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Gaultier: "Sgt. Pepper!" Menswear

February 5, 2018, 9:47 am
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The opening blast of "Sgt. Pepper" made sense when Jean Paul Gaultier mentioned John Lennon as something of an influence on his latest collection (though the song was Paul's). He also name-checked Michael Jackson, which possibly explained some of the show's weirder elements (a hot-pink travel pillow in the shape of a sleeping cat?).
But then he said his real intention was a tribute to cultish French singer Philippe Katerine, and the obtuseness of that allusion for anyone outside France immediately underscored the oddness of the clothes.
They were infused with Katerine's taste for outlandish, incongruous getups: silky black harem pants tucked into army boots, full culottes under a white trench, a pinstriped waiter's jacket topping a silver sarong, a teal pilot's jacket (was it Qantas?) worn over a Speedo.
Gaultier has always had a ken for the gender-bend (one's heart went out to the beefcake who had to suffer the catwalk in laced britches and kitten-heeled boots) but he's typically balanced his follies with eminently desirable tailoring.

 Here, the balance was off, though there was one baggy-trousered suit in the designer's signature pinstripes, and another all-white group looked rather appealingly like a tailor's toiles. Gaultier's equally signature affection for trompe l'oeil appeared as a tie woven into a waistcoat. Katerine should enjoy the gilded denim pieces, and the Speedo with the big brass buttons practically has his name on it.
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Gaultier: "Russian Ballet" Couture....

February 5, 2018, 10:39 am
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Jean Paul Gaultier held his autumn/winter  haute couture show yesterday. The collection was inspired by Russian ballet. You can really see that influence displayed in the Fair Isle knits, tweet jackets, and fur details. Cathy Horyn of the New York Times said, "this collection, while heavy in spots, really alluded to the personal style of that worldly brigade."
Not to take the standard approach on the theme, Gaultier incorporated various kinds of feathers into the collection. From coq feathers to ostrich plumes, Gaultier was liberal with his use of pheasant trims on dresses, skirts, and headwear.
The International Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes felt that he "expressed the new spirit of couture, which is based on fabulous workmanship — yet with some discretion." And for the first time Gaultier introduced haute couture menswear.
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Gaultier: "Bond. James Bond....."

February 5, 2018, 11:21 am
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Jean Paul has always been known as one of the worlds finest designers but he is special in his trade as he designs haute couture
which is a privilege instead of a right. If the syndicate chamber haute couture invites you to be a couturier then you are of the highest ranking design talents in the world.
Unfortunately there has been some time since a couture show has included menswear and who better to step to the plate than the man who tests the boundaries of gender and the limitations of design, than Gaultier himself?
Gaultier loves to put on a show. And in case you didn't know that, you could probably deduce it from the acrobat-ninjas that flipped down the runway at the beginning of his Fall collection. The curtains parted to reveal Bond, James Bond, natty in a tuxedo. He did his lap. Then came his successor: Blond. James Blond.
Blond is the androgynous (even by male-model standards) Andrej Pejic, who has lately cast a spell on Gaultier. He teetered down the runway in a shirt unbuttoned to his navel, a pair of stiletto-heeled booties, and a cascade of Veronica Lake curls. The cast of characters that followed could've represented villains or allies, or even 45 different alterna-Bonds.
 The show was mainly an exegesis on the tuxedo and its trappings—and when you think about it, it's sort of clever to do it through the lens of Bond, the classic Black Ops in black tie. There was plenty of silliness in the execution, though: Tuxes with hot pants and fishnets, tuxes with long, navy-buttoned skirts, and a whole passage of neoprene jackets and tuxes with wet suits. (Has JPG, like Neil Barrett in Milan, caught a bit of a scuba bug?)
The name Thierry Mugler has hung over Paris like a specter this week, but the gold (as in finger) padded pants and embossed jacket shown here came closer to vintage Mugler than most of what Nicola Formichetti and company sent out for that house's revival.
There were some buyable items scattered throughout (including the new shades Gaultier is making with Alain Mikli, though they looked readier for The Matrix than Moonraker). Whatever else, JPG keeps it interesting—you could say he likes his shtick shaken, not stirred.

Looks careened from tattoo-print knits to hooded sweatshirt vests. Man-woman mashups gave some of the old JPG flavor: There were long kulats that looked half sarong-half pant, long floor-sweeping skirts, and suits overlaid with matching kilts. In an effort to cram even more on more, many models had extra jackets and tops tied around their waists. As they swept past, the wide circumference of their silhouette resembled an elegant ball gown. Somehow that brought you back to those unifying symbols, those man's man hats. And then at the finale, Gaultier tipped his, and the whole cast tossed theirs into the crowd. So much for that.

For his Fall Winter couture collection in Paris Jean Paul showcased a series of looks that were inspired by poet and emoirist Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin also known as George Sand. She was known for running amok and doing horrendously unimaginable things like smoking in public and cross dressing. These terrorized the locals and her reputation was born.
The very same rep that carried on throughout the ages and inspired Gaultier to dress his models like men. Perhaps this was the idea that spawned menswear in his couture show.

Since there already were men’s designs, why not have male models show them off? This show should go down in the history books for driving men to appreciate and purchase haute couture clothing.




 The market has had its doors shut to the male audience for so long that even now that the collection has been released it is a wonder if it will sell any pieces?
C heck out the images of Andrej Pejic, who wore both male and female clothing during the runway show. He looks Amazing!






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Jean Paul Gaultier: 90s...

February 6, 2018, 9:40 am
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“We designers think we’ve invented something, but we haven’t at all,” Jean Paul Gaultier told Vogue when talking about his Fin de Siècle collection, the subject of which was a century of fashion, from S-curve corsets to Lycra. Gaultier’s aim was not to replicate the past: “It’s not modern to do an exact copy,” he told Vogue. “You have to mix up the decades in order to achieve a modern silhouette.”
If current fashion is defined by a high-low mix, that of the late 1990s was fixated on an old-new one. “A lot of young girls like old movies and dream to have old dresses that you can’t find anymore,” Gaultier told The New York Times. “I played with that.” The designer, who bizarrely gave interviews from a velvet-lined box, saved his biggest magic trick for the finale: Madonna in a slip dress pushing an antique pram from which she lifted a young pup.
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Dior Homme Brings Back '90s Male SuperModels!

