Photographer Leigh Keily – Make-up Anna Bourne – Model Lolita @FM agency – Styling: us
Sorry dear followers, I know I’ve been quite absent if not completely in the last weeks: right now I’m doing a short course in Fashion Styling at the Central Saint Martins, I’ll probably publish photos and stuff as soon as I can (which means in a while)… but I promise I’ll come back, and with more exciting stuff… so see you in a while, take care and above everything else, sorry for being such a bad commenter!
xx
Isy
p.s.: as for the images, it’s the editorial we styled at the CSM
p.p.s.: I ended up doing some crazy things in London, stay tuned for the ACNE opening pictures and much more…
Ok, I admit I would never have thought I would have considered a turban a fashion accessory one day (and not just the ultimate heroic attribute of Sandokan and this kind of kid figures).
I won’t argue about religious meaning because clearly, it isn’t the point… but the fact is that this trend is growing on me (yes I know, Prada created the buzz in 2007 and we are in 2010!). Not only because of its colorful quality (the first collage is rather kitsch, sorry) and exotic innuendo, but mainly because of its refinement. Maybe it’s always due to the ‘models’ (Catherine Baba especially), but I do think that turbans can give you a special touch. Grey perhaps, something like a minimalistic turn of a kitsch/exotic item! But let the images speak for themselves…
Summer is here again, and these are my crushes: many editorials are from these seasons, other are mixed and taken from the ‘archives’… but enough said, let us go deep in a world of summer beaches, forests, Greek mansions, hippie fields and steamy cities…
NOW WHAT? Now Dennis is dead. And I hate this post… even if it is as Easy Rider that I’ll remember this great man…
Easy Rider is not only the movie of a generation (not mine unfortunately, even if it is truly immortal) but also a movie full of… fashion statements ! But even so, the designers always fail when they try to imitate this style: it’s not a style but a state of mind, a state of freedom! So just be inspired…
Last season I tried to do a tiny ‘magazine‘ to show the main trends; this season I’m lazier so I just thought I’d do something which is really quite unoriginal because everyone’s doing it right now (remember How to get shot by the Sartorialist? by the Selby? are you happy? and my absolute favorite, So you need a typeface)… but anyway, tell me what you think about it, especially which questions I forgot to put in there!
p.s.: my most recent (superquick) collage… and awhite wave.
Images: many from Cocorosa (the queen of DIYs), a few from the Sartorialist, then modainsegni, net-a-porter, style.com, missatlaplaya, thefashionfruit, welovestephensprouse, flamboyant, seaofshoes, and many I don’t remember. If you know where they come from don’t hesitate writing it in the comments!
The only things I did from the pictures above is to paint an old vintage bag and to transform a ring into an aluminum creation, and it really came out pretty cool. Other projects right now include paint my oxfords in IKB (the true Yves Klein one), do jewellery with military-badges, cut a vintage jean jacket to make a gilet and perhaps add some fur to it, make a Sprouse-like foulard, etc. etc. etc…. What about you?
So. It has been a while. You will read about Valentino‘s last collection on my 160g post tomorrow (Monday) with proper images and some kind of review, but I wanted to write something here about the new direction Valentino is taking… If you are a loyal reader you will probably know how much I loved or even venerated Valentino, and how much I was shocked when he retired. I also incredibly admired Alessandra Facchinetti and her stunning work that was really worthed to be named ‘Couture’. It seems like yesterday when I bought that newspaper saying that she was fired: I was frankly disgusted back then, and it took me a while to appreciate the work of her successors. But right now I do. And it was even more clear Wednesday, when I had the chance to look at their last collection. I was charmed by the extreme lightness of the materials, by the subtle (termosaldatura) technique of the ruffling, by the smart poetry that lied in each piece of fabric. These clothes and this spirit take place in a very natural way into the ‘couturier’ folder. Clothes that are made to be loved more than for mere experimentation, clothes that tell a story but are more than anything else a pure statement of beauty. Couturier, sarto, tailor: we tend to forget how much the sensitivity of the hand counts. Even with the finest modern techniques, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli achieved to reinvent that tradition that is Valentino’s trademark.
I will add some better photos soon, but in a way these are the photos that describe my feelings the best: enchanment towards a rather simple red velvet (Red Valentino) dress, beauty of a transparent white garment, strength of some Argento-esque eightie-ish spiked red shoes. Serene statements of beautiful fashion.
p.s.: you can zoom on the Raging Bullcollage. These are all things that are on my mind lately, fluorescent and red, boxing and butcher shops, poisonous green… somehow most of these were present in the latest issue of Vogue Italia that looks kind of awesome – 2 shoots by Miles, 2 shoots by Tim, I couldn’t ask for more !
