Rodarte Renaissance: The Mulleavys On Their Installation at Pitti W

Otherworldy. Visionary. Almost a religious experience, in a faraway place. All these descriptions could be applied to the unveiling of the Mulleavy sisters’ installation of ten Rodarte dresses, suspended, as if by miracle, in an empty storefront in Florence at the Italian womenswear trade show Pitti W on Thursday night. “Bartolini is a store just outside the Duomo and Baptistery that everyone in Florence knew,” explain the designers of their choice of location. “The interior is unfinished, meaning most of the rooms had their decorations removed. We presented the garments in separate cell-like spaces, which mirror those seen at the San Marco monastery.”

Presentations without a model in sight might come off as a poor alternative to seeing girls in dresses, but this time, the results rise above the limitations of fashion—almost literally. Framed in haloes of neon light, the sisters’ dresses were inspired by their studies of Italian religious art: Fra Angelico’s early Renaissance frescoes at San Marco, the wildly voluptuous High Baroque Bernini altarpiece, and The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, in Rome. “We love the fact that Fra Angelico painted such sculptural and color saturated figures and retained such emotional features,” says Kate. “We chose the colors of the dresses based on strong colors often seen in the artworks.” The looks on display, some cut and draped in taffeta, evoke the sculpted folds of the Bernini marble and are held with metalwork belts constructed to radiate outwards like the golden beams in St. Teresa’s vision. The impact: wondrous, emotional, uplifting—and yet, it was all over in one evening. The morning after a jam-packed party, the sisters and the installation makers were back at the site to break down the installation and be ready to catch their plane home to L.A.

Detail shot of a look from the Rodarte installation
Photo: Autumn de Wilde/Courtesy of Rodarte

The Mulleavys had been the guests of Pitti W, which encourages and finances one-off creative projects from designers, and, happily, this one will have an American afterlife. All the dresses have been donated to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Thus fashion about art is destined to become fashion in an art museum—transcending wearers, sales, and the entire worldly function of fashion itself. It doesn’t herald the beginning of a new couture line, or anything of the sort, the sisters firmly insist. Still, something tangible is materializing from last night: the release of the first book dedicated to their work, Rodarte: Photographs by Catherine Opie and Alec Soth will be available from JRP|Ringier on August 31 for all to take home and adore. “Cathy focused on portraits of our garments, and Alec documented places we love in California,” explains Laura. “We titled the book the way we did because, in the end, all of our work resulted in a narrative.”

Five Days, Five Looks, One Girl: Chioma Nnadi

When I’m interviewing a designer for the magazine, I prefer a social environment over a conference room. It makes for a better story, and Roman’s in Brooklyn is a nice backdrop. My My friend Christian Joy told me about the vintage store Fluke in Williamsburg, where I found this Italian silk dress. I like that it’s all buttoned-up because I can’t wear anything too girly.
One of the best things about living in Brooklyn is the brownstones. A few of my friends live in this building, and I sometimes take the scenic route from the subway home and stop by.
Designers are showing their resort collections at the moment, so a large part of my days is spent going to appointments and presentations. Here I am at the Shipley & Halmos studio in SoHo getting a preview..
Here I am in Bryant Park—I like to pick up a coffee on the way in to work—wearing camouflage, one of my all-time favorite prints.
If I’m feeling low-energy on a Monday morning, I’ll reach into my closet and pick out the brightest thing I own. It’s a real pick-me-up (and orange is the new red!). The combination of colors is inspired by a book on Yves Saint Laurent that I picked up at an exhibit in Paris last February.

Max Mara Resort 2012

The Max Mara woman doesn’t ask for much, just elegant clothes with clean lines and a good fit. Lucky for her, there’s plenty in the house’s resort collection, and if she is indeed taking this vacationwear on vacation, she’ll surely pack the long, silk shirtdresses in raspberry floral or basic brown as well as the midi-length knit tunics in color-blocked camel and cream. It’s a way of dressing that’s incredibly easy—just what you want on a holiday. But what if you also want to play around with and maybe reinvent that signature simplicity? The answer, according to Max Mara, is statement jewelry that’s personal to the wearer. In particular, the chunky necklaces made of chain link mixed with multiple strands of crystals and delicate rope, and the major metal pieces with big stone pendants (shown here) livened up each of the looks and helped the brand’s steady sophistication feel new.

A Look at DKNY Resort 2012

Photo: Courtesy of DKNY

For the polished, convivial twentysomethings who flock to DKNY to replenish their resort closets (or more accurately, fill up their vacation-bound suitcases), party dresses are as fundamental as bikinis. That’s why, although the latter were nowhere to be seen at today’s presentation in midtown, color-blocked sequin dresses, shimmering paillettes, embellished minis, and elegant capelet frocks (all hitting above the knee) were out in full force.

