Shu He for V magazine.

Shu He for V Mazagine #71, Asia summer issue 2011. Shot by Glen Luchford, styled by Beat Bollinger with Make up & hairstyle by Eugene Souleiman & Lucia Pieroni.

Reports from Paris: Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Printemps/Été 2011 Preview and backstage!

This is the right ATTITUDE!

The invitation safety-pinned a piece of fishnet to a piece of cardboard. The run of show named outfits after "Anarchy in the U.K." and "London Calling." And that was Sid's "My Way" playing as we walked in. All held the promise that Jean Paul Gaultier would parade punk couture, hardly a new idea for him, and not exactly a thrilling prospect for us, especially given that the designer has been going through a dry spell of late. But something magical happened on Gaultier's catwalk today. A living legend got his mojo back. Maybe the split with Hermès fired him up, maybe his upcoming career retrospective in Montreal got him thinking about his greatest bits. Whatever, it worked.

As far as the punk theme went, there were elaborate Mohawk hairdos (tulle cascaded from the bride's at the finale), the odd dog collar, and some cropped bomber jackets. One of them was crusted with metal pearls. Another, gracing an outfit named "Vicious," was indeed decorated with chains and studs, but it was draped over a black crepe sheath with a flounce of tulle. The ripped 'n' torn aesthetic was in full effect with an ensemble that featured a raggedy beaded top and a silk skirt falling to pieces. (Dégradé is couture's take on punk.) And, at a very glamorous pinch, the perforated black leather jacket and skirt fit the theme, but what his punk starting point really bestowed on this collection was rigor and focus.

Gaultier has always been a brilliant tailor, and here he applied his genius to a pinstripe jumpsuit and matching jacket; a white suit with a corseted torso and ruching rounding out the hips; a gown that used almost straitjacketlike straps to make its sensually tense point; and a tuxlike pantsuit—with frog closing—in an organza covered with passementerie. That last item was the sort of thing you'd only see at a couture show—and probably only this one, to boot.

Something else Gaultier has always been—the most Parisian of designers. A cancan froth of silk tulle ruffles peaked out here and there before finally erupting into a full-on, high-kicking finale, courtesy of Psykko Tico, from the Crazy Horse. Gaultier revisited his favorite alt-Parisienne, the concierge, in a printed mousseline jumpsuit wrapped in a long cardigan in a similar print. And his signature piece—the trench—gained a new length, lost a shoulder, and came up rose-colored. He called this outfit "I Am an Anarchist." But only in a world where ugliness rules.

Powered by Style.com (Tim Blanks)

Reports from Paris: Valentino Haute Couture Printemps/Été 2011. When Elegance is subversive! ♥

"If fashion is about today, then today it's time to go back to elegance," said Pier Paolo Piccioli, after a collection that put the seal on his and co-designer Maria Grazia Chiuri's creative stewardship of Valentino. "Elegance is subversive," he added. "The real subversion is culture." And, in the duo's eyes, haute couture is a way to flex some cultural muscle.

Piccioli's somewhat opaque words actually helped to explain the paradox of the collection: how something so blatantly pretty, pale, and light could also feel like it had an irresistible germ of, if not subversion, then at least oddness. It wasn't just the penitent hair and makeup, or Freja's opening outfit, in all its vestal virginity. Maria Grazia said there was a secret in the collection, in the way the pleats fell, the way the sheer fabrics seemed about to reveal something while keeping it hidden. That secret was presumably the girl inside the clothes. If she was covered up, she wasn't demure. The models walked with a diffident hauteur, hardly innocent.
Chiuri and Piccioli's signatures may be delicate—lace, bows, flowers, plissé—but underlying that delicacy is an intense emphasis on workmanship. "Researching lightness, subtracting weight," said Piccioli. The process of subtraction applied equally to the openwork on the seams of an ivory crepe dress (daywear in this collection) and the lace insets that made the trailing eveningwear seem barely there.

Put today's show together with the duo's ready-to-wear and the menswear line they launched in Paris last week, and you get the inescapable sense that they have a genuine vision for the Valentino brand—coherent and seductive, every way you look at it.

Powered by Style.com (Tim Blanks)

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Reports from Paris: Armani Privé and Dior Haute Couture Printemps/Été 2011. You can do better!

