Holiday on Ice: Billie's Inspired Sadness and its Ramefications

I've been listening to "Lady Day" (above) a lot lately. Not really listening, though; one could say I've been experiencing Billie Holiday. She does sadness better than any other artist I've ever come across, and yet, it's the least painful thing to listen to her pour her heart out. I relish it.

I was once talking to a musician co-worker of mine, and while his music tastes are slightly more acoustic and country than I appreciate, the one artist we could hands-down agree on was Billie Holiday; "She's just so real." he remarked.

And with that, I started to understand her mass appeal (not to mention her genius); she has a fabulous, sultry, thick voice that vowels stick to and amplify; beyond the aesthetic experience, she articulates feelings that we've all undoubtedly had--that is, if we've ever forayed into any sort of romance, experienced any sort of rejection, or any heartbreak. And that's it; she articulates her sadness so well that it is impossible to destroy her art with misinterpretation (barring, of course, "Strange Fruit," a poem sung by Billie about Lynching; she reportedly lamented the constant misreading of the song when people would ask her to sing "that sexy song about swinging"--the swinging referring to a lynched black man). Her misery is so pure.

But an appreciation of this sort of frank honesty about feelings requires a question: what's so remarkable about someone sharing their feelings?

She's sharing them. That's what. This is apparently more remarkable than one would think; conversing with one of my friends about a budding romance of hers, she kept trying to explain her feelings without using the word "like" or any other verb of an implied amicable nature. She went back and forth, debating as to whether pursuing the relationship was worth it at all, speculating his wants just a hookup? A relationship? Does it have to be serious? and I stopped her. "Do you like him?" She started at me blankly as if I'd wounded her somehow. She replied point blank "Yes." without hesitation and seemed surprised that an affirmation of a feeling would slip from her mouth. "Oh my god," she said, "I like him."

The feeling was that easy, but articulating it was a bit of a trek, lasting two hours of back and forth conversation. Billie deals in emotions that are inexplicable to her, but she deals so well:

Don't want my mammy
I don't need a friend.
My heart is broken, it won't ever mend
I ain't much caring just where I will end
I must have that man

I'm like an over that's crying for heat
He treats me awful each time that we meet
It's just so awful how that boy can cheat,
But I must have that man

(I Must Have That Man--Billie Holiday)

It's heartbreaking ecstasy.

Balenciaga Mon Amour

I'm honestly conflicted about this season's Balenciaga. I've spent a few months going over the collection (obviously--Fashion Week was months ago), and something about it still bothers me.

On one hand, I'm ready to be spoon-fed anything created by Nicolas Ghesquiere because the man is brilliant. No question.

On the other, however, I wonder if he aimed too high for a single collection. I felt like this collection was an essay with just too many ideas contained in an all-too-short required page length. I, for one, could not truly follow it.

The collection started with 3 "Little Black Dresses" with only slight detailing at the cut-out shoulders and extra fabric at the waist; these dresses set an uncomplicated elegant tone for the rest of the show that was amplified by the thick eye makeup and the jewelry:

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Simple enough, right? From here, especially with prior knowledge of Ghesquiere's previous collections and their high level of coherence, one could expect a series of sleekly deconstructed looks featuring favorite materials such as shiny latex and silk. What we end up with, however, is a series of looks that feature the same technique as the spring collection--hand painted silks fused to rigidly structured garments of bra foam.

Certainly these were the most stunning looks shown during this show: visually fantastical jackets with a twinge of Orientalism that cut off to reveal the skirts of dresses with luscious knee-high beige boots. All elements brought to high, high fashion through the use of more jewels.




But how did we get from the little black dress, to this? These amazing looks come from a different world, a world that has no place for the little black dress.

For this collection, we actually have two different ones.

The first one, which features a sleek, clean, tight silhouette of solid colors and metallic stilettos ended with this look: a gray suit of sorts with what looks like a leather vest poking out the bottom:

The next collection starts with another series of three dresses that start to reminisce over the previous spring collection in cut and fabric, followed by a series of velvet tops that introduce color into the collection and then we get those stunning jackets.


Then the velvet:
Both "mini-collections" start off with a series of three dresses, and both are great (as always), but Ghesquiere should have kept with one single idea and deconstructed it all the way to eveningwear.

But then again, Ghesquiere always seems more impressive with every spring (Floral Armor, Robo-fashion, etc). Those collections are grand examples of taking a single idea and translating it over and over; in Fall 08, however, he took two different ideas and failed to reconcile them. Ghesquiere is such a intelligent, impressive designer; he simply might want to think about revision for the sake of coherence.