Issue no. 7 by IN Magazine

EDITOR’S

LETTER

We at IN Magazine have been delightedly relishing in fruits of our success over the past three months. Starting with the über-success of our IN Party of the Year, held last June at the Armani Privé-Burj Khalifa, Dubai. Coupled with the staggering increase of our fanbase on our facebook page that has reached 20,000 members and counting, and topping it off with the sweetest cherry: the sale of 13,000 copies of IN Magazine throughout the Middle East region. We are so proud to have set a place for ourselves in the international fashion arena with our cutting-edge and sophisticated fashion shoots and our astutely selected collaborations with fashion designers, retailers, and industry personalities in Beirut, New York, Paris, and Milan. Part of out international experience took us recently to New York Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week. This issue is especially dear to me because it is your issue, The People’s Issue. We wanted to start you off this fall with a hit of bold colors just to get your engine going, and threw in some daring looks to inspire a new you. But what makes this issue extra special is that we wanted to gift you with an exclusive intimate look at one of the most talented trailblazing female directors of our time: Nadine Labaki, whom we are highly honored to have her grace our cover. We are particularly proud of the fresh and ethereal photo shoot that features Nadine, and the inside look we get at her new hit film Where Do We Go Now? Also exciting this issue is one of the largest photo shoot productions we have ever held to feature the top 25 IN Crowd from the Middle East: an exclusive ensemble of innovative and creative dynamos in the arts/design fields, known for pushing the envelope, breaking barriers of convention and challenging tradition. This is our gift to you: we urge you to let go of everyday stresses and release yourself to fall for fashion in every corner of this issue, and enjoy page after page of fashion obsession… after all, how else would you remain IN?

Ahmed R. Abou Naja

GET OVER IT!

WE ARE IN

IN.NEWS

FNO KICKS OFF IN EUROPE & NEW YORK 28 IN.FASHION

CHRISTIAN DIOR FALL LOOKBOOK 36 THE CREATIVE SPACE 58

IN.THE CLOSET

SUIT YOURSELF 104 IN.BEAUTY

CHANEL PERFECTION LUMIERE 126 IN.ARCHITECTURE

REFLECTING ABSENCE 144 IN.LOCATION

AZZI & OSTA 62

‘4’ ART IN ALL ITS FUNCTIONS 152

IN.FOCUS

IN.TALENT

WHERE DO WE GO NOW? 70

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUES FALL 2011

RUBEN CORTEZ 158 IN.MUSIC

ZAHED SULTAN 164

THE SECRET MUSE FEATURING NADINE LABAKI In every issue of IN Magazine we try to highlight an idea, or a thought, or an issue that has for a moment in time, or for years and years, garnered attention on small or large scales. We try to take an unorthodox look at issues or people that have been pivotal to change through the eyes of our Secret Muse. Our Secret Muse chooses an inspiration, a stimulus and a catalyst to thought and feeling, and tantalizes us with it. As you open the latest issue of IN, you will be challenged to contemplate who or what our Secret Muse is talking about this month. Then the journey to discovering that only intensifies with imagery meant to bring the Secret Muse’s ideas to life through fantastical photography: sometimes fashion images, sometimes images of personalities. Images that tickle your emotions, play with your mind, and inspire you to make your way through an exciting and edgy magazine to the very end. Because it is only at the very end of the magazine that the Secret is Revealed. But half the fun is enduring the journey! This month our Secret Muse finds herself inspired by a woman who strips her soul naked for all of us to probe through her art. She brings whimsy, fantasy, and ethereal light into your life through dancing images and intoxicating words that breathe life in her art. This woman is a new breed of woman. One who is beautiful and delicate, yet holds a thousand volts of power in her mind. A woman who is curvaceous and sultry, yet can battle a thousand men with a stroke of her pen. A woman who is not afraid to feel, and in return, unearths feelings within us that we always feared to face. A woman who toils and drudges in the field leaving in her wake her own blood sweat and tears, only so other women can hope to glide with ease through the very same meadow. This month our Secret Muse chose for us a woman who is awe-inspiring. Her art plunges its commanding hand into our chests and grabs a hold of our hearts… never to let go. She is a leader among men, and a diamond among women.

This woman is sweet as Caramel, and vivacious as Lebanon. So, the only question that remains is, Where Do We Go Now? And the Secret Muse will only reveal her secret at this issue‘s FINAL PAGE PHOTOGRAPHER TAREK MOUKADDEM PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT WAEL BOUTROS STYLIST JESSY MOUSSALEM HAIR STYLIST ANTHONY SALON GEORGE & JOE MAKE-UP ARTIST CHRISTIAN ABOU HAIDAR

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LEFT Shirt COMME DES GARCONS (PIAFF) Necklace MADAME REVE RIGHT Dress LEIFS DOTTIR (PIAFF) Bracelet MADAME REVE

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IN MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2011

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RIGHT Shirt TSUMORI CHISATO (PIAFF) Short LEVI’S VINTAGE Earings VINTAGE

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IN.NEWS FNO Kicks Off In Europe And New York Milan “It’s a fashion gay parade,” DSquared2 designer Dean Caten joked, referring to the crowds strolling Milan’s shopping area near Via Montenapoleone this year for Fashion Night Out. Caten and his twin brother Dan were back from a whirlwind vacation this summer, touching Canada, Ibiza, Barcelona, Mykonos and Capri. “It’s the only free month we have in our life,” shrugged Caten. The siblings were adding more frequent flyer miles the following day with a trip to Paris to gear up for the opening of a new store there on Oct 2nd. A new boutique was top of mind for Veronica Etro, too. The designer will head to China in midNovember to open a door in Beijing. But family comes first and life doesn’t stop for Fashion Night Out. “I have to rush to a parents’ school meeting,” she said, running to fetch her scooter. At his boutique in Via Spiga, Roberto Cavalli introduced a new member of his family — his new German shepherd puppy. “I should call him Lupo 10,” said the designer, referring to the Italian name of this breed. “I’ve had at least nine of them since 1973,” explained Cavalli. “We’ve worked so hard on the Olivia Spectator bag,” said Moschino creative director Rosella Jardini, of the brand’s new luxury accessory. So much so, that Jardini decided to design for the event a canvas shopping bag with a trompe l’oeil replica of that tote. And Jardini is not one to take her duties lightly, as she admitted she’s already working on the fall 2012 collection. Brothers Diego and Andrea Della Valle were also keeping an eye on the shopping element of the affair and were upbeat about customers being willing to open their wallets. “We always register great sales during FNO, which now traditionally marks the beginning of the shopping season,” said Andrea Della Valle. Conversely, Vittorio Missoni was more skeptical. “I think we mainly sell our gadgets during FNO, the ones that are designed for the event are always a big hit,” he said. This year, this would be hair bands retailing at 60 euros, or $84 at current exchange. “The contact with customers is very important to me, designers shouldn’t stay closed up in their studios,” said Alberta Ferretti, posing gamely with a young boy for photos in her store. “I started in this business with a small boutique, and my customers were my teachers,” she said. Likewise, Antonio Marras enjoyed showing his artistic side in his boutique, putting his finishing touches to a series of Ts designed for the event by painting details on the spot. Diesel chief Renzo Rosso praised the buzz and activity in town. “It’s like a party,” he said, comparing

the mood to Milan’s Salone del Mobile, the international furniture and design show held in April. Model Ashley Smith, who appears in Diesel’s ads for its new fragrance Loverdose, was in the store for the event. Kiera Chaplin, who was photographed earlier this year by Karl Lagerfeld for his collection for Hogan, was spotted at the Via Montenapoleone store. Paris Meanwhile, queues snaked throughout the Golden Triangle shopping district in Paris, with a gridlock forming at the crossroads of Avenue Montaigne and Rue François 1er. At Dior, Leigh Lezark manned the decks as guests including actress Valerie Donzelli checked out the goods or queued to get their makeup done. “I’m a terrible shopper — I’m a man,” laughed Antoine Arnault, pushing through the crowd at Louis Vuitton, a few doors down. “I tend to only go shopping when I’m about to pack my suitcases for vacation and realize that I have nothing to wear.” A few doors down, a bronzed Peter Dundas, clad in an eye-popping leopard jacket, cruised into the Pucci store with Ines Sastre on his arm. The designer said he’d been vacationing in Greece and Capri. Doing the rounds with presenter Mademoiselle Agnes and a TV crew, French Vogue editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt caused a commotion on Avenue Montaigne, where fans jostled to catch a glimpse at the posse of models trailing in her wake: Anja Rubik, Isabeli Fontana and Natasha Poly. Meanwhile, Courreges had parked a fleet of its Space Age electric cars outside its store, with go-go booted hostesses serving champagne to guests. Hanging out by a rack of fluo vinyl jackets, actor Vincent Perez revealed that an exhibition of his photographs, currently on show in Vladivostock, will head to Moscow and Paris next. “The theme is key players of our time,” he said, reeling off a list that included Carla Bruni, Bono, Kenzo Takada. Ungaro in its flagship presented a selection of groovy vintage jewelry from its archives, designed by the late artist Oskar Gustin for the house in the sixties and seventies, while Giuseppe Zanotti had set up an ice cream parlor outside its boutique — shame about the rain. Jean Paul Gaultier arrived fashionably late for his own party, where he was greeted by his new boss, Manuel Puig. “I was stuck in fittings,” he explained. “It’s taking longer than expected.” London In London, Henry Holland proclaimed FNO was “like late night shopping with extra champagne.” The designer was playing host at Asprey on New Bond Street, where he was gifting the IN

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jewelry house’s Life rings to select pals, including Daisy Lowe and Pixie Geldof. And with a spring 2012 show looming next week, Holland said he appreciated the respite. “You don’t get the chance to nip out of the office as we’re working so hard, so this is great,” he said. Outside the Bond Street store, the road had been shut to traffic and hundreds of shoppers wended in and out of the luxury retailers on the street. Nearby at Stella McCartney’s Bruton Street store, the designer had set up a kitsch disco with popcorn stands, lollipops and live dancers. McCartney co-hosted the event with her pals Livia Firth and Laura Bailey. “Stella throws the best parties,” marveled Firth, as she snapped pictures of a troupe of dancers clad in black and gold lame. Meanwhile, Roland Mouret had thrown open his shop on Mayfair’s Carlos Place to celebrate both FNO and his 50th birthday. “I thought at 50 you do things that count and my customers count so I am here,” said Mouret. “Plus, I have already had four parties.” The designer served champagne and cupcakes with sparkling icing, and treated his customers to a live display of his draping skills. The designer had also created three paper patterns for customers to replicate themselves, named after his mother and sisters, which are available as a limited edition and priced at about $30. “It’s a project anyone can do at home with some jersey and some ribbon,” assured Mouret. And Coach brought a New York moment to its new London home on New Bond Street, as the company invited shoppers to pose against a backdrop of a New York skyline. Meanwhile, celeb guests including Gwyneth Paltrow, David Gandy and Jemma Kidd turned out at the store. Over at Liberty on Regent Street, the night took on a tropical mood. Fashion East founder Lulu Kennedy, who’s known for spotting young fashion talent, was hosting a Hawaiian themed event called HonoLULU at the store, to celebrate the launch of her Lulu & Co collection with past Fashion East designers. There, guests including Jasmine Guinness and Simone Rocha — who has designed pieces for the line - browsed the collection and sipped rum and coconut cocktails. Rocha had even put a few tropical blooms in her hair to complement the decor. “Lulu said it was a Hawaiian theme, so I thought I’d make the effort,” she said with a smile. Berlin In the East, despite the rainy evening, the crowd hit The Corner for a fashion cocktail for Berlin designer Michael Sontag, whose fall collection is now stocked there. “We started selling his dresses from day one,” explained co-owner Josef Voelk. Models Katrin Thormann and Iris

Strubegger were eyeing a gray Rick Owens leather jacket at the store. “But I can’t buy anything straight away. I need to go home and sleep over it,” Thormann confided. Galeries Lafayette hosted Burberry beauty consultant Wendy Rowe, and set up a mini Cowshed spa for quick massages and manicures. An artist from Princesse Tam Tam lingerie drew quirky designs on ladies’ silky scanties, while a seamstress created custom Edsor Kronen ties for the gents. At nearby Departmentstore Quartier 206, the second floor turned into a silk road — London label Clare Tough and Berlin’s Odeeh both created limited-edition silk items for the night. Odeeh designers Jörg Ehrlich and Otto Drögsler

were happy to be on hand and hands-on, assisting shoppers with fall purchases. Across town in the West at the Hotel Concorde, local talents Mongrels in Common held a cocktail and sale in the bar area, hijacking a nearby elevator for their changing room — taking off instead of going up. Munich-based Selve, a custom footwear company, held a shoe-it-yourself salon upstairs on the hotel’s 11th floor. Schumacher, which now has stores in both sides of the city, kicked things off in its Schlüterstrasse shop with a surprise concert from violin virtuoso Arabella Steinbacher. The theme of the night was Lucky Numbers, with visitors receiving hand-painted tops featuring their digits of destiny. “I think I’d pick number eight,” said designer Dorothee Schumacher,

who was also offering guests a chance to win an exclusive leather jacket straight off the runway in glossy green – the winning ticket was hidden in one of a batch of colorful patent clutches retailing for 99 euro ($140). She wasn’t the only one counting — German Vogue’s editor-in-chief Christiane Arp was gambling on a growth year for the event. “The first time we had 600 guests at KaDeWe. Last year, there were over 2,000. So that’s a good outlook for tonight,” said Arp. The line to enter the department store was rivaled by the one inside — Chanel-lovers waiting to snap up the limited edition Les Jeans de Chanel nail polish trio, available only on Fashion’s Night Out, and only for four hours. On Friday, Vogue Fashion’s Night Out moves to Dusseldorf, where it debuts this year.

Looking Back: Best Hair from New York Fashion Week Swept-back hair — buns, French twists, braids and tails — let designers’ collections take center stage for spring. Embellished hair presented as the most breathtaking, from the black spikes jetting out of buns at Jason Wu to the loose, textured braids accented by suede rope at Michael Kors. Odile Gilbert perhaps explained the need for pulled-back hair best: “I want to see collarbones and necks and the sexiness of these areas. It is what women strive for every day.” DONNA KARAN Hair by Eugene Souleiman for Wella Makeup by Charlotte Tilbury for MAC Cosmetics

Narciso Rodriguez Hair by Eugene Souleiman for Wella Professionals Makeup by Dick Page for Shiseido

Michael Kors Hair by Orlando Pita Makeup by Dick Page for Shiseido

Badgley Mischka Hair by Peter Gray for Morroccanoil Makeup by Tom Pecheux for MAC Cosmetics

Carolina Herrera Hair by Orlando Pita for Moroccanoil Makeup by Diane Kendal for MAC Cosmetics

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Proenza Schouler Hair by Paul Hanlon for Frédéric Fekkai Makeup by Diane Kendal for MAC Cosmetics

Badgley Mischka Hair by Peter Gray for Morroccanoil Makeup by Tom Pecheux for MAC Cosmetics.

IN.NEWS Janet Jackson Returns As Blackglama ‘Legend’ Returning for the second consecutive year as the face of Blackglama, a tight, toned, and nearly naked Janet strikes a pose for the sexy new photo shoot. Jackson represents the brand’s iconic ‘What Becomes a Legend Most?’ campaign which was crafted under the creative direction of Blackglama’s advertising agency Laspata DeCaro and was photographed by Rocco Laspata. “It’s a very different vibe, this go around,” says Creative Director Charles DeCaro of this year’s shoot. “There are many narratives in Janet. This was that edgier, kind of cooler, modern, and rock-n-roll.” Since the campaign’s inception four decades ago, Blackglama legends have included Sophia Loren, Diana Ross, Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor, and Liza Minnelli.

‘Gossip Girl,’ the Collection

LANVIN cranks-up the fun for its Autumn/Winter 2011 ad campaign

Los Angeles-based contemporary label Romeo & Juliet Couture has partnered with Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner Bros. Television Group, which produces the CW show Gossip Girl. This partnership aims to produce a collection that will premiere at Coterie on Sunday and sell at Kitson, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue for fall, just in time for the series’ season five premiere on Sept. 26.  The collection, priced from $80 to $200 retail, includes embellished tops, bottoms, novelty sweaters, outerwear and draped chiffon dresses with touches of leather, pleats and prints, inspired by characters including Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf. “This is Romeo & Juliet’s first entertainment venture, and Gossip Girl was a natural choice for a partner, as the show is synonymous with fashion,” said David Shamouelian, chief executive officer of Romeo & Juliet Couture. The studio’s consumer products division has partnered before with properties ranging from The Wizard of Oz to Catwoman, but this is its first young adult television collaboration. Gossip Girl as the inspiration for a fashion line makes for the perfect design muse because there’s an endless supply of inspiration. It wasn’t a decision about whether or not to pursue this collection, it was about finding the right partner,” said Maryellen Zarakas, senior vice president of worldwide marketing and TV and studio licensing for WBCP.   The line will expand into handbags and accessories for spring, but the length of the partnership has yet to be determined. “We’re still working out the line plan for the future, but we have a long-term relationship planned that will see the line expand into other product categories,” said Zarakas.

Featuring dancing models shot by Steven Meisel, the Lanvin campaign cast includes Raquel Zimmermann, Karen Elson, Lowell Tautchin and Milo Spijkers. Supermodels ditch the pout for some awesome dance moves in the new ad campaign for Lanvin. They bust some moves to I Know You Want Me by Pitbull. The fashion looks amazing and Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz even makes a cameo appearance at the end.

The Romeo & Juliet collection represents the first time the show is officially branded as a clothing label on a large scale. “We have done a handful of pop-up, short-term apparel projects in the past, but Gossip Girl by Romeo & Juliet Couture is the first to create a contemporary and accessible line of apparel that gives us a platform to bring that signature fashion inspiration to the public in a more significant way,” said Sonia Borris, senior vice president, marketing and operations at Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Marketing.

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BOTTEGA VENETA LAUNCHES THE ART OF COLLABORATION Bottega Veneta is pleased to announce that photographer Robert Polidori has shot the brand’s Fall-Winter 2011/2012 advertising campaign. The campaign, which features both the women’s and men’s ready-to-wear collections, was shot on location in March of 2011, at the Palazzo Papadapoli, a 16th-century building situated on the Grand Canal in Venice. It is the latest in Bottega Veneta’s one-of-a-kind creative collaborations featuring the talents of outstanding artists.

In 2006 Polidori was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to photograph New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The resulting exhibition drew the largest audience ever to attend one of the museum’s photography shows. He is a staff photographer for The New Yorker and his work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

The Fall-Winter 2011/2012 collections feature extraordinary detail, and unusual construction. The palette is vibrant but moody, with bright shades of carnelian, orange, resina, and peridot grounded in Canova white for women and espresso brown and tourmaline blue for men. Shapes are clean and natural, following the line of the body. Texture and a plush three-dimensionality characterize the fabrics, which range from fuzzy wool blends and crisply finished wool suiting to waxed leathers, washed leathers, ultra-light silks, and fine jersey knits.

Polidori works with a custom-built large-format camera to take pictures filled with voluminous, voluptuous detail. His images capture a sense of time passing, of humanity and history revealed in what people leave behind. The emotional and temporal dimensions that Polidori brings to his detailed images are what led Bottega Veneta Creative Director Tomas Maier to approach him for the Fall-Winter campaign. “What is unusual about Robert’s work is that it both documents and interrogates,” says Maier. “His attention to detail creates layers of meaning that extend beyond the formal beauty of his images. I was interested in seeing what would result if he turned his lens on Bottega Veneta’s design and the brand’s roots in the Veneto, specifically Venice.”

Overprinting, tonal patterns, embroidery, and fabric overlays add depth and graphic intrigue to the surfaces in the women’s collection, while mixed materials and unconventional methods of construction reinvent traditional pieces of men’s wear. Robert Polidori is a worldrenowned photographer of rooms, architecture, and other human environments. His photography career began when he photographed the restoration of Versailles. He has since addressed a wide range of subjects and locations, including the aftermath of Chernobyl, Castro’s Havana, and the legacy of war in Beirut.

Swatch Breaks Deal With Tiffany Breakups can be ugly — and this one is no different. Tiffany & Co. and The Swatch Group Ltd. traded barbs recently after the Swiss watchmaker said it ended its three-year partnership to manufacture watches for the American luxury jeweler.   Swatch took the first jab, blaming Tiffany for “systematic efforts to block and delay the development of the business.” As a result, the company vowed to pursue a claim against Tiffany to recoup compensation for the loss of future business. Nayla Hayek, president of Tiffany Watch & Co. and chairwoman of Swatch, said that the damages requested would amount to a triple-digit figure in millions of Swiss francs. The blockage “occurred in various domains, such as in the marketing, for example events, ads, etc.,” she said, “due to the obstructions from Tiffany & Co., the development of the distribution did not live up to expectations.” The American jeweler fired back

The shoot, which took place over two days in Venice, was the first time that Polidori had been commissioned to shoot with models. “Robert brought this great energy and open-minded sense of adventure to the shoot,” continues Maier. “It was a genuinely exciting collaboration.” Polidori joins a long list of renowned artists who have contributed to the creation of Bottega Veneta’s advertising portfolio.

in what is shaping up to be a he said, she said back-and-forth, denying that it neglected its obligations in the agreement.    “Since Tiffany & Co. and The Swatch Group Ltd. entered upon this venture more than three years ago it has become increasingly clear that Swatch is unwilling to honor the terms of our agreement, make the necessary commitments and work cooperatively to develop the business for Tiffany & Co. watches in the luxury space,” the retailer said. “Despite assurances to the contrary made in 2007, Swatch has failed to provide appropriate distribution for Tiffany & Co. brand watches, with the result that our current business forecasts do not include any meaningful increase in watch sales or royalty income“   The New York-based luxe jeweler “insisted that Swatch honor its own obligations, particularly its obligation to respect Tiffany’s rights regarding brand-management and product design.” It added that it was “confident that its position will be vindicated” in coming arbitration. IN

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IN.NEWS TUMI PRESENTS ITS FALL 2011 COLLECTION Style Meets Innovation. Tumi Introduces New Collections for the Modern Professional Innovation meets indulgence in Tumi’s fall 2011 collection. This season, Tumi - the premium lifestyle, accessories and travel brand – brings together the quintessential colors of the fall season in an array of stylish options for both men and women. As a leader in carry-on friendly innovation, Tumi also expands its utilitarian offerings this season by adding the Travel Scale to its ever-expanding line of electronics. With this compact and lightweight add-on purchase, professional road warriors can avoid airline surcharges by simply weighing their bags before check-in. Featuring Tumi’s iconic design elements, this user-friendly gadget operates off of the click of a button but maintains its measurement precision for items up to 100 pounds. The backlit display of pounds and kilograms makes for an easy read at any time of day and in any country.

