Last night the CFDA Awards, the Oscars of the fashion world, took place and in New York at Alice Tully Hall and the winners are in. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen took away the big womenswear designer of the year award for The Row, Joseph Altuzarra won the Swarovski Award for womenswear and Phillip Lim for menswear and Tommy Hilfiger was awarded the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.
Simon Spurr didn't end up winning the menswear designer of the year award, which was just as well considering all of the controversy surrounding his departure from his namesake line.
I’m like, that’s not sexy. Who wants to show their toe? Show a little ass; show some cleavage, but toe crack? I don’t understand that. I’ve had this conversation with shoe buyers...If you're wearing a pump, I like for it to come to the start of your toes, so you see foot and ankle but you don’t see toe crack.
These are the famous words of Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet, who recently launched M.A.C.'s alice+olivia collection. Arriving at the launch in a vibrant red number and sporting one of her own pieces, a Mongolian Lamb vest, she looked nothing short of chic. However, the designer talked about her mixed feelings towards her vegan nature and some of the clothes that she makes, beautiful but against what she believes in.
"I'm vegan. I don't eat animals. I don't put meat in my body. So every once in a while I think it's okay to wear it. But I made it — I'm probably going to hell."
A similar viewpoint on the fur debate is endorsed by Kelly Bensimon, who talked about the issue on a recent episode of Real Housewives. This was noted by Lucy Sykes who attended the launch with husband, Euan Rellie to congratulate Bendet on all her work.
Bendet's last words at the evening on the matter were "I don't feel that guilty wearing it. I don't know why. It doesn't make sense. But something about putting it inside me feels really barbaric. Something about wearing it just feels a little glamorous."
What do the likes of Thakoon Panichgul, Behnaz Sarafpour and Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia all have in common? Be it more exercise, less drink, more sleep, or less shopping, they too have New Year's resolutions they hope to keep, just like the rest of us. Thanks to WWD now we now know that Thakoon, for example, not content with dressing the likes of Michelle Obama, Rachel Bilson and Demi Moore, has his heart set on learning Japanese. Sarafpour, whose celerity clientele include Anne Hathaway, Claire Danes and Selma Blair, knows that going to the gym "just won't happen." Instead she is "aiming for something more realistic and will try to become more of a morning person." Bendet, who can count Khloe Kardashian and Anna Lynne McCord as fans, has her sights set on getting "my driver's license so I can get a pink Smart car."
Luckily for them, the first step of deciding on a resolution has been taken. We, however, are still struggling to come up with goals we know we can actually stick to. Any suggestions will be very welcome.
