Elle Canada - The Elle Word

Choupette the kitten, as tweeted by Karl Lagerfeld yesterday. #adorable

Happy Friday everyone!

First things first, friends—let’s talk about Met Ball drama. What’s the juiciest story to come out of fashion’s biggest night? Anna Wintour reportedly has a hate-on for Kim Kardashian. Page Six reports that the reality TV star was deliberately left off the Met Ball invite list by the Vogue editrix, who approves every star who attends the gala. “Kim and her camp will deny that she wasn’t invited, by saying she had business in LA, but that’s a lie. She would have done anything to be there with all the A-listers.” Apparently she wasn’t even allowed to buy her way in, unlike Kate Upton. The Sports Illustrated babe reportedly wrote a big fat cheque to get into the gala. [Page Six]

Speaking of the Met Ball, who else thought that listening to the photogs try and get their shot was even better than watching the celebs arrive? Our favourite moments: “Could you text somewhere else please? Would that be possible?” and “That shot would have looked great except for the idiot behind you!” [Met Ball livestream]

My boyfriend Tom Ford sat down to speak with Fern Mallis for the 92Y Fashion Icons Series in New York. Among his revelations: he hated carrying a knapsack as a child because he “thought it looked messy.” He also said never to hire anyone you wouldn’t want to have dinner with. On his advice to aspiring designers, Ford told the crowd: “If you love it, you’ll have a great life. But if there’s anything else you could be happy doing, do that. It’s a tough, tough business.” Word. [Styleite]

Refinery 29 asked Jeanne Beker to pinpoint a few of her favourite fashion moments from 27 years of filming Fashion Television, and the style maven didn’t disappoint. “I remember standing on the hood of a car in the snow in front of an old synagogue on the Lower East Side filming Anna Wintour being locked out of Alexander McQueen’s first New York show,” she dished. “Once, I was almost trampled to death trying to be the first one to shove my mic into Lindsay Lohan’s face after her design debut for Ungaro. What a total joke!” [Refinery 29]

“I don’t trust Prada. From what I know, the devil wears Prada and this is a Christian nation!” –Stephen Colbert to Anna Wintour [Comedy Network]

And finally, we were saddened to hear of the passing of Vidal Sassoon, one of the true beauty legends of our time.  [The Guardian]

Chloé and Parris Gordon with their mom, Eve Gordon, “a fine artist, personal business/creative adviser and an amazing friend!” Photo credit: Hayley Blackmore.

Chloé Comme Parris

Fave memory: ”We both have so many memories of sewing and making clothes and art with our mother when we were little. We would make DIY gift-wrapping paper and she would lay down a huge piece paper and we would run around and paint it and then use it to wrap everything come birthday and holidays. Most recently, our favorite mom moments are of drinking tea in her bed [where] we will sit and chat/gossip/get advice on work, life, boys – everything. We feel as though our relationship is getting stronger as we are getting older and have found that as you age you begin to realize that your parents are more like you than not.”
Words of wisdom: ”She always told us to stay true to ourselves and not to be afraid of being vulnerable because that is what makes you creative. We love her so much for that – it’s pretty priceless advice.”
Celebration this year: “We’re all spending Mother’s Day together at our childhood home. We’re both heading to her place to cook her a surprise dinner. We’re making her favorite – which we’ve never cooked before! – so hopefully all goes smoothly. We think she’ll love it and she definitely deserves it.” Read the rest of this entry

My aunt, whom I’m named after, had exquisite taste in fashion. A huge supporter of the theatre, she appreciated the role that fashion played in creating drama—both on and off the stage. When we visited her home, I often made my way to her closet to look at her clothes and shoes. When I was much older, I realized that the shoes I most coveted were a pair—or at least a spectacular imitation—of Roger Vivier’s “pilgrim buckle” shoes. After Catherine Deneuve wore a pair in the 1967 movie Belle de jour, the shoes were renamed in the film’s honour. They went on to become one of the most iconic shoe styles of the ’60s. Everyone from Jacqueline Onassis to Marlene Dietrich were photographed in them.

