Ta da! The Katies - 2010

WINNERS


THE TEAM CHUTZPAH FASHION GENIUS AWARD - Mary Katrantzou. Manolo Blahnik loves her lampshade, the Swiss love her textiles, we love her S/S 2011 collection.  Now the recipient of BFC NewGen sponsorship, we can't wait to see what Mary does next.


THE AWARD FOR MOST CRIMINALLY OVERLOOKED COLLECTION - Richard Nicoll for Cerruti.  Restrained.  Elegant.  The kind of clothes that rich, white women with vanity labels wish they could design (if they could draw, that is).

THE 'WE WEREN'T EXPECTING THAT BUT WOW DID YOU BOWL US OVER' AWARD - Raf Simons at Jil Sander's S/S '11 collection managed to move the entire fashion industry to tears of gratitude and happiness.  Making the evening skirt an object of joy, Raf colour clashed to his heart's content. We love.  We want.

THE WHO THE F*** IS MIRANDA PRIESTLY? AWARD - Hannah Marshall, front row of her mates' shows.  The lovely Holly Fulton.  Ripping up the Fashion Bitch rule book.  Nice is the new nasty.  I might even try it myself sometime.* (*Not really).


THE AWARD FOR SERVICES TO DRESSING US MERE MORTALS - Reiss. "Catherine" Middleton and David Gandy may love Reiss as well, but their affordable, stylish, well -constructed dresses and suits have been, and will be, keeping us chic for years.  Brilliant knitwear, too and a storming S/S '11 womenswear collection to look forward to.  Go Team Reiss.


THE AWARD FOR MOST INSPIRATIONAL FASHION JOURNO (STILL) Hilary Alexander.  Need we explain?  The woman's a dynamo and unremittingly enthusiastic.  Puts all those self obsessed, po-faced, front row drabzoids to shame.

THE AWARD FOR 'WE MAY BE DOWN BUT WE'RE FAR FROM OUT'  London Fashion Week.  Amidst the gazillions of show and a confusing schedule, there was real raw talent that only London can offer.  You don't and won't see that stretch of sheer imagination in downtown NY or Paris.  Ever.

TEAM CHUTZPAH'S HERO OF 2010 - Tom Ford For keeping us on our toes, and delivering when most other designers would've been crushed by the hype.  It's Tom's world now and we merely live in it.

THE AWARD FOR MOST INSPIRATIONAL AND INFORMATIVE PRIVATE EXHIBITION  Goes to Harrods for 'The Perfume Diaries'.  Regret it if you missed it.  Hundreds of inspirational fragrances with their history, seamlessly intertwined.  Seventh Heaven.

THE AWARD FOR MOST GLOBALLY CONSISTENTLY FABULOUS - Daphne Guinness.  This lady inspires us daily.  And, her Commes fragrance is still the most deeply luscious, intoxicating scent around.  Who wouldn't want to be Daphne?  Are you mad?


SINNERS


THE WHO SPIKED THE PR'S VITAMIN WATER? AWARD - Kerry Katona at Giles.  The No Bloggers rule at the live streamed Burberry show.  Diana Vickers as a front row fixture just about anywhere.  Oh yes.  That'll work.


THE FIRST ANNUAL STEPFORD AWARD - Global Gaga-isation.  Lady Gaga tears through fashion at the rate of knots, and other seemingly right minded women (Rihanna, Kelly Rowland) are left to drag up unconvincingly in her wake.  As anticipation of her second proper album begins to build, we shudder to think how she'll top that meat dress.


THE AWARD FOR MOST SOUL-SUCKING WASTE OF THE PUBLIC'S TIME - 'The X Factor' Minus the Dannii vs. Cheryl fashion frock-off, this was just bad televised karaoke which only kept us hooked through the policy of discarding the most talented contestant each week.  Matt Cardle may have won but we are all losers thanks to Simon Cowell.

THE AWARD FOR 'WHAT NO ONE WITH TASTE WOULD EVER REALLY WEAR UNLESS IT HAD A DESIGNER NAME TAG' - Prada’s banana earrings and baroque monkey prints with stripes.  Is this a joke?  Did I miss the punchline?  Not looking forward to the obvious high street versions, especially in the mornings.  I have to use public transport and I am often hungover.  Let that be a warning.

