13 March 2009
LONDON (Reuters) – Sotheby's will sell the contents of late Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace's weekend villa by Lake Como later this month, and expects to raise two to three million pounds ($2.8-4.1 million).
The 550 objects range in price from 100 to 100,000 pounds, and the auctioneer has recreated some of the rooms in the villa, which, according to reports, was sold to Russian millionaire Arkady Novikov last year for 26 million pounds.
"I have been trying to recreate as much as I could," said Mario Tavella, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Europe. "The bedroom of Gianni is almost as it was in the villa and the two dining rooms are recreated almost precisely," he told Reuters.
Versace, who was murdered outside his Miami home in 1997, used to entertain some of the world's most famous people at Villa Fontanelle, including Princess Diana, Elton John and Madonna.
"I have visited the villa. It was immaculately kept - a villa where the guests were really entertained in the most perfect way," Tavella said.
"Of course, Versace added some theater and drama here and there, but nothing was over the top. It was extremely stylish."
Among the highlights of the sale is a recently discovered painting by 18th century German artist Johann Zoffany called "Portrait of Major George Maule."
It is the only known portrait from a group of four paintings executed by the artist during a brief stay in Madras in 1783 and is expected to sell for 40-60,000 pounds.
"This was a painting not bought by Versace as a Zoffany," said Tavella.
"One of our experts discovered ... that it was one of four lost Zoffany paintings he painted in the early part of his career in India. They were recorded but no one had any idea where they were."
Sotheby's rival Christie's recently sold the art collection of late French designer Yves Saint Laurent for $475 million.
Sotheby's is exhibiting the Versace items on offer at its central London galleries on March 12, 13, and 15-17 ahead of the auction on March 18.
(Yahoo fashion news)
13 March 2009
13 March 2009
LONDON – Art and furniture from fashion designer Gianni Versace's opulent Italian villa are to be auctioned in London next week.
The late designer's collections are expected to be sold for about 2 million pounds ($2.75 million).
Sotheby's auction house plans to sell 550 items from Versace's Villa Fontanelle on Wednesday.
Many of the works he collected are on display at Sotheby's in rooms designed to look like the rooms in the villa next to Lake Como, where Versace lived part-time. There is even a re-creation of his bedroom complete with the statues he kept there.
Versace gave extravagant parties at the villa in the years before he was shot dead in 1997. He entertained A-list guests including Princess Diana, Madonna, and Elton John.
(Yahoo fashion news)
13 March 2009
10 March 2009
The Galerie des Moulages in the Cité de l’Architecture, crammed as it is with extraordinary 11th and 12th century church façades, doorways, fragments of medieval sculpture and columns, is a beautiful setting for a fashion show.
But, in the case of the Valentino ready-to-wear collection for next autumn/winter, perhaps for the wrong reasons. Sadly, the clothes were just too much of a blast from the past.
One wants to wish the new design team, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, all the best in their bid to bring the Valentino brand into the 21st century. But unfortunately, when there appears to be more of an energetic delving in the archives, than a passionate relationship with fabric and the human form, the soul is submerged, and the result turns out to be as lifeless as the stone statues which surrounded the designs.
True, there were moments of quiet beauty, generated by the duo’s use of potent greens, aquamarines and turquoises – colours which shone through, also, in their debut haute couture collection back in January.
But, too often, the trapeze-line opera-coats, with extravagant fox-fur hems and cuffs, and the over-formal, cape-jacketed trouser suits seemed to suggest a jet set lifestyle of yesteryear.
Best were absolutely simple Little Black Dresses – one of the strongest looks emerging for next season. Valentino’s came with a notch or a pleat in a collar, a twist of fabric at the bust or a fold of fabric, draped to one hip.
(Telegraph fashion news)
10 March 2009
Just when you thought you were going to have to pare down and sober up on the fashion front, style throws you a lifeline in the shape of sensationally mad and supersized earrings. Is that a sigh of relief I hear, or the rustle and tinkle of jangling, shoulder-grazing born-again chandeliers, as seen, among others, at Zac Posen’s spring/summer 2009 show?
Hyper-feminine and attention-grabbing, the long-drop earring is back, delivering a much-needed element of escapism.
We saw it at the Oscars, where the red carpet was all about earrings. Remember Kate Winslet’s tumbling diamonds and Angelina Jolie’s pure, colour-flooded, stunning emerald drops?
