Paris Fashion Week Est Ici!

I know I missed Milan and didn't tell you about the schedule but truth be told, I couldn't keep up. There was a lot going on at the time and it slipped me. Forgiveness? Merci! If you follow me on twitter however (see right) you would've been updated as to what shows were available for livestreaming and where. One of the many reasons I love social media.

But, after New York, London and Milan, we have Paris. Enfin! The city where the likes of Thierry Mugler, Hermès, Christian Dior, Alexander McQueen, Elie Saab, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Lanvin walk the runways and that classically Parisian style can be witnessed en masse in the front row and on the streets. Rêve érotique! Ok, ok let me stop faux frenching and let you all know what's the deal.

PFW officially began yesterday with Cédric Charlier, Commuun, Julien David, Steffie Christiaens, Aganovich and Anthony Vaccarello - where Karlie Kloss finally returned to the runway and a model tripped, stumbled and fell so many times she had to be assisted off the stage by two smirking counterparts. La honte! Ok I'll really stop now.

Visit Style.com, NY Magazine or Fashionising for a look at the full collections.

Here is the full schedule with live stream info (where available):

*All times Eastern (for the purposes of live streams). Paris time in parentheses.

*NowFashion provides live photos of the shows.

Wednesday 29 February:

4:00 am (10am) - Dévastée

5:00 am (11am) - Damir Doma

6:00 am (12am) - Guy Laroche

7:00 am (1pm) - Nicolas Andreas Taralis

8:00 am (2pm) - Limi Feu

9:00 am (3pm) - Dries Van Noten: Live stream at NowFashion

10:00 am (4pm) - Felipe Oliveira Baptista: NowFashion

11:00 am (5pm) - Rochas: NowFashion

12:00 pm (6pm) - Gareth Pugh: NowFashion

1:00 pm (7pm) - Peachoo Krejberg: NowFashion

2:00 pm (8pm) - Rue Due Mail by Martine Stibon: NowFashion

3:00 pm (9pm) - Thierry Mulger: style.com, Thierry Mugler's UStream, NowFashion

Thursay 1 March

4:00am (10am) - Balenciaga: Balenciaga on Facebook, NowFashion, and the official website

5:00 am (11am) - Carven: Carven on Facebook, NowFashion, 

6:00 am (12pm) - Manish Arora: NowFashion

7:00 am (1pm) - Ann Demeulemeester: NowFashion

8:00 am (2pm) - Sharon Wauchob: NowFashion

9:00 am (3pm) - Balmain: NowFashion, First Comes Fashion

10:00 am (4pm) - Barbara Bui: NowFashion, Style.com* (Style.com has this as showing at 11am Eastern)

11:00 am (5pm) - Rick Owens: NowFashion 

12:00 pm (6pm) - Lutz: NowFashion

1:00 pm (7pm) - Nina Ricci: NowFashion

2:00 pm (8pm) - AF Vandevorst: NowFashion

3:00 pm (9pm) - Bernhard Willhem: NowFashion

Friday 2 March

4:00 am (10am) - Roland Mouret

5:00 am (11am) - Chalayan: NowFashion

7:00 am (1pm) - Anne Valerie Hash: NowFasion

8:30 am (2:30 pm) - Christian Dior: via their new online mag launched today, NowFashion

