Chanel SS12 PARIS

Chanel, SS 2012, Paris, Anja Rubik and Rose Smith.

I know it looks like I chose the 2 most boring looks but the construction is amaze.

The 18th Century Back in Fashion

Maison Christian Dior (f/w 2004-2005 on left and f/w 2007-2008 on right)

The extreme silhouettes, elaborate trimmings, and pouf hairstyles of the French Court dress in the 18th Century have served as a rich source of inspiration for haute couture and ready to wear fashion designers like Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Azzedine Alaia, Alexander McQueen and others. In an exhibition called The 18th Century Back in Fashion at the Palace of Versailles, original garments from that period have been shown alongside the modern interpretations to demonstrate the influence of the 18th century on contemporary fashion.

18th Century Period Dress from the Exhibition

Presented by the Musee Galleria inside the Grand Trianon pavillion, I can only imagine that it is the most perfect setting in which to show this exhibition. Sadly, my schedule will not allow me to see it in person. But I lingered on the website, studying the exhibition floor plan and watching the exhibition videos more than once. I also ordered the exhibition catalogue (even though the shipping cost was as much as the book itself).

Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, spring/summer 2005

The exhibition runs until October 9, 2011. If you are lucky enough to be in Paris, I'd wager a bet that this is an exhibition worth visiting. For more information, consult the Palace of Versailles website here.

Window Shopping in Berlin

Ich bin ein Berliner.... This phrase took on another level of meaning as I toured Berlin last week. It felt like I was home.  Rich in history and packed with artistic and historical treasures, this city has a vibe that is young, modern and friendly. It was like being in Paris but without the attitude.

Prada Berlin

Prada Berlin (Close up)

One thing I love to do is window shop and the windows of Berlin's couture shops did not disappoint. Like Paris, the prices are posted discretely within the window, giving you immediate feedback as to whether or not you can afford to go inside.

Bottega Veneta Berlin

YSL Berlin

In Berlin, it was the cool, architectural vibe of the clothes that grabbed me. Sleek, streamlined silhouettes, it is the look that defines much of my closet....

Jil Sander Berlin

Chanel Fall 2011 Couture

Chanel F/W 2011 Couture

If you could own one piece of couture, would you chose a Chanel tweed suit?

Karl Lagerfeld's most recent collection for Chanel Fall 2011 reinvents the tweed suit in a myriad of ways. Some of the suits separate into three pieces. Surface effects with sequins and shredded fabric also modernize the look. The palette is mostly gray, black and cream but is punctuated with begonia pink. Jaunty boater-like hats, scraps of lace over the eyes, fingerless gloves and boots complete the look for fall 2011.

Chanel F/W Couture 2011

Evening Gown from Chanel Couture F/W 2011

As fabulous as this collection was, it did strike me that even some of these young, gorgeous models looked - dare I say it - a tad dowdy.

Chanel Couture F/W 2011

With the heavy tweed, a boxy silhouette, and the ugliest part of the knee exposed above the boot, it made some models look matronly. Given that the target customer for these suits is probably much older, wider and heavier than the runway models, if you can afford one of these suits, be sure to make your choice carefully!

Chanel Couture F/W 2011

Window Shopping in Paris

Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping.

Bo Derek

A lacy confection from Nina Ricci

Valentino Red 2011

A Madame Gres inspired dress at Chloe
  (Watch for my review of the Madame Gres exhibition on Fashion Projects)

A hot pink number at Nina Ricci!

The windows tell a story at Chanel!

One thing I love about window shopping in Paris is that the prices are posted somewhere within the window. One glance and you know immediately whether or not you can afford to venture inside. Sadly, I could not buy anything because the only time I had for shopping was on Sunday when the shops were closed!

Photos by Ingrid Mida 2011

Postcards of my travels

I've been burning the candle at both ends... So much so that my brain hurts and I seem to be incapable of stringing a coherent thought together. The timing was unfortunate as today I gave a talk on art and fashion at Ryerson University and felt like I stumbled my way through it. I'm craving sunshine and sleep this weekend, neither of which are on the agenda so I thought I'd travel back in time with my postcard collection. Here are some of my favourites  with links to the posts I wrote at the time.

From the Viktor and Rolf Retrospective at the Barbicon, London 2008

Viktor & Rolf Hana doll 2008
From Bedtime Story, Autumn/winter 2008-09
Photo by Peter Stigler

From the Chanel Mobile Art Container in New York Central Park, 2008

Sophie Calle for Chanel-Mobile Art 2008

From the YSL Retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal

YSL Wedding Dress, spring-summer 1969
Photo by Diane Michals

From the exhibtion Watteau to Degas, French Drawings at the Frick Museum, New York, 2009

Femme Debout, rue de doi, vers 1742
by Francois Boucher

Happy weekend!

Chanel and Pre-revolutionary Fashion

If my fantasy calendar for 2011 had come true, I would be in Paris this week for the Spring 2011 couture collections. Alas I think my invitations must have been lost in the mail. But I didn't have to be there to drink in the elegance and simplicity of Chanel's spring couture collection.

