Valentina Sykes touches down in Paris - but not at Balenciaga

valentina sykes (R) backstage at john galliano FW1314 via fashionising

When we spotted this recent Sun Herald story about 17 year-old Sydney model Valentina Sykes being "optioned" as they say in the model biz as a potential "exclusive" for last week's Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week, we felt the need to Tweet: "one way of reducing your chances of getting a balenciaga exclusive - talking about it beforehand". Sykes did wind up making her international runway debut in Paris, although not for the super prestige Balenciaga show, rather, John Galliano - the namesake line of Christian Dior's disgraced creative director, which is owned by Dior parent LVMH and continues on without him under the direction of Bill Gaytten. Of course any major Paris show is a great get. But the moral to this story is: never count your fashion chickens before they're hatched.  

The butterfly effect: Why couldn't Toni Maticevski take over the reins at Christian Dior?

Frockwriter popped down to Melbourne last week for the last leg of the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (as a guest of the organisers, once again). Among the shows we caught was Toni Maticevski’s 'Red Carpet Runway' on Thursday night, which closed the event with 50 looks from Maticevski’s archive of 2000 pieces, collected since he launched his demi-couture label in 1999. There were plenty of his signature, heavily-embellished ballgowns and shorter, artfully-deconstructed tailored pieces that have made their way to New York Fashion Week, The Grammys, the Cannes Film Festival and a raft of other events on the backs of celebrities such as Beyoncé, Scarlett Johannson, Leighton Meester, Christina Ricci, Abbie Cornish, Gemma Ward and Kim Kardashian. At 35, Maticevksi is exactly the same age as was John Galliano in 1996, when the latter was appointed as the creative director of the storied Parisian haute couture house of Christian Dior. With Galliano fired last year, there is a vacant position to fill. Suspend your disbelief for a moment that an Australian designer could ever be considered for the creative director’s role of a major Paris fashion house (Martin Grant FYI once turned down the Céline gig) and ponder the hypothetical question, why couldn’t Maticevski fill Galliano’s shoes?

Oh behave: WISH magazine April 2011, the London issue

It's a dark, dark moment for British fashion. John Galliano is in disgrace, fired from his post as the creative director of Christian Dior, charged by French prosecutors with making racist comments on two separate occasions and now due to stand trial - exactly twelve months after Alexander McQueen took his own life. Shining lights that they were, McQueen and Galliano do not a fashion industry make however. Tomorrow, The Australian newspaper's monthly luxury mag WISH will publish a special London edition featuring a swag of interviews with a number of other far less tragic British fashion figures, notably Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey, Nêt-à-Porter.com founder Natalie Massenet, accessories designer Anya Hindmarch, go-to interior designer David Collins, publisher Tyler Brûlé and Bally's London-based creative directors Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz. Accompanying all the words, a fab fashion cover story that was lensed by Michelle Holden in and around various London landmarks in the freezing cold just before Christmas and which stars Brits Alexander Eden and Donna McPhail (on the cover) plus one Aussie ringin, Josh Gray. The story was styled by Ken Thompson with hair by Heath Massi and makeup by Linda Anderson. Here's a first look.

Andrejyny

john galliano SS11 backstage/sonny vandevelde

Frockwriter mentioned that upwardly mobile Australian model Andrej Pejic made his international catwalk debut on Thursday in Paris in the Jean Paul Gaultier show. Well he had his second Paris runway outing yesterday courtesy of another equally high profile designer: John Galliano. There are two days left of the mens shows, where might he pop up next? Update 27/6: The answer is Raf Simons and, according to backstage snapper Sonny Vandevelde, today's Paul Smith show. The Paris runways are a long way from the east European refugee camps via which Pejic and his Serbo-Croatian family fled war-torn Bosnia in the 1990s before settling in Melbourne, where he attended University High School (whose other alumni include playwright David Williamson, entertainer Olivia Newton-John and MTV VJ Ruby Rose). Modelling for two years, full-time for one, Pejic's first modelling job was a cover - for Oyster magazine. Head to Sonny's blog to see more of Pejic and his runway colleagues backstage before and during Galliano's Charlie Chaplin-inspired show and the rest of the mens shows, including Gaultier, Issey Miyake and Dries van Noten.

