I wasn’t very keen on the sexy nun theme going on in this Yves Saint Laurent collection, but other than that this was a pretty strong collection. I think Stefano Pilati has really perfected “his” Yves Saint Laurent, which is a contemporary version of the original, strong and sexy, maintaing the story of the brand, but still moving forward.

I Love…

a simple black winter dress.

the sexiest designer parka we've seen so far in the collections.

the" yoke cape" on this shirt.

proof that a satin evening dress can be young.

I Loathe…

this unsexy "Mormon Mom" dress.

"puff sleeve" gloves.

this whole look, especially the nipples on show.

All images from Style.com.

The ballgowns were out in full force at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. It was pretty boring, with no one trying to be adventurous in any way. I guess the best part was the fact that Avatar only won three awards. I am looking forward to seeing The Hurt Locker. Here are a couple of my Loves and Loathes.

I Love…

Carey Mulligan in Prada and Fred Leighton. The short front hem makes this otherwise traditional dress very interesting. And her hair and earrings and general sweetness make her look fantastic. She was certainly the star of the evening.

Charlize Theron in Dior and Harry Winston. The roses on the bust look a but strange, but in a good way. Possibly the most adventurous ballgown of the evening.

Miley Cyrus in Jenny Packham and Lorraine Schwartz. Although I am not a fan of Miley Cyrus, I like the way she dressed very young, instead of trying to look like an adult. This is a great example of properly dressing one's age.

Sarah Jessica Parker in Chanel couture and Fred Leighton. I hate her pose and she doesn'

**UPDATE** I just saw this photo of the Chanel dress, and I have changed my mind about it. It is definitely a loser.

Do I Love or Loathe?

Sandra Bullock in Marchesa. She is wearing way to much makeup, and the dress fabric looks cheap, but it does look pretty good on her.

I Loathe…

Amanda Seyfried in Armani Privé and Lorraine Schwartz. Is she going straight to her wedding afterwards?

Demi Moore in Atelier Versace and Van Cleef & Arpels. I loved the bodice, but the floaty layers of the skirt are just so predictable.

Kate Winslet in Yves Saint Laurent and Tiffany. Why would anyone wear a dress that makes them look twenty years older?

Mariah Carey in Valentino couture, Chopard and Piaget watch. This is a bad bridesmaid dress at its worst!

All images from WWD.

There are not many second chances, let alone third chances in the fashion industry, so I am surprised that Alber Elbaz, after “not working out” at Guy Laroche or at Yves Saint Laurent, got a chance at Lanvin. It clear we would have missed out on an amazing fashion partnership if he hadn’t been appointed to that position. I’m going to be boring and just gush that this collection is do beautiful and amazing and I love it, blah blah blah like everyone does for Lanvin. So far this collection, and Donna Karan, get my gold medals.

I Love…

when Alber Elbaz does the fur sleeve so beautifully.

this sexy, one-sleeved dress.

an explosion of pleats. In grey.

the amazing tailoring of this jacket. Those sleeve heads are....perfection.

another amazing black dress, this time with a cascade of drapes at the hip.

this conical sleeve. What an amazing coat.

a coat with a full skirt. Feminine, romantic, yet modern.

a sharp, slick, slightly shiny black dress.

All images from Style.com.

Alexander McQueen's legendary Plato's Atlantis Spring Summer 2010 show live streamed on Show Studio.

This very interesting post by the Sartorialist last week got me thinking about the future of fashion shows. He says that fashion shows are changing so much because nearly all of them are live streamed, and asks “Don’t you think it’s only a matter of time before these shows are open to the public? …I mean, let’s think about it, designers always say that one of their biggest expenses are fashion shows. It’s always one of the first things to get cut when times are hard. But, if they had the ability to sell tickets to these shows, it would actually become a profit maker instead of a necessary loss.”

The concept of paying for a fashion show in Europe is unheard of. Many people ask me how much it costs to get into a Chanel show, and I then have to explain that no one pays to get into a Chanel show, its free for the very limited list of people that are worthy of attending.

I don’t like the idea of paying for a fashion show, whether it is a designer fashion show in Paris, or a local fashion show. Actually, I wouldn’t pay for a fashion show, as attending fashion shows is work for me, and I don’t pay to go to work. And I certainly don’t like the idea of the general public being allowed to pay their way in to a fashion show, it would completely ruin the notion of exclusivity that the fashion industry has cultivated and is desperately trying to hold on to.

Pointless celebrities in the front row of a fashion show.

In the CNN documentary about her, Carine Roitfeld talks about how unusual it is that everyone wants to know about the fashion industry now, and that ten years ago, it wasn’t like this. She is right, when I started, the fashion industry was not full of celebrities, and therefore there weren’t millions of people who followed it closely, movies dedicated to the going ons of the industry, front rows full of pathetic reality TV stars, and thousands of fashion students trying to get into the industry. But now it is different, Anna Wintour  is a household name (how many of you can name a fashion editor from the 90s?) and the fashion industry is out in the public domain.

I know that fashion shows are very expensive, and it would be nice for brands to find a way to earn some money from them, but I don’t think they should do that by letting people buy tickets. At worst, they should stage two shows, one which is for industry, and then a public version afterwards (although even that sounds hideous to me, and probably not very cost effective.)

One thing that has really surprised me about Vancouver is that there are a lot of fashion shows on here, and people pay to go and see them. It is actually a business. Tomorrow night I am going to a fashion show that costs a lot of money (I’m not paying) and takes place at 10pm on a Friday night. That is like asking me to have a business meeting on a Friday night. I’d rather be with friends or family, relaxing and enjoying myself, rather than being “at work.” But I have realised that this is how things work here in Vancouver, and it is surprising.

Yves Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 1974 fashion show, with an informal catwalk, in the companies headquarters.

Image source.

For now the shows may be open to the public through a live streaming, but the invitations are still reserved for industry and celebrities (ugh.) As much as I love a big production fashion show, if the future of the shows require brands to tone them down a bit, I don’t think that would be such a bad thing. Let’s go back to the salon style shows from the 60s and 70s, intimate affairs for industry only (not celebrities please.) Its a nice idea isn’t it? But I doubt that will happen… For now the celebrities are adding to much value to the brands.

Here’s hoping that the fashion show I am going to tomorrow night, which is showcasing local ethically-friendly brands (which could go many ways…) is a fun Friday night out.

Here’s an example of a fashion video that looks hot without making an attempt at being controversial, philosophical, or pornographic (unlike the YSL video by Bruce Weber that I recently trashed.) It just looks hot, its only 30 seconds long, and it helps that we all love Lara Stone.

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Yesterday we looked at one of the most influential shoe designers of the 20th century, and today I am going to introduce you to another shoe master. I am obsessed with shoes, and Roger Vivier is definitely one of my favourite footwear brands. He started off as a shoe designer in the 30’s, worked for Christian Dior in the 1950’s, and his signature shoe was a pump with a buckle on the front, called the Pilgrim. Roger Vivier is thought to have been the inventor of the stiletto, so ladies (and men, let’s face it, who doesn’t benefit from the stiletto,) lets take a moment to honour this VERY important man.

A signature Roger Vivier Pilgrim buckle shoe.

These are some more fabulous Roger Vivier for Christian Dior shoes from the 50s and 60s.

Image source.

When I was planning my wedding outfit, there was no question in my mind that the shoe was going to be the most important part of the outfit. I knew I was going to be wearing Valentino, because it was sort of a childhood dream, and it was the last season of ready-to-wear that Valentino was actually designing, so the collection had significance. (I wore a short, “Valentino red” knit dress, which was possibly the easiest shopping experience in my life. We happened to be in Sloane Street area, and I went into the Valentino store with my friend Nora, we tried on three red dresses, two made me look fat, so I bought the third. SO easy.)

Anyway, back to the shoe. The brand was just as important as the shoe itself, because I had to buy a fabulous shoe brand, not a WAG brand (Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin), not a predictable brand (Manolo Blahnik), and not just any clothing brand’s shoe (YSL or Chanel.) Pierre Hardy would have been an acceptable brand, but his stuff was too chunky.

