Erik clearly is a subscriber to the Black Milk newsletter, because every time they come up with a way to combine Spandex mini-dresses with his favorite movies, he instantly iChats me. Their latest hits up the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit crowd. It was cute when they did Star Wars, but at this point they are just reprinting movie posters onto the same extremely basic shiny little layering pieces, and it's starting to feel cheap and played:

• Black Milk

• Black Milk

• Black Milk

• Black Milk

Amirite?

While the shill of it all might be shocking for some Kiss fans, it’s really a logical step. Hello Kitty is accepted and collected by 12-year-olds to thirtysomethings and no doubt beyond. Plus, the only other franchise that could match Kitty’s eclectic array of items that beare its cuteness is Kiss (FYI, Kiss has Pez this year too.). As depressing as it is, they’re made for each other.

Why even bother closing on Thanksgiving?

Target employees are seeing red after the retailer announced its stores will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, cutting into holiday time for workers. An online petition asking Target to not open on Thanksgiving has over 179,000 signatures, and the number continues to rise.
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This year, Walmart, Toys R Us, Kmart, and Sears are all opening their doors at 8 pm Thursday. Together with Target, that's two to four hours before they kicked things off last year.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, because there's so little to it: No costumes, no gifts, very few traditions besides gathering together with loved ones over a meal. I guess it stands to reason that retail chains hate Thanksgiving because there's no money in it for them, so now they're encroaching on the holiday in some disgusting ways. This is just incredibly disappointing.

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According to Buzzfeed (via freefashioninternships.com) fashion house Natasha Morgan posted this help wanted ad for a "Personal Assistant to the Designer" which is terrible enough without the highlighted sections that point out numerous grammatical errors and possible/probable illegalities. Hands off, bitch! This is MY job!

Jezebel reports on the anti-fur activist who attempted to hire an assassin on Facebook (where else?) that would murder anyone caught outside her house wearing fur. But before you fly off and call her totally nuts, the 27-year-old Ohio resident Meredith Marie Lowell said she would prefer that the victim be "over 14 years old." Another restriction? According to the FBI, the fur-wearing victim "should not be anyone I currently know and definitely should not be anyone my family knows." Hmmm... that's a lot of restrictions for somebody who only wanted to pay... $850 for the hit?? That wouldn't even buy a Silver Fox Fur Wrap! From Jezebel:

Fortunately, after her post on Facebook, the FBI caught on to her, and an agent posed as a potential killer-for-hire. In a series of emails he exchanged with Lowell—who posted under the name "Anne Lowery"—she became more and more explicit about what she wanted. She said the killing should take place across from a playground near her house, and she wanted to be there when it happened to hand out "papers" about the fur industry.

Ummm... yeah. SHE WAS ARRESTED. (Cuckoo! Cuckoo!) Read the rest here.

I love—I mean love—shoes, and I have all my life. It is with embarrassing frequency that I remember the shoes someone was wearing when we met, and not their name. And yet, sneaker collecting as a worthwhile hobby totally escapes me. It is a world in which the ugliest objects are the most prized, and in which "foamposite" isn't something that needs to be lanced:

• Fashionista

Apparently, the motley crew of sneaker freaks arrived on Saturday, and have been waiting outside ever since, in order to snap up one of Nike‘s new Foamposite Galaxy shoe. To be clear, the shoe does not arrive stores until Friday. Yep, as in almost a week away from when they began camping out.

In all fairness, these aren’t your regular sneaks: The Foamposite Galaxy costs $220, is made out of high tech ultra-durable foamposite material and has a sole that glows in the dark. According to the paper, “the waxed canvas upper allegedly simulates an astronaut’s training suit.”

Danger danger! Warning warning! Don't let this terrible-sounding event that just came across my desk happen to you!

Firstly, it's called Fuze It.

