Three Oscar Favorites

I thought there were many wonderful gowns at the Oscars last night but I'm highlighting three here, for very different reasons.

Anne Hathaway and Valentino. Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images.

I thought Anne looked fabulous in this vintage Valentino dress and it was a nice surprise to see Valentino with her on the red carpet. I heard Valentino say to Tim Gunn, who interviewed them both, that he is opening a museum in France which will feature his archives. What? Why am I the last to know these things? When I see this red dress I can't help but laugh and remember how, during a heated moment in the movie Valentino: The Last Emperor, Valentino yells in regards to his signature red gowns, "The red dresses are the most simple and the most stupid!"

Marisa Tomei in Charles James. Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage.

The fashion historian in me was so excited that Marisa Tomei wore a 1950 Charles James gown. I don't entirely love the bodice but the color is wonderful and I especially adore the tulle.

Michelle Williams in Chanel Haute Couture. Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images.

I loved the simplicity and the sparkle of this Chanel gown. Michelle reminds me so much of mid-1960's Mia Farrow with that haircut. I thought she looked lovely and elegant last night.

Which gowns did you most enjoy?

For Your Consideration

In honor of tonight’s 83rd Annual Academy Awards, I am showcasing four amazing, red carpet-worthy necklaces that make up part of the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibit now on view at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Hawaii choker. Paris, France, ca. 1939. Gold sapphires, rubies.

Necklace. New York, NY, 1977. Yellow gold, amethyst, turquoise, diamonds. Also shown, Manchette (cuff) bracelet. Paris, France, 1974. Yellow gold, lapis lazuli.

I was watching Season 3 of The Rachel Zoe Project the other night, and Rachel’s assistant Brad explained that when they use Van Cleef & Arpel jewelry for red carpet appearances, they specifically request things either from the archives or museum-quality pieces, to ensure they are one of a kind. All four of these necklaces fit that bill.

Art Deco necklace. Paris, France, 1928. Diamonds, platinum.

I’m pleased to note that pre-Oscar coverage seems to be starting earlier every year. It’s only fair, football fans have pre-game shows that begin about eight hours before the Superbowl actually gets underway. Really though, I’ve been watching so much Rachel Zoe lately that I feel my own pre-game show started about a week ago.

Necklace. Paris, France, 1957. Yellow gold, topaz, diamonds.

Happy Oscar watching, everyone!

Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels is at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum until June 5, 2011.

www.cooperhewitt.org

Proenza Schouler on Moda Operandi

I couldn’t let New York Fashion Week go by without watching at least one show via livestream and I decided on Proenza Schouler after a few of their spring dresses featured in the February 2011 issue of Vogue caught my eye. I always thought Proenza Schouler wasn’t for me—too young, too cool, too downtown. After seeing their clothes for Fall 2011, however, I think I’ve changed my mind about Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the couple behind Proenza Schouler.

I wasn’t in love with everything, but the jewel-toned colors of some of the dresses, the reds and oranges and greens, were rich and wonderful and when I saw the final dress, shown above, I fell immediately in love with it. Sheer long black sleeves, belted, asymmetrical long skirt, with velvety rectangles in shades of blue and green that reached up and over one shoulder. I’m not sure the still picture does this dress justice, when the model walked the tiny mosaics of color came to life, shimmering with every step she took. The dress wasn’t edgy or downtown or too cool. It was just beautiful.

This stunner is available on Moda Operandi, the new online trunk show I wrote about earlier this month. It is called the Over The Shoulder dress and is described as a black/green/blue/brick print asymmetrical dress with a slim chain strap. It is made of 100% panne jacquard velvet.

Now for the bad news.

It is $17,850. The deposit required to order it is $8,925 and the dress will be ready for delivery sometime between August 15 and September 30, 2011.

This dress is beyond lovely but if I was going to be spending that kind of money on clothes, I would take myself right back to the Chanel Boutique at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and let the fabulous sales associate there, Luba, fit me out in one of the tweed jackets she insisted I try on last November. At $4,200, it seems like a relative bargain in comparison and I’d probably get a lot more use out of it too.

