SALVATORE FERRAGAMO BRING BACK HOLLYWOOD'S HEYDAY SHOES

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

You might think press days are mostly about looking at lots of lovely clothes, bags and shoes- quite often they are- but at the best ones you learn something new. This morning, I went to Salvatore Ferragamo's AW12 presentation. Their mainline collection is perfectly on trend for AW12, inspired by the luxe side of Russian history- think Tsars and Princesses wrapped in gold threaded embroidery and astrakhan (the hideous fur taken from the bodies of unborn lambs).  Aside from this, the Italian family business famed for its shoes and leather goods since the 1920s has revived several of its iconic designs from the past. Today, I have learnt all about them.

A Ferragamo ad from the late 30s (image from www.blog.stylesight.com)

My favourites are these chunky heeled gold disc mosaic sandals which were made for Brazillian Samba star and Hollywood actress Carmen Miranda in the late 30s. I can just imagine wearing these on holiday with a crop top and some kind of huge flower/ fruit piece of jewellery. They seem sort of timeless, like they could work just as well now as they might have done on stage in the 40s or at Studio 54 in the 70s.

Salvatore Ferragamo originally made the gold mosaic sandal for Carmen Miranda (www.wikifeet.com)

There are platforms which look like they might be crafted from foam to make you bounce along as you wear them. They're architectural, as all good shoes should be. In my research this afternoon, I learnt that Ferragamo did courses in Human Anatomy at the University of Southern California so that he could fully understand how to make the perfect shoe to complement the foot's bone structure. These are versions of one of Ferragamo's most famous styles- the Rainbow- which he made for Judy Garland.

As the most in-demand shoemaker of the mid-century, Ferragamo was, of course, called upon to do shoes for Marilyn Monroe. The company is re-launching the very sleek mid stiletto which she made her own this July (along with the other designs shown here) and there will also be a special exhibition at the label's museum in Florence.

Marilyn Monroe in her Ferragamos (image from www.museoferragamo.it)

The Marilyn heel has been resurrected in lots of colours 

 FERRAGAMO AW12...

Mega glam lace heels from the AW12 show

If you look close enough, you'll see that star signs represented on this mega opulent necklace. 

All images by Fashion Junior at Large, unless otherwise stated.

THE WEEK IN FASHION: APRIL 16th- 20th

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

First up this week, huge congratulations are in order for Alex Fury who is to become Editor of LOVE magazine, leaving his current position as Fashion Director at SHOWSTUDIO.com. Here at FEAL, we are huge admirers of Alex's unmatched dedication and fashion geek factor. We always look forward to his  unique perspective in the reviews he posts from fashion weeks.

Alex Fury in Maarten Van Der Horst for Dazed Digital (from www.dazeddigital.com)

Today also happens to be the launch date of Fashion East designer Maarten Van Der Horst's collection for Topshop. Alex has been modelling the Aloha shirt from the range for Dazed Digital. Also loving the Topshop carrier bag booties!

Aquascutum's factory was established in 1851 (image from www.aquascutum.com)

The other big fashion story which has really pulled at our heartstrings, but for all the wrong reasons, this week is the news that historic Brit brand Aquascutum has gone into administration. It was then confirmed yesterday that the factory in Corby will close. This means that the 115 employees will be made redundant. The move apparently comes from an attempt to secure the jobs of the company's remaining 135 staff. In an ironic coincidence, Burberry- a brand with a heritage easily compared to Aquascutum's- is still going strong, forecasting profits of £372m for 2011. According to EDITD, the past few months have actually been extremely good for Aquascutum, their online fan base grew by over 67% over fashion month- the biggest percentage rise of any brand. Aquascutum is now looking for a buyer to revive its fortunes- somebody who can take the strength of Joanna Sykes' design ethos and use it to give the brand back its appeal.

The super cute Jospeh Altuzarra with a model dressed in pieces from his J.Crew collection (image from www.fashionologie.com)

This week the highly anticipated J.Crew collaboration with Joseph Altuzarra was finally unveiled. Both these labels usually present me with the exact kind of things I want to wear, J.Crew being a little more achievable than Altuzarra. I was ready to pay massive shipping costs to get my hands on a piece from the collection. But I mentally shopped too soon. I'm not saying I don't love a Breton stripe top or a gingham summer dress, but I expect I, and most other women who might buy this, already have several of those. They're boring wardrobe staples, not pieces you would expect one of America's hottest designers to produce. I love that Altuzarra was inspired by 'what Jean Seberg wore in Breathless and by pictures of "Brigitte Bardot walking around St-Tropez in espadrilles and a slouchy boy's sweater" but the pieces just don't have the fashion element I was expecting. I think plenty of American women will be pleased to re-stock their wardrobe with Altuzarra's classic staples but I think I'll just have to save up for the real thing... Pamela Love and Creatures of the Wind collaborations are also on their way from J.Crew.

Jean Seberg in Breathless (image from www.fashioninfilms.com)

He may have been dogged by recent rumours that Stefano Pilati is being lined up to replace him but it seems Giorgio Armani is still very much at the helm. His latest venture is designing Lady Gaga's costumes for her upcoming sold-out tour. Mr Armani's designs are right up Gaga's street with latex, crystals and plexiglass detailing galore. He said 'Collaborating with Lady Gaga is always an exciting experience for me. I admire the way she uses fashion as a scenic element and as a means to build a character'. The outfits will be worn by Gaga during the Asian leg of the 'Born This Way Ball" tour.

Gaga's guitars (and keyboard) get up, by Giorgio Armani (image from www.telegraph.co.uk)

We have a lot of shop news for you this week... first up is Celine who will be opening a store on Mount Street after a three year absence from London's streets following the closure of the New Bond Street store shortly after Phoebe Philo joined the label. Form an orderly queue at the current site of Jordan International Bank people. While we're speaking of Mount Street, Oscar de la Renta will soon open his first UK store in the premises currently occupied by Nicky Clarke. We're sad to hear that Isabel Marant's first London shop will now be opening in September rather than July as previously planned- we'll have to wait  little longer to get the full Marant experience. I am most excited by whispers that Givenchy and Erdem are looking for possible London store sites.

An Erdem shop, yes please! (image from catwalking.com)

Another week, another Olympic outfit unveiled by bother designer looking to win gold in the fashion stakes. This instalment comes from Ralph Lauren who is kitting out the American team for the closing ceremony. Whatever we all had to say about Stella's Olympic outfits, at least they don't seem to involve all white baker boy caps. I quite like the belted dress though. What do you think?

The US ladies' costume for the closing ceremony from Ralph Lauren (image from www.wwd.com)

We have another, properly exciting reason to get into the Queen's Jubilee celebrations- Karl Lagerfeld is to provide commentary on the day's outfits for French TV, as he did for the Royal Wedding. The Chanel designer is infamous for his acerbic tongue e.g his 'short skirts on fat legs' comment regarding the wedding guests. He'll appear on France 2, can we get that here?!

King Karl is set to give his view on the Jubilee outfits (image from www.galleryoftheabsurd.com)

A couple of news bites....

Carine Roitfeld has teamed up with MAC to create her own range of make-up. It'll be out in the Autumn we hear, the same time that her magazine 'CR Fashion Book' will debut.

Carven has been chosen to be Guest Designer at this year's Pitti Uomo. Lapo Cianchi, Director of Communications for Pitti Uomo said that Carven “harmonized perfectly with the general trend we are promoting at Pitti Uomo: a new, sartorial elegance and affordable luxury in men’s wear.”

The CFDA and BFC this week confirmed the dates for NY and London fashion weeks for the next two years. The announcement brings to an end a few months of wrangling over dates. It seems that Paris and Milan have stood firm on certain demands, meaning that New York will now have to begin earlier than usual.

Keith Varty with his partner Alan Cleaver and a model, in 1987(from WWD)

Finally, Keith Varty who designed Byblos during the 1980s died last week aged just 60. His friend Joan Burstein, founder of Browns said this in tribute:

"Keith Varty was the first of the first that set a standard, he was a young innovative British designer. Keith worked for Dorothee Bis in Paris before being wowed over to Italy by Gianni Versace, who then worked at Byblos. After two successful years, Keith Varty and Alan Cleaver took over. The collections could have been as modern today as it was then. He bought an infusion of talent from Britain into the Italian market."

Byblos from Spring 1992 (image from WWD)

The FashEd and I are off to enjoy the delights of the Vogue Festival now. Have wonderful weekends! 

