A Fashionable Halloween

Let's face it - we all want to look great on Halloween. So why not take a cue from the world's style-makers and pay homage to some of the most influential people in fashion?

Here is a list of my top ten most fashionable Halloween costume ideas:

1. Linda Evangelista
My favorite model of all time. PERIOD. Why not get into the Linda mood and attend your Halloween party by channeling the icon's many looks and change wigs throughout the evening? You can start out as the super adorable 80s Linda with the voluminous, feathery hair and transition your look with a multitude of wigs from her early 90s cropped coif, then pull out your page boy, your platinum blonde Marilyn Monroe number, your fire-hydrant red pompadour an the classic Linda bob.

2. David Bowie
Obviously. I have dresses as Bowie more times than I can remember. You can pick from so many of Bowie's signature looks; from Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, the late 90s Earthling to Labrynth.

3. Daphne Guinness
The heiress to the Guinness brewery and fashion muse, Daphne Guinness is a limitless source of inspiration to the world's greatest designers. Take some huge risks and let your inner Goth out to play.

Daphne with Francois Nars and Marc Jaco

 

4. Anna Piaggi
I always admired Anna Piaggi and loved her sense of flair and of course, COLOR. Wouldn't it be great to wear some amazing-crazy-colored wig, an adorably tiny top hat and a spectacular coat? Yes, please!

5. Donatella Versace
Who doesn't want to have fun in a long blonde wig ans wear the most glamorously seductive dress at the party?

6. Karl Lagerfeld
Get yourself an outfit consisting of either black or white shirt, trousers and jacket and add finger-less gloves, a fan, sunglasses and a grey ponytail wig and you're all set to be Lagerfeld. For advanced Halloween fashionistas, don't forget to speak a mile a minute. Even Roberto Cavalli dressed as Lagerfeld a few years ago!

Lagerfeld with Steven Meisel in the 90s

Roberto Cavalli as Lagerfeld

7. ADR
Be-dazzled sunglasses, lots of skin or lots of feathers and fur are Anna Dello Russo's signature looks. Pair any of these with a long honey hued wig and you can feel like ADR for a day.

 

8. Madonna
With so many Gaga and Miley Cyrus costumes being planned this year, why not pay homage to the original Material Girl? With so many looks to choose from you can have fun and be as creative as you want to be.

9. Anna Wintour
Sandy bobbed wig with bangs- check. Sunglasses - check. Chanel Suit-check. This is pretty much all you need to master the Vogue editor's look.

10. Tim Gunn
The former instructor and chair of fashion design at Parsons turned TV host is the epitome of elegant masculinity. Work, work, work! (sorry, I had to)

Hans Feurer: Beautiful Creatures

Vogue Paris recently posted their top 10 favorite photos from the legendary fashion photographer Hans Feurer. I have always admired Feurer's signature aesthetic: the tribal amazonian. There is a sense of an other-worldliness and futurism to these Barbarellas and yet somehow they maintain a consistent natural quality. Feurer's girls are always shot outdoors - almost like National Geographic photographs of majestic creatures, only with Feurer the majesty is held on the gaze of his models. The women possess an animal like sensuality. In is work, Feurer acts as the voyeur; as if capturing these exotic, beautiful creatures in their own habitat.

In a 2012 interview with New York Magazine's The Cut, Feurer discussed the impact his travels through Africa in the late 1960's held on him: "I have memories from when I was young of seeing the light coming through curtains, things like that, but most of all... I had been in extraordinary situations and saw magical moments and I certainly realized how certain light conditions can put a certain spell on a landscape, or an object, or a person." This is truly the essence of Feurer's aesthetic.

Feurer became successful in the 70s as he shot the famous Pirelli Calendar and built a long partnership with Kenzo Takada, often shooting advertisements for the Kenzo brand. I feel it was this collaboration with Kenzo that ultimately guided Feurer's aesthetic; the globally eclectic fabrics and silhouettes combined with futuristic elements exemplified in Kenzo's designs echoes throughout Feurer's career. 

Here are some of my favorite Hans Feurer photographs from throughout the years ...

ad for Bogner Ski, 1980

Feurer's ad for Kenzo, 1985

Iman in Feurer's ad for Kenzo SS 1983

Kenzo, 1985 (Veronica Webb, middle)

Natasha Poly in Feurer's August 2011 Paris Vogue editorial

Karlie Kloss for Hans Freuer March 2012 Paris Vogue

Karlie Kloss for Hans Freuer March 2012 Paris Vogue

Natasha Poly in Feurer's August 2011 Paris Vogue editorial

Alana Zimmer Vogue Turkey March 2011 by Hans Feuer

Alana Zimmer Vogue Turkey March 2011 by Hans Feuer

Hans Feurer

Hans Feurer

Gianfranco Ferre Spring/Summer 2014: Back to the 80s

Evidently, Gianfranco Ferre designers Federico Piaggi and Stefano Citron were inspired by Gia Carangi and the many iconic images photographer Herb Ritts shot for various Gianfranco Ferre advertisements from the 1980s.

 The 2014 Spring/Summer collection is an example of powerful minimalism utilizing just the right amount of 80s nostalgia. You can clearly see the designers' inspirations flourish to life in this collection:

Christy Turligton in a slit-neck dress with belt in 1987...

Christy Turlington in Herb Ritts' Gianfranco Ferre Winter 1987 ad

... and slit-neck dress with belt at Gianfranco Ferre for Spring 2014 ...

Gianfranco Ferre Spring/Summer 2014

Herb Ritts' GF ad from 1984


A relaxed fit jacket with a wide belt in 1984 above and relaxed fit jacket with wide belt below from the current season

Giafranco Ferre SS 2014

Philipp Plein Spring 2014: Black Celebration?

I am not a 'fashion insider', so to speak: I have never attended a fashion show outside of Canada and can only base my speculations about the fashion world through my many years of reading Vogue, Bazaar, W, Elle and viewing programs such as FashionTV and Fashion File (only when the incomparable Tim Blanks hosted, of course). Despite my absence in the front rows of New York, Paris London and Milan, its pretty clear there is a prevalent lack of models of color represented in fashion.

The issue of racism in the fashion industry has been greatly publicized lately with the whistle blowing interview featuring fashion veterans Iman and Naomi Campbell on September 9 2013:
ABC News video: Naomi Campbell & Iman speak out about fashion racism

For his Spring/Summer Women's collection as part of Milan Fashion Week, Philipp Plein presented a cast of entirely black models. Did he have this idea or cast his models before the September 9 interview that set the fashion world afire? Or is he utilizing this hot issue to gain more media exposure? I personally do not know what his vision or intent was, but I did enjoy the departure of the seemingly all-white runway show typical of the major fashion weeks.

photos: Philipp Plein SS 2014 from style.com:

Philipp Plein with Liya Kebede at his Spring 2014 show

In their recent ABC interview, Naomi Campbell and Iman addressed their concerns publicly and specifically to the CFDA in New York to appeal to designers and the industry at large to represent more women of all colors while singling out specific designers who consistently use 1-2 or no models of color on the runways.

What about fashion shows that ONLY present models of color? There have been occasional runway shows featuring only models of color, but they mostly appear to have taken place by the major designers' shows in Asia.

Alexander McQueen's Sarah Burton showed a cast of all Asian models in a 2011 runway show. Although the show was presented in Beijing (and she had already presented the collection as part of Paris Fashion Week months earlier) just as McQueen opened one of its largest boutiques in the area.

Alexander McQueen's all Asian runway show

Giorgio Armani as well presented an all Asian show in Beijing in 2012.

Giorgio Armani poses with his modes in 2012

Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci also presented a runway show featuring all Asian models in 2011 for his Spring Couture show, but this time in Paris.

Givenchy's all Asian cast, Fall Couture 2012

Despite Philipp Plein's intention with his Spring 2014 runway presentation, it will spark an international dialogue in the fashion world and with consumers that is greatly needed. I have heard fashion magazine editors say they hardly hire models of color because they simply do not want to be seen by the magazine readers. I have heard fashion show casters say they use mostly white models because the paleness of the skin was part of the designer's overall vision and that often darker skin is not cohesive to the collection.

But then why hire white models and pass them off in blackface like Numero Magazine's March issue this year. This editorial was called "African Queen":

And what about these blackface photos from Paris Vogue featuring Lara Stone?

Former fashion editor for Paper Magazine, Zandile Blay, who happens to be a black woman, saw the Steven Meisel photos for the October, 2009 Paris Vogue as artistic and did not find them offensive, but asked the readers of Huffington Post if the images were 'racy or racist'. She believes the editor of this shoot, Carinne Roitfeld, is not racist but probably doesn't know any black people and didn't comprehend the racist implications this editorial had. You can see Blay's post on this issue here.

Just go and google the term "blackface in fashion" and you might be astounded at how many examples you can find. There are some terrifying images in a post by Emerald Pellot here at College Candy.

I wonder if Plein's collection was a celebration of black women, a publicity stunt or just the desire to shake the fashion world up a bit? In a society where a woman from New York who happened to be of Indian descent is crowned Miss America and the world erupts with racist tirades, even calling her a terrorist because of her skin color, I wonder if those editors and runway casting directors were being honest; perhaps the global consumer does not want to see more people of color presented in the media?

Buon Compleanno, Sophia! Sophia Loren turns 79!

Sophia Loren. That face. That BODY. Seductress. Actress. Fashion icon. The woman who stole Cary Grant's heart when she was just 22 and he 53. I can't say that I blame him - after all, who could really resist Sophia Loren no matter their age, gender or species?

This year Sophia turns 79 and she is still fabulous. To celebrate, let's take a look at Sophia throughout the years as well as her influence in fashion; from Guess Jeans advertisements to Steven Meisel's epic Sophia Loren homage starring Linda Evangelista for Vogue Italia in 1990.

 

One of my absolute favorite editorials EVER: Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia with Linda Evangelsita 

(hair by  the incomparable Oribe):

Here's Sophia and Linda Evangelista:

(Linda starring in an ad for Kenar, 1994)

                                        

 And here's a Sophia Loren inspired spread from Guess Jeans in 2008:

and here is Sophia Loren now:

Happy Birthday, Sophia!