Paris Je T’aime-The End of a Season

Because I am quite far behind on my fashion shows I have decided to condense the last few days into one final post.  That means that these are the absolute stand out pieces from the final days of PFW.

There should also be a moment of silence for both Jean Paul Gaultier’s last Hermes collection and Sarah Burton’s first collection for Alexander McQueen.  Let the changing of the guards commence.

Alexander McQueen

Chanel

Collette Dinnigan

Valentino

Hermes

Louis Vuitton

Mui Mui

Paul and Joe

Paris Je T’aime-Day 4

Day 4 PFW is all about the quirkiness factor.  The designers who showed their Spring collections Saturday morning are known for extravagance and personal style.  (Except for Cacharel which is Parisian simplicity in a brightly colored nutshell).

There were surprises in store for us.  With designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and Viktor & Rolf, it is basically a given, but I don’t think anyone expected plus plus size singer Beth Ditto opening the JPG show.  But she did, and also in the show were two other plus size models, Crystal Renn and Marquita Pring.  Gaultier’s eccentric designs don’t really translate to me, but the craftsmanship and layering is quite impressive.

Cacharel and Sonia Rykiel are classic French designers, they both love bright pinks and oranges, colors which scream spring/summer and they take simple designs and make them fascinating.

Loewe, a predominantly leather goods company, has had a new British Creative Director, Stuart Vevers, since 2008 and I am absolutely in love with his new designs.  The clothing that I was drawn to the most was made of leather, which makes sense because of the company’s history.  He took simple pencil skirts and shift dresses and made them so luxurious by doing them in a soft leather or suede.

And then there is Viktor & Rolf.  They are the masters of twisting and deforming clothing, but still making it beautiful.  One of their signature moves is to add more collars or cuffs than necessary, and it was definitely not left out of this collection.  The white (wedding?) dresses at the end were actually quite beautiful and not so avant garde that they couldn’t be worn.

Over all I am more a fan of Cacharel, Loewe, and Sonia Rykiel for their amazing colors and simpler designs, but fashion would be so boring without Mr. Gaultier and Viktor & Rolf.

Jean Paul Gaultier

Beth Ditto, lead singer of The Gossip

Beth Ditto closing the show with Gaultier

Marquita Pring

Crystal Renn

Cacharel

Sonia Rykiel

Loewe

Viktor & Rolf

Fashion Puppet Pals

They are absolutely everywhere. All over the internet, featured on the Vogue UK blog and Refinery 29.  On the manicured hands of Tim Gunn and potentially pinned to the jackets of everyone at Fashion Week.

These are, of course, the fashion finger puppets, of which I hope to be a collector.  They are adorable and quirky and actually match the likeness quite well.

Some of these puppets are sold individually, and others in sets like the ones created for the various Fashion Weeks.  There is a New York group, London, Milan, and Paris group.  Though they are a bit expensive, $120 for a set, they might be worth it when you have an insanely fashion knowledgeable child one day.

Anna Wintour

Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagergeld, Boris Johnson, and Grace Coddington

New York Fashion Week, with Andre Leon Talley and Donna Karan

Paris Fashion Week, with Alber Elbaz and John Galianno

To see more of the fabulous creations, go to http://www.rubbishmagshop.com/.

Bring on the Couture!

The next few days will be entirely devoted to something I hold very close to my heart, couture.  This is the greatest art form in fashion, it is the medium in which fashion designers are their most creative and experimental.

First a definition to clear up a few misconceptions.

Haute Couture:  French for “high sewing” or “high dressmaking”.  It is custom fit clothing of the highest quality with the most expensive and luxurious fabrics and more often than not hand sewn, always with extreme attention to detail by the best and most experienced seamstresses.  The term is protected by law in Paris and defined by the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Paris. And only companies listed by this elite group are technically allowed to call their designs “haute couture”.

The end.  No Juicy Couture or Romeo and Juliet Couture.   Only four designers are not French, and others show their collections as “Guest Members”.  The members come and go, like Donatella Versace, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent no longer show couture collections but the houses once did.

There are also jewelry and accessories designers included in the group, but not too many.

The most famous current official members are:  Anne Valerie Hash, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Givenchy, and Jean Paul Gaultier.  And the four foreign members are, Elie Saab, Giorgio Armani, Maison Martin Margiela, and Valentino.

The shows began this week in Paris and I have compiled my favorite looks from the collections.  Some I found absolutely amazing (Dior and Givenchy) and others were underwhelming (Chanel) but each of them offered exquisite craftsmanship and beauty, which is rarely seen anymore with our fast-paced, over efficient, busy world.

Au Revoir, Monsieur Gaultier!

Jean Paul Gaultier, also known as the “enfant terrible de la mode” and the creator of Madonna’s infamous cone bra, stepped down as head designer of Hermès a few days ago.

