Luxor Oblelisk in Paris

Luxor Oblelisk, Place de la Concorde in Paris

Two, 3,300 years old twin oblelisks one marked the entrance to the Luxor temple.

Photo: Marco de Rivera Paris 2012

Yulia Yanina

"A voir les silhouettes longues et graciles, d’une distinction à la fois altière et éthérée, comme entre deux mondes, qui composaient un étonnant ballet sous les ors et les lambris de l’Ambassade de Russie à Paris pour les besoins de son défilé (le second présenté dans notre capitale), on s’imagine leur créatrice à l’image de ces « petites sœurs » d’Anna Karénine. Regrettable à priori ! Ni teint d’endive, ni élégante anémie, Yulia Yanina a cette blondeur généreuse, ce regard d’une pétillante clarté et surtout cette irradiante mobilité dans le visage lui permettant de passer en une fraction de seconde de la plus tonique exubérance à la plus mélancolique nostalgie, qui la relient à ces héroïnes fortes et fragiles à la fois peuplant l’œuvre d’Anton Tchekhov. A l’instar d’Olga, de Maria et d’Irina Sergueïvna Prozorova, « les trois sœurs » de l’une des pièces parmi les plus célèbres du dramaturge, Yulia Yanina paraît comme porter en elle toutes les facettes et tous les paradoxes propres à l’âme russe." P.Dayan

Denija Sarkanbiskse

Denija Sarkanbiskse in Yulia Yanina Couture 2012 &

Défilé Givenchy - Haute Couture. Paris

Yulia Yanina Couture Collection S/S 2012

Yulia Yanina Couture Collection Spring/Summer 2012

Paris

MODA GOA

Wendell Rodricks places the history of Goan Costume in the spotlight for an archive that has never been researched. Through the book, Rodricks traces the early settlers, the world’s first Indo-Western clothes and the final return to Indian dress after the Portuguese left Goa.Through illustrations by European travelers, a wealth of photographs by Mark Sequeira and Bharat Ramamurtham and access to the fine clothing and jewelery of Goans, Wendell Rodricks makes a debut as author to reveal a rich tapestry of history, clothing and passionate prose taking the reader to the beauty and back waters of India’s golden state.

Yulia Yanina Couture Spring Summer 2012

Yulia Yanina Couture 2012 collection was meant to evoke a dreamy and romantic feeling but may have reminded us instead that couture is meant to be worn, if only once .

A 24 HOURS MUSSEUM PRADA

Anna Wintour & Jonathan Newhouse & Franca Sozzani

Miucca Prada & Patrizio Bertelli

Paris 2012

Paris Couture! Yulia Yanina

Paris Haute Couture S/S 2012 ! Yulia Yanina unvelis new collection with gowns fit for the

red carpet

Photo: Violeta Sanchez in Yulia Yanina by Marco de Rivera

Yulia Yanina Couture Collection S/S 2012

Yulia YAnina Couture Collection S/S 2012

Save the date : 24 January 2012 at 17H00

Photo : Yanina's Fitting by Marco de Rivera

Yulia Yanina's Pre-Fall 2012 RTW COLLECTION

ZUZANNA STANKIEWICZ

Olivier Saillard & Violeta Sanchez ....

Fashion in Motion: Olivier Saillard - Victoria and Albert Museum

www.vam.ac.uk

Join Olivier Saillard for an exclusive boutique-style performance on Friday 20 January 2012

Marc Audibet

Marc Audibet for Salvatore Ferragamo

"Parish" sandalo in vernice nera zeppa laccata bianca.

" Parish" wedge sandal in black patent leather white lacquer.

Paris: Brigitte Bardot plein la vue, de Marie-Dominique Lelièvre

Paris: Brigitte Bardot plein la vue, de Marie-Dominique Lelièvre

Marc Audibet by Marylou Luther

Dear Marylou: You have written about next spring's revivals of the 1920s. Are bias-cut gowns part of the remix? -- A.S., Staten Island, N.Y.

Dear A.S.: Yes! The evening dress in Marc Audibet's illustration is a bias-cut example from his time as Vionnet's designer. Madeleine Vionnet, who died in 1975, invented the bias cut -- fabric cut on the diagonal to the grain of the cloth, thereby enabling it to cling to the body while moving with the wearer. Until that time, most clothes were shaped by infrastructures that included boning and all sorts of corsetry.

Several designers have carried on her legacy, including the current Vionnet designers, Barbara and Lucia Croce.

The dress by Audibet, who has worked for Prada and Salvatore Ferragamo and is now on his own, is a masterpiece of geometric placement at the bodice and hips that allows the fabric to ease over the body into a short train.

