Oscar De La Renta dies

One of the designers that epitomized american fashion (whichever way you look at it), Oscar De La Renta died on the 20th of October 2014 at 82. His illustrious and enduring career spanned nearly half a century. Trained by fellow Latin designers Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo (at Lanvin), before returning to the USA to launch his company. He had a stint in Balmain for whom he took the rains in the 90s to make heavenly couture. He dressed many women, making them look and feel better. He loved women, he loved designing for them, being with them, loving them. His Dominican roots were always a major part of his aesthetic and style without overwhelming it. But he was first and foremost an American fashion champion, always putting out one collection after another, making clothes the way he saw fit for his loved ladies to enjoy and cherish. Below is a small selection of his work. He will be missed.

Christy Turlington for Bill King, British Vogue, 1986

Sketch by Antonio Lopez for an ad

Balmain couture, Vogue US 1997 by Peter Lindbergh

Linda Evangelista by Arthur Elgort for Vogue US, 1991

Perry Ogden for Town & Country, 2013

Karlie Kloss, advertisment, Spring/Summer 2012

Kate Moss for Annie Leibovitz, Vogue US, 2009

Bridal advertisment, Spring1/ Summer 2011, Craig Mc Dean

January Jones by Kurt Iswarienko for Edit magazine, May 2013

Amber Valetta for Steven Meisel, Vogue US 2006

Karlie Kloss, advertisement, Autumn/Winter 2011, by Craig Mc Dean

Steven Meisel for Vogue US, December 2010

Grace Mahary, Imaan Hammam, and Cindy Bruna
by Craig McDean, Vogue US, January 2014

Harper's Bazaar, 2009

Christy Turlington, advertisment, 1994

Karlie Kloss for Annie Leibovitz, Vogue US, 2013

Fashion show, New York 2009, by Damon Winter/New York Times

Best wishes for a happy holiday season!

Adieu Monsieur Lesage

Francois Lesage is one of the people that influenced my taste in fashion very much. When one hears the word "embroidery" it usually conjures images of  tacky wedding outfits or traditional household items our grandmothers made ages ago. On the other end of the style spectrum, it is one of the cornerstones of Haute Couture and its creativity.

Christy Turlington in YSL Braque hommage, 1988

The house Lesage (for not only fashion designers have "houses") was created by Lesage's father, when he bought the Michonet embroidery house in 1924, suppliers of the court of Napoleon III and the first couturier Charles Worth. It went on to become a cornerstone of Paris fashion making, having clients such as Madeleine Vionnet or Elsa Schiaparelli. Coco Chanel was herself avoiding them, mainly because her main opponent, Schiaparelli, was their client. Later on, with Monsieur Lagerfeld at the helm, that would change to the point that Chanel as a company acquired the Lesage firm to help it maintain the high standards of their craft and continue an almost lost art into the 21st century.

Christy Turlington in Chanel 1990

Francois Lesage was born in 1929 and he said, "never had any doubt as to what I was to do in life, given I was born into a pile of beads and sequins" . When he took over the atelier, he became one of the icons of the Parisian Couture pantheon. Always elegant in dark impeccably tailored suits, one could see him sitting at the front row of the fashion shows of esteemed couture houses he had worked for. He later was awarded the Chevalier D'Honneur distinction from the Legion D'Honneur.

Christy Turlington in Christian Lacroix 1990

During the 20th century, the number of experts in embroidery kept declining in Paris, but Lesage, with their exquisite craftsmanship and attention to detail kept on the forefront of couture. When Francois took over, he managed to lure clients such as Dior, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Yves Saint-Laurent and Christian Lacroix. He did not just translate into embroidery the designs but helped the fashion designers find inspiration. Some just had to utter a word like "India" "peacock" or "Byzantium" to get Lesage to procure samples of intricate work for them to transform into ethereal creations. he was a creator like them indeed.

