Sometimes I Dream Plastic Dreams

I have always related some of my past memories to objects, and most of the time they happen to be shoes. I’m not a shoe addict, I don’t have piles of shoe boxes in my house, but I must admit they exert a huge fascination, maybe because I’ve rarely worn shoes I actually liked. Since I was a teenager, I have always had issues in finding nice shoes in my size (a EUR 35), for this reason I soon turned to Converse All Star Chuck Taylor Hi Top sneakers and started to wear them all the time (yes, in winter, too, with a thick pair of wool socks) [1]. I have owned several of them (my first pair was blue, then red, cream, pink and purple) and I cannot have enough of them, because they are super-comfortable and cute. Some years ago I discovered Melissa plastic shoes [2] and it was love at first sight: most of their models [3] are lovely, colourful and incredibly comfortable. For this reason, Melissa shoes have soon become a must in my shoe rack. I am not surprised more and more celebrities are discovering the irresistible charm of plastic shoes!

Beth Ditto, frontwoman of The Gossip, is the biggest fan of Melissa shoes. She wears them all the time and has quite a collection of them.

She ofter wears Ultragirl flats, a basic ballerina flat with a tiny peep-toe on the front.

She owns them in black, which she paired with an all-black ensemble – leggings and coat. Don’t you love her red-dyed hair?

She also has them in red, lovely. She wore them in December 2008 with a gorgeous black dress with white collar, so reminiscent of Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland’s good-girl dresses but also of the infamous Yves Saint Laurent dress Catherine Deneuve wore in the closing scene of Belle de Jour by Luis Bunuel. Her pixie haircut and make-up are flawless, love them!

From the Valley to the Upper East Side: Lily Van der Woodsen’s Style Cross-Over (2.11 –> 2.15 + On the Set)

I’m writing this post after hearing some good news about Gossip Girl: the next episode will be aired on March 8th, Dr Van der Woodsen (William Baldwin) will finally appear in the show, some bad drama is coming for Lily and Rufus, and for Chuck and Blair. I cannot hide my impatience for what will come next, but in the meantime, let’s go back to the second season, to admire Lily’s flawless outfits in detail.

The Magnificent Archibalds [1] opens with Lily and Bart returning home from a week-end out.

She’s wearing a black top and an elegant grey suit – a double-breasted short jacket with black details and a pencil skirt – and she’s toting her trusty Hermès Kelly black bag. Her accessories are a black beaded necklace, tiny diamond stud earrings and two diamond rings. The opening scene introduces part of the episode’s drama: Rufus has just found out that Jenny is staying at Lily’s with Eric, and he asks Lily to speak to his daugher.

52nd Annual Grammy Awards

I must admit I had high expectation for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, but the red carpet generally left me quite cold. I mean, I adored some outfits (and you can see them in this post), but nothing blew me away.

I think I have a girl crush for Ciara: she’s extremely beautiful and talented, and her style is getting better and better, since she teamed up with Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci. She walked the red carpet at the Grammys wearing a Givenchy Haute Couture dress (this comes from the Spring 2010 collection, so the one seen on Ciara is presumably the one seen on the catwalk), all made of black lace with beadings on the bodice and sleeves. She also wore over $250,000 in Cartier diamond jewellery -  a white gold and diamond cocktail ring and stud earrings. She styled her hair in a pony-tail and opted for a natural make-up. Love her milky pink lipstick! She was the best dressed of the event, in my opinion.

Red Carpet Heroines: Anna Paquin

As you may remember from a post I wrote some time ago, one of my red carpet heroines is Anna Paquin, the talented actress who is among the protagonists of the hit tv show True Blood. Her style on the red carpet has always been rather conventional – dresses in primary colours (red, white, blue and black), a few accessories, nothing showy – but I’ve admired it for standing out of the crowd. Anna has never been an over-exposed celebrity who jumps on the bandwagon of the latest trends, but it looks like she’s becoming a trend-setter. From the outfits she sported on the latest red carpet events, it is clear her style has undergone a dramatic change for good.

On January 24th, 2010, at the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards, for example, she wore a lovely Alexander McQueen printed dress, with plunging neckline, short sleeves and gatherings at the waist. I’m not mad about her hairstyle – a little bit lifeless – and make-up here, to be honest, because I would have chosen a brighter lipstick.

