You can’t make this stuff up.
According to sources in the fragrance industry hired to develop Lady Gaga‘s first fragrance, the pop star has requested that the scent “smell of blood and semen.”
The idea is mildly shocking, but Gaga is not the first person to think of it.
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We love Christian Cota, mostly because he cuts a gorgeous dress, but also because he’s a lovely person. His Twitter musings most certainly confirm the latter. That’s why, if you’re not following the CFDA Fashion Fund-nominated designer, you should be. Here’s another reason: The chance to win two tickets to his Fall 2011 runway show, taking place February 16 in New York.
From Monday, January 31 through February 11, Christian will Tweet a special word every day. The words will create a phrase, and the first person to Tweet the correct phrase back to Christian will win two tickets to the show.
So start following @christiancota asap. And good luck!
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Today the New York Post reports that slap watches are the new Silly Bandz. Only, as anyone who came of age in the late 80s well knows, what the Post is hailing as “the new” is really just a slap bracelet (the short-lived accessories craze of the late 80s/early 90s) with a watch face on it. Which is exciting since slap bracelets were awesome. They were also banned because the metal strip inside the fabric that snapped over wrists often became exposed and caused injuries and they were subsequently banned from many schools. At least they were banned from my elementary school and that was a sad day for the girls of Lafayette Elementary School in Washington D.C.
“Slap watches — whose straight, plastic bands curl around a wrist when they’re slapped against it — are being aggressively pushed by some merchants as the latest in cheap, colorful, mix-and-match fashion,” the article reads. The story goes on to quote numerous retailers, including Henri Bendel, who are pushing slap watches and have declared silly bandz “over.” Allen Ash of Almar Sales Co., told the Post he expects to sell a million slap watches this year and said, “Silly Banz may still have a little life on the West Coast, but they are completely over on the East Coast.”
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Photo by: Willy Van Der Perre
Fashionista contributor Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt.
PARIS–Perhaps Riccardo Tisci has been thinking a great deal about what couture actually is. Ever since Pierre Bergé issued his famous edict nearly a decade ago that “haute couture is dead,” Paris couture has been in a state of constant turbulence. But over the past few seasons, a new wind has blown through the houses. Working outside of the establishment, younger French designers like Alexandre Vauthier and Julien Fournié have brought energy and excitement back to couture.
Is couture a way to sale handbags and perfumes? Is it a platform for ideas that will translate into ready-to-wear? Is it a giant media event to promote the brand? By opting out of a fashion show and banning all photographers, Mr. Tisci seemed to say that couture is about merging old crafts and new techniques. Read more »
Well, this is a little weird.
First Oscar de la Renta sounded off about his disappointment with Michelle Obama’s red McQueen that she wore to the state dinner hosting Chinese President Hu Jintao. “My understanding is that the visit was to promote American-Chinese trade — American products in China and Chinese products in America,” de la Renta told WWD. “Why do you wear European clothes?”
Now the CFDA has issued a statement echoing de la Renta’s sentiments: “CFDA believes in promoting American fashion. Our First Lady Michelle Obama has been wonderful at promoting our designers, so we were surprised and a little disappointed not to be represented for this major state dinner.” Apparently CFDA pres Diane von Furstenberg sent this statement in to WWD while recuperating from her recent skiing accident.
It’s sort of like the CFDA are Michelle Obama’s parents and they’re shaming her.
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We just received word that Bonne Bell is relaunching its cosmetics line. Remember Lip Smackers? You could get a Dr.Pepper flavored one. Yum. They still exist, too. Anyway.
This news inspired us to go back to our formative years and remember all the ridiculous beauty products we used to use. In 20 years will Tavi be writing about how silly it was that we painted our nails Vamp and coated our hair with formaldehyde? Only time will tell.
Click through for a walk down memory lane and tell us about your faves.
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Mary J. Blige will be the guest judge on tonight’s episode of the Fashion Show. Unlike many designer-wannabe celebrities out there, Blige has actually built up some fashion cred, especially over the past year.
She collaborated with her BFF Catherine Malandrino on a line of t-shirts called FFAWN+CATHERINE MALANDRINO, and launched Melodies by MJB, a collection of eyewear available at Nordstrom and online here, this past summer. Her latest designs for SS11 include classic aviators, retro cat eyes, and some serious stunna shades. Considering that Blige has amassed over 500 personal pairs of sunglasses, it’s safe to say that she knows her stuff.
