paris in new york, february 2010

Malcolm McLaren says good art is banal. He named his new movie "Paris City Of The XXI Century", not because it is the city of the 21st century, but so that people have a reason to go to see it now. The feature length film is basically a repeatedly (sometimes annoying and also amusing) repetitive edit of old - I am talking about 1920's, 1950's and 60's up to I believe he said 1985 - French commercials, underlined with music mostly from his album Paris from 1994.

Photo stills by Carl Posey of "Paris, City Of The XXI Century", by Malcolm McLaren, the US Premier at The Swiss Insitute in NYC.

I thought the mix of visuals and sounds were extraordinary and it felt like the video that could have easily accompanied his 1994 compilation.

Photo stills by Carl Posey of "Paris, City Of The XXI Century", by Malcolm McLaren.

But I am not here to critique the movie, as I had way too many of these addictive St. Germain cocktails to recall more than a few striking visuals.



I am suspecting that it was meant to be like that. Malcolm wanted everybody, except himself (sipping from a bottle of Poland Spring all night) to be toasted and watch his stylish retro movie.



The crowd, not surprisingly a pretty stylish crowd (it's Fashion Week in New York), mixed in with now older 80's punks or Generation Xer's.

I think I remember Malcolm mentioning banality in context with the Sex Pistols as well. He loves the color grey in fashion. Grey pants, grey sweater even grey socks. And he loves to talk and listen to someone talking about him, but who doesn't like that? It's like butter on ones soul.




I sported a Malcolm & Me badge (a laminated photo of me and Malcom hanging out at the after party of Pipilotti Rist's "Pour Your body Out" opening at MoMA). Once I entered the Swiss Insitute's locale on Broadway I went to say 'Hi" to Malcolm and gave him a copy of the badge.

Me holding up my Malcolm & me badge.

The idea of the badge displays my conceptual and commercial interpretation of art in connection with my Fashion Rocks clothing collection.



I adore Malcolm's image as the cruel manager of the ultimate punk gods and former business partner of Vivienne Westwood.

And I guess I appreciate that he can nowadays - in the post punk era - make sure punk ware is not sold as original if it isn't indeed the real thing. Read "Damien Hirst Got Punk'd" the embarrassing story of Mr. Hirst who bought - for an incredible high number of a quarter of a million dollars or something - what he believed were original punk items on Ebay which Malcolm later declared all fakes.

I also love to see him here in NYC and he can make more music if it were up to me!

My Malcolm & Me give away/promo cards.

Merci, au revoir et à bientôt!

snow man fashion

Let's have some fun! Shall we?! Me, I am from Switzerland and I love snow storms! We've had quiet a few here in NYC in the past decade or so, but the blizzards coming around this winter do not get better. I always go for walks, packed in my unstylish but toasty warm down coat and my moon boots. I love it! I even love that there are not so many places to go to. Suddenly the opening of that hot new club or that fancy Cuban restaurant does not sound so pressing anymore... When these storms hit, I just stay home and work a lot. And I go for lonely, fresh air walks at night or visit friends.

When this new storm hit a couple of days ago, I walked to the park and saw some people who made snow men... but these works of... - definitely not art - left a lot to be desired for. Hastily smashed together bulky creatures - if you could call them that! - Not even a carrot nose, not to mention eyes or arms...

So there I heard my Swiss heart telling me: "You know how to do this! You are from Switzerland! The home of the fabulous fairy ice sculpture landscapes and snow man land par excellence! Go show these Americans how to make a real snow man!"

Alright, so I had to proof myself that I have got it and so I started building and building.... and V O I L A! A real snow man by a Swiss woman! All photos are the explicit copyright of Carl Posey.

All photos are the copyright of Carl Posey.

I loooove my Jack Frost! I dread the day when he's melting away...

Shoot! I can't believe I spent all this time making a snow man! I've got deadlines to meet for Fashion Week and here I am, making snow men!! Once Fashion Week is over, I'll post some more wonderful snow landscapes. You stay tuned!

R.I.P. Alexander McQueen

And just like that a life - this time around it happens to be the life of an über talented colleague of mine - is over. His creations have already made fashion history a long time ago.

