Space, at least according to Star Trek, is supposed to be the final frontier.
For the fashion pack however, clearly it's just another style milieu ripe for the plundering, with designers taking space age cues for the second time in four decades at the spring/summer 2007 shows.
Fashion's bout of '60s futurism was inspired by the romance of space travel, at a time before man had set foot on the moon. It was pioneered by the last wave of haute couture designers to emerge before handmade haute couture went on a 20-year hiatus as fashion's ideas engine room and took a back seat to machine-made ready-to-wear: Pierre Cardin, Andre Courreges and Paco Rabanne, with more than a little help from London's Mary Quant and co.
Their '60s futurist fantasy vision haunted the spring/summer 2007 collections. This was reflected in the omniprescence of silver, wet-look PVC and fashion's continuing must-wear silhouette – the dress – but specifically in this season's case, the '60s look, waistless shift dress and its more voluminous sisters, the sack and tent dresses.
Film references such as the Paco Rabanne-outfitted Barbarella as well as 2001: A Space Odyssey – both released in 1968, the year that influential couturier Cristobal Balenciaga closed his doors – littered show reviews.
But Nicolas Ghesquiere, Balenciaga's new creative director, said he was inspired by the androids in Tron (1982) and The Terminator (1984). Others deemed the collection reminiscent of Star Wars (1977).
"I don't think girls are going to run out to buy C-3P0 pants – space age won't fly," a nervous New York retailer told WWD of Ghesquiere's spectacular gold leggings, which were handmade from metal and, sources told the Herald, are valued at $US100,000 ($131,700).
That retailer obviously had not clocked the metal-look gold Lycra leggings sported on the last day of the Paris shows by one early adopter. Or the silver, gold and bronze versions already in store at American Apparel.
Spring/summer 2007 also featured a dalliance with the '80s, as well as an injection of the '20s, courtesy the plethora of fringed, waistless, flapper styles at collections such as Prada, Roberto Cavalli, Julien Macdonald, Basso & Brooke, Veronique Branquinho and Viktor & Rolf. The '60s shared with the '20s an obsession with youth – and the boyish waistless dress.
"I think that it was in a way the last careless decades, the '60s" Karl Lagerfeld told the Herald after the Fendi show.
"That's why people think it was magic. In fact it was not that magic. What you don't know from the '60s is that the materials were very poor. The dresses were heavy and ugly. We forget all that. It was the image that looked great, it was the first time things were different, it was less bourgeois, it was the explosion of freedom."
By contrast to the '60s, modern materials are not poor, but technology-rich and designers en masse opted to take full advantage of textile innovations this season.
High-tech, often performance-focused fabrics gave garments a "future sport" edge, as did a plethora of athletic-look racerbacks on everything from downtown singlets to uptown evening dresses.
In New York, Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa used super-technical stretch mesh, scuba fabric and perforated latex to create sculpted, athleisure-look body dresses and tunics.
Narciso Rodriguez showed carbon fibre shift dresses and wet-look black nylon sateen car coats and sleek, futuristic silk evening wear that featured glossy, armour-like fibreglass details. Rodriguez's armour-like, articulated seam work would later pop up in collections from Balenciaga to Dior.
The Australian Josh Goot dovetailed in with the future sport mood with his space age silver leggings, silver racerback singlets and Star Trek uniform-look contoured body dresses as did Karen Walker's fluoro nylon parkas.
Marc Jacobs said he had been inspired by "the '70s doing the '20s doing the '30s doing bathing beauties of the turn of the century".
But when his models emerged in their silver bomber jackets and trench coats, sequinned flapper tops and dresses layered over sarouel and tulip trousers, they looked like post-apocalyptic desert nomads.
In London, baggy trousers got another look-in courtesy the Australian Richard Nicoll. At Preen, volume took on a futuristic slant in a series of sensational, fluorescent chartreuse bubble micro-dresses.
Paco Rabanne's 1966 debut collection in Paris was called 'Twelve Unwearable Dresses'. Forty years later, London "club kid" Gareth Pugh looked to take cues from Rabanne – or the late, London-based, Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery – with a capsule "collection" of freakish-but-fabulous black/white and silver sci-fi-look coats and dresses.
Commercial Milan reinforced the "moon girl" mood.
Almost every collection groaned with silver shift dresses, with Lagerfeld deploying even black silicone at Fendi.
Although patchy, Matthew Williamson's second Pucci collection provided some of the season's sexiest sci-fi-look accessories: mirrored-and-clear PVC wedges and moulded enamel body jewellery, the latter a collaboration with jewellery designer Zenia.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's '80s rock tart D&G look with wet-look stirrup pants and black lace catsuits paled in comparison with the duo's Blade Runner-meets-Barbarella signature line show, whose android-look models were kitted out in sharply tailored pencil skirts and corsets using a maximum of PVC. In an extreme nod to fashion's current volume obsession, one moulded satin corset with exaggerated hips looked like it had been fashioned from stainless steel.
With Prada's supra-pubis skirts – which the designer later said were merely tops and tunics shown without the bottoms – micro became the major Milanese theme. Prada also showed modest, high-necked, long-sleeved tops that echoed one of her principal themes – uniforms.
Joining in Prada's "militaristic" mood this season were, in London, John Rocha, with his baggy, sarouel-like combats; Sinha-Stanic and their lab-look zippered separates and Jean-Pierre Braganza, with his metallised skinny pants. Even fellow Italian brand Missoni went combat with some of its spring/summer 2007 prints.
Raf Simons's signature skinny trousers and long-line jackets have long had a sleek uniform vibe. But this collection was peppered with electric shocks of eye-popping, almost fluorescent colour and a surprisingly high volume of cocktail dresses, including one knockout shift dress and draped gown, both in mother-of-pearl-effect clear sequins.
A "pretty punk" mood was seen in the hardware detailing of Burberry's silver stud-edged evening wear; silver grommetted black bikers' jackets at Gucci; grommetted gladiatrix dresses at Temperley; Aquascutum's heavily embellished trench coats; Balmain's grommetted cocktail dresses in the very uncocktail-like shade of fatigue green and Christian Dior's silver and copper chain-festooned cocktail dresses.
The athleisure mood prevailed at Marni, with wet-look trapeze jackets layered over sportif leggings. Lagerfeld also used a fluorescent pink athletic mesh-look perforated leather at Fendi. Jean Paul Gaultier's sport-nosed 30th anniversary collection boasted hooded silk leggings, tunics and bubble dresses; and Martin Grant's sporty collection featured one standout grey marle smock dress and a maxi grey marle tent dress.
But Paris well and truly nailed fashion's futurist mood via three key collections.
Balenciaga sent out a resolutely modern collection of skin-tight gunmetal grey and copper trousers and armour-like gold leggings topped with boxy, articulated jackets and moulded cocktail dresses in wet-look PVC.
Hussein Chalayan spent six months developing five mechanical dresses which self-transformed on the runway – providing the season's most ambitious piece of theatre. Chalayan's tulle-overlaid, colour-blocked cocktail dresses seemed moreover reminiscent of 1920s Italian Futurist artist Giacomo Balla.
At Lanvin, Alber Elbaz used high-tech/high performance fabrics such as parachute silk, metallised satin, wool mixed with silicone and cotton mixed with paper to create a graphic silhouette that included micropleated baby-doll dresses, lab technician-look, short-sleeved shift dresses and draped, metallised satin bubble dresses – many bearing hard-edged exposed zipper detailing.
"There is a huge feeling of freedom of women in the world and we all feel it, but it's not about the '60s – because then it was about the body, now it's the mind," Elbaz told the Herald afterwards.
"I am not about the powerful design, but about women that are strong, women that are independent, they are free. These are my women, these are my girlfriends, these are the women that I work for and I work with, and I think that when they are free they can dream about tomorrow. When you are blocked you go backward to romantic and I think that romantic is past."
However some designers did in fact feel very, very romantic.
Romantic, heavily embellished and detailed "demi couture" evening wear abounded in many collections, with several finale garments (for example, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen) literally festooned with hand-finished applique flowers.
Australia's Toni Maticevski slotted in here with his heavily embellished, romantic evening wear, as did New York's Rodarte and Zac Posen, whose fuschia satin puffball micro-dress with rosette-festooned hem was swiftly snapped up by the Parisian vintage retailer Didier Ludot.
Anna Molinari designer Rossella Tarabini told the Herald her collection of embellished rag dresses had been inspired by the late 1990s, when today's younger generation of women in fact first started raiding vintage stores.
McQueen's ashen-faced models in magnificent Edwardian evening gowns, some boasting trompe l'oeil tulle overlay and exaggerated padded hips – that approached the girth of Gaultier's plus-sized model Velvet d'Amour – seemed like the ghosts of couture seasons long past.
Two collections somehow managed to bridge the sci-fi and demi-couture genres.
The first, from London's new star Christopher Kane, was a single-note collection of banded, fluorescent micro-dresses that were heavily embellished with lace, lacing and applique.
The second, was Marc Jacobs signature collection, which segued into a finale of heavily embellished froufrou evening wear.
Jacobs followed through the romantic mood with an entire collection of voluminous, layered, pannier skirts and corsets for Louis Vuitton.
Inspired by Tinkerbell and co, Jacob's ethereal Vuitton muses seemed as much a part of the season's fantasy genre as Barbarella.
"Our inspiration was fairies and things that were other-worldly and magical and beautiful and fresh and full of good feelings and energy" said Marc Jacobs backstage.
He added, "I don't know, maybe something in the imagination a little bit, not something that's so real".
Original post and comments.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
To the Manor bought: The engineering of an 'It' bag
Screen grab from The Times Online fashion blog.
