Kids, when the Miu Miu show finally arrives, that’s when you know that the fashion week is coming to an end. It’s a good time to ask… The Big Fashion Questions :

Did I really say yes to the photographer that wanted me to jump in front of his camera the other day after the Chloé show? 

Yes. I also said yes to the team that does cinemagraph (the kind of animated gifs that you have do a moving pose for… Well it’s not easy to explain but It takes forever and you feel extra awkward doing it) I said yes to a unknown TV crew that asked me to answer some pretty weird questions and I said yes to Alexandra Golovanoff who asked me to do a huge grin in front of her camera (“Not a cute grin !” She said “Try to be VERY ugly!”)… And so I said yes to a guy who just wanted me to jump in front of his camera .

When I am tired, I have no more moral strength,

So yeah… Now’s the time. Just ask me what you want.

What’s the big mistake to not do at the beginning of fashion week?

Wear flats. When you start off with flats, wearing any pair of heels is gonna feel like climbing the Everest. Heels during this past fashion week? Not so much for me…

I have worse : I bought a pair of flat Zara shoes in a moment of desperation (“I can’t walk one more step in those heels ! Oh here, a Zara ! Cool !”) and they are super cute + super comfortable.

So not only was I on flats.

But wearing the same shoes everyday.

From Zara.

What a fashionista.

Did I succeed in doing anything with my hair ?

Nope. Fast bun, everyday. No time to do better. I am not proud.

Will I succeed in keeping my perfecta fashion week streak going all the way through Paris?

Nope. The day I got to Paris, even though I had continued on with daily running and yoga and eating decently well all through London and Milan, I forgot everything.

I had a glass of red wine, left my running shoes in my suitcase and attacked the morning croissant disaster (Morning croissant, how could i live so long without you ?)

Justification : I’m just too busy.

Reality : I’ve lost all will. Give me anything, I’ll eat it.

Was carrying two suitcases with me to try to be relatively well dressed everyday for three weeks worth it ?

Mmmmmm… No. Thanks to the crazy Indian summer we had, I think I barely used 5% of what I had packed. The elements are against my fashion icon destiny.

Did I take my bike on the plane with me from New York City ?

Question asked by… Actually quite a lot of people (???!).

No no no. I rented it, and in Paris even found a place who delivers your bike at your hotel. Isn’t that chic ?

So, with everything I have seen, do I know what I want to wear for next summer ?

No idea. I think I have a fashion indigestion… Give me a few days.

Am I becoming a party animal?

Totally!

I found a dress in 5 minutes, with no added drama. I borrowed it from Gucci (I was able to close it in spite of the croissant disaster), I put my hair up with a lot of styling gel, put too much black on my eyes and there you go. I even booked a driver to not have the painful one-o-clock-looking-for-a-taxi-in-Paris-in-an-evening-gown thing, I had fun, I danced, and oooooh crap. I have nothing more to tell you it was so fun and uneventful and I am such a party animal.

Well. A party animal who went back before midnight.

Guys, it’s a good start.

I know, a start but fashion week is over, etc…

Well but look at that beautiful recap ! I am becoming a total fashion week pro ! Weeeeeell, almost.

Next season I’ll be on top of my game. I’ll even try to change my hair everyday.

All right, off to Miu Miu ! Lots of kisses and thank you so much for following fashion week with me !!!

• The AmFar Gala is a charity gala. The idea is to bring together the world’s beautiful people of fashion and cinema for an auction to benefit AIDS research. Items for bid range from Warhol, to a tennis holiday with the Prince of Monaco. You could say it’s just a good conscience gala, but it’s much more than that. Oh, and even though I didn’t have my camera, once there I was taken by the glamour of the gala and couldn’t help taking a few Iphone pictures. There we go :

• How did you do that Giovanna ?

Magic !

• Tennis with S.A.S. the Prince of Monaco : 500,000 €. And they sold it twice. A Million Euros.

• I am seating near Patrick Dempsey. Sean Penn is not far either. Robert de Niro passes in front of me like 12 times. So? Team de Niro.

• “Of course I wear Spanx.” “Oooo, you too?!!!” “Oh, come on girls, we’re all wearing Spanx” “Yeah, get over it, we’re all wrapped up like Toutankhamon”.

• I’ve never seen so many amazing evening gowns in my life. And never this many fashion faux-pas either, seeing as tricky it is trying to get dressed for an event like this. That said, I have totally figured out a rather mathematical formula:

Absolute amazement caused by 1 sublime evening gown divided by the terribleness of 20 terrible outfits = 0. The quotient of amazingness bears far more weight than terribleness therefore this is the best dressed event I’ve ever been to.

