After Collette Dinnigan's triumphant return to the Parisian runways there was nothing else to do really, to cap off the season, than head for two French blockbusters: Louis Vuitton and Lanvin.
Louis Vuitton is the world's biggest luxury brand and parent LVMH likes to splash around the money. No Grand or Petit Palais this season, but a transparent, purpose-built marquee slap bang in the middle of the Louvre - in fact the original location of the French ready-to-wear shows, before the underground Carrousel du Louvre venue was constructed.
A luxe collection of slick, 40s-look tailleurs counterpointed against trapeze-line painter's smock-inspired blouses, dresses and coats, as well as a biker's jacket theme, many garments were made from futuristic, Wet Look rubber-infused or waxed fabrics. For evening, creative director Marc Jacobs stepped back into the fairyland of his spring/summer collections with more romantic pouf dresses, this time in pretty degrade colours. The entire collection was inspired by the paintings of Vermeer.
The degrade motif was also picked up in the handbags - where of course most of LV's money hails from - with plenty of the world-famous, and much-copied, LV monogram, in quilted and embossed leather with patent leather strips and raw sheepskin edging. Next winter is all about a patent leather or vinyl ankle boot - Vuitton's came in luxurious plastic-coated crocodile.
In a week virtually bereft of celebs - due, theorised many, to the timing of the Oscars - Jacobs managed to reel in the week's biggest name, LV's current advertising face, Scarlett Johansson.
En route backstage, and in spite of the best efforts of Johansson's security thug, I managed to throw a few questions her way:
What did you think of the collection?
Johansson: I thought it was gorgeous. I loved it. I loved all those beautiful dresses towards the end, they were very kind of whimsical and dreamy, the colours. So fabulous. And also like the really kind of crisp, white [shirt] with the slim pencil skirt.
Do you wear a lot of Louis Vuitton?
[cheeky] Well now I do.
You don't normally?
I said now I do! [laughs]
So we might be seeing you in some of those degrade pouf dresses? They were like fairy dresses.
They were, I loved it - the feathers and everything.
Although I didn't get a chance to talk to Jacobs on this occasion, two hours later I did grab another Marc: Australian interior designer Marc Newson. Spotted at Dinnigan's show earlier in the day, Newson was front and centre at Lanvin - together with girlfriend, and soon-to-be mother of his first child, UK stylist Charlotte Stockdale.
You live in Paris - or just have an apartment here?
Newson: No I live in London. I have a house here, I have an office in Paris, an office in London and I sort of go between both places a little bit. And everywhere else.
You've got your own clothing line haven't you? [G-Star]
Yeah I sort of dabble. It's not really fashion. I like to look at it as workwear.
The photos are amusing [the models have been photoshopped out of the shots]. Model are getting skinner and skinner, they may as well not be there.
Yeah well exactly. They're just getting so skinny - this is a sort of anti-anorexia campaign. But my involvement in the fashion industry is pretty miniscule really.
So why are you here?
Well because they're just... friends. Charlotte, my girlfriend, she's an editor and stylist so she's there. And my buddy .... is the head of Lanvin and I'm good friends with Stefano, who's the designer of YSL.
So what do you think about the nexus between fashion and design - or at least to interior design?
Look for me it's not so much about fashion and design, it's contemporary culture. And as a designer I think that's it's very very important for someone like me to be aware of, you know, as many aspects of contemporary fashion as possible. Music, film, fashion... I mean it all influences our lives in one way or another and you know, regardless of what I think about the fashion industry and the fashion world it has to be a part of what we do. And I don't think it is actually to a great degree.
Really?
Well no, I don't think most designers are very successful at ... at assimilating fashion into their kind of world. I don't do it in a conscious way. I don't do it in a very obvious way either. I just think it's important to know who Alber Elbaz is. And I don't think a lot of architects or industrial designers have a clue. I'm certain of it.
Someone once said that at any one time there will only ever be five truly influential fashion designers - if that.
He's definitely one of them. I mean I think always, you've got to look towards someone like Azzedine Alaia. We're great friends and he's a collector of my stuff and we see each other a lot and I find him a wonderful source of inspiration. And he's firmly entrenched in fashion. He is kind of fashion. He's I think as good as it gets here really.
Apart from talent obviously, what do you think it is that differentiates those at the cutting edge from those who are just behind the cutting edge - in any sphere of design?
It's very, very hard to say really. I mean it's got to be luck, but then as they say the harder you work, the luckier you get.
But it's not just luck.
Being in the right place at the right time. Being tenacious.
Going out on a limb?
That goes without saying. I mean there's just no way you'll get anywhere if you remain in mediocrity, if you live in that space.
Have you been surprised by your own success?
Sometimes it surprises me but to be really honest I can't really see the wood for the trees. I'm so sort of immersed in what I do that I don't often step out to take a look at where I am or what's happening around me. You know I'm still surprised - if people recognise me I mean it always com es as a huge shock. I'm always taken aback.
Do you think breaking through internationally is any harder for creative people who come from Australia?
No I don't think so. But if it is hard in some ways then it's got to be easier in others so it all sort of evens out in the end. I'm always asked that question about Australia - what it is to be Australian in the design world or at least to be in a creative industry. For me it just doesn't really mean anything. Because I'm Australian, that's for sure, but I work everywhere. I work in every country. Well maybe not every country but I work all over Asia, in the US, in Europe...
You probably live on a plane.
Yeah I spend a lot of time on planes.
At least you've got your own bed that you've designed [Qantas Skybed]
It does come in handy.
So what are you working on at the moment?
Still an enormous amount of work for Qantas in fact. We've just designed the lounges actually. We're just finishing the first class lounge in Sydney and Melbourne. And I'm coming out in May to launch those. They're not just lounges actually. The one in Sydney's a building in fact. We've effectively built a building on top of the airport. Noone else in the aviation industry is doing anything remotely like what Qantas are doing.
So is it 2001 A Space Odyssey?
Yeah pretty much. Absolutely. It's a bit of that, it's a bit of the old TWA terminal in JFK. But it's an extraordinary building. You won't be able to see it from the moon but it's the first thing you'll see when you land.
But you have to be rich to experience it.
Yeah... kind of. You don't have to be that rich. But you know a lot of other people can get access.
What do you think about the idea of design only being available to a privileged few - as opposed to the masses?
Well we start there. You know and it kind of trickles down. First class is the loss leader I think. I'm talking more metaphorically. We start there and it does trickle down. I'm doing a lot of economy class stuff. In fact I've spent the majority of my time doing more mass-produced things in economy. But it has to start at the top somehow for me. That's where you have an opportunity to kind of put your money where your mouth is and really put your stamp on a concept, or a branding concept. It's much easier to do it there.
And so to Lanvin, at which many of us decided to call it quits. There were two shows afterwards, including the as per usual ludicrously exclusive presentation of Prada's Miu Miu diffusion label.
Set against a brooding industrial backdrop of mirrors and metal scaffolding - and two flights of stairs that the models, all wearing graphic short black bob wigs, had to carefully negotiate in their skyscraper heels en route to the runway - Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz presented a collection that was at once tough, and romantic.
Groaning in waistless smock dresses and coats with exaggerated, puffed sleeves in Elbaz's signature colours of purple and red - this time far brighter violet and fire engine hues, the collection also notably boasted myriad versions of the season's omnipresent sleeveless, fitted shell dress with a simple rounded collar. Simple and straightforward at the front however, Elbaz's shell dresses then cascaded in ruffles and volume at the back.
I spoke to Elbaz briefly after the show:
You showed many versions of a sleeveless, fitted dress - which in a way has been the defining silhouette of the season. What is it about that dress?
Elbaz: Maybe it's the fact of believing in a thing that has to be a bit more simple. Maybe life is complicated enough. One time I asked myself, what would happen if I was a skinny man? Would I design differently? And I think it's the fact that I'm not in that group of skinny people make the whole lightness a fantasy for me. So I'm trying to do everything light and simple, which is everything I'm not.
You were talking before [in other interviews] about the exaggerated sleeves of the dresses - and about shoulders being about power, while arms are about strength. This season there have been a lot of 'strong' women on the runways - 'tough chic' has been a key theme. Your setting was also quite 'tough'. Why do you think designers want women to look strong?
I believe that men are powerful and women are strong. If you have a million dollars in the bank, you are powerful. But if your child tells you 'I love you', you are strong. I think it's hard being a woman. I am surrounded by women. Almost all the people that I work with are women. And you know what, it's much more difficult these days to be a woman than to be a man. What is right and what is wrong? Is it about more being a good mother or is it about being professional? And what is professional? I think that all these kind of rules that women have, that they have to be perfect, they have to be beautiful, they cannot look old anymore, there is no age. They all have to be skinny, they have to be great wives, they have to be great mothers, they have to be great daughters.... So there is a lot that women are doing today that men are not and that's why, we as designers, we can help there. Maybe.