February 6, 2018, 9:53 am
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Dior Homme Brings Back
90s Male Supermodels!

When Versace reunited Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Carla Bruni, and Claudia Schiffer on the runway during its Spring 2018 show, the moment was a highlight of the season.
Seeing the iconic faces of the supermodel era return to the runway was impressive, but the ’90s modeling scene wasn’t just about its girls, and today at Dior Homme Kris Van Assche provided a lesson in fashion history.

 Enlisting some of the decade’s most prominent men to walk for his Fall 2018 collection, Van Assche brought back the male supermodel and its aesthetic sensibility. Opening with Cameron Alborzian, the chiseled British-Iranian male model who dominated fashion advertising during the decade and starred as the object of desire in Madonna’s “Express Yourself” video, Van Assche reintroduced several key faces.
For model fans, Van Assche’s runway was a trip down memory lane. There was Mark Vanderloo, the handsome Dutch star once dubbed modeling’s Brad Pitt, Belgian fashion mainstays Alain Gossuin and Arnaud Lemaire, who have been gracing magazines since Y2K was a concern, and Brit James Rousseau, whose presence in luxury ads made him inescapable throughout the aughts.
Though the group lacks the name recognition of Cindy or Naomi, their faces were ubiquitous in imagery for brands like Calvin Klein, Versace, Hugo Boss, and of course, Dior. More than just former models, the group has established themselves beyond the reaches of fashion. With Alborzian now a successful health and fitness guru, Lemaire presenting on French television, Rousseau acting, and Gossuin still booking one great job after another, they’re all examples of longevity in a business known for its quick turnover.
Nostalgia is nice, but the presence of older models was equally welcome. At 55 and 50, respectively, Gossuin and Alborzian provide contrast to the sea of teenaged and 20-something talent currently dominating the menswear shows. Though the discussion regarding age representation during fashion month has largely focused on women, the need for showcasing a greater range of ages across both sides of the industry has become increasingly evident.
 The adolescent focus of many top casts can result in shows filled with high school students, but the legal protections extended to underage female models are rarely considered for their male counterparts. All of which makes Van Assche’s choice to showcase the beauty of maturity more than just a fun throwback. By continuing a conversation that has been brewing for months with affecting moment, the designer gave the season a much needed casting high point.

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SuperModel of the World, Cindy talk Versace!

February 6, 2018, 10:09 am
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<p>InStyle March - Cindy Crawford Lead</p>

Cindy Crawford on the Power of Gianni Versace and That Moment Last Fashion Week
In order to better understand what’s behind the return of the original supermodels in popular culture today, it helps to go back to the beginning.
“If you asked me when that moment really happened,” recalls Cindy Crawford one afternoon from her home in Malibu, “I would have to say it was the Versace show when Christy, Linda, Naomi, and I came out together lip-synching to that George Michael song.”
The year was 1991, and the song was “Freedom! ’90,” which had been playing nonstop on radio and on television too, with an accompanying David Fincher-directed video starring Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, and, of course, Crawford.
<p>InStyle March - Cindy Crawford Lead</p>
Gianni Versace, the Italian designer then in his high-glam prime, had one of the hottest brands on earth, having been early to recognize the potent combination of fashion and celebrity. His fall 1991 show in Milan, which re-created the supermodel lip-synching scene from Michael’s video, set the fashion world on fire.

