Women banned from wearing trousers in Paris

Coco 'Criminal' Chanel as she was known on her trouser wearing days

There is an byelaw first introduced in 1800 which bans women from wearing trousers in Paris, according to today’s Telegraph.

This made me chuckle. Itmeans that A & S are both criminals. But considering this also makes criminals out of Coco Chanel and Rebecca, Eurostar competition winner, I feel we’re in good company.

Although the lawyers amongst us don’t want to admit it, there are any number of stupid laws about. These are laws that no-one actually takes any notice of but no-one can be bothered to get rid of. Here are a few of my favourites from the UK:

• Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned
• It is illegal to hang washing in the street
• It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament
• It could be regarded an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen’s image upside-down
• It is illegal to bet or gamble in the library reading room
• It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

Now that my silliness quota for the day is full, I’m off.

A

Make up Monday – Sans make-up s’il vous plait

I was researching Audrey Tautou’s signature looks due to her performance in Coco Avant Chanel this summer, whenI stumbled across this article. Apparently French women are pros at ‘le no make-up’ and this is certainly true of Audrey. In August’s Vogue her shoot is both glamourous and haunting with her naturally beautiful looks highlighted by…well by nothing particularly obvious.

And although projecting a completely relaxed feel the same can be said for the Elle shoot.

And even at the film premiere, her make-up is not distracting, rather just an extension of her looks.

Obviously Audrey Tautou is beautiful and to recreate this trend-free natural look, you need blemish free skin and well-shaped brows (not a lot then), but I promise that the illusion can be created with good products and a routine. I would recommend:

For Skin: Stila does a fantastic range of illuminating powders that can set concealer over blemishes and even out the skin tone. If you have problem skin always use matt products across the t-zone area and move away from cream-based blushers.

Routine: I have been using Elemis for the last year and have noticed a dramatic difference, however I believe that it is enough to always remove make-up before bed and moisturize regularly (your skin will tell you which products work for you, so listen to it).

For brows: I would initially get them professionally shaped, to set you on your way to successful future plucking.

The natural look is perfect for those of us that either don’t have the time, effort or inclination or simply want to show how natural can be best. So get out there and work your inner French chic a la Audrey!

V

Karl Lagerfeld

There is always a problem when you get to know the personality behind creative ventures that you like. You wouldn’t necessarily have wanted to be friends with Jane Austen or Shakespeare, and I can think of many examples of writers who, thanks to the new information culture, I know more about than I could and still enjoy their work.

Obviously the same will go for designers. We accept a lot and work under a little denial when it comes to fashion because it’s part of what makes it fun. When you see the back end of something beautiful it often involves a lot of hard work and even some dirty practices. That’s been discussed a lot when it comes to clothes and we all know we should buy more ethically.

Courtesy: mrpoplife.typepad.com

But what about the attitudes of the designers towards us? It is a fact that designer labels ignore most of the population. You or I are probably too big a dress size or too poor to be of much interest to them. When Beth Ditto first met Karl Lagerfeld, she described him as making “fat-phobic” comments to her. Bad manners, but also a pretty obvious sign that he’s just not interested in any woman who doesn’t conform to his own standards of womanhood, i.e. very slim, at all ages.

Lagerfeld was interviewed for this month’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine, in the persona of Coco Chanel, which is fun. I’m just a bit disappointed that he made the following comment:

“Harper’s Bazaar: Your clothing liberated women in the 1920s. Are you still a feminist?
Karl Lagerfeld as Coco Chanel: I was never a feminist because I was never ugly enough for that.”

I know not every woman feels comfortable with calling herself a feminist but it’s an old, lame joke that feminists are ugly and bitter. What’s wrong with wanting women to be equal and free? Coco Chanel did not call herself a feminist, but she was a successful businesswoman. She never married and yet is lauded, iconic and her designs are still incredibly influential. She helped to free women from corsets and flapper dresses and designer the Little Black Dress and invented the handbag. So clearly she didn’t need a husband to validate her achievements, she was an amazing woman all on her own.

Loving clothes doesn’t mean you have to be obsessed with living up to a physical ideal, or that you for some reason don’t want women to have political and social equality – I am keen not to slag off other blogs but I don’t read the ones that focus entirely on models because it’s sad and depressing to spend your whole life wanting to be someone else. Fashion and looks are one part of female culture, but there are actually many other parts and they can live together harmoniously, if powerful people will stop assuming that one’s value and credibility resides entirely in how well you conform to Karl Lagerfeld’s version of beauty, or indeed any one version of it. If Karl and all the other designers suddenly decreed that beauty resided in looking exactly like me, you would all have to run out and get Chanel-branded cheek implants.

Actually that would be quite cool, and easier than getting everything sucked out or reduced in order to look like this:

Courtesy: Style.com.

S

[Christina Hendricks related] Signposts

• Mad Men: it returneth on August 16. Oh Christina Hendricks! What will you wear this season?

Gratuitous image of Joan Holloway.