Original post and comments.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
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.
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"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.
Original post and comments.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Collette's tough love: ditching the princesses in the childrenswear department
Collette Dinnigan made her "triumphant" return today to the catwalks of Paris after a hiatus of two seasons. That's how the Australian media will no doubt report the show - as breathlessly as they have done since Dinnigan first started showing in Paris in the mid 1990s. That's not to say that the show wasn't good - it was.
But let's put things in perspective here. It wasn't Dries Van Noten or Hussein Chalayan or Martin Grant or Stella McCartney or YSL or Christian Dior or Jean Paul Gaultier yada yada yada. Not in terms of size and buzz.
It was a small-ish show attended by a large number of Australian media representatives, a couple of international media reps who have or have had links to Australia, with the most high-profile attendees, as far as I could see anyway, being Australian designer Marc Newson and his UK stylist girlfriend Charlotte Stockdale. The backstage media 'throng' afterwards could have been counted on one hand.
I was surprised to have even received an invitation to tell you the truth. I had still not received one by this morning. At the last minute, I received word that my invitation had gone astray.
Why would I be persona non grata at Dinnigan's show? Oh no reason - apart from an article that I wrote this time last year, after Dinnigan pulled out of her first Paris show season, citing the need to spend more time with her then 18 month-old daughter Estella.
I reported industry speculation that Dinnigan may have in fact been bumped by the Paris show organisers, the Chambre Syndicale - something which the Chambre Syndicale (eventually) denied. But which irritated the Dinnigan camp no end at the time, prompting a hilarious riposte that weekend by another Australian fashion journalist who dismissed me as a "frock writer". I did have to laugh. As did a friend of mine, who had a "frockwriter" T-shirt specially made.
As it turned out, sources from Sydney to London (and one of them a senior source in retail) seemed to feel at the time that because space is so tight on the Paris show schedule, Dinnigan might not be deemed to be pulling her weight in terms of publicity - publicity outside Australia, that is.
But she's back on schedule now so clearly, that doesn't seem to be the case. Certainly, it is a feather in a designer's cap to be invited by the Chambre Syndicale organisers to join the schedule. That doesn't axiomatically make a brand Balenciaga. Here are a few names with which you are no doubt unfamiliar, who also showed on-schedule this week: Lie Sang Bong, Dice Kayek, Moon Young Hee, John Ribbe and Wu Yong.
So I wander backstage beforehand to kill some time.
There's Dinnigan with Estella, a beautiful little two and a half year-old with long blonde hair, who is dressed in what Dinnigan informs me is a Dinnigan-issue fairy dress, complete with jewel-embellished tiara. I return 15 minutes later and bump into Richard Wilkins - Dinnigan's on-again, off-again partner, and father of Estella, who would appear to be very much on-again right now. Wilkins looks and sounds utterly exhausted, like he's just disembarked from a red eye flight.
"I've been at the Oscars - and took the long way home" says Wilkins. At another point, I spot him kissing and cuddling Estella on his lap. He looks like a devoted, affectionate Dad.
I pick up my seat finally - and notice that Dinnigan has given me a "b" row seat. Given that every other Australian media rep seems to be in the front row, I could be imagining things however it looks like a deliberate slight on Dinnigan's part. But hey, it's her show.
And no matter. I wait to see which way the seating is shaking close to start time and simply take one of the - numerous - gaps in the front row of the seating block that looks straight down the barrel of the runway. Obviously a few VIPs didn't turn up.
Although the front rows on both sides of the runway are full, there are a number of gaps in the second and third rows on either sides. As the show goes to start people who have hitherto been standing fill the gaps. All up in the end it's a full house.
The collection is called 'Equinox Girl' and the show is confident - even if most of the models are not.
Yes of course there's at least one of Dinnigan's trademark lace cocktail dresses - micro-length, in bronze metallic lace with a black 'harness' inset panel - but also some beautiful coats and jackets, one in ivory wool with scalloped hemline, a striking black Duchesse satin evening jacket with exaggerated puffed sleeves and a 'tough' black leather cropped jacket with short sleeves and trench coat-like flap. There are also some great, 30s-look, highwaisted woollen flared trousers and cropped leggings with ribbon ties down the outside legs in both black velvet and grey wool.
The best dresses are not in fact in the trademark lace at all: one is a cafe-coloured knit dress and another a jade green off-the-shoulder babydoll. To my mind the strongest piece in the entire collection is a sheer black, highnecked blouse with sleeves made entirely of what look like maribou feathers. It reeks of old-worlde Parisian glamour.
I'm sure Dinnigan would value the opinion of international frockwriters Suzy Menkes (The International Herald Tribune), Cathy Horyn (The New York Times), Sarah Mower (Style.com) etc.... over that of any Australian journalist, but I'm not sure that I saw any of these in attendance today so here goes in the interim for what it's worth.
Collette Dinnigan is a talented designer who became the first Australian invited to show on the Paris show schedule. She quickly carved out a successful niche for pretty embellished cocktail dresses and eveningwear.
But if some lament that her style has failed to 'move on' and therefore lacks the ability to generate show buzz - the kind of buzz that comes from independent editorial reviews, as opposed to that generated by publicists - then perhaps that's because there is an element of truth to it.
I recall one show that Dinnigan did during Fashion Week in Sydney in 1997. With extraordinary styling and art direction, it was the highlight of the event. That was 10 years ago. By soliciting - and listening to - expert advice, and with the appropriate infrastructure, there is ostensibly nothing to stop Collette Dinnigan from one day becoming as big a brand as Alberta Ferretti. This new collection - and attitude - is a small step in the right direction. Let's hope she builds on it.
I had a quick chat with Dinnigan after the show:
So why Paris? You obviously spent some time in US showrooms in the past twelve months, why is Paris so important to your brand?
Well we were invited, you know 'Please come', and from a commercial point of view it was a very good decision to go to New York but I think for us now, Paris is really emotionally like my city and my place.
Why?
It's very creative. I know it very well. It's perhaps not as efficient as New York in producing a show but I really think that what designers put down the runway is truly from their heart and from a creative spirit. In America it's very driven, much more by commercial reality.
That's where the celebrities are.
Yeah it is and I'm sure we would have a lot of great front row people there but it feels right to be here and I don't know exactly what that is and what the formulae is but I think I've made the right decision.
You took some time off to spend with your daughter - do you think it's tougher for a female designer in this respect? Obviously taking the year off led to some speculation that there might have been other reasons why you weren't showing.
You know my priorities have changed but that doesn't mean my work has taken a back row. But it's difficult. You can't be 24/7 working and when you don't have a family your work is very much part of your life. Your life does change.
Male designers obviously don't have to deal with this issue.
No exactly - even ones that have children, they have somebody at home to always look after them.
What do you think having your daughter has contributed to your design philosophy?
Well my childrenswear collection is my favourite, I love that.
In your adult collection I mean. Coincidentally perhaps, this collection is a bit edgier than the stuff that you normally do.
But perhaps I'm playing more my fairyland with my childrenswear and not having to put so much of that in my collections so therefore it's almost like couture and ready-to-wear. So I have my fun girly play times with the Enfant collection and much more of my serious, creative drive...
You were just [in another interview] saying something about learning to leave things in the showroom. That is, not showing what you normally are expected to show. Could you elaborate?
It's like I'd continually do people's expectations and I think it's always good to challenge that. It's always like... the higher the benchmark or whatever the saying is. People need to come for a surprise, mystery, an element of change, the stream doesn't have to change direction but it needs to have a freshness. And I think that's important and that's why the show was condensed, it was smaller, and that was really also Karl [Plewka, stylist] said, 'No, do a small show, we're not showing for commercial reasons'. The collection, which is much larger, will be hanging in the stores but the essence of it just walked down the runway.
That is the challenge though isn't it for designers - when something is commercially successful and you become very well known for the beaded cocktail dress or the runway dress etc... It is a temptation to just kind of show your greatest hits, isn't it? That's what Giorgio Armani keeps doing.
No but he's a great advertiser and I think he also has a lot of kudos and he does a lot of other things very well. But I wouldn't survive. I have to reinvent the Collette sensibility I guess, something fresh, something new. And this season I really needed to be confident, strong, urban, full, volume, detail, leather... That's what felt right for me.
Did you feel energised, having had two seasons off?
No, because I still worked just as hard. In fact I worked harder, making sure that people didn't get the impression that I was having a holiday. And I still cannot believe people think I had a holiday - and my shops are still full of clothes.
Original post and comments.
But let's put things in perspective here. It wasn't Dries Van Noten or Hussein Chalayan or Martin Grant or Stella McCartney or YSL or Christian Dior or Jean Paul Gaultier yada yada yada. Not in terms of size and buzz.