Christian Dior/ Marc Jacobs Talks Said Proving Difficult

That’s the description of the ongoing negotiations between Marc Jacobs and Christian Dior which would move the star American designer from Louis Vuitton, part of French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, a sister company of Dior’s. Sources said the talks are proving difficult, with one sticking point believed to be that Jacobs and his long-time business partner Robert Duffy are seeking a substantial increase on their current salary and benefits packages, which already place them among the highest-paid designers and fashion executives in the world. Dior, of course, is a much more demanding job than Louis Vuitton, with two couture collections in addition to two ready-to-wear shows and pre-collections. Also, the immense craftsmanship involved in couture means Jacobs would have to spend even more time in Paris working with the atelier on the collection. All of this would come on top of his own women’s and men’s wear lines, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, both of which have seen significant growth over the last few years. But for now, sources said, Jacobs, Vuitton’s artistic director since 1997, still appears to be the favored option to succeed John Galliano as Dior’s couturier. Galliano was ousted in March in the wake of drunken racist and anti-Semitic outbursts, for which he was found guilty last week by a Paris court, given a suspended fine and ordered to pay costs and damages to three plaintiffs, as reported. The designer’s move to Dior would be the catalyst for a domino series of moves at LVMH’s fashion houses not seen since the nineties.

Dolce & Gabbana to End D&G Line Dolce & Gabbana announced today it was folding the D&G line, thus making the Sept 22, 2011 fashion show the last for the brand.   In a statement, the designers said the move would give “even more strength and energy to our collections.” The company is incorporating the D&G line into its signature line. As far back as then, it was understood the last D&G collection was going to be for spring 2012. D&G has been a significant driver of the company’s growth, but the decision could expand the scope of the signature line.

Yet while that prospect continues to grip the fashion industry like a fever, it has caused barely a flicker in the financial community. Shares in LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior SA have seesawed along with gyrating global markets in recent weeks, but without any remark or re-rating from equity analysts over the prospect of one of the highest-level games of designer musical chairs since the late nineties. For them, it’s practically a non-issue. “In this day and age, for a brand the size of Louis Vuitton or Christian Dior, we tend to believe that artistic directors only account for a small portion of the brand’s attribute. We therefore do not immediately factor in a change in artistic director into our valuation of the brand,” said Antoine Belge, HSBC’s Paris-based head of consumer brands and retail equity research. “I would probably not change my rating on LVMH or Christian Dior on the back of a potential move of Marc Jacobs from Louis Vuitton to Christian Dior,” agreed Pierre Lamelin, head of luxury goods research at Credit Agricole Cheuvreux in Paris. “Many other factors influence the decision to buy or sell a stock.” WWD broke the news Aug. 22 that Jacobs was in talks to shift to Dior. According to sources, Dior president and chief executive officer Sidney Toledano is said to have recently spent several days in New York to meet with legal representatives for Jacobs and Duffy. The duo is believed to be looking for a salary somewhere in the low eight figures each, plus other benefits. Meanwhile, it’s business as usual at Vuitton and Dior, which have declined all comment on the talks.

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CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN OPEN PARIS MEN’S STORE Many Paris boutiques close during the August doldrums. Christian Louboutin used the occasion to quietly open his first men’s shop in the world here in the Galerie Véro-Dodat — and already he’s been selling some 25 pairs of shoes a day. Emboldened by the robust response, he said he soon plans to open a dedicated men’s boutique in New York, not far from his Horatio Street location, and another in London’s Mayfair district. “They come in and they say, ‘What do you have with studs?’” Louboutin related Wednesday, sliding his feet into a pair of black loafers, the vamp sprouting dozens of bulbous tassels instead of the usual two. Prized for his red soles, sexy platforms and inimitable French touch with women’s shoes, Louboutin started a men’s collection somewhat by chance. He attended the superhero-themed Costume Institute ball at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2008 wearing a pair of loafers pavéd in conical silver studs, which caused a sensation and yielded a spate of requests for special orders. “After 15 pairs, I thought, ‘Let’s do a production of them,’” he said. Today, Louboutin sells men’s shoes in 34 of his worldwide network of 44 boutiques as well as a handful of wholesale accounts, and is planning to expand his men’s offering to include bags. The 750-square-foot Paris boutique is across the covered passageway from his women’s shop, which opened 20 years ago. It sets the template for future men’s outposts with its rustic colors, rugged fixtures and intergalactic touches.

Designed by architect Eric Clough, with studded leather floors by Mexican design purveyor Chic by Accident and leather wall panels embroidered by Jean-François Lesage, the luxuriously eclectic store features vintage airplane-seat armchairs, an original “Star Trek” table-and-chair set, a patchwork tin ceiling, and an embroidered “leopard-skin” rug. A neon sign glows above the store’s “Tattoo” room, housing even fancier styles, including patent loafers embroidered with pearl tassels retailing for 1,495 euros, or $2,135. Here, Louboutin plans a made-toorder service offering men the chance to have their emblematic tattoos — which he describes as a modern-day version of family crests — embroidered onto shoes, a service which will take about three months. Photos of his heavily inked Welsh rugby buddy Gareth Thomas will shortly adorn the walls. “What we sell is quite exceptional. The customer here is not attached necessarily to old traditions,” Louboutin said, citing a young, pluggedin clientele, some of whom are rabid collectors and buy in multiples. “I’m the same way. If I like a pair of shoes, I’m going to buy two pairs,” said the designer, whose footwear wardrobe numbers around 300 to 400 pairs. “I do see men getting excited about shoes, which is nice.”

Michael Kors Launches Men’s Underwear

Emporio Armani Taps Rihanna Sporting a platinum blond bob — and very little else — a sultry Rihanna gazes at the camera in the new Emporio Armani Underwear ad campaign for fall. Lounging sexily against a retro, black Lincoln Continental, the Grammy Award winner was photographed by Steven Klein in New York. The photos, which have a film noir mood, will be unveiled today worldwide. Rihanna, who also fronts the Armani Jeans campaign, succeeds Megan Fox. And she has star company on the men’s side, at least in jeans: Rafael Nadal is the face of the latest Armani Jeans campaign for men.

Michael Kors is launching a fullscale men’s underwear program this fall as the company continues to expand its men’s business. The initiative includes underwear, loungewear and sleepwear that will make its debut in about 100 doors of Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s at the end of this month, with Neiman Marcus to be added for holiday. The line also includes T-shirts, shorts, lounge pants and pajama bottoms. The color palette is largely black, white, gray and powder blue with new colors to be injected seasonally.

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IN.NEWS Raf Simons To Take Over At Yves Saint Laurent We usually leave ‘breaking news’ stories to the wire services and Twitter, and don’t like to propagate unsubstantiated rumours, but sometimes the news is so big, and the source of the rumour is so credible, that it warrants immediate comment and analysis.

Cartier’s Precious Moments With demand for extreme luxury continuing to bubble, word has it Cartier has a new line of precious bags in the works, featuring fabrics made by the historic Florentine weaver Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio. The foundation, which specializes in traditional techniques for hand-weaving silks and precious metals, is said to be developing a range of fabrics for the jeweler using different thicknesses of silver and gold thread to give a textured surface. Meanwhile, Cartier recently presented its Sortilège de Cartier fine jewelry collection at a glitzy bash at the Villa Aurelia in Rome, with Monica Belucci and Fan Bing Bing in attendance. Comprised of 70 one-ofa-kind pieces, the collection centered on Mediterranean-flavored pieces designed to stimulate the olfactory senses, evoking flowers, fruits and herbal plants. Highlights include a multi-strand platinum necklace loaded with emeralds and diamonds, and a bracelet set in white gold with diamonds, pink sapphires, purple sapphires, boasting a detachable flower that can be worn as a brooch. The collection will travel, though destinations have not yet been finalized.

An unnamed sources in Paris say that Raf Simons will replace Stefano Pilati as Creative Director of storied couture house, Yves Saint Laurent. But there was no mention of the timing of the supposed transition, the news is yet to be officially confirmed by any of the parties concerned, so this news must still be treated as conjecture. That said, Mr. Pilati’s future at YSL is said to have been rocky for several seasons now. He has been regularly dogged by rumours that other designers were set to replace him. Only last season, a casual tweet from Kenzo’s Twitter account spawned rumours that Hedi Slimane would replace Pilati, rumours that were only snuffed out when YSL’s official Twitter account wrote: “From YSL HQ in Paris… Pilati busy working on the next collection. All the rumors unfounded – he is here to stay.” There is more reason to believe the rumours are true this time around. Up until now, there has been no such Twitter rebuttal from YSL. While still not a 100 percent guarantee, Mr. Simons did say that his Spring/Summer 2012 collection “is the last in his couture trilogy” for Jil Sander. Will there really be another Raf Simons collection for Jil Sander? Or, could YSL Couture be next? Stay IN.

M.A.C Cosmetics Color Collection M.A.C Cosmetics teams up with photographer Cindy Sherman to create three conceptual photographs to showcase its Fall 2011 ‘Color Collection’. Whilst we don’t recommend taking direct make-up references from the images, they do continue M.A.C’s long-standing relationship with art and perfectly demonstrate the wide product offering!

Dolce & Gabbana Promote Young Designers Doing their part to boost young designers, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana flung the doors open at their multi-brand boutique Spiga2 on Thursday night for In Bed with Spiga2. The event, with a live performance by Appaloosa, toasted young, international designers, whose collections were displayed on beds instead of racks. The year-old store showcases readyto-wear collections of nascent fashion designers. Cyprus-based Fani Xenophontos was wearing her own look, a black blouse from last season, which had quickly sold out in white. “D&G really believes in the young designers who they choose,” said designer Lamberto Petri.

MIDNIGHT BLUE A well-delineated, graphic look featuring an Eye Shadow Quad, Pigment, Fluidline, Lip Erase, and Lipsticks including M•A•C Artist favourites X-S and Fleshpot along with Nail Lacquer and Bronzing Powder.

MIDNIGHT BLUE

ANGEL FLAME A glamorously arrestingly artistic assortment including an Eye Shadow Quad, Lipglass, Mineralize Skinfinish and the limited life re-appearance of the Jumbo Penultimate. WILD COLOR A wild, whimsical & wonderful palette. Stars Small Eye Shadows, Pigment, M•A•C Artist favourite Chromographic Pencil, & Lipstick. WILD COLOR

ANGEL FLAME

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CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN vs Yves Saint Laurent THE STORY SO FAR Shoe designer Christian Louboutin’s continuing legal fight to protect his signature red soles from imitators is fascinating. Can you really own a colour? Can the designer really uphold such a simple- but oh-so-effective-USP?

Marrero invokes lyrics from Jennifer Lopez’s song Louboutins to underline the label’s prestige, and describes the shoes as “a product visually so eccentric and striking that it is easily perceived and remembered.”

Christian Louboutin certainly hopes so. A spokesperson for his eponymous label confirms that the designer plans to appeal a New York judge’s decision last week to deny Louboutin’s bid to block Yves Saint Laurent from producing red-soled shoes in its 2011 Cruise collection.

What seems to trouble the judge are the potential ramifications of owning a colour in a certain context. It’s not unheard of: Tiffany has a patent on the very precise shade of pale blue used on its packaging (after all would a Tiffany ring have the same princess appeal without the little blue box?), but owning a whole colour category, or at least a range of similar shades, when applied to the sole of a shoe is a different proposition that Marrero thinks could cramp other designers’ creativity.

The story so far: in 2008 Louboutin trademarked a lacquered red sole on footwear (Pantone No. 18-1663 TP, or “Chinese Red”). In April this year Louboutin filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in New York saying that YSL had breached its copyright by using the red sole, in July the judge heard preliminary evidence – with YSL’s representative arguing that no brand should have a “monopoly on a colour”- and last week Judge Victor Marrero denied Louboutin’s atttempt to block YSL’s shoes.

Should Louboutin lose his trademark, how damaging will it be to his business? If he was an up-and-coming designer then the answer would be very. But maybe he’s sufficiently established and respected to be known for more than just this one motif.

Potentially worse for Christian Louboutin, who has another hearing in the case scheduled this Friday, the judge also implied that his 2008 trademark could be cancelled. Not that Marrero doesn’t appear to have some sympathy for Louboutin’s cause. His 30-page ruling mixes legalese, art history and the politics of branding etc while suggesting he’s sensitive to the importance of the scarlet sole for Louboutin.

Customers don’t only go to Louboutin for the red sole; his more loyal, less jump-on-the-bandwagon fans go for the fineness of his stilettos and his sleek, sophisticated brand of sex appeal. But what if every mass market shoemaker from Payless to Primark suddenly whacks a red sole onto their less-thanluxurious products? Will that cancel out its cache? Could the trademark simply be made a little more precise? Is Louboutin right to see red?

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IN.FASHION

Christian Dior Fall 2011 Lookbook collection is in display FOR the first time

For the first time in the history of high fashion, Christian Dior is showing the LookBook collection, a new strategy of communication to introduce their new collections. Recently, Christian Dior has also displayed their collections at the main luxury multi-brand store La Rinascente in Milan. The Christian Dior Fall 2011 ready-to-wear collection is inspired by the legendary love story between Mrs. Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII. Christian Dior adopted the whirlwind romance of this famous couple to influence the new collection. Shown in 2011, this also happened to be the last collection of the late great John Galliano for Christian Dior. According to the Christian Dior official website, â&#x20AC;?Diorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fall ready-to-wear collection takes its inspiration from the legendary love affair between Mrs. Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII. English romanticism is channeled into Balmoral fringed tweeds and candy-colored tartans with Prince of Wales checks. Ultimate luxury and expertise create evening glamour in elegant draped gowns and head to toe sequins to ensure that every head is turned.

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Too Fashionable For Fashion By Tahir Sultan Over the years as the nineties gave way to the nought-ies, and sports brands upped their anti by hiring well known designers to design special lines for them (e.g. Stella McCartney for Adidas); the whole face of the fashion industry began to change. Prada channeled the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s with their chic take on bowling shoes and their racing shoes (both just fancy sneakers). Nike gave itself a face lift with their customize your own look at our Nike sports shoe bar concept, Yohiji Yammamoto and Jill Sanders rocked their design ethics for Puma, and before one knew it Juicy Couture was everywhere and there was suddenly a “cool to look casual movement.” Galliano menswear was designing ‘hoodies’, while the English government were banning the youth from entering shopping malls dressed in them, as they looked too menacing, further flaming the fires of rebellion, among the fashion bad boys and girls effectively creating a full blown dress down look chic revolution. Now as you might have guessed, this did something to the strict door policies of nightclubs restaurants and other haughty establishments. In the words of Dr. Suess, one couldn’t tell “whether this one was that one, or that one was this one, or which one was what one, or what one was who.” The rich the famous the who’s who and the social climbers on the rise were suddenly vying to get into these establishments, crowding bouncers trying to get past the velvet ropes. All dressed down looking like the person next to them. The industry’s solution was “ the door bitch” he (a gay guy on a power trip) or she (a women who let the power go to her head so forcibly she actually forgot she just manned the door and didn’t own the establishment). And so begins our tale. Now I’m in my early thirties and have worked in the fashion industry for over a decade so have attended enough Vogue parties, Tatler parties, Harpers Bazaar parties and fashion parties to make more than a few people envious. Not only do I attend these parties in my own right not as some one’s plus one, I always manage to look head-turning chic, and I’m constantly being stopped by strangers to tell me how well dressed I am and how fabulous I look.

I pride myself on my unique style, and its been known to get me into the hardest of establishments internationally. Where the bouncer trapped between his love for both genders, (inevitably choosing to highlight the worst features of both, hence looking like a fashion disaster) looks me up and down and smiles a smile that would make any one recoil. “ Sweetie, you look fierce” and tadaaa am in… Of course my back up is to always have a table or know some one that has a table. Recently I was in Beirut and I’d just had a grueling day ironing out last minute details for a fashion shoot, I’d had sun set drinks with a celeb (champagne and Patron of course) attended a wedding dinner and decided to head to my favorite night club not having bothered to change all day. I was dressed in grey wide legged pants (all the rage), a grey t-shirt, glitter silver limited edition Converse and the staple rich brat’s must have, the solid gold Rolex. I rock up with three of my girls up to the “door bitch”, well in this case the bitch at the door. She looks me up and down with her turquoise feather necklace and her heels that were trying and dying to be Louboutins, and says “I can’t let you in you’re too fashionably dressed.” ‘Excuse me? Come again I say”, she smiles, and repeats “I’m sorry you too fashionably dressed”. I’d been here the night before and she remembered, and she said as she arrogantly rejected me that I had been the best-dressed person at the club last night. But she just couldn’t do it tonight, in spite of the fact that the group I was with had two tables. Most nightspots in the world have changed and bent their rules concerning their door policy. Unfortunately, a hierarchal system that was once determined by class has now been over run by footballers’ wives. Every one has money to burn so it’s no longer about the question of money, even rules like smoking and dress code can be overlooked if you are with the right people. One could and did use the opportunity of a Saturday night outing to get dressed up, feel great and go out, with out the fear of fashion mediocrity slapping one down. We live in a society overrun with mass consumerism (a theme Andy Warhol, IN

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perspicaciously highlighted), mass media, and fear of being too individualistic, have we finally come around full circle and landed back in the forties? Metaphorically speaking, has the task of expressing one’s self been left up to fashionistas like Daphne Guniess or Lady Gaga? Has it become an elite circle once again? One that us mere mortals must strive to be part of? Has the fashion movement become so mainstream that the punk rock style of the eighties has all but become a distant memory and have jeans, polo t-shirts and Todd look alike shoes become the norm? Mainstream designers, are all clamoring to get on the band wagon of high street fashion labels like Zare, and H&M, as that is where the money lies, so in turn everything has become so mass market, in your face, there is little space left for true expression and real design. To be truly individualistic is to walk a tightrope, to be on the edge. It’s becoming an elitist club, not so much by choice, but because of a set of circumstances the media, the recession and new business modules of fashion houses put together create. Bouncers at the door were put there in the first place, to weed out individuals donning their individualism and individualistic style to ensure their establishments were always a mix of rich, ultra cool and ultra fashionable. These establishments acquired legendry status, like the Box in New York and now London, Lotus, Studio 54 and Spa. It seems that the people at the door have become a direct reflection of the fashion industry now, “Sorry, you’re too fashionable, we can’t let you in”. Luckily one thing will never change – the who you know and how far it will get you factor. The next day Pocahontas in her Louboutins wannabe shoes got what she had coming to her. Perhaps if she spent less time on her power trip and more time paying attention to the job she was given to do she would have noticed my t-shirt said, “Fashion makes fake friends and true enemies”. But in the end perhaps she isn’t to blame, she is just a reflection of where we are in society today, after all its not easy being one’s self, when every where you turn your being encouraged to look like the person next to you.

Bloomingdale’s ‘New York New YorK’ Feted as one of the most fashionable destinations in the UAE, Bloomingdale’s – Dubai is taking a bite out of the Big Apple and celebrating the vibrant, iconic city of New York to usher in their Fall/Winter 2011 collections. Inspired by the diversity and spirit of New York, Bloomingdale’s – Dubai will undergo a storewide transformation to mirror the sights, sounds and attractions of the busy metropolis. Starting September 29th until November 12th, the ‘New York New York’ campaign will host six weeks of exciting in-store events and exclusive offerings, in both, the three-level Fashion Store and the Home Store. The campaign will commence with a special in-store appearance by Hollywood actress and philanthropist, Eva Longoria. “We are delighted to bring to our customers a dynamic and exciting retail experience that truly connects them to the essence of where the Bloomingdale’s heritage began, New York City (NYC). We want our customers to step into the store and feel like they could easily be shopping on 59th Street or in Soho,” says Matthew Mackenzie, General Manager of Bloomingdale’s – Dubai. From Frank Sinatra lyrics illustrating the big city’s unofficial anthem in store windows to ‘local’ NYC street bites and a yellow cab parked outside Bloomingdale’s - Dubai, shoppers will find entertainment throughout every corner of the two stores.

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These attractions include the highly anticipated Fall/Winter 2011 Fashion Show taking place in the Fashion Catwalk Atrium of The Dubai Mall, to designer trunk shows and appearances, beauty promotions, a Havaianas customization event, fourweek Kids’ Talent Contest, cooking demonstrations, gallery exhibitions, and a very special greeting from a 4 meter King Kong installation displayed in the Atrium of the Fashion Store. In the Atrium and Fashion Store, numerous themed pop-up shops will highlight exclusive ‘New York New York’ merchandise from over 90 renowned designers in the categories of fashion, beauty, jewellery and home including:

Times Square Stores: featuring men’s and women’s contemporary brands Park Avenue Stores: featuring men’s and women’s designer brands and kidswear New York New York Store: featuring New York souvenirs Broadway Store: featuring music-inspired merchandise Soho Stores: featuring men’s and women’s casual & denim collections Yankees Stores: featuring merchandise from New York’s beloved, world champion baseball team. In addition to the dedicated shops and Fall/ Winter 2011 runway show, the fashion extravaganza continues with trunk shows for 3.1 Phillip Lim and Theory and a personal in-store appearance by American jewellery designer, Wilfredo Rosado, who will be celebrating the UAE premiere of his eponymous debut collection at Bloomingdale’s – Dubai. While enjoying their New York shopping experience, shoppers can anticipate being stopped mid-stroll by an assortment of colorful street performers including living statues and break dancers, and for those wishing to travel in style between the Fashion and Home Stores, a branded ‘New York New York’ cart is available to taxi customers. In the Home Store, innovative travel accessories designer, Jimeale and celebrated home décor and giftware designer, Michael Aram will make special in-store appearances in October and November respectively while Coca-Cola will occupy the Downtown Gallery space for ‘The Perfect Serve’ demonstrations and present a visual evolution of their symbolic Coke bottle. In Fine Dining, the Lenox Presidential collection will make a stately exhibition from October 20th to November 12th as the first American china to be commissioned for the White House. For the food enthusiast looking for a real ‘taste’ of New York, cooking demonstrations will be hosted by some of the area’s top chefs while neighborhood-style street vendors serving pretzels, bagels, Yankee Stadium Hot Dogs, and Brooklyn Style Pizza will be parked within arms reach in the Home Store on the weekends. Magnolia Bakery and Forty Carrots will also update their menus of confectionary delights and tasty offerings with the addition of New York themed specialty items.