Green Jungle

Hope you have enjoyed your weekend? Love this green jungle printed dress from Axparis. I am wearing it with a blazer from Zara, necklace from Monki, vintage bag and cork platforms from Cafemoda. Have a great start of the week!

INSIDE THE MIND OF MIUCCIA PRADA

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Miuccia Prada is someone I have respect for as a woman, and as a designer. Mrs Prada has never, not even for a moment, lost her integrity, and seems to put her family and core beliefs about how to live a good, intelligent life before some of the more shallow trappings of success. Prada still lives in the same apartment she raised her two sons in, and at 62, is more interested in evolving as a human being than swishing around being fabulous. I guess the point is, with her rigour, she has no need to put on a front. Her pleasures are internal. As a designer she keeps things interesting by being avant garde, and, well, most designers go off the boil for periods of their career, but not her. Miuccia Prada is never, ever boring.

So it was a rare pleasure on Saturday morning to read an interview with Prada in the Times Magazine by my favourite fashion grande dame Sarah Mower. The interview served to reinforce my thoughts on the woman and renewed my interest in her body of work. Sarah's perceptive piece truly captured the essence of the woman and nailed her approach to work and feelings about success in a warm and moving way that only increased my admiration for both of them. For those who missed the magazine, I've scissored my favourite bits, saves you going through the paywall.

Miuccia Prada (image from landryedux.blogspot.com)

ON BEING "THE EMPRESS OF FASHION"

“I don’t have a sense of it. Thank God!” she laughs. “Otherwise I would not sleep at night. I’ve always obsessed about what I had to do but never looking at myself from the outside. Probably I am highly ambitious – but in the sense that I want to do intelligent things. I want to be good. I never think about the corporation.”

Prada SS12 (image from cat walking.com)

....

ON BEING THE SUBJECT OF THE LATEST MET MUSEUM SHOW

"..I’m curious about what she thinks of being the subject of an exhibition she hasn’t curated. The fashion world is full of control freaks who would have a meltdown at the very thought. But Prada respects the Metropolitan Museum’s independence. “They wanted to analyse the similarities between me and Schiaparelli. I don’t know if there are that many, but anyhow. Neither of us trained as a fashion designer, so we were interested in a wider sense of the world. We both started later in life. But I’m happy that they think she was a fashion revolutionary, and that… er… I am in my time.”

She’s pleased by the scale and importance of the event, clearly, but I don’t think Miuccia Prada gets her satisfaction, or her motivation, from public recognition. What she cares about above anything else is originality. “Some seasons I know what I’m doing, and others I realise as I’m working on the collection. I never know the title of a collection until two days before [a show].”

Elsa and Miuccia (image from Glamazondiaries.com)

                                                                         ....

ON THE "PRADA LOOK"

"But when I ask her to sum it up by answering a dumb-simple question – “What is the Prada look?” – she stops in her tracks. “I don’t have an answer to that,” she says. “It is bad for commerce! But, eh,” she continues, “it is an advantage as well as a disadvantage, because in the end you can change and update. If you fix on one look, and that look goes out of fashion, what do you do?” So that means you just want to lead? She leans forward and practically shouts, “Yes! And that’s since ever!” She said it.

Prada's Bad Taste collection, 1996 (image from styleregistry.livejournal.com)

 ....

ON HER MOTIVATION AS A DESIGNER

Bertelli [her husband] only winkled out her designing ambition when he said they’d have to hire someone else if she refused to do it. As a PhD in political science and an ex-member of the Communist party and active feminist, she was mortified. “I probably had high resistance because of the political situation. It was seriously a nightmare. I was so ashamed,” she sighs. “Obviously, I liked it. But I had serious difficulty finding myself a fashion designer.”
Even when the troubles had died down, the big-shouldered executive suits of Armani and the sexy glitziness of Versace grated on the young feminist’s sensibilities. Her response was to design minimal styles using plain fabrics derived from army, school and maids’ uniforms. “Minimalism was a way of obstructing ideas. I wanted to hide my ideas and my thinking.”

Prada AW09  (image from luxuryblog.org) 

...

ON BEING CLEVER

“I’m happy when I think I do something very clever,” she says as I leave. “It happens once or twice a year, when I feel I’ve done something that makes sense. But actually, I never reflect on what I do, because I’m always busy.” So busy, in fact, that she must be the only female guest who hasn’t planned what to wear to the Met gala – she’ll decide the day before, she says. I don’t know, but I’d like to see her nipping up those museum steps wearing trousers among all those trains."