It was a small-ish show attended by a large number of Australian media representatives, a couple of international media reps who have or have had links to Australia, with the most high-profile attendees, as far as I could see anyway, being Australian designer Marc Newson and his UK stylist girlfriend Charlotte Stockdale. The backstage media 'throng' afterwards could have been counted on one hand.
I was surprised to have even received an invitation to tell you the truth. I had still not received one by this morning. At the last minute, I received word that my invitation had gone astray.
Why would I be persona non grata at Dinnigan's show? Oh no reason - apart from an article that I wrote this time last year, after Dinnigan pulled out of her first Paris show season, citing the need to spend more time with her then 18 month-old daughter Estella.
I reported industry speculation that Dinnigan may have in fact been bumped by the Paris show organisers, the Chambre Syndicale - something which the Chambre Syndicale (eventually) denied. But which irritated the Dinnigan camp no end at the time, prompting a hilarious riposte that weekend by another Australian fashion journalist who dismissed me as a "frock writer". I did have to laugh. As did a friend of mine, who had a "frockwriter" T-shirt specially made.
As it turned out, sources from Sydney to London (and one of them a senior source in retail) seemed to feel at the time that because space is so tight on the Paris show schedule, Dinnigan might not be deemed to be pulling her weight in terms of publicity - publicity outside Australia, that is.
But she's back on schedule now so clearly, that doesn't seem to be the case. Certainly, it is a feather in a designer's cap to be invited by the Chambre Syndicale organisers to join the schedule. That doesn't axiomatically make a brand Balenciaga. Here are a few names with which you are no doubt unfamiliar, who also showed on-schedule this week: Lie Sang Bong, Dice Kayek, Moon Young Hee, John Ribbe and Wu Yong.
So I wander backstage beforehand to kill some time.
There's Dinnigan with Estella, a beautiful little two and a half year-old with long blonde hair, who is dressed in what Dinnigan informs me is a Dinnigan-issue fairy dress, complete with jewel-embellished tiara. I return 15 minutes later and bump into Richard Wilkins - Dinnigan's on-again, off-again partner, and father of Estella, who would appear to be very much on-again right now. Wilkins looks and sounds utterly exhausted, like he's just disembarked from a red eye flight.
"I've been at the Oscars - and took the long way home" says Wilkins. At another point, I spot him kissing and cuddling Estella on his lap. He looks like a devoted, affectionate Dad.
I pick up my seat finally - and notice that Dinnigan has given me a "b" row seat. Given that every other Australian media rep seems to be in the front row, I could be imagining things however it looks like a deliberate slight on Dinnigan's part. But hey, it's her show.
And no matter. I wait to see which way the seating is shaking close to start time and simply take one of the - numerous - gaps in the front row of the seating block that looks straight down the barrel of the runway. Obviously a few VIPs didn't turn up.
Although the front rows on both sides of the runway are full, there are a number of gaps in the second and third rows on either sides. As the show goes to start people who have hitherto been standing fill the gaps. All up in the end it's a full house.
The collection is called 'Equinox Girl' and the show is confident - even if most of the models are not.
Yes of course there's at least one of Dinnigan's trademark lace cocktail dresses - micro-length, in bronze metallic lace with a black 'harness' inset panel - but also some beautiful coats and jackets, one in ivory wool with scalloped hemline, a striking black Duchesse satin evening jacket with exaggerated puffed sleeves and a 'tough' black leather cropped jacket with short sleeves and trench coat-like flap. There are also some great, 30s-look, highwaisted woollen flared trousers and cropped leggings with ribbon ties down the outside legs in both black velvet and grey wool.
The best dresses are not in fact in the trademark lace at all: one is a cafe-coloured knit dress and another a jade green off-the-shoulder babydoll. To my mind the strongest piece in the entire collection is a sheer black, highnecked blouse with sleeves made entirely of what look like maribou feathers. It reeks of old-worlde Parisian glamour.
I'm sure Dinnigan would value the opinion of international frockwriters Suzy Menkes (The International Herald Tribune), Cathy Horyn (The New York Times), Sarah Mower (Style.com) etc.... over that of any Australian journalist, but I'm not sure that I saw any of these in attendance today so here goes in the interim for what it's worth.
Collette Dinnigan is a talented designer who became the first Australian invited to show on the Paris show schedule. She quickly carved out a successful niche for pretty embellished cocktail dresses and eveningwear.
But if some lament that her style has failed to 'move on' and therefore lacks the ability to generate show buzz - the kind of buzz that comes from independent editorial reviews, as opposed to that generated by publicists - then perhaps that's because there is an element of truth to it.
I recall one show that Dinnigan did during Fashion Week in Sydney in 1997. With extraordinary styling and art direction, it was the highlight of the event. That was 10 years ago. By soliciting - and listening to - expert advice, and with the appropriate infrastructure, there is ostensibly nothing to stop Collette Dinnigan from one day becoming as big a brand as Alberta Ferretti. This new collection - and attitude - is a small step in the right direction. Let's hope she builds on it.
I had a quick chat with Dinnigan after the show:
So why Paris? You obviously spent some time in US showrooms in the past twelve months, why is Paris so important to your brand?
Well we were invited, you know 'Please come', and from a commercial point of view it was a very good decision to go to New York but I think for us now, Paris is really emotionally like my city and my place.
Why?
It's very creative. I know it very well. It's perhaps not as efficient as New York in producing a show but I really think that what designers put down the runway is truly from their heart and from a creative spirit. In America it's very driven, much more by commercial reality.
That's where the celebrities are.
Yeah it is and I'm sure we would have a lot of great front row people there but it feels right to be here and I don't know exactly what that is and what the formulae is but I think I've made the right decision.
You took some time off to spend with your daughter - do you think it's tougher for a female designer in this respect? Obviously taking the year off led to some speculation that there might have been other reasons why you weren't showing.
You know my priorities have changed but that doesn't mean my work has taken a back row. But it's difficult. You can't be 24/7 working and when you don't have a family your work is very much part of your life. Your life does change.
Male designers obviously don't have to deal with this issue.
No exactly - even ones that have children, they have somebody at home to always look after them.
What do you think having your daughter has contributed to your design philosophy?
Well my childrenswear collection is my favourite, I love that.
In your adult collection I mean. Coincidentally perhaps, this collection is a bit edgier than the stuff that you normally do.
But perhaps I'm playing more my fairyland with my childrenswear and not having to put so much of that in my collections so therefore it's almost like couture and ready-to-wear. So I have my fun girly play times with the Enfant collection and much more of my serious, creative drive...
You were just [in another interview] saying something about learning to leave things in the showroom. That is, not showing what you normally are expected to show. Could you elaborate?
It's like I'd continually do people's expectations and I think it's always good to challenge that. It's always like... the higher the benchmark or whatever the saying is. People need to come for a surprise, mystery, an element of change, the stream doesn't have to change direction but it needs to have a freshness. And I think that's important and that's why the show was condensed, it was smaller, and that was really also Karl [Plewka, stylist] said, 'No, do a small show, we're not showing for commercial reasons'. The collection, which is much larger, will be hanging in the stores but the essence of it just walked down the runway.
That is the challenge though isn't it for designers - when something is commercially successful and you become very well known for the beaded cocktail dress or the runway dress etc... It is a temptation to just kind of show your greatest hits, isn't it? That's what Giorgio Armani keeps doing.
No but he's a great advertiser and I think he also has a lot of kudos and he does a lot of other things very well. But I wouldn't survive. I have to reinvent the Collette sensibility I guess, something fresh, something new. And this season I really needed to be confident, strong, urban, full, volume, detail, leather... That's what felt right for me.
Did you feel energised, having had two seasons off?
No, because I still worked just as hard. In fact I worked harder, making sure that people didn't get the impression that I was having a holiday. And I still cannot believe people think I had a holiday - and my shops are still full of clothes.
Original post and comments.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Chanel confessions: Karl loves a ballbreaker, Anna downplays her glam
I'm backstage at the Grand Palais just off the Champs Elysees. It's 9.30am and a half hour to the Chanel show - in fact the first of what will be two Chanel shows this season.
It's the first time in fact that Chanel has split its ready-to-wear show into two - due in part to the fact that the staging is little more intimate, I am told, this season.
But due no doubt also in part to the ever-expanding interest in this privately-owned French luxury powerhouse whose sales are estimated to be US$3.3billion. At Chanel's creative helm is of course the seemingly indefatigable and eternally youthful, septuaganarian German designer Karl Lagerfeld.
People are everywhere and it's difficult to move.
There's Gemma Ward having a mascara touchup. There's Iekelienne having more pink blush applied.
There's another model having her hair crimped to resemble merino wool [oops!]. She is reading a Swedish celebrity tabloid called Aftonbladet. There's a table covered in small plastic bags. Inside each bag is a polaroid of a model and I can see one shot of Australian Catherine McNeil - who is, yes, all over these big shows - with her hair combed over her face. Maybe it's a styling idea that got canned. I say that because over on the other side of the room, Raquel Zimmermann sits with what appears to be the finished look: crimped hair that has been brushed out for a shaggy effect, but definitely off the face, with pale makeup and heavily-pencilled uberbrows.
