Guess what kids… Fashion month is over! And just before I curl up on my couch for the next 72 hours (yes, my dear mother, I’ll call you as soon as I can keep my eyes open), here are the five essentials fashion has taught me during these last few weeks.
Yesterday was the Chanel show. The Chanel show? The show of shows of shows? And then some. Taaadaaaa…. Music please!!!
The Grand Palais was transformed into a barn with a whole bunch of decorations à la Disneyland, only better, totally beautiful. All the platforms were wood, there was hay everywhere and people were going a little nuts. The hysteria was palpable.
The girls started down the catwalk with a hop in their step, beautiful and happy. When suddenly…
Lily Allen came out of the earth (Seriously, honest to god) to do a concert… Yeeaaaa!
And then Freja, Baptiste and Lara decided to have a ménage à trois… Yummy!
… With the blessing of Karl Lagerfeld, of course, in a most triumphant salute. No worries, you’ll always get the biggest show, Karl. All the others, you can always try to keep up.
Carine, loved it. Prince (Yep, Prince!)(No, I didn’t get a shot of him. You want me to die? His body guards make the most unbreakable wall. I don’t know if he could even see the show.)(Well, that and I didn’t actually see him.) Anyway so Prince… he was dazzled. Well, at least I think so. Agnès told me about so. Agnès was amazed. Everyone thought they were at a rock concert, a mass, a play, a party and… wait for it! A runway show too!
Riots! Hysteria! Chanel! Craziness! Genius! Karl! Encore! With Scott, we decided that it’s no longer far off from just having to pay to get into shows. You’ll have to get your tickets six months ahead of time. There’ll be tickets on the black market with absurd prices. You’ll have to sleep in front of the show for three days to get front row seats. Anna Wintour will be super protected in a glass VIP box that will be formed perfectly to fit her hair. It’ll be like a Madonna show…
Well, okay, so it was Scott who said that. I told him he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But in the end…
Craziness! So many people, I really didn’t have any idea where I was anymore. It’s that in terms of style for runway shows, with Chanel, it’s a different level of language. Do you know the Chanel alphabet?
Come on, of course you do:
Chanel! Hysteria! 2.55! Craziness! Luxury! Style! Chanel! Chanel!!! Commercial genius.
Some people, like the amiable Caroline Sieber knows how to have fun with the Chanel alphabet.
And Voilà !
Hey, wait, you think you’ve seen it all? Nope! We’re not done yet! Chanel, in the Chanel language, it means quite simply… Reinvent from now until forever!
Chanel! Hysteria! 2.55! Craziness! Luxury! Recession? What are you talking about? Chanel! Chanel! Chanel!
Bonne journée!
Translation : Tim Sullivan
Hey guess what, guess what!? Discovery of the year: the women behind the scenes of style are just like us! Isn’t that the scoop to end all scoops?! Yeah, I know, I know, no need to thank me. Okay, so yeah, the real fact is that the recession has hit hard and no one is playing games anymore. But I was totally excited to learn that…
- They like to feel comfy. Big pants, long skirts, cotton sweatshirts, even the very body-con dresses we talked about last Friday are unbelievably comfortable. Fit the body well without constraining it… Even if it’s not on the catwalk, the spirit of Alaïa is definitely there.
- They kill themselves in the morning figuring out what to wear. And getting their photo taken in front of the runway shows totally stresses them out. Haha.
- They don’t have plastic feet. Even, sometimes, their feet hurt. Yeah. A friend in a pair of studded Louboutin Pigalle (the highest, most pointy, most surreal, and most beautiful of all stilettos) told me that she only wears them on days when she knows she’ll be at a max of 2 shows. And don’t forget, that’s with special soles and a bunch of band-aids. Her 2.55 was filled with them! Ouuuch!
- They don’t hesitate anymore to bring out the it-stuff from past years. A YSL bag from last year, in the end, doesn’t have a wrinkle on it. Tributes, big Lanvin jewelry, a pair of Spicy by Vuitton… A good excuse to reinvent their “old stuff.” The only thing that has disappeared are the famous Balmain jackets from last year. Too much exposure? Tough to say. But I won’t be surprised if they make their comeback next year.
- They make babies. I love a pregnant fashionistas! There are a whole bunch all over the place and I can’t wait to show some of them to you!
- They shop at H&M, Zara and Topshop. The little Zara jackets with the padded shoulders are on everyone’s back and the Christopher Kane collection for Topshop got real hot: really, everything that I’ve seen of it is just so good that I can’t believe I didn’t have a second in London to go try it all on.
- They know how to be timeless. And we’re hitting an overdose on the 2.55. Unless it’s a special one: if it’s vintage, or tagged by a friend. Or if it’s green, blue, or red.
- When their luggage gets lost, they too, cry.
