Kristen Stewart stars at Chanel show

PARIS, France - Actor Kristen Stewart starred in a cinematic tribute by Chanel on the final day of Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday. 

The show opened with a short film starring the Stewart in which she exits a Paris cinema after watching the 1961 classic "Last Year at Marienbad". 

The house's founder, Gabrielle Chanel -- better known as Coco Chanel -- made the costumes for the ultra-stylish New Wave film, and some of the looks were recreated on the catwalk, including the short haircuts and dishevelled boyish vibes, a black evening dress with a big bow across the chest and a long silver dress. 

Stewart was among the guests in the front row with Naomi Campbell, Halsey and South Korean star Soo Joo Park. 

"Of the people around me, (Stewart) is the closest to Gabrielle Chanel," artistic director Virginie Viard wrote in the show notes. "She understands Chanel, the clothing. And with her, it becomes even more modern."

The looks for the Spring-Summer 2023 collection were largely monochrome with lots of shining accessories and details, and ended with a selection of little black dresses. 

The iconic Chanel suit was presented in lots of variations -- with skirts, shorts and trousers, adorned with sequins, embroidery or feathers. 

Agence France Presse

Louis Vuitton's clash of styles wraps up Paris Fashion Week

Louis Vuitton wrapped up Paris Fashion week on Tuesday with a mix-up of retro-chic, sporty and futuristic looks set to a baroque soundtrack sung by a choir in costume.

Plunged into darkness, the audience inside the Louvre's Court Carree gasped as the curtain rose to reveal a terraced backdrop with hundreds of singers dressed in period costumes from the 15th century to the 1950s.

The first models strutted down the catwalk in buffed-up petticoats and voluminous, multicolored jackets, in a collection designer Nicolas Ghesquiere called "Collisions of Time."

In front of an audience that included the A-list actresses Léa Seydoux, Alicia Vikander and Florence Pugh, models also wore sport-inspired outfits styled on bomber jackets, mechanic overalls and embroidered bullfighter's boleros.

"This collection is the anti-total-look," Gesquiere said in the show notes. "Functional clothing can be ceremonial dress and vice versa. I want it to be open, energetic and spontaneous."

Louis Vuitton, the flagship brand of the world's biggest luxury group LVMH, closed the Paris Fashion Week. This catwalk season has been disrupted by the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak which kept Chinese buyers, journalists and socialites from European fashion events.

French labels Agnes b. and A.P.C had to cancel their presentation in Paris while in Milan, Giorgio Armani held its show behind closed doors.

Prada and Gucci have already postponed their upcoming cruise 2021 show, initially planned in May, due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

At 97, designer Pierre Cardin is still seeking fashion's next trendsetter

PARIS -- At 97, French couturier Pierre Cardin, who helped give the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier their first big break, is not done trying to spot fashion's next superstar -- teaming up for his latest venture with a designer seven decades his junior.

Cardin, known for shaking up styles in the 1960s with futuristic bubble-dresses and other looks fit for a space odyssey, presented one of his latest protegees to the world on Thursday evening, a 27-year-old from a village in Provence.

Pierre Courtial, who makes all of his creations by hand, unveiled a collection at Cardin's studio on Paris's chic Rue Saint-Honore, with pieces that echoed some of the veteran designer's geometrical aesthetics.

Outfits included dresses and coats in contrasting colours, with bright reds paired with pastel greens, and the young designer also presented futuristic-looking jewellery.

Cardin -- who first learned the tricks of the trade with a then unknown Christian Dior before showcasing his first collection in 1953 -- said he still rated originality above anything else.

"I've always tried to be different, to be myself," Cardin told Reuters. "Whether people like it or not, that's not what matters."

Cardin said that Gaultier, who started out as his apprentice at 18, had found success by putting his distinctive stamp on designs inspired by street culture, punk and the gay scene. Gaultier, now 67, bade farewell to the catwalk with his last fashion show in January.

"Gaultier had a provocative personality," Cardin added.

SURVIVOR FROM GOLDEN AGE

The designer is still very much a hands-on mentor, according to Courtial, who started working with Cardin five years ago, after first studying mechanical engineering and then attending a fashion school.

"Cardin taught me everything, from how to sketch to the cut and sewing," Courtial said.

Following the death of Chanel's veteran creative chief Karl Lagerfeld last year, Cardin is one of the last surviving designers from the post-World War II era that marked a golden age for high fashion in France.

Peers also included the late Yves Saint Laurent, another Dior apprentice.

Cardin revolutionized fashion in other ways too. He was one of the first to show a keen business sense by exploiting brand licences -- a strategy that was embraced by rivals too before many reversed the practise in recent year.

The Pierre Cardin name ended up on everything from cheap boxer shorts to bottled water.

Cardin has yet to stop producing his own sketches and one-off designs for high-flying customers, however.

"He has a loyal American clientele in particular," said Maryse Gaspard, a former model who works with Cardin. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Paris cheers Naomi Campbell and Nigeria's rising fashion star

PARIS -- Nigerian Kenneth Ize made a storming Paris fashion week debut Monday with his "fairy godmother," supermodel Naomi Campbell, closing the showing.

The 29-year-old, who has had a meteoric rise to the Paris catwalk, lavished praise on the ageless British model who he said had supported him "from day one."

Both were cheered by the fashionistas as the end of the show.

"I am living my dream," Ize told reporters backstage after the show on the opening night of Paris fashion week.

"Naomi made this happen. She has been part of the journey since day one. She is very supportive. She is my fairy godmother," he declared.

Ize has made an name for himself reinterpreting traditional West African fabrics such as the aso oke cloth woven by the Yoruba people, and his autumn winter collection was full of it.

He told AFP that the show was inspired by his memories of going to Catholic church in Lagos with his mother, with everyone in their Sunday best outfits.

"It is about my religion, love, who I am, the people I believe in and sharing," he added. 

It is a big week for black African designers on the Paris catwalk with the South African Thebe Magugu, who won the LVMH Young Fashion Designer of the year prize, getting a special official presentation slot Tuesday.

Last month, Cameroonian creator Imane Ayissi made history by becoming the first black African designer to be admitted to the elite ranks of Paris haute couture.

Like Ayissi, Ize is a champion of traditional African fabrics and techniques with the LVMH prize jury -- where he lost out to Magugu -- praising his "authenticity and the fight to source and produce locally in Nigeria."

Ize also reflected African silhouettes with tunics worn over trousers. "I believe in the way I dress, this is who I am," said the designer, who partially grew up in Austria, where he studied in Vienna under the Turkish Cypriot British designer Hussein Chalayan.

Earlier, South Korean designer Kiminte Kimhekim sent out a playful black and white collection centred on black heart motifs, with one model even sporting a heart-shaped hairstyle.

Agence France-Presse

Sick Kylie Jenner pulls out of Paris Fashion Week

LOS ANGELES -- Makeup mogul Kylie Jenner on Wednesday pulled out of Paris Fashion Week where she was due to launch a new cosmetics line with French luxury brand Balmain.

Jenner, 22, said on Twitter that she was sick and unable to travel to Paris to launch the collection as planned on Friday with Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing.

The "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star did not give details of her illness but celebrity website TMZ.com said she was admitted to a Los Angeles area hospital earlier this week with what an unidentified source described as severe flu-like symptoms, including nausea and dizziness.

Jenner's representatives did not return a request for comment on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately I'm really sick and unable to travel. I'm heartbroken to be missing this show ... Creating this collection with Olivier has been a dream," she said on Twitter.

Jenner, whose lip gloss kits and other cosmetics have made her a billionaire, was due to launch the Kylie X Balmain line of eyeshadows, lip liner and lip gloss on Friday at the Paris fashion show. The line is to be worn by Balmain models walking the runway for the Spring Summer 2020 collection.

Jenner was also absent from the Emmy awards show in Los Angeles on Sunday where she was due to present an award with Kim Kardashian and her model sister Kendall.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saint Laurent brings elegance to dazzling show in front of Eiffel Tower

PARIS -- Saint Laurent's models on Tuesday paraded down a runway filled with dozens of projector lights against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower to showcase the French label's collection for Paris Fashion Week.

