Chanel Autumn Melody Fall-Winter 2012/13 Pre-Collection

Chanel has released a new campaign and microsite called Autumn Melody and gives us a look at the Chanel Fall-Winter 2012/13 Pre-Collection. The campaign is shot by Karl Lagerfeld and features models Lindsay Wixson & Edie Campbell.
more here: Autumn Melody 

Danny Boyle: Olympic Opening Ceremony Artistic Director

He is best known for directing Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, one of the most popular films of the 90s.
But British film-maker Danny Boyle has added another string to his bow, as the artistic director of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.
Boyle came up with the "Isles of Wonder" theme after gaining inspiration from Caliban's speech in The Tempest which opens with the line: "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises."
With thousands of volunteers involved in the Olympic extravaganza, one of Boyle's biggest challenges has been keeping the content a secret.
In early July, he apologised to volunteers over "spoilers" appearing in the press. In an email, he asked them to "stay virtuous" and "protect the show".
For the 55-year-old from Manchester, becoming a movie director was a far cry from his first career choice - to train as a priest. At the age of 14, Boyle began to make arrangements to attend a seminary, before a priest warned him against it.
"Whether he was saving me from the priesthood or saving the priesthood from me, I don't know. But quite soon after, I started doing drama," Boyle told The Telegraph.
Boyle began his new career in theatre, landing the job of deputy director at the Royal Court, before moving to the BBC to work as a producer. He produced a number of TV films, including Alan Clarke's Elephant, before becoming a director on several episodes of Inspector Morse and the 1993 series Mr Wroe's Virgins.
His first feature, the low-budget 1994 movie Shallow Grave, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston, was a surprise hit.It also marked the beginning of the successful relationship between Boyle, McGregor, producer Andrew Macdonald and writer John Hodge.
Boyle won a Bafta award and was named best British newcomer at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.
But it was the 1996 adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting two years later that really got people talking about the director.The movie picked up an Oscar, which went to Hodge for his screenplay, and was a massive commercial success, propelling the careers of McGregor and co-stars Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle. Screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Trainspotting went on to become the highest-grossing British film that year.
In 2000, Boyle spoke about their spat and told The Independent newspaper that McGregor "feels we betrayed him, and I think he's right."
And five years later, McGregor himself opened up to US magazine Playboy about his feelings over their argument.
"We had a director-actor relationship unlike any other I've had. But Boyle and his people didn't treat me very well."


more: Danny Boyle's Isles of Wonder was inspired by a speech from The Tempest -  BBC

Fashion Talks: Alber Elbaz - WWD

Lanvin has already made an uberchic mark on the handbag industry, but now creative director Alber Elbaz has plans to place an even bigger focus on the category. WWD had a quick chat with him about what’s in store.

WWD: Are you becoming more involved in the design of Lanvin’s handbags?
Alber Elbaz: I’m involved in everything, but I have to sometimes be involved in everything more. I hate to refer to myself as a control freak, but I think that, somehow, when we work, no matter what we do — whether it is music or architecture or being a secretary — you have to be in the kitchen, you have to make it happen. I think that our industry is really moving into a handbag industry, somehow. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but this is the situation.

WWD: How long has that been the case?
Elbaz: It’s one of those things that you just feel. You go to a department store and you see that the size of the handbag department is the size of America. About 10 years ago it was all about the “It” bag, then it went to fashion again, then it went to the importance of shoes, then back to the importance of the bag. Eleven years ago, it was about top models; it wasn’t about the clothes but about who was wearing what. So even fashion has fashions.

WWD: What can we expect from Lanvin’s new handbags?
Elbaz: I was thinking about what kind of bags women and men need, and it’s always a mix between reality and fantasy. On one hand, we’re always into finding solutions for people’s needs — they really need a big bag because they have to carry their life in it. The next second you say, “Maybe they need just a little clutch because all people have today is an iPhone.” Small and big, it’s all about extremes, contradictions. You have on one hand a backpack and on the other, a clutch.