Now we all know that luxury companies "gift" their new release handbags to the fashion posse. Don't we? "We" in the fashion press certainly understand it goes on, irrespective of whether we accept them or not. Truth be told however, Jo Public probably doesn't have a clue.
Truth also be told, fashion is not the only business that engages in duchessing. But latterly, it would appear, and certainly since the luxury boom of the late 1990s when handbags started getting equal billing to the clothes on the runways, the "gifting" of luxury handbags to major fashion editors appears to have gone on with greater gusto.
Coincidentally, over the same period, the sales of handbags and leathergoods have well eclipsed those of ready-to-wear at most luxury and fashion companies.
I have not personally witnessed the denouement of an it bag, until now that is.
It may well have something to do with the fact that this was the first time I had been dispatched to cover an entire fashion season, from go to woah. Although I'm sure the bag in question was out and about in New York, I didn't notice it. I did however notice "it" in London, indeed on day one of London Fashion Week. The bag, it seemed, was all over the event.
Which bag am I talking about? The quilted "Manor" bag launched by Burberry for the northern fall, as clutched by the ubermodel Kate Moss in the current Burberry ad campaign and as touted by Burberry since the fall shows in Milan in February as the "it" bag of the season.
Now quite obviously Burberry has the right to call its products whatever it likes, even if said products have not yet appeared on the market. Burberry spends quite a lot of money advertising. And to Jo Public presumably, these are quite clearly paid advertisements.
What is not quite so clear however is when a product such as the Manor bag starts getting spotted on the "right" people.
It was a handsome bag, I recall thinking to myself when I first saw it waft past in the February show in Milan. But had the Brit fash pack suddenly become so enamoured of the same it rushed en masse into Burberry boutiques to buy it? There seemed to be far too many Manor bags on the London Fashion Week market for that to be plausible.
When a member of the pack casually mentioned that, "Oh London fashion editors are paid shit money", my suspicions escalated.
It was at this point that I started asking myself, and others, the following questions: are there any it bags that have been granted it status purely on cool design, and, accordingly, via cool hunters seeking them out? Or do the companies in question have to actually offload bags to so-called fashion opinion leaders before anyone deigns to anoint them?
And if that's all that is required to catapult a new handbag into the "It" stratosphere moreover, isn't there a glaring differential between the must-have bag for which Jo Public has to fork out over $3000 (in Sydney) because she thinks it's a hot item, and the so-called must-have bag with which the poorly paid, freebie-loving fashion editor swans around shows? For the latter, surely, it's not a must-have bag at all – but rather, a must-take bag?
Then came the rather shocking answer from one luxury company source:"It's the only way we can get any publicity".
One senior fashion editor did however provide an interesting theory that purported some discretion might occasionally be involved in "It" bag selection.
Those power editors, she noted, who receive such a vast swag of luxury booty must by necessity make selections – and that in culling the must-haves from the must-have-nots, therefore their choices might genuinely carry some weight.
This begged the question of course, just what do "the editors who know" do with the rest of the booty? Auction it for charity? Give it away to minions? Sell it on eBay?
More than one magazine/beauty staffer has in fact been fired for selling promotional booty via same. Whatever the answer however, presumably if the luxury companies knew that those sporting cast-offs from the magazines were not must-have bags at all but rather, must-have-not bags, they wouldn't be talking them up quite so perkily in their press releases.
Just on press releases, I should include a special category here of editor who somewhat reluctantly finds herself suckered into the duchessing. Let's call her the "little bit pregnant" editor. I chanced upon one of these in London.
One day she had passionately slagged off the British fashion press for "regurgitating press releases". The next day she revealed that she herself had recently accepted a luxury handbag. She also revealed that a little note had been attached to the bag by the relevant company, with [words to the effect] "We hope you enjoy being an ambassador for X".
Would she show me the note? Fat chance of that.
"I don't want to bite the hand that feeds" she replied curtly, before insisting that the bag was strictly a thank you and under no circumstances a bribe aimed at influencing future content. No number of gift bags would corrupt the unfettered editorial integrity of her [independent] publication, she added.
There are few ethics in fashion glossies. Not only are staff members regularly asked to write about advertisers, even freelance copy can get "adjusted".
I came to the latter conclusion after a story I had written on luxury power players for one Australian glossy was tweaked in favour of one profiled company that was not a major player, but which in the published version had suddenly graduated to the ranks of LVMH, Richemont, etc. The company in question had taken out six pages of advertising in the same issue.
When we read, on a website such as www.edirectory.co.uk that the "Fabulous Burberry Manor bag in quilted beige leather" has been "tipped by top magazines to be autumn/winter 2006 'it' bag brand" we take it with a grain of salt, don't we? The website would say that because it is trying to flog Manor bags. And the magazines would say that, presumably, because Burberry is advertising in their pages and they want their ad reps to continue flogging ads to Burberry.
Newspapers are however a different kettle of fish. Or so I thought. And at this point, in the interests of full disclosure, I should add that ethics policies or not, every single fashion journalist who writes for a mainstream newspaper may well be a tiny bit pregnant.
Many of us – myself included – are bound by strict ethics policies that dictate that gifts must be returned. In some cases, journalists may also be bound by personal ethics policies. Suzy Menkes is renowned for her no gifts dictum.
But did Menkes drink Jean Paul Gaultier's champagne at his 30th birthday bash at Olympia on Saturday night? Since I wasn't at the party, I can't comment.
All I do know is that, while there is apparently no such thing as even a free lunch for Wall Street Journal journalists (or so one told me a couple of years ago), many of us who are bound by strict ethics policies regularly attend hosted lunches, dinners and parties. Perhaps all of our publications in future should pack us bento boxes and champagne hipflasks, so we can avoid quaffing LVMH and co canapes and piccolos at their events – and thereby avoid being accused of rigging the companies' respective stock prices.
But canapes and piccolos notwithstanding, I'm just not quite sure how far gone The Times of London might be in the duchessing gestation period. A little bit pregnant? Or completely up the duff? According to The Times' customer charter, which appears on its website:
"The Times in online format adheres to those principles which have guided the printed newspaper for more than 200 years: the integrity of editorial content and its complete separation and independence from the raising of revenue.
Advertisers and sponsors, essential as they are to our business, have never been able to exert any influence or in any way to compromise the editorial content. That remains the case online. In terms of sponsorship there will be complete transparency in any partnerships, the sponsors committing themselves to the understanding that they have no connection to, influence upon, or any power to shape, the editorial material or the judgments in it.
The Times Online, like the newspaper itself, abides by the codes of both the Advertising Standards Authority and the Press Complaints Commission".
But what appears on the blog section of The Times' London Fashion Week coverage [see top of post^] for spring/summer 2007? You bet, Burberry's Manor bag. Talked up, no less, as "the must-have bag at the shows".
We know for a fact that the bag was gifted to the paper. And although there is a – vague – disclaimer that free gifts abound at the shows, it is not clear that The Times team either accepts gifts – or indeed that the four-figure Manor bag was one of them.
In any event, the concept of "free gifts" would appear to be at loggerheads with The Times' "no gravy train" customer charter.
When it comes to the paper's opinion pieces on the spring/summer 2007 fashion season, we trust that they got off at Redfern.
Original post and comments.
Friday, October 6, 2006
Gaultier’s biggest winner: Runway star Velvet d’Amour
Day three of Paris Fashion Week and the skinny model debate had been raging for a fortnight. Ever since in fact the publicity-challenged Madrid Fashion Week decided to tap into one of the mainstream media's fave fashion subjects - underweight models - by banning anyone with a BMI below X. Conveniently of course, the Top Ten runway stars always seem to skip Madrid.
What a delight then to meet Velvet d'Amour, Jean Paul Gaultier's US-born, Paris-based, larger-than-life runway star (who made one exit).
And while she's not going to be putting Daria, Gemma, Snejana, Irina and co out of business any time soon, the Gaultier show was nevertheless d'Amour's second major Paris runway appearance in twelve months. Upon fleeing the backstage media scrum, I encountered d'Amour near the front door exit and couldn't resist stopping to have a chat.
ARE YOU A MODEL OR ACTRESS?
I push size acceptance along and kind of help the diversity of beauty. That's my main goal in life.
DO YOU LIVE IN PARIS?
I do. I just did a film called Avida, that was produced by Mathieu Kassovitz and it was Benoit Delepine and Gustave de Kervern [directing] and Claude Chabrol was in it. It's quite a surreal kind of Bunuel-type film, black and white, very profound.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN PARIS?
Eleven years now.
AND YOU MODEL?
You know, I do everything basically. I've modelled in two shows, I've been acting... It was actually contemporary dance that initially took me in.
MAY I ASK WHAT SIZE YOU ARE?
Sure you can definitely ask what size I am. I'm damned proud of my size. I'm a 3X/4X in American. Which is probably, I mean I weigh probably 290 pounds, I'm 5'8".
IN USING A LARGER MODEL SUCH AS YOURSELF DO YOU FEEL THAT GAULTIER IS GENUINELY ADDRESSING THE SIZE ISSUE OR DO YOU THINK IT COULD BE JUST A TOKEN THING?
Well no, what's important to me is the fact that in Spain they had this thing about the models being too thin. If you tell me somebody's too thin, if you tell me somebody's too fat, you're still being prejudiced. The point is, is diversity. Realistically there is much more thin women than fat women in the modelling industry.