• Coco Avant Chanel looks great; I love Audrey Tautou in everything I’ve seen her in (Dirty Pretty Things, Amelie etc) and her gaze on the film poster is terrifically heavy-lidded and judgemental. I think Coco and Don Draper would have been quite a match. Vogue has a gallery of her costumes from the film.
• Christina Hendricks has chosen a dress for her upcoming wedding. “I’m wearing Carolina Herrera. It was the first dress I tried on and it was magnificent.” PLEASE SELL OUT CHRISTINA. I want to see that dress.
• Another modern take on the 50s and 60s is on display over at a Finnish blog called The Freelancer’s Fashionblog I just found by a Helsinki-based burlesque style enthusiast. I’m not into burlesque personally but I appreciate the detail she goes into with her clothes (in fact the subtitle of her blog is “a slave to the details”), many of which she makes herself, and she looks beautiful.

S

Signposts

Courtesy: Fashionologie.

• The gorgeous Chanel Autumn collection was shown on a boardwalk along the beach at dusk. I’ve just booked two weeks off for surfing and to go to Helsinki in July and this makes me think of how I will feel at dusk by the sea and by the lake. And how I will look of course.
• Actually, whenever I leave London I end up woefully underdressing because I think the countryside people will hate me if I turn up in my usual clothes. This is a completely irrational fear that is the product of watching too many films about an unlikely friendship between a stuck-up city girl and a down-to-earth country boy, and every time I turn up anywhere I just feel dowdy and miserable.  Instead I would like to look like this:

 

Courtesy: The Cherry Blossom Girl.

• Is there any outfit you could wear anywhere, with anyone, and still feel right? At work; at the pub; to meet Karl Lagerfeld; to meet Barack Obama; to sit in the park; to meet your boyfriend’s parents. I remember reading years ago that Kate Moss decided to go on holiday and all she packed was a gold bikini. This may well work for Mossy. I suspect A has packed considerably more than this for her current holiday. The Times says the statement dress is the “ultimate all-occasion frock”. If it’s made of jersey, I can only agree, The Times.
• However, this perfect jersey dress is currently eluding me. In my mind it is maxi-length, navy blue and has long sleeves. In real life this garment would probably require quite a lot of engineering and that’s probably why it hasn’t been produced by Asos or Topshop. Comes on M&S! I want something in return for championing you earlier.
• Bits and pieces: Fashion on Film in 2009, including Coco Avant Chanel, a documentary about Anna Wintour called The September Issue and Bruno.

Courtesy: The Guardian.

 S

Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel – the trailer!

Cheryl Cole and Coco Chanel

Two women, somewhat different outlooks. A pictorial roundup.

1. Cheryl Cole’s Vogue cover. Fail.

I am a fan of both Cheryl and British Vogue, which as A points out, it is far more enjoyable than the US version, which seems mainly aimed at women who like collecting endless Giorgio Armani cable-knit jumpers, although they do feature a lot of British designers. Teen Vogue is where all the fun is to be had in the US.

Having said that, this British Vogue is kind of bizarre: Cheryl, yes, excellent, but I can live happily outside the “world and life of Samantha Cameron”. Mainly this cover seems like a waste of an opportunity. Vogue rarely features populist clothes horses and I thought they would either make Cheryl look super-pretty or edgy in some way, just to have some fun with her public persona. She looks fine but I had hoped for more from the art direction – a huge couture gown with a stuffed raven headpiece or something. Perhaps the shoot inside will be more exciting. At any rate, I expect this issue of Vogue to be a big seller.

 

2. Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel. I can’t wait for this film. The tailoring; the hat; the severe facial expression (“sew, mes petite filles, sew!”) I predict that after seeing it I will be trying to transform my flat into a rococo Parisian salon and nibbling on macaroons with my cafe au lait.

S

“Fashion fades, only style remains” Coco Chanel

AudreyCoco

Today brings the first glimpse, as featured in Marie Claire, of the new Coco Chanel biopic. The film is due to be released early next year and stars Audrey Tautou, of Amelie fame, in the lead role. I have always been an Audrey T fan and this casting is inspired; her looks, style and acting ability are bound to make this a fashionable must-see.

‘Coco avant Chanel’ focuses on Coco Chanel’s younger years and her humble beginnings, all of which she was ‘notoriously reticent’ about. This film is one of 3 biopics in the next year, all focusing on different aspects of her life and detailed in today’s Independent.

Coco Chanel’s enduring appeal, and influence, within fashion circles is undeniable but I think her popular appeal is due to the focus on style, rather than fashion. Of course, Chanel has become the brand above all brands, as proven by the recent Karl Lagerfield Chanel show in Paris, but it is all built upon basics, and style essentials. I always think about another of CC’s legendary pieces of advice about accessories when dressing for work; always take off the last thing you put on. I will certainly be watching the biopics with avid interest; for the clothes in the actual films, the style tips and the motivations behind one of the fashion’s ‘legends’. A.