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subscribe to style file blog via RSSJohn Varvatos Rocks Melrose
March 14, 2011
Awards season may be over, but the spring charity circuit is in full swing. John Varvatos went big this year with his eighth annual Stuart House benefit, which serves the special needs of child victims of sexual abuse and their families. “With each year we’ve been doing this, we’ve managed to make it bigger and better. It used to be this small thing with up-and-coming artists, and now we’ve got so many people who are here to help and perform that we’ve managed to shut down Melrose,” Varvatos said on Sunday, motioning to the cordoned-off L.A. street that served as the afternoon’s backdrop. Along with co-hosts Patrick Dempsey and his wife, Avon’s Jillian Dempsey (not to mention a handful of Patrick’s Grey’s Anatomy cast mates), Mick Rock manned the portrait booth, K.D. Lang performed an outdoor concert for the crowd, and Shepard Fairey took to the DJ booth for an impromptu afternoon set.
At her inaugural event for the cause—what she called her “first date” with Varvatos—Zoe Saldana (left, with the designer) was eager to show support. “It’s so important to lend your voice and participate in any cause that aids children who are victims,” she said. But it was also an afternoon off for the star, who has been enjoying a bit of downtime since her jam-packed 2010. “I’m just happy to be relaxing. Last year was such a beautiful and rich year, but I’m still recovering.” And taking the year off meant she got to forgo the red carpet and engage as spectator instead. “I was happy to see my stylist Petra Flannery, who was styling all these amazing girls for the red carpet, and they were stunning. As a girl, that just made me so happy.”
tags: Jillian Dempsey, John Varvatos, K.D. Lang, Mick Rock, Patrick Dempsey, Shepard Fairey, Stuart House, Zoe Saldana
Japan: Some Ways To Help
March 14, 2011
The earthquake and tsunami that shook Japan, coupled with the nuclear episodes that followed, make for what prime minister Naoto Kan is calling the country’s worst crisis since World War II.
There are many ways to help. The Red Cross is collecting funds for victims and for relief, which can be made at its Web site here or by texting REDCROSS to 90999 from a mobile phone. (Each text is a $10 donation.) GlobalGiving.org has created a Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund, disbursing donations to organizations like Save the Children and International Medical Corps to provide support on the ground. To date, it has raised more than $300,000. Lady Gaga has also been quick to lend support. The singer tweeted about the Japanese prayer bracelet she’s designed and is selling to aid relief efforts. Proceeds from the $5 bracelet (stamped “We Pray for Japan”) will be donated. (Buy it here.)
While the major news outlets are providing round-the-clock coverage, a more personal point of view has emerged perhaps unexpectedly from within the fashion community. Japanese Streets, one of the oldest and most respected of the local street-style blogs, stopped posting as of Thursday. Since then, its founder, photojournalist Kjeld Duits, has been reporting from the city of Sendai, where the tsunami following the quake hit, and putting the updates on his public Facebook page.
tags: Global Giving, Japan, Japanese Streets, Kjeld Duits, Lady Gaga, Red Cross
Young Hollywood—And Its Stylists—Celebrate WhoWhatWear
March 11, 2011
“I thought Oscar night was going to be my last outing, but Katherine is one of my best friends, so I said, ‘Pending I’m not in labor, I’ll be there,’” said a very pregnant Rachel Zoe at Thursday’s dinner celebrating the latest tome from WhoWhatWear’s Hillary Kerr and Katherine Power (above, with Zoe and Jessica Alba). And Zoe was in good company, sitting among fellow L.A.-based stylists Nicole Chavez (in Spring 2011 Prada), Emily Current of Current/Elliot, and Simone Harouche. The duo’s second book, What to Wear, Where, takes a look at exactly that, and includes a foreword from longtime friend Nicole Richie. “We get so many questions from our readers every day asking for styling advice that this book just seemed like the perfect follow-up for us,” Power explained. “And we’ve just received so much support from our friends in Hollywood who really appreciate that we just focus on the clothes and that we only show outfits that we really love and really celebrate,” Kerr added. Those friends include the likes of Gwen Stefani, who is set to guest edit the online magazine next month.
