Dakota Johnson Rising Style Star!

So how amazing has Dakota Johnson looked for her 50 Shades of Grey press junket?!  I LOVE all of the Julie de Libran for Sonia Rykiel too that she has been wearing like this jumpsuit and vest - and the Rykiel shoes are great too.  

at Saturday Night Live in Sonia Rykiel

in Dior and Jenna Fischer jewelry

on the Today show in fuzzy and leather Balenciaga

and in a beautiful and bohemian Chanel couture from 2014 sparkly gown - have to say, it was a great decision to lose the jacket and flats and add a simple strappy heel...

from the Chanel runway

and in an ethereal Hedi Slimane for Saint Laurent gown

and in Julie de Libran for Sonia Rykiel pre-fall cape and I think a Proenza Schouler striped top

xo, 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

Dior Couture Kicks

The Autumn/Winter haute couture shows will begin on Sunday and there will be the usual talk of the relevance of haute couture, etc, etc... 

I think fashion would be lost without the beauty and magic of haute couture and the few artists who remain creating the beadwork, feathers and flowers would be without a job and eventually those skills would be completely forgotten.  Not everything should cost $29.99 and be made in China...

With haute couture it is the outrageousness of it all, not just the costs but the amazing things that are done with cloth and thread.  You really see in this video, the making of the bead embroidered Christian Dior sneakers from Spring 2014 haute couture, the incredible craft that went into making these Dior kicks  - and I did not even like them in the show but then when I saw this video, I was in love!

love, kisses and off and running, Juliana

Mad for Mats Gustafson

I have learned, in buying for RARE vintage, never to say never.  Because you never know.  I never entirely shut the door on a designer - who may not be a favorite of mine - just because you never know when you will see something unexpected and fall in love.  I always want to see before deciding no - or yes.

And you know how I was just writing about Antonio Lopez and fashion illustration?  How fashion illustration was never a particular favorite genre of mine until I saw Joe Eula's drawings for Halston.  Well, never say never, because now I have fallen for the Swedish illustrator Mats Gustafson.

Mats Gustafson saw the work of Antonio Lopez when he was growing up in Sweden and it "triggered something in me that made me think I can do this".  And in 1978 he received a commission from Grace Coddington at British Vogue.

In the 1980s Gustafson moved to New York and started creating illustrated advertising campaigns for Romeo Gigli, Commes des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto.  (Those were the days!  Love all of those 80s pieces from Gigli, Commes, Yohji...)

Mats Gustafson for Romeo Gigli.  Vogue Italia. 1990

Mats Gustafson for Romeo Gigli.  Swimsuit.  1989

Mats Gustafson for Yohji Yamamoto.  Vogue Italia.  1999

And now Gustafson was commissioned by Raf Simons at the house of Dior to draw some of the pieces from Fall 2013 and Resort 2013 collections...  I will definitely be ordering the book Mats Gustafson Watercolors.

Dior by Mats Gustafson. 2014

Dior by Mats Gustafson.  2014

Dior by Mats Gustafson.  2014

love, kisses and vintage,  Juliana

Kate Moss in RARE vintage in the December British Vogue!

"Tomorrow she packs, her hopes as fragile as an early morning dew drop in that ethereal light you only see in St. Petersburg on a white night.  I want to weep when I see Miss Moss in character..."

John Galliano, British Vogue, December 2013

Fashion is a place, a journey, a mystery, a longing... Fashion is for dreamers, for lovers... Fashion is a buttonhole, a pink ostrich plume, a cut on the bias, a piece of origami cut in cloth, it is Glory, it is Demise... Fashion is feeding your chickens in a satin Balmain gown, a faded, crumbling farmhouse in East Hampton, a palace in St. Petersburg, a painting by Ingres ...  Fashion is grand.  Fashion is folly...

I wanted to cry with joy when I saw Kate Moss wearing an early John Galliano silk teddy, brilliantly pieced together, and an oversized origami kimono from John Galliano for Dior from RARE vintage in the December issue of British Vogue this morning.  RARE vintage!  My collection!!  In Vogue!!!  On Kate Moss!!!!  With John Galliano!!!!!

I was married in John Galliano for Givenchy.  I did not know that I ever really wanted to get married but being a girl and unable to escape girlish thoughts of wedding dresses, the one thing I did know, if I were to be married, I would wear John Galliano and Manolo Blahnik shoes.  It is funny how life works out: we did decide to get married, I did wear John Galliano and my shoes were Manolo Blahnik.

One of the reasons I was drawn to fashion, was the romance of it all, the feeling that you could be anyone, go anywhere.  Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in a black gown trimmed in Venetian guipure lace?  Why not?  Or a 70s rock chick in cut off jean shorts and a mongolian lamb vest?  Why not?

So not only do I love the photos of Miss Moss wearing pieces from RARE vintage (hello!  let me just say that again: Miss Moss wearing pieces from RARE vintage : )) with Mr. Galliano but I adore what Galliano wrote.  Below is an excerpt and you can read the complete article in the December British Vogue.

"I tell her a little story about Olga Khokhlova, Picasso's first wife and a magnetic and powerful force.  Visions of her playing Russian roulette with a dining knife, blithely stabbing away with staccato speed in between her fingers while gazing away.  She tilts her head backwards to a degree she feels and knows so well, every muscle held within that beautiful frame is working, projecting, living, feeling and breathing Olga.  She is Olga.  My Olga."
John Galliano

Photos by Tim Walker.  British Vogue.  December 2013

Inez and Vinoodh's Dior Secret Garden 2

I hope you saw Inez and Vinoodh's original Dior Secret Garden, if not you can see it here.  The palace of Versailles was obviously designed for ladies to run in their gowns and I am seriously pondering wearing a long dress and giving it a go the next time I visit La Galeries Des Glaces at Versailles.  