I do not know, but I think this Couture Parisienne's season has started with a bit difficulty. Giorgio Armani proposed a strange woman, but a "strange at all costs" that poorly suited to his philosophy, philosophy for some years, mainly in couture label, has lost the historical concept of Re Giorgio, referring to the worlds maybe too far from him. A mix of a classic Armani and a sperimentale-futuristic Armani failed badly. Surely some catwalk-outfit proposed is wonderfully appealing, but if you look at the entire collection, all in one breath, you hear a false note.
Tim Blanks says 'bout him "Inspired, he said, by the gleam of gemstones, Armani produced clothes that came from another planet, the same one that Pier Cardin and Thierry Mugler might have touched down on once. (It's already been suggested its name could be Gaga.) The first outfit—jacket, skirt, and leggings—shimmered around the model's body like liquid mercury. Her metallic saucer of a hat—one of many made by Philip Treacy for the collection—beamed in signals from above. The ensemble set the tone for the sci-fi extravaganza that followed. "Tron-y, a bit," said Wilde, who should know."
Thierry Mugler is the Armani's inspiration? That's unusual, but grant to sacred god of fashion to have fun...sometimes.

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Then John Galliano for Christian Dior disappoint us season by season. Ok, we understand that your style-sign is the extravagance and excess, the provocation... but we got to 2011, after fourteen years the overlaps of volumes, skirts with layers and layers of tulle like bar suit, the make-up so excessive as to make the models look like newyorker dragqueens has a little tired us. From a genius of the illussione as Galliano (for a so important maison like Dior) is always expected something more than a constant mention of himself. Obviously that's just my opinion, questionable or not, but you must admit that this collection isn't nothing of new and amazing, only the craftsmanship with which it was created, that isn't a news. Going without fail can be a wise choice these days, but you can be true to yourself without stumbling into the "already seen and reviewed".

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Non so, ma credo che questa stagione della Couture Parisienne sia partita davvero a fatica. Armani propone una donna strana, ma di quello strano a tutti i costi che poco si addice alla sua filosofia, filosofia che già da qualche anno, soprattutto nella couture, ha perso il concept generale di Re Giorgio, rifacendosi a dei mondi forse troppo distanti da lui. Un mix tra un Armani futuristico-sperimentale e un Armani classico poco riuscito. Sicuramente qualche proposta passerella è meravigliosamente invitante, ma se si osserva tutta la collezione, tutto d'un fiato, si avverte una nota stonata. Tim Blanks ha scritto circa questa collezione: "Inspired, he said, by the gleam of gemstones, Armani produced clothes that came from another planet, the same one that Pierre Cardin and Thierry Mugler might have touched down on once. (It's already been suggested its name could be Gaga.) The first outfit—jacket, skirt, and leggings—shimmered around the model's body like liquid mercury. Her metallic saucer of a hat—one of many made by Philip Treacy for the collection—beamed in signals from above. The ensemble set the tone for the sci-fi extravaganza that followed. "Tron-y, a bit," said Wilde, who should know". L'ispirazione di Re Giorgio è Thierry Mugler? Beh questo è davvero inusuale, ma concediamo ad un dio sacro della moda di divertirsi...ogni tanto.

John Galliano per Christian Dior poi, mi delude di stagione in stagione. Ok, abbiamo capito che il tuo segno di stile è la stravaganza e l'eccesso, la provocazione...ma siamo arrivati al 2011, dopo quattordici anni le sovrapposizioni di volumi, le gonne a ruota con strati e strati di tulle stile abito bar, il trucco così eccessivo da far sembrare le modelle delle dragqueens californiane ci ha un po' stancati. Da un genio dell'illussione come Galliano (per una maison così importante come Dior) ci si aspetta sempre qualcosa di più e non una costante citazione di se stesso. Ovviamente è solo una mia opinione, discutibile o meno, ma bisogna ammettere che di nuovo e sconvolgente questa collezione non ha nulla, se non la maestria artigianale con la quale è stata creata, che d'altro canto non è certo una novità. Andare a colpo sicuro può essere una scelta saggia di questi tempi, ma si può essere fedeli a se stessi senza inciampare nel "visto e rivisto".

Reports from Paris: Chanel Haute Couture Printemps/Été 2011. Amazing!

Let there be light. No designer is as primed for that kind of heavenly decree as Karl Lagerfeld, and he heeded the call with a Chanel collection that was positively luminous in its delicacy and sparkle. Dresses that looked spun from gossamer ("morning dew on spiderwebs" was his cohort Amanda Harlech's more lyrical metaphor) weren't fabric; they were pieces of embroidery. Ten million beads were used in all. The result was literally a cloth of light.