Long, fluid dresses and burnished gold embroideries from the '70s, chosen by creative director Anthony Vaccarello for the 2020 summer collection, sparkled along with the Paris landmark.

Ushering in Vaccarello's fourth year in the job, the women's collection unveiled at the show heavily featured short and knee-length shorts, high boots, dazzling cigarette pants and jumpsuits.

See-through tops with deep necklines also set the tone for the looks.

Kaia Gerber, the daughter of top model Cindy Crawford, was one of the models, while Naomi Campbell closed the show.

"A sharp take on Saint Laurent classics devised to strengthen individuality," Saint Laurent said in a statement, describing the show.

The crowd included French icon Catherine Deneuve, Mexican actress Salma Hayek, who is married to Francois-Henri Pinault, chief executive of the Kering SA conglomerate that owns Saint Laurent, and actor Rami Malek, who played Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the rock film drama "Bohemian Rhapsody."

In addition to Saint Laurent, the Kering luxury goods conglomerate owns the Gucci and Balenciaga labels. Saint Laurent accounts for around 13 percent of the group's revenue. Kering is scheduled to present its third-quarter sales results on Oct. 24.

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Dior summons spirit of '68 in #MeToo feminist Paris show

PARIS -- Dior came out with all feminist guns blazing at Paris fashion week Tuesday seeking to catch the spirit of #MeToo and the new wave of female empowerment.

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, who began her reign at the French couture house with the now cult $680 T-shirt, "We Should All be Feminists", summoned up the spirit of 1968, the year when social and sexual revolutions swept the planet.

Chiuri's muse, British model and women's rights advocate Ruth Bell, led the line with a black and white woollen jumper declaring, "Non, non, non et non!"

"It is not bad to say 'No! No! No!' sometimes," the designer told AFP after the show, "Feminism means freedom, freedom to dress how you want, to define yourself."

To the thumping "Ooh, I just know that something good is gonna happen" refrain to Kate Bush's classic song "Cloudbusting", the Italian sent out a hippy and Beatnik-inspired autumn-winter collection, declaring that "changing the world also means changing clothes".

"Women's Rights Are Human Rights" slogans burst from the walls of the set which was papered with 1968 Vogue magazine covers, with Chiuri picking up on a "fun" demonstration women activists staged outside Dior's boutique in London two years earlier.

'Mini skirt protest'

The "British Society for the Protection of Mini Skirts" picketed the shop after Dior failed to include a single mini skirt in its collection that year.

The protest prompted its then designer Marc Bolan to cave in and create the younger more "with it" Miss Dior line.

Chiuri said she was struck how the "Youthquake" that legendary US Vogue editor Diana Vreeland wrote about in the late 1960s mirrored our times.

"She wrote that there is a new generation who are changing our view about sexuality about women and about men. In some ways (what is happening) now is another moment like this," the designer added.

And she credits sparring with her own 21-year-old daughter, Rachele Regini -- who she jokingly calls "Miss No" -- with helping to sharpen her view. "The younger generation are posing us a lot of questions," she said.

With actresses Cara Delevingne and Isabelle Huppert in the front row, Chiuri went on a magical mystery tour of late 1960s radical chic.

Having helped bring the beret back into vogue by having all her models wear one at her last autumn-winter show, this time Chiuri did the same for another piece of classic French headgear, the gavroche cap.

But the core of the collection was a line of sumptuous patchwork coats, skirts, trousers, dresses and boots inspired by her southern Italian grandmother.

Another of Chiuri's favourite models, the British activist Adwoa Aboah, closed the show in a wool-embroidered organza dress.

Chiuri said she shortened her kilts and dresses but none of them could really be called a mini-skirt, and her line of hippy-dippy scarf dresses all dipped below the knee.

Saint Laurent's killer vamps

Saint Laurent's Anthony Vaccarello, on the other hand, loves the leggy look. Despite the freezing Paris temperatures his female models wore the merest of black leather mini-skirts, shorts and dresses at his outdoor show opposite the Eiffel Tower -- although some at least got to wear shin-high fur-topped boots.

The men in his co-ed show were more fortunate, with several wearing coats, as the Belgian sent a procession of chilly ultra-sexy black-clad killer vamps down the runway, some in broad-brimmed fedora hats.

