The Life and Times of a Problem Child

Hello, Mundane Mobile!

photo credit: Mode.feber
I have gone wary of designers doing their mobile phones. It has become too commonplace now. I mean, I wouldn’t have as much enthusiasm for the Dior phone as much as I’ve had for the Dolce & Gabbana/ Motorola venture and the Prada/LG one to this one from Dior. If it was Hedi Slimane, I’d reconsider and show a remarkable amount of enthusiasm. But now, it seems like everyone is doing it. Where’s the novelty in it? It’s as mundane as to how we could expect new collections every six months or maybe even less. Giorgio Armani did one in partnership with Samsung and there were images of what could be the Chanel concept phone. Et alors, it seems that you will just never run out of things to design. When many follow suit, it kind of doesn’t pass with much hype anymore. A final thought: If you please, you may even design a bidet, and have a name on it like Karl Lagerfeld or Donatella Versace. It’s supposed to be in platinum and there you have it, a new novelty product in the design arena.

Meet The New Face of Vuitton

I have been jumping for joy when I found out who the new face of Vuitton is. It seems like Marc has been having some French connection of the late. At one point, he appeared in T-Mag avec Elodie Bouchez. I am happy to announce that French actor Nicolas Duvauchelle is starring in the fashion house’s ad campaign for which is to hit stores sometime in August 2008.

photo credit: quecestchic
Louis Vuitton Le Graphite Damier Campaign
Photographe: Phil Poytner
It’s such a relief that the fashion house chose a French actor to star in their campaign. I’ve gotten so tired of the Hollywood invasion with the Vuitton ads- Scarlett Johansson, Uma Thurman, Jennifer Lopez. I do hope Marc does more ads avec Nicolas! Et alors, quoi de neuf? (about Ludivine Sagnier & Nicolas) lol ; )

Marc really did a good job this time!!!! I hope there would be more Nicolas adverts coming!

Nostalgia: From Film to Fashion

I wasn’t the only one who found Nicolas Duvauchelle et Ludivine Sagnier such a beautiful couple. Miuccia also did that’s why they were in the Spring Summer 2005 campaign de Miu Miu. Desolée for my very late reaction. It’s 2008 and I’m talking about something that occurred way back in 2005 but really no need to explain as I’ve stated this one as nostalgia. I’ve only seen Une Aventure just a little over a month ago. This pretty much gives you that I live in the tiers-Monde where everything is late and outdated and except moi. Je blague! Haha

photo credit: evagreen.com, Wretch
On a similar note, there was also Emporio Armani and The Dreamers that catapulted the names Michael Pitt and Louis Garrel into my consciousness. If you ask me why I didn’t mention Eva Green it’s because I don’t like the productions she has been getting herself into even though that Dior Midnight Poison par Wong Kar Wai was a good one. She’s just getting too mainstream for my taste. C’est tout. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if Eva Green took the dreadful Hollywood move. Moving on, this also strengthens my convictions on how fashion affects film and vise-versa. What I like about Miuccia and Giorgio in this regard is that they have a keen eye on up-and-coming talents. It’s not like the horrible case of Versace who cast Patrick Dempsey parce que Doctor David Shepherd is at the tip of everyone’s tongue (except mine bien sûr). Grey’s Anatomy gets so banal that I’m easily got myself sick of it. If I was a créateur, I would be more concerned about bringing into mainstream consciousness who are the innovators of our time. Who are these cultural avant-gardes of our time that deserve recognition. Fashion in my opinion is more of innovation and not proliferation of who hits the tabloids and who are the celebrities that are most-loved by tout le monde. If fashion is the call of the celebrity trash pack, then we might as well consider Jennifer Lopez, Lauren Conrad, Jessica Simpson, and  Kimora Lee Simons then we might as well give them the same respect we have for John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and Alber Elbaz. Patrick Dempsey is more of a matinee idol material over my preferred enfant terrible type or the innovator type. He hasn’t done anything that furthers cinematic art. He’s just there to look good and live within the rotten Hollywood system. I’d rather have someone like Ryan Gosling be my brand ambassador or a personal favourite, Romain Duris who is one of France’s best kept secrets (a jeune acteur français who could easily put George Clooney and Brad Pitt's entire careers to shame if it comes to diversity of roles, and films avec critical acclaim and not pure media hype). Well, truth be told Versace has been more of an extension of the like what Anna Wintour has been doing at Vogue. You hit the cover parce que you have a movie coming up. Versace has been doing nothing to innovate these days but just try to fit in a system called as la maladie de la mode. The glory days of Versace were long over I guess as Donatella succumbs herself into the position of proliferating popular culture not in the sense of an intelligent popular culture as Dame Vivienne Westwood loves to talk about and share in her interviews. Donatella’s case of popular culture proliferation is that of the banal, the mainstream, the sort of appalling, uninteresting, and the extent of fashion that should be extinct. Here lies the lack of vision but just lazily furthering what you see on the idiot box, the celebrity tabloids, and the huge overcast shadow of the Hollywood box office. On the other hand of the enterprise, I like this sense of discernment that Miuccia and Giorgio has. As for Giorgio’s case, would you care to take off Beyoncé from that as she is nothing but rear and tacky. She is nothing better than the malaise of her derrière. I am more at par with Miuccia really. This woman has good taste. I mean she cited La Mariée état en noir par Truffaut as one of her favourite films in Vogue and she has always been featuring notable talents from around the globe in her Miu Miu ad campaigns. Comédienne chinoise Zhou Xun was featured in a Miu Miu campaign circa automne-hiver 2006. At that time, the whole world was raving about her performance dans le musical Perhaps Love, a musical dubbed as le Moulin Rouge d’Asie. I was just wondering that now that Miu Miu has officially made it clear that the current season is the last menswear, there wouldn’t be looking-forwards on my behalf on such things as the Nicolas-Ludivine kind of occurrence. I will remove Miu Miu from now on away from my fashion consciousness and leave it all to fashion history. It’s just so sad that Miuccia has a very keen eye on talent and since there wouldn't be menswear, we can't expect to see her featuring other up-and-coming actors in her campaigns. As for Giorgio Armani, I hope some sort of Dreamers concoction would come out again. That would be very pleasing to my eyes. For now, I just have to keep my eyes wide open and await such concoction to come my way in the future.

