How Do You Like Me Now?

THIS week, Eric Gaskins, whose sensual gowns have appeared on the covers of Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair and the gilded racks of Bergdorf Goodman, will close his doors, another small business to succumb to a recession that has been merciless in choosing its prey.

Michael Falco for The New York Times
THE RULER Eric Gaskins’s designer business is gone, but The Emperor’s Old Clothes, his blog, lives on.
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Here is a designer — a good designer — who has played by the rules of the rag trade for 22 years, enjoying small moments of critical success as they came and keeping his head down when they did not. He never complained, at least not publicly, when the spotlight moved on to designers who were less than half his age. Even in failure, he was gracious, taking pains to finish orders for dresses from his dearest customers before he shut down his business.
But he is not going quietly.
Those who have known him for long can attest that he is such a nice guy that he is about the last person they would have suspected was behind a scathing blog that skewers the industry’s most sacred cows. Until Mr. Gaskins chose to reveal himself, now that he is closing his business, as the author of The Emperor’s Old Clothes