I will continue to monitor Moda Operandi’s offerings and I can hardly wait to find out how they are doing in sales.

$17,850!

Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels

Yesterday marked the opening of the new exhibit Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. It showcases the famed jewelry firm’s contributions to design innovation in the 20th century and includes more than 350 works, including jewels, timepieces, fashion accessories and objets d’art, many commissioned by American clientele. This is the most comprehensive exhibition ever put together of Van Cleef & Arpels’ masterworks.

Organized into six themes: Innovation, Transformation, Nature, Exoticism, Fashion and Personalities, the show brings to light how, since opening on the Place Vendôme in Paris in 1906, Van Cleef & Arpels has been at the forefront of jewelry design and innovation, combining painstaking craftsmanship with unforgettable beauty and style.


One of the most important technical innovations in jewelry design perfected by Van Cleef & Arpels is the “Mystery Setting,” where the setting does not show between the stones, creating a solid field of color. This requires a highly skilled craftsman and a stone specialist, since the stones must not only be cut exactly to fit the setting but also to be matched to exactly the right color. There are many knockout examples on display here but some I particularly loved were the American Bicentennial brooch of 1976, with mystery-set rubies, sapphires and diamonds, the Mystery-Set Ribbon bracelet from 1943, of emeralds, diamonds and platinum, and the 1936 Mystery-Set brooch, shaped like leaves made of rubies, diamonds, yellow gold and platinum.



From the time it opened its doors, Van Cleef & Arpels was known not just for its jewels but its accessories such as the “Minaudière,” an invention of the firm. The Minaudière contained compartments for a compact, lipstick, comb, mirror, calling or dance-card holder (so old school!), pillbox, space for money or a handkerchief, cigarette case (sometimes with a lighter hidden on the side) and many with a hidden clock. Who doesn’t love a multitasking yet elegant clutch? One of my favorites was the Volutes Minaudière from 1935, made of yellow gold, black lacquer and diamonds.


Another hallmark of Van Cleef & Arpels’ work are jewelry pieces that can transform themselves into other different pieces. Look for the Walska bird brooch where the bird’s wings can become earrings and its tail can be made into a brooch. This piece was commissioned to celebrate the owner’s first child and features a stunning 95-carat yellow diamond hanging from the beak of the bird.


The Duchess of Windsor, a renowned lover of jewelry, proposed to Van Cleef & Arpels in 1938 that they create a piece of jewelry that zipped. It was 1951 by time they were able to overcome the technical difficulties in creating what she wanted, a necklace that could be zipped together to make a bracelet. Her famous zip necklace is on display here, made of gold, rubies and diamonds, and shown with the extensions removed and set apart.


The theme of transformation could be applied to Van Cleef & Arpels itself, as the family moved to New York at the outbreak of World War II, with the result that the Parisian company was becoming more and more steeped in American culture and more focused on selling to an American market.


Butterflies are a recurring design motif throughout the history of Van Cleef & Arpels and as such they have made their way into the exhibition. Look for the amazing swirl of butterflies made of Japanese lacquer, found in the museum’s conservatory.

With the excavation of King Tut’s tomb in 1922, Egyptomania swept over the world. Responding to this enthusiasm, Van Cleef & Arpels crafted an “Egyptian” bracelet in 1924, featuring a soaring bird made of emeralds, sapphires and rubies. Also featured here is a silk bag from 1927 topped with an Egyptian odalisque made of gold, two other Egyptian-themed bracelets from 1924, one a Lotus bracelet, the other a bracelet of “Hieroglyphics,” a pyramid pair of lapel clips made of diamonds and platinum, and the Peacock box, circa 1950, made of gold, green and blue enamel and lapis lazuli.