<p>InStyle March - Cindy Crawford Lead</p>
“With the generation before us, there were show girls, and there were print girls, and very few did both,” Crawford says. “Gianni was the first to say, ‘I want the women in my campaign to also be on the runway.’ It was palpable that something had shifted.”
Fast-forward to this past September, when another electric moment happened on the Versace runway as Donatella Versace, who has carried the family torch as creative and artistic director since the murder of her brother Gianni 20 years ago, walked the finale of her spring collection to the same song along with five of the OG supermodels dressed in shimmering gold mesh dresses. Crawford and Campbell were there, joined by Carla Bruni, Helena Christensen, and Claudia Schiffer (each had been in the 1991 show as well). The explosive surprise ending and a collection that was based on archival prints from the early 1990s, Versace says, was her tribute to Gianni. And this time the entire social media world would take note: Her video post alone was viewed more than 1.1 million times on Instagram.
<p>InStyle March - Cindy Crawford Lead</p>
“The reason why I did it, it’s simple,” Versace says. “I wanted the young people who maybe weren’t even born when Gianni was creating the world of Versace to experience it firsthand.”
Given how instrumental Versace was in the original rise of supermodels, it seems fitting that the company would, like them, be experiencing a resurgence. In December, shortly after Ms. Versace was presented with an icon award from the British Fashion Council, The Guardian dubbed 2017 the year of Versace. Tim Blanks, the veteran journalist and critic, named her designer of the year and the “best reminder that tomorrow is another day.” And the buzz is only growing louder this year, with ongoing celebrations of the company’s 40th anniversary, culminating in Versace’s sponsorship of the Met Gala in May!!
“I want everybody talking about Versace again,” she says from Milan with her signature shoot-for-the-stars, I-got-this gusto. “I want to be on top.”
<p>InStyle March - Cindy Crawford Lead</p>
All of this comes at an interesting—and perhaps critical—moment for both the company and the designer. There have been rumblings for more than a year that Versace, 62, might step aside, while plans for a public offering have been delayed. For months it was presumed that Riccardo Tisci, the former Givenchy designer and a close friend of Versace’s, would take over the house, but talks broke down last summer. Subsequent reports pointed to Virgil Abloh, Kim Jones, and Olivier Rousteing as potential successors, but those have been denied. Versace herself suggests all the industry gossip has been exaggerated.“As much as it has already happened that I opened the door to my house to other designers, I do not really understand what all the fuss is about that it might happen again,” she says, citing her previous collaborations with young designers on Versace’s Versus collection, including Christopher Kane and Anthony Vaccarello, who have gone on to become stars themselves. “When you have a brand like Versace, it comes with huge baggage, and sometimes you want to see it through the eyes of someone else to remain relevant.”But if any designer has shown an uncanny ability to remain not only relevant but also resilient over the decades, it is Donatella Versace—once spoofed as a mumbling, Champagne-swilling diva on Saturday Night Live (“Now, get out!”), now celebrated as a feminist icon in songs by Lady Gaga, Migos, and Bruno Mars. In recent years her collections have shown remarkable confidence while tapping into a contemporary message of women’s empowerment (her fall designs bore the words “Unity,” “Courage,” “Loyalty,” or “Love”), placing the sexually assertive Versace aesthetic in a modern new light. As Versace notes, many young people, including the next generation of models in her spring show, are just now discovering her brother’s impact, and so she wanted the story to be told correctly.
<p>InStyle March - Cindy Crawford Lead</p>
(The Versace family, not surprisingly, objected to its dramatization in the FX series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, which débuted in January.)Crawford remembers meeting the Versaces for the first time when she was photographed for a campaign by Richard Avedon in New York in the 1980s and then came to know them more closely as she traveled to Milan for the shows, often as a Versace exclusive. In those days models often stayed in the same hotel, shared cars, and even carried their own makeup kits. Linda Evangelista could do her own eyebrows better than anyone else, Crawford says. Often they would sit around on the floor backstage getting ready, young women forming an unlikely bond at a perfect moment when fashion was changing.
“Gianni loved women and wanted them to feel beautiful in the clothes,” Crawford says. “Donatella was probably his first muse. She was always around, helping choose what we would wear and what she thought was important to him.”
Versace describes her earlier role as more behind-the-scenes, although she was already widely known to the fashion press as a glamorous hostess. “I was the one who pushed Gianni to do things his own way, to break the rules,” she says. But with his sudden absence, she found herself thrust into the spotlight, and, in her own words, “I had to put on a mask. I had to be strong for me, for my children, for all the people who worked at Versace.”Finding the strength to use her voice was a process that took many years, filled with setbacks and mistakes, a public reckoning with drug addiction, but also moments of success. It was her easy relationship with megastars that led to some of the most indelible moments in the company’s history, like shows with performances by Prince and Tupac Shakur. At the men’s shows in January, she partied with 2 Chainz. When asked what they could possibly have in common, Versace responds, “We talk about life."
Part of the current appeal of both Versace and the supermodels is that these women are doing exactly that. Crawford, Versace says, has never been afraid of using her own power or sensuality. “She is like the sun!” Versace says. “I remember that she was the one asking for the most sexy dresses. She always wanted the skirt a little bit shorter or the cleavage a little more strong.” Crawford does not dispute this account and in fact cites a very revealing Versace ensemble of black lace and bondage straps she wore to the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards as one of her all-time favorites. It remains in her private collection.
“Versace celebrated powerful women but also beautiful and sexy women who are unapologetic about not being a victim,” Crawford says. “Donatella has carried on the original brand, but she brings a female perspective as well.”
When they were reunited last fall, the models were each given a separate dressing area, and Pat McGrath and her team did their makeup. Crawford, longing for the old days, kept running over to Helena’s and Claudia’s and Naomi’s changing rooms to reconnect. One of the coolest moments happened when her daughter, Kaia Gerber, in the midst of her first big season on the catwalks and also walking in the Versace show, witnessed the reactions to the supermodels back in action.
“To her I’m mom, but I’m Cindy Crawford to her friends,” Crawford says.
<p>InStyle March - Cindy Crawford Lead</p>

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Where are those Versace Costumes from the Miniseries?!

February 7, 2018, 7:20 am
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You’ll Never Guess Where the Versace Costumes in the Crime Story About Gianni’s Death Are Really From?!
<p>Versace ACS</p>
American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace is easily one of the most anticipated TV shows of 2018—and for good reason. After all, the first installment of the true crime-based anthology series, The People v. O.J. Simpson, swept the Emmys with a whopping nine wins last year. Now, the latest brainchild from creator Ryan Murphy is finally here. Season two of the FX series, which premieres Jan. 17 at 10 p.m., explores the 1997 murder of designer Gianni Versace that shook the fashionworld.
Edgar Ramirez brings the founder of the Italian fashion house to life onscreen, while Penélope Cruz nails the part of his sister and ultimate successor, Donatella Versace. The show also stars Ricky Martin as Gianni’s scene-stealing lover, Antonio D’Amico. But hands down, the most powerful performance is delivered by DarrenCriss, whose downright bone-chilling portrayal of serial killer Andrew Cunanan will be hard for viewers to forget.
The all-star cast is alluring, but impossible to overlook are the costumes they wear. It’s rare for a crime series to be so deeply rooted in fashion. On top of that, the fashion house was decidedly uninvolved with the project, so costume designers Lou Eyrich and Allison Leach had to get creative, turning to resellers online to buy real Versace items from past collections. 


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Original SuperModels back on Versace Runway!

February 7, 2018, 8:25 am
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Original Supermodels Reunite for Walk Down Versace Runway 26 Years Later -
 and Haven't Changed a Bit
The new generation of supermodels (which now includes Cindy Crawford’s daughter Kaia) may be having a moment, but the original supermodels are having an era. And if you need proof, look no further than Milan Fashion Week. On Friday, Carla Bruni joined supers Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen and Claudia Schiffer for a stunning, shimmering walk down the Versace runway, paying tribute to the late Gianni Versace on the 20th anniversary of his death and paying homage to one of the most iconic modeling moments of all time.
After the spring/summer collection was presented on models including Gigi and Bella Hadid and Kaia Gerber, the show stopped to reveal the five legendary models, draped in the “dazzling metal mesh” Gianna Versace was known for, posing like goddesses against the backdrop. Then they descended from their poses to hit the runway with designer (and sister of Gianni) Donatella Versace.
The models walked to the tune of George Michael’s Freedom 90 – the music video in which Crawford and Campbell starred, as well the soundtrack to the iconic moment on the Versace Fall/Winter 1991 runway in which Linda Evangelista, Crawford, Campbell and Christy Turlington all joined hands and hit the runway to sing along to the song. The five models on Friday’s runway had all walked for Versace before Gianni’s murder in July 1997 (see Bruni, along with Campbell, Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, Amber Valletta and more below) and are often associated with the designer’s exuberant, colorful and often over-the-top pieces.
His sister Donatella has continued the house’s close relationship with models (many of whom the supermodels currently mentor – Naomi Campbell gives Gigi Hadid walking tips, and Cindy Crawford clearly has passed some tips onto Kaia), and clearly still maintains a friendship with the supermodels who are so closely associated with the brand.
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VERSACE Runway: '90 SUperModels Epic!

