Sunday, March 16, 2008
PARIS FASHION WEEK
Chanel's carousel; YSL's tough chic
By Suzy Menkes
PARIS: Fashion may be an eternal merry-go-round but Karl Lagerfeld made a big statement with the carousel in the center of his Chanel runway on Friday. Instead of the usual fairground seats of sculpted horses, this whirligig was fitted with super-sized bags, shoes, pearl chains, camellias and even Coco Chanel's signature hat. And at the end of a show, in which the only bag was a tiny egg-sized clutch for evening , the models clung to the giant accessories as the carousel twirled.
Lagerfeld was spelling out his story-line in black and white - not least because it was the color theme of the show that included hose with a lacy front, the back plain black. They seemed designed to make the eye trace a long line, even when skirts were short. Yet the stand-out pieces were calf-scraping hemlines on tweedy skirts paired with big sweaters or a lighter, lacy blouse.
The message about accessories was clear: No more relying on all those house codes, from gilt chains to quilted bags, to pronounce this a Chanel show. There were some new Gallic berets, but embellishment was mostly built in, as in a stylish quilted tunic top or collars that turned inexplicably inside the tweed jackets.
The overall effect was slightly confused. Was Lagerfeld really consigning accessories to the carousel of history, while hinting that they will come around again soon? Or was he just offering something for everyone, from celebrities like the petite Olsen twins, who would drown in the longer lengths, to Rihanna, who might be the only person to choose a mesh mini dress under a long spider's web of a coat?
By Suzy Menkes
PARIS: Fashion may be an eternal merry-go-round but Karl Lagerfeld made a big statement with the carousel in the center of his Chanel runway on Friday. Instead of the usual fairground seats of sculpted horses, this whirligig was fitted with super-sized bags, shoes, pearl chains, camellias and even Coco Chanel's signature hat. And at the end of a show, in which the only bag was a tiny egg-sized clutch for evening , the models clung to the giant accessories as the carousel twirled.
Lagerfeld was spelling out his story-line in black and white - not least because it was the color theme of the show that included hose with a lacy front, the back plain black. They seemed designed to make the eye trace a long line, even when skirts were short. Yet the stand-out pieces were calf-scraping hemlines on tweedy skirts paired with big sweaters or a lighter, lacy blouse.
The message about accessories was clear: No more relying on all those house codes, from gilt chains to quilted bags, to pronounce this a Chanel show. There were some new Gallic berets, but embellishment was mostly built in, as in a stylish quilted tunic top or collars that turned inexplicably inside the tweed jackets.
The overall effect was slightly confused. Was Lagerfeld really consigning accessories to the carousel of history, while hinting that they will come around again soon? Or was he just offering something for everyone, from celebrities like the petite Olsen twins, who would drown in the longer lengths, to Rihanna, who might be the only person to choose a mesh mini dress under a long spider's web of a coat?
YVES SAINT LAURENT downtown handbag designer purse shoulder bag designer handbag brown.
Whatever. There was a firm new silhouette for loyal suit clients. The jacket was cut sharply with a taut waist over a knee-length skirt. So after several season of youth-at-all costs at Chanel, here was a collection for grown ups, even if they can still enjoy all the fun of the fair.
Yves Saint Laurent had used the same Grand Palais setting the previous night to very different effect. Containing the vast interior space with the billowing white sails of an artistic set, Stefano Pilati marched YSL into the future. The models had android heads covered in black fringed wigs as they strode out on high and hefty shoes.
"Creating a space with tension - and everything that entails," said Pilati elliptically backstage. But his comment was comprehensible in relationship to the clothes, which seemed to be designed like architecture: an over-size felted jacket; wide-cuffed pants rounded as if with the swirl of a compass; a skirt with a flying asymmetric hemline; a dress bracketed with curving shoulders and a shining path of satin down the front.
Pilati has created a look for Saint Laurent: a tough chic that is not for the faint-hearted. The hair alone, with its bowl cut - sometimes with narrow eyeglasses and always with shiny black lips below - suggested the aggressive power that was echoed by cinching belts and coats cut away sharply at the front.
The overall effect was of a designer pushing himself too hard to be "modern" and hiding a romantic, decorative streak that existed in his earlier work. If the Saint Laurent show lacked sensual allure and French frivolity, it did make a purposeful statement.
Since a 1980s revival is quivering in the fashion air, why not take a glancing look at the opposite side of that era? Sophia Kokosalaki did that by re-drawing the fragile, sloping shouldered silhouette of Romeo Gigli. Her cocooning coats brought freshness to a show that was otherwise a rather familiar exercise in the drapes, curvy dresses and translucent inserts. Kokosalaki is playing down her Greek heritage, contrasting filigree with straps wrapped sinuously around the neck.
