Armani Prive Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Bad news for the brown-, black- and red-haired models who wanted to walk in Armani’s couture show. The Italian designer chose to work only with blonde models this time. He gave them all a classic and feminine look, with a business touch.

The girls wore Armani classics; skirts at a decent knee-length and perfectly tailored jackets. One black croco leather jacket with a waist belt worn over it looked stunning.

The theme of the collection was ‘A play on amber’. This was visible in the large wooden and amber brooches Armani put on his jackets. They were the perfect classic accessory and really made the looks work.

For evening Armani brought on the floor sweeping dresses, mostly in brown and beige like the rest of this couture collection. They all flared out form the bust down. Armani used some gorgeous draping on the dresses. He played with materials like tweed and cashmere. And he ended the show with some mermaid dresses covered in thousands of shiny sequins.

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Jean Paul Gaultier’s couture collection was all about proportions. The designer accentuated the shoulders and the waists of his designs and therefore made his models look super feminine. His shoulders were not highlighted like on a regular eighties dress, they had extra (thick) fabric and even fur on them which was placed on a big part of the sleeves.

All models wore hat sculptures, which, regardless of their crazy shape, looked quite elegant.

The collection was an obvious fall/winter collection; lots of leather, lots of fur and lots of black. There were a few outfits in remarkable colors though, like a bright green dress, a yellow (almost neon) one and a purple jumpsuit.

With a few looks Jean Paul Gaultier was reminiscing his previous success items. He for instance emphasized the boobs and buts of one outfit by placing a cone of black mink on them to remind us of his already unforgettable cone bra moment.

The whole collection felt very Parisian chic; the models looked sexy and feminine. Dita von Teese’s appearance was the perfect match for this kind of fashion show. The burlesque artist walked the catwalk twice in a detailed lingerie look to promote the upcoming lingerie line of JPG and La Perla.

Chanel Haute Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

The setting of the Chanel Couture show was a round stage on which a huge bronze Lion was standing. Getting the lion inside of the area must have been just as hard as it was with the iceberg, cause it was HUGE! The lion’s front paw was resting on what looked like a giant pearl. From out of that ball Lagerfeld’s models appeared.

The girls made a tangled impression; their hair was messy and most times was hanging all in front of their faces. The clothes on the contrary were flawless. Karl Lagerfeld designed many typical Chanel suits. They were made out of tweed, camel, velvet and many other thick autumn fabrics. The focus was often on the sleeves; those were loose and had pleats.

Karl also played with his jackets; he let his models wear short jackets over long ones and made them look like a one-piece. His skirts were all at knee-length or longer and were often wide like the skirts at the latest Louis Vuitton show. The waists of the outfits were small.

All creations came in shades like maroon, brown, camel and navy. They were highlighted by gold details;  embroideries, sequins and beadings. Eye-catching bracelets and golden boots completed the gorgeous looks.

And we sure hope that big lion was a sign of Karl Lagerfeld saying ‘Holland is going to win the World Cup’. We’ll see about that on Sunday.

Ps. This week rumours were spread about Lagerfeld appearing on Gossip Girl any time soon. Since Blake Lively and Leigthon Meester from that serie attented the Chanel show we think it’s not going to be long before we see Karl on TV.

Christian Dior Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

John Galliano kicked of the haute couture fashion week with a ‘flowerful’ collection. His creations were based on the most exotic flowers. They had outstanding shapes (resembling the shapes of famous flowers) and gorgeous colors (yellow, purple, cobalt blue, turquoise and red).

To stress the floral theme large flowers were the backdrop of this couture show. Plus, the model’s heads were packed in colorful plastic, like bouquets.

Galliano came up with his designs after studying real flowers for hours and hours. He for instance watched the light change on a tulip, which resulted in some stunning shades and a few amazing degrade effects.

Galliano paid attention to every details of his couture gowns. The ruffles, the feathers, the pleats and the lovely volume of his dresses were all close to perfection.

