en-tice

[en-tice]

NYFW Photo Diary...more on the way

[en-tice]

Rock of Ages

Mick and Axl Put the Cap on New York Fashion Week

"I wonder if anyone's going to come?" a PR girl admitted to worrying before the L'Wren Scott dinner at Rose Bar last night, citing fashion week exhaustion and the rain as potential causes for a poor turnout. That would have been a fair concern for both the Scott dinner and the Nur Khan Electric Room concert session taking place across town, except for one thing: When there are rock stars on the bill, the crowds always turn out in full. Amber Heard, Ellen Barkin, Terry Richardson, and Jen Brill were all present and correct when Scott walked in on the arm of Mick Jagger. During cocktails, the Rolling Stone retreated to a corner of the room while Scott made her rounds. "I think the three Es sum up how I'm feeling: enthusiastic, excited, and exhausted," she said, adding one more E to the list: eat. "I had caviar and potatoes at lunch today; then I went home and ate some more." At the bar, Scott's close friend Daphne Guinness was chatting with the artist Walton Ford. After we commented on Guinness' striking ensemble, Ford said, "It's amazing. She's one of those women who will have her bathrobe on when you get to her house and will tell you she'll be ready in five minutes. In five minutes, she comes out dressed like this." To which Guinness remarked, "Oh no, I'm old-school, really. I just don't want to put too much thought into it. If you do that, it doesn't really go well." At that, they were summoned to the dinner table: "I hope I'm seated next to Mick," one guest confessed. Don't we all, honey. Meanwhile, a far less subdued affair was kicking off at Hiro Ballroom, where Guns N' Roses was set to perform as part of Nur Khan's DeLeón Tequila-sponsored music series. As eager fans including Justin Timberlake, Matt Damon, and Jimmy Fallon started to pour into the smoky room, Khan told us, "I first saw Guns N' Roses play with Metallica. I forget what year, to be honest." When Axl Rose and co. finally took the stage after midnight, it was indeed a jungle, complete with leather bodysuited dancers doing acrobatics from the ceiling, flying tequila shots, and a knock-down-drag-out set that included "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain."

— Kristin Studeman

[en-tice]

P.S. We Love You

A Crush of Friends and Fans at Jack and Lazaro's After-Party

"I am so not cool enough to be here," Rachel Zoe said last night on her way out of Le Baron, where Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez were hosting their after-party. Zoe was calling it an early night because of her Tiffany's gig this morning and a week and a half of Oscars prep waiting for her back in L.A. But the nightclub was plenty crowded without her. Terry Richardson and Jared Leto were running around together taking pictures on the staircase. And nearly everyone who passed through the hot spot's doors took a spin on the dance floor, Jack and Lazaro included. "I feel so relieved—every season we have major drama backstage," said McCollough. "I don't know why, but this time we didn't at all." The drama came afterward with the crush of fans eager to congratulate them. The designers have a two-week vacation in the not-so-distant future to look forward to. They aren't the only ones who could use one. "All I want to do this weekend is sit in my pajamas and watch Downton Abbey," said one reveler posted up at the bar. "Is that too much to ask?"

— Kristin Studeman

[en-tice]

You Gotta Have Faith

A Fête for Annabelle Dexter-Jones and Her New Design Collaboration

"We wore these green plaid skirts and we would have to get down on our knees so they could check the lengths in school—no joke,"Annabelle Dexter-Jones said last night of her prep school uniform. She didn't like those skirts at the time—"I was always the one trying to change the uniform in some way. I always got in trouble for it, too," she went on. But after going through old family albums recently, she found inspiration in them for her new capsule collection for French brand Faith Connexion.

