SaRtOriAL CriMeS: mai 2010

5.25.2010

5.24.2010

"In 1994, a dress that Karl Lagerfeld designed for Chanel was pulled from the season's line. The Arab world was up in arms after the sexy black item with Arabic words embroidered across it was modeled on the runway." The problem? The words, which Lagerfeld thought derived from a love poem, were in fact from the Koran.

Shoes

Toward the end of the 15th century, Charles VIII of France popularized men's shoes with square toes. Why? Charles hoped to hide the fact that he had six toes on one of his feet.

Corset

While visiting Constantinople, Lady Montagu lost no opportunity telling Turkish women about the superior status of women in England. Her case was undermined, however, when her hosts invited her visit a public bath one day.

The Turkish lady who helped her undress was amazed at the sight of Lady Montagu's stays and called her friends (among them several prominent literary and political figures) to come and look. "See how cruelly the poor English ladies are used by their husbands!" she cried. "How can you boast of your greater liberty when your husbands lock you up in a box like this?"

John Malkovich

In August 2002, John Malkovich announced plans to launch a line of clothing in collaboration with acclaimed Manhattan fashion designer Francesco Rulli. Though the clothes would bear his stamp of approval, Malkovich explained, he had declined to allow them to carry his name. The label's name? "Mrs. Mudd."

George Hamilton

During a television appearance one day, George Hamilton, a man famed for his perfect tan and exceptional taste, was notified that he was wearing his tie clip too high. "That," he insouciantly replied, "is where Fred Astaire wore it."

J G Dress

"My goal is really very simple," famed fashion designer John Galliano once remarked. "When a man looks at a woman wearing one of my dresses, I would like him basically to be saying to himself, 'I have to f--- her.' I just think every woman deserves to be desired. Is that really asking too much?"

Real Women

"Betsy Johnson was applauded for designing clothes for 'real women, cellulite and all'... which just happened to be modeled by thirty Playboyplaymates."

Alex Nussbaum & Hugo Boss

"Hugo Boss manufactured the first Nazi uniforms," Jewish comedian Alex Nussbaum once observed. "Which tells you that you can be fascist but still be fashionable... and the moral of that story is, I don't buy Hugo Boss, unless it's on sale."

YSL shy?

Like his mentor (Christian Dior), Yves Saint Laurent was painfully shy. Indeed, when Maison Yves Saint Laurent's first collection was shown, in January of 1962, the human tide which rushed to congratulate the designer was so daunting that he ran away and tried to hide in a cupboard.

Mr McQueen...

"Alexander McQueen grew up in East London, the son of a cabbie and the youngest of six children. He knew he was gay from the age of 3, was consumed by fashion, and wasn't terribly engaged in school. When his mother watched a program on the lack of apprentices on Savile Row, London's strip of pricey custom-made-suit shops, she urged him to apply.

"McQueen, only 16, jumped at the opportunity. He worked at Anderson & Sheppard Ltd. for eighteen months and for six months at Gieves & Hawkes, where he reputedly stitched I AM A CUNT into the lining of a suit jacket being made for Prince Charles."

only one Chanel

Coco Chanel was once asked why she had not married the Duke of Westminster, then one of the richest men in Europe, and become the Duchess of Westminster. "There have been several Duchesses of Westminster," she explained. "There is only one Chanel."