Giotto Babes

The gorgeous Lanvin Spring 2011 collection made me think of Giotto (1267 - 1337). I think it's the very special decayed colours, and also the draping. Also, I think the idea of the chasteness, and the purity of the Lanvin woman, in particular, one very specific sheer beige dress.

Paris On a Chill Pill

This Paris collection will revolutionise fashion: Instead of thrusting urgently forward, as has been the trajectory of fashion in the last decade, this season sees fashion changes slowing down. Designers turned away from making extreme statements, and took baby steps forwards. Some labels have even taken steps backwards and went back-to-basics: Stella McCartney’s collection was almost timid in its stripped down practicality (pinch yourself - is this Paris?) and Valentino’s designers, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli have gone back to the label’s roots (as have other labels seeking safety in the tried and true) of pretty lace dresses. Pretty, and pretty safe. They were lauded for this un-radical turn.
There’s certainly been plenty of safe, unchallenging white – clothes the colour of a blank first page, the freshness of a new chapter. There is a feeling that designers are polishing their visions instead of greedily grabbing for new trends, and cleaning out the excesses of the past (the bold shoulders, the gold hardware, the Baroque door-stopper shoes and decorated handbags). Cliched as it sounds, less is definitely more this season. Even usually challenging designers gave their collections a lighter touch: Viktor & Rolf, the designing duo given to heavily conceptual designs in the past sent out an angelic white collection full of puff sleeved-shirts and soft ruffles and Tao Kurihara, the young Comme des Garçons protege, was all sweetness and light, presenting sugary ruffles and naive smocked blouses in innocent gingham. Is pretty the new black?
Other trends include the gentlest of colours – nudes and pastels sharpened by sporty pings of primary brights and bracing stripes. These are all shades of the schoolyard, and represent rejuvenation. There are plenty of frou frou and frills (often lace and chiffon), but these billow and float, injecting a buoyancy, and a child-like charm. Shorts worn every way freshened the day wear, while skirts were mostly longer, and full and lightly fluttering. Shoes have gotten down to earth, and are now simple versions of the crazy shapes we have been seeing. The freshest of these are flat sandals, even for night, instead of some towering atrocity — even the humble ballet pump looked new. These simple accessories are a symbol of fashion’s new relaxed mood, a big step away from the tired idea of change for the sake of change.
(My complete Paris report will appear in Business Times on Saturday. Pictured: My favourite collection - Dries Van Noten)

Three Cuties + Two Movies = Horri-blah!

I was at R's and flipping through a stack of DVDs a foot high (R's a movie enthusiast) and finally swooped on Leap Year. It has Matthew Goode (love at first sight from Brideshead Revisited - how many bad movies can he survive?). I finally watched it after lunch yesterday (instead of writing a fashion feature for the papers). It's terrible. The Irish backdrop is enticingly filmed, and Matthew Goode is meltingly cute, and Amy Adams tried her best but it's still a horrible movie. I would rather be writing my feature (I couldn't get up from my stupor, alas, so didn't). Leap Year is so witless it failed to wring one happy thought from me, never mind a laugh. Perhaps the screenwriters were lazy (like me) and wrote it lying down burping from lunch? Or perhaps director Anand Tucker phoned it in from his sofa? It doesn't work because every scene is a flabby, unfelt cliche. And quite incoherent: Why is Amy Adams so desperate to marry her cardiologist boyfriend? Why doesn't she fall in love with the agreeably unshaven Matthew Goode at once (very unreasonable!)? What's the matter with her? I suspect this is because Mr Goode is far superior to the film, and was actually shot seperately from Ms Adams - his lanky beautiful person, and his charisma seemed to be standing just outside the film, having strayed accidentally in from a Jane Austen novel. Do not watch, even if someone passes you the disc.I also had the misfortune the stranger-than-fiction I Love You Phillip Morris. I j'adore Ewan McGregor as well as Rodrigo Santoro, you see. But really, this is another horribly incoherent movie, and seems to be more about the always reliably madcap Jim Carrey than either McGregor or Santoro. I'm at a loss to say what the movie is about other than how repellant Mr Carrey can be. I've never seen a film with him in it, and this one seems to make up for it big time as he's in every scene acting for all he's worth. Which is confusing because his slaptick take on everything make sit hard to fathom what the intention of the movie is. It is not at all clear what the movie's central theme is, or even its genre. It's not exactly a biopic because there are too many missing chunks, and the way the characters are portrayed seemed like the broadest camp. It's not about identity crisis or gay romance, nor is it properly a heist caper. Prison drama? It almost became a musical, I swear, because at many points McGregor seemed about to open his mouth and torchsong flute forth. Do Not Watch. And, no, I don't have a type!

Spring 2011 Paris: Chanel

The most striking thing about a Chanel collection by Karl Lagerfeld is the immense confidence which permeats the entire proceeding - from the outscale set in the outscale location (the Grande Palais is indeed grande by any standards) to the number of exits shown (80 and counting) to the cast of models. Another thing: How meticulous every detail is. The production and the craftsmenship is so perfect that even the most hideous of designs look somewhat possible, if not plausable. And the designs, this time, were great. I don't need to wax pretty about the lightness or the perforated-like-lace items, or the flattering length - reviewers will review it exhaustively, and you can click through the beautiful yourself. Enjoy!

Scrapbook

Assouline is bringing out Beaton: The Art of the Scrapbook next month. Someone please get it for me. It's one of those real must-have-immediately type situations. It sort of makes me want to do my scrapbooks again. Other books I'm dying to get are Blow by Blow, the Isabella Blow bio by husband Detmar, as well as the novel The Book of Salt by Monique Truong.

Spotted

Anna Dello Russo very jealous, she also want.

Spring 2011 Paris: YSL

Everyone must be overly familiar by now, with the YSL codes; So many designers these past few weeks have referenced Yves Saint Laurent's work. Stefano Pilati outdid them all, however, by bringing YSL back—to Rive Gauche. This is the collection that Marc Jacobs attempted to do in New York, and didn't, isn't it? The clothes brought home all the codes of the house, but reduced, and shorn of embellishment, into its purest essence. The neat black and gold belt that held it all together was slim, not screaming OBI! The 1970s ruffles, the printed silk, the precision-tailored jumpsuits with the discreet flared legs (cute!), and the trench are all pure Yves Saint Laurent, but the modern volume and fit, the draping and proportions are also pure Pilati. It's not genius, not on the level of Prada, but it's accomplished and chic and clever.

Spring 2011 Paris: Chloé

Light and fresh, Hannah MacGibbon's Chloé collection rested the eye from the glut of 'fashion' - these were graceful, elegant, calm clothes that felt like an antidote to the disease of 'dressup' which is eating fashion away. You only need to look at Anna Dello Russo to know what I'm talking about. It's not stylish, it's quite sick actually.
Chloé's pretty plissé dresses, the crisp white dresses, the buff shades and those wonderful sandals and ballet pumps, the dignified length on the other hand (inspired by ballerinas) felt like an infusion of oxygen. They were so restrained and easy that it made some stupid reviewers question Ms MacGibbon's talent: "...But what the collection lacked was a strong sense of distinction, as well as the got-to-have-it pieces that will drive Chloé customers wild. And MacGibbon’s seeming reluctance to offer much in the way of accessories was puzzling. Most looks were shown with either a chunky gold-heeled sandal or ballet slippers—not, mind you, some take on that iconic shoe, but with slippers that could have come from Capezio."
Ermmm... Is there still such a thing as a 'got-to-have-it piece'? How oddly anachronistic does that sound? It's like a Vogue caption from 1993. I think the lack of accessories gave the collection a bouyant effect, a clean, modern feeling of not being bogged down with fashion detritus. As for the comment about the iconic shoe? I could go on for days about the misuse of the word 'iconic' in fashion journalism, so I won't start. Just what makes a shoe 'iconic'? And which shoes have been iconic over the last decade? Why do shoes have to be 'iconic'? Do people look for 'iconic' shoes when they shop?This is utter nonsense. That this review comes from Vogue.com is saddening. Anna truly is losing her grip isn't she?

Louis Vuitton Ups the Digital Ante

In a few days (6 October, at 2.30pm, Paris), Louis Vuitton will be unveiling its women's Spring 2011 collection. Adding to the live streaming of the show on their official Facebook page, The Art of Travel by Louis Vuitton, and on iPad and iPhone at fashionshow.louisvuitton.com, Vuitton is set to provide you with a brand new digital experience (you may want to insert roll eyes here). Each model will be photographed immediately after the show with 52 cameras, thus turning them into motion-responsive images (you can try this out on Marc Jacobs below) that can be rotated and paused 360 degrees, from 6 Oct 8PM (Paris time) right here.
You are invited to discover this new kind of fashion show, in this blog post, so see you all on the 6th here, you hear?

