A Year in the Life of Vogue

Director R.J. Cutler hit fashion gold when he filmed Vogue editor Anna Wintour and her team for The September Issue, the behind-the-scenes documentary that follows them as they put together what would turn out to be the biggest issue in the magazine’s history.
Filmed in 2007 at the height of fashion’s glory days, and before the recession, Cutler captured a specific time in the industry, one that revolved around a now outdated concept of luxury.
The film really plays to the “fabulous” idea of fashion; Vogue’s halls are filled with rack upon rack of clothes people like you and me could only dream of; entire rooms are dedicated to shoes, bags, bracelets; Wintour says things like “looks cheap to me;” they shoot Sienna Miller…in Rome!
As a reader Vogue is a title I rarely pick-up (the September issue especially, its like toting a family bible around). Of all of Vogue titles the U.S. version is the most pedestrian (this month Paris Vogue published a controversial shoot of model Lara Stone in black face, now that’s interesting) but it’s this balance between glamour and cutting-edge that keeps it profitable. And that’s really the key to this movie.
Beyond forever endearing Creative Director Grace Coddington as the one true free-spirit of fashion, what this film really draws attention to is the fact that fashion is a business. It may seem obvious, but it’s something we often forget when gorging ourselves on the latest shoes or being spoon-fed the hottest trends. Given the current economy it’s easy to see how the fissure has occurred between fashion and fantasy.

The September Issue opened across Canada a few weeks ago. You can read my full review here.

Booty-licious

Damn. Sometimes I wish I still lived in London.
Topshop’s take on Chloé’s wedge boots are one of those times.

via theguardian.co.uk

Stylist’s Own

Today is the opening day of Stylist’s Own – Edition 02, a curated trunk show by Azamit, one of Montreal’s biggest stylists and the woman behind Souk@SAT.
I had the opportunity to check things out at a media viewing yesterday and there are some great pieces from both local and international designers that you’d have a tough time finding elsewhere in the city.
A few things that caught my eye were a cropped leather bomber and a copped tuxedo blazer (do we see a trend here?) both from Twenty8Twelve, the label Sienna Miller creates with her sister Savannah. Alongside a few vintage pieces (black patent Gucci boots, grey D&G shift) there were some killer heels by Colcci and Mogil (seriously, where has this stuff been hiding?). Local designer Elaine Ho’s (RoadKill) rabbit fur belts were a great mix of lux and wear ability and complexgeometries silky cutting edge dresses are always lovely, but this cold snap had me coveting a cozy sweater dress from Designers Remix.

Stylists Own at Studio MW (400 rue McGill)
Friday, Oct. 2, 10 am–9 pm
Saturday, Oct. 3, 10 am–6 pm
Sunday, Oct. 4, 12 pm–6pm

Above right: Dress from Designers Remix. Above left: Tuxedo Jacket from Twenty8Twelve

Catwalk Queen

Last night, six of Montreal’s up-and-coming designers—Emilie Brunet of La Fête, Rachel Chan of Contradict, Charlotte Eedson of girlfriend material, Marie-Eve Emond of Betina Lou, Angie Johnson of Norwegian Wood and Flavie Lechat of Le Chat Clothing—presented mini-collections for Puces Pop’s Emerging Designer Award.
It was a packed event (things of this nature are so fleeting here that they inevitably draw a large and curious crowd) and one that delivered a modicum of the excitement and atmosphere of fashion weeks
For the most part, what came down the catwalk was wearable and of the moment—high waisted pants, grey shifts with ruched detailing, capes— with an overall pervading tweeness of the kind that you find on 15-year-olds and the second floor of H&M. Which is, I think, where some designers seemed to draw their inspiration and where their designs would be most comfortable.
The designers who moved away from this safe aesthetic and into more experimental territory (oversized-shoulders, Lycra bodysuits), however, had difficulty in executing the look—with one exception, Angie Johnson.
Johnson, who walked away with the prize, $1000 from Le Chateau and a feature in Worn Fashion Journal, presented a tight collection of body-con dresses, pencil skirts and unconventional jackets with many of the embellishments she’s already perfected; harnesses, fringe and lace.
Montreal Fashion Week is around the corner but Johnson’s show was a good indication of the emerging talent that pushing Montreal fashion in new directions.

One last note: the models, likely all volunteers—brave souls, were appropriately tall but were in dire need of a high-heel-how-to from Miss. J

Above Left to Right: Norwegian Wood’s Fringe Necklace and Keep Warm Leggings pics of the show to come.

Wild Child

Opening Ceremony, the ultra cool New York boutique, has teamed up with director Spike Jonze to create a line of Where The Wild Things Are inspired pieces. The 15 looks are modelled and named after the characters from the classic children’s book and as such, there’s an awful lot of faux fur.
Some of the pieces, like the Alexander Mini Skirt ($220) and Douglas Bomber ($600), are quite chic and classic, while others, like the Bull Shawl Jacket ($635) and Max Sweatshirt ($460), just look silly.
One of the aims of this collection is to bring a bit of that childhood magic and fantasy into our everyday lives and they’ve nailed it to a certain extent here. But what I think is collection speaks more loudly too, is my generation’s love affair with nostalgia and our unwillingness to grow-up.

