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They ♥ New York
New York, New York—it’s a helluva ville. “What we wanted to do was bring the energy of New York, its creativity and nightlife,” Stephen Gan said of Printemps and V‘s Printemps Loves New York party last night. His co-host agreed. “Energy is the thing Parisians admire most about the Americans,” said Printemps’ Maria Luisa Poumaillou.
New York is a big focus for the retailer at the moment: Its windows are currently full of Alexander Wang and Ralph Lauren, and throughout the month, it’s offering limited-edition tees by 15 CFDA designers. Even the Frenchest of the French can recognize a kindred spirit in New York. “In design, I have been focusing on the Parisienne for a year and a half, but I think that were she to live anywhere else, she would feel most at home in New York,” said Carven’s Guillaume Henry. “When I land in New York, when I watch New York women in the streets, that’s how I feel, too.” The love goes both ways. “I grew up on the Lower East Side, but I love coming here,” said Liv Tyler. “Even the drivers are chic in Paris.”
The evening’s entertainment was a private concert by (who else?) Courtney Love. “This is couture punk,” she told the front-row crowd, including Riccardo Tisci, Karl Lagerfeld, Kristen McMenamy, and Tyler. “Do you like my pantsuit?” Love added. (It was Givenchy, so you can imagine that they did.) She then belted out covers of “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Like a Prayer” before offering a “song I wrote about a community that keeps throwing me out, and I keep coming back.” No, not New York—that would be “Malibu.”
—Tina Isaac Continue reading
Rapide Fashion
Securing a store on the Champs-Élysées is the fashion-world equivalent of receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. So H&M’s new Paris flagship there is of appropriately grand proportions—and so, of course, was the fête the retailer threw last night to celebrate it. Designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, whose wife, Catherine, told us that he lives in H&M’s black T-shirts, the three-floor megastore is a futuristic fast-fashion paradise. Moving screens featuring H&M ambassador Elisa Sednaoui slide up and down between levels, and neon lights flicker over endless racks of minidresses, polka-dot sweaters, floppy felt hats, and, yes, abundant leopard-print looks.
“I think it’s important to have a very strong identity, and H&M has that,” mused Nouvel as he observed the hordes of excited shoppers storming the space. (The cash registers were open until 1 a.m.) “I wanted the store to embrace the spirit of the Champs-Élysées, and I think H&M Paris will have a very special character.” Downstairs, Sednaoui twirled to DJ beats in an H&M black lace dress. “I dressed like a Sicilian widow from the fifties tonight,” she joked over a glass of Champagne. The model-slash-actress gushed that she wants everything on the racks, especially the sunglasses. “I always lose my sunglasses, and H&M has the best shapes and great colors,” she said. “But they’re plastic, so you can break them or lose them and you don’t feel guilty!”
—Katharine Zarrella Continue reading
“Wolf” Pack
It may be almost 30 years since Simon LeBon, John Taylor, and co. were cavorting on yachts in those landmark music videos, but the crowd at last night’s Fendi O’ party—Karl Lagerfeld, Lou Doillon, Alexandra Richards, and Stephen Dorff among them—hardly noticed. They were too busy bopping and singing along to Duran Duran‘s 1980’s hits. “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Rio” were both on the playlist, but it was “White Lines” that really got people into a froth. LeBon used the opportunity to introduce “Boys Keep Swinging,” a Bowie cover off their intriguing, upcoming Mark Ronson-produced album. “This is our first time doing it in front of anyone,” he said, “so please forgive any screw-ups.”
By the time they got to their “Girls on Film” encore, it was so hot that the walls of the venue, Paris’ VIP Room, were sweating. Silvia Venturini Fendi pointed out what a fantastic accompaniment the tune made to the video for the brand’s new fragrance Fan di Fendi. Starring Anja Rubik, Abbey Lee Kershaw, and Karmen Pedaru, the clip was playing behind the band. “It took me back to another time,” Fendi said of the show. “But then my 14-year-old danced the entire night. Good music is forever.”
—Nicole Phelps Continue reading
Lady in Red
Bruce Willis may be the headliner of the new movie Red, which the Cinema Society and O.C. Concept screened at MoMA last night, but it was his co-star Helen Mirren—looking stunning in crimson (of course) Paule Ka—who stole the show. “Who wouldn’t want to hang out with her?” said Mary-Louise Parker, who shares a few pithy on-screen moments with the 65-year-old bombshell. “She’s as cool as you want to be and then some.”
