fashionologie

Alexander McQueen's White Fall 2011 Finale Gowns - A Preview of Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress?

fashionologie — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:14:30 PST

>> Sarah Burton's Fall 2011 Alexander McQueen collection was inspired by "The Ice Queen and her court," a theme that easily feeds into all the rumors that soon-to-be Princess Kate Middleton has chosen Burton to do her wedding dress. Particularly when the collection includes a small selection of decadent white gowns - which by the finale, had the fashion flock convinced that British designer Burton should be doing Middleton's gown (if she's not already). A selection of their post-show tweets:

Telegraph UK's Hilary Alexander: "Alexander McQueen.. Fit for.a Queen!"
Fashion Television's Jeanne Beker: "Seems that everyone here is convinced Kate Middleton's choice SHOULD be McQueen!!"
Elle's Joe Zee: "Kate Middleton, I love you but if you don't have Sarah Burton design your wedding dress, you're making a big mistake. HUGE."
Style.com's Meenal Mistry: "Honestly, I don't really understand why Sarah Burton at McQueen making Kate Middleton's dress isn't a foregone conclusion."
Elle UK: "Phenomenal McQueen show! Those final looks will do nothing to dispel the Kate bridal rumours..."
InStyle's Ariel Foxman: "Stunning at McQueen. Preview of Kate's big day dress?"
Elle's Anne Slowey: "LIFT OFF AT McQUEEN!!!! Kate Middleton: HELLOOOOO!!!!"
Observer UK's Helen Seamons: "McQueen - Just incredible. If Kate Middleton is wearing them she is a very lucky girl &if she isn't she should be"

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Elle's Joe Zee, Kate Lanphear, and Anne Slowey Sound Off on Bloggers

fashionologie — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 09:03:45 PDT

>> Elle's fashion news director Anne Slowey has sounded off on bloggers - particularly Style Rookie's Tavi Gevinson, before - which then prompted her to take to Elle's blog to further expound on her comments. Last night at ELLEvated, a forum of six Elle editors hosted by WFIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology's radio and television broadcasting network) in New York, the subject came up again, and creative director Joe Zee and style director Kate Lanphear, too, put forth their views on bloggers.

When asked his feeling on the Tavi phenomenon, Zee replied:

"The Internet has allowed people to be 'couch critics.' You could sit anywhere in the world, you could sit in Oklahoma, look at a fashion show on the Internet, you could post your thoughts . . . the Internet has made fashion a lot more democratic in this way. You know, Tavi, like her or don't like her, she's 13 - whether she even really writes it herself, the idea that she has gotten all this attention, it's because of the Internet, not because of anything else. [At Elle] we're talking about people who have really done this their entire lives, who've really covered fashion, who really understand fashion . . . understand the history of fashion, can critique it from a point of view, [can] actually relay it back to something they've experienced and understand. I don't think Tavi even knows what happened five years ago. She has every right to [post] on the Internet, she has every right to have the following she has . . . everybody can follow her and find her creative or funny or quirky or inspiring, but the idea is there are people here [at Elle] who do know the history and I think that Anne [Slowey] stresses this. It's absolutely true: if you don't know what you're talking about, then do you really have the credibility to talk about it?"

Lanphear disagreed »

Stefano Tonchi Works Out DUI Charge; Anne Christensen to Edit T?

fashionologie — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:14:11 PDT

>> Stefano Tonchi, who officially starts as W editor on April 12, was scheduled to go on trial yesterday in Beverly Hills for a DUI, Gawker reports. Last January, Beverly Hills police stopped Tonchi for a "routine traffic violation"; when Tonchi refused a breathalyzer test at the scene, he was arrested when he failed a battery of field sobriety tests.

Police filed a single misdemeanor DUI charge against Tonchi last February, and he was arraigned last March, but trial was delayed for over a year while the defense filed several motions to suppress evidence. Tonchi's attorney confirmed to Gawker that a plea was worked out shortly before trial was to begin yesterday morning - the DUI charge was dropped and Tonchi was allowed to plead to only the initial traffic violation, failure to stop at a limit line. Tonchi himself did not appear in court.

Anne Christensen to edit T? »

fashionologie — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:06:19 PDT

>> Tonchi: New W to Be More Accessible; Suggested T Editor Possibilities?- W's new editor Stefano Tonchi acknowledged earlier today that he aims to make the magazine more accessible, “probably to just make it more of a general-interest style magazine, and less of a fashion-obsessed publication.” Even before Tonchi was confirmed today, rumors were circling this weekend that W will be moving further away from its current "high art/high fashion/high society/token celebrity" cachet, as The Imagist puts it, and "swerving closer to the In Style magazine model. Or in other words, 'In Style Deluxe.'" Meanwhile, suggestions are already being made for T's currently empty editor-in-chief position: The Imagist suggests T features director Horacia Silva, while The Daily is leaning toward former Elle creative director Gilles Bensimon, former Interview editor Ingrid Sischy, Interview's editorial director Fabien Baron, Elle's fashion news director Anne Slowey, or T's fashion director Anne Christensen. [TI, FWD]

More W Staffing Intel: Who Will Stay, Who Will Go?

fashionologie — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:32:53 PDT

>> While the new W editor-in-chief could be announced as early as today and Stefano Tonchi seems to be the man for the job, the New York Post reports that former W fashion director (and current Elle creative director) Joe Zee is "in a neck and neck race" with Tonchi. Meanwhile, Fashion Week Daily has a full list of potentials for the job - Tonchi, Zee, Carine Roitfeld, Kate Betts, Katie Grand.