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IN.FASHION The JoiE De Vivre of Designer Tahir Sultan I’m at Beirut Airport, I’m late, and have just been affectionately put in my place by a rather impatient designer whom I’m picking up. Tahir Sultan heads towards the car in what can only be described as a modern retake on Kate Blanchets arrival in Rome, in the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley. Though far less Louis Vuitton, there is still an alarming amount of luggage for some one who’s here for just a few days’ shoot. He sees me, smiles and tells me all will be revealed once he unpacks. Over time him and I have become close friends, and I have learnt to accept the eccentricities, as they are part and parcel of the package that is his creativity. At nine o’clock the next morning the red button on my Blackberry is flashing like a police light. Tahir wants to know where I am. Our meeting is at eleven, and I’m still half asleep, (our casual late night catch up dinner only ended at 4 am). “Be there soon”, I text half tempted to crawl back into bed rather than into the shower. I wonder where on earth he gets this ridiculous amount of energy? As I walk into his suite there are no explanations needed, somewhere between 4 am, and 10 am he’s found the time to sleep, shower (twice), change, unpack and set up, what can only be described as an Alice in Wonderland inspired wardrobe, where on display lie hats of all sorts, accessories, feathers, lace, net, more feathers, eyelashes, shoes, and dresses so long even Naomi Campbell would probably require stilts. “These need to be shot on stools or stacks of books to elongate the body so it looks over exaggerated.” He walks me through it all and suddenly the steam liner type luggage all makes sense as does the child-like enthusiasm, and his eagerness to get the ball rolling. After our first meeting with only 48 hours to go before the shoot, we are yet to decide on the model, make up artist and venue. The photographer is less than thrilled, as she likes to have everything organized in advance. But monsieur Tahir Sultan seems unperturbed. “Don’t worry Ahmed, I’ve put it out there in the universe, I always ask God to help me out and he does.” I feel an ulcer coming on. “Shoo you’ve put it out into the universe?” I reply. He shrugs off the question as if I’m the insane one, and it’s my fault for not understanding the creative world he resides in, which at times can be frustrating. We attend an art opening, go to a party at Le Gray, and before we hit a night club (yes this is after a full days work) he introduces me to Rosy Abourous, a very talented jewelry designer, and owner of Rosa Maria, a fantastic modern boutique with fabulous pieces.

Tahir has just met Rosy, and they are speaking to each other like they have been acquainted for years. As we leave Le Gray he announces that we have our venue. “Yaa Tahir you haven’t even seen it how can you be so sure?” To which he replies, “Ahmed trust me its definitely the place, everything happens for a reason.” I feel another ulcer fast approaching. The next evening, and literally 15 hours before the shoot we still don’t have a model. I get a phone call from him, at Iris over drinks with friends of his, he’s managed to secure a fantastic model, whom he hasn’t seen apart from a bbm photo and is convinced she’s the one. I meet him at the venue, and its very early in the morning. I’m exhausted as he had kept me out till 3 am the night before, and as I walk in I am suddenly struck with how organized, professional and together he is. Smiling, polite, efficient (despite the fact that he got home at 5:30 am and its now 8:30 am). He is so on the ball with the shoes the clothes the jewels he has borrowed from Ronda Khalil, and the accessories are all laid out. The place is fantastic and the model gorgeous. There is a palpable tension amongst the team, as its pretty early in the morning and every one is trying to flex their authority in whichever way they can. To him it’s like water off a duck’s back, he goes about doing what he does best with an aura of enthusiasm, calm, and he has the most amazing set of manners I have witnessed, treating everyone with the utmost respect. Yet he also manages an air, which lets one know where their place is in the hierarchy of things, and somehow that manages to efficiently keep everyone in check, ensuring that no one dares approach him or speak out of turn. The shoot is fantastic and at the end everyone is thrilled with the outcome. This manner of working is what I suspect keeps him a cut above the rest of the other designers in the Middle East. To him every problem allows for a creative solution and this suits him well and allows for some fantastic results. This shoot marks the springboard of his new high-end line, which he has named DBSG By Tahir Sultan. When asked if it’s a take on Donna Karen’s diffusion line DKNY (Donna Karen New York) he quickly replies no, it’s the opposite it’s the more upscale line of eveningwear. And the DBSG stands for Don’t Be So Gauche. The name of the line is so quintessentially him, always laughing and joking around, to a point where most people who don’t know him well enough make the mistake of not taking him seriously. His restrategizing of his label is going to turn a lot of heads, catch a lot of people’s attention and it is going to be a force to be reckoned with. As if a full time label is not enough, there is the upscale one and the third more casual one he is launching, called Sew Screwed. It’s a diffusion line that incorporates best sellers from old collections, as well as new pieces, so that people have the choice of stepping back in time and purchasing something they really loved.

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PHOTOGRAPHER NOUR EL KHAZEN MAKE-UP ARTIST ROULA KARAM HAIR STYLIST NAJI KORKOMAZ MODELS RAZANE JAMMAL CHARLY SAMRA JEWELLERY RANDA KHALIL RAAD COLLECTION DBSG BY TAHIR SULTAN

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His take on fashion is quite simply: not very serious. He’s more interested in the notion of style and how people carry themselves and express their inner child. Most of his conversations revolve around food, (which is quite amazing seeing as he is tiny). To dress badly is one thing, but to eat badly now that’s a true crime in his eyes. He’s always thinking about the next meal and where one should go in order to eat delicious food. Like a sponge, I see him absorbing everything around him, and I have learnt he leaves very little unnoticed. He is anal about timing, but makes no bones about playing hard either. His aura is incredible and inviting and he has this amazing tenacity to throw celebrities, artists, and random people from all walks of life together at a gathering (which most normal people would consider social suicide), and gets away with it. That’s because he creates an atmosphere where by everyone realizes their ability to grow and learn from the person sitting next to them. He has no qualms about seating a 22-year-old NYU graduate next to a sixtyyear-old art dealer, who happens to be sitting across from some one who made it onto the Forbes 100 list. All these characters play a part in the feeling, the mood, and the attitude that his collections encapsulate. With out interacting with interesting people with different points of view and their different backgrounds, it would be really difficult to try to create a unique product. After all, his clothes are an extension of who he is. He is extremely interested in art, and constantly drags me to art shows, events and fairs, internationally. He makes it a point to immerse himself culturally, so as to have a clear understanding of his environment and stay abreast with different people’s point of view and the means they choose to express themselves. Once frustrated out of my brains I turned to him and pointed to a painting and asked what is this what does it mean? He looked at me and said, “If you have noticed the piece and it has moved you either positively or negatively then the artist has succeeded in his endeavor to express himself. Art is all about your personal communication with the piece, and the opinions you form.“ One can describe his fashion ethos in a similar manner: his clothes are very sculptural, and the women who wear them have a personal connection to them and they keep coming back for more. Some people understand them, some don’t, and luckily he seems unfazed. Like visual art, fashion is all about educating people: if at first they don’t catch on then persist. They will eventually come around and respect what one is trying to accomplish. “Fashion is what one wears, what is unfashionable is what other people wear, and other people are simply ghastly, the only possible society is oneself, and to love oneself is the beginning of a life long romance.” He’s lost me again.” Ufft your so useless Ahmed he groans it’s Oscar Wilde. “ IN

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The Creative Space

Socially Conscious Fashion 58

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Sarah Hermez and Caroline ShlalaSimonelli have launched an initiative called The Creative Space. The Creative Space is a free intensive educational program that aims to inspire and empower youth from various backgrounds through fashion design.

The project itself was difficult to set up. The idea came about while both women were sharing a coffee at Dean and Deluca in New York. Hermez began sharing her experiences and passion for teaching fashion as a form of therapy, to which Simonelli replied, “Why don’t you start a school?” “It was like a light bulb moment,” said Hermez. She went home and typed up the proposal of this project in a few hours, then flew to Lebanon and went to an NGO with the proposal and it was quickly adopted.

Sarah Hermez graduated with a double degree from Parsons New School of Design majoring in Fashion Design, as well as Eugene Lang New School for Liberal Arts majoring in Media and Cultural studies. Doing a double degree was a way to merge the two worlds that she was very passionate about. It provided her a balance between the academic and creative, and it offered a space of revival where experience and learning could be utilized into expression. During her time in university, Hermez took part in study abroad programs in Cambodia, where she taught English and worked at an orphanage. In India, she studied Tibetan Politics and lived with a Tibetan refugee family. These experiences radically changed the way she viewed the world and made her question her career path. After all she’d experienced she couldn’t go back to New York and pursue fashion for fashions sake. Once she graduated, her main goal was to continue to maintain a balance between her passions. Caroline Shlala-Simonelli’s role was crucial to the project. Along with co-founding The Creative Space with Hermez, she was also a great source of inspiration for her. If it weren’t for Simonelli coming to Lebanon to help teach, Hermez admittedly would have had her doubts about this project. Simonelli was Hermez’s mentor at university, and Hermez enthusiastically claims she learned more in her class during senior year than she did during the entire four years at Parsons. Both women ended up collaborating because of a deep belief in the idea. The creative Space began with a class of 5 students between the ages of 16 and 22. This class consists of students from different social and educational backgrounds, students who would otherwise lack fair opportunities and who have an interest in fashion design. The Creative Space aims to guide their students on the road to discovering the roots of their creative ideals through fashion, creating an atmosphere of teamwork and collaboration while promoting individuality.

“I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to deal with the tough parts of putting the whole thing together, finding students and a space, as the NGO would take care of it all. However, after a few months the constraints of working with an NGO were too much, and I felt as though I would be sacrificing my objectives if I continued to pursue this with an NGO. So I decided to go through with it on my own,” says Hermez. All of a sudden she had to find students and a space, and set it up before her deadline to begin first day of classes on June 1st. Hermez had three months to pull it off, and to make matters worse, she was new to Lebanon, and didn’t know how to go about finding students. “I made a poster with the qualifications I was looking for in the students, which were primarily the desire, dream and passion to be a fashion designer, and some sort of skill in sewing and drawing. I distributed the posters at women’s centers in the Palestinian camps. It was tough, because as a fresh graduate with not much working experience, why would anyone trust me with their children?” Luckily, the women in the centers loved her idea, and introduced her to families they thought would be interested. Hermez went to their homes, met the families, met the potential students and saw some of their works. Many times, the families loved the idea but would not allow their daughters to leave the camps. They asked if the projects could be set up in the camps, but Hermez refused, because part of the point of this project was to gather girls from different backgrounds together, in Beirut, the center of fashion in Lebanon. If the project was set up in the camps, it would be only for Palestinians. “I also went to orphanages, from the north to the south,” adds Hermez, “and approached NGO’s for help. I interviewed over 25 students, and in the end, I chose Baraa (Palestinian), Eman (Palestinian), Carmen (Armenian/Lebanese), Sophie (Lebanese), and Nourhan (Palestinian). As the first students of this project, they were crucial to the success and growth of this idea.”

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Beyond the difficulties of finding the students, Hermez faced many challenges along the way. Bringing 5 strong personalities together resulted in them facing some drama, “The drama was always resolved, bringing us closer together as a team and as friends,” says Hermez. “Being together five times a week for seven hours a day, you are bound to develop a close relationship. More than just their teacher, I became their friend, their therapist, their sister etc.” Overcoming the challenges was made a lot easier with help of her team who from the start dedicated their summer to being a part of this project. Rania Dalloul, who is the backbone and partner of this project, Lean Sadder the graphic designer, and Dina Mahmoud who helped with everything technical. The team showed up everyday, befriended the girls, and helped throughout this project. There were many challenges they faced along the way. One big challenge was getting those students who had experience in fashion to look outside their perspective of what they knew fashion to be. The objective was to push them out of their comfort zone and explore avenues that they never would have considered. “I remember one of my students making a dress, and at the end she said she wasn’t sure if she liked it because it is too strange. I told her that it was only strange because it was something she hasn’t seen before, because it was new. And that is what fashion is about, creating something new, something daring, something ahead of its time.” Hermez’s international education in fashion and more liberal Western point of view was foreign to her students. Through many discussions, Hermez eventually persuaded her students to let go of their traditional fashion aesthetic. She worked hard to make them understand they were there to learn something new, and open up new paths of creative exploration that they would never had a chance to explore. The Students gathered for seven hours a day, five times a week, in a vibrant space in Saifi Urban Gardens. Where the were given a lesson at the beginning of the week. They would then take the rest of the week to create their own piece using the lesson in any way they wanted, or not using the lesson at all. The lesson did not lay down rules, but merely allowed the students the space for creative expression, and they flourished. “At Parsons I was scared to cut fabric. Our teachers would stand over us, with rules and criticism. That held us back and scared us. But I gave my students the freedom and they jumped right into it. They cut the fabrics with no fear, and from day one created pieces that resembled artwork. We painted our own fabrics and had fun with it. I am convinced after this project, that you can take anyone, put them in a space that is safe, creative and free, and beauty will be the result of their creations,” says Hermez. Hermez admittedly didn’t know how much she really knew, until she was suddenly teaching it. She surprised herself and strongly believes her Parsons education allowed her the knowledge and know how to pull off this project., “From concepts, to color scheme, to drawing, to draping, everything I know and taught I learned from Parsons.” The creative Space is not just a summer initiative. The project is currently moving into a new larger and more permanent space and will possibly hold another exhibition in January. Hermez hopes the project will eventually become a free school, which will also serve as a clothing brand for the students and the projects sustainability. For more information please visit www.creativespacebeirut.com

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IN.FASHION

Azzi & Osta

The Capsule Collection Internationally successful Lebanese fashion designers Azzi & Osta have graced the pages of IN this issue with what they call their “capsule winter collection”. George Azzi and Assaad Osta found themselves taking a long retrospective look at 1940’s trends and updating them with playful 1980’s looks. The designers turned to warm hues of green, red, aubergine, and burgundy to convey a sense of warmth in the winter. Because Tartan is IN this season, Azzi went digging for a tartan dress he had made during his ESMOD, Paris, school years, and instead found a vintage tartan gem in his mother’s closet. He brought it into the workshop and both designers cheerfully cut a sleek, feminine, somewhat sexy version of it. “This collection cannot be complete without at least one evening gown,” declares Osta, “we should make a unique piece as a homage to Elie Saab for the year we worked for him,” he continues. And that is how the Body Shadow dress was created. A collection like the capsule collection tells a story through fashion, and so Azzi & Osta wanted the IN fashion shoot to have a narrative as well. Along with the exciting talent of photographer Tarek Mokaddem (See IN Crowd), the design duo took over the 1950’s villa belonging to their fashion line manager Lina Mroueh (See IN Crowd); to create a theme inspired by the femmes fatales of Hitchcock movies. The storyline follows a sophisticated and stylish woman, who is fashion conscious and chic. Her look is always fabulous and so her husband or her son always take a snapshot of her before she leaves the house to immortalize a fashion-fabulous moment!

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IN.FOCUS

Anne-Dominique Toussaint Presents

WHERE DO WE GO NOW? photos © Rudy Bou Chebel

(ET MAINTENANT ON VA OÙ ?)

A film by NADINE LABAKI

On the edge of a cratered road, a cortège-like procession of women solemnly makes its way towards the village cemetery. Takla, Amale, Yvonne, Afaf and Saydeh stoically brave the oppressive midday heat, clutching photographic effigies of their beloved men folk, lost to a futile, protracted and distant war. Some of the women are veiled, others bear wooden crosses, but all are clad in black and united by a sense of shared grief. As they arrive at the cemetery gates, the procession divides into two congregations; one Muslim, the other Christian. Set against the backdrop of a war-torn country, Where Do We Go Now? tells the heart-warming tale of a group of women’s determination to protect their isolated, mine-encircled

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community from the pervasive and divisive outside forces that threaten to destroy it from within. United by a common cause, the women’s unwavering friendship transcends, against all odds, including the religious fault lines, which crisscross their society and they hatch some extraordinarily inventive and often comical plans to distract the village’s men folk and defuse any sign of inter-religious tension. A series of chaotic incidents test the women’s ingenuity as they manage, with sass, to successfully stave off the fall-out from the distant war. But when events take a tragic turn, just how far will the women go to prevent bloodshed and turmoil?

IN had the pleasure talking

to Nadine Labaki about her movie, her inspirations and her career. What is the subject of your film? The story takes place in an isolated mountain village, where Muslim and Christian women join forces, employ various ruses and make certain sacrifices to stop their men folk from killing one another.

Put like that, it sounds like a serious drama, when in fact there are lots of funny moments. Using irony to deal with life’s misfortunes is a survival strategy, a way of finding the strength to bounce back. In any case, for me it’s a necessity. I wanted the film to be as much comedy as drama, so it would inspire as much laughter as emotion.

Violence broke out all around. I was working at the time with Jihad Hojeily, my co-writer and friend, and we were thinking about my next film. In the city there was full-blown street-to-street fighting. People who had lived for years in the same building, who’d grown up together and attended the same schools, were suddenly fighting each other because they didn’t belong to the same religious community. And I said to myself, if I had a son, what would I do to prevent him from picking up a gun and going out into the street? How far would I go to stop my child from going to see what’s happening outside and thinking he had to defend his building, his family or his beliefs? The idea for the film grew out of that.

So, is it impossible for a Lebanese artist to hope to tackle any other issue but war? It’s not a story about war; on the contrary, it’s about how to avoid war. You can’t live in Lebanon without feeling this threat, which ends up coloring what we do and our ways of expression. If you’re vaguely sensitive to what’s going on around you, you can’t avoid it.

Whilst we understand that the country where this war is unfolding is Lebanon, at no point is the name mentioned. Why’s that? For me, this war between two faiths is a universal theme. It could just as easily be happening between Sunnis and Shiites, between black and white, between two parties, two clans, two brothers, two families or two villages. It’s an embodiment of any civil war in which people in the same country kill each other, when they are neighbors and even friends.

Were you inspired by a true story? Not at all. The basis for the film is very personal. I found out that I was expecting a baby on May 7th, 2008. On that day, Beirut once again slipped into war mode, with road blocks, the airport closed, fires and so on. IN

The notion that peace can be achieved through women – beyond their attachment to a religious community – is that a dream or a conviction? A fantasy no doubt. War is utter absurdity, an evil that we inflict upon ourselves for nothing, or at least for things that are not worth killing each other over. And it was because I became a mother that I felt this absurdity more strongly than before, and that I wanted to deal with a mother’s obsession to protect her children.

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Where Do We Go Now? and Caramel are both centered around female characters. Would you define yourself as a women’s filmmaker?

Why did you use non-professional actors?

I’m interested in human nature in general. But perhaps I feel more authentic talking about women because I know their feelings. It’s more of a concern about authenticity than a mission.

Your two co-writers are men. Is that to ensure that you are authentic to the realities of men when you write about them?

Because I like playing with reality, putting real people in real situations and letting them create their own reality. I like experimenting with using their mannerisms, their voices, their way of being. The casting process was intensive. For weeks, a dozen people scoured the streets. But I also chose several professional actors like, for example, the village mayor. His wife in the film is in real life the wife of a man from one of the villages where we shot. During location scouting, she came up just to say, “Welcome to our village” and I persuaded her to take a role. She’s fantastic!

I chose those two male co-writers simply because they are two very sensitive, very gifted and talented people, with whom I get along very well. I think I’ll continue to make films with them; that is, if they want to work with me, of course.

There is a lot of singing and dancing in the film. Why’s that? That comes from my childhood dreams when I used to watch musical films like Grease and animated movies like Snow White and Cinderella. The film is not a musical comedy in the strict sense, but since I didn’t want to make a political film, the songs and dancing allow me to inject a mood of fairytale and fable. The film starts with a narrator announcing that she’s going to tell a story. A little like one says: “Once upon a time.” Some people may object to the film because the events that occur are perhaps too unlikely for my country. Christians becoming Muslims and vice-versa is absolutely unthinkable. But it’s precisely to have the freedom to recount this situation that I didn’t set the story in Lebanon, and that I wanted a sort of imaginary tale.

Is asking non-professionals to dance a high risk gamble? And what’s more, they are women of very different ages and profiles. We had to do a lot of rehearsal, but in the end, it’s not only a fabulous, but an unforgettable moment. We shot that scene on the first day, starting the shoot off on a very impressive note. Seeing these women in that landscape with that magnificent light gives you goose bumps.

Did you existing locations as opposed to constructed sets? We filmed in three different villages: Taybeh, Douma and Mechmech. The first, located in the Beqaa valley, is really a Christian and Muslim village in which the mosque is next to the church, just like in the narrative. For the sets, again I wanted to stick as close to reality as possible. Together with Cynthia Zahar, we worked a lot on the materials; the texture of the walls, wood, fabrics. You had to feel the passage of time, the poverty, the isolation. The village in the film has endured war, and found itself cut off from the outside world, with neither television nor telephone, connected to the rest of the country only by a bridge dotted with landmines and shattered by shelling.

The choice of clothing must have been a complicated exercise since you had to portray each community without caricaturing it.