According to Vicky Sarge, of Erickson Beamon, the downturn has not only made the capsule wardrobe work harder than ever and prompted us to recycle our clothes, it has also brought statement jewellery back. Accessories instantly update a look – and can inject a playful element, too. “Women have been wearing little charmy things on a chain for a while. Now jewellery has a sense of humour, it’s fun.” Earrings, she says, are definitely bigger, but they’re also prettier and delicate, evolving from the classic chandelier into new forms, from looped and hooped to draped.
For summer, says Sarge, she’s looking at new opulent colours and the “strong ethnic vibe” that ran through the spring/summer shows. Chanel referenced Mademoiselle’s Bohemian side with a gipsy look. At Dior, Galliano turned tribal, while a new, sophisticated Bauhaus barbarism at Louis Vuitton sent the classic creole hoop spiralling out of control with monumental fans of riveted wooden slices or roller-coasters of huge, colourful beads.
It’s a look that is gathering momentum from an emerging sultry and sensual Eastern influence and which has already shifted on to the high street. Freedom at Topshop hangs hoops with charms, chains, feathers and turquoise drops, juggles magic circles, and works metal into organic openwork Creoles. Accessorize takes a Byzantine route with an artisanal look of pierced, darkened metalwork. Look everywhere for accents of wood and feathers for tribal traditions made modern.
Alice in Wonderland-style super-sizing has pumped up the volume of all catwalk adornments, revitalising the art-and-craft of couture jewellery, exploring the freedom and fantasy that only costume jewellery can offer. It’s a sign that jewellery has become such an integral part of fashion, part of the cut and thrust of couture and, in the case of Lanvin and Prada, literally part of the structure of clothes.
The 80s revival has also fuelled the boom in big earrings. “It’s all about timing,” says Simon Wilson, of Butler & Wilson. “Suddenly big, glamorous earrings look right, making a major statement. The 80s influence is huge.”
The way to interpret the look is through designs that blend volume and drama with a certain lightness and openness. Best to steer away from mixing shoulder-length earrings with one of the massively oversized necklaces. It’s a look that worked on the catwalk, butis hard to pull off in everyday life. Instead, team a pair of long, lusty earrings with a cuff bangle.
Don’t be afraid of size, even if you’re small. It’s force of personality and strong features that count, along with proportions and a harmony with the shape of your face.
Julia Muggenburg, designer behind Belmacz, the contemporary jewellery brand, finds that fine jewellery is also bigger and stronger. “It’s about bringing jewellery down to its very essence. The girlie itsy-bitsy style is over. And hand in hand with the new size, colours are also bolder.”
Exciting, conversation-piece earrings should be the starting point when putting an outfit together. “This new look is an exclamation mark style – proud not vulgar.”
Don’t leave home without them.
(Telegraph fashion news)
10 March 2009
Bruno Frisoni, the creative director at Roger Vivier, has entwined a little British and French history into his new shoe collection for next autumn/winter.
One of the key designs has a royal inspiration. It is a gleaming, black patent, round-toed platform, with a 12cm heel, featuring the famous RV square buckle, embroidered in gilt thread with the words “God Save the Queen”, and the initials R.V.
Also styled as a pump, the design is inspired by the shoes which the great shoemaker, Roger Vivier, who died in 1998, made for the Queen’s coronation, in June 1953.
“His design was embroidered with garnets and ruby, but I’ve made un homage. It’s a little funkier and the initials R.V. can represent Roger Vivier or the reign of (Queen) Victoria,” Frisoni says.
Frisoni has also reworked the famous square-buckled pump, originally worn by Catherine Deneuve in the 1967 movie, “Belle de Jour” – a style which has become one of the brand’s best-sellers around the world.
“Catherine Deneuve asked us to design an updated version of her ‘Belle de Jour’ shoe, with a higher heel, so I’ve done it with a squared ‘choc’ heel that is 6.5cm, and, of course, there is still the square buckle.”
The new addition has been named the “Miss D”, and comes in a range of colours in leather, croc and satin, in a range of colours including emerald and hot-pink.
Other key designs for next season, with co-ordinating bags, include feather-trimmed stilettos and courts, a Western series with thong details, and the “Heart” range, the name of which sprang from Frisoni’s new-found interest in playing cards. One design, a black patent platform, with a gilt, stack heel, features a giant gilt heart on a 2 1/2in “cuff”, resembling the “ankle tag” worn by Lindsay Lohan in 2007.