And celebrate they did with a little dose of Young Hollywood in tow, including The Hills co-stars Whitney Port and Lauren Conrad, Zelda Williams, and Kelly Osbourne, the latest face of Madonna’s Material Girl line. Also pregnant and Proenza-clad Jessica Alba was taking her new and changing look in stride, reflecting on the just-wrapped Fall 2011 shows—Lanvin, Prada, and DVF among her favorites. “Looking at all the shows and pictures I think it’s less about what I’d actually wear and more about the drama and the story the hair and makeup all tell.” Asked if she’s embracing her new curves, she just shrugged in delight. “I guess I have to.”
tags: Emily Current, Hillary Kerr, Jessica Alba, Katherine Power, Kelly Osbourne, Lauren Conrad, Nicole Chavez, Simone Harouche, Whitney Port, Who What Wear, Zelda Williams
Peter Jensen’s Hollywood Moment
March 11, 2011
Danish designer Peter Jensen often looks to Hollywood, whether in the form of Shelley Duvall (the unlikely muse of his Spring 2011 collection) or nouvelle vague heroine Anna Karina (the divining spirit behind his Fall offering). So maybe it’s only a matter of time before Jensen actually got to the city in question. That’s where he went for his new lookbook. Instead of shooting models swanning against white walls, he imagined them as actors in a film; the final lookbook is a caught-on-location glimpse at that unmade flick. Doing the shooting honors is L.A.-based photographer and videographer Autumn de Wilde, who has an impressive resume in Tinseltown and elsewhere. In addition to shooting fashion editorials, entertainment features, and more than a few album covers (including ones for Beck, Elliott Smith, and the White Stripes), she’s lensed music videos for Spoon and Jenny Lewis. Who, come to think of it, would look pretty great in Jensen’s cutesy-cool wares.
tags: Autumn de Wilde, Peter Jensen
Feeling “Happy, Love, Drunk” At Soho’s Newest Hotspot
March 11, 2011
The spitting weather wasn’t enough to kill the Mondrian SoHo’s buzz last night. Russell Simmons, Prabal Gurung, Richard Chai, Thakoon and Eve stopped all by to celebrate the hotel’s official opening, dine at chef Sam Talbot’s Imperial No. Nine restaurant, catch a set by The Kills’ Jamie Hince and Allison Mosshart (above), and then head for the hotel’s club, Mister H.
Prabal Gurung, stylist Brad Goreski, and friends showed off their dance moves under a neon sign that reads—in Chinese letters—”Happy, Love, Drunk.” Overdo it on that last one and you might be tempted to take a turn on the newly-installed stripper pole, but you’d have to compete with the evening’s hired entertainment. A group of scantily clad dancers were wrapped around it.
“I kind of feel like I am in L.A.,” confessed Ally Hilfiger, as she gazed at the decadent chandeliers and a table topped with crystal vases of all shapes and sizes. “I am a big fan of the Mondrian—their bedding is very soft, which I appreciate as a designer.” Goreski, for his part, had meant to leave after dinner and make his way home to to his own bed—lthe better to rest up for a “big job on Saturday”—but the call of the Mister H after-party was too strong, and off he went.
The evening’s DJ, Mia Moretti, also had to soldier on. The dance floor was still full, after all, and after that? “I’m off to Austin tomorrow morning for South by Southwest and I can’t even look at my schedule past then!”
tags: Alison Mosshart, Brad Goreski, Jamie Hince, Mia Moretti, Mister H, Mondrian Soho, Prabal Gurung, The Kills
Milan Vukmirovic Is Out At Trussardi 1911
March 11, 2011
The fashion-world game of musical chairs continues apace: This morning, Trussardi 1911 announced that it is ending its affiliation with creative director Milan Vukmirovic (left, with Beatrice Trussardi). (The end of the partnership is being described as being “through mutual consent.”) Vukmirovic, who got his start in retail as one of the co-founders of Colette and of Miami’s The Webster (which he co-owns), designed the men’s and women’s collections for the past three years. This past January, he presented his Fall 2011 men’s collection at Pitti Uomo in Florence, where the Milanese label also celebrated its centennial with exhibitions dedicated to its history and its art collection.
tags: Milan Vukmirovic, Trussardi 1911
Georgia May Jagger’s Happy Medium
March 11, 2011
“So many of my friends are models and are super-thin,” said Georgia May Jagger at the after party for her latest stint as designer for Hudson Jeans. “And even with them, there is always a bit of muffin top when they wear low-rise jeans. It’s just the nature of low rise.” She added with that famous toothy grin: “They squeeze whatever there is, whether it is fat, or just skin.”
