W Magazine: July 2009 Archives

Keep your eye on this hot shot

blog_caroline_01.jpgDanish tennis champ Caroline Wozniacki, 19, recently signed on as the new face of the Adidas by Stella McCartney tennis collection. The leggy blonde with the killer backhand (and her own line of organic hair and body products in Denmark) will be debuting these two McCartney looks at the U.S. Open in September. She'll wear the dusty pink ruffled dress and dark purple asymmetrical-zip warmup jacket (above) for her singles matches and a two-piece gray version (below) for her doubles matches.

Read Sarah Taylor's exclusive interview with Wozniacki HERE.

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Vineyard Fever

Rumor in Martha’s Vineyard is that the Obamas will vacation there this summer, and residents are guessing that the first couple will head to State Road, in West Tisbury. The new locavore restaurant, from chef-owners Mary and Jackson Kenworth (who became beloved by Vineyarders when they owned the Sweet Life Café), is said to be backed by a powerful crew, including Comcast chairman Brian Roberts and former News Corp. president Peter Chernin and his wife, Megan, and was designed by the Obama-appointed White House decorator, Michael Smith. Callers trying to score a reservation are greeted by yet another bigwig with D.C. ties: That’s Vernon Jordan on the answering machine.

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Sienna Miller's Tuna Trauma

blog_sienna_nobu.jpgVocal Greenpeace campaigner Willie McKenzie believes that Nobu’s 25 locations are “feeling the pain” as the result of a letter sent to chef and founder Nobu Matsuhisa protesting his use of endangered bluefin tuna. British heiress Kate Goldsmith masterminded the missive, which was signed by stars and socials, including Sienna Miller, Elle Macpherson, Charlize Theron and Jemima Khan. But regardless of the many celebs currently boycotting the seafood empire, Nobu seems to be wavering only slightly on its stance. Though a restaurant spokesperson told W that it is now looking at sourcing Australian farm-raised tuna as an alternative, she asserted that there is “still an enormous demand for [bluefin tuna] in our restaurants.”

Above: Sienna Miller protests bluefin tuna at Nobu. Photo: Sushi: Tetra Images/Alamy; Miller: Fotonoticias/WireImage.

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Best use of a vacant car dealership we've seen

blog_gallery_goround.jpgThis week, Gallery Go-Round escapes the confines of Manhattan for the leafy acres of the Berkshires. Made in the USA is a wide-ranging group show of contemporary art installed in a former car dealership in Great Barrington, MA. Pete's Motors, which closed in the fall, used to sell Ford and GM vehicles. Through August 2, it's home to work by such artists as Haluk Akakce, Darren Bader, Elizabeth Neel, Yasue Maetake and Leo Fitzpatrick. The non-profit public exhibition was co-curated and produced by Philip "Pip" Deely (director of New York's Rental gallery), Cathy Deely and Kalika Farmer. The opening on June 27 drew a mix of Berkshires arts patrons and New Yorkers, and featured a performance by Michael Portnoy. Later, Cathy Deely hosted a bash at her family's storied estate, Ingleside, which was once a favorite retreat for artist Fairfield Porter.

Special thanks to Christos Katsiaouni, who took these photographs for us.

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The show is free and open to the public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Click HERE for more information.

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Couture report: Valentino, Gaultier, Givenchy

Thumbnail image for blog_fall_couture3_01.jpgValentino: After last season's debut couture collection that looked straight out of the archives, for fall Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli waved arrivederci to the familiar, taking the collection in an artsier, considerably younger direction—one, by the way, that made no provisions for life before nightfall. In place of the designer Valentino's carefully balanced, color-rich equation—day + cocktail + evening = a lineup the ladies will love—Chiuri and Piccioli installed a mostly all-black array of wispy and wispier, moody and moodier, while featuring myriad sheers. "A story of shadows," Piccioli called it, intended to reveal "the essence of couture, its construction." The show started well, A-line minidresses made fragile in collages of Chantilly lace, point d'esprit and tulle that provided peek-a-viewing to the corsetry beneath. Throughout, the designers flaunted the fine work of the Valentino ateliers, at times doing so judiciously—a spill of beads on a pretty ballerina dress; a come-hither thicket of ruffles on a skirt. But soon... more

Jean Paul Gaultier: The designer chose to low-key his greatest hits reprisal, sending out familiar motifs under the guise of a mini filmography. A short, racy pin-striped suit with matching thigh-high boots took the handle "La Blonde ou la Rousse" (or "Pal Joey"); a snappy sequined sailor T-shirt over slit bell-bottoms, "Querelle de Brest"; a short metallic sequin tunic under a leather vest, "A Star Is Born." And so on through Gaultier's own lexicon—trench, smoking, pj's, glamour gown, lavish fur, molded corset, now swinging two ways, Mae West and Barbarella. Make no mistake, this show featured some very appealing, client-friendly clothes. But given Gaultier's talents and subject matter, its only surprise was it didn't develop into a blockbuster... more

blog_fall_couture3_03.jpg Givenchy: Riccardo Tisci has taken Givenchy far from Paris and set up camp in North Africa. To the rat-a-tat-tat of Moroccan cymbals, the designer staged a transporting, open-air couture show, with fluttering chiffon hoods and swishing sarouel pants evoking the traditional costumes of Berber women—albeit with a streetwise edge. The show opened on a strong note, with black velvet carved into coats and jackets with demonstrative shoulders and cinched waists. Tisci has mapped out tough glamour as his fashion turf, and his models—with chunky gold rings on every finger and tiaras of spikes worthy of the Statue of Liberty—looked ready to defend it... more

