Valentino Couture Paris 2013 A/W

Why are Valentino collections often so up and down? I have included only the looks I loved rather the the horrors of the outfit in head to toe latte coloured satin, the bizarre skirt suit in brown or the hard ankle length dresses which would be a challenge for anyone under 5’10.  The pieces below are the highlights and they are truly beautiful: gothic, romantic, wintery, like a December afternoon in the Victoria & Albert museum.  Add to that the riches of double cashmere, laser cut astrakhan, rivers of crystals and seed pearls. And although I’m not a fan of the Gretel hair plait, the simple make-up was perfection.

Source: Style.com

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Paris A/W2013

I love clicking through Gaultier collections, they are always so out there y0u can only look and smile. This season was all about the female as predator, more particularly a feline one, hence all the spots and stripes, the feathers worked to look like fur, the lurex lace, the striped leather, and throughout the tights in a crazy leopard print that was replicated over the hair. There was big quilting like padded armour, a sort of amazonian breastplate shape that swirled out across the shoulders, neatly cinched waists, and I loved the big collared coats and the jaunty hats.  The looks came in a huge range of colours too, including red, black, purple, cream and baby blue.

Source: Style.com

Armani Prive Couture Paris 2013 A/W

I loved this Greta Garbo/Katherine Hepburn style collection. This was old Hollywood starlet travel wear, arriving on set with 30 pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage. This was for a woman as confidant in a trouser suit as she is a full gown. Entitled Nude, the collection was all sensuous elegance, with a lovely light palette and beautiful details of lace, beading and feathers.  Armani at his best.

Source: Style.com

Elie Saab Couture Paris 2013 A/W

Elie Saab is Elie Saab: beautiful beading, elegant lengths and romantic colours. It is not breaking any barriers but if you don’t look  at these dresses and feel their allure, then you are a colder soul than I. These dresses are perfectly made, perfectly fitted to the body and sumptuously decorated. I love the grey and blush tones in this collection and the wine and navy make a lovely accent in this grown up fairy tale.

Source: Style.com

Chanel Couture Paris 2013 A/W

Deep breath, I actually like this collection!! Unbelievable, I know, because I’m not sure I’ve ever said that of a Chanel collection before. In the show he mixed it up with a background of a cityscape that was mythical and futuristic at the same time and clothes that reflected this in period details vying with 3D effects.  Surprisingly it worked, and minus the usual odd model choices I loved the black, grey and white tones, the cool hats which are an original idea to me, and the coats which looked flattering and desirable.

Source: Style.com

Christian Dior Couture Paris 2013 A/W

There has been a lot of talk in the fashion press about the future for couture, with the money moving from Russia to the Far East and with the ever present pressure to promote a brand and be in the spotlight rather in the more exclusive and subtle shadow. For me this shift is epitomised by Raf Simons,  for whom this collection’s buzz word ‘Freedom’ meant carte blanche for a free for all of styles and cultural references that was not couture in the classic sense.  Some people will applaud this but not me.  There were some really unredeemable dresses shown: the full fur one particularly stands out, as does the full length white dress which looks like an undergraduate end of term effort. For all his avowed homage to the house of Dior, I fail to see the understanding of its history, quality or signature class. The staging against the slide show of stills from the collection may have been interesting, but I really didn’t like the crop of models they used for this show at all, and it makes the ‘firing’ of Jourdan Dunn for her unacceptable bra size seem all the more odd. I didn’t like the long gloves either, nor the one earring look; is this Paris’s best effort for the runway?

Source: Style.com

Versace Couture Paris 2013 A/W

It’s no surprise that this collection, despite being a return to couture, is all about the Versace fascination with the body beneath the clothes. There was a lot of skin on show, and when it wasn’t skin it was underwear, and when it was actual clothes it was with seams that traced the contours of the models as they walked.  Pleasingly the sensual tailoring had a cool deconstructed edge to it with torn shoulders and asymmetrical lines. The palette was maroon, midnight blue, silver, dirty red, all wonderfully sultry and autumnal, and the mixture of leather, lace and tulle made it modern and intriguing.  It could have been a sombre affair but Versace’s typical sexy allure made sure it didn’t get too dark.

Source: Style.com

Met Ball 2013

Wow! Is really my first reaction to going through the Met Ball photos. Was the dress code on the invitation not written clearly enough or do people not understand what Punk means, opting instead for either the dullest dresses of all time, or even more bizarrely, gothic-Renaissance. I am usually so excited for the fashion at this event; all the designers get to be as creative as they want, models and actresses are prepared to push the boat out, because it’s a themed gala for goodness sake!!! I will just post a couple of pictures of punk for reference and if you honestly think that anyone got close to this era/ethos/movement/ let me know, because for me this was an EPIC fail. We will start off with the few good looks and then fade into the plain wrong.

Anja Rubik in Anthony Vaccarello, below, looks a little Michael Jackson Thriller/Beat It in this outfit but at least there is an edge and I love the messy hair.

Anne Hathaway in Valentino. I actually think she looks amazing in this dress: the blonde hair really works and the excessive amount of flattened side boob doesn’t take away from the fact that she looks sexy which is something she hasn’t rocked before. Although just because it’s black and see-through DOES NOT MAKE IT PUNK! And no punk would be seen dead with feather sleeves.

