Paris Fashion Week FW07 Wrapup I

Yay! It's Paris time. Paris is really where creative force of fashion is, although one must be actually interested and open-minded about fashion to appreciate this kind of fashion. On we go...


Balenciaga
THE show that we've been all waiting for. OK, so at first glance it wasn't as stunning as the FW06 collection or as directional and cool as the SS07 collection, but after looking over the photos many times, I am in love with this collection, which is odd coming from me considering I usually hate any folk-feeling clothes. There is SO much to love and learn from this collection -stare at the photos many times for awhile and you'll get what I mean. Maybe I'm biased because the a large part of the collection feels so young and has got that effortless-styled look.
Scarves were the accessory of the collection. There were so many different designs and ways they were used to style an outfit. With the folk-looking dresses, the scarves were wrapped around the models; with the more military looks, the scarves had gold and royal red strands spread out from the scarf, set out like a handkerchief at the neck; and then there are the simple scarves.
There were many folk-printed or seemingly tie-dyed dresses. Not usually my style since this kind of dresses are usually just bright and cheap looking, but I can't stop looking at these, especially the brilliant yellow one (in the middle). Maybe the reason I'm loving these folk dresses is because of the styling -grey stockings and cool sandals.
More to take note: bright blue stockings, skinny sports pants. That outfit in the middle is just way cool. Love all the layers and simple colours.


Christian Dior
OK, I'm probably in the minority in this, but I'm not a big fan of this show. Yes, I can appreciate the idea of going back to the 60s and making everything very original and vintage Christian Dior. Everything was absolutely beautiful; it was like a ready-to-wear version of the much-loved haute couture show.
Fur coats. Some huge and swinging, others were furry at the hems and more body-fitting.
The show did start off with some real-life (for more mature women) clothes.
Then there were many and many gorgeous dresses and party hats.
Look through the show, it's like all the colours are there. The purple dress Lily Cole is wearing is one of my favourites from the show.
This black and white dress is another one of my favourite.

BUT, what is the fashion direction; what is the show trying to say? At the end, I just can't get myself excited or inspired by anything from this show.


Viktor & Rolf
OK, so the reviews I (and all of you) have read so far from websites have so far, gone on and on about how worried the fashion editors were worried about the models, and feared that they would just tumble down the runway. To be honest, I didn't find the whole concept too shocking -remember that horrible sleeping-in-the-bed concept from a few seasons ago?
OK, those clogs are just hideous, absolutely horrendous. But try to look past the clogs, and the lights, if you can...
and you'll see that there are actually some pretty prints there.

Anyways, I'm off to stare at the Balenciaga collection again. Hope you have as much fun as I am!
Photo source: Style.com

Oscar's 2007 Fashion

This year's Oscars fashion was, well, not particularly disastorous nor inspiring. Obviously everyone was on their top form, but the dresses were just... okay. Maybe there has been too many award shows recently that I've gotten a bit jaded. So anyways, here are the top fabulous outfits from last night:

Queen of the night, Helen Mirren looked amazing in Christian Lacroix. If it's a body shot (as opposed to closeup shot,) it's hard to remember she's alreayd 61 years old!

Cate Blanchett looked elegant in Armani Prive, and right on the whole metallic, futuristic trend. Makeup, jewelery, everything was simple impecable.

Rachel Weisz wore a seemingly simple Vera Wang gown. I love that long cluster of diamonds (and the diamond ribbon) at the top of her dress. The dress is so perfectly tailored- it's like the dress is softly wrapped around her, and the diamonds solidified the whole vision.

After the brilliant yellow dress she wore to the Golden Globes, Reese Witherspoon's Nina Ricci by Olivier Theysken dress here just didn't seem as striking. I'm sure this gown floated around Reese beautifully, but it just isn't the most photogenic dress.

Like Blanchett, Nicole Kidman can do (almost) no wrong on the red carpet. She looked elegant, as usual, in a Balenciega dress.

Nicole Kidman's BBF, Naomi Watts looked really pretty last night, although for some reason, she landed on a worst dress list.

Another one who landed on the worst dressed list was Gwenyth Paltrow, who wore Zac Posen. I thought she looked pretty sophisticated in it and she looked really pretty on TV, but I can see how it's not for everyone's taste.