9:30 am (3:30 pm) - Isabel Marant: NowFashion

10:30 am (4:30 pm) - Maison Martin Margiela: NowFashion

11:30 am (5:30 pm) - Sonia Rykiel: NowFashion

12:30 pm (6:30 pm) - Amaya Arzouaga: NowFashion

1:30 pm (7:30 pm) - Yohji Yamamoto: NowFashion

2:30 pm (8:30 pm) - Lanvin: NowFashion

Saturday 3 March

3:30 am (9:30 am) - Junya Watanabe

4:30 am (10:30 am) - Haider Ackermann: NowFashion

5:30 am (11:30 am) - Tsumori Chisato: NowFashion

6:30 am (12:30 pm) - Martin Grant

7:30 am (1:30 pm) - Viktor & Rolf

8:30 am (2:30pm) - Cacharel

9:30 am (3:30 pm) - Véronique Leroy: NowFashion

10:30 am (4:30 pm) - Vivienne Westwood: NowFashion

11:30 am (5:30 pm) - Comme des Garçons: NowFashion

1:00 pm (7pm) - Jean Paul Gaultier: NowFashion

2:00 (8pm) - Loewe

Sunday 4 March

4:00 am (10am) - Akris: NowFashion

5:00 am (11am) - Andrew Gn: NowFashion

6:00 am (12pm) - Costume National

7:00 am (1pm) - Céline

8:00 am (2pm) - Alexis Mabille: NowFashion

9:00 am (3pm) - Issey Miyake: NowFashion

10:00 am (4pm) - Hermès

11:00 am (5pm) - John Galliano: NowFashion

12:00 pm (6pm) - Kenzo

1:00 pm (7pm) - Hexa by Kuho: NowFashion

2:00 pm (8pm) - Givenchy

Monday 5 March

4:00 am (10am) - Stella McCartney

5:00 am (11am) - Sacai: NowFashion

6:00 am (12pm) - Léonard: NowFashion

7:30 am (1:30 pm) - Giambattista Valli

9:00 am (3pm) - Valentin Yudashkin: NowFashion

10:00 am (4pm) - Chloé

11:00 am (5pm) - Pedro Lourenço

12:00 pm (6pm) - Vanessa Bruno

1:30 pm (7:30pm) - Yves Saint Laurent: First Comes Fashion

Tuesday 6 March

4:30 am (10:30 am) - Chanel: First Comes Fashion, NowFashion

5:30 am (11:30 am) - Agnès B

6:30 am (12:30 pm) - Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

7:30 am (1:30 pm) - Hakaan

8:30 am (2:30 pm) - Valentino

9:30 am (3:30 pm) - Junko Shimada

10:30 am (4:30 pm) - Paco Rabanne: NowFashion

11:30 am (5:30 pm) - Shiatzy Chen

12:30 pm (6:30 pm) - Paul & Joe

1:30 pm (7:30 pm) - Alexander McQueen: First Comes Fashion

Wednesday 7 March

4:00 am (10am) - Louis Vuitton

5:00 am (11am) - Talbot Runhof

6:00 am (12pm) - Arzu Kaprol

7:00 am (1pm) - Allude

8:00 am (2pm) - Miu Miu: style.com

9:00 am (3pm) - Masha Ma: NowFashion

10:30 am (4:30 pm) - Elie Saab: style.com, NowFashion

11:30 am (5:30 pm) - Maison Rabih Kayrouz

12:30 pm (6:30 pm) - Collette Dinnigan: NowFashion

1:30 pm (7:30pm) - Lie Sang Bong

Schedule via modeaparis.


Yours,

A.

Best and Worst Dressed of the 2012 Academy Awards

Last night was a bit of a task for me bouncing between NBA All Star game and the Oscars Red Carpet coverage but oh so worth it! It's always about the gowns at the Oscars. And then there's the actual show but psh! There were was a lot of black, nude and white (and variations of white) looks on the carpet with few splashes of colour in between. I must say, initially the gowns were disappointing because almost everyone played it "safe" and I was also really hoping for more colour on account of the brilliant hues I've seen on the runways recently. Having said that, two of my hands-down favourite looks of the night were in fact white.

And so begins my best dressed!

BEST DRESSED

Milla Jovovich in Elie Saab

Milla is all the way old Hollywood glam in this stunning beaded Elie Saab number. You can always see a dress and say "oh that must be Elie Saab" because of the impeccable attention to detail and beading work. No one does dresses like him and Milla was the perfect person to showcase this gown in all its splendid white glory with her understated jewels and Edie Parker clutch.

Gwyneth Palthrow in Tom Ford

I won't pretend to be sure of whether the cape was attached to the gown specifically for the Academy Awards or if it was originally designed like that but either way - stop the press! When I saw Gwyneth I literally stopped and sat gawking at the screen. Unlike Rooney Mara, who had to comment on how cold she was in her Givenchy Couture gown, Gwyneth had all the bases covered. Literally. She had a cape to keep her warm while still looking as graceful and elegant as any starlet I'd ever seen. 

I must say I generally like to see more gems on the red carpet but the minimal jewellery works for Gwyneth and Milla because it helps ensure that their beautiful gowns are the real focus.

Now that we've seen the best of them let's take a look at the (not at all painful) worst dressed. 