Dear Marylou: What do you see as the most functional clothes ahead -- fashion-functional, that is. -- E.N., Cleveland

Dear E.N.: Of all the name designers, New York's Narciso Rodriguez showed the most creative double-duty clothes in his pre-fall collection for 2012. For example, he offers reversible coats with detachable fox-fur sleeves. As he explained: "I like things that are functional." (I say that function is also an unction for most women, and I predict he will have great success with these designs.)

Dear Marylou: With stores now pulsating with color and prints, I find it difficult to find neutral shades. To me, those two elements make clothes too memorable, and therefore short-lived. They also seem to evoke comments such as "That's so-and-so's purple dress" or "That's her geometric coat." Please comment. -- T.J.J., Newark, N.J.

Dear T.J.J.: I believe customers are attracted to color but don't always buy it. That said, in Texas and Florida and in Southern California, color sells measurably more than in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. I think it has to do with the weather. Hot weather, hot colors.

Simon Doonan, Barneys New York's creative ambassador, has another take on color and the reason that less is more right now. As he opined in Slate, the top 1 percenters have adopted a nondescript way of dressing. "It's spare simplicity with fancy labels. It's a white gold Rolex that resembles a plain old tin Timex. It's L.L. Bean-style basics with haute-couture prices. This breathy, low-key mode of camouflage is described by its proponents as 'quiet luxury,' " Doonan said.

He went on to point out that the new sect he calls "The Quiet Luxurians" was exemplified by a woman he watched boarding a plane. "To the untrained eye, her sensible and discreetly accessorized slacks 'n' sweater ensemble rendered her all but invisible," he said. "Her monochromatic, tawny, fawny outfit was severely ascetic and suggested a raging antipathy toward self-indulgent glamour. And yet my estimate of the total cost of her outfit, including a T. Anthony nylon tote, Hermes purse, Tod's drivers and gold bangle? A quiet 25 grand."

If Doonan is right in psyching out trends -- and he usually is -- this could well be a moment for the beige and grays you seek in fashion's new neutral zone.

Dear Marylou: I'm appalled by the prices of alligator or crocodile belts -- the ones fashion magazines say are among the tippy-top trends of the season. Can you recommend a good imitation? -- E.P., Denver

Dear E.P.: Before you go to mock croc, try men's shops and men's departments in department stores, where real alligator belts are priced far below those of women's alligator belts. And don't worry too much if you have to buy a couple of sizes larger than your waistline requires. It's fashionable now to let the end of your belt dangle below your waist. If the dangling belt doesn't look right for your needs, ask the people at any shoe repair shop to cut your belt.

By Marylou Luther

Yulia Yanina

Brigitte Bardot plein la vue, de Marie-Dominique Lelièvre

Brigitte : pour beaucoup, elle restera la Française la plus belle du monde. Bourgeoise de Passy, elle fut mannequin junior avant de rencontrer l’hédoniste Roger Vadim, dont elle s’éprend à 16 ans et qu’elle épouse à 18 ans.
B.B. : « Et Dieu... créa la femme », l’acte de naissance d’un monde nouveau, fait tout basculer. Le petit fauve sexy est pris dans un tourbillon médiatique dont elle ne sortira pas indemne...
Bardot : après Gainsbourg, Sagan et Saint Laurent, Marie-Dominique Lelièvre dissèque celle qui s’est montrée libre comme un homme. Voici l’unique actrice à l’énergie solaire. La femme fragile et possessive. Le coeur d’artichaut qui a collectionné les amants et les maris. La piètre mère qui ne croit pas aux liens du sang. L’ensemble formant un portrait aussi senti que stylé.

Par Valérie Gans, Bernard Chapuis

Brigitte Bardot plein la vue, de Marie-Dominique Lelièvre

Brigitte Bardot, le mythe continue

Une nouvelle biographie signée Marie-Dominique Lelièvre revisite le parcours de la légende.

• Brigitte Bardot plein la vue, de Marie-Dominique Lelièvre, Flammarion

Ai Weiwei Paris 2012

• Ai Weiwei, Jeu de Paume, du 21 février au 29 avril

Le Chinois qui, dans son pays, défie la censure est l'invité d'honneur de l'institution. Né à Pékin, en 1957, fils du poète Ai Qing, Ai Wei Wei symbolise l'artiste agent provocateur, jusqu'au cachot. Il a étudié à New York, dans les années 80 et a découvert Allen Ginsberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol et surtou Marcel Duchamp. Une expo terriblement d'actualité. Parallèlement, le Jeu de Paume rend hommage à la grande Berenice Abbott, qui a photographié New York durant le krach de 1929. C'est sa première rétrospective française en 140 photos, une série d'ouvrages originaux et de documents inédits.