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

The Chanel spring 2011 collection by Karl Lagerfeld is mostly devoid of colour, with only a few outfits in subdued pastel colours of liliac, soft pink and light blue. The monochromatic silhouette is clean and sculptural with the typical Chanel flourishes and breath-taking beadwork. There are a multitude of daywear looks many including narrow legging-like trousers worn with skirted suits or tunics, a definite nod to the younger couture client. The shoes are refreshingly flat, many with a black cap.

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

What I found to be most surprising about this fashion-forward collection is the allusion to pre-revolutionary fashion with the black ribbons worn around the neck by all the models. Every model on the runway wore this black ribbon although it was more prominent on the models with longer, swan-like necks.

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

Photo credits: Monica Feudi/Go Runway (sourced from Vogue's Style.com)

This black ribbon harkens back to pre-revolutionary fashion in France and evidence of that is seen in this 1785 sketch of Marie Antoinette which was sent by Count Axel Fersen to his sister Sophie in Sweden.

Drawing of Marie Antoinette about 1785, ink and color on paper

I wonder if Lagerfeld's ribbon necklace is a prediction of a fashion revolution to come.

Marie Antoinette and the Chanel Ready-to-Wear Collection for Spring 2010

John Galliano was not the only designer to be inspired by France's Fashion Queen this season. Karl Lagerfeld also took inspiration from Marie Antoinette's love for the simple life in creating an airy and whimsical collection for Chanel Spring 2010 Ready-to-Wear Collection. A version of Marie Antoinette's barnyard was constructed in the Grand Palais in Paris to present the collection.

Marie Antoinette adored flowers and when her husband Louis XVI acceded to the throne in 1774, he gave her the Petit Trianon. He is said to have told her "You are fond of flowers, so I give you this whole bouquet." She undertook the renovation of this sanctuary and a few years later created a hamlet nearby which included a farmhouse, a barn and a dairy among other buildings. She insisted on real animals to show her children and watched as the cows were milked and strawberries were picked. The milkmaid look (caraco a la polonaise) was popular around 1778-1779. 

It is this affinity for flowers and fabrics that appear homespun that I see in Karl Lagerfeld's designs for Chanel Spring 2010 Ready to Wear. Several of the models carry basket-like hand bags almost as if they'll be stepping off the stage to venture in the henhouse to collect eggs! 

Truthfully I thought it was a bit of a stretch to find the Marie Antoinette in this collection. But it was nice to see a lighter palette of colours in Chanel ready-to-wear.

Book Review: The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

Books are among my favourite gifts and I was delighted to find The Gospel According to Coco Chanel under my Christmas tree.

Although there are many books about Coco Chanel, this one stands apart from the rest. Not just another biography, the author Karen Karbo extracts the lessons from the story of Chanel's life and frames them in a way that is useful to the modern woman. Written with a great deal of wit, I wanted to laugh out loud at times, especially when the author writes about a visit to Didier Ludot in Paris to find a vintage Chanel jacket. Karbo is charmingly cheeky and does not gush over the myth of Chanel. She writes with refreshing honesty about Chanel's many flaws including Chanel's disdain for her arch rival Elsa Schiaparelli, her ill-fated affair with a Nazi officer during the war, and her snarky temperment. And still, the book presents a witty and delightful manifesto for living life fearlessly, passionately and with elegance like the revered Coco Chanel.

Favourite Passage:

"One of the reasons we hold the magnificently imperfect Chanel up as the perfect manifestation of style is that she was never in doubt about what she liked and what suited her. Even when she was nothing more than Balsan's latest diversion, she appeared on his arm at the races with her small hat jammed on her head, her dark tailor-made suit, and a white blouse. People stared. Where was her platter hat? Her flounces, her tiered silken train, her petticoat, her boa?
To know who we are is a challenge for most of us. As dutiful consumers of media we are dogged by the feeling that we should exist in a state of eternal self-transformation. To plant our flag in the ground - right here, right now - and say "This is me!" seems to us to be settling for us, or giving up, or not being all that we can be." (page 22)

Title:  The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman
Author: Karen Karbo
Illustrated by: Chesley McLaren
Published by: skirt! An imprint of The Globe Pequot Press, 2009
Number of Pages: 229
Price: US$19.95, Canada $24.95 (hardcover)

Flowers and Plumes at Atelier Bruno Legeron

Photo by Ingrid Mida, 2009

While some people might argue that haute couture is an unnecessary luxury in this tough economic climate, there are many artisans who make their living working behind the scenes to bring a couture collection to life. This includes ateliers like Bruno Legeron who make silk flowers and plumes for such couture houses as Dior, Givenchy, and Chanel.

While in Paris, I visited the atelier of Bruno Legeron, who is one of three flower and plume makers left in France. When his grandfather purchased the atelier many years ago, there were several hundred ateliers making flowers and plumes. Twenty years ago, there were about 30 ateliers.

