On December 9, 2009 I had predicted that corduroy would be a HOT commodity in the upcoming collections. Well, BINGO!!!!Isabel Marant has the wonderful Kate Moss posing for her Autumn-Winter 2010-2011 Ad Campaign shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, in a light weight printed corduroy!!!
These pants are DY-NO-MITE!!! Kate does them complete justice with the cut, the printed fabric and the length. Super pair of pants which are on notice…i.e. Warning, Ladies: rumor has it that once they are out, they are out! No re-orders are expected to come after this first batch!
I would love to see photos taken by you in your city of what YOU consider stylish. Please send me your images of people wearing what is happening in your town and include the brands they are wearing, i.e. skirt by “…………” tee shirt by “…….. …..” etc. and if you can, a short video vignette similar to what we are doing here on BK Blog. Or why not photos of yourself? Would love to see them…
We will choose the best of the best and post your stuff to the link of your choice. At the end of the year, we will host a Benjamin Kanarek Fashion Street Stuff Contest.
Not sure what I am going to get from all of you out there, but would love to get stuff from anywhere around the world. Please make these the real thing, rather than set up choreographed images.
If you are not sure about what this all means, just go and have a look at some of my Paris Fashion Street Stuff posts.
Send your images and video or video link to: street@benjaminkanarekblog.com
I am not going to go in to a lengthy discourse regarding Haute Couture Designer Bernard Perris. I knew him well. I was introduced to him by Marie José Eymere Jalou the Editor in Chief of L’Officiel magazine back in the late 80′s, just before he was hired by Jean-Louis Scherrer as head designer of his Couture House.
I will say this however; he was one of the kindest, fair and compassionate individuals I had ever met in this BIZ called FASHION. Now to any of you who knew him, you will understand immediately what I mean and how rare those virtues are in our BIZ.
Working with him was a rare pleasure. He was not afraid to being open to the creative possibilities proposed to him, even to those that may have been alien to his aesthetic culture. That in itself took a lot of courage and was a sign of an artist who was comfortable with who he was. Bernard felt secure in exploring creative concepts that were outside of his familiar territory. He was a highly respected Haute Couture Designer that left his indelible mark on the industry.
My only regret was not taking him up on his frequent invitations to my wife at the time and I to visit him in the south of France.
As a designer, I love watching people in the streets of Paris. The other day by the l’Arc de Triomphe, I noticed this young woman walk past me in a wonderful eggplant colored dress with a deep watermelon colored pumps. The gorgeous color combination of her outfit gave her a fresh look with the BOLD colors, a trend we are seeing in this summer with today’s beauty products. I had to take a picture of her.
Bolting to catch up with her, I asked for her information as I took her picture. It turns out she works for Louis Vuitton which made total sense to me. Her look was very Marc Jacobs. Her choice of colors were strong, adding impact to her clean and simple lines. The Italian pumps had his signature little bow we have seen in his past shoe collections and the great color that is in Paul Smith‘s S/S 2010 collection. With barely any accessories except the headphone, she wore simple smock cut dress from Alain Manoukian could have very well been a Marc Jacob style dress. The (her) handbag was discreet which follows an article I wrote about how in today’s market, brash & opulent branding is seen as insensitive. I loved Fantine VAZ-PINTO’s no-fuss look.
It seems that Paris is going through a Trade Deficit in Fashion lately. Numerous Designers from outside of France are coming to Paris to take over French old Brands like Phoebe Philo at Céline, the revival of the centenary brand Madeleine Vionnet now shortened to just “Vionnet” by Rodolfo Paglialunga and recently Giles Deacon at Ungaro. They also often present their own Collection like Manish Arora from India and Gareth Pugh from the UK… Is Paris no longer able to produce and support a new generation of Fashion Designers?
In the meantime other Designers are beginning to occupy the market. One of them did an astonishing entry into the last Paris Fashion Week Show.
Pedro Lourenço, a Brazilian of 19 years old, presented his first Parisian Collection and cut the umbilical cord from his parents. Both of whom are considered Brazil’s leading designers; his Father Reinaldo Lourenço and his Mother Gloria Coelho. They never pushed him to enter in to the metier, but gave him all the tools and support he needed. He has designed clothing since the age of 12 and has been presenting his Collections in São Paulo since 2005!
And as for support, he has the best one can wish for…
- Brana Wolf, the American Harper’s Bazaar’s editor-at-large was not only supportive but also quite involved in his first presentation in Paris.
- KCD, the very affluent fashion’s prominent public relations and event production firm run by Ed Filipowski and Julie Mannion.
