If I Had a Million Dollars...

Okay, we're not going to lie, we have Mega Millions fever. Just the thought of winning $500 million has our head swimming with all the stuff we can buy! Obviously, there's so many other things we'd want to do with the money, such as pay off student loans, buy beautiful homes for our families, donate to charity, travel around the world, blah blah blah. But when we're talking purely tangible items, here's out must have list of things-we-want-but-could-never-afford-unless-we-won-the-lottery. Just in case.

1. Chanel Suit | 2. Tiffany Earrings | 3. Christian Louboutin Pumps | 

4. Hermes Birkin Bag | 5. Gucci Dress | 6. Burberry Coat | 

XOXO

Jen & Saira

The Arutyunov show and a lesson about canopes

Hey Everyone,

Sorry the reviews of the shows so far have been in no particular order! Only one more to go after this one and then you have my fashion week round up to enjoy. This was another one from the weekend, but what with all these wonderful fashion shows, work, and a two day online marketing conference to attend I have been well and truly pooped this week, so sorry for the slow posting and my string of excuses!!

The Arutyunov was my first (and only, actually) Couture show. And despite the fact that i'd never heard of them until I walked into the room (in my defence, they are Russian and it was the first time they'd shown in London) I was pretty impressed. Although I was sat on the second row, the floor level catwalk made taking pictures almost impossible. Nevertheless here are the snaps I got:

And here, of course, are the prettiest of all the models:

Amie and I take a minute to pose as we wait to go into the show. Not really sure why i'm holding my handbag like a shield, but isn't her jacket adorable?! A Christmas gift from moi!

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This was one of the two shows my sister went to with me, and this was Amie's favourite show. Whilst not particularly directional or headline worthy, all of the dresses were showstopping and very very pretty. And sometimes all a girl really wants is a pretty dress! Massive full skirts covered in lace and dripping with jewels jostled with floating chiffon circles that bounced as the models walked and floor length tiered ruffles. I was a big fan of the orange puff ball dress, who's skirt looked like a Chinese lantern. Amie liked the dresses with skirts that were big big big!

And my god, the shoes! These models didn't walk down the catwalk they teetered in shoes so high I suspect they were intended to deliberately inhibit the way the girls moved to make them seem even more vulnerable that their tiny frames already imply. But don't take my word for it! You'll find pictures of the shoes and better pictures of the dresses right here, if you're interested!
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Our enjoyment of the show was aided dramatically by the abundance of lovely after show champagne and the excellent canapes. Mini falafel, prawns on skewers, smoked salmon, seriously strong cheese, and tiny pastry puffs. After an hour of so they even brought out the dessert canope selection. We especially enjoyed the mini chocolate truffle cakes and fruit cups. Yum!
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And the lessons about canopes i'm sure you're all waiting with baited breath to hear:

• Never eat the prawns! My sisters warned me, I didn't listen and my stomach certainly regretted it in the morning
• Stand in the middle of the room. Contrary to the widespread believe that fashion folks dont eat, those people were vultures! If we'd been stood at the back there wouldn;t have been a morsel left by the time the trays made it to us

And finally:

• Always take two of each dessert! Seriously, those things are delicious and one petite gateux just isn't ever going to be enough!

So there you have it, fashion and food: my two favourite things (hey, i'm chubby, its predictable!)at the same time! Result!

Love

Tor

Chanel - that look is so Mao (couture)

Hey blogosphere - more couture and, more crucially, more Karl.

A great deal has already been blogged about the A/W 08 Chanel couture just shown. Me, I've always had a soft spot for this particular time of year, especially after devouring the amazing Chanel Storyville documentary shown on BBC4 on the talented artisans who actually put the damn clothes together. If I know nothing else, I know this: I'd rather hang out with the housewives/craftswomen extraordinaire in the embroidery room than 20 Amanda Harlechs. We would wear pristine white work dresses, laugh like sailors and collect our Chanel bag on retirement - it is a dream of mine.

You can start watching the whole 6 episode extravaganza here. I'm sure a lot of you have seen it already but if you haven't, I advise you put some time aside and wallow in the sheer lovely crazed Frenchness of it all.

Anyway, back to this year's couture. It seems all the brou-ha-ha centres around the tower o' power or Le Chanel Robe Gargatua:

Hey, it ain't just me thinking along these lines. Even Women's Wear Daily online was muttering darkly about 'Madame Mao' (strangely I can't find that phrase in their new review dated today...mainstream fashion writers have to watch their commercial ps and qs much more then we dirty online independents) and the wonderfully astute Le Style Sauvage reads the big jacket as Chanel's assertion of economic untouchability even as the nature of world economics changes:
"The size of the jacket sent a different message: Chanel is poised to take over the world. Not the world as we know it--that world is shrinking like wool in a dryer--but the new world."
-- Suzanna Mars, Le Style Sauvage (read her, she's ace)

Although a symbol that visually riffs on a Chinese Communist leader's iconography might seem contrary to Mars's reading of the jacket as a paean to luxury's marketplace longevity, it is not as contradictory as it might first appear. Women in rapidly developing countries, especially those with a communist history (Russia, China etc), these children of Mao - these are the socialites and couture customers of tomorrow. And they better have the legs for minis and ballet flats.