But light is not only illumination; it's also a lack of heaviness. There was a precise, balletic grace to the shifts, the tops, the fitted jackets, and floating chiffons, all of them built on sequined leggings. And every model walked in a ballet flat. "Just the point of the shoe," Lagerfeld was quick to point out. It was bound to the ankle by transparent straps, and it completely changed the attitude of the show. All those teenage models who look like ball-breaking vixens in their face paint and vertiginous heels when they walk for other designers were suddenly turned back into pretty girls in flat soles and clothes the color of a dawn sky. "I was sick of all those Eiffel Towers, sick of all those violent colors," said Lagerfeld.

He dazzlingly wove his antidote to current fashion orthodoxy into the fabric of the house. Artist Marie Laurencin was his inspiration. In 1923, she designed Les Biches, a ballet commissioned by Diaghilev with a scenario by Cocteau. Chanel was designing Le Train Bleu for the ballet impresario at the same time. She asked Laurencin to paint her. The languor and sweetness of the portrait that came from the sitting weren't pleasing to Chanel, but Lagerfeld seized on those qualities to reinterpret her ethos in a way that was paradoxically provocative and modest. The pink bouclé suit, the drop-waist dress, the sugary, rough-edged tweeds were fragile where Chanel herself was steely.

Lagerfeld himself acknowledged the dichotomy when he paraded Stella Tennant like the Black Queen in a gown of sequined chevrons, but his heart clearly lay with the White Queen Freja, whose coat-dress looked like it had been stitched from ice crystals. Then, at show's end, he massed his models on the steps of a simulacrum of the iconic Rue Cambon salon. He has made Chanel's world his own.

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Powered by Style.com (Tim Blaks)

Kenzo: the maître de la poésie de la mode celebrates his 40th anniversary!

Recently someone told me that folk was dead and that fashion influenced by ethnics different cultures of the world was falling into the abyss of overcome things because the futuristic uniformization's obsession (the future everywhere and at all costs) was overwhelming also the beauty of diversity. All this is true, but perhaps only in part, because if the world is moving toward a globalization of fashion that looks to the future of cyber-technologies, there is still some nostalgic that makes of folk influences his sign of style.

Antonio Marras is undoubtedly one of them. With his personal label, a fruitful collaboration with the brand Les Copains and a visceral love for his origins, the sardinian artist/designer since 2003 is the creative director of one of the most popular french-japanese maison: Kenzo, founded by Kenzo Takada in the '70s, which Marras has certainly inherited a taste for refinement and poetic on which Takada sets the philosophy of his fashion house. Forty years after its foundation, the fashion world celebrates the creativity of Kenzo inaugurating the event "Fashion in Motion" at the Raphael Gallery of Victoria & Albert Museum, with whom will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the brand, through a day of presentations and fashion shows that, exceptionally, include all of the creations of the griffe, from the seventies with Takada's work to the latest collections designed by Marras.

All of this will be a very respectable focus on to discover the talent of a great maître de la poésie de la mode, and that of his worthy heir.

To enrich the impressive exhibition, there will also the catalog "Kenzo 1970/2010" by K. Takada and A. Marras, a deluxe book published by Rizzoli, which tells throught pictures the history of the brand.

Don't miss it!

Qualcuno qualche tempo fa mi disse che il folk era morto e che la moda influenzata dalle etnie e dalle diverse culture del mondo stesse cadendo nell'abisso delle cose superate, dimenticate e mai più rinominate perché la mania dell'uniformizzazione futuristica, quella del futuro ovunque e a tutti i costi, stava sopraffacendo anche il bello delle diversità.
Tutto questo è vero, ma forse solo in parte, perché se il mondo sta andando verso una globalizzazione della moda che guarda al futuro delle cyber-tecnologie, c'é ancora qualche nostalgico che fa delle contaminazioni folk il suo segno di stile.
Antonio Marras è senza dubbio uno di questi. Con una sua linea all'attivo, una collaborazione fruttuosa con il brand Les Copains e un amore viscerale per le sue origini, l'artista/stilista sardo è dal 2003 alla direzione artistica di una delle case di moda franco-japponese più amate: Kenzo, fondata da Kenzo Takada negli anni '70, di cui Marras ha ereditato sicuramente il gusto della ricercatezza e la poetica su cui Takada impostò la filosofia della sua maison.
A quarant'anni dalla fondazione, il mondo della moda rende omaggio alla creatività di Kenzo inaugurando l'evento "Fashion in Motion", presso la Raphael Gallery of Victoria & Albert Museum, col quale si festeggerà il 40° anniversario della griffe, attraverso una giornata di presentazioni e sfilate che, in via eccezionale, includeranno tutte le creazioni dell'archivio storico della maison, dagli anni settanta ad opera di Takada fino alle ultime collezioni firmate da Marras.
Tutto ciò permetterà un focus on di tutto rispetto per riscoprire il talento di un grande maître de la poésie de la mode, e quello del suo degno erede.
Ad arricchire la suggestiva mostra, vi sarà anche il catalogo "Kenzo 1970/2010" di K. Takada ed A. Marras, un libro in versione lusso, edito da Rizzoli, che racconta per immagini la storia della griffe.

