the lady......DAPHNE GUINNESS

Museum at FIT, Special Exhibitions Gallery

September 16, 2011 – January 7, 2012

 

While there have been many exhibitions devoted to great fashion designers, only a few have focused on individual women of style. Yet certain singular women play a crucial role in fashion. Known as fashion or style icons, they are a special type of fashion insider, one who not only inspires designers and brings their clothes to life, but actually creates a look that affects the way other people dress and/or think about dressing.

 Daphne Guinness, one of today’s most original fashion icons, is the subject of the upcoming exhibition Daphne Guinness at The Museum at FIT. Opening on September 16, 2011 and on view through January 7, 2012, the exhibition will feature approximately 100 garments and accessories from Guinness’s personal collection, plus films, videos, and images, of and by her.  

From her platinum-and-black striped hair to her towering 10-inch heels, from her to-die-for couture collection to her amazing jewelry, Daphne Guinness completely embodies the rarified personal style of a fashion icon. “She is one of the – if not the – most stylish women living,” says designer and film director Tom Ford. Her fans in the blogosphere describe her as “the ultimate fashion fantasy.”

 Daphne Guinness will reveal how Guinness, who is not only a serious collector of couture but also a creative force in her own right, uses fashion to transform herself. As her friend, art historian, John Richardson, puts it: “She’s the object of her own creativity. Her persona is her own masterpiece.”

Although Guinness has inspired some of the world’s greatest couturiers – from Karl Lagerfeld to Valentino – she says that she is “not a muse,” but more like “a bee” flitting from one designer to another. This is proven by the array of designers whose work will be on display. A close friend of the late Alexander McQueen, the exhibition will include more than two dozen McQueen garments which have never been displayed. Also featured will be extraordinary haute couture from Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Lacroix, and Valentino, as well as demi-couture by Azzedine Alaia, Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana, and Rick Owens, and futuristic styles by young designers such as Gareth Pugh. Clothes that Guinness has designed herself will show her love of uniforms.  

Another exhibition highlight will be a wide range of extraordinary accessories, many of which were created in collaboration with Guinness. These include Philip Treacy’s hats and Shaun Leane’s “armor” jewelry, not to mention towering platform shoes made especially for her by Christian Louboutin and Noritaka Tatehana.

 Several of Guinness’s films will be shown, including The Phenomenology of the Body (which explores the politics of clothing), Mnemosyne (which was inspired by her perfume), and Tribute to Alexander McQueen, as well as numerous images and videos.

 Daphne Guinness will be co-curated by Daphne Guinness and Valerie Steele, director and chief curator. of The Museum at FIT, with the assistance of Fred Dennis, senior curator of Costume. The exhibition’s design, by Ken Nintzel, will be inspired by Guinness’s New York apartment.  

The exhibition will be accompanied by a book, also titled Daphne Guinness, written by Valerie Steele and Daphne Guinness, and published by Yale University Press. All royalties from sales of the book will benefit the Fashion Institute of Technology. The museum’s annual Fashion Symposium will take place on November 3-4, 2011 in conjunction with the exhibition, Daphne Guinness. The topic of the symposium will be “Fashion Icons and Insiders.”

FASHIONABLY Meow!

Mulger would have been the PERFECT CHOICE to take over Dior, not Marc Jacob!

Marc Jacob signs with DIOR!!!!

BAD MOVE for Dior! I want MULGER for DIOR!

simply divine Ms. Vreeland!

"Why don't you... wash your blond child's hair in dead champagne, as they do in France?"- Diana Vreeland

Harper's Bazaar 1937-1962Her publishing career began in 1937 as columnist for Harper's Bazaar. In 1937, the Vreelands moved from London to New York City. They found New York City to be extremely expensive. Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper's Bazaar, was impressed with Vreeland's clothing style and asked her to work at the magazine. From 1937 until her resignation, Diana Vreeland ran a column for Harper's Bazaar called "Why Don't You?". One example is a suggestion she made in the column, "Why don't you.... Turn your child into an Infanta for a fancy-dress party?"  According to Vreeland, "The one that seemed to cause the most attention was **** "[Why Don't You] [w]ash your blond child's hair in dead champagne, as they do in France." Vreeland says that S.J. Perelman wrote a parody of it for the New Yorker magazine that outraged her then editor Carmel Snow

. Diana Vreeland "discovered" actress Lauren Bacall in the nineteen forties. A Harper's Bazaar cover from the early forties shows Lauren Bacall posing near a Red Cross office. Based on editor Vreeland's decision, "[t]here is an extraordinary photograph in which Bacall is leaning against the outside door of a Red Cross blood donor room. She wears a chic suit, gloves, a cloche hat with long waves of hair falling from it". Vreeland was noted for taking fashion seriously. She commented in 1946 that "[T]he bikini is the most important thing since the atom bomb". Vreeland disliked the common approach to dressing that she saw in the United States in the forties. She detested "strappy high heel shoes" and the "crêpe de chine dresses" that women wore even in the heat of the summer in the country.
Poor, darling fellow - he died of food. He was killed by the dinner table.

 Until her resignation at Harper's Bazaar, she worked closely with Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Richard Avedon, Nancy White and Alexey Brodovitch. Diana Vreeland became Fashion Editor for the magazine. Richard Avedon said when he first met Diana Vreeland and worked for Harper's Bazaar, "Vreeland returned to her desk, looked up at me for the first time and said, 'Aberdeen, Aberdeen, doesn't it make you want to cry?' Well, it did. I went back to Carmel Snow and said, 'I can't work with that woman. She calls me Aberdeen.' And Carmel Snow said, 'You're going to work with her.' And I did, to my enormous benefit, for almost 40 years." Avedon said at the time of her death: '"She was and remains the only genius fashion editor."

 In 1955, the Vreelands moved to a new apartment which was decorated exclusively in red. Diana Vreeland had Billy Baldwin[disambiguation needed] decorate her apartment. She said, "I want this place to look like a garden, but a garden in hell."Regular attendees at the parties the Vreelands threw were socialite C.Z. Guest, composer Cole Porter and British photographer Cecil Beaton  In 1957's Paramount movie musical Funny Face, the character of Maggie Prescott (as portrayed by Kay Thompson) was based on Vreeland   

In 1960, John F. Kennedy became president and Diana Vreeland advised the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in matters of style. "Vreeland advised Jackie throughout the campaign and helped connect her with fashion designer Oleg Cassini, who became chief designer to the first lady." "I can remember Jackie Kennedy, right after she moved into the White House. It wasn't even like a country club, if you see what I mean-plain." Vreeland occasionally gave Mrs. Kennedy advice about clothing during her husband's administration, and small advice about what to wear on Inauguration Day in 1961.  

In spite of being extremely successful, Diana Vreeland made a small amount of money from the Hearst Corporation, which owned Harper's Bazaar. Vreeland says that she was paid eighteen thousand dollars a year from 1937 with a raise finally in 1959 of one thousand dollars. "San Simeon must have been where the Hearst money went, I certainly never saw any of it."  Vogue 1963-1971 and the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAccording to some sources, hurt that she was passed over for promotion at Harper's Bazaar in 1957, she joined Vogue in 1963. 

The only real elegance is in the mind; if you've got that, the rest really comes from it. 

 She was editor-in-chief until 1971.Vreeland enjoyed the sixties enormously because she felt that uniqueness was being celebrated. "If you had a bump on your nose, it made no difference so long as you had a marvelous body and good carriage."    During her tenure at the magazine, she discovered the sixties "youthquake" star Edie Sedgwick. In 1984, Vreeland explained how she saw fashion magazines.

Elegance is innate. It has nothing to do with being well dressed. Elegance is refusal.

"What these magazines gave was a point of view. Most people haven't got a point of view; they need to have it given to them-and what's more, they expect it from you. It must have been 1966 or '67. I published this big fashion slogan: This is the year of do it yourself. E]very store in the country telephoned to say, 'Look, you have to tell people. No one wants to do it themselves-they want direction and to follow a leader!'"

 Balenciaga did the most delicious evening clothes. Clothes aren't delicious any more.    

After she was fired from Vogue, she became consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1971. By 1984, according to Vreeland's account, she had organized twelve exhibitions.Artist Greer Lankton created a life size portrait doll of Vreeland that is on display at the museum.   Later years In 1984, Vreeland wrote her autobiography, D.V.. At age 86, she died in 1989.

 

0h my 0h my..when did Dracula and Wolfman get sexy and....NUDE?!

I am use to seeing the Dracula being very sauve, luxery, elegant and the were wolf man be hairy and scary, I was brought up with those kinds of trademark being elegant actors like Bela Lugosi..This generation is not what Dracula and Wolfman  seem to be...The new Draculas and Wolfmen ttends to be sexy, masculine, and appear nude..lots of nude on True Blood and Twilights. It seems like Dracula of my generation is to be scary and classic comparing to this generation is about romance, sex and nude!

Today, Dracula is widely regarded as a classic of the era and of its genre. In 2000, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". To many film lovers and critics alike, Lugosi's portrayal is widely regarded as the definitive Dracula. Lugosi had a powerful presence and authority on-screen. The slow, deliberate pacing of his performance ("I … bid you … welcome!" and "I never drink … wine!") gave his Dracula the air of a walking, talking corpse, which terrified 1931 movie audiences. He was just as compelling with no dialogue, and the many close-ups of Lugosi's face in icy silence jumped off the screen. With this mesmerizing performance, Dracula became Bela Lugosi's signature role, his Dracula a cultural icon, and he himself a legend in the classic Universal Horror film series. However, Dracula would ultimately become a role which would prove to be both a blessing and a curse. Despite his earlier stage successes in a variety of roles, from the moment Lugosi donned the cape on screen, it would forever see him typecast as the Count.  

 

True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana. The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (played by actress Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen
 Moyer).   The show is broadcast on the premium cable network HBO in the United States. It is produced by HBO in association with Ball's production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment. It premiered on September 7, 2008.The series has received critical acclaim and won several awards, including one Golden Globe and an Emmy. 

                              

The Wolf Man proved popular, and so Lon Chaney reprised his signature role in four more Universal films, though unlike his contemporary "monsters," Larry Talbot never enjoyed the chance to have a sequel all to himself. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) had Talbot’s grave opened on a full moon night, causing him to rise again (making him, in the subsequent films, technically one of the undead). He seeks out Dr. Frankenstein for a cure, but finds the monster (Béla Lugosi) instead. The two square off at the climax, but the fight ends in a draw when a dam is exploded and Frankenstein’s castle is flooded.

 In House of Frankenstein (1944), Talbot is once again resurrected and is promised a cure via a brain transplant, but is shot dead with a silver bullet instead. He returns with no explanation in House of Dracula (1945), and is finally cured of his condition. But he was afflicted once again, in the comedy film Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). 

This time the Wolf Man is a hero of sorts, saving Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) from having his brain transplanted by Dracula (Bela Lugosi) into the head of the Monster (Glenn Strange). Grabbing the vampire as he turns into a bat, the Wolf Man dives over a balcony into the sea, taking Dracula with him.
 

The Twilight series falls under the genre of young adult, fantasy, and romance, though Meyer categorized her first book, Twilight, as "suspense romance horror comedy."] However, she states that she considers her books as "romance more than anything else.:" The series explores the unorthodox romance between human Bella and vampire Edward, as well as the love triangle between Bella, Edward, and Jacob, a werewolf.[12] The books avoid delving into provocative sex, drugs, and harsh swearing because, according to Meyer, "I don't think teens need to read about gratuitous sex. The books are written in first-person narrative, primarily through Bella's eyes with the epilogue of the third book and a part of the fourth book being from Jacob's point of view. When asked about the structure of the novel, Meyer described her difficulty to pinpoint the premise of the novels to any specific category:

 

I have a hard time with that. Because if I say to someone, 'You know, it's about vampires,' then immediately they have this mental image of what the book is like. And it's so not like the other vampire books out there–Anne Rice's and the few that I've read. It isn't that kind of dark and dreary and blood-thirsty world. Then when you say, 'It's set in high school,' a lot of people immediately put it in another pool. It's easy to pigeonhole with different descriptions.
 

The books are based on the vampire myth, but Twilight vampires differ in a number of particulars from the general vampire lore. For instance, Twilight vampires have strong piercing teeth rather than fangs; they glitter in sunlight rather than burn; and they can drink animal blood as well as human blood. Meyer comments that her vampire mythology differs from that of other authors because she wasn't informed about the canon vampires, saying,  

  

Inspiration and themes According to the author, her books are "about life, not death" and "love, not lust." Each book in the series was inspired by and loosely based on a different literary classic: Twilight on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, New Moon on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Eclipse on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, and Breaking Dawn on a second Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream .Meyer also states that Orson Scott Card and L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series are a big influence on her writing.  

And yes, I live for Halloween, and yes, Halloween is my favorite Holiday next to Christmas...why? Because Halloween is my Birthday! ;)

MARC JACOB to DIOR?!

PLEASE Nooooooooo! Marc Jacob is no DIOR! Leave him with Viotten! Tom Ford would have been the perfect replacement for Dior or Christian Lacroix for Dior, Not Marc Jacob!  

After the sensationalism of John Galliano's scandalous departure from Dior earlier this year, one question remained: Which designer will finally step up as the new creative director of the legacy brand? After months of breathless speculation, all indicators seem to point decisively in the direction of one man: Marc Jacobs. The Daily is reporting that "high-ranking industry sources" confirm that the deal is now final. A final and official statement from Dior is expected imminently to confirm the news.

\Jacobs' dynamic relationship with the music community cannot be underestimated. He spearheaded the early 90s grunge trend in his brief, but catalytic role as Perry Ellis's creative director; from there forward, his sly and shape-shifting design manifestations have compelled everyone from Kim Gordon to David Byrne to Madonna. Like pop music's own vagaries, Jacobs' visual mechanics can shift dramatically in scale, narrative, and tone every 6 months.

 

 No wonder fellow restless firebrand M.I.A. was an ideally unconventional poster girl for Marc by Marc Jacobs in 2008, a year of many musical camaraderies for Jacobs: Kanye West wore the designer's pixelated heart pin, ensuring it as instant pop iconography; Sonic Youth performed at his show. A year later, pop royalty changed thrones and, fittingly, Lady Gaga stunned his audience as the surprise performer at his Spring 2010 collection after party.

 

Suffice to say, Jacobs' musical loyalists will follow his travails at Dior, a brand already valued chiefly by the entertainment universe mainly for its aspirational status. The beacon of French luxury remains a red carpet staple, and countless rappers routinely namedrop Dior (alongside stalwarts Gucci, Vuitton, and Chanel) in materialist anthems. But the primary pop figure to truly live and breathe the contemporary Dior ethos has been Gwen Stefani, who played Galliano's unofficial muse for the better part of a decade (he made her an unforgettable wedding gown; she dedicated "Rich Girl" to him in thanks.) 

 Both Galliano and Stefani favor deviant interpretations of 1940s glamor: any No Doubt video confirms this, while latter day Dior shows exhibit the same playful admiration for vignettes of the past. At the core of both creatives' priorities: beauty, even when off-kilter. This was not the willfully Dadaist realm of McQueen or Lady Gaga. In his tenure for the label, Galliano fixated religiously on creating inspired iterations of "The New Look," Dior's original breakthrough 1947 silhouette; Stefani, and other female starlets, wore them in videos, and in photo shoots.

 

 By 2011, Galliano's retrofitting trick, in its various guises, was starting to bore a few critics, inviting the industry to speculate whether fresh creative blood at Dior was advisable. Like a chart clogged with hits produced by one overarching entity, the Dior aesthetic was turning staid. 

With Jacobs at Dior's helm, the brand's legacy looks will certainly be modernized and musicians who favor Parisian styles will find their looks subtly shifting. In essence, two of France's most decadent labels will be seeing major changes: while Jacobs indulges his inner decadent for Dior, someone will take over as creative director of Louis Vuitton, a position he's held since 1997. His successor is likely to be ultra-minimalist Phoebe Philo, says WWD. If that's the case, expect Vuitton's sexual opulence and grandeur to be toned down into something sleek, discreet, and sophisticated — a lux economy Philo does brilliantly for Celine, as Kanye West appreciates.

 

As for what Dior under Jacobs might look like? It would be foolish to conjecture: it's impossible to predict Jacobs' own trajectory from season to season. But it's worth noting that the designer's past interpretations of vintage glamor usually point out the uglier and more trite aspects of an era. That irreverence may alienate those who favored Galliano's florid romanticism and theatrics, on and off the runway.