Question Mark: Hot Mess

This is Catherine Baba.  Oh, you don't know who she is? That's because you have a LIFE.  She's a stylist, and a respected one at that.  Now, I have no problem for anyone being respected for their work.  In my opinion, that's really the only thing one ought to be respected for.  However, the tagline under this picture from our friends over at Jak and Jil is "THE TRUE EMBODIMENT OF THE SEVENTIES SAINT LAURENT WOMAN."

Oh hell no.

People, when are we going to face the inevitable facts: piling on a bunch of SHIT does not, in fact, make you fashionable?  Now-am I saying that anyone who piles shit on is, indeed, UNFASHIONABLE?  Nein! Non! No! Quite frankly, I loooove layers of clothing; chunky jewelry, hats and scarves and all sorts of bric-a-brac.  I think it shows character; and in some ways, if you do it right, it can be stylish.  I mean, lets be real: I'd rather look at Catherine Baba's grandma ass than some broad in a J. Crew sweater and khakis.  My point, however, is that THIS look, the one of PILING SHIT ON, does not make one a fashion icon.  In some ways, it makes one the anti-fashion icon, because fashion is inherantly about balance.  You can say what you want about different styles and trends, but balance is always the key element.  Jewelry, the bag one carries, gloves, hats, shoes, stockings, your coat...these, often much more than your actual OUTFIT (i.e. your shirt and pants, or dress), show whether one carries a sense of style or not. The balance between your outfit and your accessories or accoutrements is what makes one aesthetically pleasing.

Catherine Baba is not, to me, aesthetically pleasing.

I love the tassel earrings, I love the hat, I love the bracelets.  I typically love crocodile textures, and her bag is okay.  However, why the fuck is she wearing all that shit at once?  BECAUSE IT HAS MADE PEOPLE THINK SHE IS STYLISH.  Ooo, what a trendsetter!  What a risk taker!  What?! If her face was smudged and her clothing ripped, people would think she was a bag lady.  Fashion: GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS. BROWN IS NOT IN SEASON.

My ass always gets chafed at this fuckery, but comparing Baba to a "true 70's YSL" woman is complete blasphemy to me.  Yves St. Laurent changed the entire face of fashion starting in the 50's, and it wasn't because he threw an entire closet's worth of shit on broads and told them to walk around waiting to be photographed.

The end.