ERROR:
subscribe to style file blog via RSSHot Under The Collar
May 16, 2012
The arrival of spring—despite the rain—makes it very tempting to throw on a pair of printed pants with a white T-shirt several days a week. But how do you keep the repeat-offender outfit fresh? Take a cue from the lavender-haired Caroline Kan (above), who landed on Stockholm Streetstyle when she brought a little life to her separates with a ruby red Indian wedding necklace that she snagged on eBay. If your own auction trawling isn’t as successful, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite statement pieces below.
From top left: Tom Binns Splash Out rhodium-plated Swarovski crystal necklace, $1,400, available at www.net-a-porter.com; Assad Mounser Shine a Light gold-plated necklace, $430, available at www.assadmounser.com; Kenneth Jay Lane 22-karat gold-plated Swarovski crystal and resin necklace, $325, similar styles available at www.shopbop.com; Oscar de la Renta, 24-karat gold-plated cabochon necklace, $995, available at www.net-a-porter.com.
tags: Assad Mounser, Caroline Kan, Kenneth Jay Lane, Oscar de la Renta, Stockholm Streetstyle, Tom Binns
At Victoria Bartlett, Skin Is In
May 16, 2012
Fans of VPL won’t be surprised to hear that designer Victoria Bartlett is obsessed with anatomy—VPL is short for Visible Panty Line, after all. But her fixation on the body goes beyond her signature maxi dresses with the bra-cup tops. Tomorrow night, Bartlett is hosting an opening for an exhibition at her Mercer Street store in Soho that she curated with Renee Vara, in which she invited 15 artists to submit work based on the theme (and shown under the title) Second Skin. Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Jack Pierson, Collier Schorr, and Mark Borthwick are among the participants. Hrafnhildur Arnardottir (a.k.a. Shoplifter) is doing a performance in the shop window. All the work except hers will be for sale. “It could be literal, or it could be interpretive,” Bartlett says of the submissions. “It’s also about what’s underneath, getting under your skin, annoyance—all those different points are represented.” Ugo Rondinone’s wax and earth pigments sculpture, nude (xxxxxxxx) (pictured), could almost double as a mannequin. You won’t find any clothes hanging from it before or after the opening—the show will be up for two months—but more than likely his piece and the others will influence Bartlett’s own work. The crossover of media “keeps me ticking,” she says. “It’s fodder for my brain.”
Second Skin opens tomorrow at VPL, 5 Mercer St., NYC.
tags: Collier Schorr, Hrafnhildur Arnardottir, Jack Pierson, Mark Borthwick, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Second Skin, Victoria Bartlett, VPL
Bless Us, Lagerfeld, For We Have Sinned! Karl In Paradise, And More Of The Day’s Top Stories
May 16, 2012
Mein Gott! Karl Lagerfeld has a starring role in singer Jean-Roch’s new music video—as a kind of angel. A white-clad Lagerfeld floating on a cloud appears at the beginning of the clip. “You were never told Saint-Tropez is paradise?” Lagerfeld quips. [Fashionologie]
Kate Moss is exercising her charitable muscles. Last night, the fashion icon made an appearance at Claridge’s Hotel, where she helped auction off a painting by her close friend Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. The auction took place as part of a fundraiser in honor of Marie Curie Cancer Care, and the painting—a portrait of Rod Stewart—sold for £12,000. [Telegraph]
Agyness Deyn’s not ending her acting career on the stripper pole. The model-slash-actress, who plays a stripper in the upcoming remake of the 1996 cult-classic Pusher (due out this summer), has just been chosen to star in the screen adaption of the legendary Scottish novel Sunset Song. This time around, she’ll play Chris Guthrie, “the resilient heroine.” [Vogue U.K.]
Amanda Lepore wants her Louboutins, and she wants them now. The famous transgender artist and nightlife personality stopped by the shoemaker’s New York sample sale yesterday and upset more than a few people when she decided to walk in ahead of the reportedly 300 women and men already waiting in line. Understandably, only ten at a time were being let in and shoppers were limited to a max of eight shoes. [Page Six]
Stella McCartney, Matthew Williamson, and Maison Martin Margiela are getting a new neighbor. This November, Temperley London is opening its first flagship store—a six-floor Georgian space on Bruton Street, in London’s Mayfair. The store will house all three of the designer’s collections, including Temperley London, Alice by Temperley, and Temperley Bridal. [Temperley London]
tags: Agyness Deyn, Amanda Lepore, Chris Guthrie, Christian Louboutin, Karl Lagerfeld, Maison Martin Margiela, Matthew Williamson, Pusher, Stella McCartney, Temperley London
Carine Takes Cannes
May 16, 2012
The amfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala is always a hot ticket at the Cannes Film Festival (kicking off today), but leave it to Carine Roitfeld to make it even more extravagant. For the first time ever, the fundraiser at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden Roc in Cap d’Antibes will include a full-on runway show, orchestrated by Roitfeld. On display: black, black, and more black. The show will reportedly feature her idea of the perfect black wardrobe, complete with looks from Alexander Wang, Balenciaga, Dior, Christopher Kane, and Givenchy. One lucky buyer will then get the ultimate Carine wardrobe when the entire collection is auctioned off as a single lot at the event.
