Daphne Wednesdays

I took so many pictures at the Daphne Guinness exhibit, now at The Museum at FIT, that I wasn’t able to use them all in my original post. These pieces of fashion heaven are too beautiful to miss though, so I’m introducing Daphne Wednesdays to showcase some of my favorites.

Today’s feature from Daphne’s closet is a gorgeous pair of Christian Louboutin high heel platform shoes of floral silk jacquard. I’m usually not a shoe gal but I would wear these in a heartbeat. The pattern is so sumptuous and wonderful and reminds me of cloisonné.

I mean, right? I'm dying here, they are so beautiful.

Daphne Guinness is on view through January 7, 2012.

The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue and 27th Street
New York NY 10001-5992
212-217-4558
Hours: Tuesday-Friday: Noon-8PM
Saturday: 10AM-5PM
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and legal holidays
Admission is free

Fashion Walk of Fame: Marc Jacobs

For this month’s Fashion Walk of Fame post, highlighting one of the designers honored with a plaque in NYC’s Garment District on Seventh Avenue, I decided to focus on Marc Jacobs since I’m waiting to hear if he is taking the top job at Dior, replacing John Galliano, who was fired earlier this year. I don’t know why Marc wouldn’t take the job, Dior is a haute couture atelier, which Louis Vuitton and his eponymous label are not, and would seem to present him with the ultimate challenge of what has already been a huge career. I think what he’s done for Louis Vuitton is pretty amazing—I’ve checked out those clothes on several occasions at the Greene Street store in SoHo and they are gorgeous, especially the coats with their sumptuous fabrics and wonderful detailing—so I would love to see what he could do at Dior.

A lace coat and dress from the Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Photo by Monica Feudi.

His plaque reads:

A fashion prodigy, Marc Jacobs has attracted attention from the very beginning of his career. Known for his clever, witty designs, as in his “Freudian slip” dress, he became controversial with his “grunge” collection for Perry Ellis in 1992. His current success, both for Louis Vuitton in Paris and for his own New York-based collections, rests on his ability to meld the past with the present.

Marc after presenting his Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Photo by Monica Feudi.


Marc’s plaque is on Seventh Avenue in NYC, between 40th and 41st Streets (in front of a Burger King!), next to the designer Betsey Johnson.

Links à la Mode: September 22

I'm very excited to have a post selected, for the third time, as an Independent Fashion Bloggers' Links à la Mode, this one for my review of the Daphne Guinness exhibit at The Museum at FIT. It's even better that they used a picture I actually took, but every time I glance at it in this lineup, I get distracted by the picture to the right, showing the blue leopard dress and a Louis Vuitton bag. Nice combination!

What's Old is New... Again.

Edited By: Jessica Thorpe

The saying, "what comes around, goes around" has been proven throughout the history of fashion. Stylish peeps the world over have been stimulated by trends of decades passed time and time again. This weeks Links A La Mode is influenced by your interpretation of fashion fads and trends interpreted to suit our modern world.

The funky 70's boho glam look is in full effect with flowing skirts, high waist lines and chunky platforms. Another trend making a loud avant garde blip on my radar is the classic ladylike look of the 50's and 60's. Women are embracing their curves and enhancing them with shape flattering silhouettes. Lastly, current fashion do's that continue to inspire me are clever use of sheer, crochet, macrame and lace fabrics. And last but not least, retro accessories are back in a huge way; statement bangles, fanny packs and cat eye shades are loud on the fashion forefront.

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: SEPTEMBER 22ND

Denimology: The Time I Met Bill Cunningham

Dress Code: High Fashion: Fashion`s Night Out Berlin 2011

Miss Viki: A fashion conference for bloggers by bloggers

Jimipricute: Dick and Jane

Fashion is Evolution: Missoni Madness!

The Chic Addict: Missoni For Target: It's finally here!

Shrimp Salad Circus: Weigh In: Sexualizing Children

Dress With Courage: Review of the IFB Conference: Lessons Learned

Everything Just So: Daphne Guinness Exhibit Review

Pelin in Style: PARIS, KATE MOSS, HUSSEIN CHALAYAN & more

Missemmamm: Missoni for Target: A Small Town Girl’s Thoughts + Dressing Room Peeks

Elle Yeah: NYFW S/S12 Highlights

Fashion Hacker: How to Follow Fashion Week from Home

Cosmolawlitan: Missoni Shoppers Show Why Fashion Design Protection Is Important

Ethical Fashion Blog: IFB Crystals and Crumpets

Faery: Paris Diaries Vol. 3 - Magic

Fumiko Kawa: Meets With Something Hippie

Style Bizarre: Blogging 101: Fail Better!

