There is no "right" way to cast a fashion show. For labels who participate in the traditional fashion system, the show represents the culmination of their creative vision, and they should strive to realize it exactly as they please. By the same token, the models a label chooses for the runway send a message. Those decisions are an expression of values, so it's fair to question why the forward-thinking team behind VETEMENTS and BALENCIAGA staged two shows at PARIS FASHION WEEK without a single model of color. I don't know that I'd call the whitewashed casting "defiant," as JASON CAMPBELL did at BUSINESS OF FASHION yesterday -- that implies a degree of intent and malevolence I’m not comfortable assigning a group of people I don’t know. How much does intent matter when the result is exclusion, though?... Yesterday at HAZLITT, SASHA CHAPIN sprung from shopping BANGKOK's fake goods to earnest musings on wealth, status, how objects accrete meaning, and the real value of luxury... On a similar note, a section from PATTI SMITH's "M TRAIN," which I've finally gotten around to: "Do our lost possessions mourn us? Do electric sheep dream of ROY BATTY? Wil my coat, riddled with holes, remember the rich hours of our companionship? Asleep on buses from VIENNA to PRAGUE, nights at the opera, walks by the sea, the grave of SWINBURNE on the ISLE OF WIGHT, the arcades of PARIS, the caverns of LURAY, the cafés of BUENOS AIRES. Human experience bound by its threads. How many poems bleeding from its ragged sleeves? I averted my eyes just for a moment, drawn by another coat that was warmer and softer, but that I did not love." Our clothes become extensions of us, weighed down by memory. Today's rantnrave is dedicated to my CRAIG GREEN wrap vest, currently residing in the bowels of an airport either in NEW YORK CITY, SEATTLE, or CALGARY. A special garment, and a key component of my DRAKE cosplay wardrobe, gone too soon... Ooh, corporate intrigue: BURBERRY steels itself against potential takeover bid while RALPH LAUREN faces litigation over teddy bears... HEDI does DYNASTY...