I was training staff at Harrods about fashion trends one day (which is really good money, but pointless if you spend four times your wage as you walk through the footwear department on the way to your room) and I found these Roger Vivier shoes. Roger Vivier had recently been relaunched, with Bruno Frisoni as creative director, and it was the perfect footwear brand: luxury, respectable, a wonderful history, French, not over-exposed, and beautiful. Plus, these shoes were exclusive to Harrods, so there were a very limited number of pairs made. And, they were rock’n'roll.

It was love at first sight.

(I’ve condensed this into a collage for the benefit of my readers…but I could easily write about 15 blog posts about my wedding shoes and their significance, and my love for them and blah blah blah, but I’m afraid I might lose most of my readership. And don’t ask me about the story behind the D&G shoes, that’s another hour long tale of search, desperation, hunting, luck, and glory.)

So, the reason why this post came to be is because, after searching high and low, I finally managed to find a fairly complete selection of photos from the Roger Vivier Spring Summer 2010 Couture Collection. Here’s a blurb and some of the photos that I found from this article on Telegraph.co.uk.

“…brace yourself for fashion’s latest excess – the £30,000 pair of Roger Vivier heels.”

“They feature an assortment of life’s little luxuries such as 24 ct gold-coated mesh, semi-precious stones, jet, satin ribbons, silk chiffon, diamanté and crocodile skin fashioned into dainty rosettes.”

“The “Dovima”, an 11cm, spike-heeled confection of gilded silk mesh and jewels, is embellished with a pair of rose pink-dyed, taxidermy birds with gold and crystal heads.”

“The collection is called “One is Too”, for each pair can be inserted into and buckled onto matching crocodile or snakeskin protective “platforms”, based on the “pattens” of the Middle Ages. They add height and save the expensive, fragile works-of-art for the feet from actually making contact with anything as rugged, commonplace and downright dirty as the pavement.”

Read the rest of the article here. And the article tells you where to buy them, if you’re interested in remortgaging your house. These shoes certainly make yesterday’s $2700 pair a bargain.

Normally I’d say that mixing too many references in a show can end up disastrous, but Karl Lagerfeld has the golden touch, and even though I saw bits of space age, futurism, 60s, 70s, 80s, Halston, and Yves Saint Laurent in the Chanel Haute Couture collection, it all worked beautifully. I had to include some detail shots, as that is also a big part of the Chanel shows.

I Adore…

the styling and accessories in this show. The hair, gloves, tights, and shoes make the Chanel suits look young and cool.

the 60s shift dresses with very slim sleeves.

the jacket and its metallic accessories.

the detailing on this dress, even thought its not the most slimming of shapes.

the Halston-y drapes over heavily beaded couture.

this light, floating tiered dress.

the angular shape of this dress and the intricate fabric manipulation.

more 70s drapes combined with Haute Couture detailing.

beading on the inside of the collar. Only Haute Couture does that.

pearls on the platform sole of the shoe.

the metallic driving glove and the fact that we all know to run out and buy silver nail polish, as Chanel always dictates the nail polish colour trends.

I Loathe…

the shorts suits. There were quite few of them, and I don't like the shape, too short for a culotte and too flared for a bermuda.

All images from Style.com.

One of my finest teaching moments occurred last week when one of my students said “basically we’ve learnt that sex = money.” I felt very proud! If I had my way, I would have handed them their diploma in Fashion Marketing right there and then, as the whole premise of fashion marketing is “sex = money.”

A Bruce Weber photo for Calvin Klein Body. Calvin Klein has a history of using the strategy of Sex = Money. They are also quite good with Sex + Controversy = Money.

So here’s another blatant example of sex = money, and jumping on the fashion video bandwagon.

EVERYONE is doing fashion videos at the moment, because its the thing to do, but its getting boring. I had started a Youtube playlist of all the important fashion videos, but then it got impossible to stay up to date on things, so I have given up. When everyone is doing the same thing, its hard to stand out.

This is where photographer Bruce Weber and Yves Saint Laurent menswear come in. They decided to do a video together, and, since its hard to get people excited about fashion videos, since EVERYONE is doing them, they did what every brand does to grab attention: good-looking naked people.

