FASHION Magazine

Couture being one of the last unattainable bastions of the fashion industry pretty much guarantees that the beauty side of things will be appropriately thrilling. From the gravity-defying ponytails at Alexis Mabille to the jewel-encrusted face masks at Maison Martin Margiela, here are 10 of the most beautiful and extreme beauty looks from Paris’s latest Couture Week installment.

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Because summer is the ultimate time for tunage, we’ve picked out a few of our favourite ladies to listen to while you’re busy sitting on the dock of the bay.

METRIC | GOSSIP | GRIMES | EMELI SANDÉ | MELANIE FIONA

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It should come as no surprise that Her Madgesty is going to be royally decked out for her upcoming MDNA concert tour. The fact that Jean Paul Gaultier, her long-time collaborator (and creator of that oh-so-famous conical bra), is already on board is reason enough to get excited about the costumes, but now WWD is reporting that Jeremy Scott and Alexander Wang will both be creating stage outfits as well.

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Amidst the mass hysteria (how else could one describe it?) that was the Dior succession saga of 2011/2012, you may have heard the name of a little-known French couturier, Maxime Simoëns, thrown around. And while those rumours may have been totally unfounded, today’s announcement that LVMH would be investing in his eponymous line has made it crystal clear that his is one name to remember.

In a surprising turn of events, LVMH head honcho Bernard Arnault has invested a significant but undisclosed amount in the 27-year-old’s two-years-young label. And while Arnault is famous for treating the global luxury market as one gigantic game of Hungry Hungry Hippos (hint: LVMH=the hippo, everyone else=the balls), the mogul almost never invests in new labels.

Despite his young age, Simoëns is no stranger to the fashion world. He studied fashion at the famed École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and then apprenticed at Elie Saab, Jean Paul Gaultier, Balenciaga and—get this—Dior under Galliano. Not to mention his Maxime Simoëns line that shows during Paris Couture Week and his bevy of celebrity clients (mostly French) including Canadian Rachel McAdams.

Arnault must think the wunderkind has got some serious talent—and with his track record, can you blame him? This has people wondering if Simoëns is being readied to take the reins at one of LVMH’s more established labels. Could we see Simoëns at Givenchy post-Tisci? Or at Fendi post-Karl? Given this year’s intense, never-ending game of fashion musical chairs (Jil! Raf! Stefano! Hedi!), we can’t help but applaud Arnault’s foresight.

Brace yourselves folks, Jean Paul Gaultier has confirmed that he will be designing a costume(s) for Madonna’s upcoming MDNA world tour. This possibly could be the best pop artist–fashion designer collaboration we’ve seen since… well… the two worked together for her Madgesty’s Blonde Ambition tour in 1990. We wonder if this reunion collab will pay […]

The post The return of the cone bra? Jean Paul Gaultier to design costumes for Madonna’s upcoming tour appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

From pop stars to puppets, Jean Paul Gaultier has proven he can dress ‘em all. Diet Coke has appointed the eccentric designer to take over Karl Lagerfeld’s position as creative director, and the first commercial has him giving a tiny marionette a couture makeover.

We never thought we’d feel puppet-envy, but the ad—the first of three in a series entitled The Night & Day Serial Designer—features Gaultier (sporting serious Dr. Seuss-esque hair) creating a punk ensemble for the miniature Diet Coke-girl.

JPG is the first designer to appear in the brand’s films, and will be lending his eye to create a limited-edition collection of show-stopping bottles and cans along with developing online content, ad campaigns, and retail concepts. We’re sure the brand has high expectations for the designer’s version of the bottle, given his knack to create curvaceous perfume bottles.

The second and third installments of the series will premiere on March 9 and 10.

Hyper-pigmented golds, subtle silvers, dusty coppers—the list goes on and on. Metallics certainly have a range that ensures they appear on beauty trend reports season after season. In the last few weeks for instance, Fall 2012 runways have revealed a preference for rich jewel tones and duo-chromatic shades. But before we jump ahead, now’s the time to get glitzed up in spring’s favourite metallic: bronze.

When we reported that Andrej Pejic was in talks to star in a fragrance campaign, we had an inkling that the pouty-lipped wonder would be matched up with Jean Paul Gaultier. As it turns out, we were right on the money. WWD has confirmed that Pejic will be the face of Gaultier’s men’s fragrance Korkorico (that’s French for cock-a-doodle-doo, folks).

By Lesa Hannah and Sarah Daniel

Liquid liner hasn’t lost its momentum, but makeup artists left last season’s ’60s mod influence behind and moved back a decade to the ’50s, with inspirations like Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor. At Jonathan Saunders, artiste Lucia Pieroni gave models a Stepford streak, inspired by a mid-century Miami housewife who likes her Valium, she says. At Marni, makeup artist Tom Pecheux applied a cinnamon-coloured flick instead of the standard noir, which was inspired by a terracotta clutch in the collection and brought “a sophisticated finish to the face,” he says. Hair-stylists also mined the past for ideas—from the ’20s to the ’70s, and every decade in between. At Diane von Furstenberg, teased ’60s French twists were “textured so it’s rustic and earthy, and quite simple in shape,” says coiffeur Orlando Pita. But at Jean Paul Gaultier, it was an old photograph that led to the loose wartime rolls that hair guru Guido Palau fastened to the top of the head. Our favourite was the sterile-looking ’50s faux bob at Jil Sander, in all its vacuum-sealed nurse practitioner perfection.

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The inspiration for yesterday’s Jean Paul Gaultier couture show has many feeling a bit uneasy. Walking to a barbershop rendition of Rehab, the models were total Amy Winehouse doppelgangers, complete with beehives, lip piercings, and thickly winged eyeliner (not to mention exposed bra straps and cigarettes). Considering the news-making songstress died just over six months ago, it seems like a case of too much, too soon.

At the forefront of those who are decrying the show is Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who just this morning tweeted: “We don’t support the Jean Paul Gaultier’s [sic] collection. It’s in bad taste.”

What’s our favourite androgynous model Andrej Pejic to do after ruling the runway, posing in push-up bras, and landing our February cover? Why, a fragrance campaign, of course! It seems the beauty, who is giving the ladies and gents of the runway a run for their money, has no signs of slowing down. He may soon be the fresh face of a perfume.

A French TF1 Channel called Sept a Huit aired a taping of behind-the-scenes action with Pejic, documenting the model in fittings and rehearsals for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall 2012 menswear show and Michalksy womenswear show in Berlin, in which the commentator exposed via voice-over that Pejic “will sign, in several weeks, his first contract to lend his image to a major perfume brand.”

Which campaign will the fashion chameleon grace? No word on the label quite yet.  However, Pejic’s affiliation with Gaultier makes us wonder if he’s a candidate for the (mens? womens? unisex?) fragrance.

Then again, Pejic was featured in the (always edgy) Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2011 campaign which was a brilliant fit, (Dakota Fanning better cling to her Lola bottle!) and Louis Vuitton still hasn’t announced who will be the face of its new fragrance. The options seem endless for fashion’s latest obsession.

We may not know much about the campaign yet, but we do know one thing: Pejic is bound to produce stellar pictures (as always) and we’ll be waiting on the edges of our seats to see them!