Honorary Fashion Police

Last night I had the best time ever watching the SAG Award’s Red Carpet special with my dear friend and former E! Entertainment Fashion Police, Jay Alexander.

Unfortunately for E!, Jay is extremely busy with a million different projects and found himself unable to attend the SAG Awards. As most of you may know, Jay has been spending quite a bit of his time here in New York City working with both Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model and Kimora Lee Simmons on Life in the Fab Lane. What many of you might not know is that Jay actually lives in Paris but for the past few years has lived between hotels, airplanes and production sets.

Fortunately for me, however, I get to spend a great deal of time hanging out and catching up with my oldest and dearest friend. Jay and I spend hours walking, talking and laughing. We literally walk perhaps 40 to 45 New York City blocks every single time we get together. For a while after his initial ANTM fame it was a bit distracting with random people screaming, “Hey Miss Jay!” or “Isn’t that Miss Jay?” But at this point it has actually become the soundtrack and/or backdrop for our long walks and chats. For the most part, Jay is always very gracious and never turns down a photo with an enthusiastic fan… Unless said fan has a camera-phone…

A few years ago I gave Jay a bit of advice that was shared with me during a similar walk and chat fest with friend and client, Reese Witherspoon. Reese and I were exiting her hotel after having a quiet lunch and this middle-aged woman came running up to her waving a camera phone and pleading with Reese for a photo. Reese turned and said, in the most elegant Southern voice that I have ever heard, “Ma’am, I would love to take a photo with you but I don’t take photos with camera phones. Those things simply don’t do anyone justice.” Luckily the woman’s poor daughter that had obviously been chasing her slightly out of control mother was equipped with a proper camera. I therefore obliged the woman’s request by taking a pseudo family portrait of the women with Reese buried firmly in the middle of this love fest. As Reese and I walked calmly away from her doting fans, Reese said to me, “Those camera phones always make me look like a lollipop head and eventually end up all over the internet.” (side bar: I have actually known Reese for many years – pre super fame. I was an assistant in the wardrobe department on the movie “Freeway” and we simply stayed in touch over the years. We share a certain “southern sensibility”. If you have never seen the movie Freeway, I would suggest you rent it and treat yourself. A young Reese Witherspoon is absolutely hysterical and amazing in this film…)

Now, at this point you might be asking yourself what this has to do with watching the SAG Award’s Red Carpet. That’s just it – the SAG Awards Red Carpet was simply a big rambling of nothingness. There were no real hits or any major misses. The red carpet was simply the same old boring parade of predictable evening frocks and boring cocktail dresses. Where are those memorable moments of yesteryear when messes like Darryl Hannah, Bjork and Laura Flynn Boyle lit up the red carpet with their overzealous fashion attempts. But if I had to take a stab at it my "Honorary Fashion Police" moment would go a bit like this:

Best Dressed Woman - Marion Cotillard - Marion wearing Nina Ricci was absolutely heavenly. Just knowing first hand all of the painstaking details and craftsmanship that it took Mr. Theyskens to design and perfect this dress gives me the chills. My hat truly goes off to him.

Best Dressed Man – Brad Pitt – It’s Brad Pitt - isn't that enough!!! I just love the fact that he simply shows up 100% himself.

Worst Dressed Woman – Angelina Jolie – I love Angelina, I really do… But what the hell was that frumpy Hermes tent dress about. She was dressed like she was eight or nine months pregnant - not the rumored two or three months.

Worst Dressed Man – Viggo Mortensen – What an amazing actor but I absolutely hate his fashion sense. I am almost positive that he and Johnny Depp have the same stylist and/or wardrobe rental service.

Honorable Mention Woman - Ellen Page - Elln in simply thought looked young and fresh. She dressed in a designer that matched both her personality and her generation.

Honorable Mention Couple - Forest and Keisha Whitaker – I loved the fact that Forest wore a tuxedo by young designer Nana Boateng (young cousin of Oswald Boateng) and that it wasn’t just the same old boring tuxedo.

Jay Alexander’s Picks

Best Dressed Woman and Man – Julie Chrystie – Ms. proved that a woman of certain age can still show the young girls how to dress to accept an award.

Worst dressed Woman - Chandra Wilson – stripes made her look like a lost Christmas present. Chandra was simply wrong, wrong, wrong!

Worst Dressed Man – Viggo Mortensen – The combination was just not right . Oh no Viggo.

Now it's your turn to share your best and worst dressed with us...

"Opening Bell"

Many of you in your requests for me to continue blogging relayed how much you wanted to know what goes on in my daily life (most from beginning to end). At first, I started to think to myself, “But isn’t that already what I talk about???" However, after going through a few of my previous post and reading over your requests, I believe I now know exactly what you meant.

