fashionologie

Sophie Theallet Takes Home 2009 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Win

fashionologie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:48:45 -0800

>> Last night, with the help of keynote speaker Alber Elbaz, who doled out gems on the perils of success - "It's like a bottle of perfume. You smell it, you don't sniff it or drink it" - Alaia veteran and Michelle Obama favorite Sophie Theallet took home the 2009 Vogue/Fashion Fund prize of $200,000 and a year of mentoring. Fellow nominees Patrik Ervell and Monique Pean were named runners-up, and received $50,000 each plus a business mentor.

In her speech, Anna Wintour said that in addition to the US, Italy, and the UK - which just started a similar talent-nurturing program - she just met with the French minister of culture about mirroring the contest there. "And Brazil, India, Russia, and China aren't far behind."

Theallet Tweeted of her win: "my american dream comes true tonight thanks and much love to all of you!xox." Cathy Horyn, too, weighed in on the choice:

"The money and the mentoring will help Ms. Theallet because she needs to be able to offer more range in her collection, as well as expand her production options. She has such a distinctly feminine eye, and the skills, that I’ve often wondered why a big retailer doesn’t ask Ms. Theallet to design some blouses and summer dresses for them, using the store’s resources and manufacturing connections."

Videos of the nominees going through the competition and the awards ceremony last night can be seen here and here, respectively.

At Marchesa Fall 2009, Beauty Is Pain

fashionologie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:38:10 -0800

>> Marchesa's bread and butter is gowns, so even when some designers are shying away from them this season, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig have to go ahead full-force. The inspiration for Fall 2009? A whimsical fairy tale involving girls walking through the woods in ballgowns, resulting in a tulle-d, lace-d, sequined, and beribboned collection - sometimes overwrought, but always red carpet-ready - the shredded candy pink cocktail dress and two sparkly black tulle dresses, as well as the navy one-shouldered dress with cut-out waist, if turned into a gown, will do swimmingly. The real problem was how much the high-heeled toe shoes caused discomfort for the models - one's feet were going purple, another had to sit down, and some were leaning against the wall. Brings the fairy tale back to reality, no?
*image: source

Georgina Chapman Moves Outside the Marchesa Realm

fashionologie — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:32:41 -0700

>> Now that Georgina Chapman has officially realigned herself as the designer of Marchesa, leaving Keren Craig, former co-designer, to the more business side of things, she's branching out beyond Marchesa.

Garrard, the British jewelry brand that supplied Princess Diana's engagement ring, is seeking a creative director since Jade Jagger left the post in 2007, and in the meantime, they've asked Georgina to be a guest designer. The Georgina Chapman for Garrard collection is to be unveiled next September during New York Fashion Week - no doubt accessorizing the Spring 2010 Marchesa collection - and prices are expected to run in the $10,000 to $15,000 range.

It's interesting that the collection is called "Georgina Chapman for Garrard" rather than "Marchesa for Garrard," don't you think? Especially when the company is looking for a new creative director and Garrard's CEO says Georgina's line is expected to be "a significant part of the Garrard business." Not that Georgina would leave Marchesa behind for jewelry - but it does seem like she's trying to do things more on her own without Keren.
*image: source

What's Going on at Marchesa?

fashionologie — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:20:19 -0700

>> Along with the annual International Best-Dressed List, the September 2008 Vanity Fair features a spread dubbed "America's New Fashion Guard," featuring up-and-coming designers, including a few designing duos like Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte, Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava.

Marchesa was also spotlighted, but as Chic Report so astutely pointed out, only one half of the brand's designing duo is pictured: Georgina Chapman, with no Keren Craig in sight.

Interesting, in light of the rumors back in May suggesting that Keren was being phased out as a co-designer; the photographic evidence here definitely lends credence to that possibility. Or maybe, as Chic Report suggested, Keren was just on her honeymoon when the picture was taken.
*image: source

fashionologie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:55:00 -0700

>> INSIDER WIRE —Georgina Chapman may have opted for a blowout wedding bash when she married Harvey Weinstein late last year, but her Marchesa counterpart Keren Craig chose to go the opposite route. She just recently got married to Pierce North in a "very quiet" ceremony in North Wales. [FWD]

Michael Kors, Coco Rocha Uncover Fashion's Nasty Habits at CFDA Health Event

fashionologie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:45:21 -0700

>> At last night's CFDA-hosted "Beauty of Health" discussion, Michael Kors, Coco Rocha, and casting agent James Scully all stepped up to the plate to address the waning weights of models.

Kors threw in a designer's perspective, suggesting that his peers should "stay away from child-size clothes unless [they're] designing for children," and pointing out that when designers offer such small sample sizes and celebrities starve themselves to fit into them, their super-skinny aesthetic has a far-reaching impact on the general female population. He also advised agents to only send the most suitable girls to castings: “Sending a girl when there's little chance of her being booked throws a 16-year-old into a tizzy. The odds of a girl being booked for my show and Rick Owens’s are slim.”

Next up to the podium was Coco Rocha, who just like Natalia Vodianova and Ali Michael before her, admitted that the job comes with some very unhealthy habits. Two years ago, she weighed 108 pounds (at 5'10"), and yet people were stilling telling her "you need to lose more weight. The look this year is anorexic. We don't want you to be anorexic, we just want you to look it." Even crazier, an agent once advised her to throw up after meals.

Eventually, she submitted to the pressure. "Last season I took diuretic pills. Once I took so many on an empty stomach that I was doubled over for hours. That's the last time I ever did something so terrible to my body." She asked designers to provide healthier food at their shows — "No one wants to be caught with that photo 'Model Eats Cake'" — and to make their fit models, and therefore their sample sizes, bigger — models are humiliated when zippers won't zip up at castings.

Finally, casting agent James Scully advised insiders to consider the weight of their words. "Let's stop treating models like greyhounds we plan to shoot after a race. We have to remember we are dealing with real people who have real feelings."

Francisco Costa, Georgina Chapman, Keren Craig, Donna Karan, Richard Chai, Marcus Wainwright, David Neville, Derek Lam, Doo-Ri Chung, Diane von Furstenberg, Phillip Lim, and Anna Wintour, plus several other Vogue editors, were all in attendance at the event — which leaves quite a few American designers unaccounted for. But as Michael Kors pointed out, designers aren't the only people responsible. "The next one we need to do is about skinny people who work in fashion: editors, buyers, stylists. That’s called ‘Why Does This Sample Fit Me?”

*images: source

Despite a Death in the Family, the CFDA Awards March On

fashionologie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:05:38 -0700

>> While the "fashion Oscars" are a time for celebration, this year, many attendees had another recent event on their minds - the recently deceased Yves Saint Laurent. In tribute, Diane von Furstenberg wore vintage YSL, Naomi Campbell donned Fall 2008 Saint Laurent, and Ashley Olsen riffed on Le Smoking in her Calvin Klein suit.

As expected, models and designers turned out in droves - Erin Wasson, still in leg cast, was by Alexander Wang's side, and Francisco Costa celebrated his Womenswear win by hugging Eva Mendes tight.

For more of the comings and goings, be sure to check out the gallery below.
*images: source