beauty is pain

...or so they say.

For any of you who have been with me from the very beginning...you may recall me reporting to you from a hospital bed. Oh no darling, nothing horrid at all, I was merely doing one of my routine annual sleep studies.

Well it's time again. Two weeks. In a nutshell its about light levels and their effects on circadian rhythms etc. Which necessitates the absence of time. No phone. No computer. No windows.

Don't worry its not the loony bin. I have many a sewing project/collage/jacket modification to do.

...as well as Blasberg's Classy, The Allure of Chanel and French New WAVE.

At least no hospital gowns are required which means i still get my morning dress-up ritual.

Naturally I do this for the advancement of science...

Quelle coincidence that the Barney's Warehouse Sale just so happens to begin the day after I am released. A consolation prize from above.

Have a lovely rest of the summer.

kisses

a moving picture

Coco Chanel once said that “Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes; fashion is in the air, born upon the wind; one intuits it… it comes from ideas, manners, events…”

I am finding more and more these days it also comes (in)directly from film.

Little did you know, this happens to be the subject of interest of my senior thesis and so I am spending the duration of this summer delving into pages and pages of non-glossy gorgeousness. This may come as a surprise to you, but there has not been a whole world of research done on this topic. Yes we all know who Edith Head was (most influential Hollywood costume designer EVER) and yes we all have our favorite fashion films but in the scholastic sense...not so much.

Now, fashion and glamour have always gone hand in hand. A sub clause in being "rich and famous" is that one must saturate oneself in sumptuousness and fur or (play the Alicia Silverstone card) and be simply naked against it. The film producers want to lure the public into the seats so obviously we need something pretty to look at.

In my opinion, the beauty of dress is its power to send a message to the world without the said wearer saying anything at all. It can be a disguise, true, but we as digest with our eyes, we internalize the beings around us and interpret them as such. Whether on the street or on the silver screen...fashion is the most discernible form of communication without a single syllable needing to be uttered. Street style (when there is a vision behind) acts as a moving picture as it encapsulates the mood, the essence, and the spirit of an era on a body. (one of the foremost reasons why Dior's New Look of the 50s was so à la mode was because women were so damn starved of fabulosity during the war.)

Now, in recent times, I imagine namely since the 90s with Versace having put the supermodel on the public pedestal and Anna Wintour's mega-commercialization of Vogue...we-not voguettes like us but the masses in general-just cant get enough of the fashion world. It's mysteriously magical, alluringly aloof, and gravitationally gorgeous. To most it seems so unattainable and yet one portion of our life is inadvertently dictated by it.

So all of the sudden, much to our delight, fashion films are seemingly a new genre in cinema. As is the advent of the fashion film festival, no not the trashy red carpet types US Weekly goes mad over that can make-or-break a celebrity stylist's career, no bona fide celebrations i.e Diane Pernet's A Shaded View on Fashion Film in Paris and the La Jolla Fashion Film Festival in California. Now some of you might be wondering...wtf is a fashion film...all movies have costume designers but i wouldn't exactly channel my fall look after Final Destination IV!

Good for you! Well, for me, a fashion film is not merely a treat for the eyes but it is one that breaches the barrier between the pretty and the public, bringing it three clicks closer to the divine world of mode. Voilà some ABC's of Fashion Films.

(darling i suggest you mute the music at the bottom of the page for your viewing pleasure)

A Fashion Film can:

• Advertise. (Just about EVERY designer these days has its own youtube feed: backstage videos, campaign supplements, filmed lookbooks, etc. this way we associate a certain lifestyle and image with the company rather than just x model)

The Miu Miu Woman's Tales: MUTA F/W 2011

If only we could all communicate by a fluttering our lashes behind glittering glasses.

The Row F/W 2007

The Olsen's debut line as styled by Vanessa Traina.

I would do just about anything to have that white funnel neck rabbit piece.

The Wang Gang by Interview Magazine, 2010.

As if his unitary braided nymphet-cum-footballer collection didnt have us salivating enough... this proves that life as a wangster is a perennial party.

