Business

Clothes reading

It’s cold out there, but it’s about to get hot on the runways — and in the fashion media — with the launch of New York Fashion Week on Thursday.

This year, even in the head-in-the-clouds fashion world, austerity is the new buzz word. In 2012, for example, Harper’s Bazaar, trumpeted on its cover to Fashion Week readers: “The Bag and Shoes to Buy.” This year it’s “The Bag and Shoe to Buy.” Is that just one shoe, or maybe a one-step-at-a-time remedy? Meanwhile, editors do offer, “10 Pieces You Need for Spring,” and a wrap up of “What’s In, What’s Out.” Topping the “In” column: black-and-red floral on everything; “Out” are jumbo satchels, which block can trip fashionistas. (Quelle horreur!) And those 10 pieces you need by springtime: heavy metal (chrome and shiny metallic hues) adorning all accessories; stark black-and-white clothing patterns, e.g., jailhouse stripes and checkerboards and big chunky necklaces, such as Gucci’s $3,450 spiky amalgam that look as if it’ll snag on everything. One fashion subject that’s gone full circle in these hard times is in the article, “Black Is The New Black,” which features, well, everything in black, and more black.

While not stopping to count them, we feel shortchanged by Elle’s cover promise of “300+ Bags, Shoes, Dresses, Jackets.” Unless the mag is counting the clothes on the models in the advertisements, the pages feel light on couture, especially for a clothing mag hitting the stands on Fashion Week. The photo shoot giving readers a peek at the spring styles also feels lacking as too many items are blurred or positioned in a way that makes them difficult to see. Are those really pants she’s wearing on page 249? Who are we to say. We can’t see anything but the model’s face and a giant palm tree. That said, we enjoyed some of the non-fashion articles, especially the hilarious and poignant piece by Julie Schott on her adventure in fake hair extensions, fake eyelashes and contouring make-up. Schott proves what every woman already knows, which is that men are liars when they say they prefer the “natural look.” It’s fun to watch Schott grow invigorated, albeit slightly unnerved, by her newfound ability to lure guys like a pack of monkeys to shiny objects.

W’s movie issue teases us with “Emma Stone Takes Off,” but the photo of the so-called golden girl wearing little more than black breast armor is less than a come-on. It’s definitely a come down for design director Johan Svensson, whose year-ago cover of a sultry Charlize Theron “on the art of seduction” proves once again that suggestion is sexier than skin. For real breast-baring in this issue, there’s always Dree Hemingway in nothing but her jeans. Exciting, huh?

Vogue, thanks in part to Annie Leibovitz’s photography, publishes a memorable “celebrating New York” issue, including runway rock-star models doing their part: not backstage but in Far Rockaway providing Hurricane Sandy relief. Elsewhere, journalist Silvana Paternostro, who reports on Cuba and Central America, writes a revealing story about how she was determined not to marry a Latin lover because of the way they typically treat women — and then has her belief system challenged. As for Fashion Week fare, there is a engaging profile on designer Georgina Chapman (aka Harvey Weinstein’s wife), but the Kleig lights are reserved for red-hot “Dragon Tattoo” actress Rooney Mara.

All too often, the New Yorker appears blissfully unaware of the time. Likewise, the features in this week’s double “Anniversary Issue” give only fleeting indications of what year we’re celebrating. There’s the 40-year-old manuscript of a deceased staff writer, and a piece about a single-malt scotch brand that reads like ad copy. Narrowing it down, there’s a follow-up on the 2010 shootings in Alabama by university professor Amy Bishop, and, finally, a piece on Hurricane Sandy’s damage in Staten Island. So, at least we know it’s sometime after Oct. 29, 2012. We’re hoping to read something on Ed Koch by late February.

Those of us who were getting increasingly worried about Frank Rich’s faith in America can heave a big sigh of relief. That’s because Rich has written a New York cover story titled “How Django Renewed My Faith in America,” in which he explains how Quentin Tarantino has saved the country. Switching away from the subject of Rich’s ego for a moment, it’s only right to give a last nod to Koch’s ego. Asked how Koch “seemed both sensitive and tough at the same time,” Mario Cuomo responds that it’s “Very easy. Here’s how you do it. You love yourself more. And you dislike other people more. He was good at both.” So we’re guessing Cuomo (“Not The Homo”) won’t be giving the official eulogy today.

Time’s cover depicts a scary-looking Predator drone hovering in an ashen sky over a suburban street, asking “What happens when they’re unleashed at home?” Fretting over the prospect of a drone-driven police-surveillance state, the story inside is equally worked up. “Last February an animal-rights group in South Carolina launched a drone to watch a group of hunters on a pigeon shoot on private property,” the story reports. “The hunters promptly shot it down.” Such an anecdote, we would think, makes a pretty strong case against investing in costly, high-tech, airborne peeping-tom gadgetry in South Carolina, and a lot of other states, too. We trust the NRA will have our backs on this one.