• You never eat dessert at these kinds of dinners. I’ve never understood why, but you just don’t, and that’s how it is.

• Coolest girl of the night : Janet Jackson in Haider Ackerman… Remarkably awesome.

• The AmFar toilets… I get there, still a little shaken up after walking through the main room alone with so many people so well dressed. And right there, I stumble across a little gathering of top models in these giant couture gowns. Hilarious and so sublime. I wait my turn. I end up going into a stall right after Naomi Campbell. I know. This anecdote was not necessary.

• An Andy Warhol lithograph… 400,000 €. Less than a game of tennis with S.A.S., but more than a poster of Farah Fawcett.

• The Hotel. Du. Cap. Garden. A south of France fairytale.

• Reminder : During the auction, don’t ask to the gentleman to your right where the bathroom is. Cause when he points to the back left corner, he might just have inadvertently purchased the Mick Jagger photo.

• A photo of Mick Jagger by Jean Pigozzi : 300,000 €.

• Madonna didn’t come!!! Pffff, unforgivable.

• My dress was a Fendi.

• Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld couldn’t keep his eyes from… My emerald bracelet. I like guys who like beautiful things.

• I think Emir Kusturica fell asleep during dinner. With his eyes open, of course, but I’m willing to bet that he was sleeping.

• The problem with wearing your hair back too much is that you end up looking as tight as Victoria Beckham. Lol.

• 5 mins. : The time I spent at the party after dinner. Salomé was there too, drinking next to Sean Penn, dancing next to who knows who, who came with someone or other. Too many celebrities cancels out celebrity.

• Well the only problem about leaving 5mn after the beginning of the party is to convince your dancing with the stars bodyguard that it’s time to go…

• Oh, my man in a suit!

• One last thing, one of the founders of AmFar was Liz Taylor. Don’t you just love her.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Kids, polka-dots attract polka-dots. And for spring, the thing is to mix those polka-dots, big ones, small ones, black on white, white on black, multicolored, all of ‘em.

And on top of that, your polka-dots will attract other people’s polka-dots, sometimes, in the form of none other than Giovanna. That’s what we like to call Super Polka-Dot Power!

Marc Jacobs is gonna be so happy, you just wait. Big hugs!

——

Elisa’s trench is Lahssan and the incredible shoes that Giovanna has on are by Sergio Rossi.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

If you’re like Giovanna and can wrap your scarf like this and poof! look great in 30 seconds right before my very eyes, then you’re definitely one of the goddesses of style.

You know, just like the girls who can wear their jackets just on the shoulders…

———–

PS : I am in Sydney! And I am casting today for the next Westfield campaign, so if you’re around and if you would like to be a part of the casting, please come say hello at the Westfield Bondi Junction between 3 and 6pm. See you!

Anna Dello Russo

Camille Miceli

Giovanna Battaglia

Clothes are such a small part of what makes a person beautiful, don’t you agree?

Here’s my incomplete and disorganized list of details that, to me, contributes to creating impalpable elegance.

- How you carry yourself. A sporty allure, head held high like a princess, a cat-like stroll, the swagger of a tomboy. A certain way of sitting, a poised neck, the way the hands move… There are a million ways to inhabit your own body.
Take Giovanna Battaglia for example. I would never know how to give a name to her stride that’s just so princess of cool. But what I do know, is that she could dress in a bag and she’d still be fantastic.

- A sincere smile. Not a perfect smile, no. A radiant smile. Is it too cheesy to say that? That said, it’s so rare that I can’t think of an example right off the top of my head. Oh yeah! Clémence Poésy. Pfff. One smile and poof! You fall right away.

- Ah! Having a great sense of humor, being able to laugh at yourself a little. It’s the thing that right away is so disarming to me, especially with men, or women, or kids, or my checkout clerk, or Woody Allen, or Scott, or Anna Dello Russo…

- Attention to others. Have you ever met those people who, when he or she looks into your eyes, you feel like the most interesting person in the world? Who, with all sincerity, are curious about you? You remember my post about Peter Lindbergh? Not so much about fashion but woooooooooah, all about true seduction.

- Politeness. It’s stupid, I know, and we never can learn it all, but knowing a few rules of politeness and being able to apply them naturally, without being obvious, goodness, it’s so chic. The British are so good at that. Jefferson Hack mixes punk and good manners with a virtuosity to fall for.

- Ah, and I gotta include this because I admire it so much… Well-manicured people. I don’t know how they find the time, but these girls with painted nails, perfectly hydrated skin, glossy hair… I know a whole bunch, and I admire them all, but my favorite is my sister. Well, yeah, except for last time she tried to do my nails she messed them up with a polishing machine that looks more like a Black & Decker drill, but that’s how these things go : On me, it never works, that’s all = pffffffff.

