FASHION Magazine

Strategic cut-outs, thigh-high slits and body-con shapes: Sébastien Peigné and Nicola Formichetti of Mugler are bringing sexy back.

Reviving Mugler is a monster task. After designer Thierry Mugler took his final runway bow at his couture show in July 2000, this kinky house of cool (remember Demi Moore’s bondage-style dress in 1993’s Indecent Proposal?) started flatlining. Ten years later, the resuscitation began. In 2010, following months of speculation, Nicola Formichetti (Lady Gaga’s stylist) was tapped to lead the revival of the French house known for its over-the-top theatricality and sex appeal. Besides outfitting Mother Monster, this 34-year-old half-Italian, half-Japanese, techno-savvy superstar is also the fashion director for Vogue Hommes Japan and global retailer Uniqlo. His debut Mugler womenswear show during Fall 2011 Paris Fashion Week had the twitterverse buzzing about its latex-dipped leggings, body-stocking dresses and the catwalk pièce de résistance: Gaga, smoking in every sense of the word.

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It’s only fitting that the last of our snaps from Paris should include so many queens of fashion—the queen of big screen fashion, Sarah Jessica Parker, the queen of fashion media, Anna Wintour, the queen of fashion pop, Katy Perry, the queen of the current front rowers, Virginie Courtin-Clarins, and the queen of vintage inspiration, Catherine Deneuve. Enjoy today’s visual feast, and be sure to come back next week when we share our snaps from Toronto.

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We’re just about ready to pass style snapping off to Toronto, but before we do, we’ve got two more extra special photo galleries to share! Today, we give you this glorious selection caught from outside the Chanel and Chloé shows. Tomorrow, we’ll present our last batch from outside Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu. Stay tuned, lovelies!

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View every look Kate has worn since her engagement »

“When the clock strikes 10, the train will pull into the station,” read the show notes for Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2012 runway show. Well, the train arrived about 8 minutes late, but pull into the station it did—a full-on locomotive chugging into a tent in a courtyard of the Louvre, pulling a passenger car full of models.

As each girl stepped off the train she was accompanied by a bellman carrying her oversized Vuitton bags tipped in goat, mink, ostrich, and croc. These weren’t the type of ladies who travel in steerage. Even the simplest A-line coat or pea jacket had enormous jewelled buttons.

The fact that we spotted Paul (that’s Sir, to you!) McCartney outside his daughter’s show should really be enough, but no. We got Alicia Keys, Salma Hayek, and every gorgeous model leaving the show with their vibrant blue lashes, too! We’re feeling pretty happy with ourselves right now…

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View our picks » “You want volume? I’ll give you volume.” That seemed to be Sarah Burton’s thinking for the Fall 2012 Alexander McQueen collection. The show opened with white jacquard skirt suits featuring fluffy collars that extended from chin to elbow then moved into doily dresses with arcing sleeves and hips. Pink puffballs of Mongolian […]

The post PFW Diary: All the volume (and we mean volume) at yesterday’s Alexander McQueen show appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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The crystals rising from the gravely floor of the Grand Palais were the first clue that today’s Chanel show was going to be about shine—and was it ever. Fabrics and trims literally glistened from top to toe—from the models crusty brows to the crystals on their Lucite heels.

In between, amethyst bits covered the shoulders of a jacquard top, sequins lined the hood of a crisp bomber, and wide metal collars like small breastplates were tucked under suit jackets. Prism motifs included jewel-tone prints, seaming on a grey flannel coat, plastic-y appliqués on another coat, and geometrics carved into shearling. Reflective fabrics included a blue crinkly foil blouse, crushed-velvet stovepipe pants, and some sort of silver weave, probably lurex, for pantsuits.

See the collection » “He sure is going out with a bang,” said the retailer sitting next to me, summing up Stefano Pilati’s final collection for Yves Saint Laurent. Black suit after black suit—each one chicer and stricter than the next—opened the show, then life-size calla lilies in purple and green jacquard began appearing from head to […]

The post PFW Diary: Stefano Pilati says au revoir with an almost entirely black final collection at Yves Saint Laurent appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

View the sleeve and shoulder trend in action »

We need to talk about sleeves. Shoulders too, but first sleeves.

There is a majorly mannish tailoring trend forming at the Fall 2012 shows in Paris, but what keeps it from being dull is that the designers are having fun with sleeves.

Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci cut his sleeves short and wide for boxy jackets and colour-blocked furs. We’ll surely be seeing these goods on Alicia Keys and the other stars who were in his front row.

There were striped knit sleeves on wool coats at Kenzo (made ultra-cool thanks to designers and Opening Ceremony co-founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim).

I am just back from another showroom visit, this time at Lanvin. I am still reeling from the beauty and all-out luxe. Here’s what I learned in four points:

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1.   The shapely jewel-tone dresses that came down the runway three evenings ago—surprise surprise!—turned out to made from bra padding, giving them a soft but substantial sculptural quality.

Judging by all the coatless wonders skulking around outside the shows this weekend, we’d say that things are heating up in Paris. But alas, the 4°C readout on our screens says otherwise. If fashion week has taught us anything, it’s that you dress for the cameras despite those frigid temps.

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The energy of a runway show cannot be beat—assuming of course, that you’re listening to a rocking DJ, perusing kickass clothes, and ogling Tilda Swinton in front row. If not, a visit to a designer’s showroom can be just as satisfying.

Taking the time to get up close and personal with this latest batch of collections seems even more crucial than in most seasons, given the major trompe l’oeil layering trend that’s impossible to dissect as models rush by. I was trying to figure out whether an item was constructed of one layer or three as I headed to the Carven showroom.