February 7, 2018, 8:42 am
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An Epic '90s Supermodel Reunion Went Down On The Versace Runway
Following the announcement of the Gianni Versace scholarship for design students at Central Saint Martins, Donatella once again paid tribute to her legendary brother during the 20th anniversary of his death.
For the brand's Spring 2018 show in Milan, the designer assembled an entire George Michael music video's worth of supermodels to don gold lame gowns that truly threw it back to the '90s.
With Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Carla Bruni, and Helena Christensen in the house, iconic is an understatement.
Of course the usual suspects sauntered down the catwalk as well, including Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Crawford's own daughter, Kaia Gerber.
But it was the nostalgic reimagining of Versace's classic prints, combined with the bridging of two generations of supermodels, that made this a majorly touching Fashion Week moment.
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VERSACE: SuperModels back in Campaign!

February 7, 2018, 8:56 am
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Versace's Spring 2018 Campaign Is Stacked With a Supermodel Lineup
Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bündchen, Christy Turlington and Kaia Gerber, among many others, were photographed by Steven Meisel.
Naomi Campbell for the Versace Spring 2018 campaign. Photo: Steven Meisel 
When Donatella Versace presented a supermodel-studded Spring 2018 runway finale during Milan Fashion Week in September, both showgoers and those on social media lost their shit, to put it frankly.
The collection was a tribute to Donatella's late brother Gianni Versace's 20th anniversary of his death, while Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Helena Christensen and Carla Bruni took a turn on the catwalk as a nostalgic ode to the designer and a simpler, but way flashier, time in the fashion industry. 
Now, Donatella is aiming to bring back some of the excitement from fashion week into ad campaign season, with a stacked lineup of OG models and up-and-coming faces photographed by Steven Meisel. The full campaign, titled "A New School Take on Family Tradition," will debut on Dec. 18, reports WWD, and will be comprised of photos and videos, according to The New York Times
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From that memorable runway finale in Milan, Campbell is the only supermodel to star in the campaign, joined by Gisele Bündchen, Irina Shayk, Christy Turlington, Natalia Vodianova and Raquel Zimmermann. More Insta-friendly models are also featured, including Kaia Gerber, Gigi Hadid, Grace Elizabeth, Vittoria Ceretti, Cara Taylor, Birgit Kos and male model Noah Luis Brown.
"This campaign represents the link between past and present. You need to know who you are, and where you are coming from, to build your future," said Donatella in an official statement. "And when you are at the head of a brand with such a strong heritage as mine, you can only embrace it. This is the reason why I wanted to see this iconic supermodel cast next to the soon-to-be-iconic girls of the future."

 We've already been seeing a lot of Versace's Spring 2018 collection in the fashion and pop culture space: The Gianni-era pieces are a favorite on magazine covers and the red carpet. (Not to mention Farfetch offering vintage Versace — 500 pieces total — for sale.) Plus, with the new "American Crime Story" series on Gianni's 1997 murder set to premiere in January, we expect a lot more Versace buzz in the new year, too.
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The Film: House of Versace

February 7, 2018, 9:14 am
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You know we created the supermodel. It wasn’t until we took the print girls—Naomi, Christy, Linda, Cindy and put them on the runway.” Donatella Versace to a Vanity Fair editor.
The little I knew about Donatella Versace I’d gleaned through tabloids. Not that I knew much about the Versace family or designer Gianni other than his shocking 1997 murder outside his Miami home. I knew the red carpet Versace looks and the glossy magazine ads and other bits and pieces. This film fills in tons of gaps with a solid script and an authentic performance from Gina Gershon as Donatella Versace.
We start right with Gianni [Enrico Colantoni] preparing a runway show amidst a rush of dresses and models. In swoops Donatella. She glances at a model and scoffs at the sandals she’s wearing. Gianni gives his explanation for a connection to the earth but Donatella thinks it’s ridiculous. She whispers to someone to put all the models in stilettos. The woman says, “He’s going to kill you.” The crowd goes wild and after the show Gianni tells Donatella that she was right.
A strongly run family business, Gianni designs the collection, Donatella works as stylist/ publicist and eldest brother Santo [Colm Feore] runs the business end of things. Of course, being the designer, Gianni remains the star and garners much of the credit for the styles. Although extremely close there’s lots of bickering and competition. Donatella possesses a keen sense for trends, publicity and business. She does interviews, handles photo shoots and garners celebrity clients by attending parties and public events. Gianni prefers to remain home with his boyfriend. He’s quieter though many consider him difficult.
Donatella wishes she were as creative as Gianni and Gianni wishes he possessed his sister’s publicity and styling abilities. They’re strangely supportive yet jealous of each other. During one particularly awful fight Gianni tells Donatella: “I am the designer. Me. Gianni Versace. And you, Donatella are a stylist.”

Understandably Gianni’s murder rips House of Versace to the core. Donatella enters a truly dark period. She subsists on cocaine, cigarettes, booze, pills and little sleep.
 Now it’s almost a Lifetime docu-drama “how to lose 100 million in a few years.” Donatella has 20 percent of Versace, Santo has 30 and Gianni left niece Allegra 50 percent. At first this hurts Donatella immensely as if Gianni were trying to control her or ridicule her in some manner. She thinks that he’s “haunting” her from the grave. She feels she’ll end up working for her daughter, losing control of the company, not being able to do what she’d hoped—be a designer in her own right. Versace nearly goes bankrupt. Aunt Lucia [Raquel Welch] comes in to take care of Donatella and her family.
We watch this struggle for Donatella. In attempting to keep Versace going, she tries to remain true to Gianni’s style, relying on drugs and booze to keep her going. Darkness engulfs her and she struggles with that fact that Gianni didn’t believe in her enough to leave the company with her but with her young daughter. She’s terribly insecure. Donatella left college to help Gianni with his dream. She always wanted to have her own fashion line. Her marriage suffers and her children feel alienated as she focused so much on the business.
This is based on Deborah Ball’s book House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival. Directed by Sara Sugarman and with a script by Rama Stagner [that avoids Allegra’s struggles with anorexia and places the focus on Donatella], Gina Gershon brings empathy and depth to her role as Donatella Versace. Many might wonder why they should care about this wealthy woman who hobnobs with celebrities and holds ritzy international parties and outfits A-listers for the most glamorous events.

