My Women of the Year. I

Agyness Dean - Agyness Deyn - Agnes Hollins ... this girl is a mistery.
Even her age is something to wonder: 15? [POP magazine - although this seemed to be a typo mistake] 20? [model card] 23? [guessing from interviews...]
This model from Manchester reminds me Edie Sedgwick and model Jenny Howarth quite a bit. Her look and her own style is very 80's for real. When she modeled for the famous Vogue Italia last November 2006, people at TFS, myself included, commented on how that cover looked like the old ones for good. And she's not the one that everyone could get the look right away, you will love her or hate her, there's not in between.
But for me, even though she's not one of my favourite models, she is one of my favourite women in the way she looks when she's with her own clothing and her own looks.
See her pictures and tell yourself... HAPPY 2007 !!!







Credits: * Face Hunter * Style.com * Vogue UK * Models.com * The Fashion Spot *

My Women of the Year. II

The second place in my own Women of the Year list is for French actress Lou Doillon, daugther of 60's icon Jane Birkin and French director Jaques Doillon.
She is what 100% French style means to me: Chic. Bohemian. Elegant.
For some reason is her half daugther, Charlotte Gainsbourg, the one that takes more attention among the press, probably due to her recent project with cult director Michel Gondry, The Science of Sleep. But for me Lou is who really kick ass.
I think she pulls off some really good outfits out of very simple clothing. I wish i have that talent every morning when i open my wardrobe and what i can see is the same plain T shirt over and over again!. Twist Bobble, twist!

My Women of the Year. III

Everyone has their own muses or inspirations. People we like to look at because they irradiate something we can't help ourselves but loving it.
There have been a good number of women this year that have blown me away with their style. I would love to feature them all in this blog but i would need another whole year to do so!
So i decided to pick up carefully the three that more surprised me in every single picture, the ones that made me believe in fashion and style again.
***
I would like to start with the youngest of all them. This little woman i discovered flipping through the pages of Lula in an interview named About A Girl... a person who didn't take my attention at first sight, i must say, but whose style has captivated me since i started to realize and apreciate every single detail in her outfits... a girl that swears she hasn't change her haircut since the moment she had her hair... ladies and gentlemen... i hope you love as i do the sweetest Tennessee Jane Bunny Thomas!
Named after her dad's, the Elvis Costello's drummer for years Pete Thomas love for country music, Tennessee is the barefooted drummer of all-girl- rock-band The Like.
You would hear her name in The Strokes 's song Whatever Happened? as, rumor has it, she and lead singer Julian Casablancas, dated for a while...

* some pictures have been croped in order to pop up her figure. For full versions of pics please visit The Cobra Snake or The Sartorialist

A Beatnik Carousel

Have you seen the French nouvelle vague cult movie Bande á Part? If you haven't i really suggest you to do it! Jean-Luc Godard did a masterpiece of a movie with this one.
This film has been an endless source of inspiration for editorials, films and music videos, like the Christina Rosenvinge's A Liar To Love that was out this year. The school-girl look has never been so cool!.

Now it comes Carousel, the new and amazing video that Ritz Fine Jewellery has done for its last collection of jewellery. A 6 minutes long video that is all about Paris, film noir,chic and elegance... A mix of Charade, James Bond, Moulin Rouge and... Bande á part!!
Carousel is one of the greatest videos i have seen this year. It can be just an ad but for me it is THE ad.
The main character, She O. She, the Princess of Saint Germain... is played by the lovely Chloë Sevigny.
I couldn't find out the director of the short-film though... Any suggestions?

Nan Kemper

Last weekend I visisted the exhibition Nan Kemper: American Chic at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
I must admit I didn't know who this woman was, i confess my ignorance, so i can't say my expectations were high or low, i was just going to see a fashion exhibition, which is enough for me.
My sorprise was to found out this woman was just a socialite with a lot of money to espend in cloths. That was it. I'm sorry if I hurt someone with this post but I'm quite dissapointed for this exhibit.

This woman was, as i said, just a rich woman with a very good taste and very good conections. She purchased great clothing and kept them to the end. She had a body to die for, which helped the cloths to look great on her.
As a rich woman she was able to "donate" her clothing to the Costume Institute hoping to see that clothing in the MET eventually... was that move for the sake of the designers or for her own sake?. I want to think she was a real fashion lover and was for the sake of the designers.

Visiting the show let me the impression of being in a show curated for her friends to remind her and how well dressed she was, not to pay hommage to the designers that designed that clothing.
I'm tired to listen about "elegant" women whose only effort is to have money enough to buy nice clothing.
It is far more interesting to see a person mixing clothing form everywhere, cheap, expensive, old and new and still having an amazing style. I can give names, Kate Moss, Agyness Dean, Lou Dillon... those are really interesting women whose taste blows me away anytime i see a picture of them.
I'm not attacking Nan, of course I'm not. I'm attacking the MET for featuring such a joke.
This kind of show should be for a private museum, not for the MET. Or maybe i'm wrong! Hopefully i am...

