Afternoon Quickie

From time to time I will simply hit you guys with what will be dubbed our "Afternoon Quickie"! So check out my quick post below and remember to have a cig for me...
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I hope you all picked up a copy of today’s New York Post – Page Six Magazine – (http://www.nypost.com/) with my lovely friend and Designers For Darfur Co-Founder, Lydia Hearst on the cover. There is also a beautiful pictorial and wonderful article inside… After everyone has had a chance to give it a read, I look forward to receiving your feedback… I hope that the world will finally start to see that Lydia Hearst is so much more than the last name HEARST…

Cut, Sew and VOTE!

Now, I no it's not proper to discuss sex, religion or politics in polite society - - - Well here's what I say to polite society!!!

Now let’s go!!!

Yesterday evening I made a half-hearted, if not lame, attempt to attend a Barack Obama rally held here in New York City at the legendary Washington Square Park. I was aware of this rally only because I had received at least 20 emails/text messages throughout the day announcing this monumental event and how it was incumbent upon all of “us” to support Barack Obama. There was something extremely presumptuous in several of the emails and/or text messages in the assumption that all of “us” were Obama supporters.

Senator Barack Obama

Now For those of you whom aren’t familiar with Washington Square Park it sits directly across the street from my old alma mater, New York University in the heart of Greenwich Village. To be quite honest, I hadn’t seen this many people gathered in the park since my own graduation many years ago. It is important for you to know that back in the day, Washington Square Park was where some of the most creative, intelligent and provocative people in New York City gathered to commune and exchange ideas. Today it seems to be more known for the shenanigans of petty drug dealers, scam artists and hustlers. Now that I think about it, very little has changed. Anyway, when I heard that Barack had chosen Washington Square Park for his rally, I immediately gave him cool points for selecting this location instead of one of the more expected venues around the city... But would this be enough to earn my vote?

PROOF PHOTOS THAT I DID SHOW UP!!!



When I first arrived at the park at around 5:00 p.m. I noticed that there were several very dark and ominous clouds lurking above… Of course, rain – I had found my out. But then all of sudden there was a ray of light that burst through the late afternoon sky that made a rain date impossible and only added to the excitement of the evening. So further into the park I frolicked (okay, gay alert – frolic). There were barricades, scanners and checkpoints everywhere. There were enough cops to police an entire small city and surprisingly they were all extremely polite and helpful. The event, like most of these huge productions, was a bit disorganized with most people bearing useless color coded tickets and invites. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have informed the NYPD as to the classification of each colored ticket and therefore they simply shifted attendees willy-nilly across the park. I must admit, however, there was even something energizing in witnessing the event turn out was even better attended than perhaps expected.


Then I heard the voice of an angel… In reality I found myself eavesdropping on a young lady’s cell phone conversation that she was having with a friend. Needless to say she was not using her “library voice” and judging by other bits and pieces which were revealed in her conversation - she was no angel. However it wasn’t the messenger or the form of delivery in this instance that was of great importance – instead it was the simple message that made its impact as she uttered the following: “I just heard that Obama won’t be taking the stage for another two to three hours.” Bingo – there it was – my out… No one could damn me for not being willing to wait around for three hours to hear Barack speak. Now I had the perfect excuse to bolt.

It was in this moment of ecstasy that I became washed with shame. In my heart of hearts I knew that had Barack Obama been Lauryn Hill I would have waited another two to three hours for her to take the stage, but for the man that quite possibly could be the next Leader of the Free World, I was not willing to wait another second… This proves that I still have some serious issues…

The Wait

In my defense, I will say this… At this same exact point I also knew that within an hour of Barack taking the stage, I would be able to see his entire speech broken up into convenient 10 minute intervals on YouTube. After all, we were just across the street from NYU with its wireless dormitories and high tech computer labs, and let me tell you - the park was chock-filled with video cameras and phones. Besides, it only took them a full 13 minutes to upload Beyonce falling down an entire flight of stairs in concert – so I knew that Barack was a shoe-in to be uploaded in a few hours…

