Are fashion designers the new idols?
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In the increasingly limelit world of fashion, designers can be forgiven for behaving like rock stars. Marc Jacobs kept the press waiting for eons during New York's fall fashion week, ruffling more than a few glossy feathers. And Karl Lagerfeld caused a fan riot outside the new Chanel boutique in Tokyo last December. In the parallel universes of fashion and music, every runway is a mosh pit and every designer has a songster. Here's the matchup.
1. Lagerfeld/Jagger
Karl Lagerfeld inspires the incomprehensible mob appeal of a late-'60s Mick Jagger. Lagerfeld's chart-topping capsule collection for Swedish fashion retail chain Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) last year was greeted with flying elbows and manicured claws, selling out mere hours after it hit the shelves. And hundreds of Japanese women swooned when Lagerfeld showed up wearing a Highland kilt over black stovepipe jeans at the opening of the new Chanel store in Tokyo last December. But even with Lagerfeld's new-found anorexia, nobody's going to be mistaking The Ponytailed One for Old Fat Lips any time soon.
2. Phoebe Philo/Melissa Auf der Maur
Sometimes it's the woman behind the woman who's pulling the strings. Phoebe Philo and Melissa Auf der Maur were once-behind-the-scenesters who have made good on their own. After getting out from under the shadow of Courtney Love, the ex-Hole bassist played with Smashing Pumpkins and brought out a well-received solo album at the end of 2003. When Stella McCartney left Chloé, her assistant Philo took over and proved that she has as much Midas as McCartney.
3. Stella McCartney/Julian Casablancas
We could have gone for the obvious Beatle reference, but research proved
that The Strokes' front man, Julian Casablancas, is Stella's true musical alter ego. If you haven't figured out why, work out this brainteaser: if fashion supernova Stella is the daughter of a music maverick, then, by rights, her double must be the musical offspring of fashion elite -- in this case, Elite Modeling Agency, founded by Julian's father, John Casablancas.
4. Rick Owens/Marilyn Manson
Rick Owens and Marilyn Manson are the dopest doppelgängers you will ever see. Here's the data: both long-haired brunettes are from sunshine states (Owens from California; Manson from Florida) with versatile sexual pasts and superlative taste in women (Frenchwoman Michelle Lamy for Owens; Rose McGowan and Dita Von Teese for Manson). Of course, the Antichrist Superstar will always attract more controversy with a good metal tune than Owens' high-priestess gowns will, but, well, Owens will always be buffer.
Photo courtesy of Arnaldo Magnani/Getty Images