Boyish Chic: Fashion Forward: Living in Love

Dolly Dahl: Betsey Johnson Comes To Visit!

SPONSOR: Jackets at Shopbop's Shoptalk: Nightcap, IRO, Smythe, Doma, Alberta Ferretti, Smythe, IRO, Gryphon, Veda Jackets, LAMB, Nation LTD, Duvetica, Kaelen, Surface to Air.

PLEASE READ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE

If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE. The HTML code for this week will be found in the Links a la Mode group will be published later today. ~Jennine

Daphne Speaks

A photo to put it all in context. I'd be nervous too if I had a bunch of people taking my picture and waiting for me to speak. There were flashbulbs going off every second.

Daphne Guinness seemed nervous as she walked to the podium alongside Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, to address the press at the preview of the eponymous exhibit celebrating her style. Who can blame her? People (myself included) jockeyed for position to get a closer look. Flashbulbs went off everywhere. The attention seemed to get the best of her at first and at one point I thought she’d ask everyone to stop taking pictures.

A close-up of the first picture. Notice the way she perches on the platform edge of her shoes.

Still nervous.

Dr. Steele did a fabulous job of engaging Daphne in conversation about the exhibit, which seemed to put her at ease. Among the most interesting points:

Steel approached Guinness two years ago about an exhibit highlighting her amazing couture collection. Guinness was reluctant at first but Steele won her over by convincing her that the show would be an inspiration to FIT students. Dr. Steele also said she and Guinness were in complete agreement that “fashion is worthy of preservation and appreciation.” They both noted that when they began to put the show together, Alexander McQueen, the late British fashion designer and a close friend of Guinness, was still alive. There are over two dozen McQueen pieces included in the exhibit that have never before been on display.


Guinness, 43, said some of her inspirations included Diana Vreeland, Nancy Cunard, Josephine Baker, and the Duchess of Windsor.

When I asked her to talk about her evolution of style and if motherhood changed the way she dressed—she has three children, Stavros, 22, Alexis, 20, and Ines, 16—she said she didn’t dress the way she does now when her children were small. She also said she found she made style mistakes over the years, which she said, “helps to define you, you learn.” She finds she’s now influenced by the people she is around and the projects she is involved in.

She looked right at me as she answered my question. I found her articulate, intelligent, shy, and charming. She has big beautiful brown eyes, an English accent, and a way of making you feel as if you and she are the only people in the room.

Valerie Steele did a great job of engaging Daphne in conversation and putting her at ease. I also think Daphne realized she was among fans and friends, all lovers of fashion!

When a reporter asked her to describe her approach to collecting couture she said she knows a piece is for her when “it sparks something in you, you are intuitively drawn to it.”

She noted that in her youth she wasn’t interested in fashion per se, she was more attuned to artists, but she liked the idea of using fashion as a form of defense. She also said that growing up in London she knew she was an “anti-Sloane Ranger,” which drew a laugh from the crowd. She said that while those young women wanted to wear “the little sweater and the little skirt,” Guinness herself had other desires. “I wanted to wear studded leather,” she said.

The photo of Daphne just outside the exhibit.

When asked what she hoped people would take away from the exhibit she focused on young designers studying the clothes. “Designers love to see how the seams are done, how it’s constructed, how the stitching is done, it’s what they always want to know.”

In closing she remarked that she loved the idea of “chic as a kind of armor,” but stressed, “You can’t be anybody but yourself.”


Daphne Guinness is on view at The Museum at FIT through January 7, 2012.

The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue and 27th Street
New York NY 10001-5992
212-217-4558
Hours: Tuesday-Friday: Noon-8PM
Saturday: 10AM-5PM
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and legal holidays
Admission is free

Daphne’s Closet

Daphne Guinness in a vintage Armani Privé gown. Photo by David Bailey.

That is some couture collection Daphne Guinness has.

Yesterday marked the opening of Daphne Guinness, at The Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, on view until January 7, 2012. The exhibit highlights the couture collection amassed by Ms. Guinness, one of the heirs to the Guinness brewing fortune, and includes approximately 100 garments and accessories, as well as short films by and featuring Guinness herself.

Ensemble by Alexander McQueen, featuring a gorgeous iridescent cape.

Heelless platform shoes made of red crystals and gold medal studs by Noritaka Tatehana.

Organized into six sections, “Dandyism,” “Armor,” “Chic,” “Evening Chic,” “Exoticism,” and “Sparkle,” the show, co-curated by Guinness and Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, offers a look into the never-ending fashion fantasy the combination of money and a profound love of the artistry of couture can create. For those who missed the exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, you can consider this McQueen Redux, since there are many pieces by the late designer, a close friend of Guinness, a dozen of which have never before been displayed.

