Karl Goes Bollywood Chic:
Anybody for Samosas? Chanel Pre-Fall 2012 Collection
For Pre-Fall 2012, Fashion GOD,
Karl Lagerfeld decided to be inspired by India, even though he has supposedly never been there. Lagerfeld--always a genius in terms of knowing "the latest and greatest" and what's hot--or going to be "HOT", for that matter-- decided that his next collection, the Pre-Fall
Métiers d'Art 2012, would be all about India.
Fashion Feast: The Invitation (top photo) and the scene at Chanel Pre-Fall 2012 at the Grand Palais in Paris
The inspiration was
"Paris-Bombay" to be exact, and it was a
"Diwali" Feast with a runway designed like one UBER fabulous Bombay Banquet. There was even a mini "Chanel Choo Choo Train" traveling throughout the banquet table during the entire show.
He's not dumb: guess what country is one of the most up-and-coming luxury-brand loving markets? Yep, India. How best to capture the attention of all those new millionaires and upwardly-mobile middle class in Bombay than to have a fab chic collection based on their Land.Model Stella Tennant, Chanel Pre-Fall 2012 tweed boucle suit
Maharajah: Chanel Pre-Fall 2012, notched-collar suit with satin turban, modeled by Lagerfeld "boy toy" fave, model Baptiste Giabiconi
The
Métiers d'Art Collection is like Pseudo-Couture. The pieces are just that much better than the regular
Pret-a-Porter pieces that one would usually see at a "regular" Chanel Runway Show as well as the Chanel Boutique. The pieces have elements of the already exquisitely-made
Chanel Pret-a-Porter but just that much added refinement, hand-work, uniqueness to also make them "cousins" of the super-expensive one-of-a-kind
Haute Couture.
Androgynous Mumbai: Chanel Pre-Fall 2012, creme shirt-blouse with tie, black-and-creme tea-length flared skirt
The embroideries were by the famed
House of Lesage; head pieces by
Maison Michel for Chanel; and the shoes, by
Massaro for Chanel.
So basically, a regular Chanel Pret-a-Porter jacket will set you back about $3,000. A Haute Couture one: $30,000. A Métiers d'Art one: just in between.Chanel Pre-Fall 2012: Bubblegum pink boucle front cut-out jacket, gold lame skirt
Model Crystal Renn, Chanel Pre-Fall 2012, gold lace dress with head-shawl
Model Arizona Muse, looking very "Cleopatra" as opposed to "Bombay Diva", Chanel Pre-Fall 2012 white sleeveless placket-front dress
Mother-Daughter Model Fabulous: 47 year-old Yasmin Le Bon (looking AMAZING!)--wife of Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon--and her 22 year-old daughter Amber Le Bon, hitting the catwalk at Chanel Pre-Fall 2012--PS: they look like SISTERS!
Click Below for the Full Chanel Pre-Fall 2012 Métiers d'Art "Paris-Bombay" Collection:
I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to recharge my batteries and do things that bring my pleasure and happiness, rather than slaving over a hot text book and studying for hours and hours in a day. Today I am trying to go without mindless television and only turn it on to play Banjo Twooie on the Nintendo 64, in between blogging as well as catching up on the books I've borrowed from the library. The photographs chosen for this post have a gentle air of enlightenment about them and I'm going to try and achieve the same thing today in my own state of mind.
Last night I bought two Penguin book bags in orange and dark green and also plan to treat myself to the pink and purple covers of the bag too when I have all my financial affairs sorted out properly. I've hit penguin fever and also scoured Etsy for second hand copies of penguin classics I plan to buy as soon as the payment for advertising space on this blog comes through. Till then I'll have to properly manage my bookshelf space in my room and get through the Terry Pratchett novels I borrowed from my local library. He writes fantastic and witty fiction, there's about thirty or so books dedicated to his own magical and celestial world of wizards, witches and other creatures by the name of Discworld.
If I really was on holiday I wouldn't be wearing the tracksuit pants and jacket that I am not but perhaps a loose fitting blouse and vintage cut off shorts while strolling around the streets of a forbidding looking market. Although there are plenty of activities in my own city, I find it hard to play tourist and do the tourist thing- but make no mistake that when I do go out to the city I wear my best clothing and protect my skin from the sun by means of a well placed and dapper looking straw hat.
While I have dedicated a good two months to slothing around the house and doing nothing all day, one can't help but wonder that I have been too lazy in rousing myself from this creative stupor and I could have been doing better things with my time up to and including learning rudimentary language skills in Japanese or creating DIY Doc Martens. Of course, that would involved finding a plain white/ pink pair as well as enough cellophane sparkles and a good quality glue to attach them to said boot.
What could be more relaxed and unimposing then a pair of loose fitting and baggy jeans as well as a crisp white blouse and perhaps a floral garland for your head if you so desire. That's what I envision when I think of holidays to inviting lands full of perfect weather. I suppose these types of outfits would be a staple part of your routine if you were to travel to somewhere exotic like the Greek islands but there's also your very own backyard in which you can host small little garden parties and possibly play croquet, weather and landscape allowing it.
Garden parties too small scale for you? Feel like taking on a real challenge of epic proportions? Why not host a fully-fledged dinner party showing off your finest silverware with grand looking candelabras down the middle of the main table, fine glassware to drink from and also a chandelier threatening to crush the heads of your enemies below? I think I would love to have something like this set up in a spare room or something like that, but I know in my heart of hearts that I will never have anything as grand as this scene in any home that I live in.
The perks of owning such a grand home with dinner parties and the like is that you can dress as an 'eccentric' rather than being labelled as a friendless wonder who probably has dementia and social problems. On occasion, I will sit down and join my mother to watch period pieces or murder mysteries by Agathy Christie simply to see the decadent style of 1920s flapper girls as well as beaded fringing and feather plume headbands. I loved seeing the Art Deco exhibition a few years ago with my parents and getting to ogle the cars, snuff boxes as well as Egyptian artifacts and Ming dynasty pieces that were popularised at that time.
While many of the whimsical things I blog about are in the composition of a photography of the styling chosen for a model, places and lands of exotic spice are equally as wonderful and thrilling and I can't wait to get another taste of travel in little more than a year. I will be heading to Canada and while their culture can't be too far off from that of Australia, maybe I'll be hearing a little bit of conversational French while I'm there as well although I will be in an English speaking province. It's fun to be immersed in a foreign language and culture for about a week or so, but after you tired of not being able to understand and communicate with others around you. It's socially isolating without having someone to share ideas with about this new culture you're experiencing.