Galliano saddles up for Christian Dior SS10 haute couture

If you missed the shots coming in overnight, here are some excerpts from Christian Dior's magnificent Spring/Summer 2010 haute couture show in Paris, via UK Telegraph fashion editor, Hilary Alexander. Frockwriter does not have the benefit of the show notes to hand, but the equestrienne and Gibson Girl influences seem fairly self evident. Given that American couturier Charles James was however not born until 1906, Alexander's suggestion that James was active at the "turn of the century" should be taken with a grain of salt. Judging by the two-tone hair, one might assume that contemporary Irish aristo Daphne Guiness may also have been a muse.

Mardi Gras-sur-Seine at Galliano: Showgirls, streetwalkers and chicks au Dix

Alexandra Agoston backstage before the show.


Some of us might be a long way from home, but we are having our own private Mardi Gras here tonight [Saturday] at the Carreau du Temple, the venue for John Galliano's show.

I'm backstage, it's about 20 minutes to showtime and the girls are almost out of makeup. Just don't ask me who anybody is - due to the theatrical makeup, I can't recognise most of them.

The look has been executed by a member of Galliano's creative coterie - top British makeup artist Pat McGrath. The model on whom she is currently working has heavy black eyeshadow smudged with blue and green, little purple clown lips and pencilled brows high above the browline, which has been 'disappeared' via a heavy layer of white makeup.

McGrath is using her hand like a painter's palette and it's covered in blobs of turquoise, yellow and white. The model's wig is short and black, with a kind of ragged geometric fringe.

"The whole show is based on Brassai" says McGrath, of the brief. "Really painterly, crazy, beautiful..."

I spot a running list of models on McGrath's table. The first group are all called "Vlada", followed by "Madame Bijou", "street walkers", "Otto Dix" and "Pigalle at night after the party".

A model in a white wig and exaggerated purple eye makeup that extends across half her face wanders past looking like the Madwoman of Chaillot. The makeup makes her piercing blue eyes look quite terrifying. I twig that it's Sasha Pivovarova.

"Who are you supposed to be?" I ask.

"Kiki!" she squeals.

The pace is picking up.

"I want some more foundation on her brows" McGrath commands in a loud voice to an underling. "Where is the team? Go get anybody who's not doing anything and bring them here!".

A very tall girl walks towards me staring straight at me. She's wearing one of the short black wigs, with the smudged harlequin makeup.

It's Alexandra Agoston-O'Connor, part of the Australian modelling triumvirate at this week's shows. I mentioned that Agoston-O'Connor, Gemma Ward and Catherine McNeil were all at Dior. All three are apparently also modelling tonight. Somewhere.

En route to the dressing area, we have a quick chat:

How many John Galliano parades have you worked on?
Alexandra Agoston-O'Connor: Three. This is my first John Galliano show, but I've done Dior pret-a-porter and Dior couture as well.

What's the difference between doing these shows and regular shows over here? They're very creative aren't they?
Yeah, extremely creative. Amazing. It adds so much fun to the show.

And what's the difference between doing this and doing Australian Fashion Week?
Um... well I think probably, I don't know... I mean Australian Fashion Week is right up there I reckon.

It's given a few people a start.
Yeah - and I mean I guess Paris and all the main fashion weeks are just on a grander scale. Like there's heaps more shows, there's heaps more hair and makeup... Everything's just kind of emphasised but I reckon Australia's right up there, in my eyes.

She scurries off to get changed. They're all only wearing one look - such is the complicated styling. I can hear a piano accordian playing over on the other side of the curtains in the auditorium. It feels like a night at the circus. I'm in the dressing area now and there's smoke everywhere. Not just cigarette smoke - which tends to be prevalent backstage at shows, with an alarming number of models apparently chain smokers - but stage smoke that has wafted in from the auditorium.
Bgalliano1.jpg

"Where the hell is Galliano?" I think to myself, having not spotted him once so far.