From the “Armor” section, two sculptural dresses by the late British designer Alexander McQueen.

The exhibition’s design, by Ken Nintzel, is inspired by Guinness’s New York apartment, and from it I can only assume there must be mirrors everywhere in her house, reflecting her look from every angle. Suspended above all is the animated image of Guinness in a silvery catsuit, crowned with a diadem, a Statue of Liberty for the fashion-obsessed.

From the “Dandyism” section, with a focus on tailored pieces, blue jacket by Dior, black jacket by Daphne Guinness and pants from a London punk shop.

From the “Armor” section, dress and hooded cape of slashed metallic foil by Gareth Pugh, and heelless platform shoes of black patent leather by Natacha Marro.

From the “Armor” section, jumpsuit and modified Nina Ricci boots of brown leather and rhinestones.

Most of the pictures I see of Guinness in newspapers and magazines make her seem more the mother of Lady Gaga than the mother of Stavros, Alexis and Ines Niarchos, her three children by her ex-husband Spyros Niarchos, a Greek shipping billionaire. But in the quieter sections of the exhibit, “Chic” and “Evening Chic” especially, you learn the more extreme outfits Ms. Guinness veers toward, which garner the most attention, also have a counterpart: elegant clothing owned by a woman who appreciates the excellence couture provides—the best design, the best materials, the best workmanship. For those of you not inclined to wear, say, a leather catsuit with molded shoulders, you may find yourself understanding (and falling in love with) aspects of Guinness’s aesthetic in these sections of the show. Or maybe that’s just me and the fact that I am a mother myself. Catsuits I don’t understand. Catsuits I don’t do. But a gorgeous black dress with lace inserts by Alaïa? I’m so there.

From the “Chic” section, black dress with lace inserts, white eyelet dress with leather belt, both by Azzedine Alaïa.

From the “Evening Chic” section, a black Chanel dress and a pink Dior gown.

In the “Sparkle” section, a Chanel jacket of ivory sequins on silk net and white feathers.

From the “Sparkle” section, catsuit and cape by Alexander McQueen, made of gold and bronze bugle beads and sequins on silk net, cape of black feathers.

Because so many designers are on display in this exhibit, from McQueen to Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, from Christian Lacroix to Valentino (and many others), for anyone wanting to get up close and personal with couture, this show is not to be missed.

Best of all, admission to the show is FREE.

A book accompanying the exhibit, Daphne Guinness, written by Valerie Steele and Daphne Guinness, will be available for purchase in October. All royalties from sales of the book will benefit the Fashion Institute of Technology.


Come back soon, my next post will cover the remarks given to the press by Ms. Guinness and Ms. Steele, including a question posed to Daphne by me!

From the “Exoticism” section, two Japanese-inspired dresses and chopines by Alexander McQueen for Givenchy.

The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue and 27th Street
New York NY 10001-5992
212-217-4558
Hours: Tuesday-Friday: Noon-8PM
Saturday: 10AM-5PM
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and legal holidays
Admission is free

A Moment of Grace

Grace Coddington, Creative Director of Vogue. Photo by Larry Busacca/GettyImages North America.

The September issue of Vogue, with some great styling by Grace Coddington, the Creative Director, has me excited to think that by this time next year there may be a Grace Coddington memoir to enjoy alongside the 2012 September issue. Grace sold the rights to her upcoming memoir to Random House (for $1.2 million) and will co-write it with Michael Roberts, a Vogue writer. It will cover her modeling days in 1960s London, the car accident that changed her career path, her early days as a stylist and editor at British Vogue, and later, American Vogue. Grace, who was so charming and wonderful to learn about in the documentary The September Issue, turned 70 in April of this year.

I hope there will be lots of pictures of her modeling days. This editorial she styled for the September issue, “My Generation,” makes me think a picture of Grace from the 60s would fit right in next to Natalia’s.

Natalia Vodianova in a Burberry Prorsum coat. Photo by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

Here are a few shots from my favorite September issue ever, 2006, with Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette, which Grace styled, on location at Versailles.

The September 2006 issue of Vogue, featuring Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette in a pink silk dress designed by Milena Canonero and produced by GP11 Rome. Ms. Canonero won an Acacemy Award for costume design for Marie Antoinette. Photo by Annie Leibovitz.

Kirsten in a corseted pink and dove taffeta and chiffon ball gown by Alexander McQueen. Photo by Annie Leibovitz.

Photo by Annie Leibovitz.