Lots of lovely stuff to be seen however. I enjoy Karl's ability to twist Chanel iconography into a seeming endless array of sartorial options. Particularly love the camellia skirt on model #2 and the unexpectedly toughness of model #3. I have an ace Miss Sixty jumper with that kind of tooled puffa sleeve...I shall have to dig it out. I also enjoy every commentator's complaint that the models had trouble posing without their high heels. I quite enjoy a bit of ingénue gawkiness myself - makes the whole thing less rarefied.However, I'm genuinely quaking at the thought that demi-opaque tights are going to be big news again. Stupid trend rumours delivering on their promises...bah.

I'm surprised though that no blogger has commented on the state of the models faces. I was browsing merrily through style.com's detail shot archive and I was shocked to see how exhausted and cracked-out some of our top models look in close-up. I sincerely hope it was the lighting but some of it has to be a sheer lack of a good eight hours shuteye:

Seriously -- click and enlarge and check the bags. I honestly think Vlada Roslyakova (centre) is trolling the front row for brains. Even lovely Iekeliene Stange looks ready to either nut someone or fall forward snoring and drooling on her bouclé. I know models are worked like whippets in couture week but jeepers Karl - let 'em sleep.

That's enough out of you, Kaiser. You're just acting out. No more ipods for you.

Love,
Becky.

Couture: Madame X and fetish wear

Okay blogsphere,

I am an ill young woman. I have not been blogging and the glorious Tor has been taking my load. The truth is that I am still ill but there is a time when one has to put aside one's debilitating conditions and mucus membrane disorders to talk loudly and openly about sequins.

I'm not missing couture, no sir, not for no one.

So, we've got the big guns: Dior, Gaultier, Armani Prive, Lacroix and the beloved Valentino. I'm not going to talk about the departure of the big V because he and his chiffon deserve a post all their own. Equally, I'm going to gloss over Armani, even though there were some glorious things on show, particularly his foray into geometric-shapes-plus-pleating. It was, surprisingly, one of the least stodgy collections around *cough* Givenchy *cough*.

Click to make large 'n' pretty, cuz Mr Armani likes it big:

Nope, I want to talk about the triumph of the Erdem collection and the failure (in my eyes) of the work at Dior.

Erdem first - what an awesome display of goth-itude. Truly, this collection was beautiful, youthful, some pieces conceivable as daywear and had all the fun of the gimp suit without the sweaty PVC crotch. I loved it:

I especially found the first look with its leather-queen/Victoriana duality. If Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady went to this sort of Ascot, I'm pretty sure she woulda got her face cut good. Excellent. The Alexander McQueen-y black gown with its lovely organic forms (read: twigs for lashing) sprouting from the bodice is gorgeous - beautiful and quite possibly evil. The onesie/haemophiliac gimp suit is genius. Love the softness of the chiffon bolero. I've covered up the finale wedding dress with Gary the Gimp, mostly because I enjoy him so much but also because the key to the whole outfit is that severe neck ruff. No bride will be biting her stitches on Erdem's watch, that's fo sure.

Dior, however was shocking. Now, I love Galliano as much as any fashion nerd but although his couture was undeniably lovely and beautifully constructed, it felt like so much revisited territory. Now, this was also my problem with Alexander McQueen's 'best of' S/S08 collection. I've already seen this boys - dream me a new dream. Galliano was way into his citrus brights and complex chinoserie AGAIN only this time he has additional reference points in John Singer Sargent's Madame X and in the lacquered updoes of Diana Vreeland's Vogue years.

(from L-R) Look at the difference between A/W 07 couture (little pic) and A/W 08 Dior (big pic). Not an inspiring leap - at least not for me. You can see Madame X giving good neckline inspiration for the sparkly blue gown. I dunno - I feel like when I look at this painting, the Dior dress looks all the more Las Vegas and not in a good way. I really like the final two gown - the cell membrane-y print, the fractured sun (Klimt = another big influence this season) but I don't feel that the collection ultimately coheres and I certainly don't feel that pit of stomach awe that Dior usually conjures. And that sucks.

However, I am obsessed with one factor - the hair.

Crazy anti-gravity Edwardian hair. Yes, Yes and Yes. It's 1.40am now but at 11pm, I felt the Dior spirit rush through me and dear god, I began to style. This was ill advised especially since I was knackered and in my scuzzy mismatched pyjamas. Still, the fashion magazines are all saying pyjamas are practically acceptable daywear now, right? Right? So I backcombed and ratted and hairsprayed until I thought my arm would fall off, et voila:

I just couldn't get the curve right. What's more pathetic is that it took AGES. Forgive me, I am a hair dunce and I deserved all I got. Apparently catwalk styling can't be achieved with an amateur with just Elnett, Boots own make-up and a dream.

If you'll excuse me, I have to get the mascara out of my eyebrows - it's starting to set.

Love,
Becky.