The looks in “Haute Mess” certainly make a statement and that statement is hot tranny mess realness. Literally. In her always entertaining blog, Sozzani wrote that the spread might take its inspiration from “messy drags: untidy, dishevelled, counter-intuitive cross-dressers.” And that’s inspiration you can take to the bank. The Cut caught up with Sozzani, who by this point is more than accustomed to courting controversy, to discuss the editorial.

In typical frank Franca fashion, she utterly dismissed it as a bit of hubub over nothing.

“We wanted to make something quite extravagant,” the editrix explained. “It’s more to push people to be creative and extravagant…we just thought it was the concept of extravagance, of creativity, even something over-the-top, something that is not usual. If you want, you don’t dress like that, you don’t put on this kind of makeup, but it’s just to make a fake, to go over-the-top, it makes you happy in a way, more alive, more colorful — sometimes fashion looks sad.”

As for the backlash, Sozzani openly doesn’t give a damn: “I think it’s good that everyone sees what they wanted to see. As you know, I don’t care as much what people think, because I think that every time that you try to change something, people [say something else]. I respect everybody’s opinion.”

Well, maybe not everyone’s opinion. When asked about people who found the images classist and offensive, Sozzani shut that down real quick: ”There are so many sick people around the world that you cannot — I don’t care about them. I care about normal people. They want to read and see the normal way as we did. If they are sick, it’s not my problem. I am not a psychologist. They should find somebody who could help them.”

While Sozzani doesn’t rank “Haute Mess”as one of her most controversial spreads, she insists that wasn’t what she was going for to begin with: “It’s not that I want it to be controversial all the time, it’s happened. … You can just take pictures like in a catalog so you will never be controversial, but that’s not my choice of life.”

You certainly can’t fault Franca Sozzani for sticking to her guns, but what do you think? Is “Haute Mess” offensive — whether intentional or not — or just over-the-top fun? Click through for the entire editorial and sound off in the comments below.

Photos: Design Scene

Color palette: Marina and seagrass, ginseng and hazel
Mood: Rich and mysterious, even teetering on the dark side in the chicest of ways
Statement Pieces: Flame washed velvet and beaded lace cowl back long sleeve gown (I openly and audibly gasped when this came down the runway); Black washed velvet and beaded lace bodice gown
Front Row Name Drops: The beautiful Aisha Tyler and Neiman Marcus’ Ken Downing
Gossip: No one is dropping any juicy information, and I’m getting restless
Runway Music: Nancy Sinatra, Zola Jesus

Photo via The Cut

Visit The LOVE Magazine every day for a fresh holiday fashion surprise. [The Cut]

Wolter’s Ford agent Gary Dakin says she’s “absolutely thrilled about the move.” I would be too if I could eat again… or would I?

LINK LOVE: The Cut

Next we’re going to find out girlfriend’s got a weave.

LINK LOVE: The Cut

From Le Figaro via The Cut:

From the first model on the runway, we are struck by what resembles an out-of-style Gucci collection from ten years ago. The fussy complications of the cuts (drawstrings, shirring, high-waisted skirts, leg-of-lamb sleeves), the disheveled hairstyle of a girl barely back from happy hour, and the overdone makeup… Overload is the key word of the show… The laced shoe? An ersatz model of an Alaïa. The jogging shorts in black leather? Already seen last year in Céline‘s cruise collection, as were the sandals with bracelet straps (here, encrusted with rhinestones). The coat bristling with raffia? A pale version of those in Yves Saint Laurent‘s spring 1967 collection.

And then shit gets personal:

At the end of this inventory suited to Kim Kardashian, Tom Ford appears. He advances. And he remains there, in the central area, asking people to stand up. Perhaps [people would do so] out of distress, or sympathy, or because all of this is supposed to be festive after all. But everybody just looks at their feet. The music does not stop. Ford tries to speak above the noise, louder. We can’t hear a thing. We just see this baby-faced man trying desperately to clear the air. He throw[s] himself upon his companion, Richard Buckley, and hugs him (Ralph Lauren often hugs his companion Ricky at the end of his shows, but then he returns backstage). But here everyone stays put. So Tom Ford retreats toward Anna Wintour and now it’s she whom he decides to embrace. Troubling.

A.) That comparison to Kim Kardashian is verging on out-of-line. B.) I’m pretty sure Mouzat called Ford fat with that “baby-faced” comment. And  C.) I think the most “troubling” part is that he reportedly had the cajones to publicly embrace Anna Wintour. People have died for less.

