The King Of Pop with style oracle Rushka Bergman

TI is off to the movies to see "This Is It" on a prompt from Micheal's last stylist Miss Rushka Bergman. Rushka began working with Micheal Jackson after styling the legend for the October 2007 cover of L'Uomo Vogue that celebrated the 25th anniversary of Thriller. For the imaging of Micheal's look for the concert , Bergman collaborated with Christophe Decarnin for Balmain, John Galliano, Kris Van Assche for Dior Homme, Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy, Erickson Beamon and Giuseppe Zanotti on creating a series of outfits that drew on Jackson's 40 year legacy as a performer. Especially dazzling were the sharp shouldered motorcycle jacket rendered in Thriller-red leather, the tuxedo jacket studded with crystals and a suede military jacket all by Christophe Decarin. How directional and influential would a live glimpse of all this been! As Ruska explains

Torqued and tweaked to perfection: Jil Sander Fall/Winter 2009

Young un' Allan from Aruba is sun kissed and god blessed

Tom Ford 's current campaign: PH: Terry Richardson via tomford.nl/blog

Hmmmm. Wonder why we haven't seen these ads for the Tom Ford brand running in your current glossies. Consistency of line is everything no?

Kim Peers in the 1st Tom Ford designed YSL line: PH Meisel

Tom Ford: PH Jeff Burton: Fantastic Man SS08 via the fashionspot

The Spring/Summer 08 issue of TI's very favorite men's mag is about to hit the stands any minute now. Tom Ford by Jeff Burton seems like a naughty mix and we suspect that when we do get to read the interview, there's going to be a bombshell or two dropped. I'll be be dousing myself in Tuscan Leather until then!

Red's Joe Lazo has been scooped up for the Hugo Boss

I really wanted to take an art break on this post, but sometimes you just have to go where the information is. Right now all the energy on the blue chip fashion scene is swirling around the Milan shows this weekend. At dinner tonight I got the update that all the big players have landed and are marking off their territory. There's a great moment of conflict looming with Prada, Dolce and Hugo Boss, which means drama, screaming, demands and hapless young men from Idaho cornfields wandering the streets of Milan in a daze. Mangers are going to have to choose one over the other....

Red's Joe Lazo has been scooped up for the Hugo Boss

Red's Tyler Riggs is very coveted for the Milan/Paris Shows FW08

At the women shows I look at the models. At the men's shows, I come with a magnifying glass seriously trained on the clothes. The clock's counting down to the FW08 men's presentations in Milan and Paris and this very specialized market-that of high end designer menswear - is in a very transitional place right this minute. Time was you knew what you would be getting well in advance when it came to "The Shows" . And what entertainment these shows would provide, Tom Ford's flagrant Gucci vs Miuccia Prada's highminded men's line. Raf Simons's art gallery perfect wauldrobe vs Galliano's flamboyant bucaneers. And then the piece de resistance. Hedi Slimane's rock inflected couture level work at Dior Homme. What clear identities they had then.
So what are the shows with the best advance billing right this minute? After being eclipsed by the perverse streamlining at Dior, the Prada suit has a lot of lost ground to cover. Oddly enough Ralph Lauren's return to Milan this season has high expectations building for the glimpse of some kind of spectacle, if not in terms of the looks which are sure to be conservative, then in terms of the show's production values. The revamp of Ferre, as previously mentioned on TI has the label whores (like us) drumming the thumbs in suspense.

Stylists: The Interpreters Of Fashion: Rizzoli 2007

The talk this week? Rachel Zoe's bold claim about possibly being more influential than Anna Wintour. The cabal is in a frenzy at this sacrilege. Its the best fashion sound byte since “We don't get out of bed for less than 10,000 a day” But given the high altitude Rachel now lives at (and the corresponding lack of oxygen) Rachel Zoe is entitled to be as megalomaniac as she wants to be. I mean maybe she means more influential in malls...or more influential with the 18 and unders. There is even a rumor in circulation that Zoe has first pull at Calvin. A rumor probably...possibly started by the Zoe camp. But it gets you thinking. Whose eyes, tastes, preferences inform the idea of what is fashion now? And how does the tastes and preferences (and talent) of these forces affect how fashionable women dress? . I spent my entire Saturday ringing up some kids in the trade to form an informal style council. Not only was Wintour with her fashion funds, speed dial to billionaire CEO's and Met Costume Balls PR machines in another universe of influence, the conclusion was there were easily 5 forces in the world of styling who could eat Zoe for lunch...and use her ribcage as toothpicks.

THE FIVE:
Grace Coddington:

Marilyn Minter published by Gregory R Miller and Co

You'll want to snap up the Marilyn Minter's monograph published by Gregory R. Miller & Co asap, because its a surefire collector's item. Minter's name has been in recent circulation amongst the fashion press because of Tom Ford's decision to drop her imagery of the Tom Ford For Men fragrance. As a spokesperson for Tom Ford Beauty announced to Women's Wear Daily, “We loved the original Marilyn Minter images, but while on a shoot with [Terry Richardson] in Milan, we decided that a sharper, more graphic approach clearly communicated the bold and provocative mood of the fragrance.” A more graphic approach doesn't necessarily mean "clean lines" though. The new ads are apparently to feature the desireable fragrance bottle placed tightly in between a woman's crotch.

Tom Ford. Ph by Marilyn Minter New York Magazine