(Telegraph fashion news)
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09 March 2009
It's goodbye lilac, welcome back black, as the most popular shades of lingerie are beribboned, laced and given spectacular shape...
One of the treats of Paris fashion week is walking along the rue St Honoré, packed with delicious lingerie boutiques. If there is one thing you can justify buying in budget-conscious times, it is underwear. Even your oldest dress is bound to look better with a new bra underneath.
But what has happened to the strawberry-pink, lilac and pistachio that used to turn the windows into the lingerie version of Ladurée macaroons? Almost all the underwear in the windows is black. That's not to say it is funereal; au contraire. Lacy and beribboned, it has all the sexy, ooh-la-la we associate with Parisian lingerie, especially at Chantelle Thomass.
I asked Averyl Oates, Harvey Nichols's fashion director, if she'd noticed the back-to-black trend. Coincidentally, all she's been wearing under her Balenciaga, Prada and Balmain in Paris this past week is black.
"When I was unpacking, I realised I had only brought black. Maybe it's a response to the times we're in. But it's still the sexiest colour. Black's practical, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring. It's all about lace, shape and decoration."
The store's lingerie buyer agreed. "No one wants pastels, they're a bit wishy-washy," said Charlotte southern. "Black has more longevity, plus it's seasonless."
Rachel Smith, head buyer at the online lingerie store figleaves.com, believes the clothes we will be wearing for spring are the key to black's comeback.
"Black is becoming a major trend already. There is so much colour in outerwear, with electric blues, greens, oranges, and no one can afford to match everything. What is the colour that will go underneath? Black. It's automatic."
At Marks & Spencer, where two pairs of knickers are sold every second and 45 bras every minute, black is big business. Ninety-two different black styles have been introduced this year and the shade is the top seller, along with white, across all brands and styles.
Shape is crucial. The spring collections include a "Perfect Fit Bra", which uses the same technology as "memory foam mattresses" to mould to your shape, and "bottom lift knickers" (also in white and nude), sizes 8-22, at £12.
Newer additions include a flirty, anti-static half-slip, featuring a shaping-control waistband, which is ideal under summer's fuller skirts.
The big surprise, however, is the slinky, seamless Smoothing Full Body Slip, designed for a smooth silhouette for underneath. But, if you're really daring, you could actually wear it as a Little Black Dress – sexy and sensible.
(Telegraph fashion news)
09 March 2009
Hilary Alexander tries to choose between two opposing views of femininity from British designer Hussein Chalayan and flamboyant French designer Christian Lacroix at the Paris prêt-a-porter season...
Britain and France faced-off with two opposing views of femininity at the Paris prêt-a-porter season earlier today.
In one corner, was the London avant-gardist, Hussein Chalayan, who allowed a hint of S&M to penetrate his normally pure aesthetic vision of dress, in his autumn/winter 09/10 collection.
His models wore thigh-high, brown leather boots, anchored with straps around the tops of the legs, which just grazed the hems of his micro-dresses.
The micro-minis came in synthetic fabrics which resembled just-poured concrete and construction-inspired prints, both of which referenced his fashion concept of creating a "building around the body.”
For more dressed-up occasions, Chalayan showed leather bustiers and “derrières”, created by the London theatrical costumiers, Whitaker Malem, in fluorescent lime, yellow, green, grey and red.
In stark contrast, was the autumn/winter collection shown by the flamboyant French designer, Christian Lacroix, inventor of the “puffball”.
Although shown in a garage in the Marais district, this was far from an interpretation of ‘mechanic chic’.
Fantasy knits came in a patchwork of cobalt blue and emerald, detailed with embroidery and bows.
Puffed and gathered sleeves emphasised the shoulder – the new zone of sensual power for next season.
Draped day-dresses and tailoring mixed the sombre shades of navy and black – a colour combination which is proving popular on the Paris catwalks.
For evening, Lacroix focused on the neck and the knees, with fur collars and elaborate necklets of ribbon, lace and satin, to accessorise short, full-skirted cocktail frocks in metallic-floral brocades, gold satin, pale pistachio silk faille and finely-pleated black lace.
