FASHION Magazine

If there is fashion equivalent for a gear head, I am it. Pretty fabrics are fine and all, but I really want to know about seams and pockets and collars. Chanel is releasing a series of videos centered around their Paris-Shanghai Metiers d’Art collection that satisfies my cravings for process. The Chanel Metiers d’Art collection is a line that celebrates the work of Parisian craft ateliers that Chanel has acquired over the years–Lesage embroidery, feather artisans Lemarié, the millinery house of Michel, etc. The collection will be shown in Shanghai on December 4 and takes inspiration from that city (where Chanel happens to be opening a new boutique next week).

In the videos, Karl Lagerfeld sketches at holds court at over seamstresses, helpers and fit models at 31 rue Cambon. They and and the Kaiser sort fabric swatches, talk belt placement and change designs on the fly. There will be a new episode every few days leading up to the show. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how a collection comes together. You can sign up for alerts at the chanel-paris-shanghai.com mini-site.

Check out the first two episodes after the jump.

The Daily Beast compiled a list of the 10 most valuable models. If the suspense is killing you, Gisele is number one, followed by Christy Turlington (7), Kate Moss (2) and the usual suspects. We’d argue that Daria (5) is hardly an “up-and-comer” though, so you can probably take this all with a grain of salt. [Daily Beast]

Karl Lagerfeld is launching a Chanel magazine called 31 Rue Cambon with Purple’s Olivier Zahm heading up art direction. [The Cut]

Blackface keeps popping up in fashion editorials–on the heels of Lara Stone’s racial transformation and Tyra’s ANTM shoot comes V as the next culprit. [The Cut]

Karl Lagerfeld will star in a short documentary that follows him on September 10th as he worked at the Chanel offices. The film “The Blonde and I” even caught the designer whipping up a quick outfit sketch before speeding off to an airport photo shoot where he remarked, “I look good on the runway.” Of course you do Karl, you look good everywhere. [WWD]

Thierry Mugler Womenswear may be back on the runway next year. Creative director Rosemary Rodriguez, who has been designing Mugler menswear, just showed a mix of new and archived pieces during Russia’s Volvo Fashion Week, sparking rumors that she’s prepping for a RTW show. [FWD]

Giorgio Armani has been hinting at retirement. He told reporters in Moscow, “I’m already organizing staff who will continue my work.” The designer was ill with hepatitis earlier this year and reorganized the management of his company lessen his workload. “Of course I am not eternal, there comes a time when you must hand it over.” [The Cut]

Lucian Matis has been named the winner of the first FDCC Designer Development Fund award. The fund will be awarded annually in support of Canadian fashion designers who demonstrate potential for growth. A business mentorship with FDCC prez Robin Kay is part of the prize. “We want to extend the potential to build their brand and assist the designers with the necessary tools to help them emerge nationally and internationally in this new economy,” says Kay. [LGFW]

Georgia May Jagger will join Coco Rocha as the two new faces of Rimmel London’s campaign starting in 2010. [The Cut]

This week’s New York Magazine has named Anna Wintour one of the 12 most powerful New Yorkers. This news didn’t come as too shocking, but more confusing is the fact that the Vogue powerhouse is the sole woman to make the list. [The Cut]

When Lady Gaga announced, via Twitter, that Alexander McQueen would premiere her new single at his Spring 2010 show, streamed live yesterday afternoon, the swarm crashed the servers and we all ended up watching the show in choppy slo-mo. All the better to catch a glimpse of the 10-inch heels. [The Cut]

The Chanel show spectacle had it all: Prince, barnyard chic clothing, models romping in the hay, Uncle Karl, and a show-stealing performance by Lily Allen. [Guardian]

These dove-grey, gently storming mornings in Paris feel softened by the rain. Trench coats replace leathers, standoffish editors lend umbrella cover, and when I get out of the damp and into a show, the place feels tingly with shared relief. I liked it–til I woke up today and found I had fallen way down the weather. Okay, a confession: the causes might not be all natural. I could be blamed, too, for living on macaroons & menthol lights in between vegetable-free meals. In a word, I feel ick. And if it were any other day, I’d have stayed under the covers and ordered in curry.

But today was Chanel day, and maybe I’m sick in more ways than one, but I genuinely felt I didn’t have a choice. Had to gloss over my head cold, put on major heels and a little gilt, and cab out to Le Grand Palais by 10:30 in the morning. Worth it? Beyond.

The Sundance Channel’s series The Day Before, which chronicles the 48 hours before the Fall 2009 shows for Proenza Schouler, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel, Fendi, premiere tomorrow, but clips are out. While we have a life-long fascination with all things Karl Lagerfeld, our favourite clips are with Gaultier, who gives a charming tour of Paris from the rooftop of his studio. 

We never tire of seeing behind-the-scenes candy like this. Karl sketching, assistants aging headbands with cobblestones and close-ups of all the beautifully crafted clothes.

More clips after the jump and even more here . [Fashionologie]

Karl Lagerfeld and Philippe Starck have created their own covers and editorial for Wallpaper’s October issue. Lagerfeld’s cover features his current muse Baptiste Giabiconi clad in a Dior Homme suit while Starck’s mixes images of an amoeba, a monkey, a monkey sporting shoes and a question mark.

In an interview with GNT Fashion in her native Brazil, Raquel Zimmermann chats about her decade-long fashion career, her love for Vogue’s Grace Coddington and how Karl Lagerfeld is actually a “sweet, friendly, funny person.” The clip is worth watching for the eye candy alone–delicious editorials and video evidence of Zimmermann’s skills as a runway stalker. [via Fashionista]

Clip after the jump.

The CFDA had a Town Hall meeting last night to discuss the relevancy of out-of-season fashion weeks in the Internet age. But what you really want to know is: What did André Leon Talley wear? “The Vogue editor at large got out in a light gray suit with a small Louis Vuitton man-purse and parked himself at a table by the entrance. He applied lotion to his hands and sent someone out for a cappuccino, skim, with Splenda, at the Starbucks across the street. Once it was delivered, Mr. Talley went into the auditorium and took his seat.” Thank you for just existing, ALT. [New York Observer]

Toronto’s Tommy Ton of Jak&Jil took the photo above for Canadian designer Rad Hourani’s new line, Rad by Rad Hourani–a more affordable collection that doesn’t veer too far from his drapey, unisex vision. [StyleFile]

If you’ve been awake today, you’ll have heard the news that tanning beds, not surprisingly, cause cancer. [Yahoo!]

First the sunscreen and now this: Japan has been blessed with Nike’s new “Will Ferrell” sneaker. The shoes are burgundy, as in Ron. [High Snobriety, via The Cut]

Vogue Italia creates another all-black issue–starring Barbie. [Refinery 29]

Jason Wu bookends his days with cats. [Times of London]

Sigred Agren, our favourite model on the NY runways, poses with Bambi, Thumper, et al for Stella McCartney’s fall campaign. [Vogue UK]