FE Friend Sofia Bak Reports From The Trenches at LONDON Fashion Week: Day 1 of LFW

Text, Sofia Bak

Images Sourced by Vivian Kelly. from designscene.net

Up like bullet at 7, throw on Lako Bukia, Onna Ehrlich-Bell and mom’s black vintage Zorro hat. Running late for the 9am show…as always…lovely new assistant Anna Komolova saves a seat…Antoni & Alison wake everyone up with loud crazy music and a concept to switch your brain into gear…loved 1 dress…out on the street to shoot for Vogue Italia…street style photographers outnumber possible models…I finally find 1…10 more want to shoot her…mostly ended up shooting other street stylers all day…but felt like I got shot more than I shot them…it’s the blue dip dyed hair. Speaking of which…the only street style trend I’m seeing so far is coloured hair…seemed like practically everyone had a splash of colour this season. Took a break with tea & cake at Orla Kiely presentation where models were showing off outfits at a 50’s style dance…did they book the ones who could dance or teach them? Beautiful, romantic…oooh macaroons! Run in at the last minute for (friend) Francesca Marotta debut show, stunned by the Italian widows, bloody tears, great acting skills on the models and lace…lace…lace. Turned away with a seated ticket for Bora Aksu show. Weird. How did they manage to organise that?! Brilliant casting at Felder Felder, lovely to see my girl from Kiev Fashion Days – Alla Kostromichova opening...great prints and new knits. Love. Watched another brilliant fashion film by Ada Zanditon. Found incredible footwear architect Julian Hakes at the exhibitions…shot man in a latex woman: Pandemonia…dying by the time Jena Theo show rolled in…but loved every piece. Would buy 99% of it…it’s like they thought…what does Sofia like to wear…baggy black tops and skinny jeans it is.

Now hating my life because all I want to do is pass out but I have 468 photos and 98 e-mails to go through (99 by the time I finished this…damn now it’s 101). And you always ask me if I’m LOOKING FORWARD to fashion week and if I’m going to any PARTIES. This is just day 1…in a NUTSHELL!

Fashion + Film + Fashion Icon Daphne Guinness = Genghis Khan Collection / Premiere Screening of “The Legend of Lady White Snake”

Text, Vivian Kelly

Topic- Daphne Daphne Daphne!

Genghis Khan Collection / Premiere Screening of “The Legend of Lady White Snake”

I’m obsessed. Daphne Guinness is the subject of this latest fashion obsession.  I “went there” and asked friend, Anthony Palermo, of the Anthony Leonard Salon to dye my hair as blonde as it would go. After two bleaching blasts in the past 12 weeks, I’m there, with the exception of the black skunk stripes Daphne sports. I’m not ready for that as such a couture look requires wearing 5 inch heels and vintage McQueen couture, which would be fun but just not within my reach just yet.

In the meantime, I’m buying up pieces of Daphne’s capsule collection created for MAC Cosmetics. Thus far, I carry the following around in my Volvo [while in the Country] or in my leather Birkin-esque satchel [while in NYC]: “Fling” Eye Brow Pencil – THE perfect shade for you platinum blondes out there who don’t want to mess about with powders and brushes

– Cremesheen LipGlass in “Richly Reserved”

Next to buy between shows are:

Pro Longwear LipCreme in “Approaching Storm”– I struck out at the Grand Central station location – they sold the 6 tube they’d been allotted.

“Red Dwarf” [a maybe]

Blush Ombre in “Azalea Blossom”.

Thankfully, in NYC there are ample opportunities to snatch up some MAC Cosmetics – almost as many as getting my frozen mocha frappe fix at MACDonalds.

Once I’ve scooped up the remaining Daphne pieces, I’ll be ready to attend one of my top 3 events of this NYFW – The screening of THE LEGEND OF LADY WHITE SNAKE, starring Daphne, co-written by the white hot Neil Gaiman and Bernard Henri Levy and directed by Indrani.

The premiere is Sunday night at 10p.m. with a write-up and more images to follow post-event.

Last Thoughts: FIT did what I heard was a wonderful exhibit of Daphne’s clothes. I’ve posted a few images here. Which one is YOUR favorite?

Christian Siriano and Mena Suvari’s Fashionable Shortie Film

Text, Vivian Kelly

The count-down to New York Fashion Week is on but what I call “the pre-show” is more interesting this time around. Usually, I get previews in my in-box which are helpful but a bit boring. This season, though, publicists and designers are taking a more creative approach to generating interest for their clients’ collections that will be revealed next week in New York. Christian Siriano is one of these designers.

