16.11.11

Guest Post: Claudine Ivari S/S 2012 Paris

September 29, 2011 Claudine Ivari presented her Spring/Summer 2012 collection during Paris Fashion Week. Melissa Ladd of Prête-Moi-Paris attended the show in my place to report on this young French designer's debut in Paris.
Claudine Ivari SS2012
by Melissa Ladd
Set in the sumptuous and historic hôtel particulier on 79 bis avenue Marceau, Claudine Ivari's fashion show venue looks like something even a princess would daydream about! It is also the setting for her Paris Fashion Week debut. And what a place to show the world her talent...
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The theme of her Spring 2012 collection, "L'Or des Moissons" (Harvest Gold), is the golden color of wheat and the weave of its form, as well as the graphic silhouette of the Hallgrimur Church in Reykjavik, Iceland. The entire collection is rampant with elegance and femininity, enough to make you swoon. The marrying of such a natural element (the golden wheat) to such a human made structure (the church) brought out a contrast that doesn't even look like one it blends together so well. Miss Ivari has an artist's eye for shape, design, and texture, and the ability to put them all together to create something that accents the feminine form to perfection. These pieces can be worn for decades to come. They are stunning, timeless, and sophisticated. In addition to her talent, she also has values. Her work is 100% Made in France.
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15.11.11

Structure in Fragility: Amaya Arzuaga S/S12

What I Wore: Reformation open-back striped blouse,
JBrand skinnies, Aldo black wedges,
vintage pearl necklace worn as bracelet
As the sun set over the Seine, September 30th, we enjoyed a small Fashion Week apéritif before the Amaya Arzuaga show. We sipped the Spanish designer's very own Crianza red wine, Ribera Del Duero Amaya Arzuaga,  from her father's winery, Arzuaga Navarro. On the quay at the Cité de la Mode et du Design (the strange green building in the 13th arrondissement) models in sheer pastels, plunging necklines, and tubular silhouettes introduced Arzuaga's Spring/Summer 2012 collection. The collection is defined by 'plurality', the designer described, "Unity is built by the sum of many parts, structure is created from fragility, hiding some by overlaying, unveiling shapes, as if layers of reality create a new context for developing the natural use of materials." Displaying this structure from fragility, undulating, 'concentrically pressed pleats' made of silk and linen blends and double taffeta, and 'geometric patterns made out of raffia' streamed throughout the show. A single black line also coursed steadily with Arzuaga's technique of using bicolor axes. I particularly enjoyed the almost kissing pleated details, the use of accordion pleats on swimwear, and the overturned cone raffia dresses.


Ribera Del Duero Amaya Arzuaga Crianza 2008
Accordion Pleated Swimsuit. Love.

8.11.11

Anne Valérie Hash S/S12

Marie Petrakova Wooden Platforms
Anne Valérie Hash presented her Spring/Summer 2012 collection - Blue tangerine - at the Jeu de Paume in the Jardins des Tuileries on September 30, 2011. Once housing the tennis courts of Napoleon III, this now art museum's blank walls awaited the impressionistic designs of AVH. Whitewash walls absorbed the delicate cotton chiffon, linen voile, silk, and taffeta color melanges of tangerine, Klein blue, pomegranate, powder, sand, and smoky blue. 

The towering fairies wore menswear structures that contradicted themselves with flowing design details such as soft folds on low slung trousers, or chiffon capes attached at the shoulder and wrist, which bloomed behind the models as they tiptoed down the runway on amazing wooden platforms by Marie Petrakova. "Anne Valérie Hash's woman builds a new elegance in soberness. The balance of the silhouette lies in the contrast between draping and vertical lines" described the collection information packet. Although dresses weren't the stars of the collection, nonetheless, AVH created an elegantly structured yet beautifully feminine show.

For pictures from the show...

18.10.11

What I Wore: Dévastée

What Austin and I wore to Dévastée...

tsquared white vneck
Paige Denim camo skinnies
Zara nude pumps
vintage brown braided belt
Betsey Johnson charm necklace
vintage cheetah bandana
Pimkie
 brown purse
Austin
Audrey grey open-back tank
Dylan George black skinny jeans
Jeffery Campbell seafoam suede wedges
Betsey Johnson black purse
xx, Q.

Under Pont Alexandre III: Dévastée S/S12


French designers Ophelie Klere and François Alary of Dévastée invited us to their spring/summer 2012 fashion show with smiling popup churches. The invitation gave us a peek at what was to come down the runway at the parisian club Showcase underneath the Pont Alexandre III. Another macabre show of Fashion Week in Paris, Dévastée presented a playfully creepy collection of stripey menswear cuts, translucent, patterned pieces, and silky rompers. As if apart of some cheeky funeral procession, the models were dressed in monochromatic black ensembles, many with the smiling pattern of jack-o-lanternesque churches, crosses, tombstones, and skulls mixed with Eiffel Towers, flowers, and hearts. Dévastée using dark, gothic motifs on flowy fabrics, created dresses, skirts, shorts, and blazers that will blend nicely from winter to spring.


Front Row
Smiling print constant throughout the show
Final Run

Next time, something more light from the Paris runways.
xx, Q.

[credit: Francois Alary]

17.10.11

What I Wore: Thimister

H&M tan silk tank
H&M black tank dress
The Limited brown sweater shrug
black tights
Aldo black suede wedges
JADEtribe brass and glass beaded bracelet
Soixante Neuf rose gold quartz and aquamarine rings
Pimkie brown purse

14.10.11

Monastic Yet Maniacal: Thimister S/S12

My Paris Fashion Week began in the Marais with the medieval, monastic, macabre and maniacal Thimister collection entitled "The Conformist" by dutch designer, Josephus Melchior Thimister. Personally inviting us to his Spring/Summer 2012 show, Josephus requested "wash your hair well before attending". No one checked us at the door, but the odd request only added to the ethereally lit and mysteriously heavy air of the Garage Turenne. Beginning in summery, lightweight whites and ending in black and earthy browns, models strode out of a medieval cloister down the modern, industrial runway in shredded, gauzy ensembles cinched with heavy leather corset-like belts with multi-closures and pouches.

Outside of the cloistral, natural feel of the show, my thoughts first arrived at the macabre and maniacal notes throughout the collection. The repetitive dissonance of the soundtrack matched with the aggressive violins and shrieking woman, allowed for an intensely eerie ambience that lingered throughout the show's run. The first look out set the mood and reminded me of the opening scene of John Doyle's 2005 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd where, as The New York Time's Theater Review described it, "the show begins with a wheyfaced young man in a straightjacket, surrounded by people in institutional white coats. He has the numbed look of someone who has seen the unspeakable." Thimister's own 'wheyfaced' model, in a diaphanous cream dress with a straightjacket-like corset belt, drifted down the runway with that same horrifically vacant look. The whited out makeup used on the models paired with the snug caps worn only accentuated the chilling macabre atmosphere.

Pictures from the show after the jump.

5.10.11

Other News from the Other Fashion Capital...

Two-pairs-of-shoes owning Louisiana native turned New York City fashion maven, Ashley Knox, is competing in Lucky Magazine's Search for a New Lifestyle Contributor. At round three in the contest, Ashley and 118 others were asked to write about their "Best Connection" be it a best friend, sister, cousin, etc. and discuss their styles, personalities, shopping habits, and beauty choices - how they differ and how they're the same. Below is an excerpt from Ashley's post about her and her just as fabulous sister, Rachel. Make sure to click on the link and vote for Ashley. Her fashion and beauty advice accompanied by quirky tales of her migration from Louisiana to the Big Apple deserves some recognition.

HANDS DOWN MY BEST CONNECTION Of course, it has to be my sister. It could be because she's my only sister, but there are a whole host of other reasons - both hilarious and sartorial - why Rachel is my best connection. Truth be told, it wasn't always that way. At age 16, Rachel packed her bags and headed for college (two years early, mind you, being the ambitious Aries that she is), while I was still navigating the halls of raging hormones, a collective experience we like to call the seventh grade. I was experimental and angsty. She was wild and brave. The only common grounds we shared at the time was a cup of coffee every morning, and mine was mostly milk and sugar. Hers, I'm sure, was black and mature. So when I showed up at Rachel's door in 2005, with a duffel bag in hand and essentially homeless, we didn't really know one another. I mean, really know each other. It was the eve of Hurricane Katrina, and there I was, a senior in college evacuating from New Orleans to Baton Rouge with no home, no job, no school, no car, and only two pairs of shoes (one of which were flip-flops!) to call my own...
Continue reading here and be sure to vote! HANDS DOWN MY BEST CONNECTION : Lucky Magazine


xx, Q.

4.10.11

Paris Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2012

Fashionably pooped.
With the whirlwind of Fashion Week coming to a close, I finally have a chance to sit down and write about all that is stylish, fashionable, and à la mode. Over the next few days, you will receive images, videos, and musings on all that was Fashion Week in Paris this season - from what was worn to shows to what was worn during shows. Keep a look out for posts on the following...

Thimister
Dévastée
Antoine Taurin
Claudine Ivari
Anne Valérie Hash
Amaya Arzuaga
Lie Sang Bong
Viktor & Rolf
Steffie Christiaens
Odeeh
Igrid Vlasov
Talbot Runhoff
Agnes b.

A très bientôt...
xx, Q.

[credit: pinterest]

24.9.11

My Film Debut

To apologize for missing out on my blog this week, I give you this:


The Mystery of Miss Booch
The Mystery of Miss Booch from Don Connors on Vimeo.



xx, Q.

16.9.11

Vendredi en couleur: blanc

Only in Paris...

...do you receive Fashion TV with a relatively standard cable subscription (and this is no Style Network of the US). This station plays fashion show after fashion show, right now focusing on this past week's runway shows in NYC for Spring-Summer 2012 Ready-to-Wear. Now, when vegging out in front of the television for a few hours is needed, I won't feel too guilty because I'll be culturally and fashionably enriched at the same time! For those of you not graced with this channel, they do have a website where you can access streaming runway shows and view the different channels for different countries: www.ftv.com. (pretty cool.)

Coco in White
What does this have to do with Vendredi en couleur? I have Fashion TV to thank for my color inspiration this week. White is running rampant through the SS12 RTW New York shows with flowing white fabrics mixed with structured white ensembles. Diane von Furstenberg claimed "I did something I've never done before - I started with white," opening her show this season with five white looks featuring slouchy dresses and relaxed translucent jackets. New York saw another all white opening during the Nicholas K show and with Cushnie & Ochs' "Space Age meets 'Mad Men'" collection.

For the Fall 2011 Couture shows, the big shots like Givenchy, Elie Saab, and Valentino proved to us that although summer is on the outs, white isn't going anywhere. Forget the fashion faux pas of "no white after labor day". This passé style law is speculated to have been established by the re-entry into the city by the elite on Labor Day, who then stowed away their summer whites as a farewell to their estival holidays. Laura Fitzpatrick for Time Magazine wrote that this rule has been in challenge since "as far back as the 1920's [when] Coco Chanel made white a year-round staple."If we were to respect this American taboo worldwide, France and the United Kingdom wouldn't be wearing whites past mid-spring as their 'Labor Days' hit in the beginning of May, and besides, haven't you heard of winter white? I think it's officially time to put this rule to rest.

So, without further ado, I re-introduce you to: White - for all seasons.

 Givenchy Fall 2011 Couture: I'm in love with these elegant open-backed dresses.

Elie Saab Fall 2011 Couture. This collection is absolutely stunning, please take a second to look through the entire show. The models walked right out of a fairytale.
Valentino Fall 2011 Couture 
Cushnie & Ochs SS 2012 RTW
Diane von Furstenberg SS12 RTW
Tadashi Sohji SS12 RTW. Beautiful gown.
Nothing is better than curling up underneath a fluffy white duvet. A favorite winter activity of mine.
I'm welcoming autumn and white with open arms this season.
Maria Grachvogel Emperor Coat in Bone. How luxurious.

Blogger/Student Frida J. on Lookbook.nu in a white Monki blazer.

How will you wear white this fall/winter season?

xx, Q.

*Special thanks to Melissa of Prête-Moi Paris! for showing me Fashion TV.

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