Fashion’s royal court is only for a small percentage of Americans with royal salaries.

One has only to look at last night’s Oscar results for The King’s Speech to see that when it comes to royalty we are smitten. But where we cheer for stuttering kings and their noble supporting cast, new-found love and endearing visions of the past, do we really need a new court?

“Fashion is royalty,” a friend said to me over dinner last week in New York.

Is it possible that the most consumer-driven part of our society could seriously be considered royalty? And do we really want to consider the most irresponsible of our designers the new court’s kings and queens?

My friend may be on to something. How many stories did we have to endure over New York Fashion Week detailing obsessive information about what courtesan celebrities were wearing in the front row to see their noble (king or queen) designer? Humbly though they sat to admire the breathtaking fantasies from legends like Karl Lagerfeld, Versace and Tomas Maier of Bottega Veneta, we undoubtedly heard (or maybe cared) less about the looks coming down the catwalk as the star-studded sidelines.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article that peeks inside the closets of those rarefied shoppers of fashion weeks in New York, Paris and Milan, the world’s most expensive clothes may only be made for those with royal salaries. “But many of the runway styles are actually purchased by a small group of customers, not all of them from the isle of Manhattan. And unlike celebrities and socialites, who often get designer clothes at no charge in exchange for publicity, these customers pay full price,” says WSJ writer Elizabeth Holmes.

Is this the royalty my friend, a struggling young designer, is referencing? Yes.

A rereading of this fairy tale might encourage us to ask why fashion’s royal court is being led by people purchasing clothes with heavily gilded price tags. A Balmain gold mini-dress at $74,000? Especially in a still-tepid economy, such displays are garish. The era of bling bling and logomania among the peasants may have abated in step with the financial times, but decadent fashion still wears its crown.

Fashion is royalty, she reiterates. Heady, worked up and a little intoxicated, she glares and says, “Ha! You’re just like a peasant with the clothes you love,” and takes a conclusive sip.

Indeed I am, and in fact, we all are. What comes down the catwalk and drives fashion magazine editorials is not the ready-to-wear, (much less the mass-produced fast fashion that will show up in stores in the months after fashion weeks), it’s the thin slice for the royals and their royalty. This can be confusing for the average American fashion consumer, seeing the gaudy and glamorous creations of fashion week and the fantastical spreads soon after in glossy publications. Is this a level of fashion the typical consumer can ever attain? Yet this is what drives fashion, and all young designers must visit the high design courts to pay homage to those patrons on whom their success hinges. Whether they want to or not.

The post The New Blue Blood: Fashion As Royalty appeared first on EcoSalon.

I always feel sorry for celebrities come awards time. There is just as much emphasis put on their red carpet garb as their award nominations and with the Golden Globes this weekend, I realized I haven’t done enough for all the starlets.

So apologies go out specifically to Natalie Portman, Helena Bonham Carter, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry and Livia Firth for not suggesting this before. With all of you in the limelight on Sunday, we should have thought of this earlier.

Next year, I’d like to host a DIY night for you at my place. All of you star-studded ladies could bring your old dresses and I’ll bring the garment racks and let’s just have an old fashioned trying on party – see what works for you that worked for another breast oozing beauty last year. I’ll also bring a tailor to make the modifications necessary, and lots of tape and jars of bedazzling items. After all, there’s no reason why you can’t reuse.

Natalie Portman at the 2010 Venice Film Festival, Image from Zimbio

Natalie, I could have modified so many vintage dresses for your Bjork style but naturally dyed (black) of course and messages tucked into feathers trailing off the back like “The dark side in Star Wars was nothing compared to my last gig,” “Making out with women in cabs is hot,” and “Honk if you love swans.” We could have even made a mean feather lipstick for you in collaboration with a natural cosmetics company? We didn’t think! I seriously hate myself. Please look amazing because you are going to win everything.

Helena, when I think of all the crazy shit you usually wear to awards shows we could have had a DIY fest with garter belts, netting and royal tapestries embellishing something subtle, like a pirates outfit to really mix things up. So if you do win supporting actress for your role as the Queen Mother in The King’s Speech, you could still retain that “what the hell am I wearing again?” vibe but with a sustainable spin.

God, please wear something normal because your role was so wonderful and you might just win.

Helena Bonham Carter, Image from Holy Moly

Nicole, this is a tricky year for you. My DIY for you would’ve been either full flourishing frills a la TP, or subtle, slendering and Rabbit Hole quiet. What will you do?

Regardless of the fact we didn’t get together, I am confident you will make the right decision. I don’t think it will be a sustainable one though.

Nicole Kidman, 2010 Golden Globes

With Halle Berry up for Best Actress based on her role in Frankie and Alice, as a “Multiracial American woman with dissociative identity disorder who struggles to retain her true self and not give in to her racist alter-personality,” I would have suggested cutting up dresses and merging two standout frocks from any of the other nominees already written about here to give her look a real “Two sides Of Halle” vibe.

No doubt it would have made us all feel a little messed up just looking at her.

Halle Berry, 2010 Golden Globes

Our final regret isn’t a regret at all, it’s a kudos to the ongoing red carpet fashion choices of Livia Firth who is not up for an award but husband Colin is for his role as stammering Prince Albert in The King’s Speech. Livia, who will be on her husband’s arm on the red carpet has surpassed my wildest dreams by recently upcycling her husband’s moth eaten suits for the Paris premier of The King’s Speech and spending all last year going eco.

What will she wear on Sunday? One can only hope something that ticks off her husband so he doesn’t have a real life stammering episode as he accepts his award for his completely owned performance as Prince Albert.

He just has to win.

Colin and Livia Firth, 2010 Golden Globes

Top Image, Natalie Portman in Black Swan, IMDb

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