I stumbled across this photo of Cheryl Cole in a golden gown on the X-Factor. It reminded me of some photos of vintage starlets in metallic gowns I have set aside over the years. Amongst the beauties here we have Ginger Rogers, Jean Harlow, Baba Beaton, Rita Hayworth, Eleanor Powell, Nancy Coleman, Veronica Lake, Myrna Loy, Carol Hughes and Delores Del Rio. Wow, I need something like this…
This is a book I bought myself for Christmas. It covers fashion history from the 18th century to the 20th century, with glossy photographs of the collection held by the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan. The book has been out for a while, but oh my, if you don’t own it yet, go out and buy it immediately! So much inspiration for any swing fashionista, the kind of clothes that are so beautiful it makes my chest ache. The Poiret, the Schiaparelli, the Chanel, oh god the Vionnet! The Vionnet, people! Now I want desperately to visit the Kyoto Costume Institute. A holiday to Japan anyone?
Seriously folks, this book is sheer fashion heaven. It is definitely now one of the favourites in my collection. You can buy it here on Amazon. Enjoy!
Some very elegant looks in this collection, all with Jean Paul Gaultier’s signature touch of audacity (or indecency, whichever way you like to look at it!). The 30s and 40s influence is there, though there’s a feeling of 2011 does 1986 doing 1941, if you know what I mean. And I couldn’t help but include the can-can skirt here, how delicious! No better way to end a fashion show, but with a little high-kicking down the runway. The whole affair makes me think of a nightclub in Paris, today or perhaps in the early 1980s. The Lido, or the Crazy Horse…
The film adaptation of the novel Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen, set in the world of 1930s circus, is due out on 15th April. It will star Reece Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. I read the book a while back, and certainly enjoyed it. I won’t say it blew my mind, but perhaps the film will help with the slow parts. Here’s the trailer and a few photos from the set, showing that we can expect some 1930s glamour and showgirl glitz in Reece’s wardrobe!
Gasp! I must right this wrong immediately! One of my all-time favourite shows:
Sarah Mower on Style.com:
In a way, it was a classic: combining the indelible fifties inspiration of Lisa Fonssagrives, Dior mannequin and wife of Irving Penn, and that of the new model of French conservative chic, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Those two streams of thought merged into a collection John Galliano called “fresh couture—restrained and refined.” If it didn’t exactly result in 100 percent conventionality (there were plenty of sheer skirts and fetishistic patent belts that might not work at a political summit), the happy fact that the first lady of France has chosen to dress at Dior gave Galliano full rein to revel in the realms of glamour the house established 60 years ago.
The templates were all there: big coats, wasp waists, nipped jackets, circle skirts, tulle dance dresses, architectural gowns cut from spiraling lace and jutting scrolls of crin. Mostly framed in black and white, with tints of gray, caramel, Parma violet, mint, and chartreuse to follow, the shapes traced familiar silhouettes—albeit a familiarity shot through with Galliano’s irrepressible touches of perversity. A nod to Dior’s New Look peplum became a stiff patent hip-jutting belt with cross-lacing in the back, and a knowing acknowledgment of the basis of the hourglass silhouette came in a couple of see-through gowns with the corsetry fully on display. Still, this was Christian Dior very much under control and within the scope of reality. Add some lingerie and take off the belts, and it’s no stretch at all to imagine Madame Sarkozy finding plenty here to wow the world in her demure manner, come fall.