Schiaparelli Reborn

©ourtesy of ARTINFO

Fashion Designer on Her Way to a Posthumous Comeback?

Elsa Schiaparelli

Elsa Schiaparelli’s Shoe Hat (collaboration with Salvador Dalí), winter 1937-38 / Courtesy Tumblr
Elsa Schiaparelli and Dalí’s lobster dress / Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

Eight years after a career retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Elsa Schiaparelli is back in the spotlight with an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute and an announcement from Italian businessman Diego Della Valle that he is relaunching the brand that bears her name. With all the buzz surrounding the show and the revival, is the late fashion designer on her way to a posthumous comeback?

Elsa Schiaparelli revolutionized fashion in the 1930s with her surrealist tromp l’oeil sweaters, lobster dress, and whimsical prints. In 1934 Time hailed her as “the one to whom the word ‘genius’ is applied most often,” and said that Elsa Schiaparelli was a more dominant influence in fashion at the time than her biggest rival, Coco Chanel. But in the end, it was Chanel who triumphed after Schiaparelli shuttered her business in 1954, due to the post-war economic downturn. Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Bikini Swimsuit Hotness

©ourtesy of fabulousmag.co.uk by Cara Leps

Fabulous summer swimwear guide

Big boobs

Help the girls out! A well-supported underwired bikini top is a massive must for boosting your bust. You should buy your tops and bottom in different sizes to ensure you have the perfect fit.

Bikini top, £19.50, bottoms, £15, both Marks & Spencer

Bikini top, £8, bottoms, £4, both George at Asda; bikini top, £51, bottoms, £26, both Moontide at Simply Beach; bikini top, £19.50, bottoms, £15, both Marks & Spencer Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Fashion Illustration: 1930′s Ads

Special Vintage Drawings

©ourtesy of Gentlemen’s Gazette
Fashion Illustrations in 1930′s AdsFashion illustration from the 1930′s enjoyed by many of our readers have an affinity to  for artists like  L. FellowsLeslie Saalburg, and J. C. Leyendecker. While we mostly discuss editorial pictures, I want to focus on fashion illustration from magazine ads today. Back in the day, it was normal for a publisher to design an ads together with the advertiser. Though as you can imagine, a magazine publisher could only employ a limited number of fashion illustrators to serve all their clients. In order to demonstrate each brand’s unique image, the fashion illustration were often very different from each other.
Arrow Shirts Sanforized Shrink 1931Arrow Shirts Sanforized Shrink 1931

Interestingly, ads from the early 1930′s have a stronger resemblance of the 1920′s illustrations ads, which were more simplistic and relied more heavily on lines than details. Nevertheless, even during that time period, there were huge differences in drawing styles, and soon you would see illustrated ads that were just as nice as the illustration you all enjoy so much. Now, let’s discuss a few ads and styles: Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Schiaparelli & Prada at ‘The Met’

Celebrities Honor Two Great Designers at Event

Schiaparelli and Prada, many guests at this year’s ultimate fashion gala on Monday night observed some surprising similarities between two women whose work is separated by half a century. Walking through the displays of ugly-chic dresses and slightly surreal designs in a new Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition that compares the designers Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.  “I loved the play of the two of them together,” said Tom Ford, arriving at the Costume Institute gala with the model Chanel Iman, who wore a dress made of pheasant feathers molded to her body. “It was amazing how hard it was to differentiate some of the pieces.”  Best not mention that to Mrs. Prada, one of the most influential female designers in recent history, who initially rebuffed the museum’s plans to mount an exhibition that compared her to Schiaparelli, who died in 1973.

Mrs. Prada said in many interviews about the show that she had never been inspired by the work of her predecessor. “Well,” Mr. Ford said, “Coco Chanel said that creativity is the art of concealing your sources. :: Best Dressed Attendees :: ”©NYtimes story by Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Paco Rabanne recreated

by Creative Director, Manish Arora

Manish Arora, a fashion designer known for his wild prints, bright psychedelic colors, and over the top looks, was appointed the creative director of Paco Robanne early last year.

©ourtesy TWELV

 

Fashion Week AU

©ourtesy of Jayson Brunsdon @ NationalTimesAU

Fashion Week is a seasonal industry. But unlike in the natural world, fashion’s seasons move with the times. Fashion Designers used to put clothes from our spring and summer collections into the stores when the weather got warm, but now we put them into stores in the middle of winter. And we put winter clothes into stores in the middle of summer. This, I believe, is just symptomatic of society at large. Everything has sped up. People have shorter concentration spans and want to see something new on a regular basis. The stores have to give their Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Justin Timberlake: Stylish dude

