Would you rather... Cate Blanchett on Harper's Bazaar UK or Interview Russia
TFS

I feel like I haven't paid any attention to magazines during the last few weeks because of crazy fashion month. Today I was walking up (sunny!) Marylebone Street and stopped to look at a newsagents shop with all the latest covers on the window. I realised I had no idea of what was going on and I proceeded to catch up with things on the Fashion Spot when I got home.
As well an as amazing new issue of Vogue Italia with Joan Smalls looking stunning, I am loving the latest Harper's Bazaar UK double cover with Cate Blanchett. She is one of the most elegant women on the planet so it's no surprise both covers. She is also at the front of the March issue of Interview Russia. A very different photograph. But I am quite keen on what the magazine it's been doing since it opened and she looks so beautiful on it.

Catch up on more magazine news at Coco's Tea Party, she's incredible at keeping on top of things!

Oscars 2011: Less is more

I am rather disappointed with this year's Oscar red carpet looks. I was surprised not only not to find Angelina, Charlize Theron and Diane Kruger amongst the guests but also to see Natalie Portman and Gwyneth Paltrow in very bland dresses. Luckily, one can always count on Cate Blanchett to save the night. She was unarguably the best dressed at the Oscars in an incredible lilac and neon yellow beaded Haute Couture dress fresh of the Givenchy SS11 runway. She always makes such edgy choices that she wears with incredible taste. Number two on my ranking is very unexpected even for myself. Amy Adams chose the right shape of dress with a sexy back slit and covered neckline all covered in L'Wren Scott navy sequins. The choice of colour was perfect for her skin tone (for once) as were the jade, diamond and emerald jewels.

Third on the list is Mila Kunis, who had been building up to this moment. She saved this stunning lilac and nude lace Elie Saab number, which was made grand and occasion-appropriate by the glamourous hair-do and the smoky eyes. I loved everything about her and was happy to see her having such a great moment. And lastly, one of my favourite girls. Michelle Williams has been having some up and downs over the last few months but she made it clear that the only thing a girl needs is some Chanel Haute Couture. I loved how they turned the original dress into a body-con beaded masterpiece and how she relied on a good haircut and light make up.

On a different note, I need to point out Anne Hathaway's style throughout the show. For the red carpet she wore a red Valentino from 2002, when Garavani was still in charge, and even though she looked stunning there was something not quite right, which is why she wasn't on my best dressed list. However, there were two looks she wore during the Oscars that did out her here. The first was a Lanvin tuxedo, which she wore with a ponytail and Ryan Atwood sparkly pumps. And the second was an Amarni Privé number from the Haute Couture SS11 collection. Giulia and I were thrilled she wore it as we had predicted she'd wear it a few weeks before. Who was your favourite?

I'm off.

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

the canny jumpsuit

So far, the best adjective to describe this year's Cannes festival in terms of fashion is inconsistent. There have been great moments by Cate Blanchett and Carey Mulligan, and even a more unexpected Beckinsale one (in Balmain today). But there have also been pretty bad moments courtesy of Eva Longoria and anyone else who wore the boring new Gucci Première. And to add up to the inconsistency, Elsa Pataky, a Spanish actress, surprised everyone looking dashing in a ruffled Fendi jumpsuit. The cleverest part of this choice was the fact that the jumpsuit in question had ruffles both at the front and back, something pretty handy when you're photographed from either side at will.

Also today, I found Cate Blanchett on the new cover of W magazine. In the spread inside, which is not to be missed, Blanchett donned another jumpsuit of a similar features this time by Chloé. This got me thinking about the tricky nature of jumpsuits and how much easier it seems to pull of in a jersey or silk of this champagne-meets-khaki kind of hue. I found two other similar, more casual jumpsuits by Halston and Stella McCartney that confirmed my theory.

What do you think of the jumpsuit trend? Would you wear one?

I'm off.

[Pictures: Wmagazine.com, Net-a-Porter.com, Style.com, BergdorfGoodman.com, Zimbio.com, Vogue.es]

McLoveStory

Cannes 2010 just rolled out the red carpet today and what could easily be the best fashion moment has already happened. The greatest thing about Cannes is that we get extra looks, as the actors first pose by the dock on their arrival and then change for the photo call by the red steps of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.

