This blog could quite easily have gone in the direction of negative ragging on the travesties of fashion (so many blogs do it so well….) and I have my moments of ranting and raving but I try to keep it to a minimum because positivity is much healthier, non? However, this little newsbit from Vogue made me chuckle and huff in frustration. Mischa Barton was supposedly paid £52,000 to attend the launch of department store David Jones’ new spring/summer collections in Sydney. She gushes that she’s ‘so excited to see all of the Australian designers’ and she says in a discerning manner that ‘A lot of labels like Alice McCall and Sass & Bide are unique and you can kind of see that in them.’
Odd, but sequinned trimmed jersey tops and colourful prints don’t seem to shout unique to me but hey whatever rocks your boat Mischa.
Then the best part comes when Mischa is asked what she is wearing and suddenly, she goes BLANK! David Jones’ manager had to hastily step in and say she’s wearing Scalan & Theodore. Furthermore, she says ‘And she really loves it. Alice McCall – she really enjoys wearing.’
When a person starts answering for you what you do and do not like wearing, you have to start worrying. When you have no idea what the hell you’re wearing, the mind just really boggles.
I don’t want to lump them together or generalise in any way but when these starlets claim pretentions to being fashion obsessives, you really have to wonder just how much of that "knowledge" or "passion" is fed to them by a stylist or a PR girl. Lindsay Lohan is another prime example of a fashion wannabe, where the more she says she’s into fashion, the less convincing you find it. There’s just something very sinister about a stylist behind these people pointing them in all the right style directions even though that direction may not be somewhere the person in question would take themselves, were they left to their own devices. Or at least, for me, it’s particularly loathesome because I’m a staunch believer in nurturing your own style and finding your own way without having fashion spoon-fed or tubed into you.
Hey, I don’t think these people need to be fashion fountains of knowledge, they just need to be true to themselves and don’t try and fake and flake their way through. Because in the end they just make themselves look foolish.
I couldn’t agree more. What I really dislike is people putting celebrities up on a pedastal as “style icons” when you know darn well they have a stylist behind them dressing them every step of the way.
What gets my goat is that Australian’s need some vacuous Hollywood starlet to remind them that Australian fashion is cool! Ok, so now we’ll go and buy it if you say so Mischa!
Why do Aussies have so much insecurity about their own style, we have plenty of stylish Aussies, for example Cate Blanchett is one cool chic.
I read that article in the Age and thought for ‘f’s sake! Wrong on so many levels!
amen!!
Also, in my mind, Sass and Bide are what’s completely wrong with Australian fashion!
They completely ripped Vivien Westwood’s pirate look and claimed as their own! Many of the New York buyers got burned by Sass and Bide and are not ordering their stuff this year.
Overpriced and stuck in a draped jersey rut!
I agree with Sarah and you also. I don’t understand why these stars are being praised for their fashion when it’s the stylist that’s choosing what they should wear. Stylists should be praised MUCH more than those little skanks haha
I live in Sydney and I for one am not very impressed! I guess the whole point was that Mischa will get them mainstream press, which they achieved, b/c when I was driving to work this morning every radio station was talking about her …
mischa barton = totally overrated as a fashion “icon.” she always looks like she’s trying too hard or has so little personality that her style seems robotic.
fashion icon?! r u serious?! haha, i live in Sydney as well. It’s the stylists’ credit, not the celebs’
Hit it smack bang on the head Susie. Was thinking this exact thought yesterday when the Mischa pictures hit all the sites. These girls have stylists.When will people realise this? The term fashion icon should only be used for the real fashion braves, it’s now become somewhat of a cliche. I also find it so dissapointing that so many girls will now be running out to purchase this dress, a tremendous shame that such people have come to be idolised.
StYiLiStS ROCK!…aND WhAt i hAtE MoSt iS….gIrLz bUy’n “US WEEKLY”…tO CoPy cElBs sTyLe….LORD!
Unfortunately these girls have just one stylist – the problem lies with Rachel Zoe (pronounced Zo – Erm, pretentious? Its obviously Zoe) She’s the main culprit in making that click of “celebrities” look halfway presentable. If it wasnt for her they’d be on GFY every other day wearing evern worse sh*te than they do already.
Actually wrote about this just a few days ago and I totally agree. I can’t belive that so many “respectable” fashion magazine are featuring them.
BTW love that you usually are so postive, wish I was too. But it’s just so fun to trash stuff…
I can recall a few years back of ready how “awesome a dresser Mischa is” is some magazine…and I thought, “who?”
It seems these starlets care less about their body of work and their “art”, than being worshiped with the shrines of Grazia in there honor.
Barton, Olsens, Lohan….you don’t think of them as outstanding actresses that break the mold…no, you think of them as Zoe-ites, lauded as fashion icons. They kind of melt together.
(and that woman scares me)
IMO, Helena Bonham Carter is much more of an icon…she may not be pap friendly, but at least she is original.
I’m 100% with you.
but, but what would happen to the likes of rachel zoe?????
the mind boggles.
ugh.
as usual, you hit the nail on the head.
if i may, the olsens aren’t styled by rachel zoe, apparently, they go it alone… again, apparently. sorry for the double post.
i agree on all the point raised above – to thrown some more gas onto the fire i heard from a very trusy source that she was paid far more than that…and why for?