- They buy one or two super trendy accessories and never hesitate to wear them in a whole bunch of ways. Main choices this season: thigh-high boots, a bucket bag, or anything with studs.
Okay, but I still haven’t figured out the mystery of their perfect hair, their radiant skin after three weeks of marathons (I have to tell you about the real day of a stylist during fashion week. Really though, fashion is a career for the passionate.) and how they figure out, on top of all that, how to go to parties. I went to one on Saturday. I let myself lose a little. The result: I’m sick. Seriously now, how do they do it?
But after all, it’s not bad to leave a little mystery, don’t ya think? Okay, off we go. Mrs. Doré wishes you a nice day!
——
PS: Thanks to all who came out Saturday at Colette. I was so happy to meet all of you. You’re all so beautiful! Thank you for coming and for being so patient and friendly. And thank you to my teen friend as well, who waited just to tell me, “I really have no idea who you are, but when I see people lining up, it means it must be something to have your autograph. Could you sign there, please?” Hmmmm… My dear, I don’t know if you googled me and are now reading me, but thank you. You cracked me up!
Translation : Tim Sullivan
Fashion is a very organized little world. There are ways and costumes, kings and queens, jesters and princesses, there’s an etiquette, a code, you never can learn it all, and it’s oddly fascinating. Contrary to what we might think, most of the people are delicate and distinguished. It’s fashionable to be detached. But everything is seen, everything is known.
The front row of the runway shows is the be all and end all best place to see the clothes. After the third row, you don’t see the shoes anymore and after the fifth, you’re lucky if you can get a look at the hair styles. The seats up front are coveted. Because they’re also the seats the most seen. You get them with celebrity, through experience or sheer will. They crystallize many dramas and give rise to many wonderful crises of the ego.
This season, the designers for Dolce & Gabbana had a revelation. In talking with clients, they realized their clients spent a lot of time on the internet, were incredibly informed, wanted everything to go quickly and were ready to buy right away. They realized that it was a new age and one need advance with the time.
They decided to open their giant doors to four bloggers.
Voilà. That’s how Tommy, Brian, Scott and I ended up in the cherished front row seats for the D&G and Dolce & Gabbana shows.
It was a really strange feeling, especially because they pulled out a good amount of pomp and circumstance. At the first show, they left four laptops, perfectly lined up in front of our chairs. We were the only ones out of everyone at the show to be entitled to that special treatment. But I never comment on a show during a show and as you know, I only tweet orally, haha.
But although suddenly being catapulted onto the A-list of a prestigious design house is really validating, it’s also really embarrassing. And in this universe of set codes and delicately kept rights-of-passages, it pisses everyone off just a little.
But after all, why not? Except for the fact that after a few seconds and a few cross looks, I don’t think we wanted to be the incarnation of this new age. Stay discrete, do things at my own pace, and keep on caring less where my seat is at a show.
But that’s how it is. And when someone gives you a gift as complicated as this to open, you have to know just how to accept it.
I took the opportunity to see the other side of everything from backstage and the VIP room, where they pamper all the celebrities before the show.
On the wall, a photo of Monica Vitti, signed. I couldn’t resist.
I also wanted to meet Stefano and Demenico. First and foremost, I wanted to thank them, but then I wanted their point of view on this micro-happening. As they were the first to roll out the red carpet for bloggers, I really wanted to know what they thought… I wanted to know if their arms were truly open.
This was before I took into account their incredible charisma. I was won over the second I shook their hands. This is why I’ll never be a journalist: I have absolutely zero objectivity. I asked them a whole bunch of questions, and I definitely liked their fresh answers. Just as I said up top, for them, everything is about the clients. If their clients like the internet, it’s about time for them to get interested as well.
And what they want in the end is to communicate their idea. What they were saying was that it isn’t just a runway show to them, it’s an idea, an inspiration. They like the idea that you can find inspiration for a dress Dolce and buy a vintage one for 2 € at the market. And for them, the internet is the most direct way to communicate their concept.
Just for you, here’s the inspiration wall, found backstage. A beautiful collection and an homage to their beginnings and their “Italianité.”
Oh, and a little glimpse of the gigantic catwalk seen from the VIP room.
and here’s me, in a JOGGING SHIRT, with Stefano and Domenico, happy that I had my crazy-ass fashiony shoes to make up for it.
A moment I really liked just before leaving was the moment where the whole team got together to watch the show. Amazing ambiance, Scott had to pull me by the collar to get me to peel myself away.
And there you go, funny little adventure for me, cute and very interesting at the same time. I was wondering what you’d think of everything. But what I remember most were the lacquered walls, the black lace and red lips, that film-like music. And then the eyes of Sofia.
HOW DO PEOPLE DO IT? HOW DO YOU SURVIVE A FASHION WEEK?
