Picture Perfect |
Despite a heavy downpour, the stars aligned last night as Roberta Armani toasted Italy's cinematic achievements and the Academy Award nominations of two heavyweights. The cocktail party stood out on the weekend's social calendar, honoring Martin Scorsese's best director nod for The Wolf of Wall Street and Italy's own Paolo Sorrentino, whose film The Great Beauty is up for best foreign language film on Sunday. Attention turned to Scorsese as he entered the Rodeo Drive flagship, greeting well-wishers including New York transplants Fran Lebowitz and Graydon Carter. Cate Blanchett elicited quite the stir as she made her way inside, radiant in an Armani Privé jumpsuit. "I've been doing primarily theater for the last six years, so I've had a hiatus from film," Blanchett, the face of Armani's Sì campaign, said. "So it's an extraordinary and once again unexpected way to come back into the arena—I'm shocked and surprised and delighted." She's up for best actress for her buzzed-about role in Blue Jasmine.
Among a crowd that included Robert De Niro, Patricia Clarkson, Emmy Rossum, and Mamie Gummer, Samuel L. Jackson discussed his imminent trip to London to begin filming Avengers: Age of Ultron. As Glenn Close made her way to greet Scorsese, Jamie Foxx had him doubled over in laughter before his daughter asked the director to pose for a selfie. But it being Oscars weekend, talk casually veered from film to fashion. Olivia Munn remained coy about her pick for the Vanity Fair party: "It's the first dress I tried on, and it's a special dress because of the history and the story that goes with it," she said of her decision. "If everyone around me that knows fashion is happy, then I'm happy."
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50% Inspiration, 50% Perspiration |
When the sumptuous, Barneys-sponsored Dries Van Noten: Inspirations previewed at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs last night, fellow countryman Cédric Charlier was one of the first through the door. "I've been an admirer since the beginning, so I'm thrilled to see such a commemoration of Dries' work," he said. "He's a model for me, for his independence above all, but also his longevity and his creative force." Guests Thursday night, including Rick Owens, Michelle Lamy, Phillip Lim, and Maria Cornejo, lingered over a collection contextualized by other fashion icons (an embroidered jacket by Schiaparelli, a Bar jacket and skirt by Christian Dior), as well as film excerpts (The Piano, A Clockwork Orange) and a number of art masterpieces. Van Noten reckoned that the 400-odd pieces on show represent perhaps 5 percent of his archive. "From the moment that I could afford to keep things, I did. It was great to dive into all those bags and see what was there and talk about it. [The show] really tells a story."
Things got crazy on several levels over at the jam-packed Balmain after-party at the famed Crazy Horse cabaret. There was a private show by the dancers; a host of models from the Balmain show; and, above all, the real reason for the shoving, yelling, smashed glasses, chair climbing, and general hysteria: Rihanna. To her tremendous credit, the star kept her cool, smiling sweetly and posing (in a much-murmured-about mesh top) with Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing. "She is the most amazing woman ever in the world, I love her, she's so humble and so talented," the designer shouted over the din. "She's not just an inspiration to me, she's an inspiration to my whole generation and many to come." Asked whether she liked the show, whose high-kicking, writhing dance numbers ranged from pole dancing and rope acrobatics to a rousing rendition of "Champagne Taste," Rihanna exclaimed simply, "I fucking loved it!" Squeezed into the VIP banquettes alongside Joan Smalls, Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Jessica Alba, Angela Lindvall, and Anja Rubik, Karlie Kloss said, "I took ballet for many years; I've been up on that stage. I can totally understand the strength and discipline it takes to do that. I have real respect for those women." Added Lindvall, "I've just started doing aerial yoga. [This show] gave me a million ideas. Those girls really own it."
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Swede Success |
The last time H&M came to Paris, the Swedish fast-fashion chain was feting its capsule collaboration with Isabel Marant. Under a giant disco ball. Last night, the reason for all the champagne was the Fall collection of its own house label. Jessica Alba, Solange Knowles, and Miranda Kerr posed for the paparazzi in the front row, and French pop star Cécile Cassel (the half-sister of actor Vincent Cassel) performed onstage. H&M doesn't do anything small. On the catwalk, Joan Smalls, Mariacarla Boscono, Anna Ewers, and the gang wore big smiles and clothes that tapped into the season's key trends: oversize tailoring and wispy, lingerie-inspired slips; shearling outerwear (the shearling is faux, but the suede and leather are real); chunky sweaters; and even glittery sports jersey minidresses à la Tom Ford via Geoffrey Beene.
