Chanel Mash-Up is an Ancient Egyptian Mess-Up
The Pre-Fall 2019 Chanel Collection show probably seemed like a good idea. A magnificent venue, the Dendur Temple at the Met Museum. So why not a mash-up of Ancient Egypt and modern Manhattan? King Tut’s tomb packed with gold as the inspiration for textiles and jewelry, and Pharrell Williams as Pharaoh Tut. Too bad it all went astray and became a tasteless trend travesty, a heavy-handed display of vulgar wealth. Too literal references looked odd and unattractive. Almost every outfit from suits to eveningwear was shown worn over a ridiculous sheer white sheath and several classic tweeds (gilded with gold) were styled like a “shendyt” (the wrap around kilt worn by Ancient Egyptian men). Personally, I shuddered to think what Coco Chanel herself would have thought of it all. Ralph Rucci, who brilliantly designs the most elegant clothes today, blasted Chanel on his Instagram, and I quote… “When all is said and done…huge money often creates confusion and tastelessness. To present a collection of “Egyptian Influenced” clothes in front of one of the Eight Wonders of the World, the Temple of Dendur, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is quite simply kitsch. There is no relationship, just a display of wealth on steroids, more Day of the Locusts moments.” One saving aspect of the collection warrants kudos for showcasing the breath-taking artistry that comes from Chanel’s legendary atelier (workroom) populated with artisans; embroiderers, feather workers, button-makers, costume jewelers, milliners, shoemakers and fabric weavers.
Chanel’s Pre-Fall Collection inspired by Ancient Egypt, mashed-up with Manhattan.
The Pre-Fall 2019 Chanel Collection show probably seemed like a good idea. A magnificent venue, the Dendur Temple at the Met Museum. So why not a mash-up of Ancient Egypt and modern Manhattan? King Tut’s tomb packed with gold as the inspiration for textiles and jewelry, and Pharrell Williams as Pharaoh Tut. Too bad it all went astray and became a tasteless trend travesty, a heavy-handed display of vulgar wealth. Too literal references looked odd and unattractive. Almost every outfit from suits to eveningwear was shown worn over a ridiculous sheer white sheath and several classic tweeds (gilded with gold) were styled like a “shendyt” (the wrap around kilt worn by Ancient Egyptian men). Personally, I shuddered to think what Coco Chanel herself would have thought of it all. Ralph Rucci, who brilliantly designs the most elegant clothes today, blasted Chanel on his Instagram, and I quote… “When all is said and done…huge money often creates confusion and tastelessness. To present a collection of “Egyptian Influenced” clothes in front of one of the Eight Wonders of the World, the Temple of Dendur, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is quite simply kitsch. There is no relationship, just a display of wealth on steroids, more Day of the Locusts moments.” One saving aspect of the collection warrants kudos for showcasing the breath-taking artistry that comes from Chanel’s legendary atelier (workroom) populated with artisans; embroiderers, feather workers, button-makers, costume jewelers, milliners, shoemakers and fabric weavers.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Chanel’s Pre-Fall Collection inspired by Ancient Egypt, mashed-up with Manhattan. |
Living Coral: Pantone's Color of the Year for 2019
Although declaring that a certain color will be The Color of The Year is a somewhat quaint notion, Pantone has enough clout to turn their annual declaration into a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Living Coral” is it for 2019. It follows in the footprints of the Millennial Pinks, those dusty pastels that took several seasons to work their way through the various market levels. “Living Coral” promises to be a commercial success because it lends a flattering glow to any skin tone. It also is applicable to almost any market level, to all genders and ages. It’s also a versatile hue that mixes well with other colors in prints and woven patterns. Watch for hints of “Living Coral” to come soon.
Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2019; Living Coral.
Although declaring that a certain color will be The Color of The Year is a somewhat quaint notion, Pantone has enough clout to turn their annual declaration into a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Living Coral” is it for 2019. It follows in the footprints of the Millennial Pinks, those dusty pastels that took several seasons to work their way through the various market levels. “Living Coral” promises to be a commercial success because it lends a flattering glow to any skin tone. It also is applicable to almost any market level, to all genders and ages. It’s also a versatile hue that mixes well with other colors in prints and woven patterns. Watch for hints of “Living Coral” to come soon.
 |
| Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2019; Living Coral. |
Learning All About "Fabrics in Fashion" at FIT Museum
While the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum sold out to Chanel’s Ancient Egyptian expensive excesses, the Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) mounted an impressive exhibition. “Fabrics in Fashion,” curated by Elizabeth Way, is an educational gem, a deep dive into two and half centuries of textile information that aptly demonstrates the simple fact that fabrics are the foundation of fashion. Proving textile’s supremacy is a clever demonstration: a plain mid-18th century court gown becomes a screen to receive projections of various diverse fabrics, completely changing the gown’s character. The exhibition is an educational tool, teaching a brief history of silk, cotton, wool and synthetics. It is a fact that today’s fashion customer cares little about fabrics, choosing to chase fast fashion design novelties. How many know the difference between silk and satin, organdy and organza, warp and weft? Who understands that the same dress design becomes a new and different garment when made in divergent fabrics that cling to the body or stand away? “Fabrics in Fashion” is open until May 4th, a wealth of hard-core, genuine information that is just what an educational institution should be, valuable to students and useful to the general public. Thank you, FIT!
