Richie Rich Selling Tickets to His Fashion Week Show; Five Things You Can Expect For Your Money

Anticipation for Fall 2011 Fashion Week has reached a fever pitch. Designers are dishing on their inspiration and hosting fashion week contests. NARS has announced their first-ever boutique to open on Day One. And Richie Rich (above, in the flesh, with the Glamazons) is prepared to top all of that---well, except maybe the NARS part. And you're not surprised, are you?

Fashion's rebel savant is selling, I repeat selling tickets to his fashion show. The tickets will cost you $35, and proceeds will benefit DOSomething.org and Cookies for Kids' Cancer. Love the charity angle, but has this even been done before?

Richie Rich had this to say about his ticket buyers who are presumably attending Fashion Week for the first time via Fashion Indie: "It’s fun when people who haven’t experienced it get a chance to and see what it’s about. And it’s as much fun to watch the crowd as it is to watch the show."

I'm sure people will pay for it, and it'll be worth it.

I remember my first Richie Rich show during the Fall 2009 season. There were drag queens, pretty boys, violinists, half-naked men, a Pam Anderson appearance, a Kat Deluna performance, an Ice-T and Coco sighting and so much more. In essence, it was a circus. And I had never felt more at home. One of my fave shows ever ever ever!

So here, in short, are 5 things you'd get for your money if you bought those tickets...in addition to the fashion, of course:

1. Really, really attractive attendees.

2. Musical performances---and by music, I mean pop culture (Kat Deluna) and classical (violinist)...also, there may or may not have been an opera singer involved.

3. No one storms the catwalk quite like a drag queen. Witness it in person.

4. Almost Naked Boys. Always a good thing.

 

 

5. Random Yet Inexplicably Exciting Celeb Sightings Sidenote: Yes I met Ice-T and Coco and felt like part of the family!

As you can see, it'll be worth every dime...but since when do shows charge? And will he start a precedent for fashion shows you can attend through Ticketmaster?


And would you pay to see his show? If you could pick a designer to buy tickets to, who would it be? I'm sure you can guess who I'd pay to see...yep, Chanel hehe.

Kisses,

Coutura

Should Celebrities Take Over the Catwalk?

Beyonce at Tom Ford. Amber Rose at Indashio. Cassie and Serena Williams at Laquan Smith. Vanessa Simmons and Dawn Richard at Edwing D'Angelo. Ellen at Richie Rich. 

While some designers complain about the pressure to pay celebrities to grace their front row, others are enlisting famous faces to actually model their clothes.

Amber Rose at Indashio.

Serena Williams at Laquan Smith.

Cassie at Laquan Smith.

Dawn Richard at Edwing D'Angelo.

Vanessa Simmons at Edwing D'Angelo.

Ellen at Richie Rich.

This can't be surprising. Celebrities serve as models all season long getting photographed in designer's clothing, thus serving as a promotional tool. Having a celebrity wear your clothes is almost a guaranteed mode of increasing sales, especially if that star is Rihanna, Beyonce or First Lady Michelle Obama. 

To that end, designers gift celebrities a ton of clothes, pay them to appear in the front row at their fashion shows, elect them as their muses (Ciara the most recent example at Givenchy) and now, enlist them to model designs on the runway.

The lines between Hollywood and Fashion are fainter than ever. And here's the problem with the collision of the entertainment and fashion industry. It abandons that once-glorified profession: modeling.

Models have been banished from the covers of magazines, replaced with celebrities who, as I once complained, aren't the easiest to work with. While models come to do a job and transform to any look you assign them, celebrities may come with an entourage, may be difficult about beauty and style direction (understandable-they're careful about their image) and often haven't conquered the art of posing. Yea, you'll be there coaching them all night.

Now, celebrities are replacing models on the catwalk as well. While some celebrities can strut like the best supermodels (I'm sure Beyonce stormed the runway with her signature Sasha Fierce attitude); and a celebrity walking in a show gives the collection more media attention, I'm not sure that I want an entire show to feature celebrities (save for "The Red Dress Collection" which is less about designs and more about awareness and giving back).

It becomes less about the designs and more about the famous bodies wearing them, in my opinion. What's your take on it? Do you think more celebs should walk in fashion shows? How do you think it affects models who are already struggling for jobs? Discuss.

Kisses,

Coutura

Somebody Save Fashion Week: Pamela Anderson and Sheree to Show at NYFW

Glamazons,

I'm calling in a S.O.S.! When I first heard She by Sheree was presenting at Fashion Week, I have to admit I was slightly perturbed. Fashion Week is notoriously elite and a drama-loving, reality star turned designer is as mainstream as it gets. Background info for the non-Bravo watcher: She by Sheree is the brain-child of reality diva, Sheree Whitfield, from Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta. The problem---besides her obvious lack of experience---is that her first foray into fashion went famously awry on Season 1. After receiving poorly-crafted samples from her seamstress days before the debut of "She by Sheree," Sheree was forced to hold a "fashion show with no fashions," just sketches. I'm hoping her Fashion Week presentation fares better.



But even She by Sheree's presentation is acceptable compared to Pamela Anderson's. Yes, people, Pamela Anderson is showing her new collection, "MUSE," during Fashion Week. It hurts to even type that. Seriously, what qualifies celebrities without an ounce of fashion work experience to design and show during Fashion Week? Especially when there are so many bright-eyed, hard-working FIT/Parsons students who would give their left lung for a chance to participate in Fashion Week.

Pamela Anderson's MUSE does have some redeeming qualities that should not go ignored. The most important factor is that MUSE is a collaboration with Richie Rich (formerly of Heatherette), who is, for all intents and purposes, the love of my life (see our pic below). Their fondness for each other was evident at his Spring 2009 show, which I had the pleasure of attending, where she worked the catwalk in a hot, gold one-piece number from his first solo collection. Richie Rich spoke to New York Times Fashion about their past collaborations: “A few years ago in Vegas, she had a T-shirt line, so I styled her show. She sent me to Michael’s, a craft store, in a limousine, and she was like, ‘Doll up my line!’ And I did. Glitter, pom-poms, you name it.” Well, there's nothing wrong with a little glitter. With Richie Rich on board, there's hope for Pamela Anderson's line.

The Glamazons LOVE Richie Rich

The second factor that really sets her line apart is that it's an eco- and animal-friendly collection, which is an amazing, and commendable, feat. Not quite worthy of presenting at Fashion Week, but commendable nonetheless. What do you think? Are Pamela Anderson and Sheree qualified to design and present at NYFW? Is it unfair to other up-and-coming designers who have experience and education in the field? Is their participation in NYFW acceptable as long as they collaborate with established designers? Are you excited (for the right reasons) to see either of their shows? Discuss.

Check out She by Sheree's collection below:






Yawn.

Kisses,

Coutura

Photos: ybf.com. Starpulse.com.