Hi everyone, so sorry the lack of posting for so many days… I think I will slow down a bit with rossovelvet and keep the ‘big’ posts for 160g… rossovelvet will become more atmospheric-inspirational, I guess… anyway . I still wanted to share some of my favorite Paris shows… (I liked many others but these are my real crushes; still I found some inspiring statements at Givenchy, YSL, John Galliano, and many others…)
…especially this one. I would probably say it was my favorite show of the season. It’s no news that I love Ackermann‘s work, but this time everything felt even more perfect than usual. It’s kind of pointless discussing perfection, or simply beautiful -original- well cutted clothes. It is moving; it may certainly lack of colors, but somehow the fall palette add poetry to this post-medieval yet futuristic trip. Something like a wicked fairy-tale, cutted and sharpened. Brown elves, silver fairies with soft hair, black hunters… you almost think you’re in Robin Hood when you look at these pieces. But beyond any reference, what moves me are the cutted pieces of fabric, smartly balanced as strokes on a painting. Lessons of layering, lessons of poetry. Perfect.
I have to admit I feel quite disappointed with Milan this season – as last season too, by the way. Prada, Fendi, and also the ‘bla-bleah-bla’ so-called big names (Versace, Gucci & co) aren’t worth a look, and so the only shows that I actually liked are by young designers. Two for now: Gabriele Colangelo and Albino d’Amato. Colangelo had everything right: the chalk grey palette (yet again!) just stolen from a quarry, the messy soft hair, the delicate grey tights… and even a little disco touch (silver and cream nacrés). The texture of the clothes remember a little the Rodarte ‘natural’ collection: it is indeed about nature and minerals, but perhaps what makes it even more beautiful is the hint of wearability in these clothes. There are ‘simple’ blazers, bold structured coats, even light cocktail dresses. Everything is fresh and clean, in a balance between a certain soft minimalism and a love for dramatical details (such as the sheer pieces, the ‘shredded’ dress, the asymetrical-cut belts, the ‘wrong’ folding etc.). From chalk-white to black through beige: only a subtle tint of turquoise – water of some sort? – breaks the calm monotony of a very simple palette. Dresses as buildings and materials at the same time, constructions and fabrics. These are wooden-like, marble-like, steel-like dresses in the appearence, but soft and light in the result. This empathic contrast gives an interesting twist to a somewhat ‘heavy’ inspiration. The result is between the italian Arte Povera heredity (names such as Burri spring to mind) and that joyful and sexy light-disco effect. Beautiful and structured, intellectual and fun, inspiring and down to earth, this collection is a jewel for sure…
Some other beautiful shows ! (This season looks very promising, I can’t wait for Milan and Paris…)
Calvin Klein: we say in italian “squadra che vince non si cambia”… Francisco Costa may do the same thing again and again, it still works. Intelligent soft minimalism, with fluid lines and few colors. This shows still provide a lot of edgy yet wearable dresses that will look perfect on Bosworth, Swinton etc.
This time the focus is on the neck, with very high t-shirt-like necks. It gave a medical feeling of calm sobriety.
Read me on 160g: here and -sadly- here… and here too.
So… what to think about New-York (til now)? I love this overall feeling of harshness and ‘seriousness’, the use of both leather and velvet. Few shows enchanted me but I have to admit that the upcoming thematics for fall are really engaging. I mentioned on my post for 160g’s blog a trend about boxer-girls; that’s one of the things I liked the most at Alexander Wang.
May we call this the worst Couture season ever? It’s actually quite depressing to write this article; it’s always depressing to write about boring and deceptive stuff. And when ‘stuff’ isn’t a random something but, well, Haute Couture, it’s even worst.
So here I am, pondering again these plain three days. What did we see? Pastels, revisitations of revisitations, déjà vus, zero energy, less creativity (except for Valentino and some Givenchy). It’s like the fall of the big ones, Galliano for Dior, Lagerfeld for Chanel (I never really liked his work for Chanel but this time it’s even worst), whitout forgetting the absence of Christian Lacroix and Martin Margiela.
It’s probably a paradox that one of my favorite shows of the week has been Armani; it was pretty and well-cutted and beautiful, sure, but it was the most classic show you could imagine. And classic isn’t usually my piece of cake… but still, whereas other designers attemped to do classic or classic thematics (especially at Dior and Chanel) failing, ‘Re Giorgio’ managed to keep simple yet still fancy. Isn’t Couture made for red carpet anyway? The only dresses I can really imagine at red carpets are those of Armani.
Tisci bugged me too. I saw that mesmerizing outfit on Hanne-Gaby (I liked the green one too, but this one is special, the color is simply fantastic) and then the other dresses… and it just pissed me off how it is a Valentino redux (the times near to Valentino’s adieu to fashion especially) with bold make-up. I think it’s sad that even Tisci didn’t really took any risk with his creations this time; there wasn’t a magical narrative such as the Pina Bausch one for example, or the ‘sailor for Taranto’, that were my favorite collections of all time.
