Fall has marked the return of live events for the various Fashion Weeks, or as the blogosphere put it, Fashion Week has gone from URL to IRL (in real life).
The ultimate, of course, is Paris Fashion Week, which just wrapped with the usual boldface names and cityscape spectacles presenting their Spring Summer 2022 collections and more than a few twists.
After 18 months of yoga-panted lockdown, sexy was back. Bare midriffs, minis, cutouts, cutoffs, unitards and bathing suit-style outerwear claimed creations ranging from Chanel’s classic bouclé to Stella McCartney’s eco-friendly midis. If the divine is in the details, this was the place to find it, including helmet-style headgear and 3D-style glasses at the Louis Vuitton show and sandals by Loewe that featured heels in the shape of cracked eggs and bottles of brightly colored nail polish. Talk about making the most of a pedicure.
Last month, as the Big Apple welcomed the in-person return of New York Fashion Week, the vibe was similarly fun and flirty. Designers were ready to let their creations party with romantic, cutout midi dresses in floral silks and silk brocades, sequined ginghams, embroidered linens, tuxedo wool jumpsuits, vibrant suits and animal prints, figure-hugging space-dye knits, ruffle necks, sequined pencil skirts, and crepe maxis.
Fashion hasn’t been confined to just runway or the gallery. It has returned to the red carpet with a vengeance, perhaps most strikingly in Jenny Packham’s inspired collection celebrating the last appearance of Daniel Craig as Bond, James Bond in “No Time to Die.” Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge – no stranger to Packham’s creations – wore the collection’s gold mosaic cape dress, a goddess moment that was simply to die for to the London premiere. Royal watchers have anointed this appearance – a homage to Diana, Princess of Wales’ silvery turn at the 1985 premiere of Bond film “View to a Kill” – as the moment when Kate revealed herself to be truly a future queen. In a word, “magical”.
Tags: Paris Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, Jenny Packham, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Diana, Princess of Wales, Daniel Craig, “No Time to Die”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her official “class” photo for the Supreme Court of the United States, 2016. Courtesy the Supreme Court.
“To pay attention to what a powerful woman wears is often dismissed as a way to denigrate her. But not to pay attention in this case is to disrespect the attention to detail that marked Justice Ginsburg’s work in all its dimensions.” – Vanessa Friedman, The New York Times, Sept. 23, 2020
Many are called icons. Few deserve the designation. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was truly an icon.
It wasn’t just what she said and did, championing equality for women’s rights as a way to champion equality for all. Or the withering dissents that earned her the name “the Notorious RBG,” after the rapper “the Notorious BIG.” It was the way she looked. Without that, she would’ve been no less eulogized. But her image would not have been emblazoned on everything from magnets to T-shirts. Little girls would not be dressing as her for Halloween.
As Vanessa Friedman – fashion director and chief fashion critic for The New York Times – noted in a Sept. 23 appreciation, the Armani-loving Ginsburg saw no contradiction in being a stylish jurist. In part, this was probably because of an innate theatrical sense. As Chief Justice John Roberts observed in his remarks Sept. 23 as she lay in repose at the Supreme Court, she had wanted to be a singer and ended up a rock star.
She adored the theater, the ballet and especially the opera – which she shared with her friend and intellectual opposite on the Supreme Court bench, Antonin Scalia; was the subject of an opera with him (Derrick Wang’s “Scalia/Ginsburg”); and appeared in the non-singing role of a lawyer in the Washington National Opera’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” (for which she rewrote her lines to stress the power of women. Clearly, Ginsburg was something of a Method actor.) The word “courtroom” is often associated with the word “drama.” In the heightened theatrical arena of the courtroom, Ginsburg combined her aesthetic flair with the insight that a woman didn’t have to dress like a female man to succeed. She realized that there are few things more empowering – and unsettling, particularly to a man – that a traditionally feminine woman whose smart appearance is the calling card for her smart words and actions.
So there was the girlish ponytail, often bound in the flourish of a bow; the button earrings, punctuating the face – distinctive yet not distracting the way chandelier earrings would be; the glasses framing wide, curious gray eyes; the brocaded jackets for speaking engagements; the fishnet gloves; and oftentimes a dazzling pair of heels. The girl could definitely accessorize.
But as Friedman notes, what set the iconography in motion were the collars that not only dressed up her plain, black judicial robe but that she used to telegraph her opinions before she uttered a word on the bench. There was a crocheted beige and yellow affair for majority opinions, a spiky bejeweled one from Banana Republic for dissents, a white jabot, finished in black, for the reception of her honorary degree from Harvard Law School; and a delicate white from Capetown, South Africa, said to be her favorite.
These collars echoed the Usekh or Wesekh, the broad jeweled or metal collar that signified status in ancient Egypt. But as with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s pins, Jacqueline B. Kennedy’s and Melania Trump’s White House wardrobes, Diana, Princess of Wales’ dresses, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’s couture – and going back in time, Elizabeth I’s portraits – the collars were an example of gesture politics. They were reminders that women – who like children were once thought better seen and not heard – had to speak through how they looked. But speak they did.
One final thought: Ginsburg’s flash extended to the casual, including a sweatshirt that said, “Super Diva.” “Diva,” associated with the imperious prima donna of opera, has had a pejorative connotation. But “diva” is also Italian for “goddess.”
Styling on the bench and off, Ginsburg reclaimed its wise, compassionate meaning.
Tags: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, collars, Supreme Court, Vanessa Friedman, fashion, opera, Antonin Scalia, Madeleine Albright, Jacqueline B. Kennedy, Melania Trump, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth I
If ever there was a designer who speaks to the trends of the moment, it’s Naeem Khan.
Zebra- and leopard-print dresses and jumpsuits? check. Bold, flowing florals? Check. Goddess gowns that reveal even as they conceal with mesh and plunging necklines, low backs and thigh-high slits? Check, check and check.
It is Khan’s ability to marry the demure and the sexy that makes his Spring Collection perfect for today’s woman. Form-fitting, neutral slips peek through diaphanous floral and leafy appliqué shells that cling to the body and finish with a swirling flourish at the ankles. Fitted, jeweled bodices, the armor of beauty, give way to layered, chiffon skirts. Sequined hoodie pantsuits with modified shoulder pads redefine that 1980s staple, another spring trend.
The play between the decorous and the sensual defines India, where Khan was born and raised. Growing up in Mumbai, he was steeped in the country’s textiles – which blaze with color, pattern, texture and life itself – as both his father and his grandfather designed clothing for Indian royals.
But Khan believed his design destiny lay in the United States. He moved here as a teenager and at 20 became an apprentice to Halston (1932-90), who rose to fame designing the pillbox hat for first lady Jacqueline B. Kennedy and whose clean lines helped shape the 1970s. With Halston, Khan learned how to cut and drape fabric to create a classic, elegant silhouette.
Ultimately, he combined his childhood knowledge of textiles with what he learned during his time with Halston to create his eponymous brand, which he launched in 2003 to sell in Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s featured in 150 retail outlets worldwide, to say nothing of red carpets graced by Michelle Obama; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; Beyoncé; Jennifer Lopez; Rachel McAdams; Noor Al-Hussein, the dowager queen of Jordan; and Taylor Swift.
But Khan, who was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2008, is about more than ready-to-wear. His plated-brass, suede-lined Zodiac clutches, with their Swarovski crystal constellations and mirrored interiors, could double as jewelry cases. (The 21-inch chain strap is detachable.)
There’s also a Deco collection of minaudières that captures the sleek geometry of the Roaring 20s, red-hot as we begin the 2020s. By going back to the future, Khan demonstrates once again that he is a man of the moment.
All eyes are on Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy as she stuns in this shimmering pink Oleg Cassini at a 1962 White House dinner with the French minister of culture, André Malraux (left) and her husband, President John F. Kennedy (right). Courtesy the White House.
Sheaths and shifts. Ropes of pearls. Pillbox hats atop a brunet bouffant. Large, dark glasses and and long, white gloves.
Such was the power of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis’ wardrobe that the mere mention of a few articles of clothing or accessories is enough to conjure a woman who transformed American culture in part by transforming American fashion. Indeed, the book cover for Steven Rowley’s new novel, “The Editor,” features only the famed oversize sunglasses on a desk with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop while the bubblegum pink cover of Eve Pollard’s novel “Jack’s Widow” depicts the bouffant hairdo, a strand of pearls and white gloves. The mind fills in the rest.
This is a big year for Jackie and her admirers. July 28 marks the 90th anniversary of her birth. (The 25th anniversary of her death was commemorated May 19.) This year is also the 20th anniversary of the death of her son, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, the former Greenwich resident Carolyn Bessette; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, in a plane crash off Martha’s Vineyard July 16.
“Age cannot wither her,” Shakespeare wrote of his Cleopatra, “nor custom stale her infinite variety.” The same could be said of Jackie, who continues to influence the influencers. Long before Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge wowed the Canadians with a red outfit that paid tribute to the scarlet of their flag and the Royal Mounties, Jackie donned a nubby red suit with a high collar, three-quarter sleeves and a matching pillbox hat for a 1961 visit that electrified Ottawa. The Jackie effect – the subject of a commemorative issue by People magazine – can be seen in Kate’s double-breasted coats and matching hats; her sister-in-law Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s white cape dress; first lady Melania Trump’s wide-belted outfits; Amal Clooney’s black T and white jeans; and Jennifer Lopez’s and Gwyneth Paltrow’s goddess gowns.
