When I started this blog, I wanted to use it as a space to talk about what inspires me, but I also wanted to use it to talk about things that annoy me, or I disagree with. Love and hate are the same emotion effectively, to understand one you have to understand the other, so I figured my blog should have a little bit about stuff in the world of fashion that I don't like so much.
This week, my un-spiration came from an article I saw in one of the many many magazines I read each month. I picked it up in the shop to see the screaming headline "IT'S HERE! CARRIE'S OWN FASHION LABEL". I'm pretty sure even my boyfriend, who has never seen an episode of Sex and the City in his life, could have told me who that was about... but just in case, there was a big old picture of the lady herself, Miss Sarah Jessica Parker.
I have a number of problems with this headline, the first being, Carrie Bradshaw, depsite what a million women think, is not a real person, thus she can't have her own clothing line. Character-based clothing lines are the stuff of pre-teen girls, and not the stuff of magazine's that feature dresses worth thousands of pounds and features on the Haiti earthquake. The article inside the magazine did nothing to greatly change my opinions either. You can read the same story right
here. In case the link doesn't work (it's my first attempt and I am not blessed with great technological knowledge), essentially the story is covering how Sarah Jessica Parker has been taken on by Halston as "President and Chief Creative Director". She will work primarily on the Halston Heritage line, but may end up lending her "talents" to the main collection too.
Now, forgive me here for being cynical, but this is one of the single most ridiculous things I have ever heard, and it fathoms me that fashion publications are covering it as if it's a serious collaboration. Sarah Jessica Parker is the woman who once famously said that she doesn't really like fashion, and would prefer to wear jeans and a t-shirt every day. Now, I'm not going to find issues with the jeans and tshirt, because, quite frankly, don't we all wish we could do that somedays? But come on Halston, you have just appointed a woman who doesn't really like fashion as your PRESIDENT?! Some would suggest that that is far from logical.
I feel the problem is that when it comes to Sex And The City, Carrie Bradshaw, and Sarah Jessica Parker, all boundaries have become blurred. People seem to genuinely think that the actress and the character are the same woman, and that Sarah Jessica Parker is the same (mostly) fantastically dressed girl that strutted through Manhattan commenting on hers and her friend's sex lives. The cold hard fact is, she isn't. And in fact, the woman that deserves to be heading up Halston right now, is Patricia Field. I grow tired of reading about how SJP is a "style icon", she's not. Don't get me wrong, I love SATC, and I think Sarah Jessica was awesome in it, but she did not go through costume every day and pick out those outfits herself, she had an extremely talented stylist doing it for her. Whilst Field of course gets some recognition for her part in SATC, in my opinion it's not enough, and more should be done to point out that Sarah Jessica is styled to within an inch of her life in every scene she does.
In addition to this, if we go back to the article that started this off, we have to consider the idea that this is "Carrie's own fashion label". This is as much a ridiculous statement as the actual reality itself. Aside from the previously discussed fact that Carrie Bradhsaw is ficitional and can't have her own label, the fact is that this publication was passing off the Halston Heritage dresses that are worn in the next Sex And The City movie as Carrie's "designs". So... not REALLY Carrie's own line then. Essentially we can look like Carrie by buying the dresses from the film, which, given there will be a hundred different copies available on the high street well before the premiere has even happened, really doesn't feel that exciting.
To me, the problem is that Halston is an absolutely iconic brand, one that just oozes classic New York style, and yet their choice for creative director seems so wrong. I understand that SJP/Carrie, whichever you choose, is meant to be some iconic New York woman, but to me, it feels like the woman who want to look like Carrie, are not the women who will buy Halston. To me, the Halston style seems so different to Carrie's, and in fact seems like Halston is something that Carrie would wear on her days when she is trying to work a "look", but it's not what when you think of that character, you don't think of that Halston image. Instead you think of clashing colours and extravagant structuring. Hardly the clean lines and understated elegance of Halston.
I don't truly believe that many woman who work that classic look, look to Sex And The City for style tips. I'm not against celebrity collaborations, I feel many have been quite successful, but in short I feel this particular one was a poor choice, and I feel that Halston are set to see yet another creative director leave after just one season.