And once again Cameron Diaz landed on worst dresed lists. I think she looked pretty -go find a picture of her hair, it's absolutely perfectly wavy. Her white Valentino gown had a haute couture-shape but in a much simplified way.
Surprisingly, not many people wore black. Rinko Kikuchi wore a slinky, not-boring-at-all black number.
Kate Winslet looked lovely in a simple, expertly-draped Valentino gown. Nothing exciting, but hey, points for her for wearing natural-looking makeup.
While I don't know if Jessica Biel was actually nominated for anything, I thought she looked gorgeous. She absolutely stood out in that hot pink Oscar de la Renta gown. She wore it oh-so-elegantly, especially with that belt.
And of course, how could I not mention Jennifer Lopez, who definitely impressed in a grey Marchesa gown. Is she reinventing herself?
As to why so-and-so wasn't on the list?
Penelope Cruz -The Versace gown is certainly glamorous, but the tail was way excessive.
Anne Hathaway -The huge black bow is cute and all, but it didn't seem to suit her much.
Jennifer Hudson -She wore the Oscar de la Renta dress well enough, but that metallic shrug? Seriously.
Kirsten Dunst -First of all, yay, Marie Antoinette most definitely deserved the best costume award. And for some reason, I can't decide whether I like Kirsten's Chanel dress or not.

Milan Fashion Week FW07 Wrapup II

Ahh! With the excitement of the new Milan collections, I can't even fit in a slot to blog about the series finale of The OC (sniff, so sad) -I'll do that eventually. OK, onto the collections:

Fendi
Fendi is supposedly known for its fur, so in that aspect, Karl delivered. I admittingly, do not know how to appreciate Fendi's asthetics yet and I usually just think Fendi as a line for mature women.

But with hemlines above the knees, a lot of the clothes didn't feel too old. I love the three outfits above -they're grownup-but-not-too-mature, girly edgy and classy.

Alessandro Dell'Acqua
I've always liked Dell'Acqua's collections because I love the different ways he transforms black and white, pretty and edgy outfits. But this time, and I thought of it before I read other reviews, that this collection wasn't really him -I see traces of random designers' SS07 collections, such as that of Preen, Lanvin and even Dolce Gabanna (don't ask me why, maybe it's just me). So ya, I was a bit disappointed.

I like these dresses, but they do really remind me of a mix of Preen and Christopher Kane.

Regardless, there are still some really fab work outfits. I would love to wear the outfits on the left and middle to work -they're so pretty, put-together and professional.

Marni
In my mind, Marni's a bit like Prada -arty, eccentric and girl-focussed (in the way that the clothes don't cling onto you.) But the difference is, Marni is even more eccentric and every new collection continues nicely from the previous one. This collection is great, but I didn't find anything in particular I love. Plus note the big bags, (again).

Grey continues to be THE colour, with some muted purple and blue. Ooo, and notice the UGG-lookalikes. For some reasons, those furry boots somehow look right with the super high hemline.

Even though Marc Jacobs seems to have abandoned the layering look for his main line, I'm glad to see the Marni is still doing the layering thing.

There are looks for all ages and profession, whether you need something really business-looking, or something that is more arty and kind-of-professional.

The sporty influences continue from the SS07 collection. And of course, we have the signature Marni look -belt over the simple, slightly volumous coat.