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Couture report: Chanel, Armani Prive, Lacroix

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Chanel: Provocateur that he is, Karl Lagerfeld knows that there's something to be said for a high-profile flap now and then. So much so, that he transferred the notion to his haute couture collection for Chanel, which he showed on Tuesday evening against a set of four towering Chanel fragrance bottles. Though its near-10 p.m. start time seemed to herald otherwise, this was, by Lagerfeld's standards, a low-key collection, one focused on the complete wardrobe needs of Chanel's tony clientele. Hence, the plethora of fine suits, several appealing coats—including a brown-and-black tweed over jaunty cropped pants and autumn-leaf-toned tweed with triple sable border—and smart, versatile dresses, all shaped from a small, girlish, rounded shoulder. If it rings classic, it was... more

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Giorgio Armani Prive: Bring on the smart pantsuits with lean-cut jackets in countless distinctive variations, some fastened with large, studded dome buttons; the slim dresses, the savvy glam gowns. As for playing to his gal's radical side—and his own cool assurance—Armani dared to evoke a sporty attitude, which borrowed unmistakably from the boys, rendered in shirts (albeit sometimes of the naughty-lace variety) tucked into low-slung pants, as well as ample appearances of hoodies, blousons, polo shirts and demonstrative utility zipper, which made tracks across day clothes and high evening alike. Within the ever chichi context of couture, it made for a bold statement. Yet Armani's intent was not to rethink couture by dressing down... more

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Christian Lacroix: The designer showed a breathtaking collection that, while utterly signature—not one item could have been conjured by anyone else—was completely reality-based and wearable, from start to finish. Though apparently a product of necessity—the coffers are pretty much empty—the newly sedate collection looked as haute as ever, yet now utterly suited for life beyond a dream sequence. Lacroix's ultradecorated Basque jackets became a saucy spencer with jeweled pockets and a gold-buttoned military affair; an asymmetric draped cocktail dress had a controlled spill of jewels down the front; a drop-waist coatdress looked almost stark. But the biggest surprise was evening, almost all black and linear (save for a remarkable full-skirted, flamenco-influenced knockout), his passion for decoration as subtle as a point d'esprit fichu, and for color, a single vibrant, well-placed ribbon... more

Click HERE to see the full coverage of Paris Couture on WWD

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Couture report: Christian Dior, Alexis Mabille

It's July, and that means it's time for the couture in Paris. See the full coverage on WWD.

Thumbnail image for blog_fall_couture_01.jpgThumbnail image for blog_fall_couture_02.jpgChristian Dior: "In this economic climate, I want to focus on the established codes of Dior: the Bar jacket, the panther, the lily of the valley," John Galliano said of his approach for Christian Dior this fall. That platform translated into a collection both controversy-free and superb in its own right.... "It all begins with the corset," he said. He thus sent out models wearing dresses worked in various transparencies, or seemingly caught in states of undress—jacket sans skirt, enormous ball skirt sans bodice. It was, he quipped, as if the girls weren't ready, and someone said, "Just go!" This allowed him to show off the craft of couture-building via the most intricate, exquisite undies imaginable—hand-made bras, corsets, girdles, garters, tap shorts, stockings—and to provide the kind of rich theater that is now as core to the house as the Bar jacket. Atop the corsetry: inventively molded and decorated takes on that iconic item; lean, your-slip-is-showing dresses, and volume galore, in a fab embroidered coat; short, crisp crinolines and dream-sequence evening stunners... more

Thumbnail image for blog_fall_couture_03.jpgAlexis Mabille: This hot young French designer can do girly or glamorous--and it all looks like a dream. Dressing gowns, lace-trimmed handkerchiefs and antique bedsheets were among the elements Mabille summoned from his childhood memories of linen closets to create a chic collection that woke up his audience at the start of Paris couture week. Mabille has a very Gallic sensibility, and he evoked French maids with his eyelet-edged gauze dresses and vintage Yves Saint Laurent in his pajamalike smokings and a black evening column that revealed touches of flesh in between pert black bows. But he also has a young and fresh sportswear sensibility all his own, rendering an oversize T-shirt dress in layers of cloud-blue organza and edging it with pastel organza petals... more

Related post: When in Paris, the man to know at the Ritz... and what he knows

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Gavin Brown, Grillmaster

blog_gallery_goround.jpgLast Thursday's unveiling of the group show The Living and the Dead at Gavin Brown Enterprises felt less like a gallery fete than an all-out block party. In addition to the works by Elizabeth Peyton and Cindy Sherman (among many others) hanging on the walls inside, guests were treated to hot dogs and hamburgers served up by none other than Gavin Brown. By sunset, the sidewalk was littered with artists and gallery-hoppers alike, all with full bellies and that lazy summer feeling.

blog_gbe_1.jpgblog_gbe_2.jpgblog_gbe_3.jpgblog_gbe_4_rachelfeinstein_johncurrin.jpgRachel Feinstein and John Currin

blog_gbe_5_jennyborland.jpgJenny Borland

blog_gbe_6_gavinbrown.jpgblog_gbe_7_gavinbrown.jpgGavin Brown at the grill.

blog_gbe_8.jpgblog_gbe_10_dancolen_darrenbader.jpgDan Colen and curator Darren Bader

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Photos by Ryan James MacFarland.

Click HERE to see Gallery Go-Round coverage from the P.S.1 Afterparty opening.

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