Raf Simons raised the bar

A pivotal moment in history.

We are talking about the debut ready-to-wear collection by Raf Simons for Calvin Klein.

Simons’ sensibility, surgical attention to detail, thirst for art and unique skills of designer’s proportions brought to surface all the elements that make Calvin Klein the incarnation of American fashion: Art Deco, the American West, the city, workwear, the denim, the quilt, power dressing, the ‘80s.

Nothing was left unattended or unspoken for, the show opened to David Bowie singing “this is not America” and that was the moment of truth and tears: finally Raf Simons back in action, free of expressing his talent, the true Calvin Klein, the one we grew up with coming down the runway and, last but not least, fashion, the one with the big “F”, the big universal connector.

And we all were in love again.

We are living within the tremors of our democracy, our freedom of expression through the arts, the diversity that immigration has brought into our country are being mined and weakened daily and this Calvin Klein Collection was an “homage to America”

To say it with the words of Christene Barberich of Refinery 29

A lot of people say that fashion and politics have no inherent connection, but they do […] we need a show like this to shake us out of our daily Orwellian despair, to see some beauty and art, but also to see how precious the time we are living now really is.

The harmony of the diversity resulted in a masterpiece of a collection that pleased all the senses.

It even received the seal of approval from The Cut ’s critic-at-large Cathy Horyn

Simons at Calvin Klein makes sense for a couple of reasons: He started his career as a youth-culture designer in Antwerp [...] And he has always worked with fine tailoring, which fits the minimalist image of Calvin Klein. Yet the reality is that the brand has meandered through various types of pastiche for a couple of decades now. That leaves Simons with a blank slate to reinvent with the kind of freedom that would never be available at a couture house.

Thank you for the dream. It's been real. 

Couture is the illusion that holds reality

You know Couture is something French, only a few houses are granted the title, Elsa Schiaparelli was the last one to be accepted this year.

There is rigor in the selection, because couture requires the authenticity and the craftsmanship of les petites mains 

It's for a seleted clientele, the wealthiest and most demanding.
Couture is not for everybody although at time the use of the word is misunderstood for made-to-measure or some sort of tailored version of clothing.

No.

If fashion is supposed to make you dream, couture is pure dream, the illusion that lifts you from reality.

REPEAT AFTER ME: #luxuryisastateofmind

I use it to escape, I use it to wipe my eyes with beauty and I suggest you do that too.

Watching and immersing myself in art, any form that pleases me, Puccini, Le Claire de Lune, An American in Paris, Monet's Les Petites Danseuses make me happy beyond everything else.

This past week I woke up earlier than normal just because Schiaparelli and Chanel were showing before the cock sings in Miami and it helped my day.

[...] "Couture is", to say it with Angelo Flaccavento, one of the most respected fashion journalists in the world at the moment, "is too slow, too elitist and too private" since "We live in a time of instant gratification and endless self-broadcasting."

The ultimate of craftsmanships, flights of fancy, enjoy the best of the best, la creme de la creme, the collections of pieces I loved the most. 

THE 'MASCULINE FEMININE' IN THE fall 17 MAN SHOWS

It's not cocotte, it's not gamine, it's not Annie Hall or Marlene Dietrich, it's all together. 

This article on Another Magazine makes the case of Annie Hall self-styling on point. Her eyewear are considered an accessory to show her nerdiness. 

It's that blending of the tailoring elements notoriously belonging to a man's fashion and re-interpreting them with feminine attributes. 

In the book I have dedictaed a whole chapter to the art of "borrow from the boys". When to present the collections, see now buy now and incorporating girls and boys in the show has become a practice. 

I have collected the most inspiring looks. We don't all have the same opinions, but if you are reading we share similar taste and style. Juts remember the word "inspiring" because some of them bay be seemingly outrageous, but dissecting all the elements are there for us to grasp. Style is not copying, it's interpreting as your day unfolds. 

"It's Oscar Wilde, it's military, it's dandy, it's aristocratic, it's romantic" Alexandre McQueen's Sarah Burton pays a tribute to Oscar Wilde, in case you hadn't gotten the hint. 

Thom Browne was a show of sartorial uniform dissected, the glorification of Harrys Tweed in all 1,200 yard, as per WWD. 

Miuccia wants us all to be "more human, more simple, more real". Nerdy is good. 

The future is female ... 

