FASHION Magazine

Who’s the sexiest Middleton? According to Karl Lagerfeld, it’s Carole Middleton. Kate and Pippa’s 57-year-old mother.

In an exclusive interview with Grazia, the Kaiser didn’t hold back (as per usual) and said “I think Carole is very sexy. I think the mother is sexier than both the daughters. There is something full of life about her. For a woman who must be 50 or so, I think she’s great – full of energy.”

Every little bit counts: Arriving early for my 9am appointment in New York City to check out Chanel’s Fall 2012 Couture collection, I was ushered into the elevator along with Chanel employees clad in head to toe tweed. Even the elevator decor had been thoughtfully attended to, with an oversized portrait of Coco Chanel that matched Karl Lagerfeld’s drawing on my invitation card.

Okay, maybe not entirely head to toe tweed: I knew the agony I went through when selecting my outfit was not in vain when I discovered that the Paris-based PR girl showing me around was wearing the same pair of Alexander Wang sandals. Phewf!

It’s hard to believe Choupette Lagerfeld has only been gracing us with her “great beauty” for a mere year now. From her almost 16,000 follower count on Twitter to her multiple appearances in between glossy covers, the adorable furball has undoubtedly achieved more in a year than any other feline (and some humans) do in their lives.

She celebrated the milestone with dad Karl Lagerfeld yesterday, who tweeted a pic of the kitten with a cat-style cake (i.e. five shrimp arranged in a cartwheel configuration). So what exactly has the fashion world’s most illustrious kitty squeezed into her first year of life?

Check out Miley’s new hair!» Miley Cyrus’ newest hair do—a punk-inspired bleached out crop cut courtesy of stylist Chris McMillan—has us thinking the former Disney starlet might be taking a cue from Madonna’s guide on how to stay relevant. In the last few months, we’ve seen Miley shed her signature waist-length locks for a more […]

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Even if you only glanced at a picture in passing, the image of Anna Piaggi would have undoubtedly left an imprint in your memory: her blue marcel curls, rouge-dotted cheeks, flamboyant hats and colourful, pattern-clashing clothes were an unmistakable fixture on the front row, one that will be sorely missed as the fashion world learns today of the 81-year-old’s passing.

Piaggi was born in Milan in 1931, and broke into the editorial world as a translator at the Mondadori publishing house. She moved into fashion journalism as the fashion editor of Italy’s first women’s magazine Arianna in the ‘60s, and began contributing to Vogue Italia in the ‘70s. She’s began writing for everything from Vanity Fair to L’Espresso, and as her editorial page count grew, so did her eccentric wardrobe. Her 2865 dresses and 265 pairs of shoes were celebrated in a Topshop-sponsored, Victoria & Albert Museum exhibit entitled “Fashion-ology” in 2006, while friend and admirer Karl Lagerfeld documented over 250 sketches of her many looks in Lagerfeld’s Sketchbook.

Pippa Middleton’s debut as maid of honour to big sister Kate may have scored her legions of fans across the world (and a Facebook page entirely devoted to her rear view), but one particularly vocal person is not one of them. If a recent The Sun article is to be believed, Karl Lagerfeld thinks Pippa is a butterface—in other words, he thinks she should keep her face under wraps and stick to only showing her rear.

Miuccia Prada isn’t exactly known for being all that press-friendly, and a rare interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica may shed some light on why the legendary designer hasn’t warmed to the media in the same way chatterboxes Karl Lagerfeld and Roberto Cavalli have.

In a translation by WWD, Prada’s feature in La Repubblica details all her concerns about the flagging Italian fashion industry. More than any other nation, Italy has the most family-owned luxury fashion houses: Prada, Gucci, Missoni and Fendi are just a few brands that still have an active voice from the founding designers’ families. But with more and more Italian fashion houses looking to sell (Valentino sold to Qatar’s royal family for over $850 million) or to expand by going public with IPOs, Prada is worried Italian fashion may become “second league.”

“[…] If our brands cross our borders, the credit, glamour, fame and decision making is in the hands of others, and we are abandoned, downgraded,” she cautioned.

Prada doesn’t fault the designers themselves; after all, she shows Miu Miu in Paris because of the city’s “attraction that is called glamour,” and Raf Simons’ move from Jil Sander (which shows in Milan) to Parisian fashion house Dior will mean “his value will further be emphasized.”

According to Prada, the real culprits are the Italian media and left-leaning intellectuals. Journalists’ treatment of their nation’s fashion industry as “frivolous” instead of a relevant industry contributes to the view that Italy is seen as a place with “less resources, culture, protagonists, ideas, vitality and money,” meaning that like Simons, “fashion goes elsewhere, looking for the best.”

It comes as no surprise that rap-loving cool kid Alexander Wang has nabbed everyone’s favourite rapper du jour Azealia Banks as the face of his latest T campaign.

In your daily dose of Karl Lagerfeld news, the eclectic designer apparently has another job on top of his many other ones (father to Choupette, Chanel designer, Snoop Dogg music video star, etc). During his off time, Lagerfeld sometimes likes to pretend to be a street statue.

Karl Lagerfeld descended upon London for the launch of his Olympics-inspired collection (as well as a men’s and women’s collection) at Selfridges yesterday, showing up a fashionable two hours late to a fête in his honour. However, as is often the case with Lagerfeld, it was well worth the wait, given that the always-quotable designer soon started spouting off about everything from his Olympics-themed collection (it’s “opportunistic”) to the royals (Kate Middleton’s figure is “divine”). And, of course, no conversation with Kaiser Karl would be complete without mention of the “great beauty” Choupette, who we happened to have the great pleasure of speaking with earlier this month (not face-to-face in case you were wondering—she sent us her answers via her ever-present iPad).

After the hate-athon that ensued after Yves Saint Laurent unveiled a photo of its revamped Saint Laurent Paris logo, two fashion heavy-hitters have come to the defense of creative director Hedi Slimane.

Both Karl Lagerfeld and Arizona Muse have given their stamp of approval to the new fuss-free, sans-serif logo, which was pictured atop two black boxes stacked on white marble on the brand’s Facebook page Monday. The logo, which is a nod to the brand’s Rive Gauche era back in the ‘60s, is the exact opposite of the swirly Yves Saint Laurent font that’s been a mainstay for the brand up until this point.

We’ve been fantasizing about Karl Lagerfeld’s forthcoming collection for Shu Uemura since we first reported on the collaboration last month, and now the recently unveiled Mon Shu Girl mascot is giving us even more reason to lust after the line.