Yves Saint Laurent: The Movie

As a fellow student of film production and a current student of fashion business, I get a little too excited when these two fantastic worlds meet…especially when it’s a success story like this one!

 

The Yves Saint Laurent movie was captivating, emotional, fun, sad, interesting and memorable, with an OST that gives you goosebumps in the right moments. And its about fashion. And its in the 70s. Who could ask for more?

One of the first things you notice, apart from the amazing music, is the focus on the Yves part of Saint Laurent. For example, when the film reveals its name which bears the name of the designer, the camera zooms in on ‘Yves’. I immediately found this interesting and maybe a bit of a provocative response to Hedi Slimane taking out the Yves from the French brand’s logo, leaving the official brand name as a slightly less dressed ‘Saint Laurent Paris’.

 

Then you realise, as a young adult in the fashion world yourself, that Yves Saint Laurent was only  21 when he took over the Dior house and at 26 he opened his own maison. Well, there goes my perception of seeing myself being ‘young’. The truth is, talent is talent and I’m so so happy that Dior discovered him.

The movie goes on as his life went on and suddenly you start to notice that its not all beautiful girls and gorgeous dressing gowns. This guy was stressed out, to the point of being manic-depressive, i mean, and to the point of taking all sorts of drugs at all sorts of times, i mean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No spoilers though, I just wanted to say that anyone interested in fashion (or good films) should definitely watch this movie. As my friend Lars quite eloquently put it: “Great, another fashion film that proves that everyone  in fashion is gay.”

Miss Dior at Le Grand Palais

The exhibition at Le Grand Palais is a complete tribute to Christian Dior’s life, specifically an ode to who he influenced and his own influences as well as his passionate creativity.

“Through the eyes of artists, here is Miss Dior glorified by inspirations, cosmopolitan influences, colours and passions that make the fragrance a contemporary icon”

 

Miss Dior was the first fragranced ever created by Christian Dior, so it is no mistake that with this girly exhibition they are going back to the roots of the maison and reminding their fans of the legendary legacy.

 

 

The exhibition space displayed both historical facts about the brand as well as artistic representations taken from the inspiration that many artists shared. 

This particular interpretation (above) was my favourite, by artist Hannah Starkey.

 

And then, the most amazing light shed on the Seine and I forgot about Dior for a bit. You wont blame me, I always get distracted by all this beauty surrounding me! 

Cultural Activity of the Week: Georges Braque Exhibition

Yesterday was the Nuit Blanche in Paris, where there are random art installations and many museums stay open the whole night. Our plan was to begin in Le Marais, then walk down towards the Seine and left towards the Tour d’Eiffel through Les Berges de Seine. I really wanted to see the Braque exhibition at Le Grande Palais but we never made it…so I went the next day! 

 

I’m not sure why but this painting really attracted me. I stood staring at it for like 5 minutes. I think his depiction of landscapes are the most interesting because I feel that his manipulation of space is portrayed in the best way through depicting a vast landscape. In this painting, the forest feels so oppressive and the fact that he just painted one tree…I don’t know. It’s just so captivating. I feel that it captures the exact feeling that overwhelms you when you’re alone in a forest. 

The father of Cubism and fellow friend of Pablo Picasso, Braque’s paintings marked the beginning of a new movement in visual art. You can really see how they both influenced each other and how similar their styles are.  

‘If you, Georges Braque, were asked to sum up the essence of Cubism in just a few words, what would you say?

-On a surface that is drawn, constructed and painted, it gives a multiple vision of the world, offering all the facets of things simultaneously, drawing the eye back to the surface of the canvas, back from the horizon into which it had wandered, adrift in a space dictated by convention.”

At the very end of his life, Georges Braque started painting birds. These were beautiful paintings that attracted me the most, especially because birds are such fluid and moving animals, you would expect him to represent their flight in a cubist manner with perhaps many wings everywhere. Instead, he portrays them in a sort of frozen moment with a clear silhouette. 

 

I’ve always compared myself to a sponge that soaks up inspiration from everything and everyone. That’s why museum exhibitions are the absolute best for me, as by the end of the tour I feel completely stuffed with art! 

Damir Doma: A Great Start to Paris

I’ve moved to Paris for a year! I found my tiny but cute apartment in the 7th arrondissement, between Les Invalides and Le Tour d’Eiffel. And I live right next to the Seine! I’m still in shock that I found something with this location, and I often walk around my area with an airy smile and dreamy expression on my face because Paris is just. so. beautiful. The perfect way to commence my experience in Paris was to work for the Fashion Week in September.