This isn’t the first time Ford has weathered bad press as noted sassbag Cathy Horyn referred to Ford’s spring 2001 Gucci show as “not just truly ugly, but also…completely at odds with his reputation as a designer who loves women.” And then there was that reporter at the Guardian, Jess Cartner-Morley, who also had some choice words for Ford’s latest collection.

So, is it a case of sour grapes, or has Tom Ford simply made an unfashionable misstep? Well, you’ll have to wait to form your own opinions when the photos come out, but everyone’s allowed a mistake every now and then. Hell, we keep Jean Paul Gaultier around and when’s the last time he did anything passably good? Oh, right. [The Cut]

Might I begin by showing you a proud moment of mine: it’s called Vogue Italia:

Now look at these fab fashionheads turning it at New York Fashion Week.

Plaid o'er plaid hoists a mighty fine beehive. Captured by

Laid back pattern mashup. Captured by

Creepin' in a spider skirt and water jelly clutch. Captured by

Kaleidoscopic animal parade. Captured by

Spotted with a parasol. Captured by

Turning it in a turban and vertical psychedelia. Captured by

All colors bounce off the briefcase.

Christopher Kane glows neon in laser cut lace. Captured by

On the fringe. Captured by

If the shoes were not enough, that artful sweater shirt is. Captured by

Fuzzy sweater, sleek back hair and a cold stare. Captured by

Grandma werq that bright skirt. Captured by

Running swift in stripes. Captured by

Susie Bubble bursting with neon in elongating proportions. Captured by

Burnt siena, bright and baby blue. Captured by

Denim blazing red. Captured by

The hat! The bustier! The 'tude! C'est parfait. Captured by

Jil Sander hues light up the street. Captured by

BryanBoy in chokers bright. Captured by

Busy lady gray. Captured by

According to The Cut:

“Lohan, without warning, rose from a banquette in a sunken section of the club and sent a drink — still in its glass — sailing over the wall and directly at a cocktail waitress…Just when it seemed things couldn’t get stranger, the lights came on and the music went off. “She’s bleeding!” yelled a man at the bar. Medics surrounded a brunette woman, lying with her black sheer-stocking-ed legs elevated on a white leather couch, adjacent to where Lohan had been sitting. When they lifted her up to place her on a stretcher, the back of her black dress was soaked in blood. Broken glass, a security guard confirmed after she had been rolled out. By then, the crowd had thinned out.” [The Cut]

- Hilfiger’s son is “really sad” about his profile in The New York Observer :-( In other news, people now know he exists. [Stylelite]

- Nicki Minaj did it (on ‘em) again—she was spotted sitting next to Anna Wintour at Carolina Herrera. [Fashionista]

- We were pleased to learn that J.D. Salinger was also a queen bitch. A sublimely passive-aggressive note he wrote to his maid is now selling for $50K . [Refinery 29]

- Apparently they let anyone into shows these days. [The Cut]

- Missoni might actually be more affordable than Missoni for Target. [Refinery 29]

The New Focus

Your instinct may say “Shopping spree!” as mine did when I lost my fashion week virginity back in ’07. If that’s the case, you get to pick up fresh all the trends you’ve been lusting over since last season. Often with this approach, we see more dresses, singular pieces that carry the look. This week you’ll spin your new looks on everyone who will know exactly who made what and why it’s so sensational.

- Is this old news for everyone or just me? Model Coco Rocha was discovered jigging about in an Irish dance competition. Now she’s showing her pride for the activity by hosting an online screening of Irish dancing documentary Jig. Weird, yet mildly touching? [Fashionista]

- London was just named the #1 Fashion Capital of 2011, beating out top dogs Paris, Milan and New York for the title. We’re glad (not) rainy old London has a chance in the spotlight, but we’ll scream if we don’t get our title back in 2012. [The Cut]

- Would you carry a red leather 9/11 handbag around town? Designers Jen and Chris Mascali created the “Remember” bag to commemorate their father and others who were lost in the attacks. All wholesale proceeds go to the 9/11 Memorial Fund. Are you sold? [Refinery 29]

- And speaking of 9/11, did you know Gwyneth Paltrow saved someone’s life that day by almost running her over with a silver Mercedes? Lara Lundstrom Clarke said the encounter made her miss the train, subsequently late for work and she completely missed the attacks. Damn Gwyneth, you be cashing in big time these days. [E!]