As an aggregate team effort, they were able to pull off a promising first collection. It showed a strong and assertive direction and quite mature for a 19 year old. Pedro told us in perfect English, that his influences were, “Diana the Huntress and the architect, Oscar Niemeyer.” Pedro also speaks a perfect French, Portuguese being his mother tongue.
He loves contemporary architecture, building materials and finds quite a few similarities in Fashion Design. The thick leather contrasts with a touch of metal, organza, velvet and rubber. Optical effects are given by the military applied ornament similar to Venetian Blinds, the range of colors he plays with: from beige, to dark brown, black and flesh-tones as well as see through organza tops with suspended leather geometrical trimming.
The model casting was also quite impressive for a first show in Paris. Getting the “It Girl” of the Paris Fashion Week: Jac to open his show, followed by Constance Jablonski (one of the new Estée Lauder’s faces), Jacklyn Jablonski, Sigrid Agren, etc…
But with all the support he gets, can he go wrong?
Financial difficulties and constraints are often compelling for the designer who has to find creative solutions to keep their businesses afloat…
Keep an eye on Pedro Lourenço, he might be the first ever son of known designers with talent and who is able to break through and last in the Fashion Industry.
I was just going through some of my archives and I fell on these images that I shot for “Votre Beauté” Magazine around 20 years ago. It is part of a series that I shot exclusively highlighting the designer Pierre Cardin. Marie-Elizabeth David-Boyer was the Fashion Stylist at the time. It was a rather successful shoot, as Pierre Cardin himself sent a letter of congratulation to us in appreciation of our endeavours.
What I also find interesting, is that there was no Photoshop or retouching employed, other than some subtle brush work to touch up tiny imperfections in the skin. The rest was up to me and the great printing of Fred Jourda at Picto Labs in Paris. I used a tilt shift lens on my EOS 1 Canon, cut a hole in the backdrop, stuck some gels on the back light and used an Opalite for the model.
Make-Up by Frédérique Givaudan from Agence Carole Paris, Hair by Christian Faure from Mod’s Hair Paris.
I am so pleased to announce that I will have the privilege to work with one of the most talented teams in the “BIZ” for Harper’s BAZAAR China this coming Thursday. It will be shot in Paris at La Plateform Studio’s, one of my favourites. I can’t yet tell you the theme of the story yet, but it is for the July 2010 Issue and it will be “Out of this World”.
Once the story is published I will post the images, as well as the making of video. I will also post my last two VOGUE shoots and video’s when they are published.
For those of you interested, here is the team.
Co-Creative Direction & Video: Frédérique Renaut (Our Fashion-Beauty Director of BK Blog)
Model: Mae Lapres, Marilyn Agency, Paris
Fashion Stylist: Laurent Dombrowicz
Make-Up: Topolino, Calliste Agency, Paris
Hair: Cyril Laloue, Jed Root Agency, Paris
Prop Stylist: Anna Carage, Dessine-moi une vitrine, Paris
Digital Retouch: Freddy Baby, Paris
… and the rest of the support team that will be at La Plateform Studios for this production…
Oh and I forgot, Photography and Co-Creative Direction, Yours Truly.
On a gloriously balmy Sunday afternoon, as I was passing through the Place des Abbesses, I spotted a very cute couple, looked back at them, thought, “Nah, they have already passed, later…” I then spun around a called out “Excuse Me!” They turned and I felt rather embarrassed stating that I had a blog and recently commenced the “Paris Street Fashion Stuff” section and would they be willing to pose for me. They very graciously accepted after I showed them my blog on my iPhone.
I asked if they could send me the brands of the clothing they were wearing. They said they would send the brands via e-mail to me. I know he was wearing a ZARA Tee Shirt and Dim underwear, as the label was obviously above his Jean line. I will post the brand credits once they send them to me as an update. Just got an e-mail from Alizée and wanted to post it as it was received. She is French and she wrote the e-mail in English. Very charming…
Bonsoir, (Good Evening)
You have shot my boyfriend and me today (at) Place des Abbesses and you wanted me to tell you what we were wearing.
Fashion silhouettes and the models used in most spreads in all of the major Fashion Magazines are generally quite sleek. Woman who read these magazines aspire to the precedents set by these Trend Makers. It is more often than not very frustrating for the readership to have to live up to the standards being set by those influential glossies.
Pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies make a fortune on their magic formula’s, which they regularly advertise in the Beauty or Fitness sections of ELLE, VOGUE, Harper’s BAZAAR, Marie Claire, etc… The income generated by catering to weight lose and the associated regimes to do so are astronomical. Considering that purchasing one advertising page in one of the above giants cost between $25-35k, you can now begin to calculate the importance of this sector. The Dove campaign is a case in point. But, the problem up to now has been, although weight lose regimes are advertised, the magazines do not really cater to the present physical state of a large sector of the potential readership population. In fact, they more often than not alienate those potential adopters of the Mega-Magazines, by not directly communicating with them. They treat Plus Sized woman as a malady and not a normal fact of life, thus alienating them even more so.
Hungry by Crystal Renn
However, there has been some stirring amongst the general female populace and some magazines are starting to react. Most recently with French Marie Claire’s’ Special Un-retouched April 2010 Issue and in the March 26th, 2010 French ELLE (a weekly), they grace the cover with XXL Model Tara Lynn at FORD Agency. To say it was a cultural shock, would be an understatement. We have become so accustomed to size “0″ models featured on most covers that the shock and awe stopping power of this one became a huge seller, outselling their average weekly sales by a Large Margin… No Pun Intended.
Why did the ELLE cover create such a stir? Well first off, being that the model was not a recognizable celebrity, people had to look more closely at what many would ask, “who is this larger than what I have been accustomed to classic model they generally show, doing on this cover?” Secondly, breaking with convention is a sure way of getting people to stand up and take notice. Thirdly, it is a paradigm shifting and powerful statement being made by one of the Big 4 most influential magazine conglomerates in the world.
Historically, there have been several magazines and web-zines dedicated to large sized woman’s wear such as, Plus Model Magazine, Daily Venus Deva, Plus Size Clothing Magazine, Lou Lou and several others, but it is quite rare when a mainstream major fashion or trendy press magazine, features full figured women. Perhaps this is indicative of a new trend, which will allow the majors to increase their readership. It wouldn’t surprise me if ELLE were to do a special supplement for Plus Size Fashion.
Miss Dirty Martini by Karl Lagerfeld for V Magazine
Ford Model’s Crystal Renn’s book Hungry addresses these issues head on. Are we seeing a trend here? Or are we just witnessing a blip on the screen. Time will tell. But in the mean time, don’t throw out those XXL tee shirts you have hiding in the bottom drawer…
Jacklyn Jablonski opposing Crystal Renn by Terry Richardson
You might also wish to read this article at thePlus Size TallWeb Site.
The irony of success is when we lose ourselves in it. The fickle thing is that everyone wants it, not everyone has it and even when we do, some are not able to handle it. As our society today considers fame and fortune to be the Holy Grail of our sense of purpose, living a life in an attitude of a happy medium is hushed as insufficient. Yet it is shattering to hear the news about great talents leaving this world prematurely. Just these past few months we saw the loss of two, Alexander McQueen and Michael Jackson. How disturbing to think they had what many would consider to be the winning lottery ticket of life: fame, fortune and success. Or did they? What made them and so many others get lost in (their) success?
It is obvious that they lived under extreme pressure to succeed, which ended up absorbing life out of them. Discovering their past childhood, we realized how their dysfunctional families had made their short-lived lives difficult and unhappy. While no one family is perfect nor needs to be, the ability to cope and to have a balanced life would bring out the best potential in all of us. How to overcome failure and challenge is vital for success, and having emotional support from loved ones is crucial for survival. Both seemed to be missing for Alexander McQueen and Michael Jackson.
Of course, there are those who argue that their childhood was what caused their genii, their source of strength and their drive. However, it remains difficult to think an insufferable and miserable upbringing can bring out the genius in someone when most specialists believe geniuses are born as geniuses regardless of their environment. Look at the genius talent of Pablo Picasso who was nurtured as a very young boy. His euphoric artistic career excelled beyond belief while living a life of harmony with his art, friends and family to a ripe old age of 92.
There are exceptions, where the horrible ‘family legacy’ of a painful childhood brought out delicate sensitivity and a subtle visionary, such as Doris Lessing.She coped and survived thanks to her fantastic imagination which led to her happy vocation as a writer, earning her the Nobel Peace Prize. In this case, her agony and memories led to her creativity. This shows two opposed cases of possible sources of success: what must be remembered is the importance of awareness in dealing with what life brings, making the best out of it, by keeping harmony and balance, even when doing so seems impossible.
Below a great documentary “George Michael, a different story” showing how he dealt with success and almost drowned in it during the “Wham!” period… And what was needed: A heavy dose of business acumen to learn how to swim with sharks.
