33 posts tagged "Julia Restoin-Roitfeld"
Julia Restoin-Roitfeld Gets Intimate
“It’s hard to know what to expect, but this is all quite amazing,” Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, who is pregnant with her first child, tells Style.com. “What I do know is I definitely need a bigger bra size!” Luckily for her, Restoin-Roitfeld has designed a new capsule collection for Kiki de Montparnasse to fit those needs. She was diligent, however, to make sure her black and white, lacy silk underthings (in the store and online December 14) are tailored for women with all body shapes. “It’s really, really technical,” she says of her collection of slips, bras, and panties. “We all have different bodies and we wanted to see what works on all of them, so there were lots of tweaks made during the design process.” Here, the photographer, brand consultant, graphic designer, and model tells us about the latest additions to her résumé—lingerie designer and mom-to-be.
How did this collaboration with Kiki de Montparnasse come about?
I have always been a lingerie fan. Lingerie and shoes are my two favorite accessories, and for many years I was hoping to do a collaboration with a brand like Kiki. Out of the blue, the Kiki PR girl reached out to me about hosting an event with them and I knew I really wanted to do something more creative than that, so here we are.
Tell me about the collaboration and design process in creating your capsule collection.
I had strong ideas about what I wanted. Right away, I did sketches for the first meeting. It’s really, really technical—it’s not just doing the drawings. We all have different bodies and we wanted to see what works on all of them so there were lots of tweaks.
What do you look for in lingerie?
I do not like bandeau bras. I think it’s OK when you have really small breasts, but otherwise it just looks awful. You want lingerie that makes you feel good about yourself and makes your body look your best. Sometimes it can be too tight and uncomfortable. We were careful to have no visible panty line.
What other projects are you working on right now?
I have really focused on this one for the past few months. The team there is so amazing and I would love to work on something else with them. I have some other brand consulting and art direction projects but I don’t like to talk about them until they are out. Then I am mainly just focusing on my pregnancy. Continue Reading “Julia Restoin-Roitfeld Gets Intimate” »
Prabal Gurung Takes The Reins At ICB, Designers At Midlife, Spring (Campaigns) Are In The Air, And More…
The Japanese label ICB, formerly designed by Michael Kors and then Victor & Rolf, stopped distribution in the West in 2002, but it will soon be back on these shores. Owning company Onward Kashiyama has announced that Prabal Gurung will helm the relaunch of the collection in U.S. and Europe, beginning here in Fall 2012. [WWD]
In 2011, designers of major labels, including Haider Ackermann, Christopher Bailey, and Nicolas Ghesquière, hit milestone “big O” birthdays (they all turned 40). In the NYT, Suzy Menkes points out that the battle of generations of designers of all ages, however, is a thing to celebrate. [NYT]
The Spring campaigns are upon us! Fashionologie rounds up the best of what’s out now, featuring star turns from Karlie Kloss, Alessandra Ambrosio, Miranda Kerr, and Julia Stegner. [Fashionologie]
Julia Restoin-Roitfeld designed her own collection of lingerie for Kiki de Montparnasse—and pregnancy or no pregnancy, she’s gonna model it, too. [Elle]
Jay Ahr’s Embroidered Tale
It was practically a bestiary at London’s Couturelab boutique and gallery yesterday. Swarovski-sprinkled monkey skulls, a gold-beaded buffalo, and a fiery coral sea spider were just some of the haute experiments in embroidery that Jay Ahr designer Jonathan Riss presented at Evolution, an exhibition of 14 tapestries crafted from such unusual materials as turquoise, mandrille shells, and sequins. Riss creates both ready-to-wear and eveningwear, but he’s best known for the latter, often detailed with the kind of intricate embroidery on display here. “I’m the kind of person that likes to keep all of my treasures in a little box. But with these tapestries, I thought, if I can put them out in public, why not?” said the designer, who was in town from Paris not only for the opening of his show, but to shoot a new campaign featuring Poppy Delevingne.
It was art, not fashion, that was on display last night, but that didn’t stop the style set from stopping by. The campaign’s creative director, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, spent most of her evening admiring Riss’ marble elephant skeleton. “I want the campaign to be quite glamorous, young, and fun,” Roitfeld said, tugging at her vintage Helmut Lang blazer. “I don’t want to tell you what to expect because I want it to be a surprise!” added the campaign’s stylist, Mélanie Huynh. On deck for the stylist for the rest of the summer? A trip to Corsica, where she’ll go “hippie chic,” she said, in Pucci, Altuzarra, and Isabel Marant.
“Projects like these are a great way to nurture new creativity,” said Couturelab’s founder, Carmen Busquets, of Riss’ exhibition. “Couturelab doesn’t do ‘fashions’ or ‘seasons.’ I want to create a community where value and creativity are sustained.” Judging by her store, which, two years ago, launched as a pop-up extension of the Couturelab Web site and has remained packed with handcrafted jewelry, hats, and homewares ever since, Busquets has done just that.