The character you play is in love with a man who belongs to a different religious community. The feelings are reciprocal but never declared except through internal dialogue in the form of a song. Is such a relationship is impossible in reality? Even inside their heads, they only voice it in a very restrained way. Even though we like to think that today all that stuff is behind us, a marriage between two young people from two different communities is still very problematic in Lebanon; as much for the family and wider society as for the couple involved. In the film, it is never stated that it’s forbidden, but the two lovers only dare express themselves through a song.

As in Caramel, you both act and direct. Is that complicated? The film overall was complicated, not being actress and director at the same time. The main character being the village itself, we had to handle around 100 people all at once, most of whom were not professional actors.

Once again with the aim of authenticity, my sister Caroline, who is the costume designer, did a huge amount of research. It was all the more difficult because I didn’t want to set the story in a precise period. And we had to bring a whole village to life. The walls of the office in which we were preparing the film were plastered with photos of actors wearing their costumes, divided up into color palettes, according to role, to categories, age, order of importance in the film, and so on. It was a real puzzle. A few days before the start of the shoot, there wasn’t a single square inch of that wall uncovered.

Khaled Mouzanar did the music for this film, as he did for Caramel. Did you have a clear idea of what you wanted? Khaled and I are married; he’s the father of my child. I like his sensitivity and I’m continually surprised by his ability to visualize the images of the film and to translate them into music just from reading the script sometimes even before the ideas or the scenes are even written down.

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During the writing period, he picks up on scraps of the story or certain scenes during discussions with my co-writers and sometimes, when I’m in my son’s bedroom reading him a story or else in the kitchen, I’m surprised to overhear a tune that Khaled is playing on the piano which goes perfectly with one of the scenes I’ve imagined. So that’s how the film’s music gradually takes shape. We never sit down and say: “Now let’s discuss the music.” It comes naturally. In the case of this film in particular, that was a good thing because the songs needed to be ready before the start of the shoot. The song lyrics are by Tania Saleh, a very good friend and an extremely gifted artist.

Between Caramel and Where Do We Go Now?, have there been significant changes in Lebanese society? The importance of community and family are such that, even if we’d like to think that people are more emancipated and free in the Arab world, there’s still this sort of fear of “What are people going to think?”, the specter of what people are going to say. In Lebanon, the facades of the buildings are often very beautiful with balconies brimming with pretty flowers. But on the other side, the rear courtyard, it’s a garbage dump. The same goes for the people: They pretend to be free and that everything is fine, but in fact, there are many taboos that have yet to be challenged. The reason for this is that we haven’t yet found our own identity. You can see it, for example, in our language. A whole section of our society, educated and cultivated people, no longer speak Arabic, but English or French. Yet it is those people who could speak it the best.

Is that why your film is made in Arabic? Of course. It’s very tempting to go and make films abroad, and I had some offers to do this. But I turned them down. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be so authentic in a culture other than my own. What’s more, I want to bring life back to this old language which, when it is well spoken, is very beautiful. I’m grateful to my producer Anne- Dominique Toussaint for not having imposed anything on me in this sense. She’s very instinctive and respects what the director wants to say and why they want to say it, without ever trying to exert any pressure, whether commercial or artistic.

Where does the title of the film come from? From the last line in the film. Just when you think they have achieved something, resolved a situation, and found a solution, suddenly, it all seems to fall apart again. The women in the village came up with the ultimate stratagem: to make the men understand that war is absurd. They succeeded; but what’s going to happen next? “Where do we go now?” I don’t have the answer to that.

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GET OVER IT!

WE ARE IN

THE 25 IN CROWD This month IN Magazine has brought together an exclusive ensemble of artists, designers, and inspirational figures in the fashion and the arts and cast them into the spotlight. We are celebrating innovation and ingenuity. Each member of this group of people pushes the envelope in their own field, breaking barriers of convention and challenging tradition. When you stop â&#x20AC;&#x153;thinking outside the box,â&#x20AC;? and start realizing there is no box is when you are liberated from the binds of social conformity, and can really explore a limitless self and an endless range of possibilities. That is what the IN Crowd does, and that is what makes them so IN: their fearlessness, their originality, their determination, their passion, and most importantly their awe-inspiring creativity.

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Racha Abou Naja

Graduated from ESMOD (lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ecole SupĂŠrieure des Arts et techniques de la Mode), Dubai with a degree in fashion design, Racha Abou Naja won the Special Jury Award and the Best Fashion Designer award in 2009. Abou Naja established a Haute Couture line called Rachelle, aside from dressing dress many celebrities and creating a state-ofthe-art photo-shoots for exclusive celebrities. Abou Naja is the current fashion editor of IN Magazine.

MOHAMMED ASHI

An award-winning young fashion designer from Saudi Arabia. His use of unique and exciting applications of fabrics, in particular the use of tulle to create voluminous feminine gowns, are Ashi’s signature approach in creating his collections. Ashi attended a French design school where he obtained his bachelor’s degree. Ashi’s story A Tale of Two Sisters was the theme of his first show. “One of the two sisters dies and the story revolves around the surviving sister who creates an imaginary sister and a new collection for her,” says Ashi. His second collection was a contour for women as a prêta-porter line. The fall/winter 2009 collection was inspired by an Iranian movie called Color of Paradise. Ashi’s third collection was inspired by the poem A bird came down the walk by Emily Dickinson. Ashi’s new project called the Caftan Collection has an Indian and Moroccan vibe. Every year before the month of Ramadan Ashi produces the Caftan collection.

JESSY MOUSSALLEM

The multi-talented Jessy Moussallem is a director, actor, and stylist. Moussallem combines quiet filmmaking and loud style to stage a rock n’ bohème world. Her first film Les Aiguilles won the 1st prize at the European Film Festival in Beirut. In addition to being filmmaker Nadine Labaki’s personal stylist, Moussallem casts her ultra fashion spell on real life women as well as imagined ones.

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GET OVER IT!

WE ARE IN

LINA MROUE

Born in Lebanon, Lina Mroue is the daughter of Kamel Mroue, one of the most prominent journalists of his time in the Arab region. She graduated from the American University of Beirut with a degree in fine arts and then continued her studies in France. Mroue established her café, Lina’s in 1989 in Paris after going on a cruise to Italy, England and the United states to explore the culinary arts. Lina’s menu offered wholesome and natural sandwiches and snacks. As Lina’s succeeded in the competitive Parisian market, Mroue was able to expand to other strategic locations in Paris, then Lebanon, and later Colombia, Japan, Martinique and Istanbul. In 1999, Mroue created L by Lina, a Parisian grocery store. In 2002, the successful entrepreneur sold her company, with 42 branches around the world. The woman behind the famous Lina’s Sandwiches chain then moved towards what she does best, which is building a success story from the ground up. Mroue established a bedroom couture line called Eve and Yves. Today, Mroue is also managing the fashion line of young Lebanese designer Azzi and Osta.

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STEVEN MAROUN

Twenty-four year-old Steven Maroun received a master’s degree in fashion buying from the Istituto Marangoni in London. In 2009, Maroun returned to Beirut determined to introduce new brands and concepts to the Lebanese fashion scene. Last year, he opened his company called Maroon Minds as well as a franchise of Manoush, a French brand with a gypsy coquettish feel, located in downtown Beirut. After almost a year of success with Manoush, Maroun decided it was time to open a concept store for both men’s and women’s clothing. Maroun tried to work around the concept of T-shirts and decided to call the shop La T-Shirterie, which is located in Ashrafieh. The shop also offers complementary items, such as contemporary jewelry, footwear, wallets, artwork… and more to come.

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LARA KHOURY

Lara Khoury is a young fashion designer based in Beirut. With a degree in fashion from ESMOD Paris, and one year of experience in the workshops of Elie Saab, she participated in the first generation of Starch, a foundation created to help launch young designers, by Rabih Keyrouz and Tala Hajjar. In 2010, the momentum increased, fuelled by favorable press and an enthused clientele, Khoury launched her first eponymous brand, in a workshop on rue Gouraud in Beirut. In May 2011, Khoury won one of the most advanced and prestigious fashion contests, and was selected to represent Lebanon in the second generation of the Maison Méditerranéenne des Métiers de la Mode in Marseille, France.

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CYNTHIA ZAHAR

An interior architect who lives between Paris and Beirut. She has created her own line of chandeliers and furniture based on recycled materials. She also designs interiors for private and public spaces and works as a production designer for feature films and TV commercials.

JOEY GHAZAL

A concept developer, serial gastro-preneur and all-around downtown tastemaker whose work on the wildly popular throw-back burger joint, BRGR Co, launched a dozen dining fads when it opened in Beirut over a year ago. In the realm of Beirut gastronomy, he is somewhat of a seminal figure, who is poised to take the city by storm with not one, but two, destination restaurants set to open in Beirut’s eagerly anticipated Zaitunay Bay. Assorted food-bloggers, tweetheads and socialite culinary gasbags who move, like agitated schools of fish from one new restaurant opening to another, agree that Joey is a much needed breath of fresh air to this seemingly saturated market. A restless dreamer in spirit, Joey excels at showpiece dining with laser like precision. “Each concept represents the two polar sides of my personality” admits Ghazal, who feels that Cro Magnon Steakhouse & Bar appeals to his super-serious macho side, while St. Elmo’s Seaside Brasserie has been designed, somewhat selfconsciously, to represent his fun, urban and dare we say, more laid-back side. Ghazal is also currently the C.E.O & Founder of Les Enfants Terribles Entertainment.

BEATRICE HARB

Beatrice Harb is a fashion stylist who studied filmmaking. She finds her inspiration in the characters of the films she works on in everyday life and in her trips across the world. Harb also works for Loft by Aspuces as a buyer, and contributes time to conducting research for local and internationals emerging designers. Harb lives and works in Lebanon.

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MOHAMAD KAISS

Mohamad Kaiss is a Lebanese presenter who began his career on the Rotana TV network with a program called Rotana café. Kaiss was also hosting both local and international events such as the Fox Movies opening ceremony in Dubai, the Student Choice Awards in Lebanon, Mahrajan El Oghniyeh El Sharkiyeh, World’s next Top model, and the red carpet show of Murex Dor 2011. Today, Kaiss appears on MTV on a program called @mtv. For the second consecutive year, Kaiss hosted a highly rated TV show on MTV during Ramadan. Kaiss believes that with faith and hope as his secret weapons, any success is achievable in his career. His motto in life is, “You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. This is how important you are!”

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MARYA GHAZZAOUI

A twenty-four year-old art director who dabbles in her passion for photography. After joining the Leo Burnett team two years ago, Ghazzaoui won the young Creative Competition at the Dubai Lynx last March. A firm believer in the “Shoot from the hip” philosophy, Ghazzaoui is a straight shooter who speaks her mind. Dreaming of owning an M-9 camera one day, Ghazzaoui thinks that toy cameras immortalize the true essence of fun. Today, she is still a thriving member of the Leo Burnett team.

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KRIKOR JABOTIAN

A Lebanese designer with Armenian origins who has come a long way since his start in late 2008 at Starch Boutique. Today, the once “young” designer, has finally spread his wings and is working independently, coinciding with the relocation of his new atelier to Tabaris, where he indulges in creating, constructing, generating, conceiving, projecting and maturing his fresh imagination and bringing it to life.

EL DJETTE

A familiar face on the Beirut party circuit, El DJette brings some femininity to a circuit that has more than enough testosterone behind the decks. Not satisfied with the title ‘DJ’, Laila Sarkis carved out a place for women spinners and the title ‘DJette’ was born. Growing up in Nigeria to a soundtrack of old school R&B and hip-hop by artists like Mary J. Blige, she moved back to Beirut for university at 19 after falling in love with the city over her summer holidays. El DJette began DJing back in 2000, and since high school had always been the designated music coordinator at parties. El DJette has been powering through all of Beirut’s clubs and parties, and is one of the organizers of Cotton Candy

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FARAH MOUKADDEM

A doctor of anesthesiology, who graduated from the American university of Beirut (AUB) with BS degree in biology, and a doctor degree in medicine. Moukaddem completed her residency in anesthesiology, and a fellowship in cardiothoracic anesthesia (including anesthesia for congenital heart diseases) at the American University Hospital (AUH). Currently doing a master’s in hospital management at the Écôle Superieur des Affaires in Beirut, Lebanon, Moukaddem is also working as an attending physician in a university hospital in Beirut. Aside from her admitted addiction to French literature, Moukaddem is also a flamenco dancer who loves sports. The fashion conscious doctor also speaks four languages: Arabic, French, English and Italian.

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HAMED SINNO

The leading singer of Mashrouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Leila, Hamed Sinno graduated as a graphic designer from AUB, and is currently working as an art director in Leo Burnett, Beirut. In the summer of 2011, Mashrouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Leila released the 7al Romancy E.P., five songs of new material recorded in mountain retreats with cousins and turkish coffee, and in the abandoned concrete dome in the Tripoli World Fair with a quintet of strings on cold winter nights. The E.P. release was held at the Hippodrome of Beirut.

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LARA MATAR

An actress, singer songwriter and a gifted pianist, Lara Matar was born in multicultural Montreal where her upbringing into the arts was as eclectic as the city she grew up in. Matar was bred in the theater, sharing the stage with her mother in Ton Amie Liliane at a very early age. She moved to Beirut and started working for MTV Europe as their 1st VJ in the Middle East. Matar then turned to her music and was performing between Beirut and Montreal in festivals and clubs. Aside from her personal concerts, Matar has performed as lead vocalist along side Ziad Rahbani in various concerts. She also took on the silver screen in her debut French-Lebanese film Une Chanson Dans La TĂŞte by director Hani Tamba. Matar currently performs on the polyvalent stage of Music Hall in Beirut, and continues to produce music and theatre.

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TALA HAJJAR

Born in Lebanon, and lived between Beirut, Cairo, London and Paris where she pursued her studies in fashion design and fashion marketing. After working in Cairo with jewelry designer Azza Fahmy, Hajjar settled in Lebanon and worked alongside fashion designer Rabih Kayrouz for 3 years as his PR and Marketing Manager. Together with Kayrouz, and in collaboration with Solidere, they founded STARCH in November of 2008. STARCH is a nonprofit organization, which helps launch emerging Lebanese designers. Today, Hajjar is the director and co-founder of STARCH foundation. In July of 2011, Hajjar was awarded the Design and Fashion Young Creative Entrepreneur award by the British Council. IN

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CALINE CHIDIAC

After studying optometry in Paris, Caline Chidiac returned to Beirut in 1996 where she opened a shop aptly called Lunette (French for eye glasses). Lunette thrived for 7 years, until Chidiac discovered her passion for something else. In 2005, Chidiac closed down Lunette and put her new passions to good use when she teamed up with furniture designer Nada Debs, handling all the public relations work for her.

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JIMMY FRANCIS

A writer by day and a party by night, Jimmy Francis spends most of his thoughts as if they grew on trees. He is Creative Director and Partner at Interesting Times, a newfangled creative digital agency that started up here in Beirut a little over a year ago. Francis is also one half of guerrilla concept party Cotton Candy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a socially unacceptable gathering of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alternative socialites. Francis is also a professional husband, and a role model for his cat.

TATIANA FAYAD

Co-creater and co-owner of the proud Lebanese fashion brand Vanina, twenty-three year-old Tatiana Fayad is a talented and passionate young Lebanese entrepreneur. Half designer, half business-woman, Fayad has been managing her company with flair and allure. Vanina has grown to become a strong fashion brand present in some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trendiest capitals such as Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Caracas, Toronto, Warsaw, Beirut, and Kuwait to name a few.

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TIFFANY ESPINA

Tiffany Espina is a make up artist who graduated from the prestigious Make Up Forever Academy. Espina contributed her make-up talents to many videos and TV advertisements in the region. She is the contributing makeup artist for this issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IN fashion shoot.

IN MAGAZINE - FALL 2011

YOUSEF AL-TAHER

Yousef Al Taher is part of the marketing team and shop consultant at the renowned lifestyle and fashion concept space, 4. (See IN Location). The twenty-one year-old moved to Paris when he was 16 to earn his high school diploma. He dropped out of college at 19 to pursue his passion for fashion. Previously a contributing editor at Thuq magazine, Al-Taher also worked as a freelance stylist, journalist, and blogger. A self-admitted creative person, Al-Taher is against social pigeonholing and does not like to be labeled as this or that. He describes his style as androgynous with a touch of rock, and follows the belief that life is comprised of four essentials: love, joy, passion, and freedom. Al-Taher describes “Style” as an expression of individualism mixed with one’s own charisma. To him, fashion is something that comes after style. And to Al-Taher, fashion is the best representation of what a person feels, and or acts like in the social arena. Al-Taher hopes to offer some sort of inspiration to his generation, aside from dreaming of running his own magazine some day. He is currently working on his first book, T shirt Line and Accessories. IN

IN MAGAZINE - FALL 2011

HANS HARLING

A self admitted designer of â&#x20AC;&#x153;weird stuff,â&#x20AC;? Hans Harling designs hand made masks, costumes, and other fantastical pieces. His designs are currently sold at Supercalifragilisticespialicocious, a fun & quirky shop located in downtown Beirut, in the Saifi village.

POLY

Born in Mexico, Poly is an up and coming English singer/ songwriter rising from Lebanon. She graduated from London’s Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICmP) at the young age of 16. Taught by the finest and most professional icons in the international music scene; such as Vik Bynoe (who has collaborated with Eric Clapton, The Drifters, James Brown, among others), Me’sha Bryan (Kylie Minogue, Victoria Beckham, S Club 7), and many more. Crawling to the top of the artist pyramid is not quite easy for an English singer to do in an Arabic culture, however, she managed to hit a note with many fans when she appeared in a local Christmas music video Christmas Medley in December of 2010. Later on, her appearance on MTV’s hit show Hek Menghanne in April 2011, strengthened her dedicated following, which boosted her music career on the local scene. As an artist, Poly is a human rights activist and a big supporter of the LGBT community. One of her recent campaigns promotes recycling in the Middle East. Poly also launched her fashion line titled Celebrate Your Identity by The Recycling Designers in the beginning of 2011. Today, the 18-year-old soul/pop singer is being booked in the most luxurious venues and places around the world. Poly’s world tour will kick off in mid-2012; she is currently recording her debut single, which is set to release towards the end of 2011. IN

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TAREK MOUKADDEM

Tarek Moukaddem is a young Lebanese photographer who brings a fresh visual style and edgy elegance to editorial, advertising and portrait photography. His distinctive images have been featured in top magazines and advertising campaigns as well as for renowned fashion designers in the Middle East and in Europe. Moukaddem’s art work has been published in many publications and shown in several exhibitions around the world. Moukkadem is this issue’s fashion shoot photographer, and without his creative insight coupled with a strong work ethic, the shoot’s success would not have been possible.

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GET OVER IT!

WE ARE IN

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Suit

Yourself Exploring color The first thing anyone notices about a man’s suit – before the cut, the number of buttons, and the proportions – is the color. First impressions are incredibly powerful, and so it becomes obvious that the color of one’s suit isn’t a decision to make lightly. It need not, however be a daunting task; like much of the rest of classic style, suit color is governed by a few simple rules that, once learned, make color selection an easy task. When it comes to suits, all colors are not equal. There are certain colors that are appropriate for any occasion, and others that while suitable for one occasion would be completely out of place at another. Also important to know is that some colors are limited by season, while others have particular associations that, if unknown, could produce unexpected results for the uninformed wearer.

A Man’s First Suit The single suit – that is, a suit for someone who rarely has cause to wear it, and thus has just the one suit- is often a “wedding and funeral” garment, as it will only be worn to an event where a suit is mandatory. In such a case, the suit needs to be as broadly appropriate as possible, so that the wearer will not be out of place at whatever event causes him to don it. A dark, conservative suit is what you want; black, navy blue or charcoal gray are all equally acceptable. However, if you have to choose one, lean towards charcoal gray as it is perhaps the most versatile. Beyond a Man’s First Suit With that resolved, we can begin to discuss the range of colors available to those who have the occasion to wear suits regularly. While designer fads tend to shift quickly, causing the suit and its wearer to appear dated and out-of-touch, a traditional suit remains elegant and stylish, its useful life tracked in years or decades, rather than weeks and months. This is especially important in very formal professions such as politics, finance, and law, but applies more generally to any profession where a conservative, traditional appearance is desirable. Charcoal Gray, Black, and Navy Blue Suits - The Foundation The traditional colors for men’s business suits are black, navy, and gray. Every wardrobe should be built off a selection of dark suits, as that they are appropriate in almost any circumstance. Which colors depends on the preference of the wearer, but the vast majority of men would do well to own one of each of the foundation colors - Charcoal Gray, Black, and Navy Blue. Charcoal gray is a great color for the young man; unlike navy blue it does not accentuate his youth. It is extremely versatile, and has the unique ability to be paired with either black or brown elements depending on the shade of gray. A black suit makes itself useful IN

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due to its similarity to formalwear, as well as its habit of projecting a sense of authority. Finally, navy blue suits are excellent choices because of their sheer commonality; you can rest assured in a room of men in suits more than half will be wearing this color. In addition, it is a very traditional and elegant color, and should be added to the above at the first opportunity. Any of these shades can be had in a pinstripe, though the presence of a pattern somewhat downplays this fabric’s formality. Not to worry, it’s perfectly acceptable for all business occasions. Brown Suits for Men Brown is a popular base color for suit fabric, with options ranging from tan through to deep chocolate hues. Many men look their best in earth-tones, making the brown suit an important

part of their wardrobe; it is also a popular color for casual options including tweed suits and sports jackets. One caveat: until the early 1980s, brown was not considered a color for business. While the times have changed, making brown just as appropriate for business as black, navy, or gray, there are still some members of the old guard who continue to hold to the old rule. This shouldn’t dissuade the well-dressed gentleman from wearing brown with confidence, but it is important to be aware.

an ensemble that flatters a person of a certain skin tone most likely will not flatter differentlycomplexioned individuals; it is important to pay attention to what is emphasized and what is camouflaged by the colors of one’s clothes. While the most accurate way to match attire with one’s coloration is through trial-and-error, there are general guidelines to point in the right direction. One important note about trying various combinations in front of the mirror: pay attention to the lighting. Fabric color appears different under florescent lighting than in natural daylight, so it is important to be aware of how clothes are affected and make selections based on the lighting in which the ensemble will be worn. Special Cases - Be aware of your Complexion The traditional men’s suit colors of black, gray, and navy remain viable options for all but the most high-contrast complexions, as most of the decisions related to complexion surround shirts, ties, and accessories, rather than suits. For this reason most gentlemen will have little to fear as

Business aside, there are a wealth of colors available to the well-dressed gentlemen. Brown tweed evokes the cold, rainy moors of the English countryside, while ivory-hued linen speaks of the steamy tropics. Stripes, checks, and other patterns are such varied options that they merit their own discussion. Camel is running rings around the market this fall. Right from cappuccino to cream, it’s a showstopper. In case, you do not concede to the idea of wearing camel from top to bottom, you can mix it with denim or other hues of the fall like mahogany or copper. Whenever you’re feeling chilly on a cool fall night, grab your camel colored blazer and enjoy it with a navy or mahogany shirt. Within all the variations, the deciding factor on which particular choice to make is one’s individual coloring, a combination of hair and eye color as well as skin tone. Many fail to realize that

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long as the chosen suit is in one of the traditional colors. Very high-contrast individuals, however, including those with very dark hair matched with fair skin, and in particular African-American skin tones, require a bit more care, as the wrong color suit can dampen the wearer’s features or even make them seem to disappear outright. The fair-complexioned, dark-haired gentlemen will do well to favor dark, rich suits which frame his light features between the dark jacket and hair; light colored suits, including pale grays and tans, will serve to diminish his features. African-American men may fare better in dark or light suits, depending on their particular skin tone; a dark suit with a light colored shirt provides excellent contrast for the very dark-toned gentleman, while a more muted shirt and tie with a dark suit helps to give the more medium-toned wearer a warm look. Finally, the light-toned man may be best served by light colored suits in earthtones, which will harmonize more readily with his lower-contrast complexion.