LAST WEEK DOLCE E GABBANA SENT OUT MODELS WITH PADDED CORSETS TO GIVE THEM "J-LO" ASSES. BY THE SAME TOKEN THEY COULD SIMPLY HAVE USED LARGER-SIZED MODELS, NOT JUST PADDED SKINNY ONES. DO YOU WORRY THAT YOU'RE BEING USED AS A PUBLICITY GIMMICK BY FASHION DESIGNERS?
No not at all. The reason that I don't feel that is because regardless of even if they were to be using me as a gimmick factor, there are women who will be touched by what I did and I mean, the film [Avida) actually went to Cannes. So I had a dress and I was on the red carpet at Cannes and there were blogs for BBWS [Big Beautiful Women] that were saying, "Oh my gosh, Velvet was on the red carpet and she was showing her arms". Which is something I don't ever think about but it takes you back to the time when there are a lot of women who won't show their arms. So the fact that something as simple as that can be so meaningful to people who... if you're genuinely obese, like genuinely obese people, and there are more and more obese people in the world, some of them are afraid to go outside because they are so harrassed.
THE REST OF GAULTIER'S SHOW SEEMED TO BE ABOUT SPORT. IT OPENED WITH A TABLEAU OF FITNESS EQUIPMENT AND A SOUNDTRACK TALKING ABOUT AEROBICS AND WORKING OUT. IT DOESN'T QUITE GEL WITH THE CONCEPT OF OBESITY.
Yes but I think the reality is that if you're big, you're not sporty. I happen to swim 120 laps three times a week.
THE AVERAGE DOCTOR WOULD HOWEVER SAY THAT OBESITY IS NOT HEALTHY PERIOD, FOR YOUR HEART, BLOOD PRESSURE ETC..
Certainly and the average doctor would be the average doctor in doing that. Because I have no high blood pressure, I have no high cholesterol. And the reality is there's going to be fat people... like there always have been fat people, there always will be fat people.
THERE JUST SEEM TO BE A LOT MORE OF THEM NOWADAYS.
Certainly and you do see more of them these days and that's probably a part of the reason that they're maybe incorporating me, I don't know. I mean I think he's probably incorporating me because I have an amazing personality and I'm very fun and I'm a diva at heart. I think it is actually more about that than my size.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TV PROGRAMS SUCH AS THE BIGGEST LOSER? DO YOU THINK THAT THEY'RE A GOOD IDEA IN ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO LOSE WEIGHT?
If you track the people who lose weight on those programs, they all gain it back. And so I think statistically the amount of people who actually genuinely lose weight and don't gain it back, is very rare. And I think what you should be working towards in my personal opinion, is not necessarily being fat or being thin but being healthy. And if someone feels badly enough, if you say, "You're so fat"... Have you ever been a fat person going to a gym? It's ridiculous. You go in and you are totally scoffed at. And humiliated. Because the people who are in the gyms, if you live in the city, Manhattan or wherever, they're very look conscious so it takes a very strong person to be able to go and to exercise. Most people my size primarily should be swimming because it's too much weight for your bones and that. So when you go swimming... I mean a fat person in a swimsuit... come with me swimming some time and you'll see that people will obviously laugh out loud when you walk right by. I can take it because I am very happy in my own body but there are so many women who can't which, if you add that to the fact that they're not going to feel comfortable exercising, then they're not going to be healthy.
BUT DO YOU THINK THAT LARGER PEOPLE... AND THERE ARE OF COURSE MUCH LARGER PEOPLE THAN YOU...
You can say fat people, that's OK.
...WHO CAN'T WALK BECAUSE THEY ARE SO LARGE, WHO CAN'T GET ON A PLANE BECAUSE THE SEAT ISN'T BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE THEM... DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED TO CELEBRATE WHATEVER SIZE THEY ARE - OR BE ENCOURAGED TO LOOK AFTER THEIR HEALTH BY LOSING WEIGHT?
I think that they shouldn't be judged that's what I think. I think that's there's always going to be people who for whatever reason are going to be very different and that certainly is one of those, you know, extreme situations. I think what makes me very upset is seeing the programs that are based on these people where they have them naked and they're photographing them with video cameras. And we're made to be... made fun of. That makes me very upset.
BUT OBESITY IS IN FACT KILLING A LOT OF PEOPLE.
No I think if you look at what kills you as an obese person, it's really yoyo dieting that kills you. Because it changes your electrolytes and that's the factor that comes into play where you have heart attacks. If you stay relatively fat and you work out and you're healthy, then there's less chance of you having a heart attack. What gives you a heart attack is constant yoyo dieting, losing massive amounts of weight, gaining massive amounts of weight. For me, I went on Fen-Phen at one point in my life. They told me, "It's just going to be like you have a blood pressure drug, everyone has high blood pressure, you happen to have obesity, you're going to take it for the rest of your life, that's going to be that". And I went on it, and it was only after I lost 80 pounds in a matter of months, that thereafter everyone was like, "Well you know... it's causing holes in people's hearts". So the fact that it was the fastest-approved drug in American history only because they wanted to you know, address, quote unquote, obesity, they didn't make any research in it. So they're killing obese people because of that? That's ridiculous. And for me, what it is, it's the judgment. Because you can look at me and say "OK, you're fat, you're obese, therefore you're unhealthy". How many people here [at the Gaultier show] snort cocaine? How many people here drink? How many people here smoke? I mean it's ridiculous. So it's this health judgment based on initial appearance that I find so condescending. Because noone really has any idea what my health is versus anyone else's health.
HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU ARE IN FASHION SHOWS AND YOU'RE SURROUNDED BY SKINNY MODELS?
Oh it's great, I love it.
THEY MIGHT NOT NECESSARILY BE ANOREXIC - BUT MOST ARE NEVERTHELESS SKIN AND BONE.
You know, I think that a lot of them are just naturally thin. And I've got no problem with that.
SOME AVERAGE-SIZED WOMEN WHO ARE A LITTLE BIT LARGER THAN THE NORM FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE AROUND THIN WOMEN.
Oh I don't, I love it. Well see I started out photographing models and that's actually where my size acceptance came into play. Because I was shooting models and I was not feeling good about my body and I was shooting women who were the ideal of beauty. And I was thinking, "They're not happy with themselves". And that's what was amazing to me, that was a huge revelation in fact. That here I was with these ideals of feminine beauty and they hated their bodies. Now if these women who are the ideals of feminine beauty of our society hate their bodies, then what exactly is going on?
THEY ARE IN FACT UNDER PRESSURE TO SAY THIN. MODELS ARE OFTEN TOLD BY THEIR AGENTS TO LOSE WEIGHT, SOME ARE EVEN TOLD TO HAVE LIPOSUCTION.
Oh yeah. I know of some models who are supermodels who have had liposuction, for a fact. And it's sad really because for me, it's a question of the more women you know, [who] don't like their body, the less energy they're going to spend on really using their genuine creativity and not wasting it on their looks at all times. Certainly looks are important but there are so many women who obsess, who speak constantly of dieting, constantly of losing weight, and their perception is, if they are a certain size, they will be happy. Much in the same way, that in some societies, if you're rich you will be happy. But that's not the essence of happiness.
PRESUMABLY GAULTIER HAD TO MAKE SOMETHING SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU. DO YOU GET TO KEEP IT?
Yes he did have to make something special for me. I'm sure I probably will. Initially I wasn't meant to keep [John] Galliano's because the historian wanted to keep it and my corset was underneath it, however John being who he is ended up giving it to me which is very kind of him.
DO YOU FEEL THAT DESIGNERS CATER ENOUGH TO LARGER SIZES?
I feel that the sexuality of bigger women is what is sort of sad. Because I feel that sexuality is power in some sense in women, whether we like to agree with that or not, I think it's true. And I think that either women who are fat.... If you put "fat" in the website you'll see porn, porn, porn, porn... So either total porn or they're totally asexual in muumuu's. And if they're on a television show they tend to be the third wheel, they tend to be not really addressed as sexual beings. So I think for me that's kind of the fine line that I'm trying to get in. And that's what I think he [Gaultier] saw in my portfolio because I'm an artist at heart. What I've done is... basically why I'm even here... I mean I'm 39. So in my book I've done like a swimsuit shoot with me and sort of taking the piss. Like trying to do Sports Illustrated with my body. Because I'm blessed with a quote, unquote, pretty face where people would accept it, it's an easy way for me too...
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE RECENT SKINNY MODEL DEBATE?
I think what's interesting about it is you can't say anyone's too skinny or too fat. I think you saw when I came out, the reaction [applause] and I think that people just want diversity, you know.
SURE, HOWEVER VOGUE PROBABLY ISN'T RUSHING TO USE LARGE WOMEN ON ITS COVER.
I think American Vogue probably wouldn't but French Vogue... I was in the February issue. Based on the Galliano show, [fashion photographer] Nick Knight took some of us and we actually wrote our dreams. So if you go to www.showstudio.com, go into the archives and there is a piece called Editing Fashion and you can listen to my dream.
YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU HAVE SOME AUSTRALIAN FRIENDS.
Well... I just want to say that Australian men are fucking hot. And I'm very sorry actually because I loved Steve Irwin, as a typical American, and I thought he was an amazing person. And actually it's funny, you're going to think this is very silly but I was talking to [fellow Gaultier catwalker] Gemma Ward and I said that I dedicated my runway to Steve Irwin.
THERE WAS SOME INDUSTRY GOSSIP THAT SHE HAD SKIPPED THE MILAN SHOWS BECAUSE SHE HAD PUT ON WEIGHT.
Oh no way. Gemma is not a fatty let me tell you right now.
HOW DID YOU DEDICATE YOUR SHOW TO STEVE IRWIN?