Je suis un homme, Je suis une femme

Does it really matter if you are a man or a woman?

 
Androgyny is becoming more and more common place in fashion as men try to borrow something from the women’s and women trying to borrow something from the men’s. As such phenomena resonates in today’s world, there are thinkers who have really worked their way into creating clothes that come sans gender. It’s quite provocative if you’d ask me and it is a brilliant and promising idea.

The badge for innovation (awarded by the infamous blogger named Giancinephile) goes to Fabrics Interseason which is an Austrian label. It’s a pretty young label but their collections have been snapped up by famed European retailers comme The Apartment à Berlin, Black Market Stockholm, Henrik Vibskov à Copenhague and countless other stores in Japan primarily in Tokyo. You may want to check their official website to find them at a city near you. Take their Spring Summer ’08 offerings, don’t you just feel the sans gender vibe? You can hardly tell which one is which. Donc, I like the challenge of adjusting clothes with a sense of ambiguity to incorporating them into your own personal style. As androgyny caters to ambiguity and the in-between, I'm left mesmerised of how it can also be a statement to embody such a brilliant philosophical thought. It is in ambiguity that we find ourselves challenging norms and placing ourselves in some sort of "je ne sais quoi" that leads us further to discovering more about or being.

The Fashion Week Craze

photo credit: BFW
Everyone seems to be joining the bandwagon. More and more cities in Europe are doing setting up a fashion week and this time, it keeps getting better and better all thanks to the internet. The latest ville on my radar is Belgrade. Well, Belgrade Fashion Week isn't really a young one but it is already on its 23rd. I'm assuming that the fashion world just hasn't paid that much attention. It looks good since they put their most recognizable face, Andria Bikić shot by Miša Obradović and styled by Bata Spasojević on their campaign. The Serbs will be serving us fashion in a a few weeks. Find out more at Belgrade Fashion Week.

I just hope there are at least a decent number of menswear designers presenting their défilés. And BFW is another wonderful excuse why I should be based in Europe by now.

Fashion Blitz: Septembre 2007

1. Wait no longer and stay out of agony because Roland Mouret is back! Finally!

                

Accdng. to Vogue UK, the designer recently had a trunk show at Browns, though a no-show at the event due to some mystery sickness, people still flocked the event. And I am more than happy to hear about this. Allez Roland!

2. Who says only skinny girls can rock? Apparently not only women with Debbie Harry looks can thrive in style in the music indurstry. You should try The Gossip. I am so loving their music these days. Too bad not so many people know about them here in poor Manille. Well, it's better to be ahead from the rest. It's the only thing I have!

Remember my last article on The Gossip's Beth Ditto hanging out with Kate Moss? Click! And See!

... I think Beth Ditto rocks!

3. I want the new issue of 10 Magazine but I couldn't find any in this damn city called poor Manille.

     

4. Copenhagen is the hottest new fashion capital! That is according to me!!!

Or is it all because I am so in love with Annhagen's fantastic androgynous collection for Spring/ Summer 2008!

5. Erin Heatherton is the new blonde in the block! She's hot as hell in the F/W 2007 ad campaign by D&G and I am so awaiting her next big exposure.

   

   photo credit: MDC, Vogue UK

7. And I, Giancinephile have started my own label simply called Giancarlo and these are just 3 four! of my current designs.

   

   And here comes another...

 

   and...

   

  and I couldn't help but share another one!

   

All pictures are taken by moi and no one else. Tell me what you think. Credits: Maquillage by Patrick Alcuber pour Shu Uemura (except where noted* first one by Gabby Pavico) and again photos are by moi. Does it look too amateur for you? haha

Interested parties may reach me at 00 63 916 7096178 or at gc_napoli.com!

Help make me famous before I even go to fashion school!!!

Technorati Tags: Roland Mouret, Brown's, The Gossip, Beth Ditto, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Annhagen, 10 Magazine, Erin Heatherton, Giancinephile, Giancarlo