Men's Spring Fashion Looks on Bright Side

Column blaming the thin trend on society's obesity gets lots of attention

(NEWSER) - Robin Givhan's recent Washington Post piece attempting to explain why models are so skinny—"the fatter the general population, the thinner the idealized woman," she wrote—spawned a number of responses in varying degrees of outrage. Read on for a sample:

• "'The culture' isn't insisting on emaciated models and greeting larger ones with hostility; the fashion industry is, and as such, it seems increasingly out of touch with consumer demands," writes Sady Doyle in Salon.

Designers are tamed by recession fears

(NEWSER) - Thanks to the recession, “disciplined good taste” reigned on the Paris runways this week, leading Bloomingdale’s fashion director to dub the season “terrific, from a commercial point of view, but not so much so that it’s safe and boring.” Guy Trebay begs to differ. “If success is measured by distance traveled, then this has been the Paris season that ran the gamut—as Dorothy Parker once famously sniped about Katharine Hepburn's acting range—from A to B,” he writes in the New York Times. More»

Sure, Lindsay Lohan's collection was dissed—but really, this is how fashion should be

(NEWSER) - Lindsay Lohan’s fashion debut was “widely panned,” which came as “no surprise, of course.” But though “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,” Erika Kawalek writes on DoubleX, “I loved this fashion show.” It brought fashion out of “the province of professional designers” and put it back into women’s hands. More»

Designer wonders why the rest of the industry is still using fur and leather

(NEWSER) - One of fashion’s most famous vegetarians, Stella McCartney talks—a little bit about her rise from “nervous” young designer to successful businesswoman, but mostly about the fashion industry’s lack of eco-consciousness—to the Guardian on the heels of her Paris show. “I think people in fashion are pretty heartless,” she tells Jess Cartner-Morley. “I find it astounding, because fashion is supposed to be about change—I mean, we're supposed to be at the cutting edge!” More»

Some collections reflect current industry inertia, but a few rise above

(NEWSER) - With economic stresses making it more difficult for designers to be creative—and the growing trend of manufacturing being outsourced to other countries—the Italian spring collections in Milan were somewhat “joyless,” but still offered a few standouts, writes Cathy Horyn for the New York Times. The good:

• Angela Missoni: Her “clothes merit attention” because “virtually every garment was a knit”—proving her willingness to ask how historical techniques “could be aired out.”