I look up above the exit to the runway and blog the models' cue card.

The card is headed:

"Debaucherous decadence. Be sexy, be playful, sleazy and very strong! Enjoy!"

And then some specific instructions:

"Walk out and make a first pose in front of exit, facing cameras, following the red path, walk to each set making poses. Be playful with cameras and tease, interact with cameras and audience".

Brit milliner Stephen Jones is adjusting a red net and white feather contraption on the head of Mancunian Agyness Deyn. He looks hot and bothered. She is only half dressed and I notice that she has a pierced right nipple.

Next to Deyn is Sasha 'Kiki' Pivovarova, now changed into a scarlet georgette and devore velvet knee-length dress with asymmetric hemline and tiers of ruffles. She wanders into the middle of the room and starts flailing her arms around like she's about to perform a pirouette.

You can tell the girls are really into this show. An unrecognisable model wearing a wig fashioned from strips of newspaper is standing in front of her rack, which reads "Gemma Ward". She is smoking up a storm.

Agoston-O'Connor is standing alongside the other streetwakers, all half naked save for wads of tissue paper that each holds over their breasts. They are having splotches of purple and turquoise makeup applied to their chests and arms.

I spot Iekelienne in the streetwalker lineup - she's already dressed in a pretty, drop-waisted, ankle-length, calomine lotion pink slip dress embellished with pink sequins and tiny strips of pink velvet. A dresser is attaching a long matching silk scarf around her neck.

Next to Iekelienne, Anja Rubik is putting on a flesh-coloured slip dress with black cornelli embroidery. Most of the streetwalkers seem to be in striking, nude, drop-waisted bias-cut slip dresses. They look chic - apart from the cadaverous body makeup. I should add that there are a lot of people in this room. Apart from the models - and there must be over 40 of them - there is a dresser per girl, hair and makeup artists, photographers and stylists.

I venture out to check the auditorium. While a show is waiting to start you wouldn't normally walk straight out the runway exit, but this setup is unusual and I've already seen people come and go via same.

I walk past a security guy and out into the room next door - and it's like a movie set. The chairs have been arranged around a meandering runway 'path'. Props and actors are everywhere - a woman in a tiara and ballgown walks past with a guy in a morning suit, carrying a croquet mallet. There are ships in glass boxes, candelabras, an English flag, kitsh paintings... Two guys dressed as a farmhand and sailor are lying on a big brass bed covered in straw. An elderly Eliza Doolittle lookalike sits adjusting her knitting. It's totally bonkers and to add to the delirium, audience members are wandering around taking happy snaps.

I return backstage. The girls are lining up - waiting to go on. Between the stage smoke, the real smoke and the stench of hair product that has just been sprayed on some girls, you can hardly breathe. The opening series of "Vladas" are a garish vision of crimson ruffles and scarlet hairpieces. Photographers are in overdrive and the girls are hamming it up, posing in groups like a demented ballet corps.

"Keep powdering! Go for the bodies now!" screams McGrath.

A girl in a black cock feather trilby walks past me to join a small group of androgynous, black-clad women with orange hair, one carrying a black riding crop. They look like a bunch of glamorous lesbians heading for Berlin's Kit Kat Club. I surmise they are the Otto Dix section. Suddenly I spot another familiar face from Sydney - makeup artist Dotti.

I head towards the runway exit to go back out into the auditorium but am barred by the security guy - it's too late, he says, the show is about to start.

I am trapped inside the ramparts of Galliano's louche Parisian fantasy - and the bastard's nowhere to be found.

"Go get me a plate! I need a plate! I need a plate!" shouts McGrath - before someone eventually rushes to the rescue with a plastic dish on which McGrath starts frantically squeezing piles of red goop.

The atmosphere is electric - and verging on pandemonium. Stephen Jones runs past looking stressed, with sweat beads all over his forehead. Gareth Pugh was the Chelmsford deep-sleep clinic compared to this show.