tags: Alexander Wang, amfAR gala, Balenciaga, Cannes Film Festival, Carine Roitfeld, Christopher Kane, Dior, Givenchy
Designer’s Best Friend
May 16, 2012
If man’s (and woman’s) most loyal companion is the dog, designers are no exception. The latest issue of the menswear biannual Man About Town pays homage to a few that know more than most about the inner workings of fashion. For the canine-themed 10th issue—featuring shoots not only by the usual fashion suspects like Paolo Roversi and Willy Vanderperre, but this time, by famed Weimaraner enthusiast William Wegman, too—the magazine sought out the pups of the fashion elite, who are photographed by Erwan Frotin.
The dog’s life: Not bad, if you’re a designer’s pet. Azzedine Alaïa has eleven animals (including one owl), but it’s his St. Bernard, Didine, who gets the close-up. “Animals make people better,” the designer says. That may explain the care Alaïa lavishes on his creatures, like the mastiff, Shamsi, he used to carry in a baby’s sling. “I took him on the Concorde,” Alaïa remembers, “where I said to the stewardess, ‘this is my son, he’s traveling with me.’ She didn’t spot him so she just said, ‘Oh, of course, sir.’” Dries Van Noten’s Airedale, Harry, is treated to fashion heirlooms: Van Noten and his partner, Patrick Vangheluwe, bought him a cushion that originally belonged to Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s French bulldog, Moujik, at the Christie’s auction of items from the couple’s country estate. (The original Moujik has long since passed away, but his successor, also called Moujik, appears in the issue alongside an interview with Bergé.) And in her interview with Jo-Ann Furniss, Donatella Versace reveals that her Jack Russell, Audrey, is a full-on diva. “She is the top, the toppest model of all,” Versace says. Has she as big an ego as Kristen McMenamy? Furniss asks. “Bigger.” What about Linda Evangelista? “Hmmm. Well, not on that level, no.”
Man About Town 10 launches next week at Colette.
tags: Azzedine Alaia, Donatella Versace, Dries Van Noten, Paolo Roversi, Pierre Berge, Willy Vanderperre, Yves Saint Laurent
Virginia Is For Lovers? Jennifer Connelly And Dustin Lance Black Think So
May 15, 2012
“Unpredictable,” “untethered,” and “unconventional” were three words Jennifer Connelly summoned last night to describe the character she plays in Virginia. The actress (pictured, left) went blonde and donned some wacky florals for her role as a Southern single mom who’s got more than a little drama in her life—including a kinky affair with the upstanding local sheriff (Ed Harris). “She doesn’t have a lot of resources, but I like the idea that she has these fantasies about a better life for herself and her son and she’s trying to live them out,” an Alexander McQueen-clad Connelly told Style.com at the Cinema Society’s screening of the film at the Crosby Street Hotel. (The evening was sponsored by Shiseido and Grey Goose and drew the likes of Billy Bob Thornton and Alexa Chung.)
Virginia is the feature directorial debut of Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (pictured, right), who researched schizophrenia for Connelly’s character and based the film on his childhood in the Mormon South. “We were more married to our dreams than reality, and that’s a really Southern attribute,” he said. “It’s not something you necessarily find in the bigger cities, where people define themselves almost by the present and a more tangible future, whereas in the South and even in Mormon culture, it’s all defined by how big your dreams are.”
Black had to keep his own hopes for the film aloft a while: He first showed the script to Connelly about five years ago. But for the actress, playing a troubled woman who lives life as though she’s on the big screen was worth the wait. “She’s thinking, I’m kind of fabulous, I’m out of a storybook,” Connelly said of her character.
tags: Alexa Chung, Alexander McQueen, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Connelly
Parsons: The New Class
May 15, 2012
“As a designer, I am blown away,” said Donna Karan last night, after making the rounds at “The First Eighteen,” a showcase of work by the inaugural group of 18 students (ages 24 to 31) in Parsons’ graduate MFA program in fashion design and society. “The sophistication, the understanding, the ability to hold a collection together, it is so telling,” she explained. Karan, a Parsons alumna, was joined at the school by co-host Joanna Coles, Simon Collins, the dean of the School of Fashion, Shelley Fox, the mastermind behind the MFA program, and designers Victoria Bartlett, Chris Benz, and Gabi Asfour of threeasfour, in toasting the student designs, all of which had been year-long projects.
The work by Beckett Fogg and Sinead Lawlor, in particular, garnered especially positive reactions from the crowd. Fogg’s monochromatic black and white womenswear pieces were clean-cut, but finished with luxe embossed leather touches. Lawlor went a completely different route, showing a range of bright blue, red, and yellow womenswear separates done in an explosive button print that was bold, yet equally wearable (pictured). There were also a handful of students that went for a more avant-garde aesthetic, showing conceptual designs that, according to Collins, “should be shown at the Met right now” (referring to the recently opened Schiaparelli/Prada exhibit currently on display at the museum). By the end of the night, it was no secret that Karan, who has been focused on her Urban Zen project in Haiti, had acquired some favorites and perhaps some plans for those students’ futures. “There are three that I really love,” she said. “I would like to get their hands in Haiti, you have no idea.”
