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From One Icon to Another
Some mothers wear mom jeans. Not Gloria Vanderbilt, who launched one of the first-ever designer denim lines. “When you’re a kid, you kind of wish your mom would blend in with everybody else,” her son Anderson Cooper remembered last night at the party Ralph Lauren hosted for Wendy Goodman’s new book The World of Gloria Vanderbilt. “On report card day, she would come in, and one time she wore a purple beaver-skin coat by Zandra Rhodes. I used to try to sneak her into school without anybody seeing. Of course, now I appreciate her for all her stylishness.”
The silver-haired TV anchor, who penned the tome’s foreword, was joined by the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Uma Thurman, Gloria Steinem, and Camilla Belle at Lauren’s new flagship on Madison Avenue (in a nice bit of synergy, the mansion the store now occupies once belonged to Consuelo Vanderbilt, Gloria’s second cousin). In between air kisses, Goodman reflected, “Gloria’s story sort of encapsulates everything. I love historical research and there’s this amazing American social history there.” Among other lush spreads, the book features never-before-released images of Vanderbilt shot by the late Richard Avedon.
“The photograph that inspired Wendy to write the book, Dick had sent it to me a week before he died,” Vanderbilt noted of a particularly memorable Avedon image. “I had never even seen it before. It was so strange; it was like he knew.” As for her famous eye, it seems even practice won’t do. Said Vanderbilt, “It’s instinctive.”
—Bee-Shyuan Chang Continue reading
Reality Stars
—Tommy Ton Continue reading
Mr. Clean
Francisco Costa is writing the book on contemporary minimalism—well, at least the first few pages. The Calvin Klein Collection designer contributed the foreword to Elyssa Dimant‘s Minimalism and Fashion, which got its sendoff last night at his company’s flagship store on Madison Avenue. Not only that, but Costa delivered his copy in signature fashion. “Everything that I got back was very clean, of course, and in the right font—aligned, immaculate,” Dimant reported. “There were no layout errors whatsoever.”
Dimant, a Parsons professor, places Costa alongside Phoebe Philo as a prime mover in the loftier, more structured minimalism of today, which absorbs influences from sculptors and object designers like Anish Kapoor and Ron Arad. “When minimalism came about in the 1990’s, it was so much about comfort and democratic accessibility,” she explained. “This movement is much more about high art and high fashion.”
It was in that spirit that the party then moved downtown to W editor Stefano Tonchi‘s Greenwich Village apartment, where the likes of Melissa George and Anh Duong toasted Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, whose new show at Lehmann Maupin opens today. Topic A was still the M word. “It’s not about being completely emotionless,” Tonchi offered. “That’s what killed the first generation of minimalism—that kind of coldness, emptiness, bad lighting.” Added Costa: “Jil Sander is the queen of minimalism, and she lives in an incredible castle with gorgeous antiques.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
90 Minutes With James Franco
127 Hours is based on the true story of a hiker who spent five days trapped under a boulder in Utah. Luckily for moviegoers, he’s played by James Franco, an actor many people wouldn’t mind being stuck alone with in a canyon for 90 minutes. “We’re sort of banking on that,” director Danny Boyle admitted at last night’s Gucci-sponsored New York premiere.
Franco dieted for the role and spent long hours fused, Prometheus-style, to a big rock. “We’d let him go to the restroom, but that was it,” Boyle said. And because Columbia University declined his request for a leave of absence, the actor had to work red-eye flights, catnaps in LAX, and downtime homework into the shoot. “He was reading Proust at one point, probably in original French,” Boyle joked.