Well, as I predicted by the time I arrived home from dinner there it was, uploaded and ready for public viewing on YouTube, “Barack Obama at Washington Square Park”. So I settled in to see what I could have possibly missed…

Barack Obama Electrifies the Crowd

As soon as the video began I immediately realized that what I had missed was Barack Obama in all of his glory, vigor and floodlights and delivering one of the most powerful speeches I have heard from him to date… I was thoroughly impressed. There was even a bit of me that wished I had hung around. But as I sat in my favorite chair in my perfect space, I knew that I had made the right decision. You see I am not the sort that needs the mob to dictate my decisions, so I also knew that my solitude would force me to clearly focus on Mr. Obama's message.

By the end of Obama’s speech I could feel in my pit that there was something about the delivery and excitement of this speech that bothered me. I couldn’t quite figure it out… Then it hit me… It hit me hard in the form of a question: "What does it take to get this version of Barack Obama to always show up???"

Barack Obama Live at Washington Square Park in New York City

Democratic Debate New Hampshire September 26, 2007

You see I had just seen Barack the day before in the New Hampshire debates and felt like he never really took it to them… He gave the same old lackluster answers that we have all become accustomed to hearing from him, especially under pressure. It reminded me of the week before when he was asked about his opinion on the Jena 6 situation and instead of him giving his honest opinion he gave us a juiced up version of “No Comment”. That bothers me. That bothers me – Big Time. So needless to say after watching Barack in several debates I am always left feeling, in the famous words of Michael Kors on Project Runway, a bit “under-whelmed”.

Barack leaves the crowd with a mission - TO CHANGE THE WORLD

What I have realized thus far about Barack is this: Barack Obama is truly the man (for my own selfish Oprah-like reasons) I wish could be our next President. This is a man that truly cares about making real changes in the world today… This is a man I believe if allotted more than 30 seconds in a debate scenario speaks from his heart and is lead by his conscious and convictions. This is a fair and decent man. This is a man that I believe can motivate and inspire people all over the world to greatness. This is a man that I believe should be President…. Okay, wait hold-on a second… Do I believe my own eyes??? Did I just write that I believe that Obama should be President??? Now I am really confused. I guess what I am saying is that my heart and soul believes in Barack but my hardwiring may believe a bit more in Hillary Clinton. And I won’t even get started on those other Democratic hopefuls that read more like Democratic doubtfuls; especially as I would like to end this post on a good note…

THE CANDIDATES

At the end of the day, no matter how pissed off we may get at some of the crap the U.S. pulls around the world; no matter what stupidity comes out of the mouths of some of these useless politicians; or no matter for whom we ultimately decide to cast our vote… We all know for a fact that we live in one of the greatest and powerful countries to ever exist. The fact that we get to freely be “undecided” as to who will vote for and to openly discuss this matter is something that we should never take for granted… Therefore the one thing that I would encourage you all to do is to eventually decide and then VOTE!!!

Have a wonderful and glorious weekend!!!

It Takes A Village To Raise A Fashionista

Today, I will share with you all another title that I am very proud to finally wear – MENTOR.

Originally this was a role that I was very reluctant to take on as I believed that I had not yet reached the level of success which would inspire anyone to emulate - let alone consider a mentor. Not to mention when you consider that my goal in life is to be perfectly flawed. Then I started to realize that maybe this was simply a cop-out... It was only recently when a reporter asked me, “How does it feel to be a mentor and role model to so many aspiring designers and future fashionistas?”, did I realize that in fact I was already mentoring without even knowing it…

Therefore, please allow me to introduce you all to a few youngsters I personally mentor, encourage and support on a regular basis. However, I will need the assistance of all of you to keep them on the right path as we all know - "It takes a village to raise a fashionista!"