A&F Quarterly cover. A soft porn "catalogue" for Abercrombie & Fitch.

A little bit of background on Bruce Weber and naked men. He is a great photographer, no question about it, and he perfected his skills as a “photographer of naked men” when he shot the A & F Quarterly. The Quarterly is basically a soft porn “catalogue” for Abercrombie & Fitch (a catalogue implies that there would be products in it, and since everyone is naked, its not really a catalogue because its not showing off the clothes) that causes a lot of controversy for the otherwise extremely boring brand Abercrombie & Fitch. The Christians get all worked up about pictures of naked young people frolicking outside, and Abercrombie gets called controversial by the media, and so more young people flock to their stores to buy boring college clothes. (I don’t blame them for having boring clothes, I interviewed for them once for a job on the design team. You HAVE to move to Columbus, Ohio, and work in their headquarters, aptly named The Campus. So they can’t really get many good designers, because no one wants to move there.)

Here’s some more images from the quarterly.

Still trying to figure out what clothes they are trying to sell here...

This totally happens to me when I go on a picnic.

More proof that you don't need clothes to sell clothes.

There are more images from the A&F Quarterly here. Tons of toned butts to be seen.

Anyway, the YSL “Ain’t Nothin’ Like The Real Thing” Bruce Weber Short Film looks like it could be an Abercrombie video, because there are naked boys jumping into the water. There are also some naked women (but very old video clips, which makes them less offensive, because they are “retro”), and naked babies. I could not last through the whole 7 minutes, it boring and pointless, and basically a big Bruce Weber ego trip. Here it is, you can fast forward through most of it, that is the only way it is bearable, unless you are just checking out the naked people, in which case, its worth watching, because they are all pretty hot.

And by the way, where does Yves Saint Laurent come into this video?

As a contrast, I would like to show you my favorite fashion video, by Sergio Rossi, which is a fabulous Italian luxury shoe brand. Watch this with the sound on if you can. You will laugh, guaranteed. If Sergio Rossi had a shop in Vancouver, I would go and buy a pair immediately, as a show of thanks for the many smiles I have had and caused when showing this video to people. (By the way, they also make fabulous shoes.)

Images Credits. A&F Quarterly images came from here.

Let’s face it, nowadays, the only reason why you watch an awards ceremony is to see what people wear on the red carpet, and who markes an arse of themselves during their acceptance speech. Thanks to the internet, we don’t have to sit through four hour awards ceremonies anymore, we can just look at the outfits online the next day. And that is what I did for the Golden Globes. I must say, I was very unimpressed with the red carpet dresses this year.

Cameron Diaz looks amazing here in Alexander McQueen. I haven’t seen a photo of the dress from the front, but from this angle, she gets my best dressed award.

Chloe Sevigny is supposed to have such great style, so how come she is wearing this fluffy Valentino dress?

I don’t like Courtney Cox, I hate Friends, and I DETEST Victoria Beckham, but Courtney actually looks pretty good here in one of Victoria Beckham’s dresses. It’s not much of a design, but it looks good on the red carpet.

Drew Barrymore is another Golden Globe disappointment. What are those puffy cushions on her shoulder and hip? A silly Atelier Versace creation.

I can’t bring myself to say anything bad about Glenn Close because I loved her so much as Patti Hewes in Damages. So I am relieved that she looks great in this Oscar de la Renta dress.

Heather Graham is supposed to be cool…isn’t she? So why is she wearing this boring Elie Saab evening gown that makes her boobs look pointy?

January Jones in Lanvin. Fabulous.

Julia Roberts in vintage Yves Saint Laurent. She looks effortless, relaxed and comfortable, three qualities you rarely find in a formal outfit, so well done to her.

Marion Cotillard has a very tight relationship with Dior, and they always dress her, and they usually dress her very well. Except last night, when she wore this dress.

I hate to say bad things about Bottega Veneta, as they are one of my favourite brands, but this iridescent, cheap prom dress that Sandra Bullock is wearing is just not working.

When I first saw this photo, I couldn’t belie that Sophia Loren had so many tattoos on her arms. Then I realised, its those nude, embellished sleeves that figure skaters wear. She does look great in this Armani Prive dress, but the sleeves are naff.