A couple of models are tucking into little bowls of chocolate cocopop things. It looks like they're eating brown polystyrene chips. Good to see that there at least is food here. Last night backstage before YSL Iekelienne was complaining that she was starving but that all the food had gone. Outside in the foyer a humungous refectory table is laid out with food. From the requisite croissants to yoghurt and fruit platters, are also platters of cheese and bowls of pickled onions. Pickled onions for breakfast?
I walk back into the main backstage area and it's all happening. Not the show - just the backstage power posse.
Directly in front of me are Chanel owners, the brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, as well as Chanel president Francoise Montenay. All three seem to be exactly the same height - and come up to my ear. Anna Wintour is also there. The devil's not wearing Prada today but is a shimmering bronze vision in what I am reliably informed is a sable-trimmed, pearl-embellished Chanel haute couture cocktail suit.
The umpteenth Coco's Cabasse wafts past me. Quite seriously, if I see another of these bags, I may puke. A black patent vinyl tote with chain handle, this bag is the "must take" bag of AW0708 [see the "To the Manor bought" blog entry from the SS07 Fashion Season about the Burberry Manor bag] - gifted by Chanel to any fashion editors and journalists who aren't bound by ethics policies at their respective publications. And no doubt also a few who are. It has been everywhere this season. In Australia it retails for $2,100. Unlike the editors of course, you'll have to pay for it.
It's now 10.00am and I'm out front near the stage. There's an entire ice skating rink installation in the centre of the room, with fake 'ice' and snow. Suspended between the rink and the Grand Palais' magnificent domed glass ceilings are a series of 'clouds' fashioned from what looks like scrunched white gauze. Wintour and her hilariously camp offsider Andre Leon Talley hold court front row on one side of the skating rink.
I have been in Wintour's proximity on many occasions this season. For some reason this seems like an appropriate moment to approach her. I move in.
Now I have no idea whether Meryl Streep ever got to met Wintour in person prior to doing The Devil Wears Prada. But having now spoken to Wintour in person briefly, I should say that the withering tone so frequently adopted by Streep's Miranda Priestley character [which is supposed to be based on Wintour] is not too far from the real thing.
Although for the most part quite gracious and enthusiastic, Wintour adopts a withering tone twice. As she 'withers' curiously, she turns her head to one side - as if to express her utter disdain at the questions and to register that that is the end of the matter. On both occasions her British accent also seems crisper than usual. Perhaps she is simply embarrassed.
What is the secret do you think to the enduring appeal of Chanel?
Wintour: Well I think the enduring appeal of Chanel is all to do with Karl Lagerfeld who is this extraordinary human being in that he has such an open mind, surrounds himself with interesting people, he knows and loves culture of all kinds, popular, classical.... and I think it's all reflected in his collections. I mean without Karl, Chanel you know, would not be what it is today.
And he is an interesting case study in himself in that so many of his contemporaries have either retired or have lost their touch. He manages to stay hip.
Karl is eternally young. And he's interested in the future. What he always says to me the minute that a collection is over is, 'It's over'. He goes on to the next and I think that's a great strength.
Did The Devil Wears Prada have much of an impact on you?
Ah..... [withering, lowers voice] not at all.
In terms surely of fashion in film and on television now with that film and programs such as Project Runway you have to admit that fashion is everywhere?
Sure, I mean you know anything that celebrates fashion, whatever it may be, a movie, a television show, a book, online.... you know and I think one of the things that has interested me in the last three years is that so many of the designers are interested in doing small collections for people like H&M and Target. It just means that fashion is available on every level, whether it's the media or at different prices so that's great for the industry.
But there appears to be so much more interest in fashion now. Obviously everyone in the fashion world knows who Anna Wintour is however TDWP no doubt introduced you to a number of people who may not have been familiar with your name.
Well I think it's great for fashion and Amy [Astley] who is the editor of Teen Vogue gave a party just a couple of weeks ago for a young woman named Maria Sharapova, the tennis player. I was amazed at her knowledge of young designers, that she knew designers like Rodarte and Thakoon and I think that's because there is so much more coverage and interest in fashion than there ever has been. And so much more exposure on all levels. So I embrace that.
Do you think it's harder for young designers today to survive?
Well it's always been hard but I think talent always rises to the top.
Yes however they are obviously facing different challenges today.
Yeah but the good ones find partners, they find investment and they find a customer.
What is your definition of glamour?
[Laughs] My daughter.
Do you think you're the most glamorous woman in the world?
[Full wither, lowers voice] Of course not.
It's showtime and the models emerge onto the rink. It's a short, sharp show with plenty of the trademark Chanel glamour tweeds.
This season, any Chanel otaku will no doubt be thrilled to learn that they can kit themself out in Chanel tweed from top to toe - thanks to Lagerfeld's cute effort at, as he later explains, creating "endless" legs via matching tweed boots.
The back of Chanel's new season boot is fastened down the back of the leg with buckles and flaps. It's a kind of glam biker-meets-gladiator look.
The signature Chanel black and white is thrown out the window via a plethora of brightly-coloured tweeds and a series of shirtdresses with long tabard shirttails in bold colours such as turquoise.
The silhouette is long, waists are high and the eveningwear includes cocktail dresses in acid yellow and turquoise, some smart sequinned pencil skirts in silver or gold, teamed with graphic black/white tunic tops and slick strapless bustier dresses worn over skinny pants.
Add to that, some brightly-coloured enamel jewellery and yet more covetable Chanel boots - one pair in the trademark tan reach just over the knee, with a low, square heel and black 'racing stripe' down the outside of the leg.
After the show I run over to join the media scrum waiting for some Lagerfeld comments.
Although this scenario is played out at the end of every major international fashion show, the Chanel scrums always seem bigger than most. But at least they are civilised. Approximately 30 people have swarmed around Lagerfeld and we are packed so tightly together I believe I can feel the pelvis of the Asian woman standing directly behind me sticking into my back.
I am virtually piggybacking one security guard who is trying to shield Lagerfeld from the throng - and an Italian reporter has her arm around his neck trying to keep her balance on the rows of seating between which we find ourselves precariously perched. It occurs to me that you would never be this intimate with total strangers in any other situation.
Lagerfeld is wearing a black woollen peacoat, black pants, a black sweater with white ribbed turtleneck, burgundy Dior Homme sunglasses and silver Chanel mittens with silver discs on the knuckles.
Standing directly behind him at one point I can confirm that he does indeed powder his white ponytail - because I can see the white powder on his black ponytail elastic.
Making his hair whiter than usual is some 'snow' which fell from the clouds at the end of the show. It looks like chunky dandruff. With the white turtleneck, Lagerfeld also looks a bit like a priest - in the process of ministering to his congregation.
Someone moves out and I decide to carpe Karl.
As I flick out my tape recorder, he reaches out and grabs and holds my forearm for the duration of my questions. There is something sweet about it and I am secretly hoping that he doesn't remember that this time last week in Milan, after Fendi, I asked for his thoughts on anal electrocution.
The boots with the straps at the back - they looked like biker boots.
Lagerfeld: We called them spat boots, you know. It was the idea. Because you know if not they have the leg in some street maybe a little warm...
So are they a boot or a spat/gaiter?
No they are boots. Because it wouldn't fit well if it was added later.
We are seeing a lot of 'tough chic' on the runways, first in Milan and now also in Paris. What do you think about the whole idea of tough chic?
Because you know, I like women to be a little bit aggressive.
Really?
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Why not? Because if they're not aggressive, the men try to be aggressive [to] them so everybody can be aggressive. But in a nice way - because to be aggressive is sharp, huh?
Original post and comments.
It's the first time in fact that Chanel has split its ready-to-wear show into two - due in part to the fact that the staging is little more intimate, I am told, this season.
But due no doubt also in part to the ever-expanding interest in this privately-owned French luxury powerhouse whose sales are estimated to be US$3.3billion. At Chanel's creative helm is of course the seemingly indefatigable and eternally youthful, septuaganarian German designer Karl Lagerfeld.
People are everywhere and it's difficult to move.
There's Gemma Ward having a mascara touchup. There's Iekelienne having more pink blush applied.
There's another model having her hair crimped to resemble merino wool [oops!]. She is reading a Swedish celebrity tabloid called Aftonbladet. There's a table covered in small plastic bags. Inside each bag is a polaroid of a model and I can see one shot of Australian Catherine McNeil - who is, yes, all over these big shows - with her hair combed over her face. Maybe it's a styling idea that got canned. I say that because over on the other side of the room, Raquel Zimmermann sits with what appears to be the finished look: crimped hair that has been brushed out for a shaggy effect, but definitely off the face, with pale makeup and heavily-pencilled uberbrows.