IN.THE CLOSET

Brogues Are Back

Brogues are IN this fall, not that they really ever went anywhere. This type of footwear has, for many men, been a staple of their professional attire. But over the years, brogues have started becoming more than just a work shoe, and they are definitely making a splash in the world of fashion this season. Major designers are buying into the trend and offering individual takes on the brogues. We have started to see the evolution of brogues, with boot-brogue hybrids that will positively come in handy this fall.

GET OVER IT!

WE ARE IN

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What historically began as a walking shoe in Scotland and Ireland has turned into the modern-day brogues you see today. Back then, brogues were made from un-tanned leather, and the use of the perforations on the shoes was mainly for drainage when old men walked hundreds of miles they would encounter bog or wet terrain. Today, brogues can be worn on any given occasion, both casual and formal. brogues come in different styles like full brogue or wingtip, semi-brogue, quarter brogue and long wing brogues. Wingtips are shoes that have a W shape designed on the toecaps. A full brogue has both the W design and perforations. Semi-brogues are shoes that have perforations on the toecaps but with some serration on the end of the toe cap. Semi-brogues usually don’t have the W shape design. The quarter brogues are shoes that have perforations and serration at the edge of the toecap only. Long wing brogues are shoes that have pointed toe -caps with long wings in which the wing design runs the whole length of the shoes.

D&G

This year we are seeing much more variety in color and texture; with tan, brown and black versions available. Brogues are traditionally associated with a country shoe – so with quilting also being another massive trend this year – we can see why the brogue has made a revival in fashion circles. Men’s fashion is going back to its roots this year so the revival of traditional styles with a modern-day fashion edge is a definite hit. This is a trend that has massive appeal to both younger and older fashion savvy men. You could rock the brogues in an eccentric country bumpkin kind of way with a waxed or quilted jacket, flat cap and chinos as well as make it fashion forward by mixing colors and skinny fitting pants. This can really set you apart from the humdrum crowd. The other way to wear brogues would be to rock the geek-chic or modern gentleman vibe. You can pair them with dark denim, and if you pick up some of the modified boot varieties, you can even tuck your skinny jeans into them. Really push the formal vibe with crisp shirts and blazers, but also bring it bang up to date with skinny or knitted ties, braces and geek specs. Embrace the whole geek vibe and show that you are being ironic – it oozes confidence and style.

D&G

KENZO

Also do not be afraid to go for brown or tan versions of brogues, they look just as good with dark denim and provide more of a focal point than a plain black pair would. Obviously if you are going for an investment piece you might want to stick to the blacks in order to have a shoe that will never go out of fashion. Brogues have long been an essential item in menswear, but today, women have rediscovered the joy of such a classic and smart shoe. The brogue is definitely one of The must have trends of fall 2011!

D&G

BOOT NEW YORK

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IN.THE CLOSET

A|X ARMANI EXCHANGE FALL 2011 COLLECTION METROPOLIS XX

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This season Armani Exchange takes you to Metropolis, a modern city sharply divided between style and scandal. An urban arena of social wanderers where a new millennium brings a new dressing of power sophisticated style that is strong, confident, and seductive. These urban travelers know no borders – it’s a luxe life where privilege is earned through their social network and digital liaisons when new friends come with new benefits. The A|X Fall 2011 collection is the perfect balance between the sophisticated modern refinement and the edge of urban structure. He’s transit tough – part urban-jock part aviator where the streets are his arenas - he moves on wheels – blades - boards to get to his destination. He’s a well-dressed renegade with a spontaneous style that remains modern, stylish, and sophisticated with rugged leather jackets, smoky printed shirts, and wool active pants. His look is effortless but determined - a modern day traveler ready to tame the night with new striped tweeds, mélange plaids, cowlneck pullovers, urban fairisle, suede trim blazers, and piece aviator trousers.

IN MAGAZINE - FALL 2011

IN.RUNWAY Dsquared²’s Fall/Winter 2011-12 collection pays tribute to the pioneers who colonized the territory of the United States of America during the 18th century. In a landscape often unpredictable and cold they crossed the country with their bull carriages, braving the snowy inhospitable mountains. The secret for survival: wear layers upon layers of clothing in order to ward of the staggering cold. The silhouette is wide and comfortable to ease movement. Felts, washed leathers and

shearling outerwear mixed with knitted details. Borrowed from the classic menswear, stretch knit fabric and wool are reinterpreted in an unusual fashion in order to create biker inspired pants.

The dark washed denim has a vintage quality rendered even more authentic by the presence of velvet patches. An absolute innovation: wool denim for the pants and jackets.

The typical pioneer workwear is presented with “chinos” and stone washed cotton overalls. Aprons are worn as vests and the gauze or classic poplin shirt have round collars.The henley sweater is worn with suspenders. The boots have been treated in order to give an aged and worn effect.

The color palette has two protagonists: black and white, interspersed with shades of beige, gray and navy blue.

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The classic Dsquared² check is back, alternating with jacquard stripes and textures.

Uniform and regimental, military dress and Savile Row. The collection takes the quintessentially English heritage of the house of Alexander McQueen. The silhouette is strict, sharp and clean. An emphasis on outerwear can be seen as great coats, peacoats, shearling bomber jackets and capes are worn layered over tailoring crafted in traditional men’s wear fabrics. Shape is achieved by bonding materials – felted wool to leather and velvet. The effect is formal but always light.

A discreet play on mis-matching – a Prince of Wales check jacket with striped trousers, a classic chalk-stripe that fades to nothing, a navy tailored jacket worn with white jersey jogging trousers echoing the fashions of the Eighteenth century – suggests the hint of eccentricity that is the hallmark of British style. The stereotypes of English dress are at once up-held and subtly undermined.

or a coat tied to create the effect of a greatcoat. Fabrics are felted wools, leather, suede, ponyskin, shearling, Prince of Wales check, chalk stripe, grey flannel, velvet jacquards, engineered jacquards, representing Regimental Breastplates.

Jackets are predominantly double-breasted. The shoulder is natural, slightly padded or signature, peaked McQueen. Borrowed from McQueen womenswear is the occasional slashed shoulder and trompe l’oeil effects - three-dimensional frogging woven into jacquard, for example,

Colors Gold chain, leather trim, military insignia.

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Navy, grey and black with accents of red, white, gold and silver.

Embellishment Classic English. Leather army boots with metal detailing, biker boots, evening slippers.

GUCCI A new dandy. One who loves to attract, mixing vanity and tradition. He changes skin in the double-breasted coat and trench in crocodile and ostrich. A hypnotic, intellectual palette, luxurious shades, with nuances of pearl and earth. He unabashedly plays with elegance. Soft mohair sweaters, tailored suits, subtle biker touches, rock ’n roll furs. The Gucci Autumn Winter 2011-2012 Collection becomes a kaleidoscopic story where the only rule is a strong personality. “The year 2011 marks our 90th anniversary,” explains Creative Director Frida Giannini, “I have explored Gucci’s codes from many perspectives reintroducing elements from the DNA with the 70s and the spirit of dressing iconic men as a reference.”

Silhouette Fluid tailoring. Sartorial blazers, with tone-ontone stitching, defined shoulders and striking lapels. Enriched with striped handkerchiefs and geometric ties. Pants with pleats and canvas belts open up to ankle boots and moccasins with tassels. Casual chic for suit separates with cashmere crewnecks, angora sweaters and paper-like shirts. Suede inserts on the riding jackets and quilted lining inspired by horseriding blankets. Winter jackets in maxi tweed and vintage style. Snaps with tusks and crocodile straps underline a forever deluxe spirit. Materials Ultra precious. Noble textiles such as cashmere,

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velvet, gabardine, flannel and British checks with unexpected exotic hides for coats and masterful fur for a metropolitan look. Beaver texturized for a corduroy effect on the trench. Pony and long, natural rabbit fur for a caban for a late-night escape. Shearling lines the oversized coat. All the way to Mongolia for a featherweight coat. Evening A nocturnal symphony glorified by rockmantic accents. Black tuxedos, black ties and shirts with horizontal pleats on the plastron, in dusty shades for a damned poet. Prominent lapels, with eyecatching edges that contrast materials. Dramatic tuxedo overcoats. All the way to a tricotine Astrakhan sweater, for a new dandy vanity.

KENZO Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smart casual for 2011. The creative and relaxed style that has became a KENZO signature. A style that twists and reinterprets the classic codes of the masculine wardrobe. Eternal codes which the KENZO man knows well and with which he has fun, mixing references to create an urban and contemporary style, where the colours, the details and the prints melt into one another according to his mood.

Inspired bydetective stories from across the channel, he has fun playing with all the classics of British elegance, from the gentleman farmer to the London bad-boy.

For the Fall/Winter 2011/12 season, Antonio Marras has created a collection which allows one to mix the formal and the casual to create an original style where the needs and wants of the KENZO man alone take precedence.

The jacket is the centre piece of the collection: put together in constructed as well as deconstructed versions, cut free hand or perfectly tailored, in classic wool or in Milano jersey, it punctuates the collection

Images of butlers and diabolical lords, golden boys from the City, detectives and pupils from Eton all inhabit the kaleidoscope that Antonio Marras redesigns in the vivid colours of KENZO.

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whilst giving the KENZO man an easy and customisable wardrobe. Sometimes mixed with denim, in different textures and colours, sometimes in more classic silhouettes, the jacket plays a key role in the conception of this chic and relaxed masculine wardrobe. Fabrics are mixed, and then separated with subtle balance. Flowers, block colours, plaids and stripes meet, forming contrasts and harmonies in the patterns, staying true to the KENZO philosophy that fashion is above all a game to be played strictly by oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own rules.

For Louis Vuitton’s Autumn-Winter 2011-2012 collection, Men’s Studio Director Paul Helbers, under the artistic direction of Marc Jacobs, has explored the ultra simplified elegance of Amish style and instilled it with a hint of strangeness, inspired by David Lynch. Describing this unique pairing of Amish design elements with Lynchian overtones, Helbers evokes an «unworldly boy wanderer» as he discovers America. «We have gone back to cut and construction which is why this collection is almost all black to emphasize shape and technique. Jackets are sculpted around the body almost like shields. The intrigue comes in contrast materials like rubberized, matte

Macintosh with metallic python and sun bleached wide wale corduroy in unexpected combinations that take on a new beauty.» In the Amish tradition, buttons are replaced by more discrete hook and eye closures, shapes are curved and covering with scoop necks, and sleeves have a back pleat. As a boy grows to manhood, he borrows elements from his parents wardrobe. There are martingale waist insets in silk and velvet for dress jackets and coats. And, instead of worn traditionally knotted at the neck, ties softly belt jackets and pants, or loop around like a scarf. Knits are tailored like jackets, and woven tailoring mimics knits, or even Amish macramé, for an overall softness punctuated by sharp, tailored details. The Amish mix and match tradition shows in band collar shirts and jackets IN

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patched in stripes, on the sides, or sleeves. Sun bleached wide wale corduroy supplies a homespun element in loose, dad’s pants, or as a trim on bleached beaver jackets. Iconic bag styles are presented in the new permanent leather, Damier Infini an ultra-soft and high quality leather embossed in signature check. The Keepall, the Neo-Greenwich and the PorteDocument de Voyage are showcased on the runway in Motel Red, Glacier Grey and Anthracite. In addition to this new leather statement, brief cases and small satchels adorned with trunk locks, reproduced from vintage Louis Vuitton models, are coming in elephant print leather and in classic Nomade soft leather, Monogram canvas or patent alligator.

In this season’s Louis Vuitton collection ‘Fetish’ and ‘Fashion’ are explored through their interchangeable meanings. At once neither is easy and neither is seen as necessarily negative, rather both are reconfigured as commitment, effort and discipline: what it takes to be truly devoted to their pursuit. At the heart of this dialogue, as is often the case for both fetish and fashion, is a magical object: the Lockit handbag. The power of the handbag as a symbol in the fashion industry, particularly in the world of Louis Vuitton, cannot be underestimated. It is the site of much meaning and much devotion as an object, sometimes seemingly irrational, sometimes not.

The craftsmanship that goes into making the Lockit, and a Vuitton handbag in general, is part of the object’s magic. In these circumstances, the artisanal devotion to craft is the apotheosis of fetish. This is further explored in the purposefully ‘high luxe’ approach to the Lockit this season. The commitment of owner and craftsman is both metaphorically and literally embodied in the handcuff that is frequently added, at times cast in 18-carat gold and sometimes diamond encrusted. In this way the handbag is made into a supremely precious object, one that literally cannot be easily disassociated from its wearer or subject to seasonal disposability. A Louis Vuitton handbag, it appears, is for life. In turn, the lock and key at the heart of the Lockit, takes on additional meaning. Privacy and

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preciousness of personal belongings, of who the owner is, becomes paramount. This is a binding relationship between subject and object. There is a sense of hyper-reality and instantaneousness in the approach to the bag. Often handles and edging are delineated with black, Mackintosh tape and the classic Monogram is embroidered with metal thread. High shine, or matt finishes predominate, while classic motifs are transformed and overemphasised, such as a Damier check morphed into a harlequin pattern. Each object is treated as an entity in itself; if the body of the bag is sheepskin, its lock, zip and handles are covered in the same manner. In short, the Lockit becomes this collection’s focus as that obscure object of desire.

BALENCIAGA The last time we saw flowers at Balenciaga was ages ago, but even if you recall Spring 2008’s orderly bouquets, they didn’t look anything like the mix of exotic, colorful blooms and reptiles we saw on the first looks to hit the runway today. The shape, a below-the-knee skirt with an easy drape in the front (it was more structured in back), was new for Nicolas Ghesquière, too— longer, looser, and less restrained than usual. The jackets he showed them with were dramatic with a capital D, knit as they were from giant ribbons of faux leather, a favorite material of late. In Ghesquière’s words, “The season is a game of proportion, zooming in on textures, the way seeing things with a loop [a magnifying glass] can give you different, shifting points of view. It’s a bit surrealist.”

Part of Ghesquière’s genius is the way he can transform the outré, even the outlandish, into an object to covet (those Lego shoes come to mind). That said, this wasn’t a Balenciaga collection in which couture-level innovation and experimentation trumped wearability, those macro knit jackets notwithstanding. The shoe, a pointy-toed multi-strap Mary Jane with a stiletto heel, was as normal as they come here, although close observers will have noticed that the hand-painting and rococo details extended to the soles. Among the propositions that could’ve strolled right off the Crillon’s white-tiled runway (a reproduction of the one found in Balenciaga’s Left Bank atelier): the spongy sweaters with IN

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military detailing worn with black versions of those floral skirts; the fluid, asymmetrical colorblocked crepe de chine tunics paired with skinny trousers with zips at the back of the ankles; and the dresses stitched with lengths of copper mesh that sculpted the neckline and created a threedimensional drape at the hip. Miranda Kerr, back on the runway less than two months after giving birth, looked fantastic modeling hers—something that presumably didn’t go unnoticed by her husband, Orlando Bloom, sitting front-row. Ghesquière closed with a pair of coats inspired by an archival Cristobal piece from 1965. Each one was made from a simple, rectangular piece of fabric. Elegant and effortless, this was realism trumping surrealism. That’s what will make this collection a resounding success.

FENDI Karl Lagerfeld insisted that the painterly, Dadaist backdrop at Fendi’s show had little or nothing to do with the collection, but his co-conspirator Silvia Venturini Fendi had already described a picture of the woman whose spirit dominated the show: a buttoned-up-to-the-neck art teacher who was still wild enough to wipe her paintbrushes in her hair and unleash the animal within. Nice. If she was the raison d’être of the collection, kudos to her, because this was one of Fendi’s strongest showings yet, in an escalating series of convincing fashion performances. Teach’s style was strict but lived-in. She wore Mary Janes; her woolen tights bagged slightly at the knee. A decorous yet bold frill was pinned to the front

of her blouse. She had incredible taste in cloth coats, one of which was appealingly detailed with a bow in the back. She valued comfort, as in the elasticated waist and cuffs of a skirt and pants. And her highly developed color sense was obvious in her layering of a rich blue coat over a teal skirt and yellow tights. But this woman was also uncaged in her soul. There are seasons when Fendi’s artistry with fur is devoted to suggesting the opposite. This wasn’t one of them. Today’s teacher wigged out on shaggy wildness. Sable, fox, chinchilla, and mink were collaged together to make an altogether new beast, in the same way that the leather of the new Fendi Chameleon bags

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was treated to lend an element of ever-shifting unpredictability. This unrestrained, unpredictable spirit guided the trompe l’oeil of an apparently sober dress that matched a navy cotton blouse to a felted wool skirt—and spun to reveal that it was slashed open at the back. Anja Rubik’s finale number also had a standout sobriety—highcollared, full-sleeved, floor-length—but it too was bare behind. In fact, Rubik’s outfits in the show marked the trajectory of the collection, from her opening hike-in-the-country coat to a navy leather-and-fur construct to that final look. From prim to pagan and back again (or sage to sauvage, which was the suggestion of the show notes), there was an emotional arc here that even the ever-matter-of-fact Lagerfeld couldn’t deny.

GUCCI Before Gucci’s 90th anniversary show , Frida Giannini cited a pair of influences: Anjelica Huston, as lensed by the photographer Bob Richardson, and Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine. That first reference point meant we were back in the 1970’s again. Giannini’s girls have traded in last season’s harem pants, macramé moto jackets, and lean jumpsuits for culottes, pussy-bow blouses topped by snug sweater vests or velvet blazers, and shirtwaist dresses. Many of them wore fedoras with feathers in the brim, and some sported both a shoulder bag (an elongated version of the Jackie) and a mini top-handle frame bag. If that sounds like Giannini had pared down the glamour quotient, think again. There was fur and python and patent leather galore. The lattermost came in a sexy-as-all-get-out slim black pencil skirt worn

with a silver fox chubby. What was most notable about the furs and pythons was their eyeopening colors, and the designer gave full reign to her penchant for mixing unexpected hues together in one outfit: Take the ocher coat with Mongolian lamb trim worn with a scarlet blouse and a bordeaux hat, or the amber python jacket with rust-colored fur collar that topped a lavender shirt and violet cardigan. For evening, Giannini went long, cutting draped gowns in as much as 35 meters of chiffon. Don’t think for an instant, though, that these were covered up. On the contrary, they dipped down to the navel and came slit up to the hips. Sure, there was a long-sleeved version, but it was as sheer as the others; the model’s matching briefs were on full view. IN

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Here, the designer skipped the fur in favor of shrugs or scarves or jackets whipped up from hand-dyed silk flowers. Backstage, Giannini said the long dresses were the Florence Welch part of the equation, explaining that she could picture the chanteuse rocking one of them on stage. But they wouldn’t have looked out of place on Anjelica circa 1970-something, either. The seventies are understandably dear to both the Gucci brand and its creative director, though coming off a Spring season where so many designers were indebted to the decade, that meant this collection lacked the shock of the new. Still, you can’t fault the luxe factor of today’s show or the fact that there was so much wantable, wearable fashion on the runway, that fab patent skirt not least of all.

Jean Paul Gaultier Jean Paul Gaultier’s message: You’re never too old for a little striptease. Out first was the fortysomething French comedian Valérie Lemercier with a bouffant ‘do that aged her another good 20 years. About halfway down the runway, she peeled off her scarf and tossed it into the second row. Wearing silvery beehive wigs, the models followed her lead, throwing their trenches and bouclé jackets—those trappings of the Parisian bourgeoisie—into a pile in front of the photographers. Dita Von Teese did a striptease of her own at a Gaultier couture show when he was launching a lingerie collection not that long ago. There were no bare derrieres here, but there was a lot of tugging at leather gloves. The trouble with this gambit: The best clothes—all those trenches, in half leather, half wool scuba fabric—ended up on the floor. The items that remained were classics—cameo-print blouses buttoned up to there, pleated slacks—but the cuts seemed purposefully and curiously old-lady. Even matrons don’t want to be mumsy.

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Marc Jacobs Walking into the Marc Jacobs show, a retailer remarked, “We have to come here in order to find out what we’ll be seeing next season.” His point: The lush colors and Lurex that have been everywhere this week were inspired by the ode to the 1970’s Jacobs delivered last time out. Well, come next fall, you’d best prepare yourself for plenty of polka dots, a good deal of latex and lace, and a much more fitted silhouette. Backstage, Jacobs himself said the new collection was a reaction against the loose, fluid feeling of his Spring outing. “I wanted something strict and severe,” he said. And not without a healthy dose of kink, it would seem. Jacobs worked with the British company House of Harlot on the show’s latex buttondowns and “rubber to look like sequins” dresses.