It’s the private dinner following the launch of her jean line for Ben Taverniti’s Hudson at Selfridges, and she and her closest friends and family—including mom Jerry, brother James, friends Cara Delavigne and Mary Charteris—are relaxing at the Club at the Ivy, the private members’ bit of the famous Ivy restaurant. They are doing what rock people do best, dancing and partying, while GMJ lets us in on her design take on jeans: “I looked to my mom’s style as a starting point and decided early on to do a mid rise.” She herself was modeling the Ayesha cut; mom Jerry wore the Jerry jean. “Mid rise is such a perfect compromise, because I personally find both high and low can be uncomfortable. Mid rise holds you in properly, and look cleaner—all you have to do is look at pictures of my mom in the seventies to see what I mean.”
Speaking of pictures, that’s her next project: photography. She’s currently studying at New York’s School of Visual Arts, and was quick to demonstrate: She grabbed our camera for the impromptu self-portrait above. Pretty good, we’d have to admit. But could anyone, even an amateur, take a bad picture of that face?
tags: Georgia May Jagger, Hudson, Jerry Hall
Lynn Ban’s Lovely Weapons
March 10, 2011
As jewelry designer Lynn Ban laid out her silver pieces on a table at the Bowery Hotel’s Gemma restaurant last week, the stark contrast between the antique-chic setting and the industrial-inspired jewelry was marked. But that’s the dichotomy that’s categorized much of the Singaporean designer’s career so far. Ban first made her mark curating a collection of vintage designer clothes for Barneys New York, but her new jewelry endeavor has taken her in a new direction that’s razor-sharp—even a little dangerous.
Ban’s line, which includes silver “finger armor” rings (above), twisted cuffs, and a bold, plated necklace inspired by the protective shield of “bulletproof vests,” made its official debut in Barneys stores last month. But even before that, it turned up in covetable editorials: some of Steven Meisel’s shoots for Vogue Italia, for example, and a Mario Testino spread in V.”I love exploring the idea of something that is beautiful that can either harm or protect you,” the designer explained, waving an arm stacked with hinged handcuff bangles set with diamonds. “It can be in nature or something manmade.” Her twisted propeller cuffs, for example, were inspired by “a large stainless steel ship propeller,” she went on. “I did a variation of this cuff where the edges were inspired by the jagged edge of a chop saw blade—I liked the sculptural form of the propeller in contrast with the sharp blades.”
Sharp, indeed. Has anyone actually been injured by a piece of her jewelry? “Maybe my husband,” she joked. “But they did stop me at airport security on my way to Paris last week because they saw my collection on the monitors and had to ask what it was.” Luckily, you can’t ban a thing of beauty just because it looks dangerous.
tags: Barneys New York, Lynn Ban, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel
They Love You, Baby
March 10, 2011
Paris-based videographer Justin Wu has made a little subspecialty of videos of models lip-synching. If you’ve found a niche, groove with it—which is exactly what he does with a new video created for the newly relaunched LaneCrawford.com. The Hong Kong-based retailer has revamped its entire Web presence, with wide-ranging new content, but our favorite bit is Wu’s “Girls of AW 2011 Fashion Week,” with the season’s star catwalkers—Theres Alexandersson and Hailey Clauson (above) among them, but also Anja and Natasha and Joan and Daphne and Constance and many more—singing along to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.” Check out the full video here.
tags: Anja Rubik, Constance Jablonski, Daphne Groeneveld, Hailey Clauson, Joan Smalls, Justin Wu, Lane Crawford, Natasha Poly, Theres Alexandersson
Signed, Sealed, Delivered?
The Rumors Keep Flying, And More…
March 10, 2011
The word of the day is: signed. That, at least, is what Hint Mag claims Riccardo Tisci has done on Dior’s dotted line. This has been a week full of rumors, and as far as we’re concerned, it ain’t over till Bernard Arnault sings. But that’s never stopped rumors from flying before… [;Hint]
Is Paris starting to seem a little…American? The Times notices that U.S.-based designers like Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors are getting footholds—and retail addresses—in the City of Light like never before, which, some sniff, attests to the “ongoing casualization” of fashion. Sacre bleu! [;NYT]
But Paris wasn’t uniformly friendly to all Americans. Just ask Kanye West: Apparently he (gasp!) wasn’t accommodated when he turned up at the Balmain show. [NY Post]
PETA, the anti-fur group once known for its paint-throwing, runway-disrupting antics, is trying a new tack to make its point these days: parties. See also: Flies, caught with honey vs. vinegar. (Though what PETA’s stand on honey production is, we’re not sure.) [WSJ]
tags: Balmain, Dior, Kanye West, Michael Kors, PETA, Riccardo Tisci, Tommy Hilfiger