It was an absolute privilege to be working for Damir Doma during their SS14 woman’s fashion show and then for a week and a half in their spacious showroom in the middle of Le Marais. The fashion show was in a space that seemed to belong to an old garage or industrial space,with unfinished walls and strong structures framing a big roof window through which the sunlight of the last few summer days of Paris shone through. We were in charge of taking the people to their seats, then stood back to watch the beautiful show. Back in the showroom, we started to prepare the clothes for the next day when clients would come in to buy a small collection for their shops. Then it was time to go to the Fashion Show After-party at Le Baron in the 8th. There I saw Damir dancing – it made my night!

The next day the showroom opened to clients. My job was to help out wherever I could, either backstage dressing the models or organising the clothes again in the showroom. All in all, it was a really great experience and a great team I worked with! Many of the employees there were ex-Marangoni students and that made me see a small vision of the future that can be after I graduate.

 

Paris is absolutely bustling with opportunities to work in the fashion industry. I think I will learn many valuable experiences here!

La Vie Quotidienne d’été

It’s been one month of summer since I left London on the 2nd of July to land in Malaga. As soon as we were out of the plane, the beautiful weather welcomed us and officially marked the beginning of the holidays. And after that it wasn’t hard to get into the routine: exploring different white-washed Spanish towns, discovering their unique boutique shops, setting up a beautiful table to enjoy the company of friends, staying at the beach until sunset…these are the small quotidian pleasures that are unique to the summer holidays in Spain.

Going into the smallest shop of Marbella’s old town with the french name of L’Armoire may not seem like a Spaniard’s pick…in fact most of us will start by saying that whoever owns the shop spelt ‘Armario’ wrong, but it was in this little treasure chest where we found the most unique, hand-made and a-la-mode accessories and clothes. It is these kind of shops that i absolutely love!

When someone asks you, ‘oh where did you get that beautiful scarf?’, your answer will influence the degree of beauty that the item had for the person. Let me explain. A common answer to a question like that would be ‘At the H&M sales…’, and the person who asked you may or may not regret knowing this. However, if your answer is somewhere along the lines of “At a small boutique store in Marbella’s Old Town, in Spain” that scarf your wearing suddenly glows brighter and looks softer and even starts smelling like roses.

So Marbella’s Old Town has a lot of hidden gems where you can find those special clothes or accessories which you always keep. And hopefully, they will evoke the memories from that somewhat cloudy day when you bought them. It is these kinds of purchases that are special. For them, you dont need brand identity or brand familiarity. You just go into a shop for the first time and already several factors (location, uniqueness, colours, designs…) influence your connection to this shop you’ve never seen before. These attributes are even more meaningful and personal than a 5-word label on your bag (which everyone else has).

Istituto Marangoni’s Graduate Fashion Week

My parents were visiting for the weekend exactly when the 3rd year Marangoni fashion design students were showcasing their final collections. After getting them each a ticket, I was thinking to myself if there is a better way to introduce them to this new and crazy world that is fashion.

In fact, these fashion shows are pretty much the equivalent of our third year thesis paper (a business plan), and honestly, i wouldn’t know which third year assessment is more difficult….

We arrived at Earls Court 2 where the exhibition and fashion show were to be held, and I was quite taken by the enormity of the space. Every university in England that had some sort of degree related to fashion was exhibiting and recruiting the recent graduates into their masters programs. I was positively surprised at seeing all the possible options I could encounter in the future.

And so the show begins! The lights dim and snow starts to fall on the runway. In total there were 19 designers who got to show their designs off the runway, each designer had constructed 6 coherent looks for their mini collection.

It was incredible to see the purity of craftsmanship and the nakedness of talent that shown through the clothes. From the audience you could really see the amount of hours and effort put into created them.

This was my personal favourite (above). Designed by Maria Moiseeva, I thought each garment was finished excellently and I loved how the different looks still managed to communicate together to offer a great design experience.

I really liked this designer as well. Inspired by Indian heritage, Jeetinder Sandhu went bold and bright for the collection. Also, I would totally wear that elephant-print coral blazer!

All in all, the show was really impressive and i couldnt stop thinking: how does one person put these designs together? Luckily, my business oriented fashion degree saves me from any pattern making or cutting or putting together, so for now, I will simply admire those who do have that talent and think of it as if it were magic.

At My Fashion Internship…

Hey! The label that I’m working for (shugakane.com) has recently started a kickstarter project to raise money for the development of the brand!

