Bits and Pieces

New or Vintage?
You tell me - Nicole Kidman is a vintage fan and has a vintage collection.
So is this dress she wore last night real or vintage?
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Anne Hathaway wore this gold sequined Vivianne Westwood dress a day or two ago.

Do you like?

Vivienne is a true legend - she opened her first shop back in 1969 with Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols. She is one hell of a woman too - one day I am going to write a long blog post on her. She was (and still is) focused on street culture and fashion WAYYYYY before it was even a marketing term. She is also has the odd privilege of being one of the only designers whose vintage pieces have been faked en masse and to great profit. Like a big clothing roll out of fake Louis Vuittons. Read this and have something cool to say at your next cocktail party.

The silhouette Anne is wearing is all classic Vivienne - some of you will hate it - but her fans love it. When you wear a Westwood dress you KNOW you are wearing a Westwood dress. Why fix what isn't broken?
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One of our fave vintage girls - Nicole Ritchie is in London to launch her new line Winter Kate, wearing a chiffon dress form her line paired with opaque tights and a hat. Winter Kate is a full line of apparel and is described as having a "vintage yet classic aesthetic. The collection is inspired by timeless prints and shapes, beautiful paisley and florals"
Jump here to peek at bits of it on her website.
Like Kate Moss, it seems Nicole has taken to going through her personal collection of vintage treasures for "inspiration".
What do you guys think of this?

Personally, I think all these "vintage inspired" lines are fun, but they if a girl wants to know that she is the only girl who will be wearing a dress in the room - well then, stick to shopping for vintage with moi.

Golden Globes Mega Post

Lots of vintage on the red carpet this year and even more vintage inspired looks!

Here's the vintage I could find mixed in with some new - enjoy!

Evan Rachel Wood, in vintage Elie Saab Haute Couture
I know she gets flack for the whole - Am I Dita? period of her life but she does look good here

There where a lot of gowns by Oscar De La Renta.
Maybe its because they ALL look vintage? huh huh?
Amy Adams in her Oscar gown

Marissa Tomei in Oscar De La Renta.
I love the top of this! So Spanish fabulous no?

Flapper meets Old Hollywood in this vintage inspired Dior gown.
I am impressed that Taylor Momsen picked such a lovely gown at her age, most of her cohorts are in ensembles made of just teeny weeny scraps of material.

Emily Deschanel showed up at one of the after parties in this red vintage chiffon dress

Oscar De La Renta obviously was peeking in the archives when he designed this vintage inspired bubble dress worn by America Ferrera.
America ALMOST wore one of MY vintage dresses for a photo shoot - was one of my biggest disappointments of 2008 that her schedule did not allow her to make it.

Is this the most blatant 1930s copy you have ever seen?
Not that its necessarily a bad thing.
Olivia Wilde in vintage inspired Reem Acra

Total old Hollywood glamor
Anne Hathaway wears a gorgeous hand pleated gown by Armani Prive

And here is Glen Close in vintage Armani

Beyonce in Elie Saab Haute Couture. Is it me or does this dress look too small?
Another inch at the top would have done a girl (and the girls) good

Cameron Diaz in Chanel Haute Couture - this is future vintage!
It was nice to see silk taffeta make an appearance though - its a fabric you see in vintage dresses all the time but one that is not used as much anymore in modern pieces

Heidi Klum wore vintage Galanos.

I love this dress and the over the top flower on it too!

Here is a better picture of the incredible fabric in this dress and a total gratuitous shot of Seal

And here is a side shot of the dress

Eva Mendes wore this vintage gown from Christian Dior.
Her jewels are vintage though.
I would give my eye teeth for both the gown and the jewels!

That necklace is so fabulous it deserves a close-up.
Its vintage Van Cleef & Arpels.
If you want to buy me a birthday present - this is a good piece to start with.

And last but not least
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt looked like a classic movie star couple.
Angelina is wearing a Versace dress, Brad is in Tom Ford

On the Met Gala

One of the best pictorial coverage is at the Red Carpet Fashion Awards

There are PAGES of every dress and she also features a ton of girls that did not land on a lot of the bigger mainstream summaries of the event. Just go hop over there to see all the pics and find out who wore what. She did a far better job than I could do!

