Elie Saab scored some major red-carpet coups at the Oscars on Sunday, putting nominee Anna Kendrick in a blush pink gown and Rachel McAdams in a pastel floral number—both dresses from his January couture collection and both unapologetically pretty. For Fall, he took a much darker view, focusing primarily on black, with hits of burgundy, teal, and midnight blue for evening. His message would've been more powerful and effective had he edited down the 59-look show and eliminated the clingy tree-motif jerseys, but his sleek hourglass sheaths and flirty, full-skirted pieced lace cocktail dresses will appeal to more than just Hollywood starlets.

Zeroing in on real-world clothes rather than his usual event-dress-heavy lineup was a prescient move in a season when designers en masse have been rediscovering the power of plain. You couldn't call all of his eveningwear restrained, though: There were some see-through ombré net and peekaboo lace styles that, as any celebrity stylist could tell you, will never fly with the fashion police. But when Saab tamped down the excess in favor of understated goddess gowns and just-revealing-enough jewel-tone sequined columns, it was easy to picture the results on a red carpet sometime soon.
—Nicole Phelps

On the final day of Paris, Marc Jacobs rounded off the Fall collections in more ways than one. Not to put too fine a point on it, this was one fashion show heterosexual men are going to understand. Breast-wise, it put it all on a plate—or rather a corseted, cantilevered, frill-edged balcony. "And God Created Woman" announced the program, bringing up thoughts of the era of the young Bardot, of fifties-sixties wasp waists, and circle skirts. And, inevitably, Miuccia Prada, who first broached the comeback of the curvy silhouette earlier in the season in Milan.

It takes a different casting approach to do justice to the refocusing of all eyes away from legs to the plentiful bosom. Thus, Jacobs had called on Laetitia Casta, Bar Refaeli, Catherine McNeil, Karolina Kurkova, and finally Elle Macpherson, all women whose physical attributes have acted as a disqualification for fashion show participation for so long. Not that the rehabilitation of the embonpoint was vulgarly done. Jacobs framed it more as a fresh, feminine, ingenue look, with hair scraped back into high, bouncy B.B. ponytails; clean makeup; and square-toed, block-heeled pumps trimmed with flat bows—another angle on the Mad Men era but this time with a charming Frenchified accent. The show swung along prettily as a fountain sprayed and jolly fifties movie music played in the middle of the tented courtyard, creating that quintessentially Parisian atmosphere, a sense of all being right in the best of all possible cities to be appreciated as a woman.

If there was little to zero variety in silhouette—and the dirndl-esque petticoated skirt can't be for the many—the items and trimmings exemplified the Vuitton knack for classy detail, as in fur buttons and collars and glittery heels. And above all, this Louis Vuitton show provided a charming backdrop to display the bags. This season, it's a zillion mignonne reinterpretations of the classic Speedy. Here, that functional shape, designed in the 1930's, came flocked and sequined, smothered in guipure lace over satin, or woven in metallic thread and done up in fox.
—Sarah Mower

Johnny Talbot and Adrian Runhof's experience designing ballet costumes for the Dortmund Opera House last summer clearly had a huge effect on them. Their Fall presentation was dance-inspired, from the tip of its ballerina topknots to the toe of its pointe slipper-influenced heels. Dress after dress exploded at the hem into tutus of tulle, and the finale featured a solo by Lisa-Maree Cullum, prima ballerina of the Bayerisches Staatsballett. Talbot name-checked Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Red Shoes" as direct inspiration, while heaping scorn on the classic Powell-Pressburger film of the same name. Both spin a dramatic story of destructive obsession, which is scarcely what you'd expect to see reflected in the controlled cocktailwear that is Talbot Runhof's core business, but in fact a little more emotion would have been welcome in a tightly edited show that struck one note and stayed there.

Dark fabrics were draped and swagged for an effect that was anything but balletically airy, especially one floral print that looked like les fleurs du mal. The less said about the red propylene "legwarmers" the better. What levity there was came from the froths of tulle. Two gowns at the end featured a technique called "aluminum steaming," which loaned an elusive metallic shimmer to a floating floral print. They could almost have been the most glamorous shower curtains you ever did see. Following Cullum's solo (in red pointe slippers), the designers took their bow in red kicks. Cute.
—Tim Blanks

Bauer-Griffin Robert Pattinson fans will soon be able to take home a piece of the action from the Twilight heartthrob’s latest flick, Remember Me. Items such as Rob’s dreamy blue Prada suit, slip-in Birkenstocks, off-white LNA T-shirt and more of his costumes from the film will hit the live auction site icollector.com on [...]

