It is always interesting to see people’s reactions when I tell them I work in fashion. Some are impressed (these are people who don’t know about the industry) and others are intrigued. But these days, I am actually quite embarrassed to be part of the fashion industry. It has been invaded by tacky celebrities and the discipline I studied, fashion design, is no longer a skill you need to learn. All you need to do is be in a movie, a band, or a stupid reality TV show and you too can be a designer.

In addition to that, some of the big names can also be a bit of an embarrassment. Now that we have the internet we get to hear a lot more silly quotes from fashion designers (making them, and the job sound a bit ridiculous) and everyone sees what the industry is doing, including some terrible catwalks looks which I have highlighted here. Here are my top 5 catwalk looks that make me embarrassed to work in fashion (in no particular order.)

1. Chanel Fall Winter 2010. I don’t know the exact price of this outfit, but I am guessing it is well into the thousands because Chanel doesn’t do price tags under four digits. And it is basically a FAKE fur yeti costume. It is one thing to dress like a yeti, and another to charge thousands for fake fur. I am mostly embarrassed that this outfit came from one of the most respected, talented designers in the industry. Karl, even you screw up sometimes.

2. Balmain Spring Summer 2009. You’ve heard me complain about Balmain many, many, many times before, but I had to bring this one up again. $2,000 ripped jeans are a frigging travesty. I am embarrassed to work in an indsutry that blatantly rips people off.

3. Walter Van Beirendonck Spring Summer 2012. Ummm… this is fashion? Another embarrassment for the fashion world.

4. House of Holland Fall Winter 2008. “Hi. I used to work at a teen magazine and came up with one good t-shirt idea, so I decided I was good enough to launch a full fashion collection. But then I realised I am not a designer, so I just hucked a bunch of tacky tartan onto the catwalk, asked my famous model friend Aggy to walk the runway, and suddenly I’m one of Britain’s fashion darlings. Oh yeah, I thought an eye patch and some stupid antlers would make my outfits look more cool.” The only thing NOT embarrassing about Henry Holland is that GQ magazine named him as one of Britain’s worst dressed men.

5. Prada Fall Winter 2008. I am trying to figure out what is most embarrassing here: that he is wearing a crop top, that it looks like he is wearing high waisted, high cut panties pulled up really high, that his pants are tucked into his boots, or that this is one of the most respected fashion brands in the entire world.

All images from Style.com except Walter Van Beirendonck, from ASVOF.

Thank you Alexandra for these splendid examples.  Something us Aussies love to do is have a laugh and you have had me in stitches.

Line ups outside the Savage Beauty exhibition on the final weekend.

I am slightly annoyed at the popularity of the Savage Beauty McQueen exhibit at the Met. While I believe that McQueen deserves this attention (because he was an incredibly talented designer) I feel that the exhibition has become the equivalent of a Hollywood Blockbuster (a comparison made by Suzy Menkes) and that people are attending because they think it is cool, not for a love of the work.

I attended a student fashion show last year and there was a host that introduced each student’s work and their inspiration. Over half of the students’ favourite designer or inspiration was Alexander McQueen. I doubt, in fact, I KNOW, that this would not have been the case had he not died earlier in the year. McQueen’s suicide seems to have made him a mainstream star.

Of course Kate Middleton has definitely added to the excitement of the McQueen brand, but still, I find this marginally irritating. I am seeing things on twitter about how “AMAZING” the exhibition was, and “OMG McQueen was a genius!” but didn’t these people know this already? I’m led to believe that the giant line up outside is full of poeple who only knew the skull scarf and Middleton’s wedding dress. So of course they would be amazed by the work inside.

Then again, one of the reasons for museum exhibits is to educate the masses about art and culture, and in this case, Savage Beauty has succeeded. But I sort of feel sad that the brand is now this totally mainstream, household name which people have lined up for hours to see. Alexander McQueen would not have approved of this, or else, he would have found a way to mock all these false fans.

And then of course the next fear is how will PPR, the owners of the McQueen brand, capitalize on all of this success? There is not a lot in his collection that is affordable, will they have to start selling cheap, accessible pieces to profit from this newfound fame? That also scares me. Perhaps we should be focusing our energies on discovering the next great talent, as I feel this one may have become a bit too overexposed.