Christina Aguilera’s Style: Love for Head-Scarves

I’m sure many of you have always thought of Christina Aguilera as a talented singer, but not as a trend-setter or as an example of glamour. Since the Stripped phase of her career, she has often been criticized for being classless, wearing too much make-up, always trying hard to be sexy and so on. I agree with some of this criticism, but I must admit I actually like some of her most debated outfits. Take, for example, what happened to her style in 2004, during the transition from Stripped to Back to Basics: in a few months, she dyed her hair black, then red, then blonde, and starting experimenting with her look, leaving revealing and raunchy outfits behind and opting for a Forties/Fifties-inspired look.

Among the accessories she used most in 2004 there are headscarves, tied in several fashions.

In January, she left the Mercer Hotel in New York wearing sporty clothing – cropped sweatpants, a bomber jacket and a zip-up wool cardigan – paired to her two Luella Gisele bags (one white and one black) and Onitsuka Tiger black sneakers with green stripes. She wore a printed scarf as a bandanna, and then wore a wool cap on it; this reminds me of Axl Rose in the Nineties, who often wore a baseball cap on a printed cotton bandanna.

She wore comfy clothes in March, too, when she was spotted shopping at Toys ‘r Us in Los Angeles. She wore cropped cargo pants, a belly-baring tank top, a plaid shirt (I’m right when I say she is obsessed with plaid shirts!) and Havaianas white flip flops. She completed this outfit wearing a red bandanna, printed in white, as headscarf. In this picture, the scarf covers her red hair, not the best colour for her.

From the Valley to the Upper East Side: Lily Van der Woodsen’s Style Cross-Over (2.04 –> 2.09)

It’s been awhile since I last posted about Lily Van der Woodsen’s outfits in Gossip Girl, so here I am. This time, I have written about the second season, from the fourth to the ninth episode. As you may have noticed, a change in Lily’s style is very clear: the basic and understated looks she sported in most of the first season, will slowly recede, giving way to more feminine outfits, with bright colours, ruffles and flower prints. Her love for jewellery will take a new direction, because she will wear more and more precious items, culminating in a true obsession for Van Cleef & Arpels. I actually miss some of the outfits of the first season, because they perfectly matched Lily’s complex story and personality. Now, in the second season, it is as if her wild and bohemian side gives way to her self driven by social conventions and responsibilities.

The Ex Files [1] opens with Lily and Serena having breakfast together. Lily has just come back from her honeymoon, Bart is in Beijing for a business trip and she is probably starting regretting her decision to marry him.

We often see Lily in her sleepwear and she’s impeccable as when she wears daywear: in this case, she’s wearing lavender satin slip and robe. The slip’s neckline is trimmed by black lace.

Lily is now married, but she cannot avoid going to Rufus’ gallery to pay him a visit.

This is one of the best outfits seen on Lily, because it’s classy and fresh at the same time: she’s supposedly wearing skinny jeans with a Stella McCartney floral chiffon top, with flutter short-sleeves. Here we get the first Hermès moment of the second season, because she carries her Kelly bag in Parchemin, a gorgeous neutral beige colour. This bag is part of Kelly’s personal collection.

67th Golden Globe Awards

The Golden Globe Awards are the first important event which kicks off the season of cinema and music awards. The 67th edition was held yesterday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel: the weather was rainy, so umbrellas were everywhere and some dresses of the celebrities who walked the red carpet were wet or spotted with rain. I had high expectations for this event, because I knew two of my red carpet heroines (Anna Paquin and Diane Kruger) were in attendance, and I was looking forward to seeing the outfit chosen by Christina Aguilera, one of the presenters of the evening.

I will put the best-dressed celebrities in categories according to the shades of their dresses. As usual, you won’t find the ones I think were the worst-dressed, because it is extremely depressing writing about something you actually don’t like.

Ladies in Peach/Neutral/Gold

Being a huge Aguilera fan, I open the post with her outfit, because she looked stunning. She didn’t walk the red carpet, but presented the Best Original Song award with Cher.

She wore aVersace peach dress, made of chiffon and leather. I love the thin chain decorations on the bodice, and the juxtaposition of different materials. I’ve always thought Christina is a Versace girl (the campaign by Steven Meisel which she shot for Versace in 2003 is one of the best ever, in my opinion) and this confirms my idea.

