With Raf Simons showing his first ready-to-wear womens collection for Dior and Hedi Slimane doing the same at the newly revamped Saint Laurent Paris, the Balenciaga show this week was a compartively quiet affair. For Nicholas Ghesquière, though, it was business as usual. Over the years he's mastered the ability to tap into Balenciaga signatures without becoming a slave to its archive and this season he continued to move things forward while taking a considered look back.
The collection was more sexual than we've ever seen from him. Inspired by a dress designed by Cristobel Balanciaga in 1968, ruffles appears on asymmetric skirts that came short at the front and long at the back with enough thigh on show to make both Anja Rubik and Angelina Jolie happy. But as you would expect, it wasn't straight up sexy in a Pucci kind of way. The sensuality was offset with boxy cropped tops and oversized coats and masculine tailored waistcoats that had K-Stew's name all over them. The moral of the story? It's not just a two man race in Paris.
If you're amongst the growing group getting sick of all things cat-related, you might not want to read this because yet again, our favourite feline friends are in the spotlight but this time it's not all about Choupette Lagerfeld.
Grace Coddington recently teamed up with Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga to design a small line of pieces named and inspired by her cat, Pumpkin. As the preview image shows, that has translated onto the colours used on the bags and according to the press release, the scarves in the collection will also feature Pumpkin drawings of Pumpkin sported some of the brnad's key looks from the past decade.
Despite the fact that the news of Kristen Stewart's affair with film director Rupert Sanders has been public knowledge for a few weeks now, it's a story that just won't disappear. That wasn't helped by the fact that RPat had his first post-announcement interview yesterday on the Daily Show. But despite all of the negative attention surrounding her, things are still all good for KStew.
Yesterday rumours began to circulate that the actress had been dropped by Balenciaga as the face of their upcoming fragrance, Florabotanica, after the Twilight star was notably absent in the scent's campaign video but the reports are false. Today the brand told Grazia Daily that she is still very much the face of the fragrance and the controversy hasn't impacted on their relationship. The video that was released was actually an internal one and not a TV commercial as people had initially thought.
We've known that Kristen Stewart will front the campaign for Balenciaga's latest fragrance for a while but until now, the brand has keep quiet about the details.
Today WWD reports that the scent, which is set to drop in September, is called Florabotanica and the campaign has already been shot by Steven Meisel and sees the actress appear wearing a floral dress.
Talking to the title the 22 year-old revealed that fragrances were not something she was ever interested in until she smelt the scent. 'I'm very lucky that I like the fragrance, because I would have done anything with [Balenciaga designer Nicholas Ghesquière]...and I'm a terrible liar,' she revealed. 'There is something natural about it...it's very alive. I think as a young person wearing it - considering that I've never worn a scent - it kind of puts you on this level of, like, 'Whoa, check me out'.'
Despite the prevalence of e-commerce today, many of the leading fashion brands have still been reluctant to sell online but it looks like that's about to change. Today PPR reportedly signed a letter of intent with Italian online retailer, Yoox SpA, to set up a site to see their brands' collections.
The letter is non-binding but what it does show that the fashion conglomerate is seriously planning to commit to an e-commerce venture, which naturally includes their brands like Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. 'PPR and Yoox intend to continue negotiations with the aim of closing a definitive agreement in the comings months,' a source from the company told Bloomberg in an email. The new venture is part of PPRs bigger plan to reach 1 billion euros worth of online sales by 2012.
Kristen Stewart was out and about this morning in Cannes promoting her movie, 'On The Road' at it's photo call during the Cannes Film Festival. For the occasion she mixed her statement printed Balenciaga trousers with a simple tee and classic black blazer from Rebecca Minkoff. The look isn't the best we have seen from the Cannes photo calls but it definitely taps into her laid back aesthetic.
Miranda Kerr has never done too badly when it comes to her modelling career but it's over the last few years that we have really seen her career catapult in fashion circles. Like Joan Smalls, her career before was mainly commercial but recently things have really changed for her. Aside from her role as a Victoria's Secret Angel, Kerr has walked for everyone from Prada to Balenciaga and has appeared in magazines like Harper's Bazaar and Vogue Italia.
Ironically, though, all of the changes took place after she found out she was pregnant. 'At the moment I'm trying to do 60/40 - I spend most of my time at home being a mother and only work on jobs that I really love and with brands that I really want to work with,' she told Vogue.com when asked about the pressures. 'I've cut back quite a bit because especially the travelling can be too much and my son is obviously my number one priority. It's working out well at the moment because I'm doing fun jobs here and there and getting to spend lots of time with my boys.'
Tommy Ton may not be interested in releasing a book just yet but a foray into fashion design is definitely in his future. Yesterday Stevie Dance launched her new online shopping magazine, Shop Ghost, an in an interview with the street style photographer he confirmed that design is something he's interested in. 'I definitely feel that another five years [from now] is probably when I would do a collection.'
While some purists may be cynical and question Ton's decision considering his lack of design training, the move definitely makes sense. After all, over the past few years he has been surrounded by the best clothes and accessories in the business and clearly has a great eye. It doesn't hurt that he's been collection vintage pieces as references too. 'I actually have an archive because I buy old Balenciaga, not like old, old Balenciaga, but I’m talking about early 2000s Balenciaga,' he said. 'It’s mostly women’s. Helmut Lang and Balenciaga. The archive will serve as a reference if I ever design a collection.'
As we count down to tonight's Oscars, we have compiled some images of some of the best red carpet moments we've had over the last few years.
Naturally Hilary Swank's Guy Laroche dress that she wore to accept the Best Female gong for 'Million Dollar Baby' is in the list, alongside Nicole Kidman in that red Balenciaga halter neck dress that she wore in 2007 and that breathtaking Atelier Versace gown that Penelope Cruz wore back in 2007.
This week has been a busy one in Hollywood. Earlier on this week we had the People's Choice Awards and last night was the turn of the Critics Choice Awards.
Outfits on the night that realy stood out came from Charlize Theron in Azzedine Alaia, Michelle Williams in Chanel, Kristen Dunst in Christian Dior, Jessica Chastian in Balenciaga and Shailene Woodley in Calvin Klein. I was really excited to see what Elizabeth Olsen would wear over the next week but her yellow Emilio Pucci dress that she wore to last night's event hasn't got me excited about what is yet to come.