First up is Taylor:

Taylor is perhaps the most recent youngster to come under my tutelage. Taylor is a hard core New Yorker; grew up the East Hamptons, daughter of a former fashion model, friends with all the right families and social sets, and currently resides in trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Having said that, Taylor has decided to make her own way through life and not conform to any of the stereotypical expectations that a life of access and privilege has set up for her. From the day Taylor walked into my studio decked out in her most recent Derek Lam find (a navy pleated chiffon dress - www.dereklam.com), a vintage classic Chanel bag, a pair of classic pumps and the vocabulary of a truck driver – I knew that we would get on swimmingly. Taylor’s talent really shines in her illustrations and the maturity of her design sensibility. Something tells me that she learned a great deal whilst sitting backstage as her mother twirled the runways of Stephen Burrows, Halston, Fernando Sanchez and many others. What I love about Taylor the most is that she is very much like me in the sense that we have always dreamed of working in the fashion industry. I still pinch myself everyday that I have been able to make this dream come true… One day soon Taylor will share this same excitement and dream…

Taylor's Illustration of Mal Sirrah S/S 2008

Next on the list is my dear sweet Jerome:

I have been mentoring Jerome now for almost three years and he is perhaps one the most talented and confident 22 year old men that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Currently Jerome’s talents can be viewed on a weekly basis as the "head designer" of Kimora Lee’s KLS line which is featured on the reality television show “Kimora’s Life in the Fab Lane.” You would think that all of this would have gone to his tiny little head, but I can assure that it hasn’t… If anything, it has made him even more committed to mastering the craft of fashion design and it is my pleasure to encourage him every step of the way…

Clip from "Kimora's Life In the Fab Lane (I must admit this show is one of my favorite guilty pleasures... No judgment please)

Jerome's Illustration of a Mal Sirrah Spring/Summer 2006

Just the other day we all had a family day out before sending Chanel off for Milan Fashion Week… Chanel of course decided to drag us all to Cold Stone’s Ice Cream for perhaps the sweetest ice cream I’ve ever had in my entire life… What a perfect segue to my next little darling: Chanel Iman

Chanel, Malcolm, and Jerome

Chanel, Jerome, and Tyson P(aka my gorgeous man)

I almost feel as if I don’t even need to go there with you all after my post from last week, but as any proud PaPa would do… Here's Chanel !!!

Firstly, my role as mentor to Chanel is coupled by the fact that she has one of the most amazing women in the world supporting her; her mother – China… Their relationship reminds me very much of Tyra Banks and her mother, Caroline. (By the way, Chanel will be appearing on the Tyra show one day next week so check your listings). Now I know to a lot of outsiders looking in you might expect that the mothers of most under-aged models would always be on the scene… But this is really not the case. A great number of these young models are hand delivered into the mouths of the wolves in this business and this is part of the industry that still gets me in the gut… But I can guarantee you that the support system which surrounds Chanel Iman is impenetrable (this includes China Robinson, Tyra Banks, Jay Alexander, Tyson Perez, Andre Leon Talley, Anna Wintour, and of course yours truly). We can smell a predator a mile away – so if anyone ever gets any ideas – they had better be ready to take on an entire village…

The one thing that I love about my relationship with Chanel is that is not a typical designer / model relationship. To be quite honest, I have only dressed Chanel once and it was for a Yale Award presentation. When Chanel is with my boyfriend (Tyson P) and I, it is never about work for us – it’s our Fashion Free Zone. I don’t want or need her to be Chanel Iman the model… When she is with us it is about Chanel the sweet and well mannered 16 year old girl that has the spunk, energy and liveliness of a whirling dervish. But what she also has is a gentle spirit, a smile and a trademark wink that will melt your heart…

Last on today’s list is my little Jorge:

My little Jorge… I actually met Jorge last summer whilst he was interning for another designer, Alvin Valley (http://www.alvinvalley.com/)… Well Jorge just happened to be at one of my favorite silk suppliers (C & J Textiles) located in the Garment District and he was just beaming with excitement. Jorge has such a sense of joy and adventure that it immediately draws you in… As I am always interested in what gets the next generation excited I immediately started chatting with Jorge… During the course of our chat, Jorge made one reference that solidified that I wanted to be a part of this young man’s journey… At the tender age of 19 he uttered the Gotham City Password – “Andy Warhol”… It turned out that Jorge was a sophomore at Vassar College and majoring in Fine Arts. Jorge had also recently written a paper that was later published entitled: “Andy Warhol & the Psychology of Pop, Psychology 106: Experiencing Art”. Jorge has now transferred to Parsons here in New York and continues to make me extremely proud by pursuing his education and following his dreams…