Although this film covers a limited period in Versace’s life it’s clear she’s worked hard to become a successful designer and business icon. She nearly lost her family, ruined her life with drugs and bankrupted her family business. When she turns 18, Allegra takes over her half and sends her mom to rehab but wants to go to college and be a “normal” girl. When Donatella returns from rehab she’s fresh with design ideas and a new attitude toward her future with the family business. She takes a new approach toward designing a collection. A sober one. Seven years after Gianni’s death Donatella finally designs a collection that fits her aesthetic.

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Interview with House of Versace: Becoming Donatella....

February 7, 2018, 9:29 am
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Claire Nadon, Costume Designer

How did you go about transforming Gina Gershon into Donatella Versace?We got inspiration from actual pictures of Donatella, and reproduced some of the looks as close as we could. Other [costumes] were based on actual Versace vintage we found.
What kind of research did you do?We looked at fashion show videos, books, and the Internet.
Is there an iconic photo you used as a point of reference?We used the [Richard] Avedon-Versace book as a guide for many reproductions, especially the vinyl dresses.
Does Gina wear actual Versace pieces in the movie?We had no help from the Versace house or any access to the archives, but we found some real Versace pieces in vintage stores and on eBay.
What went into creating the costumes?About 90 percent of what is in the movie and identified as Versace is replicas we made. Ten percent is vintage, including all the shoes.

Describe the wardrobe scene. How many racks of clothing and pairs of shoes are we talking about?We had 10 racks at the shop, always full and transiting to set, one full trailer (equivalent to another 10 racks) for the cast, and around 6 to 10 racks every day for the extras. It is absolutely impossible to know the exact number of shoes. Gina had four boxes justfor herself (about 40 pairs); she had about the same number of looks.
Is there a big shift in Donatella’s style during the movie? When and in what way did the costumes change?The director had a color palette that changed with the different stages of the film. We tried to stick to it as much as possible. We realized at some point that the style of the house [of Versace] followed the lifestyle of Donatella, and I think the film and designs reflect that very well.
Were there any wardrobe malfunctions during the making of the movie?We made a whole fashion show [scene] around this idea. We called it the “oops show.” It’s the first one Donatella does herself. The designs were good but the fit was not always perfect and the models were having some problems. We were inspired by the actual fashion show.
We’re thinking there could be a lot of Donatellas come Halloween. What are fashion must-haves for channeling the designer?A long blonde wig, very high heels, skin-tight clothes, and 200 percent attitude!
If Donatella’s style were a song, what would it be?“My way,” the Sid Vicious version, for the first part of the film, and Madonna’s “Material Girl” would work well too.
Have you had your fill of tight metallic?Not yet. But I was not making all [the costumes] by myself.
House of Versace: "House of Versace" Day 18.Photo: Jan Thijs 2013

Kathy Kelso, Key Makeup Artist

How did you approach transforming Gina into Donatella, makeup-wise?I tried to make Gina as much a lookalike for Donatella as possible, keeping in mind the budget and time we had every day. Prosthetics were not an option. We had to be able to see the evolution of Donatella during the movie without the changes being too time-consuming. We established three stages for Gina’s transformation.

Donatella is always tan. Was it all self-tanner or was fake bake and/or spray tan involved?Gina was having her body spray-tanned every week, and I used makeup on her face.
She looks less orange than Donatella. Was this a conscious decision?Yes, because it was really important not to make her a caricature, and I was afraid that would be the effect on camera.

What did you do to Gina’s lips to get the Donatella pout so accurate? Were injections used?There were no injections involved. We achieved the first look without anything. Later, I applied lip plumper. And, in the last stage, we put a little bit of cotton under Gina’s upper lip and cheated her lip line.
What’s your advice for someone who wants fuller lips sans surgery?Lip plumper with shine and playing up the lip line, but always in a subtle way!
How did you achieve the Donatella eye?I reshaped Gina’s eyes by making them less cat eye. It was a game of highlight and shadow to bring the shape as close to Donatella’s as possible. I used a variety of fake eyelashes for every stage of the movie to show evolution. I was bleaching Gina’s eyebrows too, as eyebrows change the structure of the face so much.
Is there a pivotal makeup moment in the movie?There are many. When Donatella is abusing drugs, we decided to go with more makeup, as she is trying to hide it. And the last look, when the [plastic] surgery started to happen.
Were there any makeup mishaps while filming?The fake eyelashes, as Gina has really sensitive eyes. I had to be very careful.

Do you think Donatella will be offended by your portrayal of her?I don’t think so, as we were really careful not to go the caricature route. We showed her as a strong beautiful woman. She is an icon.
Ron Rolfe, Key Hairdresser
What did you use as reference when creating the looks?I looked online, in publications, and at fashion show footage.
Did Gina dye her hair for the role?Gina did change the color of her hairline to help blend with the lace on the wigs. This also helped change the shape of her forehead.
How many wigs were used in the movie?Two, [including] one that could have extensions, giving three different wig lengths.
Is there a pivotal “platinum” moment in the movie?The fashion show scenes.
What hair advice do you have for platinum blondes?Use conditioning products to protect the hair, and, of course, go to a good hairstylist.
Do you think blondes have more fun?Oh, yes!

House of Versace: House of Versace - Gina Gershon as Donatella doing cocaine
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Tom Ford: Premiere Underwears in Fashion Show in NYC!!