But in the meantime, from Dior, Secret Garden 2:

"among the centuries-old tress of Versailles... ethereal, radiant, royal... a realm of poetry and color... secrets whispered..."

Paris Haute Couture Spring 2013: Couture for...

Couture for the Modern Girl:

Valentino haute couture spring 2013

Couture for the garden path:

Christian Dior haute couture Spring 2013

Couture for the girl definitely not looking for a princess gown:

Maison Martin Margiela haute couture Spring 2013

Couture for the girl who dreams of " elegance and melancholia"

Chanel haute couture Spring 2013

Couture for the girl inspired by the episode of I Love Lucy when Lucy meets Bill Holden (have you seen the episode? It is hysterical!) :

Giambattista Vali haute couture Spring 2013

Couture for hiding your four children on a date:

Jean paul Gaultier haute couture Spring 2013 

and Couture for the couture milk maid:

Ulyana Sergeenko haute couture Spring 2013

RARE vintage Weekend Style and Inspiration: Dior Snow Globe

Have you ever wanted a 1947 Christian Dior 'Bar' suit in a snow globe that you could shake and gold stars would float around it?  I know!  Me too!!

So how weird is it that the House of Dior in collaboration with the French department store Printemps has done exactly that?  For Christmas, Dior's couture atelier has recreated iconic looks for mechanical dolls that will be in the windows of Printemps.  Thank you Santa Dior!

Anyone else going to Paris just to buy a snow globe...

At Versailles with Dior, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

Beautiful new film shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for Christian Dior at Versailles with a soundtrack by Depeche Mode.  It really does not get any better: fashion and fantasy.  Enjoy!

And PS if you never saw Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin's little film with Kate Moss, see here, it is brilliant!

Breaking Fashion News! Raf Simons to Dior

66 years.  5 designers: Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano.  And now Raf Simons according to Cathy Horyn at the New York Times.  I think it is an inspired choice and it will be a breath of freshness after the fantasy and drama of John Galliano.  

Photo from Style.com from Raf Simmons final collection for Jil Sander

His first collection will be for the fall haute couture shows in July.  Talk about starting at the top!

Sidney Toledano today at Dior and the final bow

The final bow taken at Christian Dior by the petites mains of the Dior ateliers.

Valerio Mezzanotti for the NYT

Here is the full statement Dior chief executive Sidney Toledano gave before the start of the Dior runway show:

Ladies and gentleman,

Since its founding by Monsieur Dior, the House of Christian Dior has lived an extraordinary and wonderful story and has had the honor of embodying France’s image, and it’s values, all around the world.

What has happened over the last week has been a terrible and wrenching ordeal for us all.

It has been deeply painful to see the Dior name associated with the disgraceful statements attributed to its designer, however brilliant he may be.

Such statements are intolerable because of our collective duty to never forget the Holocaust and its victims, and because of the respect for human dignity that is owed to each person and to all peoples.

These statements have deeply shocked and saddened all at Dior who give body and soul to their work, and it is particularly painful that they came from someone so admired for his remarkable creative talent.

So now, more than ever, we must publicly re-commit ourselves to the values of the House of Dior. 

Christian Dior founded his House in 1947.

His family had been ruined in the Crash of 1929 and his own beloved sister had been deported to Buchenwald. In the aftermath of the dark years of the war, he sought to free women, to give them back their sparkle and joyfulness.

Christian Dior’s values were those of excellence in all that he undertook, of elegance and of craftsmanship reflecting his unique talent. His mission was not only to make his clients – indeed all women – more beautiful, but also to make them happy, to help them dream. He saw himself as a magician who could give women confidence and make them ever more feminine, more sublime. He believed in the importance of respect and in the capacity of this fundamental value not only to bring out the beauty in women, but also bring out the best in all people.

His values, his genius and his legacy have contributed to enhancing France’s image and culture around the world for more than sixty years.

The values that Monsieur Dior taught us are unchanged today. Those values are carried on by the wonderful and diverse group of people within the House of Dior who devote all their talent and energy to achieving the ultimate in artisanship and femininity, respecting traditional skills and incorporating modern techniques.

The heart of the House of Dior, which beats unseen, is made up of its teams and studios, of its seamstresses and craftsmen, who work hard day after day, never counting the hours, and carrying on the value and the vision of Monsieur Dior.

What you are going to see now is the result of the extraordinary, creative, and marvelous efforts of these loyal, hardworking people.

Thank you.

For Who, as Lady Catherine Says, Will Connect Themselves with Such a Family

"as my dear Charlotte informs me, that this licentiousness of behaviour in your daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence, though at the same time, for the consolation of yourself and Mrs. Bennet, I am inclined to think that her own disposition must be naturally bad, or she could not be guilty of such an enormity at so early an age.

Howsoever that may be, you are grievously to be pitied, in which opinion I am not only joined by Mrs. Collins, but likewise by Lady Catherine and her daughter, to whom I have related the affair. They agree with me in apprehending that this false step in one daughter will be injurious to the fortunes of all the others; for who, as Lady Catherine herself condescendingly says, will connect themselves with such a family." -Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice

Dior did the right thing by acting quickly to dismiss John Galliano.  But I am still reeling.  How could someone who creates such beautiful things, say something so ugly?

The 1998 Maria Luisa silk taffeta evening gown from the Costume Institute exhibit AngloMania.