Jean Paul Gaultier

I was pretty upset when I found out about this.  While JPG isn’t my favorite designer, I do love him and the work he did for Hermès. It was a fabulous mix of his eccentricity and French classiness.  He was able to rein in his wildness and create amazing collections one after another.  I actually prefer his Hermès collections to his own namesake brands (yes, and the line he did for Target).

The last collection he will show for the brand is the Spring/Summer 2011, which will be shown in Paris in October.  I’m sure this will be a much coveted ticket, and of course, an amazing show.

The new designer who will be taking the helm of the 173 year old brand is Christian Lemaire.  He is currently the creative director of Lacoste and previously worked for Christian Lacroix before starting his own brand, and then moving on to Lacoste.

After reading up on Lemaire, I think that he might make an excellent replacement for Gaultier, who had been the head designer for six years.  Lemaire worked at Christian Lacroix, so he has the creativeness and couture aspect down, but he also spent nine years at Lacoste, so he will appeal to the preppy, classic side of Hermès as well.

I am excited to see his first show, which will be Fall Winter 2011/12, I hope he can live up to both the Hermès name and the crown passed down by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Below are some of the wonderful looks Gaultier created for Hermès over the years.

Lily Cole opening for Fall 2010

Coco Rocha for Fall 2010

Spring 2010

Spring 2010

Spring 2009

Spring 2008

Spring 2007

Fall 2010

Fall 2008

Fall 2006

Fall 2004

Day.18.

Whatever tickles your fancy

We all know I love award shows and red carpets so it is only fitting that I dedicate this day to the Cannes Film Festival 2010.

Along with fashion and clothes and things of that nature I am also slightly obsessed with movies (and TV, and theater…).

I try to see as many foreign films as I can, and I usually get most of my newest movie obsessions from the Cannes Film Festival.

But I also get my fashion fix.  Below are my favorite ensembles of the festival so far (it still has another week), hopefully I can be there myself one day.

Carey Mulligan:  I love how classy and bright she is, in my opinion she leaves all of the other “starlets” in the dust with her great dress choices and elegant ensembles. (Plus I love her boyfriend, Shia LaBeouf)

Carey Mulligan in Azzaro at the premiere of "Wall Street 2"

Carey Mullian in Prada in Cannes

Carey Mulligan in RM by Roland Mouret

Cate Blanchett:

Cate Blanchett in Pre-Fall Alexander McQueen

Lea Seydoux: I think she is one of the best newcomers in the movie industry.  I thought she was great in Inglourious Basterds and her fashion choices are very interesting, and of course very French, which is much needed.

Lea Seydoux in Louis Vuitton

Lea Seydoux in Jean Paul Gaultier

Kristin Scott-Thomas:

Kristin Scott-Thomas in Armani, pictured here with Tim Burton

Salma Hayek:

Salma Hayek in Gucci

So I have this little Obsession…

I have a confession.  I love ads.  I am obsessed with fashion advertisements. I have them plastered all over my wall, floor to ceiling, door to window.  They are the last thing I see before I fall asleep and the first thing I see when I wake up.  They are fabulous.  So far I have been a bit disappointed with the ads this season but I have hope that they will be more original and alluring over the summer and of course in September. However, here are some of my favorites of the season:

Prada:

I adore these Prada ads, I even bought new lipstick to try to recreate the look, which resulted in the swelling of my lips to disproportionate sizing because I am apparently allergic to Sephora brand lip gloss.  But it looked cute…

Prada Campaign

Aldo:

Aldo brought in one of my favorite models, Jessica Stam, and photographer Terry Richardson in for their most recent ad campaign.  I love the cutesy, girliness of  Stam’s modeling in contrast with Richardson’s very stark almost harsh photography.  And it was nice of him to let her keep all of her clothes on.  (Just google “Terry Richardson, controversy” and you will immediately see what I mean).

Jessica Stam

Hermes:

Hermes is such an iconic, classic brand which I happen to have a deep love for.  And with Jean Paul Gaultier designing the collections, that just makes it even better.  I have always loved the ads (especially the winter ones with another of my favorite models, Raquel Zimmermann, which I will post at a later date) and the newest ones star Karlie Kloss, American top model at the ripe young age of 17. These Spring advertisements are all based off of Disney movies, try and guess which one’s they are!

My absolute favorite.

Long Live the Queen

I am surprised I have not written about her sooner.  She is, after all, the reason I am so addicted, in love, obsessed, etc. with fashion.  She is quoted as saying, “I like masculine things…for their simplicity and functionality…  I do think I counteract the masculine thing with my red hair.  It’s the best accessory I could ever have.”  Any fashion maven or aspiring magazine editor would know who sports the aforementioned red hair:  it is famous the world over and easily recognizable as the counterpart to Ms. Anna Wintour’s severe bob.