Today, I will simply focus on what I have begun to refer to as my morning's “opening bell.”

During off-peak days (no shows, no events, and no interviews) I usually wake up between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. On peak days I wake up between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. knowing that the day is going to be extremely hectic… Now 7:30 a.m. might sound a bit late to some, but please keep in mind that I very rarely fall asleep before 2:00 a.m. and that my office is only one flight down.

Well no matter what time I wake up, by the time I do, I always find myself waking up to the vibration of my cell phone riddled with text messages and alerts. Both of which I find equally as annoying but 100% necessary in “my line of work “

I know, I know – the more I write this post, the more I sound like either a Wall Street trader or a lady of the evening… And to be quite honest, the life of a fashion designer is a little of both…

Most of the time my first message of the morning is from a colleague and/or friend living in Europe, Asia or The Middle East. Most of the messages are either requests for assistance on my end or filled with useful information previously requested from their side of the world. Every now and then I receive an early morning message from one of my knucklehead friends that decided it would be funny to call me at 3:00 a.m. from some wild party to inform me exactly what it is they believe I had been missing… Usually I am missing absolutely nothing.

Well, soon after I go through these messages deciding whether to hit reply or delete, I stumble my way into the kitchen for my morning's cup of tea. I must admit that I am a caffeine junkie. I start out with a cup of black-tea then I work my way up to a large cup of hazelnut coffee. Now I know this doesn’t sound important in the scheme of things, but you must know that I purposely overdose myself on caffeine in the morning in order to reach an almost intoxicated state. I swear, by the time I walk my dog (Harlem) at 9:00 a.m. I am completely punch-drunk. Luckily the effects of the caffeine usually wear off after my 30 minute speed walk through the local park and across the campus of New York’s City College.

Upon returning to the brownstone, I quickly feed Harlem, change into my “work fatigues” then I spend at least ten minutes rough housing and teasing my boyfriend Tyson (side bar: one of the great things about being in a gay relationship is that if you are lucky, you and your partner eventually become like two adult men that never grow up… Not at all like the heterosexual Peter Pan syndrome, but more like a Lord of the Flies Disorder). At last, I run down stairs to give my morning greetings to our mini-staff /interns and then I go immediately to my computer – my sanctuary – my connection to the world – my Harlem Stock Exchange.

Upon opening my email account, I can judge my own personal stock based on how many emails are in my inbox. Not the stock from my non-existing financial portfolio, but my own personal stock also known as Mal Sirrah.

Keep in mind this has nothing to do with my personal ego - but everything to do with the Mal Sirrah brand. All of these little things matter - press clippings, orders, invites, Google analytics, scandals, words of encouragement, endorsements, etc. In today’s climate these little things eventually begin to mature, to attract investors, often fluctuate and if played just right - finally become valuable assets. But for now, I keep my eyes focused on the market ticker and my feet planted firmly on the trading floor.

I will admit there are mornings when the opening bell goes off and I think to myself, “Today is going to be a good day. People to see and places to go… Yes, today will be my day.” But then there are those days that before I can make my first trade, I get a telephone call from one of the many fashion power brokers. The telephone call that goes a bit like this…

Caller: Hello, may I speak to Mal please.

MS: This is he (in a slightly affected yet cheerful voice)

Caller: Hi, it’s Amanda Freda from Mr. Weintraub’s office.

MS: Hi Amanda. I am so looking forward to my meeting with Marvin today at 2:00.

Caller: Silence…

MS: Hello… Amanda???

Caller: Well Mal that’s why actually why I ‘m calling. Mr. Weintraub would like to reschedule your meeting.

MS: Reschedule???

Caller: Yes. Maybe next week or the week after… I’ll call you in a day or two with the details. Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day. Goodbye.

MS: Okay. Good (Bye never makes it out of my mouth before I here the deafening click of the trading ticker.)

Now for those of you that don’t know what the dreaded last minute rescheduling of appointment equates to - especially in the world of a slightly self-absorbed and perpetually childlike fashion designer - it means the market is down - a plummeting of one’s own personal stock. Thank God the grown-up me (Malcolm), the one that lives in the real world calmly realizes that Mr. Weintraub’s has merely made a trade – one appointment for another - business as usual.

Shortly thereafter, I pick up the telephone and make a trade of my own...

MS: Hey, what’s up? It’s Malcolm.

Seth: Yo Mal - - - Wassup!!! Yo, you missed it last night… Bungalow was crazy!!!