Teenage boys—not presumably the usual Mirren demo—may soon agree. Red tells the story of a handful of retired CIA operatives called back into service, and like any good action flick, each one of them needs to know her or his way around a firearm. Mirren’s scenes are burning up YouTube—the actress handled automatic weapons like they were your commonplace handbag. (Though she conscientiously preferred to mention that guns are “a serious thing.”) And if action flicks aren’t the usual fare for most of the cast, which also includes Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Ernest Borgnine, all said they had a good time. “I haven’t done tons of them. I think I’ve done about four, but I always enjoy them,” said Malkovich on dabbling in the action genre. The award-winning actor drew plenty of laughs as a former covert op with more than a screw loose, before the cast (who actually stayed for the screening) and notables like Samuel L. Jackson and Erika Christensen headed to the after-party at the Lambs Club. These days, though, you’ll have a better chance of finding Malkovich at the design studio than at the production lot. “I love it sometimes, but it’s hardly an escape,” the actor said of designing his men’s clothing line Technobohemian, which he was also sporting for the night. “It’s how I spend about 90 percent of my time.”
—Bee-Shyuan Chang Continue reading
Let Her Eat Cake
It was Riccardo Tisci‘s big night, and the packed bash was technically to celebrate the designer’s latest Givenchy collection. But Tisci was kind enough to share the spotlight: What most people didn’t know until they reached the door was that it was also a surprise birthday party for Mariacarla Boscono, who turned 30 recently. “She’s been my best friend for 15 years, since before Givenchy,” Tisci said. “She has no idea.” There for the occasion were Justin Timberlake (who brought along some of his cast mates from The Social Network), Liv Tyler, friends flown in from Italy, and Boscono’s parents. In addition to performing a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Courtney Love sang “Happy Birthday”—twice. (The first rendition fell flat, thanks to a faulty mic.)
Birthday party it may have been, but the color scheme was full-on fashion fête: L’Arc, the newly chic boîte next to the Arc de Triomphe, was filled with black balloons and black macaroons. Even the birthday cake was mostly black, and decorated with a picture of the designer and his muse. “That was taken when we were really young,” said the birthday girl wistfully. “Now you all have to help me,” Boscono called out, as she rounded up friends and family in the garden VIP section to blow out the candles.
—Tina Isaac Continue reading
So in Love
“I’ve been working nonstop!” stylist-cum-Love editrix Katie Grand said after wrapping yesterday’s Loewe show. But last night, she took a few hours out of her packed fashion week (she’s styling Ungaro on Monday and the Louis Vuitton show on Wednesday) to preside over a dinner at Paris’ VIP Room for Loewe’s creative director and her longtime pal, Stuart Vevers. There to raise a glass were Angela Lindvall, Alessandra Ambrosio, Dree Hemingway, and Pixie Geldof, who sported a newly dyed streak of lime green hair with her black lace Dolce & Gabbana dress.
Giles Deacon dropped by to toast his old friends, too—and was surprisingly peppy, considering he hadn’t left the studio in eight days in preparation for his first Ungaro show. “We’ve been doing a lot of work with Muppets,” he joked, referring to a slew of ostrich-feather tube dresses that will be featured in the collection. “They don’t look at all like Elmo, but we’ve been naming them after various Sesame Street characters.” (He wasn’t the only one with costumes on the brain. Lorenzo Martone was still sporting a remnant from Paris Vogue‘s masquerade ball: a heavy dose of eye liner. “I’ve washed my face 30 times!” he moaned.)
After dinner, the assembled went on to a late-night (make that early-morning) Pharrell Williams performance. As an unruly mob of hopeful partygoers stormed the barricades, Jonathan Saunders noted that the scene reminded him of a London Ministry of Sound concert in the eighties. But the Love crew seemed unphazed by the crush. “That’s why Love‘s so cool,” model Cameron Russell explained. “They just don’t care!”
—Katharine Zarrella Continue reading
Gleefully Yours
The whole world’s gone Glee: The teenage musical comedy is back on the air, its poppy cover songs hold the top spots on iTunes’ most-downloaded list, and judging from the turnout at Glamour‘s dinner last night—in honor of the magazine’s October cover girl, Lea Michele—the fashion crowd is tuning in every Tuesday. “I watch Glee religiously,” said Pucci’s Peter Dundas. “Olivia Newton-John appeared in an episode singing ‘Physical’—I mean, come on!”
