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Category Archives: Styles & Fashion
Watch: The Mesmerizing Making of Chanel's Spring 2013 Couture Gowns
Chanel’s Spring 2013 Couture collection was beautiful, but watching the pieces come to life in the hands of Chanel’s artisans is almost as beautiful as the garments themselves.
The house offers a closer look at how its one-of-a-kind creations are made in a new video called “Le Savoire Faire.” In it, workers in Chanel’s Couture ateliers are seen creating gowns with components from the embroidery studio Maison Lesage and from the feather and floral applique masters at Maison Lemarié. It’s as mesmerizing to watch countless thousands of beads, silk flowers, crystals, and other embellishments come together as it is to watch the show itself. A look at the process in the video below.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Vogue UK's Little Sis, Loewe's Blogger-Inspired Bag Line, and Vanity Fair's New List
- British Vogue editor, Francesca Burns, revealed via Twitter that the magazine will launch a teen edition, Miss Vogue, this May. [Racked]
- Meanwhile, Hearst Magazines International will debut Elle in Australia this October. [Fashionologie Inbox]
- Artist Julie Verhoeven – who has previously collaborated with Mulberry, Vogue UK]
- Now’s your chance to show off your style chops – Vanity Fair is now accepting pictures of its readers for possible inclusion in its annual International Best Dressed list. [The New York Times]
- Vogue UK]
- Mark your calendars: the The Shophound]
- Moda Operandi]
- Ford Models has shuttered its kids division after restructuring its New York office. [Page Six]
- Morgans Hotel Group will partner with Scoop NYC to style its guests for New York Fashion Week. [She Finds]
- Will Natalie Portman soon be wearing a beret? Her husband, Benjamin Millepied, the former principal at New York City Ballet, has just been named the director of dance at the Paris Opera ballet. [The New York Times]
All the bits fit to print here, in our daily news roundup.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Behind the Scenes With Karl Lagerfeld on His "Mysterious and Unusual" New Project
In case anyone had forgotten about Karl Lagerfeld‘s legion of side projects – remember the helicopters? – there’s now a behind-the-scenes video featuring The Kaiser hard at work on his latest one: a photo series for Italian furniture company Cassina.
The company announced that Lagerfeld would photograph some of its iconic designs in November, and the images he created will be on display at Cassina’s Paris showroom from Jan. 31 to Mar. 10.
In the video, Lagerfeld says his goal was to make the furniture appear “both mysterious and unusual while remaining a piece of furniture.” A look at him doing just that in the video below.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Should Kate Upton's Newest Commercial Be Banned?
Though Kate Upton has modeled no shortage of skin-baring ensembles, her most controversial assignment yet seems to be the teaser for Mercedes-Benz’s upcoming Super Bowl commercial.
But it’s not what Upton wears in the commercial that’s causing a stir, it’s what she’s doing. The teaser, titled “Kate Upton Washes the All-New Mercedes-Benz CLA in Slow Motion,” primarily features the model flirtatiously playing with her hair, then ambling over to a group of men to inform them that they’ve missed a spot on the vehicle.
The Parents Television Council has complained that the ad “isn’t selling cars, it’s selling sexual objectification.” But is the commercial really all that sexual? A look at the teaser below.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Dolce, Gabbana Wish Galliano Good Luck on Fashion Comeback
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have joined the chorus of voices backing John Galliano‘s return to working in the industry.
“We wish John the best of luck with his return to fashion,” the two said in a post on their online magazine Swide. “We’ve always been admirers of his flamboyant talent. He has been missed from the fashion scene these two years and we can’t wait to see the collection with Oscar de la Renta.”
Just last week, de la Renta shocked the fashion community when he announced that he would welcome Galliano, who was let go from his position at Dior for making anti-Semitic comments in 2010, at his studio for a three-week residency. “Everyone in life deserves a second chance, especially someone as talented as John,” de la Renta said at the time. “I think that life is about forgiving and helping people.”
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Maison Martin Margiela's Artisanal Spring 2013
If some of the pieces in reported 70 hours embroidering metallic wrappers onto silk.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
What Does H&M's Paris Fashion Week Show Mean For the Industry?
While Peter Som and Cacharel are skipping Fashion Week for one reason or another, H&M plans to return to the runway with a show at Paris’s Rodin Museum this February.
The Swedish retailer is following in some big footsteps: Versace, this will be the first time the brand’s main collection has appeared on the runway in eight years.