That’s not to say Donna Karan’s focus was always on dressing for after-sun pursuits. Her silk Cozy Scarf Dress in cadmium yellow or barossa magenta was the ultimate breezy daytime garment. Cleverly designed to be knotted, looped, or twisted in seven different ways, it’s an evolutionary take on last season’s Cozy Scarf Top (itself a riff on the original, wear-it-12-ways DKNY Cozy Sweater) and cut from Karan’s nineties heritage print. Initially, it may require a YouTube tutorial to get it right (the tying lesson is the same as those Karan already has posted online for her sweaters), but once that’s down, just slip on a tuxedo capelet or tiger-motif bomber, and this is day-to-night vacation dressing at its easiest.

Dressed Up For Easter

Blame it on the House of Fabergé. Ever since the company crafted its first luxuriant egg back in 1885 for Tsar Alexander III (it was a gift for his wife, Empress Maria Fedorovna), there’s been nothing more covetable at Easter than an over-the-top, extravagant egg. And for anyone eggs-ercising (sorry!) restraint against all things sugar in the lead-up to the big day, an unimaginative chocolate mold, just doesn’t cut it. That’s why Vogue.com scoured the shops for our favorite incredible eggs—edible and otherwise—and asked a crop of créateurs to offer up their vision of how a decadent Easter egg should look. Whether space-age bijoux, hand-painted, glitter-sprinkled, paper-covered or femme fatale–personified, we’re sure you’ll agree the delicious options out there are far too good to eat.

Jonathan Saunders

The setting—a Gattaca-like office floor in an unsettling modern complex—signaled Jonathan Saunders’s usual engagement with ultramodernity, but the clothes this season glanced back instead. “It was nice to see lengths past the knee and quite elegant,” he said. “That stricter pencil skirt and flirty forties dresses.”

Saunders had been looking at the strange, surreal tones of Paul Outerbridge’s early color photographs and the work of Euan Uglow for inspiration this season. Lalique glass was the source for sinuous Art Nouveau prints of poppies and orchids that were striking when used in different color combinations for a blouse and skirt, for example.

Interesting tonal experiments also included Palio color-block blouses in combinations such as rose and emerald, or two variations of China blue, worn with slim fifties skirts in rust mohair or silky jersey. Coats in deep pile wool had been heat-treated to create smooth areas, thus subtly altering the shade.

Christian Louboutin’s velvet shoes with chunky wooden heels completed the “Austerity Britain” flavor.

And It’s Lady Gaga by a Mile: The Outré Original Wins Best-Dressed of the Year

Photographed by Mario Testino

In a field of ten supremely best-dressed contenders that included a Gossip Girl and the First Lady, one Lady stood out, proving that risk-taking can win the popular vote. In a landslide, Lady Gaga received 42 percent of the final results to take Best Dressed of the Year (beating out closest runner-up Blake Lively by 24 percent). Lady Gaga dressed up—way, way up—in lipstick-red latex to shake hands with the Queen, and as a sequin-suspendered Larry King to be interviewed by, well, Larry King. She turned heads in towering headdresses; she wore a hat made of her own hair, a metal bikini at the beach, and, in a look that managed to be both rare and well-done, a dress made of raw meat. Her sense of style thwarted the predictable—it was theatrically avant-garde and wildly, irreverently witty, returning a much-needed sense of humor and unbridled imagination to fashion.

FNO Highlight of the Day: Henri Bendel's Preview

If your Andy Warhol–prescribed fifteen minutes of fame have proved elusive, it may be time to collect. FNO shoppers who head to Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue can score the Red Carpet Experience, complete with paparazzi-style photo shoot, from the pros at Frédéric Fekkai. After hair and makeup at the penthouse-level salon, slip into one of five iconic Marchesa frocks (Sandra Bullock’s Oscar dress, for example), plus a crisp pair of Louboutins and a handful of jewels from House of Lavande. All will be expertly pulled together by the evening’s guest stylist, The City’s Olivia Palermo, who will be on hand from 6:30 to 9. ($75; proceeds go to the New York City AIDS Fund.) Having transformed the third-floor atrium into a General Store (complete with four-legged livestock), gentlemen farmers/beauty entrepreneurs Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge will debut their Milk Shake Bath soak—as they film a new episode of their quirky reality show, The Fabulous Beekman Boys.