Vaccarello leavened his rainbow of black at the end with a line of short shoulder-padded floral pattern dresses on a black base.

Earlier, young French designer Marine Serre made her Paris fashion week debut with her "FutureWear" show, mixing sportswear and vintage, and also a line of hippish scarf dresses.

Her occasional skin-hugging head-coverings also stood out, conjuring up images of divers, or with her crescent moon logo, luge-riding Muslim women at the Winter Olympics.

Like Dior, which featured a number of check suits, young French label Jour/ne mixed richly coloured velvets and tartans, giving a highly wearable twist to vaguely vintage male silhouettes.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LOOK: Michael Cinco's creations at Paris Fashion Week

MANILA – Dubai-based Filipino designer Michael Cinco used the humble banig or handwoven mat as inspiration for his newest collection which was featured at the Paris Fashion Week over the weekend.

Cinco is the first Filipino designer to showcase his creations at the Paris Fashion Week through the Asian Couture Federation.



Aside from the banig, Cinco also featured the popular Filipino weave pattern solihiya in his designs, as well as the familiar Barong Tagalog and terno.

One of the world’s most sought-after Filipino fashion designers, Cinco has designed dresses for both local celebrities and international stars.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Kim Kardashian goes blonde at Paris Fashion Week

PARIS - Kim Kardashian flashed a new, platinum blonde hair-do at the Paris Fashion Week on Thursday as she watched the shows with rapper hubby Kanye West.

The attention-grabbing make-over by the normally brunette American reality TV star overshadowed the 2015 autumn collections unveiled by fashion houses Balmain and Lanvin, with photographers pushing to get snaps of the dyed diva.

Kardashian and West, both wearing all-black outfits, were joined by Kardashian's mother Kris Jenner at the Balmain show.


The transformation into a blonde electrified celebrity-watchers on Twitter, where some fans gushed over how stunning she looked, others suggested she looked better before -- and detractors snarked that she and American actor Jared Leto, who also turned up to the Balmain event with new platinum locks, were exchanging beauty tips.

Regardless, news of Kardashian as a bleached beauty easily became the most talked-about fashion statement at the Paris shows. Which is no mean feat at an event where the designers often try to outdo each other to get a slice of the limelight.

Rick Owens, an American stylist who created the biggest buzz at the last Paris fashion week in January by sending male models down the catwalk with their penises hanging out, trod more quietly on Thursday by presenting a relatively mild women's ready-to-wear collection.

Amid the ankle-length, structured outfits coloured in brown and black, the most remarkable feature was sprayed-on gold masks worn by some of the models.

Owens told Women's Wear Daily, a website reference for the fashion world, that the Big Thing in the show was using sequins for the first time.

"Especially after the men's show, it was nice to do something sentimental and a bit naive," he said.

'Winter is coming'

For theatrical flourish, fashionistas had to go to the spectacle put on by Indian designer Manish Arora. Flashy red and fuchsia get-ups that looked to be fantasy battledress dreamed up by manga artists lit up the catwalk.

Arora emphasised that the collection was a Bollywood take inspired by the hit US TV series "Game of Thrones" by having that fantasy world's "Winter is Coming" motto sewn into some pieces and its theme music remixed as part of the soundtrack.

At Carven, those in the know were keen to see what direction new designers Adrien Caillaudaud and Alexis Martial, both aged 30, would take. The answer was: pants.

It was the first time the house has introduced pants into the collection, though the novel duo were careful to keep the A-line skirts and miniskirts that has made the brand a signature style for Parisian women.

The idea for Carven's "new woman" was taken from the energy of Paris in the late 1960s, the designers said.

"We wanted to imagine what foreigners might feel about the Parisian woman: her elegance, an urban attitude, a sort of carefree approach," said Caillaudaud.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Kanye West & Kim Kardashian Touchy-Feely in Paris

Despite being dressed like opposites in white and black, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian solidified their love with a very public display of affection by holding hands in France on Wednesday.

The fashion forward couple celebrated Independence Day by hitting up Paris Fashion Week with supermodel Bar Refaeli.

Despite being out of the U.S., K&K made their own 4th of July fireworks.

article source: tmz.com