Well no, I was just talking to some people and I said that he was just such an amazing person and I felt like he lived his life so fully. And I felt like that's how I live too and so I just thought I'm going to dedicate this show to Steve Irwin. In my heart, when I go out there I'm going to have his spirit and I did damn it.
JUST WATCH OUT FOR THE STINGRAYS.
That was tragic and I'd never even considered stingrays are anything to be scared of. It wasn't his fault. We can't blame him. He's teetered over fucking Great Whites and nothing's happened to him. I think you can't blame somebody for their death. What was meant to be was meant to be. He thought he was going to die young, he lived a great life...
Did you see Dita [Von Teese, in the audience]? Dita does great porn, I have one of her videos.
DO YOU DO PORN?
No I don't do porn. Why, do you want to do one with me?
I THINK YOU MIGHT SQUASH ME.
I think you might like it.
Original post and comments.
What a delight then to meet Velvet d'Amour, Jean Paul Gaultier's US-born, Paris-based, larger-than-life runway star (who made one exit).
And while she's not going to be putting Daria, Gemma, Snejana, Irina and co out of business any time soon, the Gaultier show was nevertheless d'Amour's second major Paris runway appearance in twelve months. Upon fleeing the backstage media scrum, I encountered d'Amour near the front door exit and couldn't resist stopping to have a chat.
ARE YOU A MODEL OR ACTRESS?
I push size acceptance along and kind of help the diversity of beauty. That's my main goal in life.
DO YOU LIVE IN PARIS?
I do. I just did a film called Avida, that was produced by Mathieu Kassovitz and it was Benoit Delepine and Gustave de Kervern [directing] and Claude Chabrol was in it. It's quite a surreal kind of Bunuel-type film, black and white, very profound.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN PARIS?
Eleven years now.
AND YOU MODEL?
You know, I do everything basically. I've modelled in two shows, I've been acting... It was actually contemporary dance that initially took me in.
MAY I ASK WHAT SIZE YOU ARE?
Sure you can definitely ask what size I am. I'm damned proud of my size. I'm a 3X/4X in American. Which is probably, I mean I weigh probably 290 pounds, I'm 5'8".
IN USING A LARGER MODEL SUCH AS YOURSELF DO YOU FEEL THAT GAULTIER IS GENUINELY ADDRESSING THE SIZE ISSUE OR DO YOU THINK IT COULD BE JUST A TOKEN THING?
Well no, what's important to me is the fact that in Spain they had this thing about the models being too thin. If you tell me somebody's too thin, if you tell me somebody's too fat, you're still being prejudiced. The point is, is diversity. Realistically there is much more thin women than fat women in the modelling industry.
LAST WEEK DOLCE E GABBANA SENT OUT MODELS WITH PADDED CORSETS TO GIVE THEM "J-LO" ASSES. BY THE SAME TOKEN THEY COULD SIMPLY HAVE USED LARGER-SIZED MODELS, NOT JUST PADDED SKINNY ONES. DO YOU WORRY THAT YOU'RE BEING USED AS A PUBLICITY GIMMICK BY FASHION DESIGNERS?
No not at all. The reason that I don't feel that is because regardless of even if they were to be using me as a gimmick factor, there are women who will be touched by what I did and I mean, the film [Avida) actually went to Cannes. So I had a dress and I was on the red carpet at Cannes and there were blogs for BBWS [Big Beautiful Women] that were saying, "Oh my gosh, Velvet was on the red carpet and she was showing her arms". Which is something I don't ever think about but it takes you back to the time when there are a lot of women who won't show their arms. So the fact that something as simple as that can be so meaningful to people who... if you're genuinely obese, like genuinely obese people, and there are more and more obese people in the world, some of them are afraid to go outside because they are so harrassed.
THE REST OF GAULTIER'S SHOW SEEMED TO BE ABOUT SPORT. IT OPENED WITH A TABLEAU OF FITNESS EQUIPMENT AND A SOUNDTRACK TALKING ABOUT AEROBICS AND WORKING OUT. IT DOESN'T QUITE GEL WITH THE CONCEPT OF OBESITY.
Yes but I think the reality is that if you're big, you're not sporty. I happen to swim 120 laps three times a week.
THE AVERAGE DOCTOR WOULD HOWEVER SAY THAT OBESITY IS NOT HEALTHY PERIOD, FOR YOUR HEART, BLOOD PRESSURE ETC..
Certainly and the average doctor would be the average doctor in doing that. Because I have no high blood pressure, I have no high cholesterol. And the reality is there's going to be fat people... like there always have been fat people, there always will be fat people.
THERE JUST SEEM TO BE A LOT MORE OF THEM NOWADAYS.
Certainly and you do see more of them these days and that's probably a part of the reason that they're maybe incorporating me, I don't know. I mean I think he's probably incorporating me because I have an amazing personality and I'm very fun and I'm a diva at heart. I think it is actually more about that than my size.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TV PROGRAMS SUCH AS THE BIGGEST LOSER? DO YOU THINK THAT THEY'RE A GOOD IDEA IN ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO LOSE WEIGHT?
If you track the people who lose weight on those programs, they all gain it back. And so I think statistically the amount of people who actually genuinely lose weight and don't gain it back, is very rare. And I think what you should be working towards in my personal opinion, is not necessarily being fat or being thin but being healthy. And if someone feels badly enough, if you say, "You're so fat"... Have you ever been a fat person going to a gym? It's ridiculous. You go in and you are totally scoffed at. And humiliated. Because the people who are in the gyms, if you live in the city, Manhattan or wherever, they're very look conscious so it takes a very strong person to be able to go and to exercise. Most people my size primarily should be swimming because it's too much weight for your bones and that. So when you go swimming... I mean a fat person in a swimsuit... come with me swimming some time and you'll see that people will obviously laugh out loud when you walk right by. I can take it because I am very happy in my own body but there are so many women who can't which, if you add that to the fact that they're not going to feel comfortable exercising, then they're not going to be healthy.
BUT DO YOU THINK THAT LARGER PEOPLE... AND THERE ARE OF COURSE MUCH LARGER PEOPLE THAN YOU...
You can say fat people, that's OK.
...WHO CAN'T WALK BECAUSE THEY ARE SO LARGE, WHO CAN'T GET ON A PLANE BECAUSE THE SEAT ISN'T BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE THEM... DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED TO CELEBRATE WHATEVER SIZE THEY ARE - OR BE ENCOURAGED TO LOOK AFTER THEIR HEALTH BY LOSING WEIGHT?
I think that they shouldn't be judged that's what I think. I think that's there's always going to be people who for whatever reason are going to be very different and that certainly is one of those, you know, extreme situations. I think what makes me very upset is seeing the programs that are based on these people where they have them naked and they're photographing them with video cameras. And we're made to be... made fun of. That makes me very upset.
BUT OBESITY IS IN FACT KILLING A LOT OF PEOPLE.
No I think if you look at what kills you as an obese person, it's really yoyo dieting that kills you. Because it changes your electrolytes and that's the factor that comes into play where you have heart attacks. If you stay relatively fat and you work out and you're healthy, then there's less chance of you having a heart attack. What gives you a heart attack is constant yoyo dieting, losing massive amounts of weight, gaining massive amounts of weight. For me, I went on Fen-Phen at one point in my life. They told me, "It's just going to be like you have a blood pressure drug, everyone has high blood pressure, you happen to have obesity, you're going to take it for the rest of your life, that's going to be that". And I went on it, and it was only after I lost 80 pounds in a matter of months, that thereafter everyone was like, "Well you know... it's causing holes in people's hearts". So the fact that it was the fastest-approved drug in American history only because they wanted to you know, address, quote unquote, obesity, they didn't make any research in it. So they're killing obese people because of that? That's ridiculous. And for me, what it is, it's the judgment. Because you can look at me and say "OK, you're fat, you're obese, therefore you're unhealthy". How many people here [at the Gaultier show] snort cocaine? How many people here drink? How many people here smoke? I mean it's ridiculous. So it's this health judgment based on initial appearance that I find so condescending. Because noone really has any idea what my health is versus anyone else's health.
HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU ARE IN FASHION SHOWS AND YOU'RE SURROUNDED BY SKINNY MODELS?
Oh it's great, I love it.
THEY MIGHT NOT NECESSARILY BE ANOREXIC - BUT MOST ARE NEVERTHELESS SKIN AND BONE.
You know, I think that a lot of them are just naturally thin. And I've got no problem with that.
SOME AVERAGE-SIZED WOMEN WHO ARE A LITTLE BIT LARGER THAN THE NORM FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE AROUND THIN WOMEN.
Oh I don't, I love it. Well see I started out photographing models and that's actually where my size acceptance came into play. Because I was shooting models and I was not feeling good about my body and I was shooting women who were the ideal of beauty. And I was thinking, "They're not happy with themselves". And that's what was amazing to me, that was a huge revelation in fact. That here I was with these ideals of feminine beauty and they hated their bodies. Now if these women who are the ideals of feminine beauty of our society hate their bodies, then what exactly is going on?
THEY ARE IN FACT UNDER PRESSURE TO SAY THIN. MODELS ARE OFTEN TOLD BY THEIR AGENTS TO LOSE WEIGHT, SOME ARE EVEN TOLD TO HAVE LIPOSUCTION.
Oh yeah. I know of some models who are supermodels who have had liposuction, for a fact. And it's sad really because for me, it's a question of the more women you know, [who] don't like their body, the less energy they're going to spend on really using their genuine creativity and not wasting it on their looks at all times. Certainly looks are important but there are so many women who obsess, who speak constantly of dieting, constantly of losing weight, and their perception is, if they are a certain size, they will be happy. Much in the same way, that in some societies, if you're rich you will be happy. But that's not the essence of happiness.
