Since it’s been the number one movie at least in America for some 3 weeks (for good reason), I am sure many of you have already seen the movie.

And since superheroes are a hot topic in fashion circles today because of the Met’s Costume Institute exhibition “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” I’ve got to talk about Paltrow’s fashion style in the movie as Ironman’s girl friday, Virginia Pepper.

She looked stunning and single handedly did more for both the corset top and ankle strapped high heels than any Victoria’s Secret model I can think of to date.

If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend it. Robert Downey Jr. is a perfect 21st century Ironman, both heroic and funnily sarcastic, and Gwyneth Paltrow takes no prisoners as his Ironman’s Girl…Friday. I’d call them the Dynamic Duo.

P.S. We also loved her handbag in the scene where she downloads the goods from Stark Industries (I won’t give the storyline away), but don’t know whose bag it is. If anybody knows, please let me know. It’ll be first on my list of things to buy after the recession!

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Amy Winehouse with tattoos is one thing, but now there’s Diablo Cody (below left), our stripper-turned-Oscar-scriptwriter for the movie Juno and now we have in American Idol’s seventh season, Carly Smithson (below right), one of the current crop of 12 who made it to the finals. But we really can’t do a photomantage of tattoos without giving a nod to one who may have helped to kick start it all, Anglelina Jolie-Pitts.

Angelina Jolie’s tattoo looks positively sublime here, or her tattoo is as tamed as she is now (or maybe that only happens when Brad Pitt stands next to you!). Regardless, the tattooed are now among us.

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which is the title of an Oscar nominated best picture movie starring Daniel Day Lewis whose plotline, according to the IMBd website is “A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.” It could also be a plotline for a lot happening in today’s business environment. And, it, the subject title of this blog entry, was also a standout color seen during New York’s Fall 2008 Fashion Week ending this past Friday.

“The pair of crimson dresses at the start of Keren Craig’s and Georgina Chapman’s presentation for Marchesa was in such a deep and precise shade of red that it could have been mixed by a lipstick chemist,” wrote Cathy Horyn in last Friday’s NY Times article covering Fashion Week.

But it was the Rodarte collection that really made it come home to me that indeed those that are often the reflectors of our times, movies and fashion, are currently making frequent, albeit poetic, references to that stuff that curses through our veins carrying with it both the promise of hope and the threat of violence. Blood: does it speak to the times and how passionate many of us have become about what we believe in? Does it speak to the upcoming U.S. Presidential election, the bloodbath the home and therefore stock markets and thus retail industry have taken lately? Probably. Probably all that, and, I shudder to think, more. Like the movie, There Will Be Blood, it calls to mind, bloodlines…blood is thicker than water and all that stuff. Rodarte claims the two Muleavy sisters as its designers, for instance. Well, its a thought.

It also occured to me that the 1960’s era film, “Across the Universe,” which sang (literally) of another turbulent time in our history called on imagery that induced not just the color but also the spilling of blood.

Top Marchesa image by Jennifer Altman for the NY Times. Rodarte Images, Fall 2008, Courtesy Style.com. Click on There Will Be Blood, a Paramount Vantage and Mirimax production to see the haunting movie trailer. Across the Universe, Sony Pictures. Both Movies Rated R. Click on above image to see a film clip of Across the Universe and hear the legendary music of the Beatles.

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So far so good. This has been a highly anticipated relaunch considering it’s been done before, 5 other times, according to New York Times esteemed fashion critic, Cathy Horyn, and failed. “So what will make this time be any different?” industry pundits want to know.

We can never underestimate the value of a well put together team; there is a business side to the fashion design rigamarole if not a bottom line that in some houses obviously has the upper hand, sadly. In some cases, it is the designer who has full control if not input from on high….Dior comes to mind in that case. Myself, I don’t think it good that a designer function within a vacumn; so, to my mind, therein lie the challenges of the 21st century.

How to be innovative and make money. Seems many have the solution to this complex equation. Question is, do the new folks at Halston have it? Apparently that’s the 64 (with inflation) million dollar question, or should I say with respect to Halston the 54 million dollar question?

Well, let’s see. They’ve put together an innovative strategy, they have qualified people at the helm. Weinstein and Co. (a film production company) is a part owner along with a capital finance company, Hilco; several industry names both from the movie and garment industry and a designer who worked with Donatella Versace, Marco Zanini, whose first output looks remarkably like Halston, great colors, sexually flowing capes and gowns, oh my….and orders on Net-a-porter within the first 24 hours of the runway collection showing and finally, rumors of a possible film in the works (I’m pushing that one) with Brendan Fraiser starring as Halston and Zooey Deschannel as Lisa Minnelli. mmmmm, hear that? That’s the sound of buzzz.

Fashion insiders don’t like the movie people moving in on their territory, it’s hallowed ground to them. And they especially don’t like stylists the likes of Rachel Zoe who they think dumb down fashion for the sake of Hollywood treading carefully so as not to look stupid while walking the red carpet during awards seasons. Logical but hardly creative thinking, fashion industry pundits say, myself included.

But thinking outside the proverbial box is a good start and Hollywood and 7th Avenue converging is like retail’s bricks and mortar business model converging with the internet’s. Makes sense but how does one do it. Nau, if anyone has been paying attention to my blog, has figured it out in ground breaking fashion with their trademarked “webfronts;” why not Halston pitching its tent on Sunset Boulevard and the internet or rather hedge its bets by doing so in addition to wooing the traditional retailers. It’s a sound strategy with someone who appears to be an excellent designer needing a little more time doing what he does best, designing, while the other members of the team do what they can now do best which is to tap their network of high flyers that will give this relaunch probably the best shot its ever been given to date.

I think I’ll just move to the front row for this one.

For more Halston looks, go to Style.com. and/or the Fashion informer.

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