Selected Suzy Menkes Fashion Week Reports 2015

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SuzyMenkes REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

PA R I S H A U TE C O U TUR E S/ S 2 015 A / W 2 015 Versace | 25 January, 2015

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

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INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

“This show was fullon sensuality in primary colours, as scarlet and electric blue took over from black and white”

AT E L I E R V E R S A C E , 9 P M 2 5 J A N U A R Y, 2 0 1 5 HÔTEL POTOCKI decorated with the Chanel double Cs, is a fashion wunderkind. And in this collection, both Lagerfeld himself and the Chanel studio reached a level of perfection which will hang like an exquisite perfume over their 32-year collaboration.

For these were real clothes à la Chanel, the famous tweeds recreated with embroidered hand stitching, and the familiar suits rejuvenated by slicing the jackets and the skirt tops to leave a patch of bare skin.

Seen that crop-top, belly button look before? Ah! But never like this, so delicate and light in floral or sorbet colours.

Anyway, as Karl said: “I don’t care if the clients order skirts up to the waist. This is couture, they choose what they like.’’

But how to choose from this orgy of gorgeousness? Three Russian

Bohemian Brocades “Technology took over the world – they were the glamorous ones, but it is not all about technology,” said Alber Elbaz, as he put on a private view of his Lanvin pre-fall collection.

Dressing his studio as a cosy granny flat, and his models in chic Bohemian style, Alber made the most of fine fabrics, using rich brocades in a simple way – and with no hard-edged techno in sight.

That could have been the motto for the Saint Laurent show that closed the Paris menswear season.

But as both men and women strode out from the hub of curving mirrors that formed the backdrop, there was something noticeably different about designer Hedi Slimane’s previous take on Californian girls and boys.

“It’s not LA at all – it’s Paris!” said

Bag Lady With her usual kooky wit, Inès de la Fressange showed off a range of Roger Vivier personal handbags, related to her travelling life.

S A I N T L A U R E N T, 8 P M 2 5 J A N U A R Y, 2 0 1 5 CARREAU DU TEMPLE Slimane backstage, with his usual supporters, including Yves Saint Laurent’s partner Pierre Bergé, and the deceased designer’s former muse, Betty Catroux.

The return mentally, if not actually, to the Paris club scene explained the French polish on what has seemed in his other shows like kids dragged up from the Los Angeles teen world.

In fact, aside from the pipe-cleaner legs, the men looked polished in their tailored jackets and coats, one even in a dashing cape.

The two biographical films on Yves Saint Laurent that have come out since Hedi took the helm in 2012 present the couturier, in his youth, looking not so unlike these young men.

I could imagine Yves in his wilder days in a hot-pink fur coat – one of the, ‘Is it a boy?’ or ‘Is it a girl?’ outfits.

The overall look was 1970s redux, with square, uplifting heels – again, for both sexes. The pants are the type that used to be described by would-be British rockers as ‘drain pipe’ trousers.

The girls looked cute, bare-legged and less anorexic – and again with a bit of French polish. The ‘City of Light’ was reflected in their short, silvered skirts.

Slimane has been accused of being part of the Normcore brigade, making clothes which have zero fashion statement.

But I don’t see it like that. The new Saint Laurent has integrity and a certain offbeat glamour – all the better now that Hedi’s head has turned back to France.

Lanvin

A conservatory filled with spiky winter plants stretched upwards to the glass roof of the Grand Palais.

Then, slowly, flower by digital flower, the paper petals opened into a hothouse of pinks, apricot, yellow – the same colours that flooded the opening outfits in the Chanel show.

Let’s call it haute tech – for has digital awareness and high fashion ever come together so spectacularly as in Karl Lagerfeld’s brainstorm for the summer Chanel couture collection?

Only after the last model, in a scarecrow-chic straw hat, an intensely decorated cropped top and airy skirt had walked the runway, followed by a bride with four gardeners clutching more of the spiky flowers, was Karl able to explain this computerised springtime miracle.

“You know, there are 300 engines under here,” he said, stamping his shoes on the icy-white sand. “And it took nearly a year to put it together after it came to me, pouf! In a flash.”

Any designer who can make flowers wing open their petals, and design a gardener’s watering can

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – Who’s the Skinniest of Them All?

clients, each in a different silverfox coat, were already feverishly discussing their choices. Even if I were just picking a hat, I would find it hard to decide between a little mohair-and-tulle beanie, perked up with pink, silver-grey and white flowers, or one of what Karl called the “cloud” hats: wide saucers of mesh, with, I swear, sticks of straw nestled inside.

The fact that the elaborations in the clothes, like an embroideryweave suit with a fringe of loose threads from thigh to knee, were partnered with flat black booties as the only footwear, kept the show grounded.

And real.

As ever with Chanel, the clothes are wearable, fashionable and fit for purpose – meaning that it is simple for clients to find day and evening outfits to be the wardrobe focus in their privileged world. I picked up on the lightness in construction of the faux-tweed suits, either with wafting, wide skirts or a longer, skinnier version. The embellishment was so dense – like a multi-coloured feathery cape worn over the head and shoulders – and yet another tribute to Chanel’s petites mains, or, hand workers.

But the real credit has to go to Karl Lagerfeld himself. He works as seamlessly as those seamstresses, stitching together old and new,

InDigital

Chanel: Karl’s Haute Tech is in Full Bloom

HAUTE COUTURE REPORT | MONDAY 26 JANUARY, 2015

The ‘Miss V’ designs included ‘Mademoiselle de la Frange’, which even non-French speakers will understand to have a fringe effect, which matches Inès’s 1970s-style suede jacket. “I hate the idea of a theme,” she said, as she showed me pretty patterns inspired by Japan’s cherry blossoms and by India’s Pondicherry district.

Where can you find these bags? As private orders from Roger Vivier.

In Bed with Miu Miu Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is.

Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turket, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

Darcel Disappoints

Surely the wallpaper that covered the set of Miu Miu pre-fall was meant to suggest a bedroom? I would say a maid’s bedroom in a grand old house.

The clothes were equally down to earth: cozy coats on mannequins sprawled on mattresses; patterned, knitted cardigans and cheeky caps. I can never get my head around pre-fall landing in the shops in May, but that is the way the fashion world is going.

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

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SuzyMenkes LO N DON FA SHIO N WE EK A/W 20 15

Speakers include:

Simone Rocha | 21 February, 2015

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

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Sunday 22 February, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

Thor Equities PRESENTS

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22/02/2015 00:16

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY, 2015

Dreamy, Original and Artistic

Berlin Rave J . W. A N D E R S O N , 4PM, 21 FEBRUARY 2015 YEOMANRY HOUSE, WC1

SIMONE ROCHA, 6PM, 21 FEBRUARY 2015 GUILDHALL, LONDON EC2

‘Simone has that particular creative gene that turns threads of art and craft into clothes’

With an atmosphere of high church and dark velvet, stained glass windows and thick tapestry, the Simone Rocha show was rich in fabrics, colours and spirit.

It also had an artistic inspiration: Louise Bourgeois, she of the giant steel and marble spider sculpture named Maman. “I so admire her tapestries, as well as the ones here,” said the designer, referring to the historic rooms of the Guildhall, where she held her show.

The effect was of a dense presentation, a little mysterious as the early figures, framed in short, sculpted velvet dresses, gave way to others whose surface effects included brocade, devoré and gilding.

Occasionally, the body was shown through chiffon and this transparency was reflected in the shoes, with heels of transparent baubles.

Then, finally, came colour, with roses breaking over the black, followed by plaids, checks and pretty pink clouds of tulle and chiffon with bunches of synthetic hair as added decoration. The finale was of scarlet tapestry dresses and a tailored cape.

It felt as though Simone had something deep to express, but that she could articulate it only in clothes, not words.

In previous collections, it has been relatively easy to trace her childhood in Ireland or her father’s Asian background. For the Autumn/Winter 2015 season however, the clothes seemed less innocent; more historical and religious.

It was Berlin circa 1980s; a city dirt poor but rich in urban subculture, rave parties, and cheap clothes.

“Bottom line, it’s about party girls having fun,” said Jonathan Anderson, as the last blast of The Human League faded from the J.W. Anderson show.

With an audience hot on their smartphones, models strode by in shiny plastic-effect boots with a flat flower at the ankle. They were worn with anything from a long coat to a glitzy gilded top and sparking turquoise skirt – a brave stand for glamour in a cheap, rough world before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Except that these clothes weren’t low rent. Backstage, I realised that

‘It has been in fashion since the Eighties, but how do we feel about fine clothes playing poor?’

But Simone’s great strength is that she has that particular creative gene that picks up threads of art and craft and turns them into clothes – her own singular look. This personal vision makes her work unique, yet wearable and appealing.

Read Suzy’s tribute to Professor Louise Wilson at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

InDigital

Louise Wilson’s Legacy The final legacy of Professor Louise Wilson of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design was seen on Friday: first with a service of thanksgiving for her life at St Paul’s Cathedral, attended by family, friends, students, and industry colleagues, and then at the MA fashion show at Somerset House. The looks included wild knits from Matty Bovan, who won the Chloë Award (left), and ghostly, phallic cacti by Xinyuan Xu.

Slow Fashion Swirls of blue paint seemed to drip from a pair of jeans, except that Faustine Steinmetz’s artistic decoration was in oils and silicone.

Turning the mundane into the intriguing – not from found objects, but starting from scratch – and working on her own loom, is the designer’s idea. “It’s the frontier between fast and slow fashion,” said Faustine, whose other ideas included jeans carefully painted with wobbly stripes, while what looked like a brown paper bag turned out to be hand woven in copper and rayon.

As an ultimate twist, there were joke sports clothes presented with her own (fake) logo. The Opening Ceremony store is already a buyer.

Concepts articulated as interesting clothes are rare; such subtle messages about our wasteful world rarer still.

FAUSTINE STEINMETZ

Life Class With their full tulle skirts, Molly Goddard’s dresses were light, while the expression of the models was intense as they pencilled a male nude in their life-drawing class on set.

This sweet but edgy collection from Molly – yet another of Louise Wilson’s graduates from Central Saint Martins – had the feeling of historic pieces re-born, so hand-smocking from the Fifties, vintage Lurex, and sweaters hand-shrunk in a high-heat washing machine added a decorative touch to the fairytale skirts.

The twisted Bohemia was enhanced by the art-studio look that has won Dover Street Market as a retailer.

the shrimp-pink tailored coat was in cashmere; the hefty sweat top with smudgy words ‘Naples’ and ‘Mount Vesuvius’ was created with intricate intarsia knitting; and a colourful sweater had not been paint-splashed on the sidewalk by a raver on acid, but was beautiful, top craftsmanship.

How do we feel about fine clothes playing poor? It is something that has been in fashion since the Eighties, with Rei Kawakubo’s ripped clothing and John Galliano’s hobo threads.

But as a follow-on to JW’s start as a cool designer dealing with gender crossover in menswear and using tech fabrics, this meld of rich clothes made poor did not sit so well.

Jonathan has moved to the big league in his artistic direction of Loewe, owned by LVMH, where he has already made a major impact.

Why not keep his own label not low key, but lower in price? It would be fun to see these Berlin underground clothes, with their powerful ideas, worn by fashion’s global ravers.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

MOLLY GODDARD

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Darcel Disappoints

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REPORT

The independent eye of the international Vogues

NEW YORK FA SH IO N WEEK F / W 2 015

InDIgital

alexander wang | 14 february, 2015

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

SUNDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 2015

A Tough Take on New Romantics

Touch Sensitive

Rage radiated from every metal stud, glimmering on collars, coat fronts, bags, dresses, and clumpy don’t-mess-with-me boots. As the Alexander Wang show rose to an aggressive crescendo, even candy from mom and dad Kim Kardashian and Kanye West could not calm baby North.

A LT U Z A R R A 8PM, 14 FEBRUARY 2015 5 0 V A R I C K S T R E E T, N Y C

My Snowy Valentine

ALEXANDER WANG 5PM, 14 FEBRUARY 2015 PIER 36, NYC Was it aggression – or entertainment?

The sullen models with hair tangling over angry faces should have been proud to wear such striking and subtly-worked clothes with body-skimming silhouettes.

“It was meant to be fun!” said Wang backstage. “I always use polarity codes – New Romantic versus hard edges, a bit of Victoriana,” he continued, referring to gentle dark dresses in plush velvet that were followed by cage-like bodices.

Wang is a powerful designer, energetic and focused in his references to the past.

This collection was a mash-up of the brash 1980s with elements from other eras, so giant shoulders puffed out with fur while sleek pantsuits had cropped barman’s jackets with brass buttons and fob chains. The palette was mostly black, and then scarlet plaid with a punk feel.

Contrasting fur with metal, mesh with velvet, it was fresh, funky, and forceful.

“The sophisticated Joseph Altuzarra has become a New York fashion star” The sexiness could have seemed over-the-top, especially with those frilly boot tops, flouncy hems and lace-up boots, but Altuzarra’s precision and rare fashion sophistication puts his work in a class of its own.

MONCLER GRENOBLE 7PM, 14 FEBRUARY 2015 B R O O K LY N N A V Y Y A R D , N Y C All you need is LOVE – and a budget and a red chocolate-box set for model couples to stand on as it rises up through the floor in homage to St Valentine.

Moncler Grenoble – the brand that

taught the world to wear puffa down jackets – presented when New York was smothered in snow, and its stylish winter warmers with furry trimmings could not have looked more appropriate.

The fashion crowd was too excited to watch the fashion celebration, however.

Love songs ran ticker tape on the stage to encourage the audience to sing along.

It all ended with a kiss – one, two or ten for each couple – and guests nibbling at chocolates. Heart shaped, of course.

MC Solaar – France’s best-known rapper – pounded out the sound while Lacoste sent an insolent message down the runway: “René did it first!”

Beating America at its own sportswear game was the story of Lacoste’s Fall/Winter 2015 season. And designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista is right: back in the 1920s René Lacoste and his crocodile logo marked the beginning of sporty clothes incorporated into fashion.

The designer took his theme of “winter tennis” and ran with it. For both sexes he played with the tracksuit but also offered cute, girly, pleated tennis skirts. He also followed a strong theme of opening up seams and silhouettes: coat sleeves slit open to release the arms, and some panels of mesh to reflect the tennis net. Plays on checks or stripes set at an angle were graphic and stylish for both sexes.

