Brilliant Brunette

Could Kate have gone back to her original hair colour? No, as a matter of fact this is a wig by Kate's fetish hairdresser James Brown. Kate posed in it today during the "100 Portraits" shoot by Nick Knight at Somerset House. This is a special project created by I-D to celebrate its 300th issue. Miss Moss was probably the most expected sitter, and when I saw her pose, I fully understood why Kate is Kate: she works like no-one, really fast and experimenting with all the possibilities at hand, not needing anyone to give her directions. Here are some of the pictures from today, but you will have to wait for the 300 issue of I-D to take a look at the definitive photos. If you haven't been watching the shoots on the SHOWstudio Livestream, you still have a chance until the 20th. I do recommend it, it's seriously amazing seeing some of the best fashion professionals in the world at work.

Atomic

In the cold cold Siberian weather that has taken over Paris, we shot on sunday with Sophie and Pierre. The theme was an atomic version of classic Hollywood, and we had the most amazing clothes on set including cute lingerie from Fifi Chachnil, sexy ligerie from Chantal Thomass, lovely shoes from Sonia Rykiel and the most incredible lime-green chiffon dress by Valentino. I still haven't seen all the pictures but I think they will be great (our model, Natalya, worked so well and looked fabulous in a Marilyn-like blonde wig). I can give you this preview for now. What do you think of it?

ice cream topped with honey

I'm officially coming out of the closet here: yes, I've given in to the Lady Gaga crazyness. Yes, I'm completely fascinated by her. I have very mixed feelings about her, but I actually think that makes her only more amazing. Yes, she sometimes looks like a transvestite and yes, she can be so vulgar, and no, she never wears anything to cover her legs, but... She is fabulous! I think she is showing great intelligence by teaming up with some of the best professionals in the fashion industry, all quirky and avant-garde (Niccola Formichetti, Hedi Slimane, Alexander McQueen), because that is placing her way above all the other pop stars in the international panorama. So...Sorry, Madonna, you're no longer the queen bee.

But what I really wanted to talk about here is what has been obsessing me for the last two weeks: Lady Gaga's red lipstick in the video for "Beautiful, dirty, rich". I mean the light red. I'm a faithful dark-red user, but I hardly use light lip colours. Since I saw this video I've been thinking of that geranium-like red, and last week I came accross it in London.

You guessed, it is Yves Saint Laurent (definitely one of my favourite make up brands). It's a Rouge Pur, and the exact colour is 150- Rouge Sublime. And sublime it is all right! Even if I did not buy it then and there (Selfridges on a saturday evening before Christmas? Just remembering it makes me shiver. The only reason for us to be there is we were desperately looking for a coat for Ed), I've had it on my mind ever since and the minute I have the time to go to the Bon Marché the lipstick will be mine. And I can positively say that it's the only lipstick I'll be wearing during Christmas!
Thanks for the inspiration Lady Gaga...

Jewelicious

It's back to Parisian life for me. Boo. I'm trying to get as much work done as possible before the holidays, but the general mood in the city is quite relaxed. Today I went shopping with Sophie for her next shooting; we got the loveliest items from Fifi Chachnil, Paule Ka and Valentino. What with all that I realized I haven't had any time to think about Christmas presents. One thing that bothers me about Christmas is the consuming excess. Giving presents should be a pleasure for the one who gives as much as for the one who gets the gift. But when you have to buy presents for about 20 people in crowded shops the day before Christmas and you have absolutely no idea what to get to your third cousin which you haven't seen since last Christmas, the whole thing becomes an incredibly annoying burden. That's why I was delighted to discover My Flash Trash, a jewellery online shop set up by 18 year-old Amber Atherton. The idea is really clever and you can find all sorts of styles. What got my attention are the tons of totally lovely items between 5 and 30 euros that would make amazing gifts for any girl from 12 years old onwards. Plus buying from the internet saves you a lot of trouble... Here's a selection of some of the cutest ones. Sorry I can't choose, I want all of them!

Katie Shillingford

London's it-girl and fashion editor at Dazed is too cool for school.

Wouldn't it be lovely?

Yes, wouldn't it be lovely if we could all have ridiculously elegant wardrobes like Audrey Hepburn did, bursting with haute couture dresses custom made by Hubert de Givenchy? Well, that's not altogether impossible. Today, Sotheby's has auctioned several of miss Hepburn's clothes and accessories, many of them created by Givenchy. While I don't know how it everything went in the end of the day, the prices, the owners etc, I've been able to take a look at the catalogue and see some of the wonderful garments that were sold today.

Some of the pieces come from the collection of Tanja Star Busmann, Audrey's first fan. It is well known that they became friends, and Audrey used to offer Busmann most of her clothes after having worn them. So Busmann was very intelligent to have chosen to be a fan of so generous a woman!

All these pieces are by Givenchy. The belt above was worn by Hepburn in the film "Charade".

This is a Mark Cross marinière. Even if you couldn't afford to bid on it at Sotheby's, you can always get inspiration from it to dress in a casual, chic way!