Mid-18th Century court gown changes character as images of different fabrics are projected onto it.
Silk organza (1825), organdy (1830).
Silk brocaded taffeta (1760), double-faced wool (1968), metallic synthetic (1982).
While the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum sold out to Chanel’s Ancient Egyptian expensive excesses, the Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) mounted an impressive exhibition. “Fabrics in Fashion,” curated by Elizabeth Way, is an educational gem, a deep dive into two and half centuries of textile information that aptly demonstrates the simple fact that fabrics are the foundation of fashion. Proving textile’s supremacy is a clever demonstration: a plain mid-18th century court gown becomes a screen to receive projections of various diverse fabrics, completely changing the gown’s character. The exhibition is an educational tool, teaching a brief history of silk, cotton, wool and synthetics. It is a fact that today’s fashion customer cares little about fabrics, choosing to chase fast fashion design novelties. How many know the difference between silk and satin, organdy and organza, warp and weft? Who understands that the same dress design becomes a new and different garment when made in divergent fabrics that cling to the body or stand away? “Fabrics in Fashion” is open until May 4th, a wealth of hard-core, genuine information that is just what an educational institution should be, valuable to students and useful to the general public. Thank you, FIT!
 |
| Mid-18th Century court gown changes character as images of different fabrics are projected onto it. |
 |
| Silk organza (1825), organdy (1830). |
 |
| Silk brocaded taffeta (1760), double-faced wool (1968), metallic synthetic (1982). |
Vintage Movie Stars Were "Real People." Really?
When browsing through my vintage movie star coloring books, I was amused by the frequent portrayal of glamour girls as girls next door. Those by-gone studios were a well-oiled image-making machine. It was certainly not reality-based. Only the kids who colored movie star books would believe that Betty Grable liked to keep house, Ann Blyth shopped for groceries, Jane Russell baked cakes and Esther Williams’s roast looked delicious. I confess that, as a kid I always ignored and skipped past the cloying, bogus domestic scenes. I preferred to color the fantastic, glamorous gowns and extravagant screen costumes. For this month’s blog, I colored four stars imitating housewives of Hollywood’s Golden Age. As always, I used soft colored pencils as the fragile paper is mellow yellow and on the brink of disintegrating. Sad to think that these little works of art will soon be gone forever and probably forgotten.
Betty likes to keep house and Ann Blyth realizes it’s time to shop for dinner.
Jane Russell tries out a new recipe while Esther’s roast looks good!
When browsing through my vintage movie star coloring books, I was amused by the frequent portrayal of glamour girls as girls next door. Those by-gone studios were a well-oiled image-making machine. It was certainly not reality-based. Only the kids who colored movie star books would believe that Betty Grable liked to keep house, Ann Blyth shopped for groceries, Jane Russell baked cakes and Esther Williams’s roast looked delicious. I confess that, as a kid I always ignored and skipped past the cloying, bogus domestic scenes. I preferred to color the fantastic, glamorous gowns and extravagant screen costumes. For this month’s blog, I colored four stars imitating housewives of Hollywood’s Golden Age. As always, I used soft colored pencils as the fragile paper is mellow yellow and on the brink of disintegrating. Sad to think that these little works of art will soon be gone forever and probably forgotten.
 |
| Betty likes to keep house and Ann Blyth realizes it’s time to shop for dinner. |
 |
| Jane Russell tries out a new recipe while Esther’s roast looks good! |
Award Winning Red Carpet Fashion Parade Begins
The 76th Golden Globe Awards kicked off the Red Carpet parades that culminate with the all-important Oscars later in the spring. Fashion is off to a great start with a variety of lively and oft-times lovely evening gowns. No big news but fresh interpretations of on-going trends including more color, lots of sparkle and plenty of sex appeal (sans vulgarity). There is a great deal of design obviously inspired by the high style of Paris Haute Couture. In my opinion, the best dress-ups were Lady Gaga’s sky blue grand gown with bubble sleeves and a massive train. I also liked Emily Blunt’s silvery heavy peek-a-boo lace by McQueen. I give full marks to Julia Roberts’ daring mash-up of sheer Grecian pleats paired with tuxedo trousers. The worst disasters were from top designers; Karl Lagerfeld’s recent Egyptian runway trainwreck on Janelle Monae and Elizabeth Moss’ unflattering strapless tuxedo mini-dress from Dior Couture. Spotting trends amongst such a variety of little stories is not easy. Start with color: black and white, of course, but newer was bright yellow Prada and Miu Miu gowns worn by look-alike stars, Claire Foy and Rachel Brosnahan. Flesh tint tones also looked new, as did the dark sparkles on Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman. Metallic silver continued its long run, sometimes in sparkling color like Regina King’s pink and Lupita Nyong’o’s bright blue. Textile hits included finely pleated chiffon for Grecian goddess gowns, and see-thru sheers. Dramatic drape effects lent a note of high fashion design to several creations, best on Catherine Zeta Jones. Star-gazers and movie critics always take note of the Golden Globes winners as indicators of probable winners of subsequent Awards. Fashion trend-spotters also should take note of color, fabric and design as the starting line of eveningwear trends still to come from the Red Carpets as Awards Season kicks-off with the Hollywood Foreign Press Corps’ Golden Globes.