As I walk past the end of the lineup I hear a ripping sound. I look down and realise I have just trodden on the tulle train of the black negligee sported by Flavia de Oliveira, over the top of black satin knickers, suspenders and stockings.

"God - so sorry" I say to her.

"That's OK - I'm going to tell John" she snarls, half-joking.

"The good news" I respond, "is that if you're supposed to be a prostitute, noone's going to notice the difference".

The music starts - a kind of doof doof house music courtesy another longtime Galliano collaborator, Jeremy Healy. I am standing next to the models as they wait to take their turns. They keep breaking ranks to join a group crowded around an adjacent video screen watching the show go live.

The music is pumping, the girls are dancing and pointing and laughing at the poses being pulled by their runway colleagues. Lily Donaldson and Irina Lazareanu are still smoking as they stand in the lineup. I am now right next to the exit and Agoston-O'Connor is horrified to discover she has purple lipstick all over her teeth.

"Just keep your mouth shout" I suggest.

One of the Otto Dix chicks whacks me with her riding crop. Talk about tough chic.

Now all the models are back in the room and getting ready for their victory lap. The music is pumping louder than ever and I feel like I am caught in the wake of 50 drag queens on the dancefloor of the Hordern Pavilion.

A girl with a heavy Russian accent comes running towards me.

"Can you please close this button for me?!!!" she pleads, pointing to her belt which has come undone. I have a camera in one hand and a BlackBerry in the other, but somehow I manage to oblige - just.

"Breathe in!" I have to tell her three times. So much for skinny models.

The girls go out and I walk to the end of the runway exit area where a half dozen people are standing, including McGrath and Jones. Galliano will have to make his own exit soon and I wonder where that's going to be from because I still can't see him. A couple of people ahead of me, I spy the top of a garden rake.

I go back inside to watch the monitor. Galliano then materialises on the screen from behind one of the actors - he is dressed in a yellow bathrobe, with a tweed cap and is carrying.... a rake. Somehow he snuck out there.

Everyone comes back inside the room. They're jumping up and down, clapping and hugging each other.

Suddenly Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley emerge and are whisked by security through the changing area to the back door.

Next Galliano is rushed out by security - but to a black 'tent' that has been built on one side of the makeup area via black curtains. It dawns on me that that's where Galliano has been for the duration.

Another smaller figure gets whisked out from the runway and into the black tent - it's Kylie Minogue. A suite of other people arrive and also get whisked in, from big name editors to buyers.

I wait out the front of the tent, sardined within a posse of television crews, barred by two huge security guys. I keep an eye on the second doorway in case Minogue comes out. Once she does I run over and just manage to speak to her in the crush as she is whisked out the back door and into a car:

What did you think about the show?
Minogue: I absolutely adored it.

It was very showgirl.
Yeah I know! Lots of drama, sparkle...

Are you happy to be back in Paris?
[Pauses] Very much so, yeah.


I wait with the tv crews for at least an hour, barely able to move, cracking jokes and negotiating with the PR retinue. We are standing right in front of the hair and makeup area.

"God I look old" says one tv reporter out loud, catching a glimpse of themself in one of the mirrors.

Finally, a PR emerges and announces that Galliano will do interviews in groups.

Several groups go in and out and the PR comes back and announces that that's it, Galliano is too exhausted to do anymore. After an Italian reporter practically gets down on her hands and knees to beg, the PR gives in, ushering in one last group - including me - giving us one question each. It's an exact repeat of the last season, where I found myself with the last group of tv reporters huddled around Galliano in a small darkened room.

Here's the suite of questions and Galliano's answers:

American reporter: John - what an amazing return of all the spirit of Galliano, the poetry, the beauty, everything was beautiful. It was a dream and it was beautiful clothes.
Galliano: Thank-you so much.