February 7, 2018, 9:56 am
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Tom Ford’s Menswear Show
Made a Strong Case for Sex Socks
One might be surprised to learn that Tom Ford— fashion’s patron saint of “sex sells” — has never sold underwear before. But one might be even more surprised to learn that his first foray into underwear involved pairing them with socks.
On Tuesday night, the 56-year old designer brought his menswear show to New York for its first stand-alone show at the Park Avenue Armory. (Tom Ford womenswear will show in the same venue on Thursday.)
The air smelled of Tobacco Vanille and the runway consisted of a pastel purple carpet. Front-row guests, including the Daily Show host Trevor Noah, were anticipating an evening of luxury — not necessarily luxury underwear — but welcomed it all, nonetheless.
“[Tom Ford] is a look that always feels like it has a certain level of panache,” said Noah, who wore a patterned teal suit jacket to his first-ever runway show by the designer. “You feel it in everything.”
Clearly, Noah did his research. Panache oozed from head to toe in this collection, with Ford injecting some of his old-school glamour into more youth-oriented pieces, like a python-print puffer jacket or a suede loafer-sneaker hybrid, which only the Tom Ford man could pull off.
Even the panties had panache. Some featured zebra and cheetah patterns on silk; others were metallic with a velvet waistband. In addition to these flashier pairs, Ford also showed underwear in seven different skin tones, which gave the wearer the appearance of being nude.

“I’ll be honest, what I look for in a pair of underwear is something that keeps everything together, but at the same time, doesn’t look like you’re trying to bulge out of yourself,” said Noah, choosing his words carefully. “So, as close to a second skin as possible, without looking awkward.”
The rapper 21 Savage, who was seated front row next to entertainment scions Cordell Broadus (Snoop Dogg’s son) and Hopper Jack Penn, (Sean Penn’s son), said he preferred his suits “skinny” but his underwear “comfortable.” Lucky for him, Tom Ford underwear is lined with cotton.
Cameron Dallas, a 23-year-old YouTube heartthrob, said he likes to “switch it up,” when it comes to underwear. “Sometimes I want everything together, and sometimes I go for loose boxers,” he said. What was he wearing right that minute? “I’m free-ballin’ it,” Dallas said with a smirk. Followed by, “No, I’m just kidding.”
As for Tom Ford’s socks, no one seemed offended by their presence on the runway, despite the look’s cultural taboo. Studies actually show that sex with your socks on is better
for everyone, since it increases your blood flow. But Tom Ford doesn’t need science to sell us anything, especially not sex.

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Moschino: Say it with Flowers......

February 7, 2018, 10:29 am
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Florals for spring? Groundbreaking, I know. But what about flower women? At Moschino’s Spring 2018 show, Jeremy Scott dressed Gigi Hadid, Anna Cleveland, Joan Smalls, and Kaia Gerber as actual flowers and floral bouquets.

It was a Surrealist turn that nodded to Franco Moschino’s history of kitsch perversions, but also to some of fashion’s greatest creatives.
Look as far back as 1982, and you’ll see that—in addition to bugs, butterflies, and motorcycles—Thierry Mugler dressed his models as painted roses, complete with dragonflies on their heads.

In more recent fashion history, John Galliano transformed Viviane Orth into a carnation and Michelle Alves into an orchid for Christian Dior’s Fall 2010 couture show. (It was Monsieur Dior, after all, who came up with the femme-fleur silhouette, though he never went as far as to dress models as actual flowers.)

Alexander McQueen made Tanya Dziahileva into a proper bouquet for his Spring 2007 show, while Christian Lacroix sent out several interpretations of flower ensembles in his Spring 2007 couture collection.
 Rather than flowers, Jean Paul Gaultier focused on leaves for his Spring 2002 collection that saw an ivy-covered dress walk down the runway.
 Still, few flower femmes are as iconic as Laetitia Casta’s turn as an Eve-like bride at Yves Saint Laurent’s Spring 1999 runway show. Clad in a rose-embellished bikini, flower crown, and pink train, she was a bridal vision unlike any other.
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Moschino: Winter Wonderland Menswear

February 7, 2018, 10:55 am
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Deploying his customary irreverence plus a seasoned eye for a sequin, Jeremy Scott today grasped the nettle of conventionally butch midwinter menswear.
 "I think of it as a very GQ archetype, and I wanted to take it on because it is something I have never played with," he said. "So, buffalo plaid—how do I do that?"
Answer: repurpose this Maine staple for Mardi Gras with a garland of pastel metallic hibiscus. Such iconoclastic collisions and exaggerations—"I always overexaggerate"—were sprinkled liberally through a show Scott said he had imagined as a ramped-up Bruce Weber shoot.
It models meandered through a forest of snow-flecked firs as more of the artificial white stuff fell from above. Knitwear and the shearling coat were torn apart and put together again, in rainbow mosaic for the sheepskin and patches of Lurex, cable-knit, jersey, and logos on the long johns, cardigans, and sweaters.
 A Scott-shot photo of ripped washed denim was digitally printed onto real denim as well as a down jacket. This marked the beginning of a section ideal for the overconfident, attention-seeking snowboarder in your life: because he can't ever wipe out if he's wearing a gold sequin Moschino snow jacket.
Fake fur came printed with classics from the animal canon—zebra and leopard—or plain, as worn by a blanketed Adam and Eve. Fake-fur fanny packs and Moon Boots, some thigh-high, flashed with gold Moschino buckling.
"I always try and push," Scott reasoned. "I think, What else is out there? And there is a ton that is missing from menswear that is still plausible but pushes the boundaries."
Hence, there was little here for any Moschino-keen wallflower. A duffle coat—"I call it a Paddington Bear coat," Scott said—was oversize with patent shoulders in unmissable yellow. A multi-tartan kilt, extended at the back up the spine, offered a secondary function as a scarf. Overalls came in sheer organza peppered with more Hawaiian florals.
The womenswear looks? Complementary: "They are in the snowy forest," Scott said, "but on their way to the rave."
Scott, like Moschino, likes his jokes, and of all of them in today's routine the biggest were the hats and two shoulder-slung bags shaped like enormous gloves.
The designer confirmed that the fingers offer no storage, "so that things don't get lost. I tried to be functional with my giant ski-glove bags." Function and humor—give that man a hand



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Moschino: "Rock Me, Amadeus"

