fashionologie

Isabella Blow Gets Two Biographies in 2010

fashionologie — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:37:29 PDT

>> Isabella Blow, discoverer of Stella Tennant, Sophie Dahl, Hussein Chalayan, Philip Treacy, Alexander McQueen - and muse to the latter two - passed away at 48 a little over two years ago after ingesting weedkiller. The motive was suspected to be a recent ovarian cancer diagnosis; Blow had a history of at least two suicide attempts, one involving her throwing herself from the elevated Hammersmith Flyover road in London.

Needless to say, there's a story to be told, and two different biographies, both scheduled for 2010, are in the works, reports the New York Observer. The first, Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow, is co-written by Isabella's husband of 18 years, Detmar Blow, and author Tom Sykes, who first met Isabella when he was 20 and his sister Plum Sykes was her assistant at Vogue.

Anna Wintour will be interviewed »

Quote Of The Day: Plum Sykes Attempts To Define Topshop

coutorture — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:38:31 PDT

“

It is very cool, it’s very edgy, it’s taking like an Ossie Clark–type inspiration, which is a cool dress as opposed to a preppy dress...It’s very English in its treatment of dresses; it’s always dresses with the ripped fishnet tights and biker boots. Probably more what you would think of as the Lower East Side cool, but even beyond that, with the English eccentricity wrapped in. It isn’t like that sort of American Main Street brand, like a J. Crew or a Banana Republic, that is very much trying not to be too cool, do you know what I mean?

”"Will You Drop For Topshop", The New York Observer

Kate Moss: No Longer a Best-Dressed List Fixture?

fashionologie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:03:40 PDT

»Kate Moss has been dropped entirely from Grazia's best-dressed list, Agyness Deyn fills the No. 1 slot [The Cut]

»Alek Wek's 16-year-old niece Atuai is making a go at modeling [Of the Minute]

»Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are enjoying their vacation, for sure; Katy Perry has been tapped to play the D&G after party in Milan [TMZ, Chic Report]

»Fashion mag assistants augment their low salaries by "stalling to steal" [Style File]

»Alexander Wang loves his Cheap Mondays [Refinery29]

»Naomi Campbell, still vacationing with that billionaire boyfriend of hers [PopSugar UK]

»Diane von Furstenberg: designer, CFDA president, travel writer [Fashionista]

»Simon Doonan adores Tilda Swinton, so does W [Washingtonian, W]

»Barneys Warehouse Sale starts Thursday [Racked]

»Cult fave Mischen is showing for the first time at New York Fashion Week [The Cut]

»Vogue scribe Plum Sykes is developing a comedy for NBC [Variety]

»Bottega Veneta's motto in the '70s was "When Your Own Initials Are Enough" [Vanity Fair]
*image: bauer-griffin online

fashionologie — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:41:34 PDT

>> INSIDER WIRE —Bee Shaffer seems to like the Sykes clan as much as her mother: She's rumored to be dating Plum Sykes' youngest brother, Fred Sykes. The two have supposedly been seeing each other for at least a couple of months now, and were recently snapped together at a party. [Gawker, The Independent]

alt denied lunch by satc

philleif — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:20:00 PDT

>> Andre Leon Talley isn't the only member of the Vogue staff to appear in the upcoming Sex and the City movie.

As part of a scene which involves Carrie Bradshaw being photographed for a fictional Age Issue of Vogue, stylist Lawren Howell (who previously made a cameo on The Hills) helps Andre drape the dresses, and Contributing Editor Plum Sykes reports for the accompanying story. Meanwhile, Anna Wintour is there in spirit: She picked all the couture dresses that are in the fictional photoshoot personally.

Patrick Demarchelier "shoots" the editorial, and off-camera, Andre Leon Talley makes stylistic decisions on accessories - gloves to go with the Vera Wang wedding dress? "We want to see her putting them on." And earrings? "Not too big."

When ALT asks for lunch on the set, however, it's more of a problem. "He is told he has to work for eight hours - till 5:00 p.m. - before he can eat. This is not what happens on a Vogue shoot, he tells [director Michael Patrick] King, pursing and twisting his lips in a way that says, I have better things to do than not eat lunch," reports Plum Sykes.

Yikes.

But ALT must have gotten his lunch eventually, because he ended on a good note, screaming, 'This is fashion!' into the video monitor. Good times.

For more good times, a clip of that segment of the movie . . .

*image: source

why american vogue annoys me

philleif — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:16:00 PDT

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I was requested by Vogue to take them down due to copyright issues. Thank you for understanding.

>> I thought I would take a closer-up look at why I really can't stand much of American Vogue anymore, since I complain about it so much.

In the May 2006 issue, we're off to a bad start with Anna Wintour's letter from the editor -- she comes off as cold, stony, curt. She says things like: "I am most sympathetic." Who talks like that? First sign that Anna needs to loosen up a bit. She also comes off as pretentious -- granted the letter is an account of her London Fashion Week, but it just seems like she needs to inform the world that she knows lots of important people. In fact, the whole issue seems like that -- a veritable display of the fact that Anna knows a lot of "important people." The whole issue is about everyone involved in the Costume Institute Gala. Sure, I like to see what everyone wears to the Gala as much as the next person, but whole freaking articles on every single person involved -- is that really necessary? I personally don't care. Sorry.