The Paris season continues tomorrow with the new collection by Stella McCartney, the designer who is strongly anti-fur to the extent of refusing to use leather for shoes and bags, at which PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) will host a press conference following the show to launch its new TV commercial which features the voices of the singer, Pink, and the actor-comedian, Ricky Gervais, as an alligator and a rabbit.
(telegraph fashion news)
09 March 2009
HIlary Alexander reviews Hussein Chalayan's autumn/winter 2009/2010 collection from Paris...
There was a definite sexual thrust to the autumn/winter collection by Hussein Chalayan, the British avant-gardist; and it did not come solely from the organ-stop, leather bustiers and “bums” in every colour of the rainbow, including neons, produced for him by the London-based studio of Whitaker Malem.
The pounding, pile-driving, heavy metal music and the brown leather thigh boots, which were strapped to the models’ thighs, just grazing the hems of their micro-minis, also suggested a certain sexual tension. Even Chalayan himself admitted backstage, that a degree of “S&M” had infiltrated his intellectual vision this time.
The collection was, he said, all about being grounded, or in touch with the earth, as opposed to globalisation; the idea of being in one place and imagining other worlds. Chalayan’s imagined other worlds were focused on the idea of creating an abstract building on a body.
This led to hi-tech synthetic fabrics with the texture of just-poured concrete; prints suggesting rock, granite, muddy water and jack-hammers, along with others showing windows, foundations and beams.
Sequins in both wood and plastic, were embroidered onto the prints in oblongs and squares, suggestive of building plans, while other triangular prints were beaded with tiny silver chains.
Strong tailoring in black, including short, cocoon coats and LBDs, followed the contours of the body.
(Telegraph fashion news)
09 March 2009
Paris has gone polka-dotty! And it all can be traced back to Cristobal Balenciaga.
First, Nicolas Ghesquière unearthed the 1960s spotted prints Balenciaga loved so much, for his autumn/winter collection for the house shown last Thursday morning.
Now, the polka dot parade has turned up again – on the catwalk of Emanuel Ungaro, who worked for six years at Balenciaga’s side before setting up his own maison in 1965.
The current designer-in-residence, the 24-year-old Esteban Cortazar, has also been rootling around in the archives and decided to reprise the spot as his way of expressing his love and admiration for Ungaro’s brand of “flamboyant femininity” in his third collection for the house.
“Ungaro was one of the three designers I used to dream about, along with Versace and Valentino, when I was 10 years old, growing up in Colombia,“ he said.
Cortazar said his walk down memory lane was also a response to seeing so many young girls wearing vintage Ungaro; “I wanted to give them my updated version.”
This meant a lot of frothy, puffball skirts and swathed, body-con micro-dresses, in a pink, orange, black and white polka dot print.
The spot was also used for bows, tied in the necks of Prince of Wales tailored jackets, in black and white. Cortazar also mixed pretty spotted blouses, with a double, angel-wing sleeve, with pert shorts in hot-pink and blue. And even repeated the spot theme in silver coin-size dots on pink, blue and silver tights.
A black, tailcoat and tailored trousers, worn with a brief polka dot scarf, knotted halter fashion and leaving the midriff bare carried the inspiration through to the party circuit, whilst also echoing M. Emanuel’s love of playing with androgyny.
(Telegraph fashion news)
09 March 2009
Hilary Alexander reviews Albert Kriemler’s autumn/winter 2009/2010 collection for Akris...
The pavilion in the Jinhua Architecture Park in China, designed by the Mexican architect, Tatiana Bilbao, was the reference point for Albert Kriemler’s collection for Akris.
This led to a linear silhouette, trapezoid shapes, and an interesting textural composition of “crazy paving” embroidery in wool on tulle.
Kriemler used the technique to great effect on charcoal hoodies, with a kangaroo-pocket in front, and bright red, quilted bombers, both worn with matching, leather, slim skirts; on fitted suits, in burgundy; and even fur coats. Purple wool jersey dresses were cut close to the body and came with iridescent silk backs and a reinforced shoulder detail.
The textural approach was also used in squares of wool, appliqued, like tiles on a roof, on silk tulle dresses in charcoal and black.
Digitalised skyline prints, reinforced the inspiration of modern city architecture, while neoprene, in black and sage gave a futuristic touch to the body-conscious tailoring.
(Telegraph fashion news)
09 March 2009
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