Van Cleef & Arpels have always understood that fashion and jewelry are forever linked and some of the pieces on display showcase how the firm can make stunning works of fashion that perfectly reflect their times. Here are two wonderful examples—a 1968 basketweave purse made of yellow gold and diamonds, and an evening bag from 1927 of gold, black and blue enamel, rock crystal and diamonds.


Van Cleef & Arpels has always had some of the most well-known celebrities, socialites and royalty as clients and the final portion of the exhibit is a hall devoted to them and the glittering things they loved. Call it A Girl and Her Jewels. Three of my favorites are Daisy Fellowes’ “Manchette” emerald and diamond bracelets, which could be fastened together to make a necklace, and an exquisite diamond necklace owned by Eva Peron. Other famous clients represented here include Consuelo Vanderbilt, Barbara Hutton, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Maria Callas, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Elizabeth Taylor.



Don't cry for her, Argentina. Eva Peron once owned this diamond necklace.

Just past the hall is a case filled with jewelry worn by H.S.H. Princess Grace of Monaco. It features the diamond tiara she wore to the 1978 wedding of her daughter Princess Caroline to Philippe Junot. It also includes the set of necklace, bracelet, earrings and ring of cultured pearls and diamonds she received from Prince Rainier upon their engagement.


I never think of myself as a jewelry person and yet I loved everything I saw. I can’t imagine attending a jewelry exhibition that could top this, there is so much bling on display, on loan from Van Cleef & Arpels’ archives and private collections around the world.

Finally, here is a picture of me with local television reporter Lauren Glassberg. She does terrific segments on ABC Channel 7 about fashion, shopping and restaurants and I always love her work. She was at the museum to film a piece on the exhibition but before she started she was kind enough to pose in a picture with me and got her cameraman Gus to take the shot. Thanks Lauren and Gus!

Meeting local news hottie Lauren Glassberg, on the left. Photo taken by her cameraman Gus!

Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels is on view until June 5, 2011.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
2 E. 91 Street (at Fifth Avenue)
New York NY 10128
212-849-8400
www.cooperhewitt.org

Shopping with the Beautiful People

In the January 2011 issue of Vogue there was an article called “Lady and the Trunk” about Lauren Santo Domingo’s new venture to launch the online trunk show, Moda Operandi.

Lauren Santo Domingo in the January 2011 issue of Vogue. Photo by Robbie Fimmano.

According to Ms. Santo Domingo, Moda Operandi would offer a chance for fashion shoppers at the top to buy designers’ looks straight from the runway, clothes that may never make it to the stores if buyers don’t order them. I didn’t have a problem with this concept as it was described, what drove me crazy about this article was the following quote from Ms. Santo Domingo:

“The women with the wherewithal to purchase those clothes off the runway are being shut out,” Santo Domingo says. “For a lot of reasons, it’s impossible to get these items.”

Excuse me? Shut out? Ms. Santo Domingo is a Contributing Editor at Vogue, and married to Andrés Santo Domingo, a hugely wealthy Colombian beer heir. Her great big wedding dress, made by Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci, worn during her January 2008 nuptials, is now part of the collection of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If she saw a look on a runway she had to have I find it very hard to believe she couldn’t call up, say, Prada and ask, “Miuccia, will you please make look 42 for me?”

This dress, by Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci, took over 1,200 hours to make. Photo by Arthur Elgort.

My general disgust for this quote led me to contribute to a lively discussion over at The Taxonomy of My Wardrobe, where the divine Veshoevius was talking about the completely unrealistic and often ridiculous clothes offered in fashion magazines lately. The general consensus was Thank God for Blogs, to help keep fashion real.

I found Moda Operandi’s new website and saw they are now taking applications for membership. There is a disclaimer at the bottom of the application to the effect that not everyone who applies will receive membership. It’s not just a matter of giving your name and email. You have to list your favorite designers and give your occupation and tell your zip code too. I was surprised I didn’t have to divulge my bank account and current financials.

