FASHION Magazine

There was so much fabulousness going on outside the Viktor & Rolf show on Saturday—think Karlie Kloss with moody stained lips and stringy hair, Anna Dello Russo in Big Bird fur, and Gareth Pugh looking as edgy as his own collections—but alas, none of it could contend with Katy Perry, her vibrant cobalt Viktor & Rolf swirl trench, or her dyed-to-match Wonder Woman-blue do. The latest in a string of candy (and comic) coloured dye jobs was all the buzz all weekend long, and so it’s only fitting that it get a photo tribute here!

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Walking past the Meurice Hotel this afternoon, I passed a cluster of girls around the front door. Something told me they were waiting for someone famous who would be headed across the street to the Tuileries and the tent where the Viktor & Rolf show was being held. A short while later, as I sat in my seat, Katy Perry breezed past me in a blue coat and blue updo, settling in just metres away. And the paparazzi went wild.

By Lesa Hannah and Sarah Daniel

Hair accessories have been elevated beyond the basic bobby pin or pedestrian ponytail fastener. At Jason Wu, Odile Gilbert decorated updos with skinny black feathers for a punk touch. “We don’t want them to look romantic,” she says. At Chanel, pearls were pinned into wet-looking chignons; at Yves Saint Laurent, buns were encased in gold cage barrettes. Embellishment didn’t end there, though; faces were fully decorated too. To characterize “giant living dolls” at Viktor & Rolf, makeup artist Pat McGrath used thick, pink false eyelashes. At Givenchy, she responded to the designer’s request for “metallic flashes of light” by cutting sequins in two and placing one half above the eyes and one half below. When “[models] walked and blinked, it would capture the light,” says McGrath. But makeup maven Peter Philips wins the award for best showmanship: At Fendi, he affixed bits of gold and silver leaf from lash to brow. The look blew our minds.

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The final city of FASHION’s spring preview, Paris! We round up the highlights from fashion week in the city of love.

View our editor’s picks »

Judging from the long line-ups at the Gelato stands I whizzed by today, Paris is doing Summer: Part Deux. While the temperatures continue to soar, the PFWers continue to get creative with the contents of their luggage in an attempt to beat the heat: Knits are paired with shorts and summer dresses with suede knee-high boots; open-toed flat sandals are back; hair has gone the way of the top knot and makeup is down to a slash of bright lipstick. Bags run the gamut from leather to straw to skins to canvas. And sunglasses? If you don’t have a pair that’s brightly coloured/aviator/dark and oversized/white, you might as well stay in your hotel room and catch up on the Jackson Trial. Luckily, I brought two pairs that fit the bill (David Yurman and Marc Jacobs) so I spent Saturday dodging French doggie doo on the streets in between shows and presentations. Here’s the highlight reel of my day:

By Gillian Pryor

Dutch designer Erik Frenken knows a thing or two about manning a high fashion label. After working as the head of womenswear at Viktor & Rolf, the designer relocated to Amsterdam to take the helm at Avelon early last year. The label, which was on the brink of bankruptcy when Frenken took over in early 2010, has since extended into some of the most solidly covetable womenswear and menswear lines we’ve seen in ages.

Everyone loves a Canadian designer in London. From Erdem to Mark Fast to Thomas Tait, it’s a whole new boys’ club over there. But they better make room for one serious creative force of a girl: Kat Marks.

The Calgary native graduated from the Ryerson School of Fashion in 2008. I’ve never forgotten her work at the grad show. While most of her peers were fussily reinventing the cocktail dress, Marks was making balloon-shouldered bodysuits and plastic torsos with jutting hips. Think Margiela, but at a sex shop. Soon after leaving Ryerson, off Marks went to the London College of Fashion, where she got her Masters in Fashion Artefact and all the right kinds of attention.

Today, Marks’ fashion film, The Karass, premieres at SHOWStudio.com. No big deal: it’s just the major-est, most respected avant-garde fashion force in the whole UK. And yes, the short is shot by the site’s mastermind and genius image-maker, Nick Knight himself!

Experience the video for yourself, but be sure to keep in mind that every interchangeable piece of these hyper real tuxedo-like breastplates was made by Marks’ own hands: the vegetable-dyed, heat-moulded leathers, the manipulated bits of brass and the Perspex, which was hand-etched (“tattooed,” she says) with ink.

How did Marks and this bizarre, wearable-but-just-barely work get such a spectacular break? She didn’t. She sent an email. Alexander Fury, fashion director of SHOWStudio, “got it” right away. “It is rare to see pieces as distinctive and strong as Kat Marks’ work,” he says in a press release for the film. “Rare on the catwalks, and certainly rare in a designer so young.”

And so here’s the mega-talented Ms. Marks in her own words, typed over Skype and delivered straight to you.

Andre Leon Talley, Marc Jacobs, Isaac Mizrahi and the inimitable Anna Wintour make an appearance on P. Diddy‘s latest album Last Train to Paris. [The Cut]

Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler will sell 45 per cent of their label to Andrew Rosen, chairman of Kaplan Inc. [Vogue UK]

British designer Roland Mouret doesn’t see a diffusion line in his future: “I would never do a diffusion line. I don’t think the future is that. People mix brands all the time already, so you need to do something else. We are living in a different fashion world now,” he said. [Style File]

Phoebe Philo’s second ready-to-wear outing for Celine was full of sleek navy, plum and moss-coloured pieces. Dresses and jackets had low-slung leather patch pockets. Standout pieces were leather and sheepskin cocoon coats, cutaway jackets and shirts, blouses with trailing scarves, and a pair of clustered-sequin pieces. Click the images below to read up on Viktor […]

The post Paris: Sleek navy at Celine, piling on layers at Viktor & Rolf, fabric fusion at Costume, and more appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Last night, in a packed ballroom at the Hotel Le Meurice, Viktor & Rolf celebrated the 5th birthday of their Flowerbomb fragrance with a surprise performance by Grace Jones. The 61-year-old diva opened with “La Vie En Rose” against a backdrop of, you guessed it, roses. Read more from Paris Fashion Week Fall 2010

The post Video: Grace Jones at the Viktor & Rolf party in Paris appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Model Maggie Rizer has been tapped for accessories makers Dooney & Bourke’s fall ads. This after a string of celebs, including Lindsay Lohan and Hayden Panettiere, fronting the line. Rizer’s had some well-publicized troubles in recent years–her stepfather drained her of her modelling money in 2003, a case she won three years later–and though she’s mostly retired, we’re happy to see she’s resurfaced in such a beautiful campaign. It also gives us an excuse to show a video of the Viktor & Rolf Fall 1999 fashion show, where Rizer is slowly covered in the Dutch pair’s collection. After the jump.

“God, who are they photographing?” I keep asking, as the crowd of shooters seems rooted to the spot over some unfortunate soul in the front row at Stella McCartney.  It’s not Thandie Newton, it’s not Kanye West, it’s not Beth Ditto (who comes in at the very last minute with a six-person entourage). Who could it be? Finally they move away. Oh rigggght. Paul McCartney. That guy.