The 2016 State of Fashion: a Manifesto

What’s Fashion anyways?

I get the question quite often from people that live what I see as a disconnect from what the runways are and what trickles down to the department stores.

They are outsiders, yes, but what does Fashion look to someone who is not ingrained in the industry and doesn’t speak Prada?

Fashion is a dream, story-telling, is transmitting a feeling, an emotion, an experience meant to a like-minded audience.

Fashion is performance, reminiscence, hint, teasing, a whiff of an aroma, a smell loaded with memories and translated on the collection, runway or presentation.

Fashion is believing in a story and telling it as it is.

Fashion is loving despite the oddities.

Fashion is process, not massive production, it doesn’t have to please everybody.

Fashion is luxury, not fast food nor instant gratification.

Did social media break the system?

Are runways supposed to break the Internet?

Do we still look at Fashion as the dream?

Is New York fashion week finished? Leandra Medine of Man Repeller thinks that it all started when Fashion Week became a trend, and as any good trend, they come and go. What do we do until the cycle comes back? Live in clothes, she suggests.

In a more straight-forward manner, NYT’s critic extraordinaire Cathy Horyn  questions the authenticity of Fashion in the era of social media. She draws almost a graph, the higher the social media bru-ha-ha the higher the level of insanity or absurdity. And honestly, were I a designer, especially a first-timer, I wouldn’t want to be having to hire a bitch of a publicist to help me shrug from my shoulders  the label of “absurd” signed by The New York Times.

The fashion-buying public is aware of where presentation ends and branded content begins.

In New York, more than any other fashion week, we have assisted to an exaggeration of social media content. To capitalize on social media buzz, brands have opted to switch the seasons starting September when the fall collections would be presented and February would go for spring.

We have seen alternative ways of introducing new ranges, like the Studio-54-themed at DFV or bigger louder lavish ones like Kanye’s or Rihanna, but must agree with Mrs. Horyn on one simple point: the spectacle, the mise en scene, the Hollywood draconian production was smoke in the eye to the industry trader, the buyer, the journalist that is not impressed by the show, but by the quality, workmanship, attention to detail, fil rouge that something that grasps all the senses, despite of the wallet.  Voila’, I couldn’t leave it unsaid

There was a general vibe that wasn’t camaraderie, the see-now-order-now-wear-now was the talk of the town, but may have killed that allure and building desire of waiting those 6 months to have something beautifully confectioned.

To say it with Karl Lagerfeld: it’s a mess 

Now, I don’t live under the leaf of a snow-pea, Fashion is a dream, but it's a business with marketing and sales, or it’s a bad dream. We Must Sell and we must cater to the consumer spending public.

So are the brands embracing the instant-buy system promoting a democratization of fashion?

Luxury comes from passion and inspiration, it’s a state of mind, creative and inspired work that caters to a few. And it’s good that way. Brands like Burberry or Tom Ford are trying to cut the gap between the heat of the catwalk and the in-store purchase.

To say it with the words of Francois-Henri Pinault, the CEO of Kering Group, the see-now buy-now immediacy ‘negates the dream of luxury’. 


Killing the traditional system of 6-month wait after the catwalk, is simply not feasible and would bring the end of the magic of fashion, the world of suspence.

Besides, where do we leave the wait and appreciation for something that needs time to be made?


2013 the lavish + elegant + refined

the best of the best randomly picked from Vogue UK, The Cut, WWD and …

Note: I may have forgotten a bunch, please let me know what yours are.

a medley of the most stylish moments, trends, people.

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(pardon the white plastic cup, mon Dieu)

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and since we have Kate around, let’s not forget her Playboy spread

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powerfully busy

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scarily fabulous

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these 2 guys

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and these two too 

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pink

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white on white

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polka dots 

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flowers, florals, print mixing

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man of the year #moty every year, I insist

13 shortcuts for reviewing the year in record time - part I

Jan. 2 Stella McCartney is honored with the OBE

(same thing happened to Suzy Menkes and Adele, not remotely related but so damn brilliant both we can’t not mention that)

Jan 17 Man Fashion Week from the ladies’ perspective 

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Jan. 18 John Galliano + Oscar de la Renta make history and when, on 

April 20,  we were able to attend the trunk show and later the 'it's a tragedy' (cit. Suzy menkes) continuation of the story

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Jan. 22 Midsummer Night’s Dream is the theme of Chanel Couture that ends with 2 female brides down the runway and the debut of Lagerfeld’s godson. Not to be so mono-partisan, a Valentino cape inspired by the gate of a secret garden will do here.

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Feb.1 Riccardo Tisci still with Givenchy, but 2013 looks like the year of reshaping and rebranding 

Feb.10 Pantone declares the year of Emerald Green (we have a Pinterest board dedicated, do you?)

Feb. 24 Jil Sander was back and gone in the same year this time around. Third time is a charm? So far the design team is taking care of the new fall ‘14 We loved the collection and her one of a kind color combinations. 