I applied for membership, thinking if my Brooklyn zip code didn’t do me in, then my occupation of freelance writer/fashion blogger would kill any chance I had. I filled in the application on a lark since I expected to get a rejection email, which I would then turn into an angry rant to post here about the disgusting sense of entitlement that so very many New Yorkers display and how they then launch companies based upon that sense of entitlement and just who do they think they are, anyway?

Well.

What I got instead of a rejection was an email telling me my membership was approved. Either it’s not as exclusive as they claimed or maybe Ms. Santo Domingo’s business partner, Aslaug Magnusdottir, who was the Vice President of Merchandising at Gilt Noir, a branch of Gilt Groupe (albeit reserved for the biggest spenders who dropped 10K or more in a single year), knows they must cast a much wider net than just Manhattan fashion fanatics to make this company work.

The website is scheduled to launch today, featuring the Fall 2011 looks available from Alexander Wang. I am curious about the fashion on offer. I am even more curious about the prices and how Moda Operandi will deal with sizing and returns. I’ve read online that Ms. Santo Domingo has stressed this is not a “buy now, wear now” kind of experience. She’s right, it reminds me instead of the old military joke of “Hurry up and wait.” You only have a certain number of days to preorder pieces from a designer’s runway show and whatever you select will require a 50% deposit. It will then, however, take anywhere from six weeks to six months to receive your purchase. Fast fashion this is not. But will your ardor grow for that little Proenza Schouler number you ordered months ago or will it be disappointment in a box, made worse by your high expectations during all that waiting?

If you fill out the Moda Operandi membership application let me know how it goes for you. I’m sure you’re a shoo-in. Or is that a shoe-in?

www.modaoperandi.com

Last Call: Balenciaga

Balenciaga evening dress and stole, 1952
Frances McLaughlin-Gill/Vogue; Copyright © Condé Nast

This Saturday, February 19, 2011, is the final day to view the exhibit BALENCIAGA: Spanish Master at the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute in Manhattan before it makes its way to San Francisco and the de Young Museum. It will be expanded, renamed Balenciaga and Spain, and will run from March 26 until July 4, 2011.

All you lucky Californians, or visitors to the Golden State, need to see this exhibit because it is divine.

www.queensofiasi.org

New York Fashion Week: Two Disappointments and One Good Thing

New York Fashion Week starts tomorrow and runs until February 17. I’m sad to report I won’t be joining any of the fabulous people at the shows to see what designers have dreamed up for Fall 2011. Okay, I didn’t actually try to get into any of them, although I did send my resume to IMG, the producers of Fashion Week, because they use volunteers to help put the shows together. They didn’t accept me because either a) I’m not fabulous enough (entirely possible), or b) they really did, as they claimed in their nice rejection letter, fill all the available spots and would I please try again for the Spring 2012 shows in September. Maybe I will.



Then I learned that tickets for the Independent Fashion Bloggers Evolving Influence Conference, on February 10, are sold out. I’m disappointed because I so wanted to meet Vahni of Grit & Glamour, who will be moderating “The Business of Blogging” workshop. I would also love to hear what Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler have to tell fashion bloggers in their keynote speech. I guess I will be live-streaming it like everyone else who can’t attend.


Making up for everything is the wonderful invitation I received to attend the February 17 Press Preview at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for the exhibit Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels. I’m so excited! Millions of dollars' worth of vintage Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry on display, including Grace Kelly’s engagement set, an amethyst, coral and diamond bracelet owned by Elizabeth Taylor, and pieces commissioned by the Duchess of Windsor. I can’t wait, it’s almost like I’m going to be in an episode of The Rachel Zoe Project, Season 3, the one where Rachel and her assistant Brad are selecting jewelry for their clients to wear to the Golden Globes and they clean out the entire tray of Van Cleef & Arpels on loan.

Look for my full report on February 18, the day the show opens.

Yves & Me

I received this gorgeous book, Yves Saint Laurent, as a Christmas present from my mother. Thanks, Mom! Have I had time to give it the attention it deserves? No, I have not. The endless snow is certainly conspiring to keep me inside and open the book, however, and last week I finally had a chance to take advantage of it.