I was ranting about this yesterday on the livejournal high street community
“As for Rachael Zoe I harbour a great dislike for her , she only helps perpetuate this cult of celebrity and quite frankly I am SICK of trends being initiated and force fed to us by what the celebrities wear over in America wear.That’s why I have also problem with girls who try and emmulate celebrities or love Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie , the 1st one has herpes and the 2nd one is obviously doing drugs and these are supposed to be role models , it’s disgusting. ”
And another thing a lot of these trends start on the street , and then stylists see them , pass them onto the celebrities and it becomes a trend.
As for Mischa Barton she is only name dropping labels because she knows that they will send her parcels and parcels of free stuff because they want their label out there being seen and being worn by celebrities , they’re using celebrities as clotheshorses and walking advertisements. Why else does Nicole Ritchie have an endless of supply of motorcycle handbags whilst the public are on a long waiting list. Given the nature of the Australian market it’s location and fierce devotion to using Australian materials etc I’m surprised that labels aren’t more inclined to shy away from American stars and focus on being more independent and having their label evolve more quietly. I’ve been living in Australia for the past year and everytime I walk past the Sass and Bide section in David Jones I fail to find any kind of cohesion in the collections let alone clothes that are attractive to wear , one particular offending piece is a tye dye denim dress but it’s a floor length dress and it’s just terrible.
Kudos Susie for not being one of those blogs that constantly fawns over boring celebrities :]
well, i hope they took a cut in her pay because if she was shilling for them, the least she could do was do her homework – like know which designer she was wearing. uh, duh! how hard is that?
as to the other points your raised in your post, i agree 100%.
I have to say if I were a young starlet I’d probably get a stylist too, as I can imagine how hurtful it would be to have whatever you wear very publicly slated by all and sundry. How humilating that must be. We, mere mortals, have the benefit of anonymity – our bad fashion choices/fat days won’t be splashed across the papers the next day. If they were, I wonder how many teenagers/early twenties could come out unscathed? Not many I bet. Young people, whether they are in the media or not, all experience the same insecurities and if hiring a stylist meant at least one of those insecurities could be avoided then I can see why they go for it. Sometimes I think we forget, myself included, that these girls are just that – girls, and all the money and fame in the world can’t change how young women often feel about themselves at that age. Just my opinion.
Mischa Barton is just an idiot. She has the absolute most boring style of all of young Hollywood, and when she doesn’t have her PR people talking for her, her mouth overflows with mindless atrocities. Do you read Allure? She was on the cover in February of 2005, and in her interview she was talking about an event she went to for the terrorist acts in Russia a few years ago, and she had the audacity to complain that people were more concerned with helping Russian people than paying attention to her ‘sort of 80sish YSL jacket’. I find her absolutely disgusting.
I’m so glad your blog is around. I really appreciate that you share what excites you, but you don’t try to sell your interests as what everyone needs to be “fashionable.” Good call on Mischa’s misfortunate comment.
But I do have to say, she’s wearing a pretty dress and it flatters her nicely.
I totally agree with you there. Mischa Barton doesn’t really strike me as “fashion icon” material. Her placement is better in the wannabe section. And the harder she tries, the more it seems like she’s not. But Rachel Bilson, her previous costar from The O.C., is a fashion icon. And she doesn’t really try at all…
I agree that Mischa does do a lot of things for the money because she has so many endorsement campaigns, but I can forgive her for not knowing the name of the designer. I’ve borrowed clothes from friends before, looked at the designer and it’s someone I’ve never heard of before, so when someone asks me, I can’t remember. I suppose Mischa being in front of the press that day should have made an effort to remember the designer, but she’s only human!
so.embarassing
How ridiculous that Mischa Barton would be hired in the first place to promote Aussie fashion.
I agree that positivity is usually much healthier, but we all need a little venting time…
i SO agree with you, an thank you so much for writing this.
Susie, you’ve been profiled in the latest TEen Vogue with Mischa on the cover with other Style bloggers!
I agree Susie. Street fashion is so much more exciting because it needs to be original and done on some sort of budget. If these girls have people dressing them, and no budget whatsoever (plus most items are free for them) to me it’s not fashion at all. It’s just a rabid form of commercialism.
That’s why I have begrudging respect for those stars, like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (however untalented they may be) who have no stylist and dress themselves with true originality. Yes, they have many flubs, but I’d prefer working through my own sense of style to never discovering what that is– or worse, thinking style has to come with certain price tags or certain names.
the really funny thing about this blog entry is that I just got in the newest issue of Teen Vogue, with Mischa on the cover! The whole issue bends over backwards to praise Mischa’s “great style”
I totally agree… Mischa Barton is just another Rachel Zoe bimbo.
I also heard that she was voted “best dressed” by some magazine. Is it possible?
To add insult to injury…
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,20102920-10388,00.html
Wish someone would give ME $100 worth of frocks and accessories.. let alone $100,000 (£40k). Seriously, though — how much stuff does one person need?
i totally agree with you! your blog is great! and yeah, i think the olsens (more mk than ash) may look crappy sometimes, but at least they dress themselves and are expressing their own tastes rather than their stylist’s!
Excellent entry Susie. You took all the words right out of my mouth. I’m disappointed that Teen Vogue put her on the cover and praised her for her so-called unique style for the….not first..but second time!
Expect more Mischa wannabes out there. (Excuse the redundancy. heh heh) I have one in my class btw..
To DJM: I read that same issue of Allure eons ago and I remember so well how shocked I was when she commented on her YSL jacket. She was clearly more interested to get noticed in her “horribly 80s YSL jacket” than helping those “Russian victims,of like, acts of terror”.