As I stumbled down to M Street in my four-inch stiletto heels and Old Navy jeans for European clothing store Mexx’s opening night fashion show, a scene from Zoolander flashed through my mind. I could almost hear Katinka the model/hitwoman saying, “I do not like snoopy reporter with lack of fashion sense, not one little bit.”
Mexx, a popular European clothing line, recently opened four U.S. stores, three in New York and one right across from the Georgetown Mall. It kicked off its fall season Oct. 14 with a fashion show and after-party at Blue Gin, a swanky Georgetown bar. My fear of whether my pass? jeans and I would even be admitted was only exacerbated by the long line of bored, chic hipsters who lingered outside the loud, flashing store.
I soon realized, though, that being a reporter outweighed being poorly dressed, and Mexx’s desperation for good press gave me power in the form of skipped lines, VIP bracelets and a lot of moderately expensive champagne. My aching feet and tender ego were soon forgotten as I sauntered through the starkly-lit store and rolled my eyes at the hordes of photographers making their rounds. Like the rest of the crowd, I worked very hard to look like I didn’t care.
Pretending to be bored, however, can actually become quite boring. The show got started just in the nick of time and once again, I couldn’t get Zoolander out of my head. The film quickly took on a whole new context, especially as the first male model took the stage.
The first model, a dead ringer for Justin Timberlake, did nothing to quell my suspicions as he robotically slid down the runway, his shoulders rolled forward, prancing along with a sexy-devil stare on his face. The next model was more of a Fabio, with long blond hair and a rugged mountain-man strut. The third was stereotypically Eurotrash, tall, slim, dark and mysterious. He was actually quite unattractive, but in an endearing manner. Women whispered amongst themselves, pointing, and I swear the phrase “sexy-ugly” was murmured more than once. By the next round of outfits and round of champagne, the women in the audience were already hooting for their favorites like drunken frat boys in a strip bar.
The clothes were basic but a little funky-H&M meets Lands’ End-and the busy outfits were thrown together with a few too many pieces of flair. Timberlake wore a red sweater under a gray suit with black combat boots and two different colored scarves. Carpenter pants with high boots were especially popular on the female models and every ensemble had a token piece of plaid. None seemed weird enough to belong on a runway, but they certainly weren’t anything you’d see on the street either.
The outfits, guests, lights, music and strutting models above all seemed a little ridiculous and definitely upstaged the fashion. Then again, the evening was far less about Mexx’s clothing than its image. Mexx’s mission statement declares: “Mexx is a feeling, an attitude. Women who take the path less traveled, men whose glasses are always half full,” or, more simply, “Mexx is an attitude, a lifestyle, a kiss.” I was not sure quite what this meant, but it made me wonder why I’d been so nervous. And, somehow, the slogan suited the evening’s vapid partiers well.
And so I left the store and stumbled back to campus, this time as much from the champagne as the heels. The clothes are worth a second look, but I am somehow unmotivated to return to the store. Like the show’s crowd or Mexx’s nonsensical mission statement, there’s something missing. They’re not ugly, but not particularly cool either; they’re almost trendy, but not quite. Mexx tries too successfully not to impress.