Not to mention the stories are always by the same people: Hamish Bowles, Plum Sykes, Andre Leon Talley -- Anna's little posse. I know Hamish Bowles and A.L.T. are important editors, but that's the point: they're editors. Writers write. Editors edit. Fine if they want to write every once and a while but... a little variety of opinion could perhaps be nice? And Plum Sykes, she doesn't really have an excuse... as contributing editor, she's supposed to be a writer. But here I am, tapping my foot, still waiting for a display of writing that convinces me that she is indeed the writer she purports to be, and that she deserves the position of contributing editor at Vogue.

While we're on the same people doing the same things over and over, Mario Testino does like every Vogue shoot ever. And Caroline Trentini -- she has an editorial for the SEVENTH MONTH in a row.

As for the feature -- Keira -- well, you've seen that. It looks like they picked out the same outfit from as many different designers as possible. That's creativity at its best. And the catch of the Keira interview -- the first sentence -- the part that's supposed to make you read on, goes a little something like this: "Grand Bahama Island is a curious hybrid of pastel-painted toy-town architecture, great wastes of mangrove forests, and highways with romantic names like Doubloon Road, Spanish Main Drive, and Midshipman Road." Wow, Hamish, you passed your SAT vocab section with flying colors! Other than that... snore.

Sorry, I think it's going to have to stop there. I just got too bored. But I hope you can get the general idea.

Don't worry -- there were a couple of things I liked. There was a good interview with my favorite Erin Fetherston, and a Dior Haute Couture dress on Stella Tennant that is absolutely beautiful. Oh, and the article by Marina Rust about eyelash extensions -- that was actually an enjoyable read.

Rodarte Jets In to London for Private Dinner at Harvey Nicks

fashionologie — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:34:28 PDT

>> Fifty guests pulled up to a long white table at Harvey Nichol's Fifth Floor restaurant for a private dinner co-hosted by Rodarte's Laura and Kate Mulleavy and Kate Bosworth. Daphne Guinness flitted in, spritzing at least one guest with her yet-to-be-released perfume, frequent Rodarte collaborator Nicholas Kirkwood also appeared - his shoes were represented on at least one guest's feet, Kate Bosworth - and told Grazia of his work with the designers: "We didn't even meet the first few seasons that we worked together. Everything was over the phone and email. It was so great when we finally met. We get on so well and are on the same wave length. They always want to do something different - we've even made shoes out of electrical wire!"

Attendees Plum Sykes, Bella Freud, Trish Goff, and Lula's Leith Clark, who was seated next to Laura, were served nettle soup and trifle, and around midnight, when all headed home, the Mulleavys, Kate Bosworth, and Nicholas Kirkwood "headed out and onto another club."

View Slideshow ›

american kate

philleif — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:36:00 PDT

>> Does Kate Moss have an upcoming Vogue cover? All signs point to yes: She was spotted last Tuesday wearing a Burberry trench and being photographed by Vogue favorite Mario Testino in East London, with Vogue creative director Grace Coddington in the background.

Plus, it doesn't hurt that Kate was seen with Vogue contributing editor Plum Sykes later last week, and Plum's been known to write the cover stories. Rumor is that she's on for August . . .

*image: source

bits and baubles

philleif — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:50:00 PDT

» Kate Moss was spotted leaving the Topshop offices right behind Plum Sykes earlier today . . . I wonder if Plum is shadowing her for a Vogue article? [PopSugar]

»Harley Viera-Newton and Vanessa Traina have both signed with Elite [COACD, Elite Clips]

»IMG Models Liya, Lily, Miranda, Lara, Tanya, Daria, Sasha, Freja, and Hilary all stripped for collectible cards in the new issue of V (NSFW) [Chic Report]

»Coco Rocha has a new puppy which she refers to as "Miss Peekaboo" [MDX]

»Surprise: the outfits the Elle staffers wear on Stylista are exaggerated to look like "what a girl who works in fashion should look like" [Elle Tell All]

»J.Crew now has a $3,000 jacket for sale [Style File]

»A Marc Jacobs employee was busted for stealing $62,000 from the store he managed [NY Post]

plum full of it?

philleif — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 12:35:00 PDT

>> So she writes books called The Debutante Divorcee -- Plum Sykes still has some good things to say:

I am not sure that I agree that the American heiress has ever gone out of style or will ever go out of style. I think she’s a classic. Actresses really do go in and out individually and it seems so flash in the pan. Actresses are creations of stylists, of studios, of movies; the clothes that they wear have nothing to do with where they come from. But the social girls have unbelievable style and taste, and that taste is always interesting to other women. If you take Nicole Richie, I don’t think she has intrinsic style. I think she puts on loads of beautiful clothes and she looks fine. But I think Marina Rust has an impeccable taste, style, history, glamour, which Nicole Richie will never have. It’s the genuineness that people respond to I think.

I'm not sure I agree with her about all the socialites -- part of her job for Vogue is to cover the society set, after all. In fact, she's one of the society set herself, so she's probably just slightly biased. But as to the part about Nicole Richie: Amen, sister! I guess that's why Nicole Richie hasn't made to cover of Vogue yet...