Jorge's illustration of Mal Sirrah Spring/Summer 2007

Recently Jorge bestowed upon me perhaps the greatest gift a kid can present to a proud parent – A LOGO!!! When I saw it for the first time I cried… I knew that this kid understood every emotion that had ever passed through my body as I continue my journey towards enlightenment… He understood the power of – Red, Gold and Green…

From Russia With Love

Firstly, I must say that when I started writing this blog, I had no idea what I was getting myself into... What I thought would be a simple way of allowing my client base an inside look into my everyday goings-on has turned into a daily testimonial / journal. The only difference is that it is now being shared around the world... Not until I received the following email from a Russian journalist (Olga) did I fully grasp Cut, Sew and Blog's impact and/or reach...

"Hi Malcolm,

Thanks for writing such an awesome blog. I'm happy that I found it and had a chance to read it. You are such a talented and natural writer, some people don't master writing to such a degree even after years of education in journalism and working for magazines. Your writing is so exclusive and full of amazing details and insights. It's invaluable for those interested in the internal workings of the fashion world. I mean, it's really awesome to see a talented designer being such a talented writer too.

I'm a journalist from Moscow, Russia. I work for central Russian mass media, as well as internationally for American and British press. Ialso write a fashion blog just for fun, it's called Fashionably Cute and it's about kawaii and Japanese things in fashion. Do you mind if I turn to you once in a while for comments and/orinsights about the fashion industry and about your own fashion line?

I think what you've said about the lack of exposure for African-American designer is entirely true. I love when people of allr aces get a chance to break through, tell their story and show their talent to the world. I also think that there is a considerable lack of African-American models on the runway during the fashion weeks, and in print in the top fashion glossies. We all want to see fresh faces, and girls like Chanel Iman are beautiful.

I have to say that the problem of racism is incredibly acute in Russia. I'm really ashamed that I live in a country where there are fascist groups operating in broad daylight in the 21st century. Somep eople are afraid to go out of their house, that doesn't include only black people, but ethnically Jewish, Korean, Armenian, Georgianpeople. There have been numerous cases of attacks on people on the streets and on the subway. I'm happy though that Russian TV has been including more and more African-Russian people into movies and shows and that the government doesn't show any discrimination towards any race or ethnicity, whereas during the Soviet times and before the Revolution in the 1917 there was the official governmental policy ofd iscrimination, when whole ethnic groups like Jewish or Korean were relocated to distant barren lands of Siberia or Kazakhstan, because they were "potentially dangerous" for having their "historical motherland" outside Russia and thus having a "high potential for treason".

Well, I hope my ramblings haven't bored you. Hope to hear from you. Wishing you well and lots of luck in everything you do.

Best wishes,

Olga"

What Olga doesn't know is that I actaully have a certain affinity towards all things Russian:

- Of course, Russian Caviar and Vodka - (Don't judge - it's simply part of Gay Culture 101)

- Russia has als provided me with my favorite tragic love story (The Last Czar and his Imperial Family):

"They were a happy, close family, which had a very great interest of animals, specially pets, for instance Alixis had an elephant in the palace park, Nicholas had a parrot in his bathroom, Anastasia had a mouse that lived in the palace walls, Tatiana had a bulldog named Ortino, Olga had a cat named Vaska and the Empress Alexandra had a great number of dogs but especially loved her Borzoi."

- One of my favorite Russian models and personal friends Yulia Vasltsova. Julia has been with us since we opened the doors of Mal Sirrah:

Julia in Mal Sirrah Spring/Summer 2006

Julia in Mal Sirrah Fall/Winter 2007

- And last but not least my favorite Russian import.... My pride and joy - - - My "Borzoi" (Russian Wolfhound) named HARLEM!!! There will be many posts on Cut, Sew and Blog that will surround my little Harlem - so please stay tuned... I just love that dog....

