Chanel’s caesar  knows very well that in order to sell clothes, first you need to sell a sensation. That’s why for 5 days unseen pairs of hands worked to build a Jambo jet inside Le Grand Palais, Karl Lagerfeld’s favorite location for Chanel’s shows.

Instead of a movie, Air Chanel presented the passengers with a Haute Couture show, during the Haute Couture Fashion Week that takes place currently in the city. This event is almost extinct. in the last few years many labels have reduced or canceled their participation in the Haute Couture Fashion Week, for the articles showcased serve more to wow the public rather than to be worn. In our days, even the richest tend to buy Ready-to-wear collections and not especially made, hand crafted pieces of luxury. Chanel is probably one of the last who can afford such extravagance. In this very small market, they must have 80 percent of the cake or so…

Just Like the mock sky in the windows of the grounded plane, the Lagerfeld’s collection was full of blue in all its diversity.  Throughout the collection, pockets were sewn onto even the most delicate dresses, Out of which we could catch a glimpse of what’s bound to be the next best-seller nail posh from Chanel – Metalic light bleu.

In the occasion of the new (jewish) year, we have asked 13 fashionistas to give us a list of their Top 10 local fashion designers. The winner of our holiday rank is Anya Fleet, a young graduate from Shenkar  (Israel’s most prestigious  school for fashion design). My interview with Anya was published in hebrew this week. I tried translating parts of it to post on issues but it doesn’t really make sense so i’ll just tell you about our encounter.

I’ve seen Anya’s work in a fashion fair just a few weeks before the rank. The high quality of her finish impressed me. Sadly, the israeli market suffers from lack of standards when it comes to fabrication. The reasons for that are mainly economic but also social, i’ll explain it all in a different post, I hope, once I get to the bottom of the issue. Anyway, Anya’s work is not a part of the problem.

She produces women’s ready-to-wear, jewelry and couture (evening and bridal)in small quantities in her studio. Her line is pretty somber, mostly black, and yet romantic with lace touches and applicated beads.

“A designer can not be a mass-production fashion chain and shouldn’t try to compete against it”, says Anya, “The two should complement one another. The market is saturated with everything, everybody have enough clothes and no one come to my studio because they need pants. So I try to do something more, something exciting, for self-expression. The people who buy my work do it in order to indulge themselves”.

In her current winter collection Anya took the idea to the next level, “I thought of the garments as if they were jewelry”. She calls it Unique Ready-to-Wear, “you don’t have to be nuts to wear with my stuff but every item has a statement”.

Photos by Michael Topyol for Fashion Forward

No, I did not choose to take a 3 months leave… I had some technical difficulties, big ones. But that is all over now (thanks to the precious help of a certain S)! I’m happy to be back and I have much to share!

Actually, Mr Issues and I have decided to try and play in my own court. Yes, he agreed to taste life in my sweaty side of the pond. In a few months time we’ll be heading to Tel Aviv and I’m thrilled about it.

Will I miss Paris? Sure! I will miss my friends, my routine, refined boutiques and inspiring street looks… But I am coming back home, I can deal with the rest…

That’s it for now. I’m off to write a post about a Vintage store I found. You can find it online in a few hours.

Neshikot (that’s hebrew for kisses, get used to it)!

R

During my vacation at home I’ve decided to write about the sad reality of the Israeli fashion magazines field. I was supposed to tell you how there aren’t any fashion magazines in Israel, only feminine press of questionable nature.

I was supposed to write about LAISHA, the #1 publication in this field. The kind of magazine that puts a pretty girl on the cover and surrounds her with embarrassing titles like “What’s a multiple orgasm and how do you get it?”, “What to tell your boss to get a raise?”, or “Prepare yourself for the bikini season”.

I was supposed to say that the weekly LAISHA (in Hebrew: for the woman…) was established in 1947 and has been organizing the national Beauty Queen pageant since the 50’s, so much for advanced thinking. I wanted to tell you how it is filled with foolish articles, bad-tasted fashion spreads, recipes and decoration tips. I was going to say that LAISHA is low, very low.

But then I brought a copy to my mother’s house…

“Oooh!!! LA-I-SHA!”

Within 3 hours, it was read by each and every one of my fully adult, very intelligent sisters…

I still believe that LAISHA is cr@*. Addictive cr@*.

Pain Couture By Jean Paul Gaultier

Ahoy Sailor! Today in issues’ Fashion Week special – the most french french-classic: La marinière (the sailor shirt).

Every spring, fashion magazines tell us about its imminent comeback. In fact, La marinière never goes out, it just feels like it because the winter is so long.
Like the barret, the sailor shirt is a national symbol (not to say caricature), of which the French are very proud. Its origins are well planted, along with crepes and heavy drinking, in the region of Bretagne (Brittany) and its sea-full history.

Picasso had a crash on it, Coco Chanel wore it, Jean Paul Gaultier had turned it into his trade mark and every french girl has at least one version of the marinière in her closet. I think we can say that the sailor shirt is a safe bet, and, like any good must-have –  it ain’t going anywhere.

This iconic silk square scarf was first created 74 years ago, in 1937. Ever since, it was seen around the world’s most elegant necks and hairdos including Grace Kelly, Jackie O, Audrey Hepburn and Romy Schneider (as seen in the picture below).