Cameron Diaz in Stella McCartney. Another blonde rocking a very different look from their normal style. I think this works as a look but, and I really am going to be repeating myself over and over again in this post, just because you have a token couple of spikes on your belt DOES NOT MAKE IT PUNK.

Allison Williams in Altuzarra. This had the lace, see through and black components that seem to be the fashion industry/stylists limited understanding of punk. As I said in the opening paragraph, this is more gothic but I think she looks good in a Miss Haversham sort of way.

Hailee Stein in Donna Karen. I love this! Love love love. It is a touch angelic but with the safety pins made to looks like a flower pattern this is what I hoped designers would be clever enough to do, take a reference, even if it is the obvious ripped fabric, fishnets, spikes and studs but run with it in a modern way. Well played!

Taylor Tomasi Hill, fashion editor, in Mr Browne. I love this too. Again, simple touches that don’t involve the cliches of black or lace can still make something punk. This dress has an uneven torn and frayed hem which is cool, as are the spikes that go round the shoulder and cup under the cleavage. I really wasn’t looking for someone to be in torn denim and a mohawk, just a designer being clever with the theme and this is a perfect example of that.

Sienna Miller in Burberry. I know people liked this but a studded jacket over a white dress, is that really the best Burberry can do? Really?! A British label and the whole outfit hinges on a jacket? I don’t like her hair either, just because it looks dirty DOES NOT MAKE IT PUNK!

Beyonce in Givenchy Haute Couture. This is so awful, especially as she was co-hosting the event. She is someone who could have carried off something super edgy, super sexy and super punk. The dress does not flatter her at all and looks like a Pucci throwback and the horrible matching boots really didn’t work either. Why didn’t she wear black lipstick or do something crazy with her hair? Another trend of the evening was over the elbow gloves, which DOES NOT MAKE IT PUNK!

Gwyneth Paltrow in Valentino. I almost can’t bear to even comment on this horror. Why did she wear this? She’s had a disaster with breast flattening pink before. This manages to be both odd and dull. And the casually ‘just put my hair in a ponytail in the car on the way over’ is totally wrong. I have seen her look so much cooler and it’s a disgrace anyone could turn up to an exhibition entitled Punk: Chaos to Couture in this.  She has the fashion world at her beck and call, for heaven’s sake.

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior. Another person who completely missed the boat. Just because you are the face of the company does not mean you have to wear their dullest option. Why, oh why, does she have a wisp of a veil over her face? How is that a punk look ever? No, really, EVER? So disappointing of Christian Dior I have to say, it’s like they sent the most average dress they could find.

Karlie Kloss in Louis Vuitton. This probably is the worst look of the evening for me (thanks Marc Jacobs) purely because she is a stunning 20year old top model and this looks like she’s breast feeding her third child and used some curtains to make the dress! Truly horrible. I can’t believe she looked in the mirror and thought this was ok. It’s so unflattering in both shape and colour and has no reference to punk whatsoever. I loathe it.

Katy Perry in Dolce & Gabbana, one of the many examples of Byzantine references.  What’s with the crown? What’s with the saint? This is not punk at all and frankly pretty random.

Linda Evangelista in Marchesa. Ouch! This is one of the top super models of all time, all short slicked hair smouldering in a white shirt and this makes her look like they have just found the Russian Princess Anastasia.

Sarah Jessica Parker in Giles. She thought she was being so clever in the Philip Treacy headpiece that looked like a mohawk but the effect is more Roman soldier. As this also has weird Maria Antoinette overtones, I just don’t understand the look at all.

Other people to quickly name and shame: Michelle Williams, who made no effort in a plain black dress and tiara, Gwen Stefani who really should have done better and was an embarrassment to her No Doubt punk persona, Jennifer Lopez in predictable animal print, Uma Thurman channeling Poison Ivy in Zac Posen, Diane Kruger who decided her contribution would be to dip dye her hair pink tut tut tut, Carey Mulligan who added ONE safety pin to make her otherwise dull black dress ‘punk’, Blake Lively in a prom dress, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for finding a dress that doesn’t flatter her amazing body at all, Karolina K looking like a cheap stall-bought scarf, Solange who seemed to think the theme was 60’s Motown, Madonna for all of it, Heidi Klum for wearing a wedding dress and Kristen Stewart for highlighting the important rule that jumpsuits don’t suit everyone.  At least Anna Wintour wasn’t disappointed with the turnout for her party: her upbeat floral Chanel couture dress was resolutely everything Punk does not represent.

Source: Zimbio.com

Shooting in Da Club

Here are some behind the scenes photos from the shoot I posted on earlier this week. Great team, great shoot.

Sharing the Future

I worked on this editorial back in January and it has now gone to print in Numero China. It is titled ‘2 future 4 u’ and was shot by Stefan Khoo and styled by the lovely Jason Leung. The hair was done by Cher Savery, who is a top hair stylist and drives around London in an amazing vintage car.  (She also just gave me the coolest hair cut, as I was a hair model for her at a teaching day.) We had two great girls for this and it was a good two day shoot with lots of prep and lots of returns! We were in a very cool space because the studio had been converted from a nightclub so for once there were lots of loos which they hadn’t replaced when they refurbished it, and they had also left the sound system plugged in, so we raved all day to various people’s iPods.

Source: Models.com