Lulu Stands Corrected

For a while now, Lulu’s been resisting the hype surrounding Ms. Erin Fetherston; Lulu had seen perhaps one or two of E.F.’s pieces, and had, in her usual hasty way, pegged the house as “frilly”. This is Lulu’s ultimate dismissal: when she says “frilly”, she means those styles which are unintentionally affected and costumey. She associates it with gals of Lulu’s own tender age who wish for hyper-femininity, but, confusing femininity with girlishness, end up looking androgynous or childish. For those who seek such a look on purpose (Lulu cites the genius Lolitas of Harajuku, or the lovely lovely lovely mag Lula, Girl of My Dreams, with whom, despite any similarity of name, Lulu is not associated) Lulu has nothing but admiration. But she could just plain cry about all those women who do it by accident.

Lulu has taken the long way to say that she had misjudged Erin Fetherston: Fetherston’s work is in fact very beautiful, very feminine, and strangely sexy. Expecting puffy dresses and chest-flattening mini-coats, Lulu sees in Fetherston’s Fall-Winter 08 collection instead a line faintly reminiscent of between-wars England: the dresses are floaty, the coats are cinched at the waist or move elegantly with the body, and the effect is enchanting. Lulu stands corrected. As a matter of fact, Lulu is in love.

Please please please visit Ms. F’s homepage here. Watch the video associated with her Fall-Winter line, too, because it features the look Lulu has illustrated and because the soundtrack is really cool. Lulu’s illustration, by the way, belongs to her. She will be hurt and made ferocious if you use it without her permission.