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March 1 Couture is a Russian affair whereas the spring Couture in Paris is a Schiaparelli type of love (interpreted by Christian Lacroix).

May 9 The MET Costume Institute gala stirrup (we had some thoughts about it)

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June 23 Pitti and it’s summer at last #italiansdoitbetter

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July 4 Karl Lagerfeld is at it again, this time in a disheveled abandoned theater reminiscent of a scene from Les Miserables.

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July 12 Schiaparelli like the Phoenix resurges from the ashes at the peak of its glory through a tribute by Christian Lacroix.

TO BE CONTINUED

Bonus. Ever wander what’s behind a door? Kinda what pushed Alice through the rabbit hole and go ‘down, down, down’? If you are as curious as I am, I’ll take you to our trip to Paris

#PFW Spring 14 - Episode 1: Chanel is always the best idea

So PFW came and went and we knew we were up to fireworks. Oysters, champagne and crepes are best enjoyed and savored when wearing either 3 drops of Chanel n.5 or a quilted 255.

Without further ado, the crown of fashion week and one of the best 3 seats of fashion month goes to Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld. The legacy of the legendary woman who revolutionized the men-ruled fashion world is endured, cultivated and reinvented each single season by Lagerfeld. 

A special mention goes to the stage. Le Grand Palais was transformed into an art gallery, with 75 art pieces made to order for Karl. A pop-Karl Art Attack. 

Did you say pearls? Done.

Gloves? Nothing beats them, everybody tries to knock them off and let them eat cake.

The ultimate IT bag? Leave it at Chanel and the rest it’s crumbles.

Mid calf socks/chaussures? Patiently put your name in waiting list, because these are the ones to be owned next spring.

Off-the-shoulders and asymmetrical shoulders? Everybody designed them, Chanel executed them.

Architectural cuts and stitching? It’s a play, romantic and feminine, discreet and powerful that will never be surpassed.

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Honestly, what does it take to be able to wear Chanel? Difference is a hefty budget, because every woman (with style and class) should be entitled to be Chanel-clad.

Chanel Haute Couture: the Phoenix of the future through the ashes

The show opens out of the ashes of a disheveled theater, a post modernist scene where Armageddon meets Les Miserables. You are catapulted in the future between past and present, and chances are you were among the lucky ones in Paris and still watching from the pictures, that’s the palpable dusty feel. A scene of gargantuan dimensions that only Karl Lagerfeld was able to imagine and make believe. 

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MILK WHITE + MARRON + NAVY … I die

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feelin’ those half sleeve half glove 

Forget it’s a couture collection and the orgasmic ohhhs and ahhhs flying like in 'When Harry meets Sally', we are infatuated with those boots, the stocking shoes as Lagerfeld called them. Day or night, knee high or ankle, we need one per color. Please have them delivered at home, or better, let us wear them right now like Rihanna. 

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mosaics

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geometry starts

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stars, encrusted sparkle, silver and still those boots 

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the bride in chiffon + tweed 

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the summer wedding edition

Every summer there’s a wedding that fills our imagination with some more blue-white-new-borrowed and fuels that hidden Pinterest board.

Last year Margherita Missoni and her bohemian colorful chic countryside wedding kept us rehearsing with our Prince dressed in navy blue. And it was love at first sight.

This summer minimalism was of essence when Keira Knightley wed her beau James Righton. With the help of bridal & etiquette extraordinaire Il Galateo Chic di Madame Eleonora we went through the few pictures that trickled down through the media and we played dress up. 

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The article 'The Minimalist Bride' written by Eleonora Miucci (the mastermind behind the Il Galateo Chic di Madame Eleonora) seems cutout around the actress’ wedding.

WARNING: everything was left to our imagination, since we have no deets, only a couple of pictures. It caught the media by total surprise for its lack of mundane and reality show preparations. And we are head of heels for that touch of minimalism.  

So we can only dream what the wedding ceremony might have been and the celebration ‘filled with love’ as we have read the actress describing the reception at her mother’s residence up the hill. Everything happened in the South of France in pure Madame Coco Chanel style, a few days before Le Festival de Cannes begun.

Ok the dress is no less than a strapless Chanel Couture, simple yet couture. Karl Lagerfeld approved it with ‘perfect’. Vanity Fair listed her in the Best Dressed Brides. 

We can’t overjoy enough for Knightley wearing (Chanel) flats: elegant, chic, understated, modern and minimal. We see a trend which we adore shamelessly

The thinest tiara almost imperceptible but we want to think it’s pairing with the short rosy pink necklace and the tone of the dress.

Rayban Wayfarer: hello!

Only note to the groom: we would have loved a small wildflower on the lapel, although it’s not musician-like. So we forgive. Slim tie: a big yes, and since it’s pastel color, everything is forgiven.

The church small and unpretentious: no pomp allowed, just love and family.

The couple leaving in a small beaten car: honestly limo or an old fashioned 500, love spills out anyways.

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Kira, the hop & skip bride, because she’s in love and because she’s wearing flats.