But other mass-market retailers have come to the runway in recent years too: Topshop Unique has been on the London Fashion Week calendar since 2005 and sponsors the venue where debut in Spring 2012 was one of the most talked-about of that season. Now it’s one of the most anticipated – and well-attended – presentations on the New York calendar.
But what does it mean when mass-market labels are staging the kinds of shows once reserved for brands that deal in four-figure price points? It could be a simple matter of cost. In 2009, Forbes reported that the price of a runway show “can easily hit $75,000,” and last September The Independent found that designers were “often running up bills in the hundreds of thousands” during Fashion Week. It may simply be easier for a big company like H&M to foot the bill than it is for smaller operations like Chris Benz and Betsey Johnson – both of whom have canceled their shows in New York next month.
“We felt excited about the collection, and we really wanted to show it,” H&M spokesman Hacan Andersson told WWD. If H&M is proud enough of its own wares to put them up against the likes of Chanel and Sonia Rykiel, then that excitement makes sense. Will other brands like H&M be emboldened to do the same?
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
The Recent Rush of Plush Velvet
—Brittany Adams
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Style Features
Valentino Couture Spring 2013
Other couturiers have built small parks with real trees and bushes to display their Spring 2013 Couture collections, but Valentino’s Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpalo Piccoli used garden elements in their actual garments.
Curlicues made from tubes of red, white, or black fabric decorated everything from dresses to suits and even shoes, echoing the wrought iron gates and fences used to tame nature in public parks. One gray dress covered in embroidered birds was paired with a black cape made from the tubing, making the model wearing it look like a mobile bird cage. Black lace was arranged on one A-line skirt to look like a garden maze, and a procession of shimmering green leaves snaked up a sheer ruffled dress.
And while every other look carried a floral embellishment or applique of some kind, this collection was lightweight and even breezy in some instances. That feeling owes to Chiuri and Piccoli’s use of sheer fabrics and light colors. With the exception of Valentino red, the collection primarily features whites, cream, gray, pale pink, and black. A few sleek dresses without decoration and jackets with an off-the-shoulder cut helped the offering feel modern.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Oscar de la Renta: Criticizing Michelle Obama "Was a Big Mistake"
Fashion critics are quick to point out that Michelle Obama, who wore a bevy of American designers during the recent inaugural celebrations, has never donned Oscar de la Renta. Could one of his comments on her style from nearly four years ago be the reason why?
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, de la Renta said that criticizing what Obama wore the first time she met Queen Elizabeth II “was a big mistake. I said lots of nice things, but then I said I didn’t think Mrs. Obama should have worn a J.Crew sweater to go to Buckingham Palace. And that’s the bit they used.”
De la Renta made that comment in an April 2009 interview with WWD. But that’s not to say he’s never paid her a compliment. Around the same time as Buckingham Sweatergate, de la Renta said the first lady “has such great looks if she put on a potato sack, she would look great.”
Related: Oscar de la Renta’s Comments on Michelle Obama Ruffle Feathers
Related: Inauguration Celebration: See All of Michelle Obama’s Looks
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Elie Saab Couture Spring 2013
Millions of beads, scrolling embroideries, and piles of lace might not conjure the idea of weightlessness outright, but in Elie Saab‘s capable hands that’s precisely what you get. For Spring 2013 couture, the designer whipped those materials – as well as charmeuse, mesh, chiffon, and metallic thread, and even brocade floral prints – into a light-as-air cloud of heaven that was as breathtaking as it was soft.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Spring 2013
Jean Paul Gaultier looked east, and specifically to India, for the inspiration behind his Spring 2013 couture collection. The designer told reporters that he wanted to pay homage to Indian Gypsies, and used the colors of Rajasthan to inform his palette.
“It’s glimmering, it’s incredible the colors that you see, it’s superb,” he said of the city in an interview with Reuters. “I tried to recreate a bit of that, but more the Gypsy side, rather than the Maharaja side. It’s more like couture Gypsies.”
Billowing sheer capes shot through with gold thread embroidery and veils in orange, pink, and purple sat on top of a few looks. Closer to the body there were intricately beaded dresses, sheer panels of fabric, and more than one bustier that recalled the iconic cone bra the designer created for Madonna in the ’90s. But the long-sleeved patchwork gowns featuring tiers of ruffles are perhaps a little more fitting for wandering souls.