"We're always thinking about the girl who wants to look cool and effortless," said Ann-Sofie Johansson, the head of design, new development. It didn't go unnoticed by Jourdan Dunn, who sat out this show to watch from the front row with the other bold-facers. "I really liked the shearling that Nadja Bender was wearing and the white piece that Lindsey Wixson had on," she said. "There's a lot of wearable stuff. That's the thing about H&M, it's very wearable." From a pro like Dunn, that's high praise.
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A Momentous Mercredi |
On the Avenue Montaigne, the panel of forty fashion authorities (including Style.com's Tim Blanks) tasked with whittling down the LVMH Prize short list gathered alongside nominees' friends and fans to take a closer look at the fledgling talents. Even Karl Lagerfeld and Kanye West turned out to peruse. Some designers were relatively known, such as Simone Rocha and Simon Porte Jacquemus, but most were not. "I was very impressed by the diversity of applicants," remarked Delphine Arnault after her walk-through. "It's really exciting to meet them. These are the stars of tomorrow." Jean-Jacques Picart reckoned that he reviewed close to six hundred of the 1,221 submissions. "It's very interesting, and so moving—you sort of get addicted," he said. Offered Pat McGrath, "The quality of their work is incredible; it will be almost impossible to choose. But I've got to go home and get my brain together first!"
A few blocks up the Seine, at Monsieur Bleu, Vionnet owner Goga Ashkenazi and Olivier Zahm welcomed an eclectic bunch, including Anthony Vaccarello, Angela Lindvall, Farida Khelfa, André Saraiva, Catherine Baba, and Sarah Andelman, for a buzzy, loud, and decidedly Purple party that rocked over to Le Baron sometime after midnight, only to pick up even more steam. Emerging at the scene, Lindvall offered, "That's the thing about Purple parties: They mean endless nights!"
Meanwhile, on the Left Bank, things were taking a turn for the nostalgic. "It was definitely a trip down memory lane," said Lazaro Hernandez. "Oh, yeah, I mean, our collections are so autobiographical," added Jack McCollough. Hernandez again: "It's like, 'That's the idea we came up with that day on the road trip—'" "Or, 'Wow, remember that time we got in that fight…'" So concluded McCollough, as he and Hernandez talked about the process of putting together their new exhibition at Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche. The exhibition, which opened Wednesday evening with a cocktail soiree and a concert by Ariel Pink, features about eighty looks culled from more than ten years' worth of Proenza Schouler collections. And according to McCollough and Hernandez, it amounts to a very appropriate introduction to the French consumer.
"What's amazing is that Bon Marché is such a Paris institution," Hernandez noted, as guests such as Arizona Muse, Humberto Leon, and Victoria Traina milled around, studying looks. "And so this exhibit, it's not just for the French fashion people, it's for all the Parisians who shop here." Indeed, the store offered the Proenza boys prime real estate on the ground floor for the show, which includes not only clothes but a short film about Hernandez and McCollough and their creative process, and a video cube flashing up old show footage and collection prints. There is also a pop-up shop, with PS1s in exclusive colors and other Proenza goodies.
"I think the main thing we learned from this whole process was, we're more consistent than we give ourselves credit for," McCollough posited. "Yeah, we tend to feel kind of bipolar going from one show to the next," Hernandez added, "because the ideas are always so different." "But," inserted McCollough, in that familiar, dynamic Proenza Schouler duo way, "going back through everything, we were like, 'Oh, hey, we actually have a thing here, don't we?'"
