02/26/08
Bless can't be found in Chicago yet (although I could imagine a few of the accessories—cool jewelrey, "sock boots"—at Hejfina), but I go to the show because it's so much fun. It's artistic, quirky, and unlike anything you'd see during Fashion Week.
Bless dabbles in a bit of everything—beauty products, books, jewelry, fur wigs—often in collaboration with other artists. And their way of staging shows is full of the same surprise you would expect from an art collective based in Berlin and Paris. Last year, they staged a soccer match. This year, invitees entered a large...
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02/24/08
Salut from Paris, where I'll be covering the Women's Ready-to-Wear Fall 2008 collections all week for this blog.
If you don't follow the twice-yearly marathon that is Fashion Week (there are actually four consecutive fashion weeks—New York, London, Milan, and then Paris), allow me to set the mood of this season and recap what we've seen so far. Umm, okay, the truth is, it isn't easy to sum up the mood yet, before Paris, which is when the major ideas emerge and things start to gel. Fashion director Stacey Jones flew in from Milan last night, and we tried to hash out what we've seen at the shows so far...
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10/11/07
Paris Fashion Week is terminé. And while you're checking out the new talent in Chicago—and perhaps still trying to process the colorful surreality at Vuitton (I know I am)—I'd like to offer a postscript or two.
Rodnik
On Monday, I chatted with Rich and Phil, the guys behind the new label Rodnik. If the retailers picking them up are any indication (ikram and Barney's for this season), these guys have got chops. And also humor...
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10/09/07
Stella McCartney keeps it real, and thus brings something very special to Paris Fashion Week. Her silly invitations make you smile (this year, it was a small magnetic board with six letters spelling out "STELLA"). It's admirable that she'll donate the huge wall of greenery which served as backdrop for her show to a housing project in Paris. And then there's the way she tells her models to smile. What fun...
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10/08/07
Today was wonderful. Big shows, and not a clunker in the bunch. I left Nina Ricci feeling like my feet couldn't touch the ground. Part of the uplift came from the purity of the staging. The models walked into the blackened tent from a sun-drenched crack at the far end, which opened onto the Tuileries gardens. The music was classical stringed instruments. The show felt pure and impassioned...
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10/07/07
If France, you have to have a paper ticket to get into the shows. They arrive via messenger or post, often the day before the event (because the PR people need to scramble to make sure the front row ranks are just right). All of this means you may not know if you're invited until the last minute. Sometimes the tickets just never come, and it's a sad, Waiting-for-Godot situation. I had a scare regarding Chanel (it arrived eventually, after some phone calls), and wasn't invited to Dior, Valentino, or Dries Van Noten this season...
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10/06/07
After the Chloe show today, we headed to one of Stacey's and my favorite shows of the week: Martin Grant. It's a low-key affair. No Kanye West, no Courtney Love—just people who work in fashion and a socialite or two (Lee Radziwell is always there)...
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10/06/07
Watching the work of your fashion heroes during this week is fun, but even more fun is discovering new people who inspire. Here's a look back at the three steps it took for me to fall in love with the so-new-she's-still-unsigned French singer Soko. STEP 1: Tuesday night, I took my friend Sened to the Jeremy Scott/Colette party at Elysée Montmartre...
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10/05/07
When I saw Scott Shuman of The Sartorialist outside of Chanel this morning, I promptly ambushed him with my Chicago fashion question.
First off, he had to give love to the city by saying that he remembers getting really excited to check out Ultimo when he visited in the '80s (Scott's from Indianapolis). As far as shooting street style, he thinks there are neighborhoods that are good, but so many Chicagoans drive, which makes it hard...
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10/05/07
Ah, Chanel. You could never mistake it for any other show, even if Karl Lagerfeld incorporates other trends that are in vogue.
Just pick any of this season's nouveautés and it will be there, but looking very Chanel, of course. Romper onesie? Check. Transparency? Check. '90s Nirvana plaid, wide legged denim, black and white graphics? Check, check, check...
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42.0F
Chicago's fashion news editor Elisabeth Fourmont takes you from the front rows of the runway to behind the scenes at the designer ateliers and parties of Paris and New York Fashion Weeks. She also chats with Chicago retailers and models in town for the shows, and posts snapshots of the runway, the streets, and all things aesthetically pleasing. Elsewhere, you can find Elisabeth writing about fashion and France on her personal blog, La Coquette.