But few today remember that Jackie wasn’t always a style icon. A bookish equestrian whose introverted nature gave her a certain mystique as it shielded her from a prying public, a controlling mother, Janet Lee Auchincloss, and the Bouviers’ lack of wealth relative to her Auchincloss’ step-family, the coltish young Jackie was more apt to adapt the gamin look of a 1950s Audrey Hepburn than develop one of her own. It was her younger sister Lee, considered the more traditional beauty, who was the fashion and design trendsetter as well as a lover of the ancient Greeks (and one ancient Greek in particular, Aristotle Onassis) and the Italian Renaissance.
But if Lee was the more adventurous sister, Jackie had more stick-to-itiveness. With Oleg Cassini, the Paris-born couture and film costume designer, curating a wardrobe designed to read across the world stage, Kenneth devising a longer, bouffant hairdo to frame her wide-set bone structure and Halston creating pillbox hats that would just crown her large head, Jackie picked up the ball and ran with it. In both fashion and interior design, she indulged the love of France that was inspired both by her Bouvier blood and her junior year in Paris – “the happiest of my life,” she later recalled. It enabled her to mix French couture (Balenciaga, Dior, Givenchy) with domestic ensembles and to bring the White House into the present by looking to its refined Federal (early 19th century) past, which corresponded to the neoclassical period in France.
But interior design and fashion were always means to an end for Jackie, who saw them in service of creating a standard of excellence for the nation and an atmosphere of comfort for her husband, President John F. Kennedy, and their children, her number one priority.
With her children grown, she focused on historic preservation, championing Grand Central Terminal, and, as an editor encouraging a host of memoirists from Michael Jackson to Martha Graham.
Jackie remains the queen of style in part because she was always about so much more than that.
Alessandra Vicedomini had us at “hello.” The designer and former model – who inherited the sleek mantle of the House of Vicedomini from her father, Giuseppe – has an almond-eyed beauty that immediately recalls Sophia Loren. She has a Loren-style warmth as well, engaging with clients here at Mary Jane Denzer during a recent trunk show as if they were longtime friends rather than customers. For Alessandra, couture is about relationships.
“The way (MJD owners Anastasia Cucinella and Debra O’Shea) treat the clients is the way my dad did and I do in my atelier in Geneva,” she said. “It’s a shopping experience. It’s not about making a sale.” Sadly, she added, that personalization is becoming rare in retail.
Alessandra’s approach to designing for the Vicedomini brand, which her father founded in their native Milan in 1962, is altogether different from what he offered. Instead of tweeds, she said, she works with knitwear.
“Women today are looking for ease in what they wear. They’re looking for fabric with more stretch, something casual.”
And yet, she added, there is a common thread in the House of Vicedomini, then and now – “timeless elegance.”
Many designers are turning to more forgiving fabrics to accommodate today’s peripatetic lifestyle and emphasize the trend in curvaceous figures. What makes Alessandra’s work stand out is its creation of the illusion of nudity. (Small wonder as some of her bikinis have been featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.)
A bit of nylon here at the knee, a bit of mesh there on the neckline and voilà – something that’s a touch naughty but oh-so-nice on such celebrities as Czech model and philanthropist Petra Němcová. Cool shoulders, side peplum, leafy appliqué and diamond-shaped pockets add to the flirty silhouette of the spring-summer collection.
Knitwear can sport another, wintry face in the House of Vicedomini, which can be seen in its classic double-ply cashmere gilet with a special trim of handcuff and ribbed cashmere that we swear looks like chinchilla.
Knits are what inspired Alessandra to step off the runway and magazine covers and into the atelier. A gifted student and linguist, she studied law at the University of Milan and initially intended to have a career in criminal law. But her beauty and couture pedigree would not be denied and at 14 she began modeling for the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Jean Paul Gautlier, Valentino and Versace. Marriage would take her to London where she used to run into the former Kate Middleton – now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge – at Starbuck’s. (Alessandra said the simply elegant Kate remains the one woman she would like to dress.) And then it was on to Geneva, which is a little too staid for Alessandra’s taste.
The mother of two golf-loving sons said she needs a place to indulge her love of water and horses on these shores. Bucolic Bedford or Greenwich perhaps?
How lucky we would be to have Alessandra spreading her charm and talent among us.
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