Cate Blanchett made my jaw drop this morning —literally. She arrived at the festival in a pale pink Giorgio Armani Privé (see here) that together with her fair skin and blond hair instantly made me think of Grace Kelly. It was the kind of beauty you don't see every day. Later, for her movie premiere (and after a lot of twitter rumours) she slipped into a Pre-Fall10 Alexander McQueen dress. The gigantic eagle plastered across the front of the dress might make you cringe at first but if you look at the whole you will realise how it somehow works on her. She looks like royalty. After all, that is what the eagle has always symbolised .

Cate Blanchet is extremely faithful to her dress makers —you'll rarely see her out of an Armani, a Balenciaga or a McQueen. But it's with the latter that Cate has a love affair with. Some of her best (and my favourite) fashion moments have been courtesy of Lee. There has been the odd mistake but even then she looked graceful and beautiful.

I'm off.

[Pictures: ProFashionElle.com, JustJared.buzznet.com]

keeping warm

It is an art to look good and keep yourself warm outdoors. Luckily, there are some celebrities that have their mojo working over the holidays. Such is the case of Cate Blanchett and Gwen Stefani. I already crowned Cate one of the style icons of the noughties and she keeps proving that true class and style are innate. Gwen gave a master class in layering with two of my favourite winter pieces —the cape and the trilby.
Guys are having their moments as well. David Beckham dumps his airport look of baggy jeans and beanie and swaps them for stylish sartorial coats and trench coats and flat hats. And Hayden gives Californian dudes a lesson. I love how the grandpa cardigan looks just thrown on but add the perfect cosy winter touch.
[Picture credit: JustJared]

I'm off.

soVIP decade

A certain Welsh source whose name I can't reveal recently brought to my attention that this December wasn't only the end of 2009 but the end of the first decade of this new century. With this in mind, I started looking back both at soVIPzone's archive at at my immense iPhoto collection. I selected my celebrity fashion highlights of "noughties".

She has been flawlessly elegant for ten whole years thanks to an endless number of Armani gowns and her recent, more fashion-forward choices.

She got high. Then she got clean. Then she dumped Pete. Then she had a sandwich. Now she's just stunning.

Ash and MK became an iconic fashion duo and launched their diverse brands. But they also became individuals. Ashley recruited the slick dressers of the world while Mary-Kate took a more bohemian, yet chic, tangent.

Rachel Zoe went from creating style-clones of herself (see below) to being the first stylist celebrity and creating a clothing line, publishing a book and getting her own reality TV show.

In The O.C. you couldn't help but love Marissa and all the Chanel she wore to high school. And Mischa never disappointed red carpet-wise either, until Ms. Zoe was fired, that is. We enjoyed it while it lasted.

Fortunately, Nicole managed to collect or her Zoe wisdom and reinterpret it into a new style. One that successfully worked. She also parted ways with Paris and had a couple of offsprings that made her put on the few pounds she needed to make the most of her beauty.

Skinny, chubby, orange, white, knickers, drugs, biker jacket, leggings. They all work in many combinations when talking about Lindsay. She too, had her moment of fashion stardom courtesy of Rachel Zoe. But that moment was even shorter than Mischa's.

Both Summer and Rachel took longer than Marissa and Mischa to get interesting fashionably speaking but it was worth the wait. Rachel Bilson slowly turned into a ridiculously cute chic woman that didn't go off the rails.

Tom left the Gucci group. And the past ten years are history.

Anna and Carine went from signatures on the first page of Vogue to iconic fashion celebrities, filling the party section of Style.com and Scott Schuman's shots.

Victoria kept everyone talking about her diverse range of highly calculated everyday outfits. Whether we liked them or not, it was good entertainment.

She also kept us amused with her extravagant travelling ensembles. Let's make special mention of the hats and the black leather in its multiple shapes that are Beckham staples by now.

Katie had a cut and a beautiful mini-me. Contrary to popular annoyance soVIPzone was awestruck.

Kanye was cool for about 10 minutes. Then he opened his mouth.

Brad and Angelina made it official and turned the Jolie-Pitt family household into a United Nations orphanage. Plus, Brad wore a lot of Tom Ford.

