Sophomore Lookbook 2010 by Cass Bird

Sophomore Spring 2010 from SophomoreNYC on Vimeo.

I am so into the outfit shown at 3:03.

Alexander Wang Spring 2010 Backstage Video

This looks like it's gonna be pretty fierce.

Jean Paul Gaultier - Paris Couture Fashion Week

A Mexican breeze blew into Paris this week and left the crowd saying one name, Gaultier.

Jean Paul Gaultier sent his models down the runway to Mariachi music, and everyone watched as look after look passed by, and each was as interesting if not more as the last. I think the best part about his designs were the strips of fabric woven together to look like palm fronds. I immediately recalled island art and was amazed that someone could turn something that typically looked cheap into couture, but then again it is Gaultier.

While some of the designs were a stretch and should have been costumes in the Avatar movie, for the most part it was interesting, creative, and most importantly, different.

Gaultier definitely generated the most buzz this week in Paris, and while his outfits were over the top, I am interested to see who will snag a few of his designs for the next red carpet event. I'm wondering if Lady Gaga will be seen dressed in a Mexican, futurist design hot off the runway of Paris.

(photos from style.com & nymag.com)

Chanel - Paris Couture Fashion Week

Paris Couture Fashion Week is over, but it definitely gave us a lot to think about.

Designers gave us island themed gowns, riding outfits straight out of the Gibson Girl era, and pastel suits that left many wondering if they should raid their grandmother's closets for shorts this season.

Now that the week of Haute Couture has come to a close, I would have to say the front runners were Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior. While Chanel left me a little less than excited.

It's difficult for me to make commentary on the genius of Karl Lagerfeld, but his couture looks, although extremely well-crafted, failed to impress me as much as his Spring '10 RTW.

Looking at Lagerfeld's designs up close though, there is no way you can deny the skill and talent that went into each outfit, especially the shoes, which regardless of their couture moon man appeal, I would buy in a second if I had the money.

However, it was the shorts that left me skeptical for who Lagerfeld was designing for. If I was a 40-year-old business woman I would jump into those suits in a second, but alas I am a 20-year-old student who has not hit the "business chic" phase of her life yet.

While Lagerfeld finished classic looks with futuristic touches, it left me wondering who could really pull of pastel suits with silver fingerless gloves.

Overall, Chanel is always classic and chic, and minus a few of the unflattering fits, I would strap on a pair of those moon man heels in a second and march down the street.

(photos from Style.com)

attraction

What is it that makes people attracted to one another? Are we predisposed to a certain type of person or are we influenced by the media, or is it a little bit of both?

From 16 to 18 I was attracted to boys who were probably twenty pounds lighter than I. Now, two years later I want men with facial hair, I want men who are men, not boys. I'm no psychologist, but I've heard the theories that women look for men who are strong and can protect them, as sort of a throw back to the cave woman days, but why when I was sixteen was I interested in men who would have perished back in the days when people hunted for food?

Facial hair is the new abs nowadays for the hipster community. It gives men who have no ability to be either muscular or athletic the ability to attract women with their ability to stand still and grow hair. Is attraction to burly men the new fad or is it just thousands of years of survival instincts?

Either way, when a man passes me and he is radiating masculinity I automatically get a little weak in the knees. The boyish faces aren't getting me anymore, and maybe it's the fact that I'm considered a "woman" now even if it's only been three months since I stopped calling myself a teen. I used to cut out pictures of men who looked like they had a painting somewhere in their attic that was growing old while they stayed boyishly young. Now I'm looking for men who look like they've spent two months in the woods doing nothing but manly activities.

Oh, the laws of attraction will never cease to confuse and interest me.