Vivre Le Désastre Lohan!

Lindsay Lohan launched her debut collection as artistic director of Ungaro on Sunday. As soon as the last model existed the runway, snobby editors stormed out the door. Lohan was in tears. That the clothes would be widely panned was no surprise, of course. WWD called the collection "an embarrassment," "cheesy and dated" with an "overworked" heart motif. Style.com said the show quickly “devolved into a bad joke of a fashion show, one with questionable color combinations, ‘bad eighties’ draped silk jackets and drop-crotch pants, old-fashioned and ill-judged fur stoles, and, yes, tasteless sequin pasties.”

The looks were inelegant, off-trend, and styled with about as much je ne sais quois as a drunk teen let loose inside a Forever 21. But you know what? I loved this fashion show, and I think that it was a genius move—promotional and otherwise—by Ungaro CEO Mounir Moufarrige. The press has been covering L’Affaire Lohan as a desperate and misguided attempt to import a crass marketing ploy of the American department store—the celebrity designer—to the hallowed Paris runway.

But what if we choose to see Lohan not as a celebrity designer but simply as a young woman who has taken on the task of making clothes that she adores with the help of a designer (that would be chief Ungaro designer, Estrella Archs) and an atelier full of skilled dressmakers eager to take her direction? Seen this way, we are reminded that fashion need not be the province of professional designers. It can be made collaboratively between women who have their own aesthetic sensibilities and others who possess the technical skills to translate the looks from idea to reality. “I feel like it’s pretty much a fairytale," Lohan told People. "It’s certainly more than I could have ever imagined, more than I’d ever hoped for. I couldn’t be happier. Seeing everything pulled together, is simply amazing.”

Before fashion was controlled by fashion dictators—designers who invent seasonal looks for women without regards for what women actually want or whether women want anything new at all—women used to collaborate with skilled dressmakers. Other than used clothes or homespun frocks, this was the extent of fashion. Back then—that is, before the 1860s—women got all the credit for their looks too, which meant fervent compliments or gut-wrenching ridicule, but their self-cultivated appearance had nothing to do with designers or labels or brands and everything to do with what went on privately between a woman and her dressmaker. Like Lohan, we could walk into a dressmaking establishment and play artistic director, or as WWD sees it, we could be “a nonskilled judge with theoretical veto power hovering about.” Well, that’s all fashion meant to women for centuries until Charles Frederick Worth opened the first designer shop and declared, “I don’t want people to invent for themselves; if they did, I should loose half my trade.” Fashion week celebrates this idea: the idea of women not inventing for themselves.

What would it be like if women could do what Lohan did and invent? Probably many of us would be overwhelmed or simply uninterested. But throngs might also welcome the shift. According to the New York Times, Lohan loved the experience: “’This is just so cool,’ Ms. Lohan said, turning her attention to a white minidress splattered with sequins. ‘It needs more rhinestones, just so it pops.’ Off to the seamstress it went.” This sounds a lot more fun and interesting than shopping.

So what if the fashion press was “aghast” at Lohan’s aesthetic? I think it’s great that a nondesigner got to work with a team of skilled French dressmakers. Although the looks are cheesy, at least the 45-year-old house of Ungaro is shaking up the boring runway establishment. Moufarrige is onto something.

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Photograph of Lindsay Lohan by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images.

Tags: charles frederick worth, dressmakers, lindsay lohan, paris fashion, ungaro

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Erika Kawalek is a New York-based journalist and author of the forthcoming fashion chronicle, Ragpicker.

Comments

the butterfly wriggles

By: nils | Mon, 10/12/2009 - 07:21

Mere exposure to and interest in fashion doesn't mean talent or skill at design of course. One of my daughter's college roomies was a fashion major. I didn't even realize it was something you could study in college. (Clueless old guy.) So yes, give some hard-working talented kid the same chance instead.

On the other hand I feel sorry for Lindsay Lohan. I hate seeing kids like her and Britney Spears floundering around, their immaturity magnified by easy access to all manner of decadence. The kind of satisfaction you see in people who take pleasure in their pathetic escapades is pretty disturbing and sad too. The whole situation is repugnant, as there's no social structure or entity available to help. She's famous for being famous, and has no skill or talent except acting, and has even lost that, for now.

Life under the entertainment industrial complex's microscope is the only life she knows. Like a pretty butterfly, pinned under the light. See how it wriggles and flutters its wings! How far we've come from visiting Bedlam to have a chuckle at the antics of the patients.

Trite observations alas. Not much new to be said. Actually I was drawn to comment here because "Vivre" looked wrong to me. Isn't that the infinitive? Shouldn't it be "Vive"?

This fashion show was sad, at

By: canadian | Fri, 10/09/2009 - 13:24

This fashion show was sad, at best. At is worst, it was embarrassing and featured far more sequins than needed. Yes, fashion should be accessible to the general public. And yes, there is nothing wrong with a fashion-minded plebeian developing a line with the aid of skilled designers and dressmakers. There is, however, something wrong with being asked to believe that these are clothes than can and should be worn by the general public. I would have far more respect for Lindsay if she would clean up her life and then do something that she is good at. If you've seen any photos of her outfits, you know that fashion is not an area in which she excels.

I agree with your basic idea

By: Elle | Wed, 10/07/2009 - 09:11

But why should this privilege be given to Lindsay Lohan, someone who is now famous for clubbing, drunken fights, and showing her crotch? Is she some charity case? This is a great idea because she had fun? Well, whoop de doo; that surely justifies the expense of letting her hang around and gurgle over her little designs.

Here's an idea: why not take some promising people who have demonstrated a real interest in learning more and contributing to fashion -- college students, people who sew, boutique owners, etc., and let them have a go? I'd so much rather see some unknowns get to participate in fashion week than see this space serve as some sort of rehab for Lohan.

Her teaming up with Ungaro is one of the reasons people will do anything to get famous -- or notorious in her case. Once you are in the lineup, you get access to projects whether you show any talent or not. This must be teeth-grinding for the folks out where who would love to break into the business, who have a fresh eye, and who would really make something of the opportunity. Not Lohan.

personal aesthetic

By: boredwell | Tue, 10/06/2009 - 23:02

I agree with you on how designers promote designs they think are best for women to wear. Recently, I viewed two documentaries - one on Yves St Laurent and the other called "The Emperor: Valentino" - which showcased the couture and the eminences who created them. Granted, both designers are artistes but their clothing, though beautifully crafted, is devoid of practicality and certainly not meant for the quotidian wearer. Both couturiers said they design because they KNOW what women want. "To be beautiful," said Valentino. While Ungaro needed something or someone to reinvigorate its line, I doubt that Ms Lohan will be the one to do it. It's been reported that after the mean spirited reviews of the her debut show, the Ungaro showroom was packed with consumers. So, perhaps, my assessment of Ms Lohan's artistic/creative elan is wrong. Perhaps, Ms Lohan is no more crass than Cavalli's rags-to-riches apparel lines. Whatever the outcome-or fallout-Ms Lohan is employed (her contract's alleged to be "millions") so I give her credit for having the ability to reinvent herself if not the future choices of women out on a shopping spree.