THE WORST FRAGRANCE NAME OF THE YEAR AWARD - Womanity by Thierry Mugler.  Truly sounds like the name of some bad ‘self help’ book or a menopausal product.

THE BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT AWARD FOR BRIEFEST FASHION REVIVAL - Minimal.  A nice idea in theory but too unforgiving and impractical for most normal women.  As the high street begins to mark down the unsold camel coats, it makes us wonder just how influential British Designer of the Year Phoebe Philo actually is?

THE GENERALISED 'ALL ABOUT ME' AWARD FOR DULL BLOGS - Eg.  THIS IS ME in florals, THIS IS ME in camel, THIS IS ME in shorts.  *just stands there*   Fine if that floats your boat but, really?  It’s about as interesting as watching paint dry.

THE AWARD FOR SERVICES TO MASS HYSTERIA AND MIND CONTROL - Joint winners:  Lanvin and Hennes.   Almost a month on, we're still wondering how Alber and H and M managed to pull the wool over so many eyes. You could pick up a decent frock for the same price as this poorly-made tat.  In the end, it all came down to frayed seams.  Plus ca change at Hennes.

THE AWARD FOR WORST PREMIUM BRAND PAIRING EVER - Jimmy Choo and Uggs = Chuggs.  Making things of beauty and function respectively, tres ugly.  Not covetable.

TEAM CHUTZPAH'S ZEROES OF 2010 - By unanimous decision, The ConDem Government. An obvious choice maybe, but that daily feeling of being ground down is only getting worse.  A hike in VAT and National Insurance, coupled with higher than expected inflation, mean that 2011 is already looking tough.  Venal, gid-destroying despot dementors.

Robert Mapplethorpe: Night work. Curated by The Scissor Sisters.

Chance would be a fine thing that I have to miss the launch of this fantastic exhibition at one of my favourite galleries.  Not only is it Robert Mapplethorpe but this exhibition has been curated by New York pop phenomenons, The Scissor Sisters.

Robert Mapplethorpe was an icon of the American avant-garde in the late twentieth century, embodying in his life and art a powerful sense of freedom in all its manifestations - creative, political, personal, sexual. Since his untimely death from an AIDS-related illness in 1989, Mapplethorpe's presence has continued to be felt across all art forms, his unrepentantly honest and meticulously composed explorations of desire, transgression and identity offering inspiration and challenges to a wide range of visual artists, filmmakers, writers and musicians.

Scissor Sisters, one of the pre-eminent bands to emerge from New York's art scene in the past decade, last year celebrated Mapplethorpe's distinctively dark and decadent sensibility by deploying a series of Mapplethorpe's photographs as the artwork for their most recent album release, as well as the singles from the album and the design concept for the accompanying world tour.

This exhibition at Alison Jacques Gallery brings together the seven Mapplethorpe images chosen by Scissor Sisters, along with other photographs, Polaroids and unique and rarely seen sculptures by the artist, and with the band's selection of important works by major contemporary artists who have admired or been influenced by Mapplethorpe's aesthetic and attitude. Uncompromising but life-affirming, Mapplethorpe's fascination with eroticism and mortality, beauty and liberty produced very contemporary interpretations of universal themes, themes which found articulation through the artist's exacting gaze upon the harmonic, indeed sculptural, possibilities of the objects and scenarios he encountered.  His practice was distinguished by the expression of an outlook that ranged from irreverent to subversive to starkly brutal, through a rigorously disciplined language of formal and tonal composition. This unswerving commitment to the pursuit of ideal form, however unconventionally realised, exemplified a potent trend in contemporary art, where the relationships and tensions between sensuous excess and controlled restraint are made visually manifest.

I'll be back from Berlin and straight to this for an up close and personal viewing in its opening days.

Robert Mapplethorpe:  Night Work is at Alison Jacques Gallery, 16-18 Berners Street, London W1T 3LN  Tel +44 (0)20 7631 4720 from 19 JANUARY - 19 FEBRUARY 2011

Boys To Men

I don’t care about the snow.  I don’t care whether desperate housewives are fighting each other in the supermarkets over the last sliced white.  And I still don’t care about the Royal wedding.

At this time of the year, this young man’s thoughts turn to his Spring wardrobe.  Call it “projection” if you will, but my painfully average size, plus the impending VAT increase, dictates that I get my orders in early.

