie within perfumes and handbags. it is all about image. alaia remains the king. he is smart enough to not only care about having people talk about him. he only holds fashion shows when he has something to show, on his own time frame.' 

alaïa was honored with a solo exhibition at the groninger museum in the netherlands in 1998, which debuted at the guggenheim museum in new york in 2000.

fash'on... BAM!