Remember the nice lady from the September Issue?

Memo Pad: Coddington Memoir... TV Camera Ready... - Fashion Memopad - WWD.com

That is how I remember Grace Coddington, as the nice lady from the September Issue. Grace was romantic, poetic, endlessly creative, in contrast to austere Anna who slashed her editorial with ice-cold precision. Though I am not an avid believer of fashion stereotypes, I did fall for Grace.

Grace on her move to Vogue US - Courtesy of www.icuinparis.com/blog/

Now, Grace is reported to be working on her memoir that will cover her modeling career in 1960s London and her rise to the upper echelons of the world of Vogue. Visions of Grace in the swinging sixties will serve as a nostalgic read and I expect her career path to be nothing less than deeply inspirational for all those aspiring.

What I personally love about her project is that Grace told Women's Wear Daily that she is “hoping it’s going to be very rich in fashion history. It’s more than just about me.”  Not only is she angelically modest, she also has a great point.

Grace's memoirs have the potential to be a more accessible way into fashion history, a more fresh and fun approach. Oral history is a legitimate research method for both historians and dress historians, so what better way than to learn fashion history through biography? Go Grace!

Grace Coddington on the cover of Vogue 1962 - Courtesy of www.beautyconfessional.net

- Gabriëlle Lucille

Anna Wants To Wear It

I met Anna really high up in the freakiest school building in Midtown where we took a course in Fashion Writing together. I got to know Anna as quirky, smart and funny and so is her blog that is really worth a peek:

I Want To Wear It

PS: she also does a great series of photography called "One a Day" (you have to befriend her on Facebook to see those ;)

The Fashion of Travel

Over the past two years, I have been trying to master the art of travel. The saying that it is not the destination, but the journey that matters totally rings true for me. On the road anything can happen (and it has) and I absolutely love the possibility of the unforeseen happening. From spontaneous layover breakfast dates to the most tedious must-do's of air travel (security checks are like sacred rituals to me), I love it all. Of course, it does require a perfect travel attire.

Stage of Emergency by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia © Steven Meisel

I am usually trying to pull of a "comfortable and sophisticated" look that I hope will spontaneously land me in business class. So far, I have experienced that draped long-sleeves and moderate harem pants are definitely a please-pad-me-down look for security officials, but I still find myself aspiring to that upgrade. (A need fashion is now answering with actual travel collections)

BCBGMAXAZRIA's Bon Voyage Fall 09 © BCBGMAXAZRIA

But what-you-wear is now equally important to what-you-carry. The luggage belt is like a runway (btw. they could definitely make that black dirty rubber a lot cooler, think: advertising). Everybody stands around fixated on all the pieces that ride by. Though most people seem more concerned with their own luggage and getting out of there asap, I am convinced everybody evaluates other people's goods. I do it! In other words, an excellent opportunity to get a good review (or a follow-up let-me-help-you-with-that date). Unfortunately, dragging of my plastic hard-shells is somewhat of an anti-climax on my otherwise thrilling trip.

Though my little orange hard-shell does pop for all the wrong or right reasons, it is vintage or custom-made luggage that I would love to have wheeling behind me: 'Vintage Luggage is back in vogue' and I'm looking to those legendary houses of leather goods, Goyard, Louis Vuitton, Delvaux, Hermès, for inspiration. With a vintage leather trunk I'd imagine myself to be a late Victorian desert crossing Gertrude Bell cum a 1910s ocean liner lady off to New York cum a contemporary fashionable traveler. 

Now, I often heard the petty objection that beautiful luggage is a waste because of the airport's cargo treatment,  but what is more appealing than battered, tattered, worn and torn luggage that shows you 'been there and done that'? That is exactly what you want to exude right? Hard-shell just does not age well, leather luggage ages beautifully.

Goyard Luggage - Courtesy of 00o00.blogspot.com

  - Gabriëlle Lucille

Les Archives de Jalou

Jalou, publisher of L'Officiel (amongst other glossy titles), has made available online for free its archive of L'Officiel from 1921 onwards on Jalou Gallery.Com.