A couple of models are tucking into little bowls of chocolate cocopop things. It looks like they're eating brown polystyrene chips. Good to see that there at least is food here. Last night backstage before YSL Iekelienne was complaining that she was starving but that all the food had gone. Outside in the foyer a humungous refectory table is laid out with food. From the requisite croissants to yoghurt and fruit platters, are also platters of cheese and bowls of pickled onions. Pickled onions for breakfast?
I walk back into the main backstage area and it's all happening. Not the show - just the backstage power posse.
Directly in front of me are Chanel owners, the brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, as well as Chanel president Francoise Montenay. All three seem to be exactly the same height - and come up to my ear. Anna Wintour is also there. The devil's not wearing Prada today but is a shimmering bronze vision in what I am reliably informed is a sable-trimmed, pearl-embellished Chanel haute couture cocktail suit.
The umpteenth Coco's Cabasse wafts past me. Quite seriously, if I see another of these bags, I may puke. A black patent vinyl tote with chain handle, this bag is the "must take" bag of AW0708 [see the "To the Manor bought" blog entry from the SS07 Fashion Season about the Burberry Manor bag] - gifted by Chanel to any fashion editors and journalists who aren't bound by ethics policies at their respective publications. And no doubt also a few who are. It has been everywhere this season. In Australia it retails for $2,100. Unlike the editors of course, you'll have to pay for it.
It's now 10.00am and I'm out front near the stage. There's an entire ice skating rink installation in the centre of the room, with fake 'ice' and snow. Suspended between the rink and the Grand Palais' magnificent domed glass ceilings are a series of 'clouds' fashioned from what looks like scrunched white gauze. Wintour and her hilariously camp offsider Andre Leon Talley hold court front row on one side of the skating rink.
I have been in Wintour's proximity on many occasions this season. For some reason this seems like an appropriate moment to approach her. I move in.
Now I have no idea whether Meryl Streep ever got to met Wintour in person prior to doing The Devil Wears Prada. But having now spoken to Wintour in person briefly, I should say that the withering tone so frequently adopted by Streep's Miranda Priestley character [which is supposed to be based on Wintour] is not too far from the real thing.
Although for the most part quite gracious and enthusiastic, Wintour adopts a withering tone twice. As she 'withers' curiously, she turns her head to one side - as if to express her utter disdain at the questions and to register that that is the end of the matter. On both occasions her British accent also seems crisper than usual. Perhaps she is simply embarrassed.
What is the secret do you think to the enduring appeal of Chanel?
Wintour: Well I think the enduring appeal of Chanel is all to do with Karl Lagerfeld who is this extraordinary human being in that he has such an open mind, surrounds himself with interesting people, he knows and loves culture of all kinds, popular, classical.... and I think it's all reflected in his collections. I mean without Karl, Chanel you know, would not be what it is today.
And he is an interesting case study in himself in that so many of his contemporaries have either retired or have lost their touch. He manages to stay hip.
Karl is eternally young. And he's interested in the future. What he always says to me the minute that a collection is over is, 'It's over'. He goes on to the next and I think that's a great strength.
Did The Devil Wears Prada have much of an impact on you?
Ah..... [withering, lowers voice] not at all.
In terms surely of fashion in film and on television now with that film and programs such as Project Runway you have to admit that fashion is everywhere?
Sure, I mean you know anything that celebrates fashion, whatever it may be, a movie, a television show, a book, online.... you know and I think one of the things that has interested me in the last three years is that so many of the designers are interested in doing small collections for people like H&M and Target. It just means that fashion is available on every level, whether it's the media or at different prices so that's great for the industry.
But there appears to be so much more interest in fashion now. Obviously everyone in the fashion world knows who Anna Wintour is however TDWP no doubt introduced you to a number of people who may not have been familiar with your name.
Well I think it's great for fashion and Amy [Astley] who is the editor of Teen Vogue gave a party just a couple of weeks ago for a young woman named Maria Sharapova, the tennis player. I was amazed at her knowledge of young designers, that she knew designers like Rodarte and Thakoon and I think that's because there is so much more coverage and interest in fashion than there ever has been. And so much more exposure on all levels. So I embrace that.
Do you think it's harder for young designers today to survive?
Well it's always been hard but I think talent always rises to the top.
Yes however they are obviously facing different challenges today.
Yeah but the good ones find partners, they find investment and they find a customer.
What is your definition of glamour?
[Laughs] My daughter.
Do you think you're the most glamorous woman in the world?
[Full wither, lowers voice] Of course not.
It's showtime and the models emerge onto the rink. It's a short, sharp show with plenty of the trademark Chanel glamour tweeds.
This season, any Chanel otaku will no doubt be thrilled to learn that they can kit themself out in Chanel tweed from top to toe - thanks to Lagerfeld's cute effort at, as he later explains, creating "endless" legs via matching tweed boots.
The back of Chanel's new season boot is fastened down the back of the leg with buckles and flaps. It's a kind of glam biker-meets-gladiator look.
The signature Chanel black and white is thrown out the window via a plethora of brightly-coloured tweeds and a series of shirtdresses with long tabard shirttails in bold colours such as turquoise.
The silhouette is long, waists are high and the eveningwear includes cocktail dresses in acid yellow and turquoise, some smart sequinned pencil skirts in silver or gold, teamed with graphic black/white tunic tops and slick strapless bustier dresses worn over skinny pants.
Add to that, some brightly-coloured enamel jewellery and yet more covetable Chanel boots - one pair in the trademark tan reach just over the knee, with a low, square heel and black 'racing stripe' down the outside of the leg.
After the show I run over to join the media scrum waiting for some Lagerfeld comments.
Although this scenario is played out at the end of every major international fashion show, the Chanel scrums always seem bigger than most. But at least they are civilised. Approximately 30 people have swarmed around Lagerfeld and we are packed so tightly together I believe I can feel the pelvis of the Asian woman standing directly behind me sticking into my back.
I am virtually piggybacking one security guard who is trying to shield Lagerfeld from the throng - and an Italian reporter has her arm around his neck trying to keep her balance on the rows of seating between which we find ourselves precariously perched. It occurs to me that you would never be this intimate with total strangers in any other situation.
Lagerfeld is wearing a black woollen peacoat, black pants, a black sweater with white ribbed turtleneck, burgundy Dior Homme sunglasses and silver Chanel mittens with silver discs on the knuckles.
Standing directly behind him at one point I can confirm that he does indeed powder his white ponytail - because I can see the white powder on his black ponytail elastic.
Making his hair whiter than usual is some 'snow' which fell from the clouds at the end of the show. It looks like chunky dandruff. With the white turtleneck, Lagerfeld also looks a bit like a priest - in the process of ministering to his congregation.
Someone moves out and I decide to carpe Karl.
As I flick out my tape recorder, he reaches out and grabs and holds my forearm for the duration of my questions. There is something sweet about it and I am secretly hoping that he doesn't remember that this time last week in Milan, after Fendi, I asked for his thoughts on anal electrocution.
The boots with the straps at the back - they looked like biker boots.
Lagerfeld: We called them spat boots, you know. It was the idea. Because you know if not they have the leg in some street maybe a little warm...
So are they a boot or a spat/gaiter?
No they are boots. Because it wouldn't fit well if it was added later.
We are seeing a lot of 'tough chic' on the runways, first in Milan and now also in Paris. What do you think about the whole idea of tough chic?
Because you know, I like women to be a little bit aggressive.
Really?
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Why not? Because if they're not aggressive, the men try to be aggressive [to] them so everybody can be aggressive. But in a nice way - because to be aggressive is sharp, huh?
Original post and comments.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Stella!!!!!! Definitely no fur - but iffy merino - in a (luxe) streetwear collection named desire
Scurrying to get to this morning's first show I am confronted by a half dozen people in white coats standing outside the venue, the Palais de Chaillot. Each is standing next to a dog on a lead. I think to myself, "Ah yes - yet more animal rights protestors", before doing a double take, and then remembering that the designer whose show I am about to see - Stella McCartney - does not in fact use fur.
On closer inspection it emerges that the white coat brigade are models hired by Target. Each has a little red Target logo on their pocket and each dog - every one of them a massive white bulldog - has a red 'target' painted in concentric circles around its right eye.
The spruikers hand out literature and bottles of water with "Proenza Schouler for Target" labelling. As for the dogs 'makeup', whether it was red paint, lipstick or theatrical makeup, I can't help thinking:
A/ That's got to be hard to get off a white dog and
B/ What would the animal rights lobby say?
Add to that the most pressing question of all here:
C/ With McCartney's own capsule range for Target Australia due to be released in Melbourne next week, shouldn't that in fact be Stella McCartney for Target that is being spruiked out the front of her show?