But what about the rest of the W staff? The Daily reports that the departure of W editor and editorial director Patrick McCarthy came as a shock, and so far, there has not been a formal staff meeting about all the changes. The Daily's sources are convinced that creative director Dennis Freedman, design director Edward Leida, and fashion director Alex White will all leave the magazine - and possibly deputy editor Julie Belcove, who is said to be "a wreck," as well.

Meanwhile, The Daily is surmising that W senior contributing fashion editor could stay on as fashion director, and Tonchi's close friend Anne Slowey, Elle's fashion news director, is a top contender for executive editor at W (or perhaps Tonchi's position at T).

Alber Elbaz Shows Lanvin Pre-Fall 2010, Likens Himself to Carrie from Sex and the City

fashionologie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:58:34 PST

>> Alber Elbaz was in New York City today to show editors his leopard print-riddled Pre-Fall 2010 collection for Lanvin - but apparently it almost wasn't meant to be. Elle's Anne Slowey Tweeted, "Poor Alber! He had to cry to get his pre-fall collection out of US customs!!!" But editors weren't the only interested parties in attendance at Milk Studios: An Education's Carey Mulligan showed up in jeans and rocker tee, according to Elle's Joe Zee, where she told Elbaz how much she loved her dress - cue the speculation that she might be wearing Lanvin to the Golden Globes.

Elbaz, for his part, was full of his usual witticisms. Of designing the Pre-Fall collection, he said: “Sometimes I feel like Carrie from Sex and the City. I sit in front of my computer and ask myself, ‘Does the daytime have to be boring and grey?’” And he stayed home over the holidays to sketch: "It was pajamas, CNN, and Style.com. It was great."

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Stefano Pilati's Sustainable Yves Saint Laurent Collection Didn't Sustain In-Store for Long

fashionologie — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:24:58 PDT

>> Stefano Pilati has been in New York since the weekend, hanging out at the Mercer Hotel with Purple's Olivier Zahm, Chloe Sevigny, and Waris Ahluwalia, but last night he got down to business, hosting the launch of the Yves Saint Laurent sustainable "New Vintage" collection with Barneys. All the bags, shoes, and dresses were cut from archive fabric left over from previous seasons, and Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart reports that it went fast - only a few pieces left, and she grabbed one of the bags for herself.

Today, Pilati presented his Cruise 2010 collection to press and buyers - where Chanel Iman was apparently called out for Twittering while she modeled.

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CFDA Swarovski Nominees Pair with Editors and Stylist for Short Films

fashionologie — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:13:00 PDT

>> All 21 designers nominated for the 2009 CFDA Awards have been photographed by Craig McDean for the CFDA Journal, but the nine who are Swarovski emerging designer nominees will also be featured in individual short films, along with an editor or stylist of their choice, to be shown at the June 15 ceremony.

The shorts, directed by Michael Palmieri and still photographed by Jennifer Livingston, feature designers Thakoon Panichgul, Jason Wu (who partnered with T fashion director Anne Christensen, left), Alexander Wang, Justin Giunta (who picked Harper's Bazaar accessories director Ana Maria Pimentel), Alejandro Ingelmo, Albertus Swanepoel, Patrick Ervell (who shot with V fashion editor Jay Massacret), Tim Hamilton and Robert Geller. The films also feature editors Anne Slowey, Brian Coats, Brian Molloy, Kate Lanphear, Camilla Nickerson and Melanie Ward.

Armani/5th Avenue Store Opening

coutorture — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:16:21 PST

Last night we attended the opening of the Armani/5th Avenue flagship store--in short, the multi-story flagship has a glass facade with a winding design-staircase floating in the middle of the space. When we entered, we were so visually stimulated--was that a window, a mirror, or thin-air?--we nearly knocked into Anne Slowey while catching the elevator. When we arrived at the top floor we stepped out to find Andre Leon Talley sitting behind a receptionist desk, talking on his cell phone. Then came more stairs, bellinis, Suzy Menkes, and rumors of Mayor Bloomberg and Giorgio Armani talking about a one million dollar donation (but just where, we couldn't tell). If a successful mega-flagship is one where real life ceases to exist completely, then Armani's nailed it.

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The Old "Price Upon Request" Quandary Gets Put to Rest

fashionologie — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:51:39 PST

>> Eric Wilson's article in The New York Times today about those mysterious items in fashion magazines listed as "price upon request" - turns out a lot of them never went into production and aren't available for purchase - is especially ironic, considering a conversation Elle editors Joe Zee and Anne Slowey had on last night's episode of Stylista.

In the clip below, the show's contestants are presenting the trend page they created for the magazine, full of product, but Anne notices that they forgot to add in the shopping credits: "What's that all about?" One of the contestants tries to explain that she "didn't think it would be okay to make up prices" but Anne retorts that on a shopping page, the credits are "imperative . . . it's the only reason why we exist as a fashion magazine." Joe backs her up - "Credits are key" - and then Anne ends the conversation with a sarcastic, "I want everything on this page, but I don't know where to buy it."

Funny she should say that . . . »