PRESUMABLY GAULTIER HAD TO MAKE SOMETHING SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU. DO YOU GET TO KEEP IT?
Yes he did have to make something special for me. I'm sure I probably will. Initially I wasn't meant to keep [John] Galliano's because the historian wanted to keep it and my corset was underneath it, however John being who he is ended up giving it to me which is very kind of him.
DO YOU FEEL THAT DESIGNERS CATER ENOUGH TO LARGER SIZES?
I feel that the sexuality of bigger women is what is sort of sad. Because I feel that sexuality is power in some sense in women, whether we like to agree with that or not, I think it's true. And I think that either women who are fat.... If you put "fat" in the website you'll see porn, porn, porn, porn... So either total porn or they're totally asexual in muumuu's. And if they're on a television show they tend to be the third wheel, they tend to be not really addressed as sexual beings. So I think for me that's kind of the fine line that I'm trying to get in. And that's what I think he [Gaultier] saw in my portfolio because I'm an artist at heart. What I've done is... basically why I'm even here... I mean I'm 39. So in my book I've done like a swimsuit shoot with me and sort of taking the piss. Like trying to do Sports Illustrated with my body. Because I'm blessed with a quote, unquote, pretty face where people would accept it, it's an easy way for me too...
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE RECENT SKINNY MODEL DEBATE?
I think what's interesting about it is you can't say anyone's too skinny or too fat. I think you saw when I came out, the reaction [applause] and I think that people just want diversity, you know.
SURE, HOWEVER VOGUE PROBABLY ISN'T RUSHING TO USE LARGE WOMEN ON ITS COVER.
I think American Vogue probably wouldn't but French Vogue... I was in the February issue. Based on the Galliano show, [fashion photographer] Nick Knight took some of us and we actually wrote our dreams. So if you go to www.showstudio.com, go into the archives and there is a piece called Editing Fashion and you can listen to my dream.
YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU HAVE SOME AUSTRALIAN FRIENDS.
Well... I just want to say that Australian men are fucking hot. And I'm very sorry actually because I loved Steve Irwin, as a typical American, and I thought he was an amazing person. And actually it's funny, you're going to think this is very silly but I was talking to [fellow Gaultier catwalker] Gemma Ward and I said that I dedicated my runway to Steve Irwin.
THERE WAS SOME INDUSTRY GOSSIP THAT SHE HAD SKIPPED THE MILAN SHOWS BECAUSE SHE HAD PUT ON WEIGHT.
Oh no way. Gemma is not a fatty let me tell you right now.
HOW DID YOU DEDICATE YOUR SHOW TO STEVE IRWIN?
Well no, I was just talking to some people and I said that he was just such an amazing person and I felt like he lived his life so fully. And I felt like that's how I live too and so I just thought I'm going to dedicate this show to Steve Irwin. In my heart, when I go out there I'm going to have his spirit and I did damn it.
JUST WATCH OUT FOR THE STINGRAYS.
That was tragic and I'd never even considered stingrays are anything to be scared of. It wasn't his fault. We can't blame him. He's teetered over fucking Great Whites and nothing's happened to him. I think you can't blame somebody for their death. What was meant to be was meant to be. He thought he was going to die young, he lived a great life...
Did you see Dita [Von Teese, in the audience]? Dita does great porn, I have one of her videos.
DO YOU DO PORN?
No I don't do porn. Why, do you want to do one with me?
I THINK YOU MIGHT SQUASH ME.
I think you might like it.
Original post and comments.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Richmond's stunning decade creams Gucci's 85th
Now don't get me wrong. It's not that the Gucci party wasn't nice. It was very nice. A series of elegant, ivy and bay leaf-lined black/transparent marquees had been erected on some vacant block or park in Milan's Via Melegari last Wednesday night to create a mini Gucci world. The R&B artist John Legend performed. The service was impeccable. People "got down" nicely – but not naughtily.
The music was nice – but not good, although it was definitely better than the music at Armani's One Night Only bash on the previous Thursday in London, after Beyonce, Bryan Ferry and 50 Cent left the stage.
Some flicked through the nice new tome that has been produced to mark the company's 85th birthday – a book which, in spite of its distinctive post-1996 advertising imagery, seemed somewhat bereft of Tom Ford. That seemed strange given that Ford was the creative who put the brand back on the map after it had ventured off-road. Perhaps what the Gucci party really needed was Ford.
The following night's John Richmond party, by contrast, wasn't nice at all. It was packed. It was sweaty. It was rude, It was loud.
Not to put too fine a point on it, it rocked.
But let me just backtrack a little. I had been invited to the party by Adil, a London-based DJ who I had originally met on the previous Friday at the afterparty for Boy George's B-Rude label at London's Met Bar.
The Met Bar is located inside the swank Metropolitan Hotel, which is owned by the chic, and terribly cashed-up, Singaporean Christina Ong. Adil is the Met Bar's music director, who books the venue's music talent. He was also going to be DJ-ing at Richmond's show and after-party.
After chatting, it emerged that Adil already knew one Australian, funnily enough, Sydney jeweller Sarina Suriano.
Adil had also been able to partially placate me after I had been led by another Met Bar acquaintance – a London editor for Tatler Asia, Michelle Roberts – into the Boy George "sweet factory" that was tucked inside the hotel's lobby shop.
Apparently a Boy George party signature, the sweet factory was essentially one entire shop wall that had been converted into a lolly showcase: shelf upon shelf containing baskets of jelly babies, marshmallows and other confections.
After scoffing a half dozen cola jelly babies, I was suddenly gripped by a terrible realisation. What if Boy George had slipped some acid into the sweets as a special party favour for guests?
Having been the victim of a similar spiking at the Melbourne Cup marquee of a far bigger brand than B-Rude, I wasn't keen for a repeat performance – not with a plane to Milan to catch in the early AM at any rate.
Adil assured me that Mrs Ong would never be a party to anything like that inside her hotel.
I canvassed a second opinion via SMS with someone who isn't on Ong's payroll – but who knows a party favour when he sees one.
"Very unlikely unless it's a private party for a select few," came the immediate response. I calmed down.
Adil helped moreover ID something that had been bugging me for the past fortnight, ever since I first heard it at seemingly every second show in New York and then again in London. It seemed to be, at one point, the theme tune of the SS07 season. But noone had been able to tell me exactly what it was. Not Adil. Not even Matthew Stone – one of London's hottest DJs – who I had met at a party on the Monday night and to whom I found myself, somewhat awkwardly, whistling and singing the song. But to no avail.
As I was coming up the stairs from the Met Bar bathroom however, I heard whistling. It was THE song. I rushed out, grabbed Adil and demanded he grill the DJ as to its origins. As it emerged, the song is called Young Folks, from Swedish outfit Peter, Bjorn and John.
So, there I was, almost one week later in Milan, standing outside the Rotunda della Besana, a 17th century former church and cemetery.
I had already been inside the venue that afternoon for the John Richmond show and the afterparty was in the same place. Richmond was of course part of London's 1980s new generation fashion boom and one half of a stellar hybrid label called Richmond Cornejo. I still have a black Lycra, cyclist-inspired Richmond Cornejo microdress. For some reason I've never been able to throw it out.
Cornejo took off to New York where she runs a label called Zero Maria Cornejo. Ten years ago Richmond hooked up with Italian manufacturer and distributor Saverio Moschillo, hence the decade birthday bash.
Some six hours after the fashion show, the gates were shut and a large number of people had gathered outside waiting to get in. At one point it seemed there were several hundred people standing there. And they were becoming increasingly agitated.
Understandably, they were pissed off that they had been invited to arrive at a party at 11.30pm only to find themselves still locked outside one hour later. At one point some people near the gate started shouting loudly and it threatened to turn ugly.
I should note that these were not fashion people. They might have been going to a fashion party but unlike the internationals who had been populating the Milan shows all week – there were no black platforms, opaque black tights or early adopter sack dresses. There didn't even appear to be any skinny jeans. Instead "good" jeans, "good" shirts, "good" suits and some fairly non-descript women's clothing.
If this was a snapshot of Milanese youth, it struck me how terribly conservative it was. Some wonder why there's no revolution on Milan's runways.
Breaking through the sartorial monotony however came a troika of – non Italian – supermodels. The Lilies Cole and Donaldson and Irina Lazareanu.
Cole was channelling Lady Macbeth in a loose, full-length, strapless black dress and both she and Lazareanu were sporting black headbands – but not Prada-style Alice bands, rather in the er, Jimmy Hendrix vein. I had to assume the supes were there to see Stunners International. But more on the Stunners later.
I contemplated leaving. After spending three weeks in three cities hanging around for shows, it was the last thing I felt like doing. Then the gates suddenly opened, the crowd surged forward, I found myself at the gate and eventually, inside the venue.
Yet more people were inside on the lawns. I later heard that some 2000 invitations had been sent out. The Richmond/Moschilla camp must have spent a motza on the party, which included a dinner for 300 after the show.
I ventured inside the main room. You could hardly move there were so many people. It was unbelievably loud. Under the central cupola structure a swagged canopy of lights had been suspended over a central black stage.
At this point I should just briefly backtrack again, to something that happened in the middle of the dancefloor at the One Night Only do in London exactly one week beforehand. Just as I was blogging, I received an SMS from a Sydney publicist who I have never met:
"I like yr burlesque dita coverage. Bq fever has hit Sydney".
I was blogging and trying to concentrate. Von Teese is the world's most famous burlesque artiste – and the wife of Marilyn Manson – and I had profiled her on two recent occasions.