- Culture. Oh man, a sense of culture that isn’t flaunted, or in your face, but one that just shows that you are an open window to the world is soooo attractive! Like Caroline Issa, Sophie Fontanel, Salomé, my agent… I could spend entire days talking to them.

My god, this post is dripping with sentimentality, and even if it feels good, it’s not the most elegant thing to talk about myself at the end of every paragraph.

I’ve still got a ways to go, you know… But, what is elegance, for you?

The most important thing in life is learning to adapt. For a long time, I’ve managed to spend my nights during fashion week writing, but now, I’m going to have so many things to do in the next 10 days that the best I can do is write directly onto my phone between runway shows in order to take you with me on my days.

So this is… A super experimental post, something like Twitter, just not in real time!

Right now, as I’m writing to you, I’m on the métro. Of course not, I don’t have a chaffeur. I’m on my way to Balenciaga. I’m two hours late… Because… Well, okay, let’s rewind.

8:00 : I take a little time to work. I have some super urgent stuff to get to, like super immediate-do-it-now stuff. Like give some direction to the retouch lab for an editorial I shot (Yoohoo!) with a deadline tonight (Boohoo). Or finish an illustration for a cover (!)(Yoohoo!) that they asked me to have finished the day-before-yesterday. And then there’s the 6823 unread mails. I’m like a spell of vertigo. Garance. Calm down. Deep breathes. Inhale…. Exhale…

11:00 : Oh shit. Time goes fast. I gotta get ready! Every time I get back to Paris, I tell myself that it’ll be great, that I’ll have all my outfits, finally be at home, that I’ll be able to get dressed in 15 seconds. And finally be super classy. (PS: My goal in life.)

11:35 :  2,500 outfits tried on too late, I hate having so much to chose from, I want to go shopping, and there’s no way I’m going to have time to change before tonight. And tonight, I’ve gotta go to Merci, Bar Vogue, and the opening of the Zahm exhibition at Colette.

11:55 : I get to Concorde. I’m gonna try to get into the 2nd Balenciaga show, the one for buyers. I’m gonna let you go, I have to runnnnn. See you in a second!

——–

12:03 : Pffff. The show already started. It’s already ended, actually.

I’m depressed but I run into Carole, my best friend who does the buying for Département Féminin, and who’s wearing a Céline shirt that right away I want to steal off her back. But since I can’t steal it, I take her picture.

I ask her how the show was. She loved the colors and she thought the show was a real explosion of creativity. She tells me she’s gonna go to the showroom on Monday to see the the collection’s commercial version. I’m going with her. I love showrooms, buyers’ opinions, knowing how the collections are greeted by the public, etc…

It teaches me so much about fashion!

——–

12:30 : Ok. I’ve got a half hour. Ok. Don’t laugh. I went home to change. OK. I TOLD YOU NOT TO LAUGH! It’s fashion week, I’ve got every right to be crazy.

———

3:00 : Pfffff, this post is already too long! Okay, off we go, we’re going to the Balmain show. Between the last note and now, just an FYI, I had a thai chicken sitting on my couch talking with Salomé, my dear agent, who is always on my back (and I love this about her)(My goodness, you really are going to know everything.)

——-

At Balmain, Giovanna shows me a video on her camera. She’s choreographing something, it’s quite crazy. We both crack up. I think the video is on YouTube. I almost attack her trying to get the link out of her.

3:45 : Balmain is about to start, we’re about 1 person per 3/4ths of a seat. Someone just sat on me, but hey, I’ve done the same myself more than once. I welcome my visitor with a smile. EVERYONE IN THE FASHION WORLD IS HERE.

———

4:55 : With Scott, in a taxi to get to Rick Owens. Jazz in the background, amazing sunshine. Balmain was funny, total recession-denial, lots of gold, brocades and Prince in the background.

———

5:35 : At Rick Owens with Giovanna and Anna, who are dying laughing because Anna is wearing a Francesco Scognamiglio belt and when the photographers asked her to spell it, in English, she didn’t even know where to start :

After the superb Rick Owens Show, I find Carole again. I slip into her car (she’s got a chauffeur!) and we jet into the first café we can find. It’s been way too long since we’ve seen each other.  All these trips are great, but I really miss my friends entirely too much.

I wasn’t quite ready for today. I spent the entire day moaning (I wanted to hide under my bedspread, remember?) but then suddenly, having some coffee with a friend did me a world of good. All my tensions melt away and my energy came right back… I get back to my house and I…

Oh my goodness, this post is already too long. I’ll stop there. Next time, if there is a next time, I’ll try to keep it more concise!

Big hugs!