Some balls landed out of court, but the general effect was younger and sharper. For while René may have done it all back in the “Anyone for tennis?” era, the brand now has to play the fashion game to 21st-century rules.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

InDigitalw

A ruffle of white at the top of a high boot, an insert of lace at the neck, a prim blouse half undone – that was the message of a powerfully seductive show from Altuzarra.

An aphrodisiac emanating from a touch of lace was just one way that this designer brought intrigue and allure to a collection of streamlined, well-cut clothes.

With this sophisticated mix, more typical of the designer’s French roots than to American style, Joseph Altuzarra has become a New York fashion star.

“Eighteenth-century dandies and Truman Capote’s ‘swans’ – and their mutual love of dressing,” said the designer to explain his mix of tactile materials. They included fluffy furs in sorbet colours, sweaters with cable stitching cuddling the breast line, and deep-pile devoré velvet nudging lacquered lace.

At the beating heart of this collection was Altuzarra’s feminised tailoring. Even the cut of a blouse, with a key hole slit from throat to chest, served to enhance the show’s boudoir glamour.

René did it First

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online at www.suzymenkesvogue.com

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The independent eye of the international Vogues

NEW YORK FA SH IO N WEEK F / W 2 015 Valentino | 28 January, 2015

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

THURSDAY

Scarlet Woman

Victoria Beckham Makes it Sexy

DIANE VON FURSTENBURG 5PM, 15 FEBRUARY 2015 SPRING STUDIOS, NYC

VICTORIA BECKAM 10AM, 15 FEBRUARY 2015 CUNARD BUILDING, NYC “I’m ready to get sexy dresses back on!” said Victoria Beckham, although she took her bow at the end of the show covered up (albeit with a flirty drape at the hip of the skirt).

But bringing back sexy – a slither of flesh at the waist or a jigsaw of fabrics forming five shades of black – was only a sidebar to the main story: VB has made it as a designer.

“xxxxxx was always the designer who best understood the that changed society and fashion”

EDUN 6PM, 15 FEBRUARY 2015 SKYLIGHT MODERN, NYC

My Snowy Valentine

All you need is LOVE – and a budget and a red chocolate-box set for model couples to stand on as it rises up through the floor in homage to St Valentine.

Moncler Grenoble – the brand that

taught the world to wear puffa down jackets – presented when New York was smothered in snow, and its stylish winter warmers with furry trimmings could not have looked more appropriate.

The fashion crowd was too excited to watch the fashion celebration, however.

Love songs ran ticker tape on the stage to encourage the audience to sing along.

It all ended with a kiss – one, two or ten for each couple – and guests nibbling at chocolates. Heart shaped, of course.

InDigital; Roger-Viollet; Spassky Fischer

The invitation had a red keyhole glowing on the outside and scarlet pages within. The set had more red, painted on the inside of a cage. But the mood of Diane Von Furstenberg was more Fifty Shades of Grey, and not just because the show was playing off the soundtrack.

“Seduction” was the key DVF word for this Autumn 2015 show, laced with sensuality, from a dress where the bodice was drawn in a crescent moon across the bust, to a lace column split open down the side.

From the opening white dress, shaped and draped, every outfit seemed to have a waist outlined with a curve and accentuated with a belt or tie.

“Unzipped” was the word the designer found to express the spirit of night-time dressing.

“Isn’t that what women want?” DVF asked with false innocence about her “sexy but strong” woman. “By day she commands her world, by night she inspires fantasy,” was the mantra.

Perhaps this woman, who was once supposed to be a tiger in the boardroom

I can’t think of another celebrity who has been so willing and able to create a unique style. For Victoria, it is of course personal: tailoring and incisive cutting to make her kind of coat twirling a compass around shoulders and waist.

There are her accent colours – mustard for a pair of culottes or a tailored coat – and also her own tidy way of playing with deconstruction, so that the white satin dress at the close of the show was all flowery bows undone to show flashes of flesh.

And then there is her faithful family, the three boys sitting politely beside David Beckham, with daughter Harper taking photos from his lap.

29 JANUARY, 2015

The Eternal She Derek Lam had an interesting take on the exhibition at MoMA, The Forever Now, which explores the work of artists who find inspiration from the past without defining their own work as the present. It was a smart move by the designer to align that with his collection, and be inspired by ageless female personalities such as Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton.

The fact that both those women are celebrated for their work in the Seventies

Social fabric Merely looking at the set of coloured translucent panels that formed the backdrop to the Thakoon show gave an other-worldly feeling, although that is rarely a compliment when applied to clothes. Yet this designer has an aesthetic that embraces subtle shades and textures. There was a richness to a rainbow collection of squares, looking like triple pockets on a jacket front and worn with a russet skirt of a different texture. “It’s ombré wool, cut up to make it graphic,” said the designer, referring to layers of handwork on a

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turket, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via w ww.suzymenkesvogue.com

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

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SuzyMenkes Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

REPORT

The independent eye of the international Vogues

NEW YORK FA SH IO N WEEK F / W 2 015

InDIgital

Valentino | 28 January, 2015

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

THURSDAY

Scarlet Woman

Victoria Beckham Makes it Sexy

DIANE VON FURSTENBURG 5PM, 15 FEBRUARY 2015 SPRING STUDIOS, NYC

VICTORIA BECKAM 10AM, 15 FEBRUARY 2015 CUNARD BUILDING, NYC “I’m ready to get sexy dresses back on!” said Victoria Beckham, although she took her bow at the end of the show covered up (albeit with a flirty drape at the hip of the skirt).

But bringing back sexy – a slither of flesh at the waist or a jigsaw of fabrics forming five shades of black – was only a sidebar to the main story: VB has made it as a designer.

“xxxxxx was always the designer who best understood the that changed society and fashion”

supposed to be a tiger in the boardroom and a pussycat in the bedroom, still exists. But I find this view of modern womanhood quite old-fashioned, tethered to just that period in the late 1970s when Diane invented her famous wrap dress. She has moved on, sartorially and in her life, since that period, so I was puzzled as to why she would bring it back to the catwalk.

Some of the added effects to the shapely outfits were intriguing: swallows

winging across a belted coat or a flock as a dress pattern; and tiny flowers, dense and intense, on dresses that seemed more suited to a summer garden party than New York’s icy winter climate.

You have to respect DVF for believing so deeply in what she does. If her customers want to play that familiar man-woman card, there were pinstripes on sheer chiffon blouses, and slender button-through dresses. A white furry bomber jacket might be set off with a

InDigital; Roger-Viollet; Spassky Fischer

The invitation had a red keyhole glowing on the outside and scarlet pages within. The set had more red, painted on the inside of a cage. But the mood of Diane Von Furstenberg was more Fifty Shades of Grey, and not just because the show was playing off the soundtrack.

“Seduction” was the key DVF word for this Autumn 2015 show, laced with sensuality, from a dress where the bodice was drawn in a crescent moon across the bust, to a lace column split open down the side.

From the opening white dress, shaped and draped, every outfit seemed to have a waist outlined with a curve and accentuated with a belt or tie.

“Unzipped” was the word the designer found to express the spirit of night-time dressing.

“Isn’t that what women want?” DVF asked with false innocence about her “sexy but strong” woman. “By day she commands her world, by night she inspires fantasy,” was the mantra.

Perhaps this woman, who was once

I can’t think of another celebrity who has been so willing and able to create a unique style. For Victoria, it is of course personal: tailoring and incisive cutting to make her kind of coat twirling a compass around shoulders and waist.

There are her accent colours – mustard for a pair of culottes or a tailored coat – and also her own tidy way of playing with deconstruction, so that the white satin dress at the close of the show was all flowery bows undone to show flashes of flesh.

And then there is her faithful family, the three boys sitting politely beside David Beckham, with daughter Harper taking photos from his lap.

29 JANUARY, 2015

The Eternal She Derek Lam had an interesting take on the exhibition at MoMA, The Forever Now, which explores the work of artists who find inspiration from the past without defining their own work as the present. It was a smart move by the designer to align that with his collection, and be inspired by ageless female personalities such as Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton.

The fact that both those women are celebrated for their work in the Seventies

Social fabric Merely looking at the set of coloured translucent panels that formed the backdrop to the Thakoon show gave an other-worldly feeling, although that is rarely a compliment when applied to clothes. Yet this designer has an aesthetic that embraces subtle shades and textures. There was a richness to a rainbow collection of squares, looking like triple pockets on a jacket front and worn with a russet skirt of a different texture. “It’s ombré wool, cut up to make it graphic,” said the designer, referring to layers of handwork on a

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turket, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via w ww.suzymenkesvogue.com

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SuzyMenkes

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

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REPORT

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Oscar de la Renta | 18 February, 2015

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ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

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WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY, 2015

A Confident Flight RODARTE NOON, 17 FEBRUARY 2015 548 WEST 22ND STREET “We started with the idea of birds leaving the city,” said Laura Mulleavy, explaining the origins of the Rodarte show, which was as fresh as it was compelling.

Finally, after a decade of hovering between a streetwise vulgarity and romance with a dark edge, it seemed as though the Rodarte sisters, Kate and Laura, had hit the perfect fashion note.

The difference was that for the daywear, the seedy side – suggestive of dubious downtown LA – was smartened up with tailored jackets or even a roomy coat, worn with short skirts, stretch leather pants and skinny hose, often with lace running down the side.

These women in their tweed blazers, softened with lacy tops, looked less fragile than the typical Mulleavy image, and more in charge of their destinies.

But, suddenly, these powerful women, walking through a set of fallen branches, were descended upon by a flock of colourful figures. The invaders wore dresses of intense colour with layers of crystal stripes and flowers that blazed like neon lighting.

Then, like departing birds, the flock of glitter flew away, replaced by more ethereal draped dresses, decorated with wispy feathers. Backstage, the duo could no longer remember how the original

Copping: Respect

storyline had first unfolded.

The lyrical beauty of the eveningwear had no trace of the blood-and-gore stories from which the siblings had started their collections. Nor was there anything approaching the Star Wars references we have seen previously.

There may have been a faint undercurrent of discomfort, but every single outfit was wearable – the first truly desirable fashion collection that Rodarte has offered. Which is probably why this season it was the hard-nosed American buyers, not press and friends, who were the first ones backstage with heartfelt congratulations.

As the models in smart striped suits, high-waisted skirts and tailored coats stepped out in elegant heels, there was a sigh of relief from the line-up of Oscar de la Renta’s loyal clients.

Socialites, philanthropists, and famous TV personality Barbara Walters had all come to see the new man at the helm after the passing of de la Renta last year. And Peter Copping, the Britishborn designer lured from Nina Ricci in Paris, got a resounding thumbs-up.

“Very respectful,” said Mercedes Bass, picking out her winners; Nancy Kissinger had already marked potential purchases.

O S C A R D E L A R E N TA 6.30PM, 17 FEBRUARY 2015 11 WEST 42ND STREET Backstage, Copping said, “I didn’t want it to be an homage, but Oscar felt very present.”

Fashion ‘takeovers’ tend to start by not rocking the boat. Alexander McQueen’s madcap inventions for Givenchy is the only time I recall a deliberate upheaval.

So the new designer made chic daywear that would not frighten away existing clients: a jacket with mink cuffs or a

Darcel Disappoints

check tweed coat. Taylor Swift and model Karly Kloss were also front row, and the designer made a more youthful offering: a short ballerina dress. Gowns swept the catwalk as the show progressed.

Recently, Oscar himself had introduced

Game On! MARC JACOBS 4PM, 17 FEBRUARY 2015 PIER 36, 299 SOUTH STREET

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Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turket, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via w ww.suzymenkesvogue.com

Copping has

“‘I didn’t want it to be an homage, but Oscar felt very present’”

Aggressive, anarchic, rude and crude – but fun!

Rambunctious British duo Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley have made

some striking and modernising elements: dayglow colours or flower jewellery as intense decoration.

However noble it is to follow a great fashion hero, the new designer must start to fill up himself those high-heeled shoes.

Marc by Marc Jacobs far more than just a second line to the designer’s big brand – which he still handles himself.

The two are smart, using simple fabrics like denim for long, slightly hippie-ish dresses, or cute short skirts – and then adding messages: “Solidarity”, the final “Y” offering a two-finger salute.

As a way of pepping up the brand meant for a younger crowd, the system is working. The romp across a vast green turf was fun, but Team Marc may not be able to play the same game each season.

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

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SuzyMenkes

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

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Thursday 19 February, 2015

REPORT

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Proenza Schouler | 18 February, 2015

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Speakers include:

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

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ROBERTO CAVALLI

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

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THURSDAY 19 FEBRUARY, 2015

Fighting Against Normcore If the definition of ‘normcore’ is the elevation of ordinary, unpretentious, unremarkable clothes, then a Proenza Schouler collection is the polar opposite in every way.

Nothing in the collection of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez is even faintly ordinary. Each outfit is a bold statement, with car-wash panels falling where a plain collar might be and surfaces rich and thick with invention.

Backstage at the Whitney, the duo explained their artistic, cultural, and technical influences. They had researched the mid-20th-century artistic movement and the pieced-together work of sculptor Robert Morris in particular.

“They are all slashes; it has to feel spontaneous and organic,” Lazaro said of cut-away collars and bodices; while his co-creator waxed lyrical over needle

JEREMY SCOTT 1PM, 18 FEBRUARY 2015 | MILK STUDIOS From kiddie land to baby talk, Jeremy Scott appeared to be regressing. But the enfant terrible of American fashion seems able to draw his influences from anywhere.

The cutey-pie soundtrack set the mood for outfits that looked

My Snowy Release Valentine your inner child

punching and the effect of 300,000 sequins, inverted sideways. They brought a sparkling glow to eveningwear and were just one example of how the designers are pushing fashion forward towards art and craft.

Those finale pieces with embroidery densely woven on to chiffon to give it a hefty solidarity were almost tribal in effect: team Proenza against the minimalistic and the mundane.

Apart from extras such as mesh hose and sandals that looked as if they had grown feathers on the foot, the clothes themselves were difficult to assess without touching and grasping the artisanal elements. There might be just a scarlet feathery effect at the hips, and then flat scarlet leaves spread like pressed flowers across the fabric.

The overall effect was not bizarre, but bold. The cutaway pieces could look overly complex, as if created by swirling a compass, but most of the outfits are proud statements against the kind of look that fashion followers see as dullsville.

MICHAEL KORS 10AM, 18 FEBRUARY 2015 SPRING STUDIOS Receiving compliments all around for his show of autumnal beauty, a merry Michael Kors revealed his fashion inspiration: “I did take myself down to Vermont, but I didn’t rough it!”

