Photo by Edouard Paturel / Courtesy of Karla Otto

Today Azzaro announced Mathilde Castello Branco as their new Creative Director.

I am so excited about this news as I have been a big fan of Azzaro's work over the past few seasons and Mathilde seems like such a cool add to the brand.

The half French half Brazilian designer studied at the École Duperré and the Atelier Chardon Savard before taking a job at Hermés.

Her latest job, which she held for 10 years, was at Lanvin working alongside Alber Elbaz as his assistant.

We will have to wait to see her work for another season –her first collection will be Azzaro's FW12. She wants to continue reviving the brand and creating clothes for the women of today. If her personal style is anything to go, and it seems like it is, we're in for a treat.

I am really happy with this year's edition of Cannes film festival. Most people have made a good effort and it's paid off. Rachel McAdams and Penélope Cruz almost restored my faith in Marchesa. And I also started to believe that Pe can actually dress. Her Givenchy and Stella McCartney moments were definitely highlights of the festival.

Some other of my favourites have been slightly less talked about. Spanish actress Paz Vega rocked an Azzaro jumpsuit (a spin off of Carey Mulligan's Azzaro dress from last year's Cannes). I was impressed with how well she wore it. I loved the choice of shoes and the hair but I would have made the trousers straighter. Jane Fonda looked über-elegant in a blue gown and an amazing diamond and sapphire necklace. Clotilde Courau had one of those classic moments of a simple number with a trail in a champagne hue and Elizabeth Olsen showed not once but twice that I wasn't wrong in predicting we could expect great things from her.

The absolute star of the show for me was Fan Bing Bing. She has not only the best designer liaisons but an exquisite flair for fashion. She pulled off everything from a personally designed gown with Oriental motifs (which apparently took 4 months to make), to a couple of Versace Atelier (my two favourites) and  some Elie Saab Couture. Simply outstanding. I really hope she gets a role in a big period drama soon so we get lots of brilliant red carpet moments like these.

[Zimbio]

Bow alert

In the last few months Carey Mulligan has gone from being this cute blonde dating Shia LaBeouf to becoming a respected star. She has, since then, moved all the way to the top of my style radar (yes, I have a list...) and really getting good attention for her fashion choices. Her Cannes premiere moment occurred a few days ago and consisted of a costume made navy Azzaro with a beaded collar and a bow at the waist. It made me think of Carey's BAFTA's dress by Vionnet that she recently donated to Oxfam and that also had a bow at the waist. She has the kind of romantic and elegant style can makes the bows look right instead of kitsch (like Hathaway at the Oscars in 2007).

Coincidentally, Dior's Cruise 2011 collection was shown yesterday in Shanghai. Bows were everywhere, as was the 60's inspiration, which is getting old. Galliano seems to only be editing his previous Cruise collections and pretending to be inspired from different parts of the world to create the new ones. In any case, I think that Carey would look quite amazing in some of these dresses. They look dated and verging on tawdry but Mulligan's figure could do wonders with them. Tiina Laakkonen, hope you're taking notes.

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Gossip-Girls.net, WWD.com]

to edge or not to edge

I was a little shocked (but not surprised) when, the day after the Met Ball, I kept reading online terms such as 'Chanel catastrophe' or 'style snafu' to refer to Kristen Stewart. I had written something not far from that about her Chanel HC dress and I was starting to feel bad. I did because, even though she made all the wrong styling choices, I think she has potential. She is on the cover of the June issue of US ELLE looking beautiful and cool. And that is exactly what makes her different, she has a really cool edge that she can't seem to exploit.

Looking back at her outfits from "The Runaways" press tour and the Oscars there are a couple of things that keep popping up. She has the one pose, with a little movement of shoulders and legs but essentially one pose —the right-arm-on-right-hip. She rarely smiles, which usually takes back from the dress. After all, she is an actress so she should be able to fake-smile and look natural, no? And, well, the worst part of all is the hair. I guess her short cut for "The Runaways" is to blame for that. And she needs some redirecting in terms of style. Short dresses with little detailing (stop the Pucci) and a bit of an edge (she looked amazing in Doo.Ri) would make her rock'n'roll self come out and she would look awesome.

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com]