>> Back in April, Gucci announced that Claire Danes would be replacing Drew Barrymore as the face of their fine jewelry line this Fall. The campaign was shot by the same photographers — Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin — and now that the new set of photos with Claire have been revealed, they leave me wondering. Why switch headliners and shell out the money for a whole new shoot if you're going to use the same exact sand background, same poses, same concept . . . ?
*image: source
>> INSIDER WIRE —Narciso Rodriguez has a "notoriously difficult" reputation, and the fact that he wants to cut ties with his main investor, Liz Claiborne, after just sixteen months isn't helping anything. Claiborne wants to take the label more downmarket than Narciso is willing to do, so instead, he wants to buy back their share. Only problem is, he's having trouble finding a new investor in times like these . . . [The Cut]
>> "I don't care about the collection. My dogs are much more important," Valentino Garavani exclaims during one scene of Valentino: The Last Emperor. The designer is supposed to be the star of the documentary, which is still making the film festival rounds, but from the clips that have appeared so far, his six pugs — Milton, Monty, Maude, Margot, Maggie and Molly — seem to steal the show. One "little idiot," as Valentino calls her, urinates during photo shoot for the movie poster below, and all six get taken wherever their master goes, with dog butler in tow.
*image: source
After a two week hiatus thanks to New York and London Fashion Week Coutorture's community must reads are back with a fresh dose of blogger joy.
We entirely support Bag Bliss's love of Pringle's Kasia tote bag. We have Pringle on the mind what with their new collaboration with Sigerson Morrison and all. Shoewawa also has the scoop on that collaboration.
Style Eyes notes that nudes and oranges are combining quite a bit on the catwalk this Spring 2009 season. She also hopes that by saying "nude" she doesn't get any upsetting Google traffic. We think you are safe hon!
Temptalia has Chanel's Holiday 2008 collection with lots of images and product descriptions for those obsessed with all things double C.
SheFinds solves the dreaded pairing black and brown collection. We say hey didn't we already do that at Lord and Taylor this week? Ohh wait, that was for guys!
Little Molly Cakes asks how do we feel about sequined shorts. She feels good. We feel bad.
When Rubin Singer did a full on nautical collection in New York for his Spring 2009 show we admit we thought it was a little too much cruise collection not quite enough spring/summer. But after seeing D&G's delightful diffusion line take on naughty and gnarly nautical we might have to soften the stance on cruise as summer collection attire. Who are we to stand on ceremony, cruise is just summer in a different hemisphere anyway right?
While it may homogenize merchandising a bit we were tickled by stripes (a trend report of ours in New York) on everything from dresses and capris to full on bathing robes. Add to that a few jaunty little high waisted trousers (who cares if its been done to death already?) and some pert camisoles and we might just convince ourselves that we need to get on the Dolce and Gabanna yacht.
A picture is worth a thousands words seems may be functionally illiterate's favorite aphorism but we too prefer showing over telling. Last week while much of the fashion world tuned in to London we spent a great deal of time pouring of Air New Zealand Fashion Week photography. The collections that were officially showing were for Winter 2009. Pesky Southern Hemisphere buy cycles aside, Air New Zealand Fashion Week is in its 8th year.
New Zealand's apparel business is relatively small, worth about $227 USD a year (compare that to Ralph Lauren's 4th quarter 1.24 billion in net revenue), but it certainly did its best to pull off a very full fashion week. Only exporting roughly 9% of its apparel business to the United States, we like to think that this homegrown fashion stays local even if it inspires globally.
We begin by suggesting Coutorture favorite Karen Walker. Though while Karen Walker may be a big name to us in the states, it is Kirrily Johnston that can really claim the hometown fame. If you go in for the moody fashion we suggest the Edgar Allen Po trifecta of dark and brooding scenesters Huffer, sleek and bleak Nyne, Kurt Cobain's not dead Stolen Girlfriends Club. The much hyped local favorites Jaeha did do much for us though we did enjoy the the comfortable hip Salasai. Another unexpected charmer was New Zealand's answer to Anna Sui Trelise Cooper
But if you really want wild and wooly New Zealand authenticity we suggest Nom D, a line so appreciatively hip and woolen they make us wish we were a Kiwi. Even if their dark humour about their wool industry as demonstrated in Black Sheep still confuses us.
>> THE MODELIZER —If a modeling comeback is in order, there's no better way to do it than by opening a Marc Jacobs show. Jamie Bochert, who was big back in the early 2000s until she took a break to focus on music, was asked personally by Marc to do his Spring 2009 show — and now she's fully back in the game, with new representation by Women. [Women Blog]
