The morning after the 69th Annual Golden Globes, our winners for “best-dressed/most beautiful” were: Charlize Theron, Madonna, and of course, Angelina Jolie, who managed to look even more beautiful than ever in her cream Atelier Versace gown. The woman is unnaturally gorgeous, almost cartoon like in perfection and always a reliable glamour fix even if we get our dose from afar.
The Always Gorgeous Angelina Jolie in Atelier Versace at the 69th Annual Golden Globes
The above women are so stunning that they may not be as relatable as another actor, Jodie Foster. She’s Hollywood Royalty and has been since her big screen debut as “Nina” a teenage prostitute in Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver in 1976. This star has “class” and gamely smiled [and actually appeared relaxed] when Globes’ host, Ricky Gervais, took a few verbal cracks at her. Maybe having a perfectly made-up face, thanks to Carol Shaw, helped her keep her cool.
Carol Shaw is a Celebrity Makeup Artist and Founder of LORAC Cosmetics, an excellent brand that keeps a relatively low profile, like Jodie.
Jodie’s overall look was fresh, modern and glamorous. It’s that off-hand elegant look that takes work, but for a big night like this, it’s worth it!
The Look in a Nutshell: shimmering champagne and smoky brown eyes, bronze cheeks and light peach glossy lips
Below, the HOW TO, courtesy of LORAC
Complexion:
Apply AquaPRIME Oil Free Makeup Primer to prepare skin for smooth, long-lasting makeup application
Smooth Breakthrough Performance Foundation in SMS 3 all over skin for flawless coverage and a youthful radiance
Give skin a silky-smooth picture perfect finish with POREfection Baked Perfecting Powder in PF2
Eyes:
Prime the eyelid with Behind the Scenes Eye Primer
To give eyes a hint of sparkle, use the shimmering champagne and nude shadows in the NEW UNZIPPED Eye Shadow Palette (available at Sephora this spring)
Define eyes by tracing the lash line with Front of the Line Pro Eyeliner in Black
Create dramatic, voluminous lashes with Multiplex 3D Lashes Mascara
Brows:
Fill in brows with Creamy Brow Pencil in Blonde
Cheeks:
Brighten skin while giving a natural radiant glow with Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder in Luminous
Apply Baked Matte Satin Blush in Exposed to give cheeks a peachy pink pop of color
Finish by lightly dusting TANtalizer Baked Bronzer all over for a subtle glow
Lips:
Line lips with Nude Pencil #18 to define and keep lip gloss in place
Apply NEW Lips With Benefits in Mark (available this spring) for a long-lasting glossy finish
Body:
Mix TANtalizer Body Bronzing Luminizer with Breakthrough Performance Foundation in SMS 3 and apply to exposed arms and neck for a natural Red Carpet tan that is about as removed from Snookie’s orange glow as you can get. Can you really see Jodie Foster running to a Mystic Tan spray booth or laying in a tanning coffin covered in coconut grease?
As of late, the World of Fashion is obsessed with the notion of “fairness”. Prior to the Eighties, this notion did not exist. You could either afford a Louis V. bag or you could not. Many did not KNOW WHAT a Louis V. bag was, or meant.
The first time I heard of a Louis V. bag, I was 13 and reading Jacqueline Susann’s Book, “Once Is Not Enough”, at night, once my parents were in for the evening. In it, the ill-fated heroine, January Wayne, carries a Louis V. She is fabulous – has long center-parted hair, is tall, slim and gorgeous, in jeans and classic cashmere, toting her Louis V. Growing up, January’s typical forms of transport are her Daddy, legendary playboy and producer, [Mike Wayne's], private plane, expensive sports cars – you get the picture.
Although at the time the film begins, Mike’s career is in the toilet, he can’t bear to let his daughter not continue to live her Park Avenue/Palm Beach lifestyle. Mike marries Dee, a super rich bi-sexual socialite who’s having a secret affair with “Carla” – probably Greta Garbo, and collects husbands as a hobby. January’s only friend is “Linda”, aka Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmo’s ballsy editor.
The story line is trashy and addictive, but my real fascination was with January and her perfect clothes. January was nineteen, a bit too young to wear proper socialite clothes such as Douglas Hannant. Had she lived, this young heiress would doubtlessly have grown into it, but had Douglas Hannant’s PINK collection been around in 1975, she would have loved the classic pieces that are a little less serious but completely suitable for her jet set lifestyle.
The good news is that DH Pink is not exclusionary. To give it a more modern spin, as PR maven, Melanie Holland, President and Founder of The Project, said “This collection is for women like us too, who work and aren’t traveling around on private jets.”
This statement summarizes the seismic shift that’s taken place in fashion and society in the years between the 1975 release of Once Is Not Enough and Douglas’ PINK debut. The day has come were we can ALL have a bit of this upper-class look without actually being jet-setters.
Below, looks from the Douglas Hannant’s 1st PINK Collection.
Celebrities have a bad rap in the fashion business. I’d taken a skeptical stance on the idea of the notion of celebrity as fashion designer, since the days when Kathie Lee Gifford “designed” a line for Wal-Mart, followed by legions of demi celebs such as Paris Hilton who capitalized on their fame to produce shoddy garments they themselves would never actually wear. The fact that THEY themselves wore Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta etc etc. said it all.
There are exceptions however, that show that celebrities CAN [in conjunction with the right team] produce a credible fashion line. The first time I witnessed this was while attending a Justin Timberlake concert at Mohegan Sun, soon after his “Future Sex/Love Sounds” tour hit. Joe Zee did an amazing job styling him and Justin carried that white suit as well as John Travolta did his in “Saturday Night Fever”.
IT wasn’t William Rast, but I recall being stupefied when mid-way through the show, he sang a ballad in a plaid William Rast shirt and jeans. That night, I began reconsidering the celebrity as fashion designer issue and resolved to actually READ the WWD articles about Celebrity X designing a fashion line to see if others besides Justin were getting it right.
Good news. In the ranks of the “getting it right” are Justin Timberlake/William Rast, the Olsen Twins/Elizabeth and James, and the subject of this post, Gwen Stefani/L.A.M.B. Until this NYFW, the closest I got to Gwen’s line was seeing pieces at Nordstrom’s on the floor. I liked what I saw and longed to see her next collection in its entirety to see if she continued to follow-through on her branding message ie: herself = a fun yet sophisticated version of cool.
A key ingredient for a brand’s success is to create an identity and to stick with your DNA. Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana hit gold early in their career with the severe look of elderly Italian women clad in black crossed with sexy corsets and animal print that showed their idealized woman; one who possesses an intriguing angel-devil personality.
Gwen Stefani has similarly created a believable personality for her L.A.M.B line. She is known as a pop star who mixes classic glamour with funky contemporary clothing resulting in a mix that is the modern equivalent of Eighties’ pop star, Cyndi Lauper. Although physically these two don’t resemble one another, they share that irresistible “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” spirit that I’ve loved since Ms. Lauper debuted it in 1983 on MTV.
This season was my first L.A.M.B. show. I’m calling it a “show” even though technically, it was a presentation, set in the “Box” space – my favorite of the Lincoln Center Fashion Week venues as there’s usually little to no waiting, you can get as close as you want to the clothes and the models obligingly pose for shots.
The presentation was scheduled to start at 2:30p.m, but you wouldn’t have known that from the crowd assembled in the holding area when I arrived at 2:20. Normally tardy editors were in line waiting, snaked around the length of the tent to get what I guessed would be only a very quick glimpse of the latest L.A.M.B. collection and hopefully a look at the chanteuse cum fashion designer herself. [Ms. Stefani was not there, sigh.]
I wiggled to the front of the 4-deep crowd huddled around the models posing on the white blocks, to scan the 23 looks. There was herringbone plaid, a leather moto jacket, some fun Ikat prints and quite a bit of Noir Jewelry; in short, no huge deviations from the brand’s DNA. Just an hour earlier at lunch with Scott French and Meredith Garcia of The Fashion List at Pain Quotidian, we all agreed that the best designers like writers find their voice and stick with it. Their customers appreciate this; can count on them to deliver the goods. Make no mistake – consistency is not boring, it is an asset.
A few months ago, a stroll on the floor at Nordstrom’s Westchester Mall verified this. Marc Jacobs Mark by Marc and L.A.M.B. stood out, because they didn’t need any store signage to identify them. That odd but adorable tweak like a teeny tiny print on a puff sleeve blouse- must be Marc. Black and white herringbone jackets and red accents? Must be L.A.M.B. – it was.
With all of this in the back of my mind, once finally, inside the Box, my first glimpse revealed black and white, this time as an Ikat print top worn with brown herringbone shorts accessorized with a skinny red belt, and towering platform sandals in black, red and cobalt – very Eighties!
The rock and roll portion of the brand was most apparent in the accessories, hair and makeup, namely a leather and gold shark tooth necklace heavily kohled eyes, straight black brows and a two- tone “Pebbles” from The Flintstones hairdo.
