FASHION Magazine

Last night on livestream, when one Met Gala-goer after another swore they were only really wearing that $50,000 look to the Oscars of fashion so they could sneak-peek “Impossible Conversations,” I almost believed them. The Metropolitan Museum’s daring pairing of a designer exhibit is that good: Schiaparelli, meet Prada; Prada, meet Schiaparelli. Hello, two most […]

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The Met Museum has revealed a sneak peek of the forthcoming and highly anticipated Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada exhibit in which Prada reveals her greatest design inspiration…aprons! “I’m interested in the lives of women in general, which is why I love aprons. The apron is a recurring theme in my work because it is […]

The post Quotable: Miuccia Prada digs aprons appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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Miuccia Prada rounded up her men for Prada’s Fall 2012 menswear collection with a mouth-full of a title: Prada Presents: Il Palazzo. A Palace of Role Play.

In typical Prada fashion, there was plenty of pattern-on-pattern clashing, and ornate prints turned into football helmets—aboriginal headdresses upon closer inspection. This time, mixed into the model assortment were actors Gary Oldman, Garrett Hedlund, Jamie Bell, Emile Hirsch, Adrien Brody, and Tim Roth. (Who better to walk a collection based on role play?) Double-breasted suits and Hugh Hefner robes were the wears of choice, complete with a dangling pair of rose-coloured glasses (get it?).

Yesterday, we reported that Miuccia Prada was not too pleased about her upcoming retrospective with Elsa Schiaparelli at the Met. The designer was quoted by WWD as saying the exhibit was “too formal” and that the pairing of her and Schiaparelli was odd considering they were “total opposite[s].”

Now Prada has been doing some serious damage control, with a rep for the company telling Fashionista that the designer’s comments were taken out of context:

When we first reported in October about the Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli exhibit to open at the Met, our minds went wild with thoughts of how the institute would connect the two. Well, Miuccia Prada is now raining on our little trompe l’oeil parade.

Prada is not enthusiastic about sharing the spotlight with Schiaparelli, to say the least. She complained to WWD, “It’s too formal. They are focused on similarities, comparing feather with feather, ethnic with ethnic, but they are not taking into consideration that we are talking about two different eras, and that [Schiaparelli and I] are total opposite […] I told them, but they don’t care.”

Different eras? Sure. Total opposite? Not entirely. Both experiment(ed) with Surrealism, escapism, fantasy, and visual trickery. To boot, both could easily be considered the artistes of their era. From where we sit, the Met exhibit sounds promising enough, and we can only hope that Prada has a change of attitude before the start of the exhibit on May 7.

Word: Floration

Usage: “[Kehinde Wiley‘s] models are photorealistic and the backgrounds are primarily images of what he calls “floration,” stylistic representations from designs that are Islamic, Baroque, and Rococo in origin.” — from the Columbus Museum of Art’s description of painter Wiley’s 2006 show

Meaning: See above. (Wiley made up the word himself.)

Sweet, sweet, surrealist joy. The Met’s Costume Institute has confirmed next spring’s mega exhibit, Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion, set to run from May 10 through August 19, 2012. As we originally reported in August, the exhibit will focus on the connections between the two Italian designers who, while working in completely different eras, share proclivities for the oddball, uncanny, and arty—Schiaparelli with her ’30s collabs with Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau, and Prada with her ongoing relationships with some of today’s best known architects, artists, and foundations.

Ever since the Met Costume Institute’s record-breaking Alexander McQueen exhibit closed, we’ve been itching to know what its successor would be. Well hear ye, ladies of quirk: Miuccia Prada and the legendary Elsa Schiaparelli are the next in line to be celebrated. While an official release from the museum has yet to be released, we’re thinking that WWD is a pretty credible source.

Both women brought Italian fashion into the spotlight but are known for very different styles. Schiaparelli was a close friend and collaborator of Salvador Dalí and repeatedly plucked from his surrealist inspirations. In fact, she is most known for her lobster dress of 1937, which was created in collaboration with Dalí (and once worn by Wallis Simpson). Prada, on the other hand, might need less of an introduction. Her titanic influence on the industry has been solidly felt across the world (as if spring’s infamous stripes didn’t say it on their own).

Curators Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton no doubt have some surprises up their sleeves, and we are dying to see what they have in store. Are they as excited as we are?

Miu Miu’s muse: Take a look at the first shot from Hailee Steinfeld’s fall ad campaign for the label. [Fashionista]

Old-school fashion rules are generally to our benefit. In a world of muffin tops and visible panty lines, they give us some Emily Post–like structure on how to flatter our bodies and look put together in the currently “anything goes” state of sartorial modernism. That being said there are some rules that just aren’t relevant anymore, limiting your wardrobe instead of making the most of it. Here, we learn from Hollywood’s finest that rules really are made to be broken.

Turn don’ts into dos! »

Watch out biographers! If you were considering writing a book on Karl Lagerfeld, you might wanna rethink your plans. [Elle]

Post intern Twitter-rant, Marc Jacobs‘ business partner Robert Duffy is now being faced with a whole slew of very naughty allegations from the company’s ex-COO. [NY Daily News]