March Madness

March has been a superb month for covers, I am impressed. Most of them come from Europe, so big up to my side of the world.

Here is Harper’s Bazaar Poland, with model Malgosia Bela photographed by Koray Birand. I love how Grace Kelly this looks, all Riviera, rose wine and flirting with French/Italian/Spanish/Greek waiters. The pale pink is very romantic and the fact that you can see both eyes through the hat is so clever.

Czech Elle with photographer Branislav Simoncik and model Karolina K. This Spanish-themed shoot feels so springlike with all the fun of the fiesta.  The colours and patterns immediately jump of the page and I love the strong lip and big gold earrings.

Elle Netherlands with model Agnes Nabuurs. Another quite feminine cover but I think the short messed up hair makes it edgier as does the crosshatched header and scribbled headlines. Great use of a ruffle.

Elle Germany, model Gisele. This is Gisele being Gisele, a Brazilian Supermodel. I love the feline face, the strong pose and loose sleeves. The wind machine is working over time! It could almost be a Gucci ad.

Vogue Paris, photographed by Mert & Marcus, modelled by Suvi Koponen. A completely different cover from all the rest. Very stark, very minimal but I like it. It has a Vermeer quality.

InStyle with Agyness Deyn photographed by Rankin. This is so Twiggy it hurts. I like the seated body shape which you don’t normally see on covers and the hands are great too.

Purple Fashion, cover photographed by Terry Richardson, modelled by Miranda Kerr. Although this seems more of a summer cover to me, I love the leg and how sultry but simple the concept is. I’m not a Terry Richardson fan but I couldn’t ignore this cover.

And finally Vogue Germany, photographer Daniel Jackson, model Doetzen Kroes. This fresh faced post shower look is great and suprisingly atypical for Vogue covers.  She looks healthy and happy which is what March is all about!

Source: TelegraphFashion

Oscars 2013

Did no one care about the Oscars this year? Is that why so many stars stayed away? Someone was clearly told to scrape the celebrity bucket quickly and invite Olivia Munn and Chris Tucker.  It was all so underwhelmingly ‘meh’.  Where was the colour? Too many stylists went down the grey/gunmetal/pewter/ route. And that’s true for the jewellery too – where were the stunning for-one-night-only pieces? Nothing was standout interesting, nor even horrific and I have had to take looks from the Vanity Fair after party in order to find something to write about.

Jennifer Lawrence in Christian Dior Haute Couture. How much nicer is her Calvin Klein dress at the Vanity Fair party? It’s interesting and young, sexy and modern. Her Oscar dress is bridal, doesn’t highlight her great figure and it desperately needed some large jewellery to make it cooler and more wow. I only found out recently that she had moved on from a stylist she’d been working with for a while to work with Rachel Zoe; that explains a lot as I used to like how she dressed but really haven’t enjoyed anything of her’s during this award season. Just because it’s Dior doesn’t make it right.

Anne Hathaway in Prada. This comes dangerously close to Gwyneth Paltrow’s pink satin disaster all those years ago. It’s doing a bizarre thing of making her look old and young at the same time. It’s matronly and yet also little girl shiny. I didn’t like the backwards necklace with the strap detail at the back, and if Rachel Zoe styled her as she normally does, then that’s two backwards necklaces on two different clients (see Jennifer Lawrence above) which is SO poor. Also I know she got a lot of heat about the nipple situation but actually I think it’s much more about the darts creating a bag shape more than anything else. I would have loved to have seen her in a colour, perhaps teal, maroon or even dark green.

Naomi Watts in Giorgio Armani. I really like this look, hoorah. It’s modern and sophisticated. I like the slightly messy hair. Her Emilio Pucci number for VF looked great too so Top Marks for not only getting one look right but two. Impressive.

Sandra Bullock in Elie Saab. Having reviewed the Elie Saab collection for my blog I know it was full of lovely colours that would have looked stunning on her and I really don’t like the hair, it’s too straight and too heavily one sided.

Halle Berry in Versace. This is rather art deco but I quite like it. It’s an interesting shape and so much better than her tacky look from the Globes.