Tune into the Fashion Show tonight on Bravo at 10pm EST.
Fashionista contributor Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt.
PARIS–Last July at the Rodin museum garden tent, John Galliano for Dior sent out vivid colorful dress inspired by flowers, some with three-dimensional shapes of petals, for the Dior Haute Couture show.
Yesterday, at the same site, it was the work of legendary fashion illustrator René Gruau that inspired Galliano’s couture collection for Dior. Gruau and Dior had a long creative collaboration and friendship, which began when Graua created a drawing of a swan for an ad for Miss Dior perfume in 1947. Gruau’s economic style–using blocks of light colors against simple black lines–defined the modernity of Mr. Dior’s audacious couture vision: bold lines and ambitious clothes beget uncomplicated elegance.
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Name: Charlotte
Age: 28
Occupation: Works in the perfume industry.
How would you describe your style? I like geometric shapes and structured lines. I also love the ’60s, like Pierre Cardin.
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PARIS–Watching Alexandre Vauthier’s show last night felt like looking straight into a disco ball.
For those of you who don’t know him, the French couturier previously worked with Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier; since he launched his own label in 2009, he’s found a devoted fan in Rihanna.
Vauthier is probably the polar opposite of Rick Owens and co.: he likes his women to look unquestionably feminine, styled with wavy long hair, elaborate eye shadows, and plenty of heeled legs on display.
Although this collection adopted Thierry Mugler’s 80s silhouettes (think extra-large shoulder pads and tiny waists for a V-shaped top), there was also a definite 70s disco-ish feel, too, fit for say, Charlie’s Angels 3. Glitter in any shape or form dominated the show: lamé, gold, sequins, you name it. Vauthier showed very low cut necklines, a cropped jacket made entirely out of tiny metallic pendants resembling snakeskin, lamé jumpsuits, white silk, and high leg one-piece bathing suits. Asymmetrical tops with one bare arm also dominated the catwalk. And as always, there was lots of crotch and nipple flashing (some intended, some accidental, as one model pulled up her dress with a blush in the middle of the catwalk).
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PARIS–I’ll be honest with you, I was just happy to be inside. Not because of the cold (and Paris WAS cold this week), and not because of the free vodka, supplied by our hosts the Burkman Bros., Billy Reid, and their rep, Megan Maguire Steele, (along with GrandLifeNYC), as well as Florsheim by Duckie Brown, but because I’d never been to Le Baron before, and, like many of us who exist inside and outside of fashion’s peripheries, I’d heard stories. (I’d written one, as well, which made me doubly excited.)
Since 2004, Le Baron has been the unofficial party destination for all that is fabulous during Fashion season (which, for some in Paris, as well as New York, is really all year long). ack during Bush’s first term, graffiti artist (he was a legend in Paris, with his Mr. Baron tag) and impresario André Saraiva took an abandoned brothel, partnered with its jailed owner, and made a nightclub for himself and his friends. It was a smash and reinvigorated Paris nightlife. Since then, he’s gone on to open several hotels and more clubs—like The Beatrice, in New York (RIP)—restaurants, and has teamed up with everyone from Louis Vuitton to Belvedere to The Rolling Stones.
But the sexy—fine, slutty—sweaty, druggy paradise that is Le Baron remains the soul of operation André, and even if he wasn’t there, his spirit of revelry matched those of us on the dance floor and in the booths, as people shook off the exhausting week that was men’s fashion.
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PARIS–What happened to you Acne—you used to be cool? Fortunately, nothing terrible. Acne remains very cool indeed, in that austere, handsome, but I’m-still-gonna-dance-to-Robyn-like-I-just-drank-20-Red-Bulls kind of way. But they’ve also grown up some, too.
As we waited for the show, the last of the season, Abba was pumped into the lobby. Abba. Not Robyn or Lykke Li, or Jens Lenkman, but Abba, which is older and from another time, but everyone secretly loves nonetheless. Considering the collection, I think this a masterstroke. A refined, fun, very Swedish way to say “Come, one, judge us. I dare you not to like this.”
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