To celebrate her debut design efforts with the label, Annabelle's friends and family gathered for dinner at Le Baron. "I actually have only been here twice because I've been so busy with this line, and André has an art show he's about to open so he's been focused on that," she admitted, referring to her beau André Saraiva, who busied himself making sure everything was running smoothly at his newly opened club. Meanwhile, mom Ann Dexter-Jones was showing off her own jewelry designs. As one guest gawked at the weight of her chain-link pieces, she responded, "After one vodka drink, I don't even notice them." During dinner, conversation quickly turned French. "Have you seen the Emmanuelle Alt video?" asked one male guest in his native tongue. He was referring to the clip in which the Paris Vogue editor sings Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Although Olivier Zahm, who was sitting nearby, remained focused on his BlackBerry, the rest of the table was amused. "I called Carine Roitfeld the second I saw it to see what she thought about it," the guest continued. "She watched it on her iPhone immediately." To see all the party photos on Style.com, click here. 

— Kristin Studeman

[en-tice]

Norisol Ferrari Takes Off

“I’m trying to make the process of getting dressed a little simpler,” New York-based designer Norisol Ferrari tells Style.com. “You don’t want to have to fuss—I am a busy woman and I can’t be looking to see where my blouse is all the time. I have to look smart from morning until I get to dinner.” It was that personal need for smart, transitional separates that inspired the Venezuela-born designer to launch her namesake bespoke line in 2009. “I had been looking for the perfect coat, and after searching everywhere I just decided to make one. The first day I wore it, I walked out of my apartment and I had a woman chase me down the street asking me where I got it—within three weeks I had three custom orders,” she says. Since launching with a ten-piece collection, her luxe but functional jackets have caught the eye of Maxfield buyers (where the lines is sold exclusively) and high-profile women alike. On Tuesday, Ferrari is set to roll out her latest collection at Lincoln Center. She already gave Style.com a look at what’s to come: “Pockets in absolutely everything—I thought a lot about that,” she says. “My motorcycle jacket has an iPad pocket, seriously.” The jackets come in strong, masculine men’s fabrics, tempered by lace, stretch silk, and organza tailoring details, a combination inspired by “Jean Harlow meets Tina Turner in Mad Max,” she explains. Ferrari has a sharp eye for detail and a strong understanding of a good fit, and it shows in her work. As she continues to grow as a designer, she is one we have our eyes on. 

—Kristin Studeman

[en-tice]

Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Starring Rachel Zoe

When I was like 13, I got one of those Elsa Peretti heart necklaces from my parents for my bat mitzvah,” Rachel Zoe told Style.com this morning at Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue. “It was one of the first serious pieces of jewelry that I ever had.”

And her affinity for the storied jewelry label hasn’t lessened since her teenage years: “I want one of everything; I was like trying to break into the cases this morning,” she joked. Zoe was on hand, along with Tiffany’s vice president Richard Moore, to unveil her window installations—which pay tribute to five decades of Hollywood glamour. The five windows (also on display at the brand’s flagship stores in Beverly Hills, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, and London) celebrate the glitz of Hollywood from the thirties through the seventies, with diamonds and pearls to match. The highlight: the 1960’s window, which showcases Jean Schlumberger’s iconic Fleur de Mer brooch for Elizabeth Taylor (pictured, below). The diamond and sapphire clip, bought by her husband, Richard Burton, was acquired by Christie’s (in celebration of its 175th anniversary) in the recent Christie’s auction of the famed actress’ jewelry and clothing collection. To read my full post on Style.com, click here. —Kristin Studeman

[en-tice]

The shoe everyone's buzzing about from NYFW Fall 2012: Proenza Schouler.#need.want.now

[en-tice]

An image from Demarchelier's Dior Couture book taken right after the couture show in Paris. 

