April 2012 ASOS Magazine

The April 2012 issue of of ASOS Magazine features cover star, Léa Seydoux, the 25-year-old French actress and currently the face of Prada's Candy fragrance was shot exclusively by ASOS and photographer Eric Guillemain on loaction around paris. Woody Allen's muse and Tom Cruise's co-star wears Miu Miu lighting print dress, soon set to appear alongside Diane Kruger in Farewell, my Queen!. Seydoux talks about her inspiration from the likes of Johnny Depp, why she was bad at school and why style is more important than trends. Styled by Zeba Lowe working with Miu Miu, Prada, ASOS print shirt dress and drawstring hem shirt. Hair by Joseph Pujalte, Make up by Marie Duhart.

www.ASOS.com | www.ericguillemain.com

Prints Charming

With more prints than all of Spring 2012 combined, two faceless ladies lay tied up in the busyness of layered silk prints from Pucci, Etro, Missoni, Jean Paul Gaultier, Ferragamo and more of our patterned favorites. The spectacle will have your eyes wide open and ready to get back to WERQ.

Adriana vs. Doutzen

 – Adriana Lima and Doutzen Kroes get into a girl fight for the “Sports” issue of V Magazine. In front of Mario Testino’s lens, the Victoria’s Secret Angels wear sexy lingerie inspired ensembles that are a cross between super heroine chic and boxing gear in the provocative selects of stylist Nicola Formichetti.

PFW Fall '12: Gareth Pugh

Something about Gareth Pugh brings out the philosopher in his collaborators. Soundsmith Matthew Stone was talking about "the archetypal human need for religion." Makeup artist Alex Box was brooding on the penitence of nuns. Pugh himself shied away from anything directly tied to the dinner party's favorite conversation killer, but maybe that's because he felt his designs had done the talking for him. The fiercesome insularity of his clothes suggested a world where women had dispensed with the fripperies of civilization—i.e., men—in favor of a faith in female power. Nothing as blandly noxious as girl power, mind you. More a kind of cannibalistic, Amazonian, mutant force. And that sure made for a great fashion show.
Petals of black had scarcely stopped cascading from the ceiling when Joan Smalls marched onto the catwalk in a yeti shag and Aztec headdress, like the high priestess of a techno death cult. Furriness and fringing in multiple variations followed, creating a liquid, indefinable silhouette. When Pugh drew that silhouette back to the body, he used snakeskin on a jersey backing, a sinuously elemental effect which automatically evoked the poor misbegotten serpent who tried to wise up Adam and Eve to their state of unblissful ignorance in Eden. But if Eve took the rap for Adam's fall, Pugh was determined to restore some semblance of her dignity. His women were battlefield-worthy in their funnel necks and spiked shoulders. And their enemy? Could it be God Himself, textured through Stone's soundtrack by Twitter voices saying His name? The conceit was an audacious one, but it's hard to ignore the niggle that Pugh needs something bold at this point in his career to knock him up to the next level. Alien beauty has a shelf life, after all.- style.com

PFW Fall '12: Mugler

Since getting hired at Mugler over a year ago, creative director Nicola Formichetti and his head of women's design, Sébastien Peigné, have pointed their compasses forward, relying as much on the power of Formichetti's celebrity, and that of his pal Lady Gaga, as the name of the brand. They've had mixed-to-middling results doing so, which must be why tonight's show was their most ambitious yet.

It was also their most intimate. For the last two seasons, Mugler's large, elevated catwalks kept the models and the clothes at a remove from their audience. Here, the setup was reversed—the models walked just inches front the front row—and it made a difference. So, too, did the scope of the collection. Formichetti and Peigné divided the show into sections, bookending it with a series of white looks in sculptural cashmere and neoprene with fluted peplums and fox-fur sleeves to start, and mostly sheer black "ninja" outfits to end.

The strongest pieces came in between, mostly because they were the result of careful study of the Mugler oeuvre, a not insignificant body of work. Few designers created as potent and recognizable a vocabulary as he did. The superheroine shoulders, the body-loving cut, the optimism inherent to his eighties heyday—they came together best in a yellowy-orange stretch jersey dress. A pair of sheer dresses with their appliqués of python and crocodile will find their way into Gaga's traveling trunks before long, but there was also a trio of white coats that you could imagine seeing in a department store. All in all, a positive step ahead for team Mugler.-style.com

PFW Fall '12: Rochas

The Fall Rochas show was a swirling kaleidoscope of graphic, geometric prints inspired by the pottery of the Swedish ceramicist Wilhelm Kage. Designer Marco Zanini collects his pieces; still, he was surprised when he found himself using them in his own work. He usually starts with an image of a woman or a movie.

Well, the change did him good. Despite what Zanini called the collection's "certain disregard for quiet good taste," there were many good, wearable pieces for both day and evening. Unlike his show for Spring, which had a formal fifties couture look, this one had a cooler seventies vibe. Jacquard pants were deeply flared and nearly grazed the floor despite the models' stacked heel sandals. And the collection's "ugly" prints (including those on the clashing tights) reminded some in the crowd of nineties Prada, when Miuccia herself was taking a closer look at the seventies. Zanini was extra proud that they were painted by hand, without the use of a computer. An interlocking diamond pattern that looked like stained glass on a button-down shirt and on matching flares was particularly compelling.
However, it wasn't all prints, all the time. A mustard ribbed sweater (one of the collection's many excellent knits) was paired with silk pants in a slightly different shade of yellow, giving the eyes a chance to rest. Zanini's finale ball gowns came in warm fall colors like that, but not before he sent out a trio of floor-length dresses fearlessly enlivened with pattern. Who needs good taste?- style.com

PFW Fall '12: See by Chloé

The little-sister line to Chloé took its first (virtual) steps onto the runway today. See by Chloé became the second label, after the relaunched ICB by Prabal Gurung, to strut into the online ether as part of Digitalfashionshows.com, which allows an invite-only crowd to screen prerecorded shows. It's hard to imagine Chloé ever making such a move—especially as it gears up to celebrate its 60th anniversary this year—but little sisters are often more adventurous than their elders. Especially when they've got parents in high places pushing them along. "It felt right to support this strong and directional collection and to promote See by Chloé via an innovative and new digital platform which allows optimum visibility to the label," Chloé CEO Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye said.

As a move to up visibility, the decision was a success. (Case in point: You're reading about it here.) With greater visibility, however, comes greater scrutiny. Chloé's Clare Waight Keller is not the creative force at the helm of See, and in fact, the company doesn't identify a designer or team behind the line. Maybe that's why the collection itself feels more anonymous than it might. The See aesthetic riffs on that of the Chloé main line, especially in its emphasis on long, fluid lines, soft volumes, and a pretty, feminine bent. For Fall, the femme got flirty with an emphasis on sheer mesh tops and dresses in silk georgette, viscose, and silk, fineness that played off the roughness and slouch of oversize outerwear and tailored pieces in denim and wide-wale corduroy. Piece by piece, you could see items that should energize customers on the sales floor, but overall, the message wasn't as distinctive as the medium.- style.com