Linda Evangelista in Lanvin by Montana, 1993

The house keeps an incredible archive of the work they have done for fashion designers over the years. Monsieur Lesage was always worried about the continuation of the craft, of educating young people to keep the tradition alive and evolve it alongside haute couture, keeping the same high standards. Quite a difficult task, one which seems to have been secured with the Chanel take-over and the foundation of the Lesage Embroidery School inside the atelier in Paris' 12th arrondissement.

Schiaparelli,  1938

The atelier employees around a dozen people, with reinforcements added during overload periods such as the couture seasons. It can take from 20 hours up to 500 hours to painstakingly make the embroidery for a fashion outfit, depending on the design and the materials used. It is an art that speaks of a long lost era of hand-crafted beauty, elegance and flourish that tries to find its way into the modern era. Let us hope his demise does not signal the end of it all. 

YSL - the famous Van Gogh jackets, 1988

The book dedicate to Lesage by Editions Assouline

The famous embroidery imitation of a leopard skin, for Gaultier Couture, 1998

Schiaparelli, 1937

Katoucha wearing one of the Braque 1988 gowns, from the 2002 final YSL show

Elena Kountoura in YSL Van Gogh jacket, 1988

Detail of the YSL Van Gogh jacket

Francois Lesage in his atelier

Tribute to Loulou De La Falaise, one of the most elegant women in the world

What can one write about a woman christened with a bottle of Sciaparelli's Shocking perfume instead of holy water? An unconventional personality, always chic in her own, inimitable way, the personification of what French chic means to the world, Loulou De La Falaise was the eternal Yves Saint-Laurent muse, his good friend and collaborator. And one of my very favourite and loved women in fashion.

Loulou (full name: Louise Vava Lucia Henriette de Le Bailly de la Falaise) was born in 1948, into one of France's most artistic and bohemian families: daughter of Alain, Count Le Bailly De La Falaise, writer, translator and heir to the Henessy cognac fortune, and Maxime Birley, English beauty and model (Beaton said she was "the only true chic Englishwoman"), she had quite a formidable clan to inspire her. Her maternal grandfather was painter Sir Oswald Birley, her uncle Mark Birley (of Annabel's fame), a great uncle, director Henri De La Falaise (3rd husband of Gloria Swanson), brother Alexis, an interior designer, niece Lucie (a model and also muse for YSL) and nephew Daniel (a chef and model). She also married into art: her 2nd husband was artist Thadée Klossowski de Rola, a son of the famous French painter Balthus. They had a daughter, Anna. What a pack!

Expelled from three boarding schools, she went to New York, where Diana Vreeland put her into modelling. She hated the job and returned to London, where she worked as a fashion editor for Queens. In 1968, she met Yves Saint-Laurent. She started working with him in 1972 and stayed with him in YSL for thirty years, until he retired. She helped with jewellery and accessories design, also becoming his right hand at work. Her incredible sense of styling inspired him. She however disiked the "muse" label:  "I used to get very irritated by that term. For me, a muse is someone who looks glamorous but is quite passive, whereas I was very hard-working. I worked from 9am to sometimes 9pm, or even 2am. I certainly wasn't passive. I worked on jewellery and knitwear, on the in-between collections. Now that it's all over, I like to think there's a bit of my soul in the clothes that were designed when I was there because I was supposed to be a source of inspiration." After Saint-Laurent retired, she created her own brand of jewellery and accessories.

Loulou was the gupsy influence, the over the top look for Yves, while Betty Catroux was his inspiration for the more masculine styles. The formidable trio created a unique look and feel for the French label, cementing what for many is still considered the epitome of Parisian style. Her trademark style: pants most of the time - made of velvet, shantung or silk - paired with satin tops in bright colours, chiffon blouses, simple black sweaters, printed or brocade jackets. She loved combining different patterns, for example striped pants and a Madras blazer with a classic white shirt. And of course the jewellery: bracelets and necklaces, often multi-stranded and made of semiprecious stones, with a multi-ethnic vibe. It remained constant but never dated, throughout her life: "I never think much of my age, I just get dressed and wear things that suit me at the moment." 