WWD: What can you tell us about your spring ready-to-wear collection?
Elbaz: You know I can’t talk about that. I’m superstitious.

Source:WWD

Personal Flair

I was happy to wear this dress without anything layered on top, so that all the interesting details showed. However, since a dress like this can't be belted, or layered over anything, there aren't too many options for giving it a personal flair. I threw on some fun jewelry and thought, "This is all I can do; I'm just going to have to let the dress be the star and settle for a fairly tame outfit." Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror with my fab new hair color. An interesting dress, pink skull jewelry and peacock blue hair; that'll do, that'll do indeed.

Dress: Escada Sport
Jewelry: Betsy Johnson
Tights: Hue
Shoes: John Fluevog
Hair: Michele at Colorbox

Kate Moss Stars In Rag & Bone’s First Ever Campaign

Rag & Bone is proving you actually CAN go back home, and is opening its first London store location.
David Neville and Marcus Wainwright, both Londoners by birth, will open the doors on their new location in Chelsea this Thursday, WWD is reporting. In another first for the brand, R&B shot its first-ever print campaign, which features Kate Moss. If you’re going to do an ad, go big or go home, we say. Kate’s a perfect fit for the brand, and now we want to wear a white tee and black leather shorts with a leather trench, even if we know we will never, ever look like that. The spot, shot by Craig McDean, “wasn’t in a studio; it was just them on a derelict London street — Kate with minimal makeup, and Craig with a handheld camera and natural light,” Wainwright told the trade.

Facebook Commenters Horrified by the New ‘Saint Laurent Paris’ Logo

Facebook Commenters Horrified by the New ‘Saint Laurent Paris’ Logo

Yves Saint Laurent officially released the new Saint Laurent Paris logo on their Facebook page today, which shows two black boxes stacked on a marble tabletop. As previously reported, the font — printed in white against a black background — is square, simple, and fuss-free; as promised, it's much more like the label's 1966 lettering than the swirly Yves Saint Laurent typography of recent years. (Also, remember that the label is keeping the YSL "Cassandre" logo on all of its beauty products.) Despite Hedi Slimane's nod to the label's past, Facebook commenters have responded to the new logo with vehement hostility. "Where's the iconography? This is not iconic," protested one, while another accused the new logo of looking a lot "like Zara"; a third very astutely observed that "YSL without the Y is not YSL." It'll hopefully be easier to get onboard with these changes once we get to see the clothes, shoes, and bags that come with them.

Karl Lagerfeld’s Olympics-Themed Collection Includes Gold, Silver, and Bronze Collars

The Karl Olympics

British Vogue got a first look at the offerings, to be sold at Selfridges starting tomorrow for £95 to £325 ($148 to $505). Their article is also accompanied by a drawing of Karl preparing to throw a discus while practicing perfect stance, as he obviously would.

Highlight

Many of my current wardrobe favorites are assembled in this outfit, but the highlight for me was getting to top it all off with the same bag I'd been lamenting not buying ever since I visited Paris last December. When I was in Paris again in April I scoured the shops in search of it, but all they had at the time were light-colored suede versions and I was looking for a dressier finish, not to mention I think suede bags are a waste because they don't last. I love the embossed leather because I can dress it up or down, and because it's charcoal gray rather than black, I can more easily pair it with other neutrals. Of course, the winged bejeweled skull detail is what really made me fall for it.

Tunic: Fremont
Vest: Cotelac
Pants: Rag & Bone
Boots:  Brakko
Bag: Zadig & Voltaire
Necklace: Wendy Brandes
Rings: Metal Pointu

Lanvin's new autumn/winter 2012-13 campaign

"I wanted to see people from different age groups, body shapes and personalities wearing Lanvin," he told us this morning. "That is what Lanvin is all about and represents - we don't only do clothes for 20-year-old girls. I love to see mature women wearing Lanvin as well. I love wrinkles, I love grey hair."

Lanvin's new autumn/winter 2012-13 campaign 

ALBER ELBAZ says that his decision to cast non-models between the ages of 18 to 82 in Lanvin's new autumn/winter 2012-13 campaign is because he loves women of all ages - not only fresh-faced model girls.

Lanvin paris autumn/winter 2012/ 13 campaign by Steven Meisel - here

Photographed by Steven Meisel and with creative direction by House + Holme's Ronnie Newhouse and Stephen Wolstenholme, the advertisements show a diverse array of individuals - from waiters to milliners.
"There was a street casting in New York and the team who did the casting did a fantastic job," explained Elbaz. "They sent me all the photos of the anonymous people who had been pre-cast and the day before the shoot, I met them all. It was an unforgettable experience to meet with these beautiful people."

Elbaz was first heralded for his lighthearted, playful approach to campaigns for autumn/winter 2011-12, when he recruited Karen Elson and Raquel Zimmerman to dance their way through a promotional video to the soundtrack of Pitbull's I Know You Want Me. The designer even joined the models in his signature tuxedo at the end. However, for autumn/winter 2012-13 the mood is centred on "reality".
"It's all about individuals with individuality," added Elbaz.

Source:Vogue

I'm in a Book!

You may have noticed a new item at the top of my sidebar. Yep, that's right -- the lovely and talented Sally McGraw has included me in her newly-released book! It's beautifully designed and is jam packed with useful information, presented in Sal's upbeat and body-positive way. It's available in print form from Amazon, and there's even a Kindle/iPad edition. Pick up a copy for you and all the important women in your life!

Click on the cover photo for all of the purchasing options for Already Pretty.

Packing for France -- Summer Edition

Holy moly, packing for this most recent trip to France was a challenge for me because I have so few items in my wardrobe that are suitable for the heat of a proper summer. Truth be told, I did a fair amount of shopping here in San Francisco before I left, which is good because I also didn't buy much while traveling this time. Here's a quick rundown of what I took:

Three cardigans and 5 tops. I could've gotten away with taking only 2 cardigans, but I got good use out of all the tops. The 4 jersey ones on the right were all light enough to be able to easily wash in the sink.

One pair of jeans, one pair of shorts (which I had to buy specifically for the trip, since I didn't really own any shorts), one dress, and 2 skirts. The dress (from Athleta, along with the shorts) was also purchased for the trip, and was perfect. I could've worn it every single day.

To keep things stylish even with jeans and t-shirts, I brought along 3 lightweight scarves. Truth be told, at least one of these ended up doubling as a sweat rag. Good thing I brought laundry soap along. I'm a wimpy San Franciscan; I'm not cut out for heat.

Here are the 3 pairs of shoes I brought, along with my clothes all folded and ready to pack (minus my traveling outfit, which you saw in the last post). Note how little space everything takes up; this is a huge advantage of taking multiple lightweight layers instead of any one bulkier piece.

Finally, everything all packed up. The main compartment of the backpack was completely empty for the outward bound trip, which meant I could stuff my purse inside and thus have the allotted 2 carry-on pieces. For the trip back, when I had to check the red bag anyway because it was filled with delicious herbal liqueurs from the south of France, I put the overflow into the backpack and the blue purse became my second carry-on. This is a typical packing strategy for me, as I often bring back exotic liquors which force me to check a bag on the way home.

The purse is also new, and is the ideal travel bag. The fabric is water and stain resistant, the compartments are well organized but not so numerous that I spend 15 minutes zipping and unzipping pockets to find stuff, and the bag itself weighs next to nothing. The color looks very bright here but it's really more of a rich peacock color, which goes with so much of my wardrobe. The bag is by Tumi and was on the pricey side, but well worth it, especially for someone who travels a lot.

Below are a few different outfit combinations; some were worn for my work days in Strasbourg, and the most casual ones were worn in Aix-en-Provence.