February 7, 2018, 11:38 am
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Attention, all Gen Xers and old Gen Ys: On a scale of 1 to 10, how big an impression did the video for Falco's novelty single "Rock Me, Amadeus" make on you, as a kid? On the evidence of Jeremy Scott's latest Moschino menswear collection, Falco's club-kid take on the Baroque made a pretty strong impression on him.
 At any rate, it was virtually impossible not to look at the clothes on the Moschino runway in Florence this evening and not cue that music in your head.
Moschino menswear was the marquee special guest at Pitti Uomo this season. And if you believe Scott, the Baroque-ness of this collection owed more to that locale and the atmospherics of its aristocratic patrimony than it did to, you know, Falco.
The rich embroideries, ruffles, quilted materials, and metallic jacquards on the Moschino runway were culled from history's archive of decadence; even today, a pale-pink-and-gold wallpaper pattern brocade still signifies. The fabric summons, unbidden, visions of Versailles. Here, Scott used it in a tux.
Some of Scott's looks in this collection came off—to be frank—a little clownish. The way to explore a more-is-more theme is with a sense of specificity and some circumspection. Scott seemed, in many instances, to be gilding the lily by piling excess on top of excess.
To wit, the look that comprised a clever motorcycle jacket with zip-off tails in red and yellow wallpaper jacquard, a contrast cummerbund in the same jacquard, a magnified fleur-de-lis print polo, a bright cravat, and patchwork-patterned bike shorts.
 Ai! Scott's more measured looks had a bit more snap—although the measured-ness was relative, to be sure. A shirt and jeans in a crystal print, for instance, would hardly qualify as "minimal."
Ditto an anorak printed in a Moschino logo repeat and embroidered with sprightly bouquets of flowers. The real commercial appeal of this collection, though, was to be found in its Formula 1-themed passages.
Scott purloined the race car graphics and adapted them into tailoring jeans and sweats; you'd have to know more about Formula 1 racing culture than this reviewer does to see a connection between Ayrton Senna's aesthetics and those of Louis XIV, but anyway, there it was. And there, too, were a handful of women's looks, mainly bouffant jacquard or brocade dresses that Scott had scrawled with cartoonish graffiti in order to contemporize the looks.
This is the kind of thing Giles Deacon can do with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back, and in comparison, Scott's gloss felt a little pro forma. Current Moschino campaign star Katy Perry, seated in the front row, may have felt differently, though.

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Italian Male Model: Alessio Pozzi Rocks Moschino

February 7, 2018, 11:43 am
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 Jeremy Scott’s spring-summer menswear outing for Moschino. Photographed by Lorenzo Fanfani, Italian model Alessio Pozzi sports statement making looks from the new collection, which was unveiled during Pitti Uomo.
From dandy evening numbers to campy sportswear with a motocross appeal, the latest lineup delivers an eclectic stamp on taste.
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Siblings: "Jocks are Bastards" Menswear

February 7, 2018, 11:57 am
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"Jocks are bastards" was more or less the substance of the J.D. Salinger quote from The Catcher in the Rye that prefaced the Sibling threesome's spring manifesto. But the show that followed was more pitcher than catcher, more wry than rye.
 If it was an ode to college football—complete with a handful of cheerleaders poured or laced into second-skin sportswear—you have to imagine a college where Russ Meyer was dean.
And quite why three iconoclastic Brits with a past eye to punkish fun-poking should latch onto this particular subject was only partially clarified by the manifesto's blithe reference to "the desecration of male subcultures."

According to Sibling Sid Bryan, it was a trip to the U.S. that exposed the trio to some prime vintage Americana in the form of old football photos. "The stitching on the leather shoulder pads was like Chanel," Bryan marveled.

There's nothing to turn on a Sibling...like couture craftsmanship. They wove their own magic with extraordinary jacquards, beading, and embroidery in this collection, with the elaborate detailing of Kehinde Wiley's Renaissance-style portraits of American rappers and football stars as another inspiration.

And the muscle-bound models in their sequined sports jerseys and beaded shoulder pads were as much cartoonish exaggerations of masculinity as some of those pop-cultural icons.

The Siblings overloaded the maximus in their boys' gluteus, then flashed it. Bare-assed cheek. The audience didn't know where to look. Or did.

There was another story being told here, though. Sibling took on tailoring for the first time.

Working with Savile Row legend Edward Sexton, they offered some precise, shiny looks as a counterpoint to the jocks. Mods, not nerds. These outfits added an appetizing new flavor to the Sibling dish. Or maybe just something more serious to latch onto.













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Moschino's 30th Anniversary Extravaganza!

February 8, 2018, 6:18 am
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The old adage that friends are the family we choose may sound trite, but it never seemed more true than behind the scenes at Moschino's 30th anniversary extravaganza in Milan. Bittersweet as these celebrations often are, Moschino the brand didn't shy away from the pain of its past – namely losing Moschino the man to Aids-related illness in 1994.
Before his death, Rossella Jardini was Franco Moschino's right-hand-woman; in his absence, she was appointed the brand's creative director, taking control of a brand that had become known for accessorising its clothing with wry social commentary. In the Eighties and Nineties, Moschino was one of a cabal of powerful Italian brands. Much-coveted and copied, its kudos was unassailable, not least for the way it provoked debate.
 Even the correct pronunciation of the name was a source of some dispute (the correct answer is Mos-kee-no by the way). With multiple sub-brands and licences and even a hotel, Moschino has expanded further than anyone foresaw, but its sass and wit remain rare attributes in Italian fashion, where sleek and sexy are so often the order of the day.
"There's a lot of enthusiasm and joy," says Jardini, when we meet before the spring/summer 14 show at Moschino's headquarters. Bill Shapiro, American-born menswear designer and long-standing member of the clan, is serving as translator while Jardini's spaniel, Charly, happily scampers around the room. "We care about other people. I think it's a bit Italian, the family thing in fashion in Italy is important – it's part of what Italian fashion is." Indeed, the dynastic element of Italian fashion houses from Gucci to Pucci, Missoni to MaxMara is in part what has allowed so many of them to become commercial juggernauts – regardless of whether offspring or an outsider is at the reins. Shapiro may joke that the Moschino family is "dysfunctional", but the emotion and trust that is involved is clear to see.
I am shown a preview of a montage of Franco Moschino's life on film – later that evening, it will be played as an introduction to the show. "I wasn't able to watch for years," says Jardini about the memories such footage provokes. "It's easier now, a little bit easier. Franco left a lot of open doors, a lot of open roads, so in that way it was difficult – he was incredibly missed, for his charisma as well as his talent."
"This is sort of a love story," she says, at once referring to the brand, the collection, and tonight's celebration. "The people who worked with Franco, the people who knew him, well he was so special. It was incredible, people really loved him – and one of the ways to keep you going through the work was the love that he had for people, and that people had back for him. Celebrating the roots of the brand is a way of keeping Franco and those people alive, a way of keeping the love alive."
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Franco Moschino: Master of Fashion Art

February 8, 2018, 6:56 am
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"Fashion is full of chic," Franco Moschino once commented, was an ironic statement coming from one of Europe's most successful designers. Based in Milan, Moschino originally studied fine art, with ambitions to be a painter, but came to see that tailoring and fabrics could be just as valid a means of expression as paint and canvas. Consequently, his first job in fashion was with the Cadette label, for whom in 1977 he produced a simple range of stylish clothes.
     