The Best: Lady Gaga, Emily Blunt in McQueen and Julia Roberts.
The Worst; Janelle Monae in Chanel and Elizabeth Moss in Dior Haute Couture.
Grecian goddess gowns for Kristen Bell by Zuhair Murad, Gina Rodriguez in Reem Acra and, Yvonne Strahkovski in Alberta Ferretti.
Couture cuts for Catherine Zeta Jones, Sandra Oh and Allison Janney in Christian Siriano.
Twinkling Keri Russell by Monique Lhuillier, Thandie Newton in Michael Kors, Regina King and Lupita Nyong’o in Calvin Klein.
Dark dazzle on Penelope Cruz by Ralph and Russo and Nicole Kidman in Michael Kors.
Mellow yellow on Rachel Brosnahan in Prada and Claire Foy in Miu Miu.
Flesh tones on Rooney Mara by Miu Miu, Emma Stone in Louis Vuitton and Constance Wu by Vera Wang.
See-thru sheer on Lucy Liu by Galia Lahav and Alison Brie.
The 76th Golden Globe Awards kicked off the Red Carpet parades that culminate with the all-important Oscars later in the spring. Fashion is off to a great start with a variety of lively and oft-times lovely evening gowns. No big news but fresh interpretations of on-going trends including more color, lots of sparkle and plenty of sex appeal (sans vulgarity). There is a great deal of design obviously inspired by the high style of Paris Haute Couture. In my opinion, the best dress-ups were Lady Gaga’s sky blue grand gown with bubble sleeves and a massive train. I also liked Emily Blunt’s silvery heavy peek-a-boo lace by McQueen. I give full marks to Julia Roberts’ daring mash-up of sheer Grecian pleats paired with tuxedo trousers. The worst disasters were from top designers; Karl Lagerfeld’s recent Egyptian runway trainwreck on Janelle Monae and Elizabeth Moss’ unflattering strapless tuxedo mini-dress from Dior Couture. Spotting trends amongst such a variety of little stories is not easy. Start with color: black and white, of course, but newer was bright yellow Prada and Miu Miu gowns worn by look-alike stars, Claire Foy and Rachel Brosnahan. Flesh tint tones also looked new, as did the dark sparkles on Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman. Metallic silver continued its long run, sometimes in sparkling color like Regina King’s pink and Lupita Nyong’o’s bright blue. Textile hits included finely pleated chiffon for Grecian goddess gowns, and see-thru sheers. Dramatic drape effects lent a note of high fashion design to several creations, best on Catherine Zeta Jones. Star-gazers and movie critics always take note of the Golden Globes winners as indicators of probable winners of subsequent Awards. Fashion trend-spotters also should take note of color, fabric and design as the starting line of eveningwear trends still to come from the Red Carpets as Awards Season kicks-off with the Hollywood Foreign Press Corps’ Golden Globes.
 |
| The Best: Lady Gaga, Emily Blunt in McQueen and Julia Roberts. |
 |
| The Worst; Janelle Monae in Chanel and Elizabeth Moss in Dior Haute Couture. |
 |
| Grecian goddess gowns for Kristen Bell by Zuhair Murad, Gina Rodriguez in Reem Acra and, Yvonne Strahkovski in Alberta Ferretti. |
 |
| Couture cuts for Catherine Zeta Jones, Sandra Oh and Allison Janney in Christian Siriano. |
 |
| Twinkling Keri Russell by Monique Lhuillier, Thandie Newton in Michael Kors, Regina King and Lupita Nyong’o in Calvin Klein. |
 |
| Dark dazzle on Penelope Cruz by Ralph and Russo and Nicole Kidman in Michael Kors. |
 |
| Mellow yellow on Rachel Brosnahan in Prada and Claire Foy in Miu Miu. |
 |
| Flesh tones on Rooney Mara by Miu Miu, Emma Stone in Louis Vuitton and Constance Wu by Vera Wang. |
 |
| See-thru sheer on Lucy Liu by Galia Lahav and Alison Brie. |
JOIN US AT THE 2019 PAPER DOLL CONVENTION!
The 2019 Paper Doll Convention is scheduled for July 3-6, 2019, in Kansas City, MO. Hosted by Pat O'Rourke, with the Mystery, Murder & Mayhem, it's sure to be a good time! Visit OPDAG's convention info page for details.
The 2019 Paper Doll Convention is scheduled for July 3-6, 2019, in Kansas City, MO. Hosted by Pat O'Rourke, with the Mystery, Murder & Mayhem, it's sure to be a good time! Visit OPDAG's convention info page for details.