By that I mean, how do the serious people do it, the people who start with the shows at 9:00 am, setting up rendez-vous in between to plan their next shoots, somehow able to find time to write an article or two, and then on top of that, get themselves ready for the night show and the after-party.
To return to a concept, mentioned right here no later than yesterday, an ever present concept in this living, breathing, palpitating moment that is f_sh_n w__k, a living, breathing, palpating moment that is in its final day and I can’t even say the word f_a__i_n as it gives me palpatations, and honestly, I no longer can understand why I see girls running around in platforms all the day long, it sends me into the flames of reflection.
But where are all these girls off to, huh? Where Garance, where?!?!? Oh my.
Okay. To return to a concept mentioned right here no later than yesterday, right now, I speak in Franglish je shoppe à mort dans mon closet. And even, at times, in my boyfriend’s closet, asking him to grab me the most oversized worn-out stuff he can find.
The worn-out boyfriend jean. Yep. That’s it. That does it for me.
They’re good. They’re good lookin’, too good lookin’ even. They make all girls cool and sexy. Yeah so in a word, they’re sublime. On top of all that, they’re comfortable.
Comfort. Voilà. Herein lies my problem.
So spending most of my time away from the apartment, always eating whatever and wherever between two shows (yeah, okay, i get the feeling you know where i’m going) and always comfortable in my boyfriend jeans, my boyfriend pants, and all the things that make life cool, class, and coolass, i’m wondering if ever a day will come when I can go back to squeezing into these:
And here we have a wonderful pair of jeans, slim AND worn-out. I’ve seen a few of these around, tailored short with pumps like back in the 80s, and honestly, they’re making me a little jealous. So today, picture this, here’s me in front of my mirror, we’re talking à la Rocky III, here I am declaring that this weekend marks the beginning of my fa__i_n rehab. We’ll start Friday with a massage, you always have to save the best for the beginning, (and by the way, if you know a good massage place in Paris, tell me!). And then we’ll need some raw vegetables and raw egg-whites…. and then we’ll be wearing some sneakers WITHOUT heels, and we’ll make our way up the steps to the Sacré Coeur, running early in the morning and screaming out Adrieeeeeeeen!!!
…
So before I head off to my jump-rope and finish jumping around this rather non-thesis driven post, well, i guess it’s just as usual, where the whole point is, in it of itself, to talk about myself, but I did want to give you to notice something. See this jacket just above? It’s the same coat as mine!!! Okay here, this jacket used to be a coat from Zara, and I have the same one in my closet. Susan had the magnificent idea of cutting it. And now it’s this double-breasted oversized absolutely wonderful jacket.
So there you go, just a quick idea for shopping your closet in passing, because if you’re going to push these concepts with all you got, you gotta walk the walk some too, no? Okay, so it definitely wasn’t me that came up with it, but still…
Bonne journée!
Translation : Tim Padraic Sullivan
This Monday morning, you’re finding yourself a completely blissed-out Garance. Wouhou! Vive Milan! Vive la mode!!! Ciao bella! E pericoloso sporgersi!! Dove la sfilata?!
Ouais. So I’ve been a little mainstream. I treated myself to the Burberry, Bottega Veneta, Marni, and Prada shows. Jil Sander? I dunno. I’m totally into everything. Nothing is boring me. I promise you that in the seasons to come, I’ll try to take a closer look into London’s up and coming designers. But for now, I must confess that here in Milan, the fashion is really doing it for me. It’s inspiring. It touches.
And just with the general public, I get the sense that people are just now starting to party again. It’s like the energy is on its way back. I’m always wanting to photograph a whole bunch of people, be in two places at once. My Italian is terrible. I’m having a great time. I’m going a little headless chicken, running in every direction. I’m taking taxis that are entirely too expensive and I’m breaking my face open in my heels that are entirely too high.
It’s nice out. It’s hot out. Then it rains. It drizzles. Who gives a shit? The energy is there.
I’ve got a whole bunch of colory stuff to show you, but I wanted to start with THE trend of the season of the fashion crowd, the monochrome, the ever-present black, a deep dark sense of color, because everyone is wearing it. In general, for photos, that doesn’t quite inspire me. Unless its as well done as this…
Quick aside. These heels are absolutely sublime. They deserve an ellipse in it of themselves.
…
Voilà voilà mes chéris, nothing more. Except I’m having a premonition of things to come, of the days steadily getting longer and for Paris who is fast approaching. That style, true style, the kind that you want to find again during the fashion weeks, the kind that is just too much, too much luxury, too high-end, too trendy, too black, and entirely too cool, is on its way back. And it kinda snuck up on me… But I’ve been missing it a little. Haven’t you?
Bonne journée!
Translation : Tim Padraic Sullivan
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Look at that wonder!!! @chopard jewelry fitting. I can't believe my eyes.
Sun May 20 15:59