“It was something challenging and unusual, something I’d never done before,” Franco explained. (The film barely co-stars Kate Mara and Clémence Poésy.) “Even Tom Hanks in Cast Away had a whole island to walk over and a ball to talk to,” he added. A graphic scene involving a dull Swiss army knife has reportedly caused fainting during preview screenings, but that didn’t faze the likes of Elizabeth Banks and Susan Sarandon, who turned up for the screening. “I’ll cover my eyes if I have to,” said a defiant Padma Lakshmi. Later, at the after-party at the Bunker Club, Agyness Deyn said she’d found the gory make-or-break moment more inspiring than excruciating. “The adrenaline—it was intense!”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Century City
Contrary to what you may have heard, fashion reporting didn’t start when Tavi Gevinson founded her Style Rookie blog. Women’s Wear Daily has been at it for a century, and it’s still the first place the industry turns to for the latest scoops. No surprise, then, that fashion’s top brass arrived en masse to celebrate the publication’s 100th anniversary at Cipriani 42nd Street last night. Representing the Seventh Avenue moguls were Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors; the modern iconoclasts, Marc Jacobs, Stefano Pilati, and Alber Elbaz; and the young up-and-comers, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Prabal Gurung, Joseph Altuzarra, and Bibhu Mohapatra. “It was such a big moment for me,” Mohapatra said, remembering the first time his name appeared in fashion’s paper of record. “For designers, it’s like our own little version of the Times. I check it every day.”
But it wasn’t only designers in the crowd. The socials and party types often seen in WWD‘s Eye pages showed up in droves, too, though one or two seemed to have trouble wrapping their minds around the magnitude of the milestone. “I went to the French Vogue 90th anniversary last month, and I thought that was old,” Lorenzo Martone said. “But 100? That’s really old.” That’s 26,000 issues old, more or less. Taking a peek at a giant wall plastered with some of the more memorable examples, Narciso Rodriguez said, “I want to go up close and inspect every one. I mean, who gets to be in fashion for 100 years? Everything moves so fast these days.” There were even more papers inside the look-but-don’t-eat birthday cake that was cut promptly after the model-chanteuse Karen Elson surprised the crowd with a sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday.” Seniority clearly has its perks.
—Bee-Shyuan Chang Continue reading
Blue Jean Baby, L.A. Ladies
In the past ten days, Decades’ Cameron Silver has been in Beijing, New York City, Phoenix, and Sun Valley. But when it came time to celebrate his new denim line, the L.A.-based vintage store owner decided there was no place like home. Last night, at the Beverly Hills pad of Julia Sorkin, he toasted his latest venture with the likes of Liz Goldwyn, Lake Bell, Rose McGowan, Eva Amurri, Rachel Griffiths, and Cheryl Tiegs. An 11-piece jean collection is something of a departure for a man known for his expertise in statement-making dresses that span the eras. “I guess this is what everyone would least expect from me,” Silver acknowledged. “But all of my favorite women base their wardrobes off of denim, so I figured it was the best place to start.”
After a couple of hours working to the crowd, he slipped into a more intimate setting, joining close friends for a dinner at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Seated between CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Gregory Parkinson, Shiva Rose, and Balthazar and Rosetta Getty, Silver had his eye on expansion. “The denim is in 150 stores nationwide, and we’re going to be featuring a full collection. So this is just the start.” Mad Men‘s Abigail Spencer (Don Draper’s season three squeeze) was already getting her head around the prospect. “Decades has a legacy all its own,” she said. “But I have to say, I happen to really like this denim.”
—Alexis Brunswick Continue reading
Blue Jean Baby, L.A. Ladies
In the past ten days, Decades’ Cameron Silver has been in Beijing, New York City, Phoenix, and Sun Valley. But when it came time to celebrate his new denim line, the L.A.-based vintage store owner decided there was no place like home. Last night, at the Beverly Hills pad of Julia Sorkin, he toasted his latest venture with the likes of Liz Goldwyn, Lake Bell, Rose McGowan, Eva Amurri, Rachel Griffiths, and Cheryl Tiegs (for whom he has named a straight-leg style). An 11-piece jean collection is something of a departure for a man known for his expertise in statement-making dresses that span the eras. “I guess this is what everyone would least expect from me,” Silver acknowledged. “But all of my favorite women base their wardrobes off of denim, so I figured it was the best place to start.”