Don't miss it!

Un hommage au mythe: Marie Antoinette. Happy birthday to the Queen of timeless style!

Marie Antoinette born November 2nd 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna as Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, known as Madame Antoine.

She was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre as consort of King Louis XVI. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Emperor Francis I of Lorraine.
Marie Antoinette was an important figure in the history of fashion and beautycare (as well as furniture and interior design) because with her elegant taste and her tendency to extravagance, she invented a style that is still known as the "Marie Antoinette's moyenne style", halfway between the Teresian Rococo and french Neoclassicism.
She was an extraordinary woman who despite all the misunderstandings, the young and the calumnies of which she was the victim, has always loved her adopted country, seeking to promote the French court's elegance in the world, singing the praises of the weavers, the milliners, the tailors, embroiderers and of all french craftsmen, especially Rose Bertin, her couturier, Monsieur Léonard, her hairdresser and Monsieur Boehmer jeweler/goldsmith of the french court.
Equipped with a unique taste and sensibility, she was the fashion icon not only in France but also in all other European courts, who had a love and sincere admiration for her style and her person.
256 years after her birth, Fashilosophy pay homage to the myth of a Queen who after so many years after her tragic death, is still object of admiration and is still considered an international style icon.

Long live the Queen!

Marie Antoinette fu un personaggio importantissimo nella storia della moda (ma anche dell'arredamento) perché con il suo gusto elegante e la sua propensione alla stravaganza inventò uno stile che ancora oggi è conosciuto come "moyenne", a metà tra il Rococo teresiano e il Neoclassicismo francese.
Fu una straordinaria donna che nonostante tutte le incomprensioni, la giovane età e le calunnie di cui fu vittima, amò sempre la sua patria adottiva, cercando di promuovere l'eleganza della corte francese nel mondo, cantando le lodi dei tessutai, dei modisti, delle sarte, dei ricamatori e di tutti gli artigiani francesi in genere, in particolar modo Rose Bertin, la sua couturier, Monsieur Léonard, il suo coiffeur e Monsieur Boehmer gioielliere/orafo di corte.
Dotata di straordinario gusto e sensibilità, fu l'icona della moda non solo in Francia ma anche in tutte le altre corti europee, che ebbero per il suo stile un amore e un'ammirazione sinceri.
A 256 anni dalla sua nascita, Fashilosophy vuole rendere omaggio al mito di una Regina che, dopo così tanti anni dalla sua tragica scomparsa, è ancora oggetto di ammirazione ed è ancora considerata internazionalmente una icona di stile.

Long live the Queen!

Hercules Magazine, Issue 9's video concept!

Hercules 9, Mariano Vivanco from Luca Finotti on Vimeo.

Hercules Magazine Issue 9 - Out October 10th!

Concept & Film: Mariano Vivanco
Directed & Edited: Luca Finotti
Fashion Editor: Nicola Formichetti

Hairstyle: Peter Gray
Make Up: Maki Ryoke
Set design & Props: Christophe Stone

S.Guest: Amanda Lepore
Music: Crookers Ft. Miike Snow - Remedy

Take a look!

Fashilosophy's favs-six from Paris Fashion Week! (PFW point of view part II)

Fashilosophy, as during the Milan and London fashionweeks, has selected the six griffes of paris catwalks that affected his personal taste with style choices and an well stuied attitude especially, essential when it comes to a fashion concept. Already from the start I had extrapolated three symbol-collections that with their extravagance and strong messages had given rise to increased not only our interest but also the international press, and now come to the last day I want to sum up with all proof in my hand.

It's inevitable to think that some historical maisons have an advantage over the other, by history and tradition, but also because collection by collection give us always something to be enthusiastic and have fun, as was also this time for the Chanel and Dior's collections.

What about these two characters who are the puppeteers of such a successful Cirque de la mode?! Karl Lagerfeld is an absolute genius of modernity and avant-garde elegance, and the woman he's proposing for the next s/s is similar to that of f/w haute couture 'cause follows a very precise guidelines, with retro-chic details (maybe reminiscent of the old Paris' elite) combined to essential and dynamic cuts, with sets of overlapping and carvings of extreme refinement...that's the result of a historical-cultural background that few maisons can boast. John Galliano, Christian Dior's creative director, is in its way a person with an imagination and an inner world so great that every collection is like a journey through the history of the world. His s/s is all based on the eternal dualism between man and woman, between male and female of psychological androgyny, because reintroduce masculine cliché of naval man repainting it on a woman with a pronounced femininity. Light flounces, small ruffles, soft and flowing fabrics, shock colors and the inevitable symbol of seduction made in '50s, the pin up red lipstick.

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The other two chosen are Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci and Gareth Pugh (the entant prodige of PVC), because although they have completely different concepts are united by a not traditional aesthetic sense and inclined to identify the woman as an essential element of design and not in this, and this is what brings them to the creation of collections that have a strong impact on people. Both have proposed a woman with a disarming rigorous form, modeled on an almost geometric silhouette and enhanced by perpendicular lines of the cut. They purified the dress by unnecessary messages and reducing it to pure design, to an paganism of image. Black, white and various nuances between these opposites are the key colors of a dynamic woman almost futuristic.

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The last but not least are Yves Saint Laurent by Stefano Pilati and Zac Posen. The first maison is now synonymous of timeless elegance with a touch of folk who can carry color as irony, and this collection repeats the cult elements of the philosophy that made famous the founder of the griffe. From smoking to the flounces of ethnic costume, high-waisted pants from the transparency of the blouse, through the exotic and erotic motifs of 30s-40s movies and YSL's universe. Zac Posen seems to know this concept, and probably he visited the exhibition dedicated to Yves Saint Laurent at Petite Palais, he remained fascinated by this because the woman who proposed for the next s/s seems to be a homage to the french couturier.

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Fashilosophy come ha fatto durante le fashionweeks di Milano e Londra, ha scelto le sei griffes delle passerelle pariginie che più hanno assecondato il suo gusto personale con scelte di stile e soprattutto con un attitude ben studiato, essenziale quando si parla di un concept moda. Già dalle prime battute avevo estrapolato tre collezioni simbolo che, per stravaganza e forti messaggi, avevano suscitato maggiorimente non solo il nostro interesse ma anche quello della stampa internazionale, ed ora, giunti all'ultima giornata voglio tirare le somme nella totalità e con tutte le prove alla mano.
E' inevitabile pensare che alcune maisons storiche abbiano un vantaggio sulle altre, per storia e tradizione, ma anche perché di collezione in collezione ci regalano sempre qualcosa con cui entusiasmarci e con cui divertirci, come è stato anche questa volta per la collezione Chanel e quella di Dior. Cosa dire di questi due personaggi che sono i burattinai di un così ben riuscito cirque de la mode?! Karl Lagerfeld è un genio assoluto della modernità e dell'eleganza avanguardista, e la donna che ci propone per la prossima s/s ricalca quella della haute couture a/i, seguendo una linea guida ben precisa, fatta di dettagli retrò-chic (forse reminescenze dell'elite della vecchia Parigi) accostati a tagli essenziali e dinamici, con giochi di sovrapposizioni ed intagli di estrema ricercatezza...quella che è frutto di un background storico-culturale che poche maisons possono vantare.
John Galliano, direttore creativo di Christian Dior, è a suo modo un personaggio con una fantasia ed un mondo interiore così fantastico che ogni collezione è come un viaggio nella storia del mondo. La sua s/s è tutta giocata sull'eterno dualismo tra uomo e donna, tra maschile e femminile dell'androginia psicologica, perché rispolvera il mascolino cliché dell'uomo di mare ridipingendolo su una donna dalla femminilità pronunciata. Leggere balze, piccole ruches, tessuti morbidi e fluttuanti, coloriture shock e l'immancabile simbolo della seduzione made in '50s, il rossetto rosso pin up.

Gli altri due scelti sono Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci e Gareth Pugh (l'entant prodige del pvc), perché sebbene abbiano concezioni e modalità completamente diverse li accomuna un senso estetico meno tradizionale e più propenso all'identificazione della donna come un elemento fondamentale del design e non nel design, ed è proprio questo che li porta alla creazione di collezioni che hanno un impatto molto forte. Entrambe hanno proposto una donna dal rigore formale disarmante, modellata su una silhouette quasi geometrica ed esaltata dalle linee perpendicolari del taglio. Hanno depurato l'abito dai messaggi superflui riducendoli a puro design, ad un paganesimo dell'immagine. Nero, bianco e le diverse nuances che oscillano tra questi opposti sono i colori chiave di una donna dalla dinamicità quasi futurista.

