Category Archives: BREAKING MODE
CARDI B WITH MUGLER
After her viral Venus sheath dress moment at last year’s Grammy Awards, Cardi B teamed once again with Mugler for another high-fashion moment.
The Grammy winner, who skipped out on the 2020 Grammy Awards red carpet, joined forces with Mugler designer Casey Cadwallader and her stylist, Kollin Carter, to create a custom-made nude dress embellished with an array of crystals and a cascading train.
Cardi paired the look with a custom-made Gismondi 1754 necklace featuring 310 carats of white diamonds.
“From the moment I saw it, I knew it was going to be a debatable moment, some people would love it and some people would hate it and that’s everything we’re about when it comes to fashion,” he said.
YANINA COUTURE IN PARIS
The Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris was far too small to accommodate the Russian diaspora present. All the Russians from Paris were there, except for Countess Ignatieff, my friend, who was not invited, “Don’t worry, you will get an invitation when she will make real Haute Couture, and when you will be a real Countess”.
In reality, this collection was a bit confusing, because you can find the worst as well as the best: some dresses are quite badly finished and cut by a model who obviously doesn’t know her trade and probably works the “feston” stitches with boxing gloves, and, at the same time, you discover a marvel that appears to you like this yellow dress with a bustier of flower petals straight out of Monet’s gardens and of the most beautiful effect. The dichotomy between the two pieces is so obvious that you can only think that there are two designers in the house.
One could imagine that the very transparent black dresses of the models, who paraded before me, lifted the veil on the hot nights of St. Petersburg. Continue reading
ZIAD NAKAD PARIS 2020
DIOR, MY MOTHER’S WIFE
Dior comes to pose a structure of the lying woman’s body, Here is a structure that is more reminiscent of an extravagant sculpture by Anish Kapoor posed like a big piece of excrement in the middle of Paris.
It is in this same museum that Camille Claudel had shown through her creations all the femininity of the world. Does Maria Chiuri dream of this one? As a tribute to her Roman upbringing, the mannequins, all sails floating outside, remind us of the Roman virginal vestals, the very ones who took vows of celibacy to honour the goddess Vesta.
Yet, under the invisible tutelage of an angel, the creator is drunk with sunshine. Here is the ambrosia and the nectar of vermeil running between the dresses of her predecessors (Josse, Franck Sorbier and Hervé Léger) remixed with a dress from the 1930s; a nod to Judy Chicago, a visual artist and activist of her state, to end up making a collection worthy of Louisa Spagnoli. Continue reading
RABIH KAYROUZ PARIS 2020
CRAIG GREEN PARIS 2020
THOM BROWNE PARIS 2020
The collection, on display in his Paris showroom, was heavy on custom-made Harris Tweeds, which he worked into navy blue plaid blazers with fringed lapels and casual quilted puffer vests. There were also gray flannel wool coats and blazers, and a one-button, black-tie jacket, dotted with little animals, from the jungle and the barnyard, floating across them.
YOHJI YAMAMOTO PARIS 2020
AMI ALEXANDRE MATTIUSSI 2020 Paris
JOKER OSCARS NOMINEES
The Academy revealed the full list of 2020 Oscars nominees this morning, with “Joker” leading the pack with 11 nominations, including best actor for Joaquin Phoenix, best director for Todd Phillips and best picture.
Netflix also racked up a number of nominations for the 92nd annual Academy Awards with “The Irishman” receiving 10 nominations and “Marriage Story” receiving six nominations.
The 2020 Oscars will be held on Feb. 9 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards ceremony is going without a host for its second consecutive year.
Read on to see the full list of 2020 Oscars nominees. Continue reading
SALVATOR FERRAGAMO MILAN 2020
TANFIN THE FEATHER OF KINGS
Babylon boasted its brick walls, Rhode had its colossus renamed proud, and Egypt made peaks with admirable masses of stone. For my part, the work of the pen comes from a miracle from heaven. But, who knows that the feathers of crows, heather cockerels and ducks were used for fine writing and the feathers of vultures and eagles for writing with broad strokes?
The goose quill is known to the Romans for writing on parchment and papyrus in the 4th century, but the Egyptians preferred calamus, which is where the calami slip comes from: a written slip, as opposed to the linguae slip, spoken.
The plumage is probably as old as human societies. The art of plucking is a sacred art and this manual craft requires great dexterity and concentration. Valérie Tanfin works the feather in all its forms: from the most meticulous and delicate to the most gigantic and extravagant. Her rare know-how blends both tradition and modernity. Continue reading
KERING FORREST BURN
Kering brands are banding together to donate a total of one million Australian dollars, or nearly $700,000, to local organizations in Australia working to fight the country’s wildfires, the group said in a statement Tuesday.
The group’s sustainability experts will select the organizations that will receive the funds, it added. In the longer term, the group, which owns fashion labels Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga as well as jewelry brands Boucheron and Qeelin, plans to take part in reforestation and biodiversity programs.
Wildfires ripping across Australia have killed dozens of people, destroyed homes and claimed the lives of thousands of animals, prompting an outpouring of support from around the world. The country’s entertainment and fashion industries are rallying behind relief efforts with over 50 fashion and beauty businesses, including David Jones, Country Road Group, Alex Perry, Dion Lee, Toni Maticevski and Elle Macpherson’s WelleCo pledging donations. Continue reading
NICOMEDE LONDON 2020
CAMPAIGN OF THE LORD
Louis Vuitton has teamed again with Collier Schorr for its spring campaign. The photographer shot actresses Emma Stone and Zhong Chuxi and a cast of models at London’s Park Lane Hotel.
They are captured in the Belle Époque outfits designed by creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, toting signature handbags such as the new Vanity in Monogram and the latest versions of the Dauphine.
