partypeople watching

What do you get when you add a week of Haute Couture shows, four impending Fashion Weeks, OSCAR season, and you mix them all up in a bubbling pot? A big old style soup and a whole lot of fabulous parties!

Wednesday night saw a bash thrown in celebration of the opening of Stella McCartney's first (that's premiere, all you francophiles) store in Paris, and with Catherine Deneuve, Marianne Faithful, Lara Stone, Lily Donaldson, Stefano Pilati (deep breath!), Sasha Pivovorova, Daphne Guinness and fashion industry bigwigs all in attendance, it was of course a very stylish affair.

Lily Donaldson wins in the dress department for her LBD, but Lara Stone's magenta dress trumps in the colour category. What does everyone think of Sasha P's effort?

style.com

being young

just pounding the sunny streets with five pairs of sunglasses in the bag, some bubblegum in the mouth, a cigarette in the hand and a juicy burger on the mind.

Elle Italia
November 2008
"LA Woman" with Shelby Keeton
By Michael Evanet

fotodecadent

if i was in new york right now

I would jump at the chance of interning with supreme management for the upcoming fashion week!

if you are lucky enough to be in the big city, or anywhere near it, or hell, nowhere near, but just willing then you should drop them an email offering your services.

What they say:

Fashion week is upon us and Supreme Management is looking for a few good interns to help with books and portfolio management in the coming weeks. Applicants must be based in New York City and have at least three days a week available to work. Also, potential interns should have a general knowledge of working models, and a passion for this industry. If you’re interested in interning for Supreme, please send a copy of your resume to supremeinterns@gmail.com and we will contact you if we’re interested.

This is a great opportunity to get first-hand experience in the fashion industry, particularly during it’s busiest time of the year, Fashion Week! If you’ve ever wanted to be a part of the modeling industry or to work for Supreme, this could be your chance.

This was posted on the Supreme blog on Thursday, so I'd be speedy!

missoni pre-fall 2009

j&b&c

this post is dedicated to one of my best mates, emily, because she is courtney love's biggest fan. we're meant to be in an english lesson, but somehow ended up on the internet..

and we just realised that her trip to nyc coincides with fashion week. we're so excited.

scans from russh mag via beautyliesintheye

the shape of things to come

the pictures of the Chanel Couture aren't up on style.com

so while we wait, here are a couple of pieces from the gorgeous paper themed collection!

head to toe white simplicity, I predict it's the look of 2009..

hip hip hooray

When the Katie Holmes for Miu Miu ads were revealed and quickly met with little sighs of disappointment, the Pamela Anderson for Vivienne Westwood campaign remained the light at the end of the spring advertisement tunnel. a glimmer of hope sparkled, as surely such a pairing, along with juergen teller as photographer could be executed in an imaginative and humorous way..

When the first of the photographs (see the third here) hit the internet this morning, I thought it had all gone a bit, ahem, tits up. i wanted to see Pamela looking cutely trashy. maybe in a gushing pink dress with one of her tits out on a sofa in a trailer park (that's the setting we were promised after all) surrounded by cheeto packets. and what stared back at me was pam on, rather predictably, a beach, with the boring outfit taking a backseat to her boobs.

But hoorah, the other adverts have saved what i thought was a shattered dream (forgive the X Factor contestant style metaphors) with her prancing beside Mr and Mrs Westwood; what a twist that Vivienne herself is featured! Juergen Teller's photography, now instantly recognised (or just associated) for it's "marc jacobs haze" tones down the deliciously bright orange colour palette that is Pamela's life and makes it all the more high fashion.

Take one unfashiony type star, add some trashy imagery and the forgiving arty focus of a hazy camera and hey presto, one top notch advertisement is the result!

refinery29

bottoms up

lovely matching underwear

(and bums in bed and perching on window sills lost in translation style..)

maketh the world go round.

top"i may be biased as i work there but love it just as much as you do.." shop

watching a model in motion

happy saturday!

a video of an editorial being shot is like gold dust. there is something quite mesmerising about watching an established model mould her body into pose after pose, making it look so seemingly easy. yet simultaneously proving that you have to have an imagination with the capacity of eternity to produce something that actually looks good.

in this case, it's lily donaldson modelling a hoard of SS09 pieces for V Magazine; balenciaga, margiela and the like, so all look sculpted in a pleasingly simple way.

the shoot was for the v's feburary issue, and SHOWstudio.com, which photographer Nick Knight is Director of, has dedicated a project, which is deliciously time consumming and shows the filming and behind the scenes of the editorial. you can find each of the looks broken down, as well as interviews with Nick Knight, Lily Donaldson, Sam McKnight and those involved.

click here for the time portal of a page; it'll swallow up your time!

the fantastic fantastic music is Paris - Friendly Fires ft Au Revoir Simone. Aeroplane remix. cue the sound of a thousand fingers hitting the download button!

calvin klein white

i can't stop thinking about the simplest of simple silhouettes.

and just look at those white clumpy shoes!

Industry Insider; Taylor Tomasi

My ears prick up and I go hawk-eyed when contributors or the fashion elite start talking about their jobs. It's the same nosily intrigued reaction that has me drooling over stranger's houses...

Taylor Tomasi, walking style inspiration and Accessories Director at Teen Vogue, talks to teenvogue.com about her job, and shares plenty of insight.

I am always on the lookout for cool, interesting accessories to include in the magazine. I attend all the major fashion shows in New York and Europe, which is where I spot new trends and come up with story ideas. Outside of Fashion Week, a typical day starts early, as I jump between showrooms to pick out all the accessories used in our photo shoots. I have an average of 15 to 20 appointments per day and pull anywhere from 200 to 300 accessories for each shoot. I head back to the office in the afternoon to sign off on paperwork, check credits for stories, organize accessories that have come in, and work with the stylists on upcoming shoots.

I have a Bachelor of Industrial Design degree from Pratt Institute. My first internship was at W magazine, in the accessories department, which led to a full-time position. I eventually became the fashion-market editor there and assisted Alex White, Fashion Director of W, on all her shoots, which really helped me to understand the full scope of market work. Then I became the senior fashion editor at Teen Vogue, before finally switching back to accessories.

My best tip for jump-starting a career in fashion is to take an internship very seriously—and if you love where you are working, try to stay there as long as possible. Showing initiative may lead to something more. Working in fashion, however, is not always as glamorous as what you see on television. It's a very demanding, high-stress environment—but if you thrive under pressure, it may be the perfect fit for you.

how to be cool in 2009

Ah, 2009. Here we stand with the year stretched ahead of us. Whatever it holds it seems like rather a significant 345 days, with Obama a few hours away from Office and a lovely unpredictable financial market. As we leave the noughties and enter into the 2010s, how will fashion evolve? Which variables will swing our style, and into which direction? They're all interesting questions, but for now, let us forget about this for a moment, with a tongue in cheek guide of How To Be Cool in 2009. Of course skipping this post would technically make you cool. But it would also make you a spoil sport and a teensy bit egotistic, so maybe you ought to read it just to be sure.

CREATE YOUR OWN TRENDS

What do you do when confronted with the reality of a SS09 worth of catwalks lacking of any dominant or remarkable trends? Why, you "feel" out your own. Look to people on the streets, current cinema, or even, as I have look to Americans circa 1930, on the cusp of the depression. It may seem, just that, depressing, but from a historical point of view, it's most interesting. Take some of your favourite pieces from the wardrobe, using these as a good base and work around, adding the elements that you loved from the spring collections, to create a tailor made collection of 2009, just for yourself.

WATCH THE INAUGURATION

No matter how late you have to stay up (or early, we're an international community here..) you'll know that you saw the moment when Barack Obama became President. And you'll always remember it.

DEVELOP OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

This is not OCD of the handwashing variety. This is OCD of the "obsessively work your way through the Top 100 Book List" variety. Or watch every film starring your favourite actor. Either way, frostbite threatening temperatures (for Brits, Canadians and all other winter sufferers) and/or frozen financial funds keeping you indoors, an addiction must be allowed to develop.

BROADEN YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF NEW DESIGNERS

I'm as impartial to Alexander Wang as the next person. But with rips and holes, over-zipper-exposure and supersexy leather becoming a bit of an urban uniform, I'm keen to find out who else is out there in the way of young talent. Start with Gar-De and Maria Francesca Pepe for long Calvin Klein-esque dress silhouettes, a good contender for the basic of 2009.

DATE SOMEBODY OLDER

With a beard.

EMBRACE DENIAL

Stop talking about the world's monetary woes and economic climate. Infact discuss the old climate of choice if you're stuck for small talk. Ah, remember the good old days when we disected overcast skies in depth rather than plummeting interest rates? If you must insist on panicking (it's boring) then please do it in your head.

DON'T DECLARE TEA DRINKING AS A HOBBY..

..as if you're the first person to have done this.

brigitte bardot

images from life magazine

lara by night

the images continue to slowly trickle from the February issue of Paris Vogue onto the internet.

pics, hedi slimane fashion diary

laralara

One of the outtakes from "lara stone noire fiction", photographed by Steven Klein in the February issue of Paris Vogue.

It's a shame that it wasn't included in the final issue, as I think that it is one of the strongest from the Klein story. The others look a little cliched (by Paris Vogue standards, of course) and don't have much charm. You can see some of these images here.

natasha poly

in a lovely off pink shirt

thirty five

happy birthday kate!

can't wait to see the party pictures.
please wear something lovely so kick the weekend off to a good start?

bated breath for the september issue

Two minute clip with RJ Cutler and Anna Wintour

This weekend sees the premiere screening of "The September Issue" at Sundance Film Festival. The documentary, is the outcome of eight months of filming at 4 Times Square and focuses on the production of the September issue back in 2007. (You may remember it from the cover which saw Sienna Miller with slicked back hair and superdark eyebrows.. it gathered a bit of a negative reaction at the time, If I rememeber correctly.)

For all of the Wintour bashing that makes up a good fraction of the archives on this blog, I must admit I'm very curious to see this. The frustration at the absence of inspiring editorials and the seeming lack of fashion forward content often makes me forget Anna's importance within the fashion industry. Though it may be easy to question how on earth her influence can still be relevant in an age where the likes of France Sozzani (who incidentally has edited Vogue for as long as Wintour has, and yet still manages to keep up with the mood of modern fashion and society) Carine Roitfled are steaming ahead and editing much more cutting edge international editions, they are arguably able to get away with more when they have a smaller circulation and therefore less of a reliance on the approval of advertisers. As much as we may disapprove an issue for it's unoriginal content, it must be a tricky balancing act for editor in chief, to 'people-please' both the readers, advertisers and still stay true their indiviual creative aesthetics.

I'm interested to know what Anna's reasons were for allowing the team, led by Director RJ Cutler to film for such a long period of time; in total 300 hours of footage has been produced. It seems out of character for the famously icy editor and Cutler himself claims that Vogue fashion director Grace Coddington was originally less than welcoming to towards them.

annual january "summer thirst"

Ah, yes, the third week of january. When it feels like it has been the longest winter on record, and when we wonder whether there will ever be an end to dark evenings. we forget how to spell sumer sommer summer, it's been so long. The advertisements for the spring/summer collections are like golddust. Every tanned leg, every sun ray reflected against the camera, short hemlines and sunglasses must be absorbed as a way of building up some reserves to survive until we get a taste of the 'real' summer beyond pages of a magazine.

The new lookbooks spill from every corner, and with daydreams of holidays turning to fruition, thoughts are now occupied with finding the perfect collection of swimsuits and cover ups. Or roadtesting and feeling our way across the spirit of a trend, hanging in the air just out of reach until the temperature allows us to explore and take our own interpretations for a spin on the streets.

1. the sophomore spring lookbook is here.

..now, summer. would you care to join us?

the miu miu moan

i feel disappointed. i was hoping miuccia and her team would completely transform katie holmes beyond recognition. although it could be argued that the airbrush tool did a good job at this anyway. remember when the lindsay lohan for miu miu adverts came out, whether you liked them or not (i love them, i must admit) they were fantastically un-lohan and fresh and interesting.

this is just dull. she is dead in the eyes, and the colours may pretty, but the backdrop is hardly a saving grace. I don't understand the holmes appeal at all. she seems to be getting an awful lot of "style icon" for owning jeans in multiple styles, and therefore being the "queen of denim"

reality check, in the "real world" people wear denim everyday.

rant over, i'd love to know what you think about the first of the ads to have been released.

image, grazia

sexysweaty summer

Pop Magazine AW03
A Long Day's Journey Into Night
Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Amber Valletta, Daria Werbory, Elise Crombez & Polina Kouklina

I cannot wait for the sun.