It’s the same for Dior (though I must precise: Givenchy wasn’t bad to me and had really sharp looks, Dior was a complete catastrophe. I know it’s subjective, but it was to me a disaster), the formule is old and tired, we miss the pompe of De Betak’s big shows. Isn’t after all hypocrite how everybody tried to be ‘mediocre’ with Couture this time, ‘calm’, ‘moderate’? Isn’t it even worse than doing baroque impossibilities, exaggerations, dreams more than dresses? It really pissed me off. I don’t see the point of Couture if it is just about plain bad prom dresses and repetitions. There was a lack of energy that was really depressing, and I see the colors reflect this absence in a good way. Pastels were great at spring/summer 10, I found the thematic to be great because it was somewhat deconstructed, it was used in an unexpected way, it was disturbing. Pastels with metallics and vieux jeu clothing (Chanel) simply don’t work. Don’t get me wrong, I know some of you may have liked it and that’s perfectly fine to me, I personnally think it wasn’t ok, it wasn’t exciting, it wasn’t anything. Silly Barbies after all.
You could percieve the fraud of Couture this season (except Chiuri Piccioli, who frauded in another way) by a simple clue: did you notice how all the dramatic and over-the-top and excessive was in the make-up and the hair? I actually thought this was a GREAT season for make-up artists and hair stylists, who really had fun masking a little the plainess of the clothes themselves. If you forget the accessories – looking at Dior for example – you see boring dresses with boring cuts and unmatching colors. At Chanel you’re looking at boring tailleurs. At Givenchy an interesting outift as the one with the hat lose all its sense. Gaultier is even worse – how could someone create designs based on so many clichés (the Mexico – sauvage - disgusting stuff) ? Perhaps I’m being overly dramatic here – and I’m also writing too much. But I really got a sad feeling this time. Is it the way we want the new decade to start?
In this apocalyptic panorama of boring and plain and unsatisfying and recycled what really came out as an UFO was the Valentino collection: it is quite funny to observe that one of the most conservative, classic designers (you know I adore him, it is a compliment I’m making here, not a critic in any sense) maison was the most courageous this time. I still don’t know if it really fits with Valentino’s heritage. I miss Alessandra Facchinetti a lot (as I miss Olivier Theyskens every ‘fashion’ day), and of course as many have pointed out if Facchinetti’s designs seemed unValentino to Valentino what could we say about… these?!
But it isn’t the point here. I appreciated the way Chiuri/Piccioli introduced a new problematic -and perhaps too modern for us- concept in fashion. It kind of reminds me Viktor&Rolf, for the thinking aspect. But I really think what is even more important is the kind of quirky catharsis operated by the duo. Of course I first thought ‘this is ugly’. But ugly isn’t a bad thing. Ugly is an aesthetic, it is a way of seeing; it is a fantastic possibility to play with. And that’s exactly what Chiuri/Piccioli did: their was a childish experience. We have all played with Day-Glo, covering boring-colored fabrics (greige, beige, taupe) with these infamous unmatching shades. I remember I had always an almost sacred fear of doing that; you couldn’t go back, it was totally a revolution. I think this is the key to read and appreciate Valentino’s show whitout being too disgusted by the unusual color palette. Seeing the details again and again made me realize how I really liked it in fact. First I thought it was Sprouse meeting what Sprouse hated, Sprouse’ antithesis – a.k.a. greige and taupe etc. and that it wasn’t coherent. (It was also funny because I reread the Stephen Sprouse book just before seeing the Valentino collection, and of course there is a lot of Balenciaga, Givenchy, Preen & co but I still see Sprouse as the primary source of the thing). But anyway – deconstructing a shocking vision à la Sprouse, with day-glo and eighties feeling, with classic – also classic Valentino – black and BEIGE was like a fist in the stomach. This show was more a rhetoric act, a philosophical act, an art act than a mere fashion act. It is what makes it impossible to categorize or to note, it goes somewhere else. Hopefully it is perhaps a new intellectual/subversive trend for fashion, that might take years to be understood. But that is the point with revolutions. Of course you can read this show in many other ways – the way proposed by the duo, a ‘psychedelic Eden garden’, which is also great because it implies a fascinating genealogy of gardens in history and even gardens in fashion (perhaps that reminded me of Viktor&Rolf too). There is then the way the couture draping was like mummified. And then the way this is in a way an uchronic (promise I stop with these pompous terms!) show, because it deconstructed different eras whilst combining them (beige vs day-glo is here a tensed fight that make all of this experimentation work).
I wrote way too much.
Tell me what you thought about this season because I’m really interested in your point of view !
I don’t usually write about bloggers and their styles. But when I saw Tahti’s blog, I totally felt in love with her sense of styling ! She has an incredible way to enhance an important detail whilst making a super interesting outfit out of it… I think what is inspiring is her way to work with black and patterns: my favorite look is the one with the striped tights (she totally looks like a medieval angel hybridated with some futuristic classy heroin!). But you should visit her to read “The musings of a pale redhead who loves aesthetics and food.” She’s not only a tremendously stylish girl, but she also writes very pleasently and dissertates on food, make-up (with terrific tutorials), fashion… So just visit her ! She’s also been very kind to answer one question I wanted to ask her:
How would you define red and black (as fundamental components of your look: red for the hair, black (often) for the clothes), what do these colors mean in your world/esthetic ?
