Save the Date: Yves Saint Laurent, The Retrospective
Courtesy of the Denver Art Museum

Just after New Year's my sister, one of my best friends and I went to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition in Madrid. Yves is one of those designers which whom I started not only to love fashion but to realise that there is so much more to it than just aesthetic. The exhibition was incredibly comprehensive and showed not only some of his most iconic looks such as the tributes to Mondrian and Van Gogh but also a great collection of dresses representative of all his styles. Personally, I loved the collection of sketches from each and every one of his collections. You could see clearly what was going through his mind and feel what was changing in his life.

The exhibition closed in Madrid in early January in preparation for its next stop at the Denver Art Museum. It will show there from March 25th to July 8th and if you have the chance to visit it you definitely should! Click here for more information on opening times and availability.

You can have a closer look at what's in store for visitors on this lovely video. I wish I could see it all again!

Gossip Girl Fashion: 'G.G.' – The 100th Episode
DavidsBridal.com, ShopChicks.com, TheBeautyBridal.com

This week's episode of Gossip Girl was a special one not only because the one and only Blair Waldorf is finally getting married but also because the show celebrated its 100th episode. It's kind of crazy to think we've been watching for 5 years now!

I can honestly say this episode is anything but disappointing, which is refreshing after the last couple of episodes. Fashion-wise it was interesting to say the least as bridal attire can go either way just by adding a bow or a lace sleeve. I loved Blair's Vera Wang dress even though I expected something slightly more... grand. I missed the original lace top and I would have gone for a more classic hair style, perhaps done up rather than wavy and down –that wasn't very Blair.

As it often happens, Serena looked better than her BFF. Also in Vera Wang Bridal, S looked really stunning in pale pink. I loved the detail of the bustier covered with chiffon and tied at the shoulder. The sort of beehive hair was also perfect, a tad Chanel, no?

Otherwise, everyone looked great at the wedding, even the 'cupcake trio' (see below) who looked a bit like upside down roses also in Vera Wang –she got a pretty sweet advertorial deal, right?

Even with plenty of drama and a wedding going on I would say the highlight of the episode was the beginning. There is nothing I love more than a classic GG moment of a character's dream. This time Serena dreams up the iconic Marilyn moment singing about her sparkly best friends. This soon turns into some sort of surreal yet brilliant face-off with Audrey Hepburn (Blair) who fights her to get Dan. The funniest bit is looking at the boy's faces –Nate and Chuck really crack up at some point and Dan looks totally into it.

Random as this moment was I can't think of two glamourous and iconic characters that go so well with the characters' personalities. Maybe they should do a special episode of everyone in costume? A sort of Gossip Girl version of 'Midnight in Paris'? I would LOVE that!

This season of Gossip Girl is being a rollercoaster. I loved last week's episode but 'Memoirs of an invisible Dan' was so dull! I could cope with an uneventful episode if, like they used to, Serena and Blair would change four or five times during the day but it seems this season we're not getting more than a change of clothes.

Serena, who I'm happy to say is still the best dressed, looked amazing in a Yigal Azrouel dress that she wore with amazing snakeskin YSL wedges and a Jody Candrian cuff was the perfect example of a day-to-night look. Once she took off the chunky cardi she was ready for a cocktail. I also loved her 'relaxed' look with the sequinned Haute Hippy skirt and the cozy tank top.

Blair had a hit and a miss this week. The hit was the Louis Vuitton Resort 2012 print dress with the chiffon hemline that she wore with a stunning Prada bag. The miss was her evening look –a Peter Som SS10 dress with a beautiful textured top that was spoiled by the ragged silk skirt that looked really cheap. It was less conservative than normal but I wasn't keen on it.

There's little else to report on the rest of the characters. Liz Hurley keeps looking hot but exactly the same as every week, the boys are looking good but not trying hard enough, not even Chuck. And Lily had two hits but she's got so little screen time we barely have time to enjoy them.

CWtv.com, Style.com

@YSL,  @inezandvinoodh, Models.com

Yves Saint Laurent's ad campaigns are usually the kind that you half notice and you appreciate they're look nice but that rarely really get your attention. Inez and Vinoodh have, as per usual, shot the whole campaign for f/w11.

