The Hard Truth

Last night I scurried over to the Hammerstein Ballroom for the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection fashion show; a parade of mostly B-list celebs, trotting down the runway in red designer dresses to raise awareness about heart disease in women. Said celebs included Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels, the less famous family members of the uber famous Kardashian sisters, a few daytime TV hosts like Savannah Guthrie and Wendy Williams, and some awkward-walking but super in-shape athletes. The highlight, I thought, was Kelly Osbourne in Zac Posen and her very purple side-swept hair.

Along with being sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the show was put on by Diet Coke. Huge logoed signs hung from the balcony, mini cans were handed out upon entering the venue, more cans were provided in the swag bags, as well as free t-shirts donning the hideous logo. 

I found this to be ironic to say the least - and extremely troubling to say some more. The third ingredient in Diet Coke, Aspartame, is an artificial sweetner made of methanol, phenylalanine and aspartic acid.  And guess what it's been known to cause? You guessed it, diabetes! Oh, and weight gain. Not exactly heart health friendly. Though the FDA has looked the other way, the American Diabetes Association reports:

"Aspartame is particularly toxic for diabetics because it disrupts the body’s normal response to glucose, which is to cause the pancreas to release insulin. The main symptom of diabetes is high blood sugar due to the body's inadequate production or utilization of insulin. Therefore, aspartame is doing exactly the opposite of what diabetics need. Astoundingly, Big Pharma claims that because aspartame has no calories, it is therefore an appropriate dietary supplement for diabetics. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Yeah from the HEART TRUTH! Get it? Anyway, what a shitty way to have to make your health mission heard - by partnering with the health devil. (Kind of like Beyonce joining Michelle Obama in the "Let's Move" campaign, followed by a $50-mil endorsement deal with Pepsi). 

I'm truly saddened by the whole thing. But at least I got to see that skanky chick from Friday Night Lights. 
 

Margiela for H&M Jeans...aka the updated JNCO

Well I never thought I'd see the day. JNCOs are back, guys. Only now, instead of being worn on skaters, punks and weirdos with chains and glow-in-the-dark stuff, they're disguised as some weird accessible-high-fashion-collab between Maison Martin Margiela (MMM) and H&M. If you ask me that's too many M's for one collaboration.

Anyway - the ultra baggy saggy pant is back - check out 90's JNCO versus 2012's version:

Oh and in case you're wondering: yes I did have JNCOs back in the day, and yes, I'm fairly interested in these totally horrendous H&M ones.

In which No Doubt's people rip off Kate Lanphear's people...

Obviously I'm a 90's girl all the way, and I have a profound soft spot in my heart for the band No Doubt - and Gwen Stefani in particular. But dammit guys!! Somebody's doing somebody a huge amount of dirty...

Two years ago, jewelry designer Eddie Borgo convinced his friend (and ELLE style director) Kate Lanphear to model for his online campaign. It was shot by the superbly talented Paul Maffi, and this is the fucking awesomeness that came out of it:

via

 Then a few days ago, No Doubt teamed up with Major Lazer and Busy Signal for their "Push and Shove" video - and here are some screenshots I snagged that looked...familiar. 

So like, I'm not trying to go around pointing the finger or anything, but...Yes I am, I'm pointing the finger. That's thievery. Straight up.

where culture meets style??

Is this seriously a New York Times headline - "Where Culture Meets Style"? WHERE DOES CULTURE EVER NOT MEET STYLE? Ugh NYT, I really do want to love you, but you keep giving me reasons not to. Stop that.

LEATHER OVERALLS

If I don't get my hands on these when they come out, I will surely cry. And I know I won't, because they will definitely cost more than my rent. So please pass the tissues...

via

In other news, I know I've been so sucky at posting. I've been doing things like this instead:

If you're inclined to follow my yoga thoughts instead of my style thoughts, you can follow me on the Strala Yoga blog, where I post every Tuesday as "The Newbie Yogi".

That's all.

Strala-la-la-la

Hey fashion & style weirdos,

I've got some news! Though my heart lies in all things style, my mind & body are recently fully consumed by yoga.

I met Tara Stiles, the owner of Strala Yoga, after hitting up a few of her classes in SoHo. Everything about that place is charming - the teachers know everybody by name, they play music during the classes, everybody is always smiling and happy. It's weird...I think yoga does that...like, makes people happy and smiley. Just the act of doing it and getting into it. Creepy. But awesome.

So to make a long story short, I approached Tara (aka the Yoga Rebel) and proposed a blog series, "The Newbie Yogi" - chronicling the journey of a yoga beginner (me) - and all the thoughts and tips and experiences that go along with it.

So hop on over to the Strala Yoga Blog!! Click HERE to read my first entry!

NYTimes says shredded denim is...back?

Dear New York Times,

Look, you know I love you...but cotdamn sometimes your trend reports are so very sad:

You say shredded denim "has turned up again"...as in, it went somewhere...and now it's like, back...so now it's a must-wear...again.

Shredded denim - like leather jackets or white v-necks or or trench coats - isn't new, it never left, and it probably never will. Granted, if the shredded denim was suddenly pink or yellow or green, that would be noteworthy.