A few days ago, I got a beautiful video clip from Slate PR of NY Fashion Designer darling, Christian Siriano‘s Spring/Summer 2012 video campaign that was shot exclusively at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York City. It stars Mena Suvari, with music by Brad Walsh. and edited by Brian Hicks and Alicia Solombrino.

I didn’t need the film to be convinced that the spring 2012 collection was Christian’s strongest one to date, but it DID make me appreciate it all the more.  This is certainly not Mena’s first foray into the fashion and beauty worlds, but this film lacks the canned quality of the l’Oreal videos she’s done. The Siriano film is editorial in nature and as thus, much more interesting to watch. I’ve railed in the past about how actors have replaced supermodels on fashion magazine covers, but when it comes to doing a promotional film of this nature, you need an actor rather than a model. Watch it and see whether or not you agree that red and orange are still Mena’s best colors.  Enjoy!

A Quick Refresher About Mena Suvari

You’re probably most familiar with actress Mena Suvari as the lucsious “Angela” in her 1999 break-out film, American Beauty.American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes. In it, Kevin Spacey stars as office worker Lester Burnham, who experiences a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with Angela, his teenage daughter’s best friend. It’s hard to forget the image of Mena laying in a field’s worth of American Beauty Roses with that knowing look on her face.

The Historic Glen Cove Mansion – Roaring Twenties Splendor

Text & Images, Vivian Kelly

I’ve always wanted to check-out Long Island’s North Shore. It’s where some iconic “right time/right place” moments: F Scott Fitzgerald’s “East Egg V. West Egg” in The Great Gatsby in the Roaring Twenties when Gatsby had a party to end all parties at least once a week. I was able to blast back to this period in the past when I stayed at the Glen Cove Mansion in Glen Cove, L.I.

Maybe Fitzgerald was inspired by big business personalities such as John Pratt who was an attorney and executive with Standard Oil, the behemoth oil company founded by robber baron John D. Rockefeller in 1870.

John and his wife, Ruth Pratt [quite the career woman herself] maintained the 55 acre estate to the glamorous standards that were “an integral part of the many glamorous estates which comprised Long Island’s Gold Coast.” *

The front of the mansion is truly magnificent as is the entrance – huge double staircases, rich paneling and antique fixtures which put it on Country Life Magazine’s “best twelve country houses in America”. If you do nothing else, take the time to rent a bike from their fitness center on the second floor and tour the neighboring streets. You won’t be able to go down the long driveways – impossible to miss the forbidding “absolutely no trespassing” signs or the older white iron poles with black block letters spelling “”private”.

Once back at the Glen Cove Mansion, I day dreamed back to the Roaring Twenties as I biked around the former Pratt mansion’s circular drive. I imagined I could see the bejeweled guests arriving in flapper dresses and tuxedos, eager to attend yet another Gatsby-esque party to end all parties staged at the pool in the back of the property’s 55 acres.

*From the Glen Cove Mansion’s in-house guest information kit

Booking Information: I found the Mansion thanks to Living Social.com

Boo! Meet your scariest bad guy at the Aldrich Museum’s “Barrier and Trigger” Installation by Type A

Text, Vivian Kelly

As I make my final preparations for the babes and bikinis trip to Miami [Mercedes Benz Miami Fashion Week Swim] I wanted to discuss something a little more high brow. The Culture Vulture in me loves one of the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art’s latest exhibits – TRIGGER by Type A.

 We made sure to meet the artists who created this installation, Adam Ames and Andrew Bordwin [together, they = Type A]
which addressed the topic of fear – a universal emotion, if there ever was one.

Type A’s  installation had us hooked so much so that we were the last to leave, after a nice chat with the artists and Aldrich’s Exhibition Director, Richard Klein.

The purpose of the project, the duo explained, was “to explore the reasons Americans feel the need to arm themselves.” This mixed-media installation is comprised of an ongoing series of targets, 35 x 23 inches arranged in neat rows which simulate the feeling of actually being in a target range.

FE friend, Helmut Brenner and I compared notes and came to the conclusion that the “bad guys” in the target range posters reminded us of the scariest stereotypes from our favorite Seventies’ cop shows an movies: Kojak, Mannix, The French Connection.

Richard Klein’s poster was the #1 seller in May.

We were each fascinated for different reasons. Helmut, a businessman who runs the Brenner Foundation] liked how the artists had combined notoriously non-paying art with a very commercial endeavor. The photographic images the artists produced  have actually been printed and sold as commercial gun targets by Law Enforcement Targets, Inc., a Minnesota-based company.

Me – I loved seeing all of my scariest bad guys all in one place and facing up to them and finally – FINALLY – putting those bogeymen to rest. It may sound silly, but the walk through was cathartic.

We’re all afraid of SOMETHING. Maybe it’s of the sketchy/scary guy hanging out in a phone booth, or a Rottweiler walking down the street with what “must be”  drug-dealers. Maybe your bogeyman is more “out there” .  Perhaps  it’s something out of “Night of the Living Dead”?

This is worth a walk-through. You have until December 31 to face-up to your scariest baddie.*If one of the targets really strikes your fancy, you can order one of your very own through Law Enforcement Targets, Inc.

To learn more about Type A, visit the Aldrich.org.

Jeremy Scott’s Pop Culture Excess- the fall2011 Show and Swatch Watches

“….excuse me?

Yes? I’m on the list.

The list? ??There. Is no0000 guest list tonight!”

Text, Vivian Kelly

I found this opening “statement” from Jeremy Scott’s latest show soundtrack particularly meaningful.

SURE… there was “no guest list”. That’s why the line at MILK Studios snaked around and around the downstairs holding pen, cum. art gallery and into the street. “No tickie no laundry”, for sure on this one. We bumped into The Daily Beast’s Robin Givhan, who decided she just didn’t have the time to wait. Maybe it was Vanessa Hudgens‘ presence at the show that was partially responsible for the delay.

So far, not so good, but a good fashion show is always late.

Jeremy and Kelly Cutrone and the gang at Peoples Revolution always put on a good show. He’s not a designer to slave over the Pantone color chart and I love him for being an indie rebel designer at heart, even though he’s no longer “a young designer” or “emerging”.

He has not happily, “grown-up” and abandoned his fun aesthetic in order to make “saleable” clothes. He’s found another way – which we’ll talk about a little bit later in this post.

Hint: A good collaboration does wonders for one’s bottom line and coffers.

As far as the actual show, can you say fun and logo or maybe brand mania are the words I’m looking for? If you love Coke [“The Real Thing”], Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, this is it for you.

There’s some college girl wear here kicking back to the Eighties wear of my youth- big chunky sweaters t wear on cold days that are vaguely Fair Isle as well as striped sweaters and scarves.

For evening the vibe’s a bit Spanish Matador. My favorite is the finale Wonder Woman blue sparkly dress that was reminiscent of the invitation to the MET superhero exhibit a few years back.

There was also a reference to Gregg Araki’s film, “Nowhere”, [his 1997cult film]which had the LA slacker vibe and Valley Girl plasticity, which makes it perfectly acceptable to wear a red plastic miniskirt and a poofy angora sweater in bubble gum pink. I couldn’t tell if the girls were chewing Double Bubble gum, but it would have been a nice touch.

This time, he’s brought-in a commercial aspect – a collaboration with Swatch Watches. Collaborations don’t always work, but this one did. There are 3 fun watches to choose from – Lighting Flash, Winged Swatch, and Swatch Opulence. For $70 per, you get to participate in a little of pop culture excess –in a more understated way. Since scooping up the last Lightning Flash one at the Swatch store in Grand Central Terminal, I’ve indulged my inner Valley Girl and worn it every day.

>TheFE Reviews Tom Ford’s ‘A Single Man’

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TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

The first words that came to my mind while watching this were, ‘haunting and moving’. Ford succeeds in establishing a deep personal connection regardless of your sexual orientation. Sex actually, has to my surprise, very little to do with what’s at the core of this movie. To summarize, COLIN FIRTH, plays the lead character – a man who’ s emotionally adrift once his partner of 16 years suddenly dies.
While he predictably goes down the road of contemplating a few flings with handsome boys 20 years his junior, and even a liaison with his best female friend [JULIANNE MOORE], nothing can replace the big gaping hole in his heart.
In a heart-wrenching twist of fate, on his last day of life, Firth decides to let go of his past, after a moonlight swim with his handsome student. The shocker comes when Firth falls asleep [alone] only to wake-up to die of a heart attack.
I’ll admit I had preconceived notions, namely that this film would be slick and glossy, as Ford himself appears. Perhaps though, that’s just what lays on the surface, and as with the film, there’s much more below the glossy surface image Ford presents to the world.
While I’m still hoping Ford will come back and design for Gucci again, I’m also hoping he’ll continue to make films such as this.
TWO THUMBS UP

Weight-in on this post! It is:

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>Frederic Fekkai’s Adir Abergel Transforms Kristen Stewart’s Tresses for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Premiere

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TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

Well, the countdown is almost at an end. What countdown? The one we’re on at my place for the midnight showing of ECLIPSE, the 3rd of the 4 TWILIGHT films that made KRISTEN STEWART and Rob Pattinson the stars of the moment.
If you’re a teenager or have a teenage daughter in your life, you’re well aware that Kristen’s style is one that many teens aspire to. So far, that’s meant, low-key indie style – concert tees, Keds, Converse and skinny jeans.
Although a reluctant star, Kristen has finally embraced her celebrity status and looks beautiful and grown up on the Red Carpet.
She teamed-up with the king of sophisticated dos – Frederic Fekkai, to attend the premiere of ECLIPSE.
One of Frederic’s team of stylists, ADIR ABERGEL, did a a soft take on the 1950’s pompadour. You girls who are going to prom or who are bridesmaids, take note. This is a great grown-up party look that doesn’t look overly done – perfect for a young girl.

HOW TO GET THE LOOK: Here’s the step by step info on how to get this look at home or you can simply give the directions to your favorite stylist so they get it just right.

STEP 1: Apply Fekkai Full Blown Volume™ Styling Whip at the roots throughout the hair.

STEP 2: Using a round brush, blow-dry the hair away from the face, and place it in pin curls.

STEP 3: Allow the hair to cool before removing the pin curls.

STEP 4: Style the hair by hand raking the hair into a side pompadour and secure it with pins.

FINISHING TOUCH:
To shape the face, pull a few pieces in front, and secure the look with Fekkai Coiff™ Sheer Hold Hairspray.

The sophisticated result beats Kristen’s day look, hands down. Nice job, Frederic and Adir!

WHAT YOU NEED/PRODUCT LIST – all available at www.fekkai.com,
Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue.

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>FUN AND FASHION IN CANNES – The Cannes Fashion Lounge

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TEXT, VIVIAN GALTIER -VAN ZUTPHEN
Images, courtesy of Wire Image Press

WHAT: the best fashion at the Cannes Film Festival
WHERE: the Cannes Fashion Lounge
WHY: because the fashion’s the best part!

I’ve been receiving nearly daily missives from PR companies about the fun that’s going-on in Cannes, at the legendary annual Film Festival. While I’d love to be there, this year, I’m content to live vicariously through these media blasts.
Much like watching a baseball game, it’s SO much better to sit in the comfort of my pink and green office looking out over my lawn and gardens rather than being crushed nose-to-nose with other bloggers dying to get a look at Eva Longoria at the ROBIN HOOD Film Premiere. The only way to go to the Cannes Film Festival is first class, by private jet, and to stay at the Palatial InterContinental Carlton Cannes in one of the new suites on the 7th floor. [Each one if named after a famous movie star]. The palace has evolved throughout the year, but it’s always stayed a World Class hotel, strategically located on the famous Croisette, close to the Cannes Palais des Festivals with a killer view of the Mediterranean Sea. A few years ago, I did enjoy a cocktail there, off season and sat with a group avidly speculating on the deeply tanned man in a white suit and his considerably younger, very blonde companion.

THE FASHION
Cannes presents a wonderful opportunity for the biggest luxury brands to lure the stars to try and hopefully, model their wares. Among those represented: Pucci, Gucci, Givenchy, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Swarovski. A photo such as this one of Eva Longoria wearing Pucci to the ‘Robin Hood” premiere is worth it’s weight in gold. While I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this white gown was Pucci, Eva looked amazing – no question about that. She also looked wonderful wearing jewellery by de Grisogono while attending the “On Tour” Premiere at the Palais des Festivals during the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival.
Note to stylist: Robert Verdi, you’re doing a fabulous job!

For more information on the Intercontinental, visit www.intercontinental.com

Weight-in on this post! It is:

amusing

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snarky

Makes me want to buy it