Paris fashion - Garden for inspiration

Emanuel Ungaro rose like a phoenix from the ashes on Monday with a ravishing spring-summer 2011 collection of delicate cocktail dresses that were valuable of the Ungaro label.


The ready-to-wear collection shown was a initiation by fire for the label’s new creative director, Giles Deacon, the newest in a long series of designers to pass through the storied Avenue Montaigne house.
The Briton’s date came on the heels of the Ungaro’s terrible collaboration with starlet Lindsey Lohan, and he’s widely regarded as the last and best hope for a house that has been foundering since the 2004 departure of its founder.


So it was with bated breath that the fashion crowd descended en masse on the glass hothouse in a Paris park where the collection was unveiled.Instead of a proper runway show, the label opted to stage a mock cocktail, with models in beaded silk shift dresses and classy tweed suits sipping Champagne on a grassy knoll.
A general atmosphere of approval filled the hothouse air, with journalists and buyers murmuring positively about the delicate, airy concoctions of sheer silk, beads and ostrich feathers which — finally — struck the delicate balance between youth and classiness that the label had long been seeking in vain.


Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney looked to the late ’70s for a relaxed spring-summer 2011 ready-to-wear collection Monday of high-waisted trousers, masculine blazers and pleated skirts with bold, leg-baring slits.


Leonard
It was Leonard’s moment. With the bohemian 1970s vibe in the air in New York and Milan, the Paris-based fashion house, which has for decades ignored the ever-changing winds of fashion, churning out its trademark oversized flower prints season after season, found itself spot on trend.


Valli
Italy’s talented Giambattista Valli tamed his inner tiger, fielding a spring-summer 2011 ready-to-wear collection on Monday that saw more domesticated fabrics nudging out the roaring animal prints that usually dominate his work.


There was still some leopard, mainly on his trademark boxy retro, color-blocked cocktail dresses, but white sheer silks with baroque curlicue appliqués in silver dominated the collection.

Musician students are signed up as models

Two music students from Bath Spa University are swapping their studios for the catwalk, after being recruited as models by a UK fashion house.

Stephanie Ward and Sebastian Brice, who are both in Bath-based rock bands, have been signed up by Burberry and they have already been strutting their stuff in photo shoots.

They also feature in a new compilation CD which aims to help develop emerging British music talent.
Joe Bennett from Bath Spa University said: "It's always wonderful to see our music graduates and students in such high-profile industry roles.

"It's particularly pleasing in this case because Stephanie and Sebastian are well-known from their creative work."

Stephanie plays piano and sings for the five-piece band Kill It Kid and was spotted by the firm while performing in Texas, USA in March 2010.

Sebastian is guitarist and lead vocalist for the band Avius - his modelling career began in November 2009 when he was spotted while on holiday in Amsterdam.

Talk of the town, Celebrities.

Fashion model's little talk.

The autumn collection of Philo's

For the past year, under Philo's creative directorship, the French luxury label has become eminently desirable. The British-born designer Phoebe Philo currently whips up a not-so-quiet storm at Celine. With some anticipation that the fashion world gathered en masse at the Tennis Club in Paris yesterday to see what this influential designer had to offer for spring/summer 2011.Despite a more colorful and light-hearted mood elsewhere, Philo is clearly sticking to her guns and a no-frills, highly rigorous aesthetic more tastefully proportioned and elegant than ever dominated.  

Celine denim looked suitably dressed down for weekend wear. A black crepe jumpsuit with a slick racer back and nothing but a gleaming gold zip interrupting its immaculate surface was the ultimate in modern evening attire. The new Celine look may seem accessible and therein lies at least part of its seductive power, appearances may be deceptive. There are very few women tall, slender or indeed stylish enough to carry off such a specific silhouette. The preternaturally chic Philo is one and that message was driven home neatly when she stepped out to take her bows.

He was quick to point out, however, that any concept was approached in an abstract as opposed to literal manner. The very precise ritual of kimono-wrapping, for example, was merely hinted at in fragile, broderie anglaise trimmed panels encasing the torso of a shirt or dress. For all the complexity of ideas and construction at the heart of this collection, the most remarkable thing about it was lightness - despite a process that is extremely painstaking.

Paris Vogue’s 90th anniversary

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To night in Paris, fashion’s greatest names turned up to celebrate Paris Vogue’s 90th anniversary at a masquerade ball thrown by editor Carine  Roitfeld. Gisele Bündchen, Diane von Furstenberg, and Karolina Kurkova were a few of the ever rememberable faces — behind their masks, of course — and the theme gave them carte blanche to go all out, sartorially speaking.


Who was your favorite? We’re torn between the all out fabulosity that is Diane and Lily Donaldson’s siren-red ensemble.

Street fashion

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