J'adore! Dior Couture!

The Dior Spring Couture line took us back in time with an edgy twist.  Think, Barbara Billingsly's "Leave it to Beaver" and the show "Pan Am" meets Sexy kitten/Vegas showgirl.


The silhouettes were very feminine and dressy with lots of sheer, transparent textiles - often with nothing underneath!  The Beave's mom would just die! (I just crack myself up sometimes!)


love&light...

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One more thing on my mind today...

I am STILL blown away by how gorgeous Viola Davis was at the SAG Awards last night!  Don't get me wrong, I think she is a beautiful woman but she brought her A+++ game last night!  The pressure is on for Oscar Night, Madame V! 
More couture and menswear faves tomorrow, loves!

 GET IT, GIRL!!! 

Music for Your Manic Monday

So, in addition to fashion, I am also absolutely crazy about music, and art in all forms.  I have decided to incorporate that into my blog with movies and music on Mondays (since it sounds good with the catchy alliteration and all...) and art on Wordless Wednesdays. Since art is subjective to the viewer, I am going to share art in different mediums - painting, photography, sketches, etc... - that have moved me in some significant way.

After getting the Bergdorf Goodman e-mail about Christian Louboutin's anniversary, my mind immediately went to Janet Jackson's 20 Y. O. project from 2006.  Yes, I can put a song into just about any situation - it's a gift!  I have to shamefully admit, however, that even though I own Janet's 20 Y.O. project, I have clearly never listened to it because I was so outdone when there wasn't an actual song that shared the title of the project! This has just messed up my whole vibe today!

Since I absolutely adore Janet Jackson and am probably a bigger Janet fan than a Michael fan (hey video game people - give me a Janet dance game!!!!), I'm going to get over it and still share some of the music that was the soundtrack to my adolescence!

Manic Monday is over so sit back, relax, and bob your heads with me, Party People!

Christian Louboutin is 20 Y.O.!

 ...cue Janet Jackson song... 

 Bergdorf Goodman Tribute! 

Valentino Couture!

The House of Valentino went very prim, proper, and modest.  The garments flowed and oozed with femininity.  Very pretty and girly and lots of length.  I am and will probably always be a sucker for a great maxi dress or skirt!

I would wear this for lunch with friends.

Couture! Chanel!

Ummm ok...

The clothes were stunning as expected, but who could see past the ummm errrr  interesting hair?  I had to look really hard past the hair style choices for this show. That hair was really disappointing for Chanel...


I really don't know what else to say but here are my favorite pieces from the collection! (Yes, I did crop the model's heads so that I could see the CLOTHES!!!)

Here's one with decent hair!

Paris Menswear Spotlight: Jean Paul Gaultier

Let's just continue the love fest I'm having with John Paul Gaultier since I'm planning another trip to his museum exhibit to see my dresses! True to form, his men's collection displayed his love for urban environments with traces of a funky brick motif.  He also continued with his gender ambiguity/ crossing with a few guys in skirts and even sneaked in a female model on the catwalk...

 there's my camo motif!

Paris Menswear Spotlight: Hermes

Hermes went very classic with impeccably cut suits and beautiful, clean lines. See my favorites below!

Paris Menswear Spotlight: Balenciaga

My first Wordless Wednesday was hard!  Who knew when you plan not to write, you end up with a bunch of stuff to say?  I had tons of post ideas all day! The smart thing to do would have been to take notes but that would have been "too much like right" as my mom used to love saying!

Balenciaga showed their fall menswear line a few days ago.  The collection showed a colorful take on the classic suit.  There were also some interesting interpretations with length and mixture of textiles. Balaenciaga also got creative with shoes using white (white after Labor Day?  *insert old school gasp*) and silver for shoe color selection.  Below are my 3 favorite looks.

 Photos courtesy of style.com 

Wordless Wednesday

 "Lavender Mist" Jackson Polluck

Two couture pieces I Need in My Closet!

Apparently, you could take photos at the Gaultier Exhibit when it was in Montreal.  I finally found photos of these two dresses that I would like to own. The camo gown took over 300 hours to create!  I found that fact to be quite amazing - there was one dress in the exhibit that took over 1000 hours! That is dedication to, and love for your craft!  Here's hoping Monsieur Gaultier will see and send an original to a cute small time (for now) fashion enthusiast who has been daydreaming about his beautiful pieces...
#teamjpg

The Fashion World of John Paul Gaultier

I finally made it to the Gaultier Exhibit. All I can say is breathtaking and stunning!  I have to go back a couple of more times to fully absorb it.  I so wish we could have taken pictures! The one below is a shot of the first room you enter and the 3rd mannequin from the left is Gaultier speaking about his life and the exhibit.

<---JPG welcoming his guests!




My favorite room in the exhibit was a re-creation of a city street with a runway in the middle and a fashion show happening. In that room was one of my favorite pieces - it is a ball gown worn by SJP at the MTV Awards in 2000 when she hosted - I would totally wear that dress!  There was another faded denim ball gown that I would not mind owning! I have NO idea where I could wear either without creating quite a stir...

Men's Collections in Paris Next Week

The fashionistas have packed their Goyard trunks to leave sophisticated Milan for beautiful Paris.  Since I hope to be one of them one day, I will, of course, be stalking all of the coverage that I can find.


