By Nadine Kam

China Fashion Week provided some excitement. This is the work of Andy Ho.

Not enough people worried when the Hollywood writers went on strike. Save for late-night TV, so much of regular broadcast TV seems to be reality or garbage, that the overall vibe felt like “no loss.”

Well, it really hurts now that some major awards shows have been cancelled, huh? I say, pay the writers what they want. Writers are paid peanuts considering what others in the biz make. They want pennies while stars make millions of dollars, and a recent analysis of star salaries to box office income has already shown that people like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are paid far more than they’re worth in drawing power. They carry so much celebrity baggage it detracts from any film.

I don’t even go to their movies, and very few other actors would lure me on name alone. (Ones who do are Cillian Murphy, Johnny — how will he surprise us next — Depp, and Cate Blanchett.) I’m more likely to follow directors because they carry the vision of what a film should be. If studios want to know what works, here it is: a confluence of great script, great direction, great acting and — in my opinion — great costumes, which reflects superior art direction, attention to details, and all that entails: lighting, cinematography, etc.

There were gowns at China Fashion Week, like this one from William Tang’s fall/winter 2008-09 collection.

It was so quiet without the Golden Globes sideshow — the gowns, the jewelry, the tuxes, hits, misses and morning-after disses. Although those involved seemed to appreciate the relief from the stress of preparation, the losers seem to be the designers who lost a branding and marketing opportunity, and fashion magazines that now have to fill pages that may have been reserved for those red-carpet looks.

Oh well. Those in need of a fashion fix should be grateful the runway season has begun, and first up this week are Brazil Fashion Week, China Fashion Week, and the Men’s fall-winter 2008-09 collections from Milan. Here’s a peek at the latter from AP:

Layering and tattoo-inspired lapels at Dolce & Gabbana.

Retro luxe at Giorgio Armani.

Contemporary geek chic at Marni.

Urban bad boy at DSquared.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 3:53 pm and is filed under media, Entertainment, Random thoughts, Fashion shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.