This Is Our Youth

Did Anna Wintour just give me permission to display those elementary school photos of me where lucky bunny feet key chains are dangling from my cargo jean belt loops sans embarrassment? My friends back in the day did dress a bit like Chester French. They had the horse tees, not the musicality.

Marc's LV Spring 2010 fur tail charms are featured in "Already Famous," the most fun from VOGUE's latest issue.

Gifting History a Pure Page

Decade in Review: 2009

Yes, I'm jumping on board with this whole nostalgia thing.

It doesn't mean that I'm a sentimental person.

And so what if I am?

Not.

Pioneer, I say.

Onward into this review.

I was reminded of one of my favorite moments in fashion from this swiftly concluding decade earlier this morning when I attempted my annual Christmastime arts and crafts project. Every winter since my childhood, I have tried to cut out snowflakes from white paper. I can always mentally see my finished product, symmetrical in the most surprising and lacy of ways, but never have I been able to manipulate the scissors and sheaf to that end.

Perhaps Katsuya Kamo, the nimble-fingered Tokyo milliner, would be so kind as to lend me his expertise. He was commissioned by Karl to construct the paper origami headpieces for Chanel's Spring 2009 Couture show. They're a gorgeous memory, a finishing touch of purity in the sullied economic time through which fashion & art have been omnisuffering of late.

These trying times have had an exhausting effect on fashion, true. But, struggle has also allowed for the craft to delve back into its roots, to become refreshed and fortified. It has purified frivolity and emancipated the serious side of escapism.

Feathered by Fellini

My favorites of Fellini's favorites are Claudia Cardinale & the feathers she wears so well in this scene from "8 1/2." I've resolved to do my eye makeup like hers on mornings when I am not feeling lazy. Do watch the clip in its entirety. The original piece deserves attention before "9" gobbles up the box office.

Chanel Invades the East: A Fabricated History

Karl rewrote a bit of history for Chanel's pre-fall runway show. The story line was shanghaied from Coco's love of chinoiserie, and Karl's plot proves that embellishing the past is more than acceptable. It's stunning. I'm predicting that the great master's genius use of fringe foreshadows a trend.