Need It: Chanel PVC Pants

Chanel PVC mum jeans. All in one sentence. All in one glorious garment. Can you fucking believe what you're looking at? It's like Cinderella's glass slipper or some shit. That's if Cinderella were a single parent working nights at an upscale VIP cocktail bar in Tampa. 

Balenciaga pre-fall. Those shoes. That leather. The fucking hair!

Margiela Persian rug boots. To rub over my naked body.

And this dude. Rolled in sugar. On a stick.

Couture. Like real, honest to god, made in France by hand haute freakin couture

Jean Paul Gaultier’s collection is being hailed as a return to form. Perhaps now he has more time to devote to his collections since he stopped designing for Hermes. I mostly enjoyed it. The punk elements were a bit tired. Like, punk? Really? Balenciaga did it for fall 2011 too and I didn’t like that much either.

Male model Andrej Pejic dragged up for la mariée. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I met him at a gay bar about a year ago I think. My friend who was with me at the time was falling over himself and I was just thinking whyyyyy? My taste in models is so vanilla anyway. If you’re skinny and look like a girl then I’m not ripping out your spread in Arena Homme Plus for a high-fashion fap.

Clockwise from top: Iris Strubegger, Linda Fargo, Lea T, Marc Jacobs, Andrej Pejic, model wearing JPG, Yves Saint Laurent pre-fall 2011. 

Something else that occurred to me is how fashionable it is to be transgendered right now. It’s so on trend right? Lea T, Pejic, The whole YSL le smoking trend, Marc Jacobs on Industrie, Linda Fargo in Paper.

It’s not like this sort of thing hasn’t been done before but it’s just trendy right now. It’s not even daring it’s just like, ooh, think I’ll trans it up tonight. Where’s my beaded shift? Maybe trans-wear will be the new skinny jeans/bow tie/geek glasses.

Dior. What can I say? John Galliano just stop mining the 40’s and 50’s. Look to the future. Fuck this Lady Dior bs.

Givenchy. A little too look at how many hours this took to make rather than just feeling the clothes. But this for me is fashion. So much control. So focussed. Brilliant.

Newbies: Alexis Mabille. I don’t like what he does. I find it deeply unfashionable. Bouchra Jarrar: Interesting to see what small companies can do.

Chanel was inconsistent. I don’t know it just seemed all over the place. There were some lovely, relaxed pieces that looked young and fresh. It may have been my imagination but there appeared to be less jewellery and the ballet flats were sweet too.

Valentino: Beige ruffles. I don’t even like what they do at Valentino but now the clothes seem more recognisable than ever when I’m flicking through magazines. Four years ago I wouldn’t have been able to pick out a Valentino dress but now I spot them a mile away. I guess they must be doing something right but I just want Alessandra Facchinetti back. Is she working for Tom Ford now?

China's Luxury Education

‘Culture Chanel’ is a new exhibition that just opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai. You may not realise this but I tend to be a pessimistic cunt from time to time and this whole exhibition is just gussied up marketing. Gussied I say!

According to WWD the exhibition features 400 items tracing the life of the fashion icon. There are manuscripts, drawings, photographs, rare documents and jewelry on display. The exhibition effectively transports her spirit to China, a country that clearly fascinated and influenced the fashion legend in her life and in her designs. It also showcases China’s numerous ties to the modern-day fashion house, under the creative direction of Karl Lagerfeld. The exhibition begins with Coco’s childhood at a French orphanage through to her encounters and friendships with artists, writers and composers.

One section of the exhibition features photographs of Coco in front of her vast collection of ancient Chinese screens. In 1996, Karl Lagerfeld would use the screens as inspiration for three intricately embroidered jackets, each requiring at least 900 hours of embroidery to complete. Those jackets are also on display.

She’s photographed with 3 Chinese screens in her home and suddenly there’s an intrinsic link between a Parisian fashion designer and Chinese culture? Bullshit. Marketing execs are no doubt patting each other on the back and smoking cigars over what I’m sure they deem as a masterstroke in marketing genius and it kills me knowing that they’re right but FUUUUUUUUUUUUU just stop passing off what you do as art to make money. I really don’t know if I want to discuss the whole is fashion art thing because it’s a can of fucking worms but in short, in my ever so judgemental opinion I think some fashion is art. Yeah I’m being completely biased. Comme Des Garçons’ Spring Summer 1997 collection for me was art. A Coco Cocoon is not.