She died on the 5th of November, after a long illness according to a press release by the Pierre Berge - Yves Saint-Laurent Foundation. She will always be an inspiration and influence.

Tribute to Alexander McQueen

My all-time favourite McQueen gown, Oyster Dress, Spring Summer 2003

It is in the Metropolitan Museum of New York

Alexander McQueen with his mother

Gorgeous gown, Autumn/Winter 2006

I cannot believe I am writing this post. My favourite designer is dead. Alexander McQueen, 40 years old, was found dead at his home in London today, 9 days after the death of his beloved mother. McQueen always seemed so in control and defiant of everyone, it makes it even harder to believe he is simply gone.

Shalom Harlow being sprayed by two car painting robots

Alexander with Isabella Blow

Escher inspired print at his recycled runway, Autumn/Winter 2009-2010 show

Spring/Summer 2007 show - one of my very favourite dresses

An incredible talent, he made his way through the turbulent waters of the fashion world, always on the rise; seemingly nothing could stop him. He was born in 1969, the youngest of six in Hackney, London, in 1969; dad was a taxi driver, mom a teacher. He became interested in fashion as a child and very soon he was a young apprentice at the Saville Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard, then Gieves & Hawkes. There he made suits for the Prince of Wales amongst others (legend has it he wrote "I am a cunt" with a ballpoint pen in the lining of one of the Prince's suits). He did a small stint at Koji Tatsuno at Paris before going to Milan to work at Romeo Gigli.

Back in England in 1994, he applied for work at Central St. Martins but was encouraged to enroll as a student. His graduation collection was bought by fashion legend Isabella Blow, who was to become his friend, mentor and muse.

A selection from his work throughout the years

His infamous "Highland rape" collection in 1995 drew the fashion world's attention. The result of his theatrical but exquisitely tailord concoctions was a much coveted position at the helm of the Givenchy fashion house, right after John Galliano left for Dior. The tenure was not without problems: he called Hybert De Givenchy, one of the most revered and gentle men in Haute Couture "irrelevant", his first collection there was a failure. But he build his reputation slowly, managing to outsmart his critics.

German Vogue photo shoot

Nick Knight photo shoot for British Vogue

One of his quirky handbags

Givenchy Spring/Summer 2000 Haute Couture - in Vogue

Bjork "Homogenic" album cover, photo by Nick Knight

From his men's collection

Tilda Swinton in his dress for Narnia

Futuristic editorial

Comparing editorial to runway

Never happy with the management, he left for the Gucci group and his own label in 2001, where he enjoyed critical and financial success, opening boutiques across the world, releasing his perfume and accessories line. His oeuvre, dark and romantic yet thoroughly steeped in the modern, grimy world, enchanted people and made him popular to all. Even Puma and MAC cosmetics approached him for designing collections for them.

Men's collection

The Los Angeles boutique, designed by Pentagram

Stage for one of his shows

His first perfume, Kingdom

Nick Knight photograph

His chess-board fashion show, Spring/Summer 2005

Luggage designed for Samsonite

December 2008 Vogue US editorial with Roberto Bolle as Romeo and Coco Rocha as Juliet,

shot by Annie Leibovitz

Bjork, photographed by Nick Knight

Designed for Puma

Givenchy Autumn/Winter 1999/2000 Haute Couture leather corset

Daria Werbovy in Vogue US editorial, May 2009

I love his clothes: his collections were the ones I anticipated the most during fashion week. The outfits, dark and looking like stepping a fine line between fairy tales and science fiction, yet somehow, one could always find very wearable tailored pieces in his collections. His evening dresses were fantastic mash-ups of a variety of influences, with most prominent his love for victorianna and a morbid fascination with death - taxidermied animals, bones, whole skeletons, sculls etc, were always present in his collections.

You can read about my favourite collection of his in another post I made. His loss is a great one, not only for his family and friends, but for fashion lovers and people who appreciated his talents. He had lots more to give and I believe we had not seen the best of him yet. He will be sorely missed.

Bye bye Lee