Charlize Theron in Christian Dior Haute Couture. You have to worry when one of the best dressed people at the ceremony is not even a nominee. I love her short hair and this is a perfect example of how to be simple but sexy, please take note Anne Hathaway. She looks amazing.  Although I would have styled coloured studs on  this.

Reese Witherspoon in Louis Vuitton. This is simple and effective and finally a colour, made just that bit more interesting with the clever contrast panelling although you wouldn’t call it high fashion. She always does great old Hollywood hair and generally pulls off looking dressed up but relaxed on the red carpet.

Marisa Tomei in Valentino.  This is my best dressed, shock horror. I love this jumpsuit and I don’t even like jumpsuits, certainly not Sarah Jessica Parker’s at the Baftas! But this is a stunning colour with gorgeous bead work and a great fit.  And note that her hair looks relaxed but done, unlike Jennifer Aniston’s which barely even looked washed and combed.

Miranda Kerr in Valentino. Unlike the suprise of the jumpsuit above this is the typical disappointment I have come to expect from the design duo at Valentino. It’s an unflattering colour and shape, it looks cheap and a real departure from her normal chic style.

Zoe Saldana in Givenchy. This is horrible too! I hate with a passion skirts that have a deep frill on the bottom, it is almost never flattering and frankly has too much of the Little House on the Prairies home dressmakers about it. The cheap looking negligee-teddy top with the shiny lining material skirt should just never be worn on a red carpet.

Helen Hunt in H&M Conscious Fashion. I support the idea of ‘green’ clothes but this does nothing for her figure. The bodice needs to be much more up lifting, if you catch my drift, which would then lengthen and make a waist, and would flatter and enhance her curves rather than hanging off her. The material also hasn’t passed the sitting-in-a car-on-the-way test. I don’t like the necklace either, it’s far too boring for such a simple dress, which could have taken something more eye-catching. Also, give this woman some coloured lipgloss, please, it would do wonders! Pretty hair though.

Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta. I haven’t even bothered with her Oscars dress because it was huge and frilly and a flat grey and that’s all I have to say about it. But this is gorgeous. Flapperesque and really figure flattering, it’s interesting and I would imagine all that beading would move beautifully.

Jane Fonda in Reem Acra. She certainly did colour for the Oscars, wearing a very loud yellow dress for the ceremony, well done her, but I  much prefer her after party wear. She looks stunning in this patterned dress. Showing the younger ladies how it’s done!

Jennifer Aniston in Valentino. I was watching a Friends last night and honestly her hair was exactly like this! I understand she’s a California girl who’s found a style that works for her but really, could she not have done something to it? Even though it’s a classic Valentino red dress she somehow manages to make it look casual and unflattering. Why she was there I don’t know, but she could have at least made an effort, specially as she won’t be winning an Oscar any time soon….

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Valentino . I didn’t know Vanity Fair had a Wild West barmaid theme? Or maybe only RHW was told. Far too many ruffles, frills and swathes in an old-fashioned half-mourning colour and the black choker is very distracting. Top marks for make up though.

Jessica Chastain in Armani Prive. I’m a tad bored of her trying and failing to play the Hollywood siren. I don’t like the colour of this dress with her hair tone and the fact that her nails were a similar shade is a major no no for me.

Source: Zimbio.com

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Spring 2013 Paris

Flicking through a Jean Paul Gaultier couture collection is a yearly pleasure. Always interesting, inventive, often provocative, it’s everything I look for in a couture show. It won’t please everybody but I liked the way it moved from Spanish references to eighties shoulders, to cowgirl fringing, to Paris boudoir, to Bollywood. It’s theatre, refreshingly irreverent and just a little crazy.

Source: Style.com

Valentino Couture Spring 2013 Paris

The beginning of this show had potential with the unimaginable amounts of hand-rolled piping creating wrought iron patterns over sheers but then went too quickly into rich little convent girl formality before descending into the predictable flowery, floaty, unremarkable dresses that for me have come to define Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli as the head designers of this company.  Where you would have picked out a Valentino dress for its grownup sexy sophistication, now you do the same for something that is confusingly girly-matron.

