Tonight is a big night for pop diva Jennifer Lopez as she is about to make her fashion debut, presenting the most anticipated show at New York Fashion Week. The show will be split into three parts to reflect different stages of Lopez's life, from her beginnings in the Bronx, to her musical career and then to a glamorous finale.
The collection, featuring cashmere sweaters, furs and velvet jackets, will also include a $2 million pair of jeans studded with diamonds and embellished with a 17-carat diamond loaner covering the top button. The exclusive pair, which is based on similar jeans with rhinestones that have been available for three years at Macy's at $49 a pair, will be offered on the company’s Web site after the runway show.
"The fashion shows that are most impressive to me are Dior and Alexander McQueen," said the Latina singer and actress. "The question for me was how do I do that? I'm trying to create a sense of fantasy, to mix a street element with a luxury element, so jeans with a big fat diamond was the perfect combination."
"[Jennifer Lopez] has incredible style and glamour, and if her own wardrobe is anything to go by, people will love her line. However, celebrities are not fashion designers and they are not selling fashion in the pure sense; they are selling their sartorial image. That is fine, but it will rarely make for great, iconic fashion," the fashion writer Plum Sykes said, according to The Guardian.
Simon Doonan, creative director at top New York fashion retailer Barney's, thinks there is nothing unforeseen in the fact that celebrities get involved in activities that has always been considered the prerogative of professional designers.
"We've only ourselves to blame because we've given celebrities these deranged feelings of omnipotence," he said. "She'll be doing brain surgery next."
However, Mrs. Marc Anthony doesn’t seem to worry too much about critics. Though, she says, she is “not at the level of a John Galliano”, she does have “a certain style and a certain image that people respond to."
"I don't care about critics," Lopez told WWD. "Consumers will decide if they like it and if they want to buy it or not."