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Friday, November 18, 2011

Karl Lagerfeld Windows

Parisian department store, Printemps, unveiled their Christmas window display last week with Karl Lagerfeld showing his wonderfully designed, Chanel themed displays. Once I heard that there were Chanel windows on display, naturally I had to go! Karl designed the windows consisting of marionette puppets that moved around. What could be better than mini-Karl puppets complete with his signature glasses and fingerless gloves!
I took some photos to share with those who cannot be in Paris to see these wonderful windows in person. Be sure to click on the videos to see the puppets move and dance around!







Another one of the Karl designed windows had a Russian Ballet with puppets that danced and twirled.





Wouldn't you want to fly with Chanel airlines!


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Art Nouveau Apartment

While wandering around Paris a couple of weeks ago, I came across this fabulous Art Nouveau building on Avenue Rapp, no. 29. I just love the look of this architecture and the character that it gives the building. Designed by Jules Lavirotte, this building was described by Salvador Dali as "the most erotic facade of Paris." Every inch of the facade is tiled with ceramic by Alexandre Bigot which adds to the unique look of the structure. Wouldn't it be fun to live in this building!?

Friday, November 11, 2011

Issey Miyake - Paris Fashion Week

I can't believe I am still catching up with posts about the shows I attended at Paris Fashion Week! There was just so much inspiration to share and write about, that it is taking a while to go through all of it and get it posted!
One of the larger shows that I attended at Fashion Week was the Issey Miyake show held in the Jardin des Tuileries. After waiting in the hot sunshine for over 45 mins we were finally allowed into the massive tent where the show would be held. Thankfully there were cold water bottles and hand held fans waiting for us once inside the venue.
Once the show started, I quickly realized it was worth the wait! The theme of the collection was "Bloom Skin." It featured light, nude tone clothes with vivid colors symbolizing a woman who possesses both gentleness and strength.

The show featured a series of different looks all pertaining to flowers. It started out with a section titled "Bud," which symbolized an innocent bud waiting to bloom.

As the show went on, you could see the transformation of the flowers from a bud, growing stems into blossom, then full bloom. It was a beautiful show full of color and flowing fabrics. Using Japan's advanced weaving technology and Kyoto's traditional printing techniques, the silky soft fabrics showed delicate color gradations.




Semi transparent textures were created using a traditional dye house in Kyoto, which uses a special process on fabrics knit with two types of fibers. One fiber is dissolved, creating a sheer while the other maintains itself as a printed color.


The hat and head pieces in this show by, Christophe Coppens, were also a beautiful whimsical addition to the wonderful clothes. One reason why I liked this show is because they stayed true to the original Issey Miyake brand by manufacturing in cooperation with local craftspeople and creating pieces that are only made-in-Japan technology and ideas.