"Que?" was all I could think to text back, before asking for the publicist's email address.
Funnily enough, one week to the day after that cryptic SMS, guess who turned out to be Richmond's VIP entertainment? Dita Von Teese.
By far the most amusing aspect of Von Teese's energetic "Girl in a glass" performance however, was not Von Teese but rather, the looks on the faces of Cole, Donaldson and Lazareanu as they watched gobsmacked. They were directly facing me on the other side of the dancefloor and as Von Teese performed, they stared wide-eyed at the spectacle, with the kind of embarrassed smiles that you see at hen's nights. It was as if they had never seen a near-naked woman in a G-string before. This struck me as odd given the volume of same with which the backstage area of any fashion show is usually littered.
I followed Adil to the DJ's booth which was located at the back wall of the main room. Elevated to about three metres via four very steep stairs – which were difficult to negotiate in a pencil skirt and espadrille wedges let me tell you – the booth resembled a three-storey eagle's nest overlooking the entire room and dancefloor.
We arrived in the booth to discover Stunners International in action.
Yes that's actually their name. A London-based collective of professional – male – models who DJ and nightclub-promote on the side, apparently there are five Stunners all up. Only two had been booked that night: the tall blond, androgynous – and seemingly very sensitive – Christoffer Fagerli (whose campaign credits include Dior Homme) and the equally tall, brunette, hyperactive exhibitionist Wade Crescent.
They are both, apparently, Swedish. They were wearing a "uniform" of matching skinny tuxedo trousers, braces and no shirts. And they looked like they were having fun, hooting it up as they spun the decks. Considering that modelling is about the only profession in the world where women outearn men, I say good luck to them.
At one point Cole entered the booth and for a moment I thought she was about to make some Von Teese moves on Crescent. No such luck – they just enjoyed a bit of brief fullbody frottage, like two stick insects brittily greeting each other.
Cole and her model mates then disappeared, presumably to get some beauty sleep in before the Friday shows.
The night kicked on. Richmond popped in and out of the booth with a microphone in hand. Next thing he was down on the stage asking people to clear the area. At one point he reverted to his punk adolescence and pushed someone straight off the stage.
Dita Von Teese emerged to commence another striptease. As she began however, something distracted me: Stunners International started taking off their own clothes directly in front of me.
They were changing out of their uniforms and into their regular jeans and T-shirts. The Stunners had clocked off. But they didn't go downstairs and join the party. Instead they hung around the DJ booth. As became increasingly obvious to all concerned, that was where the real party was that night.
Adil played Young Folks – apparently now his fave new track. We all got down. It was getting funkier and hotter by the minute. I wondered precisely how I was going to file a news story at 7am the following morning.
At this point a black man with dreadlocks and a small entourage arrived in the booth.
Someone handed Adil a CD and the black dude, a microphone. I was told his name was Julio. I'd never heard of him and figured, he was some crap Italian rapper. Although Richmond must have invited him to the party apparently it was news to Adil that anyone would be performing like that.
The black dude sang to a couple of tracks from the steps of the DJ booth. Then a terribly familiar track came on, the room went off and I suddenly came to my senses.
It wasn't Julio, it was Coolio.
And he was mouthing off to Gangsta's Paradise in Milan.
"Mate, you're definitely in a gangster's paradise," I felt like telling him.
A cameraman who had been following Richmond around for most of the evening came up into the booth and started filming Coolio, filming Richmond and filming both of them singing to the crowd.
Julio quit singing and yes, you guessed it, stayed put in the DJ booth. The booth's population now consisted of a delinquent-turned-rap star, two models-turned-DJs, a DJ-turned DJ-wrangler, a journalist-turned-blogger, Richmond, the cameraman and a few sundry hangers on.
A diminutive woman in a nude-coloured satin bustier and unattractive black bootleg flares climbed into the booth and started boogying with Coolio, thrusting her ample – and quite unsolicited – bottom against him right in front of me.
Coolio copped a quick feel of the merchandise.
I said to Coolio, [pointing to an attractive black woman in a long dress sitting on the upper stairs] "Isn't that your woman over there?"
He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I don't want it – I just like to know that it's there."
But I couldn't help Coolio with his booty predicament because I was about to have my own proposition to deal with.
Crescent suddenly started furiously gesticulating towards me, then back to himself and Fagerli. He did it a few times and mouthed a few words. I was pretty sure I had gotten the gist of it but just for the purposes of clarity I asked him to confirm, and from memory no less than two times.
The proposal was exactly what I had suspected: a Stunners International menage a trois.
My head reeled back in laughter.
"That's a little bit too Gonzo," I replied.
In politely declining of course, I'll never know whether Fagerli had any inkling that he was being included in Crescent's deal. Or whether in fact, "Would you like to bonk two musically-endowed male Swedish supermodels?" was merely a rhetorical question in no need of a sensible answer.
The music bopped on. The temperature rose. The DJ booth continued to go off. I looked at Adil and he looked at me. We both seemed to be thinking, "What the hell is going on?"
At that point, I discovered the long-haired cameraman who had been filming Richmond all night, madly dancing on the booth's middle podium, to my immediate left. Still with camera in hand, he turned it around so that the lens faced his head and started filming himself head-banging to the music, with hair swooshing up and down.
"Yes, this is definitely Spinal Tap," I thought to myself.
Then suddenly the lights came up. The music stopped. The magic evaporated. It wasn't Last Drinks, but Outta There pronto folks.
The Stunners, Adil and I walked outside into a melee of taxis and removal trucks that were dismantling the venue and went our separate ways in the cool, autumn Milanese morning.
I'll never look at that Richmond Cornejo microdress in the same light again.
Original post and comments.
The music was nice – but not good, although it was definitely better than the music at Armani's One Night Only bash on the previous Thursday in London, after Beyonce, Bryan Ferry and 50 Cent left the stage.
Some flicked through the nice new tome that has been produced to mark the company's 85th birthday – a book which, in spite of its distinctive post-1996 advertising imagery, seemed somewhat bereft of Tom Ford. That seemed strange given that Ford was the creative who put the brand back on the map after it had ventured off-road. Perhaps what the Gucci party really needed was Ford.
The following night's John Richmond party, by contrast, wasn't nice at all. It was packed. It was sweaty. It was rude, It was loud.
Not to put too fine a point on it, it rocked.
But let me just backtrack a little. I had been invited to the party by Adil, a London-based DJ who I had originally met on the previous Friday at the afterparty for Boy George's B-Rude label at London's Met Bar.
The Met Bar is located inside the swank Metropolitan Hotel, which is owned by the chic, and terribly cashed-up, Singaporean Christina Ong. Adil is the Met Bar's music director, who books the venue's music talent. He was also going to be DJ-ing at Richmond's show and after-party.
After chatting, it emerged that Adil already knew one Australian, funnily enough, Sydney jeweller Sarina Suriano.
Adil had also been able to partially placate me after I had been led by another Met Bar acquaintance – a London editor for Tatler Asia, Michelle Roberts – into the Boy George "sweet factory" that was tucked inside the hotel's lobby shop.
Apparently a Boy George party signature, the sweet factory was essentially one entire shop wall that had been converted into a lolly showcase: shelf upon shelf containing baskets of jelly babies, marshmallows and other confections.
After scoffing a half dozen cola jelly babies, I was suddenly gripped by a terrible realisation. What if Boy George had slipped some acid into the sweets as a special party favour for guests?
Having been the victim of a similar spiking at the Melbourne Cup marquee of a far bigger brand than B-Rude, I wasn't keen for a repeat performance – not with a plane to Milan to catch in the early AM at any rate.
Adil assured me that Mrs Ong would never be a party to anything like that inside her hotel.
I canvassed a second opinion via SMS with someone who isn't on Ong's payroll – but who knows a party favour when he sees one.
"Very unlikely unless it's a private party for a select few," came the immediate response. I calmed down.
Adil helped moreover ID something that had been bugging me for the past fortnight, ever since I first heard it at seemingly every second show in New York and then again in London. It seemed to be, at one point, the theme tune of the SS07 season. But noone had been able to tell me exactly what it was. Not Adil. Not even Matthew Stone – one of London's hottest DJs – who I had met at a party on the Monday night and to whom I found myself, somewhat awkwardly, whistling and singing the song. But to no avail.
As I was coming up the stairs from the Met Bar bathroom however, I heard whistling. It was THE song. I rushed out, grabbed Adil and demanded he grill the DJ as to its origins. As it emerged, the song is called Young Folks, from Swedish outfit Peter, Bjorn and John.
So, there I was, almost one week later in Milan, standing outside the Rotunda della Besana, a 17th century former church and cemetery.
I had already been inside the venue that afternoon for the John Richmond show and the afterparty was in the same place. Richmond was of course part of London's 1980s new generation fashion boom and one half of a stellar hybrid label called Richmond Cornejo. I still have a black Lycra, cyclist-inspired Richmond Cornejo microdress. For some reason I've never been able to throw it out.
Cornejo took off to New York where she runs a label called Zero Maria Cornejo. Ten years ago Richmond hooked up with Italian manufacturer and distributor Saverio Moschillo, hence the decade birthday bash.
Some six hours after the fashion show, the gates were shut and a large number of people had gathered outside waiting to get in. At one point it seemed there were several hundred people standing there. And they were becoming increasingly agitated.
Understandably, they were pissed off that they had been invited to arrive at a party at 11.30pm only to find themselves still locked outside one hour later. At one point some people near the gate started shouting loudly and it threatened to turn ugly.