Make-up artist Kristofer Buckle created her make-up, using NARS products [1] and he did an amazing job. Don’t get me wrong: in my mind Christina is always wearing her trademark red lipstick, but this neutral make-up really emphasizes her natural features and her beauty. I love her new haircut, too. She also wore Nina Ricci sandals and Stephen Webster diamond earrings and bracelet.

Oui, Je Suis Une NARS-issist!

I’ve always been a fan of fashion magazines, and I’ve always looked forward to issues presenting the collections of the upcoming seasons. Now I’ve replaced magazines with Style.com, but the passion and that sense of thrilled anticipation are still there. Since I’ve become a make-up junkie, I feel the same anticipation when new collections are released and, being a NARS-issist, all my attention usually goes to my favourite brand.

I know some pictures of the spring 2010 collection can be found online (and I am honestly eager to try a couple of products), but for the moment here is the collection released for Holiday 2009.

The look sported by Heather Marks was created by Diane Kendal. I love it, because the shimmering bronze eyeshadows and the bright cheeks (the make-up artist used the Multiple in Copacabana and Cap Vert, and the blush in Deep Throat) beautifully contrast with the muted lips.

From the Valley to the Upper East Side: Lily Van der Woodsen’s Style Cross-Over (1.18 – Much “I Do” About Nothing)

After writing in detail of Lily Van der Woodsen’s style in the first season of Gossip Girl, here it comes, least but not last, the post about the season finale, Much “I Do” About Nothing [1]. This is for sure one of my favourite episodes ever, because all the sub-plots take a turn, waiting for the new season to start.

The first scene with Lily is a classic OMG moment, because she’s lying in bed with Rufus, just before getting married to Bart. She’s understandably freaked out by this, but she won’t change her mind about the upcoming wedding.

In this scene she wears her black underwear and a single jewel, Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra pendant in white gold and mother-of-pearl, which she has already worn before.

Curves Ahead

As an eager reader/collector of fashion magazines, I’ve realized that the world of fashion has got two big taboos – one is related to black (or non-Caucasian) models and one to size. This sounds incredible, but if you take a look at any glossy fashion magazine, you’ll realize it’s the truth: non-Caucasian models rarely appear on the cover of magazines and in editorials, and this is so much true for non-thin-stick models. As for black models, something has changed since the Seventies, when Beverly Johnson was the first black model to appear on the cover of Vogue US – think of the iconic Black issue of Vogue Italia or of the September 2009 issue of i-D magazine – but it’s not enough.

If you think about models who don’t wear a size 0, the situation is a disaster [1]. I’ve been reading fashion magazines since I was a child, and I can only remember Sophie Dahl, Crystal Renn and Cindy Crawford as famous models with real curves. Part of the Nineties was  related to the waif look and the anorexic body of Kate Moss (and of many others), and this has continued up to now. I perfectly understand the reason why designers need thin-stick models on the runway, because they actually need living hangers to show their creations, but I don’t get the reason why the same models can be found in magazines, too. I am strongly convinced that fashion is an expression of human creativity, and as such, shouldn’t it be addressed to any type of women? Moreover, wouldn’t alternative examples of beautiful (but not anorexic) models be great for the self-esteem of women and teenagers all around the world?

V Magazine has tried to give an aswer to my questions in the spring 2010 Size issue, with some gorgeous editorials focused on the size of models. Some photoshoots are honestly creepy – Barrio Gotico by Sebastian Faena, for example, starring the scarily skinny Iris Strubegger) – but others are sublime. Apart from One Size Fits All by Terry Richardson, featuring the heavenly Crystal Renn and Jacquelyn Jablonski, my attention has been caught by Curves Ahead, shot by the Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø and styled by Nicola Formichetti [2], at the moment my favourite stylist.

The protagonists of most shots are Tara Lynn, Candice Huffine, Michelle Olson and Marquita Pring. I love the style of the images, reminiscent of Richard Avedon’s work for many Versace campaigns. The setting is kept bare – the models pose in front of a neutral background – to let the girls do the talking – and there is an extensive use of a wind machine, which in my mind is immediately connected to the Eighties. In the shot above, the models all wear denim clothes – skinny jeans, a vest and a jacket – and they all look fabulous.