Happy Holidays!.. says the Bee

I'm all for it when paganism and religious celebrations mix in a happy meltdown. It's good to keep the religios meaning for those who feel it that way but not to impose such a thing to everyone and criticize the frivolous part. Frivolity is fun! If there's something i love of Christmas time is the lighting in the streets, the colors, the snow and the freedom of being on holidays.
I think people needs breaks in the year to just relax and celebrate, no matter the reason. And now that the cold weather is at its fullest, we need an extra streght to keep going. Christmas parties can be a great excuse to shake out those wintery-sad feelings and pull off imaginative dresses to enjoy. And the New Year will offer the best of the chances to reinvent ourselves and our wardrobe.
So Happy Holidays to all... and to all...good nights!

Resurrection

Resurrection is a rare fashion collectible's retailer specialized in Chanel with locations both in Los Angeles and NYC. Although the prices may not be affordable for everyone, dresses for $ 1,200 and up, taking a look to them is a real pleasure. I didn't have any impresion of no-welcome when they realized i wasn't going to purchase, so that's a plus in a bussines like this.
Through December 31st, Resurrection is celebrating its 2nd annual Chanel holiday fund sale. It's in display a rare selection of Chanel jewelry and bags that are real gems, exclusively for the NYC store in Soho.
For each $30 donation or more you will receive a 10% in all your purchases and the money will benefit the Chihuahua Rescue Found in Los Angeles...

Igor Alustiza

Madrid Fashion Week has became famous for the infamous banned against too-skinny models.
But Madrid fashion world offers more than what Pasarela Cibeles says, and let's explain that Cibeles doesn't show the best designs in town really but just the ones that can afford to show their collections there after paying some good money.
When Pasarela Gaudi in Barcelona shut down a couple of years ago, people started to wonder what was going to happen with all the fashion alternatives that fill Spain and couldn't fit in Cibeles. People wondered too where all the young designers that couldn't afford Cibeles would show.
Answering that wonder was born El Ego de Pasarela Cibeles (The Cibeles Catwalk Ego).
Ego has been working with the youngest and more creative Spanish fashion designers for two years now and the 2007 contest is open already.
Ego supports creativity rather than money as Cibeles does so the shows you enjoy there are far more interesting than the ones in his big brother. There are exceptions, sure, but the least.
Last night i was watching some of the shows from the last edition when, o-my-god, i saw the work of Igor Alustiza.
I know Igor and his work since 2001 as he was my classmate in college when i was studying Fashion Design in Madrid.
So it has been a great pleasure to see what he has acomplished through the years.
This is his show for Ego. Bravo Igor.

Prada in Advance

Our dearest Susie let us know about it weeks ago; Maynards Wine Gums colors for the new Prada Resort 2007 collection.

Even though, i didn't expect the color party i saw in the store window when i did!.

It's nice to see all that joy in display and I understand this is the time when wealthy people is taking their yachts to go cruising to the Caribbean and skip the tough winter in the city. But, hello?, let's enjoy the winter while is here or we won't have any joy when Spring will visit!

Another iqon* Found

There are two ways to work with models. a) you leave them free and do what they want, arm up, chin down, hip right, toe left, rolling eyes.. and you just stay there waiting for the movement to click!, or b) you have the picture already in your mind and guide the model to do exactly what you need for the picture you want.

Ladies and gentleman.. i would like to introduce you to the great photorapher Jamie Nelson, my new found in that site called iqon*..

In Jamie's images everything seems to be previously thought like a piece of drama, or a film. Not only the lighting has been set in advance, but also the model's behavior, simbols to use and colors to play with.

And if my soul really goes nuts with her pictures is because i found myself loving some outfits she's featuring even after realizing how cheesy they were. Cheesy to my eyes, with all my respect and love.

11 Spring. 2nd Day

The Wooster on Spring event is being an amazing window for street-art and fashion lovers around.

For Art's sake, this show is hosting the work of some of the best well known street-art artists in the world in a building that will become a condo as soon as this weekend passes away.

This kind of event is quite normal in Europe but having something like this in the US means that, finally, something is changing for good.

The line to enter in this morning was up to 2 hours and still the people waited outside patiently.
The door closed to the public at 5pm and from 6pm to 8pm, private party for the artists and guests.
In the private party, very stylish people, lots of fun and very good energy.
And FUR all over the place!. I have been very impresed about this fact, I'll post some more pictures about it as soon as i get the ones i took with someone else's camera (mine died pretty soon..)
The people was super nice and willing to help me taking their images.
The event will end tomorrow Sunday at 5pm. Do not miss it if you are in NYC because, seriously, it really really WORTH IT.