Gli ultimi due, ma non meno importanti, sono Yves Saint Laurent by Stefano Pilati e Zac Posen. La prima maison è oramai sinonimo di eleganza raffinata e senza tempo ma con un tocco folk che sa portare colore come sinonimo di ironia, e questa collezione ripropone gli elementi cult della filosofia che ha reso celebre nel tempo il fondatore della maison. Dallo smoking alle balze del costume etnico, dal pantalone a vita alta alle trasparenze delle blouse, attraverso i motivi erotici ed esotici del cinema anni '30-'40 e dell'universo YSL.
Zac Posen sembra aver guardato molto questo concept, e probabilmente ha visitato la mostra dedicata ad Yves Saint Laurent al Petite Palais, rimanendone incantato perché la donna che ha proposto per la prossima s/s è un omaggio al creativo francese.

The extravagances of Paris. (Fashilosophy's PFW point of view part I)

We are running out. Only two days at the end of Paris Fashion Week and then everything will return to the natural calm that we need...after so much stress. While S/S p-à-p collections are still in progress, Fashilosophy chose the first griffes that, with a wave of color and imaginative flair, have animated the parisienne catwalks, giving us a smile.

We know very well the natural inclination to eccentricity and wit of John Galliano, who once again didn't disappoint us, catapulting us into the bizarre Maria Lani's adventure, a woman who pretended to be an actress in the '20s and convinced many famous parisian artists (such as Matisse, Chagall, Léger and others) to portray her on the pretext of wanting to use the paintings in the set of her movie, but once finished the paintings, the fake actress ran away with all artworks. A bizzarre adventure, bizarre as is Galliano's woman, dressed by ruffles and veils in an explosion of colors and prints reminiscent the works of Paris art scene of '20s.

Jean Paul Gaultier, the enfant prodige of unconventional, challenged the dictate of thinness with a great provocation: Beth Ditto as a model, the Gossip's famous singer from excessive weight, making her the inspiration of a very glamrock collection, with fluo makeup and postpunk hairstyles, for a strong woman.

Last of the three "extravagant" chosen by Fashilosophy is Manish Arora (which I had the pleasure of knowing during the collective fashion show at AltaRoma, I attended with a capsule couture collection). The indian designer revisited a classic of french culture, the Baroque, combining it with a futuristic imaginary inspired by Lady Gaga, creating a collection with bright colors and metallic details. A dame de Versailles abducted by aliens and brought back to earth.

Siamo agli sgoccioli. Mancano solo due giorni alla fine della Paris Fashion Week e poi tutto tornerà a quella calma naturale di cui abbiamo bisogno...dopo tanto stress.
Mentre le collezioni p-à-p per la prossima spring/summer sono ancora in corso, Fashilosophy ha scelto le prime griffes che, con un'ondata di colore ed estro immaginativo, hanno movimentato le passerelle parigine, regalandoci un sorriso.
Conosciamo molto bene la naturale predisposizione alla stravaganza e all'ironia di John Galliano che anche questa volta non ci ha delusi, catapultandoci nella bizzarra avventura di Maria Lani, una donna che negli anni '20 si spacciò per un'attrice e convinse molti illustri pittori parigini (come Matisse, Chagall, Léger ed altri) a ritrarla con la scusa di voler usare i dipinti nel set di un suo film, ma una volta finiti i quadri, la finta attrice fuggì con le opere d'arte. Un'avventura bizzarra, così come è bizzarra la donna di Galliano, vestita di balze e veletti in un'esplosione di colore e stampe che ricordano le opere della scena artistica parigina di inzio secolo.
Jean Paul Gaultier, l'enfant prodige dell'anticonvenzionale, ha sfidato il dictate della magrezza con una bella provocazione: mandare in passerella Beth Ditto, famosissima cantante dei Gossip dal peso esagerato, rendendola la musa ispiratrice di una collezione molto glamrock, con trucco fluo e acconciature postpunk.
L'ultimo dei tre "stravaganti" scelti da Fashilosophy è Manish Arora (che ho avuto il piacere di conoscere durante la sfilata collettiva ad AltaRoma a cui ho partecipato anche io con una couture capsule collection). Il creativo indiano ha rivisitato un classico della cultura francese, il Barocco, associandolo ad un immaginario futuristico ispirato allo stile di Lady Gaga, creando una collezione dalle tinte forti e dai dettagli metallici. Una dame de Versailles rapita dagli alieni e riportata sulla terra.

L'Amour Fou: chronicles from a genius' life!

This was undoubtedly the year of historical memory, because between Paris and Milan were created several exhibitions, events and awards, dedicated to the memory of people who have made fashion great in the world.
Yves Saint Laurent surely is one of them and his solo-exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs remembers this to us, and France is ready to celebrate one more time his genius with a moving documentary-film chronicles his rise, his life and his lifelong partnership with Pierre Bergé and their decision to auction off a lifetime of precious art and objects.

The movie will be at Cinema september 22nd, 2010.

Directed by Pierre Thoretton

Questo è stato senza dubbio l'anno della memoria storica, perché tra Parigi e Milano sono state create numerose mostre, eventi e riconoscimenti, dedicati alla memoria dei personaggi che hanno fatto grande la moda nel mondo.
Yves Saint Laurent è sicuramente uno di questi e la sua esposizione personale al Musée des Arts Décoratifs ce lo ha ricordato, ora la Francia e pronta a celebrare ancora una volta il suo genio con un commovente film-documentario che racconta la sua ascesa, la sua vita e la sua lunga collaborazione con Pierre Bergé e la loro decisione di mettere all'asta una vita di arte e oggetti preziosi. Il film uscirà nei cinema francesi il 22 settembre 2010.

Futuristic and glamourous creatures for Lanvin's winter!

Three is a perfect number and we knew it for a long time, so one of the most prestigious and advanced fashion maison as Lanvin want to remember it referring back all of our attention on a magic triad: three super topmodels, three world fame's muses are the face of new f/w campaign of this historical maison. Mariacarla Boscono, Anja Rubik and Magdalena Frackowiak strike a pose for Steven Meisel's camera that turns them with his visionary imagination in three space creatures almost alien, arrivals on the earth with their spaceship of mirrors that multiplies and distorts their shapes.
Dark ladies went down by the space to dominate the world and eliminate excessive sobriety and unglamour.
Black is the keyword, plumage, metallic and plastic contaminations...the futuristic femme fatale created by Alber Elbaz for the next winter is absolutely fantastic and knows to be it.

For me this campaign is one of the most beautiful conceived for the next season!

Photography: Steven Meisel
Design & Styling: Alber Elbaz
Hair/Make up: Guido Palau/Pat McGrath


Click images to enlarge

Che il tre fosse il numero perfetto lo sapevamo da tempo, ma a quanto pare una delle più prestigiose e all'avanguardia maison di moda come Lanvin vuole ricordarcelo richiamando tutta la nostra attenzione su di una magica triade: tre super topmodels, tre muse di fama mondiale sono il volto della nuova campagna f/w della storica maison. Mariacarlo Boscono, Anja Rubik e Magdalena Frackowiak posano per l'obiettivo del grande Steven Meisel che le trasforma con la sua fantasia visionaria in tre esseri spaziali, quasi alieni venuti sulla terra con la loro astronave di specchi che ne moltiplica e distorge le figure.
Delle dark ladies scese dallo spazio per dominare la terra ed eliminare la sobrietà eccessiva e l'unglamour.
Nero è la parola chiave, folti plumage, richiami metallici e plastici...la futuristica femme fatale creata da Alber Elbaz per il prossimo inverno è assolutamente fantastica e sa di esserlo.

Per me questa campagna pubblicitaria è una delle più belle ideate per la prossima stagione.

Photography: Steven Meisel
Design & Styling: Alber Elbaz
Hair/Make up: Guido Palau/Pat McGrath

Double F: Fetish and Fashion. Sex, power and style identify the woman.

If we look around us, momentarily forgetting that we belong to the society for spy it from the outside will be inevitable to admit something is quickly changing in our social customs and what we considered "perversion" becomes a big source of inspiration and individual identification.
I talk about spicy world of the fetish, usually relegated in erotic imaginations of a lot of people but in this time it imposes its as a model to take new suggestions for fashion's creators. After discovery in the '60s of "wet look" principal materials such varnish, rubber, pvc, vinyl and similar, the myth of Bettie Page seems to return by now and it has contaminated the designers immagination, helped from extravagance of the celebritieses, they create thematic collections where the password is "fetishism" or "eroticism". Glamour fetishism, from red carpet obviously!
If Madonna stated with it in '90s, throwing herself behind bad critiques, today the stars are in competition to be on a magazines cover and wear squeezes latex and pvc outfits. From Lady Gaga to Rihanna, from famous Von Teese to Paris Hilton, passing for actresses, web-idols, singers and normal peolple, all want to participate in this communicative trial where the body becomes the object of interact, first aspect that expresses the identity and shapes of specific personality through the fashion, because the fabrics, the forms, the colors realize an informative alchemy in the mind of peolpe that observes us, change the perception that the world has of us.
To observe everything this, consecrating the fetish's contaminations as absolutely must-have, it's also Vogue Paris on its latest number of December has thought about immortalizing Laetitia Casta and Lara Stone for an edition such a symbol of eroticism and taste of the forbidden: small details inserted on classical suits, stiletto-heels, robe-bustier, minidress of latex, hazardous clefts and religious suggestions, an idea of a spoiled and vicious woman that enjoy herself through the game of seduction and that identifies the desire to be similar in a difference way, a common simbology of personal way to be. If for some it's a true pleasure of the game to transformation and for others it's only a voyeurism curiosity, world of the fetish and its taste of forbidden won't leave very soon fashion catwalk.
This fetishmania proposing a sure and uninhibited woman ready to dominate the fashion...and not only.