Fall-inspired colours were everywhere: rich chestnut, squirrel ginger and the tree-bark brown of the wooden runway.

The fur-trimmed coats, with arms slit open like a cape, and the calf-length skirts were as appropriate to the city as to the country. The collection was lush yet totally wearable, and the best gathering of daywear we have seen yet at the New York Fall/Winter 2015 shows.

When evening came, the spun gold of a winter sun created powerful decoration at the cuffs of a gold-buttoned coat, and on a dress for an East Coast golden girl.

What Kors produced, in his own words, was “opulent restraint”. So a silken pyjama suit, or a cream cable knit that looked rich and cosy.

The line-up of international stars, including Kate Hudson, Ming Xi, and Poppy Delevingne, proved that Michael Kors is, for this generation, American fashion’s golden boy.

“The designers are pushing fashion forward towards art and craft” like a nursery wardrobe way back when, complete with ruffs at the necks and prints from a four-yearold’s bedtime story.

There was a certain charm to these sporty outfits in mad patterns and colours, with the slight weirdness associated with grown-ups in kids’ clothing. But the Jeremy Scott story is about being cheerful and colourful in a solemn world. For this West Coast designer, fashion is a perpetual sunshine of the spotless mind.

“I did watch a TV show about the Vikings,” said the irrepressible Anna Sui backstage, as two models negotiated removing hats built with horns while taking off layers of colourful clothing.

To a certain extent, Anna Sui always shows the same style: happy, bohodeluxe women (and a sprinkling of men) in clothes that look as though they started some moons ago on a hippy trail but have since smartened up.

The look for Fall/Winter 2015 was a familiar meld of decorative knits, patterned mid-calf hemlines worn with knee-high boots, or mini skirts and ankle boots.

With a new tilt towards pretty colours from yellow to mauve and an icy glamour from the world of Frozen or the Vikings, Anna Sui has once again pushed the ‘refresh’ button.

Read the whole story at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online at www.suzymenkesvogue.com

InDigital

PROENZA SCHOULER 8PM, 18 FEBRUARY 2015 WHITNEY BREUER BLDG.

Opulent Restraint

Vikings Ahoy!

Darcel Disappoints

ANNA SUI

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

The

SuzyMenkes REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

@CNILuxury

Versace | 25 January, 2015

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INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

HAUTE COUTURE REPORT | MONDAY 26 JANUARY, 2015

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – Who’s the Skinniest of Them All?

Atelier Versace: Barely-there Bravado AT E L I E R V E R S A C E , 9 P M 2 5 J A N U A R Y, 2 0 1 5 HÔTEL POTOCKI

After two weeks of dipping into the menswear shows, I can say that I have witnessed a quiet revolution.

The male runway used to be either conspicuously wild and weird, or a timid attempt to freshen up classics.

But this is what I have seen on the Paris catwalks over the last few days: a formal tail suit distinguished by pressed-flower lapel buttons (Dior Homme); a tailored coat in a vivid shade of Murano glass (Berluti); and a cashmere cardigan with silken sweater and glossy calfskin trousers (Hermès).

Lanvin on Sunday included a mix of the oversized and tautly fitted; sleek simplicity and dense embellishment.

This menswear on the runway is the opposite of Normcore: a deliberately neutral way of dressing.

In the last two decades of menswear shows, there has been a root-and-branch change, which I put down to three separate causes.

That could have been the motto for the Saint Laurent show that closed the Paris menswear season.

But as both men and women strode out from the hub of curving mirrors that formed the backdrop, there was something noticeably different about designer Hedi Slimane’s previous take on Californian girls and boys.

“It’s not LA at all – it’s Paris!” said

And lest we forget that the Academy Awards are coming up, Kate Hudson and her motherGoldie Hawn were front row, reminding the audience that made-for-Hollywood dresses win fashion Oscars.

S A I N T L A U R E N T, 8 P M 2 5 J A N U A R Y, 2 0 1 5 CARREAU DU TEMPLE

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“This show was fullon sensuality in primary colours, as scarlet and electric blue took over from black and white”

Slimane backstage, with his usual supporters, including Yves Saint Laurent’s partner Pierre Bergé, and the deceased designer’s former muse, Betty Catroux.

The return mentally, if not actually, to the Paris club scene explained the French polish on what has seemed in his other shows like kids dragged up from the Los Angeles teen world.

In fact, aside from the pipe-cleaner legs, the men looked polished in their tailored jackets and coats, one even in a dashing cape.

The two biographical films on Yves Saint Laurent that have come out since Hedi took the helm in 2012 present the couturier, in his youth, looking not so unlike these young men.

I could imagine Yves in his wilder days in a hot-pink fur coat – one of the, ‘Is it a boy?’ or ‘Is it a girl?’ outfits.

The overall look was 1970s redux, with square, uplifting heels – again, for both sexes. The pants are the type that used to be described by would-be British rockers as ‘drain pipe’ trousers.

The girls looked cute, bare-legged and less anorexic – and again with a bit of French polish. The ‘City of Light’ was reflected in their short, silvered skirts.

Slimane has been accused of being part of the Normcore brigade, making clothes which have zero fashion statement.

But I don’t see it like that. The new Saint Laurent has integrity and a certain offbeat glamour – all the better now that Hedi’s head has turned back to France.

Lanvin

“Women’s bodies are curvy, sensual, it’s about being happy to be a woman – and sexy is always good,” announced Donatella Versace backstage, as she wiggled a little in her black pantsuit, which had flares to beat all the bellbottoms of the Seventies.

The Atelier Versace show that kicked off the haute couture Paris summer season was almost – but not quite – a parody of the Italian house.

An apparently unstoppable flow of models sashayed down the runway wearing dresses in which flesh played a starring role. Like a compass contouring the body, there were rivulets of sheer cut-outs. All the swirls and squiggles of satin did little to cover up the transparent net and nudity beneath.

This was full-on sensuality in primary colours, as scarlet and electric blue took over from black and white. The pieces were scissored into rounded shapes with the skill of Matisse, then put together again as they licked the bare flesh.

When the models showed up to the Versace afterparty, still wearing the second-skin dresses, Ellie Goulding, famous for singing at the Prince William-Kate Middleton wedding, turned up the heat some more by performing her signature hit, “Burn”. Her “Love Me Like You Do”, which features on the soundtrack to the new film, Fifty Shades of Grey, gave the audience an early dose of Valentine’s Day. If couture is about cutting and shaping, Atelier Versace is right up there. In fact, the thing that saves the brand from being an ode to vulgarity is how beautifully the cut-outs, the mesh, the lace and the flesh are laid across the body.

There is no longer any pretence of producing ‘daywear’. Yet an all-in-one catsuit, worn by model Karlie Kloss, had just the right 1970s-meets-2015 sophistication.

The flared trousers were a motif of the show.

Normcore for Men? No Way!

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is.

Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turket, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

Darcel Disappoints

Firstly there is the global spread of male style to areas such as Asia or the Middle East, where young men are not bound by the clichés of a European class system. The adoption of sneakers-with-everything and a mix of sporty with tailored proves how breaking with tradition can create a new dynamic.

Then there is the exploding financial success of menswear.

Nothing encourages a buyer to invest more than the knowledge that in men’s departments, sales are soaring.

Perhaps the most important change is the recognition that designers are the lifeblood of brand style: hence designer Stefano Pilati joining Ermenegildo Zegna; Ricardo Tisci of Givenchy putting the same heat into men’s and women’s shows; and burgeoning British designer Jonathan Anderson getting hired for Loewe.

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

The

SuzyMenkes REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

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PA R I S HA UTE C O UTU R E S / S 2015 Dior | 26 January, 2015

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

TUESDAY

A Coco Concoction

Bohemian Brocades “Technology took over the world – they were the glamorous ones, but it is not all about technology,” said Alber Elbaz, as he put on a private view of his Lanvin pre-fall collection.

Dressing his studio as a cosy granny flat, and his models in chic Bohemian style, Alber made the most of fine fabrics, using rich brocades in a simple way – and with no hard-edged techno in sight.

G I A M B AT T I S TA VA L L I 7.30PM, 26 JANUARY 2015 | GRAND PALAIS “I always build my collection around a woman – and this time it’s two women – Coco Chanel and Janis Joplin,” said Giambattista Valli, as he talked backstage about his double inspiration.

On the runway, the tug was between elegance on Coco’s side – white ruffled prettiness and discreet black veils – and the sportier look of tailored trousers under dresses.

No, that was not quite how the Woodstock crowds dressed, but the mannish cuts set against fluffy female prettiness was a powerful combo.

Each season as he perfects his techniques, Giambattista also scores in his understanding of how his young, stylish, international crowd want to dress.

The designer may have the burden of paying the no-doubt hefty bills for his self-funded house. But he also has the freedom of a lack of heritage.

The concoction he has created of light embellishment, and a way of

Dior: Dipping through the Decades At Dior’s haute couture, the models’ hemlines dipped through the decades: a swirl from the Fifties; short, bright and striped from the Sixties.

And those tasteless Seventies?

There were catsuits, shimmering in silver or multi-coloured jacquard, competing for attention with shoes where chunky transparent heels gave some height.

Raf Simons’s couture for Christian Dior was a conundrum – the handwork so beautiful that you wondered which fairy fingers could have pressed flowers into a translucent plastic coat; or embroidered tiny sequins on guipure lace.

As the models walked down the scaffolding ramp set, you could tell that each stripe, each decoration – even the double rings that tied the ponytails – was a work of art. Front row guests such as Natalie Portman

with Benjamin Millepied gazed in wonder at each vertiginous descent.

The show could be called retro, and David Bowie’s voice from across the decades rang through the room.

Yet there was still a streamlined, modern feel, even to full skirts, when teamed with a racy sporty top.

“Last time we went right back into the past, and I thought it would be interesting to imagine three decades together: the romance of the Fifties, the courage of the Sixties and the liberty of the Seventies,’’ said Raf backstage. He was referring to last season’s haute couture, which had taken themes from the eighteenthcentury through to the moon landing.

Like any journey, there were dynamic passages, others less surefooted – and some trip-ups. Perhaps the scaffolding set was significant, suggesting a work in progress.

I do not think of Raf as a romantic or a decorator – rather, as an architect. Yet the puffed-up skirts were sweetly beautiful. They looked good, too, as part of an extended circle, the skirt cut in pleated hoops in vivid shades of grass green, orange,

“You could tell that each stripe, each decoration was a work of art”

Bag Lady With her usual kooky wit, Inès de la Fressange showed off a range of Roger Vivier personal handbags, related to her travelling life.

making even an evening gown move with the body, is intelligent and artful.

His colour palette, too – lemon sorbets, the palest raspberry and primrose yellow – looks good enough to eat.

Set against more substantial, enticing embroidery, there is a

genuine haute couture offer from this designer.

And since Chanel looks kept popping up in the show, I thought of Giambattista, some time in the distant future, moving into Coco territory.

Now there is a fashion thought ...

Schiaparelli: Future Perfect?

yellow, red and a line of navy.

Cutting the sweetness with popping colours modernised the effect, not least with acid-bright vinyl boots.

The short skirts seemed more of a problem, although a tailored lemonyellow coat was cute. Even when the same striped pleats were used, the thigh-high boots, as if from the set of 1968 movie Barbarella, made me doubt Dior’s journey into space.

While I don’t think that Raf Simons quite hit the target, there is a sense of energy at the house.

Monsieur Dior would have said it with flowers in the most conventional way. The current designer has a more radical point of view.

And the catsuits? So-called onesies are currently all the fashion rage – so why not a twenty-first-century haute couture version?

SCHIAPARELLI 10AM, 26 JANUARY 2015 | HOTEL D’EVREUX

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CHRISTIAN DIOR 2.30PM,26 JANUARY 2015 | MUSEE RODIN

With former first lady Carla Bruni sitting front row alongside her friend Farida Khelfa, a pink glow suffused the Schiaparelli show.

All the key ‘Schiap’ codes were there: sharp tailoring, funky hats, witty prints and dresses smothered in bows like so many kisses. But there was no named designer.

The show opened with a streamlined white pantsuit, with embroidered pins and a tasselled Moroccan hat. It continued with a few day outfits and a focus on the back - huge, flat bows, or a stamp of hands around the spine.

The prints were from Schiap’s heritage: exploding stars, pin-stabbed hearts, a padlock embroidered on a

27 JANUARY, 2015

pocket and shaded effects worked on grass-green satin.

Diego Della Valle, who is behind the label’s re-launch, believes there is enough to draw upon from the life of the designer who pitted herself against Coco Chanel in the 1930s.

“We may bring in very young designers fresh from college, but it will be about working together,’’ he said.

The system worked this season.

But the challenge for any famous brand is the same: to find in a noble past a dynamic future.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is.

Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turket, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

The ‘Miss V’ designs included ‘Mademoiselle de la Frange’, which even non-French speakers will understand to have a fringe effect, which matches Inès’s 1970s-style suede jacket. “I hate the idea of a theme,” she said, as she showed me pretty patterns inspired by Japan’s cherry blossoms and by India’s Pondicherry district.

Where can you find these bags? As private orders from Roger Vivier.

In Bed with Miu Miu Surely the wallpaper that covered the set of Miu Miu pre-fall was meant to suggest a bedroom? I would say a maid’s bedroom in a grand old house.

The clothes were equally down to earth: cozy coats on mannequins sprawled on mattresses; patterned, knitted cardigans and cheeky caps. I can never get my head around pre-fall landing in the shops in May, but that is the way the fashion world is going.

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

Darcel Disappoints

SMCouture_2601_15GL.indd 2

26/01/2015 23:25

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Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

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INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

MONDAY 2 MARCH, 2015

Back to the Roots

Salvatore Ferragamo: Streamlining A colourful image, inspired by the kinetic art popular in the Thirties, hung on the mood board backstage.

The geometric-patterned carpet on the runway, and an intarsia-work fur coat of different coloured squares, both seemed linked to that little drawing. The illustration had been made for an early Ferragamo ad, and designer Massimiliano Giornetti indeed marked it as his starting point.

“I began with the spirit of the 1930s – but there were many other things: manipulating leather, creating a new language to make the clothes rigorously constructed – and to show off the shoes,” said the designer.

It was refreshing to hear the designer of a famous shoe house caring about how the wedges and platforms were seen by the audience.

That included the Indian actress Freida Pinto. She told me she had worked on a documentary called India’s Daughter, about awareness of rape in the subcontinent.

On the runway, the clothes were strict in the cutting of leather – for example a pleated skirt where each knife-sharp line revealed chiffon inside.

The general silhouette had a raised waist, but the tailoring was softened by elasticised, knitted capes that bobbed just above the runway.

The graphic squares on dresses became more intense towards the end of the eveningwear. Yet there was a strong sense that Giornetti was in control of shape and pattern.

The result may not be specifically identifiable as Ferragamo, but there was a sense of fine quality – right down to the tongue-front shoes that reflected the show’s geometry.

MARNI 10.30AM,1 MARCH 2015 VIALE UMBRIA

DOLCE & GABBANA 2PM,1 MARCH 2015 METROPOL, MILAN “Mamma!” The word was drawn on the backdrop under a single red rose. It was sung with deep passion

by Edoardo Bennato, who belted out the famous Italian song.

And just in case the audience at the Dolce & Gabbana show didn’t get the message, down the runway walked the mothers, carrying babies or holding hands with their kids.

There was even a pregnant mum-tobe, model Bianca Balti.

At the end of the runway, a group of mums and kids were gathered as if expecting a birthday party.

By the end of the show, after a march past of mothers wearing the brand’s iconic shapely black dresses, and their kids as cute fashion accessories, Domenico and Stefano joined the throng.

“Everyone loves their mother,” said Stefano (although that might be disputed). I refrained from asking about the progeny of gay men’s marriages, and what had happened to the dads.

The show was corny, but it was also compelling, and kept within the Dolce & Gabbana framework: dresses either full skirted and blooming with flowers, or longer and lean. Some were printed with loving first letters from child to mother.

These women were, of course, yummy mummies – the kind who are unlikely to have to dash to the dry

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

cleaners themselves when baby poops on a designer frock.

Some of the florals looked like a rerun of St Valentine’s Day. But ultimately, Dolce & Gabbana never move far from the tree in their fashion

garden. Rather than relying on a sugar prettiness, they even had some mummies as though striding to work in tailored clothes with business bags.

And the kids? Well, can it ever be too soon for a babe to join a brand?

“The show was corny, but it was also compelling”

MISSONI

MISSONI ?PM,1 MARCH 2015 METROPOL MILAN

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Mamma Mia!

After an emotional 20-year anniversary celebration for Marni last season including a flower market, what could designer Consuelo Castiglioni possibly do as an encore?

The answer was to go back to the label’s roots.

When Marni started to make clothes as sweet as birdsong in heavyweight Armani v. Versace, Gucci v. Prada Milan, the designer worked with her husband’s fur company.

“I never left fur,” said Castiglioni backstage, as she was congratulated

by Renzo Rosso of Only The Brave, the group which backs her company.

But we have never seen Marni’s fur like this: cut in geometric squares for sleeves or coat pockets, the outerwear reaching the calf, and otherwise minimal in shape and decoration.

Then there were the colours: against a mainly neutral background, a flesh-pink pair of pockets or winered cuffs would dress the streamlined outfit – but without breaking either the clean lines or the spirit of simplicity.

There is a clear move downwards in fashion for Winter 2015, and Consuelo made it credible. Not that the designer has ever shown anything vulgar or sexed-up. But many women are shy about lengthening hemlines.

The Marni touch was to include long, wide trousers, illuminating any hint of the hippie Seventies. The skirts, especially when cut asymmetrically, looked more contrived.

But it is the strength of Marni to get everything from bold earrings to middle-heel sandals just right. Not to mention the touch – literally and metaphorically – of fur.

“We have never seen Marni’s fur like this”

A Rerun of the Eighties Grace Jones gasping out “Warm Leatherette” is one of my memories of the Eighties. But I would never have expected to hear the music at a Missoni show, with clothes to remind us of that in-your-face decade.

Backstage beforehand, Angela Missoni in no way prepared me for the mean and skinny dresses, albeit patterned vaguely in Missoni style, if they were not in glittery Lurex.

“She’s a very feminine, playful girl

with a lot of freedom,” said Angela, of the woman conjured up by the collection.

It is intriguing that Angela would light upon a decade when Missoni was out of the loop, after its glory days in the Seventies. The label’s cofounder Rosita Missoni once told me how lost she felt with how fashion was moving then.

The look for Winter 2015 was confident, sexy with body-conscious dresses and legging-like trousers. Yet I was not quite convinced by the metallic mesh and veined zig-zag patterns.

Full marks to Angela for trying something new. But is this the moment to resurrect that hyper-shiny decade?

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO

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Darcel Disappoints

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01/03/2015 23:39

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Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

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Thursday 5 March, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

Thor Equities PRESENTS

PA R I S FA S H IO N WE E K A / W 201 5 DRIES VAN NOTEN

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

THURSDAY 5 MARCH, 2015

Instagram’s Systrom Visits the Fashion World

Going to Extremes DRIES VAN NOTEN 3PM, 4 MARCH 2015 HOTEL DE VILLE, PARIS Dries Van Noten stood backstage looking at his conglomeration of fabrics – historic brocades facing off a plain raincoat, or a flowerembroidered apron tied at the rear over chinos. ‘’I went to extremes,” said Dries.

“For me it was about translating the passion that women had in the past for fashion, like the historical icons, but now pushing them to our actual times. I wanted to say, okay, if you are passionate about fashion and fabrics, decoration and accessories – then how could you wear it now?”

The designer’s words – plus the allfemale soundtrack, including Nancy Sinatra singing “Bang Bang” – further brought out the tension between the baroque grandeur of the Paris city hall, and the sense of freedom in the way the clothes were shown.

But this was not one of those scourthe-attic collections, either piecing together a would-be hippie style or revelling in fashion’s past glory.

Instead the show was about romancing the fabrics, giving them

a new life that was as much about the casual way they were worn, as it was about the original embroideries and colourful patterns.

“Exuberant fabrics,” Dries called them, telling me that it was about “rethinking it all”. That included decorative materials, furs fluffy at the shoulders, and flowers in a bunch at the neckline. The result was an unlikely mix that Dries somehow pulled together into real clothes.

Compared to last season’s frolic on a moss-green carpet, this show seemed less carefree and convincing, although it was fun to see hautecouture shapes remade in cotton, such as wearable toile. They formed a literal backdrop to a gilded coat, which morphed into dull quilting; or splashes of gilt on a plain dress.

This game of high-low has never been played quite so elegantly, in that both the fabrics and the way the clothes were cut seemed in deliberate contrast. Occasionally, something with no apparent historical connection would step out – say a striped, fluffy cardigan jacket with just the clutch bag in fancy brocade.

The show was audacious, intriguing and quintessentially Dries.

But this collection should have come with a warning: don’t try this magical mix-and-match at home!

Kevin Systrom stretched a long arm across the dinner table and reached for the mobile phone of Catherine Deneuve.

The iconic French actress, sitting beside the host of the evening, Jean Paul Gaultier, was being persuaded by her friend Farida Khelfa to sign up to Instagram. And Systrom, the 31-yearold billionaire co-founder of the photosharing app, wasn’t going to keep her waiting.

“‘Whether it is fashion or science, we inspire people to tell their stories’” And voila! The sign-up instantly succeeded. Madame Deneuve could be responding to your posts now!

Last year it was Apple’s Jonathan Ive who wooed the fashion folk, with the new Apple Watch. This time, it is the turn of Systrom, the CEO of the four-year-old phenomenon that is Instagram – whose number of active users has grown from 200 million to 300 million since a year ago.

The $1 billion Facebook paid to acquire Instagram in 2012, and the income the app might earn from its expansion into advertising, puts Systrom in a commanding position.

And he is making the most of it.

“We find value in keeping things simple,’’ said Systrom, who had been viewing Paris like any tourist – except he had been able to take a selfie not just at the Eiffel Tower, but also in the sacred rooms of Coco Chanel on the Rue Cambon.

And he had a post-dinner

“The game of high-low has never been played quite so elegantly”

appointment with Karl Lagerfeld himself, during the designer’s all-night photoshoot.

Why fashion? Why now?

The reasons Systrom gave me and the other guests at the table did not offer many clues.

“People are going to ask me, why does Instagram care about the fashion world?” he said, before going on to list the values that the company holds dear.

“Our first value is community. 70 per cent of users are outside the United States, so I have left San Francisco to visit our community,’ he said, adding that his team had voted for him to start his European adventure in Paris.

“The second value is creativity,” the young executive continued. “We are

Courrèges: Runway Return?

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com Darcel Disappoints

How amazing that the straight shapes André Courrèges made back in the Sixties were regarded then as the sartorial equivalent of going to the moon. In fact, the moon landing was the late designer’s inspiration for creating such futuristic clothes.

Slipping discreetly back onto the runway with a mini show, team Courrèges made a good job of blending past and future. The A-line

InDigital

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

COURREGES

not a photography company. Whether it is fashion or science, we inspire people to tell their stories.”

Systrom’s decision to visit Europe now must surely be connected to Instagram’s new policy to accept advertising – something that is already established in America, has just started in the UK, and is destined shortly for France. He said that in an aim to keep Instagram upscale, luxury advertising would be ideal.

“We try to keep ads as high level as possible,’’ he told me. “Honestly, we model a lot of what we do on Vogue – and we say that if we can keep what we are doing as high quality, and fitting with the content, then we are good.”

shapes, were familiar. But the fabrics were modernised – I liked a cape shape, drawn as if by a set square in a geometry class, but striking, worn with over-the-knee socks and flat shoes.

This surface interest would have been quite a revolution 50 years ago for a designer trained with Balenciaga in haute couture – even if Courrèges did invent the concept of white sneakers as high-fashion footwear.

Standout pieces: the moonwalker silver boots with leather bomber jacket to match; a lagoon-blue edging on a white top with pants; and blood red used in the same spirit.

There was nothing to shock, but streamlining is always in fashion.

Cédric Charlier: The State of Play I feel for designers today who make wearable clothes with a personal and original twist – while those who were enfants terrible 30 years ago carry on stealing the limelight.

It was once so different: the French ready-to-wear designers in the Seventies faced off the establishment.

They were the iconoclasts providing fresh clothes to a new generation.

They were joined by those who produced clothes that shocked – especially Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, the Antwerp Six, and brave figures like Rick Owens or Vivienne Westwood.

These designers continue to push boundaries, even at the age of 60 or 70. But where does that leave the relatively young designers who need to sell the clothes they show?

Cédric Charlier sent out a perfect collection, for what he is aiming to do: clothes for a modern, youngish woman. The style is very French: tidy pleated skirts, smart jackets and quiet, even school uniform-style colours – oxblood, hedgerow green, navy.

The show was clean and sharp: Charlier played with the texture of shiny leather and worked lustrous pleating. Nothing here to frighten the horses or make fashion history. But all credit to the designer for making it real.

CEDRIC CHARLIER

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Speakers include:

LANVIN

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

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Friday 6 March, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

Thor Equities PRESENTS

FRIDAY 6 MARCH, 2015

Moroccan Memories Cheered to the Beaux-Arts’ rooftop after his Lanvin show, Creative Director Alber Elbaz explained the secret behind the rich textures, fringed cords, and Berber stripes. He had gone back to the place where he was born.

“I’ve never done Morocco before and since 2014 was the 125th anniversary of Lanvin, I thought I would also celebrate my birthday – but I had to take inspiration from

“It could be traced to the Maghreb by way of Yves Saint Laurent”

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com Darcel Disappoints

The nobility of Rick Owens always gets me. However maddening his venue – up and down a scaffolding of steps – however late, or however much the strangled music sets my teeth on edge, one view of fabric wrapped round the body to create soft sculpture and I am smitten.

The Autumn/Winter 2015 collection was particularly elegant – if that is the correct word for clothes that seemed to be dipped in molten silver, bronze and gold.

That metallic coating applied not so much to the cloth – although a black dress had a shining metallic panel at the front – but to the models’ heads, which were dipped in gleaming make-up as if they were Space-Age sculptures.

The fall of fabric was mostly one-sided, as if a sudden wind had swept the material across the bodice.

Occasionally there was a diversion, as when the mass of fabric at the front was hung with hairy ginger fringing.

The clothes seemed to go back to a primeval past when wrap and drape was the way to dress. Yet the effect was ultra modern - and that is the exceptional skill of Rick Owens.

Morocco and not make it look like as if I had,” said Elbaz.

He was referring to the Lanvin exhibition, which opens this week in Paris at the Palais Galliera, in which Alber’s work of the past 14 years will not appear. All the more reason, then, for the designer to make his homage in a powerful but unexpected way.

What Alber and founder Jeanne Lanvin have in common is a respect for women. While his recent collections had seemed effective enough, this one stood out for its visit to a new tribe – without being engulfed by ethnic influences. Or, as Alber put it, “What do I do so that it doesn’t look like the desert?”

The answer was to take elements – especially silk cord – and work them into modern city clothes. Describing his challenge as “taking the kaftan and putting it on the body”, it became tailoring with a hand-worked edging.

The first strikingly North African influence was on a red coat whose lapel and front were treated to a blanket edge of fringe. Some effects were super subtle, such as cord twisted round the waist of a coat; others were more obvious, including a leather harness as worn by desert riders. A top that looked like a peasant blouse could be traced to the Maghreb by way of Yves Saint Laurent (where Alber briefly worked).

I was captivated by the skills he showed throughout, introducing triple-line stripes so that they might have been either a riff on formal pin stripes or that Berber blanket effect.

In the programme notes that arrived a few hours after the cheers and applause had faded, Elbaz listed his contrary European/North African influences. “Opulent and strict; dry and warm; opaque and transparent; masculine and feminine,” the description read. To these he added colours that might have been taken from the Beaux-Arts’ tiled floor: pomegranate red, earth brown, burgundy and sun-baked earth.

But mere words are not enough to do justice to this fusion of an artistic mind with the ghost of a memory of his past. It was an unforgettable fashion moment.

Sparkling Diversity BALMAIN 3PM, 5 MARCH 2015 2 RUE SCRIBE, PARIS

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LANVIN 8PM, 5 MARCH 2015 LE BEAUX-ARTS, PARIS

Rick Owens: Molten Gold

The colours were popping, the sparkle was twinkling, the music was pounding, and a newly blonde Kim Kardashian was in ecstasy at the Balmain collection.

Designer Olivier Rousteing (seen with Suzy, left) was more than an orchestrator of this 3D-style glamour, which teamed pants falling liquid in silken pleats, a light puff of fur, and Lurex stripes tracing the torso.

He has reinvented the once-staid house of Balmain as a glittering prize

for audacious (and wealthy) women.

But backstage, before the arrival of Kim and Kanye, Rousteing, who was handpicked for Balmain by the late Chairman Alain Hivelin, explained that his feelings ran deep. He said that as the only mixed-race designer among the classic Parisian houses, he tried to establish a diverse look. This season he was inspired by the 1970s to create flared pants that drooled and formed molten puddles across the catwalk, but was also interested in its exoticism and diversity.

The confidence exuding from this show was exceptional and put a fine spirit into clothes that shone as bright as the rippling lamé. From the Seventies came fringes dancing at hips and hem, but from the horizontal

pleats to the semi-transparent lace, all was sensual and body conscious.

Does Rousteing go too far with his women, who seemed to me more like the glass-ceiling breakers of the early Eighties than fey hippies?

I liked the spirit of pieces that included the designer’s bold tailoring and revealed his craftsmanship in slicing patterned jersey and the placing of abstract geometric prints.

“He has reinvented the once-staid house of Balmain as a glittering prize”

RICK OWENS

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Saturday 7 March, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

PARI S FAS HION WEEK A/W 2015 BALENCIAGA

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

OFFICIAL HOTEL:

OFFICIAL AIRLINE:

@CNILuxury SPONSORS INCLUDE:

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Find out more at www.CNILuxury.com / IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Thor Equities PRESENTS

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

SATURDAY 7 MARCH, 2015

Animalistic and Architectural

Subversive Elegance

The curving bosoms, the raised waists, the full hips – and a diamond arrow alongside strings of pearls. It was all so very Cristóbal.

Since Alexander Wang’s tenure as Creative Director at Balenciaga, he has never before designed a collection with such a perfume of the past. The inspiration of the original Cristóbal Balenciaga, who died in 1972, was helped by Lady Gaga vogueing on the

The Life Scientific

DIOR 2.30PM, 6 MARCH 2015 COUR CARRÉE DU LOUVRE

“Taking the scent of the past and spraying it over the present was done with dash and style”

metallic materials, bold pants, and bright colours looked rather Eighties – the decade in which he was born? And did the collection look like Loewe, the noble Spanish brand with leather in the heart of its soul and indeed the soles of its shoes?

In past collections, Jonathan successully captured Spanish elements – the sandy texture of an Ibiza beach or the stone walls of a Madrid bridge. But if there were references here, I did not grasp them. A silver top and royal blue pleated skirt? A

As the last silvered skirt and puddling trousers crossed the stone floor of the Unesco building at the Loewe show, I asked designer Jonathan Anderson about his inspiration.

“It’s scientific!” he exclaimed. “It had to be something that felt new.”

How to tell this 30-yearold that the reflective surfaces,

“I’d like one of those suits, and a couple of those boots,” said Dior guest Dakota Johnson (seen with Suzy, below). “The show was awesome, really edgy.” The star of the moment in Fifty Shades of Grey might as well have said “Those boots”, for all eyes at the Dior show were on the seductive footwear with Lucite heels that the designer Raf Simons had already shown in January’s haute couture.

Intriguingly, some of the finest pieces in this down-to-earth (or at least down-to-elegant city street) collection had elements from the past that Raf is making his own.

First, a long, shrug-on, fondant pink coat was an atavistic reminder of one that he had produced in his final collection for Jil Sander. The fashion world believed that exquisitely streamlined tailoring was the reason Dior chose him as Creative Director.

If that were so, President and CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, sitting front row, must have rejoiced in this Dior collection, with a focus on real

Costa del Sol nightclub perhaps.

A softly pleated cream top? Elegant for strolling the Rambla in Barcelona.

Black lines on a red skirt? A circuit board or Gaudi reference? Whatever.

I don’t want to assign any outfit to a Spanish monument, but I want to feel Spain: the heat and dust, the green verdure, and blue water.

The colours that seemed so plastic for the clothes were splendid for the accessories, however. A bright blue squishy bag, a yellow envelope clutch, a green belt and a beige bag with looped handles were very Loewe.

Jonathan Anderson has a real flare for accessories. Perhaps the dazzling Spanish sun should set on the eyepopping colours and surfaces of his clothes and let the accessories shine.

clothes with a few lively pops of ingenuity, like the wildly patterned bodysuit that was nonetheless couture.

“I like the idea that couture provides the initial concept. I had so many reactions and it makes couture seem more modern,” the designer said.

As an offering to Dior’s luxury clients, this was a near-faultless collection. It had not just coats but credible trouser suits, long and shapely in their tweedy jackets, the trousers cropped above the ankle. The proportions may not be for everyone, but the ‘off’ tones of jewel-coloured tweed were compelling.

“I wanted the collection to address nature and femininity in a different way,” Raf said. “Away from the garden and flowers to something more liberated, dark and sexual.” I must admit that I did not feel that sexual charge (maybe I should have consulted

Dakota!), nor did I think that this Dior collection changed the direction of modern fashion. I did think, however, that Raf was cutting closer to the body, and was bolder with his patches of coloured fur. I never forget that he started as a menswear designer and his womenswear collections still feel slightly like a work in progress.

But through this baptism by fire, Raf Simons is constructing a new Dior. It is all about architecture, not decoration, which runs counter to the style and skill of Christian Dior himself. But the two did cross paths.

Dior’s fascination with leopard prints in 1947 – nearly seventy years ago – came back for Autumn/Winter 2015 as digitally blown-up animal prints.

And the sexually-charged bodysuit?

Dior did reinvent the corset to re-draw the feminine silhouette. In its way, that onesie is talking the same language.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

InDigital

BALENCIAGA 7.30PM, 6 MARCH 2015 RUE DE SÈVRES, PARIS

runway before the start of the show, while Gaga and Kate Moss then posed together, showing off the formal and the casual side of the brand today.

“I liked the idea of including heirloom things and pairing them together with embroideries – it’s a subversive elegance,” Wang said, to explain the mix of past and present.

This show was a big test for Wang, who has previously given the historic house his sporty touch. For this Autumn/Winter 2015, as the creator of a camped-up Cristóbal, he came out with flying colours. That meant, literally, bright scarlet, although the essential look was of black and white checks to match the carpet on the catwalk.

The idea of memory – of taking the scent of the past and spraying it over the present – was done with dash and style. The show still had sleek workwear, with rounded coats worn over narrow pants. Although no woman in the Fifties would have dared to wear the trousers, there was still a faintly retro feel.

The more general look was of top and skirt, where a taut bodice was tucked into a skirt bunched at the waist, the models walking with that thrusting, greyhound gait of haute couture in its glory days.

Somehow, the show managed not to come across as a costume party.

Maybe it was the cute shoes with a tiny court heel, or perhaps the exuberant overkill of jewellery.

Towards the end of the show, when Wang outlined a portrait neck with fur, there was a nobility to this couture look that had even the most jeans ’n’ sneakers members of the audience dream of fashion life as it could, just maybe, still be today.

Maison Margiela: Telling Stories

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LOEWE Darcel Disappoints

A young woman clutches her bag – lips smeared scarlet, her hair orange – and runs bent-double down the street. Her hat is pulled right down.

Something is going on.

John Galliano has always been fashion’s great story teller, the designer for whom the stage set alone once exuded heartfelt emotion.

And in a fashion season where a little madness could only be welcome, that is just what John produced for his first ready-to-wear collection for Maison Margiela.

Just what these young women were up to in their clothes of many colours was not clear. But just stepping out in a canary yellow ankle-length coat with DayGlo orange gloves was a fashion statement.

There is something disingenuous about dressing up “Les Girls” in swishing, long coats over mini skirts and enough mascara to look like their eyes were closed. Another young woman had an almost-bare chest and Mary Jane shoes so big they might have belonged to an older sister.

What did all this have to do with the original Martin Margiela, who would have been unlikely to take a fluff of fur, dye it a weird colour and turn it into a shoe?

The answer is: nothing. But normcore be damned! The fashion world still needs a designer to prove that dressing up is not so hard to do.

MAISON MARGIELA

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Wednesday 11 March, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues PA R I S FA S H IO N WE E K A/W 20 1 5

PALAZZO VECCHIO, FLORENCE, ITALY APRIL 22-23, 2015

APPLE’S JONY IVE TO OPEN CONDÉ NAST INTERNATIONAL LUXURY CONFERENCE AND SPEAK WITH MARC NEWSON

VALENTINO

Leading design visionaries Sir Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson will be appearing at the debut Condé Nast International Luxury Conference in Florence in April 2015, it was announced today.

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor, will be in conversation with Sir Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Inc, and designer Marc Newson. They will be discussing the new Suzy Menkes remarked, “Apple is now a powerful part of the luxury industry. The iPhone, iPad, and the upcoming Apple Watch are in direct competition with handbags, timepieces and high-end accessories. I want Jony Ive to tell the conference delegates where 21st-century luxury is headed.”

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INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

It’s Zoolander!

A Rose by Any Other Name can be as beautiful as life for her floral symbols.

“It’s the idea of beauty in imperfection,” said the designer, who was inspired by the drawings of Egon Schiele, and William Blake’s poem “The Sick Rose”.

But this was not a study in nature’s decadence. The show opened with a black embossed coat, tightly belted, though a spray of pink pleats and a rosy fur collar soon suggested how the clothes would all graciously open up.

The tailoringwas exquisitely fine, nuanced towards the bodice, where a tiny lace brassiere or petal-shaped

Brasserie Gabrielle

VELENTINO 3PM, 4 MARCH 2015 HOTEL DE VILLE, PARIS

Alexander McQueen

scene deliberately “more day-to-day and a little more dowdy”.

Well he said it!

If it had not been for the fun accessories, like collars crocheted to look like paper doilies, and the general amusement of watching models act out their parts, the clothes themselves may have seemed quite dull, even frumpy.

A Chanel puffer jacket anyone?

But then having had the opportunity to speak to Karl at the studio, I discovered nuggets of invention hidden in this collection.

The parkas were, in fact, delicately made with quilted leather; knitted dresses were shaped by those magic ‘petites mains’, to follow the body and flare out at the knee-length hem.

Karl was smart to have the models hang out at the bar, so the audience could see up-close the knitted weave of a rosebud-pink dress, the pendant medallion pressed like Chanel quilting, or the double ‘C’ pin in the hair.

Maybe the truth is that everyday life can be quite dull – even if you are wearing Chanel. Perhaps Karl thought it was time for a reality check for the fantasies of high fashion. And for clients who might want a lighter, brighter more fairy-tale collection – there is always haute couture.

CHANEL 3PM, 4 MARCH 2015 HOTEL DE VILLE, PARIS The waiters in their starched collars, black ties and aprons outshone the guests grabbing a morning coffee at the Brasserie Gabrielle.[su_spacer] The carved wooden bar, tables and chairs installed as a set by Chanel at the Grand Palais was Instagram heaven – until the show started and the models took over.

They were wearing their versions of neckties or ankle-length aprons over long skirts and pants – and carrying ‘plates’ that turned out to be the chic handbag of the season.

“I wanted something very French, and what is more French than a brasserie?” said Karl Lagerfeld. “And it had to be done by someone like me – if it were done by a French person it would look like a patriotic act.”

The café-society frolic was yet another stage performance from the master, following his art gallery and supermarket themes of previous seasons. But this was really a way for Karl to focus firmly on daywear. It is a long time since there has been so much wool, tweed and what looked like padded, puffed-up jackets on the Chanel runway.

Was it a step in a new direction?

The models were wearing the slingback two-tone Coco shoes that Karl told me he had not used once in over 30 years at Chanel. (Better order

piece of mesh on the torso revealed flesh, suggesting a loosening of control.

Then came dresses, the most beautiful with chiffon pieces in tatters, or with the back left unbuttoned right down the spine.

While black leather and lace faced off the floral prettiness, the mood was still sensual, especially as breast buttons burst open to display lace and skin.

Sarah, as much as her mentor, is a romantic. A flurry of roses, the blooms torn to shreds, covered the final dresses.

Paul Weller, singing “English Rose” echoed up to the arched ceiling – and so did the applause.

So after all the richly patterned dresses, the black and white geometrics, the casual opulence of a thick sweater over a patterned skirt, here comes a smart figure in a tailored blue coat to end the Valentino show.

Whaaaaaat! It’s Ben Stiller. Ben Stiller! Doing his Zoolander thing.

And there, on the parallel runway is someone in softly patterned silk pyjamas – Owen Wilson, prepping with Stiller for the sequel to the fashion-world spoof from 2001.

Backstage, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, the Valentino designers, explained that the sequel was set to be filmed in Rome, the city where the label’s founder established his fashion house in the Sixties.

As I looked at the mood board, I had another wild moment. There was a photo of Sigmund Freud’s couch, and the cover of his book, The Interpretation of Dreams.

Whatever thoughts the designer duo had – hosting a movie star on the runway or realising their own dreams – they gave a very fine show.

The storyline, told in weave, colour and streamlined cut, came in various segments: first black-and-white geometry and then those plain black dresses, but less nun-like than in some earlier Valentino collections.

Intense patterns appeared with red as the primary colour, framed in lace.

The designers said they had two inspirations: Emilie Louise Flöge, a couturier and life companion to Gustav Klimt; and Celia Birtwell, with a similar profile as textile and fashion designer, and the wife of consummate Swinging Sixties designer Ossie Clark.

The Valentino pair had already collaborated with Birtwell for their Pre-Fall 2015 collection. Here, her flat flowers and butterflies are given an intense shimmer with metallic thread.

The show could be described as reality versus dreams. A series of slender black or white dresses that

“‘Whether it is fashion dfhklsdg sor science, to tell their stories’” flanked the beginning and the end, contrasted with the dense decoration.

It was hard not to classify a fur coat put together with blocks of fiery ginger and cinder grey as anything but haute couture. And that was equally true of a quilted satin coat of many colours.

Some of the evening dresses with their minute workmanship and dense patterns had an unearthly glow that put them in the category of dreams – whether visually or metaphorically.

This ability to turn fantasy into reality was as mesmerising as seeing those pop-up stars from the movies.

“‘Whether it is fashion dfhklsdg sor science, to tell their stories’” a pair right now – they’re bound to be the footwear of the season.)

Karl said that the inspiration was those industrious waiters in their black ties, but that the context made the

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

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It was only a rose – flat and blush pink on the bodice of a dress, or weeping its dying petals off a scarlet gown.

But with that flower, Sarah Burton spun poetry out of threads and cloth at the Alexander McQueen show.

On the eve of the opening of Savage Beauty at London’s V&A Museum, an exhibition honouring the late designer, the woman who has taken over the house could not have presented a more beautiful or personal collection.

