Clutch tight! That's a 10 K purse.

The big catch at A+C

Gossip is an art form in the twisted rues of this town ,

Everybody knows everything these days

More than ever, there seems something dated in the existence of these people, publicists who glory in their task as guardians of precedence. Like the eunuchs of the Ming dynasty, they tend to forget their place as servants of the imperial luxury goods industry. And, like the eunuchs of the Forbidden City, they may wake up one day to find that those with real power — in this case, Bernard Arnault, Robert Polet, François Pinault — have noted that the bottom line is not being well served by lackeys with attitude.

Guy Trebay in The NY Times on fashion show publicists and their Marie Antoinette complex

If you've ever suffered through the underlit wastes of Hotel Costes then you know what this room feels like

"I really like it when people don't necessarily have the right stuff in their homes. I like errors; its what shows personality. When everything is perfect it's called "the tastes of the times" and I find it terrifying. I like the bad moments in life or bad moments with family which put you where you should be and not where you think you should be. Even when one has acquired good taste , its good to keep the memory of a time when you didn't have any. The more taste you have, the more you should let yourself not have any , and to assume and create mistakes"

Jacques Garcia to John Armleder and Nicholas Trembley in Self-Service#29

Fiorucci Imagery

It is right there beneath the surface. Whenever TI looks at the kids on the streets these days with all that color clashing, all that kitsch all that vibrancy we feel the tremors of a Fiorucci comeback. Founded in 1967 in Italy by Elio Fiorucci to bring the style of Swinging London to young Italians, the New York off-shoot of the shop (in Bloomingdale's) during the 1980's saw the likes of Marc Jacobs and a young Madonna and ID mag's Terry Jones, gallivanting through the premises. You could fully sense the influence that Fiorucci aesthetic had on the early imagery of these generation-defining mavericks. Early Madonna was a walking Fiorucci pastiche and the early Marc Jacobs exhibited a penchant for kitsch that he later refined into a kind of jaded irony as he grew older. Also cruise any of the first 15 issues of ID magazine online and you'll see color strategies and graphic design motifs straight out of Fiorucci.
How NY needs a store like that once more! The amount of failed "Colette's" clogging the retailscape of NY cries out for correction. The Fiorucci comeback attempt of the late 90's was the wrong time and the wrong place but TI is convinced that if the brand doesn't sense its moment, a hundred imitators are about to raid its archives and make bank on all those fun ideas. Keep your eyes on those SS09 runways and you'll see what we mean.

COLETTE COMPILATION # 9: DESIGN PETRONIO &ASSOC

The maestro of Self Service is back in the mix! Bookmark instantly please!

Colette in Franco-phile heaven: Vogue Paris May by David Slijper: via the fashionspot

Colette/Domestic: Curated Alpahabet: Ezra Petronio

Ezra Petronio has a dream life. He breaks the rules and ends up reinforcing fashion's status quo. He publishes Self-Service as a hardcover magazine. Which is a very genius conceit if you really think about it. He breaks tons of rules in Self-Service. He covers images with huge blocks of type which for the post-Brodovitch school is absolute sacrilege. He has made a book of his fashion celebrity Polaroids (which ironically enough I just mis-typed as PRO-laroids) . The book is titled "Bold and Beautiful". It is printed by 7L, my favorite publishing imprint in the world. You really should buy it for the reference library. Other than that Petronio plays with clients and collaborators like Miu-Miu, Prada, Chloe, Colette in imaging these very selective brands. This ranges from product packaging to websites to advertising and general creative direction. TI worships this ideal. The altar may be found at Petronio's blog : workinprogressblog.com. It is so bookmarked right this minute!

Jeremy Kost knows how to party right

TI has got to give Polaroid purveyor Jeremy Kost props for his genius self-promotion. That boy is simply always at the right place at the right time with the right people. Voila his email RE: his Miami Art Basel bash:

Hey Everyone!

I'm super excited to invite you all to a preview of new work to be installed and shown at the newly renovated RokBar at 1906 Collins in Miami on Friday, December 7th from 8pm to 11pm.

The preview will feature new video work (What You Need is In the Limo, 2007) and the debut of my FAME series of silkscreen paintings, which can also be seen at Conner Contemporary's (my gallery's) booth at the Pulse art fair..

The event is being presented by Le Baron (Paris), Grand Life (New York), Conner Contemporary (DC), with generous support from Zune and Belvedere. There will be an open bar from 8pm to 10pm and an after-party (12pm onwards) hosted by Purple Magazine....

Please try to come on the early side as its a small space and it will be crowded. That said PLEASE RSVP to my gallery at info@connercontemporary.com.

You can expect a fun filled night with lots of surprises and some really amazing things to take home with you ;-).

If you can not make it, but would like more information, please also contact the gallery.

Hope to see you in Miami!

PS : Other events to be held at the Le Baron space include parties for NADA/Matthew Marks Gallery, Colette, Tokion, and Rivington Arms... so it will BE the place to be.

I would kill your cat for this KAWS/Commes des Garcons collaboration wallet!