To introduce Low Luv, her coolly understated jewelry line, model/muse/designer Erin Wasson will make an appearance. She’ll be joined by Nadja Swarovski, in town for the debut of Atelier Swarovski’s fall 2010 collection (guest designer Karl Lagerfeld’s Inca-inspired cuffs and brooches are standouts). Before sailing out the door, stop by the Lustr station. With a few clicks of the downloadable GPS-generated shopping application, you can program essential FNO destinations for the evening into your iPhone. Those who include Bendel on their list of favorites will be entered to win an iPod touch and a signature brown-and-white-striped hatbox brimming with Bendel products. —Catherine Piercy

Photo: Kate Hudson at the 2010 Golden Globes (Stefanie Keenan/WireImage), Anne Hathaway at the 2008 Academy Awards (Frank Micelotta/WireImage), Sandra Bullock at the 2010 Academy Awards (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images), all in Marchesa.

Blake Lively

Blake Lively took a very fashionable break from her very grueling work schedule to attend Couture in Paris this July with Vogue's Anna Wintour, and our cameras caught all the action as the actress sped around the cobblestone streets—with paparazzi hot on her trail—to attend some of the biggest, most beautiful shows from Dior to Chanel. Click below to view our exclusive video.

The September Issue

The September Issue


de:Ana-Maria Cioroaba

The September Issue este un documentar despre drama din spatele cortinei ce o urmareste pe redactorul-sef al revistei Vogue,Anna Wintour,si staff-ul sau in timpul productiei editiei Septembrie 2007,Vogue.Filmul este regizat de RJ Cutler si produs de Eliza Hindmarch si Shepard Sadia.

Filmul se invarte in jurul productiei celebrei reviste Vogue,editia Septembrie 2007.Acesta descrie efortul pe care toti angajatii Vogue il depun pentru a crea dintr-o simpla revista,o capodopera, si pasiunea pe care Grace Coddington,un fost model,devenit director de creatie,o poseda pentru lumea modei.Grace Coddington este singura persoana care indrazneste sa intre in diverse polemici cu redactorul-sef,Anna Wintour,poreclita adesea Diavolul care se imbraca de la Prada("The Devil Wears Prada"este inspirat din povestea Annei),in film Coddington este adesea descrisa ca victima a pretentiilor Annei Wintour.Cu toate acestea,relatia dintre Coddington si Wintour se arata a fi o relatie de simbioza,deoarece Wintour recunoaste pasiunea lui Coddington si ii descrie ochii ca fiind "dornici de proiectare".In final,Wintour accepta unele idei indraznete ale lui Coddington,care apar deasemenea in editia finala de septembrie.

Filmul a primit recenzii favorabile,in general si datorita popularitatii neasteptate pe care a primit-o editia Vogue de septembrie 2007 a ajuns sa coste intre 80 si 115 dolari,devenind astfel una din cele mai cautate reviste.

Din distributia filmului fac parte diverse personalitati din lumea luxurianta a modei:Oscar De La Renta,Jean-Paul Gaultier si deasemenea bine-cunoscutul mostenitor al imperiului Chanel,Karl Lagerfeld.

Rezumand totul ajungem la concluzia ca moda este o religie iar "The September Issue" este biblia ei.Un must-see pentru toti cei pasionati de moda.

Halle Berry on Vogue's Magazine

Get one year of Vogue for our lowest price! Vogue is the world's fashion authority, always packed with the latest trends. Every issue features fashion, style, beauty, art, and entertainment.
In the Mood
"I'm not done with love, but I refuse to settle," says Berry. "I am a hopeless romantic. I won't stop till I get it right." Escada dark-plum velvet dress with knotted open back. House of Lavande duet clips.

In this story: fashion editor: Tonne Goodman; hair, Oribe for Oribe Hair Care; makeup, Linda
Looking Ahead
"I have a new focus that's outside myself," says Berry of being a mother to Nahla, age two. Vera Wang amber draped velvet corset top and skirt. Lorraine Schwartz diamond-and-black jade earrings.
Full Turn
"She can be strong, she can be soft. And she can switch on a dime," says Benicio Del Toro of Berry. Giorgio Armani midnight-blue velvet gown with shoulder wing. Stephen Russell earrings. Fred Leighton bracelets.
Soft Touch
"Every story about me is so heavy and dramatic," says Halle Berry. "That's not how I do life." Giorgio Armani black velvet cocktail dress. Lorraine Schwartz black jade-and-diamond cuff.

Screen Siren
"If the world wouldn't persecute me, I'd take nude pictures every day of the week," says Berry. Marc Jacobs velvet dress with diamond ruching. Stephen Russell diamond sautoir and bracelets. Fred Leighton emerald-and-diamond bracelet.