Prada Fall 2015 is very Queen Paola of Belgium

Prada's Fall 2015 collection reminds me of the very fabulous Queen Paola of Belgium in the 1960s with her neat little suits and flower brooches...

and Prada Fall 2015...

xo, Juliana

I Hate Socks, I Love Socks

I am the Goldilocks of socks.  They are either too tight, too scrunchy, too big, too thick, too thin...  I have some shoes too that like to eat socks until all that is left is an uncomfortable bunch around my toes.  But I have a definite little sock crush going on with Prada's spring 2015 color block socks with bands of floral inserts and Cuban heels.  They have a sexy sheerness and nerdiness to them all at the same time.

Prada Spring 2015 socks.  Photos from style.com

sock it to me, Juliana

To Backpack or Not to Backpack That is the Question

I am very tempted by this bright camo backpack from Prada...

I have an original mid 1980s lightweight nylon backpack in my closet that I use to carry all of the time, everywhere.  Do you remember those early backpacks?  There was a frenzy for them!  

"I wanted to do something that was nearly impossible, make nylon luxurious..."

Miuccia Prada

But then the frenzy died down, the backpack was sent packing and since then I have associated backpacks with people who are completely oblivious to how much space their big fat backpacks can take up on their back.

But then in a coup de foudre, I saw this neon green camouflage Prada backpack at Bergdorfs and I am wondering to backpack or not to backpack...

love, kisses and think I will backpack : ) Juliana

I Want Candy: Prada Candy

Have you seen the super adorable film for the Prada fragrance Candy L'Eau starring Lea Seydoux?  It is directed by the duo Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola in the style of 1950s and 1960s la Nouvelle Vague films.

Lea Seydoux wears Prada Spring 2013 - a collection which I absolutely LOVE - and is torn between two cute French boys.  She stuffs her face with popcorn and cake while the boys fight over her.  See for yourself...

The Ous-Ness of the Prada Woman

The Prada woman is

voluptuous, sensuous, gorgeous, ambiguous, luxurious, maybe a little dangerous.  Is she pious? A little imperious?  Mischievous?

The Prada woman may be all of the above but she is most of all, a woman.  No one has mentioned this in any of the reviews I have read on the exceptional collection Miuccia Prada presented for Fall 2013,  so I don't know if it is just me but does the model above look a little more womanly then the usual extremely thin girls we see on the runway?  So many designers design for a girl.  A very young girl.  A very young girl who most likely can not afford to buy what they are designing.  

And many designers don't design for a woman's everyday wardrobe.  Nothing makes my heart go pitter-patter like some unbelievable fantasy ball gown but then, sadly, we can not wear a ball gown every day.  Even if we might want to : )

But times have changed and a little night has crept into our daywear and a little day into our evening wear. We can throw on a beaded dress for day but maybe we grab a practical cashmere sweater to layer underneath it as we are rushing to get dressed in the morning.  Miuccia Prada understands the romance and practicality of the modern woman.  She is ambitious but she also wants to feel fabulous.  She is not fastidious and just a little frivolous. She is very glamorous.

Welcome to the world of the Prada woman.  Beautiful. Romantic.  Practical.  And a little askew.

She rushes out the door with her dress slightly undone:

Her hair is still damp:

She is a powerful and feminine:

She wears her fur coat for day

and for evening

She mixes day and night

She is inspired by Downton Abbey but is thoroughly modern

She loves the unexpected mix of gingham and chinchilla

And she loves dressing up

More Met Gala Snaps

So of all the people that were there to be seen, I was most excited to see a couple of the ladies from Downton Abbey!  Excuse me Mick Jagger and Colin Firth!  Out of the way! Lady Mary and Lady Edith are in the house!

Oh yes and a few Jonas Brothers were there too.

and so was the amazingly talented Rihanna

And also the amazingly talented Janelle Monáe

and the Temple of Dendur looked magical.

Be sure to go see the exhibit Sciaparelli and Prada: The Impossible Conversation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  They have some of the most spectacular and iconic pieces of Schiaparelli and the Miuccia Prada pieces are, as always, provocative and timeless.

Schiaparelli and Prada in the Windows at Bergdorf Goodman

Just in case you are not in New York - these are in the windows at Bergdorf Goodman's.  An homage to the opening of Sciaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations opening at the Met tomorrow.

Photos by Juliana Cairone for RARE vintage

Need for Speed!

I am feeling very Italian futurist at the moment!  

Velocita d'automobile by Giacomo Balla

First the fabulous Fiat 500 Gucci edition

Fiat 500 Gucci édition

And now my brand spanking new Prada va-va-voom shoes - next to my husband's racing helmet!

An Entire World of Strange and Fascinating Things: Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations

What to wear?  The eternal question.  But the really BIG question is what to wear to the Party of the Year at the Met:  Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.  

1930s 

"She disembarked - enigmatic, spectral - trying to slip unnoticed through the crowd with her trunks of episcopal silks, cardinal scarlets and toreador jackets.  Rolls of pom-pom patterned edging, candy bags stuffed with gold nuggets and sequins, ottomans and papal moiré failles as sharp as scimitars (a sword with a curved blade - I confess, I had to look that one up), oriental dressing-gowns, army-officer brandenburgs and braids.  Commedia dell' Arte accessories, a Harrlequin costume, sprays of stiff, fierce vulture feathers, frolicking little circus-horse plumes. 

An entire world of strange, disquieting and fascinating things." Yves Saint Laurent on Elsa Schiaparelli.

1930s from Bergdorf Goodman.   Details:  Fiery, temptuous red mixed a lamé braid pattern.  Dramatic, military, fitted.  The dress is cut close to the body, the jacket with high armholes, narrow sleeves.  The severity of the style of the Duchess of Windsor mixed with the whimsicalness of a child's paper party decoration: a honeycomb party globe.   

The inspiration:

1930s military inspired evening gown and jacket from Bergdorf Goodman

or early 2000s? 

"I am always working alone.  I can let my imagination run wild and shut myself off from everything else.  I never think our clothes will be worn in real life.  When I draw, I don't think about the physical body.  I create an illusion of beauty and style, like, in the Renaissance, Brunelleschi and the others dreamed an ideal and rational city, where every building was part of the general harmony.  

I always think about the body outside of fashion.  I think about our suffering, tormented and aching body." Miuccia Prada

Early 2000s Miuccia Prada's belle époque inspired demi-couture gown with silk petticoats.  Very Schiaparelli.  Surrealistic trompe l'oeil shading and pleating. 

Early 2000s Prada belle époque inspired gown.  Size 4.

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