But plain denim??!! C'mon NYTimes!! I believe in you! I want you to be on-trend! Please dig a little deeper.

With love,
Mihal

more fun with Jezebel

I wrote another article for Jezebel! I actually wrote part of it on here first, then took it down after they accepted my pitch to write a full-length post on the same topic. So if you think you've already read it, you haven't. And you should definitely click HERE and check it oooouuuut. Gracias.

cobalt cobalt everywhere

Something seriously cobalt is going on here. I don't know how or why or when, but suddenly cobalt pants are everywhere.

In all honesty, I love cobalt. I think it looks good on basically everybody - and if you're curious about the cobalt pants trend, you'll probably be good money trying it out (it's a tough one to fuck up).

In even more honesty, when so many people are doing one fashion-thing, I'd rather lather my hands and feet with lube and do a yoga class, than jump on the trend train. It makes me feel cheap and used...like the retail version of a slutty college hook-up. I suppose I'll be sticking with my everyday black jeans for another decade, or until people have forgotten about cobalt all together...whichever comes first.

See you on the other side...

god bless the LunarGrand

There once was a boy named Jeremy - a dapper young man with an eye for beauty and a true appreciation for craftsmanship.

Typically seen in high end dress shoes, but with a closet full of sneakers, Jeremy was very pleased to find that Cole Haan was releasing the LunarGrand Wingtips: a shoe with the body of a classic suede wingtip, with the sole (and soul) of the Nike LunarGlide running shoe:

Right now the suede wingtips come in 5 colorways for men. And at the SoHo store in NYC (where you'll find sales clerks talking about scoring some molly on a Friday night), you can find the new women's ones as well (I think the men's colors are better but what do I know).

Anyway back to my story: Though Young Jeremy wanted the shoes in all colors, he ultimately decided on just the grey/yellow ones for now (hellooo $250?!). But wait, what about fair maiden Mihal's needs...and wants...and back problems?? Soooo, I got myself a pair too. Of the men's shoes, not the women's (luckily I have big clown feet so I could fit into the smallest men's size):

So now we have his-and-hers LunarGrands. If you're going to take it there, and do his-and-hers anything, I recommend doing it with these shoes. You better act quickly though, these are limited edition and they're already on eBay for $300+.

God bless the LunarGrand...and God bless America.
Goodnight.

Note: Didn't get paid, didn't get free shoes, didn't get anything from Cole Haan to write this. Blogger authenticity stamp, holler.

The Isabel Marant sneakers...just "high fashion" Supras?

In the past few months, a new and very major shoe has surfaced as the "it-shoe". Last season the it was the Miu Miu Glitter Pumps. This season...Isabel Marant Sneakers:

They're hightop sneakers with a wedge, and it seems every model, blogger, editor and celeb owns a pair - retailing from between $390-$899 (some are up to $1,399.00 on ebay!).

And now, an exercise in cultural relativism.

Ever heard of streetwear? Ever heard of Supras?  Well dial back to mmmm, 2007/2008ish when Supras emerged as the "it-shoe" of the streetwear world. Mickey Factz even made a song about them. Many of the hightops have the same silhouette as the Marant sneaks, only retailing at about $110-$150 , and actually way better colorways if you ask moi:

So...what's stopping the trend-setters from slummin' it with the super available, super hot, super Supras? Is it a "high fashion" thing? Is it a class thing? Or is it as innocent as a non-knowing thing?

Seriously...thoughts?!

A.F. Vandevorst: Covered up in Paris

I was pretty sad when NY Fashion Week was basically completely lame, but missing Paris Fashion Week really broke my heart. I'm fairly certain I'm destined to be there - each show seems better than the last.

I ADORE (oh, should I be saying j'adore?) what A.F. Vandevorst came out with this season. It's like the designers said to themselves: no need to make a big hoopla about the models - what's the point, right? So let's bury those bitches in scarves and hats, so our guests can focus on what's really important: the art of clothing.

Don't even get me started on the knits and velvets...

layonbone: positives & negatives

My obscenely talented friend Cleon Grey recently featured me on his site Layonbone. This dude has vision to the max, and I'm so honored to be involved. Below is the series he shot of me - Positives & Negatives:

click HERE to see images full size

I get down with Neutrogena (an UNPAID endorsement)

A great eye-makeup remover is hard to find. Believe me, I've been searching for a really long time. So I thought it fitting that - once found - a video should be made in its honor. It's basically a before-and-after, showing a really shitty remover vs Neutrogena's (the results are pretty astounding, really). If you like watching me blab on and on about stuff, you're really gonna love this one...

Shout out to Neutrogena. Click HERE if you wanna buy.

trousers gone slouchy

Well it's no secret that this season's NYFW didn't thrill me. I inadvertantly ended up skipping more shows than I attended, most likely irritating more than a few publicists (sorry, guys). The fashion scene was blah, the parties were snoozy, the clothes were meh... 

BUT!!! But...I'm very happy to report that there was one thing that stood out as awesome. SLOUCHY TROUSERS. Baggy. Relaxed. Loosy goosy to the max. I put together my favorite ones below (all pics taken by me at shows that I actually did make it to). 