With all that plastic—not to mention the taut chin straps attached to Stephen Jones’ vinyl berets, and Marilyn Manson screaming about “The Beautiful People” on the soundtrack—it was tempting to think Jacobs was making a comment about our contemporary fixation on self-betterment. The idea of personal improvement played out in another way, because many of the things the designer put on this runway were redos of his own oeuvre. Take the polka dots, for instance. The first collection he showed in New York 20-odd years ago was covered in spots. Here, they appeared large and small, even in three dimensions on a ponyskin sweater and skirt studded with plastic cabochons. Jacobs is always playing with high and low, and he was back at it IN

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tonight, cutting a sweater in Shetland wool on the front and cashmere on the back, or trimming a mock-croc bomber jacket in real fox fur. When he dipped into his own archives for his Fall show of a year ago, the results were nostalgic and romantic. With its stride-defying hobble skirts and wedge-heel patent boots, this offering demands a little more commitment from the wearer. It was provocative and somehow more precise, and all those slick surfaces had a hard allure. Backstage, Jacobs talked about the discipline of fashion, pointing out the rigor of fitting 63 girls in one day. Disciplined is a good word for it. He had his uncomplicated fun last season, and now he’s prepared to get sweaty in a latex shirt buttoned up to his throat. Give the rest of us a few months and we’ll be right there with him.

Yves Saint Lauren Stefano Pilati consolidated his Spring breakthrough with a sensational new collection for Yves Saint Laurent that was as tightly controlled as the models’ chignons. Backstage, he listed a whole lot of years he’d been looking at in the house archives—from 1962 to the late seventies—but history was ultimately irrelevant in the light of the results. Yes, the double-breasted coat-dress in the Prince of Wales check, clasped at the waist with a half-belt, ending at midthigh, had an early-sixties precision, just as the sweeping palazzo-panted volumes of the finale reeked of late-seventies fabulousity, but Pilati distilled decades into a single strong statement that spoke of the here and now. On some level, it probably worked because he’s successfully isolated the genes he shares with Yves, which

meant there was more instinct at work than before. But no need to try to get inside Pilati’s head; suffice it to say that these were rigorously elegant, superchic, and sexy clothes. In his fall collection, the designer was inspired by YSL’s “Opium” era. He claimed he didn’t want to let that go, hence the vintage Bianca Jagger moments in this show. But his experience with his Fall menswear was also significant. The lean, boyish silhouette of that outing clearly influenced Pilati’s experiments with the most familiar codes of haute bourgeois dressing—a skirtsuit, sweater, and pants; fabrics as classic as a dogtooth or a Prince of Wales check. He dissected them: deconstructing, reconstructing, exploding patterns but, for the

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most part, keeping dimensions ultra-lean. The monochrome palette helped. Colored sequined motifs were an unnecessary distraction, especially in comparison to a look as tensely sensual as the cape over a sleeveless jumpsuit with a halterneck in chiffon. The final sequence came in blinding white. A blouse stock-tied at the neck, full-sleeved, paired with a skirt falling decorously to the knee, was totally see-through. Freja Beha Erichsen’s final outfit—a huge marabou bubble, a sheer blouse with a collar that was almost clerical, palazzo pants bound by a big glittering bow at the waist—struck a balance between sacred and profane. That kind of equilibrium seemed like the essence of YSL—and Pilati, too.

FORMALITEES The Invention

Bjorn Borstelmann and Kelley Sharp

The Tie Tee was invented by Bjorn Borstelmann and Kelley Sharp: two twenty-somethings who infused playfulness and vitality in otherwise dull business attire. Exposed to the fake tuxedo T-shirt phenomenon, they became intrigued by the contrast between the T-shirt and a real tuxedo, but quickly tired of the cartoony mimicry. Realizing that instead of printing images of a tie onto a T-shirt but rather attaching real ties to the T-shirts had never been done, they quickly went to work. The fact that neither of them had ever picked up a sewing needle before didn’t deter them – the idea was too relevant to pass up. Two old T-shirts, a pair of scissors, and some safety-pins later a prototype was born, and a crash-course education in the apparel industry was begun. Eventually a sustainably-sourced and socially-responsible shirt emerged—the Tie Tee, an evolved symbol of professionalism for the kind of leaders the world needs. The Tie Tee Manifesto Wall Street plays Houdini with our money, magically making it disappear from our hands and appear in their pockets. International corporations claim it’s just a cost of business when they wreck an entire ecosystem. Politicians swear they represent us, but their lie is obvious in a pay-to-play plutocracy. The business suit has cloaked their dishonesty in an image of professionalism for hundreds of years, and they’ve thoroughly tarnished the symbol. It’s time for an alternative. The Tie Tee combines the casual comfort of a sustainably produced T-shirt with the timeless icon of a necktie, creating a new symbol of professionalism – one that’s as substantial as the symbol of servitude it replaces is shallow. IN

The new expectations for professionalism require higher standards than mere conformity. Modern professionals fight classism, selfish greed, and environmentally-destructive behavior – epitomizing a philosophy of kindness that aloof CEOs, greedy bankers, and treasonous politicians obviously despise. Aware of the mounting problems our planet faces, we make conscious decisions to lessen our negative impact on the environment, and motivate others to think critically and leave close-mindedness behind. We aim to unite those disenfranchised by the status quo through optimism about our ability to leave old, unsustainable ideas behind and change the course of the world. Formalitees and our Tie T-shirts stand for doing business better, because business as usual usually sucks. TIE T-SHIRTS A SYMBOL OF DOING BUSINESS BETTER Jokes are always made about the casual attire of people who live in rural areas, but Teton Valley natives Bjorn Borstelmann and Kelley Sharp have taken casual to an entirely new level. The couple recently launched a company called Formalitees to sell a new kind of shirt they’ve patented—the “Tie Tee,” a T-shirt with a tie permanently attached to the neck. “Suits have always made us uncomfortable, not just from how they feel but because they’re worn by corrupt politicians and Wall Street bankers,” admits Bjorn. Kelley adds, “It’s not like everyone who wears a suit is bad, but some people have definitely ruined its reputation.”

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The two designed the Tie T-shirt to represent the new kind of leadership that is both socially and environmentally responsible. To give examples of this level of professionalism, Formalitees features entrepreneurs and activists on its website, revealing the inspirational stories behind each individual’s cause. “Tie Tees are for real leaders,” explains Bjorn. “It’s for people who are helping to save the world instead of just exploiting it.” In their own work, Bjorn and Kelley are determined to set a good example by making Tie Tees as sustainably as possible, using 100% organic cotton that was grown in Texas and custom sewn in California. “We chose

to support the struggling American garment industry because it’s unacceptable that other clothing companies nearly killed it through outsourcing,” reveals Kelley. The new company was announced recently at a sustainable textiles conference in New York City, where Bjorn and Kelley learned about the newest developments in fairly sourced and environmentally responsible apparel. “Most clothing companies cut every corner,” reveals Kelley. “That’s why their clothes are so cheap— but the reality is cheap T-shirts are subsidized through economic slavery and environmental destruction.” Bjorn is quick to add, “So you save a few bucks, but everyone else gets screwed— IN

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that’s business as usual.” And as Formalitees says, “Business as usual usually sucks.” But it’s not just about the fashion industry for Bjorn. “Sustainable business isn’t a trend,” he warns. “If you’re not thinking responsibly, you’re going to get left behind.” And if you are thinking responsibly, you’ll feel good wearing a Tie Tee. Formalitees’ patented Tie Tees are available exclusively online from www.formalitees. com, and come in both men and women’s cuts in six different color contrasts for $49. For more information email press@formalitees.com or call 307-201-6686.

IN.BEAUTY

Perfection lumiere

Long-Wear Flawless Fluid Makeup

Effortless to apply, with seamless blend ability for a naturally flawless effect, this breakthrough foundation is the ideal all-day, everyday formula. It offers both the widest shade range Chanel has ever offered in this category, as well as two proprietary complexes intended to perfect skin. It uses a special technology to create a ‘second skin’ for the face, as well as featuring special light reflecting pigments and powders that will ‘perfect’ any signs of imperfections. Therefore you can achieve a dewy, flawless base

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that looks like your skin – but perfect! The Shades are broken into color groups ranging from very fair to very dark, and a variety of skin undertones, from pink to yellow, are also addressed in the shade lineup. Also it is oil-free, SPF 10, longlasting 15 hour wear time, and is suitable for all skin types – whether you have oily or dry skin, the “Perfection lumiere” range will deliver a luminous semi-matte finish. The foundation adjusts to the skin needs of every ethnicity and stays in place with a flawless finish.

IN.BEAUTY RIMMEL LONDON Vinyl Max Gloss Create your dream lips!

Now you get to design your own lip shape. This hot new formula makes it easy to create the perfect pout. A volumising complex contains heroic hyaluronic spheres to literally magnify your lips. These smart tiny balls of moisture instantly smooth. Lines and wrinkles seem to disappear, as your pout seems to swell before your eyes. Want more? Vinyl Max gives lets you have the perfect pout all in comfort. Its soft formula easily glides on for a light and lovely feel that will make you forget your even wearing gloss. No more stickiness! Complete lip opulence in just 1 fast stroke. Pampering your lips has never been so easy! Colours are also more intense. No more sheer. These shades are seriously glamorous and beautifully bold. With Vinyl Max Gloss you can really have it all! For once you don’t have to compromise and you can have maximum shine, luxurious feel and incredible colour.

Lancôme INTRODUCING HYPNÔSE DOLL EYES

Kate Moss Marks Era in Lipstick Rimmel is marking its 10-year anniversary with Kate Moss by launching a collection created by the model. The Coty-owned brand unveiled the Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick collection with much fanfare in London, with a press conference starring Moss. It was followed by a party at Battersea Power Station in South London, where Moss arrived via a Rimmel-branded helicopter.   “If you had to choose the most perfect icon for London, it would be Kate Moss,” said Steve Mormoris, senior vice president of global marketing at Coty Beauty. Renato Semerari, president of Coty Beauty, added: “And 10 years after, she’s still an icon of London.”

Discover doll-eyed perfection with Lancôme’s brand new Hypnôse Doll Eyes mascara. Lancôme, the champions of luscious lash formulas, have created an innovative 7 years in the making mascara; promising sculpted, lengthened and conditioned, high shine lashes. Thanks to its unique wand and an all-new formula, Hypnôse Doll Eyes lives up to its promise, creating the ultimate lash fringe and beautifully wide-opened eyes. Lancôme’s Research Laboratories worked for 7 years to perfect the ideal wand, the patented I-conical brush. The nylon, conical brush tip combines separating power with nylon charge, as well as offering a level of suppleness to rival all other wands. It enables the formula to capture every lash, even the shortest ones in the corner of the eye, creating a defined and perfectly separated lash fringe. The “Fiber Shine” formula is enriched with nylon powders to adorn lashes with a subtle sheen, amplify from root to tip and give lashes a beautiful curve. IN

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OrchidÈe impÈriale Longevity Concentrate The incredibly powerful action of the OrchidÈe ImpÈriale Longevity Concentrate demanded packaging that met its highest standards. To hold the precious IOME molecules captive until the moment they are used, and to deliver them to the skin at the height of their effectiveness, Guerlain called on the greatest imagination and ingenuity. True technological prowess drove the design of the capsule-bottle – a revolutionary concept so extremely sophisticated, there is already a patent pending.

Encapsulated within the delicate mysteries of this enigmatic ìblue chamberî, the vital secrets of the formula are perfectly protected. A simple press of the push-button (which maintains an air of mystery around the retractable nozzle and the airless system hidden inside) releases the IOME, with its maximum molecular force. The bottle is held ele gantly, vertically, upside-down – something quite unique in cosmetology. The bold design of the capsule-bottle and its long, horizontal form give a breath

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of futuristic modernity to the aesthetics emblematic of Guerlain, translated into the luxurious blue and gold codes of OrchidÈe ImpÈriale exceptional complete care. While indigo blue adorns the walls, golden metal crowns both ends. The luxurious box, stamped with the Orchid signature, takes care of precious details: ribbons, a velvet pouch for travelling – and the application secrets.

IN.BEAUTY Tommy Hilfiger to Launch New Fragrances Tommy Hilfiger is playing to his core audience with his newest fragrance masterbrand, Eau de Prep.   The masterbrand will be launched in October and was created with the designer’s longtime fragrance licensee, the Aramis and Designer Fragrances division of the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. According to the designer, it was inspired by his spring-summer 2011 Prep World collection, which celebrates all of the iterations of the preppy lifestyle worldwide. The new fragrances are called Eau de Prep Tommy and Eau de Prep Tommy Girl, in reference to his original fragrances. “Preppy in New York is interpreted differently than preppy in London or Milan or Los Angeles,” said the designer, who showcased the collection in pop-up shops around the globe from April through August of this year. “And that same concept can be applied to fragrance. With any project, you want to evolve. Eau de Prep Tommy Girl expresses a different facet of the classic American Tommy Girl, while Eau de Prep Tommy expresses a different facet of the Tommy customer.”

HUGO BOSS New Advertising Faces The famous house of Hugo Boss has recently decided to refresh their campaign for men’s fragrances and to present their scents in a new light. In order to promote their most successful fragrances for men, Boss selected three of their best representatives—Boss Bottled Night, Hugo Man and Boss Orange Man. As these fragrances are true stars in the Boss collection, the house chose three amazing men to advertise them with their power and looks: Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, actor Matthias Schweighöfer and actor Orlando Bloom. These three men incorporate success and they all say that the key about success is to be content with oneself and what one does in life. The new campaign reflects all these traits and enables you to be surrounded with the scent of success in Hugo Boss fragrances. It is no wonder that the mottos of the collection are: Power drives success; Passion drives success and Creativity drives success.

Dior Homme Jude Law in New Campaign British actor Jude Law in the Riviera, Cap d’Antibes, where the new commercial for Dior Homme men’s fragrance was shot. The famous actor shows a perfect summer look at Cap d’Antibes - The French Riviera look is a light, summery style that hasn’t gone out of fashion. A wonderful tradition of male dress that’s typified by Cannes, a kind of Riviera snappiness that’s remained much the same since the mid-20th century. Photos for the advertising campaign for new Dior Homme were taken at the Du Cap Eden Roc Hotel in Cap d’Antibes in Southern France. Jude Law was photographed in luxury powerboat Riva Aquarama, on the French Riviera. The Dior Homme Eau de Toilette is signed by perfumer Francois Demachy, as well as a more intense version Dior Homme Intense. This edition was created to leave a stronger impression and to be more intense and long-lasting. Sophisticated Dior Homme Intense includes lavender in top notes, which provides strength, sensuality and depth to the fragrance. Lavender blossom without leaves in opening notes add powdery iris enhanced with ambrette, leaving a musky-fruity trail, along with pear liqueur and powder chords. A base incorporates woody notes of Virginian cedar and vetiver, which creates an impression of warmth, elegance and sophistication. IN

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Selling sex in a bottle Gucci Guilty The award-winning fragrance from the Italian fashion house Gucci, Gucci Guilty, appeared on the market in 2010. It was followed by the male edition of the same name, Guilty Gucci Pour Homme, introduced in March this year. This September, two new, enhanced editions of the originals will appear on the shelves: Gucci Guilty Intense and Gucci Guilty Intense Pour Homme. Gucci Guilty for women is about the feeling that you can attain whatever you want. It is about pushing your personal boundaries and experiencing the thrill of the forbidden. Without compromise,

Gucci Guilty is a statement about who you are. With the richness of amber and the fresh femininity of lilac, the fragrance speaks to the bold. It awakens the senses with a daring edge of sexyness and sensuality that is Gucci. Guilty Pour Homme is carefully designed for men who know what they want and who get what they want. The charismatic alpha male, a true magnet for ladies, is represented in this provocative and seductive composition. Gucci Guilty Intense retains almost the same notes of the original formula, IN

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only they are made more intense and powerful. This intoxicating floral oriental fragrance contains “excessive” dose of pink pepper and lilac. It opens with notes of mandarin and pink pepper. Flowers of lilac, violet and heliotrope form the core of the compositions, laid on the base of patchouli and amber. Gucci Guilty Pour Homme Intense, a provocative and strong fragrance, introduces accords of amalfi lemon, coriander and lavender in its top notes. The heart of orange blossom and neroli settles in a trace of patchouli, cedar and amber.

IN.BEAUTY

Tom Ford has announced the release of his Signature Collection of fragrances by the end of this year. This collection represents a part of his latest make-up line. Of the three expected perfumes, the first one will be released in early September. It is named Violet Blonde and it is based on powdery notes of violet and iris. Two other upcoming fragrances are Jasmin Rouge and Santal Blush.   Violet Blonde, glamorous and sophisticated, opens with violet leaf, Italian mandarin and pink pepper. The centerpiece of the composition consists of Tuscan iris absolute, Tuscan orris butter, Sambac jasmine and sampaquita. The base is home to elegant and sophisticated tones of musk, suede, cedar, vetiver and benzoin.  Top notes: violet leaf, mandarin, pink pepper Heart: iris, orris butter, Sambac jasmine, sampaquita Base: musk, cedar, vetiver, suede, benzoin  The alluring blonde Lara Stone was chosen to feature the campaign of the whole line.

WILDBLOOM A NEW EAU DE PARFUM FROM BANANA REPUBLIC THE SPIRIT OF YOU Banana Republic introduces Wildbloom, an eau de parfum that captures the beauty of joy, optimism and spontaneity. Soft, sophisticated and irresistibly feminine, Wildbloom exudes effortless sensuality and magnetism. Developed by leading perfumer JeanClaude Delville of Drom, the Floral Fruity Chypre scent reflects an easy elegance with a confident wink. To achieve a bright, fresh, unexpected mood, Delville composed the floral heart around Wild Camellia, an ingredient he calls “a rare flower in perfumery—rich, fresh, delicate, attractive, seductive and different.”

GET OVER IT!

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On the Scent: Madonna, Tory Burch in Talks, Marni-Lauder in Deal Fashion week saw plenty of fragrance deals — or at least talk of them, including two designers and one megacelebrity: none other than Madonna.  The Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. confirmed it has signed a fragrance license with Marni, while speculation swirled Tory Burch could be the next brand to join the Lauder fragrance stable even as she is also said to be in talks with Coty. Fueling the talk of a possible Burch-Lauder license was the appearance of Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer at the Estée Lauder Cos., and Aerin Lauder, creative director and chairman of Aerin LLC, at the designer’s first runway show. Meanwhile, Madonna — the Great White Whale of celebrities without a major fragrance deal — also is said to be in serious discussions with Coty.  While no deal has been signed, a Madonna license would give Coty an alluring trifecta of star power — along with Lady Gaga, whose scent is due next year, and Beyoncé, who has done two pillar scents and a flanker (no word on whether she’s planning another fragrance around her other new arrival, a baby said to be due in late February). It also would cap Coty’s dominance of the celebrity fragrance market, a category it revived in 2001 with the launch of Glow by J.Lo, the debut scent from Jennifer Lopez. A Coty spokeswoman declined comment while Madonna’s representatives could not be reached.

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Unsung Heroes BY Artist and Designer Branko Popovic Branko Popovic is a multidisciplinary artist/designer based in Maastricht, the Netherlands where he fled to in the nineties with his parents from the former Yugoslavia. In 2005 he graduated from the fashion and textile faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht. His work consists of fashion collections and autonomous work (photography, illustrations and drawings). Popovic graduated with a women’s collection but since then he mainly designs menswear. The subject of his fleeing the former Yugoslavia is a constant theme in his work and is also translated in the 2011 collection ‘Transformed Star Project’. Transformed Star Project “Originally I come from the former Yugoslavia, and this collection is about transformation of the shape of the star (the red star was the symbol of the flag) as a metaphor for the splitting apart of Yugoslavia. This break-up and the war in Yugoslavia are the reason I am living in the Netherlands. This collection is also an expression for the transformation of my life, leaving Yugoslavia for the Netherlands.” Besides his own label, Popovic is one of the founders of Foundation FASHIONCLASH. FASHIONCLASH organizes projects, which aim to provide a platform for young talents. One of the projects is the successful international fashion event FASHIONCLASH Maastricht that took place for the third time in June 2011. FASHIONCLASH also encompasses a young designers store in Maastricht with the unique work of up and coming designers for sale. Popovic was also involved in several theatrical productions, and he keeps a blog of his own as well as guest writing for other blogs. Through his blog, he links everything that fascinates him; his work, art, fashion, design, theatre, dance and music. For more about Branko Popovic please go to www.brankopopovic.blogspot.com and www.brankopopovic.com., and www.fashionclash.nl.

PHOTOGRAPHER KRIS MICALLEF www.krismicallef.com

LOCATION EX-BRITISH MILITARY HOSPITAL IN MTARFA, MALTA.

