Fashion

Australian label, Secret Squirrel Clothing.

I just posted a L’Wren Scott retrospective over at SwingFashionista.com, and I can’t help but post my favourites up here as well. So feminine, so figure hugging, sexy but lady-like, one of my favourite labels for sure.

Poiret inspired spread with Natalia Vodianova photographed by Steven Meisel for the May 2007 edition of US Vogue. The accompanying article was a full account of Paul Poiret’s life and influence on fashion, read it here. The New York Times also published an interesting article about Poiret and Chanel, read it here.

Christian Dior:

Designer Peter Copping for Nina Ricci:

Marchesa:

If only I had £395.00 spare…

On coggles.com

I just posted about Irene and Vernon Castle on my jazz dance blog, and couldn’t help but post a few photos of Irene Castle here also. She was a fashion visionary and trend setter in the 1910s. She wore cutting edge designs, and – as a dancer’s convenience – shortened her skirts and even bobbed her hair in 1915, long before it became de rigueur.

If you aren’t familiar with Irene and Vernon Castle, here’s a compilation I put together, with footage of the Castles, as well as clips from Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers’ tribute to them, the 1940s film, The Vernon & Irene Castle Story.

From Easy Living Magazine. Photographs by Philip Newton.

I just read about a survey conducted in 2008, that placed Keira Knightley’s green silk gown in Atonement  as the best film costume EVER. I’m not sure that I agree with that, but I did adore that gown and have been thinking about buying a reproduction.

From the Press Association: ‘The emerald green dress worn by Keira Knightley in Atonement has been voted the best film costume of all time. The bias-cut, backless silk gown had fashion editors raving when it first appeared on screen last year.
Knightley’s character, Cecilia Tallis, wore it during a pivotal scene in Joe Wright’s period drama, which is tipped for Oscar nominations. The survey was done for Sky Movies and British InStyle. Following Knightley’s dress were:

• white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe, in The Seven Year Itch;
• little black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn, in Breakfast at Tiffany’s;
• skin-tight pants worn by Olivia Newton-John, in Grease;
• blue gown worn by Kate Winslet, in Titanic;
• tie and waistcoat combination worn by Diane Keaton, in Annie Hall;
• satin corset worn by Nicole Kidman, in Moulin Rouge;
• stockings and bowler hat worn by Liza Minnelli, in Cabaret;
• gown worn by Cate Blanchett, in Elizabeth;
• dresses worn by Vivien Leigh, in Gone with the Wind.

Ian Lewis, director of Sky Movies, said, ‘There’s no doubt that Keira Knightley’s dress in Atonement created a massive stir this year, so it will be interesting to see whether it attains this stand-along iconic status in years to come.”

Read the whole article here.

You can buy a reproduction of the gown from eDressIt.com for about US $150.00, in whatever color you want: