Archive for the ‘Victoria Fashion UK’ Category
Wrong message? … fashion writer says plus-size models, like Crystal Renn, above, are unhealthy and unflattering to designer clothing.
One of the world’s most influential female style bloggers has criticised the casting of curvy models in runway shows.
Garance Dore, whose blog Une Fille Comme Moi (A Girl Like Me) attracts 50,000 hits a day, says the use of curvaceous models in recent international fashion shows, such as those by Prada and Louis Vuitton, seems gimmicky.
“I think it’s too much and almost naive of the fashion industry, because it would be nice in a few years that the idea of different body shapes is normal, but right now it’s not quite there yet,” the 35-year-old French illustrator turned photographer and blogger told AAP in an interview from Paris.
“It should not be such a big deal to show women with different bodies, but sometimes it’s treated like a bit of joke, or for shock, like the plus-size models on the runway in the UK fashion week.”
Dore, who is due in Australia next week for an exhibition of her illustrated work, also says she’s not convinced the sudden starring role of plus-size models in glossy magazines is projecting a healthy body image.
The April issue of French Elle features plus-size model Tara Lynn on the cover and includes a twenty-page editorial featuring Lynn in luxury labels.
This follows on from V magazine’s Size issue, published in January, that also starred Lynn alongside plus-size supermodel Crystal Renn.
“It’s not such a good thing to show plus-size because it’s not really physically healthy and not always flattering to fashion,” Dore says.
Dore will be in Sydney for the April 28 launch of her art-meets-fashion exhibition at Westfield Bondi Junction.
Westfield commissioned Dore to create seven illustrations inspired by the winter 2010 collections of Australian designers Zimmerman, Gorman, Thurley, Bettina Liano, Arthur Galan, Leona Edmiston and Country Road.
For at least one of the Australian designers represented in the exhibition curves, however, reign.
Veteran fashion designer Leona Edmiston has built her successful business around dresses cut for a feminine shape.
Speaking to AAP at the launch of her Spring/Summer 2010/11 collection, Edmiston welcomed the return of the curvier silhouette.
“I think naturally a lot of us are curvy, and so why fight it?” Edmiston said.
“We have to embrace it and celebrate it, and curves are beautiful and we can look so beautiful emphasising them, so there’s no reason to hide them.”
Dore’s comments could ignite a catfight as models prepare to take to the catwalk in Sydney next month for Australian Fashion Week.
But with the event’s schedule heavily weighted towards young designers’ shows over veterans like Edmiston, one leading casting agent said there had been no requests for fuller-figured models.
“There has been no demand for that type of girl here in Australia,” the source told AAP.
“The models being cast are still young and lean.”
AAP
Posted in Paris Fashion Week 2010… A model wears a creation by French fashion designer Anne Valerie Hash as part of her Fall-Winter ready-to-wear fashion collection 2010. Picture: AP / Jacques Brinon
Tags: Models wear creations by Frankie Morello, during the women’s 2010 Fall-Winter fashion week, in Milan on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Aresu)
NewsCore
PLUS-size models took to the London catwalk in British knitwear designer Mark Fast?s latest collection, marking another opportunity for him to buck the trend to show off his work on rail-thin models.
Last September, Fast was at the centre of a dispute during London Fashion Week when a stylist was forced to deny that she stormed out of his catwalk show because he was using larger than normal models, AFP reported.
Hayley Morley, a British size 12 (European size 40, U.S. size 10), was one of the models from last season who also returned for Fast’s show yesterday. US model and author Crystal Renn, size 16, dazzled the audience in a bright red dress.
The up and coming designer’s recent decision to use larger models comes days after the discussion over fashion model’s weight was reopened in New York with the appearance of Monika Jagaciak, a 16-year-old who wears a U.S. size zero.
In 2007, the British Fashion Council launched a model health inquiry after the death of several size-zero models though it failed to set industry guidelines, Sky News reported.
Now some of the world’s most famous models are embracing the arrival of larger women.
Naomi Campbell told Sky News: “I think the bigger the better. I don’t comment on size, I think if someone is beautiful then they should do what they want to do.”
After the show, Fashion Designer Bora Aksu hailed the breakthrough of the normal-sized woman.
“Over the last couple of seasons they have become more noticeable,” Aksu told Sky News. “You also notice that these are girls who look healthy and happy.”
In Fast’s new collection, the women’s curves are clearly visible though the garments are less revealing than last season’s cut-out knits.
Beth Schepens, a Wall Street Journal writer, wrote in her blog, “His decision showed off not only the beauty and detail of his intricate and delicate designs, but also how they look on real women’s curves – something you rarely see on the catwalk.”
A model displays a creation as part of the Emporio Armani Fall/Winter 2010/11 women’s collection during Milan Fashion Week Photo: Reuters
Top Italian fashion designer Versace laid on the leather while Blumarine’s Anna Molinari and maestro Giorgio Armani offered a softer, more feminine touch at Milan Fashion Week.
To the roar of revving motorbikes on Friday, Donatella Versace’s models lit up the catwalk with yellow, purple and steely blue and black leather get-ups including backless or off-the-shoulder dresses and ultra-miniskirts.
Jackets had structured backs suggestive of bikers’ garb, while open zippers bared bits of flesh.
Things were less in-your-face at Blumarine, whose woman was effortlessly seductive in leather or pony trenches with pushed-up sleeves over hyper-minidresses and calf-high boots.
Molinari created an urban jungle with zebra, crocodile and python motifs for her autumn/winter 2010-11 collection.
Plus fringes, which dangled everywhere – off the high hemlines playing peekaboo with the thigh, off the sleeve or side seam for the original frontier effect, or off the handbag or belt for the sheer fun of it.
Body-hugging draped minidresses in black and pastels for evening became gowns with the addition of a diaphanous chiffon train floating behind.
Giorgio Armani, for his part, proposed relaxed elegance with draped blouses and wraparound skirts in lilac or pale blue, while his greys with orange highlights suggested an autumn day.
Voluminous black fur coats, both long and short, added drama, and waistcoats standing in for tops provided a sassy touch for his youth-oriented Emporio Armani collection.
Smart skirt suits evoked flight attendants, while oversized cloth collars softened form-hugging leather jackets.
Gianfranco Ferre imposed a tone of sober elegance in a collection painted in beige and luminous copper.
Designers Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi, who described their wardrobe for next winter as “practical and sophisticated,” sent grey suits down the catwalk as well as elegantly draped blouses over skirts with a demure slit at the knee.
Canadian designers DSquared were the showmen of the day, waving a magic wand to reveal a black-and-red collection amid smoke and seduction.
A black curtain opened to reveal a model in an elevator cage before she began a slow descent in a puff of smoke, to be greeted at ground level by two hunks in nothing but gold-coloured briefs.
As the model emerged onto the catwalk, it became clear that only her red panties came between her and the fur-trimmed black coat she was wearing.
DSquared twins Dean and Dan Caten were quick to deepen the innuendo with a pair of models sporting black minidresses studded with organza flowers over bright red boots.
The makeup – smoky black eyes and crimson lips – completed the look the Catens described as being “between the manga girl and the femme fatale.”
Spontaneous applause greeted a strapless number adorned with huge black and red feathers before the Caten twins took the lift themselves to take a bow, wearing matching outfits, tans and smiles.
Milan Fashion Week, which began on Wednesday, runs until Monday.
AFP
PARIS: Exquisite haute couture gowns from the 1920s were to go under the hammer overnight alongside handbags and elaborate jewellery as France’s leading auctioneers open a two-day sale of items designed by the illustrious Chanel fashion house.
Parisian fans are expected to flock to the auction in the hope of snapping up an original 2.55 quilted handbag, gem-encrusted belt or, for those with the deepest of perfectly crafted pockets, one of the dozens of magnificent evening dresses.
Estimated prices range from as little as €50 ($76) for some accessories to €10,000 for a silk satin gown embroidered with pearls, thought to have been designed by the label’s founder, Coco Chanel, in about 1923.
In total, almost 600 items will be up for sale at the Drouot auction house. Together they trace the fortunes of the little shop opened by Chanel in rue Cambon, which became one of the world’s greatest fashion names and is now overseen by the German designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Francoise Sternbach, a fashion expert who helped organise the sale, said the highlight was a black Byzantine dress dating from the earliest days of Chanel’s creations. But she was keen to stress the value of the array of accessories on offer.
”Because you know a Chanel outfit cannot go without its jewellery,” she said, alluding to items such as a sparkling silver brooch, estimated at €400 to €500, and a gilded belt, expected to fetch up to three times that figure.
Guardian News & Media
Highlights from Victoria Beckham’s autumn/winter 2010 collection, shown in a private screening during New York Fashion Week. Photo: AP Photo
Veteran Irish designer Paul Costelloe told celebrities trying their hand at fashion to pack up and content themselves with their luxury lifestyles, accusing them Friday of stealing his thunder on the catwalk.
“I object to celebrities sticking their toe in and stepping out again, like Victoria Beckham, Sienna Miller’s sister – they’ll be here for a couple of seasons and then they’re off and we’re still hanging around,” he told reporters backstage after his opening show at London Fashion Week.
“She (Beckham) should be happy enough living with David Beckham – or maybe not, but stop competing with us struggling fashion designers,” he said with a laugh.
Celebrity fashion endorsement has long been a powerful marketing tool, prompting the more ambitious to draw up their own designs, often with mixed success.
Beckham, a former Spice Girl, has won over many of her critics since launching her label. Her 1940s, femme fatale-inspired fourth collection, shown during New York Fashion Week, was well received, with newspapers reporting her collections have sold out even during the depths of the financial crisis.
Reuters
Stone cold sober … Lara Stone says rehab was very tough but ultimately rewarding.
Lara Stone says going to rehab is the best thing she’s done in her entire life.
The 26-year-old Dutch supermodel – who checked herself into a clinic last year after her drinking spiralled out of control – admits the time she spent in a rehabilitation centre was tough, but ultimately rewarding.
She told Interview magazine: “It’s no fun. But afterwards it’s like the best thing ever. I didn’t want to leave. It was the best thing I’ve done in my entire life. I’m so happy I did it.”
Lara – who is engaged to British comedian David Walliams – admits her alcoholism got so bad she had to take drinks with her wherever she went.
She explained: “The drinking was getting way out of control. I just didn’t recognise myself anymore. I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was. I always had to have some drinks with me in my bag.”
Now she has overcome her problems, Lara insists she is learning to cope in social situations where alcohol is present.
When quizzed on how she deals with fashion parties where drinks are readily available, she said: “It’s gotten a lot better over the last few months. It’s only been ten months, but it’s getting so much better.”
Bang Showbiz
The fashion world’s leading voices have paid tribute to the outlandish avant-garde “genius” of Alexander McQueen, the British designer found dead at home in London, after an apparent suicide.
McQueen’s death comes just over a week after his mother died and almost three years since his close friend and style guru, Isabella Blow, committed suicide.
“He was an imaginative designer and a show-stopper,” said the powerful head of the Paris couture federation, Didier Grumbach, of a designer ready to court controversy with “bumster” trousers and ripped clothes, or send stuffed animals or an amputee model out on the catwalk.
McQueen, a four-time winner of the British designer of the year award, was creative director of his own label which was bought out by Gucci and was one of Britain’s most lauded fashion designers.
A British Vogue profile says his most recent collection, spring/summer 2010, was critically acclaimed as his best ever.
“He was a genius. What a terrible, tragic waste,” said the equally provocative and politically-inclined British designer Katherine Hamnett.
Model Kate Moss said she was “shocked and devastated” at his death on Thursday aged 40, while designer Vivienne Westwood was “incredibly sorry” to hear the news.
“Who knows,” couture king Karl Lagerfeld said, “Perhaps after flirting with death too often, death attracts you.”
“There was always some attraction to death, his designs were sometimes dehumanised,” Lagerfeld said, adding: “I found his work very interesting, never banal.”
McQueen’s mother Joyce died on February 2. The designer expressed his grief on Twitter the next day, the Daily Mail reported.
“I’m letting my followers know my mother passed away yesterday if it she had not me nor would you RIP mumxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx…” he wrote.
He added shortly afterwards: ‘But life must go on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
Four days later he said: “Sunday evening been a ****ing awful week but my friends have been great but now i have to some how pull myself together and finish with the HELLS ANGLES & PROLIFIC DEAMONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
McQueen was also deeply affected by the May 2007 suicide of his close friend Isabella Blow, the woman credited with discovering him.
Blow, a magazine editor and muse to milliner Philip Treacy, drank weed killer after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
As his family asked for privacy to come to terms with the death, tributes poured in from across the world.
Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue, said: “He influenced a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds as he conjured up collection after collection of extraordinary designs.
“His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn’t.”
In Paris, fashion insider for three decades Donald Potard, an artistic agent for designers, dubbed McQueen one of the greatest geniuses on the scene.
“He was one of the most impressive designers I have ever seen,” he said.
“Despite some of the dark macabre themes of his collections, he was a luminous human being.
“At a time when fashion had become predictable, he was like an electric shock, he brought a third dimension and was never afraid of going over the top.”
McQueen cut his teeth as a tailor in Savile Row, where legend has it that he left his distinctive mark – in the form of hand-written obscenities – in the lining of a jacket for Prince Charles, heir to the throne.
He designed the famous “bumster” trousers displaying the cleavage between model’s buttocks in a parody of low-slung trousers worn by workers and survived general condemnation over a collection of ripped clothing, “Highland Rape”, the first time anyone had chosen to send supposed rape victims down the catwalk.
“He was an avant-garde visionary,” said his boss Francois-Henri Pinault, who heads one of the world’s top two luxury groups PPR, which controls the Gucci group (McQueen, YSL, Gucci, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney,. Boucheron …)
“His sometimes provocative genius, which was admired by all, continually opened up new perspectives,” Pinault added.
Even the former partner of France’s alltime king of fashion Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Berge, hailed his talent.
“This death upsets me greatly,” Berge said on France Info radio. “He had talent and was an artist.”
But asked to comment on McQueen’s contribution to fashion, Berge said “contribution, let’s not exaggerate. Not many people contribute in life. In any case, he was talented, he showed it, he was passionate about fashion”.
McQueen viewed Saint Laurent as a genius and a source of inspiration. When the French designer died in 2008, McQueen said Saint Laurent was “the reason why I am in fashion”.
“To me fashion should predict the time we live in. He did this is the 60s and 70s,” McQueen said at the time. “Pure genius and a man that I always revered and tried to emulate.”
AFP and Georgina Robinson
If Lara Stone was looking for a wedding dress, she certainly came to the right place.
Today’s exquisite Chanel couture show was a masterclass in elegance, full of feminine touches that would make the most discerning bride weep with joy.
The 26-year-old Dutch model, who recently announced her engagement to David Walliams after a five-month romance, looked radiant as she took her turn on the catwalk, though she still maintained her trademark glower.
Her fluted silk organza dress, a mass of delicate curlicues in white edged with pale blue, had a lightness of touch that only a couturier as experienced as Karl Lagerfeld could hope to accomplish.
Like Christian Dior yesterday, Chanel staged a scaled-down version of its couture show, opting for an intimate, salon-style presentation in its headquarters on rue Cambon.
While the presentation lacked the drama of last season’s ready-to-wear show, its smaller scale allowed guests to see the workmanship of the clothes.
With an atelier as talented as Chanel’s, this is always a blessing.
The Paris couture shows will no doubt continue to be small as recession continues to bite, but they will still be perfectly formed. The collection started on a fairly low-key note, if you can call a series of pastel-coloured wool bouclé suits edged with silver beading low-key.
Jackets with narrow shoulders, their collars high and gently padded, were worn with knee-length culottes in soft shades. Silver beads and crystals snaked along cuffs, collars and edges.
Day dresses in dreamy colours looked simple at first, until the back view revealed exquisite details such as a cascade of buttons or a beaded silver harness.
One dress, made entirely of pale pink satin and chiffon rosettes, took 700 hours to make, a labour of love for Maison Lemarie, one of the satellite houses employed by Chanel. Another, a pale blue shift dress and matching trapeze-line jacket, was comprised of 13,000 hand-cut satin flowers.
For evening, satin column dresses in apricot, dove grey and pink were draped across the body for a Grecian feel, their edges unfinished and their simplicity set off by beaded harnesses.
The finale saw the model bride wear a capacious gown in palest pink crepe silk with a 200-metre train, accessorised by a groom in a silver lamé suit.
A look for David Walliams on the big day? You wouldn’t bet against it.