Posts for September 21st 2012

Milan Fashion Week

Versus Spring 2013

If you're going to have a fashion show on a Friday night, you might as well make it a party — and you might as well offer up clothing made for a rollicking good time.
Versus Spring 2013 | Runway

If you're going to have a fashion show on a Friday night, you might as well make it a party — and you might as well offer up clothing made for a rollicking good time.

With a glowing neon runway and a live performance by Beth Ditto — complete with backup dancers — the vibe was certainly in place. And though the first looks out the gate — zippered blazers, miniskirts, and flippy little dresses in vivid dahlia pink — were certainly hot enough to ignite a little flame, it wasn't until the bold intarsia knits, flower power prints, and Twister dot motifs appeared that the fun really began. In Lego hues, with clubby '60s silhouettes, and adorned with oversized plastic chains, they made for quite the joyous display — and proved that Christopher Kane and Donatella Versace definitely know how to keep a mood light.


Editor's Pick

This Week's Best Dressed

The Fashion Weeks of New York, London, and Milan may be taking up most of the industry's attention as of late, but there have been plenty of other noteworthy style moments elsewhere this week as well.
Best-Dressed Models and Celebrities: Week of Sept. 21, 2012

The Fashion Weeks of New York, London, and Milan may be taking up most of the industry's attention as of late, but there have been plenty of other noteworthy style moments elsewhere this week as well. New York City Ballet's Fall 2012 opening night, for example, brought a flurry of high-glamour looks on a host of superchic stars. Anne Hathaway, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elettra Wiedemann, Michelle Harper, and more were on hand to fete the event, as was Valentino Garavani, who looked just as dapper as ever — and just happened to design the dance company's costumes.

Click through to see all that, plus more of the week's best looks, here in our best-of-the-week roundup.

Vena Cava

Vena Cava Debuts Trailer for First Film

When Vena Cava's Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai inked a brand expansion deal with Li & Fung in April, they said one of their goals for the future was to create a movie.

When Vena Cava's Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai inked a brand expansion deal with Li & Fung in April, they said one of their goals for the future was to create a movie. Six months later, they've financed a horror film called Heartland that they appear in with a group of their girlfriends.

The movie, directed by Josh and Benny Safdie of Red Bucket Films, paints the story of a women's cult led by a man named Willie Gillis that becomes a popular artists collective. In the trailer, Gillis is overheard telling his followers, "If a wild animal is trying to do you and yours harm, it is OK to kill that wild animal. And sometimes, a wild animal is a human being."

Details about the movie's plot are scant, but the trailer shows the cult traveling to Los Angeles's Chateau Marmont and singing songs in a car. It also shows the cult's women wearing pieces from Vena Cava's Fall 2012 collection, which itself was inspired by the neo-noir movies of the '70s.

A look at the film Buhai and Mayock created in the video below.

fashion week

Versace Spring 2013

Donatella Versace described her Spring 2013 collection as "subtle" — and hers is probably the only fashion house where metallic fringe laid over a gold minidress and belted at the waist qualifies as such.
Versace Spring 2013 | Runway

Donatella Versace described her Spring 2013 collection as "subtle" — and hers is probably the only fashion house where metallic fringe laid over a gold minidress and belted at the waist qualifies as such.

When you step back a bit, though, this collection is noticeably pared down compared to what we've seen from Versace over the past few seasons. The prints are the first clue to that: save for two garments that feature the house's iconic medusa image as a motif, many of the other fabrics are gentle splotches or stripes of one color imposed over another. There are also a few dresses bedecked with metal studs and some tied together corset-style across diagonal slashes in the material. A few dresses featured lace embellishments and insets, and loose-cut, simple black jackets (yes, jackets) were certainly very subtle. But in this collection, they were among the standout pieces.

Shopping

The Outnet's New Line Redefines Styling Basics

As if browsing The Outnet weren't already tempting enough, now there's a whole other reason to shop: Iris & Ink, the retailer's very own label, is finally starting to trickle onto the site.
Iris & Ink Spring 2013 on The Outnet

As if browsing The Outnet weren't already tempting enough, now there's a whole other reason to shop: Iris & Ink, the retailer's very own label, is finally starting to trickle onto the site. Consisting of 35 styling basics meant to pair easily with the designer pieces that The Outnet already sells, the line was created with the ultimate wardrobe in mind. Silk t-shirts, bow-neck blouses, colorblock cashmere sweaters, twill trenches, cropped trousers, and even slick leather tanks and dresses — the collection reads like a list of must haves that every woman should own, and even though the pieces are meant to be "basics," they feel so on point that there's really nothing basic about them.

"The Iris & Ink styling kit is based on all the core sell-out pieces that we just can't get enough of," Outnet creative director Mo White explained. And even better, they come in prices that won't necessarily break the bank: $85 (for a miniskirt) to $520 (for a little black dress). Click through to see a selection of pieces from the collection, available in full by Oct. 22.

