Dries Van Noten

So what did you think of Dries?
For me it begins and ends with his collection in Paris.
When looking at the photos on Style.com give each look an extra three points because the colors are even more perfect in person.
He is the one designer that can do a long show (60 something looks) and not have it seem repetitive because each look is its own study of color, shape and texture.

Also ,if you get a chance, take a look at the portraits (with the black background) that I did at the Dries show on Style.com.
They were very difficult to shoot but they turned out very good I think.
the shoe are the softess, pale lilac color that is so perfect with those shades of grey.

Paris Fashion Week FW07 Wrapup I

Yay! It's Paris time. Paris is really where creative force of fashion is, although one must be actually interested and open-minded about fashion to appreciate this kind of fashion. On we go...


Balenciaga
THE show that we've been all waiting for. OK, so at first glance it wasn't as stunning as the FW06 collection or as directional and cool as the SS07 collection, but after looking over the photos many times, I am in love with this collection, which is odd coming from me considering I usually hate any folk-feeling clothes. There is SO much to love and learn from this collection -stare at the photos many times for awhile and you'll get what I mean. Maybe I'm biased because the a large part of the collection feels so young and has got that effortless-styled look.
Scarves were the accessory of the collection. There were so many different designs and ways they were used to style an outfit. With the folk-looking dresses, the scarves were wrapped around the models; with the more military looks, the scarves had gold and royal red strands spread out from the scarf, set out like a handkerchief at the neck; and then there are the simple scarves.
There were many folk-printed or seemingly tie-dyed dresses. Not usually my style since this kind of dresses are usually just bright and cheap looking, but I can't stop looking at these, especially the brilliant yellow one (in the middle). Maybe the reason I'm loving these folk dresses is because of the styling -grey stockings and cool sandals.
More to take note: bright blue stockings, skinny sports pants. That outfit in the middle is just way cool. Love all the layers and simple colours.


Christian Dior
OK, I'm probably in the minority in this, but I'm not a big fan of this show. Yes, I can appreciate the idea of going back to the 60s and making everything very original and vintage Christian Dior. Everything was absolutely beautiful; it was like a ready-to-wear version of the much-loved haute couture show.
Fur coats. Some huge and swinging, others were furry at the hems and more body-fitting.
The show did start off with some real-life (for more mature women) clothes.
Then there were many and many gorgeous dresses and party hats.
Look through the show, it's like all the colours are there. The purple dress Lily Cole is wearing is one of my favourites from the show.
This black and white dress is another one of my favourite.

BUT, what is the fashion direction; what is the show trying to say? At the end, I just can't get myself excited or inspired by anything from this show.


Viktor & Rolf
OK, so the reviews I (and all of you) have read so far from websites have so far, gone on and on about how worried the fashion editors were worried about the models, and feared that they would just tumble down the runway. To be honest, I didn't find the whole concept too shocking -remember that horrible sleeping-in-the-bed concept from a few seasons ago?
OK, those clogs are just hideous, absolutely horrendous. But try to look past the clogs, and the lights, if you can...
and you'll see that there are actually some pretty prints there.

Anyways, I'm off to stare at the Balenciaga collection again. Hope you have as much fun as I am!
Photo source: Style.com

On the Street.......Left Bank, Paris

At Dior

REISS UK

When I was in San Francisco the other weekend, I discovered the coolest brand- REISS from the UK! Located on the first floor of the new Bloomies mall near Union Square, the simple, sophisticated, cool interior lured me in to explore the rest of the collection.
And I fell in love. The clothes there were elegantly simple and casual, with just the right amount of twist to make it look special. I am loving that casual white cardigan, I can totally see it as my summer staple over pretty camis. And those shift dresses are just soo cool.
The outfits for work are equally casual and cool. Note those vibrant shiny shorts and skinny belt!
And aren't these dresses just darling? They are so fun and youthful!

Positioned between high street multiples and designer brands, this brand is just what we need. I personally have my eyes on a blue/white striped cardigan and this grey jersey with a v-necked pattern, but alas, they were all way above my budget. Perhaps when they go on sale. . . .

Postcard From Paris!

Hi Mom!
I'm having fun here in Paris, The City of Lights!!
please send money! (for shoes)
love Caroline!

Everything!

Everything!
-the way the scarf is tied
-the traditional jacket
-the plaid pants
-the saving grace and the thing that keeps this from tipping to costumey is the very respectable shoes.

Bravo!

Legs of Paris

(of course she works at Paris Vogue)

Viktor & Rolf

I cannot wait to hear what you thought of the Viktor & Rolf show

At Undercover

I love all this layering of sleeve lengths that I have been seeing lately.
I also really like her mix of plum, taupe and grey.

Oscar's 2007 Fashion

This year's Oscars fashion was, well, not particularly disastorous nor inspiring. Obviously everyone was on their top form, but the dresses were just... okay. Maybe there has been too many award shows recently that I've gotten a bit jaded. So anyways, here are the top fabulous outfits from last night:

Queen of the night, Helen Mirren looked amazing in Christian Lacroix. If it's a body shot (as opposed to closeup shot,) it's hard to remember she's alreayd 61 years old!