Starting his own label in 1982, Moschino used his experience in the Italian fashion industry as a source for his philosophical ideas evolving a set of tactics designed to shake the fashion establishment out of its complacency. Much to his amazement, he was embraced with open arms as a new iconoclast by the very people he despised.
Essentially Moschino was picking up where Schiaparelli had left off, displaying an interest in the surrealist tactic of displacement—he has for a long time professed a love of Magritte's use of the juxtaposition of incongruous imagery to produce a surreality. This is aptly shown in designs such as his quilted black denim mini with plastic fried eggs decorating the hemline, quilted jacket decorated with bottle tops, plug-socket drop earrings, and bodices made out of safety pins. Moschino's 1989 fun fur collection included a winter coat of stitched together teddybear pelts and a scorch-mark printed silk shirt saying "too much ironing."
Although dubbed the Gaultier of Italian fashion, Moschino responded to fashion differently.
Unlike Jean-Paul Gaultier who was interested in playing around with the shapes and the fabrics of fashion, Moschino used basic forms and traditional methods of construction to produce wearable, sexy clothes, cut to flatter and beautifully made. Dismissing his approach as visual and superficial, Moschino stressed he was a decorator, completely disinterested in clothing construction.
Believing he could criticize the business more effectively from the inside, the underlying theme of his work was the parodying of so-called fashion victims, those prepared to be seen in the most ridiculous clothes if they were the latest style, and a general protest against the materialism of capitalism. He did this with visual gags like a triple pearl choker with attached croissant or the Rolex necklace—the pearls and Rolex being traditional ways of displaying wealth—and by mixing cheap plastics with expensive fur.
     
This parodying of the conspicuous consumers of fashion was continued in 1990 with his use of jokey logos on a series of garments like the cashmere jacket with the words "Expensive jacket" embroidered in gold across its back, or "Bull chic" on a matador-styled outfit. Designs such as these were supposed to make the wearer feel duped into spending vast amounts of money on designer clothing, but after achieving a vast amount of publicity, the people he was attacking flocked to buy his clothes. The iconoclasm of Moschino was destined to become the choicest thing on the catwalk.
     
Calling for a "Stop to the Fashion System" through his advertising in high fashion magazines, Moschino displayed a classic Dada stance—for an end to the fashion system would mean the destruction of his own empire which came to encompass not just Moschino Couture! but the successful Cheap & Chic range—a diffusion line which was not actually all that cheap—and ranges of underwear, swimwear, jeans, children's clothes, accessories, and fragrances (the men's sold in a double-ended bottle so it can't stand up and the women's advertised with a model drinking it through a straw rather than dabbing it behind her ears).
     
Known for his theatrical fashion shows (in the past his models impersonated Tina Turner and Princess Margaret), Moschino mixed up and twisted classic styles and wrenched them into the present by using humor. A fine example was a Chanel-type suit restyled with gold clothes pegs for buttons. Interestingly enough, his insults were rarely taken seriously.
At one collection he pointedly mocked the top fashion editors by leaving moo-boxes on their seats, implying they were dull bovines with not an original thought in their heads, but they applauded all the more.
Moschino's ambition was to destroy the dictates of fashion so people could please themselves with what they chose to wear, and to produce more anonymous clothes once he completed the downfall of the industry. The irony is that Moschino became his own fashion-asantifashion status symbol; yet his belief that fashion should be fun was valid and remains so today. Unfortunately for Franco Moshino, he was not around to see his plans to fruition—he died in 1994. His funky design firm was carried on after his death, and to dizzying heights of popularity. Soon after Moschino's death, the Franco Moschino Foundation was founded to help children battling HIV and AIDS, and the Moschino firm would routinely design for charities and fundraisers like Artwalk New York.
      
Fashionwise, Moschino designs lacked the sharpness of Franco's razor wit yet still provided laughs and sales. The company segued into fragrances with the launch of Cheap & Chic in 1995, and opened wildly funky boutiques in Rome and Beverly Hills near the end of the year. More hip shops, in New York City and London, bowed in 1996 and 2000 respectively, while a new sportswear range, Moschino Life, was introduced in 1999. Yet the biggest Moschino news was the firm's acquisition by Aeffe SpA, the burgeoning fashion empire founded by Alberta Ferretti in 2001, which had already produced several Moschino lines.
(Moschino donned Marilyn Monroe Wig)
Franco Moschino, Italian fashion designer (born Feb. 27, 1950, Abbiategrasso, Italy—died Sept. 18, 1994, Annone di Brianza, Italy), as the irreverent enfant terrible of the

fashion industry, poked fun at the excesses of the 1980s with his "tongue in chic" designs, most memorably creating suits festooned with cutlery, jackets with faucet handles or dice used as buttons, coats and hats made from teddy bears, expensive linen shirts embroidered with outrageous puns and slogans, dresses that looked like shopping bags, and ball gowns assembled from plastic garbage bags.
 After studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Moschino found work in the fashion industry as a freelance illustrator. He designed for Cadette, the Italian clothing company, before launching his own label in 1983.
His company, Moonshadow, had annual revenues in excess of £150 million from two main-line collections and six complementary lines. His designs, which were inspired by the Surrealist movement of the 1920s, found acceptance among pop stars such as Madonna, Tina Turner, and Yoko Ono; royalty, including Princess Caroline of Monaco and Diana, Princess of Wales; and people on the street, though the latter could rarely afford his pricey ensembles. His mocking disdain for the industry earned Moschino both ridicule and respect among his contemporaries. He died after suffering complications from an abdominal tumour.
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