It's ironic that Wolfgang Joop, who once made his living putting men and women in power suits, has become such a maximalist. For Fall, he appeared to have looked to Spain or perhaps the Argentine pampas for inspiration. The first outfit featured a striped and fringed horse blanket tossed over the shoulders, and from there Joop went on to turn those blankets into all manner of blazers and trenchcoats, with leather buckle closures and fringe lining the arm seams. But as strange as they sound, they worked; he can still cut a mean jacket. There was also a good-looking shearling aviator and cool leather perfectos cropped high underneath the armholes.

On the more feminine side of the story, the designer showed draped scarf-print dresses trimmed with fur in a manner that echoed what Galliano had done earlier in the week. Other frocks came with large, multilayered accordion-pleated ruffs at the shoulders or heavily scalloped yokes, which gave them a costume-y sensibility out of step with the season. There were some decent outerwear pieces here, but now would've been an opportune moment for Joop to have fully re-engaged with the tailoring that was once such an integral part of his oeuvre.
—Nicole Phelps

Lily Cole as a black-leather cat-suited Emma Peel in the Hermès remake of the sixties British TV series The Avengers. Pourquoi? Actually, in a tongue-in-cheek way, it made a kind of sense for this bastion of French values. First, it gave Jean Paul Gaultier the license to hook in a spoofy power-woman stereotype for the season (a character fashion's toying with now). Second, it brought in masculine tailoring by way of Savile Row (the bowler hats and furled umbrellas were clearly the accoutrements of Peel's partner-in-sleuthing John Steed, or the Whitehall Spymaster out of James Bond). This apparent Anglophilia might have been expected to cause an international incident, given the Franco-British rivalry that's existed since Agincourt. Somehow, though, Gaultier managed to swing the whole thing around to end up as a pretty effective demonstration of classic Hermès values.

Having established his references, clever old Gaultier was, first of all, able to make sly fun of the kinky-fetish aspects of so much black leather-wearing—something that has indeed crossed the mind as a slight issue of taste in many a show this season. When Gaultier sets about using napa leather at Hermès, however, his real concern is to cut a regular and discreet jacket or coat, the likes of which is one of the foundations of the house ready-to-wear. The saddlelike epaulets with dangling vestigial stirrups may be discounted as a prank—get past them and the bowlers and the umbrellas, and what you begin to see is impeccable tailoring, with no egregious extras as far as trendiness is concerned.

That settled, Gaultier was free to use the remainder of the collection to sneak in such fare as casual-deluxe duffels, parkas, and sporty vests, along with the superb knitwear of the house. Still, he was stumped on eveningwear. He's not alone in that, this being the season of the comeback of day. But fringed mohair blankets arranged in tiers, as evening skirts? That was a joke that was just a joke.
—Sarah Mower

Jamie McCarthy/Getty It’s official: Whitney Port is the new spokesperson for acne-fighting device Zeno Hotspot. ?My career puts a lot of emphasis on having clear skin,” the MTV reality star explains of why she wanted to partner with the brand and star in a series of print ads and television spots as part [...]

I could on endlessly about how wrong this sounds. And still! The look of it just takes me away! To a happy place! This unairbrushed cutie with frizzy hair is a real dog. A winning one, actually! He just won a very important competition recently so let?s be happy for him! Happy enough to make this [...]

Bad Dog Hair Day!

Looking down on those incessant rumors about a relationship between Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston, W Magazine goes the whole nine yards and splashes a Domestic Bliss-like issue with the two mentioned above. Remember Domestic Bliss? With Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? It was the coming out for them. Somewhat. What?s this W April 2010 supposed [...]

Jennifer Aniston And Gerard Butler Do W Magazine April 2010

Seth Browarnik/Startraks Reggie Bush isn’t the only true love in Kim Kardashian’s life. The reality star can’t get enough of beauty products! Having already launched her own signature scent and recently admitting that her dream job would be as a Sephora shopgirl, Kim and her sisters are joining forces to promote new [...]

View the Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2010/11 collection from Paris Fashion Week.

View the Louis Vuitton autumn/winter 2010/11 collection from Paris Fashion Week.

Marc Jacobs banishes the micro-mini at Louis Vuitton

Gilbert Flores/Celebrity Photo From global pop sensation to high fashion model, is there anything Madonna can’t do? Apparently not. Joining forces with Iconix Brand Group, Inc. (the company behind such labels as Candie’s and Badgley Mischka), the Queen of Pop is set to take the fashion world by storm with the launch of her [...]

View the Valentino autumn/winter 2010/11 collection from Paris Fashion Week.