A landmark moment came at the end of the Sonia Rykiel show, as the flame-haired designer walked the runway not just with her daughter Nathalie, the label's president and creative director, but also with the designer Gabrielle Greiss, who has been working for two years at Rykiel.
The show dissolved into a jumping, leaping dancing party. But the German-born Greiss, who trained at London's Central Saint Martins school, had time to show off her own vision: the famous knits in mohair, with deep dolman sleeves and splodgy patterns; short, bright purple coats; and details like multi-colored buttons running down the side of pants (not to mention Sonia Rykiel's face in studs). The soundtrack glorified Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where Rykiel established a kooky, Bohemian presence 40 years ago and where the house has just refurbished its flagship store.
Suzy Menkes is fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune.
Yves Saint Laurent had used the same Grand Palais setting the previous night to very different effect. Containing the vast interior space with the billowing white sails of an artistic set, Stefano Pilati marched YSL into the future. The models had android heads covered in black fringed wigs as they strode out on high and hefty shoes.
"Creating a space with tension - and everything that entails," said Pilati elliptically backstage. But his comment was comprehensible in relationship to the clothes, which seemed to be designed like architecture: an over-size felted jacket; wide-cuffed pants rounded as if with the swirl of a compass; a skirt with a flying asymmetric hemline; a dress bracketed with curving shoulders and a shining path of satin down the front.
Pilati has created a look for Saint Laurent: a tough chic that is not for the faint-hearted. The hair alone, with its bowl cut - sometimes with narrow eyeglasses and always with shiny black lips below - suggested the aggressive power that was echoed by cinching belts and coats cut away sharply at the front.
The overall effect was of a designer pushing himself too hard to be "modern" and hiding a romantic, decorative streak that existed in his earlier work. If the Saint Laurent show lacked sensual allure and French frivolity, it did make a purposeful statement.
Since a 1980s revival is quivering in the fashion air, why not take a glancing look at the opposite side of that era? Sophia Kokosalaki did that by re-drawing the fragile, sloping shouldered silhouette of Romeo Gigli. Her cocooning coats brought freshness to a show that was otherwise a rather familiar exercise in the drapes, curvy dresses and translucent inserts. Kokosalaki is playing down her Greek heritage, contrasting filigree with straps wrapped sinuously around the neck.
A landmark moment came at the end of the Sonia Rykiel show, as the flame-haired designer walked the runway not just with her daughter Nathalie, the label's president and creative director, but also with the designer Gabrielle Greiss, who has been working for two years at Rykiel.
The show dissolved into a jumping, leaping dancing party. But the German-born Greiss, who trained at London's Central Saint Martins school, had time to show off her own vision: the famous knits in mohair, with deep dolman sleeves and splodgy patterns; short, bright purple coats; and details like multi-colored buttons running down the side of pants (not to mention Sonia Rykiel's face in studs). The soundtrack glorified Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where Rykiel established a kooky, Bohemian presence 40 years ago and where the house has just refurbished its flagship store.
Suzy Menkes is fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune.
Labels: authentic chanel handbags, authentic yves saint laurent bag, chanel ligne bag, paris fashion, ysl downtown
# posted by Give Me Something to Blog About @ 3:36 PM
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Case-by-case basis for designer bags
Click on the image above to see this bag at below retail prices. Shop online at eFashionHouse.com. The best online for authentic YSL Downtown bags at below retail prices guaranteed.
Eric Wilson
FOR products that are truly in demand, it may seem reasonable to limit the number a customer can buy at one time.
Now readers of the fine print on the websites of luxury retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman are discovering that such a policy also applies to designer handbags such as Prada's latest ruched nylon styles, which cost $US1290 ($A1442); Bottega Veneta's signature woven leather hobos, at $US1490; and the new rectangular Yves Saint Laurent clutch, which looks like a postcard addressed to the designer (with a $US1395 stamp).
"Due to popular demand," potential shoppers are warned, "a customer may order no more than three units of these items every 30 days."
The bags may be popular, but how many customers who can afford them really want more than one?
On its face, the policy sounds odd; that is, because it really doesn't have anything to do with popular demand. Rather, it is the fear that foreign buyers, taking advantage of the severely weakened US dollar, will hoard the bags, then resell them in Europe or Asia, where the same items in Prada and Gucci stores typically cost 20 to 40% more.
The popular Yves Saint Laurent Downtown bag, restricted to three per customer at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, costs $US1495. At Harvey Nichols in London, the same bag is £910 (about $US1796).
Foreign tourists who are treating American department stores like a nationwide outlet sale have largely been viewed as beneficial to retailers, and by some estimates, those shoppers were the only bright spot in what was a feeble holiday sales season.
But that spending power has not been so welcome at luxury companies such as Gucci and Prada, which have spent the past decade trying to reach those customers in their home countries by opening expensive new shops throughout Europe and Asia.
Now those companies stand to suffer a sting from increasingly educated comparison shoppers, if not a more serious blow from a grey market of designer goods resold from American stores.
