>> After missing out on the Chanel Mobile Art opening and the Versace-hosted Whitney gala earlier this week, Anna Wintour was back in fine form — with Karl Lagerfeld at her side and Chanel on her person — at the Fashion Group International's Night of Stars last night. It was a night of family — Donatella Versace picked up the Superstar Award as Allegra Beck Versace looked on, Franca Sozzani was honored with her son Francesco Carrozzini in attendance — and friends — honorees Christopher Bailey and Francisco Costa brought Kate Bosworth and Ashley Olsen, respectively. Host Simon Doonan kept it light, at one point joking that Carla Sozzani had to make it back to the Marriott Marquis in time for a speed-dating session.
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Anna Wintour Makes It Back for A Night of Stars
Karl Lagerfeld's Influence in Olsen's Book: Models Who Don't Talk
>> Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's book, Influence, doesn't come out until Thursday, but The Cut got an advanced copy — an advanced look at all the interviews the Olsens conducted for the book — among their subjects are favorite designers Francisco Costa, Diane von Furstenberg, John Galliano, Christian Louboutin, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Giambattista Valli, favorite photographers Peter Lindbergh and Terry Richardson, plus pictures by Rankin of the interviewees and their work.
Needless to say the Olsens didn't leave out their favorite Karl Lagerfeld — The Cut excerpted parts of his interview, including his views on models:
KL: [N]owadays you start to model because you're young. Now the girls are sixteen, seventeen, fifteen, and Russian. They are like from another planet.
AO: They can look very bizarre!
KL: I hate all these tall women. They are all giants!
MKO: If only I were a little taller — that would make me happy!
KL: You are one meter fifty-one. You are taller than that?
AO: We're five feet and one inch.
KL: Oh, I thought my office told me that you were four-foot eight or something. Not that it matters. What you need is a face. If you have a face you don't need height or a voice. Models know this; that's why the good ones don't need to talk much.
KL: I like to work with models for a long time. Sometimes the girls change, but some girls I work with for years and years.
Enlightening, perhaps, since some think the Chanel Spring 2009 campaign will host not long-time Chanel girl Claudia Schiffer but either Heidi Mount or Russian model Sasha Pivovarova . . .
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New, New York, Talent: Julian Louie
>> Being known as a protege of Francisco Costa doesn't hurt — especially when you're showing your first-ever collection. Julian Louie's fifteen sculptural pieces reeled in the likes of Kate Lanphear and Hamish Bowles last week — and they left with glimmers in their eyes, mirroring those of the Swarovski crystals embedded on Julian's dresses. The bright colors, innovative fabrics (neoprene!), and cocoon shapes reminded me of something that would appear at London rather than New York Fashion Week — even a touch of Christopher Kane's first collection — but nevermind, I'm glad to have a talent like his stateside.
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Christian Louboutin, Vanessa Bruno and Then Some Open Their Designer Homes for Domino September 2008
>> We know a lot about how designers work, socialize, and even think, but with the exception of Marc Jacobs, we don't know a lot about how they live. That's where Domino's September 2008 fashion issue comes in — its various stories offer peeks into what might be considered a top designer's last sacred bastion — their home.
Featured within are the favorite rooms of Christian Louboutin (his bedroom in Portugal) and Francisco Costa (his garden in Bellport, NY), plus Yves Saint Laurent's famous Majorelle Gardens in Morocco, Vanessa Bruno's Paris apartment, Matthew Williamson's London home, and Sonia Rykiel in her Paris living room.
So, do their design aesthetics match their living quarters? A few peeks below will give you a hint . . .
>> INSIDER WIRE —If you enjoyed having a look through Carine Roitfeld's Parisian apartment, just wait until the September 2008 issue of Domino comes out on August 19.
The magazine's fashion issue features Matthew Williamson's home on the cover, plus Vanessa Bruno's Paris apartment, Yves Saint Laurent's Majorelle Gardens (left, in 1982), Christian Louboutin in his bedroom in Portugal, Francisco Costa in his Bellport garden, and Sonia Rykiel in her Paris living room, all inside. [FWD]
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