Arabia’s Harper’s Bazaar July/August edition is celebrating Ramadan, the month during which Muslims observe a daily fast between dawn and dusk. It is photographed by Susanne Spiel and styled by Sally Matthews for the story Breaking Dawn. I’m totally in love with this editorial. The light is just stunning and I love the mixture of haze and clarity that is so typical of desert regions. It achieves both a sense of fantasy and the foreign, plus a very modern edge with the cool bleached eyebrows.
I took these pictures of different cacti in Yves Saint Laurent’s famous garden in Marrakesh. The grounds were beautiful and it’s always good to see where the geniuses of fashion lived and found inspiration.
Black and white has never looked so good! Lara Stone stars in Calvin Klein’s A/W campaign, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. The light on her cheek bones could carry this on its own but the slicked back hair and simple black clothes makes for a pared down and utterly compelling campaign.
Source: FashionGoneRogue
It was couture season in Paris last week, which I always really look forward to as the creative canvas for the best designers to show their skills, but because I’ve been hard at work at Vogue I haven’t been able to blog about it until now.
I’ll start with my favourite, Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, who opted this year for an intimate presentation rather than a runway show. He drew his inspiration from the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s three obsessions: religion, sensuality and human anatomy. With beautifully intricate dresses muted in colour but filled to the brim with stones, pearls, crystals, feathers, lace and appliqued leather, these dresses were works of art and surely that’s what couture is all about? One dress took six months to complete. Running throughout all the looks was a strong sense of the human skeleton, with the shapes of the heavy dresses reflecting the underlying structure of the bones, the pelvis, ribcage etc. I love the strong emphasis on the waist, creating great shapes even on the thinnest couture models. 
On to an inspiring array of colour and extravagance from Christian Dior, for me this is Galliano again hitting his best. I haven’t loved the last couple of couture collections but this is totally engaging. The inspiration isn’t exactly hard to guess, and yes anyone can look at a flower, it’s not earthshattering, but Galliano is, because he spent an hour watching the light change on a tulip! With hats from Stephen Jones that looked like the cellophane used to wrap bouquets and raffia for belts the florist theme was complete. With a stunning array of colours, ruched,bunched and ruffled, the collection was sumptuous. It may not be the most obviously wearable collection but for me it represents the mind of a fashion genius pondering on a beautiful subject and bringing to it his incredible innovative and creative way of using colour, fabrics and cutting. 
Valentino just isn’t the same without the master at its helm. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Picccioli have yet to recapture his true understanding of women’s bodies. I find this collection lifeless and lacking in magic; the pinafore dresses are truly awful and no self-respecting woman should inflict them on their bodies. Who looks good in this shape? Horribly dependent on black and white it just didn’t speak to the luxe woman (surely the main buyer of couture) Nightie-style dresses also fail to flatter and placing a bow across the chest highlighted the lack of adult editing. With the title of this collection ‘The Dark Side of Love’ taking an ominous Lolita turn, I can only hope Valentino is tempted out of perma tan retirement! 
Jean Paul Gaultier’s collection was mixed for me, but I’ve chosen my highlights rather than dwelling on the negative. Rather than the usual travel and ethnic inspired collections Gaultier was more pared down this time round. I loved the whimsical hats though! 
Elie Saab took the La Fenice theatre in Venice for his inspiration. Having burnt down numerous times and been rebuilt to be more luxurious and opulent each time, the strong red throughout rang true. With beautiful heavily beaded dresses with graceful shoulders and cleverly varied hemlines this was Elie Saab’s usual wizardry. Despite all the heavy touches of beige, not always a universally flattering colour, I missed his more romantic palette. 
Armani Prive was the biggest disappointment I thought. I always look forward to seeing this show but this year it fell very flat for me. Called ‘A Play on Amber’ I assume we can partially blame the title for the hideously ill -fitting blonde wigs, which are a total distraction throughout. He ran through every possible shade of beige with little appeal. Horrible unflattering trousers appeared multiple times (when did the mum jean shape break into formal wear?) Overall it lacked the wonders Armani usually brings to the couture stage.
Chanel was a pleasant suprise to me. I don’t usually love these collections but this season with some beautiful maroons, olive and turquoise it really appealed. 
Source: Style.com
It’s been around for a while now but everytime I see it in a magazine I take another look: Louis Vuitton’s latest campaign, shot by the legend Steven Meisel and styled by Karl Templer, featuring the best possible models Christy Turlington, Natalia Vodianova and Karen Elson. In pure 1950s style, LV has gone for classic adult high fashion and damn, it’s never looked so good! With some chat on the web about some iffy photoshopping in the reflections, I try not to let that spoil photos that are fresh and elegant. The make-up is dewy and I love the sassy bounce at the end of the ponytails. In my opinion Christy steals most frames with her composed calm beauty. Truly stunning.
I am doing an internship at British Vogue for a month, which I am really looking forward. For reasons of confidentiality I am not allowed to write about it, so I apologise if the blog suffers meanwhile. I will however try and keep posting on editorials I’m inspired by and my photography etc so please don’t desert me because I will be back in full flow in August with lots of say about summer fashion and the build up to Fashion Week.
avogueidea 
Skull&Bones
July 18, 2010I took this photograph of Georgia’s O’Keefe’s skull painting when I was in New York. I love all the planes and convolutions of the bones, their strength and opposing brittleness, the way you can feel the rough dry texture and the incredible detail as you get in closer. American Vogue picked up on this reference when they shot Charlize Theron at Georgia O’Keefe’s ranch in New Mexico for their September 2009 issue and a skull got to make a cameo appearance.
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