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IN.ARCHITECTURE SEPTEMBER 11 TEN YEARS AFTER

Reflecting Absence

Ground Zero. A typical construction site amid the hum and rumble of downtown Manhattan – not to mention the clang of steel and the tangle of cranes – hard-hatted workers in fluorescent orange vests yell orders, spread cement, move machines. Empty boxes litter the ground. Shop lights hang from extension cords like Christmas bulbs. Stacks of paving stones, cinderblocks and plywood are everywhere. Scaffolding and mesh divide work areas from visitors. Chain-link fencing marks a perimeter; beyond it, iron and steel rise from bedrock. At one end of ground zero, a new skyscraper, 1 World Trade Center, once known as Freedom Tower, rises almost 80 stories. A September 11 museum is nearing completion; it will open next year. Three more office towers are in various states of development. Eventually, a transportation hub and shopping arcade will connect the complex underground. Completion of the entire project is expected around 2015. But among the construction, there is a finished plaza. And at the center of the plaza, there is only stillness. Two pools, “voids,” as designer Michael Arad calls them, plunge into the Earth. Located on the footprints of the old Twin Towers, they are giant, empty, open-topped cubes. Their walls are clad in dark granite, their lips surrounded by brass parapets engraved with nearly 3,000 names: those killed here on September 11 as well as in a 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. It’s a sight that would appear to be almost “more than any of us can bear,” to borrow the words of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, except for two things: the trees and the water. More than 400 trees line the walkways and plaza leading to the voids. All, but one, are recent transplants. The lone “Survivor Tree,” a Callery Pear, was found in the ruins and nursed back to health. The greenery provides a bucolic sense in the midst of city concrete. And then, in the dry granite voids, the water is turned on. It falls beneath the names etched in brass and into the pools below, washing away the city noise in a cool spray. The waterfalls create a sense of peace and solace, softening the voids’ stark chasms. “I had chills for the first time when the water was turned on,” said Paula Grant Berry, who lost her husband on September 11. Berry, the only victims’ family member to serve on the jury that selected Arad’s design, had visited the site a handful of times but said turning on the waterfalls was the needed touch. “It was extraordinary. The wind picked up the water, and a rainbow appeared in the voids.” Arad said he wanted to capture the feelings of emptiness and loss while emphasizing the importance of public spaces, and public bonding. He remembers how being with people in the aftermath of September 11 – gathering in New York’s squares, looking at flyers of the missing, and talking with strangers – supplied a necessary kindness in those bitter, gritty days. “It was so instrumental in the process of allowing New Yorkers to come together to make sense of what had happened and support

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each other,” he said. “That sense that we will persevere and at the same time be compassionate and support each other, I think you needed these public spaces for those expressions to come out and manifest themselves. I certainly needed it.” Arad’s National September 11 Memorial, Reflecting Absence, will open Sunday, September 11, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Dignitaries, including President Obama, and family members are expected to attend. The next day, the memorial will open to the public. It’s the end of a long, messy journey, one that has parallels in other memorials. These monuments to our memories tell stories of lives and history, and those stories don’t always agree. And if every memorial tells a story, the September 11 memorial had a more complex one than most. There was the most basic story a memorial can put forth, that of the commemoration of 3,000 lives lost. But there were also layers of stories underneath: stories of randomness, stories of residents, stories of terrorism and destruction and chaos, stories that exposed the heart and pain of New York before getting down to the city’s bedrock essence: hope and togetherness, perseverance and determination. How to make sense of them all in a display of rock, foliage and water? It’s never been easy. Bringing The Design To Life The design of the Memorial emerged from my experiences here in New York, first as a witness to the events of that day in 2001 and then as a participant in the city’s compassionate and resolute response in the days, weeks and months that followed. In late 2001 I began to sketch a pair of twin voids tearing open the surface of the Hudson River. As water rushed into these voids, they remained legible, clear and empty. This inexplicable, enigmatic image seemed to capture a sense of rupture, loss and persistent absence and stayed in my imagination. I found myself sketching and studying it and eventually constructed it in miniature scale as a small fountain/sculpture in 2002. In 2003, when the competition for the design of the memorial was announced, I revisited the idea of the twin voids, but sought a way to create a place of public assembly at the very site of the attacks where thousands had perished. I looked back to my own experiences as a New Yorker in the days that followed the attack, and the solace and connection I found in New York’s public and civic places such as Union Square and Washington Square. In particular I recalled a late night visit to Washington Square Park; I was unable to sleep, and as I walked about the eerily empty and quiet streets of lower Manhattan, I was

drawn to the fountain at the center of this public space. There I found a few other people standing in silent contemplation. As I joined this circle, strangers both to me and to each other, I felt a sense of kinship and belonging; I was no longer confronting the horrors I had seen alone. I could not articulate it clearly at that moment, but I felt a bond form, as I understood that I was a New Yorker now in a way I had never been before. Washington Square, as an open, public and civic place, brought others and me together in a remarkable way. It bound us together and united us in a wordless agreement. I had come alone to this square, but I was not alone there in the presence of others. Despair made way for hope, and fear made way for stoic compassion. These changes owed everything to the places that brought us together and made us stronger by virtue of uniting us - physically and emotionally. The master plan that had been selected for the site and formed the basis for the competition guidelines had already articulated the importance of reintegrating the site into the fabric of the city, and suggested partially restoring the street grid through the reintroduction of Greenwich and Fulton streets, subdividing the sixteen acre site into four unequal quadrants. The largest of these, measuring eight acres, formed the site for the future Memorial. I wanted to amplify this move and create a public, civic plaza that drew on my own experiences here in the city. To that end I suggested that the site should be thought of primarily as an open plaza--a vast flat plain, punctuated by two large voids, deeply recessed reflecting pools ringed by waterfalls. I sought to bring together that image of the voids in the Hudson River and the experiences I had in Washington Square.

along the bands, as one looks north or south, the trees will become a diffuse and almost naturalistic random array. Just as important, the landscape adds new meaning to the design. Each of the voids is surrounded by a 10-foot-wide walkway, the outer edge of which is marked by a ring of trees. These trees coincide exactly with the location and dimensions of the former footprints of the Towers, measuring 212 by 212 feet. Columns of living trees will now stand where the steel support columns of the Towers once stood, and people approaching the voids of the memorial will walk within the footprints of the Towers. I reached out to Peter Walker, whose work I admire, and asked him to help me implement this vision, and his expertise has helped realize these ideas. Along the way we have had to solve many challenges. One of these was to ensure sustainability, an ethic that is deeply important to the memorial, and that is mandated by the guidelines for the project. As realized, the Memorial Plaza is now one of the most sustainable green spaces ever constructed. For this urban forest, flourishing near other green spaces that include the churchyards at Liberty Church and St. Paul’s Chapel and the planned Liberty Park just south of the memorial, the majority of irrigation requirements will be met by harvesting rainwater collected in storage tanks below the plaza surface.

Initial sketch

The jury for the memorial competition saw the first iterations of this plaza as stark and austere. They challenged me to bring more vegetation and life to the site without losing the clarity of that first primary design gesture of the flat plain punctured by twin voids. I suggested adding bands of paving of irregular widths, which would unify the plaza and form an armature for placing trees along their length, in a manner analogous to the way beads can be placed at irregular intervals along the wires of an abacus. This new element created a soft order, one that was not in conflict with the primary design gesture. At times, as one looks to the east or west, the trees will be clearly legible as long allées that snap into order; yet because of the irregular placement

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Initial model

Initial rendering

Initial plaza sketch

Initial plaza model

This and similar energy-conserving aspects of the design are allowing the project to pursue Gold certification in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for New Construction program. But of all the challenges we faced, none was more complex than the arrangement of the victims’ names around the reflecting pools. The encounter between visitors to the memorial and the names of the victims was understood as a difficult and emotionally charged moment: an approach to the threshold that separates the living from the dead. I envisioned a profound moment of tragic comprehension, as the scale of the voids – echoing the Towers’ dimensions – and the multitude of names surrounding each pool would together contribute to the creation of a moment of sad understanding. How could we arrange the names of the victims to reflect this terrible and enormous toll, while still honoring the individual and unique aspects of each and every loss? I wanted the arrangement of names to both reflect upon the victims’ lives while also marking their deaths. I decided that we should reach out to family members of the deceased and ask if they wanted the names of their loved ones to be arranged adjacent to other victims that they had known during their lives. This arrangement would imbue the piece with added meaning and complexity, reflecting on bonds of family, friendship, and workplace camaraderie.

were displayed on the memorial should convey a sense of the terrible, enormous toll of the attacks, but at the same time should honor the unique aspects of each of the 2,983 individuals who lost their lives. His solution, which was ultimately adopted, is a system of “meaningful adjacencies,” which add meaning and complexity to the memorial by reflecting the bonds of family, friendship and workplace among those who died. The names are grouped in nine categories, which reflect the locations and circumstances in which victims found themselves during the attacks. Around the north pool are the names of those working in or visiting the north tower; those aboard Flight 11, which crashed into that tower; and the victims of the 1993 bombing of the north tower. Around the south pool are the names of those working

This idea was met with apprehension at first, and concern over the complexity of its implementation delayed its acceptance until Mayor Michael Bloomberg became Chairman of the Memorial Foundation in 2006. With his support and guidance we grouped the names of the victims into nine broad categories that reflect where people came from or where they were that day. This allowed us to place many of the victims’ names within the footprint of the Tower in which they perished. From there, we arranged the names in a careful order that reflected the wishes of the next of kin, but had the appearance of a random array of names. The strength of the arrangement is further enforced by the open space included around each name, providing each one with a space that is unique and individual while at the same time placing each name within the broader constellation of names. Each name is an island; together, the names are an archipelago that rings the voids; emphasizing the individual and collective losses suffered that day. Meaningful Adjacencies The question of how to arrange the victims’ names on the National September 11 Memorial was one of the most challenging of the design process. From early on, Michael Arad felt that neither an alphabetical list nor a random arrangement would be appropriate. He believed the way the names IN

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in or visiting the south tower; those aboard Flight 175, which crashed into that tower; the victims at the Pentagon; Flight 77 victims; Flight 93 victims; and first responders. But this was only the beginning. The victims’ next-of-kin were then offered the opportunity to ask that specific names be placed in close proximity to others. As a result, names of colleagues, friends and family are placed alongside each other within each of the nine larger groups, honoring more than 1,200 requests that were received. Assembling the requests for meaningful adjacencies was painstaking, and the process of designing the arrangement was complex. But the result is a memorial that speaks not only of the victims’ deaths but also of their lives.

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IN.DESIGN reOrder

An Architectural Environment

March 4, 2011–January 15, 2012 A space altering, site-specific architectural installation created by Situ Studio, a Brooklyn-based creative practice specializing in design and fabrication, will inaugurate the first phase of the Brooklyn Museum’s project for the 10,000-square-foot colonnaded hall on the first floor. The installation, reOrder, re-imagines the classically ordered space to serve as a place for Museum visitors to congregate, relax, view temporary exhibitions, lectures, and, occasionally, see a performance. Situ Studio’s design consists of a series of stretched fabric canopies and integrated furnishings that swell, expand, and augment the profile of the existing monumental columns. This project will be the first installation in the Ennead Architects–designed renovation of the Great Hall, which was built in the early twentieth century as a part of the original McKim, Mead & White architecture. The space will include four freestanding walls reaching almost to the ceiling that will separate a central gallery from a perimeter circulation path. The installation will embrace the unique details of McKim, Mead & White’s iconic design with the goal of transforming the scale of the hall and creating a series of spaces that alternate between the colossal and the intimate.

And although the awe-inducing canopies get the most publicity, it’s the thermoformed seating below them that gives the space its intimacy, especially when contrasted with the cavernous and colossal fabrics above. “We were interested in humanizing the scale of the space and creating moments of compression and release within the Great Hall,” Samuels says. “It was also a chance for us to experiment with a new material--something we always embrace.”

To document its installation in the Brooklyn Museum, Situ Studio installed a camera that took a photograph every two minutes for three weeks, condensing 200 hours of work into two minutes. (Log on to http://www.youtube.com/ inmagazineme to watch the videos) Situ Studio transformed the room’s 24-foottall columns into 16 giant mushroom-looking canopies using 2,200 yards of fabric and a mile and a half of rope, swelling and expanding the profiles on the existing columns. Beneath the canopies are sheets of solid surfacing materials that have been thermoformed into threedimensional benches and tables. The video is entitled, Transforming the Great Hall, documents the installation process: affixing plywood rings to the columns (more than 3,000 parts in all); hanging 1,100 feet of bent steel tubing; and covering, folding, and stretching the fabric over the tubing, a process that took three weeks to complete. But Brad Samuels, one of Situ Studio’s partners, says that the video doesn’t show all the pre-built work that went into it, which is what the other video, Making reOrder, is about. The steel rings, solid surfacing formwork, and wooden brackets were all brought to the site pre-built. The video also details the mockups and models that were created in the Situ Studio space. Samuels says that they only had a chance to do one mockup at a 1:1 scale, so they didn’t know how the materials would react when pushed further. “Most, if not all, of the columns that were eventually built exceeded, and sometimes by far, the parameters that we practiced,” he tells Co.Design. IN

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IN HIATUS BOOK TWENTY DESIGNERS PUT ON PAPER A SPECTRUM OF OPINIONS ANALYSING THE INFLUENCE OF DESIGN IN SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT

Famous names like Milton Glaser, Erwan Bouroullec or Karim Rashid are now joined by those included in Hiatus, professionals whose opinions and work re cutting edge. But don’t expect to find academic treatises or intellectual analyses on design, because all you will find are personal views and thoughts which, in many cases, have been printed on paper for the first time. Hiatus provides guidance to entrepreneurs and designers on how to improve the efficacy of their products and their communication. Given that we live in a globalised society, we looked for ideas and solutions in various countries and from design-related disciplines. In such grey times as these, there is nothing better than listening to our instincts and, as Eric idle says, “looking on the bright side of life”.

A Portable book-product designed by Ana Yago to best demonstrate creativity in eco-design.

It is important that we educate society on the use of renewable resources and raw materials that have a low ecological footprint. We have to promote sustainable growth. To diverge from the philosophy of the disposable and aim toward multiple-use products, etc.

A total of over 20 design creatives and studios from 8 countries, ranging from the United States to Lebanon, Holland and Brazil, and others, have collaborated in Hiatus. Hiatus is a non-profit publication featuring opinions and reflections from leading names in international design like Jasper Morrison, Li Edelkoort, Nacho Carbonell as well as other experts like Samantha Sanella (Design Exchange), and Pamela El Azzi; on the relationship between design, the environment and the economy. The book has been conceived to transmit values like sustainable growth, recycling, and low impact production processes. Hiatus is printed in one colour on ecological paper without varnishes or special treatments and is designed by Ana Yago and coordinated by journalist, José A. Giménez, with the support of The Asociación de Fabricantes de Envases y Embalajes de Cartón Ondulado (AFCO), the Fundación Arte y Derecho and Cartonajes Levante. The idea behind Hiatus is to put on paper a spectrum of opinions analysing the influence of design in society and environment, particularly at a moment of economic uncertainty, while also striving to come up with solutions based on experience and the results obtained by design in similar situations in the past. Hiatus is an advance of the next edition of Articulado, a collection of recipes and opinions on how to overcome the current economic downturn by some of the major players in international design. In fact, Hiatus is a taster for what’s in store in the second volume of Articulado, a non-profit publication that puts in black and white the most personal views and ideas of some of the leading lights of international design, and whose excellent reception has guaranteed its biennial continuity. IN

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IN.ART value retail EXHIBITION “As the king is not humble, may the humble be king” children OF THE FAVELAS by IRIS DELLA ROCA

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L’ESPACE LA VALLÉE VILLAGE, the contemporary art gallery at La Vallée Village, one of the Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages by Value Retail, is hosting the work of the talented young photographer Iris Della Roca from October 13th, 2011, to January 8th, 2012. Perceiving photography as an expression of her personal engagement in the community, the 25-year-old Iris Della Roca is showcasing a series of photographic prints, which position her work in the heart of current affairs in an optimistic and poetic light. The exhibition title “As the king is not humble, may the humble be king” sets the tone. Passionate about Brazil, Iris Della Roca lives part of the year in a Rio de Janeiro favela, where she works as an unpaid volunteer with the ‘Swap a weapon for a paintbrush’ charity. During her time in the favela she offered the children a chance to produce a magazine together. Through Iris’ photographic lens, the children from Rocinha, the biggest favela in Rio, were able to escape their circumstances for a moment and enter a world of innocence and make-believe, enabling their imagination to run wild as they dreamt of becoming fashion models for a day, a far cry from the common perception, often depicted in the world’s press, of children’s experiences in the favelas. “Through role play, I wanted them to have fun, to become children, for them to believe that they are beautiful and strong “stars”. Through this game I wanted them to cast away their inhibitions and become totally free – a sort of liberation that could not be tainted by their everyday problems.” This is an optimistic and moving exhibition, which offers visitors a glimpse into the children’s daily lives though a series of photos, collages and drawings, with the accompanying sounds of Rocinha’s streets recorded by the artist herself. In addition to the exhibition, La Vallée Village will also be producing the magazine Iris Della Roca planned with the children from Rocinha. It will feature the children’s drafts and photos, as well as articles from contributors in the worlds of fashion and photography. The magazine will be sold at the Welcome Center in La Vallée Village as well as Espace La Vallee Village from October 13th, 2011, to January 8th, 2012.”

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IN.LOCATION

‘4’

Kris Van Assche, Lala Berlin, LD Tuttle, Les Ateliers Ruby Helmets, Lutz, M.A,  Maison Martin Margiela (Line 13), Marsell, Monies, Natalia Brilli, Nesting Dolls, Odyn Vovk, Oliver Goldsmith, Orlebar Brown, Osman Yousefzada, Placed by Gideon, R13, Rad Hourani, Rad by Rad Hourani, Raf by Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Rough Trade – Music, S.N.S Herning, S abrina Dehoff, Sang A, SILENT by Damir Doma, Six Scents, Solange Azagury Partridge, T Paris, Tahir Sultan, This Works, Tina Tsang, Tom Binns, Ugo Cacciatori, Unconditional, Victoria Casal, Wasta, Wode – Fragrance from Boudicca, and many more.

Art In All Its Functions ‘4’ is art in all its functions. Kuwait has become an exciting fashion hub. People from this region make special trips just to shop in Kuwait.   ‘4’ is Kuwait’s destination lifestyle store. The concept behind ‘4’ is to maintain a status of exclusivity. We seek out the most exclusive and visually interesting merchandise from all over the world and bring it all under one roof. This hard to find, limited edition aspect is an essential foundation to our philosophy.    ‘4’ carries both women’s and men’s wear. As well as established brands, we also like to discover and champion up-and-coming designers. Most of the items in the store have a story behind them, be it the designer’s background, the design itself or even just the fabric. Each item fits a specification and has a unique and artistic factor. Brands and designers we currently carry are: Adam Kimmel, Aganovich, Ann Demeulemeester, Anne Valerie Hash, Aurelie Bidermann, Aziz AlNasrallah, Beatrice Boyle for Browns Focus, Boudicca, Charlotte Olympia, Christopher Kane (T-Shirts), Comme des Garçons, Common Projects, Damir Doma, Droog, Established & Sons, Fornasetti, Gareth Pugh, Gustavolins, H by Harris, Haider Ackermann, Horiyoshi III, Isaac Sellam, Jaime Hayon, Jean Pierre Braganza, Jennifer Behr, Jimmie Martin, Jimmyjane, Judari, Julian Mayor, JULIUS, Kenjiikeda, Kolor,  IN

Art is illustrated through our contemporary furniture such as Established & Sons who work with world-renowned designers like Zaha Hadid and brilliant new talent with distinctive style that help create a diverse and eclectic premier collection. Also Jimmie Martin’s antique chairs are individually reupholstered and hand painted in a thoroughly modern and personal way that reflects an individual personality. If a client is looking for something even more personal we also offer commissions. We also carry Themes & Variations Fornasetti, Droog & more. Our library carries all sorts of different and unusual books and specialized magazines relating to art, graphic design, clothes, architecture and interior design. We also carry a great selection of CD’s, perfumes, candles, teas and beauty products. Our art gallery displays exquisite paintings that are also for sale, aside from the art exhibitions we hold by Kuwaiti and international artists. We deal with world-renowned galleries that provide us with our beautiful pieces.  The café called Restaurant In The Near Future completes the ‘4’ experience, and in our lounge guests can take pause to relax comfortably and casually. Whether having coffee or just surfing the complementary wireless Internet service and soaking up the beats of our music.  Both ‘4’s’ interior and location have art running through their very core. Based in the heart of Kuwait’s industrial area, which evokes feelings of downtown New York’s Meat Packing District, ‘4’ is an escape from the conventional and a venue that gathers lovers of art and beautiful, exquisite things.

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Shuwaikh industrial area, street 55 (Airport Street), Mahdi Habeeb Building, Shuwaikh, Kuwait Tel: +965 24925444 www.thenumber4.com

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IN.LOCATION Tucked away in a quiet corner opposite a sandy car park in Ashrefia, Beirut, sits an Ăźber cool, super modern little boutique boasting industrial-design inspiration. This upscale minimalist thrift-store like boutique houses a collection of garments, accessories and items entirely unique to the shop. Rosa Maria is the brainchild of Rosy Abourous (ring designer) and the talented architect Mathieu Sfeir. It is a space that beckons you to languidly take your time browsing and trying on unique and original pieces. Rosa Maria has everything from leather, to art, to accessories. Each piece is a treasure unto itself, one that a super modern woman full of self-confidence would die to don. Rosa Maria opened in June 2011, and the concept behind it was that artists of different mediums (designers included), would have a platform to creatively meet and share their different points of view through their radical and beautiful pieces. The store carries names like Goti, Catherine Michiels, Klaus Werkstatt as well as Lost & Found, Numero 10, Piel Y Vino, Officine Creative, CA4 LA, and Reinhard Plank accessories.

Rosa Maria

The Little Boutique That Could

It is a definite must see, but be warned you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave empty handed. Rosa Maria had expansion plans and will bless a special place in the universe with its one-of-akind boutiques. Nasrallah-Maalouf Bldg, Adib Ishac Street, Ashrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon Tel: +961 1 326462 www.rosamariajewellery.com

The Angry Monkey

Release the Monkey Within To some people, The Angry Monkey is the perfect dive-bar, boasting draft beers by the bucket and gourmet dishes like the Monkey Burgers, Soft Shell Crab and Sliced NY Sirloin. To others, it is your unordinary neighborhood watering-hole where aspiring humanoids of all ages come to chat-chew-sip-flirt-repeat whilst the best live entertainment Beirut has to offer spreads magic from the stage. For football lovers The Angry Monkey delivers the best live match experience squirting liters of open draft beer and stuffing the full food menu at half price down the throats of the hooligan-chic footie fans. Sure to become an icon of Beirut boozemanship, The Angry Monkey borrows its stylistic cues from prohibition-era speakeasies with its candlelit brick walls and salvaged wood floors. Slavishly decorated with elements that were scavenged at vintage shops and junkyards, the space boasts a rotating 2 meter diameter industrial fan embedded in the back wall and an old-school classic piano that doubles as a DJ station. The copper bar is literally set on fire while patrons roast marshmallows and share stories. The back bar is fashioned from old fish crates -less the smell - and is stocked full of rare single malt scotches and other surprises. The Angry Monkey lives inside each and every one of us and should not be held captive - now there is a place to release it! The Alleyway, Gemmayze, Beirut, Lebanon Tel: +961 1 566 376 www.theangrymonkey.com

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IN.TRAVEL

Grace Hotel Santorini This 5-star, luxury boutique hotel with branches in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most desirable destinations, looks amazing combined with the backdrop of the beautiful, blue and white Santorini islands, the southernmost islands of the Cyclades. With its excellent location in the picturesque village of Imervigli above the Caldera (a centuries-old deep basin created from a sunken volcano), the Grace Santorini offers majestic views of the famous sunset cast across the Aegean sea and the Cyclades Islands as well as a romantic, serene atmosphere for visitors. While the property is largely secluded, it is conveniently located only 2 KM from the capital of the islands, Fira, and 8-10 KM away from the two closest airports. The islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long history of volcanic activity has created the dramatic landscape the Grace Hotel and others sit upon today. The hotel has two pools, but also boasts of unusual and beautiful black-sand beaches in its proximity. The hotel is decorated simply and has white interiors which mimic the monochromatic style, characteristic of the island. IN

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IN.TALENT Ruben Cortez,

Director Of ‘BloodY Mary,’

by SCOTT “JARRAXE” FINLEY Editor-in-Chief www.Gagaism.org

The Viral Fan Video Sensation

YouTube began as a way for people to share homemade videos with the world. As social media evolved, some videos started going “viral,” becoming international sensations practically overnight. The entertainment industry caught on to this immediately, and began using YouTube to promote music videos. Within a few short years, YouTube had become the primary means for artists to promote their music videos. Chief among these artists was Lady Gaga. Things came full-circle soon after as fans started making home-made music videos and covers of songs. Gaga in particular seems to inspire countless fan videos. Two young singers have record contracts now after covering Lady Gaga. First was Greyson Chance with his cover of ‘Paparazzi,’ and then Maria Aragon with ‘Born This Way.’ One of the best things an aspiring singer, actor, director, or dancer can hope for these days is to have a video of theirs go viral on YouTube. This brings us to Ruben Cortez, and his brandnew fan video for Lady Gaga’s ‘Bloody Mary.’ In just two weeks, ‘Bloody Mary’ has racked up over 650,000 views on YouTube! This is quite a feat, even by viral video standards. Today, we are proud to reveal our exclusive threepage interview with the very talented Ruben Cortez. Past the cut, you can read about the cast and crew of ‘Bloody Mary,’ the inspiration and meaning behind the video, and much more, including exclusive behind-the-scenes photos!

who worked on the video would call me about every hour just to tell me how many views it was getting and to read back comments to me. It was insane! I just didn’t want people to think I meddled with one of Gaga’s songs and portrayed it wrong, and I am very happy people received it well.

Tell us a bit about the concept for the video and how it relates to the song. The concept of the video is based around a tale of revenge. When I first listened to the song, I interpreted the lyrics to be the representation of a mourning woman who is having trouble accepting losing something dear to her heart, and I couldn’t help but feel as though a malicious ghost was singing the song, especially with the arrangement of the vocals.

First of all, congratulations on reaching nearly one-half million views on your ‘Bloody Mary’ video after only a week! (Over 650,000 now, after two weeks.) That is quite an accomplishment.

I pictured a tortured spirit wandering a castle, singing of her demise for so long that it has led her into a sort of insanity. A soul that was once pure, now led down a dark path in the afterlife. So I created a story for this tortured ghost, in which she was once a Queen that ruled happily with her King.

Thank you so much! It’s more like a dream come true! I definitely feel accomplished.

Until one day, the bitter sister of the Queen murders both rulers to gain control of the throne. Time goes by and the new Queen rules her kingdom satisfied and alone. Until the mourning ghost of her sister comes back to haunt her, and the tortured soul makes it clear that she wants her kingdom back.

Are you surprised at how popular and well-received your video has been so far? The term surprised does not even cover it. It’s more like shocked! I mean, you expect your family and friends to butter you up and tell you your video was nice, and I really thought that was the most it would ever get. You can just imagine my face when the view count on YouTube started going crazy. I just couldn’t believe it. Not to mention all the wonderful comments people have been leaving. It really still blows my mind just thinking about it. When I was uploading the video to YouTube I was already preparing myself for a wide range of negative comments. Then I remember the first two days all the people

What, in particular, made you choose the song ‘Bloody Mary’ for your project? I am a big horror buff, so anything that has to do with the supernatural just immediately grabs my attention, and this song just had supernatural written all over it. I was initially going to do a short horror film for my final project, but I was very torn due to the fact that I wanted to make a music video as well. I thought to myself “I need to find a song that will incorporate both together.” IN

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Then as soon as I listened to Bloody Mary I knew it was the perfect song. It just takes you on an eerie journey into a lost tale. It feels like you’ve traveled to a lost era in a fantasy world, and I was really enjoying that.

The video seems heavily inspired by your video for ‘So Happy I Could Die.’ Are the two videos meant to be directly related? Bloody Mary pays a great deal of homage to So Happy I Could Die. Two completely different stories, but they share similar styles and structures. The reason is that we wanted to show everyone how far we had come from the SHICD video, which was filmed exactly a year before Bloody Mary.

When we shot SHICD, we basically just jumped into the deep end. It was our first time staging something that big and as much as we love that video, there was a-lot of things we wished we knew going into the project. There was a-lot of “on set learning” which left us with an unsatisfied desire to do certain things differently. Bloody Mary gave everyone that opportunity. Everyone picked up their game, brought in all their knowledge that they had gained in the past year, and put it to the test. We were given a second chance at perfecting a craft we started a year ago, and oh man, did everyone show their growth!

Many of Lady Gaga’s videos feature themes of BDSM and the juxtaposition of the elegant and the so-called depraved. Both of your videos explore the same themes. Is there something in the music itself that you feel leads to this sort of visual interpretation, or were you perhaps inspired by Gaga’s approach to her material? I honestly feel it is a mixture of both, and some other factors. Gaga has definitely left an imprinted style on her music videos, fashion, and life that has become one with her songs. You cannot avoid the influence, as her music is a sole representation of her art, which is what makes it unique per se. So Gaga’s “out there” approach had always been inspirational when writing these video treatments. I feel that both SHICD and Bloody Mary are very dark songs that worked well with this feel. Also the fashion designer is a big fan of showing skin, so his style was also incorporated into the feel for the video, and yet his direction was also influenced by Gaga’s previous works.

Your direction of both videos is extremely impressive. ‘Bloody Mary’ in particular is farand-away the best fan-made video I have ever seen. There is a certain quality to its direction that is very striking and engaging.

What would be your best piece of advice to other directors looking to distinguish their work from that of their peers? Wow that is quite the compliment! Thank you! If anything I would say just create, create, and create some more! I think the one thing that plagues, us young filmmakers, is a big case of insecurity, which leads us to restrict ourselves and try only things that will guarantee us safety. I highly recommend doing little projects with your own little camera at home or with friends. It gives you the freedom to explore every aspect of your mind, and you do not have the pressure of failure on your shoulders. All the practice will definitely help you build your own craft. I started picking up the camcorder when I was twelve and would just push record and film the most random things. I would try to make little music videos, comedies, romances, dramas, and horrors with my little nieces and nephews. It sounds really funny but I started to catch things that I really liked to do, and with trial and error, I learned what kind of stories I enjoyed telling the most, and I definitely learned what I was not good at. I found my love for music videos and horrors by doing that. So, it doesn’t matter if it’s a project that is going to take two hours with your best friend. Film it! The experience is invaluable and priceless.

Who are the two female leads in the video? How did they become involved in the video and what was it like working with them? The girl who played Bloody Mary (Natalia Esquivel) is one of my oldest friends. When we were in high school we had drama class together, when I began pre-production on So Happy I Could Die, I asked her if she might be interested in taking on a role. She was super excited and agreed to be in it, and ever since then Natalia has become my partner in crime. She was not the lead for that video and I always told myself “If I do another Gaga video she definitely has to play Gaga.” So when the Bloody Mary project moved forward, she was the first person I called. She is very hard-working and has come a long way in the past couple of years. It’s such an uplifting experience to have her on set because

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her personality just shines and we get along very well. Not to mention it helps that she has a deep understanding as to how I work and what I’m looking for. I think if I could I would use Natalia for everything! The evil queen was played by the very talented Amelia Jackson Grey. I had the pleasure of meeting Amelia when I filmed a very light-hearted concept music video for a song called ‘Taker’ by Alexz Johnson. I had lost my actress the day of my shoot. My friend pulled a miracle and told me about an actress who was willing to take over the role, thus Amelia came and saved the day. I honestly can say it was the best mishap that could have ever happened to our crew and I because she blew us away. As I was developing Bloody Mary, I went on my friend’s thesis shoot, in which Amelia was part of the cast. While we were on set, my project came up and she showed a lot of interest in Bloody Mary. I was honored that she wanted to work with me again, and I knew she would make the perfect Queen. Amelia is another actress who brings laughter and good energy on set, so working with her again was a wonderful experience.

We also decided to build our own sets, so we ended up making 35 movie flats, which was quite a challenge. I actually think the art department had the hardest time. They pulled off amazing elaborate sets with very little resources. Erika Alcoran, who was the production designer, literally invaded my house and took a bunch of paintings and a bunch of props that actually made it into the video. I was very impressed by how they used what they had and made amazing sets.

Without them this project would probably fall to the ground. Actually, no, it would! They were FANTASTIC! Bryan Hearns was the fashion designer for the project. He is definitely one of the most talented individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. We shared mutual friends in high school, but I didn’t come to fully meet Bryan until pre production of SHICD. I was asking all my friends if they knew of anyone who could make costumes, and my friend Erika told me about Bryan and how he had just graduated FIDM. So I literally contacted him weeks before the shoot and asked him to pull a miracle and create all the crazy costumes. He made all the costumes in a matter of a couple of weeks from New York, and I was jaw-dropped impressed. He was literally the first person I called when I had the video treatment for the video, and we went crazy discussing the outfits. Bryan definitely kept me in the loop about the fashion side of the visual, and guided me through all of that. His work method is insane! He understood what I wanted and took it to another level. We definitely had some head-bumping moments and we are both very stern about what we wanted, but working with Bryan has helped me grow in many artistic ways and has been a phenomenal journey that I wish to continue.

Did you and your cast and crew face any particularly difficult challenges in the making of this video? If so, what were they and how were they overcome? I think we faced every challenge that could have been thrown at us. The biggest was time and money. We prepared the shoot in a month, and we had a budget of 4,000 dollars that had to be dispersed appropriately to every department. It may sound like a lot but that money goes super fast! So we were always stressed about improvising and getting things to work.

I must also give special recognition to your choreographer and fashion designer. What is your relationship to them, personal or otherwise, and what was it like working with them? Did you collaborate much with them and did they collaborate with one another, or did they develop the fashions and choreography independently?

Nicholas Kanyer did the choreography for the video. He was one of my dancers in the SHICD video, and I asked him to do the dances since his style is more contemporary, so I knew he would do a perfect job with making the slow dances ooze with eeriness. He brought in his own

dancers and they were all a delight to have on set! Nick is amazing at what he does and is the biggest goof ball, especially on set. So, it was really fun to have him around, having him dance everywhere. I explained my vision to both of them and basically gave them creative freedom and trusted them with carrying out that vision, but at the same time we all collaborated with one another, Bryan would check in with Nick to make sure the dance moves were compatible with the outfits and vice versa. All three of us were together at dance practices discussing what worked well from each field.

Similarly, were there any major challenges you faced in school before reaching your final project? How did you overcome them and what advice would you give to other film students facing difficulties with their lives and/or education? It was really hard to keep focused on the educational part of school because my mind was consumed with the project. I would leave things until last-minute which caused an intense amount of stress. I had to really prioritize and get things done as soon as they became apparent. The best advice I can give is DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. It is the worst thing you can do as a film-maker. If I have learned anything at school is that preparation is key. The more prepared you are, the more time you have to concentrate on the creative part of your project, and you have less time to be consumed by everything else. You have to be on top of everything and take care of things when they are meant to, or else everything suffers, even your project.

Thank you for granting us this interview. We are so thrilled to present this story to our readers and show them the outstanding work you have done. I have to thank you again for showing interest in our project. I know our crew and cast appreciate it very much, and again we are just honored!

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Milk, Dog Piss & Orlando Bloom By Nasrin Al-Zuhair

Feeling pressured to get married? As your friends cross that line one after the other, the heat is on as all eyes are on you to take the plunge. But what if it’s not what it’s cracked up to be? What if marriage isn’t all fairytales and roses at the end? In case you can’t quite put a finger on it, I present to you this – diary of a mom; a minute by minute account of everything that can (and probably does) happen between dawn and the blessed arrival of the camp carpool. 5:26 am - Puppy whines. You’re jarred out of a dream. You are dragging Orlando Bloom out of the water. Miraculously, he’s not too young for you. You can tell this because there are no stretch marks at all on your hips and butt, and your hair is silky, luxuriant. It’s also a bold red color and definitely not bottle-fed. You rise, only to re-discover your reality. 5:31am - The sun is not up yet. The sun is never coming up. You are witnessing the violent end of life, as we know it. Moreover, the grass in your yard is knee high. You’ve lost the puppy in it. You hear the gentle swish swish swish as she travels past you, chasing some elusive odor. She rolls. She relieves herself. You go inside. 5:40 am - You brew yourself a pot of coffee, open the refrigerator, and take out the milk. You tip it over and note that it is empty. You remember asking your husband to pick up some milk on the way home last night. You see no evidence that he has complied with this request. You crumple the carton, and throw it in the trash. 5:42 am - You take the puppy out again. You play catch with her in the yard. She deflates all four of the balls you have thrown at her, then relieves herself. You note a glow in the eastern sky. The city has been set ablaze. Now you won’t have to go to work. You heave a sigh of relief. 5:47am - You have worn the puppy out. She falls asleep. You climb upstairs to feed the cat in the only place he feels safe now, the third-floor bathroom. You stroke the cat and lie to him, explaining that the puppy is only one of those grand mistakes people at your age make when they don’t want a third child. The cat gives you an incredulous look. Still, he manages to wolf down his food.

6:25 am - You play checkers. 6:30 am - You play Connect Four. 6:34 am - You play Chutes and Ladders. 6:36 am - You are a good and graceful loser. 6:37 am - You pick up a plastic figure of a hideously deformed man. Your son tells you his name is Hobgoblin and he’s a bad guy. No wonder, you think. Why would you want to be good if nature made you into this sort of freak? The only thing you’d be able to do successfully is terrorize people. You make Hobgoblin sing, “I’m bad, I’m bad, I’m very, very bad.” Your son picks up Spiderman and slams him into Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin falls to the rug. Spiderman jumps up and down on him. Many times. 6:40 am - The puppy wakes up howling. Perhaps she’s had a bad dream. You take her out of her crate. She can’t believe it’s you. She dances around your legs. She licks you devotedly. It’s been years, decades, and you still look the same. She’s amazed. Delighted. She pees on your feet to show her devotion. 6:45 am - You take the puppy out. You reprimand her, remembering that this is advanced training and you are no longer allowed to (a) rub the dog’s nose in her mess, (b) yell like a mad woman, or (c) beat her over the head lightly with a rolled-up newspaper. Instead, you reason with her. You explain calmly and rationally why the kitchen floor (and your feet for that matter) are not a toilet. The dog and you go on to discuss local school-board ineptitude and the crisis in Indonesia.

6:10 am - You lie down in bed next to your husband and close your eyes. You fall into deep sleep that is suddenly shattered by the vision of a horrible explosion that rips apart the floor of the room. A pity, because you were just about to embrace Orlando Bloom, who happened to be standing there, shirtless but wearing a definite “come-hither” look. You wake up and realize what has, in fact, happened: in an affectionate moment, your husband, who doesn’t look a bit like Orlando Bloom, had decided to nuzzle you and put his mouth directly to your ear and was opening it to whisper sweet nothings, but then he fell asleep and released one of the first of a chain of rattling snores instead.

6:52 am - You and the dog and your youngest son begin the search for breakfast. You discard the concept of waffles, eggs, toast, or cereal. He only wants pancakes. Of course. The one breakfast that requires the most preparation time. But you’re a good mom. The very best. You comply. In the recesses of a crowded cabinet, you find an old box of “just add water” pancake mix you picked up at the health food store. You begin to mix. Your ten-year old son arrives. He is carrying a Garfield book. He reads the comic aloud to the three of you as you cook the pancakes. You dish out two plates. He looks down at them, wrinkles his nose, and asks if it’s possible to have French Toast instead. You control yourself. You don’t respond with a clever retort, like, “What do you think I am? A short-order chef? Your personal slave?” Which is good, because then he would have to tell you the truth; you are his personal slave. In your most rational tone of voice, you say there are pancakes and plenty of them. And besides, French Toast requires milk, and you are temporarily out of milk thanks to their father. “All right,” he says. Then he gives you that look. The dog yelps, runs around the kitchen three times, then pees on your feet.

6:15 am - You go back to the kitchen and make another cup of coffee. Your five-year-old son joins you. He climbs into your arms and the two of you kiss and whisper words of endearment. Then he says, “What’s that smell?” You sniff the air and he sniffs it too, just like the hunting dog you have recently acquired. “It’s you, Mom,” he tells you and gives you a look. That look.

6:55 am - You and the dog have yet another long talk about propriety and how, in order to stay alive one more minute, she had better learn the difference between a foot and the much more interesting terrain of the front yard. The dog sees your point. Immediately. Perhaps it’s your tone of voice. She runs of to oblige, but gives you that look.

5:55 am - Having accomplished great things, you come back downstairs. You sit down at your computer. Inspiration strikes. You pound out a few sentences. Inspiration dies.

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7:05 am - Your husband has arisen. He is making himself a pot of coffee. He opens the refrigerator to get the milk. Surprise! “There’s no milk,” he says. “Uh huh.” He gives you that look. 7:11 am - You are on your way to the supermarket. You have to give your husband credit. He did volunteer to go. You ignored his entreaties, and refrained from telling him it was all his fault. Instead, you’ve gotten the upperhand by being good-hearted, loving, and cheerful. In other words, you’ve pulled a fast one. Finally alone, you think, and blast the radio. You imagine you’re riding in a red Corvette convertible with the top down. The wind rushes thru your hair. Orlando rests his hand lightly on the top of your thigh. 7:17 am - The Supermarket is open 24 hours. That must be why there are 79 cars in the parking lot. You just want a quart of milk. So, apparently, do all 79 other customers. You lunge for the last carton, beating out three similarly desperate women. You smirk. 7:20 am - You get on the express lane. The woman in front of you proceeds to unload. Of course, just your luck. She has the bottomless shopping cart.

7:43 am - You do a frenzied rendition of a world-class short-order cook. French Toast is served. 8:01 am - A horn honks. Your children are on their way to camp. You give them each a kiss and a hug. Your husband is on his way to work. As the two of you embrace, he reaches past you, grabs the milk carton, and fills his commuter thermal to the rim. The dog is delirious with pleasure at the prospect of the two of you alone. She leaps on you, knocking you back into the wall. You see she has brought the newspaper. 8:03 am - You make yourself another pot of coffee. You unroll the newspaper and admire the dog’s handiwork. You decide to give yourself the Rorschach test. Does that ragged hole on the front page remind you of a butterfly? A running horse? A duck waddling across a stream in search of bread crumbs? 8:04 am - The coffee is ready. You pour yourself a cup, then tip the milk in. 8:05 am - You tip the milk in again.

7:30 am - You are still standing there. 7:31 am - You have read all about Orlando Bloom’s new girlfriend, a doeeyed 17-year old who is a world class super model. She parties all night and still manages to work tirelessly for animal rights, a free Tibet, and the preservation of the rain forest. IN

7:33 am - You leave the store with a quart of milk in your hand.

8:06 am - You try to tip the milk in again. There is just enough in the carton to leave a tiny white thread on the surface of the coffee. It resembles a thin cumulous cloud. Or perhaps a jet trail. You attempt a smile. Welcome to your life.

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THE SECRET

REVEALED This issue, I, the Secret Muse have been inspired and moved by a woman who has gained regional and international acclaim through her cinematic masterpieces that have catapulted her to directing virtuoso status. And so, I am ready now to tell you all my secret! This woman is none other than Lebanese actor/director Nadine Labaki: an inspiration to all women, to say the least. This über talent has broken with conformity and pushed the envelope on women’s stereotypes to the edge and beyond through her films. Often telling the stories of women who live in quite desperation, Labaki conveys all the strengths and weaknesses of women through understated storytelling and subtle nuances that both challenge and stimulate her audiences. Her critically acclaimed film Caramel won many accolades worldwide including premiering at the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight selection 2007, the San Sebastian Film Festival Youth Award 2007, the San Sebastian Film Festival TCM Audience Award 2007, the San Sebastian Film Festival Sebastiane Award 2007, the Abu Dhabi Black Pearl for Best Actress for Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad, Siham Haddad and Asiza Semaan, and the Variety Middle East Filmmaker of the Year for Nadine Labaki both during the Middle East International film festival 2007. Caramel was also nominated for Best Feature Film, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2007, as well as for Achievement in Directing for Nadine Labaki, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2007, and Best Performance by an Actress for Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad, Siham Haddad & Aziza Semaan, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2007. Labaki’s highly anticipated sophomore feature film Where Do We Go Now? has critics and audiences raving enthusiastically. The film has already surprised the Indie-film industry when it won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival this year. Labaki has set a blazing trail for female directors in the Middle East. Not only is Lebanon proud to lay claim to this great artist, but all Arab and Middle East nations as well. She is a woman to whom many other women can look up to and be inspired to break free of social shackles to fulfill their artistic dreams. Peace and Unity,

Secret Muse The Secret Muse

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