Red is a very powerful colour, and I only own one item of clothing with the colour red – I let my hair fill the red quota for me! It’s such a strong shade, and it’s so noticeable, it kind of intimidates me. I believe red is best used as lipstick. Black is just my everyday colour-love, it goes with everything, it sets off my pale skin and hair, and I feel at ease in it – it’s my comfort colour!
…Hmm, I think she’s a very rosso velvetian inspiration !
Let’s start 2010 with a movie that is certainly daté but still very, very enjoyable. Danger: Diabolik! or simply Diabolik is the only example of an italian pop movie. An übersixties portrait using pop-art effects for a psychedelic triumph. Diabolik is a 1968′ movie whose director is Mario Bava. Let’s also remember that Dino De Laurentiis produced it, and that the great score is by Ennio Morricone. The result is an incredibly fun and kitsch product, impossible to forget. Flashy colors, psychedelic motives, unrealistic situations… Diabolik is originally a very dark comic-book hero, mean and cynical. In the movie there is more place for killer humour and trips into sixties dreams. There is fashion, of course: the beautiful Marisa Mell, who plays Eva Kant – mistress of the hero antihero Diabolik – is always stunning in super short A-dresses or hot pants. (click on the images to enlarge them)
Here we are… the very last days of the decade. A decade caracterized by an extreme melting-pot of styles. I have had few icons of the decade, but persons that inspired me were Daphne Guinness, Diane Kruger, Tilda Swinton, Daria Werbowy, Irina Lazareanu… more recently Kate Lanphear and Lapo Elkann. But the ’00 (late years especially) have confirmed themselves as the years of the anonym style-icons, the queens & kings of street-style blogs. The fashion photographers that have marked this decade are for me Tim Walker and Miles Alridge (both very young, and it’s fun to notice that Alridge’s career began in 2000 exactly), but this is very subjective. The designer of the decade is for me Alessandro dell’Acqua. He anticipated every trend we see today (lingerie, nude, japanism) and filled this decade with cinematographic collections. The other obvious name must be Alexander McQueen, for being a longeve übercreative designer of the british tradition – but with many failed shows in my opinion. 2000′s were also the years of the triumph for Prada+Miu Miu, as well as they were Marc Jacobs & Nicolas Ghesquière‘s years, or Viktor&Rolf‘s. The palm for Couture goes to Dior for the first half ot the ’00, to Givenchy for the second (Tisci years)… I’d choose Daria as model of the decade because she managed to return as a SuperSuperModel even after a (quite long) break and she has the simplest fantastic style for grandes soirées. She’ll also be an intemporal beauty because we can’t categorize her as ‘doll-face model’ or ‘brazilian/slavic model’, the two trends of the decade. Also… my favorite shows are too many, but my favorite season was undeniably fall 2006 with that russian-military-opulent direction…
I told you about this few months ago, but it’s finally here ! I had problems with acrobat reader (I’m so pissed off actually!) so 4 pages don’t fit correctly, I’ll give you the right links later !
But anyway… let’s consider this my modest Christmas Present for you all !
I just wanted to give you some gift tips in case you’re overwhelmed with christmas pressure… many of these ideas are truly great things to receive (I say that because I’d love to receive them too ! ;D).
I know it’s winter, but there’s this spring-summer trend already disturbing me. Did you noticed how creepy spring trends are ? First bone-bodies then this one, even creepier because apparently sweet and innocent. Bows and pastels and kittens and pink. Where’s the trick?
The trick is in this atypic reversal of the woman, a somewhat unresolvable Peter Pan complex. Creepy kidult faces in sweet delicious cake-a-like outfits. Or even cute heroes, cute invented friends, such as Giles bags. There’s also room for horror: red spiders or dolly faces (I remember a novel by Agatha Christie which was super frightening about a doll that moved…I read it when I a kid and I still clearly remember it ;D), clowns reminiscences in the make-up. Coulrophobia. It’s how the fear of clowns is named. The word itself comes from greek: κωλοβαθριστής, wich is actually a funny word meaning the man who walk on stilts. It’s of course a fantastic theme for both horror and art, as well as a literary topos. Stephen King’s It tells a story about a clown criminal. Of course the story remains John Wayne Gacy’s story, because it’s a true story. You probably know about this serial killer, I think he has been the “most successful” serial-killer in the United States. “He became notorious as the “Killer Clown” because of the many block parties he threw for his friends and neighbors, entertaining children in a clown suit and makeup, under the name of “Pogo the Clown”.” (wikipedia) If you want to know more go here.
John Wayne Gacy
And who doesn’t think about the magnificent Joker – and the ultimate purple trenchcoat (so funny, this is what came out googling “clowns qui font peur”, which is actually the first option when you type “clowns” on google.fr. Hilarious !) ? And of course… there is the champion of depressing clowney melancholy, which is Fellini.
Gelsomina in La Strada (played by Giulietta Masina)
Still from I clowns and promotional poster…
I clowns is a touching melancholic symphony about clowns. Because of course there is the creep, but the melancholy is also the principal definition of the clown. Movies as La Strada, I clowns or the final of Otto e mezzo (8 1/2) embrace that almost anachronistically lost sense of je-ne-sais-quoi. Even the figure of the director itself was frequently clowned.
I had so much fun googling ‘Fellini clowns’ and finding… my own article for skyrock (with a photo from Miles Alridge besides… I’m so predictible) ! I totally forgot about it… but I wrote:
“Le cirque est Glam, le Glam est cirque. De Miu Miu à Stammy, de Viktor & Rolf à Galliano, depuis quelques temps la mode s’amuse à cligner à un des arts les plus mélancoliques qui soient. Un art peut-être fini mais toujours envoûtant et riche. Il y a la classe triste d’un Clown Blanc, larmoyant, incandescent dans son maquillage figé, il y a l’amère bouffonnerie de l’Auguste, il y a les acrobates, les dompteurs, il y a les paillettes, les décors, les costumes, les odeurs. Un monde pittoresque où tout est renversé, un monde magique qui ne cesse d’inspirer le monde de la Mode. Et on aime, parce que ces regards langoureux et ces revisitations de la Commedia dell’Arte en Lacroix, Chanel, Saab, nous ravit. Pierrot lunaire comme la douce lumière des défilés printaniers: et oui, c’est vendredi…”
Funny how circular fashion is ! A few seasons ago there was that huge clown-theme… and it was beautiful. This time this trend is more about kids. Childhood. Even infancy… see Miu Miu and the baby sheets. Or Marc Jacobs white baby-like clowns. Or 4 years old – Giles, again. Or 10 years old girls dreaming to be princesses, the classical leitmotiv. Vichy creatures. Bows. Ruffles. Colored hair. Lunar faces, etc. etc…
But there’s another aspect about childhood in fashion . Don’t you find it often scary when you look at Haute Couture for kids? 2-years kids dressed like forties rich women? This dehumanization of kids is frequently present in the work of Miles Alridge, which is by the way one of my favorite fashion photographers, if not my favorite. Alridge works with the figure of the antithetis: french call his style futurétro, and there’s always a crazy décalage between the colors and the message. It’s this discrepancy which makes his photos creep, most of the time. But also atemporally beautiful. Miles Alridge isn’t in fashion or out of fashion. He simply is, as a fashion photographer, as an artist. And his way to picture kids or peterpancomplexed women is always sarcastic, if not mean. See for yourself !
Miles Alridge also bring us back to clowns. Clown-creeps…
…but let’s return to melancholic clowns. Speaking about melancholy a reference work is Anatomy of Melancholy (1618) by Robert Burton. In the iconography the use of clowns, acrobats or arlequins as symbols started in the rococo period. We think about Gilles (1719) from Watteau, maybe the precursor of the tragic-clown-in-art trend, followed later by Cézanne, Picasso, Hopper, and even Schlemmer…
Antoine Watteau, Giles (1719)
The idea is that the clown isn’t the mad one, but we are (a beautiful approach on this thematic -clownless tho- is Maupassant’s novel Un fou. I absolutely recommand it to you!). But anyway. The clown is therefore an allegory of the artist, which is marginal only because we are wrong – not him. Clowns as self-portraits, mirrors for the artists.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Le Clown, 1868
Paul Cézanne, Fastnacht, 1888
Edward Hopper, Soir bleu, 1914
Pablo Picasso
James Ensor, Christ entrant dans Bruxelles (detail), 1888
James Ensor, The death and the masks, 1897
And if you like this imagery, here’s a really exhaustive list about clowns in the movies…
I wrote mainy about the ‘clown triste‘, a.k.a. the white clown …
But there’s also the funny clown, the Auguste.
There is even the eighties clown !! This movie seems like so much fuuun !! Has anyone seen it perhaps ?
And since I live in Switzerland… there are Grock, and Dimitri !
Which are your favorite memories about circus? Or greatest fears?
I Clowns:
Here you can find 8 more extracts from the movie… simply sublime.
___________
So finally, how to challenge all of these inspirations? Because everyday is not Halloween and you don’t necessarily want to become the next serial killer… you can challenge the sweet kidult look, which is not so difficult. Take a look at Luella… The mix of pastel colors gives a surprising result, which is very à la Lula but still totally possible to challenge ! Of course Miu Miu, it’s kind of easy, take a baby sheet and use it as a foulard. Voilà.
But you can also play the Alridge card. Which means superacid and strong colors that kids would love. Try fuchsia + turquoise if you have the courage… But remember you have to wear disturbing clothes, a.k.a. severe tailleurs or forties/eighties-inspired powerdressing.