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Ice Age, Redux |
The Oscar ceremony may not take place until Sunday, but the celebrations have officially begun in Tinseltown. Bulgari, along with host Naomi Watts, celebrated red-carpet style across the ages last night at the Soho House. The brand brought together a bevy of starlets, including Olivia Munn, Emmy Rossum, and Dianna Agron, to pay homage to Hollywood glamour. Among a crowd that included Ashley Greene and Erin Wasson, guests eyed the oversize images lining the perimeter of the garden terrace, featuring celebrated actresses adorned in Bulgari bijoux. But not all thought was just about baubles—the impending red carpet was top of mind, too. "I hope there are bold choices that are made, because it's been a bit bland," Camilla Belle said. "I hope someone comes up with something very exciting, colorful, and fashion forward."
Representing one of this weekend's biggest contenders were American Hustle's Elisabeth Röhm and Jeremy Renner, who came to fete 130 years of Bulgari and settled into a back corner alongside Kate Hudson. Photographed amid the vitrines of archival and heritage gems, Watts, wearing a brilliant choker by the brand, reflected on the jewelry's timeless quality: "They're bold, dramatic, but not over the top. They've been around for such a long time, and yet their older stuff still stands up today," she said, admiring a picture of friend Nicole Kidman's own Bulgari moment overhead. But as an attendee of Sunday night's main event, Watts admitted she's yet to decide on a dress. "It's so hard to choose jewelry before the dress because that's obviously such a big part of it," she confessed. "If the dress doesn't look good, then the necklace doesn't get the right moment."
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A Goode Cause |
Eric Goode has a knack for bringing people together. First, it was with his iconic eighties New York nightclub, Area, and again last night, when many of those Area veterans gathered for a fundraiser at The Bowery Hotel for Goode's Turtle Conservancy in Ojai, California. Drawing together a crowd of friends from the eighties inevitably means one thing: nostalgia. "We probably met at Area, but my sober memory with Eric doesn't really start until the nineties, when we used to play basketball on the streets," said Fisher Stevens, who accepted an award for his support of the Conservancy. "It wasn't until recently that our relationship became about saving animals." Turns out, saving animals is a cause that can get a lot of people together: Peter Beard, Harvey Keitel, Scout LaRue Willis, Padma Lakshmi, and Stella Schnabel all came out to support the initiative.
An eighties photograph of Madonna taken by her then-stylist Maripol was a crowd favorite at the silent auction, as was an embellished turtle shell by Julian Schnabel (also in attendance). Wait, turtle shell? One guest took a double take: "I hope that thing died of natural causes! We're at a turtle fundraiser!" The origins of the shell weren't clear, but no matter: It ended up going for $40,000 at auction.
All jokes aside, as Goode explained, turtles are the most threatened group of animals on the planet. In addition, honeybees are mysteriously disappearing, as are crucial oxygen-producing plankton. Said Goode: "There have been five big extinctions on Earth; the last one was the dinosaurs. This extinction is the sixth, and unfortunately it's because of humans. But that also means that we hold the keys to the future." Stevens added: "And we have to do something. When the ecosystem falls apart, we fall apart." Club kids have to grow up at some point, right?
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Where's the Fire? |
Via Montenapoleone was thronged with Milanese last night hoping for a sight of Roberto Cavalli. When he finally arrived at his new flagship—at 16,200 square feet and five floors, it's the biggest RC store in the world—they erupted in cheers. But if the street outside was jammed, inside the boutique was even more packed. Guards did their best to direct traffic up and down the mother-of-pearl-inlaid staircases, but they were no match for the crowds.
Later, at Il Salumaio, where Cavalli and wife Eva hosted dinner, a much smaller crowd that included Samantha Barks, Isabeli Fontana, and Franca Sozzani gathered to toast the designer. Cavalli had caused a bit of a stir with the ring of fire at his show earlier in the day, but the only hint of smoke-related controversy at the dinner came from the one or two guests sneaking a cigarette.
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<em>Private</em> Eye |
Any night of Milan fashion week, the bar at the Principe Hotel is thumping with oontz oontz beats. Last night was different. Franca Sozzani was throwing a little party for Giancarlo Giammetti and his big book, Private, and the likes of Pat McGrath, Joan Smalls, and Georgia May Jagger turned up to raise a glass (or several) with Giammetti and his business partner Valentino Garavani. With partygoers sitting down in the leather booths to eat small passed plates of risotto and penne, there was a real family feeling to the evening. Page through Giammetti's giant tome and a similar sensibility comes across—only Giammetti and Garavani's tribe eats meals cooked by personal chefs in Gstaad and on Garavani's yacht, the T.M. Blue One.
Over at the branch of Da Giacomo that looks out onto the Duomo, meanwhile, Milan's newest tribe was gathering. Jeremy Scott, the freshly appointed creative director of Moschino, was celebrating his barnstorming first collection for the Italian label with supporters like Leigh Lezark and Katy Perry. Stealing the show, though, was model Lily McMenamy, who was vamping for anyone with a camera or an iPhone in one of the designer's dresses, a straight-off-the-catwalk number inspired by a Budweiser can. Cheers.
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Opening Ceremonies |
Last night saw a throwdown of the dueling Giacomos in Milan, as the two offshoots of local institution Da Giacomo hosted the evening's main events. At Giacomo Bistrot, American EICs gathered to celebrate Max Mara's Face of the Future Award, which every year singles out one actress for her talent and style. Despite being laid low by a toxic shrimp on her flight from New York, this year's recipient, Rose Byrne, bucked up for her first-ever trip to Milan. When she wondered what she should see, T's Deborah Needleman brushed aside suggestions of The Last Supper or a day trip to Como in favor of shopping for jewelry from her own secret find of a store. (Now what was its name? Oh, right, then it wouldn't be a secret.) A fanboy dinner guest was more thrilled to hear from the Insidious star how some of the scariest effects were achieved in those films. It might hurt to watch, but it never hurts to ask.
Meanwhile, at Giacomo Arengario, the restaurant that overlooks Milan's Gothic cathedral, which always feels as awe-inspiring as a house of God should at night, Franca Sozzani and Remo Ruffini were hosting a dinner to mark the opening of Giambattista Valli's store in Milan. "Just friends," said Valli, but that fortuitously meant people you'd like to break bread with: the Brandolini d'Adda sisters; Linda Fargo; Massimo Piombo; Margherita Missoni and her husband, Eugenio Amos; and host Ruffini…and that was just my table. All in all, a good night for the Giacomos.
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The Last Hurrah |
"It's like a high school reunion almost," exclaimed Phillip Lim at The Last Magazine dinner at Indochine last night. The designer was tucked into a booth with friends Richard Chai, Prabal Gurung, and Last's Tenzin Wild, all out to toast the downtown biannual's twelfth issue—a typically incisive mix of new talent (Kelela, Josef Salvat) and supers re-envisioned (cover girl Daria Werbowy). The crowd was also there to celebrate the last days of New York fashion week, of course. "I consider this Last dinner like the congratulations, because you see all your colleagues, your friends," Lim continued. "You actually see everyone in their natural state, not in a hyper state. It's literally like the last celebration."
That was truer than ever last night, with Winter Storm Pax looming. After dinner, Thakoon Panichgul, Eddie Borgo, Anja Rubik, and Lindsey Wixson—full fur coat and all—took to their feet for some between-table dancing. "The whole point from the beginning was working with all our friends," Wild's cofounder, Magnus Berner, told Style.com. "Six years down the road, we're still supporting each other. Now, we're also doing WSJ., but it's also brought some new life into The Last Magazine."
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Light a Spark |
Last night Miu Miu threw a party for Spark and Light, the latest in its series of Women's Tales short films. The happening was at Diamond Horseshoe, a famous nightclub in the basement of the Paramount Hotel, which had its heyday in the 1940s and even hosted friends and family after Andy Warhol's funeral in 1987. "I haven't been here in twenty-five years, but I remember Halston was sitting right over there…" said one seasoned partygoer. Sarah Paulson, Anna Kendrick, and Hailee Steinfeld all turned up. "It's a fashion face-off!" said Anna Dello Russo of the matching face-print Prada dresses she and Giovanna Battaglia were sporting. But who wore it better? "Me, of course!" Then Battaglia chimed in: "No way—mine has earrings." She had added two bejeweled brooches to her hips, over the print's "ears."
The real stars of the evening, though, were the emerging talents featured in the film, director So Yong Kim and actress Riley Keough. Keough stars as a girl who dozes off while waiting for a tow truck to remove her car from a snowbank, and dreams of a cozy sojourn to a house decorated with Miu Miu fabrics. Working with the brand was a seamless affair, Keough told Style.com, except for one minor snag: The shoot was in Iceland, and in forgetting her own winter boots, the actress had to borrow the director's. "Unfortunately, Miu Miu doesn't make snow boots!"
Downtown at Acme, the talk at the Rodarte party was about the Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and Yoda prints the Mulleavy sisters had shown earlier that day. Said Laura: "It's definitely the most literal reference we've ever done. We just wanted to do something intensely personal, and there really was no other option when we thought about it." Personal it was: The show and after-party coincided with Kate's birthday, so there were lightsaber toys all around, and Kate blew out the candles on her cake to the Star Wars theme song.
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Keeping It in the Family |
"These models look better than I ever will—look at those legs!" said one guest last night at the Barneys New York dinner launching its Spring 2014 ad campaign. The surprise in that statement is that "Brothers, Sisters, Sons & Daughters" uses 17 transgender women and men, almost none of whom were professional models prior to the shoot—and they all look really, really good. Of course, making it through a rigorous casting process and having Bruce Weber behind the lens helps, too. Ryley Pogensky is hoping to get signed by a modeling agency after the campaign goes wide. He told Style.com, "My experience as a black trans person has been especially unique. But I don't want to be fetishized—you know, 'that trans model.' I just want to be a great model."
"I wanted to be involved when I knew Bruce was on board," said another model, Amsterdam DJ and ballerina Valentijn De Hingh, "because he pushes boundaries in really beautiful ways." Weber has a lot invested in the project. Not only has he been working with Barneys creative director Dennis Freedman for fifteen years, but the first subject he shot when he moved to New York City was Candy Darling, the transgender muse of Andy Warhol.
The thirty-five-minute Weber-directed campaign video premiered during dinner, and was greeted with cheers, applause, and a few tears as it veered from fashion photography to searing personal testimony. Footage from the campaign shoot is intercut with scenes from Paris Is Burning and references to Studio 54 club culture, a time when the trans community in New York first began to flourish. "There has been so much progress for LGB over the years, but we've forgotten the 'T' at the end," Freedman said. "And we wanted this to be so much more than a fashion shoot—it's about sharing the stories of these incredible people."
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Purple Drank |
Purple did things a bit differently for its inevitable New York fashion week dinner this season: It gave everyone room to move. The venue was Narcissa, the spacious new restaurant at the Standard East, and the mood expansive as the likes of Ryan McGinley and Crystal Renn supped on baby chicken in truffle broth and vegetables sourced from Standard owner André Balazs' own 85-acre upstate farm.
"Room for you means room for your ideas," Olivier Zahm suggested. "All that we need is to circulate between ideas and projects. If you're living in a saturated world, as we do, you can get lost." The interconnected Purple crowd has always been one to circulate; cohost Olivier Theyskens (Theory sponsored) was one of many people in the room speaking native French as he did so. Mazdack Rassi, who wasn't, took a table with Sante D'Orazio, who has photos of David Blaine and Pamela Anderson in the latest Purple issue. At Anderson's request, D'Orazio was the first to shoot the Baywatch star after she chopped off her famous mane. "It was a big, bold move, and shockingly beautiful," he enthused. "I mean, the nerve—basically, the balls—to do that, you know?"
The party moved downstairs, to Chez André, where Orlando Bloom kept a low profile underneath a gray fedora and Stephen Dorff and Mario Sorrenti made the rounds. If there was less room for ideas in the basement, no one seemed to mind.
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Positively 14th Street |
Diane von Furstenberg's "Bohemian Wrapsody" collection ended yesterday with cake and a shower of golden confetti—and the celebrations continued at the after-party. Why the festive mood? It's been forty years since the designer, at 26, introduced the dress that made her famous. And just as Von Furstenberg moved her runway out of the tents this season, she took her party from Indochine back home to her roomy studio on West 14th Street, where the likes of Karen Elson and Karlie Kloss (both of whom had walked for DVF that afternoon) and Zoë Kravitz circulated.
Leandra Medine, meanwhile, was eyeing Fran Lebowitz and trying to muster the courage to go introduce herself. "I should just grow some fashion balls," she concluded. On the subject of the wrap dress, Medine offered, "I think it has made a lot of women feel very sexy without having to show too many limbs. That's a special experience."
And one that's definitively multigenerational. "My mother wore it, I wore it, my daughter wore it, and now my granddaughter wears it," Von Furstenberg noted, adding that the wrap's cultural impact has surprised her as much as its popularity. "Did I think my dress would end up in sociology classes? No." Moments later, servers cleared the buffet table and replaced it with a dessert spread from Sant Ambroeus so breathtaking that it had dozens of onlookers snapping photos—even before the lady of the hour started cutting cake.
Down the street at Up & Down, Public School's Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne walked into a heroes welcome. Big-name fans like Tyson Chandler and Victor Cruz joined to toast the duo, whose foray into womenswear is likely to bring in yet more high-profile supporters. It will also change their social life in other ways. "No late mornings for a long time, not until after Paris," Chow vowed. All the more reason to savor the victory beat, he shouted. "You're actually just experiencing it three times louder than you should be—that's what the vibes will do to you. You feel like, 'This is the best song I've ever heard!'"
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Wild Streak |
Fashion survived the trip to Brooklyn! But only one change at a time: The Alexander Wang show may have been across the East River, but the after-party found the Wang gang safe and sound back in Manhattan, at the Meatpacking District's venue of the moment, Gilded Lily. If the scale of the shindig was smaller than in seasons past, the dance floor was just as sweaty. No matter how busy she is during fashion week, Joan Smalls told us she always turns up. "Alex's parties are just so fucking fun." Joining her on the dance floor were Caroline de Maigret, Hanne Gaby Odiele, and Zoe Kravitz. DJs Jesse Marco and Baauer kept them on their feet with a remix of Kanye West's "New Slaves" that replayed the "Alexander Wang, Alexander Wang" lyric over and over. And after a performance from Sharaya J, Wang himself grabbed the mic, pointed to the hip-hop up-and-comer, and screamed, "Watch out because she is about to take over!" It was a statement that only one who has already taken over could make.
Downtown at the Spot at Koi Soho, Christian Siriano's postshow bash drew his own circle of supporters, Alexa Chung and Harley Viera-Newton included. Natasha Lyonne said that she wasn't sure about it at first, but fashion week might be growing on her: "When you're at a show, it's a very specific performance. The photographers, the electricity in the room, it's so dramatic. When Anna Cleveland came out on Christian's runway tonight, it was more dramatic than any theater."
Prabal Gurung had his fair share of excitement when a leopard-thong-sporting, medieval-crown-wearing streaker photobombed his afternoon show. The designer was letting off steam at Up & Down late into the night. His party attire? The streaker's gold crown.
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Fit to Print |
"A Celebration of Incredible Women" are the words stamped across the debut issue of Porter, online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter's new foray into print editorial. The guest list at last night's launch party at the Standard, East Village had no shortage of such ladies. NAP founder Natalie Massenet and Porter's editor-in-chief Lucy Yeomans greeted the likes of Jenna Lyons, Estelle, and Erin Wasson. As for their decision to put Gisele on the mag's Inez & Vinoodh-lensed cover, "What's not right about a woman who manages a business, is a wife, mother, philanthropist, and looks beautiful without makeup?" Massenet asked.
Gisele couldn't attend the bash—too busy being master of all she surveys, we assume. But a bevy of other stand-up supes did. Karolina Kurkova, who opened the Cushnie et Ochs show earlier in the day, revealed that she became an online shopping convert after having her son. "As a mother, online is the way to go. You can do it in bed, late at night, at the airport…it saves you quality time that you can spend with your family." Agyness Deyn, in town from L.A. to promote her new menswear-inspired women's range, was also a digital shopping skeptic—until she figured out the return process. "If it doesn't fit, you can just send it back. At first, I was like, You can do that?" she deadpanned.
Speaking of online shopping, why did a virtual retailer decide to launch an editorial magazine—and a print one, at that, in 2014? "At the 2006 WWD CEO Summit, I talked about magazines becoming stores, and stores becoming magazines. I haven't deviated from that," Massenet, a former editor, asserted. Yeomans also weighed in: "All I want to do as an editor is to give women what they want. And right now, they still love print."
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