Se ci guardiamo bene intorno, scordandoci momentaneamente di essere parte della società per spiarla dall'esterno ci sarà inevitabile ammettere che, nonostante il crescendo pericoloso di un sopito sentimento proibizionista, qualcosa sta mutando rapidamente nei nostri costumi, e ciò che consideravamo "perversione" si rileva invece una grandissima fonte di ispirazione e identificazione individuale. Mi riferisco al mondo piccante del fetish, solitamente relegato nelle taciute fantasie erotiche di molte persone e che ora si impone come modello dal quale attingere nuove suggestioni per i creatori di moda. Dopo la scoperta negli anni '60 dei materiali principe del "wet look", ovvero vernice, gomma, pvc, vinile e simili, il mito di Bettie Page sembra essere tornato molto più che in voga e ha oramai contaminato le fantasie dei designers che, lasciandosi aiutare dalla capricciosa voglia di stravaganza delle celebrities, danno il là a collezioni tematiche dove la parola chiave è "feticismo" oppure "erotismo". Quello glamour, quello da red carpet ovviamente. Se Madonna aprì la strada nei lontani anni '90, tirandosi dietro denuncie e cattive recensioni, oggi le stars fanno a gara per aggiudicarsi una copertina in cui mostrarsi strizzate in completini in latex e pvc. Da Lady Gaga a Rihanna, dalla nota Von Teese a Paris Hilton, passando per attrici, web-idols, cantanti e comuni mortali, tutti vogliono partecipare a questo processo comunicativo dove il corpo diventa lo scenario su cui interagire, primissimo aspetto che esterna l'identità e configura una specifica personalità attraverso la moda, perchè i tessuti, le forme, i colori realizzano un'alchimia informativa nella mente di chi ci osserva e cambiano la percezione che il mondo ha di noi. A rimarcare tutto questo, consacrando le fetish contaminations come assolutamente irrinunciabili, è anche Vogue Paris che per il suo numero di dicembre ha pensato di immortalare Laetitia Casta e Lara Stone per un'edizione all'insegna dell'erotismo e del gusto del proibito: piccoli dettagli inseriti su abiti classici, tacchi a spillo vertiginosi, robe-bustier, minidress in latex, spacchi azzardati e richiami religiosi suggeriscono l'idea di una donna viziata e viziosa che si diverte nel gioco della seduzione e che identifica la voglia di essere simili nella diversità, una simbologia comune del personale. Se per alcuni è un vero piacere del gioco alla trasformazione e per altri è solo una curiosità che rasenta il voyeurismo, il mondo del fetish e il suo gusto del proibito non abbandoneranno molto presto le passerelle. Questa dilagante fetishmania, sta proponendo una donna sicura e disinvolta pronta a dominare la moda...e non solo.

J'adr Paris!

I've realized that i need necessary of "to regenerate" my creativity, and which great stimulus if not Paris during the fashion week?!
Paris is a magic town, it has always been, but during the week of Haute Couture this is warned even more: the people, the faces, the runaway of journalists and fashion bloggers...everything is stimulating.
During my four days I've visited the imperdibile exhibition of a great genius of fashion history, a teacher from which us young designers we must learn a lot.
A retrospective exhibition at Petit Palais dedicated to Yves Saint Laurent, where you'll can see a great number of his creations beginning from his period as creative director of historical Maison Dior.
It's love at first sight for the second time. In this show is possible to recognize in his style, the actual style of other great teachers as Valentino, Armani, Lancetti, Marras...
Yves has left a sign about history of fashion!

"Madamoiselle Chanel gave women their freedom, Yves Saint Laurent gives them power!"

"One day my name will be written

in letters of fire on the Champs-Élysées!"