Many of the editors in the Tents were wearing this same up-do, minus the volume and two-tone.
Ms.Stefani hit the preppy trend square on with a v-front cream tennis sweater but unlike the one from your parents’ country club, this one is minus the unflattering bulk. The L.A.M.B sweater boasts fine knit gage stitching, which make it an ideal transition piece. These days, transition pieces are where it’s at. What could be better than playing a set of tennis, taking a shower, putting on the same sweater that you walked on the Courts with and getting-on with your day? There’s something for everyone here, and even one piece will up the fun quotient of your spring wardrobe.
It was early in the morning, mid-way through NYFW, and in the dash from our West 56th Street hotel to the Lincoln Center tents to go backstage for Callula Lillibelle, no time for some sorely needed coffee. The lobby at Lincoln Center was weirdly empty, but Neiman Marcus’ Fashion Director, Ken Downing was there, Starbucks in hand, and we stopped by to chat and to get a bead on what one of fashion’s sharpest forcasters thought of the New York s/s2012 season so far. I mentioned we were on our way to chat with William Calvert, backstage at Callula Lillibele.
“Is it Neiman’s?” Ken asked us as Mark [Behnke, of Fashion Tribes],whiled- away those few pleasant moments before hitting backstage.
Good question. I replied, “Hm, well there was a great coat I saw last time.”
“Honey, it takes more than one coat to be in Neiman Marcus” he joked. It struck me then, how hard his job is. I kept that question in mind a few minutes later, as I watched the models get into their looks and pose on the white backdrop backstage, presumably for the lookbook that would be in stores for spring.
I finally actually “met” the designer, William Calvert, after an aborted attempt to record our phone conversation a few months earlier, in which he told me that C.L. had a few winning silhouettes that worked well from size 2-12 and that he worked on tweaking the winning formula each season. I botched that interview, but this describes Callula’s mission – to make women look good and to as the French so aptly put it, “look comfortable in their skin”, and to be proud of their curves.
During our backstage interview, that took place in front of the scrim where the models were posting for the look book, William said “Callula Lillibelle is primarily a dress collection” and in answer to our other question, “it sells at Saks”. Unsurprisingly, the strongest looks were dresses such as the lemon/silver stretch tweed boatneck one that would look as good on a curvy woman as on the size zero models posing in the Box presentation.Best in show was the white “Penelope Cruz” – that had a beautiful wrap front bodice, that was both glamorous and practical.
While pointing to the models posing in front of him , he told us that he was inspired by strong curvy fashion icons such as Sofia Lauren, Penelope Cruz, Beyonce and Rihanna. Clients and fans include curvy ladies such as Oprah and Gayle King.
There were though, non-dress looks that stood-out, such as the right-on-trend pink jacquard jacket over an ivory dot lace tank and ivory pin dot slouchy shorts. It seems that grown women really WILL be wearing shorts to work, after all. Both looked great with a pair of chic Stuart Weitzman pumps.
To answer Ken’s question, ["Is it Neiman's?"], we concurred that Callula is a solid collection that is perfectly placed at Saks, rather than Neiman’s which houses cutting edge design and where shoppers go to find what they expect to see on the pages of US Vogue. The Neiman’s woman is one who counts fashion and her wardrobe in her top three life priorities. Neiman’s top customers have Ken on speed dial.
By contrast, Saks and Callula are more mellow in their approach to fashion. This brand offers an excellent fit and the fact that the designs do not vary radically from season to season is reassuring to women who want some style but who don’t want a whole new wardrobe each and every season. This collection fits her lifestyle, as while she enjoys her fashion, she doesn’t want [or need] it delivered at warp speed. She paces herself with easy to wear fashions such as Callula. Fashion and her wardrobe are important but rank lower on the priority list, and like Saks, there is a sense of decorum in her attitude. Despite the year-round throng of tourists and buzz, the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship continues to maintain the air of stately dignity when well-to-do ladies shopped there on their way to lunch and their choice of gloves was an important matter. Similarly, Callula also possesses that gracious sensibility but there’s no better way to experience it than to slip on one of William’s dresses and to see for yourself.
This collection’s floral theme was in evidence before the show even started. I had enough time pre-show to inspect the head of the runway, which usually just has the designer’s name and/or logo projected onto it. That’s basic but a bit ho-hum after about 10 shows, so it was refreshing to see the green sprig and floral backdrop, which had us thinking, “spring, flowers”.
From the preview, I already knew that the tulip was a focal point of inspiration, but the preview sketch didn’t prepare me for how beautiful the tie dye short sleeve bellskirted dresses would be and how the colors so closely mimicked the pigmentation of an actual tulip bloom.
This was the strongest grouping, but there was a lot more for both day and evening dressing that was also noteworthy. The multiple tiered chiffon and tulle dresses were simple, beautiful, and simply beautiful. Next came dresses in marigold yellow, carnation, peony pin and one sublime print – a kind of broken-up floral. Designers such as Shoji, Mara Hoffman and Custo Dalmau have been using these digitized prints for a while now to create prints that suggest a specific flower or object and make an interesting alternative to a straight-forward print. It’s no wonder that young stylish celebs such as Blake Lively wear Tadashi Shoji to events where they know they’ll be photographed from every possible angle and have to look perfect. I’d like to see her in this yellow one-shoulder dress.
Touches such as ruffled necklines that imitated crushed flowers further attested to the Mr. Shoji’s creative prowess and technical skills. There were one shoulder designs that were both pretty and refined and not the least bit Eighties retro. The designer departed from floral at the end and showed gown after gown in the season’s nude for evening, which demonstrated his shirring and draping technical skill, as they defined the models’ busts and waists in the most flattering way possible.
The finale floral gown though, took the cake. It was a combination of everything that was right with this collection: the floral print. draping, ruching, one-shoulder and flowing fabric that looked as light as air. Thanks to this collection, spring/summer 2012 NY is a season that I won’t be forgetting any time soon.
Are you a Jonny come lately when it comes to gifting? I am.
I’m suffering from gift-giving exhaustion. It seems we’re gifting year-round. With summer comes: Graduation gifts, Wedding gifts, summer Birthdays, a few baby showers, and probably a few I’ve forgotten to metion.
Next up is Father’s Day. It’s not as if my inbox isn’t bombed with suggestions from the likes of Radio Shack, Lands’ End, and even Williams & Sonoma and innumerable smaller companies making suggestions. Scanning through, nothing “spoke” to me.
Do my Father and my hubby really want a grill set or a tie?
No, they do not.
But really, there’s got to be something out there that my guys would find amusing, want to own and wouldn’t max out my Gold Amex. My annual conundrum was solved when Ashley of Robert Verdi’s office sent over Robert’s picks via a funny video full of great gift possibilities.
True, Robert is a celebrity stylist but maybe your Dad would like the same thing as the heavy hitters on his gifting suggestion list. WHO’S ON ROBERT’S CELEBRITY DAD LIST
Barack Obama
Tom Cruise
David Beckham
Matthew McConaughey
Seal
Johnny Depp
Hugh Jackman
Charlie Sheen! [This one was a surprise, I had to read it twice to be sure I read it right]
WHAT TO GET, AS PER ROBERT
Click HERE to Watch the video and find out. THEN, decide which guy most closely resembles your Dad and go get it. Time is running out!
As for me, those blue tinted Carrera sunglasses are a win-win. Dad can wear them, and so can you!
**Send TheFashionE and comment about what YOU picked-up for your Dad this year.
I know, “style” and The Jersey Shore in the same sentence? I’m kidding right?
Yes and no.
Style does NOT always mean “in good taste” like the ladies in Assouline’s STYLE series. While that’s what I love, maybe I’m in the minority. This possibility smacked me upside the head as I sat watching an episode of CSI:Miami on a plane bound to Puerto Vallarta last weekend. The suspects, obnoxious partying kids on a hit TV show, were obviously based on The Jersey Shore. It was so thinly disguised, I wondered why they bothered to change the names of the kids and the show.
Anyhow, as I sat back and watched, I went from wondering for the umpteenth time, ‘WHY would the public make these kids stars and God forbid, make stars of them?’
The most horrifying moment in the CSI episode was not when we found-out that [I think it was [Sammi] – ‘JWOWW’ – was the guilty party. She had killed her female costar by driving a piece of ice she pulled from the crown of the Statue of Liberty ice sculpture into her eye in a fit of rage because the latter was leaving the show and “ruining everything”.
Horrible yes, but worse was her pathetic back-story, which she explained to ‘Lieutenant Horatio Caine/David Caruso.
She was not REALLY ‘Sammi’, she of the sleazy spray tan, 11 inch skirts, big hair, and endless hook-ups and one night stands. The real shocker was that she was actually a nerdy Med Student who was sick of being a dateless MIT brainiac whose phone never rang on a Saturday night. The kicker – she killed a cast member whose departure from the show would have “ruined her life”.
Grossed-out, I kept researching, at 5a.m. Puerto Vallarta Time.
REALITY TV star Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley has a murky past.
According to RadarOnline, the Jersey Shore babe’s ex-boyfriend required 37 stitches in his arm after she stabbed him!
“Jenni put a kitchen knife through my entire arm,” Tom Lippolis told Star magazine, which hits the stands nationally Friday. “I thought she was going to kill me.”
Woww.
Here’s my big question – When the action’s not scripted, ie: on the show, what is REALLY there?
A few weeks ago, I was on my way to visit friend, Anthony Palermo, at the Anthony Leonard Salon on East 54th Street. I was late.
Once I told him WHY, he understood, and we had “an Isabella moment”. That would be Isabella Rossellini.
Here is the photograph, attached, taken by Fabrizio Ferri, who often came into our offices at Mirabella Magazine while I was a lowly assistant there. And guess who Grace Mirabella wanted him to shoot, a lot?? Isabella.
This works because there is something noble about it, she reminds me – in this photo – a bit of the late great Audrey Hepburn as she appeared when she worked with Save the Children in her last years of life.
Isabella does not look made-up or artificial at all and that is supremely charming, and beautiful. Yes, as Anthony and I heatedly discussed, it DOES fly in the face of the prevailing standards of beauty. For my part, as a forty-something, I admire the lines in her neck, and the neat but plain hands. What stands out is her philanthropical nature – wearing the Bulgari/Save the Children ring, and an innate dignity that can’t be obtained with Botox, fillers, or knives.
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Mark Indelicato aka “Justin Suarez” of Ugly Betty was backstage at Duckie Brown, gamely posing for the photogs and video crews who pounced on him once they realized who the slight extravagantly dressed boy was.
Mr. Indelicato is a perfect example of someone [man or woman – does it even matter?] who “does his own thing”. He looked great, but what he was wearing would have looked just as good on a woman, the right woman, one who is secure in her own style.
This is pretty much the point. Why can’t a man wear women’s clothes and vice-versa? Duckie designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver ponder the question in our pre-show interview, which will run next week.
In the meantime, here’s a short clip of Mark Indelicato talking about his personal style and his thoughts on Duckie Brown.
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TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY Yesterday, at the Mall, I stopped into H&M to see if there was anything there that I could pick-up for under $40 that with my genius tailor’s nimble hands, could be elevated to be worthy to wear to the upcoming Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week. It took some time, but it was there – a safari dress, not in the usual khaki, but in the still fashionable gray. As I rubbed the fabric between my fingers I had visions of UBER-MODEL, LAUREN HUTTON, AT THE TOP OF HER GAME, CIRCA 1975. Transfixed on the floor at H&M, I was transported back to the age of that effortless “all-American dressing” that HALSTON and then RALPH LAUREN, did so well. [I still maintain that one of Ralph’s best-evers was his SAFARI COLLECTION, and those fragrance ads still hold-up, years later. Back home, while trolling galleries of images of Lauren, I came across a wonderful article on her life in this period, by Lee Wohlfert on www.maryellenmark.com
In May 1975, Lauren was an “IT GIRL”, and anyone who was anyone, raved about her style and specialness. She was on of then VOGUE EDITRIX, DIANA VREELAND’S DISCOVERIES. Said, Ms. Vreeland, “”She is the best of America,” says Diana. “She is the person people want to look at. I am always amazed at how many moods she can project. Sometimes she has the eyes of a baby, the questioning look of a child. Then she has this very special electricity. Her reactions are so fast. I like her speed, her timing.” This all leads back to the big question: WHAT can we expect to see at the spring/summer 2010 NY shows? Will designers go back to all-American dressing? There are hints in the September Vogue and Harper’s issues that just hit my doorstep, that we may be going back to that uncomplicated “American” look. TOMMY HILFIGER JUST INVESTED IN 6 PAGES OF JUST THIS LOOK – SEVENTIES TAILGAITING – in the front of the September book. A few pages before, there’s a spread for MICAHEL KORS. Long-time model, CARMEN KASS is in a classic camel coat and has a yummy brown satchel bag on the crook of her arm. The year could be 1970, and if you reverse the models’ hair color, they couple could well be ALI MCGRAW and RYAN O’NEIL in LOVE STORY.
I’m circling back tomorrow, and getting this dress and dropping it with Kaitlin at R&E Cleaners and Tailors. I’ll be sporting my $39.95 find at Fashion Week, channeling a little bit of Lauren Hutton.