I love the look of the new campaign! Raquel Zimmerman looks super pale and the pose is odd but it works really well despite the slight nod to Balenciaga (via the volumes and oversized houndstooth). I love the fact that it's different from quite a few of YSL's adverts, which have looked rather bland.

If I don't forget any in between, Kate Moss' campaign for s/s08 (bottom left) was the last one that actually felt cool and luxurious. That felt Yves Saint Laurent.

I hope the rest of the campaign pictures are just as good at this. In fact, while I was finishing the post I came across this other one, which looks even more amazing, right?

Holiday beauty

One of the best things about getting into the Christmas spirit is not only all the present shopping but all the planning that goes into the outfits we wear to all the family dinners and the parties with friends we haven't seen for a while. One can also go a little bit beyond with make up over Christmas. Even though I am not one of those girls who goes crazy about make up —I believe in natural beauty and using make up thoughtfully to enhance what you've got— I do have a passion for nail varnish and the occasional dash of colour on the face. Which is why I was excited to hear about Come & Play at Selfridges. They are celebrating make up for the next week and a half by giving make overs, offering celebrity tips and exclusively launching new products. I have chosen the events I don't want to miss because they mix together fun & make up.

Check out the rest of the events at the Selfridges website.
Giuls xx

[Pictures: Selfridges]

Yves revisited

If you read soVIPzone often you probably know already how incredibly fond of Yves Saint Laurent I am. I admire Stefano Pilati's work for the house so much that I tend to be slightly subjective when a new collection comes out. This, however, is not one of those moments. After a couple of slightly unfocused seasons, Pilati turned to the YSL archives to find inspiration for a collection we won't forget easily. He revisited the trench coat, the safari jacket and the über-famous Le Smoking, which he turned into a silk night gown ruffled at the sides and beautifully worn by Freja Beha Erichsen. Ruffles were, in fact, quite present on Cuban-inspired skirts and dresses, which Pilati perked up with dashes of bright colour. Yet black, white and sand ruled the colour palette. The sheer trend we have been seeing so far only left a slight mark on the collection as the designer preferred to bare the back. Parisian sophisticated elegance at its best.  

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]

Take me to fashion week

With fashion month around the corner it is time to sort out the most important item a woman ever wears —the bag. The essential question to find out whether a bag is fashion-week-proof or not is something close to 'Can I fit a notebook, a Nikon Reflex, an extra jacket and scarf, the make-up box, phone, wallet, keys, a packet of nuts and a bottle of Fiji in it?'. Unless you're Anna dello Russo, clutches are out of the question and one of the bags below will most definitely do it for you.

Which one would you go for?

I'm off.

P.S. Today's the last day to vote for us at the Cosmo Blog Awards. Click here and make us happy!

P.P.S. I forgot to mention is doesn't matter how practical or not, Giulia will be wearing her Chanel jumbo to LFW despite the fact that she has an amazing blue YSL like the one above...

[Pictures: Net-a-Porter.com, MatchesFashion.com, Lochers.com, LouisVuitton.com]

Ticking the boxes

I am not sure there is such a thing as set standards for Cruise collections. Personally, I feel there are certain things that always must be present —a maxi skirt and dress, a cocktail dress, an LBD, a tailored cotton trouser, a well cut blazer, shorts and a slightly loose knit jumper. Then, of course, they are to be played with and more interesting pieces to go with them are to be added but I feel a good resort line must include all of the above to be considered so.
Looking at the Cruise 2011 collections shown so far I have to admit I am a little impressed with the improvement. I suppose designers are also learning what to make of these odd and season-less lines they must produce. Since we can't speak of trends per se, for that is the whole point of these collections, I looked at colour. Along with white and black, orange has been very present in most collections. It works in a multitude of tones, it looks fresh but it's not too wild, and is apt for any scenery.

YSL and Michael Kors are two of my favourite Cruise 2011 collections. The first felt very fresh, as Stefano Pilati rarely uses any colour, let alone bright ones. The designs were along the classic lines of the French house but had a very cool edge that I personally loved. Kors, who usually plays it ridiculously safe, really surprised me with his line. The clean lines and simple clothes were full of East-coast coolness. I want more of that in his regular collections!

Oscar de la Renta's show was odd. The first half of the collection was all over the place, with sloppy combinations of garments, colours and prints while the second was this explosion of glamour. Gowns in the best colours, prints and shapes walked the runway until the end. My favourite was the white polka-dotted one above.

I found Rachel Roy's Cruise 2011 collection absolutely stunning. There was a lot of maxi dresses and skirts and some very cool layering and see-through-ness. She really made her collection look completely new using wardrobe staples and twisting them with very chic hands.

Which collection did you love?
I'm off.

[Style.com]

Eva tries to pull a Vic

If the film-related events at Cannes weren't enough to provide plenty of celebrity style, some decide to go for shopping sprees in the city as well. Eva Longoria paid a visit to the Hermès store (because, you know, there is no Hermès in LA) in a horrid body-con Hervé Léger, blue Birkin, YSL Tribtoo's and degrade sunnies. If the references to Posh spice weren't enough, she Longoria added the miserable expression, which makes the whole moment absolutely hilarious.

What do you think of Eva's style for Cannes?

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, CelebrityGossip.net, Portero.com, Net-a-Porter.com, Barneys.com]

Met Gala 2010: The great, the bland and the fugly

Last night Anna Wintour, Oprah Winfrey and Patrick Robinson hosted the Costume Institute's Met Gala, "American Woman: Fashioning A National Identity". Celebrities queued to show how they could pull off designer dresses with personality, which seemed very refreshing after last year's blandness. However, I missed the Olsens and the Roitfelds this year.

The great

It just feels natural when you see Jude and Sienna together. The picture looks kind of retro because Sienna has long hair again like she did back then when her and Jude were together for the first time.

Chloe Sevigny in Proenza Schouler, January Jones in Yves Saint-Laurent and Carey Mulligan in Miu Miu prove how short dresses with the right colours and details can be edgy.

Restrained is usually elegant, Diane Kruger proves it in her white Calvin Klein. Less successful at it were Maggie Gyllenhall in Louis Vuitton (could do without the tacky bow and a dash of colour) and Kirsten Dunst in Rodarte for Gap, who could have gone for a different choice in shoes not to be so Rodarte matchy-matchy.

Anna Wintour in Chanel Haute Couture, Margherita Missoni in Missoni and Chanel Iman in Michael Kors.

These all look a lot like Rachel Zoe choices... I doubt she dressed Marion Cottilard, though. Thandie Newton in Vivienne Westwood, Marion Cotillard in Christian Dior and Anne Hathaway in Valentino all look beautifully apt for the gala but there is a bit of a yawn factor in all three. And too many sequins... I guess Rach "died".

The bland

Sarah Jessica Parker in Halston was so disappointment. Pretty, yeah, but we expect much more from a woman with such a fashion-forward education. Rachel Weisz wore a custom made Oscar the la Renta, which colour looked amazing against her skin but which a cut that was borderline tacky. And Eva Mendes just doesn't learn. She wore a Dolce & Gabbana that totally overshadowed her.

Carolyn Murphy (in ?), Eva Longoria in Marchesa (synonym for not trying) and Jessica Stam in Rachel Roy all looked boring and sloppy in every possible way.

The fugly

It is upsetting that Jessica Alba looked that bad in Sophie Theallet for Gap because she had been getting it so right so often lately. I really hate the colour of the satin dress. Malin Akerman looked as if she got ready for another dress and not the Temperly London that she wore. And the dress was a completely wrong choice for this kind of event. Rosario Dawson tried to pull a Saldana and failed tragically. Her Giambattista Valli was as disappointing as the bow on it was ugly.

Kristen Stewart needs to either deal with the fact that people want her picture or find a new career. She wore a more than decent Chanel Haute Couture that, had it been combined with the right hair and make up and a nice smile, would have looked amazing. Vera Farmiga wore a Sophie Theallet for Gap dress that looked like a bad cross between a flamenco dress and a Mexican dancer. Bless Jessica Biel, she never has the slightest idea of what's going on. She wore Ralph Lauren Collection. And Justin looked way better.