(not just L'Officiel by the way, also international editions, Jalouse, l'Officiel Hommes and more!)

L'Officiel de la Mode - 1960 - no. 455-456

I am pretty excited about all the possibilities it presents for fashion magazines and research.  Though picking up a fashion magazine from a newsstand and carrying those precious glossy pages with you anywhere you go is a daily indulgence, an easily accessible archive of fashion magazines also creates amazing opportunities for the I-Pad and E-Readers. A mini I-pad donned in a leather Gucci case allowing you to browse hundreds of fashion magazines? I wouldn't mind picking that up either.

One a more academic note, the Archives present incredible opportunities for research in fashion studies. You could probably write hundreds of theses and essays around this archive, ranging from fashion illustration in the 1920s to the logomania started in the late nineties, the possibilities are literally endless. Also, historic editions, if available, are often kept in libraries and are very vulnerable to touch. The Archives allows researchers to easily access these sources anywhere without having to wear white gloves to browse through the o-so delicate copies.

Plus, the Archives are very user friendly.  You simply search by keyword, print with just hitting one button and the archives saves trees and money as it allows you to print text and image separately. In an ideal world, the Archives would let you download PDF files.

Whatever your purpose is, either studious or pure nostalgia for fashion faded, the Jalou Archives are an exciting initiative that I would love for other publishers to follow.

- Gabriëlle Lucille

How to find the right words in Fashion?

Check out my debut entry for the MoMu (a.k.a. Fashion Museum Antwerp) blog here!

FYI: MoMu's Masters of Black in Fashion and Custome will be up until August 8! So if you're in Belgium, make sure to pay a visit. Or join the party in Fall, when MoMu is celebrating Stephen Jones' 30th anniversary with a grand exhibition on this legendary milliner's work. You can more info here on the MoMu website.

 Fairchild Dictionary of Textiles

- Gabriëlle Lucille

Fashion for Fashion's Sake, Finally

 Blake Lively for American Vogue  
©Vogue

Finally, fashion's craze with celebrities is starting to pass. The Independent reported that high fashion is now eschewing stars and choosing models again, realizing that celebrities were starting to take center stage.

Gucci's Frida Giannini simply prefers a "generic face that's not related to any particular world." I cannot agree more , why would I want some super ego between me and the piece of my dreams. Like I mentioned in my very first post, the clothing itself conveys the dream and not its wearer. A celebrity's persona easily grows bigger than fashion, overshadowing the creative process and the aesthetic experience.

Does this mean the obsession with celebrity style will also fade? Some retailers thrive by  positioning themselves directly to celeb style. A black dress and white heels allow you to "wear it like Whitney Port". The parts are anonymous, but the sum is celebrity. But for some reason, it is not something I can connect too.

At the same time, Scott Schuman (a.k.a. The Sartorialist) has unleashed a street style revolution which some brands now have lashed onto as a format for their campaigns. Despite this marketed type of street style, genuine street style photography like Bill Cunninghams's On The Street continues to connect me to everyday people who construct their own unique style identities (and not some pre-fab webshop one..)

With celebrities overthrown in a fashion coup, will the upcoming September issues herald an new era of autonomous fashion?

Street style photography
© Scott Schuman/The Sartorialist

- Gabriëlle Lucille

The Row Fall Winter 2010 Runway

I haven't been around for a while, but one precious  F/W 10 collection turned this gray rainy Monday morning into pure bliss and I just want to share my state of near-ecstasy. Browsing through the Fall/Winter magazine of Sien Antwerp, one of Antwerp's most magnificent designer boutiques,  I fell in love with The Row.

The Row is Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's 2007 high-fashion brainchild of clean elegance and laser-sharp femininity in the finest and most comfortable of fabrics. Unlike some sort of celebrity idolatry you might expect from another celeb-backed line, The Row is altogether different and is all about intimate luxury.  Cathy Horyn described the clothes a having "private meaning to the people who wear them".

That's exactly how I feel, I am ready for a secret love affair with those silk trousers and cashmere sweaters.




- Gabriëlle Lucille