when the whip comes down/quote of the day

If you’re like me, you spent your first after-work week scouring the Container Store buying colorful files, magazine boxes and miscellany trays in an attempt to make your workspace more inhabitable. Then, you snapped out of it and realized that there was tons of stuff everywhere and it was time to pare it down!

Evidently Prada SpA is going through a similar clutter backlash. This weekend an inter-company memo from Miuccia Prada herself was leaked by the New York Post, prompting the people of the internet to immediately draw comparisons to Anna Wintour and her shenanigans. Here’s what the memo said:

Desk and work surfaces should be clean and uncluttered. Pictures, calendars, etc. should not be taped to cubicle/office walls. Pets may not be brought to the corporate office or the store. For corporate employees, all coats should be hung in the appropriate coatroom and not kept in offices or hung over cubicle walls. Window shades should be even (either completely up or completely down) throughout one side of the floor. Items may not be placed on the window sills … In addition, it is important to take a break from your workday and enjoy your lunch. Therefore, absent extenuating circumstances, lunch may not be eaten at your desk.

Evidently people who don’t comply with these rules “may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.” !!!

OK, there is no arguing that it’s rather intense. I’m going to have to take the not-so-obvious opinion, however, and say that it sounds GREAT. I love it. I have this vision of Miuccia visiting the New York office and stumbling in giant wedge sandals over someone’s handbag mid-cubicle. I say way to go Miuccia. Rule with an iron fist.

So, dear readers, what does your cube (or office, if you’re fancy) look like? Are you a clutterer or a streamliner?

um

Ruh-roh…

lumpy luxury

Recently in class we’ve been thinking a lot about logos and merchandising, manufacturing techniques and counterfeiting. What, we wondered, constitutes a ‘luxury’ item?

If, for example, a Louis Vuitton purse is produced in the same manner, sometimes in the same factory, as its “false” brother, is it the price tag, then, that makes the object luxurious, or that it was made within the confines of LVMH’s inventory control?

We also wondered about the obsession with buying down-market, especially now with not only street vendors, but Forever 21 and H&M at our fingertips. When designers sacrifice manfactoring scruples in order to widen their profit margin there then becomes no reason to buy the pricier item as there is literally no physical difference between the two.

These same questions occurred to San Francisco-based visual artist Stephanie Syjuco, (who I found while reading Bluelines) whose two year old Counterfeit Crochet Project both mocks and pays tribute to the system of designer and not-so-much-designer luxury goods. Syjuco encourages people to create their own designer handbag, to “hand-counterfeit… a high-end product”. Which is great, since “real” designer goods (with some rare exceptions, much love Hermès) aren’t actually individually, lovingly hand-crafted anymore.

The end resut never quit look “real”, which is exactly what Syjuco is going for. She chose crochet for it’s disfigured, lumpy finished look (although according to her FAQ’s section, she’s since opened up to other mediums) and that is it a more “lowly” craft form in comparison to its older stepsisters needlepoint, sewing and knitting.

Interested in getting involved? There’s a Counterfeit Crochet event tomorrow night at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco tomorrow night. If that’s not where you are, fear not. Last year Syjuco took her act on the road, traveling to the Philippines, Manila, Istanbul, Turkey and Beijing for workshops.

karl does fall

Set in and around a giant pearly carousel, Karl Lagerfeld’s AW08 effort for Chanel was just that: a merry-go-round of the house’s classic pieces revisited with new interpretations for 2008. Like iconic painted ponies, the models circled in white blousons with black bows, pleats, peter pans and patch pockets. Of particular note were classic Chanel suits with a slimmer cut, shorter skirt and worn elbows. Subtle details aside, the collection’s simpler silhouette emphasized precise and masterful tailoring. Lagerfeld’s paired-down elegance for fall came as a much-needed breath of fresh air after the heavy accessorizing and denim swimsuits of spring.

talk about a revolution

As much flack as she gets for being monumentally intimidating, Anna Wintour is not normally one to be questioned in matters of taste. I guess the tides have turned. This week the first lady of American fashion media was dethroned by London’s Daily Mail, who put her on their worst dressed list! Stoking the fire, Daily Mail goes on to bask in the (albeit glowing) radiance of Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld, calling her “terrifyingly chic” (two words normally reserved for Ms. Wintour, in varying degrees and contexts).

Via Radarmag.com
Photo courtesy of Vogue Paris. (From a well feature in hommage to Wintour’s style. Ohhh the irony!)

condos for everyone!

Heeelarious! In a style section article from this Sunday’s New York Times, Michael Barbaro and Christine Haughney report on some New Yorkers’ hopes for a little deflation in the wealth-bubble that has become Manhattan.

Evidently keeping up with the Joneses is even more difficult in the Metro area, as the astronomical paychecks of Wall Street’s many financiers leave the average Joe feeling “impoverished”! The new hope is that with our now months-old economic downturn and Bear Sterns’ recent crash and burn there will be what has been dubbed a “Bear Stearns discount” around the city.

The best part of the article? Ray Schmitz, a broker at Coldwell Banker standing outside of Bear Sterns Monday morning handing out his business card. That must be what they mean by a New York state of mind…

Photo courtesy ronsaari.com

monday is the new blog

A couple of weeks ago MTV came by to shoot Mlle. LC’s “exit shot” from Teen Vogue. That can only mean one joyously giddy thing: The Hills is back on the air! Tonight, part one of Monday Night is the Best Night for Television begins as Lauren & Co. return to our lives, hearts and over-ambitious career fantasies. We’ll have to wait until April 21st for the Full Monday, when Gossip Girl finally comes comes back.

If you’re as interested as I am in hyping up this evening, the internet is ripe with reading material today. See you on the couch,

Zinzi

Photo courtesy of the New York Times.

…and i continue to have undying love for jerry seinfeld/quote of the day

“I’m not sure what enticed Jerry Seinfeld to drop in on Stella McCartney’s show for Chloé at the Opera House in Paris this season. Maybe he just wanted to hang backstage with her father, Paul. But when I asked the comedian if he was indeed a big fan of fashion, he quipped, ‘Oh yes, I always wear clothes.’” – from Jeanne Unbottled

to ma’am with love

Warning: This post is not very exciting. For shame! I just HAD to show you what I consider just about the most perfect little picture from a street style blog.

The shot is from the Facehunter blog and I think this girl (whomever she may be!) is our new official Coffee & Oranges mascot. Only in that outfit and that pose, however. Who know what she does when not being trailed by the internet media!

out of the fray

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Do you ever yearn for a guiding light in the chaotic creative swirl that is the Sartorialist? It seems, then, that you aren’t alone. A new blog, devoted to breaking down even the most daunting of color combinations, had stepped in to help, bringing you side-by-side color analysis of outfits featured on the Sartorialist. Head to wearpalettes.blogspot.com to experience the calm for your self. It’s great, but try not to get overwhelmed.