>> Tom Ford is currently filming his directorial debut, and Wednesday, Karl Lagerfeld will show his own directorial debut, based on Coco Chanel's early years. Unlike Tom's feature film, Karl's film is only ten minutes — a length more fitting to kick off the showing of Chanel's Paris-Moscow collection in Paris. The presentation was originally supposed to take place in Moscow, but Karl changed his mind after Russian customs "wanted to have the clothes three weeks in advance, which means we wouldn't have been ready and the situation seemed risky, so we cancelled."
Shot in a Paris studio in two days, Karl's film is inspired by Max Sennett's flickering black-and-white silent slapstick movies with "spliced in newsreel footage of WWI because I think it's interesting to juxtapose fashion with the horrible images of the trenches." Rather than cast extras — "they don't know how to touch the clothes" — Karl looked within his own posse to fill positions — muse Amanda Harlech and daughter Tallulah Ormsby-Gore as customer and model, Brad Kroenig as Chanel lover Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and bodyguard Sebastien Jondeau as a Russian general. For the role of Chanel, Karl went with Lithuanian model Edita Vilkeviciute — in character in the film stills below. *image: source
>> INSIDER WIRE—Karl Lagerfeld is famous for his hundreds of iPods (among other things), and he's even designed a Fendi trunk specifically for the storage of multiple iPods. For his personal storage needs, however, he commisioned a bespoke trunk from Louis Vuitton — one that costs tens of thousands of dollars — to carry 20 iPods plus their accessories, with his initials stamped near the handle. [Luxist]
>> INSIDER WIRE —For his Chanel Pre-Fall Paris-Moscow collection, Karl Lagerfeld is pulling a Stefano Pilati. The presentation Dec. 3 — in Paris at the Theatre du Ranelagh, not in Moscow — will open with a "laugh-packed" silent movie, loosely based on Coco Chanel's life between 1913 and 1923. Lagerfeld muses Lady Amanda Harlech, Brad Kroenig, and Tallulah Ormsby-Gore are all involved — Tallulah plays a Chanel model who has to sell her real-life mother, Amanda, a hat. [WWD, WWD] *image: source
>> We still don't know who the new Chanel girl is, but this little tidbit from the Spring 2009 campaign shoot in Vermont may mean Karl Lagerfeld is about to change his own image, too. The designer, who famously abides by his restrictive diet, had a production assistant specifically on hand to provide him with "seven loaves of Pennsylvania Wheat Bread and a tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter to be brought directly from New York."
>> INSIDER WIRE —Karl Lagerfeld loves his excess — 100+ iPods, heaps of magazines — so it's no surprise that he gives fragrance the same treatment. Apparently, he goes through a bottle of Shu Uemura's Pleasure of Japanese Bath oil a day: "Normally, you’re supposed to put one cup in the bathtub. I put the whole bottle in every morning. It is the most divine product.” [W Magazine]
>> INSIDER WIRE—Behold, the first production still from Coco Avant Chanel, with Audrey Tautou starring as the designer in her early years. Filming has been underway since Sept. 15 in Paris and Normandy, and the movie's release date is expected to be late 2009. Hopefully more stills will be out soon, so we can see more of those costumes Karl Lagerfeld is said to be supervising. [The Age]
>> Karl Lagerfeld has landed in Vermont to shoot the Chanel campaign, and the local news picked up on it. They captured the house in Grand Isle Karl dropped less than a million on, the designer checking the place out with Brad Kroenig in tow, and then give you a good closeup of Karl's new duck-hunting neighbor, Loomis Bean. So far, Karl's been friendly with the locals — the caterer who is working his four-day Chanel photoshoot says he was "very nice," but "spent most of the time in the house . . . he really just dashed in and dashed out."
>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Karl Lagerfeld must have learned his lesson after paparazzi spoiled his Fall 2008 Fendi campaign, because last week, he shot the brand's Spring 2009 campaign inside at Milk Studios, with "pieces of furniture against a backdrop of photos of classical Italian sites." This week, he's at his new house in Vermont, suspected to be the one at left, where's he's shooting the Chanel Spring 2009 campaign. [On the Runway]
>> INSIDER WIRE —Last week, The New York Timesdeemed the art portion of the Chanel Mobile Art exhibit "completely mundane," and it seems like Karl Lagerfeld agreed. He had only solicited Zaha Hadid's contribution to the project, not the contents within: "The pavillon is the most exciting. Whatever may be in there — that is not my problem." Guess he's established himself enough to nip at the hand that feeds him? [New Yorker] *image: source
>> 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. *image: source, source
fashionologie is the musings of a twenty-something American girl who wishes she could have a Freaky Friday incident and switch bodies with Carine Roitfeld.