Kenji

J. Mendel

 Fashion Trends  Comments Off on J. Mendel
Sep 102007
 

Mendel1_2

NEW YORK, September 08, 2007 – Helen Lee Schifter already has one favorite J. Mendel fur. So her front-row perch along with Dr. Lisa Airan, Mary J. Blige, and Rachel Roy at the French furrier’s show was a good place to look for her next. She adores her J. Mendel shrunken bolero in sable. “It is that good dark brown Russian sable, too,” she said. “Not that, you know, yucky one with the gold tinge.”

Showing fur for spring seems like it could be a challenge, but for Schifter at least there’s nothing better than a summer-weight skin like the tissue-thin white goatskin coat she finds just as versatile as a trench.

So what might she be looking for come next year? How about the belted honey mink with the eyelet lacing? Or a lightweight gray Astrakhan coat? Or even some of the non-fur pieces, like any one of the mousseline dresses with their air of early eighties disco diva, a look amplified quite literally by the big, bouncing, blown-out hair of the models. That era was also heard on the preshow soundtrack, including an aural appearance by The Smiths. No need to point out how incongruous that was.

Photo: JP Yim / WireImage.com

Source: www.style.com

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Behnaz Sarafpour

 Fashion Trends  Comments Off on Behnaz Sarafpour
Sep 102007
 

NEW YORK, September 08, 2007 – Hairstylist Ashley Javier took a break from grooming front-row fixtures like Plum Sykes, Chlo Sevigny, and Rachel Weisz this week to prep models backstage at Behnaz Sarafpour’s spring 2008 show (the designer is one of his clients, after all). Taking a cue from her island-chic collection of rattan weave dresses, turquoise-embroidered skirts, and stretch cotton shorts, Javier created relaxed, feminine waves from the ears to the ends. “It’s easy, a little bit undone,” he said.

“Grab that model!” cried makeup artist and Lan me artistic director Gucci Westman from across the room, waving one hand in the air as she transformed mannequin Solange Wilvert into a sixties beach babe with peach-toned blush and shiny apricot lip gloss. Lan me influenced Sarafpour’s collection in more ways than one: When the cosmetics house model and eco-activist Elettra Rossellini sat down with the designer earlier this year to discuss the use of environmentally sustainable fabrics in her clothing, Sarafpour took note: organic cotton sourced from Japan, vibrant nontoxic dyes created from crushed marigolds, and embroidery made of responsibly harvested coral appear in her new collection.

Photo: Duffy-Marie Arnoult / WireImage.com

Behnaz Sarafpour

Source: Style.com

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Rodarte

 Fashion Trends  Comments Off on Rodarte
Sep 102007
 

NEW YORK, September 08, 2007 – Swish, swish, swish went the makeshift fans. The credits sheets that sat on every chair at Rodarte were being put to good use because it was beyond hot in the Chelsea venue Dia thanks to there being no air-conditioning. (Having the Human League’s “Being Boiled” as part of the soundtrack was, however, pretty funny.) Or maybe everyone was feeling the heat because of a welling excitement at what they were seeing on the runway.

Sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy were in their finest form ever: fluid, voluminous jackets and pleated skirts in pretty, watery pastel shades. And for all the light and airy inventiveness of the Mulleavys, what they do looks great off the runway and on real woman. A point evidenced by the presence of the Rodarte-wearing Dr. Lisa Airan (an ivory gazar pouf jacket and pencil skirt) and Liz Goldwyn (a hot pink tiered dress).

Even the French, who know a thing or two about fashion’s fancier forms of expression, looked impressed. “Rodarte brings a touch of haute couture to New York,” said Virginie Mouzat, the fashion critic of French newspaper Le Figaro. “What Kate and Laura do is so rare, so precious.”

Backstage Beauty Note: It’s shaping up to be all about contrast this spring, and nowhere was there a better example than at Rodarte. The clothes were fashioned in frothy, sheer layers of pale blue, pink, and lavender that would befit a ballerina, but the hair and makeup took a punky turn—as did the spiked and strappy zippered stilettos specially made by Christian Louboutin.

In a season where there hasn’t been much breaking news in terms of hair, the Mulleavy sisters collaborated with Parisian coiffeuse Odile Gilbert to send something truly refreshing—edgy and softly pretty at once down the runway: sleek, super-high ponytails with bright pink, blue, and red ends. Hand-dyed by Gilbert in her Paris atelier, the colored extensions (coordinated to compliment the palette of the clothes) made the otherwise demure ponies look as though they’d been absentmindedly dipped in color at the ends. “They wanted a very straight, high ponytail that looked like it had a touch of paint,” said Gilbert. “It’s very rock ‘n’ roll.”

Raven-haired dermatologist Dr. Lisa Airan loved the hair so much she begged Gilbert for a pony-to-go. She gamely slipped her a pink one. Airan tucked it into her fuchsia alligator Herm Birkin bag with a smile on her face.

The concept for the stark, graphic faces came to M.A.C makeup artist James Kaliardos in a dream. “I woke up the day of the makeup test and remembered that I had dreamt of floating lines,” he said. On show day, that translated to powder blue lids with a double stroke of black liner—one line was catlike and extending slightly from the upper lid, and another was floating above and arching even further outward.

Photo: JP Yim / WireImage.com

Rodarte

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Vera WANG

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Sep 102007
 

NEW YORK, September 09, 2007 – The backdrop to Vera Wang was a large and ancient-looking tree. And, as the show began, lighting behind it faded from deep orange to white in a sort of otherworldly time-lapse sunrise to the sound of, very fittingly, “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.

However, though it did offer shimmery gold in the way of a gilt column dress and vibrant purple, aquamarine, and rusty orange, Wang’s collection, inspired by Roman antiquity, wasn’t exactly sunny. Some of her pieces, like a chestnut duchesse satin belted dress, felt more appropriate for fall. But maybe these days the chicest women don’t worry so much about the calendar when dressing (after all, Amanda Brooks, sitting front row, was wearing the prettiest watercolor print dress from Thakoon resort). “She always does draping so beautifully,” Brooks said after the show. Her favorites? The long, jersey evening dresses.
 
It was an hour before show time, and while the music blaring through the speakers backstage was more like the playlist at Socialista, the mood was anything but the usual frenzied madness: The designer herself even had a moment to get her hair blown out by legendary hairstylist Orlando Pita. While Wang was sitting pretty, Pita’s team of stylists was busy twisting models’ hair into sleek, low knots. “You know when you see Kate Moss out, and you know she tied up her own hair, without fuss?” said Pita, looping a model’s long ponytail through an elastic band. “That’s what we’re doing.”

For makeup artist Lucia Pieroni, the bright, jewel-toned palette of Wang’s spring clothes—fashioned into draped, column-like layers and strong silhouettes—called for a suitably more simple face. “We went for a very pure Grecian look, no mascara even; just some taupey-browns and gold shimmer,” said Pieroni, who explained she didn’t want the makeup to compete with the rich shades of aqua, fuchsia, and purple in the clothes. Clé de Peau’s new spring eye color compact (in a shade called “Calming Breeze,” out this February) did double-duty, with Pieroni dipping into the nude-colored shadow for lids, and even using the pink on lips—dusted over a little bit of foundation (common backstage magic), for a matte, pale-rose effect.

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September Giveaway On-line

 Kenem Bijoux News  Comments Off on September Giveaway On-line
Sep 102007
 

I’ve posted the September Free Jewelry Giveaway item in the “Jewelry Giveaway!” section and where I explain how you can win this month’s necklace (a €65 retail value). Don’t forget to check it out !

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