Back in March Chanel unveiled the images from their latest book, 'The Little Black Jacket', in Tokyo and last night they brought the travelling exhibition to New York with everyone from Pharrell Williams and Zoe Kravitz to regulars like Dree Hemingway and Poppy Delevigne in attendance.
Just as a refresher, the exhibition includes a selection of over 100 black and white photographs of models and celebrities shot by Karl Lagerfeld. Each star sports the brand's classic black tweed jacket styled in different ways by Carine Roitfeld.
The exhibition opens tomorrow until June 15 over at 18 Wooster Street.
Now I really want to interact with normal people, who are out of fashion, or very young people that discover fashion and think that what I’m doing is cooler than the rest of it. There is a conversation for sure.
You may not recognise the name Andrew Rosen but does Theory ring a bell? The middle market retailer was established by Rosen back in 1997 with Elie Tahari and really paved the way for the contemporary market which is dominating the industry right now. In recognition of his sucess the Wall Street Journal have released a big feature on him titled, 'A Homegrown Fashion Mogul'.
While the term 'mogul' seems to be applied to any reality TV star making money off the back of their show or in the case of Kim Kardashian has more Twitter followers that Barack Obama, Rosen actually fits the bill. Theory has grown from yearly sales of $30 million back to $700 million today and last year he helped take the brand to the next level by hiring the brilliant Olivier Theyskens to serve as a creative director for his own line under the Theory umbrella.
But it doesn't just end there. Rosen helped pump financial support to several key young American brands like Proenza Schouler, Rag & Bone and Alice + Olivia, helping take their businesses to the next level. 'We don't have a Gucci or LVMH in this country," Anna Wintour said of Rosen, "but in his own way, Andrew is creating a kind of American equivalent.' And it's true. Rosen has pretty much done for contemporary brands what the big European conglomerates have done for luxury brands. If Lazaro Hernandez is anything to go by, Rosen might actually be doing a better job for these young brands. 'I mean, we hang out,' he told the title. 'If we wanted to be employees, we would have gone to one of the big vacant houses in Europe.' Rosen suggested the same thing at the time when the Proenza deal was announced. 'We believe that the Proenza business is the future of American luxury, and uniquely poised to compete in a global marketplace, which is currently dominated by European designers.'
Do you agree with Wintour? Is Rosen that influential?
Karl Lagerfeld's collaboration with Carine Roitfeld on 'The Little Black Jacket: Chanel's Classic Revisted' is the partnership that we've all been excited for. So far the brand have teased us by taking us behind-the-scenes of the shoot for the book, as well as making us a fly on the wall at the recent exhibition for the book in Tokyo in that video that they released earlier this week.
Yesterday they launched thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com, an 'e-exhibition', which showcases everyone from Georgia May Jagger to Olivier Theyskens wearing the iconic black Chanel tweed jacket styled by Roitfeld. The concept really works. The diverse cast for the book is illustrative of the timeless quality of the piece and its ability to transcend generations and styles. The book is available online on Amazon for only $39 but in the meantime, have a glimpse at some of my favourite images from the book.
Caroline Trentini took a break from her modelling duties to get married over the weekend to photographer Fabio Bartelt, after announcing her engagement last November. Trentini's dress was custom-made by Olivier Theyksens and has an uncanny resemblance to Kate Middleton's Alexander McQueen wedding dress.
When Theory announced that they had secured Olivier Theyskens' to design a line for them, I was surprised. After all, he is the designer that created 'that' dress for Madonna and his work at Nina Ricci was more couture than accessible smart but chic office wear as Theory is widely known for. Each season, however, we are shown just how right the collaboration is.
Theysken's Theory is painstakingly cool. As always, the Belgian designer showed a collection full of the pieces that you, and any downtown girl, would love to have in her wardrobe. A sequined jacket added that something extra to an otherwise super casual shorts and t-shirt combo and simple shirt peeped out underneath a bright yellow sweater styled with black leather shorts. Outwear came in all shapes and sizes ranging from a oversized styles in grey to a beautifully structured gold jacket that came accentuated at the waist.
It's not often that we cover the pre-season collections but Olivier Theyskens' Theory collection is definitely worth mentioning. Since arriving at Theory back in Spring 2011, the designer has really got into his stride and his mastered the cool t-shirt and jeans aesthetic with ease.
While there's nothing particularly groundbreaking about the collection, that is exactly why it works. The collection is full of everyday pieces that will slip into your wardrobe and remain as staples from seasont to season; so if you want pieces that will work hard for you, Theyskens' your man.
It's taken me a while to embrace Nina Ricci post-Olivier Theyksnes but this week, Peter Copping got it just right. The collection was the perfect combination of femininity and womanly sensuality as Copping revisited the floral prints by Zina de Plagny who collaborated with the brand back in 1930, incorporating them on figure hugging skirts and dresses nipped in at the waist. The prints came in different shades and styles like a grey and white version on an oversized lightweight coat to in a ditsy muti-coloured style on feminine dresses and thigh skimming playsuits.
The use of lingerie, which he started for Resort, helped add a grown up feel to pieces that could have easily felt a bit cutesy. Bra tops came in day time styles teamed with flirty skirts in white and for evening, they came under cropped sleeve jackets and matching skirts and a sexy cropped cocoon shaped jacket teamed with a body hugging pencil skirt that you can imagine Kim Kardashian sporting. Slip dresses also appeared, as did sheer midi length dresses in white with cut out details along the hem unveiling lingerie underneath in a similar vein of what we've seen over the past few seasons. Lace also added a grown-up twist along the neckline of lightweight cardigans teamed with cropped tops and sexy over the knee skirts.
I was out on the streets, seeing what regular girls were wearing and buying, and was like, ‘I should be able to do this!’ I was thinking about an urban look, an urban girl–and you can’t create an urban look without getting inspired by the streets of New York. Everything on the business side of things seemed more complicated than what I was used to–making a certain number of deliveries per year, entering the ‘meat market’ of the New York fashion industry–but then I met with Andrew and it changed. When we started talking, I wasn’t even thinking about working there–just sharing my own ideas and telling him what I wanted to do next–but he told me to look more closely at what was happening at his own brand, and I liked it a lot. I loved that it was totally centered and structured 100% around New York.