While McQueen’s legacy is indeed the savage beauty that the exhibition title suggests, from her feminine perspective Sarah proved that dying

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com Darcel Disappoints

The

SUZYMENKES Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com THURSDAY

26 FEBRUARY, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

MI L A N FAS H ION WE E K A /W 2015

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

GUCCI

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

Find out more at www.CNILuxury.com / IN COLLABORATION WITH:

OFFICIAL HOTEL:

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IRIS VAN HERPEN

@CNILuxury SPONSORS INCLUDE:

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DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

Thor Equities PRESENTS

SMreport2015_LFW_2602.indd 1

26/02/2015 11:14

THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY, 2015

Poetry from the Attic GUCCI 3PM, 26 FEBRUARY 2015 PIAZZA OBERDAN

A L B E RTA F E R R E T T I 5PM, 26 FEBRUARY 2015 VIA MELEGARI, MILAN Sunrise to sunset. It is one of the most magnificent acts of nature.

In a poetic show, Alberta Ferretti caught that rise and fall, translated into a – digital – woodland setting where fabric was presented with knobs like a tree trunk, or the sponge brown of a mushroom’s underbelly.

The show was lyrically beautiful, one of the finest Ferretti has ever done, due only in part to the fiery ball of the sun as it rose and fell on a screen at the back.

Tech skills can take a collection only so far. For the clothing, the audience was presented with the exquisite craftsmanship that seems to exist mainly in Italy.

Instead of sending out clothes for winter in the countryside, there were just a few coats in brown, green and an autumn leaf of orange or gold.

A poetic imagination brought out trousers, which are beginning to look like a fixture of the Winter 2015 season. There were also ankle-length skirts with long-sleeved, shapely tops.

There was something almost medieval about many of the looks, and I saw the influence of the Valentino duo – Chiuri and Piccioli – and their penchant for beautiful, semi-historic coverings-up of the body.

Since the Ferretti look has never been vulgar, she slipped gracefully into the style of long sleeves and hemlines.

In the week after the Oscars, there were no typical red-carpet looks, where Ferretti’s delicacy is always in demand.

Instead there were innocent, long white dresses with full sleeves, which might accompany a skirt with a prim garden of embroidered flowers down its front.

Ferretti described the show as an ode to Italy.

“I started thinking about the importance of imagery in contemporary culture, and how communication is now largely through

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com Darcel Disappoints

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A Fashion Renaissance WellTrodden Ground “Punk: a state of mind in a Venetian palazzo,” seemed like an intriguing line from Fausto Puglisi.

But my heart sank at the mention of those oh-so-familiar fashion muses, Loulou de la Falaise and Diana Vreeland, whose images were pinned to the backstage mood board.

For all the show’s energy, Puglisi did not move beyond Versace-esque centurion outfits and what he called “warped lady-like royalty”.

I just saw familiar leather jackets with the requisite studs and small tops with large rivets.

The clothes were striking and a must-have – if your aim is to be the new Rihanna. But it is difficult to see where Puglisi is headed. social media,” said the designer.

“That took me back to the Renaissance, when portraits could convey truths about the era and society.”

This might suggest a historic collection stiff with costumes. The opposite was true: it was the past seen through a prism of modernity, so that inspiration from tapestry or mosaic caught the light of today.

My Snowy Valentine

FAUSTO PUGLISI

“What I am trying to do is to put something poetic into a powerful, iconic brand. I am really inspired by different time periods, and that’s something we are missing in fashion,” said Alessandro Michele backstage.

This was just before he unleashed his romantic, girlish look, putting his beating fashion heart into filmy fabrics, flower patterns, coats with a pretty decoration at the back and furry loafers that you can bet have brought orders texted in to Gucci already.

The show was an absolute volte-face from the streamlined, crisp, urban Gucci of the last decade, when Alessandro was working under Frida Giannini.

She left, and Alessandro convinced François-Henri Pinault, CEO of the Kering luxury group, to give him the chance of a lifetime.

And who wouldn’t succumb to this great romantic? With his dramatic

“The clothes stood out as young, logoand status-free” black curls, intense enthusiasm and vision that encompasses the Renaissance and sweet floral prints, along with the idea of a modern woman who runs to answer her lover at the door, wearing a dress that is part nightgown and part Victorian frock.

“I love Jane Eyre,” said the designer, referring to the heroine of Charlotte Brontë’s best-known novel. This style can best be described as ‘attic chic’, hence a tailored, flower-printed jacket with the mark of a fold at the hips, as though the garment had been locked in a trunk for half a century.

The show was engaging in its passion and visual energy. It was not a triumph – that would suggest a more pushy, in-your-face collection, rather than this dream of a gentle woman wearing semi-sheer dresses, handcrafted knits and back-to-theSeventies trouser suits, or tops and pleated velvet skirts.

All were distinguished by appetising

colours: a ginger coat with fondantpink fur cuffs; a petal-like asparagus green skirt with a lilac blouse and red flowers in the hair.

The clothes – including those for men – stood out as young, logo- and status-free, fitting into the dynamic of Hedi Slimane’s Saint Laurent.

But is it Gucci? A bag with a Napoleonic bumblebee? Shoes bobbling with fluffy fur baubles?

A whiff of the brocade and velvet from an opulent past?

The question is better asked like this: what is Gucci? Is it primarily a leather company that makes clothes?

Is it the hot and sexy look that Tom Ford invented in the Nineties?

Did Frida Giannini’s chic and slick look better catch the essence of Gucci?

And above all, are Alessandro’s wild, romantic dreams going to stop the fall in Gucci’s sales and profits?

“We are very excited. Alessandro is like a hidden jewel, he was under the radar,” said Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s CEO, sitting with François-Henri Pinault and his wife Salma Hayek, who was already wearing a trouser suit with navy jacket and wine-red pants from the new collection.

“Business will grow, but we must maintain creativity,” Bizzarri continued.

I don’t know about the finances, but I warmed instantly to the new designer, for his passion, his enthusiasm and his intelligence.

It has been a long time since luxury seemed so romantic. Alessandro put his heart into the show, and it showed.

STELLA JEAN

Stylistic Disobedience Stella Jean defines herself as “irreverent.” As a mixed-race designer in a traditional Italian fashion universe, that might not seem too surprising.

And the secret to her A/W15 collection was diversity – but in shape, rather than in cultural meaning.

So there was a big, straight, floor-sweeping coat, mannish apart from ethnic effects, like embroidery figures of what looked like Indian children. This was followed by skirts so full that they bounced up and down in what seemed like a parody of femininity.

But Stella Jean has learned a lot since she first sent out her models in wobbly high heels. In this show there was a literal change of footwear to include personalised sneakers, adding to the masculine offerings.

The designer has also enlarged her repertoire, showing handmade knits that were both colourful and told a story. The only thing she has not quite worked out is how to provide a blank canvas against which colour and pattern can stand out by contrast. A few whisper-quiet coats or knits would have made the rest easier to digest as fashion statements.

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

The

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Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

OFFICIAL HOTEL:

OFFICIAL AIRLINE:

@CNILuxury SPONSORS INCLUDE:

Thor Equities PRESENTS

InDIgital

Find out more at www.CNILuxury.com /

Friday 27 February, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

M IL AN FA S H ION WE E K A /W 2015 PRADA

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

FRIDAY 27 FEBRUARY, 2015

High Fur Comes to Paris Couture

Style on Speed The music was Utopia’s ‘Chicks on Speed’ and the metallic ever-changing backdrop made the Just Cavalli show seem hippy and trippy.

But the designer, with a merry smile on his face as he left the show space, explained that it was all just good fun. It was also – as always with Cavalli – exceptional workmanship, which made this version of the 1970s seem more precious and less like a vintage flea market than when other designers revive those halcyon days.

I am not sure how much the patterned shirts, suede skirts, furry jackets, and floaty dresses varied from previous outings of this line, but perhaps it is Cavalli’s knowledge of photography that makes him such an exceptional colourist.

The russet tones of light orange through mustard to the burning red of a dying winter sun gave these young and sporty clothes a fresh, vibrant feeling.

FENDI 12.30PM, 26 FEBRUARY 2015 | VIA SOLARI 35 Fendi haute fourrure – or high fur –

by Karl Lagerfeld will be shown in Paris during the July couture season – a dramatic upheaval in the rarified world of both high fashion and fur.

Lagerfeld – who showed a powered-up, hyper-modern Fendi collection in Milan inspired by the graphic work of the 1920s Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp – said that the Paris show was definitely on.

“We don’t have the space in this Fendi collection to do high fur, because the ready-to-wear is now doing so well,” said the designer, who took his traditional bow with Silvia Venturini Fendi at the end of a long runway with blown-up images of the geometric, abstract artworks painted on the side walls.

Fendi CEO Pietro Beccari, who has done so much to propel the brand forward over the last two years, could not immediately be reached for comment about the Paris fur show. But it would make sense for LVMH, which owns the label, to cement Fendi’s status as the most important global fur brand.

Significantly, the Fendi store that opened this month in New York offers fur an exceptional showcase.

Given the news, fur was not the attention grabber for A/W 2015.

Instead the collection opened with a lean, white silhouette, maybe set off by red. After that palette cleanser came the dominant hues – patches of colour in shades of orange, mustard and more red. The fur focus seemed to be on shearling, although Fendi always offers a furry puzzle.

Sometimes there were just fur ‘extras’, such as Mongolian lamb leg-warmers. The same curly fur

Sweet and Sour Backstage before the show, Miuccia Prada asked me what I thought of her title suggestions for the collection – “Variations on Beauty”, “Soft Pop”, and “Strange Fairy Tales”.

I said I couldn’t tell until I had watched it, not realising that by walking through the low, metallicceilinged room, with its carpets in different sherbet colours, I had already seen an essential part of this atmospheric ensemble.

Maybe “Sweet and Sour” was the appropriate name for the compelling, flat colours: primrose yellow for a tailored coat; a pink jacket with narrow, rotting-shrimp-coloured trousers; a vivid peacock-meetslagoon-blue dress. Not a pastel rainbow of shades but a vivid expression of deliberately off-colours.

There were more painterly effects on shoes, such as uplifted Mary Janes with box heels, and crazy mixes of outfits, especially as the intense colours crept up bare arms as over-the-elbow gloves.

And the jewels! Real and fake,

decorating a horsey dressage of a hair-do, ponytail swept up sideways.

“It’s Hitchcock!” announced fashion It Girl Alexa Chung, adding that she was “obsessed with Prada”.

She, like Vogue Japan’s creative consultant Anna Dello Russo, was wearing one of the leafy green outfits from the current collection.

I liked the show for its vision of pretty modern women as clear as the jewel stones, even if, in its fake innocence, it reminded me of a Miu Miu attitude.

Mostly I found the work romantic, mysterious, and miraculous – for how does the indefatigable ‘Mrs Prada’ do it all?

There is ‘The Iconoclasts’ project that has involved three visionary costume designers ‘dressing’ different Prada stores around the world; Miuccia is now curating the art exhibition that will inaugurate the Fondazione Prada’s new permanent Milan venue in Largo Isarco this May; and she is also working on an exhibition for the Venice Biennale.

I asked if there was a link between all these projects. “I always say I don’t want to mix them them, but my mind is one,” said Miuccia. And it is her singular approach, so clear, sure, and often discomforting, that makes me, too, obsessed with her vision.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

L72 9AM, 26 FEBRUARY 2015 VIA MANZONI 39

InDigital

PRADA 6PM, 26 FEBRUARY 2015 VIA FOGAZZARO, MILAN

A meld of sport and chic in a single mesh dress tells the story of Lee Wood, who has just appeared from under the radar with his L72 line after 16 years with Donatella Versace.

“I wanted very graphic, very lean, and only modern shapes,” Lagerfeld said came at the elbow of long gloves.

Another variation on leg interest were gaucho-style leather chaps.

Instead of fluffy fur accessories were the ‘shark’ effects of Bird of Paradise flowers that were used as handbag decoration.

But what stood out were the shapes and volumes extracted from Taeuber-Arp by Karl’s artistic eye and cultured mind. A few were fashion ‘geometricks’ using vast triangular shapes for short coats; or gigantic

Fresh Shoots

riffs on squares, worn as a midriff frame on a panelled dress.

“I wanted very graphic, very lean, only modern shapes and not from the recent past,” Lagerfeld told me.

Then, in a characteristic swipe – this time at Gucci’s new romantic designer – Karl added, “No flea market here.”

Is Karl, at 80-something, really doing yet another collection, with Fendi Fourrure bumping up against Chanel? Knowing him as I do, I’d say the answer is a resounding yes.

“It’s sporty, the way people dress in the street, but I bring it a couture feel,” says Wood in Milan, where he’s showing complete collections of menswear, womenswear, shoes and accessories.

Everything is Italian. “I’m championing ‘Made in Italy’,” says the British designer, whose home and heart is in Milan – and maybe a little with Donatella, who, he says, has been his greatest champion.

JUST CAVALLI

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

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27/02/2015 00:38

The

SuzyMenkes M IL A N FA S H IO N WEEK A/W 2015

Speakers include:

VERSACE

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

OFFICIAL HOTEL:

OFFICIAL AIRLINE:

@CNILuxury SPONSORS INCLUDE:

Thor Equities PRESENTS

InDIgital

Find out more at www.CNILuxury.com /

Saturday 28 February, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY, 2015

Versace embraces Greece and the hashtag VERSACE 7PM, 27 FEBRUARY 2015 VIA GESU 12 It was high tech and high drama at Versace as the Greek key, which has long been one of the company’s signatures, appeared on a giant metallic structure at the back of the runway and as a pattern on sweaters, bags, shoes – and the Internet.

The key motif – make that #greek for a hashtag – was embedded in the quilted suede bags that Donatella Versace was showing off backstage.

The symbol was also worked into the Perspex heels of boots that climbed up and away in patent leather and suede until they reached thigh high, under brief dresses.

There are people who might consider it discomforting to build a collection around a reference to a country that is currently in the news more for its debt problems than its ancient history, but this Greek key has long been a Versace symbol. And why would Donatella let a pan-European financial crisis change her fashion plans?

Chic From Top to Toe TODS 5PM, 27 FEBRUARY 2015 C O R S O M A G E N TA 6 1

Instead of slashing debt, her eyes were on slashing dresses, which were split up the side and set at an angle as if in a geometry lesson.

In vivid primary shades of scarlet, grass green, and sunshine yellow, leather popped out on the runway, while the few quieter pieces included a compass-drawn cape or a rounded fur.