So! How does a girl in Dallas kick of the Parisian Fashion Week? Well, by going to her local museum who happens to have a Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit in town!  That is not a bad compromise to jet setting across the globe (for now...)


The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

More Milan Magnificence

My favorite looks from some of the other collections shown during Men's Fashion Week in Milan:


Emporio Armani
Emporio Armani showed men's and women's pieces - all very sleek and sophisticated with couple of surprises...

Etro

I always enjoy Etro's quirky use of fun prints.






Gucci

Gucci did some funky yet subtle prints in this collection.  There were also some travel bags on the runway that kept distracting me...




Missoni

Missoni did a cool mixing of prints to a show backdrop that  was like a street sidewalk.












Prada

The House of Prada went militant and formal.  This model kind of reminds me of Viktor Krum from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! I know! ...random...












Roberto Cavalli

Cavalli went rock star!  Stylist for celebs hitting the Grammys red carpet need to look no further than this collection.












Savatore Ferragamo

Ferragamo was chic and hip with clean lines that was all about business.










Other collections shown in Milan included... 
Canali 
Corneliani
Costume National 
Dirk Bikkembergs 
Ermenegildo Zegna 
Jill Sander
John Varvatos 
Moncler Gamme Bleu 
Moschino 
Neil Barret 
Pringle of Scotland 
Trussardi 1911 
Umit Benan  
Z Zegna.  


There were lots of beautiful pieces and some trends I'm intrigued to see how the mainstream will incorporate them.


***images courtesy of GQ.com***

...for the fellas...

It's Men's Fashion Week in Milan (well, it was!)  I sometimes wonder why the men's collections don't get as much attention as the women's collections.  I know one of the reasons is obviously that we ladies have more options with regard to wardrobe - AND we spend more money on our clothes.

However, I think men's collections give designers the opportunity to challenge their creativity as well as showcase impeccable workmanship because men's garments require lots of structure in every piece.  With that, here are some highlights from the shows...

Alexander McQueen

McQueen did several double breasted pieces and played quite a bit with subtle plaids and bold pin stripes.

Bally

Bally's color palette was an array of browns - my favorite! There was lots of leather as well.  I would love to own that travel bag that was shown with the collection.

Bottega Veneta

Bottega Veneta showed a fresh interpretation on color blocking and textile blocking to make business colors new and different. 

Burberry Prorsum

Burberry went very classic and very proper (like a good Brit) with pops of color - polka dots or stripes or a wildcat - (yes, a wildcat!) here and there.

Calvin Klein

CK went with a sporty chic theme with hoods on several pieces and lots of outerwear.

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana had 76 - SEVENTY SIX - looks!!!  Some were very crisp, clean, and traditional; others were quirky, fun, and out of the box. All beautiful garments as expected.

Stay tuned for part 2 - it was a busy, busy week in Milan!

pics from gq.com

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Golden Globes Honorable Mention

Everyone looked so nice Sunday night.  I can honestly say I didn't have any strong urges to choke anyone's stylists! (I'm sure that urge will be constant during the Grammys - I'll have to keep telling myself they're artists!)  Below are some more of my favorites...

Golden Globes Best Dressed

Zooey Deschanel's Prada Original was my favorite dress overall and speaks the quirky artsy side of my style.  However, my more conservative and classic side takes over in my pics for best dressed.  


I believe less is more - especially if you're already gorgeous.  It appeared last night that the stylist in Hollywood are with me year judging from the flesh tone color trend which I was absolutely loving!

Julianna Margulies was my favorite and is my overall pick for Best Dressed.  She is always so stunning to me and this Naeem Khan garment was a great choice.  Why, oh why did I have to dig so far into the archives to find her picture? And why didn't I see her on the Red Carpet special?

Heidi Klum is my next pick in Calvin Klein.

Next up is Jessica Alba in Gucci - another example of a beautiful simple garment.

I also really liked Reese Witherspoon in a Zac Posen number that perfectly matched the red carpet. Her hair was hot, too. There was something else different about her but I can't quite pinpoint. It was a good different, though!

Lea Michele took a risk in my opinion and it worked! I think this was her announcement, "I'm a grown --- woman now!"  This is a big difference from her first red carpet.  She has gone from super cute to super sexy.

Sophia Vergara rocked the red carpet in Vera Wang.  She's so fabulous and funny! She told Ryan Seacrest, "I go with Vera Wang because it closes and it zips!" (You know you're hearing that accent right now!)  I wonder if there will ever be a red carpet she rocks without making a best dressed list.  You can not have low self esteem and be this woman's friend!

Viola Davis in Pucci with that split up to "there" had to make my list just for that split! Very sexy and unexpected from her!

When I saw Salma Hayek's dress by Gucci, I wasn't sure about it at first.  That dress would have very easily worn someone else but she owned that thing and made it work!

...and tomorrow I talk about the terrific tuxes and some honorable mentions!  There were very few misses last night and I don't think anyone was completely dreadful.  What a wonderful start to a glizty, glamorous award show season!  Bring on the Oscars!!!




***Images courtesy of Getty Images or Wireimage***