"borrow from the boys": the italian way

At Pitti Immagine 91, in Florence, is all about the pants, big pants The New York Times says in an exhilarating (well, at least to me) article that describes how Pitti Immagine is all about fashion.

Styles, colors, fabrics, a delight and endless array of men and women dressed to the nines that become a pleasure to all the senses, the venues of the events nothing short of Renaissance buildings or green houses and gardens, the Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti and … the Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti 

Pitti is a thing, an event that any lover of fashion will have to experience in their life to consider themselves seriously inducted. When Pitti happens to you, it will never be the same, you can’t really get it any other way.

WARNING: there's a term for these boys, it's "Peacocking" 

I hoped with the book to explain a bit more, my university final thesis was on how Italian fashion was seen and portrayed in the UK in the 80s, point is, here, not to give a lecture on fashion history, but the story telling about what’s really the “fashion” that is a passion of mine and happens to be kind of in the genes of many Italians.

Chapter 6 of the book is called “Borrow from the boys” as part of the Italian way of dressing is to borrow elements from a man’s wardrobe. It’s actually more of a stealing, hence their imperfection, big pants, bigger watches, lace-up brogues or double monk moccasins, sometimes it's a perfume or a overcoat. And, please, who didn't steal a cashmere sweater to their [insert whomever male gender you were close to]. 

Women in menswear feel comfortable, look cool and sexy, things thrown together almost by mistake are worn with nonchalance and manifest empowerment. Pants are two sizes too big? Wear a thick belt at the last hole and wrap the hem all the way up and wear super duper stiletto.

Imperfection leads to effortless, there’s no premeditation, the eye catches a gorgeous tweed deconstructed jacket? There’s no cliché, in anything that you put together, add a feminine touch, and if it’s a pair of stiletto lace ups in suede with mink accents like my Baldinini borrowed for the occasion, why not?

I barely go out with a mini-dress, but these shoes called for it.

How divine are they?

With frayed jeans, culottes, leather mini dress and animal print I could have definitely be in Florence, but even if I wasn’t, these heels are perfection: the patchwork of the different colored suede , the arch perfectly designed, an architectural heel that resembles the rooftop of the Empire State building and those mink pom poms are to die for.

They are fabulous also on a pile of books like this, kind of "Coveteured", after I took them out on the town. 

Heart in Hands award for No More Tears

I was one of the lucky participants of the “Heart in Hand" Award event organized to raise funds for No More Tears that took place October 1st at The Sacred Space in Wynwood.

"No More Tears" is a non-profit organization that assists and empowers victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. It was founded by Somy Ali who still leads it dedicating 100% of her time, efforts and revenue from donors to the organization.

Being herself a victim of domestic abuse twice before even turning 10, Somy channeled the strength and power needed to resurrect herself from those devastating moments to help other women stand strong on their feet again.

Knowing that Miami is the third place in the US with over 9000 cases a year of human trafficking is creepy, scary and disgusting. It happens in our backyard and danger lurks in disguise, evidently.

The organizing committee was composed of two handful of talented, powerful, strong, smart women who understood two things: collaborating is the best form of success and being victim of human trafficking or domestic violence should not exist on earth, or any other planet where human beings are allowed.

The room was filled with tears of emotion, watching the documentary with the testimony of victims who were rescued, saved and given a second chance in life, listening to the heartfelt acceptance speeches of the five recipients of the Heart in Hands Award, made me realize that's an epidemic. It’s like cancer: you can’t close your eyes and wrap them in prosciutto because “those things don’t happen to you”, we all have instead a moral responsibility to do something.

It may not have happened to us, we may have been lucky to have had strong women and men raising us to be confident and our brothers to be good men, future husbands and fathers, but the risks that our daughters and children may incur in criminal minds disguised as angels are too high not to give us the goosebumps and prompt us to be proactive.

I will have the honor of interviewing Somy for my "style + substance" because she is one badass woman from whom we all have something to learn.

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL? 

All about THAT pink

I remember vividly how I never wanted to be a pink girl, and how adamantly I would ask everybody to ask me what's my favorite color because I would surprise them with Blu'.

I somehow conditioned myself to be a blue girl, just because I never wanted to be like the other girls. 

I found the article Is There Some Reasons Millennial Women Love This Color on The Cut extremely interesting. By "this" it meant pale pink, peach, quartz, rose gold, salmon, creamy, dusty rose.