The animal rights lobby of course has no issue with McCartney. In fact McCartney is something of a PETA poster girl. A staunch vegan who has steadfastly refused to use leather or fur in her collections - in spite of the fact that her brand is now owned by one of the world's biggest luxury leathergoods conglomerates, Gucci Group - McCartney appears on PETA's website in a special videogram, designed to help people think twice about using fur. Her spring/summer 2005 collection moreover earned PETA's "Best animal-friendly luxury collection" award that year.
It is with some surprise therefore, that I get to my seat and open McCartney's show notes only to find the following word listed under fabrics used: "merino". I make a mental note of asking McCartney about this after the show.
The music comes up and the two sides of an enormous silver 'wall' pivot back on their tracks to reveal the runway.
It's a terrifically upbeat collection of rugged-up urban chic: from enormous hooded parkas to oversized knit dresses, some of them boasting an alpine intarsia motif complete with cute 'bears', to voluminous gilets, jackets and one skirt in a shagpile carpet-look faux "fur" made using a handcrafted "tufting" technique.
There are also some great dresses, notably one sculpted putty-coloured knit pinafore dress over matching turtleneck and some cashmere jumpsuits, the best in hot, almost fluoro pink, with a sporty racerback. Oversized seems to be the key to this show. The best coat in the collection is a striking ivory trench with overblown, almost leg o'mutton sleeves.
The collection, which is available through leading multibrand boutiques such as Belinda, Elle and Cactus Jam, should be a hit. Far bigger Stella McCartney news in Australia right now however is the Stella McCartney for Target range. A 45-piece "Best Of" collection, according to the McCartney camp, it's due to be unveiled at the Melbourne Fashion Festival.
I dash backstage to speak to McCartney and wait in line while all the wellwishers say hi. There's a suite of big US retailers - Barneys, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman.
Paris Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld (who some may recall was wearing a Prada outfit on the day of the Prada show last week) was not in Stella McCartney, but Roitfeld was wearing a gold pyramid stud-embellished navy cardigan hot off last night's Givenchy runway.
McCartney answers question after question from a gaggle of international television crews.
The issue of fur comes up in every interview and McCartney uses various terms such as "old lady" and "barbaric" to describe what she thinks of the look. She is wearing an ink blue hooded sweater dress, black stockings and black satin pumps.
Finally it's my turn.
Just as I go to flick the on button on my tape recorder, McCartney's PR loudly advises "No personal questions this time".
Frankly I'm amazed that he remembers me. He is referring to the last question of the post-show chat that I had with McCartney last season when I had the temerity to ask, after reading McCartney's usual show notes dedications to her family, her parents etc..., just what she might dedicate to Heather Mills, the soon-to-be ex-wife of her father Sir Paul McCartney. At which McCartney stormed off saying words to the effect that it was the most ridiculous question she had ever heard. Given the well-publicised animosity between the pair, I didn't think it was that ridiculous.
So, no personal questions this time:
The Target Australia deal - that's an interesting choice for you.
Stella McCartney: 'Tarjay' apparently is what we say. Yeah you know, the H&M thing was such a success but it wasn't in Australia and we felt sorry for the Australians. So we just thought, you know what, let's do it. Because it's a nice thing to do and I think the collection looks great and I think it will hopefully do well.
I am told it's a Best Of/greatest hits collection.
A little bit of a 'best of' yeah - some nice little print dresses, nice knitwear, some nice stuff - good trousers, nice tailoring.
When you did the collection for [European fast fashion chain] H&M, the merchandise virtually evaporated from the shop floors in hours. So potentially we're about to see some of that H&M-type hysteria in Australia?
It's similar because you know... it's what we do. We didn't sort of water anything down. We treated it quite seriously. We're proud of that collection actually. The girls want it - the girls in the [Stella McCartney] studio.
People may even fly to Sydney to buy it.
No they wouldn't go that far.
Why are so many designers interested in doing these tie-ins with discount chain stores?
I don't think anyone's sort of ashamed of doing these things anymore. I think they're a bit more realistic. I mean we're all aware of lots of different brands and lots of different labels. I think it's kind of modern to look at it and go, 'You know what? You wear that couture dress and you wear it with a pair of high street jeans'. It's just realistic. I don't think anyone has to be so kind of [makes gasping noise] precious about it all. It's a more modern way to look at the industry.
You're not coming out for the launch?
I don't think so.
Walking into your show before, there were these people with dogs and I thought, 'Animal rights protestors - that's weird, she doesn't do fur' but then...
I know it's weird isn't it, when they wear fur to my show? But you know, I wish people wouldn't wear...
No I mean the Target promo. But do you think the animal rights lobby would be happy about having bulldogs outside your show, especially with lipstick targets painted around their eyes?
[Joking] Aaa.... they wouldn't mind, as long as the bulldog's happy.
Now I know you don't wear or use fur however PETA also has very strong opinions on wool, notably Australian wool. PETA has in fact been extremely vocal in its criticisms of the Australian wool industry. I noticed that your show notes say you have used merino in the collection. Where does the merino come from?
From sheep - but they're nicely treated.
Australia?
I don't know, I'll find out. I have no idea. We have quite a strict rule in the house of Stella McCartney that we make sure everthing's signed off. Even things like buttons. We get quite kind of... we follow the life of our product before it hits the shelf.
So you're saying that you don't use Australian wool in your collections?
I don't know. I'll find out for you. I'm not 100% sure to be honest.
McCartney's PR intervenes:
PR: What is the question?
McCartney: Is it Australian wool?
PR: Oh no, it's not Australian wool.
McCartney [to me]: Why - are you mean to your sheep in Australia or something?
It's the mulesing issue - the practise that is used to combat flystrike. It's had quite a lot of publicity around the world, with calls for boycotts of Australian wool etc...
McCartney: I'm sure they do something mean but we don't use that. We're nice to our sheep and our wool. We're very responsible.
Approximately two hours later I receive a phone call from McCartney's PR office.
The office has looked into McCartney's supply chain, I am told, and reports that it can confirm McCartney's wool is "English Shetland".
I am also informed that the Target promo outside McCartney's show was essentially ambush marketing organised without McCartney's permission. Target US and Target Australia are two completely separate companies.
Now, I'm no wool authority, however merino and Shetland strike me as two completely different types of wool. And why on earth say that you use merino in your show notes anyway, if it is in fact something completely different?
According to Australian Wool Innovation, no merinos are bred in the UK and 70percent of the merino wool that is used worldwide in apparel hails from Australia. A small percentage comes from South Africa and New Zealand.
AWI was unable to confirm or deny whether McCartney does in fact use Australian merino wool. But curiously, that does not appear to have stopped them from using McCartney's name and collection in an autumn/winter 0506 trend report on their website - which makes specific reference to McCartney's use of merino wool.
The source of Stella McCartney's "merino" is obviously a matter between McCartney and her supply chain.
Unless any Australian merino growers reading this who believe that they supply either McCartney or the Gucci Group parent would like to throw some light on the issue, all we can really say for sure is that there is a 70percent chance that McCartney used Australian merino in her AW0708 collection, a 70percent chance that she used it in her AW0506 collection and a smaller chance that she may have even used it in her SS05 collection that was dubbed by PETA to be the "Best animal-friendly luxury collection" of the year.
Two things we can however say with a fair degree of confidence: Target US tests makeup on animals.
And a bunch of Parisian bulldogs will be taking the red eye across town for the next few days.
Original post and comments.
On closer inspection it emerges that the white coat brigade are models hired by Target. Each has a little red Target logo on their pocket and each dog - every one of them a massive white bulldog - has a red 'target' painted in concentric circles around its right eye.
The spruikers hand out literature and bottles of water with "Proenza Schouler for Target" labelling. As for the dogs 'makeup', whether it was red paint, lipstick or theatrical makeup, I can't help thinking:
A/ That's got to be hard to get off a white dog and
B/ What would the animal rights lobby say?
Add to that the most pressing question of all here:
C/ With McCartney's own capsule range for Target Australia due to be released in Melbourne next week, shouldn't that in fact be Stella McCartney for Target that is being spruiked out the front of her show?
The animal rights lobby of course has no issue with McCartney. In fact McCartney is something of a PETA poster girl. A staunch vegan who has steadfastly refused to use leather or fur in her collections - in spite of the fact that her brand is now owned by one of the world's biggest luxury leathergoods conglomerates, Gucci Group - McCartney appears on PETA's website in a special videogram, designed to help people think twice about using fur. Her spring/summer 2005 collection moreover earned PETA's "Best animal-friendly luxury collection" award that year.
It is with some surprise therefore, that I get to my seat and open McCartney's show notes only to find the following word listed under fabrics used: "merino". I make a mental note of asking McCartney about this after the show.
The music comes up and the two sides of an enormous silver 'wall' pivot back on their tracks to reveal the runway.