View the Valentino autumn/winter 2010/11 collection from Paris Fashion Week.

The designer restored voluptuousness to fashion's centre stage.

If you?re into designing clothing or accessories, what you must keep in mind is that bizarre sells. Don?t know bizarre? Scroll down! What you?re about to see next is a rectangular structure in the shape of a cube with a discreet logo on the side: Cheap Monday. It doesn?t have anything to do with jeans, except [...]

Cheap Monday Bracelet

var brightcovePlayerID = '';buildBrightcovePlayer(70984274001); With the launch of her ready-to-wear collection Winter Kate, Nicole Richie has grown her fashion business into an international force. The California girl recently took her much-anticipated line to London’s chic Selfridges department store where she was greeted by throngs of fans dying to get a first look at the Winter Kate [...]

I was waiting for this to happen: Everybody Hurts reedited. With some notable names, not to mention voices, REM?s amazing song goes live once more for Haiti. If you?re a sensitive soul, like I know you are, brace yourself. The images don?t make you feel the joy of ?hanging on? but mostly the hurt of ?everybody [...]

Everybody Hurts. For Haiti

Hayden Panettiere attended the 18th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party in a Amanda Wakeley dress on March 7th. Long Drape Front Halterneck Satin Dress £895 at amandawakeley.com source

MOSS finally appears at Paris Fashion Week to promote Longchamp handbag collection

A new exhibition toasts its rise from work boots to cult fashion must-haves.

How many trends can go to work at the office (like the shirtdress, left) or be knockaround casual for weekend (as in utility pants) ? The military look gets its legs from olive and khaki canvas pieces; it mixes back well with earthy pieces like rope-heel espadrille or cork wedges and wood accessories. If all that olive drab and khaki isn't your speed, add color pops in orange, coral or yellow. (Photo Credit: Nordstrom.com)

What to Wear Now: Military Influences originally appeared on About.com Women's Fashion on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 10:29:08.

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The final fashion show of the late designer Alexander McQueen has been displayed in Paris.

The final fashion show of the late designer Alexander McQueen has been displayed in Paris.

First Lady Michelle Obama has given away the glamorous gown she wore last year to a number of balls commemorating President Barack Obama's inauguration.

Mrs. Obama donated her one-shouldered, white dress by Jason Wu to the Smithsonian Institute. The gown will be displayed at the National Museum of American History as part of an exhibit showcasing gowns worn by first ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Mrs. Obama.

"I am very honored and very humbled, but I have to say that I?m also a little embarrassed by all the fuss being made over my dress," the First Lady said while presenting her gown to the museum on Tuesday. "Like many of you, I?m not used to people wanting to put things I?ve worn on display."

New Yorkers will get a sneak peek at Target's latest collaboration Wednesday. Target will launch a pop-up store of flowery goods, and this one has everyone covered.

Alexander McQueen's last works were given final honors by his trusted team in a hushed and dignified showing that went to his core as a designer who scaled the heights of couture accomplishment. Sarah Burton, his right hand, described how, in beginning this collection, McQueen had turned away from the world of the Internet, which he had so powerfully harnessed in his last show. "He wanted to get back to the handcraft he loved, and the things that are being lost in the making of fashion," she said. "He was looking at the art of the Dark Ages, but finding light and beauty in it. He was coming in every day, draping and cutting pieces on the stand." The 16 outfits shown had been 80 percent finished at the time of his death.

What McQueen was preparing had a poetic, medieval beauty that dealt with religious iconography while recapturing memories of his own past collections. He had ordered fabric that translated digital photographs of paintings of high-church angels and Bosch demons into hand-loomed jacquards, then taken the materials and cut stately caped gowns and short draped dresses. In its ornate surface narrative, that might read as a kick against the plain and restrained direction fashion is taking, but in their own way, the fluted, attenuated lines of his long dresses suggested a calm and simplicity. Instead of aggression, they transmitted the grace of the medieval Madonnas and Byzantine empresses McQueen had been studying.

For anyone who had watched his development through the years, the references to milestone collections were apparent. The bandage-bound heads, some with feathered coxcombs, simultaneously called up the designer's rebel-British background and his landmark Asylum collection while also catching a likeness to the modest head coverings seen in Northern European medieval portraiture. When a high-collared, formfitting cutaway jacket made entirely from golden feathers appeared, it read as a direct retrieval of McQueen's first step into haute couture in his Icarus collection, after he took the helm of Givenchy in 1996 at the age of 27. This time, though, it was realized with even more skill, with a multilayered white tulle skirt sprinkled at the hem with delicate gilded embroidery.