The campaign is due to break in the February issues of international magazines, accompanied by a series of short digital films, to be posted on Louis Vuitton platforms in February, set to a track by transgender singer Sophie, who appeared on a giant video screen during the brand’s spring runway show.
ASTRID ANDERSEN LONDON 2020
EMANUEL UNGARO DIED
Emanuel Ungaro died Saturday evening in Paris. He was 86. A funeral service will be held on Monday in Paris. Born in Aix-en-Provence, originally his family hailed from Italy’s Apulia region and emigrated to Paris during the Fascist period.
Known for feminine designs, embellished with frills and polka dots and a penchant for the color fuchsia, Ungaro founded his couture house in 1965 and retired in 2004.
At the age of 22, he moved to Paris. Three years later he began designing for the House of Cristóbal Balenciaga for three years before quitting to work for Courrèges. Four years later, in 1965 with the assistance of Swiss artist Sonja Knapp and Elena Bruna Fassio, Emanuel Ungaro opened his own fashion house in Paris. Continue reading
POLO DE FIGUERAS
Argentinian polo player, charity ambassador and model Nacho Figueras is launching his first luxury fragrance line, the Ignacio Figueras Collection, exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman on Dec. 11.
The six-scent collection is influenced by Figueras’ polo career and the scents are named after international polo tournament destinations Buenos Aires, Figueras’ home city; Palm Beach, Fla.; Aspen, Colo.; Windsor, England, the site outside London of many a polo tournament; Jaipur, and Dubai.
The longtime face of Ralph Lauren fragrances developed the line for almost two years with master perfumer Carlos Benaim, who Figueras had known for a long time.
Figueras has plans to take the fragrance to Europe, and aspires to launch in Dubai and India. Sales of the collection will also raise funds for Sentebale, a charity that supports mental health and well-being of children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana affected by HIV.
VIRGIL ABLOH IN THE LOUVRE
In honor of the 500th anniversary of Leondardo Da Vinci’s death, the Musée du Louvre and Virgil Abloh’s Off-White label announced a special collaboration in tandem with the “Leonardo da Vinci” exhibition, on display until February 24, 2020, the Louvre said Monday. Continue reading
BAG OR NOT BAG ?
Now, more than a decade later, the idea of one bag having it all has dimmed. According to an October report from The NPD Group, the handbag business is down 20 percent in the first eight months of 2019, compared to 2016.
Using the amount of bags on the spring runways as an indicator, the category is still a key driver of business and buzz for brands, but the entry points have expanded over the last five years. The rise of the resale market where prestige names like Chanel and Hermès, two brands that sit atop the status food chain, can be bought at reduced prices is beginning to chip away at market share. New brands are building buzz on social media and offer an entry-level contemporary price.
Consumers; attitudes about the resale market have shifted. Once the favorite of thrifty college students and hipsters, the resale accessories market now offers a buy-in on luxury handbags with marquee names that telegraph a level of social capital. Continue reading
ZEGNA HELLO GOODBYE
After six seasons of impactful presentations at Pitti Uomo in Florence, Z Zegna is making a soft comeback to Milan in January.
The Italian brand, which is focused on delivering smart and elegant men’s wardrobes fusing a sophisticated fashion aesthetic with high-tech innovation, will unveil its new fall 2020 lineup with one-on-one appointments at its Milanese showroom located on via Savona.
“After several seasons when Zegna presented its two collections, Ermenegildo Zegna XXX and Z Zegna, in Milan and Florence, respectively, we decided to focus on Milan and its fashion week, in a moment where the city returns to be the most important international destination for men’s fashion,” said Zegna artistic director Alessandro Sartori, explaining the decision.
While Sartori will meet journalists through personal appointments to illustrate the new Z Zegna collection, he will continue to stage a runway show to present the Ermenegildo Zegna XXX luxury men’s wear line. The show will take place the first evening of Milan Fashion Week, on Jan. 10 and it will immediately follow the Dsquared2 runway event, marking the Canadian-Italian brand’s 25th anniversary.
LIAIGRE DIERE DU LUXE
It doesn’t matter if you have style, reputation or money, if you don’t have a good heart, you’re worthless. Under heavy rain and despite the strikes, we arrive at Villa Liaigre at 71 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré where we are greeted by Anne Schumacher with a Ferrari body. In front of us” the Hotel Bristol, the palace of all the palaces, and this showroom created a year ago and a set of pieces “Master of art” of what France can give best in its heart, on the land of the Duke of Noailles sold to Jean François Sandrié, contractor of the King’s buildings, market garden of 60 ha on which is built the hotel and its surroundings.
Tribute to the works of Constantin Brancusi, for a cast iron stool imitating eben wood, a bedside table in bronze. I wanted to buy everything and do like that rich Chinese man in the roman of Marguerite Duras l’amant, who probably ordered a turnkey apartment for himself, to go live across the street while waiting impatiently for Liaigre to build his palace. Continue reading
RADIO STAR
A soft symphony that sounds like silk that scratches the symbols of a bygone era, and even if the way of listening has evolved, nothing is lost, everything is transformed to return like this pendulum, so well adjusted, which returns, after excess, to its starting point, of the traditional machines that played with the past and the present.
Is producing less amputated sounds with TSF tubes an ethical approach? Probably, because reconditioning these old posts of our grandparents will remain for a long time to come an object of the future past. His wood cracks from these memories like lightning flashes that smash from the sky on earth. She listened to Radio London and its litany of long sobs of autumn violins that rocked our hearts, in a monotonous languor, for the hope of a better life.
I met the Héleore company, in a small shop in Paris, where a group of craftsmen came from this beautiful region now called Occitania and their singing accent of Carcassonne, a city with medieval architecture restored by Viollet-le-Duc and thus inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Continue reading