FASHION Magazine

We’re kvelling over here. Belleville-born beauty and five-time FASHION cover girl Liisa Winkler has landed one of our favourite new campaigns: the Steven Meisel–photo’d Balenciaga Fall 2011 shots. Featuring Winkler alongside fellow model Julia Nobis swathed in the season’s angular colour-blocked pieces, the shots juxtapose the setting of the Gothic arches of a Harlem church with sterile black-and-white bathroom tiles. “I met with Nicolas in New York and he booked me ‘exclusive’ for his show in Paris. Soon after, I shot the campaign in New York with Steven,” says Winkler. “It was so nice to work with such a great team again. After being out of the industry for the past few years raising my kids, I feel more solid in my own skin and more able to fully appreciate and understand all the creative direction that goes into a shoot like this.”

To boot, she is also featured in the just-released behind-the-scenes video of the shoot filmed by model Karen Elson and is seen in many of the, like, zillion photos that are included on the relaunched Balenciaga website. You go, homegirl!

After a long and exhausting month of shows (it’s a hard life… we know), we’ve finally had a few minutes to digest the thrills and frills that we saw on the runways in New York, London, Milan and Paris. So, here they are. Our top ten hits, in no particular order. (Ordering them would be like choosing favourite children, and we simply CANNOT go that far… )

Check out our Paris fall 2011 fashion week photo gallery »

Fall is looking really bleak. At least in terms of the palette. Burgundy, bottle green, smokey grey and petrol blue have dominated the runways here at the Paris shows, which end today. This morning at Louis Vuitton we were literally met with leathery black balloons hovering above the Carrousel du Louvre ⎯quite a contrast to some of the acid yellow python and orange patent handbags in the crowd.

“This is so confusing,” said the flummoxed woman beside me at Chanel. She later said that it was by the two-way traffic on the runway, but it just as easily could have been the abundance of silhouettes.

There are many reasons why it is so much more enriching to be here in Paris seeing the fall 2011 collections firsthand, rather than simply viewing them on the web. Being alongside buyers and press from around the world puts everything in context.

It is always about five days into a fashion week that the trends become crystal clear. And lo and behold, there I was this morning at Akris, the 5^th day of the Paris fall 2011 shows and here is what was scribbled in my notebook:

Sometimes you look and something coming down the runway and just think, “Huh?”

That happened last night at Lanvin when a black and white floral pouf dress appeared at Alber Elbaz’s fall 2011 show. As I watched the booted mini pass by, my next thought was “‘80s Wayne Clark”. Then, I noticed that the outfit was on Freja Beha Erichsen, and since designers tend to put their most important outfits on the better-known models, I wondered: should we to take this look as directional? Will we be seeing more poufy, oversized florals on the spring 2012 runway? Hmmm….

Bravo to the house of Christian Dior for handling the Galliano debacle with tact and elegance. In a tent at the Musee Rodin, Sidney Toledano, Dior CEO, addressed the crowd, reminding them of the history of the house. He pointed out the legacy of founder, Christian Dior, who loved both women and feminine beauty. He also called to mind the house’s strongly held values of craftsmanship and technique.

Where to begin. Last night, I took in a presentation by the lovely Canadian expat Calla Haynes, who loves to play with watery abstract prints in soft shapes. The models lined up before a row of potted flowers, then Haynes bashfully stepped in among them to take her bow.

Woke up with a smile knowing I had a Balenciaga ticket in hand! After a gulping a cappuccino, I dashed down the Rue de Rivoli to the Hotel Crillon where paparazzi lined the entrance waiting for fashion photo ops. It doesn’t matter how dressed I get for these things, there will always be someone better. This morning, it was a woman in a red Balmain studded moto jacket who got those cameras snapping.

I wish I could tell you that after a transatlantic red-eye and a nap, my first day in Paris started with something noble, like the sculpture exhibit by contemporary British artist Tony Cragg at the Louvre. But, heck, Colette and Chanel have teamed up to create an “ephemeral boutique,” conveniently around the corner from my hotel!