Just as the shop was emptying, a 16-year-old boy in a plum velvet tuxedo jacket passed by the storefront. “Did you do these, man? They’re sick!” he asked Riss, pointing to the tapestries in the window. The designer just smiled.
Nicholas Kirkwood Sets Up Shop On Mount Street
“We felt that the time was right for the brand to open up a shop,” Nicolas Kirkwood said last night. So he did, and to judge by the crowd that flocked to London’s Mount Street for the opening, the world had been eagerly waiting. “We looked at a few places, but not that many because as soon as we saw this space we knew the search was over.” It doesn’t hurt that Mount Street could rightfully claim to be one of the planet’s chicest shopping streets: Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin, Lanvin, Azzaro, Balenciaga and Stephen Webster all call it home, and Stella McCartney and Matthew Williamson are kitty-corner on Bruton Street. The allure is made even more irresistible by the elegant, red brick, Queen Anne-style buildings; Kirkwood’s store itself is in a grade two listed building, which to the uninitiated, means it’s of historical interest.
The exhaustive laundry-list of attendees, on the other hand, is of contemporary interest: Freida Pinto, Roland Mouret, Katie Grand, models Tali Lennox and Sara Blomqvist, designers Roksanda Ilincic, Peter Pilotto, Messrs. Meadham and Kirchhoff, Charlotte Dellal, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and boyfriend Robert Konjic, Nick Knight, Mary Charteris… All were oohing and aahing over the space’s spectacular refit, especially the mismatched wood floors designed by artist Richard Woods, which Kirkwood describes as “block-y, random, odd-shaped”—in a word, “very different.” Displays featured Kirkwood’s Keith Haring collection (made in collaboration with the late artist’s foundation), and a show-stopping pair of thigh-high, Swarovski-crystal-encrusted roller skates. “I don’t know if anyone would wear them,” says Kirkwood, “but we will custom make them if anyone wants them.” Also glittering in crystal: his first collection of jewelry, made in collaboration with Aterlier Swarovski.
Afterwards, many of the crowd decamped to 5 Pollen Street, one of London’s best kept secrets: a restaurant with a Michelin starred chef and walls covered in Gary Hume artwork and wallpaper. There, co-hosts Nadja Swarovski and Kirkwood held a private dinner, with the likes of Dinos and Tiphaine Chapman, Shaun Leane, Mat Colishaw and Francesca Versace. A Pilotto-clad Freida Pinto (left, with Kirkwood) was decked out for the occasion in cherry-red NK sandals from Spring ’11. “I’m working on two projects, Rise of the Apes and Immortals, and in town to do a photo shoot for Interview magazine,” the actress said. But she’d made time for her footwear designer of choice. “I’ve been a fan of Nicholas’ for a long time now, and I especially love the Keith Haring collection, so that’s why I am here!” And comfortable in her five-inch peeptoes? “Yes,” she replied, with no hesitation. “Amazingly so!”
Pat Cleveland Remembers “The Tenderness And The Anger” Of Saint Laurent And Bergé’s Amour Fou
In recent years, a new designer documentary has sprung each spring. Ultrasuede, a Halston profile, premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and Matt Tyrnauer unveiled The Last Emperor, his extended close-up on Valentino, the spring before.
Last night, at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of L’Amour Fou, Yves Saint Laurent had his turn. Director Pierre Thoretton tenderly revisits the relationship between the late designer and his life and business partner, Pierre Bergé (above), and ends on the Christie’s sale of their blockbuster art collection. Thoretton takes a more somber and meditative approach than his predecessors in the genre, with the unloading of the couple’s prize possessions functioning as a sort of final chapter in their love affair. “I don’t believe in souls,” Bergé says in the film.
After the credits rolled, Olivier Theyskens and Sky Ferreira stood reflectively on the sidewalk outside, Googling the subjects’ birth dates. Alec Baldwin, quasi-disguised in thick-frame glasses, was in an intense conversation with Tyson director James Toback as he exited. Julia Restoin-Roitfeld made a hasty retreat. (You’ve got to love the Tribeca Film Festival mix.)
Also part of the post-screening crowd was Pat Cleveland, who wore her first YSL dress when she was 14 and modeled for Saint Laurent after first meeting him in Paris in 1970. She said that even if it wasn’t necessarily packed with surprises, the film had gotten the relationship right. “It was so out in the open, all of that—I mean the tenderness and the anger. Dealing with Pierre was always such a trip, because he was also so serious and so businesslike. But you understood the relationship.” L’Amour Fou, she added, doesn’t just represent Bergé’s side of the story, but “a chance to show his emotions. He doesn’t like to, basically, show that side of himself. He’s heartbroken. We all are.”
PLUS: For more on L’Amour Fou, read our Q&A with director Pierre Thoretton.