Yves passed away and we lost one of the fashion geniuses of the century. Oh, and Stefano looked sharp at his funeral.

We got hooked to the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite. An addiction that is destined to outlive the decade.

Chuck Bass. Girls want him, guys want to be him.

Lauren Conrad took the hoodie off and ditched Laguna for LA. It was all amusing cute blonde locks and manis but the bad scripts and annoyance of the Heidi/Spencer combo made it too much.

We saw a new era of supermodels being born. Claudia and Linda were substituted by Daria and Anja. (And I didn't complain).

It all started with that dress on the left. It was all dashing smiles and spot-on fashion choices from then on.

Rihanna changed her umbrella for some YSL and ended up as a musical cross between a dominatrix and housewive with a quiff.

[Picture credtis: JustJared, Celebrity Gossip, Style.com]

I'm off.

week's HIGHLIGHTS

It's been a nice week y'all. I have finally had an uneventful, still and quiet week. Thank God.

I have this compulsive disorder which consists on me saving all the images I like when I surf the net. I only keep the more recent ones —that's to say, the ones from the last 6-10 months— but even if I make a deleting session every once in a while, the current collection is made up by some 10.300 pictures of catwalk shots, celebrity candids and other various sorts of crap. I couldn't live without it, though, as there's nothing more amusing than wasting away hours and hours of my life watching and re-watching all these images. And that's exactly how I got to the conclusion that I wanted to make a week's highlights this lovely sunday morning.

The week kicked off quite spectacularly with Cannes festival and a radiant Cate Blanchett fresh out of the Olympus in a wonderfully layered Armani Privé that went perfect with her skin-tone. Later in the festival (yesterday) Penélope Cruz arrived in the exclusive festival to promote her Woody Allen film in a quite simple dress of a a beautiful shade of blue with the most fantastic delicate details in wine velvet. Matching shoes.

Cannes also means Brad Pitt tosses out his dreadful ordinary clothing (I guess he thinks scruffy is synonym for masculine) and gets into his custom made Tom Ford suit and an amazing piece of the most brand-new eyewear. Of course, Mr. Pitt goes nowhere without Mrs. Pitt. Angelina has now mastered the art of being pregnant and dressing as a deliciously chic (yet wildly sexy) mom-to-be.

The last entertainment of the week has been the launch of some Cruise 2009 collections. I have to say, I find Cruise such a bore, but I can't ignore it. De la Renta used some nice über-bright colours and his usual silhouettes and cuts. It was all very summery, elegant and feminine; but blah.

Fendi didn't do the runway and simply took photos of the models in one of their stores. While the clothes are not very Fendi-like, I liked the simplicity of them. I did find them very resort, a bit Alexander Wang S/S'08, but booooring.

Christian Dior presented a collection with too much going on, which doesn't strike as surprising coming from Galliano. It was very old Hollywood glamour if the hills were in Mexico. Folk, loads of bold colours and flowers.

Chanel had the longest (or maybe it was me) Resort collection ever and, while I cannot speak ill of Herr Lagerfeld, it was not amazing. Plenty of pretty, well-crafted dresses. I am into that kind of hippy-star-goes-to-rehab look (specially on Sasha) but it was otherwise just amusing. I did love Diane Kruger in a lovely dark blue mini dress and a straw hat.

[Picture credits: JustJared & Style.com]

I'm off.

a black and RED affair

Fellow fashionistas, happy post-Oscars day! Someone should turn this day into a holiday devoted to fashion lovers to have the time to stop, stare and comment 'till we drop. I am posting early to share with you my favourites from last night.

I have to say I can't decide whether I am surprised or not, I assume the writers guild strike affected even the preparation of the real protagonists of the night —the gowns. Black and red were the clear favourites of the night in an event characterized by sobriety and elegance rather than the striking glamour expected from the awards gala of the year. 

I will to try to be kind and skip my endless commentaries, briefly talking about every dress but only treating myself with a little more extension on the big catastrophes of the night.

The winners

I would like to start with the woman I thought best dressed. The fact that I've chosen her as the style winner will prove to those who know me that I am, among other things, quite objective. It should come as not surprise, though, that wearing a Chanel Haute Couture gown specifically made for you plus jewels by Chopard and Jimmy Choo's rocket you to the TOP. Therefore, I crown Penélope Cruz the most beautifully dressed lady of the night. The only flaw? The blah hairdo; that dress was screaming for an up do.

Moving to some of my dear ladies, I was stunned and amazed and moved by Cate Blanchett's  —& Co.— semi-casual Dries Van Noten looked like a piece sent down from the Olympus to be worn with those amazing Lorraine Schwartz jewels.

Looks like the pregnant ladies of the moment had a special good taste for the night, for Jessica Alba's Marchesa with Jimmy Choo clutch and shoes were a dream and I am specially thankful to her for injecting the red carpe with a little colour.

I wonder what will be said about Cameron Díaz this time, last year's white Valentino made different opinions arise. To me, she looked stunning in that pale pink Dior.

To finish the list of my favourites, a girl who screwed it up big time last year in a white Valentino (big black bow included)—Anne Hathaway blew me away with the glamour that red Marchesa conferred her.

The catastrophes

I am glad the number of catastrophes decreased this year, although it was not hard to achieve considering the almost unexisting fashion risks that were taken this time. However, XXL snowflake Jennifer Hudson managed to look like a huge mess for the third year in a row in a white Roberto Cavalli with some snake detailing that was probably awful enough even before she stretched it in.

My second and last miss of the gala was Heidi Klum. Some will feel the strong urge to shake and punch me when they read this, but there was something about that red John Galliano with Jimmy Choo's that, although beautiful, made Heidi look like a highly-paid burlesque hooker.

*Look back to soVIPzone last year's Oscar coverage:

Red carpet coverage

Winners and disasters

What do you think? Who were your favourites? Comment away!

[Picture credit: JustJared]

I'm off.

xoxo, soVIPzone

I admit it, I'm obsessed with it and I can't stop watching. Gossip Girl has me trapped like an Armani shop on sale. Blake Lively (Serena van der Woodsen in fiction) has me under her hot spell and, honestly, I do not want to escape. What else could be expected from the creators of The O.C.? I needed a show that would mix fashion, NYC elite and a bunch of very sexy 20 something-year-olds playing high-school bitches. As it could be assumed, the plot is not the brightest and some of the lines are such clichés, you just want to jump out of the window but even then, it's completely addictive!

This time I come with the most random, yet one of the most enjoyable celeb mixes I've done so far.

I would like to start with Sex and the City's star Sarah Jessica Parker. When I saw that picture of her wearing that yuk thing that cannot even qualify as an outfit the only thing I could think of was WTF?


How can someone who has been dressed by Patricia Field with the most exquisite clothing go this disturbingly wrong? My poor little brain can not take it; only a few weeks ago I was actually starting to like SJP because one of Sex and the City's movie ensembles. Guess I shall stop now.

Last week's Movies Rock gala was the stage for Beyoncé's secret announcement of the new film she'll be in: Alice in Cocaine-land. Take a look at the "wonderful" two gowns she picked up to attend the show. Aren't they moving? Yes, they make you cry.

On the bright side of it all, Cate Blanchett made an appereance to save the week. The promotion of Elizabeth The Golden Age is to thank for all the times my favourite Armani-girl is being spotted lately. God save the Queen!

Time for a little more tackiness. I have never though highly of Christina Aguilera, in fact I would say I quite despise her person. However, seeing how she dressed like a poor version of a mistakenly-pregnant luxury hooker was probably one of the worst experiences of my life. What was she thinking? I would have looked ok without the hideous metalic bolero jacket and the public-girl make-up. Can't say it was unexpcted.

As I usually do, I save the best fot dessert. Nicole Richie showed up at some other random event in LA and delighted us with another of her very clean, simple garment choices. How nice is to watch a pregnant lady dressing with style! The second part of dessert is not a regular to the blog, but someone I have certainly been keeping an eye on for a while because I knew he'd begin to deliver soon. Ryan Gosling was spotted making a quick stop in a shop in LA wearing a beautiful grey blazer, black suit trausers, an Oxford light blue-striped shirt and, most importantly, the most beautiful version of the Ray Ban Way-Farer ever made. Go Ryan!

[Credit pictures: JustJared and Dlisted]

I'm off.