Wednesday, February 20, 2013

We Nod, Dears, to Minaudieres

Les Mesdames are not much for embracing "In/Out" lists - if one has to be told what's in or out (and, more importantly, if one feels the slavish need to follow such dictates), well, life is just in a very sorry state of affairs.  However, we do delight in pointing out when major fashion magazines happen to dictate mindlessly what we have already gently suggested.

To wit:  Harper's Bazaar magazine - March 2013 "NEW FASHION" issue - IN/OUT list.  The #1 most important "IN" item, it would seem, is a clever minaudiere.
  


Now, far be it from Les Mesdames to quibble, but it seems such a subject was already addressed here at length several years ago.  In 2009 to be exact.  With suggested bags much more inventive and clever than, say, a $3,610 minaudiere that looks like, oh, a $3,610 minaudiere.  Well, maybe a $3,600 minaudiere, to be exact.

But that would only be if we were quibbling.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

What's In A Name?

Thinking perhaps you will start a fashion line?  Become the next Project Runway star, and swan your way down the red carpet at Vogue's prestigious Met Ball with fabulous movie stars wearing your wear?  Madame Shock has stern words for you, right up front:  Choose the name of your line carefully.

In the name of research Les Madames selflessly went shopping - yes, the sacrifice! They visited everywhere from Neiman Marcus to the local thrift store seeking examples that might terrify hopeful young designers into thinking straight about names.  Ecoute, mes enfants!

This, perhaps, would not be the best idea in trousers, slacks, or...let's be serious...anything:
Nor would this, as much as it pretends to embrace improvement:

And one suspects the designers of the below item perhaps do not call English their native language - a good warning for those who may be tempted to choose a saucy French word or cool-looking Asian character for their brand name (you would think all those celebrities with incorrect tattoos serve as a lesson here, but that's another post indeed...):

Think, dahlings, of the image you want to project, the picture that forms in your mind when the soon-to-be-adoring masses hear the name of your soon-to-be-selling-out fashion line:
Think also of how a woman wants to feel when she buys and wears your item - perhaps not like another version of a man (that is, of course, yet another post...):
And above all, lieblings, do your research research research.  Madame Shock, for one, shudders each time she sees someone proudly traipsing about with this town name emblazoned across their chest or (god forbid) posterior:
Mon Dieu! Have you ever BEEN to Hollister?  Wethinks mayhap the designers had not...