Land of the Lanvin

Since I'm not in any way interested in the Moschino x H&M collection that's dropping today, let me just do a throwback Thursday and recall one of my all time favorite H&M collaborations.



Can't believe it's been 8 years since this went into the stores. Until now, nothing comes close to the H&M x Lanvin collaboration.

My sisters' pieces can attest to that.

Leaving Lanvin - again

So, I was looking for Olivier Lapidus' latest collection for Lanvin.

What I found was news that, after 8 months, he's out of the fashion house!

Apparently, there was some buy-out and he was one of the casualties.

This is yet another proof that Alber Elbaz is a tough act to follow.

Big fashion shoes to fill

When Alber Elbaz left Lanvin, people collectively sighed that no one can replace him.

That may be true, but someone should replace him.

And apparently, it's this woman.

Her name is Bouchra Jarrar, and she's a couturier who's pedigree includes stints at Christian Lacroix.

While I'm a huge fan of Alber Elbaz, I'm excited to see what she comes up with.

Leaving Lanvin

I guess I was too busy with work!

It turns out that a few months ago, Alber Elbaz resigned from Lanvin. After reading it on the net today, I was like WHAT?!?!?!

Two things: I wonder who the new creative director for the brand will be, and where in Alber Elbaz going?

We shall see.

A-muse-ing

More than a month ago, Ate Bullet told me that they were going to have their family portrait taken, and proceeded to ask me to help out in choosing what she should wear for the pictorial. In short, it was another styling (inside) job.

This task was both easy and difficult. Easy because Ate Bullet can pretty much wear anything. (As Mark said before, she can wear a sack and it will still look good.) It was difficult because she has so, so, SO many clothes that it would be a challenge to choose a few pieces.

After asking her what look she was going for, she simply said that she wanted something classic, elegant, memorable but with an eye-catching punch. This actually didn't help because almost all of her clothes are like that.

But choices had to be made, and the parameters that I set were: 1. Neutral or dark colors, 2. Classic shapes, and 3. With details - quirky or otherwise. These parameters led me to these 3 looks.

First, an all-Lanvin x H&M ensemble. It consisted of the ballerina dress, a statement necklace, and black open-toe pumps.

Second, she wore the 3-fabric dress that I designed and Aling Bright made. It really fits her like a glove! And she used the same pair of black pumps.

After this shot, we were pretty much set to call it a night. But the photographer stopped us and said that she wanted to take a photo of Ate Bullet and me, and he had a theme in mind.

"Designer and muse."

I didn't bring anything to wear, except for the clothes on my back. Luckily, Kevin's coat fit me, then I borrowed Kurt's bow tie, then Mau lent me his specs. The final product was me channeling Alber Elbaz, which is cool because I've always liked his work for Lanvin.

For this shot, Ate Bullet wore a black and nude gown which I bought in HKG more than 4 years ago. Finally, it got out of the closet and was worn for the pictorial.

As a final shot, we played around and took this crazy photo of Ate Bullet, Raymond and myself. As I mentioned in my year-end post, it looked like a very convincing photo as people were emailing me, asking if I shifted from Advertising to design. (And the answer was "no.")

In a way, Mau was right. This was a "muse" moment because the 3 women in the family - Mom, Ate Lissa and Ate Bullet - are all muses. They're all into fashion, they all have impeccable style, and they have fun with fashion.

It's an a-muse-ing family indeed.

The Magic of Fashion

Recently, Barneys New York got into a little fashion fracas when it launched their holiday ads which featured "model-lified" Disney characters. They made over some of our favorite Disney characters and changed their proportions from cartoonish to chic.

A lot of people were up in arms saying that it was a travesty to turn these icons of childhood into these unreal and unreachable characters. It's not as if we don't have enough dysmorphic problems with adults, and now they're going to affect kids as well.

Some fashion insiders went on the defense saying: "fashion is fantasy, and this is just a fantasy in the minds of the Disney characters." I totally agree with them. Fashion is supposed to have a touch of fantasy and whimsy. Disney is all about fantasy and whimsy. So, why can't we combine these two together.

After seeing the promotional video of Barneys New York which features this concept, it's obvious that these two can blend together seamlessly.



See, it isn't as bad as people thought it would be. And again, it's just fantasy! Who wouldn't be thrilled to see Minnie Mouse in Lanvin and Daisy Duck in D&G.

Disney and fashion are two of the most magical things in this world. It was just a matter of time that they'd come together.

Better late than never

It's been almost 2 years when the capsule collection of Lanvin dropped in H and M stores worldwide. I think everyone knows how crazy that went - people camping and sleeping outside stores the night before, mad scrambling for 15 minutes, and all sorts of crazy fashion stunts.

Thankfully, I was able to get 4 pieces from that collection - 2 necklaces and 2 dresses. And while my sisters and friends were happy with their Lanvin loot, there was always one dress which I'd like to call "the dress that got away." It's this tulle and organza ballerina dress which was one of the biggest sellers.

A few weeks ago, my friend from Luxemborg sent me an email message. She was one of the people who I contacted last November 2010 to try and secure some items for me. The reason for her sudden email? She said that sometime in January 2011, she passed by an H and M store and saw the ballerina dress that I asked her to buy. And she did!

Unfortunately, she was in the process of moving flats that time, so she packed the dress and forgot about it. That's until she opened some of her boxes recently.

So, almost 2 years since the capsule collection of Lanvin dropped, the tulle and organza dress is finally here!

It's as chic as I imagined it to be.

And it comes with a belt, too.

Usually, I'm not a fan of things that come in late. But in this case, I'm just happy it arrived.

H&M means Happy Manufacturers

As expected, the H&M Lanvin Collaboration was a hit. I asked my friend in Hong Kong, and she said that the lines started forming at 9pm. THE NIGHT BEFORE!!! I kid you not! People brought sleeping bags and really camped out at the Elements, Silvercord and Central branches. Same thing in Europe. My friend in Amsterdam said that most of the items on the on-line store were sold out a few hours after the collection went on-line. And as Kin expected, ebay is now flooded with Lanvin x H&M items. Including the hangers and garment bags. That's how crazy people are for this collaboration. Somewhere in Sweden, the owners and stockholders are sitting, grinning ear to ear. They're indeed, very, very happy.

Counting down to the craze!

On November 2, H&M will finally premiere the Lanvin & H&M collaboration. This is clearly what every fast fashionista is waiting for and I can almost hear the collective bated breath as the big day approaches. In one of the short films, Alber Elbaz said that he almost got a panic attack after seeing the samples since H&M was able to re-create what it took him 9 years to create. When he said "re-create", my thinking was that the collection might be replicas of Lanvin dresses from previous seasons. When I saw some of the "sneak peek photos" floating around the net, it does look like dresses from 4 or 5 seasons past. But I'm sure that won't stop crazed fashionistas from flocking to and grabbing from the shelves of H&M.