The charming Monsieur Legeron walked through all the steps in crafting a silk flower by hand. Each petal and leaf is cut from silk, hand-dyed, and crafted into a flower. The number of petals and leaves depends on the type of flower. Monsieur Legeron spoke so lovingly and passionately about the process of creation, that it was an incredible gift to watch him bring a piece of fabric to life.

Photo by Ingrid Mida 2009

Monsieur Legeron said that he was too busy creating flowers and plumes to have married and has no heir to pass the business on to. One can only hope that he can endure the recession and that one of his talented workers will someday be able to take over the business of creating beauty!

Photo by Ingrid Mida 2009

Bruno Legeron
20 rue des Petits Champs
Paris 75002

P.S. Elena at the lovely blog Tea at Trianon has written about my fashion plates today. I created three new plates using 18th century hats for her post.

La Petite Robe Noire

I have had a long fascination with la petite robe noire (the little black dress). In fact, my very first fashion illustration from age 12 was of a little black dress.


"You can wear black at any hour of day or night, at any age and for any occasion. A little black dress is the most essential thing in any woman's wardrobe. I could write a book about black."
Christian Dior

"Black is both material and colour, shadow and light. It is neither happy nor sad, but bearing and elegance. Perfect and inescapable, it is as irrestable as night."
Christian Lacroix

"You should wear a black dress at all ages. When the little black dress is right, there is nothing else."
Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

I wrote down the above quotes on the exhibition pamphlet from a 2004 display of little black dresses in Toronto. La Petite Robe Noire presented 54 little black dresses from Didier Ludot's private collection of vintage couture and included labels such as Chanel, Lucien Lelong, Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Azzadine Alaia, John Galliano and others.


Of course, when I was in Paris in May, I had to visit Didier Ludot's vintage shops at the Palais Royale. Didier Ludot has an extensive collection of vintage couture, not all of which is black!

Photo credit: Ingrid Mida, 2009

As well, he has a storage facility packed with the most beautiful gowns, some of which he has made available to museums for display. I was quite taken with this lovely pink gown by Dior.

Photo credit: Ingrid Mida, 2009

I have many little black dresses in my closet but one of my favourites is this one from Didier Ludot's private label. It was a prototype dress (made as a sample for production) and was a little too big when I wore it for a dinner in Paris. I basted the side seems on the top and used a ribbon from a Dior gift bag for my belt! (Notice my "purse" on the stool nearby which is actually my toiletry bag!)


If you cannot make it to Paris to visit Didier Ludot's shops at the Palais Royale, you might want to pick up a copy of his Assouline book "The Little Black Dress, Vintage Treasure" (New York, 2001).

Court Costume Exhibition at Versailles

Wedding dress of Edwige Elisabeth Charlotte de Holstein-Gottorp (wife of Prince Karl of Sweden and sister-in-law of King Gustave III of Sweden), 1774

Court costume was designed to evoke the illusion of grandeur, wealth and power. In the 17th and 18th centuries, luxurious, expensive and ostentatious clothing was reserved for those at the top of the social hierarchy. Monarchs dressed for effect in textiles with gold and silver threads, laces, embroidery, and jewels to create a luxurious and lavish symbol of prosperity and power.

This week a magnificent exhibition opened at Chateau de Versailles called Court Pomp and Royal Ceremonies, Court Dress in Europe 1650-1800. This show, sponsored by Chanel, traces the history of court costume in Europe from 1650-1800 and includes 200 works (costumes, jewelery, and paintings) on loan from private collectors as well as museums like the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Pitti Palace, the Louvre, and the Royal Ontario Museum.

The exhibition encompasses seven rooms:
1. French royal costume
2. The coronation and the royal orders
3. Weddings and State ceremonies
4. The grand habit
5. Religious pomp
6. The king's day
7. Fashion and court costume

If you are a faithful reader of my blog, you will recall my many posts regarding the Marie Antoinette dress which was displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum in the fall of 2008. This dress was loaned to the Versailles exhibition and is on display in Room 7: Fashion and Court Dress. In the Versailles exhibition guide, this dress is attributed to Rose Bertin, marchandes des mode to Marie Antoinette but there is no assertion that the dress was worn by Marie Antoinette. The guide notes that the "front of the dress was modified" , "the skirt narrowed" and can "therefore no longer be presented as it was worn at the time".

It is indeed a rare treat to see garments from the 17th and 18th century on display. I can hardly wait to see this exhibition in May. Since I've already seen the dress attributed to Rose Bertin belonging to the ROM, I will be looking for:
1. The grand habit worn for the coronation of Sophie Madeleine on May 29, 1772
2. Doll's grand costume of whalebone stays, skirt, skit tail (1769-1775)
3. The wedding dress of Edwige Elizabeth Charlotte de Holstein-Gottorp (1774) in photo above


Court Pomp and Royal Ceremonies
Court Dress in Europe 1650-1800
March 31 to June 28, 2009
Chateau de Versailles