Le carré measures (traditionally) 90 sq CM and is sold between 290€ and 440€ (!!!). Even though three generations came and went, this precious piece of fabric is still an important part of every French girl’s fantasy world, or heritage, if she’s lucky.

I admit that in my mind, silk scarves are mostly associated with grandmothers, but the winds of retro are blowing in the opposite direction… Last August, the house launched a new web site marketing the historical scarf to a new younger audience. In Its financial report for 2010 Hermès declared a 19% growth in textile and silk sales: “boosted both by new women’s silk collections… and by the increasing appeal of the new products to young customers“.

Until tomorrow – have a good Monday!

Dring dring! Dring dring!

Issues: “Hello?”

Mr. Screen: “It might just be your lucky day…”

Under circumstances I’m not at liberty to reveal I got an invitation to the DIOR show. A dream come true! Well, almost. I dream of having an actual sit in a show, but I am also very pleased to be standing so close to the holy of holies.

As you all know, yesterday’s show wasn’t like any other before. The clothes weren’t the talk of the day, but their mouthy creator, he-who-must-not-be-named, John Voldemort Galliano. In a 5 minutes long speech, Sidney Toledano, the CEO, managed not to pronounce his name even once.

(Generally speaking, it seems that Christian Dior fashion house is trying to erase the last 15 years from its history. Take for example this ad that popped out of nowhere and flooded the metro, inviting the public to an exhibition of Dior’s past collections, from 1947 to 1997…  The exhibition is held in the Parisian department store Le Bon Marché, who’s related to the group Christian Dior by LVMH)

Leaving aside the historical moment and back to my own personal history making… It started pretty much like I imagined, only a bit less organized. No one even checked my ID card to verify it matches the invitation :) .

Along with Mr. Screen, we were led into the tent to find a long catwalk in the middle, sits from either side and a mountain of photographers in the end (I’m guessing there were about 60 of them, mostly men):

I had a ridiculous smile on my face while my company didn’t seem so excited, bored even. “I’m really not into all that high fashion nonsense”, he told me, using the lowest voice his throat could produce.

Having watched about 500 shows on FTV in the past 10 years, I had a precise idea of what to expect – a high profile event, very elegant, strict and respectful… Yeah… Not from where I was standing.

Once the girls appeared, the mountain of photographers became a hill of horny dogs screaming “Whoo Hoo!!”, “Oh Yeah Baby!” and “Woof woof” at the models.
By the end of the show, Mr. Screen changed his mind about fashion and forgot all about his macho low voice. “THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE!”, he concluded. I agree.

P.S. these are my shoes on the DIOR runway

P.P.S Sorry for the pictures’ poor quality… It was dark…

Last time my mother came to visit I took her to a walk in the handbags district of Printemps. After observing the waiting line in front of Louis Vuitton and sneaking a careful peek in 3 of Jerome Dreyfuss’s price tags she raised her eyes at me, confused: ”Is this serious? Who buys these things?”.

“Ummmm… Quality is very important to French women”, I tried to explain with no luck. In my mom’s eyes, anyone who spends 500€ on a bag must be crazy, or very rich. I’m not saying as much but let’s face it – French do have weird relationships with their handbags. A local woman could wear rugs, but her bag has to be real leather, from a good label.

In this domain, two designs became myths:
The Kelly bag, Hermès.
First created in 1935, it became a hit only in the 50’s when Grace Kelly, actress/princess, took the habit of carrying it around with her. Today, Kelly bag prices start at 3,500€. That is after you get through the waiting list (3-12 months).

Lady Dior.
Apparently,  when it comes to handbags, French girls trust only royalty…. Created in 1995, the Lady Dior bag became legendary thanks to a certain Lady Di. She was seen wearing it in numerous occasions, making sales fly high. price: 1,200€ and up.

Of course, most people don’t belong in his majesty’s court and can’t invest this kind of money in accessories. And that’s where Louis Vuitton gets in the picture, with originals from 600€ and up, a sum many judge reasonable for a collective birthday / Christmas gift. Easily recognizable, hence, desirable by your friends, Louis Vuitton is a good compromise between luxury and the masses.

That’s it for today! I’ll be back tomorrow with a third French classic plus a surprise.

As the lords of fashion confer in Paris, discussing what color shirts we should want to buy next year, I decided this is a good time to talk about all those pieces that never go out of style.

No, I don’t mean the good pair of jeans / little black dress / white shirt kind of classics. I’m talking about the French version of timeless pieces. An all-wardrobe-must-haves any woman has or should aspire to have (in cases of limited budget).

First on the list: Les Ballerines….

Every good wardrobe starts at the bottom, with a good pair of basic, comfortable, day-to-night ballerina shoes. Many Parisians even carry around a pair in their bag for emergencies (when their feet are too sore from the heels).

And when I say Ballerina shoes, I actually mean Repetto.  Established in 1947 as a family dancing-shoes business, Repetto became a national obsession after 1956, when Brigitte Bardot wore a red pair in the film “And God Created Woman“.

Today, Repetto is still the reference label. Their flagship store is situated near the Opera Garnier , where you can purchase the latest collection (starting at 150 Euros) or order a custom-made pair in the color of you choice.

Personally, I don’t own a pair. YET.

That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with another item on my Fashion-Week classics special :)

Until then, enjoy the show!

Brigitte Bardot + shoes = History