Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda 2014: Italian's Do It With Style

Hamish Bowles, a delightful writer, perfectly captured the Limoncello scented atmosphere of Dolce e Gabbana's most recent alta moda show in Capri.  From the small boats bedecked in lemons and sage, to a soundtrack of Pavarotti filling the sea foam frothed air and to the clothes which sounded like a dream of 1950s Italy and the Viscontil film, Il Leopardo... it was more then just La Dolce Vita.  

I had the privilege to view the last Dolce e Gabbana alta moda collection in New York back in May and more then just seeing how truly beautiful the clothing and accessories were, it was discovering that Dolce e Gabbana alta moda is just that: Italian haute couture made by Italian designers and crafted by Italian artisans.  

We hear much about the petites mains who make the French haute couture but little to none about the piccole mani in Italy.  And there was an enormous tradition of fine dress making in Italy.  So it is not just buying something beautiful but supporting a heroic but dying society of people who can make insanely beautiful things with their hands... So buy Italian alta moda and support small businesses!  : )

There is a word, a very old fashioned word, which sometimes now seems as lost as the men and women who knew how to make a jeweled button or a hand painted silk flower: discretion.  Dolce e Gabbana alta moda is about discretion.  It is not borrowed and worn on red carpets.  It is about the clients, the designers and the craftspeople.  

And you won't see it on Style.com either.  Here are a few photos from Hamish Bowles and Instagram...

Dolce & Gabbana alta moda.  Capri.  Photos by Hamish Bowles

and from Instagram:

love and baci, Juliana

Valentino Couture Fall 2014: A Higher Calling

Let us just ignore the elephant in the room: Kim Kardashian between Giancarlo Giammetti and Mr. Valentino, and get to the couture.

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino have a new habit for fall 2014 couture: a nun's habit...

but then at some point, I think they decided to hell with that and they went Greek Goddess on Mount Olympus...

Valentino Couture Fall 2014.  Photos from Style.com

love, kisses and look to the heavens, Juliana

Dior Haute Couture Fall 2014: Modern Mechanics

Thank gawd.  Nary a cut high in the front, floor sweeping in the back gown in sight.  I was getting a little worried about Raf Simons.  

But on Look 10, I could feel my heart pounding, and thinking Yes! this is what couture should be!  A mechanic's jumpsuit, beautifully embroidered and cinched at the waist with an amazing belt!  It's Modern Mechanics for the haute couture.

How would I wear this?  Honey, let me count the ways: with the pants rolled up with a flat sandal for a super casual night out, with a Converse sneaker for going to RARE vintage in the morning and/or with a simple high stiletto to a ball...

And speaking of investment: Are you ready to rock the embroidered frock coat like Look 38?  I hope this makes the cover of Vogue worn a la the Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele styled first issue of Vogue under Anna Wintour's editorship in 1983 - you know the one, when Carlyne put a Lacroix couture jacket with a pair of jeans.  This frock coat needs a pair of jeans...

Raf Simons for Dior Fall Couture 2014.  Photos from Style.com

love, kisses and j'adore Dior, Juliana

Celine: So Muff to Love

I did not love spring Celine so much but I love the fall collection!  And I love the slouchy muffs in white and marigold...

love, kisses and dreams of Celine, Juliana

NYFW: Snow, Sleet and Socks

New York Fashion Week, I hardly knew you... with all of the snow, the difficulty getting around town and the thought of having to wear socks or not, NYFW has come and gone to London...

and on the last day when Marc Jacobs showed during a blizzard, everyone dressed winter ready:

Street style photos from NYFW 2014.  Style.com

I guess what I used to love about street style photography is that it was seeing the way real people put together a look - because most of us do not dress the way clothes are presented in magazines: in a head to toe runway look.  

We buy something new, something vintage : ) and mix it all up.  Fashion then becomes style.  

But suddenly street style photography became an orgy of color, caricature and over accessorizing - once again not the real way anyone dresses and certainly not style.

So what of the fashion on the runway?  I admit my heart is more in Paris, sometimes in Milan and more and more in London... and I really don't have enough time to look through endless shows on Style.com so I may very well have missed something amazing.  

I always look forward to Marc Jacobs and I thought this show which was going to herald a new focus on the Marc Jacobs line, without the commitment to Louis Vuitton, was a huge disappointment.  Vaguely Courreges, the styling drew more attention then the clothes...  Nothing there I had to have and with the cost of clothes these days you have to really want it.

The show I absolutely loved was Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein.  He showed real clothes but different then anything else we have in our closets - and clothes that made you feel really excited to go out and buy.  And with the weather we are having I would love to have those combat boots he showed with every look right now but alas we have to wait until August... : (

"It felt like the clothes needed to be cooler, urban; there was this idea of a gypsy."

Francisco Costa

Fuzzy, wuzzy was a Costa this collection.  He estimated that 85% of the collection was a cozy knit.

and I love the homespun but really refined feel of the collection.  If you look closely, you will see that many of the jackets and coats closed with oversized safety pins with big plastic baubles on them...

Calvin Klein fall 2014.  Photos from Style.com

and just one last note on socks... I loved the socks at Rodarte!  Hope they are produced!!

Rodarte fall 2014.  Photos from Style.com