• Bewilder. Where the clothing does all the talking and ultimately enhances the mystique.

• Critique. Aside from the frivolity and the fabulosity...there are plenty of aspects worthy of criticism. Therefore it come as no surprise that there are films that satirize the rag trade. Many of these come from people who take part in the fashion industry which makes it more authentic and horrifying.

Qui Etes-Vous Polly Maggoo, 1966.

William Klein's a cult film satirizing the industry through a surrealistic portrayal of a Brooklynite who moves to Paris and her televised life story. He was a fashion photographer himself, and the actress Dorothy McGowan was an actual fashion model from Brooklyn.

Makes the irony even better.

Blow-Up, 1966

For those of you who adore foreign films as I do...Michelangelo Antonioni's italian series: L'Aveventura, La Notte and L'Eclisse are cinematic masterpieces. With Blow-Up however, he mocks David Hemmings (David Bailey) a fashion photographer during London's Swinging Sixties who gets himself wrapped up in a murder mystery.

A very young Jane Birkin, and a very drugged Veruschka also appear in this film.

• Designer Directed. Occasionally fashion designers feel the need to outdo there already over-glammed selves and sprinkle their midas touch on a new medium. (I find that these films tend to be the most stylized, juxtaposing the fluidity of fabrics with the motion of film)

A Single Man, 2009.

Tom Ford stepped down from heading Gucci to follow his dream of directing.

His adaptation of A Single Man is a beautiful story both aesthetically and conceptually.

Here we have model Aline Weber in all her smoldering 60s finest.

The Tale of a Fairy Tale

Chanel Cruise 2012

Lagerfeld loves to get his fingerless gloves in everything, and cinema is no exception. These vignettes of his are hauntingly gorgeous, which compensates for the wretched acting. Perhaps it is all part of his humor, he is Karl after all. Or perhaps some models are just better with their mouths pouty yet hushed.

• Educate. Many more people go to the cinema than read Women's Wear Daily.

Bill Cunningham New York, 2010

A documentary about a man who needs no introduction.

Before Tommy, before Garance before Phil there was Bill. Still in theaters. Go.

The September Issue, 2009.

The post Devil Wears Prada look into the real Vogue.

The elusive and exclusive glossy in its most influential issue of the year.

• Flaunt. Beauty. Provocation. Fur. Sex. Repeat.

Et Dieu Crea La Femme, 1956.

Brigitte Bardot as the ultimate sex pot in the French Riviera.

The inspiration of at least 12 editorials annually.

See Magdelena Frackowiack's own homage to Bardot in Lagerfeld's Remember Now (another beauty).

La Dolce Vita, 1960.

Fellini was clearly way ahead of his times.

(see cat-as-a-headpiece trend for Fall 2011)

• Glorify. the lackluster of the world by glamming it up.

Act da Fool, 2010.

Proenza Schouler F/W 2010 collection

How You Look at It, 2010.

Poppy Delevigne for nowness.com

• Honor. Paying homage to the countless souls who have left a footprint on mode through their occupation in the industry or role as a style icon.

Nick Knight's ethereal tribute to THE visionary Alexander McQueen

L'Amour Fou, 2010.

Beautiful love story between Yves Saint Laurent and his beloved partner Pierre Bergé as well as their noteworthy art collection.

This would also be the documentary sector.

The multitude of Coco Chanel biopics, Lagerfeld Confidential, Marc Jacobs Louis Vuitton, YSL: His Life and Times, the upcoming Vidal Sassoon film etc.

• Inspire. The most important of them all so i'll stop here. Now this list goes on forever.

They started the trends, serve as habitual muses to contemporary designers today and will forever be inscribed in fashion history. Do you really think Nicolas Ghesquière came up with the lariat bag and the perfectly worn in motorcycle jacket-white tee-denim combo on his own visionary doing. Non. We can thank James Dean and Marlon Brando for that one. The current model off duty uniform brings out the Rebel Without a Cause in all of us.

My list also goes on forever. But there is one paramount film that stands out above the rest. Can you guess what it is?

Surprise surprise:

Breakfast at Tiffany's. 1961.

If you've never seen this film stop reading. call in sick. halt whatever it is you are doing and sign up for netflix. now. Not only is Audrey Hepburn one of the most gracious, giving, compassionate individuals I will unfortunately never have the opportunity of meeting, but her character, Holly Golightly has had a significant influence on who I am and how i consciously present myself today. Her love of life, nonchalance, elegance, eloquence, and all that jazz. My attraction towards the french language, handwritten notes, typewriter nostalgia, necessity to move to new york, acceptance of spontaneity and interest in decorum all came from this girl.

In a nutshell ( i truly hope none of this is new) Hepburn stars as Holly Golightly, this gorgeous little waif from Tulip, Texas who moves to manhattan and plays up a jazzy life with a cat named cat; she is a young broke and très fabulous call girl. She hasn't a cent on her and yet her fervor for life is as luminous as the dazzling earrings from her countless johns. She is fragile yet charming; she falls in love with the boy next door and yet is so terrified with letting herself belong to someone else that she is ultimately beside herself.

Not to mention she is dressed entirely by Hubert de Givenchy (as his personal muse, on could conclude that some of Tisci's current archival inspiration thus comes from her). AND in a broader sense, Breakfast presented a "new woman" at the start of the Sexual Revolution with a non-vulgar female protagonist who had her sterling silver lined cake and ate it too. Givenchy wisely liberated the woman from the constraints of Dior's New Look by slipping her into the only slightly fitted little black dress (that would later be auctioned for ~$923,000) . AND in terms of the silhouette of choice think about how the 50s girl was all curves: all the Betty's and the Marilyn's of the pin-up party. Then all of the sudden here is gorgeous gamine named Holly Golightly and suddenly bones are better than busts...paving the way for the (mod)ernized 60s clothes hanger of a Miss Edie Sedgwick and Twiggy etc.

my rant ends here. sorry for the length loves.

be your own fashion in film critic.

xx,

mlle. mode

color me beautiful

Salut toi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (hey you fabulous)

I am sorry, so deeply sorry. I'm back for good; to the states as well as to cyberspace. There are no excuses whatsoever that condone my negligence. I had the best year of life in Paris and after having lost 2 blackberries at various european flea markets as well as my computer conveniently crashing for three months I must admit it was next to impossible to consecrate my life to updating (let alone soaking up all the gorgeousness of the city).

But in a nutshell I spent my days walking, travelling, skipping my way into a few shows during mens fashion week, running into lagerfeld outside of colette, getting myself bilingualized at 5 hour long cafe/dance sessions with my parisian friends. I also had the pleasure of interning at WWD, casually interviewing claude montana at his book launch, scouring the city for budding fashion neighborhoods and a whole host of other privileged experiences. (my last day being when little miss carine announced her sudden departure just a hop, skip and a jump away from my cubical). technically i was over there to expand my scholastic horizons...but that is much less stimulating. all in all i was busy.

In the midst of all that paris prettiness I found myself in copenhagen, london, amsterdam, madrid, prague, hamburg, barcelona, and marrakech. this intercontinental frolicking catalyzed my realization the sublimity of this world we live in and just how much of a wonder it is.

From the rosy parisian sun setting above the white sanded jardin de tuileries

to the polka dotted silk skirts dangling from window upon window in barcelona...

to the saffron and amber walls of marrakech...

to yves saint laurent's majestic jardin majorelle....

all of the vibrancy and sultriness I was surrounded by inspired me go through a major life change and embrace something I swore off years ago.....

COLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I know what you are thinking right now.

"ooh my how coincidental it is that you suddenly had this revelation while that same five-letter word was being whispered/uttered/shouted at nearly every runway S/S 2011 collection. how original."

I KNOW. it just makes my life all the lovelier now that everybody else around me is saturating themselves in brights. let's start a rainbowlution everyone!

hey jil heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

being in all of those marvelous locales also inspired me to take (several) souvenirs back home.

for nostalgic purposes only of course.