The theme this year was the American Woman and I have to say that I don't think that this theme was given its proper due by the attendees. If you read the little blurb on style.com before jumping straight the pictures you would have seen this:

The Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute benefit was all about stateside roots this year, celebrating as it did the opening of American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity. Proceedings inside had a turn-of-the-century feel, with wicker chairs at the dinner tables and a hot-air balloon inspired by one from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair looming over the Great Hall.

and if you hop over to the MET's site the intro to the actual exhibit is this

American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity is the first Costume Institute exhibition drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. It will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition will reveal how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls," "Bohemians," and "Screen Sirens," among others, helped lay the foundation for today's American woman.

So, one would have thought you would have seen some fabulous examples of the period and a huge representation of American Designers, no?

Sadly, no

There were very few dresses that really paid homage to the theme and there was certainly not a single original piece from this era to be found. Yes, there were some that you can point to that had definite influence from the past but it seems that the Gala has become, well, a regular old Gala. The dresses were lovely and appropriate to be sure, but where was the girl brave enough to make the STAND.

To pay true homage to the theme of the event?

Anne Hathaway's dress was reminiscent of times past but was a Valentino -
lovely but decidedly not an American designer

Last year's theme was the Super Hero - remember Anna Wintour got the proverbial nation-wide dis for her Superhero themed outfit? Maybe seeing the most powerful editor in the world scared everyone's La Perla panties into huge knots of anxiety over similar treatment so they decided to play it safe?

Except for, of course, Kate Perry, but her lit-up-from-within dress was just a statement on it's own, NOT a statement on the Gala's theme.

Maybe it's just a reflection of our present day media scrutiny.

We live in an age where every time a girl steps out into public there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, lurkers, waiting to dissect every inch of what a girl chooses to wear and thanks to the anonymity of the internet, they feel free to dissect as harshly and abruptly as they can.

Maybe that is slowly, but surely, breeding a kind of a generic beauty that we all feel obligated to abide by.

There could be made at this point in the conversation, an astute observation of how before the turn of the century woman were put in a somewhat similar situation style wise, made by the pressures of society-past to conform to "proper and decent decorum in both dress and manner".

Until those crazy, early wild child girls of the 20s and thirties came along and said a fashionable "f*ck you" and designers like Schiaparelli worked with the great artists of the day to push the envelope, allowing woman to become walking statements of belief, conviction and do it all through fashion. And we celebrate those same women now when we talk about the influence those brave woman had on our present day freedoms and style and trends.

Ooops hang on, wasn't that the theme of the Gala?

Thank goodness we all know that in fashion - there is always next season

Spotted - Lots of Valentino

Lots of great Valentino pieces at the Valentino: The Last Emperor LA Premier.

Rachel Zoe was spotted wearing this asymmetrical dress. Is it just me or is she way toned down here? Is her hair shorter? Or is it just that she is not wearing her typical armful of bangles and bracelets? I have sort of noticed this a few times lately. I have to wonder if she is tweaking her own image? I just hope this does not mean she is going to abandon the whole hippie goddess look altogether. I love that look.
Although if she does maybe she will let me have all the gowns she will no longer wear.
I would of course let you all in on the ones that do not fit me :-)

Gwyneth Paltrow wore this tripped out mini and crazy shoes - a definite foray into the cutting edge for Valentino. I have seen close-ups on this dress and the seaming in impeccable. And her body is crazy ass cool in this outfit. I can't quite get a hold of it though. I love it then I don't , then I love it, then I don't. I have seen a close-up of it (will try to find to post for you to see) and the seaming on the bodice is fitted exactly to her chest - the bust seems actually land exactly at her nipple (sorry for the crassness - I could not think of any other way to describe it) so it is fitted perfectly. But the fit still seems off to me around the bust. Can't figure it out. Maybe it is just the color on her. She is looking gorgeous these days though. She is obviously keeping herself in fabulous shape!

And Anne Hathaway wore this wonderful sequin dress paired with gorgeous red shoes.
I love this whole look head to toe. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that sequins are back in the spotlight. I have a TON of vintage sequin pieces that I have been collecting. For years people would say uggh sequins why do you have those. Guess my little fashion crystal ball won that round huh? There are some beautiful pieces on the site now and I have blogged some of them before - link here for the post and here to jump to shop at Shrimpton Couture

Pics: red carpet fashion awards, style

Anne Hathaway is wearing Armani and looks spectacular.
As the panels of the dress widen out at the bottom they are actually covered in palettes.
Work of art!

Celebrity Vintage Spot - Gwenyth Paltrow

Apparently the lucky bitch got to go through the archives prior to the big Valentino event. That's what happens when you go hang out with Valentino over the summer.
She chose this wonderful strapless vintage piece which I love.

Rumor has it that Anne Hathaway also had her pass through but she was heard lamenting that she had indulged in too much eating to fit into anything. That is the problem with the archives the design houses keep - they are usually fit model size. Real girls are better off to wait for ME to find them a dress passed down from a normal size girl

Did You know

That this dress worn by Marissa Tomei is NOT vintage
(even though it sure as hell looks it)
Nope its Giambattista Valli

And that part of the reason Anne Hathaway is making so many fabulous choices lately on the Red Carpet (like this crimson chiffon Dior) is because she is now being styled by Rachel Zoe?

Celebrity Vintage Posts

In a little teeny tiny miraculous moment  of being able to add a photo (but I am still working on it - apparently I have a DNS problem - and I thought I just had a shopping problem - yeesh) So there is this weird quirky window where I actually got to upload a photo so I decided to go with TWO instead of the usual one

First here is Mary Kate Olsen in a cut silk velvet gown that looks to me to be fairly early. Though  few designers in the seventies where still using this technique. Watch for the Thea Porter version of this going up on the site in the next day or so. It is remarkably similar and if I do say so - even better!

And here is Anne Hathaway wearing vintage Mila Schon.

vintage at the 2011 academy awards

two vintage spots at the oscars this year - though one is on the fence for me as far as being able to call it truly "vintage. so lets talk that one first.

it's being tooted as vintage valentino - and it is from a past collection to be sure - but not that far past - its actually 2009 valentino haute couture.

it's too die.

look, she got dogged a bit here and there for this one, but you can't please everyone and personally, i think it is utterly, fabulously, old hollywood glamour glamour glamour.

and you know, with most of the truly great designers not with us anymore, sadly as time goes by we loose them......and by great, i mean the ones that have truly changed the course of how girls like you and i dress on a day to day basis, it is an honor, honor i say, to not only wear a gown from a master like valentino.... but to be able to wear a piece of his couture AND have him stand. beside. you. while. you. are. wearing. it. . . . .

damn!

i would give my right arm for that (unless of course two arms are integral to carrying off the design so........ok i take it back pffft i would keep my arms - why would he stand beside some freaky girl with one arm anyway hmmmmm?)

and here is the back of the gown.

i loved anne hathaway's hosting of the oscars .. I thought she was fun and fresh and i think she is quite a fabulous girl.

rachel zoe did an impeccable job dressing her. (applauds)

the other vintage gown of the night was 1950s charles james worn by marissa tomei. i think it was spectacular.

it's also rumoured that she actually PAID for this gown. like with her own hard earned money. i shit you not - wht starlets even do that anymore? i bow to a girl that wears vintage on the red carpet and buys it because she is going to actually keep it.

she is a kindred soul to be sure

A lot of people made reference to the bust line on this gown being too high - i think from a modern aesthetic that yes, it does seem high on her. however, i also think she probably deliberately did not alter it because

A) that is the way it would have been worn THEN
and
B) its fucking 1950s couture - altering it would be a sin.

A SIN peeps A SIN.

and this I just had to share - (the italicized text below is verbatim from style.com). since we have reconstructed pieces in the shop made by some truly talented designers, i was delighted to see this.....

Livia Giuggioli, wife of the future Sir Colin Firth, one-upped herself last night. Her Green Carpet challenge, in which she goes fully sustainably gowned to every awards show—and no movie has provided more opps than The King’s Speech—became the Green-and-Gold Challenge. Her gown was righteous. It was by Southeast London designer Gary Harvey, formerly of Levi’s, who cut it from 11 vintage frocks dating from the start of George VI’s reign. But her jewelry! Her earrings and enormous cocktail ring were forged from not merely fair trade, but fair-trade fair-mined ecological gold, and with fully traceable gems.

xoxocherie

You Know I Love One Shoulder Dresses

And this Valentino is no exception
Worn by Anne Hathaway to the premier of Valentino: The Last Emperor