fashionologie

A Sneak Peek at Alber Elbaz's Lanvin Book

Justin Fenner — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:26:51 PDT

What better way to celebrate Alber Elbaz's 10 years designing for Lanvin than with a gilded coffee-table book?

This month, Steidl will publish Alber Elbaz - Lanvin, a $450 tome filled with quotations from Elbaz and some 400 behind-the-scenes images - shot by photographer But-Sou Lai - of the work he does there.

"When the whole industry is about the six minutes of the show and a review that is being written in a taxi because then there is the next one, I thought, I'm going to show everyone how much effort goes into making a single dress," he told The Independent. "I wanted to show how many threads you have to put together to make one rose; how much thought goes into a button. I wanted to show a shoe in the factory in Italy being held like a baby by an old man and then attached to a machine as if it was going to the dentist."

Elbaz went on to say that he values craft more than fame - something that shows both in his collections and in his book. Take a glimpse of its pages here, in the gallery.

Photo at left: Elbaz with Emma Stone at the 2012 Met Gala. Gallery photos courtesy of Steidl.

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Lanvin Fall 2012

Christina Perez — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:12:05 PST

>> Alber Elbaz celebrated his tenth year at Lanvin with an homage to all things glamorous - and all things Lanvin. It was colorful, sexy, confident, edgy - and them some. There were a handful of terrific coats cut in generous proportions; some were cinched at the waist with jaguar-head belts or draped in fur; all had rounded shoulders, exaggerated sleeves, and high collars. Otherwise, the collection consisted mostly of Elbaz's signature dresses. Those he cut in celebratory, curve-enhancing lines and embellished with layers of ruffles, sculptural peplums, lace appliqué, or glittering jewels. "I like dresses for night, I like afterparty more than party. I like the mystery; I like the dream, like fantasy dresses," Elbaz explained recently. There was plenty of fantasy here, but it felt plenty accessible, too. That, of course, is Elbaz's unique charm - the kind of charm that's made his 10 years at Lanvin worth celebrating. "I always say, 'If you can't eat it, it's not food, and if you can't wear it, it's not fashion, it is something else.'"

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Watch the Lanvin Spring 2012 Campaign Video

Christina Perez — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:59:39 PST

>> Steven Meisel captures a bit of nefarious dinner party fun in this recently-released Lanvin Spring 2012 campaign video. Set to the tune of Maxine Ashley's "Cookieman," models Aaron Vernon, Angus Low, Aymeline Valade, Johannes Schulze, Marte Mei van Haaster, and Othilia Simon pose moodily, play with snakes, and don jeweled masks - looking glamorously chic all the while. Watch it below now.

Lanvin Pre-Fall 2012

Christina Perez — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:10:07 PST

>> For Alber Elbaz, it's all about what's fresh - even as this year marks the designer's 10th at the helm of Lanvin. To celebrate, Elbaz has worked "new fabrics, new technologies, and new volumes" into Pre-Fall, combining statement-making shapes with some very innovative materials. Full-skirted frocks are done up in lace-bonded wool, oversized trenches come in patent leather gabardine, and flouncy cocktail dresses are constructed from airy tech fabrics. Large-scale cameo necklaces, square-buckle belts, and super-svelte leather gloves punctuate the looks.

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Fashion Descends on London For the Frieze Art Fair

fashionologie — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:37:59 PDT

>> On to the next: Not a week after Paris Fashion Week ended, fashion's attention has already been shifted to London, where the Frieze Art Fair gets under way today. Yesterday, designers Alber Elbaz and Phoebe Philo, art dealers Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and Philo's husband, Max Wigram, plus Natalia Vodianova, Caroline Sieber, and Valentino Garavani were all spotted taking in the wares at the VIP preview.

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Lanvin Spring 2012

fashionologie — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:21:09 PDT

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Alber Elbaz, Karl Lagerfeld Both Talk Drugs in Fashion

fashionologie — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:02:50 PDT

>> Karl Lagerfeld, in New York to launch his Macy's collection, talked with Style.com about fashion's notorious vices, but maintained: "I never smoke, I never take drugs, I’m never drunk, because I like only what I’m doing - work, reading, learning, sketching, taking photos. For the rest, my lack of passion or interest for this kind of thing makes it perhaps too easy for me to judge others. I’m surrounded by people who drink and take drugs. It doesn’t bother me at all, even when I know it’s bad for them. I’m not teaching them."

