Sarah Jessica Parker to Present Special Tribute Prize to Alexander McQueen

May 26th, 2010

At the 2006 Met Costume Institute Gala, Sarah Jessica Parker—who arrived with design genius Alexander McQueen, both wearing matching tartans—could never have alleged the sudden suicide of her friend in fashion, just four years later in February 2010.

Nor could she have assumed that she would be the bearer of a posthumous Special Tribute Award, to be presented to McQueen at the Council of Fashion Designers America (CFDA) Awards on June 7, 2010.

At the time of McQueen’s death, SJP called the designer’s work jaw-dropping, and it surely was. Whether you loved or hated Sarah Jessica’s chartreuse strapless frock and blossoming couture cap at the Sex and the City premiere in 2008, one must confess that the look was original and fantastically creative.

Not just anyone could wear that outfit, but that’s the beauty of such a sartorial relationship: Maestro and muse share a single vision.

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Hot Shot Designer Giles Deacon Tabbed To hoard Emanuel Ungaro

May 26th, 2010

British designer Giles Deacon has been given the major task in his designing life, reinvigorating failing French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro as their creative director.

Deacon, 41, a graduate of the fame Central Saint Martins, slammed on to the British fashion scene in 2004 with his Giles label, capturing the notice of the British press and fashion media with his depraved but staid designs, his vision of high craft mixed with a steady stream of wit, which earned him the prestigious British Fashion Designer of the Year in 2006.

In 2008, Giles, who earlier in his career had apprenticed and worked with such stars as Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Bottega Veneta and Tom Ford, debuted his Gold by Giles line, scoring big again, building a fantastic buzz that carried him to a ANDAM Fashion Awards Grand Prix in 2009.

His new employer, Paris-based Emanuel Ungaro, which has been bleeding money as the retirement of its founder and namesake in 2004, needed a fresh start, a creative nexus and a radical alter in direction and vision after past failures, including seeing the departures of its former CEO, the designers for both the women’s and men’s labels, and its short-lived artistic adviser, Lindsay Lohan. If appointing Lindsay Lohan, desperation indeed has taken hold.

For Ungaro, desperation has been restored by hope and creativity, and that is never a bad thing.

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Ann Taylor’s Models Have absurd Proportions, Unrealistically Smooth Clothes

May 25th, 2010

Ann Taylor has effectively turned itself from a staid, homely brand into a covetable one, even garnering comparisons in the Times to Dior and Balenciaga.

Recently, its sold-out $198 lace dress was selling for upwards of $300 on eBay, but all is not well in the brand’s online store, where models show to have been Photoshopped to scary proportions. Here we have a $119.99 dress on a girl with hips amazingly smaller than her shoulder span, maybe even her bust as well. Like Barbie!

At left, Ann Taylor helps the fashion model stave off muffin top by digitally sanding down her hips and thighs so as to avoid those realistic (heavens!) and scarcely unsightly fabric folds. Also incredibly smooth is the silk shirt on the right where it tucks into the model’s slacks, displaying no bunching or rippling.

So either Ann Taylor is the store with the unfeasibly smooth clothes — and isn’t that what our shapewear-obsessed culture is looking for? — Or they have a slight retouching scandal on their hands. On the other hand, in their quest to matter again, that they even have a scandal just more proves they do.

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