ILLUMINATED SIMPLICITY
Paris: There were two disparate but complimentary influences behind Cedric Charlier's latest collection. First, the Art Brut movement of the mid-twentieth century provided the inspiration for the scribbled, swirling prints that enlivened the clean-lined separates toward the middle of the show. The colorful embroidery that closed the collection was drawn from illuminated manuscripts from the medieval era. In between,
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MEN’S LOUNGE
Paris: Paris fashion week opened this season on an international note with South Korean ex-pat Moon Young Hee’s voluminous and layered F/W 13 collection. Presented in a neutral, monochrome palette typical of the designer, the focus was on wrapping and covering the body with many yards of silk and satin, resulting in full menswear trousers that occasionally looked like
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COLLAGE ARTISTS
Paris: The Aganovich girl is an intellectual dresser, one who appreciates cerebral craftsmanship, which is often challenging to the eye. In this vein, F/W 13 was a collaged collection of wearable art, using the body as a canvas for dense satin and wool garments that were folded like origami, draped, pleated and pieced-together in myriad variations. There was a
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By now your luggage for fashion month is packed, hair is cut and nails are immaculately lacquered. But if you're following the action from afar, do you have front row seats to all the social media action? Here are our top 10 Instagram accounts to follow this month, posted by the most media-savvy editors, brands, bloggers, photographers and PR companies with front
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BOMBAY DREAMS
Paris: Jean Paul Gaultier, fashion’s eternal ethnographer, presented a cinematic multi-culti Couture spectacle to the strains of “La Vie en Rose” sung in Hindi. Much of the show was classic or vintage Gaultier. He conjured the Andulasian gypsy, descendant of India and last seen in his RTW S/S 2005 collection, with his patchwork traje de flamenca, fringed capes, and
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Last week's Paris runway shows marked the end of the Men's F/W 13 Fashion Week schedule (with the exception of NYC). As the dust settles over the French capital, Stylesight highlights the key denim looks to emerge from Saint Lauren, Dries Van Noten, Junya Watanabe and more.
Saint Lauren
Hedi Slimane’s debut Menswear collection was the most highly anticipated show on the Paris fashion week
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FIRST BLOOM
Paris: Georges Hobeika delivered a Spring/Summer mood in the purest sense for this aptly entitled collection, Peace Blossom. The relationship between the eternally feminine and nature in bloom was expressed in diaphanous dresses that observed the contours of the body and evoked a sense of youth and rebirth. Spring seemed just around the corner in the soft pinks, greens
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ARABIAN DECO
Paris: At Armani Privé the designer transported viewers on a non-specific exotic journey with a collection inspired by the romanticism of the Eastern cultures, the mystery of the desert and ornate Arabic architecture and ironwork. The theme was subtly apparent in a collection of mostly tailored looks in saturated spice and jewel tones, and in rich lustrous fabrics like
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A rare collection of color photographs taken in Paris circa 1900 have surfaced, confirming that...Paris remains *remarkably similar* 113 years later and, as always, timelessly photogenic. The city's monuments (La tour Eiffel, Le Moulin Rouge, etc) and charmingly quaint neighborhood streets look virtually the same . One of the few glaring visual clues that these photos are indeed ancien is the
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PAST THE PRINTS
New York: Carol Lim and Humberto Leon allowed prints to take center stage for their previous collection, but this time around, they opted for a cleaner look. The solid black, white, and blush tones that were used for the first series of looks allowed the viewer to focus on the items' distinct cuts. The tent silhouette was used
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DREAMY PERFECTION
Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccoli showed a ravishing collection for Valentino, expressed with extraordinary craftsmanship and dressmaking skills. The inspiration was a garden — a common touchpoint this season, but the designers interpreted it in a fresh way. Demure dresses were created with layer upon layer of nude organza, overlaid with scrollwork embroideries that suggested ornate ironwork gates. (It took
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FULL BLOOM
Giambattista Valli's models looked gift-wrapped in black tulle, cleverly draped over black-and-white animal prints like zebra, croc and blown-up cat spots. Models were dressed in black and/or white for the first half of the show, which opened with a structured coatdress, enhanced at the rounded hip and nipped-in at the waist. Like Raf Simons at Dior, he seemed to be channeling Dior’s New
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THE LANGUAGE OF OPULENCE
Paris: A famous photograph of Diana Vreeland lounging in her luxurious boudoir served as an inspiration behind Olivier Rousteing's Pre-Fall collection for Balmain. Vreeland once famously said, "The eye has to travel," and Rousteing took this sentiment to heart, borrowing elements from far-flung cultures and translating them into his own language of opulence. There were obi belts
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