WORST DRESSED

Sandra Bullock in Marchesa

The issue I have with this look is not the dress itself. It's the dress on Sandra Bullock. If you've seen her at all in gowns you know she has an amazing body and this dress does nothing for it. I wouldn't have necessarily wanted to see her in something too tight or sleek but the silhouette of this dress makes her seem square, and square she is not. I'd like to see her go back to sexier looks like her 2010 and 2011 Oscar dresses. The white on her also seems a bit too white and washes her out. 

I would've liked to see her in this Monique Lhuillier Pre-Fall 2012 dress which isn't too body hugging but accentuates all the right things.

Shailene Woodley in Valentino

Shailene Woodley has been a hit and miss on the red carpet for me but she's young and it's understandable that she may now be finding her red carpet style. Not all young starlets could be as gifted as Hailee Steinfeld. That being said, a key part of the reason Hailee was always so perfect on the red carpet is the fact that she always dressed in accordance with her age which I don't think Shailene did with this look. She looks very matronly in this Valentino Sping 2012 Couture dress not necessarily because of the sleeves, I think it's the detailing and the neckline also. 


In keeping with the theme of sleeves, I would've instead liked to have seen her in this Michael Kors Fall 2012 dress for more texture and colour. This look will also perfectly compliment her figure.

Sherri Shepherd

While it was refreshing to see such a bold colour on the carpet, I personally don't believe anyone as top heavy as Sherri Shepherd should wear mermaid type silhouettes like the one she wore to the Academy Awards. I know she isn't there as an actor or anything but I couldn't let this dress just slide by. She and/or her stylist for the occasion should have gone with a look that would balance out her figure a lot more (and not show that particular kind of cleavage) like this Monique Lhuillier Pre-Fall 2012 dress.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Emma Stone in Giambattista Valli (Spring 2012 Couture)

Viola Davis in Vera Wang

Octavia Spencer in Tadashi Shoji

Pharrell Williams in Lanvin

All gown images from: Fab Sugar

Pharrell Williams photo: Yahoo Movies

Yours,

A.

Favourite Looks of London Fashion Week

I've been looking at a million pictures (and them some) from the Fall Ready-to-Wear collections shown at London Fashion Week in the last few days. So much detail, incredible textures, some great outerwear pieces that once again had me longing to live in a country that actually has snow and cold weather so I can wear them, also noticed some cut-out pieces a la Rooney Mara (did you see the Calvin Klein show btw? Maraness!). The female form was also experimented with a great deal through some interesting perspectives on silhouettes, great colours and prints carried over from the New York Fashion Week collections and (if at all possible) were done in an even bigger way. 'Prints on prints on prints' was the theme of many of these collections. And frankly, that's just fine with me.


Here are ALL of my favourite looks from LFW. (You can click the name of the label to see the full Style.com slideshow)

Acne

Marios Schwab

Louise Gray

Matthew Williamson

Paul Smith

House of Holland

Topshop Unique (tie)

Simone Rocha

Jean-Pierre Braganza

Jonathan Saunders

Peter Pilotto

Pringle of Scotland

Osman

Mulberry (tie)

McQ (Male and Female)

Sidenote: McQ was my favourite collection of LFW. I'm a fan of all things even somewhat utilitarian and military green is my favourite colour. Perfection!

Erdem

Giles

Mark Fast

Antonio Berardi

Belstaff

Burberry Prorsum (Male and Female)

Christopher Kane

Yours,

A.

Trinidad Carnival 2012

Based purely on fears of being dirty all day and possibly getting chased by blue devils and red devils and all variation of J'ouvert devils I decided not to step out of my haven on Carnival Monday. As such, I knew that on carnival Tuesday I had to go out, get some pictures, socialise (kiss babies and shake hands and whatnot), and do what Trinis do best - palance. It was such a splendid day that I'm finding myself pausing at times and smiling when fragments of it come to the forefront of my mind. I enjoyed many a beverage, savoured the thing they call real conversation (ah so superb!), and met some talented artisans (which will lead to more posts and interviews in the weeks to come).


The costumes this year were not particularly more beautiful than they were any other year, but in lieu of being just a spectator I was playing the role of photographer and was able to look at things a little differently. Having said all of that, I hope you enjoy Trinidad carnival. From my perspective at least.

  

Yours,

A.

P.S.: There were so many technicalities with this post (which was supposed to be up two days ago) but I hope you at least enjoyed the end result.