Above left: Alexander Mini Skirt

Above right: Max Sweatshirt

Art for bookworms

Spanish installation artist Alicia Martin turns books into art. I love when public art/sculpture uses everyday objects in such an arresting but playful way.

And my favourite.

via designmilk

Bad Books

Growing up I didn’t like to read. There were a couple of reasons for this, the first being that it was the 80s and TV was awesome (why read when I could watch the Cosby Show?) The second  was that the books covering the shelves at my school library looked a lot like ones talked about on new(ish) blog Awful Library Books. It didn’t seem to matter that the school was well-funded, nearly all the books (or those that I remember) were relics of the 60s and 70s and had quite possibly been donated leftovers from a Church jumble sale. (It’s Your Future was definitely broken out during fifth grade career week and we totally had this little tome on pregnancy in health class.) With books like these was it any wonder I was functionally illiterate till I was 9?

Dame Vivienne Westwood talks climate change, boxer shorts

I’ve been running around these past few weeks, checking out the OFF Festival in Quebec City (and dancing till the early hours to TMDP) and shoe shopping in  Toronto. But I wanted to share this video of the always charming Vivienne Westwood on Jonathan Ross (one of Britain’s best late night tv chat shows) talking about making a towel into a statement piece, wearing your boyfriend’s underwear and most importantly her Active Resistance Manifesto, in which she talks not only about climate change but also the need for individuality and DIY in day to day life.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Valentino: Decline of an empire?

Last Thursday, July 9, the Valentino couture show walked in Paris. The following day Valentino: The Last Emperor the documentary that captures the last two years of Valentino’s career, opened in wide release and the reviews for the couture show were all over the Internet. The timing, to my mind anyway, was perfect.

I’d seen the documentary a few days earlier and reviewed it for the publication I work for. The film opens with brief clips of Valentino Garavani, the designer and founder of the House of Valentino, talking to the press at various events. In every clip he’s being asked questions like “What do women want?” and “Why do you design?” and to all of these he answers with one word: beauty. “Women want to look beautiful.” “I love beautiful things. A beautiful lady, a beautiful dog, a beautiful piece of furniture. I love beauty.”

Valentino’s kind of beauty, however, is a particularly romantic one, one that could as easily be labelled old glamour as old fashioned, though it went beyond both of these descriptions. His goal was to make women look and feel beautiful and that’s precisely what he did throughout this 45 years in fashion.

For this latest collection the new designers of the house Ms. Chiuri and Mr. Piccioli, who previously designed Valentino accessories, took the brand in a decidedly younger, edgier direction. And it’s one that doesn’t seem to sit right with the history of the house.

Fashion houses nowadays are a brand and as such they can just as easily be re-branded. This has worked for older houses like Balmain and Balenciga, both of which were resurrected by creating a distinctly youthful, rockier outlook . But there’s a danger in doing this, if you go too far in one direction you lose the original essence of house. And this is what Valentino is in danger of going.

In her review of the couture show the New York Times’ Cathy Horyn lamented the loss of the delicate dresses Alessandra Facchinetti, who over took the house when Valentino retired, created for her last collection. In Ms. Horyn’s view of Facchinetti’s creations were much more akin to the essence of the house, than those created by Chirui and Piccioli and I have to agree.

Though never huge fan of the house, the documentary reminded me of the aesthetic purpose of the house and the extremely beautiful garments that defined the style. It would be a shame to loose the essence of the House of Valentino so quickly after the designer exited the business. His vision is a fundamental part of what haute couture means and its a tradition that deserves to continue—the film is a testament to that.

From right to left: A look from Valentino’s last haute couture collection ‘08-09. Alessandra Facchinetti for Valentino couture. Ms. Chirui and Mr. Piccioli take the house in an edgier direction a/w ‘09-10.

Forward thinking

Last week I checked out Griffé Québec a new exhibit that looks at the evolution of Quebec fashion. It’s a small show, divided in to two different locations, one in the city, the other in St-Lambert. Suzanne Chabot, the curator of both the exhibit and the Musée du costume et du textile du Québec, who produced the show told me they had a tough time finding pieces to add to the exhibit. “A lot of this work wasn’t preserved,” she said, “and what we do have, is mostly from private collections.”

The work on view (at least at the Écomusée in downtown Montreal) isn’t mindblowing, you’re not going to find anything here that you wouldn’t find anywhere else in the Western world (unsurprisingly a good deal of Quebec designers studied in France). But what I think is interesting and worthwhile about the exhibit are the questions it raises.

Quebec fashion (and by Quebec, I pretty much just mean Montreal) has become a paradox. Once seen as the most stylish city in Canada, it’s now known for its own brand of bizarre quirkiness, one that involves multiple patterned fabrics, unnecessary layering and asymmetric cuts. It goes without saying that there’s some great stuff coming out of Montreal, complexgeometries and Rad Hourani are two excellent examples, but when it comes to the majority, it’s more about quirk than class. Montreal continues to have a thriving, creative center so why is fashion outside of this? This exhibit reminds us of a distinctly stylish past and serves as a road map of where we should head next.

Above right a wedding dress by Colpron D’Anjou (at back) and an evening gown by Renee Chaumont.

Above left, a look from complexgeometries a/w 09 collection.