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subscribe to style file blog via RSSRuffian Unveils Jewels
February 7, 2012 12:00 pm
“The jewelry is about modernity, but with a nod to history—there’s something very Ruffian about it,” says Brian Wolk, one half of the Ruffian label with his partner Claude Morais, of their first-ever baubles (made in collaboration with Sequin). One part English Art Deco, another part Memphis Design Group, the 75-piece collection of monogram necklaces (with the designers’ ‘W’ and ‘M’ initials) and colorful bangles will make its debut on the runway at Lincoln Center this weekend. “We like to go to The Victoria and Albert Museum, they have an incredible jewelry collection that fascinates us. But we wanted to add a clash into it, so we looked at Memphis art for the colors and the playful shapes. We thought the juxtaposition of the two would be fun.”
Juxtaposition is something that Wolk and Morais have always toyed with in their clothes, and this season is no different. When their Fall ‘12 looks hit the catwalk, watch out for menswear tweaked for the ladies made with English textiles. Style.com has the first look, here, at the new Ruffian bijoux.
tags: Brian Wolk, Claude MOrais, English Art Deco, Ruffian, The Victoria and Albert Museum
Borgo Magic
February 7, 2012 11:00 am
In keeping with the tradition of using his famous stylish fans as his models (Vanessa Traina, Lauren Santo Domingo, and Kate Lanphear, to name a few), Eddie Borgo brought on V’s Cecilia Dean to star in his latest ad campaign. “Cecilia was a natural progression for us; she exemplifies all those mysterious, sexy elements of a woman with effortless style,” Borgo tells Style.com. “I was so nervous, at first, to ask for her participation, but so thrilled when she accepted at a friend’s dinner party in Paris.” The collection was inspired by magic and the occult, referencing the work of British occultist Austin Osman Spare and Robert Mapplethorpe’s projects outside of photography. “The connection between the two artists was their ability to create imagery that was simultaneously strong as it was elegant and refined,” explains Borgo. His translation of the two artists’ work came in the form of geometric shapes, like stars and pentagrams, which he then covered in white powder “to evoke the feeling of lace.”
For the shoot, he enlisted his go-to team: stylist Keegan Singh and photographer Paul Maffi. Here, catch Dean in action in this Style.com exclusive video along with a shot from the campaign.
tags: Austin Osman Spare, Cecilia Dean, Eddie Borgo, Kate Lanphear, Keegan Singh, Lauren Santo Domingo, Paul Maffi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Spring '12, Vanessa Traina
Touchdown For Puglisi
February 6, 2012 6:43 pm
Remember those colorful wool crepe minidresses Anna Dello Russo was spotted wearing at the Couture shows this past summer and then again during New York fashion week in September? As it turns out, ADR isn’t the only one who took a liking to Milanese designer Fausto Puglisi’s Grecian cheerleader dresses—Madonna enlisted the designer to create Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.’s wardrobes for their Super Bowl halftime show yesterday.
“This was the most incredible and extreme experience ever,” the designer tells Style.com of the dresses, which were embellished with crystals, spikes, and embroidery. “It’s Madonna—to work with her is an honor.” Puglisi began working on the dresses last November when he got the call from B. Akerlund, who oversaw the show’s costume design. “The Roman Empire history and the emperor power is part of my DNA—I’m obsessed with Caligula and Caesar and Roman tradition and I always loved to mix this with American sportswear touches,” says Puglisi. Check out the designer’s sketches of the costumes, which he shared exclusively with Style.com.
tags: Anna dello Russo, Fausto Puglisi, M.I.A., Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Super Bowl
All About Annabelle
February 3, 2012 3:57 pm
For her debut capsule collection for French brand Faith Connexion, Annabelle Dexter-Jones didn’t have to look far for inspiration—she dug through old family photos of she and her siblings wearing their private school uniforms. “They are all clothes that you didn’t want to wear as a child, but you want to wear now,” she explains of the collection. The 25 pieces, including bow headbands, straight-leg jeans, a classic little black dress, and a red raincoat, are complete with a special “Annabelle” label designed by Dexter-Jones’ other half, André Saraiva. Here, a sneak peak at the actress in the design studio putting it all together.
tags: Andre Saraiva, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Faith Connexion
Bosworth Moonlights For Bruno
February 3, 2012 1:44 pm
For the last short film she shot for designer Vanessa Bruno, Kate Bosworth bent over backwards—literally. She scaled 40-foot fir trees, rode horses, and did backflips, all in the name of Lov (that’s the short’s title, naturally). For their latest collaboration, Moonlight, directed by Stéphanie Di Giusto (who also did Lov), Bruno keeps the moment going, walking on ceilings, riding motorcycles through the desert, and living in an illusory house. One can only imagine what she’ll be doing for the next one. Moonlight debuts below.
tags: Kate Bosworth, LOV, Moonlight, Vanessa Bruno
Wu Hits The Streets
February 2, 2012 5:23 pm
Come Monday, watch out for Jason Wu all over lower Manhattan. The designer is set to paper downtown guerrilla-style with his Willy Vanderperre-photographed images, starring Julia Frauche wearing his fifties couture-inspired shapes from his Spring ‘12 collection. Before you spot them on the street, Style.com has the exclusive first look at the poster (above).
tags: Jason Wu, Julia Frauche, Spring '12, Willy Vanderperre
A New World Of Filson
February 2, 2012 2:12 pm
Filson’s fashion moment just got extended—the 115-year-old outdoor clothing company from Seattle, known among the style set for its canvas and leather totes, has tapped Richard Chai as its new creative director.