- OOPS. Abercrombie & Fitch stock plummeted after the company offered Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino compensation to stop wearing the brand. Surely, we in the Indie Newsroom won’t be the only ones laughing about A&F’s douchebaggery. [Just Jared]

He is none other than Rick Genest, aka Rico, aka Zombie Boy, aka the muse of Mugler’s and Gaga’s Nicola Formichetti.

As Formichetti told Hint, “I had his picture on my wall forever. I saw it one day on Google. I thought it was amazing Halloween make-up done by Peter Philips or something.”

We all know by now that that shit is permanent. Well, Formichetti went on to find Zombie Boy’s true identity and to find him on Facebook, and whisked him away to Paris (having paid his near 20 thousand dollar fines for sleeping in the street, and also having gotten him a passport in record time), to have him model in his debut men’s show.

Now that you’ve seen the before and after, which way do you prefer Rick Genest?

Link Love: The Cut

I really do applaud The Cut for putting this together. It’s actually a preview of a larger documentary called Picture Me, which opened Friday at Angelika Film Center (totally seeing that this week). In the documentary we see what happens when 14 year old girls are thrown into an industry only interested in exploiting them and using them for profit.

The issues this documentary tackles are the same ones we’ve dealt with for years, ones where impossible to match body images are thrown in the face of the public, where the pressure of being thin lead girls to commit suicide, and where black is worse than some four letter words.

Says Ziff, “At BCBG, I was struck by the homogeneity of the cast of rail-thin, tall, blond models. When I was one of the models walking in the shows, I saw the subtle differences between us, but it’s eerie how similar the models look from a distance. En masse, they look like interchangeable, disposable clothes hangers — not memorable individuals.”

Models Vanessa Perron and Amy Lemons and journalists Derek Blasberg and Elizabeth Wellington all weigh in on the topics, which the tall, Caucasian Ziff admits she never gave much thought before now: “Nobody talked about it, and only recently have model friends opened up about the pressure from their agencies to prevent their young bodies from developing naturally.”

Her big hope? That agents, casting directors, and other industry types who actually can make a difference will. “When I went on castings, sometimes I would see notes on my schedule specifying ‘no ethnic girls.’ If this happened in any other business, it would be grounds for a lawsuit,” says Ziff. “But in fashion, it’s considered a matter of taste.”

If you watch the videos, you’ll hear stories of 16-year old girls who are sent to Milan with no money and no support who can only eat by going to nightclubs with rich businessmen. The implication of prostitution is there, which is sad considering so many of the models that hit the runway aren’t from the US, come from poor countries and hope that they will someday raise the ranks of superstars like Gisele. Unfortunately for many, that will never happen.

It’s a very sad yet true portrayal of our industry and it’s one which needed to be shown.

The Cut is bashing Men.Style.com’s fashion picks for fall. MEOW!!!

I love when one top blog, bashes another top blog, and Fashion Indie is no where in the mix. The Cut, don’t you realize that the folks at Men.Style.com think they are ahead of the trends/stylish. Don’t make fun of their anti-chaffing leather pants and Navaho Jackets. They’re just trying to be more like Fashion Indie…

This is my video presentation of what I believe a fight between the two “purveyors of goods no straight male might wear” would look like.

You look like you was preparing to give me oral, dawg.

LINK LOVE: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nymag/fashion/~3/cgzrtmg2qxY/menstylecom_suggests_you_dress.html

Save 70% on summer goods from Diane Von Furstenberg! All of these items are final sale, but why on earth would you want to return them?

Shop this sale on DVF.com! (it’s online only, and there are a bunch of other things on sale too!)

LINK LOVE: The Cut

The cut thinks Gaga’s hair elephant suggests she’s running out of ideas (merely because it’s creepy, not completely insane like everything else she does). What do you think?

LINK LOVE: The Cut

VIDEO LOVE: E! Online

QUICKLINK: NY Mag

The rumors are a swirling people! The Cut is reporting that Mr. Thom Browne is going bankrupt due to pricing problems. This story also said that the menswear designer was having trouble finding financial backers to keep him from going under. Following all this mess, WWD Men’s came out saying that Browne has denied these rumors, and is doing quite well.

I don’t know who to believe! I feel like that boyfriend who doesn’t know who to trust, his best friend or his girlfriend, when he hears she’s been macking on other dudes. I know one thing, I don’t want to see Mr. Browne go! He is one of the greatest designers of our time, and plus who’s suits will I buy when I finally have enough money to afford a good one?

What do you think indies, is Browne on the down and out? Or is this a little white lie from The Cut?