Long article in yesterday's NYT re Sigrid Olsen's line closing. The part that grabbed me, and not in a good way, had to do with aging boomers and their shopping patterns:

It is a curious development in the fickle business of fashion that clothing labels like Ms. Olsen’s, made by and for the baby boomer generation, are among those being hardest hit by the current economic turmoil and retail retrenchment. The restructuring of Liz Claiborne early this year also resulted in upheavals at more expensive labels: Ellen Tracy, which was sold; and Dana Buchman, which was pulled from department stores and will be remade more moderately for Kohl’s. At the same time, retailers like Ann Taylor, Talbots and J. Jill have been closing hundreds of stores around the country, and the consolidation of department stores over the last decade has left many malls with more vacancies than options for the enormous demographic of women in their 40s to 60s.

Her tale is in many ways emblematic of how those customers and the designers they favor are being pushed aside for a younger, trendier and more lucrative shopper. A vibrant 55-year-old, Ms. Olsen is coming to terms with the unceremonious end of her fashion career — as the windows of the last remaining stores were papered over last month and the stock sold at discounts of 70 percent, including the hangers — at the same time she is starting over as an artist and entrepreneur.

Which is what I've been saying. Also? If designers would design trends for bodies that are not size 4, we would buy trendier clothing. I like being stylish, but I CAN'T FIND stuff that fits right. If the trend is wee little tank tops, I'm not down with that trend. If it's halters, later. But if, say, it is designed for women with bosoms, as, say, 1950's style dresses, with their darts and other accommodations, then bring it on.

But seriously: do you watch Project Runway? Notice that most of these people are focused on "their vision" and not on the consumer, even when they bring out very, very specific consumers with recognizable profiles. They're still doing, like, slutty little corset tops because that's what they always design and what they like. Feh.

There, now I feel better. Well, not really. I'm not, mind you, particularly fond of Sigrid Olsen and her ilk: I think that stuff is boring. But God help me, sizewise I'm stuck with nothing fitting at, say, J. Crew or Anthropologie or White House/Black Market most days, and going into Chico's or Coldwater Creek, blech! Or I want stuff that's too upmarket for my needs or budget.