On the night of the next big gala event, Blake Lively, Jessica Alba, and Lou Doillon, who attended the show, will be fighting over these smoking hot couture creations.

Jan Taminiau Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Next week we will have to miss him at the Amsterdam Fashion Week. But this week Jan Taminiau gave his audience in Paris a good look at his great couture collection.

His latest work seemed to be an homage to and a reflection of couture. No mass fashion but craftsmanship and attention and love for qualitative goods are the things Jan Taminiau sees in his future.

And with this theme Jan gives his view on the future, the past and the now. Therefore the collection was all about reflection. Jan played with classical silhouettes, accessories and poses and made them modern again. His silhouettes were tall, small and slender and gave the models a certain status.

His creations didn’t have a lot of color. They were made out of grey, light pink and nudes. They were never boring though; Jan embellished them with small sparkles. Sometimes only on the upper body, sometimes all over the fabric.

Like we see in fashion right now the shoulders of most of the outfits were highlighted. Yet instead of the sharp, pointy shoulders we now see in stores, Jan designed round shoulders in more of a couture style.

All looks were finished by large hats out of which slim ponytails appeared. They made the looks feel heroic.

Too bad Jan Taminiau doesn’t show in Amsterdam this season, his collection looked stunning.

The most Gaga-worthy outfits for SS2010

There’s no doubt Lady Gaga’s success has something to do with the way she dresses. From day one she has looked out of the ordinary with her structured creations, body-exposing outfits and crazy headgear. She has been wearing those extreme designer outfits no one dares to wear in public and therefore she’s always in the news…

We’ve seen Lady Gaga in Armani prive, Gareth Pugh, Jeremy Scott, Chanel and Hussein Chalayan to name a few. The pop-diva has also worn some Viktor & Rolf creations before. The Dutch designers even got to make an outfit for Gaga’s video Telephone. But apart from all those designs, we think there are many more looks that would get Lady Gaga’s approval.

Out of all the spring/summer fashion shows we selected the most Gaga-worthy outfits. Those pieces mostly have crazy shapes, they show a lot of skin and several times they go with an eye-catching headpiece.

We selected multiple black body-revealing dresses with cut-outs, wholes and tears all over them (Asish, Byblos, Julian Macdonald, Mark Fast).

We picked out over the top hats from Aguggini (large with zebra-print), Jean Paul Gaultier (blue with Napoleon shape), Givenchy (shape of a lamp shade) and Watanabe (strange kind of turban).

We chose for two designs with accentuated shoulders. At Ilincic the shoulders were huge and made out of feathers, at Todd Lynn they resembled shark fins.

The opted for the Giles dress because of the big spiders and we picked Julian Macdonald’s dress because of the scales. Alexander McQueen’s outfits need no explanation; Gaga has already worn one of those (incl. the crazy shoes) in her video Bad Romance and we think Gaga would actually love to wear all of his designs.

Unfortunately Gaga’s on-and-off boyfriend Matthew Williamson didn’t design anything kinky that that would suit her. Yet we think there’s more than enough to choose from for the 23-year old singer. And if she doesn’t find the right outfit, she can always ask a designer to make one for her. Cause designers understand that Lady Gaga wearing one of your outfits is good publicity and they’ll do anything to make that happen.

Hair & Make-up suggestions for the Oscars

When going to the Oscars not only your dress has to look stunning. Your hair, as well as your make-up, has to be mind-blowing. Your overall look just need to be special and different from any other party or award show.

Thus, just letting your hair hang loose is not an option. It has to look like you put some effort into it. You’d have to pin it up, let it braid or let it curl.

The all-time favorite hairstyle at the Oscars seems to be a classical pinned up style. Perhaps finished with a nice hair accessory and eye-catching earrings. Yet while braids have got very popular last year we might see some of that at the Oscars as well.

At the haute couture shows in Paris the hair and make-up looked dramatically over the top. Big, old-fashioned hairstyles were presented and some of the make-up felt a bit drag queenish. Yet trends at fashion shows always get extremily magnified. So it’s good to get some inspiration from it and turn it into your own style.

Just always keep in mind that the Oscars deserve an ultra special look.

Haute Couture 2010: Oscar Potentials

With the 82^nd edition of the Academy Awards just one month away, we thought it was about time to have a dress-room talk….

A lot has to be arranged before a famous actress wears a designer gown to the Oscars. Stylists first have to order several dresses. Those have to fit or else be altered. Then the search starts for the right shoes and accessories. Finally, the whole look has to be approved and if a celebrity decides it just isn’t the right dress, there needs to be time to find another one. So one month is not that long of a period.

The Haute Couture collections shown in Paris had a lot of potential dresses for the Oscars. While watching the shows we could already vision Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Angelina Jolie in the beautiful gowns that were presented.

At the Armani Prive show three dresses seemed ready to battle for the Oscars. The best one was a strapless black dress with a small part of the dress covering one shoulder.

The Chanel collection had quite a few dresses that just belong at the Oscar-show. Lagerfeld’s gorgeous silver and pastel combinations with exquisite embroideries are sure to look swell on almost any Hollywood star. And the yellow pastel strapless gown with the classical silver adornment needs to be shown on the red carpet, if you ask us.

For Dior, John Galliano created a lot of voluptuous white gowns. Last year white was a huge hit at the Ocars. But maybe this year it’s time for a little more color. Dior’s deep red gown with pastel colored top and back might just be the real thing for Oscar nominee Sandra Bullock.

At the Jean Paul Gaultier show one blue and silver dress had some nice elements. Yet it could be a bit over the top for the red carpet. The rest of JPG’s dresses didn’t seem very appropriate for the Oscars either. JPG had used many different themes in his collection, so his dresses were a bit too playful.

Elie Saab’s mind-blowing dresses on the other hand simply earn a spot on the red carpet.  Their washed out colors, chiffon frills and sparkling silver beading just looked so graceful, feminine and seriously chic. A minty green Elie Saab dress stood for perfection.

The Valentino collection had many youthful color combinations and therefore not a lot of Valentino gowns looked appropriate for the Oscars. Still we think the red and bright yellow gowns might stand a good chance on the big night.

The closer we get to the Oscars, the more exciting it will become. Which dresses will celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe get a hold of? And which stars will pull off a fifties dress, like Penelope Cruz did last year? Will there be any huge fashion flunks? What color trend will we see this year? And which of our Oscar Potentials will we meet on the red carpet on 7 March.

One thing’s for sure: all A-listers want the best-looking, most lengthening, figure-narrowing gown on the planet, so the competition is on!

Armani Privé Haute Couture Catwalk Fashion Show ss2010

It was obvious that Giorgio Armani’s haute couturecollection was all about the moon. It was in the colors – from midnight blue to moon-white – in the buttons and closures, in the rounded silhouette, in the curvy cutting and in the embroideries made to look like craters of the moon. For evening there were sparkling silver beading at dresses, pale metallic pinks and greens and many shiny sequins.

Surely there are some designs we will see again during the Oscar Awards. Especially the long, figure-narrowing dresses in black with white or cream.

Christian Dior Haute Couture Catwalk Fashion Show ss2010

Elegant amazones walked the small runway at the first floor of the Christian Dior store in Paris. Kylie Minogue was sitting front row, as was Dita von Teese and Tavi, the 13 year old fashionblogger from Chicago.

John Galliano took a picture of couturier Charles James as his inspiration for the ss2010 haute couture-collection. And it was a sensory overload as usual. This time Galliano’s researchtrip went to the Metropolitan Museum where the gowns of Charles James caught his eye. There he saw a  picture of the designer – who influenced Monsieur Dior to come up with the New Look – with an image of women riding sidesaddle in the backround. The result is a collection full of riding skirts with nip-waisted jackets, frothy cocktail dresses and satin ballgowns. Colors went from black, white an red to purple, orange, green and pastelshades.

The refined elegance, the strong women and the longer skirts and accent at the waist will influence a whole new silhouette for the coming seasons.

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