LA PETITE BLOG: July 2009

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Seoul Chic: Prada Transformer

Get me a ticket stat! I don't know about you but I'm dying to see the Prada Transformer from Italian luxury goods giant Prada in Seoul! For the few who aren't in the know - the Prada Transformer will be the venue for events devoted to art, film, fashion and of course, the Prada brand, for the next six months. Built on the grounds of the 16th century Gyeonghui Palace in downtown Seoul, the Prada Transformer is a one-of-a-kind tetrahedron-shaped pavilion designed by renowned architect Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Above is the 1st installation held at the Transformer : ``Waist Down ― Skirts by Miuccia Prada,'' featuring 65 of the most outstanding skirts from Prada's collections since 1988. The exhibit first opened in 2004 at the Prada Epicenter, Aoyama, Tokyo, and has traveled to Shanghai, New York and Los Angeles. The installation looks breathtaking! Oh yeah dolls - admission is free now all I need is a ticket to Seoul....

prada-transformer.com

FLIGHT OF FANCY GIVEAWAY!

Spreegirl, which is known for their fashionable yet comfortable loungewear, is giving away their “Flight of the Fancy” panties to 25 lucky winners!

To enter visit www.spreegirl.com and simply type your email in on the bottom right hand corner of the site. The last day to enter is on July 30th so enter now for your chance to win today!

Winners will be notified on August 1st.

Label This!

HAVE you ever convented the sensational careers of Alexander McQueen (or Wang), Tom Ford, Stella McCartney, Christian Louboutin and Alejandro Igelmo? If the answer is a astounding YES! then get your hands on How to Set Up and Run a FASHION LABEL (Laurence King Publishing). This resource book takes an insider look into what it takes to start and run an independent fashion design firm. From developing your customers, market and collection to writing a press release, selling your product, pricing and budgeting - this treasure tome literally tackles every subject! With perceptive texts, including interviews and case studies with designers charting the intriging concepts behind the collections it's a must have for design hopefuls, start-ups and existing design houses (ahem Lacroix)....

How to Set Up and Run a

FASHION LABEL

by Toby Meadows

Laurence King Publishing

laurenceking.com

chroniclebooks.com

Monday, July 27, 2009

CALLING ALL GALS! TAKE THE UBER FAB BRUSHLOVE SURVEY & 5 LUCKY DOLLS WILL WIN a free PING Digital Hair Iron ($159.99 retail) !

For more information click here
BRUSHLOVE

Friday, July 10, 2009

FROM Gaultier we expect fashion to marvel at – and his collection for A/W 2009 Couture was nothing short of spectacular, the finesse of his tailoring made all the more obvious by his cheekily indulgent emphasis on what lies beneath. Dolls, I know I've already covered this but I simply can't get enough of his mastery! Enjoy....

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture
Autumn/Winter 2009-10

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture
Autumn/Winter 2009-10

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture
Autumn/Winter 2009-10

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture
Autumn/Winter 2009-10

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture
Autumn/Winter 2009-10

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GILT GROUP

Best reason to work out inside!

Can’t take the rain? Head home and swing into the latest from Fitness Maestro Patrick Goudeau. Hard Work Conditioning, an intense 60-minute total-body workout (it’s already a stealth hit with supermodels, actresses and wellness enthusiasts). Using a step & hand held weights as a prop, participant's alternate between aerobic activity (pike jumps, spins, and side shuffles) and strength training (pull-ups, curls, jumps), with the eventual goal of obtaining the body of your dreams! With a little patience, determination & Patrick —you’ll soon be soaring to new fitness heights.

Patrick Goudeau’s HARD WORK CONDITIONING, $19.95, PatrickGoudeau.net

Thursday, July 9, 2009

WITH the breath-taking A/W 2009-10 Christian Dior COUTURE Collection - John Galliano showcased & reveled in the realms of glamour the house established 60 years ago. The beautiful collection with it's typically Galliano-esque hyper-exaggerations of Dior's tight-waisted, full-skirted fifties shapes was a stand out (as always). As a starting point, it evoked some of the romantic femininity of Dior's silhouette, but with surface ruffles and bouncing crinolined hemlines that went way beyond any sense of postwar austerity to something fresh and new....

Lately, Galliano has been mining the good old U.S. of A. for raw material from which to spin his dreams and it's evident with this collection any southern belle would die over!

Who else could show gigantic overblown shapes, eye-watering color, and a whole lotta bling? Why, only John Galliano in his haute couture mode, of course. He blew vast volumes of air into multiple meters of duchesse satin, and whorled floriform shapes and swing-back swags into every passing silhouette to perfection!

Imagine Scarlet O'hara and Mrs. Robinson in Valley of the Dolls, and you more or less have the measure of Christian Dior for Fall: gigantic curled/ crimped hairdos, equally gigantic eye makeup, and the neat ladylike suits and dresses beloved of Kennedy-era America. It was a trip around what John Galliano called the "optimism and opulence" of the fifties & sixties, amped up with bright color, lashings of paillette embroidery, and tulle.

The insanely chic detailing on the looks and accessories were absolutely lustful!

This collection is for the woman who crave a straight-up injection of high-octane glamour as an antidote to gloom.

John Galliano drew on romance and delicacy for this stellar collection - with a redrawn memory of the 1947 New Look, the wasp-waisted, full-skirted silhouette that revolutionized the way women dressed after World War II. Galliano approached it through the artistic landscape that formed Dior's imagination that has changed the face of fashion as we know it!

A/W 2009-10

Christian Dior

COUTURE Collection

A/W 2009-10
Christian Dior
COUTURE Collection

The templates were all there: big coats, wasp waists, nipped jackets, circle skirts, tulle dance dresses, architectural gowns cut from spiraling lace and jutting scrolls of crin. Mostly framed in pinks, reds, fuschia, white, creams, animal print, Parma violet, mint, and chartreuse to follow, the shapes traced familiar silhouettes—albeit a familiarity shot through with Galliano's irrepressible touches of perversity (which I adore!).

Those color effects were ravishing -running from the palest yellow, crimson, pinks, and black, they often appeared to shade from one hue to another in the rich folds of duchesse satin skirts and the tiny-bodiced jackets sitting above them. But if the exquisitely painted ladies made a wondrous display of the arts of the Dior atelier, there was another insistent subtheme rising through the show that put Galliano's personal stamp on the collection he has been orchestrating for over a decade now...

All that richness—plus the vibrant reds, magentas, yellows, purples, creams and embellishment—meant the collection teetered on overload for the faint of heart but for true lovers of luxe like myself it was everything plus more!