Kanye West

Kanye West Will Not Show During Paris Fashion Week

After two seasons of showing his designs alongside Chanel, Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent, Kanye West will not stage a runway show during Paris Fashion Week for Spring 2013.



After two seasons of showing his designs alongside Chanel, Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent, Kanye West will not stage a runway show during Paris Fashion Week for Spring 2013.

Representatives for Karla Otto, the public relations firm that represents West's line, confirmed that he would not be showing but didn't specify whether the line would be discontinued.

Shoes from his Spring 2012 collection, which he created with Giuseppe Zanotti, were sold at Colette in Paris. The rest of the wares from his first outing got withering reviews, but for Fall 2012 he had improved. Elle UK said there were "perfectly acceptable clothes" in that collection.

Photo: West with Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci after West's Fall 2012 show in Paris.

Sonia Rykiel

Sonia Rykiel Names New Artistic Director

Geraldo da Conceicao, currently a women's design director at Louis Vuitton, will soon take over the artistic director's chair at Sonia Rykiel.



Geraldo da Conceicao, currently a women's design director at Louis Vuitton, will soon take over the artistic director's chair at Sonia Rykiel. He'll show his first collection for Rykiel in a Fall 2013 runway show.

Before Vuitton, da Conceicao held senior design positions at Miu Miu and Yves Saint Laurent, where he worked under Tom Ford, Alber Elbaz, and Stefano Pilati.

To prepare for the staff change, Rykiel has canceled the show it planned to stage during Paris Fashion Week and will instead host a presentation for buyers and editors. It's believed Rykiel's current creative director April Crichton will part ways with the house.

Da Conceicao's hiring is part of a restructuring designed to expand the Rykiel brand internationally. The Rykiel family sold an 80 percent stake in the business to Fung Brands Ltd. in February and since then has seen a number of staff changes on its business team.

"We are opening a new chapter for the company," said Jean-Marc Loubier, chairman at Rykiel and president of Fung Brands. "We are sure [da Conceicao] will be able to take the Rykiel woman and make her international."

Rykiel herself has been a less and less present part of the brand recently. In the autobiography she released this Spring, the 81-year-old designer revealed a longstanding battle with Parkinson's disease.

Photo: The finale of Sonia Rykiel's Fall 2012 show.

Chanel Iman

Watch: Chanel Iman Shows Off Her New Pole Dancing Skills

Chanel Iman shows off her new favorite hobby — pole dancing — in a just-released video created by husband and wife filmmakers Dusan Reljin and Hilde Pettersen Reljin for Nowness.

Chanel Iman shows off her new favorite hobby — pole dancing — in a just-released video created by husband and wife filmmakers Dusan Reljin and Hilde Pettersen Reljin for Nowness. Under an array of vibrantly colored lights, the glitter-covered supermodel dons a large wig and engages in several outfit changes — and is completely mesmerizing all the while.

"We wanted all the colors to be very primary, saturated and strong, so that the whole thing would be very powerful," Dusan said. "Even though she is doing something very exotic and visual, the color schemes that we used make her part of the environment."

A look at Iman in action in the video below. (NSFW)

Giovanni Ribisi

Newlyweds Agyness Deyn and Giovanni Ribisi Engage in Romantic Shopping Spree

Since the surprise announcement of their secret wedding back in June, Agyness Deyn and Giovanni Ribisi have kept a pretty low profile — until now.
Agyness Deyn and Giovanni Ribisi Kissing Pictures

Since the surprise announcement of their secret wedding back in June, Agyness Deyn and Giovanni Ribisi have kept a pretty low profile — until now. Yesterday the newlyweds were spotted at Gelson's supermarket in Los Angeles, and not only did they appear to be having a great time while shopping for peanut butter, but they were also not at all shy about engaging in some heavy PDA.

"We both felt it!" Deyn recently explained to The Telegraph of her and Ribisi's sudden union. "And now it just makes so much sense, both of us wanting that. It's a really symbolic thing." Judging by these photos, it's really a romantic thing as well. A peek inside their happy grocery spree, here.

fashion week

Les Copains Spring 2013

With his latest Spring collection, designer Albino D'Amato is helping push the mixed-print trend all the way through the upcoming year.
Les Copains Spring 2013 | Runway

With his latest Spring collection, designer Albino D'Amato is helping push the mixed-print trend all the way through the upcoming year. The catwalk presentation started with a handful of freshly printed ensembles: striped knit sweaters with tribal-print pencil skirts, zig-zag tops with striped skirts, and — all with a color scheme of navy, black, and white. Halfway through the show, D'Amato hit it strong with bright cobalt pieces like sheer blouses, silk pants, pencil skirts, and dresses. Then came chic black pieces like embroidered blouses and little black dresses, followed by shimmery gold dresses that majorly upped the glam factor.