Since Donatella took her bow in a super-skinny pants suit, narrow trousers were also part of the collection.

The game of keys was mildly challenged by a play on words: ‘Versace’ broken into a mix of letters, which is something I remember from Gianni’s ‘Circus’ collection from so many moons ago.

Donatella did not have much new to say, but the collection was presented con brio. She herself seemed unsure as to what the Greek key hashtag would do or whether it was actually an emoji that could be added on to texts and messages to express yourself. I am tempted to say that it was all Greek to her.

Donatella was adamant about the advantage to Versace of the new digital adventure, however. “I know in my mind and my heart that with the archive – I do not want to look at it any more,” she said. “Thank God for

“I wanted very graphic, very lean, shapes,” Lagerfeld

A Fashion Tapestry

Instagram Lolita

ETRO 2PM, 27 FEBRUARY 2015 PALAZZO DEL GHIACCIO

InDigital

“Rive Gauche meets East Berlin,” said Giambattista Valli of his cute young girls with painted marks on their hands and on face, as they walked iyt in the prettiest of filmy dresses clamped with black leather straps across the bust.

For this catch-them-young ‘Giamba’ line, Valli added, “They’re Instagram Lolitas”, which did not sound politically correct but summed up the cheeky sexiness of the clothes - mesh hose with flowers underneath and black boots with side straps other hard/soft statements.

We’re not talking poor street kids in Berlin or Paris here. With Salma Hayek sitting front row alongside young mothers from international society, you could imagine their little daughters growing up in the most delightful way. That pink fluffy, bound-to-be-real fur coat, or another

Tod’s stepped into a new world when it took on Alessandra Facchinetti as a designer, but she has turned out to be more than fit for purpose. She embodies a new feeling about fashion from [do you mean for?] a generation of women.

In Italy especially, former Prime Minister Berlusconi’s attitude to women as sexpot figurines has finally been challenged.

Facchinetti’s approach is gentle and not too minimalist, so that after the opening pieces in a plain, pinkwashed camel, leaf patterns made quiet decoration for the streamlined clothes.

It does not seem so difficult to offer a fresh, white blouse. But the point about this designer is that every piece seems right in weight, in style, and in texture.

The story was of apparently simple clothes that were in stark contrast to the grand 18th-century Palazzo Litta where the show took place. But there was dense decoration within the

Who would not want to live like Veronica Etro? Not only, as ever, did she prance smiling down the catwalk in a golden glow of models, she also invited the audience, metaphorically speaking, into her family home – a luxurious area rich in tapestries and upholstery, where the furnishings seemed bathed in the russet haze of a setting sun.

It could, of course, have been indigestibly rich. Fashion and furniture do not often make comfortable bedfellows. But Veronica has learned a lot since her early days of hippie serendipity.

However much the Etro patterns swirled and whirled, the designer contained them inside streamlined

and tailored clothes.

Her customer seems to have been raised a notch or two, with fur, for the first time in my memory, playing a defining role, including coats with intarsia patterns.

Even when cover-ups were left behind, there was a gilded lushness to a long-sleeved silken dress, belted at the waist. A sheen, as on a polished wooden table, was rubbed over all the evening designs.

There is always a suggestion of Art Nouveau in Etro’s patterns. But Veronica has mastered – not without a Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com Darcel Disappoints

Instagram lolita “Rive Gauche meets East Berlin,” said Giambattista Valli of his cute young girls with painted marks on their hands and on face, as they walked iyt in the prettiest of filmy dresses clamped with black leather straps across the bust.

For this catch-them-young ‘Giamba’ line, Valli added, “They’re Instagram Lolitas”, which did not sound politically correct but summed up the cheeky sexiness of the clothes - mesh hose with flowers underneath and black boots with side straps other hard/soft statements.

We’re not talking poor street kids in Berlin or Paris here. With Salma Hayek sitting front row alongside young mothers from international society, you could imagine their little daughters growing up in the most delightful way. That pink fluffy, bound-to-be-real fur coat, or another in buttercup yellow with flowers, would make a <i>divine<i> Sweet Sixteen birthday gift. The floaty long gowns, perfect for a special teenage party, came with floral patterns, some splashed and painterly but all as innocent-looking as good girls GIAMBA

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

The

SuzyMenkes M IL A N FA S HI ON WE E K A/W 2015 EMILIO PUCCI

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

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Sunday 1 March, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

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Thor Equities PRESENTS

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

SUNDAY 1 MARCH, 2015

Hyper-Modern Handcraft B O T T E G A V E N E TA 9 . 3 0 A M , 2 8 F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 5 VIA PRIV. ERCOLE M A R E L L I “Very romantic” said Salma Hayek, holding her hands to her heart over a sparkling sweater, as the last swellings of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf came to a crescendo at the end of the show.

The collection showed a fiery, compelling vision of a womanly body, undulating below sporty clothes that seemed to be patterned graphically with digital techniques. I saw the Autumn 2015 collection as ‘romancing the web’.

But that is not what designer Tomas Maier intended.

“I wanted to play with colour, with print and embroidery, and I wanted to give women pants – that is a departure for the silhouette,” said the designer.

It was all true. But still, an understated way of describing a silk blouse slithering above a pair of graphic check trousers; or a gleaming Lurex waistcoat illuminating a purple top and bottom half.

The colours went from blues and greens, through to orange and gold – the gilded effects striking either as a fabric glaze or as knee-high boots.

This Bottega show seemed balanced between two worlds: the hyper-modernity of a polyurethane fabric melding with the calf; and the handcraft of a needle-punch technique, where yarn is looped through fabric. Maier called it “Byzantine”, referring either to its complexity or the origin of such work.

To meld, imaginatively, colour, technique and cutting skills is already an achievement. Adding a current of desire to the Bottega Veneta collection made the show exceptional.

Pucci: Its Fate is in the Stars To cheers and applause – not least from his loyal creative team – Peter Dundas bowed out from Pucci as creative director, wearing a T-shirt with his Sagittarius sign of the zodiac – the theme of the Autumn 2015 collection.

His fate may already be in the stars, for the word is out that he will join Roberto Cavalli, where he held the role of chief designer between 2002 and 2005.

Laudomia Pucci, daughter of the founder and CEO of the brand in which LVMH owns the controlling stake, would not comment on the Dundas departure. While the designer himself said backstage, without citing a name, that he had signed a new deal.

Who is taking over at Pucci? The smart money is on Massimo Giorgetti of MSGM, the 37-year-old designer who won Vogue Italia’s Who Is On Next? contest five years ago. His proven ability to create a profitable business that is expanding globally would make him an interesting proposition for a luxury brand.

Also his energy and ability to position himself between luxury and

main street would certainly cause a shake up at the once-aristocratic house of the late Emilio Pucci.

Dundas followed other designers as creative head of the label, including couturier Christian Lacroix and British designer Matthew Williamson.

In the never-ending game of fashion-designer musical chairs, what did Dundas bring to Pucci in his seven years at the helm?

Embracing the zodiac signs as Pucci prints was smart and original. In fact, the Dundas skill has been to break away from the signature prints with the name ‘Emilio’.

With his Nordic background and holiday home in Greece, Dundas has widened the scope of the fashion house beyond Pucci’s native Florence – sometimes rather too brutally.

But the Dundas connection with Euro It-girls and his ability to produce seductively cut clothes has made him popular with celebrities, and a regular fashion provider for the red carpet.

This season he put some focus on his favourite velvet tailoring, in rich burgundy or navy blue. While white chiffon used for ruffle blouses and floaty dresses were pretty palette cleansers.

But it is the zodiac patterns which will be remembered – along with the cheerful Dundas departure.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

“Embracing the zodiac signs as Pucci prints was smart and original”

CAVALLI

Cavalli’s Chinese Puzzle The Roberto Cavalli show was up and down – in both a physical and emotional sense.

There was a switch from sexiness to sweetness with long hemlines – rather than short skirts – making the impact.

But both hem lengths embraced the swaying white fringe and the wafting lace that ran like a shower of milk over the outfits. And it soon appeared that there was another on-going theme: Chinoiserie.

Not elements of China today, whose inhabitants are Italy’s enthusiastic fashion shoppers. But the historic arts of Asia, reworked in pixels on the clothes: here a splash of Imperial yellow, there a pagoda-shaped gilded button, or a criss-crossed bodice of Ming vase floral – all done in small dabs rather than big statements.

Having earlier this month in New York seen a Cavalli dress inspired by Ming porcelain at a preview of the Metropolitan Museum exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, I wondered if that garment had been the inspiration for this Autumn 2015 collection.

Cavalli’s strength is that the clothes are so exquisitely made in Italy, what might otherwise be vulgar becomes beautiful. If any modern Chinese women are compelled to buy, I hope they pick the long dresses, full of grace.

“‘I wanted to play with colour, with print and embroidery’”

A Love Letter to Ageless Beauty

InDigital

EMILIO PUCCI 7PM, 28 FEBRUARY 2015 CORSO VENEZIA, MILAN

As Benedetta Barzini walked slowly, smiling down the runway, three words came to mind: beauty, elegance, serenity. And, oh yes, at 71, this season’s muse was 40 years older than most people in the room.

Since the show space was a garage, where oily walls and concrete flooring had been covered with rococo paintings and Persian rugs, the message seemed to be: older can be more beautiful. Perhaps a more appropriate word is ‘timeless’. Benedetta is known to the fashion crowd as Diana Vreeland’s discovery of the Sixties, and photographer Irving Penn’s favourite model and cover girl. She also has a more cerebral side as a feminist activist and teacher.

That history seemed to inspire Marras to produce one

of his more ‘practical’ collections – if that is the word for big patterned sweaters worn with pants, and graphic patterns on silk tops. Or for reducing the romantic touches, so that a lace coat was neatly tailored and sweet as candy with pale pink tapestry. Out of all these colourful pieces, nothing could quite match the patterned, embellished coat in which Benedetta took her bow.

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

Darcel Disappoints

ANTONIO MARRAS

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Tuesday 10 March, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

PARIS FASH ION W EEK A/W 2015 SAINT LAURENT

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

OFFICIAL HOTEL:

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TUESDAY 10 MARCH, 2015

Living in a Social Media World SAINT LAURENT 8PM, 9 MARCH 2015 LE CARREAU DU TEMPLE

“The heels seemed higher, the bags smaller and cuter”

Surprise me Hedi! Give me good girls, not bad! Show me dresses without visible bosoms, skirts falling chastely down to the knees and stockings without holes!

It was not to be. As the floor at Hedi Slimane’s Saint Laurent show was raised up like at a rock concert filmed for TV – lights flashing, silver scaffolding glinting – out came the punk kids with their kohl-painted eyes and ripped fishnet tights.

The only new thing about Hedi’s take on Saint Laurent is that the tulle skirts were shorter and bouncier, set off with colours and sparkles. They were teamed up, of course, with sharply tailored leather jackets, or their volume might be diminished by a swaddling coat. Both of these supporting pieces were impeccable and luxurious, in another context.

Hedi is a master of marketing. In six seasons he has created an image for Saint Laurent that is instantly recognisable, super cool, rich in wild music from lesser-known bands. This

Valli: A New Type of Tantra

time the music was not live, but recorded specially for the Paris show.

Look behind the patina of youthful rebellion and you will find nice, well-made clothes for a lot of different customers. Hedi has made the original Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo a must, worn as a tight-fitting jacket over braces, collar and tie. Another musthave: a little black leather dress, zipped and super sexied-up for the catwalk.

Elsewhere it is just a chic LBD. I admire Hedi for his ability to update and eroticise pieces thought of as classics – a cape for example, worn over a silvered dress.

The heels seemed higher, the bags smaller and cuter. And what the clothes lacked in invention and imagination, was made up for by increased variety.

A full-skirted dress even came with lashings of colour, as if an artist had splashed it with digital paint.

What else was on offer? Visible bras and one bare breast. The show came with a booklet of art you might not show your mother, with a front page announcing: “he drew the dirtiest thing he could think of.”

The garments do not have the wild energy of the music, the models or the show. But in the world of social media, where image is all, they will have magic.

“‘When is it too much? When is it not enough?’”

A Quiet Contender

STELLA MCCARTNEY

HERMES 4.30PM, 9 MARCH 2015 LA GARDE REPUBLICAINE

coats; asymmetrical cuts at the shoulder leaving an enticing sliver of flesh.

There was nothing vulgar – just a sense of the woman behind the soft armour of a smart tweed suit.

There is no doubt that Stella designs for herself. But she has taken strides forward since her starting point.

I could see how much work had gone into piecing together this tailored fluidity. A black-and-white coat where the skirt unfolded asymmetrically over little ankle boots, suggested a shower of fabric running down the body.

There was a splash of royal blue and green; a jigsaw of metallic floral brocades, but mostly the wool cloth, knitting or lace came in neutral colours.

InDigital

Stella: Undone The sight of Stella McCartney backstage, fielding her four children with the help of her husband, and greeting her father Paul McCartney, said it all about working women’s busy lives.

No wonder the designer’s first words to me were, “It is coming undone.”

But she was talking about the inspiration for her tough and tender approach in her powerful collection.

“It is about finding softness and warmth in fluidity – there is cut work allowing the woman to come undone and find her gentler side,” said Stella.

She was referring to a fresh spirit that could best be described as calculatedly casual: ribbed wool swelling over the chest of tailored

Great woven rafters curved over a vast stable, where there was a whiff of horses, and an elegant wooden construction put in place by Hermès.

A new filly had arrived in the house, and the fashion crowd had come to put her through her paces.

Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski was making her debut at Hermès, and the result was one of those quietly beautiful moments: clothes as apparently simple as they were rich in fabric and execution.

In the fifth week of the loud and brash international fashion season, Hermès and its new designer offered a still centre in a turning world.

With journalists champing at the bit, Nadège emerged backstage, her russet hair spilling over a tailored coat.

“I wanted to go back to the roots – to the house which is built on saddle making,” the designer said, discussing the “expert use of leather”.

“I wanted to pick up the heritage

and ancestral tradition, and bring it along to a contemporary woman,” she continued.

The designer made it look so easy: a blouson riding jacket in ink-blue lambskin with a padded lining like a saddle.

Corduroy trousers and boots finished this horsie-de-luxe look.

The sense throughout this brief, quiet show was of subtle, in-built references to the Hermès history, such as what looked like stirrup leather imprinted on a red jacquard silk dress, or forming the base of a bold necklace.

Nadège also made an alteration towards abstraction of the famous ‘H’ Hèrmes belt. The same symbol was dangling on silver chains at the neck.

The show opened with a model of

African origin – a fine gesture by this 36-year-old designer who had recently been working in New York at The Row, and previously at Céline, and with Martin Margiela.

Nadège’s attitude was therefore that which the French describe as, ‘luxe, calme et volupté’.

The vividness of colour – scarlet, yellow and the famous Hermès rusty orange – glowed from suede and silk, fabrics familiar but not often of such sumptuous quality. A bag had a yellow and orange strap that looked like it could be a new brand identity.

There were even elements of wit and whimsy in a pair of precisely cut dungarees, and a single reference to the famous Hermès silk scarves printed with horse bits.

The show felt like a work in progress, but one moving precisely in the right direction.

Axel Dumas, CEO of Hermès, talked about bringing in a new member to the family.

Nadège, who was so overcome with emotion that she spent some time backstage before facing the front-ofhouse press, finally ran to the stable in her yellow and orange sneakers. Were they trainers like the ones that Hermès showed this week in their vast shoe collection?

“No they are Nike,” she said.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

The mood board – that guide to a fashion designer’s thoughts – was filled with egg-like shapes in soft shades exuding puffs of colour.

Was Giambattista Valli dreaming up a new rounded look for his Winter 2015 collection? It didn’t seem that way, judging by the models backstage in patterned tunics over trousers flared like it was 1975.

“They are tantric meditation drawings,” said Valli.

I had heard vaguely about tantric sex, but I know nothing of India’s ancient cosmology of signs.

“I have all these drawings,” Valli continued. “It is something that has always inspired me, magical things. It is abstract but it is also hypnotic, you get lost in it.”

For the rest of the show, I was trying to spot where this influence had landed, as on the sleeveless tunic using the same tantric colours – teamed with a pair of flared pants, fitting for summer holiday wear.

Was the entire set part of this magic? Or was it a collection suited to the ranks of society clients?

Eventually I stopped questioning the creative process and just admired the spectacle: the top, tunic and trousers in three chic layers, the smart sleeveless coat over patterned dress, the sexy boots laced from ankle to knee.

All of it clothing for a clientele who appreciate the handwork hidden behind a nonchalant, patterned dress.

Giambattista offers smart, casual clothes with a bold-is-beautiful attitude. A dark dress with a tantric drawing would require little meditation before deciding to buy it right now.

GIAMBATTISTA VALLI

Read more at SuzyMenkesVogue.com

Darcel Disappoints

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SuzyMenkes Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

Tuesday 24 February, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

L ON DON FASHION W EEK A /W 2 0 15 Christopher Kane

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

OFFICIAL HOTEL:

OFFICIAL AIRLINE:

@CNILuxury SPONSORS INCLUDE:

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Find out more at www.CNILuxury.com / IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Thor Equities PRESENTS

SMreport2015_LFW_2402_V1.indd 1

23/02/2015 23:02

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

Drawings of Desire CHRISTOPHER KANE 3PM, 23 FEBRUARY 2015 TAT E M O D E R N , L O N D O N In the brand new store that Christopher Kane opened last week on Mount Street, London, the staff must be exultant. For the collection that the designer sent out for Winter 2015 was full of saleable treasures.

There was a lot to both love and to buy, from the neat little black and red velvet-trimmed tailoring that opened the show, through to the cocktail dresses with stripes on chiffon.

Then came fitted sweaters worn

over skirts with sketches, as if taken from a life drawing class. It was sensual – without a stitch of vulgarity.

“It’s about love and art in life as well as in fashion,” said the designer, who explained that all his work comes from drawing and “ultimately reflects how I feel”.

By the end of the show, when the drawings on fabric of female bodies formed subtle curves, the designer seemed to have reached his goal of “something sexual but not grotesque”.

I thought about what he described as “lover’s lace”, and considered it in the context of previous collections.

The effects in the past have been more perverse and discomforting, including slips of plastic tape and

TUESDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 2015

Art and Crafts

oily, transparent fabrics. But Kane’s new season inventions got about as kinky as a handbag with a lingerie frill.

The frills were also on shoes, highheeled and wobbly, or flat and dynamic.

Kane’s deep thinking brought a further dimension to what looked like pretty, simple clothes. The designer said that the “sensual was played out against the scientific”, in the form of buckles that push, clunk-click, “sexually” into place.

It is, in a way, a compliment to the designer that the strong feelings he had previously shown in a more obvious way were so delicately handled here.

And it will make shopping at his new store desirable – without customers knowing how deep into his own imagination runs that desire.

Kane dedicated the show to his mother, Christine, who died last week.

BURBERRY 1PM, 23 FEBRUARY 2015 KENSINGTON GARDENS “Will you still love me tomorrow?” belted out Claire Maguire, the latest choice from Christopher Bailey for the live music at a Burberry show.

The song, originally sung by The Shirelles back in the Sixties, strikes a poignant note about what it is like to be a fashion designer today.

Next! Next! Next! The sheer volume of looks to churn out is overwhelming. And not each one can be a winner.

So many things were good about this Burberry show: the rich colours, the layers of textile effects, the craftsmanship of embroidered leather boots, the jollity of swinging fringe.

It all came out very hippie luxe from the Seventies, although not to Christopher.

“The Seventies, I didn’t think that,” he said with a puzzled frown.

“It was about the idea of working on different crafts, beautiful quilts from Durham, handcraft in this wonderful digital world we work in.”

And it’s true, Bailey has tried very hard to bring Burberry into the hi-tech world, with live screenings, social media and so much more. You can even buy clothes online straight off the show.

Remaking the Imagination ERDEM 1 1A M , 2 3 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 OLD SELFRIDGES HOTEL The little rooms adjacent to the Erdem runway were done up like private spaces, home to someone who reads many books and still uses a typewriter.

I recognised these interiors from an installation at London’s Frieze Masters last autumn – a commission by the Helly Nahmad Gallery, created by production designer Robin Brown.

Backstage, Erdem explained so much more: his fascination with fashionable film figures from history – Romy Schneider in Visconti’s Boccaccio ’70, Kim Novak in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and Claudia Cardinale in Visconti’s Sandra.

The designer was fascinated by the idea that a person today might take apart clothes from the era of these films and remake them.

This thrift shop makeover seemed a dubious proposition, until I saw the eerily beautiful dresses, cut and pasted and finished with whispers of feathers.

A stand-out dress seemed to move film-like from silk to burnt-out velvet, without even a seam to show where and how the magic began.

For the last couple of seasons Erdem has pushed himself, moving away from dresses that seemed destined for a fashionable, uppercrust customer.

Already last season he challenged that with a collection devoted to the plants in a Victorian conservatory.

This collection was a further step forward for his creativity, resulting in these beautiful clothes, remade not just with a sewing basket, but in the imagination.

“It all came out very hippie luxe from the Seventies”

Making Colours Her Own ROKSANDA 1 0 A M, 2 3 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 SEYMOUR LEISURE CENTRE

“This collection was a further step forward for Erdem’s creativity”

InDigital

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

But to my eyes, this collection was obstinately stuck in and derivative of Seventies style...

Yes, the fringing and the blanket shawls were far more upscale than the originals gathered on the hippie trail.

The honey-ginger fur coat, or the ponchos and the bags with long fringing were nothing to do with thrift-shop finds. The mirror textiles did not look as if they had been imported from India.

Floral dresses in Bohemian patterns were glam, even risqué, when a bodice was cut out in a swoop at the front.

But Burberry, the brand, originally took quite a different route: tailored military clothes and that famous trench coat of which there was not a whisper of a memory here. Haute Bohemia was never part of its history.

Bailey said he found the idea of blending different cultures “inspiring”. But maybe he forgot Burberry’s own.

Blocks of vivid colour, swirling skirts, deep-pile fur – Roksanda Ilincic’s collection, like her own persona, seemed larger than life.

And this was even more the case with her show on a raised platform in a vast sports stadium, light glowing underneath.

But if Roksanda designs in her own image, she has come a long way since the early days of awkward

shapes and exaggerated sculpting.

Her Autumn 2015 collection was bold and bright, but the coats especially – mid-calf and cinched with a wide belt – were both practical and wearable.

The real strength of this designer is a sense of certainty – about cut, shape and especially colour, which has been her forte from the get-go.

Shades of green, a particular mustard yellow and pink with an orange tinge – she has made them her own. Put all her specialties together, say, a fur in toffee brown, grape purple and royal blue, or a simple green tabard over an orange top, and you get pieces stamped with the spirit of the designer.

The clothes are not for everyone, but they are appealing to any lover of Fashion with a capital ‘F’.

Darcel Disappoints

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SuzyMenkes L O ND ON FA S H ION WE E K A / W 2 015 Simone Rocha | 21 February, 2015

Speakers include:

JONATHAN ANDERSON Creative Director, Loewe

ANTOINE ARNAULT CEO, Berluti

NICOLAS BOS President and CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels

GEOFFROY DE LA BOURDONNAYE President, Chloé

TORY BURCH CEO and Designer, Tory Burch

ROBERTO CAVALLI

FREDERIC CUMENAL President, Tiffany & Co.

AXEL DUMAS CEO, Hermès

ALBER ELBAZ Artistic Director, Lanvin

KARL LAGERFELD

DAVID LAUREN Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren Corporation

MARIGAY MCKEE President, Saks Fifth Avenue

MICHELE NORSA CEO and Group MD, Salvatore Ferragamo

FRANCA SOZZANI Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Italia

IRIS VAN HERPEN

OFFICIAL HOTEL:

OFFICIAL AIRLINE:

@CNILuxury SPONSORS INCLUDE:

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Find out more at www.CNILuxury.com /

Monday 23 February, 2015

REPORT The independent eye of the international Vogues

Suzy Menkes, International Vogue Editor

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Follow Suzy online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com

Thor Equities PRESENTS

INTERNATIONAL VOGUE EDITOR SUZY MENKES

MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 2015

The Courage of Invention

Top Shop Goes to the Country

M A RY K AT R A N T Z O U , , 6PM, 21 FEBRUARY 2015 GUILDHALL, LONDON EC2

InDigital

‘XXXXX has that particular creative gene that turns threads of art and particular creative craft into clothes’

continuously, but often just peeping out from under a knee-length coat.

The baroque music of Handel’s ‘Gloria Eterna’, sung by Greek musical legend Nana Mouskouri, added an opulent flourish.

Last season, Katrantzou created a collection that was equally exceptional by concentrating on nature. But this Autumn/Winter 2015 show that seemed like a battle between minimal and maxi was something else: a truly original concept expressed vigorously in the language of clothes.

Imaginative, original and independent, SUZY MENKES has built a reputation for honest reporting and telling fashion like it is. Her reviews and insights have appeared in the world’s leading press for over three decades. Since 2014, Suzy has brought her unique take on fashion to Condé Nast International online, as International Vogue Editor, contributing to Vogue in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico and Latin America, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.

Follow Suzy on Instagram @SuzyMenkesVogue, and read her online via www.suzymenkesvogue.com Darcel Disappoints

The lilac satin curtains as the backdrop to the Matthew Williamson show told the whole story: glamour in a soft and subtle way.

But the textural message, mixing fluffy fur and suede fringed boots with silken floral prints or shiny satin two-piece gowns, was as strong a story as colour.

Those shades were almost entirely fixed on bougainvillea pink, lagoon turquoise and sunshine yellow.

This could be imagined as sophisticated wear in Brazil or the South of France, as cool people go to warm places in winter.

But Williamson has left behind his signature, Ibiza, hippie-de-luxe style, and that’s smart. Because with new designers following the wanderlust trail, Matthew has developed a fresh and more sophisticated vision that is still his essential fashion style.

TOP SHOP 4PM, 21 FEBRUARY 2015 YEOMANRY HOUSE, WC1

A phobia for empty space versus streamlined modernism – or, as Mary Katrantzou put it in an artistic framework to her show: ‘Horror Vacui’, referring to the Victorians’ rejection of minimalism and fondness for abundant decoration in costume and interior design.

The show that the Greek-born designer sent out on a runway of tooth-gum-pink foam was a tour de force. It showed Mary’s courageous urge for innovation and how far she has come since she offered digitallyprinted teacups at the start of the 21st-century pattern revolution.

In an extraordinary vault between technology and art, the designer produced clothes that can truly be labelled original in both art and craft This was achieved from different angles. First came the utter plainness of sculpted tops moulded to the breast with a seamless fabric normally used to smooth car roofs. The result was uber-minimalism, with the only movement coming from the kick at the hem of a skirt.

Then there were bodices in a technical version of flocking, contrasted with traditional lace in the skirt.

That hemline movement, sometimes looking forced, appeared

Sun in Winter

The Topshop cuties, with their sassy London look, went where they can seldom have put their pert, squareheeled shoes before: the English countryside.

Imagine a young woman invited for the weekend by a young lordling who chatted her up on the dance floor. A quick pack of a tweed kilt, opened at the thigh; grab a pair of sky-blue cord trousers; a bit of fur from an elder sibling; count on borrowing a coat from her ladyship – and there was the Top Shop look transported to the country.

Just to give a good impression to the aristocratic parents, there was a dress patterned with weeds to suggest a willingness to garden.

This new wardrobe worked in a grown-up way. But it seemed unlikely for an urban creature who seemed so much more comfortable at the cocktail hour part of the show. Short lacy dresses, a blazer a-blaze with crystals and the LBD (London Black Dress) seemed more suited to a wardrobe and an image that Topshop represents.

But there was one standout item: a sleek honey gold velvet jump suit to straddle town and country.

‘It has been in fashion since the Eighties, but how do we feel about fine poor?’

The Dark Prince SCHIAPARELLI 10AM, 26 JANUARY 2015 | HOTEL D’EVREUX With fire flickering and blood running, medieval figures swept past in pure-black: it was a dramatic comeback to London from Paris for Gareth Pugh, and a way for fashion’s Prince of Darkness to celebrate 10 years in the industry.

The Bill Viola-style video in the background showed fire engulfing a

model who lopped off her hair with giant scissors and anointed herself in blood with a Saint George’s Cross.

The film was by Ruth Hogben, a consistent collaborator with Pugh, and it set the storyline of noble figures in a cult of Britannia, striding down the catwalk as if in a female army.

Through the Gothic murk or gloom, the models appeared as power women in clothes cut with the absolute precision that makes the designer bankable. The coats and dresses were artworks of cloth and straw. Make that ‘straws’, for the

MATTHEW WILLIAMSON

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