>> Back in June, Laetitia Casta shot a mysterious campaign with Annie Leibovitz for Louis Vuitton, and now we get to see the product. She follows in an illustrious line of Leibovitz-lensed Louis ads — Catherine Denueve, Sofia Coppola, and Mikhail Gorbachev have all come before her, and Sean Connery is said to be next.
*images: source
Restraint has never been a strong suit of Domenico Dolce or Stefano Gabbana thus its reassuring that even as the rest of the world focuses on the downsides of bailing out America's financial industry that excess is still on the mind of these Italian eccentrics. Either that or its profoundly disappointing that the duo has found no way to rework their brand to leaner times and wary consumers.
Ballgowns at once weighed down with flowers and buoyed up by with crinolines of metal mesh are certainly not the sort of reasonable garment one expects from a ready to wear collection, least of all in a time of belt tightening. And yet there they were in all their baroque splendor. Reaching for couture in an age where the future is positively opaque dazzles and yet we wonder why? But then surely we could wonder that about the entire parade of fashion weeks we are following and will follow again in six months time. Plus ça change?
Thankfully for buyers plenty of well merchandized pieces were mixed into the heady vision of ridiculous rococo from silk pajam tops to brocade sirts (almost appropriate for the office even) and some very attractive wedges. The commercial element ever lingers. A fact that makes us heave a sigh of relief.
>> INSIDER WIRE —Looks like Tom Ford is as obsessed with the look of Mad Men as the rest of us — word is he's brought in the production designers for the hit series to work on the look of his debut movie, an adaptation of A Single Man, which starts filming in November and is expected to wrap by the end of the year. In the meantime, he's also appearing on the cover of the new German Vanity Fair. [E! Online, TFS]
>> The Spring 2009 Prada falls have become a tale of epic proportions, but there's one more video before we can let it rest. It explains why poor Katie Fogarty — a Prada exclusive, too — ended up just taking her shoes (slash torture devices) off and walking the rest of the runway barefoot. Oh, and in case you were wondering — the shoes are going to be commercially produced with those slippery socks; Prada is considering fusing the socks to the insoles to prevent slippage. For their sake, I hope it works . . .
>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Currently causing confusion this morning: In a newly-published interview with Ymre Stiekema, one of Prada's Spring 2009 exclusives, she divulges that she was in Milan to work on a Prada campaign — this is pre-Spring 2009 Prada show, of course. Ymre has already appeared in the Fall 2008 Prada Linea Rossa campaign, so is this campaign she's talking about Linea Rossa? Resort 2009? Spring 2009? [V Magazine]
With all of the clothing coming down the runway in Milan its easy to forget that one of the most important aspects of "Made in Italy" appeal is the country's unparalled leather goods tradition. Fratelli Rossetti, the footwear manufacturer founded in 1953 in Parabiago by Renzo Rossetti together with his brother Renato, is one of the original family operated Italian shoe companies from which many imitators have sprung. Their tagline "a certain world walks in Rossetti" really rings true as their classic, long lasting loafers, pumps and heels are made by master craftsman and purchased by those who prefer a certain intrinsic level of quality over mere trends.
We imagine Luisa Beccaria as Italy's grown up Erin Fetherston, she has parlayed a kind of dreamy muted feminine style of dressing into a soft, sensual, detailed and above mature fashion line that speaks to the dewy eyed romantic in all of us. Impressively she has been designing in her signature style since 1841.
Floating lilac ball gowns should make us think Disney Princess but her Spring 2009 collection has just enough sophisticated allure thanks to delicate white dresses and even a crocheted handbag or two to make us sigh with appreciation. We hear men love this sort of fragile feminine glop. And, shock, we do too.
Spring 2009 really should have been THE season for Alessandro Dell'Acqua as two of his brand's key design elements, transparency and nude color stories, are springs biggest trends and yet we couldn't help but feel that the collection was just a little bland.
Just as many American designers evoke old Hollywood for inspiration, Alessandro looks to the Italian cinema greats, Visconti, Rosellini, Fellini, to inform his usually strong, raw sensual femininity. His love for the heroines of Italian neorealism has made the collections typically powerful statements of aggressive womanhood.
But somehow this collection felt drained of all life for us. Beige, beige and maybe a little black shall we? Which makes us think maybe like the film community before him he has actually moved on to French new wave. Knits, peasant skirts, slouchy boots, fringed dresses, tied black belts, knee high lacy stockings all felt appropriately disdainful of Right Bank conservatism and just sadly sexy enough to suggest at neurotic French ingenues.
