Here's an interesting tidbit I learned today: one-time "actress" and fashion "icon" Mischa Barton has recently designed a clothing/accessories line. Let me just start by saying that at one point in my life I worshipped the ground Miss Barton walked. She was incredibly gorgeous and wore beautiful clothing, so I was more than willing to overlook her acting limits on "the O.C." But then her character died (and the show soon followed), and my admiration of Mischa fell to the waste side as I discovered the genius of her contemporaries like Jenny Lewis and Alexa Chung. Honestly the last time I saw her was a few years ago, and I sort of felt bad for my fallen idol. She had bleached-blonde hair, wore a Fleetwood Mac shirt, high-waisted jeans, and a hippie headband --- items that in theory are perfect and should look incredible on her, but for some reason didn't work. Her hair looked so stripped and fried that it might break off, her denim was ill-fitting and came off looking something akin to Mom Jeans, and honestly the Fleetwood Mac tee made her look like she was saying “Hey, aren’t I cool and retro? I listen to bands like Fleetwood Mac, not that contemporary crap… See? ‘Cause I’m wearing their tee shirt.” Her seventies-inspired vibe looked artificial and forced, the complete opposite from how natural and jealousy-inducing Mischa's style was a few years before.
I have no clue what her designs look like --- maybe they are ingenious, inspired, lust-worthy, but for some reason I doubt it. Its not because I don’t think that Miss Mischa has it in her, but it seems like nearly all celebrity clothing lines do not truly translate their style (cough, cough Kate Moss for Topshop cough, cough), rather what the person thinks consumers will buy. But one thing that piqued my interest is that Mischa described her line as being inspired by Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull, which is pretty awesome, but she also described them as being "really cool women from the seventies" which kind of deterrs from my appreciation of Barton's inspirations. Maybe I'm just a baby or something, but these two fabulous women were doing stuff before AND after the seventies -- in fact, Pallenberg and Faithfull were really iconic during the sixties. And Faithfull was a bit more preoccupied with coke and not having a home to be caught up in fashion during the seventies, so unless Barton favors the rough-and-tumble street urchin look over the psychedelic bird looks of Faithfull during the sixties, I think she needs to look a little further into the lives of these two women besides the brief references to them made in every few issues of 'Vogue.' Alas, in remembrance of a look I once loved, in this post we celebrate Mischa Barton’s look in its prime (even if it is a product of Rachel Zoe).
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