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A Night With the Transavanguardia

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A buzzy vernissage for Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld's latest found-artist project has become a ritual of sorts during New York fashion week. This season's unveiling was of 15 works by Ouattara Watts, a Neo-Expressionist who came of age in the eighties with fellow big-canvas painters David Salle and Julian Schnabel.

Giovanna Battaglia, no slouch when it comes to art history, connected the dots even further. "It's like transavanguardia"—the Italian movement of the same period that included Francesco Clemente and Mimmo Paladino. Watts even got her to come out to his studio in Brooklyn, Battaglia added, a borough she visits rarely and with an extreme sense of purpose—"only to studios and photo shoots, and they have an amazing place for cheeseburgers over there."

A half-hour after the opening ended, guards at the West Village warehouse where the show went down (or up, rather) shooed her and Restoin-Roitfeld out. No matter: They were late for the after-party at Acme, where they joined the likes of Elisa Sednaoui, Lily Donaldson, and Stavros Niarchos, the latter installed in a corner seat with girlfriend Jessica Hart. Watts entered the dining room to a standing ovation and settled in at the main table with Ivorian countryman Isaach De Bankolé and Glenn O'Brien, who's known Watts ever since meeting him through Jean-Michel Basquiat.

"Ouattara's been underrated for various reasons," O'Brien offered. "I think he's the kind of person who likes to live a nice life, so he hasn't really been incredibly aggressive and ambitious. But his work has still really evolved." Thanks to the new exposure, his sales may have, too—Roitfeld said he'd found a buyer for about half the paintings in the show, one of which has the letters "V.R." rather prominently stitched into it. "Vlad was very proud of it, but he never said anything to Ouattara. And Ouattara never said anything," Battaglia confided. Actions, as they say, speak louder, anyway.

—Darrell Hartman

Go Sandro

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

"I'm sad the secret is out," Rose Byrne admitted to Style.com last night at the new Sandro Bleecker Street store. "I'm a big fan of the Sandro brand from being in London. I guess all good things can't remain a secret forever."

The actress wasn't the only one singing the praises of Sandro and its founder-designer Evelyne Chetrite at the cocktail party celebrating the brand's U.S. arrival and a new collaboration with Dree Hemingway. "It's a new, big step for me," said Hemingway, who was sporting several pieces from her capsule collection. "The white shift dress is my favorite. You literally throw it on and it's the quintessential summer dress—whether you have big boobs, small boobs, big hips, whatever, it works."

After things wrapped up at the store, Hemingway, Chetrite, and other partygoers were shuttled over to the newly opened Le Baron, where they were joined by the likes of Penn Badgley and Zoë Kravitz. Though many guests turned in early with the big week of fashion shows ahead on their minds, a few stayed up well past midnight. On his way out, Waris Ahluwalia said, "What am I doing? I'm a designer, I have to go home!"

—Kristin Studeman

Prepare for Impact

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

—Marina Larroude

Deborah Turbeville in Focus

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Style Squared

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

—Brittany Adams

Makeup Bag Confessions

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Sole Man

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

"The last time I was at a Louboutin party, I almost broke my foot," a woman said as she rode the escalator to the second floor at Bergdorf Goodman last night.

Things didn't get quite that rowdy at the retailer's red-themed 20th anniversary fête for the shoe maestro. Except, that is, when the man of the hour made his grand entrance. As guests tried to get a photo or an autograph of Louboutin—not easy, what with his pack of bodyguards—even industry insiders admitted that meeting the designer is a thrill. "In May, I had lunch with him in Budapest. I know it sounds name drop-y, but I'm from the Midwest, so it was pretty exciting," said Paper magazine's Mickey Boardman.

Bergdorf's Linda Fargo was on the same page—she decked herself out in confetti for the occasion. Just how did she manage to attach it to her skin? "I used lots of fake eyelash glue," she told Style.com. "Originally, I went to the store to get those gold star stickers, like the ones they used to put on your papers in school when you did well, and they looked at me like I was crazy!"

—Kristin Studeman

Fashion Speak

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Kopp Land

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Sandro Kopp paints his portraits differently: namely, via Skype from Scotland. And perhaps for that reason, his New York friends and famous sitters (often one and the same) have been overjoyed to have the 33-year-old artist in town—although it doesn't hurt, of course, that his plus-one is Tilda Swinton. "It's been, like, Sandro week. I think all of his friends have been throwing him parties," David Maupin said on Saturday night, where his gallery, Lehmann Maupin, hosted a dinner in celebration of Kopp's new exhibition, There You Are, at its Chrystie Street space.

"I think part of it is an extension of his charm and his personality and being an artist—to do this type of work, you have to kind of relate and open up some kind of conversation with your subject," Maupin mused, as Michael Stipe (who'd thrown Kopp a dinner party of his own the night before) arrived with gold, letter-shaped balloons that spelled out K-O-P-P. Meanwhile, Frances McDormand was taking her co-hosting duties seriously: "I'm the hostess; do what I say," the actress said, cutting a swath through the cocktail area. "We're moving to the back room. My name's Fran."

Singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf had flown in from London and serenaded dinner guests before they took their seats underneath enormous rice paper lanterns. (The proceedings were sponsored by Belvedere, Pomellato, and Istanbul '74, the Turkish culture-importing outfit behind the annual Istancool festival.) Kopp, looking very much the man of the hour in a velvet YSL dinner jacket, declared himself not just over the moon—"I'm over Mars," he said. As McDormand started packing up kale salad for the road, the crowd headed off to the after-party at Pulqueria. The balloons didn't make the trip, but Kopp and Swinton did, and stayed until 2 a.m.—which makes the actress' luminous appearance at the SAG Awards in L.A. the following evening all the more remarkable.

—Darrell Hartman

Heart Skipped a Beat

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

—Marina Larroude

And The Actor Goes To

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The 18th Annual SAG Awards ceremony was almost like watching the Globes all over again. Same A-list nominees, same A-list winners, save for upsets in the Best Actor and Actress categories. Only this time around the festivities included a drinking game courtesy of the Bridesmaids crew. Kristen Wiig and company's onstage antics echoed the action on the red carpet: For the most part, the vibe tonight was cooler, looser, and more fun—and better for it.

That's not to say the glam factor went missing. Natalie Portman and Zoe Saldana both nabbed looks fresh from the Paris haute couture shows that wrapped last Wednesday; the former chose a strapless Giambattista Valli in a deep shade of bordeaux, and the latter wore Look 17 from Givenchy. Minus the nose ring, that is—things weren't quite that loose.

Still, there was plenty to like: Emma Stone's black Alexander McQueen, Michelle Williams' lacy red Valentino, Jessica Chastain's royal-blue gown from Calvin Klein Collection. We'll be looking forward to seeing what those three choose for the Oscars. Gretchen Mol's white and gold L'Wren Scott column dress also made a big impact.

White and gold also proved lucky for a Marchesa-clad Viola Davis. After winning Best Actress for her role in The Help, she was back on stage again for the Best Ensemble prize.

—Nicole Phelps

Fête Majeur

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

For ten years, the Sidaction gala has closed the spring Couture season in Paris. The evening has evolved into a highly successful fundraiser for AIDS education, research, and treatment, but the personality of the actual event is contingent on a couple of other features. One, it's something of a fashion showcase, not quite to the extent of New York's Met ball, but designers do make the scene with a "muse," like Giambattista Valli arriving with Bianca Brandolini d'Adda, Peter Copping dressing Clémence Poésy, or Dita Von Teese sporting Alexis Mabille on her bod and Alexis Mabille on her arm. Jean Paul Gaultier and Grace Jones also made a logical pair, even if she was actually with The Other JPG (Jean-Paul Goude).

Another characteristic of the gala is the lengthy speechifying that precedes dinner. Not, in itself, unusual at such things, but it's always seemed a little off that they're not somehow translated for the non-French speakers in the audience. A shame, when the information being imparted is so worthy. Plus, Sidaction's work is international. Plus, the gala comes at the end of a fashion semi-week, when Paris is awash with out-of-towners. I seemed to be surrounded by people who'd quickly stretched their bilingualism to the max. Oh, well, there was always a special postprandial edition of Club Sandwich, where the Anglophones whose French had been tested and found wanting could blow off some nonverbal steam.

—Tim Blanks

Haute Joaillerie

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

"It's a New Mix"

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Karl Lagerfeld understands decor as well as he knows fashion. The premises for his new signature collection Karl are an opulently minimal series of salons in an hôtel particulier on the Left Bank, so it made sense that the food for the dinner party he hosted on Wednesday night to launch the line should also focus on the bare opulent essentials: caviar, foie gras, and lobster, with a logo-fied iPad as a takeaway. One of the T-shirts in his Karl range features a fanciful self-portrait with the handwritten message "I Love Gossip." Plenty of that in a room full of fashion people, though I spent much of the night talking about obscure Eastern European films with the encyclopedically informed Anja Rubik. How often do you get the chance to have a real talk with anyone about Dusan Makavejev's scatological Sweet Movie? Especially while chunks of foie gras are drifting back and forth under your nose.

Rubik stars in the commercial that Trey Laird made for the launch of Karl. It was pre-loaded on the iPad. Sui He is also in the ad. She spoke no English when she arrived in New York a year ago but now sounds as politely precise as an elocutionist. On the day of the shoot, Sui was intimidated by the ease of the more experienced models. "It was like a competition," she said. Everyone's a winner in the finished product, which premiered at the dinner, but Sui seemed a little taken aback at how persuasive she was as a minx.

"It's a new mix," murmured Lagerfeld to the camera at the end of his film. Right on cue, Azealia Banks appeared to perform. The neighborhood is "nice," so she didn't get to play more than two songs, but a ruckus was duly raised, and the hair of the haute bourgeoisie peering down into the yard from their windows was surely curled (presuming they could understand her four-letter wordplay). From caviar to c-you-know-what…It may have been a new mix, but it was the same old polymath Karl.

—Tim Blanks

Terry de Gunzburg

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT