JULIA RESTOIN ROITFELD - FOR JIL SANDER FRAGRANCES - MILAN VIDEO

LANCOME JULIA RESTOIN ROITFELD

LANCÔME has reportedly signed Julia Restoin-Roitfeld for its forthcoming spring make-up collection. Although there has been no official announcement, industry rumours say Restoin-Roitfeld will front the new Ultra Lavande make-up campaign - designed in collaboration with L'Wren Scott - with ads shot by photographer Mario Testino. Restoin-Roitfeld is no stranger to the modelling world having already racked up campaigns with Mango, Gap, Rock&Republic and, most recently, Jil Sander fragrances. However, signing with Lancôme will certainly up her global profile and place her on Lancôme's long list of famous faces, which already include Julia Roberts and Kate Winslet.

ANA LOCHING SHOES FALL 2010 STRAPPY

DALLAS, Jun 4, 2010 / FW/ – Proposing platforms and stilettos, Madrid-based designer Ana Locking traveled to strappy heights to create gladiator shoes, which by the way is all the rage all over the world for the past two seasons. Solids or multicolor, the shoes are perfect for the season.

Ana Gonzalez

DALLAS, May 26, 2009 / FW/ — A native of Toledo Spain, Ana Gonzalez (born 26 August 1970) studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Madrid where she trained to be an artist and then continued on to EFTI to study photography.

Establishing Locking Shocking in 1996, and then incorporating a year later with Oscar Benito as partner a year later, Ana Gonzalez acted as Creative Director wherein she designed accessories and jewelry. Locking Shocking captured Spain’s national attention and Ana Gonzalez went on to collaborate with Amaya Arzuaga, Michiko Koshino and Dexter Wong and thus also earning international accolade.

In 2001, still under the Locking Shocking brand name, Ana Gonzalez launched a ready-to-wear collection and she made her debut at the fifth edition of “Circuit Barcelona.”

Later on that year, in September 2002 summoned by Pasarela Cibeles in Madrid, Locking Shocking won their first award “L´Oreal Paris” best Spring/Summer 2003 collection by a young designer.

Locking Shocking received in 2004 the Fashion “Grand Prix” by Marie-Clarie magazine, award for best national designer of the year.

Even with her very hectic schedule in fashion, Ana continued to maintain strong ties with other different artistic disciplines, something that seems normal taking into account her studies in Fine Arts at the Fine Arts Faculty of Madrid.

She participated with several cultural institutions and artistic organizations throughout exhibitions, installations, video art and photography. This multi-discipline attitude allowed Ana to evolve into what she considers to be “The Matrix” of any sensitivity related to creation.

This interrelation within different art disciplines has always defined Ana’s work as the creative director of Locking Shocking and also what has recently developed into her newly created firm, this time on her own as Ana Locking.

In 2007, Locking Shocking was dissolved; the partnership with Oscar Benito gone, Ana Gonzalez went on to become Ana Locking.

Under this new stage as Ana Locking and with her debut collection “REENTRY” Winter 08-09, Ana received in February 2008 the L´Oreal Paris award for best collection at Pasarela Cibeles of Madrid.

CHANEL SPRING HAUTE COUTURE 2010

26 JANUARY PARIS BY SARAH MOWER


It didn't exactly come to Karl Lagerfeld in a vision—more of "an electronic flash in my head at five o'clock one morning. Silver and pastel," he said. "It's the first time in my whole career I've done a collection without black or navy. There's not one gold button."

From the heart-shaped cartoonish hair to the rococo-heeled silver booties, the show was a mix of romanticism, space age, and incredible eye-tricking handwork—as hard to fix in one place as the mercury that seemed to be running through the seams. The clothes ranged from shorts suits to shifts, from frothy, cocooning bubbles to liquid togas. In some places, the embroideries looked like smashed glass or molten metal; in others, jewelry itself became part of the structure: A halter dress was suspended from a crystal choker, and a shoulder strap became almost indistinguishable from a diamond necklace.

How to define it, though? Someone backstage suggested futurism. "I hate that," Lagerfeld shot back. "I don't believe in avant-garde clothes for a future that will never happen. Fashion is always now."

To fully describe a single technique—say, the horizontal bands of mille-feuille chiffon frills, minutely frayed at the edges, each layer hand-tinted in a dégradé way so that they almost look like fur from a few paces—requires an essay, not one of the sound bites Lagerfeld's so adept at tossing out. Chanel now produces six shows a year, and since last October, Lagerfeld has run from beige-y rustic ready-to-wear to khaki and red chinoiserie in Shanghai to this latest declaration that gold is out, silver in—and on with the iced fondants.

If it's hard to keep up, it's a method that certainly works in favor of couture customers, who would rather not buy anything that could be confused with clothes found hanging in a boutique. In its multifarious ways, this fleeting fantasia of prettiness—which in practice takes thousands of craftsperson hours to realize—fulfills that brief. While Karl Lagerfeld hurtles onward into the constant now.

PRETTY POETESS

RED,WHITE AND BLUE CARPET

by darrell hartman

The Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute benefit was all about stateside roots this year, celebrating as it did the opening of American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity. Proceedings inside had a turn-of-the-century feel, with wicker chairs at the dinner tables and a hot-air balloon inspired by one from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair looming over the Great Hall.

Appropriately, the first guest off the starting line was NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon. He was followed by co-chair Anna Wintour, who arrived in a gown designed for her by Karl Lagerfeld. "He's the master, so whatever he says, I obey," the Vogue editor in chief said. Influential types have also been known to have that kind of relationship with Oprah Winfrey, who came in soon after Wintour and issued a gentle commandment of her own: "I want everybody to not just look at the glamour of this evening, but to actually come to the exhibit."

America's favorite TV host had done the glamour part too, of course—with help from Oscar de la Renta. As her friend Gayle King noted, this was one night where "the last person she needs fashion advice from is me." With Gap's Patrick Robinson serving as Winfrey's fellow co-chair, the fashion world's biggest party (following 2008 and 2009 editions celebrating superheroes and supermodels) seemed to be making a symbolic nod toward Main Street.

Needless to say, Joe and Jane Six-Pack weren't ascending the red-carpeted steps, which soon became the sort of scene your Kristen Bells and Chloë Sevignys could slip through almost completely unnoticed as the likes of Bono, Jennifer Lopez, and Kristen Stewart soaked up the spotlight.

Compared to a high-pressure entrance like this one, the Oscars are "a nice get-together," Zoe Saldana observed. Catwalker Maryna Linchuk found herself having to adapt, too. "It's really different, because they're really into celebrities," she noted. (Her date, Derek Lam, assured us that he'll be giving Linchuk plenty of love in his Fall ad campaign.)

Naturally, stars waltz into a party like this one with different ideas on how to dress for it. Eva Longoria Parker's rule of thumb? "When you can't breathe, that means it’s a good fit!" Alexa Chung, meanwhile, sprang up the stairs in a comfy-looking tuxedo from 3.1 Phillip Lim.

As usual for the Met ball, there were plenty of such felicitous pairings. According to Pucci's Peter Dundas, outfitting sample-size Sienna Miller (who walked in hand in hand with Jude Law) was a snap. Jason Wu and Camilla Belle "did it through e-mail," the designer giggled. "We've been on many, many dates," Emma Watson said of her escort, Burberry's Christopher Bailey, while Liv Tyler joked that Stella McCartney (who also dressed Kate Hudson for the gala) takes care of her girlfriends' looks first and "always leaves hers to the last second." Brooke Shields positively squealed with delight when Michael Kors stooped down to adjust her train, which wasn't quite as epic as the roadblock-creating one Zac Posen had attached to Doutzen Kroes.

Ralph Lauren arrived in beaten-up blue jeans, having assembled what was arguably the evening's most all-American table. It included two of his own offspring (David and Dylan), Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, Taylor Swift, and Lauren Bush, who figured her dinner plans would involve "schmoozing about scoring some tickets to a concert" with the country-pop crossover sensation. And who did Tom Ford, in his pink jacket, plan to rub elbows with between cocktail hour and Lady Gaga's gala-capping performance? "Just some good friends," he said.