The book, by Florence Müller and Farid Chenoune, accompanied the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective held last year at the Petit Palais in Paris and this book is a gem. A huge, heavy gem. It covers Saint Laurent’s earliest days as a young fledgling designer, entering a 1953 fashion drawing competition (3rd prize in the “dress” category), through his time in the mid-fifties working for Christian Dior, opening his own couture house in 1961, starting the ready-to-wear line Saint Laurent Rive Gauche in 1966, up until his retirement in 2002. There were over 300 pieces on display in the retrospective and a picture of every one of them is in this book.

Spring-Summer 1981 Haute Couture Collection. Exhibit installation photo by Alexandre Guirkinger

One of the reasons I started my blog was to learn about great designers of the past, their artistry, their techniques, their personalities, the circles they traveled in, what their lives must’ve been like, and to share some of what I learn here. I’m not an expert on Yves Saint Laurent, but looking through this book makes me want to be one.

Saint Laurent Rive Gauche ad, Photo by David Seidner

Fall-Winter 1975 Haute Couture Collection, Photo by Helmut Newton

And yet, while I’m still learning about Saint Laurent, the pictures from the book make me feel I already have a deep connection to him. The power of print! I must’ve seen these clothes in the fashion magazines my mother had around the house when I was growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s, they feel so familiar to me. And I can see how the shapes Saint Laurent created for women helped define over two decades of fashion. All those cool androgynous pantsuits and tuxedos. The Safari jacket! Le Smoking! So sleek and adult and glamorous!

©Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent

Besides the pictures, interviews, and detailed chronology of Saint Laurent’s life and career, one feature I love in this book is the fabric swatches. They appear throughout in every color. On the opposite page of the montage of pinks is this quote: “My favorite color, after black, is pink.” Hey, Yves! Me too!

Stills from Belle de Jour, 1967 © Cat's Collection/Corbis and ©1967 StudioCanal

The stills from Belle de Jour, the 1967 movie starring Catherine Deneuve, remind me of living in Austin, Texas. They always had old movie revivals playing in the local theaters there and I first saw Belle de Jour at one of them in 1995. I remember loving the clothes, especially the jackets. I need to get this movie from Netflix so I can see it again.

Yves and Nan Kempner, 1978. Photo by Robin Platzer/Time Life Pictures-Getty Images

Although it is not in the book, I can’t help adding this 1978 picture of Yves with the American socialite Nan Kempner. It is so disco-era and the expressions on their faces make me laugh every time. Nan was Yves’s biggest fan. By the end of her life in 2005, she owned 1,000 couture pieces. Of those, 376 of them were made by Yves Saint Laurent. Talk about love (and money, lots and lots of money).

French Resistance?

I learned of a new book to be published in April that I know I will not be able to resist, Parisian Chic: A Style Guide by Inès de la Fressange (with Sophie Gachet).

I’m interested in this book for a couple of reasons. One, because I know Ms. de la Fressange was a muse to Karl Lagerfeld and in the 1980’s was the face of Chanel. Here she is in a 1986 picture featured in Chanel: Collections and Creations by Danièle Bott. I love the sequined suit with the gold trim replicating the chain handle of a Chanel 2.55 bag. So Dynasty!


Also, Francophile that I am, I cannot a resist a book with the words “Parisian Chic” in the title. I will at least pick it up to have a look, even if I don’t buy it (although, I know myself, I’ll probably buy it).

Going through my closet I pulled this look together for the theme of Parisian Chic.

Trench—London Fog
Scarf—Adrienne Vittadini
Sailor shirt—J. Crew
Belt—Calvin Klein
Jeans—Levi’s
Silver ballet flats—Bandolino
Vintage Chanel bag (a baby 2.55)
Nail polish—Revlon, Frankly Scarlet

Of course I can’t go out wearing this today because it’s about 30 degrees outside here in New York, with sidewalks covered in ice. I’ll wait until April, for this look and Inès’s book.