“As a young designer in New York, we get approached with so many opportunities to collaborate, and sometimes they work—and sometimes they don’t. With Filson, [initially] I just wanted to do some outerwear for my specific collection this season,” Richard Chai tells Style.com of his new partnership with the brand, announced this morning. “Then I was talking with Filson’s CEO and he asked if I would be interested in coming on as creative director—it was all very seamless.”
Chai’s first efforts with Filson, a capsule collection of six jackets and three bags, are set to debut next week at his Lincoln Center runway show. Chai, a longtime wearer of Filson, says, “The core of Filson is hunting and fishing and it’s really practical—it’s amazing when you see how the outerwear is constructed and how it functions,” says Chai. “As a designer, it’s amazing to take that look and reinterpret it to something more fashion-oriented.” Chai did that by adding some of his signature accents to their classic duffel bags and bomber jackets, refabricating them with wool and black stripe fabric. The aim, for this extended partnership, is to land this more fashion-forward Filson collection in specialty boutiques and luxe major department stores.
“Spring ‘13 is what we are working on next, and it’s really about rounding it out and making something that feels more cohesive as a collection,” says Chai, who plans to filter in shirts, pants, etc. next. “It’s going to be a whole new world of Filson.”
tags: Filson, Richard Chai
From PR To Design, An Industry Insider Crosses The Aisle
February 1, 2012 11:30 am
New York-based designer Gabby Sabharwal sings the same tune as most women when it comes to shopping for swimwear: “I find it stressful—the fitting rooms have those weird lights, there’s always those annoying stickers in the suits, and I could never find anything that fit me correctly,” she tells Style.com. “The ones that did fit would be too skimpy. I thought, ‘I can’t be in front of my dad or my boyfriend’s family in this.’ “
Her solution was to found her own collection of printed swimsuit separates, Giejo, to address these concerns. All her tops and bottoms are sold individually, for mix-and-match effect. “Girls today mix high and low, and with my swimwear you can do the same,” the designer says. “The biggest thing is you don’t want to see yourself on the beach and have other girls in the exact same thing—this way that won’t happen.”
Giejo is Sabharwal’s first foray into the world of design, after years of working as a fashion publicist. Despite her lack of formal design training, she found her work experience was on her side. “Working in PR, I was always nervous that I wouldn’t be taken seriously because I didn’t have a full design background, but everyone and all of the designers were so encouraging and wanted to help make it happen,” she says. Tucker’s Gaby Basora was particularly encouraging. So were retailers. The debut Giejo collection hits stores, including New York’s Creatures of Comfort and L.A.’s Madison boutiques, in late February, and an exclusive collection for Barneys New York, made up of Aztec and floral prints, arrives on the retailer’s shelves in late spring—just in time for beach weather.
tags: Barneys New York, Creatures of Comfort, Gabby Sabharwal, Giejo, Madison
Coach’s Card Shark
January 31, 2012 2:53 pm
Coach’s latest trump card? Hugo Guinness. To celebrate its recent teamwork with the British linocut artist, the brand threw a casino-themed bash at the Jane Hotel ballroom last night, complete with a blackjack table, an illusionist, and a house-of-cards builder—a nod to the fact that the collaboration, in addition to leather goods, includes a very covetable deck of hand-drawn Coach playing cards. Guinness quietly occupied a banquette area while Maria Cornejo chatted with friends nearby and Lisa Marie Fernandez tried her luck at roulette. (She only recently got the bug, Fernandez said: “I just got back from the Chanel party in Las Vegas and I won big!”)
For the collaboration, which makes use of both original and archival images, Guinness explained that he’d briefly given up his normal routine of working at home in Brooklyn in order to take meetings at Coach’s Madison Avenue headquarters. Office life, he confessed, seems like a world apart. “It’s very different, isn’t it? There’s a whole protocol there—people come in, and then they disappear again, and you don’t know why they’ve come in,” he said. “It’s just weird, it’s a different world.” But it may start to feel familiar soon enough—Guinness and the brand are already thinking about doing a second project, potentially for the holiday season.
tags: Coach, Hugo Guinness, Jane Hotel, Lisa Marie Fernandez, Maria Cornejo
The Missoni He Lives In
January 30, 2012 12:16 pm
At the request of his friend Angela Missoni, director Pedro Almodóvar stepped in front of the lens for the new Missoni campaign, shot by Juergen Teller. He’s now reprising his role in a campaign video directed by Marco Maccapani. The video pays homage to the Spanish director’s own colorful, campy pop style—all the more so because it was shot at the Madrid club Villa Rosa, where he shot scenes for his 1991 film High Heels, with two of his heroines, Rossy de Palma and Blanca Suárez, most recently seen in The Skin I Live In. Mariacarla Boscono rounds out the cast of Todo Sobre Missoni, a tongue-in-cheek nod to Almodóvar’s hit Todo Sobre Mi Madre.
tags: Angela Missoni, Juergen Teller, Marco Maccapani, Missoni, Pedro Almod�var, Todo Sobre Mi Madre, Villa Rosa
