Couture Cult

Friday, June 6, 2008

The End Of An Era: Yves St Laurent's Paris Funeral

France's "prince of fashion", Yves St Laurent, passed away on Sunday in his Paris home, of a brain tumor. He was 71 years old.

From taking over at Dior at the age of 21, to overcoming a nervous breakdown and leaving to do his own line... he has created such silhouettes and timeless designs that have consistently inspired designers and will continue to for all of time.

1966 Le Smoking Suit, photographed by Helmut Newton

He was the first to use black models in his runways shows, and was the first living designer to be given a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of art.

His funeral was Thursday, and was attended by some 800 people, with 1000 more in the streets. Those who came to pay their respects included Catherine Deneuve, the French actress who was also his muse, Carla Bruni, the first lady of France, who is also a former model, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, and Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe.

Catherine Deneuve (C) and former model Mounia (R) leave the Saint-Roch church.

Just days before his death, St Laurent and his long time lover and business partner Pierre Berge, with whom he founded the iconic YSL house in 1961, married in a same-sex civil union known as a "civil pact of solidarity" in France, according to The New York Times. "You belonged to this magnificent and tragic family of highly-strung people who are the salt of the earth," Berge said in his funeral speech. "All that is best comes to us from the highly strung. With Coco Chanel, you were the greatest designer of the 20th century, she in the first half, you in the second. On your marble plaque, I have had them engrave, above your name, the words 'French couturier'."

Pierre Berge at the funeral.

In earlier statements this week, Berge said YSL turned fashion on its head, "making it socially relevant rather than merely aesthetic. With Saint Laurent, women ceased being clothes-horses or the objects of designer fantasies."

Designers in attendance included Christian Lacroix, Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Valentino, Hubert de Givenchy, Sonia and Nathalie Rykiel, Kenzo Takada, Alber Elbaz and Ines de la Fressange.

At the end of the services, there was a military salute in his honor.

Yves Saint Laurent's coffin outside the Saint-Roch church in Paris following the funeral mass.

Labels: yves st laurent

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Monday, November 12, 2007

Diesel Debuts Online Store

Diesel has cultivated an edgy image by selling pricey jeans and other apparel to urban hipsters, but when it came to the web, the company, like so many fashion brands, was behind the curve.

The Milan-based company takes a giant step forward on Monday with the official opening of its online store, allowing customers for the first time to purchase its $200 jeans and $150 tops with the click of a mouse.

Diesel is the latest fashion company to make its products available online, in a move that is increasingly melding high fashion with high tech. For years designers preferred to sell their goods through a tightly controlled network of luxury department stores and their own boutiques, fearing the web would tarnish their image of exclusivity.

But with advancements in technology, fashion houses from Yves Saint Laurent to Louis Vuitton are finding they can recreate much of the sophistication of their real world stores online.

Keep reading here

Labels: diesel, innovations, louis vuitton, this just in... stores, yves st laurent

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Big ups to Diesel. The internets the way of the future. But I agree, the website should match the quality of their garments, to attract their target market.

By Jack Yan, at November 25, 2007 7:27 PM

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Costume Institute Gala

Last night in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted the Costume Institute Gala, held in honor of Paul Poiret.

Paul Poiret was a pre-WWI era designer who pioneered in such designs as the suspender belt, the sheath dress, the sack dress, flesh colored stockings, culottes (now I know who to blame for THAT!), and the modern brassiere. He also designed oriental couture dresses and was the first coutourier to launch his own fragrance.

To give you a feel for the evening, here is a quote from AHN:

"Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Anna Wintour hosted the evening along with Nicolas Ghesquire of Balenciaga and actress Cate Blanchett. The three stood on the red carpet and greeted guests such as Kate Moss, who wore a backless black fishtail gown from her TopShop collection, Kirsten Dunst, who was in vintage midnight blue Yves Saint Laurent and Cameron Diaz, who showed up in a strapless hot pink gown by Dior by John Galliano."

Celebrities of both the fashion world, and the entertainment world alike, were dressed as though it was an award show (maybe better, let's be honest...). Let's take a look at who wore what.

Vouge editor-in-cheif Anna Wintour
Can we say Devil Wears Prada?

Ashley Olsen

Mary Kate Olsen
I think I prefer her look over her sister's, but they both really cleaned up nicely considering the usual bag-lady chic they go for. Is it me, or are they starting to resemble Meg Ryan?

Cate Blanchett
I really love this dress, but her hair and makeup is scaring me. Sad, I usually love her look.

Chloe Sevigny
One of my personal favoite's and a COUTURE CULT featured fashionista, Chloe nails it again!

Eva Mendes
This is an AMAZING dress, I love everything about this look. The shoes, the hair... two enthusiastic hair flips. However, I'm thinking it might look a tad casual for a GALA.

Jennifer Connely
I love you Jen, so please, no offense but: TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

Jennifer Lopez
Si.

Jessica Simpson
This is a hot picture: of a stripper. You'd think being in the business for years she'd learn there is an appropriate time and place for each look, and this is just wrong.

Kirsten Dunst
It looks like she borrowed this from the set of Marie Antoinette. The shoes are hot, but EVERYTHING ELSE is NOT! Ugh: Fug.

Lindsay Lohan
Good job, Linds! THIS is COUTURE! This is sexy, without being overtly so, like Miss Simpson. She looks majorly HAUTE!

Scarlett Johansson
No, no, no! I expected more from the face of Louis Vuitton.

Winona Ryder & Marc Jacobs
Couldn't she steal a better dress?

*special thanks to PopSugar for the images!

Labels: balenciaga, be scene, celebrities, christian dior, new york, vintage, yves st laurent

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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

From A Pile Of Stuff

"This... stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blindly unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."

~The Devil Wears Prada

Labels: fashion quotes, oscar de la renta, yves st laurent

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