R.I.P. Alexander Lee McQueen.

free give away sweepstakes

Yeyy! I am so happy to announce a free give-away sweepstakes of this Woodstock Skirt from the IdilViceFashionRocks collection! You choose a size between XS - XL, more information on sizing is posted here.


Check it out! All you have to do is leave a comment below this post and you are automatically entered. The winner will be announce in our March newsletter. If you are currently not a monthly newsletter subscriber you can sign up here. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Once you let us know about which size you wish to receive it takes between 2-3 weeks for your skirt to arrive in the mail, just in time for Summer - it'll be your Summer Of Love!

Can't get enough hippie, Woodstock, peace + love, Summer of love?

dressing for cold weather

...photo/digital art by carl posey...

The temperatures have been at their lowest that I recall the past few weeks. Arctic air such as I don't even remember ever having felt in Switzerland, except maybe way high up on the ski slopes in the St. Moritz mountain region, while in downhill motion. Maybe. For these weathers I have my goose down duvet style coat which - let's be honest - is a bit ugly. Warm but ugly. At the least it's not flattering. So instead of wearing it out on a chilly Friday night, I will pile on layers, layers and layers instead to make warm my stylish Marithé François Girbaud nylon coat which I bought for $2000 a couple of years back.

...idilvice in front of new wall art in the meat packing district, photo by carl posey...

It's not a solution, I know. I guess I will have to invest in a beautiful goose down coat next time around, it's the only thing I would consider weatherproof in this type of weather. There is a warm parka from North Face for $299 - which I considered - but there are way too many people that choose it and I can't simply ride the same wave as all of them. My eclectic fashion designer heart can't cope with such mass and simply won't allow it. Yeap. That's the kind of stuff I wrangle with.

Your sharp eye has detected it. I am standing in front of the same wall we recently shot some Madonna fashion at. Yes. It's the same wall - Madonna is still peeking out from underneath - except that new art has taken over the Madonna Celebrations advertising. And you guessed right, we took some more photos in front of this John Lennon themed piece. It's coming up in one of the next posts, so stay tuned and warm!

one female designer in a man's world

Men's fashion is on! Even I have just announced the launch of the Fashion Rocks Men Collection. Men's fashion - and woman's by the way - is dominated by male designers, that is a fact. It's therefore all the more refreshing to see my feminine self featured among some high profile male designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Paul Smith and Kenzo in this People Magazine type Swiss National TV show from just a couple of days ago. See for yourself:

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.

mlk photo skirt sweep

For an entrepreneur like me, nothing is better (and cheaper!) advertising than to be re-tweeted, linked from or to or re-featured to ignite a viral infection of any of your posts or press releases! This happened to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photo Skirts I featured on Monday, MLK Day. They are now completely sold out - A clean sweep!

I can "blame" a few cyber activists for this result. One of them is etsystalker.

rev. dr. martin luther king jr. day

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, today. Photos by Carl Posey.

Let's celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day! As we do every year here on the IdilVice blog. But now we have an African American president. When Barack Obama was elected in November 2008 and then sworn in in January 2009, many have seen it as MLK's dream finally coming true and in a way it was.

MLK Statue in front of Browns Chapel in Selma, Alabama, today. Photos by Carl Posey.



Dr.King's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, today. Photo Carl Posey.

I remember the feeling of joy, sheer disbelieve and tears of happiness of so many that election day. I was up in Harlem that day and I won't forget it. There is much work left to be done however. Still a long road ahead.

The Jefferson Davis Highway, US Highway 80, where civil rights marchers trudged along on their way to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965, today... Photo Carl Posey.

...and in 1965.


Rosa L. Parks Ave today... (photo by Carl Posey)


... and Rosa L. Parks being fingerprinted in 1965 after her refusal to move to the back of the bus, which touched off the bus boycott of Montgomery.


How things were then...


...how things are today, photo by Carl Posey.


"They say that freedom is a constant struggle..." A quote of Bob Mants, Lowndes County, Alabama, resembles the truth. Photos by Carl Posey.

I am trying to do my part. I designed some civil rights fashion so that we can keep the dream alive every day, today and in the future! MLK Life Cover Skirt, Malcolm X Skirt, MLK "I Still Have A Dream" Skirt.