Somehow, that one outfit encapsulated everything about McQueen: both the tailoring and the romanticism. Perhaps he wouldn't have chosen to show it in such a simple and intimate way—in a small, ornate room to privately invited groups of editors—because that left out the full realization of concept and showmanship that equally drove his creativity. But the circumstances, sad as they are, allowed his friends and colleagues to share a long and poignant moment to look at what the man achieved, and to grieve for him.
—Sarah Mower

WANT a celeb's bag without the designer price-tag? Try these high-st versions

Reviews of the Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Chloe, Giambattista Valli and Emanuel Ungaro fall shows.

Just because I know girls love ice-cream (: Stephie

Since the death of Yves Saint Laurent (pictured at work, above) in 2008, there's been no shortage of tributes, headlines, and homages. But the Saint Laurent retrospective, opening this Thursday at Paris' Petit Palais, is the biggest yet. The show includes 307 couture pieces in pristine, barely worn condition, from ...

Ann-Sofie Back has jumped the gun. Though she's been signed on as creative director at Cheap Monday since 2009, thanks to the plan-ahead cycles of fashion, her first full collections aren't due until Spring '11. That doesn't mean you have to wait to get Back. The designer has created capsule ...

Karl Lagerfeld is the latest designer to be appointed as a Commander of the French Légion d'Honneur. That's a relief: With just the constant accolades and endless new assignments to keep him going, we were worried he was going to get low self-esteem. [WWD]And speaking of Chanel, The Moment checks ...

Enthusiasm for the eighties is on the wane, so it was smart for Rosemary Rodriguez to relaunch the Thierry Mugler line today with a collection she described as épure, meaning the excesses were swept away. You could see echoes of Mugler's exaggerated shoulders and inverted triangle silhouettes in her collection, ...

With Paris fashion week beginning to wind down, the editors and buyers who've made the four-city circuit have a little time to relax before heading home. We checked in with Net-a-Porter's Natalie Massenet, Holli Rogers, Claudia Plant, and Kate Blythe for a few of their favorites:Le Café de l'Homme at ...

The shoes at Valentino—blush-colored patent-leather kitten heels trimmed in metal studs—are an apt metaphor for the direction Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri are taking the storied label. Former accessories designers under Valentino Garavani himself, they're utterly in touch with all of the house's romantic, ruffled codes, but they're determined to modernize it with their more dangerous, youthful sensibilities. Their biggest success so far: dressing fashion favorite Chloë Sevigny in one of their Spring gowns for the Golden Globes back in January.

Today, the experimental films of Kenneth Anger, who sat front-row, gave the proceedings a bit of edge, but the contemporary feel came from the clothes themselves. Yes, there were ruffles by the yard, but they decorated little cropped leather jackets worn over party dresses just as tiny. There were scads of lace, too, but the designers patchworked it irreverently together with point d'esprit and leather mesh. And they didn't ignore Valentino's signature color, red, which looked fresh layered with a powdery nude on the final draped gown. That, however, wasn't the collection's most showstopping evening number. That title belonged to another dress, made from tiers of lace hand-embroidered with thousands of minuscule, shimmering lilac beads.

Giancarlo Giammetti, the house's co-founder, famously criticized the duo's most recent couture show on his Facebook page as a "ridiculous circus." He was all smiles tonight, as were some young editors, whose collective reflections can be summarized as, "Wow, I want to wear Valentino for the first time."
—Nicole Phelps

"It's women's day, women's week, women's month, and women's year. But it's not that we don't like men, we love men!" Diane von Furstenberg enthused at her Meatpacking studio. For DVF, every day may be ladies' day, but for the U.N.-approved International Women's Day yesterday, the ageless designer?effervescent in purple ...

Beige, beige, and more beige. It's no news by now that the paler shade of brown, and the grown-up daywear it connotes, have become mainstays of the season. It's the route Chloé has taken for Fall, with such thorough commitment that until halfway through, it almost seemed Hannah MacGibbon was reluctant to offer anything else.

From the outset, she whittled the look down to its clearest components: a long-sleeved silk blouse and high-waist flared trousers, and the bouncy, blown-out Charlie girl hair that captures the seventies American sportswear attitude this trend is all about. Next up, MacGibbon introduced knitwear, classic menswear overcoats, and an early-Armani-like jacket that might have jumped out of Vogue's pages in the post-women's lib era—when dashing to work while looking enthusiastically businesslike was the thing.

It's a feeling, of course, that MacGibbon shares with her British female designer peers Phoebe Philo and Stella McCartney, who both passed through the Chloé studio some while back. They left the label with a reputation for girly dressing, jingly-jangly It bags, and statement shoes, but now that they're all into their thirties, these young professionals are leading a different life.

MacGibbon's house-cleaning instinct has thrown out the all the frills, prints, funny bags, and chunky clogs and platform shoes that last made Chloé hot. The bags have been stripped of hardware and logos, and the footwear renovated as sidewalk-friendly caramel riding boots and springy-soled wedges. The flirty, blowy dresses, once the Chloé signature, have been axed. The hip-girl, slightly streetwise element that used to be part of the personality here was this season reduced to a mild play on western styling—a minor outbreak of leather fringing and one pair of velvet, gold-embroidered jeans that turned up in the second half.

In terms of brand differentiation, though, that leaves a conundrum for buyers. Chloé's offering for Fall puts the label in direct competition with what so many others are producing now. It left some puzzlement over whether leaving the house's youth behind is such a wise move.
—Sarah Mower

A new "invisible bra" that promises to enhance the cleavage and make breasts appear a size bigger will go on sale today.

The dramatic collection McQueen was working on when he committed suicide has been unveiled in Paris.

"It's like an early George Lucas movie set," Giambattista Valli said at his Moncler Gamme Rouge presentation today. True, fans of THX 1138 probably felt right at home in the Mylar-wallpapered alcove where Valli was greeting editors. But the clothes themselves?not unlike those in his signature collection, shown yesterday in ...

Freja Beha Erichsen and three bears on an ice floe. This was the arctic scene at Chanel, where giant chunks of bona fide iceberg, specially transported from Scandinavia, formed the frozen landscape around which models solemnly splashed through a sea of 'berg-melt in shaggy snow boots with ice-block heels.

The Karl conceit of the season, no surprises, was an in-every-way extravagant play on Coco in cold weather. Using more fur than he'd even flung at Fendi—the twist being that here the fur was fake—Lagerfeld steered this collection nearer to couture than ready-to-wear than ever. Fur was woven into brown tweeds; formed deep pelmets on the lower half of leather jackets; became almost igloo-shaped capes, bonnets, even—for goodness' sake—furry trousers. Meanwhile, the suit and coat combinations also had a level of lavish elaboration usually reserved for haute eveningwear. Fur-fringed embroideries and ice jewelry conspired to create intensely worked ruffled and beaded silhouettes that glinted with rock-crystal neckpieces and fistfuls of rings. Somewhere in there, a flash of translucent silver seemed to be a clutch in which the quilting of the CC classic bag had been frozen into the likeness of a refrigerator ice cube tray.

It was a lucky stroke that the weather outside had kindly assisted Chanel in whipping subzero winds around the Grand Palais while this display was going on. Since humans are suggestible, it took only the merest suspension of disbelief to imagine this collection hitting the mark next fall, despite the fact that it will start to be delivered in July—and who knows in which century we'll have another winter like this one? Nevertheless, putting global warming and the melting of ice caps both center stage and on the back burner (as it were), this show swept the audience along as they were treated to such amusements as seeing Karl Lagerfeld's favorite, Baptiste Giabiconi, swagger out of an ice cave in a full-length polar bear coat.

It wasn't all played for laughs. Within the context of a season of innovative knitwear, Chanel's was some of the most outstanding. A group of three short angora sweater dresses, tinted iceberg blue in the center, was an amazing follow-up from something Lagerfeld did with dégradé pastel embroidery in couture. One gray and black cardigan coat was knitted in a bubbly grid to mimic a down-filled puffer. And the finale was given to a wedding dress knitted in silk tulle ribbon to resemble Chanel's bouclé tweed, forming a tight-fitting sweater in the body and then sweeping away in flounces in back. The bride—Freja, again—dangled an ice-block purse on a fur-woven Chanel chain.
—Sarah Mower

Fashion Wire Daily - One season after staging a Chanel runway show in a reconstructed Normandy farm, the house's designer Karl Lagerfeld presented its latest collection Tuesday, March 9, in Paris, in the midst of a custom-built iceberg, literally imported from Scandinavia.

AP - Models in head-to-toe yeti suits picked their way around towering but quickly melting icebergs, sloshing through a deep puddle of Arctic melt in their shaggy fake fur.

Watch the Chloe autumn/winter 2010/11 fashion show at Paris Fashion Week.

Watch the Chloé autumn/winter 2010/11 fashion show at Paris Fashion Week.

Watch Valentino's autumn/winter 2010/2011 fashion show for Paris Fashion Week.