These images came from Women’s Wear Daily.

Here is Part 2 of my summary of the last decade. Click here for Part 1.

New Blood in the fashion industry and on the catwalks. Images from Style.com

Christophe Decarnin for Balmain.

Tomas Maier for Bottega Veneta.

Christopher Bailey for Burberry Prorsum.

New designer Gareth Pugh.

Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy.

Alber Elbaz for Lanvin.

New designer Marios Schwab.

New designers Rodarte.

New designer Giambattista Valli.

Stefano Pilati for Yves Saint Laurent.

New designer Zac Posen.

Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga.

And I am not forgetting Jonathon Saunders, Proenza Schouler,  Alexander Wang, Philip Lim, Richard Nicoll, and many others (including revivals of Halston and Ossie Clark.) In fact, when I was researching this post, I realised that in Fall 2002, Style.com showed 114 designers’ catwalk collection on their website. For Fall 2009 the number was up to 262.

A New Retail Perspective resulted in an shopping evolution, or revolution.

Dover Street Market in London.

Dover Street Market, considered one of the “best” stores in the world, opened on London’s Dover Street. Curated by Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garcons, the store continues to innovate.

Primark’s first central London location had people queuing over an hour to buy £1 tights and £3 t-shirts. Dubbed “Primani”, the store continues to attract crowds and has not felt the recession as badly as most high street retailers.

A new retailing concept: The Pop-Up Store. A temporary retail space, opened for a short period of time, sometimes with a limited edition product. This one is a pop up for Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garcons for a collection of handbags.

Net A Porter changed the way consumers shop for luxury online.

ASOS (As Seen On Screen) started as a site selling copies of celebrities outfits, but as turned into one of the largest, most-successful multi-brand online retailers.

Gilt Groupe is one of the many discount luxury retailers thriving in the recession.

American Apparel sold basics tees with a new angle: using sleazy and sometimes pornographic images to sell a product made in the US in factories where workers had holiday and sick pay.

A Decade to be Forgotten. How many of these fashion trends do you look back on and smile, or cringe? (in no particular order…)

Kate Moss wearing gladiator sandals, first seen at Balenciaga.

Luxury denim, aka the $300 pair of jeans. These ones from Rock and Republic.

Lingerie becomes fashionable again, thanks to brands like Agent Provocateur.

I remember when there were one hour lineups outside the Birkenstock store.

Bling: a trend I definitely did not embrace.

Nu Rave. The worst trend of the 00s. What were they thinking? This look by Cassette Playa.

The IT bag: Chloe Paddington anyone?

and we certainly cant forget the Motorcycle bag by Balenciaga.

The new IT bag: The IT shoe. From top to bottom: Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, and Christian Louboutin. I think we have Sex and the City to thank for this.

On second thought, Crocs were definitely the worst trends of the 00s, with Nu Rave coming in a close second.

Not wearing pants. A Lady Gaga phenomenon, lets hope this one doesn’t last. Image source.

Leggings. These ones by American Apparel.

Boho, Hippie, Hobo, whatever. A look that kept on giving. Sienna Miller image from Dave Hogan/Getty Images.

Skinny jeans helped us to discover the muffin top. These ones by Topshop.

Maybe it was a decade of really bad shoes…. But unfortunately we still haven’t seen the end of the Ugg boot.

Wellington boots by Hunter. Remember when there were for farmers, not festivals?

If anyone had told me that a company would make millions buy selling velour jogging suits, I would have never believed them. Nauseating.

The Birth of the Recessionista and the credit crunch will probably be one of the defining events of the last decade, even though it took place at the end. The losers were the big luxury brands that didn’t have a strong brand identity, hedgefund managers, department stores, anyone selling cars or furniture, and the millions who ended up unemployed and homeless. The winners were the discount retailers, online retailers, anyone selling an education, and MacDonalds.

Susie Bubble as a Recessionista.

Catch Part 3 of 3 “Remembering the Noughties” posts tomorrow!

All images from the brand’s or person’s website, except all catwalk images from style.com, unless otherwise noted.