If you’re into cultural inspirations in fashion, have a look at our kickstarter project HERE and help us celebrate our world’s cultural diversity!

Cultural Activity of the Week: Wool House

So, as a part of the third semester at Marangoni, we have Sustainable Fashion class, where we are learning about the natural textiles, fabrics and dyes that can be used to create ‘slow fashion’ (the opposite of fast fashion). Our teacher recommended us to attend the Wool exhibition that was showing at Somerset House, so for a nice alternative to a lazy thursday morning, me and my friend went to visit it and see what it was all about.

 There were sheep at the entrance!

That was cute.

The exhibition was divided into the craftmanship of wool-making,where there were traditional weavers creating carpets or scarves, the interior design section, which featured seven differently styled rooms, all decorated using wool! Then there was the fashion sector, with rooms dedicated to bespoke suits and cotton made dresses. It was really interesting to see the different types of techniques that can be used to create such different textures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Eye Has to Travel

“How to convey the life story of a woman so much larger than life? ” This is what Diana Vreeland’s documentary tries to tackle by taking the viewer on a complete tour of the famous fashion editor’s incredible experiences and including various interviews with famous personalities who try to summarize how they perceive this iconic woman.

Diana Vreeland had the life I have always wanted. She lived through the two most revolutionary periods of the past century: the vibrant and exciting 1920s in which she spent her childhood years, and the counter culture youth movement of the 1960s where she lived as a working woman. How I envy her!

The documentary goes through her whole life in chronological order and then returns to the very beginning to highlight her favourite era, the 1920s. “There was a great deal of, I suppose, what we call decadence. But of course I didn’t see that…I just saw the horses.”

Snapshots of the documentary ‘The Eye Has to Travel”

Images of Harper’s Bazaar with Diana Vreeland as editor in chief.

My first impression of Mrs. Vreeland is that she was that rare type of human being who manages to inspire and bring out the best in everyone she meets: from suggesting to Manolo Blahnik that he should focus on shoe-wear to emphasizing Barbara Streisand’s nose, she clearly had the gift of owning a unique perception. It was an exceptional way of seeing things… she would say, “push their faults, if they have a gap between their teeth, make it the most beautiful thing about them”, make an asset of your faults.

Diana was a woman ahead of her time. She loved and celebrated the world’s diverse cultures, and traveled around the globe to portray the perfect wanderlust story between the pages of Harper’s Bazaar.

She was fascinated with the chinese historical influences on fashion. “Every girl should have geisha training'” she would say, “you learn from exaggeration”… “God was fair to the japanese. He gave them no oil, no diamonds, no gold, nothing, but he gave them a sense of style”

 

Lover of surfing and skateboarding, and all things Russian, Diana Vreeland was a remarkable woman. She was an extraordinary woman. She had vision, she understood fashion – she was fashion. She revolutionized fashion magazines and the position of editor. She had the “pizzaz” that she searched for in others.

“Diana had the ability to portray the integrity of the idea, not necessarily the complete and absolute truth, but a fantasy that eclipses the reality. The way the world should be.”

All in all, this is an absolutely fantastic documentary, I recommend it for anyone who enjoys fashion and for anyone who enjoys learning about iconic personalities.

 

 

Red With a Capital V

Valentino, the Last Emperor, the Master of Couture. 

January was a Valentino Garavani tribute month, it seemed. At Marangoni we watched his documentary for Fashion Marketing class, which gave us insight into a day in the life of the top designer with the overall theme of celebrating his lifelong career. The documentary featured all organisational aspects that go into a Valentino fashion show, as well as a behind the scenes look into the preparations for his farewell to fashion event. 

An interesting fact I learnt about Valentino is that he officially owns the five cutest pugs in the world. 

Another lesson that the documentary shows us was one of love and patience. The relationship between Valentino and his business partner, Giancarlo Giammeti, was a main theme throughout the movie and shows us that Giammeti is truly the rock that keeps Valentino grounded. 

Then we went to the exhibition at Sommerset House, an exhibition that celebrates Valentino’s journey of 50 years. 

It was an absolutely incredible experience to walk amongst some of the most iconic dresses ever worn by the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Diana Vreeland and Anne Hatheway. 

One of the most impressive dresses was, without a doubt, the final bridal gown exposed on its own seemed to come to life from the complexity and attention to detail that was required to make it. 

25 seamstresses over the period of 4 months, to be precise. 

The personality behind Valentino is sadly retired, but thankfully, his presence will always be with us through the legend that he has become. 

It saddens me to say this, but all good things do come to an end-

Arrivederci, Valentino!