Shiaparelli at Alaia

Feed Your Fashion Fetish
by Veronica Webb

The French fashion designer Azzedine Alaia who, although he is not known by most of the general public, has become by reputation and critical acclaim one the giants of fashion world during his on-going 30 year career as a couturier. Alaia’s workshop showroom, retail store, along with a boutique hotel called 3 Rooms and a small part of his factory are housed under one roof in a 5,500 square meter building in the heart of the coveted Marais section of Paris.

Mssr. Alaia’s work gets it unique flavor from the fact that there in only one chef in the kitchen when he’s cooking up fashion. From soup to nuts, sketches, patterns, prototypes, fabric selection as well as him personally sewing together the final product that goes to market it’s all generated from his imagination and whipped into shape by his hand alone. This truly vertically integrated manufacturing is a rarity in our world of licensees and lust for instant consumer gratification from fast and faster fashion. Underneath the busy workshop and bustling boutique are three sub cellars that cover the surface of half of a city block. The treasures housed and cataloged there are a marvel of a lifetime Mssr. Alaia’ collecting vintage couture as well as the preservation of his iconic personal collections.

Each piece in the cellars, culled from his close contemporaries like Commes des Garcons, as well as legends of the craft like Vionnet and Charles James, is stored to museum standards and will one day form the basis of permanent works for the Alaia Foundation. This museum in the making will exhibit and educate the public on the art of fashion and design. In the grand hall with a glass roof that plays host to the showroom at the house of Alaia there are often previews of rare designer collections before the lots make their way to auction. The last show of this kind was on the work of the seminal French designer Paul Poiret who made famous the hobble skirt and the high collared wrap coat of the roaring twenties.

On preview from Friday June 26th, to Sunday June 28th from 11 am to 6pm at 18 Rue de la Verrerie Paris 4 eme, if you have the good fortune to be in Paris, important designs of the ground breaking designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who coined the term “shocking pink”, will go on view to the general public. The pieces on view are dated between 1935 and 1950, which despite the hardship of war and recession are a glorious and fertile reflection of the time. The garments in the show are very relevant to our fashion trends this season. Schiaparelli designs have a relaxed construction that has kept them looking modern for last 74 years. Simple raincoats and bathrobes in ultra-lux fabrics, she crisply tailored with roomy proportions that add up to the coveted boyfriend silhouette that we’re all chasing after this season.

Lot 150: a black wool shrug with monkey fur trim shown with backless low cut evening dress from 1935, far outdating the scandalous Mc Queen “bumster” jeans, is an clear example of fashion at it’s best – when it pushes our notions of what’s permissible because, breaking the rules should always be a beautiful thing. Schiaparelli had an eye for artists and she drew the greatest of her generation into her creative process. Do not miss the rarely exhibited jewel of a co-creation between herself and the painter Jean Cocteau from 1937. The evening jacket cut from natural linen, depicts a drawing made by Cocteau embroidered with a masterful restraint by Lessage in Paris. The figure of a reclining woman’s profile with golden beaded hair, who’s long slender arm circles the waist of the jacket tapering into an extended hand clutching a Safire blue fan between fingers glittering with red nail polish is at once sensual and naïve. To see it is so evocative of the time and place that you travel within your minds eye to the Paris that once was…

Also on view, and just as spectacular, in the surrealist vein are the jewelry collaborations she cast with Salvador Dali. Visitors will be treated to suits, evening coats and simple day dresses with strikingly modern details like hot pink industrial zippers running down the back of the frock as the main design feature. Schiaparelli are ideas, as expressed in through the clothes and accessories contained in this exhibition, are so clear and her execution is always with the perfect balance of naughty wit and strict construction it’s a quick master class in the recognition of the real essence of a great artist which is to be simple, shocking and modern all at the same time.

Don’t miss it. Feed your fashion fetish.

The Auction takes place July 3rd at 2:15 pm at Millon Cornette de St Cyr Rue Drouot Paris 9eme. Telephone +33 1 48 00 20 01. Email: C. Chassine at chambert-sternbach@luxepert.com

–Veronica

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Chanel Movie

Coco Before Chanel
by Greg Krelenstein

(Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel and Alessandro Nivola as Boy Capel)

Blessed by the Maison CHANEL, Coco Before Chanel tells the story of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.  Chanel embodied the modern woman of her time, a timeless symbol of success, freedom and style.

I’d recommend the movie for the beautiful settings and costumes, but if you really want to learn about the brand and its heritage, you’re better off in a library as this film focuses mainly on the 2 men involved in her early life. For someone whose life’s work amounted to a worldwide empire, you’d be surprised the film about her life just feels so small.

Audrey Tatou plays the title role. Gone is all the charm exhibited in Amelie, replaced by a colder mask of sheer determination to rise above her humble beginnings as a cabaret dancer to become arguably the most important woman in fashion in her time and beyond.

(Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel and Alessandro Nivola as Boy Capel)

Watch for the film to be released this September 2009.

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Intermix New Campaign

Intermix Unveils New Campaign
by Jauretsi

We just received these images, and are impressed with the beautiful color palettes and photography for the once unnoticeable brand name of Intermix. The store itself stocks “creme de la creme” designers so it’s only fitting that their image as a fashion hub gets it’s proper facelift.

CREDITS:
Creative: Orphan (nyc)
Artist: Matt Sohl

These images will soon appear at a billboard near you!
J

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DickChicken

Graffiti’s New Silly Name
by Jauretsi

There is a new tag up on the streets of New York City lately. I keep bumping into this tag (below) on the way to my deli in Soho. I laugh when I walk by it every day, and think back to the days of old, when graf writers competed to come up with most “out of box” name. There were sleek names like FUTURA2000, REVOLT or ZEPHYR. Then there was always that ONE silly name. It was the writer who had to have that wacky name, almost poke fun at himself, and be the comedian in the bunch.

Back in the 1970’s, there was a guy who went by the name STAYHIGH149. He was one of the most famous graffiti writers seen in the subway cars (back when the subways were painted all up). His tag was silly, humorous, warm and something that made you snicker. His stick figure was inspired from a TV show called The Saint, a 1960’s spy thiller starring (ex-James Bond) Roger Moore. STAYHIGH occasionally comes out of retirement, and hit the streets for ol’ times sakes.

Then there was the next generation writer called EARSNOT (1990’s until today), who runs with a crew called Irak. This is what I call “the new breed”. EARSNOT tags were always curious to me. Part humorous, part menacing. How could you miss that name? They were all over New York, as well as other cities — from Los Angeles to Paris. It turns out, EARSNOT’s real name is Kunle (Nigerian name). He is a mellow, cool, quiet spirit who works at one of the cities premiere sneaker spots. Earsnot earned his stripes as a prolific tagger and is very much a part of the city’s creative community today.

Back to the newbie on the block, DICKCHICKEN. It seems this kid sat down and asked himself, “what are the 2 most random words I can put together?” — and voila! Out came the new silly name of the moment. A moniker you can’t ignore, and that inevitably gets burned into your brain… a true promotional stunt in this jaded town of over stimuli.

As you can see, another writer seemed to have gone over DICKCHICKEN’s tag and converted the D into PR, which is pretty appropriate for the new world of graffiti, now saturated with internet postings, specialized database websites, and online fame. It’s a whole new world of PR for the once “word of mouth” street culture.

As usual, the older writers retire due to stabilized relationships, new wives, children, etc (why risk getting arrested?). It is much safer to integrate into adult art galleries and make “real money”. The torch inevitably gets passed on to the young guns to take over that high-risk responsibility of bombing the streets with their names.

I’d say that right now, there’s a slew on new scribbles, new battles, and a fresh batch of unrecognizable names contributing the the hieroglyphic fabric of New York streets. Lets see if this newbie DickChicken evolves into a larger entity in the next few years.

For now, the funny tag is at least worth a smile on the street on a bad day.
J

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Twitter Peeps Unite

Help Fellow Activists
by Jauretsi

As you have been noticing, Twitter is the best place for up-to-date information on Iran. Many people in the streets have been Twittering from their mobile phones and posting continual updates every second for true “word on the street”…. digital activism in its purest form.

This blog post goes out to all the people in the States… or abroad for that matter. If you are on Twitter, set your location to “Tehran” and your time zone to GMT +3.30.

Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people found at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians’ access to the internet down.

Some insightful Iranian Twitter accounts have already been de-activated by the “powers-that-be”. By listing Tehran as your timezone, it will allow for the Iranian journalists (or honest man-on-the-street reporting) to do their thing and continue to inform us without being shut-down.

Don’t you just love how bloggers have some sort of global group hug going on right now?

Pass it Around…
J

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