Alber Elbaz, too, over the weekend, broached the subject of drugs: "I don't understand this marathon of fashion. Today, designers are expected to produce work that is bigger, better, faster and - these days - cheaper. A singer can quit once he or she has made ten great songs, a director can finish once he or she has made five amazing films, a writer just needs to write three great books. Now let's look at designers - they produce six to eight shows a year, most designers have a 20-year-long career, so I need to create about 250 collections in that time. Not even Danielle Steel could write 250 books.

Elbaz continued: "You start to understand why some designers do strange things, why some designers talk to themselves, you have to find a way of dealing with it all. I don't take drugs because if I did I'd love them - I'd be a junkie. And because I'm Jewish, I'd probably be a dealer too," he joked. "I don't go out to parties because I'd look terrible in pictures. My escape is television - it's like meditation to me."

Watch Raquel Zimmermann, Karen Elson, and Alber Elbaz Dance in the New Lanvin Video

fashionologie — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:23:34 PDT

>> Steven Meisel captured models dancing for Prada's Spring 2011 campaign video, and now he's done the same for Lanvin's Fall 2011 campaign video. Raquel Zimmermann and Karen Elson dance in sync to Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me" - and Alber Elbaz makes a dancing cameo at the end.

Report - Marc Jacobs Could Be Headed to Dior and Phoebe Philo to Louis Vuitton

fashionologie — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:14:24 PDT

>> A couple of weeks after rumors popped up suggesting that Marc Jacobs was at the top of the pack to take over as Dior's new designer, reports corroborate that the rumors just might be true.

According to WWD, Bernard Arnault is in talks with Jacobs about moving from Louis Vuitton to Dior, and meetings have reportedly been scheduled in Paris this week between Dior officials and legal representatives for Jacobs. Jacobs, who signed on as Vuitton's artistic director in 1997, has been in the midst of renewing his employment contract at Vuitton, but those discussions are said to have been put on hold, pending the outcome of Jacobs's discussions with Dior.

One source cautioned WWD that deal with Jacobs is not done, but both the designer and Dior management are so far "excited" about the prospect. If the deal goes through, Jacobs will get his first opportunity as a couturier, and his business partner Robert Duffy would come with him. Dior declined to comment on the reports, and Jacobs could not be reached for comment.

As for who would replace Jacobs at Vuitton, it sounds like Phoebe Philo could be first in line. LVMH has already reportedly held preliminary discussions with Philo, who is said to be "intrigued" by the project. If the shuffling plays out, it's reportedly likely she would design Vuitton in addition to Celine.

WWD reports that a number of potential candidates have been approached to succeed John Galliano, who exited Dior in March, including Alber Elbaz, Nicolas Ghesquière, Sarah Burton, Haider Ackermann and Hedi Slimane. Elbaz and Ghesquiere, who both have equity stakes in and strong commitments to the houses they design for, have withdrawn themselves from the running, and Burton is said to have rebuffed overtures. Talks with Ackermann and Slimane, meanwhile, did not end in an agreement. As for Riccardo Tisci, he is still considered a dark-horse candidate, and has been championed by Delphine Arnault, Dior deputy managing director and Bernard Arnault's daughter.

Tilda Swinton Works With a Creative Director for Her Red Carpet Looks Instead of a Stylist

fashionologie — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:11:00 PDT

>> Tilda Swinton has played muse for Viktor & Rolf and Haider Ackermann - she met both, as well as Alber Elbaz, Stefano Pilati, Phoebe Philo, and Raf Simons (who designed her wardrobe for the 2010 film I Am Love) - through her close friend Jerry Stafford, the creative director of a French production company, who she works with in place of a stylist. “He’s my playmate,” she says. “It’s a game, and we have great fun with it.”

Swinton cites David Bowie and her father, Major General Sir John Swinton, as her style icons, and says of working with friends on what she wears for the red carpet: “For someone to know what you need to make you comfortable, they need to know who you are. Having them make clothes for me is like being cooked for by someone who knows what you like to eat.”

For the one-sleeve black Lanvin sheath she wore to the 2008 Oscars, for instance, she told Elbaz she wanted “to attract as little attention as possible and to feel as comfortable as if I were wearing pajamas. Little did I know that the really simple, chic dress one might have worn in Paris or Berlin would stick out like a sore thumb in Los Angeles.”

Stafford also creative directed Swinton's cover story for the August 2011 issue of W (left) - together they created a mood board for the shoot.