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Fashion » At the shows

PFW Diary: Stefano Pilati says au revoir with an almost entirely black final collection at Yves Saint Laurent

By Bernadette Morra | March 6th, 2012 | 1:00 pm

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Photography by Peter Stigter


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“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 toe. Those same hues gleamed in chain-link dresses, leather turtlenecks, and in a sort of stained-glass effect on the platforms and heels of pumps and boots. The mesh was also used as trim at the necklines of evening gowns and jumpsuits. Pilati took his bow to cheers, leaving a mood of hollow sadness in the room.

Fashion » At the shows

PFW Diary: All the sleeve and shoulder action at Givenchy, Kenzo, Stella McCartney, Céline, and Chloé

By Bernadette Morra | March 6th, 2012 | 11:00 am

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Photography by Peter Stigter


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).
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Fashion » At the shows

PFW Style Snaps: 38 shots from outside Viktor & Rolf, including 7 of Katy Perry’s new blue do

By Randi Bergman | March 5th, 2012 | 2:30 pm

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Photography by Lewis Mirrett

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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Fashion » At the shows

PFW Diary: 4 Lanvin learnings from a visit to Alber’s showroom

By Bernadette Morra | March 5th, 2012 | 1:00 pm

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Runway photography by Peter Stigter

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.
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Scene

SNP’s word of the day: Élan vital

By Sarah Nicole Prickett | March 5th, 2012 | 12:00 pm

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Illustration by Lewis Mirrett

Word: Élan vital

Meaning: Vital impetus, or the current of evolution.

Usage: “When I was just last in New York, I went for a walk, leaving Fifth Avenue and the Business section behind me, into the crowded streets near the Bowery. And while I was there, I had a sudden feeling of relief and confidence. There was Bergson’s élan vital—there was assimilation causing life to exert as much pressure, though embodied here in the shape of men, as it has ever done in the earliest year of evolution: there was the driving force of progress.”

You should know it because: C’est Paris Fashion Week, the one week each half-year when it’s okay to speak Franglais. It’s also the time in which, even from waaayyyy far away, you ponder the impossibility of so many extraordinarily attired, super-attenuated creatures flocking to one place. Time to brush up on creative-evolutionary theory, by which I mean, Wikipedia Henri Bergson. His theory of “élan vital,”—sort of like a macrocosmic take on Freud’s idea of “life instincts”—explains why things develop in an increasingly complex manner. He thought people could self-evolve; that through the forces of creativity, which he equated with life itself, some people could literally be more alive than others. I don’t know about that, but maybe it explains why fashion people can survive for four weeks without once eating solid food?

Fashion » At the shows

PFW Style Snaps: We spot Charlotte Dellal, Aline Weber, and Emmanuelle Alt outside Sonia Rykiel

By Randi Bergman | March 5th, 2012 | 9:00 am

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Photography by Lewis Mirrett

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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Fashion » At the shows

PFW Diary: Getting up close and personal Carven’s brilliantly trippy Fall collection

By Bernadette Morra | March 5th, 2012 | 7:00 am

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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.
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Fashion » At the shows

PFW Style Snaps: We spot Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls, Alana Zimmer, Kate King, and Anja Rubik outside Balmain and Dior

By Randi Bergman | March 4th, 2012 | 7:00 am

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Photography by Lewis Mirrett

Today’s batch of photos proves that, well, you can never have too much beauty outside one Paris fashion week. Pre and post Balmain and Christian Dior, we caught everyone from Karlie Kloss, to Joan Smalls, to Kate King, to Magdalena Frackowiak, to Anja Rubik, to Alana Zimmer (and there’s more!) striking a pose for the cameras. Check out our best shots.

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