Wednesday 31 March 2010

Lucky Louboutin


Few cobblers, even the very upmarket ones, could boast annual sales of 340,000 pairs of shoes, but that is indeed the successful truth for Christian Louboutin.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, he also reveals that his very best customer is the American author Danielle Steel, who apparently has no fewer than 6,000 pairs in her closet.

Even by my standards, that's a lot of shoes for one person!

Jolie Nice


Angelina Jolie has a most fashionable heart. Before taking her new Akris ecru horsehair handbag out for its very first outing, she checked in with the Swiss luxury brand to make sure that the animals' used for its making had been treated well.

When Akris told her that their "horses get haircuts just like we do" (the bag is made with hair from horse tails), Angelina was, apparently best pleased.

Proof that it is possible to be fashionable and fabulous.

Sunday 28 March 2010

In LOVE with Lara


Apparently Lara Stone is taking over from Eva Mendes as the face of Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans.

If true, this means we can look forward to another gorgeous ad campaign starring my favourite model.

In the meantime, fellow fans should pick up a copy of LOVE magazine, which features Lara Stone on one of its choice of different covers. The current issue is sure to be a collectable, so stock up now...

Gaga for Glasses


There is a rumour that Lady Gaga is about to launch a collaboration with Linda Farrow, to create her own line of sunglasses.

If the sunglasses she wears in her Telephone video are anything to go by, which are made from rows of lit cigarettes, then the collection will undoubtedly promise an original concept - although perhaps not an entirely wearable one.

We'll have to wait and see!

Dita Von Teese Partners With Moschino


Dita Von Teese has just designed a limited edition eye mask for Moschino, with profits going to Amfar.

It is absolutely gorgeous, and even comes with its own protective dust bag.

Leave it to Dita to create an ultra chic sleepwear accessory!

Long Live Karl!


As if staging the most original and impressive show during Paris Fashion Week wasn't enough, Karl Lagerfeld is about to make more news, as he is soon to be decorated by the French government.

President Nicolas Sarkozy informed the designer just after his show, that he is to be made a commander of the French Legion of Honor.

The date for the awards ceremony is yet to be confirmed, and in my opinion it is already long overdue.

For Karl Lagerfeld to have remained at the top of this game until now, is very obvious proof that he has mastered and contributed to it enormously.

Long live Karl!

Wednesday 24 March 2010

The Last Dance



The Gucci Group, proprietors of the Alexander McQueen brand, respectfully chose to show the designer's last collection via an intimate presentation, rather than a full-blown catwalk parade.

Without wanting to sound clichéd, and without wanting to obviously celebrate the work of a designer so recently passed away, I do believe that it is perhaps the most beautiful and - dare I use the word - poetic collection that he ever created.

Each silhouette is a look of pure imagination - no similarities or comparisons exist with any other collection by any other designer, that I have seen.

The collection is the work of a true and honest, creative genius who really was exploring and inventing, one silhouette at a time.

It is so sad that we will now never discover how much further McQueen would have taken us into the future of fashion.

This collection is so tragically the last indication of the immense talent he possessed.

Monday 22 March 2010

Do You Like My Iceberg? It's Chanel...


Just when you think you've seen it all in the fashion industry, Chanel go and import a 265-tonne iceberg from Sweden and put it in the middle of Paris's Grand Palais.

In order to keep it from melting at their Paris Fashion Week show, the air had to be chilled to -4°, which also consequently chilled the brand's guests into a subzero sense of humour failure.

Apparently it took 35 ice sculptors - also imported - six days to carve the iceberg into Karl Lagerfeld's desired silhouette.

It certainly proved a distraction from the collection's snowball bag and icicle-heeled boots...

Is That The Telephone?

For all those of you who genuinely love fashion, the colourful side of life, who have a sense of humour, and a sense of irony, Lady Gaga brings you the video of her latest release Telephone...it's so outrageous, you couldn't hang up if you tried...!

I'll Have A Lagerfeld...


Karl Lagerfeld's slimline silhouette may not immediately conjure up an assosciation to fine dining, yet that may be about to change, now that the fat-free designer has given the go-ahead to new Parisian eatery La Gioia to name one of it's plats after him.

The restaurant will soon be serving the "Insalata Karl Lagerfeld", composed of Alaskan king crab, extra virgin Sicilian olive oil, black peeper, bread crusts, sea salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

This sounds as lightweight as "Le Club Rykiel", the club sandwich that Café de Flore named after the designer Sonia Rykiel: the sandwich includes everything but the bread.

Fashion's getting tasty!

Monday 8 March 2010

Turkey Is In Vogue




Vogue is reaching further afield, and expanding its markets into Turkey. 


This month sees the launch of Vogue Türkiye, and the first issue boasts an impressive 1:1 ratio of advertising and editorial. 


Last night we celebrated the launch with a party at the Crillon in Paris, which seems to be destination Vogue these days. 


Amongst the guests: Matthew Williamson, Riccardo Tisci, Mario Testino, Olivier Theyskens, Karolina Kurkova, Nicholas Kirkwood...

Lohan is a No-Show At Ungaro

While it may have been a shock announcement that Lindsay Lohan was made artistic adviser to Emmanuel Ungaro last year, there must have been far fewer raised eyebrows that the "actress" was a no-show at the house's fashion show today.

The panned show last season went a long way to proving that the job of a fashion designer is a difficult métier requiring years of training and experience in order to pull off successfully, and that a celebrity name is no alternative route to designing a collection that magazines want to feature and clients want to buy.

Sometimes, there is such a thing as bad publicity.

Sunday 7 March 2010

Diane Von Furstenberg Makes Over Claridge's

The multi-talented Diane von Furstenberg has turned her attention to interior design for the first time, making over about 20 rooms and suites for Claridge's in London.

Diane von Furstenberg has been staying there since the 70s, and is the only designer to collaborate with the hotel in such a way, in its entire history.

With other fashionable fans of the hotel including Kate Moss and Carine Roitfeld, this upmarket inn certainly seems to be very in vogue...

Friday 5 March 2010

All A-Twitter


Carine Roitfeld is reporting live from Paris Fashion Week, with regular updates throughout the day, via Twitter.

Follow her well-heeled movements now at http://twitter.com/VogueParisLive.

Blacklisted By Balenciaga

You wouldn't think many people would decline Carine Roitfeld's attendance - or for that matter, any member of her fashionable team - but that is indeed the case at Balenciaga.

The Editor in Chief of Vogue Paris admitted that she and her editors were blacklisted from Balenciaga's show during Paris Fashion Week, and that the brand no longer advertises in her magazine.

I would die to find out why!

Party Like A Vogue-Star!


If the the fashion industry has one "hostess with the mostess", I now know that it is definitely Carine Roitfeld, Editor in Chief of Vogue Paris.

Last night she hosted one of the absolutely chic-est parties of any fashion week I have attended so far, at the recently installed Vogue bar at the Crillon Hotel in Paris.

We drank Carine's self-invented "Tea Time" cocktail, mixed of vodka, green tea, lime and mint blossom water - a refreshingly light alternative to Champagne - and the "Caipi Vogue", mixed of jasmine, rosewater and Cachaça.

The company was as delicious as the cocktail, including Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, Riccardo Tisci, Christophe Decarnin, Franca Sozzani, Mario Testino - who found the event "very selective", Victoire de Castellane, Delphine Arnault, Daria Werbowy, Karolina Kurkova, Natasha Poly (in Emilio Pucci), Anja Rubik, Erin Wasson, Amanda Harlech, André, Olivier Zahm, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld...the guest list was an A-Z of the fashion industry's most talented designers, models, photographers and editors.

Carine Roitfeld was naturally best-dressed of the night, but her Fashion Director Emmanuelle Alt came in a close second, in a white sequined Balmain jacket and fringed Isabel Marant boots.

Life's a cocktail-fuelled party on planet Vogue!