Harlem at 4 months old

Harlem now at 14 months old

By the way, if you have any pet photos please send them in to me and I will feature them on the blog... I love pet's and perhaps this is why also adore the story of the Last Czar and his Imperial Family (minus the whole lining them up and shooting them dead thing - - - not to mention the fact the Czar was a very evil man that shouldn't be idolized in the least - - - I just loved the romantic bits about this eccentric group of people)...

All Present and Accounted For

All present and accounted for??? Great! Let’s get started…

For all of you that joined me yesterday, you may recall that my day started out with a bit of blogger’s block. Therefore I decided that I would spend a portion of my day on a visual input / data collecting field trip… An “inspirational reconnaissance” mission, if you will …

So at around 1:00 p.m. I decided that I would go to one of my favorite restaurants in the world for lunch, LaGoulue… However, no one sent me the memo that the President of Iran had taken over all of Manhattan. There were Secret Service Agents, NYPD officers, camera crews, ambulances, fire trucks, helicopters, National Guard (well the National Guard might be an exaggeration) – but you name them and they were all there – present and accounted for… Therefore a walk that what would have taken me 10 minutes from my chariot depot (also known as the “D” Train at 59th Street) to LaGoulue, on Madison at 64th Street, took me almost 30 minutes. I was forced to take all sorts of twists, turns, and detours in order to avoid the motorcade of Mr. Ahmadinjad, or as Whoopi Goldberg call’s him, Mr. I’m-a-dinner-jacket. But thank God I did… When they say that everything happens for a reason – believe them…

Usually I like to take the scenic route to LaGoulue which is along Central Park South… But due to the high security at both The Essex House and The Ritz Carlton, I was forced to take a more pedestrian route down West 57th Street… For those of you not familiar with Manhattan, 57th Street is the equivalent to Main Street USA with fancy stores, sprinkled with hundreds of tourists, messengers, shopaholics and every day schleps. So off I go down Main Street…

I must admit there was a bit of excitement and energy in the air… All this pomp and circumstance surrounding the reconvening of the great minds within the United Nations all working towards solving the ills of the world. Now we can all criticize the United Nations as much as we want (as I often do especially as concerns Darfur), but just imagine this world without the U.N. Just imagine…

Okay, where was I… Oh yeah, walking up 57th Street - Main Street USA… So there I am, walking, grunting, bitching and moaning… And all of sudden - - - BOOM!!! BAM!!! KAZOOM!!! - - - There they were!!! Huge! Ginormous! Towering and Magnificent! PHOTOS… Photos of Black People, Asian People, White People, Hispanic People, Auntie Emm and Toto too… There they were - all the splendid colors in the rainbow of humanity… They were all there – “present and accounted for…” All in the windows of Bergdorf Goodman!!! You heard me – Bergdorf Goodman… I almost got crushed by the M57 Cross-town bus as I darted across West 57th street to make my way towards this shrine of New York City Cool. To be exact it was a shrine to New York magazine’s “New York Look Book” by Amy Larocco (author) Jake Chessum (photographer). But it was simply “cool” to me…

I could barely contain myself once I reached the window… Quite honestly I was physically shaking… What a beautiful and bold move on behalf of Bergdorf Goodman!!! To acknowledge all of our contributions to the flavor of fashion in New York City in such a magnificent and glorious way… I immediately began snapping photo after photo after photo… Then I decided to move on to the next phase of my reconnaissance mission – I started stopping and snapping photos of people (especially people of color) as they walked in or out of Bergdorf Goodman; I snapped as they sauntered or pranced by Bergdorf Goodman; hell, I even snapped people that were merely standing in the vicinity of the venerable Bergdorf Goodman… As my dear old grandmother would have said if she were there to see me, “I was a picture snapping fool!!!”