Kiki de Montparnasse?
Yes, Mademoiselle le Bijou... Well I was looking at silhouettes of the Regency period but seeing it through the eyes of a photographer, Brassai, so there was beautiful cocoon shapes, a welcome return to my daywear and a huge exploitation of my bias cutting [laughs] which my markets demand and I was very very happy to do. Set against this amazing theatrical backdrop...

Belgian reporter: Mr Galliano, what inspired you for this collection?
Galliano: Really the Regency period and the photographs of Brassai. The Paris that I dreamed of as a child, the Paris that I longed for, the reason that I ran away from London to live in Paris, um, they're all the reasons that inspired this collection.

Was it fun?
I was a rundown aristocrat and I loved the idea of doing this stately home, a little bit English but inside-out. So we were all outside. You know, tax, very expensive, death duties.... we have to live in the garden.

And a lot of seduction.
Always, that's Galliano.

The bed with two guys?
Mmmmm, what did you think? [laughs]

And then at the end, you greet the audience?
I was the lord. But I had no money. I'd lost all my money but I had this fantastic family. There's a wonderful English proverb that says 'The family that eats together, stays together'. And I firmly believe in that.

This family, with all these special people. It was a very special family, non?
Yes, of course it's the family in my dreams and I challenge you to dream and that's my job.

Italian reporter: Ah - is a work of art.
Thank-you so much.

Yes, the poesie and inspiration from Colette, from the sensualism.
Exactly, from Paris, the Paris that I dreamed of as a child and the Paris that I believe in today.

Is it sexual elegance?
I mean sex sells. And we all love to be sexy. C'est un raison d'etre and a joie de vivre.

Merci. Can you describe your look because you are always...
I felt like an aristocrat and that was my family but we moved outside, because the death duties were too high. So we lived outside. But who cares, as long as we can sleep under moonlight, who cares?

Me: You've pulled off two spectacular shows this week, arguably the week's best productions.
[Tongue-in-cheek] I think I've done two pre collections and I did a menswear collection and an haute couture collection and two ready-to-wear collections...

Yes but I am referring to the two big shows you did this week - Dior and now for your own line.
Thank-you.

What drives you to produce such extraordinary theatre with your fashion shows - when most designers are just sending their models up and down a plain white runway?
Quite simply, women. Women like you.

But you don't always do such big shows.
That's perhaps because I'm getting to know women like you.


Right...
You're lost for words aren't you? [chuckles]

After seeing over 100 shows in four cities - most of which I have had to badger my way into without tickets - and after being embedded within almost as many media scrums, Galliano has a point. I am lost for words. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else - but by the same token, I am relieved it all wraps tomorrow.

He continues:

No really, women drive me. I love the whole creative process. I love working with my teams. It's true that we've become more organised and I feel I'm so inspired and I need these vehicles to express myself and with the great teams both at Dior and Galliano, we're able to do that.

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Mischa, Marisa and an Aussie model trifecta: Dior's curious salute to Schiap

I'm mixing it with anywhere up to 1000 showgoers inside a large show tent that has been erected in the Jardin des Tuileries. We are waiting for the Christian Dior show. Judging by the two grandiose white staircases which bookend the stage at the back of the runway, it's going to be an elaborate production. The backdrop is painted dove grey, the signature colour of the haute couture house.

As with Versace on Friday, it's a tight space.

The runway is so wide, there is barely room between the front row and the media packs that are roaming, looking for celebs. Although they are at present only mildly interested in a gaggle of French celebs who have turned up, the snappers jump to attention at the sight of Mischa Barton.

A furious media scramble ensues, although this time thankfully without the runway-vaulting addition of Marie Claire Australia editor Jackie Frank. I'm sure Frank is in here somewhere but for the mo at least, she's keeping her distance.

I manage to squeeze into the pack and ask Barton one question before security intervenes. Actually security has already intervened by manhandling the scrum, and even some hapless passersby trying to get to their seats.

This is Paris - the private security personnel here have a tendency to act like they're the police. Believe me, it pisses a lot of people off.