I should note that these were not fashion people. They might have been going to a fashion party but unlike the internationals who had been populating the Milan shows all week – there were no black platforms, opaque black tights or early adopter sack dresses. There didn't even appear to be any skinny jeans. Instead "good" jeans, "good" shirts, "good" suits and some fairly non-descript women's clothing.
If this was a snapshot of Milanese youth, it struck me how terribly conservative it was. Some wonder why there's no revolution on Milan's runways.
Breaking through the sartorial monotony however came a troika of – non Italian – supermodels. The Lilies Cole and Donaldson and Irina Lazareanu.
Cole was channelling Lady Macbeth in a loose, full-length, strapless black dress and both she and Lazareanu were sporting black headbands – but not Prada-style Alice bands, rather in the er, Jimmy Hendrix vein. I had to assume the supes were there to see Stunners International. But more on the Stunners later.
I contemplated leaving. After spending three weeks in three cities hanging around for shows, it was the last thing I felt like doing. Then the gates suddenly opened, the crowd surged forward, I found myself at the gate and eventually, inside the venue.
Yet more people were inside on the lawns. I later heard that some 2000 invitations had been sent out. The Richmond/Moschilla camp must have spent a motza on the party, which included a dinner for 300 after the show.
I ventured inside the main room. You could hardly move there were so many people. It was unbelievably loud. Under the central cupola structure a swagged canopy of lights had been suspended over a central black stage.
At this point I should just briefly backtrack again, to something that happened in the middle of the dancefloor at the One Night Only do in London exactly one week beforehand. Just as I was blogging, I received an SMS from a Sydney publicist who I have never met:
"I like yr burlesque dita coverage. Bq fever has hit Sydney".
I was blogging and trying to concentrate. Von Teese is the world's most famous burlesque artiste – and the wife of Marilyn Manson – and I had profiled her on two recent occasions.
"Que?" was all I could think to text back, before asking for the publicist's email address.
Funnily enough, one week to the day after that cryptic SMS, guess who turned out to be Richmond's VIP entertainment? Dita Von Teese.
By far the most amusing aspect of Von Teese's energetic "Girl in a glass" performance however, was not Von Teese but rather, the looks on the faces of Cole, Donaldson and Lazareanu as they watched gobsmacked. They were directly facing me on the other side of the dancefloor and as Von Teese performed, they stared wide-eyed at the spectacle, with the kind of embarrassed smiles that you see at hen's nights. It was as if they had never seen a near-naked woman in a G-string before. This struck me as odd given the volume of same with which the backstage area of any fashion show is usually littered.
I followed Adil to the DJ's booth which was located at the back wall of the main room. Elevated to about three metres via four very steep stairs – which were difficult to negotiate in a pencil skirt and espadrille wedges let me tell you – the booth resembled a three-storey eagle's nest overlooking the entire room and dancefloor.
We arrived in the booth to discover Stunners International in action.
Yes that's actually their name. A London-based collective of professional – male – models who DJ and nightclub-promote on the side, apparently there are five Stunners all up. Only two had been booked that night: the tall blond, androgynous – and seemingly very sensitive – Christoffer Fagerli (whose campaign credits include Dior Homme) and the equally tall, brunette, hyperactive exhibitionist Wade Crescent.
They are both, apparently, Swedish. They were wearing a "uniform" of matching skinny tuxedo trousers, braces and no shirts. And they looked like they were having fun, hooting it up as they spun the decks. Considering that modelling is about the only profession in the world where women outearn men, I say good luck to them.
At one point Cole entered the booth and for a moment I thought she was about to make some Von Teese moves on Crescent. No such luck – they just enjoyed a bit of brief fullbody frottage, like two stick insects brittily greeting each other.
Cole and her model mates then disappeared, presumably to get some beauty sleep in before the Friday shows.
The night kicked on. Richmond popped in and out of the booth with a microphone in hand. Next thing he was down on the stage asking people to clear the area. At one point he reverted to his punk adolescence and pushed someone straight off the stage.
Dita Von Teese emerged to commence another striptease. As she began however, something distracted me: Stunners International started taking off their own clothes directly in front of me.
They were changing out of their uniforms and into their regular jeans and T-shirts. The Stunners had clocked off. But they didn't go downstairs and join the party. Instead they hung around the DJ booth. As became increasingly obvious to all concerned, that was where the real party was that night.
Adil played Young Folks – apparently now his fave new track. We all got down. It was getting funkier and hotter by the minute. I wondered precisely how I was going to file a news story at 7am the following morning.
At this point a black man with dreadlocks and a small entourage arrived in the booth.
Someone handed Adil a CD and the black dude, a microphone. I was told his name was Julio. I'd never heard of him and figured, he was some crap Italian rapper. Although Richmond must have invited him to the party apparently it was news to Adil that anyone would be performing like that.
The black dude sang to a couple of tracks from the steps of the DJ booth. Then a terribly familiar track came on, the room went off and I suddenly came to my senses.
It wasn't Julio, it was Coolio.
And he was mouthing off to Gangsta's Paradise in Milan.
"Mate, you're definitely in a gangster's paradise," I felt like telling him.
A cameraman who had been following Richmond around for most of the evening came up into the booth and started filming Coolio, filming Richmond and filming both of them singing to the crowd.
Julio quit singing and yes, you guessed it, stayed put in the DJ booth. The booth's population now consisted of a delinquent-turned-rap star, two models-turned-DJs, a DJ-turned DJ-wrangler, a journalist-turned-blogger, Richmond, the cameraman and a few sundry hangers on.
A diminutive woman in a nude-coloured satin bustier and unattractive black bootleg flares climbed into the booth and started boogying with Coolio, thrusting her ample – and quite unsolicited – bottom against him right in front of me.
Coolio copped a quick feel of the merchandise.
I said to Coolio, [pointing to an attractive black woman in a long dress sitting on the upper stairs] "Isn't that your woman over there?"
He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I don't want it – I just like to know that it's there."
But I couldn't help Coolio with his booty predicament because I was about to have my own proposition to deal with.
Crescent suddenly started furiously gesticulating towards me, then back to himself and Fagerli. He did it a few times and mouthed a few words. I was pretty sure I had gotten the gist of it but just for the purposes of clarity I asked him to confirm, and from memory no less than two times.
The proposal was exactly what I had suspected: a Stunners International menage a trois.
My head reeled back in laughter.
"That's a little bit too Gonzo," I replied.
In politely declining of course, I'll never know whether Fagerli had any inkling that he was being included in Crescent's deal. Or whether in fact, "Would you like to bonk two musically-endowed male Swedish supermodels?" was merely a rhetorical question in no need of a sensible answer.
The music bopped on. The temperature rose. The DJ booth continued to go off. I looked at Adil and he looked at me. We both seemed to be thinking, "What the hell is going on?"
At that point, I discovered the long-haired cameraman who had been filming Richmond all night, madly dancing on the booth's middle podium, to my immediate left. Still with camera in hand, he turned it around so that the lens faced his head and started filming himself head-banging to the music, with hair swooshing up and down.
"Yes, this is definitely Spinal Tap," I thought to myself.
Then suddenly the lights came up. The music stopped. The magic evaporated. It wasn't Last Drinks, but Outta There pronto folks.
The Stunners, Adil and I walked outside into a melee of taxis and removal trucks that were dismantling the venue and went our separate ways in the cool, autumn Milanese morning.
I'll never look at that Richmond Cornejo microdress in the same light again.
Original post and comments.
Sunday, October 1, 2006
Elvis has left the runway: An audience with Kylie and D&G
Backstage after Thursday's scintillating Dolce e Gabbana show. And I do mean scintillating, with a finale of one-armed, Lesage-sequinned catsuits and jumpsuits. I should note that the most amusing aspect of this finale was not the outfits themselves, which seemed more than a little Elvis-meets-Coogi but rather, the performances of the models who had all apparently been briefed to wave one arm up and down in a kind of interpretative dance movement - designed, presumably, to best highlight the unisleeves. Twyla Tharp, it wasn't.
After the show wrapped, a posse of journalists was ushered downstairs at the Metropol Theatre. That's the space that has been purchased by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana as a show venue. Several other big Italian names such as Prada, Armani and latterly Versace, have purchased similar. According to the Dolce e Gabbana publicist the Metropol was built in the 1940s and Maria Callas used to rehearse there.
We were taken into a black anteroom, replete with black Louis XIV-style chairs, a behemoth black and white Murano glass chandelier that took up most of the space between the central table and the ceiling, mirrored cabinetry and two large vases of perfect cream roses.
Behind the black velvet curtains was another blackened room where Kylie, Dolce and Gabbana were sitting. I went in first to speak to the trio alone briefly, but after a few minutes - without a sound - some other journalists crept in behind me. Apologies for the confusion, but this is an amalgam of questions, just over half of them mine:
[to Kylie] SO THIS IS YOUR FIRST FASHION SHOW FOR QUITE SOME TIME... HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING BACK IN THE BOSOM OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY?
[Laughs] Mmmmmm, good. Yeah it's good, it's exciting. I love a show where I don't have any pressure. We were waiting here before the show and I was thinking, 'What is happening with the boys right now?' Final minute fussing and all of that. But Dolce e Gabbana never fail to deliver.
[to Dolce and Gabbana] WAS THERE A BIT OF KYLIE MINOGUE IN THAT SHOW? THERE WAS A BIT OF KYLIE, I THOUGHT, AND IN FACT A BIT OF ELVIS. I THOUGHT THERE WAS MORE THAN A BIT OF ELVIS PRESLEY.
Dolce: [Alarmed] No there is more Kylie, not Elvis.
