Top Model Lily Cole covers PLAYBOY!!!!

Top Model Lily Cole covers French PLAYBOY Magazine; she also has a 14 page editorial inside of the issue. The theme of the shoot and article – called "Sweet Lily"was the Sixties. The cover shows Lily with ponytails, wearing nothing but white socks and holding a teddy bear. While this is not an expected cover of a top model who is of Lily's caliber. I have to say that I like it. Apparently, the images on the inside are very tasteful and I think Lily still comes off as a model. I am not a big fan of the idea of her looking like a 16 year old child, but I have to admit, I like the cover.

Just FYI, it was shot by Xevi Muntane and Lily is interviewed inside by Jean-Paul Gaultier; which is FABULOUS!

Thoughts?

DEMEULEMEESTER S/S 09'

I have pondered for the last few days if Demeulemeester would give us a more refined girl this season, just as we received from Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto. As expected, she did. While her signature unconstructed jacket was very apparent in the collection, this season she paired it with draped blouses and skinny cropped pants.

We then began to see these really simple but interesting short cotton-jersey T-shirt dresses, which were reminiscent of toga's. One thing that was interesting was the face that she did not compromise on her use of crystals as we saw them sporadically placed on the majority of the looks. She used some embroidery techniques to give us a new and fresh take on her use of crystals, which was actually eye-pleasing.

While I am happy we see this refined girl that I have raving about, I am not so excited about the collection. I don't think it is bad but it's just not inspiring to me. There are a few great pieces, here and there but overall the collection can be easily forgotten.

Comme des Garcons S/S 09 - I'm going to die!!!

True CREATIVITY at it's best. Comme des Garcons S/S 09 collection was beyond AMAZING! Seriously, i'm going to die! Finally we see the TRUE creativity that Paris is known for.

Rei Kawakubo; the designer behind Comme des Garcons titled this show "Tomorrow's Black". The girls came out in, as the title suggests, a majority of black ensembles which were amazing. The Marie Antoinette inspired hair was pulled ultra high and added some obscurity to the faces of the models.

If you are at all familiar with Comme des Garcons, you know that we typically see great color used by Kawakubo, but now she is back to black. I saw her inspiration as something mathematical. We saw geometic volumes and AMAZING hexagonal cutting. I LOVE designers who cut well, it shows that a designer has an eye for femininity. It takes a certain skill to cut fabric in such interesting ways. What is perculiar about Rei is that she designs such avant-garde pieces and still uses this very feminine way of cutting her fabrics. I think it's genius.

In the show we saw poufy geometric tops and skirts which reminded me very much of cocoons. She used vinyl leathers and she showed her patchwork skills by patching together some really cool "mini-hoodies". Towards the end things got a bit more feminine and organic. We saw her use tattered chiffon and petaled tufts (fyi, a tuft is a bunch of feathers, hair or yarn). Then we saw whole dresses constructed in a way that reminded me of the late film "Edward Scissorhands". It seemed as if massive scissors lightly ran across the fabric and created beautiful shapes and beautiful lines.

I am always eager to see what Kawakubo does each season. She is one who always leaves me panting and wanting more.

Comme des Garcons for H&M??

So I just received images of the Comme des Garcons collection for H&M and I have to say I am a bit UNDERWHELMED! I expected so much more.

Some of the pieces are FEROSH! but overall it is not what I expected.

Thoughts?













Woman's




Men's

Giuseppe Zanotti/Vicini Showroom Visit...

This morning I had an appointment at Giuseppe Zanotti. If you know me, you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Zanotti. I have to say that I am already in LOVE with this collection. I am so eager to shoot many of the shoes from it. In all honesty, I thought it would be next to impossible to top the S/S 08' collection but I have to say that this collection takes the cake.

My assistant took a few images of some of my favorites and now I am showing them to you. Enjoy...

Balenciaga? - Not so much....

Ghesquiere has been showing us his idea of futurism for the past few seasons. It started for Spring 08′ with the ever so popular, structured, multi-colored floral print concoctions; and has continued to be seen in every collection.

This collection started with flat neutral colors but the bulk of it was full of glitz and shine— metallics, sequins and foil-like material.

I felt, the most interesting thing of the entire show was how the gloves are sewn onto the jackets and the tights are pulled over the shoes. I am curious as to how the shoes will be sold? It may be sort of cool if the tights came with them. No?

I understand that it is very hard for Nicholas Ghesquiere to continue to give us fresh, new ideas without everything starting to look the same. However, I have to say that I do not like this collection at all. AT ALL. I think Nicholas is probably one of the most talented designers in the industry right now and I have to say, I expected so much more. I am slightly disappointed.