And, to top it all off, these three catastrophe's (I bet Anna pursed her lips a couple of times last night). Rachel Roy in her own design, Joy Bryant in Marchesa (if Rachel is still working with her this might be her worst job ever) and orange trannie Lisa Marie Falcone in a God-only-knows-what.

I'm off.

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

printemps de mode

I have been looking for an intellectual excuse to go back to Paris for a while. It seems as if strolling down Champs Élysées and stopping for cafés before an hour visit to Colette are not enough for most people. Well, now I have that excuse. A very good one. This Spring the city of lights hosts, among others, three exhibitions about some of my favourite people in fashion —Steven Klein, Yves Saint-Laurent and Dries Van Noten.

In the first, an unpublished video of the enfant terrible of photography portrays a decadent and deteriorated America. The Saint-Laurent retrospective looks back at the designer's work through 307 haute couture and prêt-à-porter pieces that go from his debut in 1958 at Dior to his late work in 2002. At the Van Noten exhibition, images of the Noailles family are projected onto the walls in contrast to those of the world of the Belgian designer —a walk through Dries' inspiration and savoir-fair. I am getting my Eurostar tickets as soon as this bloody volcanic cloud fades and prices come down.

I'm off.

home run

I was recently at my religious picture scrutinising of The Fashionisto when I found this picture below as part of an editorial from Vogue Hommes International (photographed by Maciek Kobielski and styled by Darcy Backlar). The whole shoot epitomised the famous "American cool" in a very contemporary way. To do that, Darcy Backlar picked an American staple —the baseball jacket. Only this one by Bottega Veneta has a more urban feel thanks to the use of leather and a slimmer fit.

The Bottega Veneta jacket reminded me of my Carhartt one (below) and so I had a look at Asos to see what else was in the market for boys in the need of one of these jackets. They are the perfect thing to throw on for an effortless cool look and they look pretty awesome when added to a shirt and bowtie combo (think Kanye West).

Gunt Rugger, Lacoste Red, Carhartt, Yves Saint Laurent (@MatchesFashion.com), Gant, Franklin & Marshall (all @Asos.com).

I'm off.

Paris Highlights

Once again Paris Fashion Week outshone London, New York and Milan by proving that it is in fact possible to make creative pieces while holding back on excess and flamboyance. Paris was less colourful than other fashion weeks which made the catwalks darker but more interesting in terms of texture and cut. Haider Ackermann, Roland Mouret, Celine and YSL best embodied this. Overall, we saw simplicity in the shape of a 60's (Giles, Louis Vuitton) and 90's (Isabel Marant) revival and plenty of lamé and khaki adding up to the FW10 trends.

Balmain

Givenchy

Roland Mouret

Pedro Lourenço

Celine

Junya Watanabe

Lanvin

Stella McCartney

Isabel Marant

Yves Saint-Laurent

Wunderkind

[Pictures: Style.com]

I'm off.

shades of green

One of my favourite things to do when fashion week ends is to look back at all the collections again but paying special attention to the accessories and details in them. However, there are some that already caught my eye during the first round. This is one of those times. I am not sure about how YSL's transparent frames and green glasses will look on me but I will at least give them a try. Which items are you already coveting?

[Pictures: Coute que Coute, Style.com]

I'm off.

Oscars 2010

It is the first time I have stayed up to watch the Oscars and I am elated. I feel part of a very cool club. But it does comes as a shock that I am making myself blog at half two in the morning. I have to admit I was part of the group of people who were not expecting much from this year's red carpet. Thankfully, my expectations were completely overwhelmed from the very moment I saw Diane Kruger. My favourite numbers, though, were Zoe Saldana's dream of a Givenchy, Sarah Jessica Parker's Chanel (that Karl made only for her), and the first Dries Van Noten (and FW10!) on the carpet worn by Maggie Gyllenhaal. But my favourite part of the gala was dapper Robert Downey Jr. in the most amazing combo to ever walk the runway —by Lanvin, of course.

[Pictures: zimbio.com]

Check out our Oscars live coverage on twitter. Now I will resume my watching of the show and the short night sleep that will follow.

I'm off.