It's a terrifically upbeat collection of rugged-up urban chic: from enormous hooded parkas to oversized knit dresses, some of them boasting an alpine intarsia motif complete with cute 'bears', to voluminous gilets, jackets and one skirt in a shagpile carpet-look faux "fur" made using a handcrafted "tufting" technique.
There are also some great dresses, notably one sculpted putty-coloured knit pinafore dress over matching turtleneck and some cashmere jumpsuits, the best in hot, almost fluoro pink, with a sporty racerback. Oversized seems to be the key to this show. The best coat in the collection is a striking ivory trench with overblown, almost leg o'mutton sleeves.
The collection, which is available through leading multibrand boutiques such as Belinda, Elle and Cactus Jam, should be a hit. Far bigger Stella McCartney news in Australia right now however is the Stella McCartney for Target range. A 45-piece "Best Of" collection, according to the McCartney camp, it's due to be unveiled at the Melbourne Fashion Festival.
I dash backstage to speak to McCartney and wait in line while all the wellwishers say hi. There's a suite of big US retailers - Barneys, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman.
Paris Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld (who some may recall was wearing a Prada outfit on the day of the Prada show last week) was not in Stella McCartney, but Roitfeld was wearing a gold pyramid stud-embellished navy cardigan hot off last night's Givenchy runway.
McCartney answers question after question from a gaggle of international television crews.
The issue of fur comes up in every interview and McCartney uses various terms such as "old lady" and "barbaric" to describe what she thinks of the look. She is wearing an ink blue hooded sweater dress, black stockings and black satin pumps.
Finally it's my turn.
Just as I go to flick the on button on my tape recorder, McCartney's PR loudly advises "No personal questions this time".
Frankly I'm amazed that he remembers me. He is referring to the last question of the post-show chat that I had with McCartney last season when I had the temerity to ask, after reading McCartney's usual show notes dedications to her family, her parents etc..., just what she might dedicate to Heather Mills, the soon-to-be ex-wife of her father Sir Paul McCartney. At which McCartney stormed off saying words to the effect that it was the most ridiculous question she had ever heard. Given the well-publicised animosity between the pair, I didn't think it was that ridiculous.
So, no personal questions this time:
The Target Australia deal - that's an interesting choice for you.
Stella McCartney: 'Tarjay' apparently is what we say. Yeah you know, the H&M thing was such a success but it wasn't in Australia and we felt sorry for the Australians. So we just thought, you know what, let's do it. Because it's a nice thing to do and I think the collection looks great and I think it will hopefully do well.
I am told it's a Best Of/greatest hits collection.
A little bit of a 'best of' yeah - some nice little print dresses, nice knitwear, some nice stuff - good trousers, nice tailoring.
When you did the collection for [European fast fashion chain] H&M, the merchandise virtually evaporated from the shop floors in hours. So potentially we're about to see some of that H&M-type hysteria in Australia?
It's similar because you know... it's what we do. We didn't sort of water anything down. We treated it quite seriously. We're proud of that collection actually. The girls want it - the girls in the [Stella McCartney] studio.
People may even fly to Sydney to buy it.
No they wouldn't go that far.
Why are so many designers interested in doing these tie-ins with discount chain stores?
I don't think anyone's sort of ashamed of doing these things anymore. I think they're a bit more realistic. I mean we're all aware of lots of different brands and lots of different labels. I think it's kind of modern to look at it and go, 'You know what? You wear that couture dress and you wear it with a pair of high street jeans'. It's just realistic. I don't think anyone has to be so kind of [makes gasping noise] precious about it all. It's a more modern way to look at the industry.
You're not coming out for the launch?
I don't think so.
Walking into your show before, there were these people with dogs and I thought, 'Animal rights protestors - that's weird, she doesn't do fur' but then...
I know it's weird isn't it, when they wear fur to my show? But you know, I wish people wouldn't wear...
No I mean the Target promo. But do you think the animal rights lobby would be happy about having bulldogs outside your show, especially with lipstick targets painted around their eyes?
[Joking] Aaa.... they wouldn't mind, as long as the bulldog's happy.
Now I know you don't wear or use fur however PETA also has very strong opinions on wool, notably Australian wool. PETA has in fact been extremely vocal in its criticisms of the Australian wool industry. I noticed that your show notes say you have used merino in the collection. Where does the merino come from?
From sheep - but they're nicely treated.
Australia?
I don't know, I'll find out. I have no idea. We have quite a strict rule in the house of Stella McCartney that we make sure everthing's signed off. Even things like buttons. We get quite kind of... we follow the life of our product before it hits the shelf.
So you're saying that you don't use Australian wool in your collections?
I don't know. I'll find out for you. I'm not 100% sure to be honest.
McCartney's PR intervenes:
PR: What is the question?
McCartney: Is it Australian wool?
PR: Oh no, it's not Australian wool.
McCartney [to me]: Why - are you mean to your sheep in Australia or something?
It's the mulesing issue - the practise that is used to combat flystrike. It's had quite a lot of publicity around the world, with calls for boycotts of Australian wool etc...
McCartney: I'm sure they do something mean but we don't use that. We're nice to our sheep and our wool. We're very responsible.
Approximately two hours later I receive a phone call from McCartney's PR office.
The office has looked into McCartney's supply chain, I am told, and reports that it can confirm McCartney's wool is "English Shetland".
I am also informed that the Target promo outside McCartney's show was essentially ambush marketing organised without McCartney's permission. Target US and Target Australia are two completely separate companies.
Now, I'm no wool authority, however merino and Shetland strike me as two completely different types of wool. And why on earth say that you use merino in your show notes anyway, if it is in fact something completely different?
According to Australian Wool Innovation, no merinos are bred in the UK and 70percent of the merino wool that is used worldwide in apparel hails from Australia. A small percentage comes from South Africa and New Zealand.
AWI was unable to confirm or deny whether McCartney does in fact use Australian merino wool. But curiously, that does not appear to have stopped them from using McCartney's name and collection in an autumn/winter 0506 trend report on their website - which makes specific reference to McCartney's use of merino wool.
The source of Stella McCartney's "merino" is obviously a matter between McCartney and her supply chain.
Unless any Australian merino growers reading this who believe that they supply either McCartney or the Gucci Group parent would like to throw some light on the issue, all we can really say for sure is that there is a 70percent chance that McCartney used Australian merino in her AW0708 collection, a 70percent chance that she used it in her AW0506 collection and a smaller chance that she may have even used it in her SS05 collection that was dubbed by PETA to be the "Best animal-friendly luxury collection" of the year.
Two things we can however say with a fair degree of confidence: Target US tests makeup on animals.
And a bunch of Parisian bulldogs will be taking the red eye across town for the next few days.
Original post and comments.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
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.
Original post and comments.
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.
Original post and comments.
Smoke, mirrors and light-emitting diodes: a wardrobe for climate change at Hussein Chalayan
After last season's mechanical dresses which self-transformed on the runway, the pressure seemed on Brit-based Turkish Cypriot designer Hussein Chalayan to pull off another equally spectacular idea.
"So what's the concept?" I ask Sydney expat show producer Kannon Rajah, potentially about to spoil my own surprise.
"There's an 'installation'" is all he would say, cryptically.
Just off the bus from Givenchy, and with everything running late, the models are already lining up.
One is wearing a cute blue and white-striped T-shirt under a trapeze line shift dress fashioned from some sort of red, yellow and black heavy weave fabric that looks like it could have used for an anti-macassar or placemat in Chalayan's native Nicosia.
Another is in a kind of Mod/Courreges-look white woollen trapeze-line shift dress with matching coat that is hanging from trhe model's head by its hood. Both models are wearing skin-tight, Wet Look black leggings. Whether they're made from Latex or just high gloss plasticated Lycra, they have a touch of the dominatrix about them. It's the third show in as many hours to feature skintight, glossy black leg coverings.
At Givenchy, when models weren't wearing a kind of Wet Look black sarouel pant with tight legs from the knee down and an ultra-baggy crotch, they were kitted out in black glossy leggings with stitching down the back [and teamed with a heap of smart navy and black military-style jackets whose backs were heavily embellished with large gold 'punk' studs]. Right before that, Sophia Kokosolaki showed black leather skinny jeans.
Tough chic, it seems, is definitely front-of-mind.
I run out to grab a spot at the end of the runway which has been raised a couple of metres from the ground and ends in a large white circle. In the middle of the circle is a round hole. In front of the hole are three vents.
The music hails from a single xylophone player and a model walks out in a glow-in-the-dark shift dress.
On closer inspection the dress appears to have some form of inbuilt projection apparatus - because it's showing some animated graphics. [I later confirm that it's been made using LEDs or light-emitting diodes, the fruit of a collaboration with several companies, including 2D/3D, who made last season's mechanical dresses]. Save for the black plastic harness-look thing that seems to be propping up the model's chin, overall it's a cool effect.
