Natasa V photographed by Paul Rowland

I popped over to the Women/Supreme offices last week just as the kids who work there were distributing popsicles. After assuring myself that a little sugar and ice never killed nobody I indulged, even while clocking that Paul's new intern was rocking some pretty genius moccasins with very 70's shorts. Work hard. Give them outfits. Now these are some real fashion kids!

I had walked in just as the team was brainstorming on an outfit for some new girl straying back and worth like a giraffe waiting to be pola'd by Paul . Tights? Bodysuits? The team was weighing the options like it were show fitting. You had to love that and the difference of that given how uncommitted so many agencies are to a "belief system" . I took a scan of the Supreme SS 09 show package and while I'm going to respect the propriety rights of Mr Rowland's concept, I'm also going to give a little advance buzz via a few choice adjectives. "Real" " fully realized" "organic" and ..."very keepsake". Louie at Women also seemed to have something potent up his sleeves. If you think about it, that Women show package is going to have a lot of eyes trained on it, not only for the collection of new girls but for the aesthetic direction it will signal. Its kind of like a new designer taking over a house and turning out that first collection. The modeling industry these days is one of minutiae but. hey, its the industry in my blood.
A lot of my acquaintances gave me feedback on that "What's going on at Women/DNA " piece I wrote at MDC on the order of "you're such a high priest of diplomacy these days" . "Really?" I thought. Here's the thing. I'm a big believer in autonomy. I actually hold a very complete form of respect for all the parties involved. Some of the players in that drama are people I consider friends and I could clearly hear a kind of trauma in their voices as I spoke to some of them. But I was never going to pen a personal agenda on MDC. I think turmoil is good , creative and necessary and that fashion is change.
I thought for a long time about the back and forth, the blame and the anger that understandably got expressed in private by many people. At the end of the day the clear glittering light of business has taught me one thing... a company has the ultimate right to conduct its business as it sees fit. Whether bystanders dig it or not. DNA has the right to its decisions. Women's board of director can sure as hell direct the company according to their needs and talented managers like Paul, Louie, David and Chris are more than equipped to protect their own self-interests. Nobody mentioned in these proceedings is fragile. That realization gave me a kind of zen calm when I cut the first draft. Or maybe I've been drinking too much damn chai tea at Harry's.