MALE-ON-MALE BLOWJOBS ARE NO LONGER GAY

It used to be my one and only holy idol of all times was John Galliano, the charismatic, long-haired Ultra Gay with spray tanned fashion pecks. I cut every single photo of his shows out of the stacks of fashion magazines my mum got me and stuck them on my wall and in my scrapbooks. I thought it all looked "absolutely fabulous!" However, having seen his latest collection on the last Paris fashion week, I found myself just plain saddened and disappointed.

LOUISE GRAY IS WILD 'N' ROMANTIC

We had an opportunity to look back at the madness with British designer Louise Gray, a dynamic fixture of the East London fashion scene. She recently wrapped up London Fashion Week and is currently showing at Paris Fashion Week, but took a few minutes in the midst of her hectic schedule to talk with us.

LONDON - WHAT YOU MISSED THIS LAST WEEK

London’s Fashion Week wrapped up today and our fellow staff in the UK have been covering it since it started. It's more exciting over there because people actually give a shit and dress up like lunatics, rather than schlumping out in ripped tights and loafers that are falling apart, and then whining about how tiring the whole thing is. Check up on what you missed: Vivienne Westwood’s adoration for ethnic models and Amish hats , Topshop’s collection for normal people, puppets with towering boners, women with hair all over their faces, and cool hunting with stolen goods from Henry Holland’s pile of trash. You'll find all the rest of it here.

NEW YORK - COOGI IS ALIVE!

On a recent trip to visit Philly friends, I felt a stomach pang of immediate stress urging me to hit up this one thrift spot they had taken me to before. I demanded to be hastened there and all of our catching up and chatting would have to wait until I found my enchanted vestments. I felt a hot spasm inside my soul that a glorious treasure was waiting for me at the thrift, and if we didn't get there immediately, I was going to have a violent blood puke seizure!

NEW YORK - SAMANTHA PLEET'S ROMPER ROOM

Though not explicitly evocative of the dirty classic New York groove, Samantha Pleet's clothes are the perfect combination of girly and rough-and-tumble. Her style directive involves the flounce of a woodland elf without being overly delicate or perishable, unlike some other designers channeling forest nymphs these days (heads up, Erin Featherston). In it's eighth season, her line has already established itself as the costumer of the indie-elite, but somehow manages not to offend those of us on the anti-side of quirky. I was lucky enough to hang in the dressing room with Pleet and her girls while they got ready for her SS 2010 presentation.

NEW YORK - WHEN GRIM SEES THE LIGHT

Austin Sherbanenko loves metal. His fidelity to all things dark, heavy, and grim is not up for debate. What is up for debate (at least to some) is whether or not that love should be translated onto a runway. Ever-fearful of being co-opted, high fashion is often viewed as the underground's enemy. Heavy metal fans are just like every other close-knit group, highly protective of their adopted iconography and styles. When one particularly rabid metal fan I know found out I was covering last night's Odyn Vovk show he sent a text exclaiming, "Tell Beverly death metal is a way of life, not a fashion statement." Whoa there buddy, it's not like we haven't seen corpse paint on a runway before. In fact it's usually so comical it's not a threat at all. All of fashion's grim posturing is strictly editorial--it's not like Kate Moss is going to start painting upside-down crosses on her forehead and wearing gauntlets.

LONDON - WHAT DID YOU WEAR TO A ROCK FESTIVAL?

Festival season's about wrapped up, and from those traversing moats of beery mud we've learned that no matter the clime, body fluid situation, nor K-related circumstance your clothes should look like a passport to sex city. Otherwise them there threads are just prison bars locking you out from fun times. 

NEW YORK - SHORE SCORES

My Jersey experiences have consisted of strip clubs, punk shows at Maxwells, Medieval Times, Buck Hunter marathons, Italian Christmas Eve feasting, and some hardcore pre-Slayer tailgating at the Meadowlands. So I was nervous about going to the shore

LONDON - WHAT ARE YOU WEARING TO NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL?

Notting Hill Carnival is basically the only street festival anyone in London's ever heard of, a place where a lot of super loud dub and jungle and house and reggae gets played, a lot of chicken gets eaten and a lot of dope gets smoked, and normally there is a shooting and everyone blames the police. Let's see what people wear to this thing.

LONDON - POP vs. LOVE

Fashion in the UK has been split in two. Over here you can't get much nearer to style's summit than new mega-zines LOVE (which is on its second issue) and the newly relaunched POP. The latest issues of both magazines came out within days of each other and everyone is trying to work out which is best. See, Katie Grand, editor of LOVE, used to edit POP, and when she left, rumour quickly spread that working for POP from now on meant you would be banned from working for LOVE. Now, only someone with truly enormous fashion balls or nothing to lose would be willing to risk a clash with Katie's untouchable in-crowd, so enter Katie's old boss and POP co-founder, Ashley Heath. Heath was forced out of POP by the corporate types years ago, and so being asked back to rescue the title must taste sweet.