[en-tice]

The Artist’s Artist

“When we wrapped, we had no idea how things would turn out,” says costume designer Mark Bridges of The Artist, the nostalgic silent film (in theaters now) about Hollywood’s golden era by Michel Hazanavicius, starring Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin. “We thought, it could be the greatest thing since sliced cheese, or it could go direct to video. There are no guarantees in this business.” (He would know, having costumed everything from Boogie Nights to Blow.) But after scoring five nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards, it looks like Bridges, Hazanavicius, and company have their answer. The Jazz Age isn’t just enticing filmgoers at the moment; fashion audiences are eating it up, too. Coincidentally or not, the costumes Bridges created for Bejo echoed the twenties-inspired and Deco shapes on the Spring runways, at shows like Gucci, Marc Jacobs, and Etro. And though they’re currently hanging in Bejo’s closet in Paris, those costumes are also getting attention from museum curators, including those from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, and will be included in FIDM’s annual Motion Picture Exhibition this spring. Here, Bridges speaks with Style.com about re-creating the spirit of an era in crepe de chine.

—Kristin Studeman

How did you prepare for the movie? I have an extensive library—every birthday when I was a kid my parents would ask what movie or book I wanted so I have built up a big collection over the years. I watched a lot of Turner Classic Movies—like, 24/7. There are people who don’t like to use other films as research but I love it. I looked at old silent film stars and pulled candids and press images of them. It was important to look at that era and notice what changed or didn’t change during those times. Even in the thirties, they kept the same hat shapes from the twenties. It was great that we were filming in Hollywood because I was set up to walk into Western Costume Company and go to the twenties section and I could just see what speaks to me. Did you look to specific silent film stars or certain silhouettes they were wearing? Yes, Bérénice and I both felt that [her character of] Peppy could be based on a young Joan Crawford, who hadn’t gotten very mannered yet. We looked at a lot of her early films and the dress Peppy wears for her first dance has the same DNA of the fringed one Joan wears in Our Dancing Daughters.

  Did anything about twenties clothing particularly surprise you during this process?

I was surprised at how sexy they were; very body-conscious, free-style, and very feminine. That was the most surprising to me. I was also surprised at how short the dresses really were. They were like sixties dresses, not minis, but certainly very short. I can imagine it wasn’t easy to pull these costumes together. How did you do it? We would often find things that perspiration and moths had not been kind to over 90 years. They were OK for background characters but I couldn’t use them on the main actors. We would put it on Bérénice just to see if we liked the shape and then had cutter/fitters reproduce the piece down to every single detail. We used lots of heavy crepe de chine—in the Sears catalogs from 1927, most of those dresses are made of crepe de chine. I also have a collection of vintage collars and we would add those to some of the costumes. We looked for details to add punctuation marks. I also hadto pay attention to the graphics of black and white. Basically, whatever we had to do—make it, rent it, buy it, adjust it—we did. Did you encounter any challenges? The day we had to shoot the scene with Bérénice where she puts her arm in a tailcoat and she’s hugging herself was quite tricky. They worked all weekend trying to figure it out and then they asked me to come up with something. We created a secret, lowered armhole and put a piece of fabric in there. Whatever my plan was, it worked. You can’t even see it! What do you think about the resurgence of the twenties on the runways and the red carpet right now? I think it’s great; it goes in waves, of course, with fashion. For example, when the Gatsbymovie came out in the early seventies, it revived twenties fashions, too. Personally, I think this is coincidental that it’s a trend right now at the same time our movie is out. I wasn’t aware of it at the time we were making the movie. People like the twenties look because it’s very simple and sexy—I think it’s a good time for that in the world. We’ve seen period costume designers, like Mad Men’s Janie Bryant, approached by retailers and designers to work on capsule collections. Is that something that would interest you? I would love that, actually. In my research, I learned that the way these twenties pieces are constructed, in one garment, can be very simple, and in others they can be very complicated. That’s what made an elusive fit that we can’t always get these days. Knowing this, I would like to share some of these secrets and use them in a collection.