Did you know that 85 kilos of french luggage is roughly 187 american pounds?

who get's a gold star for shopping...moi!

So after having revolutionized my life and having the tinted section of my color-organized closet almost equivalent in size to the charcoal/light black/ black/ dark black/leather portion...

Here you can see the prada approved fruit of my labor:

outside balmain fall 2010 inside the art institute summer 2011

okay...so i admit the change is not drastic. but its progress.

speaking of progress I will also be progressively shaking up breakfast at barneys. it will still be as verbose and adjective-laden as always! but I am delighted to announce the arrival of a more multi-faceted approach. more reviews, event coverage, fleeting ruminations and BOATLOADS OF DIYS! as glorious as my year across the atlantic was...it was a royal vacuum for the old bank account.

SO WE'RE GONNA GET CRAFTY!

it is so lovely to be back.

i've missed you so.

gros bisous,

mlle. mode

the day that all of your dreams came true

...was when H & M decided that they would bring the brilliance of Alber Elbaz to the masses.

By now you have all heard about the Lanvin Loves H & M collection, ogled it countless times online, eatched the campaign video as a daily inspiration and started a new work out routine to prepare yourself for the debut. For the eagerest of my readers currently stateside, presumably you spent hours in line yesterday, got a little aggressive, and left a happy shopper.

It is safe to say with all the press this collection has garnered, even throwing at haute couture show at the Pierre Hotel, chaos will ensue at the European release Tuesday. I plan on being the first customer in Paris, and am bring all of my american consumerist craziness along too. And with ADR's blessing, I wouldn't expect anything else.

I happen to consider myself quite skilled at stampede shopping, generally basing my vacation schedule around barney's warehouse sales etc, so I have encapsulated my personal advice/game plan in the form of a haiku:

L.eopard heels, and frilly dresses set for a parisian jaunt;

A.lber is giving us EXACTLY what we want.

N.o time for dilly dallying, this collection is fab;

V.amp it up big and hop in a cab.

I.n order to stay on task while waiting outside;

N.icen up to your neighbor and make them think your allied.

~~~

H.over in on the windows and never look back;

E.ffectiveness is key when massacring a rack.

A.s soon as the door opens, you run, no time to standby;

R.ealize that sometimes it IS okay to give another a black eye.

T.ake no time to chitchat, one doesn't shop to make friends;

S.he who has the most bags, wins in the end.

~~~

H.elping myself to EVERYTHING like a greedy swine.

M.ove over b****...that dress is mine!

And if my little poetic compostion wasn't good enough for you...some visual proof:

designed for all ages...

but only for the sassiest of the classy.

Relatively identical to the entire Spring 2009 runway.

all the way down blingy heels and the candy-colored baubles.

When wearing lanvin for h&m...

its quite possible that another young fabulous and broke girl will sport the same dress.

don't be offended...share the love.

The packaging alone is worth the fight.

Garment bags for every article, canvas bags, boxes etc,

all covered in Elbaz's widely adored sketches.

I personally am obsessed with his drawings, so I will make an extra effort to get everything.

My first stop will be the lipstick aisle.

I can have a bit of Lanvin for every season and every day.

Now channel your inner ADR and be uber fabulous.

Make Alber proud.

~~~

if you happen to see a makeshift leopard tent outside of the Champs-Elysees H&M,

be sure to say bonjour... but steer clear once the doors open.

xxx,

mlle. mode

~~~~

p.s. I really do apologize for how infrequently i post these days. I am currently interning at Women's Wear Daily office in Paris. While it is the most rewarding experience I've yet to have in my life...it is also very time consuming. but hopefully it'll bring me closer to my dream.

fashion's favorite holiday

Halloween is a blessed occasion where we can all channel our inner ADR's, as the more outrageously provacative you look the better. Wanna wear a massive cherry on your head, or a couture version of a gargantuan white bird? Go for it...oh wait, she already did. Ever wonder how on earth she could possibly outdo her general over-the-topness? Read this.

I was planning on incarnating Karl Lagerfeld this halloween, seeing as he is a national icon in France...but alas Paris is too classy to sell cheap white wigs. le sigh. I shall simply save it until I'm invited to the next Paris Vogue Masked Ball. And so I am going to be a "walking web" taking advantage of this publically accepted excuse to swath myself in sheer black fabric.

Happy Halloween lovelies!!!!

Make sure your costume doesn't outweigh your fun.

xx,

mlle. mode

fashion's night out...chez toi

In an industry being replicated severely frowned upon...it brings me so much joy that Vogue editors don't mind "borrowing" ideas from one another.

By now we are all very familiar with Fashion's Night Out, Wintour's personal economic stimulus plan. The premise is to get fashion obsessed people worldwide inebriated off of free champagne and macaroons, surrounding said lushes with models and designers thus sending them into a state of star-struck delirium. This euphoria mixed with loss of good sense inspires them to buy everything in sight in an effort to harmonize the leggy fabulosity clouding up their judgement. Which leaves them the morning after feeling-not only hung over-but also a marvelous mixture of elation, buyers remorse, and empty wallet syndrome. Clearly Wintour knows a thing or two about being a shyster as the second FNO was even more successful than the first.

And so it comes as no surprise that Alexandra Schulman wanted a British Vogue wanted to tap into all the consumerist rage, and is thus giving us Fashion's Night In.

Essentially FNI is an evening were hundreds of online luxury retailers are getting together and offering various promotions for the fashionably aware masses. This Monday, November 1, from 5pm to midnight (london time presumably) we are all invited to a chicer version of Black Friday, sans criminally slashed prices and sans turkey paraphernalia.

The participating retailers include all british fashion staples: Browns, Harrods, Topshop; the coveted looks of Pucci, Williamson and Stella; as well as the general houses of worship i.e net-a-porter and the outnet. Instead of complimentary drinks there will be free shipping, and instead of belting your heart out to the Proenza Schouler boys at Barneys, you can twitter a stylist from Harvey Nicks.

Naturally it will not have the same glam appeal as the FNO, but it will allure all the shoppers out there unwilling to wait in line and scuff up their tribs or who have no interest in mobbing Lagerfeld & Co. But then there is the issue with not being able to try on your potential wardrobe additions. Moreover, one tends to be less inspired to buy leather skinny pants,etc when lounging in their pjs with a pint of ben & jerry's at their side.

With months of my finger bling straining weighing down my finger facility, I am not

very agile on the keyboarding front, so I doubt ill be carpe dieming. So for all of you Fashion's Night INsiders, don't you dare slack off on account of you not needing to punch your way throught the shoe aisle...your competition just just a mere click away.

start your engines.

xx,

mlle. mode

A Field Guide to Fashion Week

Fashion month S/S 2011 is over. We will have to wait until early December to get our knickers all up in a twist salivating over the pre-fall collections.

All in all...I have to say I wasn't overwhelmingly impressed with the grand picture for Spring. But as I am enraptured by capes, leather, and anything black, no spring collection will ever be as I am undeniably a fall girl.

One aspect of fashion week however that is engaging, to anyone even remotely allured by gorgeousness, would be the ensembles showcased outside of the runway.

In my opinion...it is the editors, the bloggers, the style stalkers, and most importantly the MODELS OFF DUTY who really make me purr.

However, because I am not the only person who thinks like this, and in fact everybody is cuckoo for street chic...capturing it on camera becomes somewhat of an obstacle course. Whereas I stalk fashion week for the sheer bliss I feel being seen amongst these unquestionably chic creatures, most people outside the shows vigarously clicking away are there professionally and are contracted to get the best/exclusive/sublime-er shot than everyone else. i.e. the tommy ton, garance dore, scott schuman, phil oh, craig arend, phil oh etc.

So as a preface...you have probably seen better shots on jak & jil, streetpeeper etc. I know, ive seen and loved them as well. But know that they were much more aggressive in capturing the fabulosity through their canon rebel lens. Note...its really hard to hold a camera steady/hit the shutter in a timely fashion when you are shivering all over by the fur/leather/leggy divinity a few yards away from you.

In any case, as I am unfortunately still a student and not yet a voguette-in-training I only went to three shows: Balmain, Dior, Isabel Marant, Rick Owens. But all four evoke very different vibes thus eliciting a grand variation in attendee apparel. Besides, in my opinion all three were far more exciting outside then the punk rock/sailor on leave in hawaii business strutting down the catwalk.

So without further ado:

10 Steps to Create ENSEMBLE ENVY during fashion week:

10. Sport an unmarked leather sac-designed to be unrecognizably chic, but inherently "it"

Garance and her Givenchy Nightingale

I cannot decide which is best...
the bag, the boots, or the fur-sleeved sweatshirt???

Proenza Schouler PS1...my personal favorite.

Big enough to fit all of your invitations...small enough to tuck under your first row seat...or big enough to fit your next oufit (though less fashionable men are often hired for that one). Most frequently, the Chanel 2.55, Proenza Schouler PS1, or Balenciaga Lariat.

9. Ride a bike, while wearing platforms and a maxi skirt. Use said "it" bag your less functional, yet incredibly cooler wicker basket.

8. Bring a male friend with complimentary fashion taste. Ensure that you still look better/taller.

Emmanuelle Alt & Co both effortlessly cool and synchronized.

Julia Sarr-Jamois and friend looking very pretty in pink.

Scott & Garance: The reigning couple of fashion photography.

Question: what happens when they both have to postion themselves for a shot?

Technically her legs are longer...so I assume she would get it first.

7. Be Kate Moss

And have a ring big-boned men hovering around you, walking at a pace so slowly (its hard to be one woman and 6 bodyguards against about 100 paparazzo + me) surely you'd delay the show. Regardless of the fact that your razor sharp YSL Tributes can easily become a defense weapon, your bodyguards will inevitably start fights for you to ward off the overeager cameraman. (p.s. this happened)

6. Be nonchalantly fabulous:

Do: Drink in between shows/work.

Do: Talk on one blackberry have a backup dangling in your other hand.

Do: Be Olivier Zahm and be the constantly on the run, evoking that just rolled out of bed after a long night of partying and forgot i was a fashion editor look you do so well.
Do: Wear a leather motorcycle jacket.

5. Be this girl:

Rocking your multilayered sheer black dress with rugged shearling booties and an ultra coveted chanel backpack. Be ready to incite a flurry of jealousy, mysticism and girlfights.

4. Be a model.

With this factor you can get away with ANYTHING...and still be ultimately cooler than everybody else. Your extended leggage is the equivalent to being closer to the sun/higher beings...so you are automatically superior. You will be instantly forgiven for flooding hemlines, mussed hair and anyt other general human flaw because...you can't possibly be that toweringly chic and still human.

3. Add a rather taboo/childish item to your repertoire and make it work.

Definitely helps if its leather. or black. or the result of one of Lagerfeld's "hobby themed" inventions.

Also works seamlessly if you work for Rick Owens. And wear a riding helmet.

Easiest if you are a model...even the most infantile object becomes chic.

2. Embrace legal public nudity, and swath that body of yours in some black and sheer.

p.s. I am OBSESSED with this trend/law/life mantra.

1. Be Anna Dello Russo

Nobody does it like her. And being as fabulous as she is, it makes perfect sense that she would brush her shoulders off in emerald plumage.

~~~

And if all else fails (and #4 doesn't apply to you) try mixing several of these steps at once, throw on some rouge and unintentionally get yourself in close proximity to one of those divine creatures...

obviously I didn't intentionally wriggle my way into Caroline's shot...hopefully she didn't mind too much. also she takes the best street snaps ever (not just because i am biased). If you have never been to her site before...get ready for some major swedish swooning.

~~~

So sorry, this post was long overdue. La vie parisienne is sublime naturally...but packed tighter than a herve leger bandage dress. I will try to be better about frequency, really I will.

bisous from paris,

mlle. mode