The hole at the end of the runway suddenly comes to life, like an industrial volcano. It makes a loud whirring noise, like a plane's engine, and smoke starts to emerge.
Models walk out in a series of intricately-panelled, trapeze-line coats and dresses made from the heavy ethnic-look weave fabric I'd seen backstage, many of them layered over the striped T-shirting.
There are lots of great coats, including another, voluminous, short black trapeze-line coat with hood and a series in a rose-print metallic fabric, including one full-skirted cocktail dress.
Everything is styled with the black (and occasionally also silver) PVC-look leggings and either high gloss patent pumps with almost needle-thin stiletto heels or high gloss patent ankle boots. There is also a striking evening series in sheer silk georgette, including one voluminous, panelled grey trapeze coat and a red cocktail dress with black tulle overlay.
For the show duration, I am standing in the middle of the very end of the runway, a matter of metres away from the 'volcano'.
At various points, the volume of the whirring increases and I start to worry that it might explode. It's a feeling that is only exacerbated by the arrival at one point, on all fours, of two technicians who scramble into a manhole and attempt to fix something.
The recent Diane Von Furstenberg incident in New York immediately springs to mind - when a light rig fell, injuring several people. Chalayan is sensible of course - he's backstage.
The regular runway action is interrupted at several intervals by yet more stunts.
A model takes a position at the end of the runway at one point, with her legs slightly spread. She has a look of earnest anticipation on her face - like she's about to lay an egg. Next the black 'hood' on her coat starts to rise, like the soft roof of a convertible, and eventually covers her head in a transparent black dome.
At another point, two models walk out with their heads enclosed in illuminated red plastic 'space' hats which look a little like upturned salad bowls.
And the runway vents? Three models in short, layered pannier dresses do a 'Marilyn' by standing over them - the dress panels billowing up to create a crinoline effect. The photographers - and I - get a great flash of the bottom of the middle model in her black PVC leggings. It's more than a bit Madame Lash.
For the finale, another model emerges in another LED shift dress.
It was entertaining, although far from breathtaking, as were last season's mechanical dresses - due to the obvious fact we had no clue they were coming.
Chalayan is immediately besieged backstage by tv crews and reporters, several of them asking him if he considers himself to be "avant-garde" or "futuristic" [his stock answer: he doesn't like labels].
In various interviews he talks about his inspirations for the show, most of which I must admit weren't immediately apparent to me as a spectator.
It was about the various seasons and how bodies relate to climate change, he explains. Nothing whatsoever to do with global warming however, he insists. This show was also far more stressful than the last, he adds.
With the global publicity that ensued from the last show, notably on tech sites/blogs, perhaps the stress was due to the fact that Chalayan now feels he has to up his own ante.
"It's about climate and the body's relation to the life/death cycle" he adds - totally stumping me, unless of course he was referring to what appeared at one moment to be the imminent prospect of being torched alive by his malfunctioning volcano contraption.
Chalayan does make one point which immediately garners my attention however.
The heavy red/black woven fabric was, he says, inspired by a "Samurai weave" and was intended as an "armour and warrior reference".
Bingo. Burberry knights, Samurai warriors... A glass ceiling may still exist between women and the frontline in most traditional theatres of war - but not in this fashion season it seems.
There's really only one question that I want to ask him:
"Could you do what you do on a plain white runway, without the smoke, mirrors, bells and whistles?"
"Yeah of course" replies Chalayan. "The clothes stand up on their own right. But the event is still for you guys so that you have a nice time".
Original post and comments.
"So what's the concept?" I ask Sydney expat show producer Kannon Rajah, potentially about to spoil my own surprise.
"There's an 'installation'" is all he would say, cryptically.
Just off the bus from Givenchy, and with everything running late, the models are already lining up.
One is wearing a cute blue and white-striped T-shirt under a trapeze line shift dress fashioned from some sort of red, yellow and black heavy weave fabric that looks like it could have used for an anti-macassar or placemat in Chalayan's native Nicosia.
Another is in a kind of Mod/Courreges-look white woollen trapeze-line shift dress with matching coat that is hanging from trhe model's head by its hood. Both models are wearing skin-tight, Wet Look black leggings. Whether they're made from Latex or just high gloss plasticated Lycra, they have a touch of the dominatrix about them. It's the third show in as many hours to feature skintight, glossy black leg coverings.
At Givenchy, when models weren't wearing a kind of Wet Look black sarouel pant with tight legs from the knee down and an ultra-baggy crotch, they were kitted out in black glossy leggings with stitching down the back [and teamed with a heap of smart navy and black military-style jackets whose backs were heavily embellished with large gold 'punk' studs]. Right before that, Sophia Kokosolaki showed black leather skinny jeans.
Tough chic, it seems, is definitely front-of-mind.
I run out to grab a spot at the end of the runway which has been raised a couple of metres from the ground and ends in a large white circle. In the middle of the circle is a round hole. In front of the hole are three vents.
The music hails from a single xylophone player and a model walks out in a glow-in-the-dark shift dress.
On closer inspection the dress appears to have some form of inbuilt projection apparatus - because it's showing some animated graphics. [I later confirm that it's been made using LEDs or light-emitting diodes, the fruit of a collaboration with several companies, including 2D/3D, who made last season's mechanical dresses]. Save for the black plastic harness-look thing that seems to be propping up the model's chin, overall it's a cool effect.
The hole at the end of the runway suddenly comes to life, like an industrial volcano. It makes a loud whirring noise, like a plane's engine, and smoke starts to emerge.
Models walk out in a series of intricately-panelled, trapeze-line coats and dresses made from the heavy ethnic-look weave fabric I'd seen backstage, many of them layered over the striped T-shirting.
There are lots of great coats, including another, voluminous, short black trapeze-line coat with hood and a series in a rose-print metallic fabric, including one full-skirted cocktail dress.
Everything is styled with the black (and occasionally also silver) PVC-look leggings and either high gloss patent pumps with almost needle-thin stiletto heels or high gloss patent ankle boots. There is also a striking evening series in sheer silk georgette, including one voluminous, panelled grey trapeze coat and a red cocktail dress with black tulle overlay.
For the show duration, I am standing in the middle of the very end of the runway, a matter of metres away from the 'volcano'.
At various points, the volume of the whirring increases and I start to worry that it might explode. It's a feeling that is only exacerbated by the arrival at one point, on all fours, of two technicians who scramble into a manhole and attempt to fix something.
The recent Diane Von Furstenberg incident in New York immediately springs to mind - when a light rig fell, injuring several people. Chalayan is sensible of course - he's backstage.
The regular runway action is interrupted at several intervals by yet more stunts.
A model takes a position at the end of the runway at one point, with her legs slightly spread. She has a look of earnest anticipation on her face - like she's about to lay an egg. Next the black 'hood' on her coat starts to rise, like the soft roof of a convertible, and eventually covers her head in a transparent black dome.
At another point, two models walk out with their heads enclosed in illuminated red plastic 'space' hats which look a little like upturned salad bowls.
And the runway vents? Three models in short, layered pannier dresses do a 'Marilyn' by standing over them - the dress panels billowing up to create a crinoline effect. The photographers - and I - get a great flash of the bottom of the middle model in her black PVC leggings. It's more than a bit Madame Lash.
For the finale, another model emerges in another LED shift dress.
It was entertaining, although far from breathtaking, as were last season's mechanical dresses - due to the obvious fact we had no clue they were coming.
Chalayan is immediately besieged backstage by tv crews and reporters, several of them asking him if he considers himself to be "avant-garde" or "futuristic" [his stock answer: he doesn't like labels].
In various interviews he talks about his inspirations for the show, most of which I must admit weren't immediately apparent to me as a spectator.
It was about the various seasons and how bodies relate to climate change, he explains. Nothing whatsoever to do with global warming however, he insists. This show was also far more stressful than the last, he adds.
With the global publicity that ensued from the last show, notably on tech sites/blogs, perhaps the stress was due to the fact that Chalayan now feels he has to up his own ante.
"It's about climate and the body's relation to the life/death cycle" he adds - totally stumping me, unless of course he was referring to what appeared at one moment to be the imminent prospect of being torched alive by his malfunctioning volcano contraption.
Chalayan does make one point which immediately garners my attention however.
The heavy red/black woven fabric was, he says, inspired by a "Samurai weave" and was intended as an "armour and warrior reference".
Bingo. Burberry knights, Samurai warriors... A glass ceiling may still exist between women and the frontline in most traditional theatres of war - but not in this fashion season it seems.
There's really only one question that I want to ask him:
"Could you do what you do on a plain white runway, without the smoke, mirrors, bells and whistles?"
"Yeah of course" replies Chalayan. "The clothes stand up on their own right. But the event is still for you guys so that you have a nice time".
Original post and comments.
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