Justin Timberlake Brings His Sexy Style to HomeMint

©ourtesy of Cathy Zinderman @ Justluxe

Photo Credit: Peggy Sirota/HomeMint
Justin Timberlake is one stylish dude, sporting leather jackets just as well as he wears a red carpet suit. But who knew that his interest in style had entered the home? Apparently it has, as Timberlake has become the latest celebrity to lend his fashionable eye to BeachMint with the upcoming HomeMint website. HomeMint follows in the BeachMint Continue reading
Optimized with InboundWriter

Fashion Competition Deadline

Final Call For “Fashion Fringe” Entries, 4-27-2012! Burberry’s Christopher Bailey has £100K For This Year’s Winner

Fashion Fringe has become one of the most well-known design competitions in the world offering young fashion talent winner the chance to win a whopping £100,000 towards the establishment of their very own fashion label. In just 7 days’ time submissions will be closed and a shortlist of 10 designers will be selected by this year’s Fashion Fringe Chair, Burberry’s Christopher Bailey. After a nail-biting ‘Technical-Day’ and interview with the FF board, three finalists will be selected to battle it out on the catwalk at London Fashion Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Dress from Fashion Week Hot

London Fashion Week Designer, Roksanda Ilincic’s Hot Pink dress 

©ourtesy of Olivia Bergin
London Fashion Week  just Last month, featured our very own fashion editor Lisa Armstrong prediction that the hot pink, lantern-sleeved creation by Roksanda Ilincic could well be the new Galaxy Dress. To the uninitiated, she was referring to the utterly feminine curve-enhancing dress by Roland Mouret loved by Victoria Beckham, Carol Vorderman, Dita Von Teese and Continue reading
Optimized with InboundWriter

Designer Wedding Gown Trends

Oscar de la Renta & Vera Wang 2013 Colors

Oscar de la Renta sent a model down his Bridal Spring 2013 runway wearing pants and a crop top Monday. Taking his cue from one of the most notable trends to come out of the spring 2012 ready-to-wear collections, the designer teamed the ab-fab trend with the traditional. Designer’s banded together in support of the midriff during the spring shows in September, with retro-style bras worn as tops making multiple appearances. Often paired with a pencil or flared skirt, a la Sophia Loren Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Toes Showing, In for Spring!

Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Vibram

Fashion’s Toe Moment

©ourtesy of Misty White Sidell

“Toes cleavage, Manolo Blahnik’s new heels emphasize, Martin Margiela plays up the feet, and Vibram’s “barefoot”  size sneakers are more popular than ever. Misty White Sidell on the toe moment”.

It was just before fashion week when, like many other fashion journalists, I found myself scouring Bergdorf Goodman’s legacy shoe sale for the Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

Fall Fashion LA’s Presentations

©ourtesy of  Karen Ostlund
Paul Redmond Design

“Concept fashion – it’s when music, art & fashion come together as one”

It takes place twice a year, at Ace Gallery in Hollywood.

Concept fashion week, Hollywood’s bi-annual event, was as last season located at Ace Gallery (5414 Wilshire) and welcomed 16 designers, two nights of runway shows,  and creative installations. This March fashion- presentations featured fall 2012 season’s runway collections and installations by: MIKE VENSEL, HENRY DUARTE, BRYAN HEARNS, PAUL REDMOND, MEMENIC, NUVULA, S&G, CHAMBERS, THAI NUYGEN, CURLY V, BELLE N. MATISSE, ELAINE ALLEN, ZuBAUEN, GYPSY JUNKIES, LAILI LAU, NAMI and JEN AWAD.

Edgy, Dark & Spanish style for S & G by Sequoia and Gita

Concept fashion week was founded by fashion designer Mike Vensel and downtown Los Angeles visionary Brady Westwater in 2010. The concept was seen as a new alternative for designers wanting to showcase their latest collections under their own terms.

Vensel and Westwater had produced fashion shows in Los Angeles since 2004, and also worked together to launch many shows over the years. Continue reading

Optimized with InboundWriter

FAT Arts & F/W April 24

Fashion Art Toronto (FAT) Arts & Fashion Week launches its 7th year from April 24th to April 28th in Toronto. For five fabulous days, FAT explores the art of fashion via runway shows, art exhibits, photography, fashion films and live performances.
The FAT 2012 theme fashionSCAPES mirrors the concept of landscapes: unique, seasonal and ever changing. Each night a different sub-theme will be explored around the ideas of land, city, body and future. – - get info
Event Highlights:
• April 24 – LANDscapes explores global landscapes and physical environments
• April 25 – CITYscapes visits metropolises and man-made environments; streets, structures and cities
• April 26 – BODYscapes investigate the body as a field for expressing identity, sexuality and gender
• April 27 – FUTUREscapes looks at new materials, technology, media and innovative processes
• April 28 – FATmarket is chance for the public to purchase clothing hot off the runway from FAT designers
FAT Venue – 213 Sterling Road, Toronto Continue reading