The Gift on Grand

If you happen to be in NY this weekend, on Saturday is hapening this year's edition of The Gift on Grand, a place to buy alternative fashion and something else like handmade goodies or beauty products.
Grand is located in Williamsburg, the hipster place of town, so it may be a good chance to take a look to all the little boutiques spread in the area like Amarcord, Jumelle or Beacon's Closet. Happy weekend!

The Fashion Spot

anyone out there to invite me to The Fashion Spot comunity??

patri.le.crayon@gmail.com

Thanks!

The Brasilian Martin Margiela

If you like the cheek of Rei Kawakubo and the sense of humor of Martin Margiela, with some spicy details from Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf, you will love the work of young Brasilian fashion designer Paloma Passetto.
I run into the work of this 21 years old surfing through iqons*, the talk-of-the-town fashion web site, and i just couldn't stop myself from feeling in love with her trompe l'oeil coats.
Maybe having the hanger with your favourite pair of pants hanging out from your chest can be seeing as ridiculous but, oh boy, how cool is being able to do that? Playing smart and having some fun. And I'd love to get married with a bride T-Dress like hers! (two first pics in the below row).

Souvenir Tees

S. just found those flowers in the barbage.
We sat to chat and she looked pretty in that Italy tee.
City tees can make you travel when you are stuck in your own!

Ann Wood Fabric Birds

Surfing around the net in search of the designers involved at The Gift on Grand event I discovered the birds of Ann Wood.
She hand-makes these birdy creatures out of vintage and antique fabrics.
And if you still don't know what to do with that o-so-lovely vintage fabric you bought in some lost flea market in town, she'll give you the op to use it for your very special bird with no problem.
Her blog is a gem as well of good and cute style.

Skin + Bones

I don't live in L.A. so i can only imagine the impresive new exhibit at the Museum of the Contemporary Art MOCA named Skin + Bones.
I read a big article in The New Yorker by Judith Thurman about it and the first thing that got my atention was the name of the exhibit. I found it quite shoking in these days of skinny models concern.
The show explores the common characteristiques and languages of both Fashion Design and Arquitecture, featuring the work of people like Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Hussein Chalayan, Viktor & Rolf, Yohi Yamamoto or Maison Martin Margiela.
The fortunate to go will be able to see the set up of the Hussein Chalayan’s wearable "furniture" from his Fall-Winter 2000 collection.
The "seious" world is taking seriously the world of fashion, as Brooke Hodge, MOCA’s curator of architecture and design said "Ten years ago, I couldn’t have organized a show like this, many architects would have been leery of lending their work to it. They didn’t know what avant-garde designers were doing, or assumed that it was frivolous. But the younger generation tends to know more about fashion than designers know about architecture. They’ve grown up with its influence, and the question of legitimacy doesn’t arise.”

Calvin Klein Holiday Display

Cuban American artist Anthony Goicolea
is the author of the Christmas window for Calvin Klein this year.
Anthony is not a new name for the ready-to-wear company as he exhibited at The Fifth Annual Madison Avenue: Where Fashion Meets Art event a large scale video and sculpture installation, Tea Party, in 2004.
So the collaboration between both artists, CK's Francisco Costa and Anthony Goicolea was born to be continued.
For this Christmas, the artwork displayed in the Madison Avenue location goes beyond the external image and the work can be enjoyed in a new way inside the store; as important as the white wooden ramp with the seals and the trees you see from the outside is the sound of birds and skaters that envelope the inner space.

Burberry.- Christmas 2006

As i said in some posts ago, i have a soft spot for British fashion and all British related. So let's say London is the capital were i'd die for living in.
Burberry brings me a little of that London i dream of with its Christmas window for 2006.

Bergdorf Goodman windows.- Christmas 2006

On Christmas, the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman displays its more popular window of the year. And every year hordes of people go to this place to enjoy the view and take the best of the pictures
For those who don't know the building, i'll explain that only three sides are taken to display the store windows. Each side will exhibit diferent topics, the most important will go to the front [the ones paying hommage to designers or artists for instance, like the one of Jean Paul Gaultier], then we have the artsy displays on the right side and the left side is left for the commercial stuff.
Here there is an image selection from this year Christmas favourites [of mine].
All pictures are from right and front sides, the left side can be seen all here. Unfortunately a picture can't capture the real essence and spectacle of the real thing, but still enjoy the show!.

D. in Madison Avenue

5th Avenue

Shop Windows part.2 BERGDORF GOODMAN

Murals and sculptures by Malcolm Hill for Bergdorf Goodman. New York.