In Trust

You go from me
In June for months on end
To study equanimity
Among high trees alone;
I go out with a new boyfriend
And stay all summer in the city where
Home mostly on my own
I watch the sunflowers flare.

You travel East
To help your relatives.
The rainy season's start, at least,
Brings you from banishment:
And from the hall a doorway gives
A glimpse of you, writing I don't know what,
Through winter, with head bent
In the lamp's yellow spot.

To some fresh task
Some improvising skill
Your face is turned, of which I ask
Nothing except the presence;
Beneath white hair your clear eyes still
Are candid as the cat's fixed narrowing gaze
- Its pale blue incandescence
In your room nowadays.

Sociable cat:
Without much noise or fuss
We left the kitchen where he sat,
And suddenly we find
He happens still to be with us,
In this room now, though firmly faced away,
Not to be left behind,
Though all the night he'll stray.

As you began
You'll end the year with me.
We'll hug each other while we can.
Work or stray while we must.
Nothing is, or will ever be,
Mine, I suppose. No one can hold a heart,
But what we hold in trust
We do hold, even apart.
- Thom Gunn (1929-2004)

Patrick Kafka (Born 1989)

Patrick Kafka is from Vienna, just like those enamel Hermes bangles. J'adore.

He Said She Said: Carine Roitfeld

On Censorship "Now, the censoring is bigger than it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago. I think we have less freedom. Today some pictures would not even be publishable. It’s not just about the nudity, but when you talk about things politically, the military, kids, it would all be politically incorrect and not publishable today. We have to fight to keep this un-politically correct attitude of French Vogue, but it’s more and more difficult to be able do that. You cannot smoke, you cannot show arms, you cannot show little girls, because everyone now is very anxious not to have problems with the law. Everything we do now is like walking in high heels on the ice, but we keep trying to do it."(Crystal Renn by Terry Richardson)
On What Vogue Paris Means "Vogue is a very specific world. You are Vogue, or not Vogue. There are some editors and writers who can be very good, and still not Vogue. How can I describe it? It is, first, having the sense of luxury. It’s a sense of craziness, a bit. It’s a sense of beauty, because the images we are printing, most of them are going to be in a museum. It has to be cultural, because I think the French woman is not just interested in fashion. She is interested in painting, reading, movies and art, so it is a lot of things, altogether, to be a Vogue photographer, writer or stylist. And a Vogue reader." (Above: Bal Masqué, Marcus Piggott and Mert Alas; Below: The specially designed Chanel ad; Oct Vogue Paris)On Fashion Shows "When I am going to a fashion show, I’m not just looking at the clothes. I’m looking at the mood, I’m listening to the music, so sometimes, I can be a bit disappointed in one, two or three shows, and then I see a great one and my energy goes up again.I don’t see them just to wear them, I see them as a piece of art sometimes."

Weekend Reading List: The Mean Reds

"The blues are because you're getting fat, and maybe it's been raining too long. You're just sad, that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid, and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?" - Truman CapoteI've left off blogging properly for a bit, and it may be a while before I regain my former momentum, because I've run into my very own traffic jam of mean reds. It'll pass, not to worry. Meanwhile, why don't you celebrate Truman Capote's anniversary (he was born 30 September 1924) by reading (or re-reading as the case may be) his books? I've read them all, back and forth, more than a couple of times. I've read his biographies; A book of his letters; One gets to now him pretty well, as his output was as slim as his publicity was plentiful.
Much of the latter, self-created, was tragic.Pick a book, and just lie back with a couple of needle-work pillows and wait for the mean reds to blow away. I recently read that Henry James commented that Vanessa Bell’s designs for her sister Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press book jackets (above) were “optical echoes of the books that a literary history should listen to,” and thought how true this was of certain books and certain covers (no, not those movie poster ones!). Sadly, book covers will come to pass with more people reading digital book-things from those tablet devices. Book covers will come to pass, along with real books. I have been seeing some people 'reading' novels on their iSocools, and I'm left thinking: They're showing their gadgets off. You can't read something like Mrs Dalloway on a digital reader and understand what it means. These people are pretending to read, aren't they? And with this depressing thought, I leave you to enjoy a serious bout of the mean reds. X