Daily Front Row

2011 June 9

Savannah Miller Picks the 2011 Grads to Watch

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Savannah Miller
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Twenty8Twelve designer Savannah Miller graciously reveals the 2011 grads to watch from her alma mater, Central Saint Martins. Remember these names, people! Don't miss the incredible designs in our Gallery. 

"This graduate fashion week marked the end of an era for my old college, Central Saint Martins. This is the last year that the students were based at the famous hallowed halls of Charring Cross Road, where I witnessed many a miracle (most of them performed by my classmate Chris Kane, incidentally).  Last Tuesday night was the final collections show for the graduating class, and it was outstanding. Of the entire bunch, these are my favorites—I've picked them because they, in particular, exemplify the St. Martins aesthetic. The collections are mostly uncommercial, and totally, brilliantly imaginative. Annabel Luton did gorgeous, elegant prints. Crimson Rose O'Shea did a fabulously colourful collection while playing with proportions really successfully. Flaminia Saccucci's printed latex was stunning. Ivan Curia Nunes did gorgeous menswear, and I loved the accessories. Katie Jones’ incredible crochet blew me away. I loved Lucie Sutton’s collection; it felt contemporary, relevant and commercial. I thought Manami Sakurai's giant quilting was adorable and classic CSM. Momo Wang's collection was bananas, with amazing colours and multitudes of different prints all layered up. This one really stood out. I also loved Sheg Wei Wang's amazing knits, and Steven Tai had amazing texture in his collection. I look forward to many more amazingly inspiring young designers emerging from Saint Martins when it moves home.

Until next time,

Savannah xx

For more coverage of graduate fashion week, go to www.catwalking.com. And follow me on Twitter @SAVANNAH_MILLER! 

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2011 June 9

La Mer's Latest Exercise in Luxury

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La Mer's World Oceans Day Creme
Courtesy La Mer View Gallery

To celebrate World Oceans Day and international ocean advocacy organization Oceana, which La Mer has partnered with since 2005, the ne plus ultra purveyor of skincare is launching a limited-edition cream. World Oceans Day Creme, as it is known, will retail for $365 and come in a 100 ml commemorative ocean-inspired jar—but rest assured, it's the same kelp-rich Miracle Broth, developed by Dr. Max Huber, that you've come to know and love. To sweeten the project, La Mer enlisted Soundwalk to create the Seven Seas Sound Mix, a marine-inspired iPhone and iPad app that provides a sensory escape to a more tranquile locale. As ee cummings once wrote: "for whatever we lose  (like a you or a me) / it's always ourselves we find in the sea." THE DETAILS: $365, at select Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman locations, and at lamer.com.

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2011 June 8

BLK DNM Goes Downtown

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Johan Lindeberg
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Our favorite denim doyen, Johan Lindeberg, is opening up shop tomorrow at 237 Lafayette Street for his new XX-luxe brand, BLK DNM. This is the first of a series of pop-ups that will be dotting the globe until the brand's flagship launch in September. Tonight, Lindeberg is feting avec Style.com at the temporary retail digs, called POP 1, which will stay in business for the next six to eight weeks. Party goers will get a sneak peak at the newly renovated space and BLK DNM's brand publication, Gazette 1. "Its purpose is to create an interesting culture and manifest our creativity as a collective, rather than to promote product," described Lindeberg. The poster-sized glossy will be lending an insider view to the art scene with notes passed between Terence Koh and Waris Ahluwalia or a first-person account of Scott Campbell's squabble with an art gallery owner. Other contributors include Wes Anderson, Mathias Augustyniak, Jade Berreau, Hannelore Knuts and more.

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2011 June 8

L'Wren Scott Launches Lula

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L'Wren Scott
Patrick McMullan View Gallery

Chic nibbled on a fruit and yogurt breakfast at Barneys this morning with L’Wren Scott, Adam Glassman, and Simon Doonan to celebrate Scott's new handbag, Lula, launching at the upscale retailer today. Here's what we learned about the elusive globe-trotting designer. She's not a "shorts person"--they're strictly for the beach, darlings. She hates fast food but loves black and white flicks. (Think The Women and La Dolce Vita.) She's partial to color, and didn't own a black purse until she sprung for a classic Hermes a couple years ago. Our favorite part? Scott's evident delight upon meeting...bloggers. "I've never met a blogger before! Do people ever get to see them?" she mused to the early-morning journos.

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2011 June 8

In Case You Missed It...Marc Jacobs' CFDA Acceptance Speech

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Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone at the CFDA Awards
Billy Farrell View Gallery

If you couldn't pull your look together in time and decided to skip the CFDA Awards on Monday, no worries--the highlights are finally hitting the internet. In this vid, Sofia Coppola presents her buddy Marc Jacobs with his "Half-Lifetime Achievement Award" and models strut in the best of the best looks over the years. But we know it's MJ's endearing speech you don't want to miss. 

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2011 June 8

Versace and Tisci Get Dishy

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Just your average dog and human shot.
Photo: Steven Klein View Gallery

In the latest issue of Interview, Donatella Versace chats with Riccardo Tisci, and it's a love fest totale. 

Tisci: "I say to you sincerely that what I very much admire about the Versace maison, and what I am still trying to learn to do myself as I am still young, is that from day one until today, Versace is the peak of sexy but never crosses that red line into the vulgar."

Versace:  "When I worked with Gianni at the end of his life, I was the person with whom he would confide and say anything. If there was something I didn’t like, I would be honest and say, “No, no, no! Do something different.” Do you have anyone like this on your team?"

Tisci:  "Absolutely. It’s super-essential. Even though I don’t have a very big team, for me, the word muse may be démodé or not. I adore it, but I am also one, in my delirium, to be quite classical. For a designer—especially a female designer—he absolutely has to have that female voice by his side, which he listens to, he filters, he digests. It’s a huge need, because when you see through the eyes of a man, you see a woman a certain way, and how they have little tricks of their own. And like I said before, my luck has always been how I’ve had a family of women around me, and I have women who are very close to me now—for example, Mariacarla [Boscono], Carine Roitfeld, Marina Abramovic´. "

Versace: "I like to work with music playing full blast."

Tisci: "Yes. And I love finding new things. At the moment, I am fixated on Nicki Minaj and Antony and the Johnsons, but I’m also one who changes around in music a lot. I love the conceptual aspect of Antony Hegarty or the voices of those back in the day like Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, Ciara." 

Tisci: "In spite of the fact that everyone thinks I am very much a rottweiler-that i am very dark and everything-I have a side that is very romantic that I show to very few people."

Tisci:  "I very much like going dancing."

Versace: "Me too! I will have to go out with you in Paris!" [laughs] 

Tisci:  "No, Donatella, one day we have to do New York together. I’ve seen you in Milano and Paris, but we’ve never been in New York together. We would have so many laughs that it would crack you up. I adore dancing, but I am one who is less for places for showoffs. I like when they don’t care how they are dressed; they are there to have fun and dance."

Versace: "I like places that are less polished as well."

Tisci: "You let yourself go and you dance, and the music is what really goes into your bloodstream. I really see it in this way. I love music more than fashion."

And finally...

Tisci: "Sincerely, I feel sorry for John (Galliano). But for this moment I am leaving aside all the gossip of “I am going here, I am going there,” because there is a lot of gossip circulating and there always will be. I will tell you, in this moment, I am very happy at Givenchy and it is a moment in which I am bringing the game to the next level. So I tell you, I feel at home. It’s as if it were my son. I don’t know how to explain it. It would be very difficult for me to leave."

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