Best Dressed of the Weekend: Kiernan Shipka wears Miu Miu
Getty, Courtesy of Miu Miu, Celebrity-Gossip

Penélope Cruz seems to be looking better now than she did before having a child and I'm glad she's showing it off. I love the wet hair look, which adds a beachy feel to her stunning Michael Kors dress. The accessories were neutral but added to the chicness, especially the Roger Vivier clutch.
Kiernan Shipka is quite simply the most stylish 12 year old in the world. I love seeing young stars enjoying dressing up but being aware that there's always plenty of time to experiment when you're old enough. Her Miu Miu dress with floral macramè embroidery was as fashion-forward as she can get.
Lady Gaga, who has been a bit off the radar lately and wearing slightly toned down looks (by her standards) stepped out in a great gown from the Atelier Versace collection – not one of my favourites but pretty amazing and even conservative for her.
And, of course, Emma Stone. I have a feeling I am going to be posting quite a bit about her over the next few weeks. For the Moscow stop of her Spiderman press tour she wore a floral Lanvin dress. I love the black strokes over it that make it look like an unfinished painting. The only flaw was her slightly odd eye shadow.

I'm not usually the biggest fan of V magazine's content. I find the people they choose for their covers and how they're shot interesting but it's not a mag I normally buy. However, after having a look at some of the content from the new f/w11 issue I will probably buy this one. Penélope Cruz, shot by Mert & Marcus, covers the issue with quite a fun concept. A hologram panel that covers Pe's face makes her open and close her eyes and mouth as you tilt the magazine. Two of the stories inside —Anja Rubik by Hedi Slimane and 'Baby Love' by Josh Olins and Jay Massacret— are NOT to be missed! There is even an editorial featuring Paris Hilton, which, believe it or not, is kind of fascinating! The only bit of the magazine that I don't get is the relation between the theme, 'The transformation issue', and the stories inside... I guess I'll just have to wait and see what else is inside, no?

TFS

Is it me or is Cannes lasting longer this year? Not that I'm complaining because it means more amazing fashion moments to enjoy.

Last night one of Rachel Zoe's girls, Zoe Saldana, walked the red carpet is what was the most occasion appropriate dress. Everything about this Armani Privé says French riviera to me. I love how it's all about the white and red stripes, which reminds me of the Chanel's breton stripes Lagerfeld has often done in red. It is a gown with a beachy feel to it, don't the red stripes seem to be made of sand?

Penélope Cruz, who already had several Cannes hits, is back on tour promoting 'Pirates on the Caribbean'. For the German premiere in Munich she also wore Armani Privé. We had seen a very similar number in blue on Anne Hathaway at the Oscars but I actually like this cut and colour more. It seems to have been altered to the smallest millimetre to fit Pe perfectly and she wears it in a way that needs to jewellery whatsoever. I wonder who's styling her?

[JustJared]

No one is as surprised as I am by the fact that I'm posting about Penélope Cruz. I am not her biggest fan but when something's fair, it is fair.

There has been a lot of fuss on the Fashion Spot forums about her cover of American Vogue for the June issue. Yes, it is a massive deal to be featured on it and I am the first one not only to admit that but to join in its praise. Despite the crowded text and the unoriginal close-up crop of the picture the Mario Testino picture makes a brilliant cover.

My favourite thing about it is how young and fresh Pe (as they call her in Spain) looks. I love the really light make up and the fact that you can see her freckles. The hair is casual and there is barely any clothes in the shot. It's becautiful simple photography and it's all about her incredible brown eyes and the amazing lips.

To top it all, Pe looked smashing at the London premiere of the new 'Pirates of the Caribbean' film in a white Givenchy dress. I love the classy feel that the long sleeves give it but there is an edge and a flirty factor introduced by the front slit and the perpendicular zips.

I can't wait to see the rest of the Mario pictures inside and I am excited for what's to come at the red carpet.

[JustJared, TFS]

Vogue power

Last night, at an Irving Penn tribute event in New York, Anna Wintour was asked about the role of bloggers —“We laude as much coverage on fashion as possible —we don’t care where it comes from,” she said. “But with all the noise, it actually helps Vogue, because we have authority”. Well, Amen to that. Some of us do try hard to make posts worthy of well-read visitors but I can't deny nor will I ever dare (or want to, for that matter) to deny Vogue's authority.

Funnily enough Vogue US is not exactly the pinnacle of fashion-forward information, which is why I haven't bought a single issue for months. Vogue Paris, on the other hand, is quite the contraire. For their Mai issue Carine has handed her editor seat over to Penélope Cruz, who has gathered for it the people that inspire her. Everything in this issue is to be loved , from the triple cover (Bono, yuk) to the McQueen homage and the Serge Gainsburg and Jane Birkin-inspired editorial (featuring Daria).

Vogue España takes on the cowboy trend for SS10 from a minimalistic point of view. Raquel Zimmermann covers the issue in a picture that looks bang-on trend as well as slightly ironic —can't quite put my finger on the reason why. The shoot inside is alluringly beautiful. A very Philo palette dominates over the whole story, with pieces from Alaïa, Chloé, Altuzarra, Loewe and Balmain; the big promoters of the trend this season.

I'm off.

[Sources: TheFashionSpot.com, Vogue.fr, Vogue.es, Fashionista.com]

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.

a MESSED UP spread

Ever since I started adoring Vogue, there has always been a bigger crush I've had for the US version. There is something about it that I cannot explain and that is addictive. This is why when they mess up I feel majorly disappointed. Sadly, December's Holiday issue has caused that reaction.

If having Penélope Cruz surrounded by bullfighters was not awful enough, the shoot had to make the cover. I can not explain how upset I was when I found out, but having a printed copy of it in my very hands was simply too much. I can not possibly understand how Annie Leibovitz —one of my favourite photographers— enjoyed shooting this.

I "invite" you to take a look at the shoot. It is quite a shame that they didn't take advantage of the huge pontential Penélope's sister, Mónica, has. She is —along with the beautiful couture pieces and Leibovitz's art— the only worthy thing from the whole spread.

[Pictures credit: style.com]

I'm off.