I am not a Millennial, yet I manifest affinity with many traits of this microscopied and scrutinized generation. Millennials this, Millennials there ... 

Where I grew up, girls in school would wear a long white coat with a pink bow in the back, something very Alice in Wonderland as school uniform, and the boys' version was blue and short.

It is a liberating thought, knowing that my daughter (almost on the cusp of being a Millennial) is not growing up with those mental restrictions. Guess what: she never liked Barbie or anything pink she’d have in the closet.

I can't help but wonder (... I have been binging on SATC lately):

Is “your favorite color” something that comes with genes or it becomes an acquired taste?

My friend Gabriella, of Su Misura Journeys says:  

“I'm loving pink these days. When I was young I hated it because my mother made me wear it all the time. But I love the soft nuanced shades. Italy does pink so well. Also the beige leather at Ferragamo had an almost pink undertone back then. So warm. I also saw it on walls. They called it 'carne' pink mixed with white and yellow in such a subtle and interesting way.”

I love how she uses different nuances, from walls to leather goods, there’s nothing defined, categorized or labeled, it happens nonchalantly, like a disceveled wall and a Madonna in the streets of Florence. 

But now that it's a color Millennial women like, looks like we ough to squeeze in, like when you grab a leg and the girl on the other side that other leg of that only one pair of pants left on sale.

 

A Loewe affair

In the hottest month of the year Loewe invited me to their flagship in the Design Distric to what came out to be one of the most sophisticated presentations I have ever attended in Miami .

And, I am known for being unapologetic and I say things as they are …

The fashion world is scattered with brands that leave their future in the hands of creative directors and designers and sometimes stylists. In my mind, into book-cave mode and focused on other things, I had dismissed Loewe as “another” one.

Wrong-issima on so many fronts.

The store.

It's been there for over a year now and I had never walked in. It features the remains of a relic smack in the middle that for some reasons sounds creepy, but it props you in an atmosphere of respect, silence and appreciation of the surroundings. Something as spiritual as Stonehenge: all those handbags in exotic skins and nappa, cut and assembled in Spain and displayed in the most irregular shapes look like visitors, wandering around like you exploring the surroundings. You are only bound to revere them.

The brand.

With a story of 170 years (the past), it’s been a staple of the life of countless families in Spain as a luxury brand known for craftsmanship and. Based on principles of progress, expertise, modern (the present) its heart still beats in Spain. A stance projected into appealing a crowd without borders that longs to be inspired.

The designer.

Three years ago it was passed to the hands (and brains) of Jonathan Anderson whose acumen has contributed to the re-interpretation of the brand’s DNA in a dynamic and modern fashion.

The clothing.

The collection is the first of its genre, inter-seasonal or what we call it, Pre-Fall is about refinement and fluidity, tactile sensations from leathers as soft as silk or as rigid as sellers, tailored and oversize, shearlings and volumes. The prints need a special mention, exquisite natural prints that seem coming from the Encyclopedia Britannica. I was especially fond of a mushroom and I think it’s because I am in fall mood already.

What do you wear for an event like this?

For the first time after 20 years I wore half of my wedding dress. I am divorced, but my wedding dress is a relic I proudly keep in my wardrobe. It was designed by a great friend, it wasn’t the first thing made-to-measure for me, but I am told that I was a pain, worse than a bridezilla in the process of deciding how I wanted to walk down the aisle. All I ever knew is that I wasn't imagining myself with a traditional dress. I guess it was worth the pain if after 20 years the skirt, in a pale pearl-grey silk-gazar was resumed, put on, zipped up with no hurt feelings (it could have gone haywire drama craze).

I paired it (down) with an American Apparel V-neck heather grey T-shirt, my ubiquitous FurryLAB feathered slides made with certified authentic vintage astrakhan and crocodile skins and a saffron cross-body purse by Raison d’Etre, the Sabine collection, in a distressed and antiqued leather.

The take-aways.

I discovered a brand.

I developed a crush on the collection. It’s like the first symptoms of being in love, when you keep thinking that you’d wear this with this and that with that without having them in your closet.

It’s in Miami.

The event was exquisitely organized, understated and elegant, nothing was overdone, there were no fake air-kisses.

Everybody was professional, welcoming and pleased to be hosting that I left with that feeling that I wanted to be friends with all of them.

I received a coin purse in gift, so tightly and perfectly packaged that I had double thoughts before opening it, they lasted 5 nano-seconds though.