MS: Really!!! I missed it!!! Hey, what are you doing for lunch?

Seth: No plans… Chilling…

MS: Cool. Meet me at Pastis around 2:00…

I Am The DREAM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for allowing me to live my dream.

Andrew Young and Dr. Martin Luther King - 1967

Andrew Young and Malcolm Harris - 2007

The full version of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech.

I am so UNVOGUE!!!

On last Friday evening, I had the pleasure of co-hosting the launch of the new online magazine “UNVOGUE”.

What an incredible event and an amazing crowd of people. The spirit of change was truly in the air. I must say that we are all truly living in an incredible time when a group of like-minded people can gather and completely change the landscape of the fashion industry as we have come to know it… Instead of me explaining what exactly what “Unvogue” means and represents, I have also included their press release for your reading pleasure.

p.s. By the way, does the dress on the cover look familiar…

UNVOGUE'S FIRST ISSUE

Mal Sirrah Spring 2008

Malcolm Harris as Mal Sirrah

UNVOGUE Editor-In-Chief – Tyson P.

I can never really understand what questions are being asked of me during these interviews, especially in the middle of a loud and crowded event.

Unvogue Supporters

Rock Chic - Meghan McCauley (Perez Hilton's favorite)

Stylist Alexander Allen, guest, UNVOGUE'S Tyson P, and model Edgar Lopez

Tyson P. and Meghan McCauley (believe it or not, I actually made the dress she is wearing - by special request only)

Song bird Kelly Sweet

Editors from Radar and Style.Com

**UNVOGUE PRESS RELEASE **

NEW YORK, – A brand new style of fashion magazine is launching, and neither print/online magazines nor the fashion industry will ever be the same. UNVOGUE magazine will officially launch on January 16, 2008 at www.UNVOGUE.com.

UNVOGUE magazine is an online fashion publication with a sense of humor and style while fulfilling our reader’s appetite for what’s hot and exciting in fashion, cultural issues, music and entertainment. Unlike other fashion magazines whether on-line or paperback, our magazine is not that of a dictatorship. UNVOGUE magazine offers and encourages reader interaction, article feedback and future content suggestions. We will also follow our reader’s advice and leads when researching upcoming full-length stories, feature columns and pictorials.

The UNVOGUE reader is the ultimate fashionista distributed evenly between males and females. Our market research also shows that our reader is of various races, sizes and economic backgrounds. Our readers truly understand and live a lifestyle of mixing luxury brands with mass marketed brands on a daily basis. Our readers are consumers whose wardrobe budgets range anywhere from $200 to $2000 whilst presenting a total “look” that may appear to be in the range of $5000-$10000. Our fashion directors, editors and stylists at UNVOGUE encourage our readers to use what they may already have in their closets, while purchasing a few new luxury items and/or mass produced garments to create an “in” fashion style. We never dictate only suggest, what our readers should buy in order to stay current with fashion trends.

The secret behind UNVOGUE magazine is stylist Tyson P. After just 6 years of working as a fashion stylist for celebrity clients, fashion magazines and runway shows, Tyson Perez has decided to further his career by anointing himself as founder and editor-in-chief of UNVOGUE magazine.

UNVOGUE will be a living, breathing bi-monthly on-line publication, which can be flipped through on our website www.UNVOGUE.com at our viewer’s leisure. Our readers will have the benefit of viewing our on-line magazine from the comfort’s of their home, office or school without the worry of carrying it to the recycle bin or the coffee table pile-up. UNVOGUE magazine will launch on Wednesday, January 16, 2008.

Afternoon Inspiration

I thought I would share with you my afternoon inspiration - Mr. Serge Gainsbourg.

A great deal of my free-will and self-promoting talent and spirit I learned directly from reading about this profound artist Serge Gainsbourg during my very first trip to Paris as a young fashionista. Initially I was more drawn to the beauty ofthe English actress Jane Birkin, and therefore my research began with anything and everything “Jane” - - - hence my introduction to Serge Gainsbourg. Serge was both this English icon's greatest lover as well as the father of her daughter, actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. Remind me to revisit my personal Charlotte Gainsbourg story at a later date. But for now back to Serge...

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin circa 1969 (the namesake of the much sought after Hermes Birkin Bag)

I remember when I first began reading and learning about Serge I often found myself very angry that as Americans we weren’t aware of his talent or his genius. I was always fascinated by the fact that he didn’t allow any genre of music and/or industry to fully claim him. He was simply a creative being. By the time my career got rolling during its first incarnation in the mid to late 90’s I longed to be as bold and free as Mr. Gainsbourg. Unfortunately, by this time the fashion industry had already firmly locked their claws and hooks into me and claimed me as their very own. It has taken me a very long time to reach this level of self-assuredness, if not Gansbourg-ness, to be able to break free and live my life on my own terms. The property of no one - the master of my own destiny - and the promoter of my own vision. For this I am forever grateful to both Jane Birkin and most importantly to Serge Gainsbourg – the king of self-promotion.

Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

For those of you that are not familiar with Serge Gainsbourg, please allow me to introduce him to you via this brief synopsis and video below:

Serge Gainsbourg (April 2, 1928 – March 2, 1991) was a French poet, singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's varied style and individuality made him difficult to categorize. Although famous in France for many years, he did not achieve his first No. 1 album until 1979, when he released Aux Armes et caetera more than twenty years after his music career had begun. Since the 1980s, his legacy has been firmly established.

Personal life

He was born Lucien Ginzburg in Paris, France, the son of Russian Jewish parents who fled to France after the 1917 Bolshevik uprising. His childhood was profoundly affected by the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, during which he and his family, as Jews, were forced to wear the yellow star and eventually flee from Paris.

Before he was 30 years old, Lucien Ginzburg was a disillusioned painter but earned his living as a piano player in bars.

He had a daughter, actress Charlotte, with English singer and actress Jane Birkin; and a son, Lucien (best known as Lulu), with his last partner, Bambou (Caroline von Paulus, who is related to Friedrich Paulus).

For more info go to Wilkepedia-Serge Gainsbourg

Video Below featuring Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus

New Year's Resolution

Instead of me explaining to all of you my New Year's Resolution in long drawn-out detail, I will simply share the following with you:



Long Live Queen Mary!!!

Afternoon Quickie - UNVOGUE Magazine Launch

Yes - TO BLOG!!!

Well, as most of you can tell by now, the decision has been made – TO BLOG!!!

I would like to honestly and humbly thank each of you that commented and/or emailed voicing your opinions and especially requesting me to continue with the blog. I seriously had no idea that “it mattered” to so many people. I will admit there was a bit of me that thought a few of you would say: “Not To Blog” – and quickly followed with a diatribe about how much you detest me… You laugh, but it has happened quite a few times… I am very lucky that I have never really been a people pleaser so I ‘ve always known that I would rub a certain percentage of people the wrong way. Oh well – c’est la vie…

In all seriousness, I am forever humbled by this truly scary exercise.

Therefore stay tuned… Cut, Sew and Blog continues…

Belated Holiday Sneers!!! Ooops, I meant Holiday Cheers!!!

Hey gang,

I've been meaning to share these photos with you guys for a few days now, but somehow they got stuck in that weird space between the digital camera and my computer... Come on you all know that weird space called "procrastination”. Another reason I may have hesitated posting these photos might also stem from the fact that I seriously find the holidays to be a bit cheesy.

Unfortunately, my boyfriend (Tyson) believes in celebrating every holiday under the sun. He is still under the impression that his birthday should be listed as a National Holiday. Anyway, my boyfriend and I actually did the whole tree trimming thing on Christmas Eve. I thought that I would be able to get out of this bit, but Tyson kept giving me those puppy dog looks, coupled with occasional sneers, both of which were pregnant with – “It’s Christmas – We MUST have a tree.” Listen, don’t let his sweet face fool you – “Mr. Tyson P. is a handful.” I will be addressing this handful of mine in another post, but for now let’s stick to the holidays. Anyway, once we got the whole tree trimming thing going, I actually found myself enjoying it… As you can see from the photos below, we dragged that poor tree up so fiercely it looked like a dolled up RuPaul, Andre J and my dear friend, Jay Alexander… Dress included!!!

Shortly after Xmas, Tyson and I took off to spend New Year’s Eve in London. The London trip was actually a surprise Christmas gift I received from my dear Tyson.

We had a blast! We honestly had a blast doing nothing in particular. We were also lucky due to the fact that most of our friends living in London were away traveling for the holidays. Therefore we were not forced to run around town meeting this one and that one - - - we were simply allowed to be carefree… We truly had a blast.

The one friend I did have a chance to catch up with was the amazing artist, musician and performer – JELONE. Jelone is a part of the whole “Amy Winehouse” crew sans the whole drug thing and I have had the fortune of calling him a dear friend for more than 10 years. He is truly an unique artist and an amazing spirit. I will feature Jelone in an upcoming post of his own, but for now I leave you with one of his most recent performances live from Notting Hill’s White Party…

Congratulations to our Chanel Iman

I beg of you all to go out and buy the issue of TeenVogue with our own little Chanel Iman on the cover... It is so good to see her finally presented like a sweet and beautiful young teenager. She truly is just a kid and sometimes I even battle with the use of these young precious girls in the adult world of fashion.

Chanel and Malcolm flashback:

To Blog or Not To Blog?

Judging by some of your comments left on my “gone fishing” posts, I know that many of you had started to wonder if I would ever be returning from my “vacation” and/or writing a new post. If so, I must share with you that recently I have found myself wondering if I had allowed my life to become too much of an open book. So I took the holidays to ponder today’s post – “To blog or not to blog, that is the question.”

I must admit when I first decided to create Cut, Sew and Blog I seriously believed that it would be this great little marketing tool which would allow me to virtually connect to my brand’s growing customer base. I thought I would spend most days waxing about daily fabric choices, sharing continuous inspirations for upcoming collections and/or simply giving you all little sneak peaks into my daily life as a fashion designer. Simple – Right? Of course not, this is fashion.

From the moment CS&B began a strange relationship between me and my readers began to happen. I started to receive emails and comments from people that wanted to know the “real deal” with being a fashion designer living and working in New York City. The comments on the blog itself were usually very generic and somewhat benign. What intrigued me most were the cloaked emails received via our CS&B email link. These emails would organically change the course of CS&B forever. The one thing which really resonated with me was the sense of hurt and rejection that most of these emails contained from aspiring designers, stylists, models, and creatives-at-large. Even when someone would ask a simple question like, “How do I get my foot in the door?” it was usually followed by a heart felt story of rejection and/or despair. These stories were often so detailed and vivid that I could physically feel the emotionally scarred author‘s pain. This pain was beyond anything I believed I could sooth with one of my witty one liners and/or an anecdote passed down from my wise old 94 year old grandma. Therefore most of my posts were actually inspired by comments as well as emails that begged me to share my “actual journey” and not the PC or media driven version. A few times, I was even called out by a few of my readers for not giving the backstory to several posts in particular – but I simply soothed their ruffled feathers by assuring them that all will be revealed in due time.

To be quite honest, there were even those days when I knew for a fact that I was using Cut, Sew and Blog for my own selfish and therapeutic reasons. I knew that at times CS&B felt like a stretching out on a therapist’s cheap leather chaise lounge without ever having to expect a bill at the end of the month. I can still remember initially going to GoogleAnalytics to check out how many people had logged on to CS&B per day. At the onset we had approximately 200 to 250 people stopping by and we actually thought we were doing good – if not great. Then I started to court my fellow bloggers for their assistance in increasing our readership (i.e. Fashionbomb, ShakeYourBeauty, The Business of Fashion Blog, Styleaholics, FashionIndie, etc.) believe it or not, I have actually formed real friendships with most of the editors of each of these blogs. I eventually watched our readership slowly increase by leaps and bounds in a matter of weeks.

Then we started receiving attention from the international press, nothing big, but a mention here and there (The New York Times, or The Herald Tribune or The Washington Post, etc.) would allow CS&B a tremendous spike in readership. Some days I’d have to pinch myself at the increased volume. The pinch was to assure myself that I was still alive and that there hadn’t been an inadvertent obituary released announcing my early departure for the afterlife. (I read somewhere once that most people’s deaths get more press coverage than any single thing they could have ever possibly accomplished in their lifetime – sad but true)...

Oh yes, I would be remised if I didn’t give the lovely folks over at The New York Post’s Page Six their due in increasing our readership dramatically every single time they printed my name associated in some exaggerated scandal and/or made-up rumor. I have recently learned that as long as they get the spelling of my name correct - all of the rest of that crap really doesn’t matter. And in all honesty, I don’t find myself analyzing the stats that often these days. I simply follow my heart and hope that the universe will bring the right set of eyes to a particular post that resonates for the reader. It is as simple as that…

So now I find myself in a new year and faced with the burning question – “To Blog or Not To Blog???” I also now look to all of you to help me decide. Please leave your vote via comment or email...

VOTE:

1) To Blog

2) Not To Blog

Also, if there are things in particular that you would like for me to blog about, please let me know… I am sure this open invitation will be a double-edged sword, especially as it seems I have successfully organized a following of “emerging leaders” that aren’t shy with their comments and/or advice – even when not solicited… I implore you to never stop giving me your feedback. “CS&B belongs to you my liege…”


P.S. As far as the “Gone Fishing” messages are concerned… Now you all should know me well enough to know by now that I wouldn’t be caught dead fishing… Well that is not completely true… If Hermes were to create a fabulous fly-rod, tackle box and fishing vest – I might consider it…