Chanel are ensuring their future in what will become the largest luxury consuming country in the world (om nom nom) but holding an art exhibition to sell bags and perfume is just shady. Vincent Shaw, Chanel’s president for Asia, stressed how important it is for brands to deepen connections with Chinese consumers.
“The Chinese consumer is very hungry for information,” Shaw said. “They have exposure. They travel to Europe. They want to know more, and they want to know about the brands as well as why we are important, why the houses of luxury are important and that is one of the important positioning strategies of Chanel. We must work with our customers to engage with them and showcase the history and heritage of Chanel.”

This all makes sense and I see why they’re doing it. The thinking is if you have the knowledge and history of a brand then this should lead you to cultivate an appreciation for it which would hopefully lead you to the Chanel boutique. It’s a fancy trail of breadcrumbs.

Will it work? I don’t know. I think of other countries such as Australia for example that don’t have a strong tradition of luxury. Chanel has a strong presence in Australia and even without an education or knowledge of the brand people still recognise the interlocking double C logo as a symbol of wealth and good taste. Others see it as a symbol of stupidity. Some might ask why buy a bag for $3000 when you can go to Strand Bags and get something similar for a fraction of the price? But that’s like comparing diamonds to coal right?

This isn’t a marketing first though. Louis Vuitton held A Passion For Creation in 2009 at the Hong Kong Museum of Art and Gucci held a Bamboo Retrospective (wtf?) at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

Here were some of my favourite zingers from the WWD article-

“Bringing this exhibit here was to give honor to the Chinese dreams she lived with,” - Jean-Louis Froment, exhibition curator.

“People have to be aware of Chanel. They have to feel Chanel before we put the brand there”- I can’t remember who said this. Deepak Chopra perhaps?

"I don’t think you can say that China is the last frontier. We will continue to seduce women around the world.”-Again I forgot who said this but I’m guessing it was sexually ambiguous art thief Carmen Sandiego.

Chanel Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2010 Review

Lagerfeld’s spring couture collection was a sugar-spun dream. Each model looked like a little piece of cake in soft pastel tweeds and mega-bouffant topped with a frothy bow. It’s Mr Lagerfeld’s refusal to design vulgar outfits and his constant push for newness that always make his collections a delight.

There were pastel suits in requisite wool bouclé but this time he replaced a skirt with a short and used a stitching technique that almost made the seams and darts disappear.

Each of these looks were paired with silver tights and silver leather booties which dealt a hand to sixties space race and complimented the shape of the suits.

The eveningwear was mostly beautiful with some draped pieces which we don't often see at Chanel. Some dresses had shimmery stripes which failed to hit the mark.

Worst of Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010

Do I really need to go into detail over these Skecher Teva Puma clog stunners? No.

Louis Vuitton




Chanel

Hey Karl, Blossom called, she wants her red suede clogs with flower detail back.

Prada


Do they all smoke bongs at Miuccia's apartment or is it the coke they do at Karl's country estate?

CHANEL SPRING 2010

Spring for Chanel initially looked like a barn yard romp but it was more of a barn yard stroll. That whole out-doorsy, get a tan, ride a horse Chanelism was there in what I think was hosiery with a white criss-cross imprint that made the models look like they’d been out in the sun all day and got some tan-lines on their legs.
The sugary pink looks at the start were waaay frou frou but it is a spring collection and a fun one at that. There was a dreadful set of dresses in red, white and blue with tacky flowers dotted over them but nevermind. The appeal of a Chanel show is that you can always find at the very least, one thing that you want. For me it was the fluffy jackets that reminded me of spring chickens. So cute right? As for the clog heels. I dunno about clogs, I mean fuck, did you see the hot clog mess at LV? No? Let me remind you.

FASHION ON FILM

Loic Prigent is the director of two of my favourite fashion docos. Signe Chanel and Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton.
I've watched Signe Chanel twice now and still my jaw drops when one of the seamstresses is told to remove two rows of beading from the waist of an Haute Couture dress.
I watched Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton for the first time yesterday on Youtube. It was interesting to compare the two designers. You had Karl Lagerfeld who almost had an aversion to touching fabric, instead he sat behind a desk and everyone did everything for him. Then you had Marc Jacobs in the workrooms zipping about on a desk chair, pins in mouth, cutting fabric on the dummy.

GET INSPIRED

I was flicking through Style.com and they had a trend report type thing on felt.
At first glance I thought this bag was Chanel, which made me think of the gorgeous Russian Czarina collection from unkie Karl.

It's actually Christian Louboutin. Net A Porter has it for approx 979.24 Pounds.
If this all seems terribly overpriced you could join the Canterbury Crusaders rugby team in New Zealand like this guy.

Cheer up love