Or you can just play pink Barbie. Or white clown – try the make-up… But then… it’s your responsability ! ;D
There’s a certain deep melancholy – almost sadness – in Valentino, the last emperor. Two things striked me: the first is how minimalistic and classy and unpretentious the movie was – and we all know how pretentious Valentino is, if you understand italian this itw is a must. It’s a beautiful, light symphony about beauty… and also about a time. That’s the second thing: how poetic is the couturier-figure. But in a certain way it’s little poetic. Not conceptual, nor dreamy in an abstract sense, nor even merely spectacular. No: it’s genuine poetry, in the deep essence of the clothes. And also in this protagonist, totally anachronistic, totally lost in another world. But therefore so so touching. It’s not mere snobism: it’s a way of life. Valentino is a snob malgré lui. As Giammetti says, a touching “little guy”, who has became an emperor. But you mustn’t take emperor as synonym of untouchable, superior man. Emperor as someone out of the real world, sometimes weak as only an emperor can be, sometimes magnificent as only an emperor can be. This movie has something magical, because it doesn’t exaggerate nostalgy at all – very few images of ‘old’ Valentino‘s works – but you still want to cry at the end. To rewatch it, en boucle. Because even if Valentino is a funny choleric fellow, even if Marzotto is a smiling offender, even if all of that châteaux-Gstaad-Dolce Vita-dogs-Nino Rota look completely lost in the time, there is still magic. Whether it may be in the clothes itself – I doubt it – or in the overempathic figure of Giancarlo Giammetti. Curiously “Valentino the last emperor” is a movie that is more about Giammetti than Valentino - as perhaps The September Issue is more about Grace Coddington than Anna Wintour. Already in Valentino, una storia italiana you could see the incredible importance of Giammetti at Valentino, but the movie is litterally a tribute. It’s not simply the creative genius and the brain. It’s genius and humanity, crazyness and solidity, and also a very beautiful lovestory. You could say so many things on this movie, but I’ll say just one: enjoy. And see it, because you can’t miss it. Even if you aren’t a Valentino groupie like I am and I’ve been !
If you just believe in beauty, and in fashion. Then pay respect to the last couturier ! It’s also the perfect Christmas Gift for that friend with taste… buy it here, it’s worthed !
It’s not 2010 yet, but I still made the resolution to be more organized on this blog, which means some themes will return regularly ! Today is officially the first RV Wednesday, and it’s all about fashion in movie or literature… today’s movie is…
BLADE RUNNER
Of course you all noticed Blade Runner was a huuuuge inspiration for the fall: Blade Runner mixes 40′ and 8o’-clothing and dark futurism, and it’s as well a dark fairy-tale with robotic dolls… lots of differents trends and time-inspirations, with a complicated psychological and philosophical reason for each one. Because there are not only shoulder pads in Blade Runner subtle costuming: you’ll find plastic and flour and bandages and bow-ties. I won’t have the pretention to speak about the movie itself nor the symbolic of the costumes because others have done it with very interesting researches: Giuliana Bruno’s essay on Blade Runner is really a must, and here I found a very detailed article on Blade Runner‘s costumes.
Being a post-apocalyptic movie Blade Runner shows costumes with relatively poor colors (browns, greys, black, white especially), in a night universe of dark or super lightening tones. The costumes are designed by Charles Knode and Michael Kaplan, and for the anecdote they even went for auction in 1999.
Anyway. If you hadn’t seen the movie there may be spoilers ! Here are the characters with some quotes from Francescy Myman’s article (in grey) – and then a rapid polyvore reinterpretation !
Pris
” We first see Pris in the rain, metal dog collar around her neck, frizzy blonde hair obviously bleached. A black shirt barely covers her, and her nylons, held up by garters, show half-circles of her upper thighs. She is the classic image of a waif-whore. This image is a disguise which she has donned to lure J.F. Sebastian into the Replicant’s trap. At the same time as she is a lure for J.F., chosen for her harmless and appealing looks, she is also dangerous bait. The smile is wiped off her face as easily as the makeup which the rain washes off her cheeks. Faint traces of mascara make dark bruises around her eyes. [...] While she remains under the veil, she can be seen as a kind of crouching poisonous spider, simultaneously trapped and protected under her web. Her animalistic movement are likened to the spider’s: “Pris’ status as spider-woman seems to go beyond purely an abstract form. She paints herself black and white, virtually becoming the spider she so clearly resembles, and hides beneath a white veil, the spider waiting in her web.” (Scott) In the cluttered room, which is not in the least home-like and is actually more like an old antique and novelty shop or props warehouse, the veil takes on the appearance of cobwebs draped over her with age. She has lost the mobility associated with the spider and is trapped in her own sticky web.“
Pris is the pleasure model. She is therefore the doll, the ultimate mannequin: masked with tragic white, theatrical artefact, black-eyed and black-souled. Not even the bridal veil can redeem her: she plays as a doll, fighting with robotic unhuman movements. Pris is also a punk character. She embodies the problematic status of a fallen angel, spiked and black but -apparently- remissive with her big, big eyes and sweet voice. The ultimate enchantress, the siren who emerges from trash, the Venus and the Anti-Venus at the same time. Garters and lingerie, spiked-collar, sheers items that put the body ahead from everything else. Venus of pleasure, Venus of death, scary porcelain toy.
Zhora
The bar-environment – it contains post-Marie-Antoinettes, post-Gildas, post-nazis-officers, post-dandys, …
“ Futuristic and ancient fashion are one and the same thing. Mesh veils make the eyes a mystery. This mechanically and historically uncertain background is Zhora’s backdrop, from which she emerges, the only woman who is unclad. She completes the historic panorama with an almost prehistoric reference to Eve and the snake. Introduced offscreen by a hawker who cries “Miss Salome and the Snake! Watch her take the pleasure from the serpent that once corrupted men!”, she hurries along, eager to be done with her act and out of her costume, or least in a hurry to get to her dressing-room. [...] Her clothing, and especially her raincoat, is exposed as a kind of portable department store display, hawking her ribs and skin and belly button to passers-by as stock.[...] Our last sight of her is of a tattoo of a snake. The tattoo in and of itself is a “punk” construct, and also represents permanence and decoration. “
To me, Zhora’s costume is the ‘artsy’ one, because of its pop ready-made function. The snake as the ultimate accessory on a naked body, the sixties-esque plastic raincoat. It’s the neo-uniform of the neo-actress. Zhora’s body is defined twice by the presence of death: the snake and the blood. Her death is also symptomatic because she dies whilst running into a window of a shop, full with mannequins… eternal mise en abyme of the android’s thematic. Zhora and Pris are replicants, much like the dolls and mannequins than the humans. They try to animalize themselves and therefore find a more ‘earthful’ character ( fur, snake, dog collar… ) but they eventually fall as broken dolls, broken artefacts. That’s why the scene at Sebastian’s atelier is my favorite: it defines artificiality, with these morbid dolls and antiquate toys ( how striking and sad ! ) and Pris lost between them…
Rachael
” Her clothing is undeniably sculptural. Costume is used to monumentalize her and create her as an android. Shoulder padding, stark straight lines, and lacquered hair make her proportions too perfect and slightly extreme. At the same time, they evoke the historicity which neither Pris nor Zhora can claim — her clothing is closely based on a forties Film Noir model, and it evokes a sense of nostalgia and grandeur and richness which comes from the lush historical background the shapes tap into. Her clothing instantaneously places her in relationship to history — she is not purely modern, instead, she is classic. Her high heels click on the floor, and her icy perfection, muted behind layers of smoke, blends with both past and present, making her a more flexible character temporally than Zhora and Pris, and lending her a weight of authenticity and social class. At the same time, the costume style is heightened to the point where it becomes a parody of its origins. In this sense, even her costume questions Rachael’s relationship to the female stereotypes endemic to film noir. The forties’ style has become rigid and mechanized. “
Rachael’s costume is reinterprated in the fall season with that same melancholic dichotomy between protective classical, antique clothing and powerlful look. Back to the 8o’ which look back at the 4o’… the temporal vertigo gives the large shoulders even more pathos. We’ve seen it at Balmain, of course, but also and in a more interesting way at Aquilano.Rimondi; Lanvin is also very Rachael-esque, with that stiff solidity and the overall black; then there is Givenchy, Yohji Yamamoto, Margiela, Jil Sander for a destruction of the symbol, Dolce&Gabbana… Rachael’s costumes show also the disease thematic: an ensemble that look like bandages put together, a cry from a wounded body. She is a failure, an atypic replicant because she’s suffering and therefore dangerous: Tyrell, the boss, must protect himself… He also wears a ‘bandage-y’ bow-tie. Sign of his failure ?
Deckard
The ‘hero’ – or anti-hero, he’s the classical prototype of anti-hero in a typical film noir style – is old-fashioned. He’s antiquated, ‘vintage’ in this futuristic – or past-y – world. He’s nowhere exactly, he wears a kind of uniform, which is totally dépassé. He looks more like a sheriff from Westerns than a policeman – Blade Runner – of the future. This shows the huge discrepancy between Deckard’s personality and Deckard’s work. Only such a loser, such an undetermined character can be the anti-hero of such an anti-love story. His fallen, unclassical and absolutely not new uniform marks clearly the difference, the antagonism between him and the superb Rachael. He’s as much untended as Rachael is perfectly dressed. This pushes the question of the reality of Deckard – spoiler is he a human or a replicant ? – even further. He’s the less polished character, the more real one. An ode to mediocrity ?
Gaff
(the detective with ultimate bow-ties, a ghost-cliché from Los Angeles’ past)
Roy Batty
( the mean platinum one, à la german, of course – remember Die Hard ? Guess the eighties had a thing against platinum-angel faces )
Tyrell
(best suit ever ! I’d swear it’s custome made italian …^^… and those glasses !)
So. I found the greatest videos ever, a special about BR’s costumes ! How awesome ! You really have to watch them x).
Last but not the least, where is all of this bringing us to ? It’s inspirational collages time… fall picks and Blade Runner connotative worlds: puppets, constellations, birds, toys, steampunk locations…
Bonus: Vintage runways futuristic-inspiration (from New York magazine)
The Marc Jacobs cape ! It’s been a very long time since I haven’t been so obsessed by a fashion item. I mean, it’s not every day that I think – even for just a minute – that I might eventually spend 1200$ (!!) to buy a Marc Jacobs cape ( plus you all know I don’t like him very much ). But this is: futuristic. Military-esque. Eighties. S P R O U S I A N ( if you haven’t buyed Stephen Sprouse‘s book yet well, buy it ). And I could go on and on, I’m simply infatued with it… you could play a modern Dracula, or a Jetson-stylish-girl like Anna Selezneva. Anyway. So, I’m not gonna buy it, but I’m gonna ask a tailor ( no, I’m definitely not able to reproduce it, sorry ! ) to do something similar. So the big big problem now is to decide myself on the color, I love it in B&W but perhaps I’d like even more to choose my own color, it would be a total fake but it doesn’t really matter. So.
Purple-blue ? Emerald green ? Red ? With white profiling, black, other… ? And wouldn’t pearl grey look fantastic ? And what about gold buttons instead of silver ones ? Wouldn’t a day-glo color be more sprousian ? Or even crazier… bicolor ? This would also remind middle-age paintings ( you know, the tights they used to wear back in time ), which would be great, but I also would look like the king’s buffoon ?!
Well well. Which color would YOU choose ? I really need help… and photoshop isn’t very helpful nor realistic, isn’t it ? xD
Anyway. Thanks again to the greatest seriale-modeuse for this outstanding collage, now I know what I need to buy to go with the cape… UFO shoes, mon amour ! What was that Tim Walker story I loved so much……
And also: remember my magazine project ? I’m still working on it, but this page fits so very well with that cape… (click on it for HQ)
BONUS – “The Jetsons” quotes !
George: Yum, it’s been lightyears since you programmed synthetic brownies.
Jane: Our home food dispenser broke and I had to wait 20 seconds at the check out counter, such inefficiency. (ahah, this sounds blairish ! )
Finally ! I’m sorry for being so long, but I must say Paris was really rich of surprises and beautiful, moving shows. Perhaps not new trends or new ways to think fashion, but well done and meaningful fashion. I can’t really decide which show I liked the most, so the order is kind of random. Bonne lecture !
p.s: I’m off to Athens this week and then to Madrid the next one, so there will be a lack of post and commenting. Pardon me please !
Balenciaga: Balenciaga was probably my favorite show of Paris fashion week. And perhaps of the entire fashion month. It has fascinated me because of its incredible novelty. You’ve never seen that before, which is a very good point. And then, it’s visually striking and quotes tons of things I like very much. Talk about history of architecture and art: Dudù from modainsegni points the De Stijl reference. I agree, but it’s at the same time pre and post-Mondrian, pre-modern and post-modern, pre-futuristic and post-futuristic. You could think all this is just a linguistic blabla, but it’s striking to observe the atemporality of this show. It reminds me a lot of Blade Runner, but more of the toys J.-F. Sebastian builds in it than anything else. Hoffmanian dolls, intriguing vertical objects: Ghesquière’s volumes are very tight, unlarge, also very geometrical. The idea of toy is everywhere, in the robotic aspect as in the color blocks, which could be blocks to build with. The experience of looking at this show is therefore very strange, because it looks like a memory you never really had. The dramatic use of make-up, orange especially, enhances that fascination for an unexpected construction which you also feel very dreamy, very close to you. This is the sweet, almost positive interpretation. You could also see these girls as automates – Hoffmann, tenebrous presences of an industrial ( but here again, post-industrial ? pre-industrial ? ) world, a very cold product. It’s not only sci-fi constructivism, these Balenciaga silouhettes have an enigma-quality in them which makes it a very interesting and complicate show.
Milano WTF ? Let’s pray the berlusca-effect ( thank you suzy ! ) or the mediocrity-effect if you prefer ( I’m not good at politically correct ) won’t stay long… though I’ve seen some beautiful exceptions…
Aquilano.Rimondi: You know they’re my chouchous, my favorites, my ‘it’-stylists: even if I preferred their architectural, more dramatic signature ( Ferré last year ! ) I love the preciosity of every outfit, the subtle detailing, the delicate gold palette. I agree with style.com’s review: each piece is a standout. Embrode, drape, ‘ruffle’… There’s such a simple energy in every movement of dresses, militar-inspired coats, shirts. The belting is very clever, the shoes (here again, bandage !) are simply perfect… I even love the greenish tones. But the greatest standout is of course (at least to me, I’m sorry but this ‘review’ is made just of ‘I love’/'I like’… ^^) the purple dress… the purple dresses, I’d dream to wear one of these ! So: this collection isn’t the greatest, isn’t unforgettable, isn’t spectacular, but I like it for being so serious. Nothing is random, everything matters and you can see this beautiful fil rouge allover the effort.
Photographer Leigh Keily – Make-up Anna Bourne – Model Lolita @FM agency – Styling: us
. I still wanted to share some of my favorite Paris shows… (I liked many others but these are my real crushes; still I found some inspiring statements at Givenchy, YSL, John Galliano, and many others…
tells a story about a clown criminal. Of course the story remains John Wayne Gacy’s story, because it’s a true story. You probably know about this serial killer, I think he has been the “most successful” serial-killer in the United States. “He became notorious as the “Killer Clown” because of the many block parties he threw for his friends and neighbors, entertaining children in a clown suit and makeup, under the name of “Pogo the Clown”.” (wikipedia) If you want to know more go 
…