I hadn’t thought about my Aunt Noreen’s shoes until I attended the Bata Shoe Museum’s opening gala this week for its new show, Roger Vivier: Process to Perfection. Vivier had designed the pilgrim buckle shoes to accompany Yves Saint Laurent’s autumn 1965 collection—in particular, the now iconic Mondrian dress. Several pairs are on display, along with 60-plus other artifacts on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Deutsches Ledermuseum in Germany and Roger Vivier Paris, as well as Bata’s own collection.

A "pilgrim buckle" shoe from Roger Vivier, c. 1965

It’s the first exhibit in North America to showcase Vivier’s work, and it’s one that the museum’s senior curator, Elizabeth Semmelhack, says was years in the making. “When I was first hired at the museum, Mrs. Bata spent a great deal of time showing me the treasures in the collection,” explains Semmelhack. “This included 88 pullovers that Vivier created for Christian Dior. They were beautiful; they were sculptural, but I didn’t fully understand their significance. A few years later we acquired 63 of Vivier’s original unpublished illustrations. Now we had the pullovers, the illustrations and a nice selection of shoes; we were ready for an exhibit.”

The focus, however, isn’t only on the shoes. Semmelhack also wanted to highlight the man and his innovations. “Vivier was fascinated by different heel types,” she explains. “There was the choc, the New Style, the comma and, of course, the needle heel—or stiletto, as it is now called.” Semmelhack says she doesn’t prefer one heel over any other, but she is fascinated with how Vivier worked with negative space to create architecturally balanced and elegant lines. “He was able to get away with ornamentation and embellishment because the architecture of the shoes kept them from becoming too nostalgic or too twee.”

What was his next “breakout” shoe? Read on.

Read the rest of this entry

Florals at Erdem, Spring/Summer 2012. Photos by ImaxTree.com

The style world was in full bloom this season with floral prints and patterns brightening the spring/summer 2012 runways of A-listers like Erdem, Prada and Rodarte. When you think about it, fashion and flowers have a lot in common. Take their appeal – lovely and often fragile, they inspire a passion rooted in an appreciation for the beautiful things in life. Then there’s the curating element. If you plan your wardrobe the same way you’d plant a garden – using investment pieces as building blocks and skillfully introducing exciting new pieces – you’ll end up with a closet that inspires you every morning. And there’s nothing garden variety about that.

To help you get started, we’ve rounded up 10 of our favourite floral pieces with tips on how – and where – to wear them.

Runway inspiration: Erdem, Prada, Rodarte, Mary Katrantzou

Who’s worn it well: Miranda Kerr, Jessica Alba, Elle Fanning

___________________________________________

TREND CHALLENGE: Beginner

The look: Ladylike

How to wear it: Think classic chic. Pair it with an LBD (or an LWD!), high-heeled sandals and a statement necklace that picks up on the pretty hues – blue, red or purple – in the clutch.

Where to wear it: To the art gallery, preferably one with a few Matisse canvases – the vibrancy of their patterns will only confirm your sartorial savvy.

 Bag, Aldo Accessories, aldoshoes.com

Read the rest of this entry

The stars of GIRLS: Jemima Kirke (Jessa), Allison Williams (Marnie), Lena Dunham (Hannah) and Zosia Mamet (Shoshanna)

This episode of GIRLS  was full of real world lessons that we can all take away with us. First, nothing good can ever come from sexting someone a pic of your bits. Also, rich white girls saving downtrodden workers does not usually pan out the way it seems to in movies. Finally, diaries should be kept under lock and key if you live with nosy roommates. Read on for our recap and our suggested dos and don’ts by character.

JESSA

Jessa is still playing Mary Poppins to her two small charges, Beatrix and Lola. After picking them up from school the three run into the girls’ dad with his friend Terry, just back from rehab, er, Tahoe. As they carry on their way to the park, Terry notes that Jessa doesn’t seem like the average nanny—in his words “She has the face of Bridget Bardot and an ass like Rihanna.” We still smell trouble between Jessa and the unemployed dad, but it hasn’t reached a boiling point yet.

Trouble seems to seek Jessa out, this time in the form of political fervour. While in the park she connects with the other nannies, who initially mistake her for an actress. When she learns about how much they’re paid her focus shifts to how to unionize nannies, giving her two little rascals ample opportunity to run away and hide.