Ron Frasch, the chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue, which has 54 stores across the US, said the number of foreign shoppers trying to buy multiple items in stores was "pretty minor", but he added, "it is certainly an issue that we watch".
Besides restricting online sales, Saks may also deny a customer's purchases of duplicate merchandise in stores on a case-by-case basis. "What we try to do is use a lot of logic and common sense if we sense that someone is taking advantage," Mr Frasch said. "We monitor at the store level and at the corporate level for any patterns."
FOR products that are truly in demand, it may seem reasonable to limit the number a customer can buy at one time.
Now readers of the fine print on the websites of luxury retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman are discovering that such a policy also applies to designer handbags such as Prada's latest ruched nylon styles, which cost $US1290 ($A1442); Bottega Veneta's signature woven leather hobos, at $US1490; and the new rectangular Yves Saint Laurent clutch, which looks like a postcard addressed to the designer (with a $US1395 stamp).
"Due to popular demand," potential shoppers are warned, "a customer may order no more than three units of these items every 30 days."
The bags may be popular, but how many customers who can afford them really want more than one?
On its face, the policy sounds odd; that is, because it really doesn't have anything to do with popular demand. Rather, it is the fear that foreign buyers, taking advantage of the severely weakened US dollar, will hoard the bags, then resell them in Europe or Asia, where the same items in Prada and Gucci stores typically cost 20 to 40% more.
The popular Yves Saint Laurent Downtown bag, restricted to three per customer at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, costs $US1495. At Harvey Nichols in London, the same bag is £910 (about $US1796).
Foreign tourists who are treating American department stores like a nationwide outlet sale have largely been viewed as beneficial to retailers, and by some estimates, those shoppers were the only bright spot in what was a feeble holiday sales season.
But that spending power has not been so welcome at luxury companies such as Gucci and Prada, which have spent the past decade trying to reach those customers in their home countries by opening expensive new shops throughout Europe and Asia.
Now those companies stand to suffer a sting from increasingly educated comparison shoppers, if not a more serious blow from a grey market of designer goods resold from American stores.
Ron Frasch, the chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue, which has 54 stores across the US, said the number of foreign shoppers trying to buy multiple items in stores was "pretty minor", but he added, "it is certainly an issue that we watch".
Besides restricting online sales, Saks may also deny a customer's purchases of duplicate merchandise in stores on a case-by-case basis. "What we try to do is use a lot of logic and common sense if we sense that someone is taking advantage," Mr Frasch said. "We monitor at the store level and at the corporate level for any patterns."
Labels: authentic yves saint laurent bag, ysl handbags, yves saint laurent handbags
# posted by Give Me Something to Blog About @ 9:45 PM
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Designer Brands - Online Shopping Bargain
YVES SAINT LAURENT designer handbags calf hair and black leather shoulder satchel has branded gold hardware and a fully lined interior with extra compartments. The top has a secure zipper closure. The bag has a hard footed bottom. Measurements: 9 inches wide X 5.5 inches tall X 4 inches deep X 9 inches strap drop. Comes with sleeper bag. Guaranteed authentic. SKU: B4YS09C7331
Click here to shop this authentic YVES SAINT LAURENT handbag at 31% off.
Online Shopping Bargain for Sale & Final Clearance: Click here to shop this authentic YVES SAINT LAURENT handbag at 31% off.
- Use coupon code OFF20 for an extra 20% off FINAL CLEARANCE items.
- Use coupon code OFF10 for an extra 10% off all SALE items.
- Plus, Free Fedex to Lower 48 States $200 orders & NO Sales Tax World Wide!
___________
Labels: authentic yves saint laurent bag, ysl handbags, yves saint laurent handbags
# posted by Give Me Something to Blog About @ 2:26 PM
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Designer Brands - Online Shopping Bargain
Happy Thanksgiving! YVES SAINT LAURENT designer handbag silver metallic satchel. Designer silver metallic leather large satchel with double handles and white colored stitching. Silver tone hardware and feet. Double zip top closure. One inside zippered pocket. Black satin lining. Double handles have a 4inch drop. Outside of bag has a leather tassel and key chain holder. Bag measures approximately 14inch width 9.5inch height 7inch depth. Comes with sleeper bag. Guaranteed authentic. SKU: B07YSLD47SLV
Click here to shop this authentic YVES SAINT LAURENT satchel at 21% off retail. Plus now thru Monday, receive an extra 20% off your purchase with coupon code TG20!
Click here to shop this authentic YVES SAINT LAURENT satchel at 21% off retail. Plus now thru Monday, receive an extra 20% off your purchase with coupon code TG20!
______________
Labels: authentic designer handbags, authentic yves saint laurent bag, designer handbags, designer purses
# posted by Give Me Something to Blog About @ 9:05 AM