I hope once her book comes out Grace will do a reading and signing in Manhattan. I would happily wait in line to meet her!

Missoni for Target & Bill Cunningham New York

Fashion lovers nationwide are lucky enough to have TWO wonderful things being released today. The first is the Missoni for Target collection. It’s really awful how much of this collection I want, from sweaters to pillows to coats to espresso cups. My prediction is by time you read this plenty of items will have sold out online or Target.com will have crashed from all the visitors to the site.


The second release is the DVD of Bill Cunningham New York, the documentary about the beloved street fashion photographer at the New York Times and probably the father of all of us bloggers (one of mine, anyway). You can read my review of the movie here. I’m watching this again as soon as my copy arrives. Here (once more) is a picture I took of Bill working outside of 58th Street and 5th Avenue last Thursday at this year’s Fashion’s Night Out.


I hope all of you lovelies will get a chance to see this documentary soon and if you get your hands on some Missoni for Target, do tell what you bought!

Ladurée Opens in NYC

Some of the macaroon flavors offered by Laduree. Photo from Laduree.fr.

Ladurée opened their first shop in the United States a couple of weeks ago, in Manhattan on Madison Avenue at 71st Street. I’ve read the lines are kind of crazy right now with people wanting to get their hands on their famous macarons flown in from Paris. I plan on making the trek to try them myself, having never had them before. Ladurée New York offers them in 15 favors for $2.70 each. Before I can get there I will have to enjoy the macarons from Almondine, a patisserie that is a block from my house. Almondine makes them in black currant, lemon, pistachio, vanilla, coffee, raspberry, and, my absolute favorite, passionfruit. Yes, please!

Until I get to Ladurée I will enjoy the macarons from my local patisserie Almondine. Top to bottom: pistachio, lemon, passionfruit.

I plan on having a Macaron Smackdown once I get a hold of a few from Ladurée but a friend of mine assures me Ladurée will win any taste test I stage. I will get back to you with the results!

Ladurée New York
864 Madison Avenue (at 71st Street)
New York NY 10021
646-558-3157
Open Monday through Saturday: 9AM to 7PM
Sunday: Noon to 6PM

Fashion’s Night Out 2011 NYC

On Fifth Avenue.

Sequined jacket at Zara.

I love this look from Bergdorf’s.

Glitter Tattoos in a Fifth Avenue window.

Rapunzel and two lumberjacks in a Bergdorf window.

A live marionette in a Bergdorf window.

Shoe by Tom Ford.

Nicholas Kirkwood heels.

The man, the myth, the legend. New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham, in his trademark blue smock, at work on Fashion’s Night Out.


Bill was working away on 58th Street and 5th Avenue, just outside of Bergdorf’s, at 10:30PM. This being Fashion’s Night Out, some people started to recognize who was moving amongst them and three girls even took a picture with him. But there eventually got to be so much attention on him that he held up a finger and said, “One minute,” to further photo requests and then mildly worked his way down the street, still snapping away. A moment later he was gone, as quick as an elf. I’m not kidding, you could not find him at all, it was as though he had vanished. I don’t know how he did it! This is the last picture of him I took before he got away.

IFB Cocktail Party & Conference

At the pre-IFB Conference Cocktail Party at the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan with Tea of The Brunette World, left, and Sonia of In Pursuit of Style, center. Photo by Ivie Ero of My So-Called Corporate Life.

I will let the pictures do the talking. I had a great time at both events put on by the Independent Fashion Bloggers. Tuesday night was the pre-IFB Con Cocktail Party held at the swanky Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan (thank you Vahni of Grit & Glamour for inviting me) and Wednesday was the conference. I went to both with the charming and beautiful Bella of the Citizen Rosebud, who is so fun to hang out with, I wish she lived in Brooklyn so I could see her all the time. It was exciting to meet so many different bloggers and to hear what people at the forefront of the community had to say during the panels. If you get a chance to attend this conference in the future, you have to do it.

Can I tell you how much I love this photo of me with Ari Seth Cohen of Advanced Style? Photo by Ivie Ero of My So-Called Corporate Life.

The glamorous Jasmin of Vintage Vandalizm.

The line to get into Milk Studios, the IFB Conference venue.

This one makes me laugh every time. Standing in line with Bella of the Citizen Rosebud.

After one of the conference panels.

A Missoni-wearing puppet. It was hard not to stare at this thing the whole time. The puppeteers had her 'Tweeting' on her iPhone and looking around and blinking. On the wall behind her were the live Tweets going on about the conference.

With the ultra-stylish Vahni of Grit & Glamour. Photo by the foxy street style photographer Lee Oliveira.