Speaking of my dear old grand ma-ma… I must say that there was only one person that almost spoiled my paparazzi styled photo shoot and she was a feisty 55-65 year old black woman that had somehow decided to channel Diahann Carroll’s Dominique Deveraux on this glorious afternoon. At this point I will show a bit of restraint for my non-African American visitors by not taunting them with the old salt in the wound catchphrase… Come on you know the one… Yes that one… Okay – if you insist… BLACK DON’T CRACK!!! Well Ms. Deveraux with her beautiful full head of gray hair, her Armani tailored suit, a huge Bergdorf Goodman shopping tote and a Goyard handbag to die for, was the picture of elegance… Of course this meant that I had to get up my nerves and bring my A-game to capture this particular prey… So I slowly began tomove in... But before I could get the words out of my mouth she quikcly turned to me and said in one shot, “Young man you had better get away from me with that camera - I don’t know where those pictures of yours might turn up…” In that moment, I had a vision of Oscar De La Hoya in his fishnet stocking scandal - - - and inorder to make myself feel better, I immediately put her head on top of those photos and walked a away with a big smile on my face… I was ashamed of myself for having such an awful thought, but it did give me a chuckle…

As I stood there still marveling over these beautiful photos in the window of Bergdorf Goodman, I was overcome with the feeling that if I waited a few minutes longer I would perhaps get the “mother-load” of shots… Perhaps a shot of Beyonce or Rhianna walking out of BG’s, or even Kerri Washington or Halle Berry. What? It could happen??? So I gave myself an extra 15 minutes before I would call it quits…

Now in all of my excitement, I failed to realize that there were other people standing around taking photos of these magnificent windows as well… However, when I did become aware of this I instantly noticed that there was one guy in particular that caught my eye… He stood out in the crowd of Japanese, Italian and French tourist as he had a similar look, if not energy, to famed photographer Terry Richardson (one day I will become more proficient in blogging where I can hyperlink certain names so that those of you who are not familiar with Terry Richardson can simply click his name, take a look at his website, and then quickly return to Cut, Sew and Blog)… But I digress/meander… Where was, I… Oh yeah, the bootleg Terry Richardson dude… Kidding… Well here is this guy snapping away… At certain points I couldn’t tell if he was simply snapping away at the windows or if he was snapping away at me snapping away at the windows… Then I decided to dismiss him as some sort of hipster taking photos for his blog as well… Wait - Did I just say blog - - - Oh No He Didn’t… All of a sudden I was overcome by a twang of jealousy as my fellow bloggers camera was of the professional make and all I had was my trusted Casio Exilim… I also believe that it was this twang of momentary jealousy (jealousy of the mine is bigger than yours variety) that compelled me to ask him what interested him in the windows??? As you may have noted, at this point, I had become a bit territorial of my “folks” in the windows…

Now are you all ready for the “mother-load”… It turns out that Mr. Bootleg Terry Richardson wasn’t bootleg at all… In fact, he was none other than Jake Chessum… You got it - - - Jake Chessum as in the photographer of the work in the windows and the book in question - New York Look Book… I didn’t know where to put my cracked face… But at this point it didn’t matter… I couldn’t stop praising and thanking Jake for his work, generosity and spirit by presenting New York with this glorious tribute… I knew for a fact that there would be thousands, if not millions, of people that would see these windows and understand that fashion is not the sole property and/or province of the rich, white and privileged… I knew that this book would stand as proof of our collective contributions… I am sure that Mr. Chessum must have thought me to be a bit loopy but I seriously did not care… I was truly honored to meet him… I was even more intrigued at this point as to how he was able to pull off such a major coup at Bergdorf Goodman... However, it seemed that he too was still in shock over this coup… Unfortunately, Jack was running off to a meeting with the author of the book, Amy Larocco , but promised he would contact me so that we could chat… There is also the possibility that I freaked the poor guy out and he decided to get the hell out of Dodge before psycho designer really got loopy… But no matter what I am glad that I met him and moreover, that I am now able to share this story with all of you…

(ab0ve) Photographer : Jack Chessum

Therefore, I believe my inspirational reconnaissance mission was a complete success… Now it’s up to you to let me know what you think???