Women and Their Fashion - Are Men Buying It?

Most of us get only a fleeting glimpse of the fashion world�the occasional models, maybe a runway show. But behind the glamour and glitz is a global industry so vast so ruthless, it would take a book and a year or more to interview and write it honestly. By the time I�d get around to a book, someone else will have done it better. Admittedly, fashion is an intriguing business of power struggles, corruption and sexual misdemeanors. Maybe fashion imitates life, certainly it did not create skinny. Whether the chicken or the egg came first, women are getting what they ask for. Are men?

Kate Moss, Women, and Their Magnificent Obsession

Women love clothes, and most people love celebrity. Combine the two and it�s no wonder that Barneys� Madison Avenue store just experienced the magic and the rewards of the reincarnation of Kate Moss. After 19 years as one of the world�s most successful models, the beauty had succumbed to the beast. Yet despite her fall from grace over the drug scandal the British press reveled in exploiting, the inimitable Moss is once again in the spotlight, having emerged from troubled model to impressive new designer in town.

As with other talented celebrities that know how to reinvent themselves, i.e. Madonna, Jane Fonda�Kate Moss is now a formidable presence amid designer moguls. Her alter ego, the ever-present Moss mystique, is what continues to make her exclusive. With her finger on the pulse of her adoring obsessed fans, Ms. Moss knows exactly what they want, which is anything with her name on it. Coming off a triumphant London opening of her line that drew crowds, the American scene at Barneys was less frenzied but nonetheless successful. Fans flowed into Barneys for $20 Henley tanks and $120 floral chiffon baby-dolls.

�Anything she wears looks fabulous and people want it,� said a fan, drooling over a tiered black chiffon dress ($575) Moss had worn to a costume gala. Every woman can�t look like Kate Moss. But never mind. If she creates it, women will buy it. The jury is still out on whether women dress for women or for men.

Men, Women and the Well-Tempered Clavicle

Since men are keen observers of women�s cleavages, it would be interesting to do a sample poll starting in June. Have men noticed a change in emphasis lately�located slightly north of the Mae West erogenous zone, in the Jane Austen area of the collarbone, otherwise known as the clavicle�not to be confused with clavichord? How many like it, how many don't, how many are ambivalent?

As the fashion pendulum consistently reminds us, style swings make money and we�re swinging into summer. Men will start to see women�s tops reveal more clavicle than cleavage. Weight conscious female shoppers are dying to show off how skinny they are by choosing tops that do not plunge, but are low enough to accentuate their boney collarbones. Valerie Steele, the director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in Manhattan says: �Showing off your clavicle is the opposite of showing your thong.� Go figure.

The Real Skinny

The message of emphasizing collarbones is this: �Never mind what the dumb dress says. What lies beneath can fit into a sample size.� Sounds more like a message aimed at women. Personally, I think men care more about breasts than sample sizes. But one peek at Nicole Richie�s and Keira Knightley�s emaciated forms proves me wrong.