2 posts tagged "Man Ray"
Schiaparelli Reborn
Farida Khelfa, the newly installed ambassador at the house of Schiaparelli, held 58 appointments at the company’s freshly renovated Place Vendôme atelier yesterday. There’s no new designer at the brand that Schiap built—Diego Della Valle of Tod’s is reportedly taking meetings with candidates and an announcement is expected to be made in September—but there’s plenty of curiosity around the label’s rebirth. “All the great couturiers know about Schiap,” Khelfa said. “Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Azzedine Alaïa, they’ve all come to see the place.”
In fact, Alaïa was still lounging in the atelier’s white salon (pictured) when this reporter arrived, sharing a story about a letter given to him by one of Schiap’s former lovers. Alaïa, who was friends with Schiaparelli, was supposed to deliver it to her, but he never did out of shyness and fear. Asked if he still has the letter, nearly 40 years after her death, he nodded yes. It would make a smart addition to the refurbished space, which already includes Giacometti pieces found in the Schiaparelli archives, eyeglasses by Man Ray, and a Dalí sculpture, as well as furniture designed by Vincent Darré.
Come the Couture shows next January, the brand will show its first new collection here. For now, though, the hunt is still on for a designer. “Schiaparelli was not about good taste, she was about having an opinion,” Khelfa said. “It doesn’t have to be jolie, it has be strong. It has to be forte.”
Will You Keep It Surreal This Season?
With Impossible Conversations, the Schiaparelli/Prada Costume Institute exhibit fast approaching, perhaps it’s no surprise that surrealism has again found its way into fashion’s collective (un)conscious. Elsa Schiaparelli famously collaborated with the likes of Salvador Dalí, and Miuccia Prada has done more for the cause of surreal style than anyone since. And there were more than a few designs on the Fall runways that echoed the theme.
At Lanvin, Alber Elbaz and Elie Top nodded at artists like Man Ray and Joan Miró with playful costume jewelry such as crystal eye brooches and a chain belt with plastic lips. Diane von Furstenberg referenced the movement, too, with interlocking hands on a body-hugging dress. Some designs, like Mary Katrantzou‘s digitally printed labyrinth gown, made the surreal wearable, and some, like Stephen Jones’ spiny headpieces for Giles (left), seemed destined to stay on the runway—or perhaps, one day, the museum gallery.
CLICK FOR A SLIDESHOW, and let us know if you’ll be keeping it surreal this season.