When their parents get home, Lola rats Jessa out for losing them at the park, and Jessa and the dad share another moment. She realizes that she and Lola are similar, since she was known to run away and lie about things at that age too. When he asks what she’d lie about we see another glimmer of what makes her the way she is – her lies were about how “My mum’s this awesome mum, and we’re best friends.” Jessa hasn’t had many people to rely upon, which is likely why she has trouble with responsibility.

Do: Keep connecting with those little girls. Now that you know you have something in common you could probably be a great influence for them.

Don’t: Let your free-spiritedness lead you into trouble with the girls’ dad. No matter how nice he is to you, nothing good can come of the connection.

Read the rest of this entry

    Photo courtesy of Denis Desro.

H&M has announced that “fashion maniac” Anna Dello Russo will create a special collection of accessories for the brand. In other ADR news, the eccentric editor-at-large revealed in an interview with the Financial Times that she once had to move houses to accommodate her 4,000 pairs of shoes. “When I moved…I had 4,000 pairs of shoes. I had to buy a bigger home to store all the clothes, because I need closets, not kitchens. I’m super tidy so every item is cataloged, stored in garment bags, with tissue paper, perfumed, and on hangers that are the same,” Question: if that’s how many shoes she had 10 years ago, what’s the footwear count now?  [Financial Times]

Speaking of fashionable eccentrics, Linda Evangelista has asked for a record-breaking amount of child support from PPR’s chief executive (and Salma Hayek’s partner) Francois-Henri Pinault. The supe, who was once famously quoted as saying top models don’t “wake up for less that $10,000 a day,” has asked for $46,000 a month for her 5-year old son. “When I work, it can be a 16-hour day,” Evangelista told a judge in family court. “On days when I do not work, I am working on my image. I have to hit the gym. I have beauty appointments. I have to work toward my next job, and maintaining my image, just like an athlete.” So…yeah. There’s that. But before you start feeling too sorry for Pinault, just remember: He’s heir to an 11.5 billion dollar fortune and owns Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci. I’m inclined to think he can cough up the cash. [NY Daily News]

All 19 international editions of Vogue have pledged to use only healthy models in the pages of their magazine. “We will not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 who appear to have an eating disorder,” they said in a press release. They also vowed to create a healthier backstage working environment, and say they are going to “encourage designers to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing.” What do you think of Vogue’s new manifesto? [Fashionista]

Cameron Diaz recently told Jay Leno that she cried after a miscommunication resulted in her hair getting cut super-short by a friend. “It was one of those moments, I couldn’t…I just started bursting into tears. I felt so vulnerable. For a woman to all of a sudden have no hair, oh my God! …[My friend] felt really bad. I felt really bad. She started crying. I started crying.” I think all of us can relate to the trauma of a bad haircut—there are certain photos of me floating around from elementary school that should be burned—but luckily for Cameron, she could go bald and still be a knockout. [The Tonight Show]

Paco Rabanne announced today that the house has cut ties with artistic director Manish Arora. The atelier, which launched a women’s ready-to-wear line last year, says it was a mutual agreement. Does anyone else feel like this designer’s musical chairs situation is like a real-life Project Runway? Every time I read about another dismissal, I think about the show’s depressingly true tagline: “In fashion, one day you’re in, and the next day you’re out…”  [Channel News Asia]

A look from Sid Neigum’s award-winning TFI New Labels collection. All photography courtesy of George Pimentel.

In romance, three little words can make all the difference. In the Toronto fashion scene, it’s three letters. TFI—the Toronto Fashion Incubator—has been nurturing local style talent for 25 years, counting designers such as David Dixon, Arthur Mendonça and Joeffer Caoc among its starry alumni. Last night, TFI celebrated its milestone with an appropriately stylish soirée—complete with two fashion competitions— at the Royal Ontario Museum. Inside the ROM crystal, guests circulated with champagne flutes, admiring all the posing on display, from fellow partiers, the dance flash mob and, in quieter form, from an installation of mannequins decked out in dresses created by TFI designers past and present.

Every party needs a guest of honour, and last night it was Susan Langdon, the executive director of TFI, who, in her 18-year tenure, has transformed the incubator into a globally recognized innovator in how to support up-and-coming designers. (The first organization of its kind in the world, TFI has since inspired similar groups in 33 countries.)

“Reaching 25 years is the accomplishment,” Langdon told ELLE last night. “I feel so privileged to be able to work with the designers that we’ve worked with, to see them at the very beginnings of their careers and to watch them develop and grow.” What has she learned about herself during the journey? “I’m a survivor. You have to be.” We’ll toast to that.

Read the rest of this entry

When I travel, I like to bring along a book that’s set in the city I’m visiting. For the recent fall/winter collections in Paris, I chose Adam Gopnik’s collection of essays entitled Paris to the Moon. The book, which is based on his experiences living in the city from 1995 to 2000, is an eloquent and touching mash note to Paris.

The night before I was to tour three ateliers that work with designers who create haute couture collections, I read Gopnik’s piece “Couture Shock.” In it, he recounts in a playfully bemused manner his foray into fashion’s rarefied couture week. At the Christian Lacroix show, Gopnik admits he was “settling in for a good long bath of contempt” when Linda Evangelista appeared on the runway wearing “the ugliest dress” he’d ever seen, but as the show unfolded he coyly hints that something began to happen. By the time Karen Mulder appeared wearing a silver lace dress with an iced-pearl bodice, he’d been seduced.

“It’s all too much, and that’s where the loveliness—the couture moment—begins,” he writes. “The clothes are extravagant and unreal, but they don’t seem camp. They don’t seem artificial or out of this world, just symbolic of a common human hope that the world could be something other than what it is—younger and more musical and less exhausting and better lit. It proposes that the little moments of seduction on which, when we look back, so much of life depends could unfold as formally as they deserve to, and all dressed up.”

While the haute couture designers envision the collection, the artistry behind the fanciful embroidered and feathered embellishments is what often seduces us. In our June issue—which will be on newsstands on May 14—I write about my behind-the-scenes tour of the famed Lesage, Lemarié and Massaro Chanel-owned ateliers. Our art director flew to Paris to shoot Canadian model Tara Gill wearing exquisite pieces from Chanel’s Métiers d’Art Bombay-Paris collection, and the photos will accompany the piece. Chanel launched its pre-fall Métiers d’Art collection in 2002 to showcase the couture-style craftsmanship of its ateliers. I’ve posted a sneak peek of some behind-the-scenes shots from the shoot. (We’ll post the stunning cover in a few days!) Trust me, you’ll be seduced.

What role, if any, do you think couture plays in fashion today?

About Face director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders between models Beverly Johnson (left) and Cheryl Tiegs (right)

Her Sports Illustrated covers and editorial spreads flash across the screen and it’s as if supermodel Paulina Porizkova is finally seeing what the rest of the world has been looking at for the decades that she’s been a star in the fashion and beauty biz.  “I should have been naked all the time!” Porizkova, now 47, tells the camera, blue eyes wide and rapturous.

Porizkova’s epiphany comes courtesy of About Face: The Supermodels, Then and Now, a documentary screening this week as part of Toronto’s Hot Docs festival. The doc’s director is Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, the famed American photographer, who displays his adeptness at teasing out aha! moments about aging gracefully from some of the world’s most iconic faces.

And it turns out they have a lot to say. The doc’s subjects—from Carmen Dell’Orefice and China Machado to Beverly Johnson and Christy Turlington— are fiercely critical and hyper-aware of the modelling world and their fleeting place in it.

Read the rest of this entry

When it comes to boldface backstage names, Pat McGrath is as big as it gets. The British-born makeup artist is hugely influential in fashion, responsible for the looks at some of the biggest shows in the world. Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Lanvin, Yohji Yamamoto, Mark Jacobs and YSL to name but a few. She’s the motherlode, basically.

Every season, I look forward to discovering what McGrath’s beauty direction will be for Gucci. She always comes up with such directional, intense, edgy and beautiful looks for the Italian house. (I kind of lost my mind over the crazy spider lashes and red mouth for Fall 2011 — AH-mazing!)
Read the rest of this entry