It’s Ling Liu and Dawei Sun’s 2nd season as Artistic Directors at Cacharel, and it is official: the liberty prints are out!

This French-educated-Chinese-duo presented a soft, optimistic and feminine collection in Paris this week, right on the border between classical and modern. Most of the looks were based on one color (none were black or white :) ), and quite pleasant to look at.

Marni for H&M, 80 Euro

Dresses and skirts. At times, they were a sign of men’s hold over women, and we still have some linguistic leftovers proving it (who’s wearing the pants in your family?). A lot had changed since André Courrèges and Yves Saint Laurent first “gave women power” in the words of Pierre Bergé, turning pants and Pants-Suits into fashionable items.

50 years later, more and more women wear less and less skirts, up to the point where everything is a blur. Last September, researches from the University of Hertfordshire (UK) claimed to prove that  women who wear skirts in the workplace are viewed as more confident, higher-earning and more flexible than those in trouser suits. Of course, many other stusdies have proven the opposite before. It could be a geographical issue. While women can still be punished for taking a walk in a pair of jeans in some parts of the world, here, going out to the streets with your legs showing means taking on the risk of getting comments from men passing by (just like putting on red lipstick, but that’s a whole different post).

Personally, I used to have a thing for dresses. They transmit a powerful statement in an outfit, plus, they are pretty clever for those of little budget (Shirt+Pants cost more than a dress). And then something happened. Maybe I grew up, maybe it was only a shift of taste. The result, however, stays the same. It became a sort of a ritual: Every time I want to wear a dress or a skirt I put it on, along with the leggings to go with it, a pair of carefully chosen shoes and the right subtle make up. Then I look in the mirror and think: What will my colleagues think of me? Are my legs too fat to wear this? What if it’s a windy day? Do I really feel like wondering all day long if that person I just passed by checked me out?

Eventually, as you might have guessed, I take it all off, put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, the universal invisible cloak, and go on with my life. But am I wrong to cave this quickly? Would those bra-burning feminists from the 60’s approve of it?

And so I wonder: Which is the more feminist act? wearing pants and  presenting ourselves as equal (though shorter) to men, as our great-grand-mothers dreamed of doing? Or choosing a dress, confirming our being women without feeling the need to apologize or to hide it?

Maybe I don’t lack the courage, just the right dress. While thinking about it, here are a few militant choices.

Topshop Unique AW 2012-3 show, last week in London

Carven, SS 2012

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.