Interesting NYT articlee about Eric Gaskins, fashion designer and scathing blogger.

His first post was about Lars Nilsson, a designer who had received a lot of support from magazines even though he kept getting fired from plum houses. “Why are they pushing talent with a résumé that should say after every job, reason for leaving: Fired,” Mr. Gaskins wrote.

and

His first posts were about designers whose careers he thought had been unduly advanced by the support of fashion’s power brokers, rather than evidence of hard work. Thom Browne, the men’s wear designer, was spanked for his shrunken aesthetic, and Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte for going on a diet at the suggestion of Vogue.

He complained about the favoritism that seems to determine the nominees for the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards and about which designers are selected for top jobs. He railed on the canonization of Michelle Obama as the savior of American fashion. And he laid blame on a fashion press that, he wrote, “must be nourished by specks of dust.”

And you might have read about the CFDA town meeting.

“Could someone lead a committee that would make ground rules for retailers of when the discounting starts, and then all the retailers can agree to it?” Ms. Wintour suggested.

“That’s illegal!” Ms. von Furstenberg said with some horror.

“Is that something we can change?” Ms. Wintour said. “We have friends in the White House now!”

Also,

The Web changed everything, Ms. von Furstenberg stated. Consumers want looks straight off the runway immediately; designers dress celebrities in clothes not yet available to the public; clothes arrive in stores too soon only to be discounted by the time they are actually in season; there is too much supply and not enough demand; everyone loses money; and the average consumer, well, she’s just so confused!

I was just discussing with someone the relevance of the runway shows yesterday.

And Anna Wintour. Alarming, isn't she?