Prada AW12 (image from catwalking.com)

I'd love to be able to send you to a website full of Prada's latest guipure and gem bombers and swirling car print skirts. Alas, none are to be had on the Internet. However, the Prada site does provide us with jewels, shoes and bags galore...

Go Faster clutch 620E Prada Store

Jewels 1290E Prada Store 

Perfect summer heels 570E Prada Store

Romwe giveaway winner

Congratulations Alexa from I am alexa – you won the detachable collar and $80 freebies to spend at Romwe!
Romwe will contact you about your prices. To those that weren’t lucky this time around, I have some things I know you’ll love to giveaway in the coming weeks..

CONDE NAST COLLEGE: WILL YOU BE ENROLLING?

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

On Friday, I spent a few brilliant hours at Vogue's Fashion Festival. One of the events on the agenda was Kate Hudson in conversation with Stella McCartney. As you can imagine, the auditorium was packed out. Towards the end, the floor was opened up for questions from the audience. One young girl, 16 years old, stood up and explained how much she admired Stella and the brand she has created and then proceeded to ask Stella for work experience with her. In front of 700 people. Stella said "Yes, of course. Give me your number NOW" How could she not?  Sometimes, that's the kind of thing you have to do to get noticed in a massively competitive industry like fashion.

Conde Nast has another project up its sleeve, just as innovative as the Vogue Fashion Festival. It's the Conde Nast College and will open its doors in January 2013 to its first cohort of students. There are currently two course options- the 10 week Vogue Fashion Certificate (£6,600) or the year-long Vogue Fashion Foundation Diploma (£19,560).  We all know, and I'm not going to repeat at length, that the ratio of eager Fashion industry wannabes to available jobs is way out of line. We also know that, whether we like it or not, the accepted way to get into fashion is to get internships and prove yourself through work which is often unpaid. That's the status quo. So I'm wondering whether the Conde Nast College will change that? Not really they told me when I rang earlier, "We will be arranging work placements and internships for the most promising students". So it's a great way in if you impress enough but you still have to do the work experience like everyone else.

One of the enticing images from Conde Nast college's prospectus 

Susie Forbes, former Editor at Easy Living and Deputy Editor at Vogue, will be Principal at the college. She told the BBC last year, "With access to some of the sharpest and most creative minds shaping the fashion, design and interiors industries today, we aim to educate students to the highest level. It makes perfect sense for Conde Nast to open its college doors in London, the fashion capital of the world."

The admissions team were frank about the reality of the Conde Nast College. They told me "The calibre of visiting lecturers will be like that at the Vogue Fashion Festival, but no you won't get loads of contacts". If that's the case, then I wonder what sets it apart from other fashion education providers?"The Conde Nast name" I was told. That's true, it's a powerful pull.  They added, "The courses will teach you what you need to know, unless you follow fashion religiously already".

It seems brilliant. If the Vogue Festival is anything to go, I'm imagining an editing master class with Alex Shulman one week, a mentoring workshop with Tom Ford the next... those sound like money-can't-buy-experiences. But Conde Nast IS offering them up for anyone willing to pay. Like A.C Grayling's New College of The Humanities, those with the funds can access the very best and most exciting people in the fields they're most interested in. Of course, A.C Grayling will give you an actual degree at the end of it whereas Conde Nast College relies on its name alone- there are no Undergraduate degrees or Masters being handed out here, just certificates and diplomas. What we want to know is would you pay?

Will dreams come true courtesy of Conde Nast College? 

I asked my Twitter followers if they'd pay and there was a mixed response. I think the draw is huge. For those aspiring to careers within Conde Nast's magazine repertoire, it could seem like the perfect way in. If you've got the funds, why wouldn't you? Libby said "I'm sure the contacts you'd make would be incredible, but it's such a daunting amount of money for most". This makes me think back to the girl at the Vogue Festival. If Stella does honour her promise to give her work experience then arguably she has only had to pay the price of entry ticket (£75 at most, not £19,560) for a golden key to the career she wants.

Baroque

 
Yes, I know, another item from the H&M for Marni collection.. I really love the collection! I am wearing a Marni for H&M skirt, H&M top, zara necklace, clutch from Beginningboutique, cork wedges from Ebay and ASOS ring. Have a great day!