fashionologie

Miuccia Prada Interprets "Innocence" with Cat and Bird Prints for Miu Miu Spring 2010

fashionologie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:30:53 -0700

>> Kate Moss, who attended Yves Saint Laurent a couple of days ago, was in the house for Miu Miu - as were Baz Luhrmann and Renee Zellweger. Miuccia Prada took one of her favorite themes - "pretty perversity," as Suzy Menkes describes it - and sent out a trail of looks mixing prints of cats, swallows, or reclining nudes. Daisy fasteners were affixed on clutch bags.

“It is fresh - about how innocence can survive in this world,” Prada said of the collection, which juxtaposed sweet skirts and schoolgirl collars with bra-like cut-outs and harnesses; Prada exclusive Lindsay Wixson closed, wearing a crystal "rib-lace" - a harness-like necklace that passed beneath the bra.

Interesting side-note - apparently Miu Miu has departed from a number of US department stores after a disagreement over how it should be displayed, writes the Wall Street Journal: "the company wanted their own store-in-stores, while the stores wanted to mix Miu Miu in with the other bags, according to a person familiar with the company."

fashionologie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:06:46 -0700

>> Finally Confirmed: Martin Margiela Not Involved in Designing Maison -Just a year ago for the Spring 2009 season, Maison Martin Margiela celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a retrospective show - around that time, rumors began to circulate that the designer left the brand, since bolstered by tepid reviews for the house's Fall 2009 ready-to-wear and couture collections, and most recently, Spring 2010, which Suzy Menkes called "tragic." Over the weekend, Margiela majority stakeholder Renzo Rosso finally confirmed: "Martin has not been there for a long time. He is here but not here. We have a new fresh design team on board. We are focusing on young, realistic energy for the future; this is really Margiela for the year 2015." Also confirmed: the fact that Haider Ackermann was offered creative directorship, but turned it down - likely because the brand refuses to publicize the head designer; it's said that the house is contractually obligated to permanently list Margiela as creative director. [Vogue UK, FWD]

Pheobe Philo's First Celine Runway Collection for Spring 2010: The Reviews Are In

fashionologie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:35:59 -0700

>> For her first runway show since leaving Chloe in 2006 to focus on motherhood, Phoebe Philo sent out a fast-marching group of models swaddled in earth tones, clunky wood wedges, modified trenches, military details, lots of leather, and curiously few handbags, despite Celine's accessory-brand heritage. Bound inspiration books from Philo, containing photos of Kurt Cobain, disco balls, and work by David Sims and Helmut Newton were placed on every seat.

The mood of the collection, one of the season's most anticipated, Philo described as “purposeful and positive.” Backstage, while holding her five-year-old daughter, Maya, who attended the show with Philo's husband, she went on: "I wanted to clean it up, refocus, and present a strong, powerful woman." And of all the expectation: "It's just the beginning. It felt like, just take it easy, just start easy. It's nice to have the bubble of expectations burst. That feels good. Sometimes what people get into their head is unachievable."

In the front row were top photographers David Sims, Mario Testino, Craig McDean; Pucci designer Peter Dundas, who called the collection "wonderful"; and top LVMH brass, including Bernard Arnault, who stood to applaud Philo afterward. As Suzy Menkes put it, "This was an important exercise in making Celine fashion credible. And that was mission accomplished."

Lindsay Lohan and Estrella Archs's First Emanuel Ungaro Collection for Spring 2010: The Reviews Are In (And Not Pretty)

fashionologie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:50:41 -0700

>> Three weeks after they were tasked with designing the Spring 2010 Emanuel Ungaro collection, Estrella Archs and artistic advisor Lindsay Lohan took their runway bow - the former dragging the teary latter by the hand - yesterday to a beefed-up photographer's pit and an audience, many of whom just came because of the expected spectacle.

The result wasn't pretty: the collection's super-short minidresses and heart-shaped pasties peeking out of blazers and on the models' foreheads were ruled "a bad joke of a fashion show" by Style.com. Lohan's involvement was compared to "a McDonald’s fry cook taking the reins of a three-star Michelin restaurant" by the New York Times's Eric Wilson. Fabien Baron's take? "Call the fashion police!” And Harper's Bazaar's Glenda Bailey wouldn't even comment: “You know, if you don’t mind, I have to run out the door.” Even Dree Hemingway weighed in: "the first half might as well be alex wang last spring and i did see [Lohan] sporting that hot pink blazer of his..."

Lohan, who is reportedly being paid millions by Ungaro, called the show "the hardest thing I've ever done." Beforehand, she selected $150,000 worth of Ungaro clothes at the Paris flagship with CEO Mounir Moufarrige's blessing, supposedly cancelling an interview with Suzy Menkes. Some expect her to be gone before next season - even though she already said she was sketching for the next collection - but her contract is multiyear, and Moufarrige said his main goal in hiring her was to generate publicity, noting that he was suprised criticism hasn't been more negative. And even after the wave of bad reviews came out yeseterday, Ungaro's owner Asim Abdullah was defiant that either Lohan reignites the long-struggling Ungaro, or “we go down in a blaze of glory. Or unglory."

Peter Copping's First Nina Ricci Collection for Spring 2010: The Reviews Are In

fashionologie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:30:26 -0700

>> To an audience of only 75, Peter Copping sent out his first runway show at Nina Ricci in the salon above the brand's Paris store. Copping, who spent the past twelve years at Louis Vuitton, took Ricci to a much more feminine, commercial place than previous Ricci designer Olivier Theyskens. “I like wearable clothes,” he told WWD. “I’m not necessarily into being too avant-garde . . . whenever we did more feminine-based collections [at Vuitton], the sales were always incredible in the stores as opposed to the more austere or hard-edged things."

