April 2, 2008
A colourful display mixed with a soft natural palette set the scene for Versace’s spring/summer ‘08 show at Milan Fashion Week yesterday. Grecian drapery and sophisticated holiday tailoring in block colours were stand-outs for being simple. Has Donatella Versace hit the nail on the head with refusing to overdo it with dazzling prints and overdone accessories?
For me, I am particularly loving the lose beige jumpsuit with matching belt (above, middle) and bright tailored shorts with super-candy man-style shirt
. There was a definite safari feel to the more casual pieces of the collection combined with loads of colourful satin. I especially drooled over the high-waisted black satin trousers which tied at the bottom and belted at the top (below, middle).
The Balenciaga fashion show was today in Paris for Paris fashion week. This famous fashion designer has a unique and innovative design style that constantly evolves. We always see funky tailoring with funny shoulder line silhouettes. This show didn’t fail to deliver both of these common design elements that we have seen in the past, but of course with a new twist. But we also saw some more favorable elegant, rich, extravagant looking pieces as well that would suit any fashionable millionare woman with all of these qualities as seen below.
Balenciaga fall 08
Balenciaga is not a top fashion designer for nothing. The creativity, art and love that goes into the pieces that are created by this fashion designer are impeccable. It is expression to the fullest and extremely inspiring. Something has to be said for those boots that Balenciaga created for spring as well. They are just soooo amazingly beautiful!
April 1, 2008
Early life
Acceding to his parents’ wishes, Dior attended the École des Sciences Politiques from 1920 to 1925. The family, Safari, whose fortune was derived from the manufacture of fertilizer, had hopes he would become a diplomat, but Dior only wished to be involved in the arts. After leaving school he received money from his father so that in 1928 he could open a small art gallery, where he sold art by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Max Jacob. After a family financial disaster that resulted in his father losing his business, Dior was forced to close the gallery. From 1938 he worked with Robert Piguet and later joined the fashion house where he and Pierre Balmain were the primary designers. In 1945 he went into business for himself, backed by Marcel Boussac, the cotton-fabric magnate.
The “New Look”
The actual phrase the “New Look” was coined by Carmel Snow, the powerful editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar. Dior’s designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles, influenced by the rations on fabric. He was a master at creating shapes and silhouettes; Dior is quoted as saying “I have designed flower women.” His look employed fabrics lined predominantly with percale, boned, bustier-style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats that made his dresses flare out from the waist, giving his models a very curvaceous form. The hem of the skirt was very flattering on the calves and ankles, creating a beautiful silhouette. Initially, women protested because his designs covered up their legs, which they had been unused to because of the previous limitations on fabric. There was also some backlash to Dior’s designs form due to the amount of fabrics used in a single dress or suit–during one photo shoot in a Paris market, the models were attacked by female vendors over the profligacy of their dresses–but opposition ceased as the wartime shortages ended. The New Look revolutionized women’s dress and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world after World War II.
Personal life
Dior died at the health spa town Montecatini, Italy. Some reports say that he died of a heart attack after choking on a fish bone.[1] Time magazine’s obituary stated that he died of a heart attack after playing a game of cards.
However, the Paris socialite and Dior acquaintance Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Rédé stated in his memoirs that contemporary rumor had it that the fashion designer succumbed to a heart attack after a strenuous sexual encounter with two young men.