As much as I enjoy fashion for art's sake, I simply cannot separate my enjoyment of the work from my enjoyment of the personalities that create it. This is why artists' bios are so important. This is why there are "Director's Notes" in performance programs. And THIS is a quote from Karl Lagerfeld:
In response to the question, "If you could do anything in your life over again, what would it be?" Karl says, "I don't want to do anything over again, ever again. I want only to do what I haven't done. There's no 'again.' There's only the future. I hate the past -- especially my own past."
Now, we can read that statement in the context of the fashion world, where a year is an eternity and from which the phrase "so last season" has been co-opted as a slangy pejorative, or we can read it in the context of the everyday world, where I like to live most days.
One has the ring of a young child bored with her new toy, or an adolescent angry with a troubled high school career.
The other has an exciting tone of adventure and discovery, tempered by the aggregate wisdom of years of mistakes made and lessons learned.
I like 'em both.