[en-tice]

Elizabeth Taylor: The Collector

“I wanted to share my collection with others so they could get a glimpse of the joys, the thrills, and the pure happiness that these beautiful creations have given me,” Elizabeth Taylor once said. It’s a line that now covers one of the purple walls at Christie’s New York, where the Hollywood legend’s jewels, clothes, handbags, and artwork have arrived after a two-month-long world tour. There’s the expected bling and baubles, most notably the Cartier Taj Mahal diamond (bidding to begin at $300,000), the 33.19-carat diamond ring Richard Burton bought her in 1968 (they were married—for the first time—in 1964), and the ruby necklace, bracelet, and earring set given to her by Mike Todd that she famously wore for laps in the pool. But the famous jewels are only part of the story. “No one knew she had this enormous collection of clothing,” said Meredith Etherington-Smith, Christie’s curator for the Taylor fashion auction, during a private preview and luncheon of the exhibition this afternoon, co-hosted by Christie’s chairman Marc Porter and Orianne Collins. “We knew she would run around in caftans—we didn’t know Ms. Taylor was buying serious fashion for over 50 years. And when I say serious, I mean couture.” Of course, there’s a chorus line of Taylor’s infamous Thea Porter caftans on display, but other highlights in the multi-floor exhibition are the evening bolero jackets by Gianni Versace (”some of the best things Versace ever did,” according to Etherington-Smith), Taylor’s Louis Vuitton luggage collection with lavender name tags (they read MINE), her red velvet Valentino evening gown (they were great friends), and her incredible collection of Dior evening dresses. “There’s the last Dior dress with red bugle beads that was designed for Taylor by John Galliano in 2010, and it comes with a wonderful letter explaining that no, it won’t be transparent when you wear it,” said Etherington-Smith. “At that point, she was confined to a wheelchair but she could still order up a mean Dior.” Taylor, say the Christie’s team, was a collector and curator as much as a fashion plate. “This is about connoisseurship and collecting, not consumption,” Porter told Style.com. “To learn that she was one of the most refined collectors of our time was an absolute revelation.” The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor exhibition runs December 3-12, Christie’s, 20 Rockefeller Plaza, NYC, $30 admission. Online auction runs December 3-16.

—Kristin Studeman

[en-tice]

Photo: Deborah Turbeville 

[en-tice]

I teamed up with the gang from Beach Tomato for their surf issue. Check out my favorite surfer-founded fashion brands on their site.

The surf’s up and there’s a big swell of designers finding inspiration in paradise this summer. From Ricardo Tisci’s fun Hawaiian prints for Givenchy Resort 2012 to Michael Kors’ electric wetsuits, beach chic has never looked better. Here, at Beach Tomato, we share a few surfer-turned-designers on our radar who have started to make a big splash on the fashion scene. For the full story, click here.

[en-tice]

enTicement: Nicholas Kirkwood x Keith Haring wedges @ Colette

How fabulous are these?

[en-tice]

enTicement: G.V.G.V. Patterned Moroccan Blouse, from LN-CC

[en-tice]

Meet the Muse: Stephanie LaCava

Writer Stephanie LaCava’s vintage education began at an early age. While tagging along with her parents on antique shopping trips in Paris as a child, she started looking for something that struck her interest more than lamps and chairs. After a Victorian lace blouse purchase, she was hooked, and she has since amassed an impressive collection that ranges from an Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo to faux furs to beetle pendants. But clothes and accessories aren’t the only thing she has accumulated over the years—the 27-year-old redhead has the historical knowledge to rival her meticulously curated collection. As Joos describes their photo shoot, “Stephanie is a waterfall of fashion references, elaborate vintage testimonials, and infectious giggles. She’s on some kind of lavish high, ferociously exposing me to all her treasure collections and obsessions, accurately dated histories and demonstrative anecdotes included.” Here, LaCava explains her vintage-bug bug and shares her other favorites to collect. 

To read my full story on Style.com, click here. 

[en-tice]

Stars and Stripes.

Happy Fourth of July!

[en-tice]

Georgia Frost shot in LA, from BLK DNM Gazette 1