And finally, there was Audrey's wedding dress created by the Fontana sisters in 1952. She made many fittings for the dress, but in the last minute she called the engagement off. We'll never know the reasons. All we know is, after the engagement got broken, Audrey asked her sister to give that dress away, "to be worn by another girl for her wedding, perhaps someone who couldn't afford a dress like mine, the most beautiful poor Italian girl you can find". Amabile Altobella was the chosen girl, and it's her who donated that dress for today's auction. 50% of the sale will be donated to the Audrey Hepburn Children's fund, which she created. Seeing all this, it's easy to understand that Audrey Hepburn was not only one of the biggest style icons of the XXth century, she was also a very generous person and a true lady.

Toodle-pip

I'm such a bad blogger! I haven't posted at all since I've been in London... What with this and that I've been quite busy, and during the weekend I just wanted to relax and enjoy the Christmassy feeling of the city. Strolling around and, as John Lennon would say, getting a tan from standing in the English rain, I noticed something that, to be honest, I have already noticed a gazillion times before: British men are charming and chic. It's a fact, especially when you come over from Paris (all that urban myth about Parisian women being uber elegant does not apply to Parisian men- in fact, that urban myth is just that: a myth). Whilst men in Paris have a boring (to say the least) way of dressing (horrid stonewashed jeans, American Apparel hoodies and brownish leather jackets, they all look like clones) and couldn't dress up to save their lives (and I'm not even going to speak about Spanish men's sense of style, it's too creepy a subject to hold a place in this blog), British men are creative, modern and elegant. Many people would agree with me: Tom Ford, for instance.

I've realised I hardly ever speak about menswear or men's style in the blog, and there's actually a lot to be said about the subject, so here you have some style icons all men should carefully analyse before getting into their shapeless jumpers and insultingly huge Nike Airs. As actors, they were all ambassadors of the British chic and they are still the reference when it comes to elegance and allure. On the top of the list I would no doubt situate Cary Grant, who was so outrageously elegant he had a clause on his contract allowing him to choose his own outfits at all times. He would dress impeccably for any situation, even to be followed through a cornfield by an assassin plane.

Next on is Lawrence Olivier, who was classy ever since the first day he jumped up on a stage and until well into his 80's.

And how to forget Rex Harrison! Not only he played Professor Higgins like no one else would, he also represented magnificently British style at its peak.

But it was Leslie Howard who first crossed the ocean in order to export his style. He was a bit disappointed in Hollywood, but he contributed to set its (at the time) high elegance and manner standards.

David Niven had a very long career during which he played all sorts of characters and situations, but he is most remembered for his 60's films, his very Brit sense of humour and his irresitible and slightly aloof expression.

And since we are talking about comedy, I couldn't help but to mention the king of all comedians: behind this cup of tea stands Peter Sellers. Forget the very silly and unnerving Inspecteur Clouseau and you have a man (accessorily a genius) with a chic and original sense of style.

David Hemmings represents the "creme" of the Swinging London, and if his character in "Blow Up" is iconic, it is all due to his spontaneous and chaotic "chic fou".

At last, I really feel I have to mention Peter O'Toole. I know I know, he is Irish. That makes a big difference. Or does it? He has equally represented internationally the most refined chic from the Islands. His suave manners drove entire generations of girls (oh and boys) totally mad.

I think these images speak for themselves. All I have to say to the gentlemen are three things:

1. Being a man is not an excuse to dress as a scarecrow.

2. Being elegant does definitely not equal dressing like, say, Mr. David Beckham (there's an example of a totally non-chic Englishman).

3. Boys, stop having your wives and mothers buy all the clothes for you and get out there. You will find that, surprisingly, you can have fun with fashion and still remain straight!

Belle en Rykiel

I could not help but talk about Sonia Rykiel's show last night... After all, I really like her style and her views on sexiness and femininity, and I'm addicted to glamourous underwear! But the collection actually overwhelmed me. Right after the show I witnessed myself asking my sister who lives in Madrid to go to H&M and buy the whole collection for me, or at least all the satin ensembles... (getting it in Madrid is much easier and more comfortable than in London or Paris, since there are far less crazed fashionistas there).

The show was much more than just girls walking up and down the catwalk. It always is with Rykiel, but this time it was also a huge parade-like party (I don't even dare to think about the budget... just the invitations, lovely cardboard illustrations closed by a velvet magnet, must have cost a fortune. Crisis? Certainly not for H&M). Rykiel-haired girls danced on top of huge installations and had as much fun as ever. It was Lily Cole who opened the show (I guess because she is red-haired), and she looked voluptuous in a black satin bra and high-waisted knickers.

It was all very Parisian, girly but sophisticated, sexy and adorable. All I can think of now is those black and nude satin ensembles...
All pictures here by Pascal Grob.

Oh I'm going to London tomorrow for some days, so even if I will be able to write some posts, it won't probably be every day; but keep on checking the blog for juicy London news!