Source: Style.com

Armani Prive Couture 2013 Paris

This collection was dramatic and chic. It has a Silk Route feel, with a possible narrative of the rich well-travelled woman with an outfit for every Sultan she meets along the way. The stick-toggle that was referenced throughout, apparently as some sort of sceptre, was used very imaginatively, suggestively barely holding a jacket together in one look, securing a dress on the collar or twisting a skirt at the waist.  The reds, greys and black were sophisticated, if a little dark for spring and the jewellry was incredible… I can see this collection being used for editorials and red carpet which is the perfect combination.

Source: Style.com

Elie Saab Couture 2013 Spring

I enjoy how easy it is to write about Elie Saab, nothing shocks, nothing jars, nothing underwhelms.  Overlooking the rather clumsy title of An Ode to Delicateness, the beautiful creations in this collection are again glorious examples of beading, lace, drape and subtlety. They look light and effortless and will be very popular with stylists and actresses alike.

Source: Style.com

Chanel Couture Spring 2013 Paris

It’s me, it must be me. I must be missing some chromosome that means I don’t get Karl Lagerfeld’s vision because I think this is truly awful. Let’s start with the dead bird that appears to be sitting on all these poor girls’ heads or perhaps focus on the horrible make up or those silver (latex??) legging/shoe things. Nothing here speaks of Coco, nothing. These shapeless dresses do a woman’s body no favours. He has fixated on a very horizontal aesthetic, with width in the cut at so many points: across the body at the shoulder, at the waist, the hip and the cuff, then added to the effect with horizontals in the tweed, in the ruching and the pleating.  The wide frame at the shoulders particularly made the models look like American Football players and then instead of adding some element of tailoring to give balance, the dress and skirts and coats flare back out again. Astonishing.

I’m sure the workmanship and the fabrics and the detailing are stunning but if they don’t translate into photos then it doesn’t work. Clearly you don’t look at couture for what’s going to be in the shops next season, but you do look at it to be inspired by wonderful creativity and imaginative reach. This makes me laugh  and cry in equal measure, especially when the fashion journalists eat it up without a word of discontent.

Source: Style.com

Giambattista Valli Couture Spring 2013 Paris

This isn’t one of my favourite Valli couture collections but it’s so inoffensive compared to the other offenders that I can only be positive. I like the monochrome palette of black and white with its hints of silver, the interesting use of bold gold accessories and the dynamic prints and patterns, although these were less successful the closer they came to animal skins. There’s a younger feel to his designs and I like the short preppy shapes at the start of the collection and also, bypassing the  flowery interlude, the later more elegant evening gowns.

Source: Style.com

Christian Dior Couture Spring 2013 Paris

This is Raf Simons’ second crack at Couture for Dior and I still don’t understand the narrative. Who is it for, what is it, what are the references, where is the cohesion? The workmanship may be thrilling but something beyond that has to translate into the pictures and the message. If you read the show notes you hear all the PR stuff about Spring and rebirth and archival flower themes but orange and yellow tights just don’t do that for me. I don’t like coloured tights anyway but here they seem particularly jarring and out of place in a way that is totally distracting and when I saw a pair of sheer navy tights I wanted to cry. Some of the more metallic materials that had a iridescent effect felt very similar to the ones used by Giorgio Armani a couple of seasons ago. Also I have to say I really don’t care for the wigs or the make-up; the models just look as if they have haven’t washed their hair and the Swarovski crystals on the lips are so not haute!

Source: Style.com

Altelier Versace Couture Spring 2013 Paris

These two pink creations came out about half way through this tacky collection and wow, do they stand out for the sheer (get it) lack of taste, elegance or artistry. Of course you don’t look to Versace for ‘upper class’ it’s a sexy, extravagant label but despite throwing in some daring combinations of mink and metal, leather and silk, chiffon and neon, this collection missed even those marks. Horrible fluorescent yellows will not look good on anyone and heavy black fur epaulettes seem so wrong for Spring. The make -up makes even Karlie Kloss look cheap, which is quite an achievement.

Source: Style.com