The Art of Dressing, Super Edition

Sometimes I come across an image that is just perfect.

It isn’t airbrushed, it isn’t a 14-year old girl in women’s clothing, it isn’t art directed.

I thought Linda Evangelista was the picture of perfection at Art Basel in Miami, earlier this month.

Tailored, yet relaxed. Casual, yet dressed. Minimal, yet detailed.

Yes, she’s a Supermodel. But she can teach us all a thing or two about not trying too hard – very little makeup, a nonchalant roll of a pant, sublime snake-skin flats, do-it-yourself hair and that air of self acceptance. Can you see it in her lovely green eyes?

The cut of this pant has changed my life in recent years - so comfortable to wear.

There’s something to be said for a woman in her 40s, accepting her natural beauty, dressing for herself.

Worn at an event where spectacle is everything, quiet grace speaks volumes.

Shaking the Fashion Foundation

My fashion foundation was a little rocked this morning – and the fashion publishing world is a little less rock and roll.

Carine Roitfeld resigned from Paris Vogue today.

I gasped out loud.

After a cup of reality, it all made sense.

Of course.

She has to be leaving for one reason – and his name is Mr. Darling.

They are master collaborators and it has to be her next move, n’est-ce pas?

Mysterious Madame Roitfeld

Image courtesy of  Sogni e Sorrisi.

Déjà Vu: Like a Leonardo

Art and fashion often intersect. Sometimes, as I flip through images in my fashion life, my art life calls out.

An image in front of your eyes recalls another, filed in the microfiche of your mind.

Like a scrolling blue-violet and white blur, it goes forward, then back, up, down, until it settles and you remember where you had seen something similar.

This Leonardo was recalled…

La Belle Ferronière by Leonardo da Vinci

…when I saw this mag cover…

Georgina Stojiljkovic by Jean-François Campos, Flair December 2010

There is a stoic softness to the face in both images.

da Vinci detail

But the colouring of the portrait and length of the nose is from another da Vinci masterpiece.

Leonardo da Vinci's The Virgin and Child with St. Anne

Look at St. Anne’s face closely and look at the soft blue eyes of The Virgin.

da Vinci's heavenly women.

Same eyes and nose to my eyes.

Art, in any form, is so powerful, isn’t it?  Once it makes an imprint, it’s not likely to leave you…

“As for your loving me, you don’t, not really.

You don’t. It’s only as something else.

As something you own. A painting, a Leonardo.

I don’t want to be a Leonardo,

I want to be myself.”

-Lucy, to Cecil in Merchant Ivory’s Room With A View

India’s Checkered Present

Christopher Bailey and Angela Ahrendts glammed it up in Mumbai, earlier this week. They were in the Motherland to celebrate Burberry’s store opening in the home of film and frou, as well as their fashion footprint in the country as a whole.

Angela Ahrendts, Christopher Bailey, Dev Patel and Sanjay Kapoor. Could you not squeeze Patel's cheeks every time you see him?

Preity Zinta does modern military.

Karan Johar looking just dandy.

Ah, a classic sari. I'll even forgive the halter because I so love the mix or orange and red and gold, here, on Mandira Bedi. That's not a first party sighting of the same Bottega clutch, by the way.

In Mumbai, anything goes - even white pants in December! Rahul Khanna, looking dapper and Gatsby-esque.

Shilpa Shetty: poised in plum Prorsum? A few too many accessories for my liking but she is so gorgeous, it doesn't matter, does it?

Sushmita Sen, giving Burberry the cold shoulder by wearing a dress by Donna Karan (Bailey's old boss).

Here’s a slick vid from the company of the event – the contrast of everyday folks in Mumbai vs. India’s new fashion elite did not go unnoticed on this side of the world. India’s checkered present?

Although I do adore this track by The Cheek (Rory Cottam of the band was the party DJ for a bit, too), it would be have been nice to see fellow muso, Bailey choose an Indian indie band for the soundtrack. He did mention there was a local band at the event (Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan gave an acoustic performance – although classical musicians would be a better description than “band”). Next time, Mr. Bailey might want to ring up Arjun S Ravi to get a few on the bill.

The new store is the second for the company in Mumbai, which also has retail therapy locations in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

I saw a definite Indian influence in a few Burberry coats this past season. Wonder if Bailey’s first trip to the country will inspire him beyond that…

Read more about India’s lust for western retail in India Goes Gaga for Gucci and Zara Dekhna: Inditex Invades India.

Images courtesy of Vogue India.

McQueen Honoured at BFAs

Lee McQueen was honoured earlier tonight in London at the British Fashion Awards, posthumously, with the prize for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design.

The ceremony was to open with a film by Nick Knight, photographer, Director of SHOWstudio.com and friend of Lee.

It’s a haunting and beautiful film – but it saddens me. The loss of Lee McQueen feels so personal for so many of us that adored him from afar. It still stings, for me – still hurts that we have lost not only a gifted artist, but a beautiful soul as well.

“This film is my way of speaking about a very unique and important person who changed my life. My desire was to speak in some way about the dark and the light contained within Lee, and within us all.” Nick Knight

McQueen’s memorial was held earlier this year and his designs will be exhibited at the Met next May.

Film credits.

Uncle Zeus?

Uncle Karl has been busy working with tire-maker Pirelli on their infamous calendar, now in its 38th year.

With the Greek and Roman mythology theme chosen for 2011, a few famous faces and friends of Karl’s appear in their buffed, polished and refined natural glory.

I never tire (I had to!) of Karl, frankly. He can do whatever he wants and I will always love him.

And besides, I have shaken that half-gloved hand of the Zeus of fashion.

“Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence.” (Iliad, book 1.503;533)

I’ll still call him Uncle, if you don’t mind.  Every girl needs an eccentric, razzle-dazzle, medal-festooned one, n’est-ce pas?

Incidentally, my uncle read Homer when he was six.

He also designed some of the accessories you see in his photos. In an interview with Pirelli in October, he indicated,  “Stéphane Lubrina and George Cortina made the bracelets, weapons, and shields. Peter Philips stuck gold leaves on the breasts. I didn’t want to create a sort of ‘carnival joke’ effect, or theatrical costumes. So I designed the necklaces, the gold sexes, the armbands that turn into tree bark, a little owl, a plexiglass helmet…”

Karl, we are not worthy.

Julianne Moore as Hera by Karl Lagerfeld for Pirelli

Baptiste Giabconi as Apollo by Karl Lagerfeld for Pirelli. He's also a gold member in another shot for the calendar.

Elisa Sednaoui as Flora by Karl Lagerfeld for Pirelli

Brad Kroenig as Zeus. Karl referred to himself as Homer. As if.

Heidi Mount as Aurora by Karl Lagerfeld for Pirelli

Freja Beha Erichsen as Apollo by Karl Lagerfeld for Pirelli

Jake Davies as Achilles by Karl Lagerfeld for Pirelli

Anja Rubik as Hermes by Karl Lagerfeld for Pirelli

Pirelli calendars past were snapped by Arthur Elgort, Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindberg to name but a handful.

And this isn’t Karl’s first calendar.

Thanks to autoblog for the snaps.