THE WEEK IN FASHION: SEPTEMBER 5-12th

Posted by Kasia Hastings and Bethan Holt

So we've just about recovered from four weeks of shows...

REMEMBERING VIDAL SASSOON

Friends and family paid tribute today to one of hairstyling's legendary figures. Vidal Sassoon was described as a "generous and compassionate man" during the service at St Paul's Cathedral this morning. The service was made up of both Jewish and Christian tradition (Sassoon a lifelong anti-Semetic campaigner) and attended by friends such as Zandra Rhodes, Michael Caine and Jeremy Irons, amongst many others who remembered him for his contribution to fashion, culture and human rights.

Rex Features

CHANEL LBJ EXHIBITION
Last night Chanel opened their Little Black Jacket exhibition in London at the Saatchi Gallery following the success of their book, "The Little Black Jacket" this summer and the subsequent exhibition in New York. Naturally, Karl Lagerfeld invited London beauties such as Alice Dellal, Eva Herzigova, Yasmin le Bon and Amanda Harlech to mark the occasion. The exhibition itself consists of more than 100 black and white photos of Karl's favourite muses (some more surprising...Kanye) all sporting the iconic jacket. Sounds like a perfect Sunday afternoon treat to me - The exhibition is on until October 28th and admission is free.

Image: bohomoth.com

WHAT'S NEXT FOR CARINE

Is there no stopping Carine Roitfeld? Just when we all thought she had settled nicely into her CR Fashion Book project she goes and announces yet another string to her bow. And it's a fascinating one at that as Roitfeld is assuming the newly created role of Global Creative Director for Harper's Bazaar, published by Hearst and major rival to her former employers, Vogue owners Conde-Nast. Fans of Roitfeld's work should rejoice as the move will make her work way more accessible; her stories, which look set to include covers, will appear in Harpers editions around the world. She will be working closely with her friend Stephen Gan, Harper's Bazaar creative Director. Hearst's President and Chief Executive, Duncan Edwards said in a statement, “This collaboration marks the first time anything like this has been done, and we’re very excited about what Carine will bring to Bazaar editions around the world.”. Bring on the March editions which will be the first to feature Carine's shoots.

The Roifeld-Restoins en famille at the launch of CR Fashion Book Image: Bazaar.com

THE DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE

Today it has come to light that the Duchess of Cambridge dressed up as Cheryl Cole and performed her hit "Fight For This Love" on her hen night. In her forthcoming autobiography Cheryl Cole reveals that it was Prince William who personally informed her of Kate's tribute back in June at the Jubilee Concert in which she performed. The Duchess is said to have donned Cheryl's famous split trousers and have been step perfect, now that we'd like to see, so much in fact that we have recreated the look for ourselves...

ALEXA CHUNG'S BOOK IS NOT A STYLE BIBLE
Alex Chung has insisted that her new book is not to be taken as a style bible! The style icon and Vogue contributor told Fashionista.com, "It's basically a compendium of drawings and photographs, and I'm going to write about a bunch of stuff,"- phew, no Victoria Beckham dictatorial then. Alexa's book is expected to be published next September by Penguin Books.

TREND: ENGAGEMENTS:
The bigger the better - Blake Lively and Jennifer Aniston have been flashing their atomic sized rocks this week in the latest round of celeb ring-offs. Blake Lively made her first public appearance since marrying Ryan Reynolds at the Chanel Bijoux De Diamant 80th Anniversary celebration earlier this week.  The Chanel campaign star's ring is reported to have cost $2m, the rose coloured diamond is the stuff of child fantasy and was paired with a similarly sugary Chanel AW12 dress. Meanwhile Brit girl Poppy Delevigne received an extraordinary proposal from her beau James Cook, whom she has been dating since 2007. Poppy's proposal came in the form of a bespoke jewellery box with an inscribed message by British designer, Anya Hinmarch. We hope Poppy knows it's James she's marrying and not Anya.

Delevigne tweeted "Err YES...#happiestdayofmylife" along with a photo of the jewellery box.

THE SAINT LAURENT DEBATE CONTINUES 

The Saint Laurent debate continued this week as Cameron Silver spoke out against Hedi Slimane's debut collect for the Paris fashion house. The L.A. "antique" store owner spoke to British Vogue about the "vintage education" he gave Raf Simmos before the designer embarked on his spring collection,  and of Slimane told them, "If you're going to present yourself as the messiah then you better deliver the 11th commandment". Ouch. Silver's branded Slimane's collection as, "too referential" and confirmed it as the wardrobe of every L.A. girl of the past 5 years. It seems there is still appreciation for Slimane's collection in the form of Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO and chairman of PPR who own Yves Saint Laurent. He spoke to WWD, publicly backing the collection. Finally, Susie Lau of Style Bubble wrote a great piece this week in the light of the Saint Laurent collection about what really constitutes "modern"- is what the average, non- super fashion girl wants to wear now? Or is it what is deemed experimental and entirely new by critics?

Image: ITVE/PA Wire

BRITISHISM IN AMERICA

"Crickey, Britishism are everywhere" wrote Alex Williams in the "Style" section of the New York Times this week. It seems the Downton effect is spreading beyond the Autumn/Winter catwalks and into the vernacular of the average American, or New Yorker anyway.  Brit colloquialism such as "cheers", "brilliant" and "loo" have been adopted by Americans... Whilst Williams suggests it might be Anglocreep and even annoying we're sure a bit of good old British charm won't hurt and with the likes of Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow way ahead of this trend perhaps it's here to stay. Jolly hockey sticks!

BABY FORD

Congratulations to Tom Ford and his long-term partner Richard Buckley who announced the birth of baby, Alexander John Buckley Ford, last Friday. The pair who have been together for 25 years, kept the pregnancy completely hush hush, Ford previously told Time Out, "if I have children, no one will know about it until the child is born. And no one will ever see the child because I certainly wouldn't use it as a press tool'. Looks like we'll be waiting a long time to see little Alexander John in a Ford suit.

vogue.co.uk

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA FOR H&M

H&M released the first images of their latest designer-high street collaboration this week shot by artist and director Sam Taylor-Johnson. The first glimpses of the eagerly anticipated collection from Maison Martin Margiela suggest we can expect chic separates, statement coats and beautiful silhouettes- just the thing for a winter pick me up. The collection is available online and in store from November 15th.

HUGO BOSS AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE 

This week the first of Hugo Boss and the National Theatre's creative collaboration took to the stage in the opening night of Frank McGuinness' production of Tirso de Molina's Damned Despair. This is the first time the National has joined forces with a designer and with Hugo Boss set to create all the costumes for their forthcoming contemporary productions we are expecting some extra style with our next slice of culture. It's also an interesting development in the wider context of fashion gaining cultural capital and the stage as a commercial space.

Finally, check out the art work for RiRi's new album... Taking graffiti to the next lev

Image: JustJared.com

POSTINGS FROM PARIS: CEDRIC CHARLIER, ONE TO WATCH

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Cedric Charlier SS13, complete with awesome make-up (including the legs) by Karim Rahman

When I was working out what I would do while I was in Paris, visiting Cedric Charlier's showroom was rather high on my list of priorities. He is one of France's most promising "young designers", though you realise that the definition of "young" is not really the same as it is in London where that term constitutes being a couple of seasons beyond graduation. Charlier's label is only in its second season but his CV shows a steady climb through the design ranks at Givenchy and Lanvin before becoming head of design at Cacharel for four seasons. AEFFE, the group which owns Cacharel as well as Moschino and Alberta  Ferretti, agreed to back Charlier's own label after he left Cacharel and so the fashion world was granted a fresh, new Parisian talent to get our hands on.

Charlier's SS13 collection is a super sleek combination of luxe pieces in bright white and the most, vivid awesome orange you could possibly imagine. It is actually quite blinding when you walk into the long, gallery-like showroom and there are rails of different riffs on essential yet fabulous staples- a great jumper, shift dresses, pencil skirts, shell tops- all rendered in those strong, strong hues with added zips and sharp folds and drapes. The orange apparently came from mercurochrome, something we don't see very much in the UK but widely used on the continent as a kind of liquid alternative to plasters. It's right up there with the most genius, obscure and tightly focused references cited by designers.

Interspersed with the orange and white is an abstract, hand painted print which is very fitting in the context of SS13's graphic, modern art theme. Charlier went to Japan to get started on the collection and there's definitely a hint of the oriental in the sweeping brush strokes and stark delineations. The biggest influence from Japan though was the idea of Samurai armour. Charlier did his thing and came up with his own version; "L'armure de Charme" (Charm armour) which translates to gorgeously cut, sexy, modern pieces. What's more, we're not taking thousands for a piece here, you can get your hands on a little bit of Charlier magic for well under £500. At the moment, the collection is only available on the brilliant Avenue 32 but Charlier's people tell me that it looks like it'll be coming to a London store soon. With plans for a bigger show further into Paris Fashion Week (he currently shows on the first day) next season, expect to see plenty more of Monsieur Charlier.

Such chic shoes

WATCH THE AWESOME MAKE-UP BEING DONE:

CHARLIER TO BUY NOW:

JUMPER £275 and GOLD SKIRT £325

PENCIL DRESS £530  and COLLAR £90

PENCIL DRESS £400

All catwalk images from Style.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARC JACOBS' NEW FAVE, RUBY JEAN WILSON

Posted by Kasia Hastings, Fashion Intern at Large

"Birthday cupcakes at my shoot :) aww!" an instagram from @rubyjean_wilson

Happy Birthday Ruby Jean Wilson!

This weekend amongst her super-cute instagrams, 19 year-old Ruby Jean Wilson retweeted this from @wisdomquote: “Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is Now. The place to be happy is Here. The way to be happy is to Make others so.” – yes, we would be very happy to be you right now too Miss Wilson! Ruby Jean is the break through model of SS13, she opened and closed for Marc Jacobs in New York and stole the show at Louis Vuitton in Paris as well as being the name on everyone’s lips for the whole of fashion month. SS13's answer to Edie Sedgwick.

The Scottish-born, Australian model was signed by Priscilla’s Model Management in 2009 at the age of 15 and made her international debut in 2010 walking for Lacoste in New York. Since then she has walked for Burberry, YSL and Stella McCartney to name a few. Whilst the Ozzy babe has been around for a few seasons and walked for both Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton in 2012 it wasn’t until SS13 that Miss Ruby Jean stole our fashion hearts – but why now?

Earlier today I spoke to Carol White of Premier Models who represent Ruby Jean this side of the pond, she describes Jacob’s latest muse as a “beautiful bird”. Carol puts the model’s success down to three things, her newly blonde hair, looking so fit and “Luck!”. As Carol went on to explain, over the last year Ruby Jean has been working out hard to look good – good here translating as fit, toned and healthy. This suggests a conscious effort on the model’s part to move away from her super skinny look and a nod to the athletic. This got me thinking, is Ruby Jean the poster girl for a new kind of model? Not Amazonian nor waif like, but delicately toned? (Mr Jacobs seems to like it) Ruby Jean is part of a growing trend for “toned” or “athletic” (I use these words carefully) models on the catwalk - fit models.
Along with looking the best she ever has, Ruby Jean is also conveniently reminiscent of Edie Sedwick. After Marc Jacobs's 60s inspired New York show, Ruby Jean won the title of Jacobs's muse thanks to her Edie-ish bleach blonde hair do and doe eyes. It's safe to say that on her 19th birthday Ruby Jean Wilson is looking good and with her addictive instagrams and 60s perfection she has stolen our fashion hearts this season.

You should also check out Ruby Jean's Tumblr...

“MODEL WITH AN INTEREST IN BEAUTIFUL COLOURS, HEALTHY WHOLE FOOD, POSITIVE THINKING, WORLD TRAVEL AND INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE. I BLOG ABOUT THINGS I DO, AND NICE PICTURES OF THINGS I LIKE.”

Ruby and her beloved puppy

Ruby in Paris last week

Twin B - Ruby was one half of Louis Vuitton's opening twins

 Ruby Jean instagrams her new tattoo
 
Nice thigh definition Ruby Jean

Marc Jacob's muse - Opening and closing for Marc Jacobs SS13

BODY IMAGE: SHOULD CELEBRITIES BE AMBASSADORS FOR THEIR BODY SHAPE?

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Last week, Christina Hendricks was in Australia to promote her new range of glasses for Specsavers. As anyone with a new product to flog might, she took interviews from key press. During one such appointment, she was asked:

"You have been an inspiration as a full-figured woman. What is the most inspiring story that you can remember where you've inspired someone?"

Christina stopped the interview, asked for the question to be rephrased and when the same question was asked again she said, off air, "I think calling me full-figured is just rude". 

Some context here; Christina plays secretary Joan in Mad Men and has been described "oozing sensuality" and having "curves in all the right places". Basically, she is not your standard super slim actress but nor is she exactly "full figured" in the great scheme of things, given that we live in a world of ever rising obesity levels and a UK average dress size of 16. What's more, the question implies that by appearing in popular TV shows and films, Hendricks is automatically an inspiring role model for women who have breasts and a bum. 

Hendricks in Mad Men

There was a comparable story in this weekend's Times magazine in which Caitlin Moran interviews the writer, director and star of Girls- the forthcoming new sitcom about the realistic, non-airbrushed lives of twenty something New York girls-  Lena Dunham. One of Dunham's most remarkable traits is apparently that she has a soft covering of fat making her not at all big or obese but just the way quite a lot of girls look when they don't worry too much about what they eat or how much exercise they do. Moran includes a remarkable, or not so, story about one of Dunham's first forays into film...

"The first time Dunham appeared naked on camera it was in a film she made at university, in which she climbed into the campus fountain in a bikini and pretended to shower and clean her teeth, before being moved on by a security guard. When she put it on YouTube, it went viral, and got 50,000 hits. However, it also sparked a debate, in the comments underneath, about the size of Dunham’s thighs, and whether she was fat or not. What she had seen as just a jokey film had turned into a debate about her shagability, and she eventually deleted it"

Lena Dunham at the Emmy awards

This reminds me of an episode a while back in which Alexa Chung posted a picture of herself with her Mum on Instagram. it was intended purely as  a sweet Mother/ Daughter pic but became a voracious debate about whether or not Alexa was too thin. The photo didn't ASK anyone to comment, just as Dunham's video begged no opinion of its star's body however the comments came flooding in free and fast, whether Dunham and Chung liked it or not and with apparently no holds barred on the searing honesty of the observations. 

This isn't a problem with the press, or with any one group of people in particular. It just seems so wrong that there is a collective feeling of entitlement to put female celebrities in a box- whether that's full figured, a bit of puppy fat or  way too skinny- and to expect that they might want to be defined for being that way. If you think about the best or worst thing about yourself, maybe your lovely pert boobs or your long skinny legs, your pinchable bum or your lumpy thighs, no matter how awful or great it is in your opinion, would you want it to be the one and only thing people really obsessed over about you? I think that would get pretty tiring.