It appears to be one of those vague, awesomely out of touch monstrosities that occasionally bursts forth from Los Angeles on a nationally touring rampage of ridiculous claims. This one purports to be "The Ultimate Fashion, Art, and Music Experience," and seeks to cull together/exploit naively aspiring artists, models and musicians from the Portland area. "For participants, the event serves as a stepping-stone to either jump-start their aspiring career or make their existing career shine," etc, etc. The participating suckas are, of course, TBD, but the lady who emailed me the press release has helpfully informed me that "the fashion show will feature some of the latest looks from Forever 21." Tickets to attend? $20.

Yeah... no.

As you know, you can't swing a Chanel bag in this town without hitting a designer who's appearing or has appeared on a fashion reality show. Tonight yet another PDX designer hops onto your TV screen; Tony Peniche who may have a bit of a questionable design past, but has nevertheless shown much improvement. He's on a brand new show debuting tonight at 10 pm on Lifetime entitled 24 Hour Catwalk—which sounds like an evening in Amsterdam's red light district, but it's not. In this show, designers are given the near impossible task of building an entire collection in 24 hours. THIS IS A STUPID IDEA FOR OBVIOUS REASONS, AND HAS NO REASON TO EXIST. On the other hand? A little spoiler bird tells us that Tony causes a heapin' helpin' of trouble in tonight's episode... so.... fuck it, let's pop some corn and watch.

• Courtesy penichefashion.com

Fake Uggs or Fuggs are nothing new to fashion industry, but the UK Sun has found shocking and horrific video footage of Asian raccoon dogs being skinned alive to make cheap copies of the once popular boot. As if you needed another reason to not wear Uggs or fake Uggs. Click here to see the disturbing story.

• facebook.com

Hmm. Apparently Glee's Lea Michelle likes the letter "V."

Thank you, Lea... but I believe we've seen enough.
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Ohhhhhh, American Apparel—you've done it again. Check out their newest ads which forgo real-life, awkwardly posed nymphets for hand-drawn models (by Hustler Barely Legal artist Boris Lopez) and are more NSFW-ier than ever! (I suppose these are ohhhhhkay—but R. Crumb did it better.) To see AA's latest shame in all it's graphite glory, HIT THE JUMP.

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I love Glee. I love clothing. I don't like Glee clothing. At least not this Glee clothing. I want to see less Glee clothing. Especially on Glee cast members. Extra especially Puck. Yummm... Puck. But I digress. From USA Today:

The fashion line, which will be available exclusively at Macy's starting Sunday, features T-shirts, fashion tops and hoodies priced from $19.99-$34.99. There's even a copy of a Cheerio uniform top for the ultimate Sue Sylvester idolizer.

I'm sorry, but as a society, we cannot allow this. I've seen better silk screens performed by a dying fish coated in paint. Today Macy's—tomorrow the Dollar Store.

In an attempt to procrastinate from the massive list of things I have to do as a professor, a fabric designer, someone who is about to move, and someone who has a “To Do” list with 37 items that need completed in the next two days, I did a very logical thing. I Googled the words “worst fashion.” The image results were interesting/borderline offensive but these are some highlights I particularly enjoyed. Do I have to go back to work now?

Photos: Google Images

At my day job as a fashion instructor, students delight in sending me fashion atrocities off the web. I believe my affirmation of their awfulness helps validate their fears—in this case, the fear of bad jeans. Refinery 29 compiled a list of some of the worst denim disasters that I would love to hand out demerits to. Be afraid!

Photos Courtesy: Refinery 29

I realize (despite my youthful good looks) that I am much too old to be watching the MTV Movie Awards, but for some unknown reason that is exactly what I did Sunday night. I further surprised myself by not being prepared for the horrible train wrecks that would occur on the red carpet. I can only rid myself of the agony by sharing it:

The Mullet Dress.

You Left Your Headlights On.

Uhhhhhhh What.

Is that Suzanne Somers?

Photo credit: Bob Charlotte / PR Photos
Photo credit: Mark Davis / MTV / Picturegroup

It's pretty important to start your kids off early if you want them to grow up to be douchebags.

Via gap.com. Hey baby! Where's your soul patch??