 

Of course, I also wore several of the top/scarf combos with the pair of jeans I brought as well. This seems like an awful lot of outfits for a 10-day trip, but in the end it was good because there were several days where the heat forced me to return to the hotel in the afternoon and take a second shower and change. Which, considering the extreme heat wave that the eastern half of the country experienced last week, sounds incredibly foolish in retrospect (the hottest it got was 92F in Aix). Like I said, I'm a wimp when it comes to weather extremes. This is why I usually vacation in the fall.

Dolce & Gabbana couture: First look

Two atelier tailors, one multimillionaire client, and one fashion editor: never before have so many fainted at one fashion show.
This, though, was no cursory catwalk quickie. Conceived six years ago and in top-secret production for the past six months, it took place in Sicily over 36 sweltering hours from Sunday evening until the early hours of yesterday morning. Costing certainly several millions to stage, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's first-ever Alta Moda presentation was an elaborate campaign of seduction mounted to woo some of the world's richest women into committing themselves to a collection with which the Italians plan to rival the long-established couture houses of Paris at the apex of fashion. As Stefano Gabbana said before the show: "When we started out 27 years ago, our dream was to become a maison like Chanel, old Chanel. And now, maybe, this dream is coming true."

Three newspapers - The Daily Telegraph , Le Figaro and Corriere della Sera - were invited to cover this ambitious tilt at couture-level greatness, plus the editors from almost every international edition of Vogue . Yet all were only allowed admittance under strict conditions; no tweeting, filming or publication of any but a very few photographs of the show. And no surreptitious snapping of the designers' celebrity guests, including Scarlett Johansson (in a lace sheath as snug as her Avengers leathers) and Stephanie Seymour (cantilevered strapless black-and-white polka-dot dress). The reason, explained Gabbana, "is not because of us, but the customers. They really do not want to see their dresses in a magazine."
Some 80 of these customers-cum-collector women travelled by private jet from Qatar, Russia, China, the US, Germany and Japan to attend. And while a few of them were happy to quantify their couture collections by the metre, most were decidedly not.
By Sunday, when all the guests had arrived via a fleet of black Mercedes to Taormina, Dolce & Gabbana's 35-strong tailoring team were applying the collection's final touches - Venetian material spun from gold, earrings dripping with blossoms and rubies - and it was so hot that two had fainted.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

August Vogue - cover girl Emma Stone

This month’s cover girl, actress Emma Stone, opens up to Alexa Chung about being Hollywood’s funniest It-girl, working with Ryan Gosling and why Alber Elbaz is one of her heroes.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER HAUTE COUTURE PARIS FASHION WEEK FALL/WINTER 2012/2013

Jean-Paul Gaultier Haute-Couture served up a good dose of sexy with the sublime as they featured both Menswear and Womenswear for Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2012/2013 on July 4, 2012 in Paris, France. Serving up a heaping of performance art in this collection as it was rolled out on the runway for Paris Fashion Week, Gaultier’s focus was titillation and perhaps a little shock-appeal in his transparent avant garde designs not sparing on the flimsy, sheer stuff.

There is an element of Art Deco-meets Medieval-meets bondage as well as a touch of 1920’s and 1930’s glam – think Mata Hari – with designs accessorized with tops hats and netted headpieces as well as gladiator style shoes. In particular, the sheer sheath with black and silver squares that look like computer chips, topped off with a sheer black and silver metallic coat will get you noticed…



The black fur trimmed cream quilted calf-length coat is quite theatrical if functional for the winter season. Other delicious fur-trimmed pieces include an olive dress with a matching fur-trimmed coat as well as a peach and grey ensemble. Gaultier’s formidable gladiator shoes offered in ankle-length metallic gold and knee-length black suede are quite a force to be reckoned with as well… For his menswear collection Gaultier (and he himself!) had his models parading in turbans and tophats (sometimes both at once!) and black eyeliner for Eastern mystique, as they donned jodhpurs and velvet tights with their boxy masculine blazers.(examiner.com)