BREAKFAST AT LAGERFELD'S

Once again, the legendary Karl Lagerfeld satisfies the fashion world by artfully reinventing the image of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany’s into a modern-day Holly Golightly portrayed by rock goddess Lily Allen. Down to the last diamond, Lily Allen looks stunning in the new black-and-white Chanel handbag campaign, mirroring the playful Golightly’s manner with brilliant accuracy. As for the bags themselves, well, they speak volumes without uttering a word. The line of handbags, Chanel Coco Cocoon, is slated to launch in October of 2009. Marvelous, as always. Have a look at the lower image in the photo, which is a behind-the-scenes shot of Lily flashing her pearly whites to Lagerfeld. Decked in diamonds and head-to-toe in Chanel: what’s not to smile about?

Kudos to Karl!

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MR. SCOTT SCHUMAN

Like a beautiful butterfly captured in the hand of a bright-eyed child, fashion blogger Scott Schuman proves, snapshot after snapshot, that beauty is more than just in the eye of the beholder. With every picture he takes, Schuman creates an inspirational photo documentation of international style and displays it on his renowned fashion blog, The Sartorialist. On August 12th, 2009, Penguin Publishing Company is releasing a publication of The Sartorialist’s photographs directly from his blog, labeled one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Design Influencers. Now how did all of this come to be, how is The Sartorialist what it is today? For Scott Schuman, it all commenced after he gave up a fashion sales position in 2005 in order to take care of his daughter. From there, Schuman began carrying a digital camera around the streets of New York with him, capturing street style in an extraordinary manner, and henceforth, The Sartorialist was born.

Over the years, the photoblog has depicted outfits that have caught Schuman’s eye on the stylish streets of New York, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, and London. In a single still, this artist captures the essence of movement, color, style, grace and city life in every photo he takes, with subjects ranging from regular city slickers to fashion celebrities such as Karl Lagerfeld, designer for Chanel. Schuman’s mastery has nabbed him a Paris fashion week special for style.com from Conde Nast, and work from many other well-known fashion publications.

Often referred to as The Sartorialist himself, Scott Schuman has become internationally renowned in the fashion industry for his adept artistic ability and visionary talent for spotting and photographing street style with such finesse. Where his vision first began was the most pressing wonder for me, so I deemed it a quintessential question to be answered for all my inspired readers. Schuman says his inspiration was initially sparked by a picture of a man on an empty street, shot by German photographer August Sander. From that single vision, an entire photo empire was born at thesartorialist.blogspot.com. Little does Mr. Schuman know, but every one of his photos takes my vision to a whole new level- the man is truly an inspiration to me, as I am sure he is to many from coast to coast. Below is an excerpt from the blog of The Sartorialist, as well as a shot of the cover from the soon-to-be-released book.

"Well what can I say - the book is starting to roll off the presses. Penguin just sent me one of the first printed copies. It is so crazy to actually be holding the book I have been working on since January. I know I took all of the pictures, I remember taking each one, but I still can't believe I took all of the photographs. Tracy is holding the paperback version, and soon I will have a copy of the limited-edition hardcover with slipcase to show you.
This has been a labor of love. Taking the pictures, editing the pictures, arranging the pictures, doing most of the writing while I was still in Phoenix after my Dad died. It's hard to put into words how one feels looking at their own work presented like this - so I won't even try."

-Scott Schuman.
Courtesy of The Sartorialist.

CHANEL VIDEO SPOTLIGHT: THE MAKING OF HAUTE COUTURE

Crafted from the eyes of the beholder comes the first vision of the garment, followed thereafter by the skillfully sketched-out idea, hand-drawn to papered perfection by the couturiers themselves. We all know the beginnings of how a haute couture dress is made, but the process fares far further than any humbly admiring eye can see. From the incredibly talented seamstresses who cut the fabric to the model who exhibits the masterpiece, the days upon days it takes to complete the journey of such a finely fashioned garment is an exquisite and fascinating adventure. Threaded to perfection and beaded beyond belief, enjoy the video of this piece from Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel F/W 2009/2010 collection, courtesy of New York Magazine.

THE DIARY OF HEDI SLIMANE

Creator of the line, and simultaneously, world of Dior Homme, Hedi Slimane is one of those shooting stars; a fleeting moment of inspiration to all glassy-eyed onlookers. Whether you have seen his brilliant ocular spectacles in high-fashion magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair, or ogled the sophisticate design of the menswear line for Christian Dior, then surely you have experienced the visionary gift wrapped and delivered by Slimane himself.

His work behind the seams has earned the Tunisian-French fashion designer the well-suited title by the CFDA of International Designer of the Year in New York, 2002. But much to my dismay, many haven't had the pleasure of discovering Hedi's proficiency with the camera. His pattern of rockeresque-styled shots for Courtney Love, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss, and Amy Winehouse have led him to the creation of his publication Stage, a collection of rock photography that brilliantly puts his work in lights.

But alas, how lucky I have been today to have stumbled upon the virtuoso's online photographic journal, The Diary of Hedi Slimane, a photomontage that gives us an overflowingly inspirational view through the lens of Slimane. Now I can share with you the chance to bat an eye behind the lens here, and experience the wonderful world of the multitalented Hedi Slimane.

Je voudrais présenter,
Hedi Slimane.