Spring Haute Couture 2015: Day Three

The couture continues...

Elie Saab

Truthfully, I have never been much of an Elie Saab fan.  When I think of his dresses, I think of Halle Berry and I have never been crazy for her red carpet looks - kind of bombshell but kind of boring.  But there were two feathery looks that I thought were very pretty and would love to see hanging in my closet...

I love this because it is evening gown meets Joan Collins feather trimmed peignoir in a pale nudish gold:

and this dress has a very Claudia Cardinale 60s vibe - love with the flat sandal:

Jean Paul Gaultier

It was all classic Gaultier, nothing groundbreakingly new but well done and I loved that there was a variety of models on the runway because people, women of all sizes and ages love fashion!

This was probably my favorite look. Very finely pleated, lightly exposed corseting underneath and then exposed boning of a very beautiful crinoline ending in fringe:

Valentino:

What can I say?  Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli have been knocking it out of the park every collection they have shown for Valentino.  They are not just good, they are great.  My favorite looks:

Oh, to be a peasant (a rich one)

Oh, to be a wench with golden wings on your feet

Oh, to be in clouds of couture

Oh, what Sargent would paint Madame X in today

xo, Juliana

"Your Eyes are the Eyes of a Woman in Love"

Damn straight sister!  I love, love, love the Valentino pre-fall collection.  It is my perfect world: Valentino's world and the vintage world of Celia Birtwell.  Celia Birtwell's world is a magical place, lushly landscaped with inspiration from Sandro Botticelli's La Primavera.  And Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli's world is the wonderful world of Valentino - a perfect placed filled with memories of  Mr. Valentino but thoroughly placed in the present... and in the future because we unfortunately will not see these clothes for a few months.  But as Pierpaolo Piccoli said, "We want to believe in a fantastic future."

Yes we do...

Some of my favorites:

I have to start with the denim culottes - they are too good:

Fly me to the moon and let me dance among the stars:

The power is in the Birtwell flower:

Valentino Pre-Fall 2015.  All photos from Style.com

xo, Juliana

p.s. The quote in the title is from the artist, Giosetta Fioroni, who also collaborated on this collection.

Valentino's Butterflies

One of my favorite new pieces at RARE vintage is this beautiful Valentino haute couture dress from the 1970s with butterflies.

1970s Valentino Haute Couture Butterfly dress available for purchase here.

I have not yet bought Valentino's new book, Valentino: At The Emperor's Table, but I am looking forward to seeing the world of Valentino.  He has been a long time collector of china and objets and those pieces in his home have influenced his fashion designs as well.

"My tables today, they are almost like one of my dresses, I try to put in detail.  Because I love objects, I love to put flowers, I love to put mint, chocolate, everything on them.  I love color.  And this comes from my fashion design career.  I love colored tablecloths, because china is very beautiful on top of pale yellow, dusty pink, pale and jade green color."

Valentino

Valentino's butterflies in Gstaad on china:

and butterfly detail on Valentino's silk couture dress:

So do you think Valentino would have thought of the color of this dress as mint or a pale jade green?  Either way it is a very beautiful dress, beautifully made, rare and sets just the right tone of lady like chic with its scarf tie front and the bit of the bohemian with the fluttering butterflies.  Perfect for lunch at the Emperor's table don't you think?!

xo, Juliana

We'll Always Have Paris: Valentino Edition

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccoli have really proved to be a perfect fit for the house of Valentino - they have taken Valentino forward but still reference the codes of the house.  I particulary loved the longer floaty bohemian pieces which are so right for summer...

xo, Juliana

Valentino Dishes

I can be very repetitive - when I really love something, a film, a book, a place, a dress... I can return to it over and over again without getting ever getting bored.  One of my favorite books is Nan's Kempner's entertaining book R.S.V.P. 

R.S.V.P. 'Menus for Entertaining from People who Really Know How' was written in 2000 by Nan Kempner and lushly photographed by Quentin Bacon.   I keep it at our beach house and I can pick it up on a cozy fall afternoon in front of the fire and take a visit with Nan to Anne Bass' country house in Connecticut and have a lunch (with Bill Blass) of seared pork loin with herb lime butter, Jack Daniel's Yam purée with buttered pecans and an apple far with maple cream.  

On a summer day, from our deck, I can go with Nan to Tuscany to visit Robin Hambro's Tuscan farmhouse and have fried sage leaves with anchovies, a toasty bruschetta with tomatoes and basil and fresh figs with lavender infused cream.  For all of the many delicious sounding recipes, I have actually only made the fried sage leaves with anchovies so far for some reason (they were delicious!)... but I can be almost as happy to read about food as I am to make it... almost...

Nan and I can also spend the day on Valentino's yacht, the T.M. Blue One, with the pugs.

"Valentino has a remarkable sense of flavor and textural combinations.  His food is imaginative and creative, and he designs his menus in much the same way he designs his fashions.  For each meal, he prepares a menu book for his chef, sketching out what he wants.  He then spends time on the kitchen developing the recipes for the chef, specifying ingredients and discussing how to realize the dish he has in mind - not just how it will taste but how the dish will be presented."

Nan Kempner

So on the T.M. Blue One, we had barley seafood salad, fresh seafood ravioli with sea bass sauce and a caprese cake.  Delicious food, in a delicious setting.

Above photos by Quentin Bacon from Nan Kempner's book R.S.V.P. Menus for Entertaining from People Who Really Know How.

I was very excited to read that Valentino, the Emperor of stylish fashion, stylish homes and stylish food has a book coming out in the fall on just that!  Valentino: At the Emperor's Table will be published by Assouline on October 28th.  The photographs are by one of my favorite photographers, Oberto Gili.  So let's get ready for Gstaad, London, Rome, New York, Paris and another visit to the T.M.Blue with Mr. Valentino.  Recipes included!

Valentino At The Emperors Table.  Photos by Oberto Gili.  Published by Assouline.

love, kisses and see you on the T.M. Blue One, 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