“The First Eighteen” is on view daily at 1359 Broadway, New York, through May 23.
tags: "The First Eighteen", Beckett Fogg, Donna Karan, Parsons, Simon Collins, Sinead Lawlor
Mrs. Marley, We Presume? And More Of The Day’s Top Stories
May 15, 2012
It’s wedding bells for Brazilian supe Isabeli Fontana. The model is engaged to Rohan Marley, one of late reggae legend Bob Marley’s 11 kids. Fontana and her fiancé don’t have a date yet, but they are reportedly planning to tie the knot in the birthplace of the Rastafarian movement: Ethiopia. [Vogue U.K.]
In other Brazilian bombshell news, Gisele Bündchen is already back on a Paris Vogue cover. She was Emmanuelle Alt’s first cover girl when Alt took the reigns of the mag with the April issue, and now, a little over a year later, she’s back and (barely) bikini-clad. [Huff Po]
Sir Paul Smith is set to build an empire in China. The Brit designer has just announced his first Shanghai store (opening in December), with 24 shops in China to follow over the next five years. He’s already huge in Japan: There are over 200 Smith stores there. [Telegraph]
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations have turned into a full-fledged designer affair. The likes of Vivienne Westwood, watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Harrods have already created special collections in honor of the big event, and now Nicholas Kirkwood has unveiled his limited-edition, Swarovski-encrusted pump for the occasion. [Vogue.fr]
tags: Bob Marley, Emmanuelle Alt, Gisele Bundchen, Harrods, Isabeli Fontana, Jaeger LeCoultre, Nicholas Kirkwood, Paris Vogue, Rohan Marley, Vivienne Westwood
Kicks In Space
May 15, 2012
The latest of Tom Sachs’ forays into space will take him to Mars—or at least as close as you can get with the Park Avenue Armory as your launching pad. Sachs, the fashion-favorite artist/provocateur who’s made space travel a particular fascination (when he’s not erecting giant Hello Kitty idols outside Lever House), brings Space Program: Mars to the cavernous Armory for a month-long installation beginning tomorrow. For the show, he’s created all of the viscera of a beginning-and-after space mission—in the words of the official statement, “exploratory vehicles, mission control, launch platforms, suiting stations, special effects, recreational amenities, and Mars landscape”—and, to dress the part, a new capsule collection in collaboration with Nike, dubbed NIKECraft. Would-be Sachs-tronauts can suit up in a sneaker (the Mars Yard Shoe, above, $385), trench, jacket (printed with the periodic table), and tote, all of which will be available at the exhibition space’s pop-up gift shop as well as at stores like Dover Street Market, Colette, 10 Corso Como, Union in Los Angeles, and at Opening Ceremony online beginning May 18.
Space Program: Mars opens tomorrow at the Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Ave., NYC, www.armoryonpark.org.
tags: Dover Street Market, Hello Kitty, Nike, NIKECraft, Opening Ceremony, Park Avenue Armory, Space Program: Mars, Tom Sachs
In Paris, Hermès Puts Its Best Foot Forward
May 15, 2012
Not only did the sun finally make an appearance, Paris got a shot of orange yesterday morning—Hermès orange, to be precise. On Monday, the French house unveiled its summer pop-up store (8 rue des Sèvres, Paris), where the story is all about women’s shoes. The full range of summer footwear by Pierre Hardy, including Oran sandals in hot pink, navy, and orange neoprene (all exclusive to this location, €390), flank one side of the space, and a preview of the Fall shoes and boots (déjà!) lines the opposite.
“The concept is really simple, but it seemed obvious to me to play on the Hermès box,” says interior decorator Stéphane Parmentier. “It’s radical and graphic, but also warm.” A pair of “monochromes in movement,” portals of slowly rotating dry pigments by artist Manuel Merida, echo the ones now featured at the Right Bank flagship, and Walking Distance, a video by Rosario Romagnosi, brings movement to the space, which sits on the angle of the rue de Sèvres and the rue des Saints-Pères like the prow of a ship.
For Hermès, this is but a first act—the shop will close on July 19 to make way for a space dedicated to its Chinese contemporary lifestyle brand Shang Xia, which is slated to open at the end of the year. And for Parmentier, the project marks a first return to fashion since shuttering his signature label over a decade ago. “I wanted to really bring people into an Hermès experience, so it has this feeling of being backstage, or in a stockroom,” he admits. A hint of things to come? Parmentier earned his stripes with Lanvin, Givenchy, and Karl Lagerfeld—it’s a fair bet he hasn’t said his last
word.
tags: Hermes, Pierre Hardy, Rosario Romagnosi, Shang Xia