This month saw the launch of Christopher Kane’s menswear.  Now, I have a love/hate relationship with Kane’s clothing.  Admittedly beautifully constructed, the acid grannies of his signature line brought tears to my eyes for all the wrong reasons - and thank God Raf Simons was just around the corner to show us how chic Neon could be at Jil Sander, whilst his Versus collection for Versace was zesty, young, brilliantly tailored, and will probably be all over hot US shows like ‘Gossip Girl’ like a finely-curled lip (the shoes and bags being particularly covetable).  It isn’t a surprise that Christopher Kane has been adopted by Donatella Versace, as he seems to share her late brother’s oblique approach to the conventions of taste, as well as his close relationship with his sister as muse.

His menswear is, as the cliché goes, a game of two halves.  The T-shirts and slouchy cashmere and silk-mix cardigans, digitally printed with vivid astronomical imagery, are a tarted-up version of Kane’s everyday uniform.  So far, SO whatever.

These have been juxtaposed with a range of tailored black leather suit jackets and above-the-knee pleated shorts.  This isn’t the last time I will mention leather shorts on this blog over the next few months.  Leather shorts of varying shortness and tightness will be everywhere next Summer.  More Vauxhall fetish club than Vauxhall Fashion Scout - it’s a “NO” from me.

Let’s hope it’s not a scorcher.

Contrast this, if you will, with the masterful Spring/Summer ‘Mr.’ menswear collection from Roland Mouret.

This genius capsule wardrobe is inspired by Mouret’s personal style, and is everything a man of a certain age and income bracket will want to wear next season.

Meticulously edited and executed, there isn’t a button, zip, or printed scarf out of place.  Reminiscent of Prada, in those halcyon days before the label was appropriated by football hooligans, this masculine, mature collection is the antithesis to Kane’s luxe-sport-meets-space-cadet styling.

Mouret appears to be on a roll, expanding massively following the acquisition of his name back from former financial backers and, with a flagship store in London’s Mayfair planned, 2011 looks to be a major year for the former People Corporation designer.

Article complied and written by Lee Clatworthy

Do you agree with Lee's take on next season's menswear?  Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Chutzpah's Weekly Barometer

A light hearted look back over the past week’s good, bad and indifferent including the “don’t even go there’s”.


LOVING

Eylure ready to wear lashes  Yes, I know I have just trialed M2 Beaute lash (terrific results btw) but one really needs to bat lashes enough to cause a tailwind at the remaining Christmas and New Year shindigs.  I love the non pfaff Eylure pre-glued, ready to wear lashes (£4.95).  If you're careful, you can get two wears but this requires remembering you actually have them on when two sheets to the wind.  A great glam stocking filler for any woman.  Eylure now has a lash bar on the 3rd floor of Selfridges, London.  Get batting those lashes.

Faces on Pizza  As opposed to pizza faces.  Simply stunned when some Essex type showed that they'd cleverly replicated X Factor's Matt Cardle's face on a pizza.  Show someone you care etc.

Fortnum and Mason  Ahh!  This traditional mecca was made for Christmas.  A little bit of Dickensian type luxury shopping goes a long way.  Beautiful windows, incredible food hall, amazing fragrance area, deep pile carpets and a floor for high teas.  What more could a girl want?

Suspenders  I seem to re-discover the joys of suspenders each Winter just as the minus zero, chill wind sets in.  Brrr.

Rihanna  Boy, can she work a dress. 

Rodial Glamtox Eyelight pen (£35)  Everyone needs a good, reliable concealer come eye cream especially with late nights and cold weather.  The glamtox eyelight pen contains hyaluronic acid which helps reduce puffy eyes and lotus extract to help cool and de-puff saggy skin under eyes.  It works. 

Caron fragrances for £17 in TK Maxx  Stock up on these hard to find, exclusive fragrances.  Tip:  Hammersmith store.

WAH Nails  Just loving the detailed nail art thing but boy, does it take time.  Thanks to the team at the latest 'Lucy in Disguise' Christmas drinks, 4 days later, I still have perfectly sculpted, half moon Wah!Nails.


HATING

Arrivistes/Social Climbers  You're bound to come across at least one during party season.  At least at this time they're a little more obvious than normal.  Hey la.

2010  Or should this be in the loving?  As in, it's almost over (thanks be to God).  This year has been a trial and penance for many.  Scary that it just might be the beginning of the alleged new austerity.  How I miss old New Labour.  Nervous to say, roll on 2011.

Sexy Santa outfits  Puleease!  'Tis the season for the omnipresent cheap, tacky 100% polyester, 'Sexy' Santa outfits and the obligatory matted fur hats.  NB.  These immediately say a) desperate, b) clueless and c) tasteless.  Happy Christmas!

Snow haters  It's only snow.  Enjoy it.  It's Winter.  It's beautiful.  Contrarily, hailing from 'way up there', I love it.  Come July you'll hear me complain.

DON'T CARE

Willow Smith  She may swish her hair back and forth all she likes but uber precocious kids of Hollywood A listers kinda puts you off those A listers.

Crowds  Everywhere.  All the time.  In shops, in hotel bars, in restaurants.  Always a downside to December.


What do you think of this week's Barometer loves and hates?  Let me know by leaving a comment in the box below.  I'd love to hear from you.

Tranforming unruliness. Hair not Behaviour.

I had forgotten that I had agreed to the generous offer of having my hair teased and treated at the Cobella Salon in Selfridges and to trial the Global Keratin Hair Taming treatment with Juvexin, which had only just been launched in the UK in October. 

Oh, I was looking forward to it and the challenge of taming unruliness and frizziness but a week spent in the airport hanger conditions at the NEC in Birmingham and the pandemonium of excited women, high on oestrogen and free goody bag junk at The Clothes Show Live exhibition had quite crushed my mojo.

In an attempt to reliven it, I had chosen to celebrate my first night from exile gallivanting aplenty on the evening before the arranged treatment with friends at a Fashion Show, followed by a party at the rooftop of the Sanctum Hotel and then a flurry of twinkles at Dicks Bar, El Camino, Soho. That was the last straw. I know my twinkle limit is three. But that's three without former voddie tonics and champagne. Uughh!  I blame Mez Le RaRa and redlegsinsoho

Awakening late and downing liquid caffeine in various formats, I made my appointment in time so the hangover from hell would have to wait.  I tell you, it's not a good move having to be faced with a constant mirror with a near make-up free face on a day like this, but I digress. 

Ed was to Keratin Hair System me and started by examining my hair so he could customize the treatment to my hair type before whisking me away for a wash and condition.  I was then taken back to the dreaded mirror and had the Keratin Hair Taming treatment with Juvexin applied carefully to my hair in divided strips. 

I had been warned that the system would mean my hair would have to be poker straight for at least three days with no products added until the system was left to penetrate.  I had a big social event to attend the following evening with a potential hot date (it wasn't) so really wanted to look my best.  Straightened hair would be a change though.  It's always so vastly different from my big hair that I could work that look to the dress.

The most laborious part of the process was the careful brushed on application of the product and then the carefully sealing of this with heat via hair straighteners, again, with the hair in sections.  Apart from my ensuing hangover, this would have been a really relaxing hour and a half process.  My fault entirely that I suffered during the time due to the previous night's excesses.

The Keratin Hair Taming System with Juvexin lasts for up to six months and promises to improve texture and condition of all hair types without leaving hair lank or flat.  Hair health and vitality is promised for the most damaged hair, banishing frizz to a mere memory and making hair more manageable to style. 

Actually derived from New Zealeand sheep wool, the long protein chains of Juvexin closely mirror the hairs own keratin structure, allowing Juvexin to bond with the hair and wrap around the cuticle to repair and protect while penetrating to the core to protect every strand.  Says Van Tiboli, Founder and CEO of Global Keratin says of the system, "It nourishes and transforms hair inside and out to give women beautiful, smooth, healthy hair every day, with less time devoted to styling and maintenance."

Win, win in my books.  My new swish hair is smooth and unfrizzy but still with all its natural kinks.  As Willow Smith says, "I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth."  Continue ad infinitum for six months.

Range of products shown from the The Global Keratin Hair Taming System with Juvexin.  The treatment is available from Cobella, Selfridges Womenswear, Third Floor, London.  (Tel:   020 7491 1562) and costs £250.

Beguiling Sycomore from Les Exclusifs de Chanel

Where do I start with Sycomore, part of Chanel’s swish Les Exclusifs collection?

Firstly, I wasn’t exactly aware just how addictive this fragrance set was until the lovely Louise at http://www.getlippie.blogspot.com/ gave me the heads up on this delectable fragrance.

The Les Exclusifs line up of oversized bottles wink at you in Chanel stores and in Selfridges (their availability is, after all, tres exclusif, non?) with a sophisticated nod, standing boldly in all their elegant squareness and discreetly noticeable double C branding.

The 2008 Chanel Sycomore by parfumeurs Jaques Polge and Christopher Sheldrake, (the initial fragrance was launched in 1930) is deeply rounded and faintly masculine with vetiver but says strong, powerful, mysterious woody brown and green with a beautifully, belligerent nod of sensuousness. Notes of fresh bergamot, grassy vetiver, dry pepper, creamy sandalwood, Indian spices, smoky woods and intoxicating incense punch you firmly on the nose but what a punch!

This is The Beatles’ Norwegian Woods in fragrance format: Folksy, enigmatic, indulgent, romantic and unforgettable. “I once had a girl or should I say, she had me....She showed me her room, isn’t it good Norwegian Wood?”

Figgy deepness comes through, perfect for this time of year, yearning of yuletide and rich green wreathes, of scented smoky log fires, of warmth and comfort and cosiness and a time of plenty.

There’s a deeply sexy, beguiling, smoky incense after effect to Sycomore as it levels out. Sycomore is the somewhat obsolete spelling of sycamore, implying a much older Biblical tree meaning so the link to Christmas is overpowering. At least to me.

I know the beautiful Chanel TV ads say fall in love with Audrey Tautou and buy someone you love Chanel no 5. I’d think the world of someone if they went the extra mile, found ‘les exclusifs’ and chose this little beauty. The magnetic snap to the fragrance lid is the icing on the frosted, woody, Christmas cake.

Good tidings of comfort and joy. Christmas has never smelled so good.

Les Exclusifs de Chanel are available at Chanel stores and from Selfridges, London. Priced at £170.

Worth the wait. The House of Worth relaunches.

This is news worth waiting for.  The House of Charles Frederick Worth (1826-1895) has been revived.
To fashion slaves, this spells a nervous ripple of anticipation.  The fabrics, textures and fragrances of Worth are legendary and the very basis of modern couture.  So, it's no shrinking violet who can take on the weight, stature and history of this name and ensure it's re-institution and re-elevation to Worthy stature.  

Charles Frederick Worth created one-of-a-kind pieces for his most important clients but he is especially known for preparing a variety of designs that were shown on live models at the House of Worth.  Clients then made their selections and had garments tailor-made in Worth's workshop.  Although Worth was not the first or only designer to organize his business in this way, his aggressive self-promotion earned him the titles "father of haute couture" and "the first couturier."  Thus the nervous anticipation re. the re-launch.

Breathing life into this venerable House is an initiative by House of Worth Ltd.  The company is a direct descendant and combination of the two distinct businesses started by Charles Frederick Worth and his family:clothing and fragrance.  The Worth fragrance business was established in 1932 and has never ceased to be in business since then.  In 2000, the entire business was aquired by Dilesh Mehta of House of Worth Limited.  The House of Worth company aquired Martin McCarthy's intellectual properties in the early 2000's. 

But who's behind the design?  Giovanni Bedin has been commissioned to design for Worth Couture, having shown in January and July 2010 in Paris.  Born in Vincenza into a family of tailors specialising in the art of made-to measure, Bedin studied at Chambre Sundicale de la Couture Parisienne after which, he joined Karl Lagerfeld's studios.  "A wonderful experience that taught me a lot about ways of work as well as a way to live," says Bedin.  Since working for the House of Worth, Bedin has explored the rich archives, a fundamental inspiration for the relaunch, essence and elegance of Worth today.

Worth Couture (pictured) was presented at The Ritz in September 2010.  Now, complementing this collection, is Worth's distinctively simple yet elegant Pret-a-Porter and, going forward lingerie, accessoiries, couture jewellery and gloves with become key elements of the House of Worth.

Big news for fragrance junkies will be the re-launch of Je Reviens perfume (1st edition 1932) in April/May 2011.  Three further parfums of the legendary Je Reviens collection will be unveiled in late Spring 2011.

(Simple white lace shift from House of Worth's RTW collection).