While you should know who she is by now, I will continue for those fashion virgins.  Wintour herself proclaims this woman is “the world’s most magical fashion editor.”  Yet, she is also the nicest woman in fashion, which is quite a feat in itself.  Even more, she is my inspiration, my idol of sorts– she is the first person I have ever really looked up to as a model of success.  I read Vogue religiously, like an addict, entranced with her spreads, never really knowing who was the ringmaster behind the creativity at Vogue, until now.  The hair, and the quote as well, belong to the person who is the reason I am obsessed with fashion.

Her name: Grace Coddington.  Her occupation: Creative Director of American Vogue.

Grace Coddington

During her many years at British Vogue, Coddington fine tuned her editorial skills and developed her own personal style for photo shoots.  She prefers to turn the potentially harsh and stagnant spreads into stories or narratives, making them livelier and above all else, “tongue-in-cheek.”  This makes the editorials much more accessible to her readers because they can relate to the stories and the characters she creates.  Coddington loves morphing childhood fairytales and famous works of art into pages of a magazine.

While at American Vogue for the past 15 years she has created masterpieces in her exuberant fashion stories.  Coddington’s personal favorite is the famous 2003 Alice in Wonderland photo shoot with Natalia Vodianova as Alice and Annie Leibovitz behind the lens.  The nearly 20 page spread also included designers such as Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, and John Galliano as characters from the Lewis Carroll classic.  Vodianova wore a blue dress (or ensemble) from each of the designers she was photographed with, tying in fashion, fantasy, and the classic story of Alice.  More recently, for the December 2009 issue of Vogue, Coddington styled an elaborate Hansel and Gretel themed shoot, inspired by the Metropolitan Opera’s recent production, with model, Lily Cole and her costar in the upcoming movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Andrew Garfield.  As the witch, Coddington originally wanted British singer Susan Boyles to play the part but Wintour vetoed it opting instead for the extremely high profile Lady Gaga, who infamously arrived completely naked to the photo shoot except for her white rubber rain coat.

Grace Coddington and Anna Wintour

She is also the star of The September Issue (directed by R.J. Cutler) my [The] Godfather or Scarface if you will.  I even went so far as to stand in a very very long line at Barnes and Noble for her to sign my copy of the extraordinary DVD, which I have now viewed about five times since it premiered in theaters last fall.

Cutler’s film brought both Grace Coddington’s genius and her hair to the masses.  It was an inside look into the making of the September issue of the magazine, which is always the largest and most extravagant (and of course expensive).  Shown in theaters across the globe, the movie introduced people to Vogue, Prada, and Coddington and Wintour’s epic standoffs.

And her brilliance has been awarded repeatedly, most notably with the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Lifetime Achievement award.  Less notably, but more amusing, was when the British television show (and my favorite TV show) Absolutely Fabulous, the character Patsy says her idol Ms. Coddington is, “Fash. Ed. Supreme” meaning Fashion Editor Supreme.

Coddington when she was a model

Coddington knows that the clothes are aspirational for most women, yes, she knows we can’t all afford a $500 t-shirt or a $10,000 scarf.  The photo shoots and the way she styles clothes are made to inspire us to look our best and be creative when it comes to what we choose to wear.  But money is everything these days.  On the tips of everyone’s tongues and in the print of the newspapers at everyone’s the fingertips.  She is able to style clothes into wearable outfits, ensembles that can actually be worn to work or to Central Park, and maybe if you’re lucky to the famous MET Costume Gala hosted by Ms. Wintour this upcoming year.

Coddington has created a new way to view fashion.  One that is more inviting and engaging.  Long are the days where only the wealthy could wear designer clothes and look fashionable.  Coddington has brought style and creativity to the masses, showing us it is okay to experiment with clothing and above all, to believe in yourself.  Not only did she make it as a model, and as a design director, and as a brilliant creative director, and as a fashion editor, but she has also been an inspiration for me.  After her car accident in which her eyelid had to be surgically reconstructed, and her modeling took a back seat, she watched her world fall apart, but she also saw that it could be built back up again, so she persevered.  Dressing in black nearly everyday, very little makeup, and hair as wild and crazy as ever, Coddington lives vicariously through the pages of Vogue and through her magical, whimsical photo shoots, and I hope, through me.

Vodianova as Alice with Lagerfeld

Vodianova with Viktor and Rolf as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb

Vodianova with Tom Ford

Hansel and Gretel photo shoot with Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga and Lily Cole

1920's inspired shoot with Coco Rocha

Couture shoot from "The September Issue" with Raquel Zimmermann

Coco Rocha in a Superhero photo shoot

Same Superhero shoot dress by Jean Paul Gaultier

A more editorial shot with model Sasha Pivrova in a dress by Alexander McQueen