summer of color 2011

The Summer of 2011 is not exactly a 'Summer Of Love' I'd say. Although hippie style is back on the streets with a vengeance, the peace & love experienced in the original Summer Of Love in 1967 is largely non existing today. Sad, right. But what can you do?

Since I can't speak of another Summer Of Love, I will say, while ignoring everything else imporant going on in the world, the Summer of 2011 is a Summer Of Colorful Nail Polish. Nail salon palettes seam to ever expand by the day. Instead of the usual variety of shades of reds, there are milky greys, dirty muds, sparkly yellows, camouflage greens, soft purples, day glo oranges, electric and midnight indigo blues... wait! Blues??!

Years ago if you would have been seen with blue nails, they would have thought you are about to die. Today in 2011 blue nails are no longer something worth more than a quick "Yeah, I know this is the newest color" nod. No stares and no head turns. Blue is totally cool in 2011.




Nothing to be afraid of. But wait, I missed a point. Not only is this 2011 the Summer Of Crazy Nail Polish, it is also a new Summer Of Color everywhere! Colors and graphics. Nobody is afraid of color or graphics. Not even men. I see the craziest combinations, polka dots and stripes combined... everything goes!

Well of course not everything 'goes', but people seem to be getting better at being confident about what goes.... An abstract painting on a blouse anyone? Monet? Yeah, go right ahead and add the highest platforms with that in a 'non-matching' leopard pattern.

Meezer, Caroline and IdilVice during Summer Of Color 2011.

Feathers in your ears? Flowers on your head? Pink, blond and blue hair all at once? Go right ahead!

I always was a colorful individual myself, someone that would not let anyone tell her: "This does not match." But I am suspecting that Lady Gaga has freed a lot more people by now.

lady gaga the new liberace?

To be honest with you I never thought about it, but when I heard that the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas is closing next month and the reasons given for it's demise, among others, were general loss of interest and the fact that Vegas has to keep up with the 21 year olds, comparisons were made to Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is the new Liberace! Well, sort of I think. There are many similarities. The piano, the showmanship... they both know how to go to extremes and they love to shock, each within his/her generation. So it's only natural that when we are looking towards our own Liberace (Lady Gaga), the original one is slowly forgotten...

...Liberace and his Emmy's...

I remember the Liberace Museum in Vegas, it was one of my very first encounters with American Pop Culture. I surely was impressed by all the glitz and glamour and all at once it was clear to me that here in America, one can go this far, his/her own way and I thought that was simply amazing. Talk about inspiration! There it was right there.

Not only did Liberace have rhinestones on his wardrobe, he had cars covered with it!

For me Liberace has therefore a special place in my heart and nobody can take his place. The idea that Lady Gaga is the new Liberace is exiting, as she is showing new generations what is possible and continues the history of pop culture!

jeremy scott and idilvice

Yes, Jeremy is a buddy of mine as well as a very talented colleague (we've even got the same best friend: Cory Kennedy). I adore him and it happens that we frequently have a similar vision. We both favor color and share a love for pop art and prints for once, but there are other similarities, such as the fact that we consistently try to see fashion from a different angle. But how did he gain access to my look books from the past?!

IdilVice Mickey printed cropped blouse, featured in Vogue Italia, 2000, in a photo shoot by Steven Meisel.

Lady Gaga in a Jeremy Scott outfit in 2009.

A Mickey show piece from the IdilVice Spring '98 show in Zürich. Swiss/Turkish Singer Emel coming down the runway wearing a skirt on a roll held by 2 mini Mickey "servants", dressed in the same Mickey print outfits and sporting Mickey ears. The umbrella had Mickey ears!

There you go. You see what I am trying to get at. Not only do we favor the same icons, we do love a concept in addition. Hey Jeremy, I won't hold a grudge, you've been and always will be a hero to me. Unless of course you keep on steeling my ideas, honey, even if they are from the past, tz tz tz...

...I'm hanging out with Cory Kennedy, a friend of both me and Jeremy...

Well, of course I know, you my dear reader, you don't love "bashing posts", - we have barely passed the freedom and peace promoting MLK post - but they will have to keep coming as the battles of the designers are only getting more heated. And I like to get credit where credit is due (thanks to the Internet we now have the opportunity to spotlight steals such as this one). But I promise, I'll keep these things short and move right on along to design my next "copy-worthy" product.

rock 'n' royalty

Readers of a recent article with the title "Rock Royalty Meets Authentic Royalty" were appalled by the fact that the New York Times readily included Lady Gaga in the exclusive league of rock royalty. In a comment the question was asked 'Which one of them is Lady Gaga?", which I thought was hilarious. Indeed, hard to tell. Both, the authentic royalty Queen Elisabeth II of England and the - O.K. - "not-just-yet-rock-royalty" Miss Germanotta from New York, widely know as Lady Gaga, seem to have applied the exact same shade of foundation and they both sport their hair white, straight and puffed up on the top and curly at the ends... also both favor a little glitter in their lives... even the red shade of their lipstick is a match!

So, can Lady Gaga be called rock royalty or not? Maybe today's rock stars have but 15 minutes of fame, so they have to become rock royalty faster?!

Lady Gaga was among the artists who were invited to entertain the queen at the Royal Variety Performance and she attended the event at Blackpool’s Opera House wearing a red PVC outfit and played her song “Speechless” on a piano supported by stilts.

If Lady Gaga is not rock royalty yet, then she sure is familiar with rock royalty's history, because she began her performance by telling the crowd: “Good evening Blackpool. Let me hear you rattle your jewelry.” A line originally invented by John Lennon.

Build your own opinion: Read my post Lady Gaga Raw.

lady gaga raw

After her performance last night at the AMA, Lady Gaga has my vote. When I first heard of this glam rock lady who got her name from the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga", I thought she was a new talent from England, judging by the techno dance music she was known for. Little did I know that she's a New York kid! Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, from Upstate NY.

While I simply adore her produced persona, I thought it was interesting to show this performance from NYU, years back.

Lady Gaga Raw. Great voice. She looks nothing like the produced persona that she is now, but if I may point out that she is barefoot on the piano, that may give away a little bit of where she would head later down the road. Great!

...lady gaga performs at bazaar restaurant at an early stage in her career...