(Upper left & lower right: Vivienne Tam. Upper right: Dennis Basso. The rest: Sally LaPointe)

For shorter girls like me (I'm 5'6"), these kind of trousers usually call for heels - it's a good idea to elongate as much as possible to offset the bulk of the pants. This sucks for me because I have a horrible, horrible back - but for most girls it's a fun opportunity to pair femme with masculine. Soooo, kudos to you guys.

Let's have fun with this one, eh? A gem of a "trend" in a sea of who cares.

sometimes we do this

He met me for dinner fresh off a plane from LA, where he's been living the last few weeks. Despite hardly communicating on this day (save a few dinner logistics texts), and despite his recent warm LA climate (and my winter(ish) NY one) - my best friend Dushane and I still encountered one another dressed like this:

In case you're a dummy, I'll walk you through the alterna-matchiness of these outfits. Observe:

- My camo jacket and his camo pants
- His leather jacket and my "leather" pants (my pants are actually really heavily waxed denim, but they look like leather)
- Matching denim button-down shirts under cardigans (my cardigan not visible in this photo)
- Matching black boots
- Topped off with a beanie

We usually have very similar dressing vibes, but I felt this was one to document and share.

kbye.

fashion week smashion week

Ok so...something has shifted in the New York Fashion Week scene - and I have this nagging suspicion that we're now at the point of no return.

Chairs that used to throne editors and industry titans now cushion the boney asses of overpaid (and over-endorsed) bloggers. The Chanel skirt suits and click-clacking classic pumps, formerly donned by the upper echelons of fashion and pop-culture goddesses, have been replaced by boys in pink tutus, blonde wigs, and heinous knockoff Louboutins.

via NYTimes

This season, the guests at NYFW bear a striking resemblance to high school seniors at a college frat party; all of the upperclassmen shaking their heads in the corner, while the reckless teenagers are too drunk to notice. 

Is Fashion Week in NYC eternally doomed to suffer the tackiness and costuminess once reserved for suburban shopping malls and the Halloween-Day parade? Is there any way to reconcile the blogger-takeover with the golden age of class and exclusivity? 

It would appear that publicists are simply bribing bloggers - inviting them to their 4th rows in exchange for superficial and thoughtless rave reviews (and tweets and Instagram photos and Tumblr thingies and...). Will they ever tire of this so-called "mass exposure" and exchange quantity for quality? 

I don't have answers to all of these rhetoricals yet, but I will say this: people who are currently taking one giant step back from this circus have the right idea - and at some point, a counter-movement in fashion (that's super inspiring and creative) will emerge from it. 

Or not... 

Whatever. 

the only way to make rock 'n' roll uncool

So ok, obviously rock 'n' roll is in. It was extra in in the 90's, it was even in in the early 2000's when it was actually out because pop reigned supreme...but it was still in because it was so out. Now it's especially back in, not just because it's cool - or because it's uncool - but because it's also nostalgic. And "nostalgic-in" is arguably way weightier than "cool-in".

So, one could ask, how might rock 'n' roll - a cultural force so powerful that it's even in when it's out - ever be uncool? Oh gee, here's how:

Oh hey Forever21 - fuck you for making these rock 'n' roll graphic t's. I hate you for it. Like, I really, really hate you for it. Oh and yeah, Urban Outfitters...I fucking hate your guts too:

Urban, double fuck you for fucking with 60's & 70's rock. I hate that your Stones sweatshirt has fake vintage holes, and that your Dead shirt has fake faded tie dye on it. It's making fake rockers look like real rockers and it confuses me and makes me feel weird. Actually Urban, triple fuck you because in 2011 you released Nirvana t-shirts that and made stupid bloggers do stupid shit like this:

Ugh. I can't deal.
Bye.

a kiss from gawd

Twice a year for about one month, my favorite writer in the whole wide world gets to tweeting. She tweets things like:

Lots of hair gel going down in Paris, now at a less hectic Galliano. Checks, belted coats, more silver toecaps.

or...

 
Keep thinking Rei K was doing a punk Jane Eyre. 


That's right, Cathy Horyn tweets about fashion week in every city she attends - and there's nothing greater in life. So when she started up again this past week, after not a (runway-show-tweet) peep since October 5th 2011, I rejoiced and tweeted about it. AND GUESS WHAT??!! The queen herself retweeted me. SCREENSHOT:

Life is good and I hath been personally blessed by the NYTimes queen.

i'm gonna have Givenchy's Pre-Fall 2012 babies

Givenchy's Pre-Fall 2012 collection makes me weak in the knees and wet in the undies. 

Ugh, sorry. I couldn't not take it there:

Like, those textures are so good, they remind me why I looooove FALL. Not that I needed a reminder. And those colors?! I fall so hard for vivid neutrals. And the lookbook is shot randomly on the NYC sidewalks, with parked cars and street signs and joggers running by (sorry I had to crop most of that out). 

If I had millions of dollars and toothpicks for legs I'd buy the entire collection.