Reference This: 1987 X 2018

I love when I spot a reference or nod to fashions past. Let's face it, the industry is a cyclical one. Knowing this I am always baffled when someone would pass over vintage or look at pieces from fashions past as something less than and clamor to grab the newest cheaply made garment from a sweatshop from a foreign land or anything with a designer label on it.

I took my daughter to her first ever concert for her 10th birthday and we saw Katy Perry on her Witness Tour. Check out my gratitude post to her HERE.

My daughter was captivated by the music, lights, props, choreography, dancers and most of all the costumes. This was her absolute favorite

So much so that she chose to sing the same song Katy sang wearing this costume and asked for a replica for her school talent show. Remember me mentioning she is 10? I being the frustrated costumer living in a stylist and writer mom's body I agreed to make her one, in a 10 year old appropriate way. Stay tuned for that DIY tribute look and talent show video coming soon.

After studying the costume elements for my own upcoming creation it struck me that I have seen this before, or the spirit of this before in 1987.

This is an image of supermodel Linda Evangelista wearing CHANEL in 1987 in VOGUE UK (Photographer: Hans Feurer)

The texture of the dress in this photograph, the side sleeve ruffles and cascading leg ruffle made the connection for me. Not a replica obviously but it has the same spirit in my mind. Elements of her Witness tour was VERY 80's and I wouldn't be surprised to know that this image was part of the mood board of Katy's costume designer, Nguyen Cong Tri. This plus two other pieces were custom made in Vietnam in conjunction with the designer and Katy's stylist.

Do you see the reference?

Dream Dress: Yellow

Linda Evangelista 1995 In John Galliano for DIOR

Every girl has a dream gown, or in my case dream gownS. I wanted to talk about this color of yellow in relation o the now "Vintage" John Galliano gown Supermodel Linda Evangelista wore in his S/S 1995 show and again on the cover of Harpers Bazaar. He let her keep the gown which is now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.

 “Oh, my God, this is a fairy-tale dress, and I get to wear it on the cover of and take it to the next level.” (as told to Bazaar)

"I couldn’t have imagined a more beautiful dress. I’m not even a yellow person, but wearing this was one of the most sensational things that has ever happened to me. I loved everything about it. It was sophisticated, it was flirty, it was fun. It was retro, it was modern. I do love a full-on gown where you get to see the ankle. It had every element for me."

Approximately 45 years earlier someone else had their yellow tulle gown moment. This piece if from the collection of collector Paul Brockmann, part of his 55,000 dress collection.

 Now you can have you 1950's Yellow tulle gown moment. Shop this amazing Vintage gown HERE

 Fashion has clear daily functionality but there is also a fantasy component that I have never been able to ignore. 

Rock'N Royalty: 90's Style

Inspired by the birthday of Super Model and Super Mother Christy Turlington I thought about all the fashion editorial's I have seen her in over the years. I fell in love with fashion in the mid-1980's, even though I still feel the 80's was the most hideous fashion decade. This editorial from American VOGUE, October 1990 shot by the talented Irving Penn top's the list of my favourites. I had this magazine and remember cutting these images out and making a collage that surrounded my bedroom mirror. I was 11 years old and completely swept away by the art of fashion, these models and the photography. Her fellow supermodel Linda Evangelista and Model Tatjana Patitz were also featured in the spread.

CHANEL COUTURE

CHANEL

CHRISTIAN LACROIX

 CHANEL

Claude Montana for  LANVIN

 GIANNI VERSACE

 DIOR

 UNGARO

 CHANEL

 GIANNI VERSACE

 LACROIX

YSL

Never Forgotten: Gianni Versace

Seventeen years ago today fashions brightest light was brutally extinguished. It was because of  Gianni Versace that I fell into my life long love affair with Fashion. What remains is an amazing legacy of bold, unique, designs and a giant gaping hole in the industry. He will always remain an inspiration to me.

I still remember where I was when I got the news. I didn't want to believe it and I still don't. Seventeen years later I look back at the child I was, so enamoured with this man's vision for women and liberating them through garments that were way ahead of their time. Garments that the house of Versace continues to make a gallant attempt at emulating but never quite hits the same mark. He was a genius, icon and will always be an muse to me. 

I can't help but believing that the style and fashion landscape would be a different place if Gianni were still here. I long for the day's where the supermodels reigned supreme and the celebrities only occupied the front rows at fashion shows, not the magazine covers. He created the supermodel, the spectacle that we now know as fashion shows and presentations with his over the top cast, music, orchestration and front row. From his mother's dress shop in Southern Italy (Reggio di Calabria) he was THE trailblazer to the celebrity, the supermodel, unique textiles and glamour that was so bad it was way too good.

Image: Helmut Newton

Gianni had an attitude in the business I wish more designers and successful people in general would replicate; There is room for everyone. He would give "unknown" creative's (like Brian Atwood, Todd Oldham, etc..) opportunities that they never otherwise would have received. His pursuit was beauty and expression. He never wanted to stop learning, experiencing and growing from all corners of the world and culture.

1990

In the wise words of Mr. Versace, "Beauty will save the world"

And he is still right.

1946-1997

RIP Anna Piaggi: Queen of Eclecticism

© David Downton, 2000

This morning in Milan, fashion icon, writer and front row fixture passed away at the age of 81.  The fashion world gained another angel and the physical world has lost it's Queen of Eclecticism. 

Not very often are we as a society blessed with an individual that TRULY defies trends and dresses in a truly authentic way. A genuine reflection of their inner self which defies all "rules" and traditional taste. 

Anna Piaggi has been a fashion fixture since the 1970's. She started working for an Italian publishing company (Mondadori) and then onto Vogue Italia. She was known there for her D.P's - doppie pagine, Her Double Page Spreads in Italian VOGUE where she was given creative free reign and released her inner stylist and creative fierceness. She has been a stylist, muse, editor, writer, collector, style icon and front row regular.

She was a friend and muse to Karl Lagerfeld since the 1970's and Manolo Blahnik. He has been quoted as saying she is "modern beyond belief." and created many of the shoes she wore.  

She was also the muse of British milliner Stephen Jones and she had a life long love for unique hats and head pieces.

She was a fashion and accessories collector and constantly mixed Vintage and contemporary, textures and prints.  She loved a fabulous hat and will be remembered for her iconic blue hair that she had up until her death today. She was honored with an exhibition in called "Fashion-ology" at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (2006)

It featured: 265 pairs of shoes, 29 fans, 932 hats, 2,865 dresses, 24 aprons and 31 feather boas.

FUN FACT: She used a RED 1969 Olivetti typewriter daily.

Her style was the definition of eclectic. She mixed prints and  piled on the accessories: Hats, Gloves, Decorative Cains, Purses, Fans, Jewels and Scarves. She mixed old with new, the avant guard with the conservative, and pushed the fashion envelope right off the table. Although some could call her aesthetic silly or costume, I think it is unique, bold and fabulous!   

Anna's life was a vivid textured illustration and lesson to all of us that style knows no bounds except the ones we impose on ourselves. 

Anna and the original supermodels. All wearing Gianni Versace. 1990's

One of MY Living Style Icons Dita Von Teese Sum's it up via her Twitter.