The Spring 2010 show was about all about the house’s “signature codes” - bows, lingerie, lace - Copping said, and he's keen to add capsule lines of lingerie and wedding dresses soon. So what's his verdict? Hilary Alexander called the collection "charming," T staffers were fans - Anne Christensen deemed it "very pretty" and Armand Limnander "lovely" - and Elle's Joe Zee, too, was won over: "I'm not usually a fan of romance (clothes that is) but Peter Copping's Ricci debut was a slamdunk in romance. Sweet but not saccharin."

Some, however, seemed more hung up on the switch to commerciality: Los Angeles Times's Booth Moore noted, "Olivier Theyskens' Nina Ricci was all vision; Peter Copping's is all saleable product." Suzy Menkes commented: "[It] is not necessarily a bad thing for a house [to be very commercial] . . . but Mr. Copping, having staked out his pretty girl territory, needs to take her to a newer place." And Style.com's Sarah Mower is holding judgment: "At first sight Ricci is now in a safe pair of hands but the jury's still out till next season."

Peter Pilotto Earns Raves for Spring 2010 Signature Watercolor Prints

fashionologie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:27:28 -0700

>> In the space behind a record store in London this morning, Anna Wintour stopped by for a preview, and Peter Pilotto and design partner Christopher De Vos sent out their trademark watercolor prints atop sculptured and draped minidresses. The collection inspired quite the impulse gushing from Another Magazine ("Peter Pilotto - show of the week so far."), Vogue UK ("The Pilotto show has been one of our FAVOURITE shows yet") and Los Angeles Times's Booth Moore ("Peter Pilotto is next big thing out of London."). Wintour's bouncers were so energized by the show, they apparently almost knocked Suzy Menkes over as they rushed Anna out.

Highlights from Inside the 2009 Costume Institute Gala: Gisele Dumps Galliano for Versace, Carine Roitfeld Showed

fashionologie — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:38:20 -0700

>> Despite all the drama before and after, the Costume Institute Gala itself furnished plenty of notable and quotable moments; for those who were wondering, Carine Roitfeld did attend, even though it was reported that Julia Restoin-Roitfeld would not.

Gisele Bundchen pulled out of John Galliano's table at the last minute, choosing to ride in with the Versace camp instead; it sounds like she might be returning as the label's Fall 2009 face - the New York Times reports that her custom Versace dress "was conceived while she was modeling for [Donatella’s] next ad campaign." Helena Christensen, meanwhile, joked of her Zac Posen dress, which read "Vogue," the V formed by a plunging neckline: “It’s so I can remember whose party I’m at."

And while Kate Moss was on hostess duty (and presumably her best behavior) for Anna Wintour, she still managed to be herself, pulling a big wad of gum out of her mouth when asked about being a muse: “I’m amused. I think it’s quite interesting for somebody to go outside of the box and think that a model actually has had some input into fashion. A lot of the time, the models don’t really get a say.”

But they do have a bathroom fascination »

Stella McCartney Doesn't Do Leather or Fur for a Reason

fashionologie — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:37:07 -0700

>> Stella McCartney is synonymous with vegan fashion - she's a member of PETA and has been known to get upset when her pieces have been used in conjunction with fur. Next Monday, she's being honored in New York with an environmental award, because her commitment to ethical fashion goes beyond just a stance against animal cruelty, as she explained recently to Suzy Menkes:

Well I don't do leather and I don't do fur and it's not just because I don't eat animals or that I think that half a billion animals a year shouldn't be killed for the sake of fashion. It's because I also believe very much in the connection between fur and leather and the environment. There's a huge connection. Now, I think more and more people will start to take notice of that - the use of water for tanneries, the chemicals that are used - there's a huge impact environmentally.

Which is why she's anti-disposable fashion »

A Hint of Azzedine Alaia Fall 2009

fashionologie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:17:55 -0700

>> Despite the prevailing '80s mood of the season, at his private show today, Azzedine Alaia only looked forward: "I don't believe in looking back - I don't want to revisit the 1980s." Both Suzy Menkes and Cathy Horyn were present for the unveiling, the former describing:

"Signature knits and leathers, woven into bouncy skirts that might have open-work decoration or intricate embellishment. Cut-out feather effects were hand-painted with streaks of white, while white cotton blouses also freshened up the tough side of black leather. Coats cinched at the waist and small leather jackets, whether in classy crocodile or pony skin treated to look like miniature leopard spots. The same pattern appeared on the knitted dress, form-fitting but kicking out at the hem."

And then there was velvet »

Louis Vuitton Fall 2009: Bunny Ears, Bunching, and Boots

fashionologie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:24:29 -0700

>> Marc Jacobs's signature collection started a minute early, and Louis Vuitton started just seven minutes late - which according to the way most fashion shows run, is still early, causing loads of people to miss the beginning - Suzy Menkes climbed over the runway after the first model walked out - and many to be locked out. Lucky for them, the show was staged in a clear tent in a Louvre courtyard, so late editors and passersby could watch the show.

Bunny ears topped heads - show stylist Katie Grand was inspired by "a black doe rabbit in the pet shop on the corner" - necklaces were modeled after paper garlands, ruching was everywhere, and Rose Cordero finally made a Paris runway appearance. Marc Jacobs said he was inspired by "all the great, elegant Parisian women, like Loulou de la Falaise," and the LVMH-Gareth Pugh connection continues: Pugh sat front row, two seats away from Bernard Arnault, still denying the Dior Homme rumors.
*image: source