After a couple of hours working to the crowd, he slipped into a more intimate setting, joining close friends for a dinner at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Seated between CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Gregory Parkinson, Shiva Rose, and Balthazar and Rosetta Getty, Silver had his eye on expansion. “The denim is in 150 stores nationwide, and we’re going to be featuring a full collection. So this is just the start.” Mad Men‘s Abigail Spencer (Don Draper’s season three squeeze) was already getting her head around the prospect. “Decades has a legacy all its own,” she said. “But I have to say, I happen to really like this denim.”
—Alexis Brunswick Continue reading
Maria Sharapova, Fashion ACE
Among the honorees at the 2010 ACE Awards: a tennis player, a hip-hop artist, and QVC. The Accessories Council’s annual celebration of fashion influencers drew a mix of creators and retailers to Cipriani 42nd Street last night for an evening of collegial appreciation that was, of course, also about maintaining a few strategic alliances.
At least two of the evening’s honorees came with notable statement accessories: Lauren Bush, who accepted the Humanitarian of the Year award from Gap’s Patrick Robinson, was toting around her latest FEED bag, a hand-beaded linen clutch by one of the evening’s sponsors, Judith Leiber. “It will appeal to a demographic that doesn’t feel as comfortable as I do wearing a burlap bag to a black-tie event,” Bush joked. And Maria Sharapova, who was honored for her footwear and handbag collaboration with Cole Haan, was sporting her new engagement ring. (Her fiancé is basketball player Sasha Vujacic, which makes her a Laker girl of sorts.) Having won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Sharapova is used to accepting awards—just not in front of a fashion audience. “Everyone looks so beautiful, and not sweating,” she noted.
Other winners included Alber Elbaz, who was named Designer of the Year, and Rachel Roy, for Rachel Rachel Roy. En route to claiming her Style Evolution award, Christina Ricci mentioned that her boot-cut jeans had succumbed to natural selection. “They had to go,” she said. “I gave some to my mom, and the rest I think went to Goodwill.” And in signature fashion, Kanye West (Stylemaker of the Year) grabbed the spotlight with a disjointed apologia that ended on a defiant note: “This is for all the times I felt I made fashion mistakes—all the times where, you know, our photos from fashion week got put on South Park.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Lanvin-apalooza
The Lanvin store on Madison Avenue has been open since July, but the French fashion house didn’t really pop the cork until Friday night, when Alber Elbaz threw a Halloween Extravaganza that had all three floors packed with costumed revelers. Not surprisingly, ghosts and witches took a backseat to Lagerfeld and Galliano lookalikes—Elbaz himself even had a bespectacled doppelgänger. Other outfits had more esoteric origins. Editor Mickey Boardman explained that his bespoke bat-eared lace headpiece was “influenced by Queen Victoria’s oldest daughter, and by a picture of Isabella Blow wearing a mask by Philip Treacy.” That’s one way to avoid the line at Ricky’s.
Boardman’s colleagues at Paper magazine’s party division created the festive surroundings: The path upstairs was strewn with confetti and multicolored balloons, waiters distributed macarons and cotton candy, and Silly String and charming masks made from Elbaz’s sketches were among the party favors. “Fashion’s fun, isn’t it? I feel like I’m in a fluorescent Champagne bubble,” said Anne Hathaway, who wore a leopard-print Lanvin jumper and managed to stay somewhat anonymous behind a long-nosed Venetian mask. Meanwhile, drag queens vamped about as Dolly Parton and Tina Turner on a stage designed to look like a giant Lanvin dress box.
But that was no Janet Jackson impersonator on the third floor with Elbaz—it was the real thing. As ever, the designer was quick to put the spotlight on others. “I worked with Geoffrey Beene for eight years and Halloween was his favorite holiday, so I’m kind of thinking about him tonight,” Elbaz said. “I think the last time I put on a costume, I was 10 years old. I usually dress other people.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading