And the Bride wore ARMANI!!!

Prince Albert of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock were finally married after much anticipation. Not as much as the wedding of William & Kate, but anticipation none the less. And when Miss Wittstcok walked down the aisle she wore nothing but the best... Mr Georgio Armani himself! And might I add it was a beautiful gown. The boat neckline perfectly complimented Charlene's rather broad swimmer shoulders. Mr. Armani designed Princess Charlene�s off-white duchess silk gown. According to a statement from the designer�s company, the front of the gown was embroidered with flowers, gold-colored stones, crystals and mother-of-pearl teardrops. The neckline was rather eye-catching, severe almost, with an asymmetrical cross-over that seemed intended as a modernizing effect. I found that detail a bit cold. But, overall, the dress was a sophisticated style for a glamor capital.

The wedding was attended by Karl Lagerfeld, along with Noami Campbell, Karolina Kurkova, and many more famous faces. I have to say, Naomi looked so sophisticated and stylish. I loved her dress. Karolina on the other hand looked like she she fire her stylist. I didnt like anything about her look!

What did you think of the Monaco Royal Wedding? And most importantly, the dress!
xoxo

Racism in Fashion

This past week saw British designer John Galliano (pictured below) being suspended from Christian Dior, after an alleged anti-Semitic verbal assault by the Dior designer in a Paris bar. A video emerged of him ranting about Jews and women. "I love Hitler. People like you would be dead today," he tells two horrified women. "Your mothers, your forefathers, would be f***ing gassed and f***ing dead."

Fashion people everywhere rushed to check their hair before joining the chorus of dismay, almost as if racism and sexism were not the stock-in-trade of their industry. In fact, it is an open secret in high fashion that black and minority ethnic faces - alongside women whose ribs cannot be counted through their rattan tops, or "fat mummies" in the phraseology of Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld - are not welcome. The few working black models accuse fashion houses of declining to hire them on the basis of skin tone - model agencies recently suggested that perhaps consumers just don't like looking at black people.


Diversity in fashion is going backwards. The recent fashion week in New York, one of the most multicultural places on the planet, featured 85 per cent white models, a proportion that has hardly changed in a decade. French Vogue famously showcased white, Dutch model Lara Stone in blackface (pictured below), and when real black models do make it on to the pages of magazines, the airbrushing invariably lightens their colouring and straightens their hair into more marketable, Caucasian styles (see picture below). Then we wonder why anxious teenagers across the world are using dangerous toxins to bleach the blackness out of their skin.

What should shock is not just the substance of Galliano's comments, but the fact that it took a man being caught on camera explicitly saying that he loves Hitler for the fashion industry to acknowledge a teeny problem with racism. The rabid misogyny of Galliano's outburst has hardly been commented on because, while most people now acknowledge that anti-Semitism isn't very nice, the jury is still out on institutional sexism.

The misogyny of fashion culture, however, exceeds its apparent conviction that any woman with the temerity to do more than silently starve herself is abhorrent. Silent complicity surrounds the rapes and sexual assaults that are routine in the industry. When the designer Anand Jon was last year found guilty on 16 counts of rape and sexual battery of models as young as 14, the only surprise expressed by fashion insiders was that his victims had dared to come forward at all.

The pearl-clutching piety of the response to Galliano's ugly outburst is a primer in tasteful hypocrisy. High-profile fashion colleagues eventually expressed discomfort with his viewpoint, if that's an appropriate term for the sort of drooling monologue normally delivered by a park-bench pervert with two hands down his pants. The problem with racism and sexism in fashion, however, goes far beyond one slurring fantasist.

COCO CHANEL

For me, Coco Chanel is the ultimate, supreme designer that ever lived. Born on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With her trademark suits and little black dresses, Coco Chanel created timeless designs that are still popular today. She herself became a much revered style icon known for her simple yet sophisticated outfits paired with great accessories, such as several strands of pearls. As Chanel once said,�luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.�

Opening her first shop on Paris�s Rue Cambon in 1910, Chanel started out selling hats. She later added stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began making clothes. Her first taste of clothing success came from a dress she fashioned out of an old jersey on a chilly day. In response to the many people who asked about where she got the dress, she offered to make one for them. �My fortune is built on that old jersey that I�d put on because it was cold in Deauville,� she once told author Paul Morand.


In the 1920s, Chanel took her thriving business to new heights. She launched her first perfume, Chanel No. 5, which was the first to feature a designer�s name. Perfume �is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion. . . . that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure,� Chanel once explained.

In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit with collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary for the time�borrowing elements of men�s wear and emphasizing comfort over the constraints of then-popular fashions. She helped women say good-bye to the days of corsets and other confining garments.



Another 1920s revolutionary design was Chanel�s little black dress. She took a color once associated with mourning and showed just how chic it could be for eveningwear. In addition to fashion, Chanel was a popular figure in the Paris literary and artistic worlds. She designed costumes for the Ballets Russes and for Jean Cocteau�s play Orph�e, and counted Cocteau and artist Pablo Picasso among her friends.

The international economic depression of the 1930s had a negative impact on her company, but it was the outbreak of World War II that led Chanel to close her business. She fired her workers and shut down her shops. During the German occupation of France, Chanel got involved with a German military officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. She got special permission to stay in her apartment at the Hotel Ritz. After the war ended, Chanel was interrogated by her relationship with von Dincklage, but she was not charged as a collaborator. Some have wondered whether friend Winston Churchill worked behind the scenes on Chanel�s behalf.



At the age of 70, Chanel made a triumphant return to the fashion world. She first received scathing reviews from critics, but her feminine and easy-fitting designs soon won over shoppers around the world.

Coco Chanel died on January 10, 1971, at her apartment in the Hotel Ritz. She never married, having once said �I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.� Hundreds crowded together at the Church of the Madeleine to bid farewell to the fashion icon. In tribute, many of the mourners wore Chanel suits.



Three decades after her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at her company to continue the Chanel legacy. Today her namesake company continues to thrive and is believed to generate hundreds of millions in sales each year.