Since Barton was in Australia last year as the guest of David Jones, I had heard that she is still complaining about her treatment at the hands of the Australian media. Prompted by a question from one [in fact SMH] journalist at Barton's media conference - did she knew the name of the designer whose frock she was wearing? (she didn't) - other outlets picked up the story.

I ask whether Barton thinks she was given too hard a time in Australia over the gaffe.

"About designers?" she replies. "Oh yeah....no, that was silly. Whatever. I mean that was one writer's choice".

Lights down. A single mannequin walks to the middle of the stage above the stairs and strikes a pose. She is wearing a conical hat made from what look like frathers - but I later learn are blades of tinted straw - and a brick red leather tailleur with nipped-in waist, pencil skirt and ballooning fur sleeves.

It's an impossibly elegant tableau - like a cartoon caricature of a 1950s couture show. She descends the staircase and is followed by more models, each more elegantly-clad than the last.

The voluminous coats and capes have gargantuan fur collars and cuffs. The tailleurs have draped skirts, big shoulder pads and crystal embellishments.

The shoes have enormous chunky heels and platforms and are covered in studs and straps - reminiscent of the shoes worn by women in Paris during the Occupation (the more outrageous the platform - and hat - the bigger the "F*** you" being served to the Nazis, or so was the intention at the time apparently).

The hats are fantastic - yet more cones and a series of asymmetric cocktail hats which suggest the time frame of Dior's creative director John Galliano could in fact be the 1940s. And quite specifically, the work of one couturier, Elsa Schiaparelli. The colours are sublime: hot pink, chartreuse and tangerine, interspersed with barely-there putty and dove grey.

As they walk to the end of the runway each model strikes a glamour pose. The closer they get the easier it is to see the styling, which includes the kind of false eyelashes normally tailored to drag queens and Galliano's trademark black stickon brows.

By the time it gets to the big dresses - statement gowns with enormous tiered skirts in duchesse satin, one dress with a black and white sequin-embellished strapless bodice and voluminous hot pink tulle skirts - I start to wish that I had seen Dior's most recent haute couture show in January and all the incredible workmanship there. This seems a little Dior couture Lite. Of course it is - it's ready-to-wear. Either way, it's a magnificent show.

I already knew that Catherine McNeil would be doing the show, but spot Sydneysider Alexandra Agoston-O'Connor on the runway. Now modelling fulltime, Agoston-O'Connor in fact walked in Dior's January show.

I head backstage afterwards to find her and others and wait while two dressers unbutton and peel off the long violet gloves she was wearing to go with her grape-coloured, column. She's a tall girl but in those monstrously high heels, Agoston-O'Connor looks like a small giraffe. While I am waiting to talk to her, I spot Gemma Ward who I did not even realise had been in the show. With all the hats and styling, it was hard to make out who was who.

We had a quick chat:

I heard that you might be back this week to do a couple of shows. Did you do Balmain on Sunday?
Gemma Ward: No I've just done Balenciaga and Dior.

You've been working on a couple of films haven't you?
Yeah, I just did a film in Australia.

How did it [The Black Balloon] go?
It was really, really great, thank-you. I had a great time.

When is that coming out?
I think maybe the end of the year for the film festivals and then next year.

I think you've developed an American accent.
Have I? Well I didn't notice.

What about the other film?
It's called The Strangers. I think that comes out this Halloween.

How are you balancing the two?
Yeah it's trying to keep both in place at the moment. It's a lot of work.

Which do you enjoy the most?
I can't say. Because I really enjoy going between the two because it's almost like you're on a film set and then kind of ease into the schedule and you get to know everyone. Fashion is so fast, fast, fast, go, go, go. But then after a while you kind of want to get back in that again so both of them kind of even each other out and keep each other exciting.

There were three Australian models in this show, did you realise that?
[Surprised] Really?

Apart from Alexandra Agoston-O'Connor, there's Catherine McNeill - have you heard about her?
No.

From nowhere, she has just done all these major shows.
[Sincere - and enthusiastic] Wow. That's great.

Everyone always talks about 'the next Gemma Ward' but she really does appear to be just that. You had an exclusive with Prada in your first season though didn't you?
Yeah.