I'M SORRY, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THERE WAS A BIT OF ELVIS.
Dolce: No there was not. It's too sexy and too glamorous for... I don't know, Elvis was a... cowboy.
Kylie: In the 70s when he was doing that, he was probably sexy. Like me.
Gabbana: The inspiration is we think about a new shape of woman. So for a long time we see the woman and the girl really skinny and really tall and we say, 'OK this is the new shape of body because it's not anorexic'. So the girl is like that... But why don't we give this woman the possibility for play with the shape, so you wear something to have the breasts bigger, the hips bigger, why not?
Dolce: This is the life, you know. This is real life.
Gabbana: The real woman's shape is this one.
Kylie: [to Dolce e Gabbana] Can we preorder the shape that we want? You have your office shape, and your evening shape...
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE ORDERING FROM THAT COLLECTION FOR YOUR SHOW AND FOR YOURSELF?
Well for the show... these kind gentlemen are designing three outfits especially for me, as it were. And I'd love to share the details but we can't.
SO, SIMILAR TO WHAT WE'VE SEEN BEFORE?
Gabbana: It's Dolce e Gabbana for Kylie.
Kylie: No it's different. But I'm very inspired by the dazzling garments wafting their way down the catwalk.
WHAT ABOUT THE ONE-ARMED GARMENT?
I can see the one-armed.... [gestures like one of the models, waving arm up and down]. See, I can't even control it.
I THOUGHT IT WAS A BIT GREEN FAIRY [character played by Minogue in Moulin Rouge], THAT OUTFIT.
There was a moment, yeah.
SO WHY DO YOU GUYS LIKE WORKING TOGETHER?
Well not subtlety, is it? We've done lots of things together for red carpet, for events and things like that. But for stage it's something totally different. Aside from the pure mechanics of it, you have to get in and out really quickly, it has to survive 50 shows, make in different sizes...
Gabbana: You need to dance, to move, to move your ass.
THOSE MOULDED PLASTIC CORSETS AND BUSTIERS REMINDED ME OF THAT KYLIE BOT THAT YOU HAD IN THE FEVER SHOW - WHAT WAS IT CALLED?
Kylie: The Ky-borg.
[to Gabbana] WAS THAT PLASTIC?
Gabbana: PVC
AND WAS THAT A SATIN CORSET? IT ALMOST LOOKED LIKE STAINLESS STEEL.
Gabbana: Yes.
IT LOOKED LIKE MARC NEWSON'S LOCKHEED LOUNGE.
Kylie: It's nice and light.
SO CAN YOU EVER GO TOO FAR OVER THE TOP WHEN YOU ARE DOING SHOWGIRL COSTUMES? OR IS THERE NO SUCH THING?
Kylie: Hmmmmmm... there is possibly no such thing.
HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED AT AN OUTFIT THAT YOU WERE GOING TO PERFORM IN AND SAID TO YOURSELF, 'KYLIE, THIS IS TOO MUCH'?
Kylie: Yeah but then my stylist normally harrasses me into wearing it. And he's right. I just have a shy moment, and I think.... even the Silver Nemesis from Fever...
Gabbana: Oh yeah, I remember the miniskirt.
Kylie: The miniskirt and diamante bra. The first time I tried it on with these guys and said, [whispers] 'I can't wear that on stage'. And they said, 'Yes of course you can'.
YOU HAVE STARTED REHEARSING NOW, HOW ARE YOU COPING WITH ALL THE PRESSURE OF REHEARSALS?
Kylie: I've had T-shirts made up for myself and all the crew which says, 'Kylie says relax'. Just a little reminder. I'm trying to remind myself that this is what I do and I don't have the words to tell you in this brief amount of time to how incredible it is to have this opportunity again.
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TOUR?
Yeah, and we've got work to do, us three. So look out for the...
ARE YOU WORKING TODAY?
We've got a dinner tonight. Perhaps I'll wear something from the show.
SO WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE FROM THE SHOW?
Mmmm... There was a long purple dress with a low back, Bedazzled, that I really liked.
Original post and comments.
After the show wrapped, a posse of journalists was ushered downstairs at the Metropol Theatre. That's the space that has been purchased by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana as a show venue. Several other big Italian names such as Prada, Armani and latterly Versace, have purchased similar. According to the Dolce e Gabbana publicist the Metropol was built in the 1940s and Maria Callas used to rehearse there.
We were taken into a black anteroom, replete with black Louis XIV-style chairs, a behemoth black and white Murano glass chandelier that took up most of the space between the central table and the ceiling, mirrored cabinetry and two large vases of perfect cream roses.
Behind the black velvet curtains was another blackened room where Kylie, Dolce and Gabbana were sitting. I went in first to speak to the trio alone briefly, but after a few minutes - without a sound - some other journalists crept in behind me. Apologies for the confusion, but this is an amalgam of questions, just over half of them mine:
[to Kylie] SO THIS IS YOUR FIRST FASHION SHOW FOR QUITE SOME TIME... HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING BACK IN THE BOSOM OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY?
[Laughs] Mmmmmm, good. Yeah it's good, it's exciting. I love a show where I don't have any pressure. We were waiting here before the show and I was thinking, 'What is happening with the boys right now?' Final minute fussing and all of that. But Dolce e Gabbana never fail to deliver.
[to Dolce and Gabbana] WAS THERE A BIT OF KYLIE MINOGUE IN THAT SHOW? THERE WAS A BIT OF KYLIE, I THOUGHT, AND IN FACT A BIT OF ELVIS. I THOUGHT THERE WAS MORE THAN A BIT OF ELVIS PRESLEY.
Dolce: [Alarmed] No there is more Kylie, not Elvis.
I'M SORRY, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THERE WAS A BIT OF ELVIS.
Dolce: No there was not. It's too sexy and too glamorous for... I don't know, Elvis was a... cowboy.
Kylie: In the 70s when he was doing that, he was probably sexy. Like me.
Gabbana: The inspiration is we think about a new shape of woman. So for a long time we see the woman and the girl really skinny and really tall and we say, 'OK this is the new shape of body because it's not anorexic'. So the girl is like that... But why don't we give this woman the possibility for play with the shape, so you wear something to have the breasts bigger, the hips bigger, why not?
Dolce: This is the life, you know. This is real life.
Gabbana: The real woman's shape is this one.
Kylie: [to Dolce e Gabbana] Can we preorder the shape that we want? You have your office shape, and your evening shape...
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE ORDERING FROM THAT COLLECTION FOR YOUR SHOW AND FOR YOURSELF?
Well for the show... these kind gentlemen are designing three outfits especially for me, as it were. And I'd love to share the details but we can't.
SO, SIMILAR TO WHAT WE'VE SEEN BEFORE?
Gabbana: It's Dolce e Gabbana for Kylie.
Kylie: No it's different. But I'm very inspired by the dazzling garments wafting their way down the catwalk.
WHAT ABOUT THE ONE-ARMED GARMENT?
I can see the one-armed.... [gestures like one of the models, waving arm up and down]. See, I can't even control it.
I THOUGHT IT WAS A BIT GREEN FAIRY [character played by Minogue in Moulin Rouge], THAT OUTFIT.
There was a moment, yeah.
SO WHY DO YOU GUYS LIKE WORKING TOGETHER?
Well not subtlety, is it? We've done lots of things together for red carpet, for events and things like that. But for stage it's something totally different. Aside from the pure mechanics of it, you have to get in and out really quickly, it has to survive 50 shows, make in different sizes...
Gabbana: You need to dance, to move, to move your ass.
THOSE MOULDED PLASTIC CORSETS AND BUSTIERS REMINDED ME OF THAT KYLIE BOT THAT YOU HAD IN THE FEVER SHOW - WHAT WAS IT CALLED?
Kylie: The Ky-borg.
[to Gabbana] WAS THAT PLASTIC?
Gabbana: PVC
AND WAS THAT A SATIN CORSET? IT ALMOST LOOKED LIKE STAINLESS STEEL.
Gabbana: Yes.
IT LOOKED LIKE MARC NEWSON'S LOCKHEED LOUNGE.
Kylie: It's nice and light.
SO CAN YOU EVER GO TOO FAR OVER THE TOP WHEN YOU ARE DOING SHOWGIRL COSTUMES? OR IS THERE NO SUCH THING?
Kylie: Hmmmmmm... there is possibly no such thing.
HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED AT AN OUTFIT THAT YOU WERE GOING TO PERFORM IN AND SAID TO YOURSELF, 'KYLIE, THIS IS TOO MUCH'?
Kylie: Yeah but then my stylist normally harrasses me into wearing it. And he's right. I just have a shy moment, and I think.... even the Silver Nemesis from Fever...
Gabbana: Oh yeah, I remember the miniskirt.
Kylie: The miniskirt and diamante bra. The first time I tried it on with these guys and said, [whispers] 'I can't wear that on stage'. And they said, 'Yes of course you can'.
YOU HAVE STARTED REHEARSING NOW, HOW ARE YOU COPING WITH ALL THE PRESSURE OF REHEARSALS?
Kylie: I've had T-shirts made up for myself and all the crew which says, 'Kylie says relax'. Just a little reminder. I'm trying to remind myself that this is what I do and I don't have the words to tell you in this brief amount of time to how incredible it is to have this opportunity again.
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TOUR?
Yeah, and we've got work to do, us three. So look out for the...
ARE YOU WORKING TODAY?
We've got a dinner tonight. Perhaps I'll wear something from the show.
SO WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE FROM THE SHOW?
Mmmm... There was a long purple dress with a low back, Bedazzled, that I really liked.
Original post and comments.
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