Joining him for dinner were Margherita Missoni, Narciso Rodriguez, Giambattista Valli, Peter Copping, Coco Rocha, and Zac Posen—not to mention the diva herself, Michele, here for her first time in Paris. (She’ll be taking in only one show: Stella McCartney. “I do a lot of work with PETA. I’m mostly vegan and I’ve never eaten red meat, so a brand that is beautiful without harming animals is my idea of fashion-forward,” Michele said.)
The new issue marks her first solo major mag cover, and the actress is pretty pleased with the results. “When I saw the photos, I loved that it was so real—there I am, nose and all. It’s me,” she said. According to Glamour‘s editor in chief Cindi Leive, that’s the whole appeal. “She’s a short, spunky, half-Jewish non-blonde,” Leive quipped. “Personally, I can relate to that!”
She wasn’t the only one finding Michele relatable. “We dressed Lea for the Tony Awards, but we only met tonight,” Posen said. “Turns out we have a mutual obsession with Sondheim.”
—Tina Isaac Continue reading
Fashion in Disguise
There had been much anticipation leading up to the bal masqué that Paris Vogue hosted to celebrate its 90th anniversary. Did it live up to the hype? “This is the best party I have been to in my eight years in Paris,” Rick Owens said. “French Vogue doesn’t have very many limits, and they still have the potential to be scandalous. You gotta love that unconventional attitude. That’s Carine.”
That it was. Among a crowd that included Miuccia Prada, Riccardo Tisci, Hedi Slimane, Lapo Elkann, Lenny Kravitz, and just about everyone else who could beg, borrow, or steal a ticket, the editrix herself was holding court, in a transparent leopard-print Givenchy number. The theme of the party, held in the Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo, was disguise, and the fashion crowd clearly relished the assignment. There were wild, feathered headgear (on Anna Dello Russo, naturally), sequins, and full-body regalia. “It’s just great that people really played the game,” Roitfeld said. “You can’t recognize a lot of them because of their masks. I think that’s really exciting.” (She wasn’t the only one excited—a costume party is a great place to live out your longtime fantasies. “I started making this yesterday,” Jean Paul Gaultier said of his gold mask splayed with stick-straight black feathers. “I’ve always dreamed of having long, black hair—et voilà, now I have it.”)
As the night rolled on, Gisele appeared in a lacy half-mask by Philip Treacy. “I had nothing to wear, and now I look like I have one eye, but that’s OK,” the supermodel laughed on her way to the dance floor. Nothing to wear? That wasn’t a problem for the hostess, who had already planned an outfit change for midnight—a runway look by Peter Dundas for Emilio Pucci. “It’s all lace, décolleté, and transparencies, with high slits,” Dundas said. “It’s beautiful and it pushes the limits—like Carine.”
—Tina Isaac Continue reading
Tommy, Can You See Me?
—Tommy Ton Continue reading
The Leopard Lover Doesn’t Change His Spots
Roberto Cavalli has never done things by halves, and his 40th anniversary party was a star-studded case in point. For his lavish bash at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he turned the chapel into a gallery, featuring iconic photos by Mert & Marcus and a smattering of strategically displayed vintage dresses. The great hall became a lounge with heaving banquet tables, Champagne, and Cavalli vodka. Taylor Swift, Rachel Bilson, and model-turned-actress Yu Yamada mingled gamely with the crowd, while Janet Jackson opted for refuge behind her bodyguard.
“I’ve been wearing Cavalli since before he did men’s,” reminisced the L.A.-based fashion peacock James Goldstein. “I was about 20 when I first tried on a pair of his pants, and I’ve been collecting ever since. Cavalli loves women, parties, and nightlife more than anyone I know.” (The women clearly love him back. “I needed this dress,” said Hilary Rhoda, in a red halter gown.)
“Cavalli’s fashion is just so feminine-friendly—I’m no six-foot girl and I’m not that young anymore, but I can always find something that makes me feel gorgeous,” added Yasmin LeBon, who may—stay tuned—make a catwalk appearance later this week (“even though it makes me feel like a grandmother,” she joked). Heidi Klum, clad in a column of gold sequins, added, “I wore his white lace leather pants to host the MTV awards; I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. He’s still at the top of his game.”
The designer made his entrance just before Kylie Minogue took the stage, with Italian icon Ornella Muti on his arm. “It’s just pure emotion,” the designer said. “I’ve done what I wanted to do. I’m very happy about my life, maybe for the first time.” Surely there’s something else he’d like to get done? He paused, then: “Ask me in the morning.”
—Tina Isaac Continue reading