Cate Blanchett looked elegant in Armani Prive, and right on the whole metallic, futuristic trend. Makeup, jewelery, everything was simple impecable.

Rachel Weisz wore a seemingly simple Vera Wang gown. I love that long cluster of diamonds (and the diamond ribbon) at the top of her dress. The dress is so perfectly tailored- it's like the dress is softly wrapped around her, and the diamonds solidified the whole vision.

After the brilliant yellow dress she wore to the Golden Globes, Reese Witherspoon's Nina Ricci by Olivier Theysken dress here just didn't seem as striking. I'm sure this gown floated around Reese beautifully, but it just isn't the most photogenic dress.

Like Blanchett, Nicole Kidman can do (almost) no wrong on the red carpet. She looked elegant, as usual, in a Balenciega dress.

Nicole Kidman's BBF, Naomi Watts looked really pretty last night, although for some reason, she landed on a worst dress list.

Another one who landed on the worst dressed list was Gwenyth Paltrow, who wore Zac Posen. I thought she looked pretty sophisticated in it and she looked really pretty on TV, but I can see how it's not for everyone's taste.

And once again Cameron Diaz landed on worst dresed lists. I think she looked pretty -go find a picture of her hair, it's absolutely perfectly wavy. Her white Valentino gown had a haute couture-shape but in a much simplified way.

Surprisingly, not many people wore black. Rinko Kikuchi wore a slinky, not-boring-at-all black number.

Kate Winslet looked lovely in a simple, expertly-draped Valentino gown. Nothing exciting, but hey, points for her for wearing natural-looking makeup.

While I don't know if Jessica Biel was actually nominated for anything, I thought she looked gorgeous. She absolutely stood out in that hot pink Oscar de la Renta gown. She wore it oh-so-elegantly, especially with that belt.

And of course, how could I not mention Jennifer Lopez, who definitely impressed in a grey Marchesa gown. Is she reinventing herself?

As to why so-and-so wasn't on the list?

Penelope Cruz -The Versace gown is certainly glamorous, but the tail was way excessive.

Anne Hathaway -The huge black bow is cute and all, but it didn't seem to suit her much.

Jennifer Hudson -She wore the Oscar de la Renta dress well enough, but that metallic shrug? Seriously.

Kirsten Dunst -First of all, yay, Marie Antoinette most definitely deserved the best costume award. And for some reason, I can't decide whether I like Kirsten's Chanel dress or not.

La Siesta alla Milanese

While I was waiting for the Fendi show, I found this little barber shop down the street.

It was around 3 o'clock so the shop was closed for afternoon break but I wanted a closer look at the interior of the shop .

I peeked in the window and found this....


...the barber asleep in his chair!

Isn't this exactly what Americans picture the Italian "afternoon break"must be all about?
This is like the perfect Floyd the Barber from the Andy Griffith show meets Milan.

He even looks a little like Floyd.



Actually I was a little embarrassed that I had peeked in and seen him sleeping - like I had peeked in his bedroom or something.

Of course, after about one second the photographer in me took over and I paced around out front trying to decided if I should take his photograph.
Among other things, I thought to myself - "what if he wakes up while I am taking the photo!?"

I finally decided to take the photo when I determined that I was probably faster than him and if he got too mad I could probably out run him.

I did have momentarily frightening visions of him running after me down the street yelling "Stop The Sartorialist!!!"
but I figured people would just dismiss it as anti-fashion rhetoric.



On a side note, afterwards I asked several Milanese , mostly people that worked at my hotel, if there was an Italian word for the afternoon break - like the Spanish word "siesta".
Most of them thought for a while but could not come up with a word for it.
They could think of a word for a fast, short lunch break but not for the longer afternoon break.

I think "La Napoli" would sound good, be appropriate (nap time), and it could honor one of their most sartorial cities.
Lets see if they will adopt it!

A Little Hidden Something, Milan

At Jil Sander

All about the jacket sleeve length - longer than bracelet length but shorter than traditional plus the effect is compounded by the extra shirt cuff showing.

I also really like the fitted shoulder of the jacket paired with the slouchy belted skirt.

Is it too 1984 to call the skirt "paperbagged?"

On the Street.......Corso Magenta, Milan

There is just something about these Milanese gentleman and their bikes that brings the Sartorialist out in them.

The whole Gentleman Farmer look is fantastic.

The beautiful honey colored gloves really finish off the look perfectly

Blues Hues

I love these two blues together.
I have been looking for that exact color a scarf for myself but still no luck and she was not selling.

Fonts & Graphics of Milan

When I walk around Milan I keep seeing all these beautiful fonts on store fronts and on the packaging.
I am not a graphics guy but it seems like all their most beautiful packaging and signage fit into a few ,very specific, periods like Belle Époque or Old English or genres like a very fluid script.
It is one of the areas I look forward to learning more about over my future visits Milan. I also want to create a small photo library of these splendid works, I think they fit in on this blog ok, right?

City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948

City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948 by Peter Doyle

Breathtaking!

Like Paolo Roversi crossed with Weegee

This is definitely one of my new favorite books.

If I do a book at somepoint I only hope that someday, somebody is as moved by my work as i am the the images in this book.

I am in Paris so I am not able to get the American version of Amazon but I'm sure you could get it through them or B&N.com.