Hyperkult

Photo credit: Style Rookie

You’ve no doubt heard of Tavi, the 13-year-old wunderkind who belongs to a new garde of fashion writers: teen bloggers. She is as ubiquitous a front row staple as Anna Wintour; she counts the Mulleavy sisters as friends; she is a Pop magazine cover model. She’s a girl, not yet a woman, and let’s not forget that.

A self-professed “Style Rookie,” Tavi maintains a blog of the same name, but if we’re to believe her acutely fashion-literate entries, she’s nothing of the sort. That is, unless the Tavi phenomenon is an elaborate ruse in the same vein as J.T. Leroy. My impressions of Tavi are scattered, but I will cop to occasionally reading her blog and being curious about who this boffo, Rei Kawakubo-loving young lady is.

My issue is less with the wide-eyed aesthete herself than the world that has shepherded her transformation from anon to internet superstar. I wonder under what circumstances, for what purpose such a budding icon is constructed, and by many, revered. What is Tavi’s writing—which seesaws between hyper-mature and rambling tween-speak—teaching us? Have we accepted her as a legitimate expert (Bazaar has), or an avatar of the kind of 13-year-old us adult fashion lovers wish we were at her age—hell, even now?

I am both fascinated and unnerved by the rising Cult of Tavi. The fashion industry routinely turns out star designers, models and false gods, then carelessly discards of them when they are deemed unnecessary. How true Heidi Klum’s tagline rings. It’s admittedly youth and image obsessed (I’ll save the curious sexualization of teen models for another time), and Tavi-idolatry exaggerates these qualities. What this means for a young woman undergoing puberty alongside peers like Aggy and Hamish Bowles is concerning.

Just ask Tim Blanks, whose furrowed brow in Part One of Loic Prigent’s Habillees (several minutes in) says it all:

Wave to the future.

Rodarte S/S 2010, Photo credit: Style.com

New York’s Spring/Summer 2010 Fashion Week was a let down. I can’t say that I was enthusiastic about many of the collections, save for the four that I’m highlighting here. What was most disappointing about the New York shows was that many designers paraded out barely tweaked iterations of what they’re known for. Sure, there is something to be said for having a “signature,” for satisfying a loyal client base, but when that signature turns routine, it’s at best predictable and at worse a sign of laziness.

But onto the good: Rodarte (above) in particular was look after look of breathtaking, tough, gothic ballerina wear unlike anything else shown this past week—the kind of half-mad, but ultimately wearable and beautiful imaginings of the Mulleavy sisters, Kate and Laura. Next up for the two is Rodarte for Target, the chain’s next Go! International collaboration. I’m not sure how Rodarte’s $1,000+ shredded sweaters and elaborately draped dresses will translate to a $20-100 price range, but I’m trusting the Berkeley badasses to do what they do best, with discounted panache.

Proenza Schouler S/S 2010, Photo credit: Style.com

Diane von Furstenberg S/S 2010, Photo credit: Style.com

Marc Jacobs S/S 2010, Photo credit: Style.com