Photo sources: Elle

Milan Fashion Week FW07 Wrapup I

It's Milan time! While I don't care for all the collections shown in Milan, there are (exactly) five shows that I do look foward to each time.
Prada
The show that I look most foward to in Milan. I haven't seen something so fresh on the runway for so long, (granted, I've only been into fashion for a few years.) This collection makes one feel so many things, so many that I don't know how to describe this collection. It's simple, yet not so (in terms of fabric); it's not flashy, but it is still so strangely glamorous at the same time; it's a FW collection, but the colours were so fresh it felt like a SS collection; with the sober tailoring and expensive material, it's grown-up, but with the laminating colour flashes and knee-high socks, it seemed young. Can we say genius?
Simple, elegant grown-up clothes.
Weird fluffy, shaggy material jacket. And look, bright mustard yellow socks!
Solid blocks of colours -is that very 90's? Plus, the outfit with the coat without sleeves on the right -unsexy yet glamorous.
Look at the dress on Sasha (middle) -it looks like an ordinary black dress, but the skirt section is made of a different material as the top part. Plus, I really want that hat! Tada, Miuccia is already sporting her FW07 vision.
Miuccia Prada said, "simple and strange"; Suzy Menkes said, "Prada vision light year ahead". Loves it.
Burberry
I have to say, the key designers have really been surprising me this season in terms of colours and direction. This Burberry collection was a departure from the previous ones. It's so dark, elegantly edgy and slightly severe. I mean, I usually associate Burberry with older rich people who favour pretty, somewhat fashionable and elegant designs. Not that this collection isn't elegant -it is -but it's just darker than one would imagine. I like dark things, so I like this collection, but what do the normal Burberry fans think?
Dark, somewhat shiny coats of many varieties, including parkas. A-line silhouette created with above-knee dresses or coats and belts.
Tights with ankle boots continue to rock next FW.
I really like these edgy-feeling, pretty, knee-high dresses. The elbow gloves make the outfit look even more edgy sleek.
D&G
Hmm, I'm not much of a D&G fan, but it's always fun to look at the more youthful collections. This collection is all about leopard prints, leopard prints and leopard prints in a 50's way.
Is it just me or does this collection seem less trashy than the past D&G collections?
The colour palette was quite neatrual -black, cream, gold, red and err, leopard prints.
Observe the HUGE bag (in the right photo).
What did you think of these collections? Can't wait to see more from Milan!
Photo sources: Style.com, Elle

Rock and Republic Pockets

I've always been intrigued with the Victoria Beckham for Rock and Republic jeans. So the other day at Sak's I finally tried on a pair for fun- and wow!

They looked and fit great! I happened to have picked the wider leg one (Victoria Beckham La Jeans), so it made me look taller and more slimming. The wash was also excellent, in a gorgeous even indigo shade with just a hint of those engineering effect. I must admit, I was very surprised. First because I didn't think much of Victoria Beckham as a designer (although she probably didn't design it completely on her own anyway....) and secondly because it is by Rock and Republic, and R&R never used to fit me so well, particularly around the butt. But alas, they are priced close to $300 and I'm not sure I'm prepared to pay that much for them. Especially when I haven't decided if those gold crowns are tacky or cool . . . . . though i guess they are better than these skulls. At first glance, I really liked the intricate emblemic design. But once I realized there was a skull...well, lets just say they are not to my taste.
I much prefer their classic logo. Simple, sleek yet cool. Although by now, I must admit, it has become a bit boring seeing it on everywhere.

The gold stitching is a good twist to make it more interesting. Although again, it can potentially border on too much.

Thoughts on these pockets?

The Big Black Shiny Bag

Hit bags always leave behind a trail. Back when the Chloe Paddington became 'it', designers everywhere (mostly highstreet brands) suddenly started adding padlocks onto their bag designs. Last season, the oversized Chanel patent leather bag hit it bag after Kate Moss was seen carrying it, looking very cool and all. Then the editors of various magazines and super styish people wanted it. And then puff, it was all sold out! The bag caught on the trend for many reasons -patent leather, oversized, simple. Now, many similar looking bags have caught on:

Technically, this bag isn't a copycat -it's from last season's Marc by Marc Jacobs collection. I was quite surprised when I first saw this bag, because believe me, it was huge! It's also available in black/navy.
Tod's D-bag is simple and practical. Plus, it gives that big, black and shiny block feel that the Chanel bag gave off, except of course the Chanel one looked cooler, and this one more basic-looking.
This bag's by Marni. It's another big black of shiny black with the added Marni twist -bug-shaped and quirky.
This Marc Jacobs shopper bag is another lovely simple black patent leather tote.
The YSL Downtown patent leather tote bag is another super cool black shiny bag. I really like this one too (apart from the Chanel one).
And finally, I know this isn't big or black, but doesn't this Bebe bag's design totally remind you of the Chanel one?
Isn't it interesting to see how different designers and brands interpret the oversized, shiny, black bag design?
Photo sources: Net-a-porter, Chanel, Nordstrom, Saks
 

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