Last week she opened Missoni, Alessandro dell'Aqua...
No way! That's great.

It's kind of an Australian invasion of the runways then isn't it?
[Emphatic] Yes. I would hope so. I love Australians.

Is that unusual on this side of the world?
Yeah. Kind of.

Do you think there's a sudden flavour for Australian models at the moment?
Yeah - oh well I don't know. But I'm keeping my eye out for them.

What's your position on the skinny model situation? There was some speculation this time last year that you in fact weren't quite so skinny....
Well, you know, again I don't want to comment on that.


I wait in line to interview Galliano but then spot Barton en route out the backstage exit. Here's what she had to say about the show:

Mischa Barton: I thought it was gorgeous. I thought all the girls looked amazing and the clothes were great colours and great cuts.

Would you wear anything in the collection?
There were some there that I think were very wearable and really gorgeous, yeah.

What about the hats?
The hats were crazy. They were great though, I mean it's a whole look.

Kate Bosworth came to Australia recently as well, to the Melbourne Cup and they couldn't get her into a hat. Think it might catch on?
Catch on? I don't know - yeah maybe! It would be quite good if everyone started wearing hats again.

I return to the queue, which doesn't appear to be any shorter, and despair. I have one other opportunity to talk to Galliano this week - after his Saturday night show.

As I ponder leaving to catch the next show, American actress Marisa Berenson walks to the backstage exit as well.

Berenson, it should be noted, is Schiaparelli's granddaughter. She's a regular at these shows but her presence today is serendipitous.

Or is it? According to reports in WWD, Italian group Tod's SPA quietly acquired rights to the Schiaparelli brand and since July last year, there has been speculation about a Schiaparelli revival, with everyone from Giles Deacon to Behnaz Sarafpour, Matthew Williamson and Olivier Theyskens - obviously before Theyskens was lured to Rochas - floated as potential designers. There has however also been speculation that Tod's might offload the brand. An interesting one to watch.

Here's the Q&A with Berenson:

Did you enjoy the show?
Marisa Berenson: I adored the show. I thought it was extraordinary. I thought it was just elegant and glamorous and there's a need for that again. And [for] I think a lot of dream in this world that is cold and hard and difficult. And in those moments where you know one can sort of bring beauty and joy to the way one looks and feels and just spending half an hour looking at these clothes is enough to give one an 'up'.

I was trying to work out the exact period while watching the show - it seemed both 40s and at times, 50s. But your grandmother was also working much earlier than that.
My grandmother was 30s and 40s and it's very much inspired by that era, by all those colours - 'Shocking Pink', she was the one who really was the queen of Shocking Pink. And all those incredible embroideries. She inspired so many people.

Did you know that was going to be the theme before you arrived?
No, I didn't. It was a surprise. I thought it was just a wonderful surprise.

So what was it like growing up with the grande dame of surrealist couture?
She was an amazing woman. But you know when you grow up with somebody like that you, retrospectively she had stopped designing. So when I was little I didn't see that whole side of life.

But there would have been incredible archives etc...
Oh yes of course I have the archives.

Do you think it's a shame that the Schiaparelli brand now consists of not much more than some stockings?
Oh I do, I do and I think it's going to probably come back.

Really? Who actually owns the Schiaparelli brand?
[Evasive] I don't know that I can say...

Somebody that she licensed it to presumably?
No - it's been bought but it hasn't been announced yet.

Do you have something to do with it?
No - I have nothing to do with it.

So we may see a renaissance of Schiaparelli in the not too distant future?
Well, you may, yes. I think it should be. It's been a while since I think somebody should take that name and do something with it. And I'm hoping that they're going to do something great with it.

Who would you like to see design it?
I don't know. That's something that I'm wondering actually.

Would you have any kind of consulting role?
I don't think so. For the moment it's just happened so I'm not... I think it hasn't been announced yet.

Private equity group?
No no.

Big company then?
[Grimaces]

Oh - like LVMH?
Something like that.

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