As for his bridal finale look? The model who closed the show lifted up her billowing white skirts to reveal four little girls who ran down the runway to perform a dance for the audience.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Louis Vuitton Gets Steamed, Lindsay Ellingson Goes Gold, and Juergen Teller Woos in London
- YouTube]
- If you’re thinking about investing in an Hermés Birkin or Kelly, act fast – prices at the luxury retailer are expected to rise seven percent to 10 percent by early February. [Purseblog]
- 3.1 ad campaign. [Fashionologie Inbox]
- Victoria’s Secret has pledged to stop using hazardous chemicals in the production of its clothing by 2020. [Telegraph]
- Speaking of Victoria’s Secret, Angel Lindsay Ellingson will launch an ecommerce site for her handmade line of jewelry, Goldie Knots, this Spring. [Style.com]
- She Finds]
- Re/Create New York’s auction to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief features a 60-second grab-and-dash shopping spree in the Net-A-Porter warehouse. [Recreate New York]
- Coach plans on expanding its offering of ready-to-wear, outerwear, and jewelry. [WWD]
- Juergen Teller’s latest exhibition, Woo, which features images of Style.com]
All the bits fit to print here, in our daily news roundup.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Saint Laurent Pre-Fall 2013
Hedi Slimane‘s confident pre-Fall 2013 lookbook for Saint Laurent is filled with largely black-and-white images of Sky Ferreira. What better casting choice for a designer so invested in rock and roll?
As he’s done with his ad campaigns, Slimane shot Ferreira’s largely black-and-white images himself. The offering echoes the glamorous portrayal of ’70s classics from Slimane’s Spring 2013 collection, but with a refined edge. A sheer polka-dot tunic with bishop’s sleeves is paired with a masculine wool overcoat in one image. In another, rounded metal studs and wide armholes give a leather shift presence. Ferreira looks like a rock star in all of the ensembles, but she’s most striking in a black leather motorcycle jacket and sky-high booties.
Photos by Hedi Slimane, courtesy of Saint Laurent.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Jacket Required
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Style Features
Armani Privé Spring 2013
Giorgio Armani continued his sleek streak with the Spring 2013 Armani Privé collection he presented in Paris on Tuesday. There were some looks that pointed back to the designer’s history of appropriating men’s suiting for women, but by and large this offering was filled with feminine pieces rendered from high-gloss fabrics. Some of the garments, thanks to beading, patterned fabrics, and wooden accessories, had a vaguely tribal feeling, and each look was paired with Armani’s rendition of the traditional fez.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Giambattista Valli Couture Spring 2013
Giambattista Valli turned a fresh eye to modernist design with his Spring 2013 Couture collection. His fourth couture outing – staged at the Italian Embassy in Paris – featured restrained animal prints, wasp-waisted dresses and coats, and floral embellishments that were actually created from feathers.
Our full review will be posted shortly. In the meantime, a first look at the collection here in the gallery.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
The Chanel Couture Front Row Was Like a Mini Fashion Show
Karl’s girls were out in full force at the Chanel Spring 2013 Couture show in Paris on Tuesday. Laura Bailey, whose lately been a Chanel front-row fixture, looked the picture of gamine chic in wide-legged trousers, a striped longsleeve, and knit beret, while fellow Chanel favorite Diane Kruger channeled girlish charm in a puritan collared a-line frock. Also in attendance was Hailey Steinfeld, whose argyle cardigan and leather skirt combo made quite a statement thanks to a newsboy cap perched jauntily atop her head.
See all the notables who attended the show – including Clemence Poesy, Rita Ora, and Ana Girardot – right here.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Alexis Mabille Couture Spring 2013
What better way to celebrate his first foray as an official haute couturier than with an explosion of pretty-in-pink tulle and a cotton-candy-colored runway? Alexis Mabille‘s debut Couture collection had both, plus a healthy helping of Chantilly lace, pleated organza, and silk crepe – all of which came in ice cream parlor hues to match that sugary catwalk. But it wasn’t all romance and froth; the emphasis, Mabille said, was on “craftsmanship,” and thus there were plenty of artisan details and expertly wielded cuts. Dresses in tulle nipped in below the natural waist and flared out from the hip in elegant flares of ruffles and tiers, while neatly tailored trousers in shiny silk made a crisp counterpoint to more voluminous tops.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie