LupRocks Gossip

Grey Matters at Paris Couture Fashion Week

One of my favorite words of wisdom Coco Chanel left us with is “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” These wise words seemed to resonate with all the designers who showed collections at Couture Fashion Week in Paris this week.  Amongst them, Karl Lagerfeld brought to life this wonderful idea, by bringing his wild thoughts to life in a collection that will be remembered forever. The collection plays on volume, stitching, draping, and structure to bring back to fashion what has been missing from the past few years - innovation.  Plus a palette of muted gray and black was a refreshing break from the neon invasion to be seen over this summer.     

(Images all Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel)

Accessories seen in Paris that you should keep an eye out for are thick multi strand solid color bead necklaces seen on the Dior runway, lucite heels seen on the Chanel runway, clutches of all shapes and sizes on the Armani Privé runway, and electric tights and wide chap-esque boots from Givenchy.

(From left to right: Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Armani Privé, Givenchy, John Galliano for Dior, John Galliano for Dior, and Givenchy. )

The color at the forefront of this past week is defiantly shades of grey. Besides Chanel as previously mentioned, Grey was also seen on the runways of Givenchy, Elie Sabb, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, and Armani Privé, and although other bits of pastels and hues of purple and navy popped in and out of the various collections grey and black outlined what is to be expected for Fall.

 (From left to right: Givenchy, Elie Sabb, and John Paul Gaultier)

Couture brings out all the stops. With extraordinary trims, clever draping and structuring, plays on volume, and of course plenty of hand-done extras, this was a couture showing true to form and absolutely exquisite.  See all the shows at Style.com!

 (From left to right: Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Valentino.)

All photos taken from Style.com .

 

 

 

Ligts, Camera, Fashion - Paris Fashion Week

Ahh…It is that special time of year again.  Even talking about it makes me as gitty as a little kid in a candy store.  The gloom that winter in New York brings becomes bearable, the start of white tents being erected makes you jump for joy, and news from Paris floods the media server.  All of which indicate one very amazing thing.  New York Fashion Week is just around the corner.   A very eventful and monumental Paris Fashion Week comes to an end today, shifting the spotlight from the fashion capital of the world – Paris -to its suburb counterpart - New York. 

After reviewing the highlights from Paris, my brain began to scramble from overload.  Trying to process all the amazing haute couture and ready-to-wear in one sitting is not recommended.  Go slow.  Pace yourself.  So today, I will go over the things you will be hearing about from Paris.  Then, later next week, I’ll check back in to prepare you for the marathon fashion party here in the big city.   What will people be talking about tomorrow? After a 45 year career, legendary designer Valentino- known by many as the greatest creator of evening wear - walked the runway of his final show on Wednesday.  Although the designer was able to hold back his tears, his a-list audience could not.  The rich and famous that made up his viewers gave Valentino a long and tearful standing ovation.

Runway shows, especially in Paris, are expected to be theatrical and expensive.  However Chanel brought new meaning to old rules.  Head designer, Karl Lagerfeld erected a 75-foot concrete model of the iconic Chanel double CC jacket, from which the models emerged wearing the spring collection.  The “symbolic hub,” as dubbed by New York Times reporter Cathy Horyn, set Lagerfeld back 1 million euro.

The outrageousness that Chanel included in their show was balanced out by Armani’s lack of extravagance.  The designer, who opened fashion week Monday, sent out a complete collection of very wearable designs.  Too bad the prices aren’t as down to earth as the clothes themselves. 

www.valentino.com www.chanel.com www.armani.com

Trend Report: Chanel Blue Satin Nail Polish

I would never dare insult or speak negatively about Chanel.  The fashion house, which has been a front player of haute couture for decades now, is a beacon for what luxury and designer clothing is really all about.  That said, I can’t help but feel the pangs of frustration as my mailbox and server fills with blogs and gossip about the new Chanel Blue Satin nail polish.  Blue nail polish was predicted to be a huge trend by taste-makers back in September when ads of OPI’s Russian Navy appeared in all the mags.  Yet, the many fashion bloggers only hit the keyboard when Chanel’s version of the trend hit the shelves. OPI undeservingly falling into the shadows of Chanel’s spotlight is giving me the blues.

For those of you that read my Dec 4 post, entitled “Seeing New Lights in Old Shades,” you would know that I was wearing OPI’s version of the punk turned glam blue polish trend long before all this buzz began.  You also would have heeded my fashion advice, and done so as well.  For those of you that did, pat yourself on the back.  You are months ahead of this headline breaking news.  Just today, Dara Fleisher’s always fun fashion newsletter, FashionJunkie Fix, featured the new shade, pointing out that “the deep cobalt hue…is already infiltrating the streets on Manhattan.”  Well, this Manhattan fashionista finds this news unexciting and stale. (No offense Dara – you know I think you rock!)  OPI deserves just as much, if not more, time in the spotlight, and this is my attempt to even that keel. 

Chanel does deserve major props for their chip resistant formula, and should continue to reap praise like this report from For The Love Of Beauty blogger Roxy.

www.opi.com

www.chanel.com

Seeing New Light in Old Shades

As I paid the cute bartender for my drink I noticed that the girl standing next to me at the bar was glancing over in my direction. My first thought (inner fashionista hope) was that she was jealously eyeing my new Chanel wallet, early Chanukah gift from my parents, and the admiration brought a smile to my face. When I looked at her, she points to my hands and says, “Is that Russian Navy?” Oh sure, I thought, she can spot my this season OPI nail polish color in a poorly lit bar, but not my gorgeous new wallet – did I mention it was Chanel? “Yes, it is,” I reply turning to walk away. I did not get off that easy. She begins to blabber…“Oh, I wanted to get that, but I didn’t think I could pull it off, so I’m wearing Essie ‘Lincoln Park After Dark’ from last season.” Two thoughts run through my head: 1) I don’t care about your dilemma choosing a nail polish color, and 2) if you felt you couldn’t pull off the OPI navy, but you seem very concerned about having trendy in-style nail polish, you should have gone for Essie Lincoln Park at Midnight, which is this season’s version of last season’s color. The nice Midwest girl ruled in that the appropriate response was to smile and say, “Well both look good, and you should try it, I am sure you can pull it off.”

This whole experience got me thinking, what happened to red, blue, or black? Does nail polish need a cithcy name to be a hit? When we replace dark red for “wicked” (Essie fave), and dark purple for “Lincoln Park After Dark” (OPI cult following), we create a new phenomenon where the ROY G BIV color palette we learned as youngsters is replaced for a series of odd names that have the fashion obsessed alike adding nail polish to the list of fashion topics gossiped about. The jewelry & accessories fanatic in me loves that specific nail polish colors have become the trend accouterment of the decade, and the PR girl in me loves that OPI and Essie found their way to make a splash in this huge industry.

Razzle-Dazzle Gone Luxe

                                

            
                                           Chanel's cruise 2008 $261,000 Diamond Forever Handbag  (image via Forbes)

While every fashionista's wardrobe this winter has at least one sequin dress, or pair of shimmery tights, or shiny shoes to bring a bit of sparkle to the season, couture designers have gone above and beyond your every-day bedazzling with their new collections of opulent accessories for this holiday season.  Just this month, Chanel debuted the world's most expensive handbag lined with 334 diamonds and totaling in at a hefty price of $261,000!  In today's issue of WWD, Katya Foreman surveys a few stand out designers.  According to WWD, Kara Ross and Monica Rich Kosann, both LupRocks designers, are hot on the heels of this trend with their eye catching accessories. Speaking of heels, WWD also cites another LupRocks designer, Lazare Kaplan, and their collaboration with shoe and handbag designer Taryn Rose to produce a one-of-a-kind pair of shoes featuring a rose lined with ideal-cut Lazare Kaplan diamonds.   We knew that 'tis the season for tinsel and blinking lights, but we never thought that designers would take the trend of flashy eye catching add-ons so much to heart!

O' Jerusalem

While The New York Times, our go-to source for world news, gave front page coverage to the Israeli – Palestinian peace seeking meeting held in Annapolis, MD (a conference aimed at establishing a peace treaty by 2008 and deciding the fate of Jerusalem), we at Lup HQ – being the jewelry and accessory gossip addicts that we are - had different Jerusalem buzz on the mind. Stiletto, a French magazine, is putting out a supplement of unique works of luxury produced exclusively for an auction benefiting cancer treatment for children in Jerusalem. The auction features designs from jewelers and couture houses Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Berluti and Cartier, and are photographed by Martin Parr. One extraordinary exception to the exclusive collection is a pair of black satin pumps with diamante heels custom made by Roger Vivier for Marlene Dietrich in the mid fifties. When exceptional fashion serves to not only beautify the world but also help sick children, our answer to that – in the spirit of holy Jerusalem- is Amen!

Hickory Dicory Doc

We were shocked to find W reporting on Marc Jacob’s new line of enamel mice earrings and diamond encrusted mouse choker. We mean no disrespect W, you are our go to source for elite fashion reporting, and Marc Jacobs is “The prince of American fashion,” as reported on today’s cover of the New York Times style section, but we think that every New Yorker has seen enough mice with out having to adorn another one. Eeek!

(Dedicated to LupRocks.com owner/founder Michelle Orman whose gray haired tenant still owes her the cost of one vintage Chanel suit.)