by philleif

>> No surprises here: Gwyneth Paltrow has been confirmed for the Fall 2008 Tod's print campaign. 

It was revealed a couple of weeks ago that Gwyneth Paltrow was shooting a promotional video for Tod's around Rome, and now a few more details about the Dennis Hopper-directed, Fellini-inspired, short have emerged. 

Gwyneth plays an actress (there's a stretch) being interviewed by a "devastatingly handsome" Italian journalist.  When the paparazzi descend, Gwyneth flees, forgetting her Tod's Pashmy bag.  The chivalrous journalist sets off to find her and reunite her with her Pashmy, eventually tracking her down at a "glamorous ball" just outside Rome.  As Hopper puts it: "Cinderella had her shoe.  Gwyneth has her Tod's bag."

Meanwhile, the accompanying print campaign (first peek — above left) was shot in Capri under the direction of Mario Testino, with Gwyneth playing out a beautiful Italian aristocrat from the "heady days of the jet-set era."  Both scenarios sound right up Gwynnie's alley . . .

Below, a behind-the-scenes look at the shooting of the five-minute short:

*image: source

by coutorture Have you ever dreamed of launching your own business? Learn some helpful hints and more in today's Must Read posts from: PR Couture interviews Amy Lagae of Avenue Public Relations about launching your own fashion pr agency. Fashion Indie is drooling over savory sweet jewels from the Purple Boudoir. Vie Couture discovers a delightful cutaway tank by Free People. Sugarshock notices a sexing up in the men's fragrance industry. Worn Through is intrigued by a unique Japanese footwear trend.

by philleif

by philleif

>> As Kate Moss' sixth collection for Topshop hits stores today — the red pansy dress is already causing a frenzy — another fashion girl is going for round two of her own line.

Chloe Sevigny is planning on collaborating with Opening Ceremony again — on a men's line.  Don't stop reading just yet — the pieces will come in "girl versions" as well — not with different tailoring, but in smaller sizes: "Not only did I want to do something for the guys in my life, but a lot of my girlfriends prefer to wear men's stuff," Sevigny said.  "I think what they like about men's clothes is the fit. So I don't want to change that. It'll be a new challenge."

If the men's line takes any reference point from her women's collection, expect lots of '90s-inspired oversized flannel grunge shirts.
*image: source

by coutorture It's a fetish-friendly time in the fashion industry. Commodities, the material component of capitalism, are the medium by which we understand value. When material commodities become scarce, the capitalist tendency is fetishize their worth (we do this when they are not scarce but the process is exaggerated when things beginning running out. See the 'limited edition' phenomenon in retail for more). We see these tendencies in the textile industry first. One of the most poignant shows from the Fall 08 season was from Prada. Lace was at the forefront of the collection and it is this textile, fetishized with or without a recession, that stands as an example of how material culture can represent socioeconomic circumstances. Lace is treated as a kind of 'special' textile simply because it is associated with 'special' Western rituals, like weddings and funerals. WWD reported today on the increasing popularity of the textile, seen from Fall 08 and now Resort 09 collections and it is, quite frankly, not a surprise. We like our commodities, we want to keep them, when they begin running out, we exaggerate the remains so that they become exclusive and valuable. Queue lace, ribbons, skins, and fur. Fashion's response to this recession and the upcoming Spring 09 collections should be quite interesting indeed.

by coutorture

Strap on your padded helmet, Balenciaga's online shop launched late last week. As usual, the bells and whistles are distracting enough to give an innocent online shopper a seizure at their cubicle. This is what troubles us about the big name e-commerce ventures: if someone is going to buy a $2,300 dollar bag, they (or their personal shopper) probably wants to make the transaction in relative peace. That is, if you're slapping down your cc info, you don't want four thousand screens flashing and zipping and flipping all over the place. You want a shopping cart and a 'Thank You' screen (be it a chic one). When we tested this out to make sure we really felt this way about the online shopping process, we noticed another, uh, small detail. Namely, the prices.

On the Balenciaga website, the Maillon bag (our favorite) is $2,295 and on Bluefly, $1,596. Oh, you know, that's only about a one thousand dollar discrepancy. Without the sale, Bluefly still retailed the bag for $1,999 so it's basically the difference between a 2.25% markup and a 2.5% markup. Yes, Bluefly is a horribly unattractive website. Yes, the images on the Balenciaga site make the bag seem like it's actually worth the money. But, no, we do not understand how someone can be savvy enough to buy their designer handbag on the internet and yet not notice this vast pricing discrepancy. Although Balenciaga offers the full range of handbags, and the boutique e-commerce sites do not, there are still these issues. In the end, it's entirely possible that Balenciaga just doesn't give a damn.

by coutorture

Mulberry has announced a little pop-up venture in the Hamptons. We're wondering if a pop-up can still be referenced as such when the town itself is a pop-up. It's kind of a mind bender. Nonetheless, the East Hampton shop will be open through the summer season and sell the brand's full range of accessories and some clothing.

For more on Mulberry, check out two inclusions from our network partner, Trust Your Style, on her 'Thirty Things I Like About Fall' short list. In the list, she breaks down some of Fall 08's best accessories, a category that isn't frequently editorialized until the clothing has really sunken in (i.e. mid-late summer). Below, we've put together a spread of Mulberry's Spring 08 offerings, for the Hamptons shopping spree you'll conduct with a big wad of euros. And, if you can't make it to the beach, some Mulburry offerings as part of the Net-a-Porter spring sale.

by coutorture Finnish designers had their own space during Meatpacking Design District 2008. Hardcore New Finnish Design showcased a wide variety of Finnish talent in industrial, furniture, graphic and even fashion design. We gravitated towards Anna Ruohonen a Finnish fashion designer currently working in Paris. In her designs Ruohonen aspires to provide an alternative to the ever-changing fashions in clothing. For her a garment is not made just for one season, but rather it should be able to withstand time. Ruohonen’s philosophy is reflected in her work on show in HARDCORE, where she presents her designs under the title Black Classics a selection of the designer’s own favorites since the year 2000. Her emphasis on timelessness comes out in the quality of the construction and the fabrics The Swedes aren't the only Scandanavians dedicated to denim. The Finns apparently have a yen for the top notch stuff as well. koneHELSINKI (the Finnish word ‘kone’ means ‘machine’ in English) is a design company founded by Finnish fashion designer Kalle Kuusela. The philosophy behind the line centers on the "sameness" of traditional denim. Jeans are often a piece of clothing that has a tendency to look like mere variations of the same theme - despite small changes in fashion, every pair looks basically the same. koneHelsinki’s jeans, on the contrary, show that even jeans can be uniquely captivating in their design. We aren't sure how well they succeed from the small set of samples we saw but we do like the philosophy nonetheless. Our favorite piece however came from watchmaker Stepan Sarpaneva. Son of the prominent Finnish jewellery designer Pentti Sarpaneva, he comes from a family with a long heritage of craftsmanship. He first graduated from The Finnish School of Watchmaking then moved to Switzerland to further his studies at WOSTEP. The Sarpaneva watch on show in HARDCORE is titled Time Tramp. It is a pocket watch made of the used kickstart pinion of an old Harley Davidson motorbike. "The idea was to make something simple and a bit brutal, but beautiful…like life in Finland.” said Stepan Sarpaneva in a QP magazine interview. We were certainly smitten, along with every man we have showed it to so far. Clearly a pocket watch is only appealing to a man if it strays as far away from its foppish history as possible. And it is pretty hard to get anymore "hardcore" than a kickstart pinion from a Harley. For More Meatpacking Design District 2008.