FASHION BY THE RULES – Paris Overview

Since this Paris season seems to be teeming with shows and drama notwithstanding, I thought something new should begin this week. There will be sound bites or if you will, flashes about the collections, which will either drive you to see them fully reviewed or keep you satisfied with a working knowledge of what went on in Paris over the last week.

Lanvin was quintessentially Alber Elbaz with him hitting all the signatures that made Lanvin a fashion force in the last decade.

Viktor & Rolf offered up their usual spectacle with all the buried signature of what makes them great designers – tailoring, dressmaking, master technicians and master showmen.

Haider Ackerman is the flavor of the season and is being bandied about as a possible successor to Galliano and has Karl’s blessing to succeed him at Chanel. The collection is tailored, cinched, reed thin, layered and most of all draped.

Rick Owens showed a distilled vision of his woman with a highly refined and finished collection that will no doubt delight stores and clientele alike by using all the vocabulary that he has built up during his career.

Vionnet presented an abbreviated but ever so appealing group of dresses which will surely send this nascent rebirthed brand to the next level.

Loewe did what it does best – leathers.  Stuart Vevers manipulated leather as it if it was cloth with great ease and great classic styling without being boring.

Balmain sent out its usual rock n roll fare but with a slightly restrained hand.  There are still plenty of glamorous pieces, gravity defying lengths and plenty of embellishments.

Jean Paul Gaultier, the original bad boy, had his fun with us and sent out librarians and women with their mink lined shopping carts but he also managed to get in all his signature styles and still have his fun.

Don’t forget to look for me on Facebook or on the Examiner and Style.com for full photo coverage.

Headlines This Week 4/24

• Apparently Whitney Port is mightier than the economy. At a time when several celebrity fashion lines are being canned, put on hold, or downgraded — as with former Hills co-star Lauren Conrad’s eponymous effort, first on hiatus and later bumped to Kohl’s — Port’s people leaked sneak-peek photos of her Whitney Eve fall 2009 collection, officially making her the only person from MTV’s initially fashion-related reality franchise to be creating fashion-related buzz in real life. NYMag.com
• Rachel Bilson will write a Q&A, and answer reader’s questions relating style for InStyle Magazine. As well as talking about her favorite trends. She will have a monthly column starting from the May issue. FashionIndie.com
• Fashion houses are not yet in quite the same pickle as banks, though you might not know it for all the bailout plans in the works from American designers. NYTimes.com
• Earth Day is not over yet… As you know, I have been following the green scene for some time and have opinions about who the best eco-friendly designers are. Of course, SF-loving Stella McCartney tops my list, as does the Loomstate for Target collection. FabSugar.com
• Although she has been facing some stiff competition from Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss always tends to be the first when it comes to trends. Kate was spotted out and about in a Balmain dress hot off the Autumn/Winter 09 catwalks. MyFashionLife.com

Headlines This Week 2/27

• Penélope Cruz, in a froth of 60-year-old Paris silk, must have wondered about her vintage Balmain dress when Tim Gunn, ABC’s red-carpet fashion expert, trilled, “It’s really a museum piece.” And what does that make the sexy Ms. Cruz? Anne Hathaway, in a glittering Armani column, looked a little nonplused when Mr. Gunn said to her, “I have to ask you, what actually belongs to you?” The gaffes were as dazzling as the couture clothes and borrowed diamonds. NYTimes.com
• YSL hosted the biggest private art auction in history ended at the Grand Palais in Paris Wednesday night as the final sale of the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé collection brought the grand total to 373.5 million euros, or $484.6 million. The auction, according to WWD.com, has officially made Paris the art capital of the world.
• Apparently Chanel makes a Segway. As in the preferred mode of transportation of mall security guards. Chanel’s comes complete with the classic 2.55 handbag and matching black quilted-leather mud flaps and handlebars. Top speed is twelve miles per hour. It’s available by special order and the price hasn’t been listed, but as a reference point, know that the Chanel bicycle is $12K. NYMag.com
• You may bristle at the notion of shelling out $540 for a hand-me-down from the LA County Jail, but one look at – no, one touch of – Raquel Allegra’s one-of-a-kind T-shirts may have you rethinking rent, according to DallasNews.com.
• Sienna Miller wasn’t the only star power showing off her design skills at London Fashion Week– Big Love’s Chloe Sevigny also debuted her second collection for Opening Ceremony. The new line, Chloe tells WWD, is a “slight homage” to one of her favorite designers, Miguel Adrover, with dashes of “gay lumberjack,” James Dean, preppy New England and English punk. People.com