Maria Cornejo And The Balancing Scale Of Family And a Career In Fashion

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 Huffington Post writer, Natalia Brezenski interviewed designer Maria Cornejo about her career in the world of fashion, modern women and, aging in this industry. In a world where women are expected to balance career and family fearlessly like its second nature it was nice to read an interview from a female designer with children that really gives an honest looks about about balancing the two.

Natalia Brzezinski: As a successful businesswoman, what do you think of the status of women today?


Maria Cornejo: I think we really shot ourselves in the foot by overdosing with the women's liberation movement. Now we're expected to juggle it all and be everything to everybody and that's the problem. Women have become these super-duper Amazons but there's something to be said for admitting we can't do everything.


I had a big meltdown with my boys at home and said I know you think I'm superwoman and I can do everything, but I can't! Sometimes you just have to admit defeat and let go of perfection.


What's the missing link?


Career is one thing, but you also have to have a life. Women are out there multi-tasking and guilt-tripping, and my husband, for example, works from home, does yoga, and when I come home exhausted will make me dinner.


I don't think there is an ideal of womanhood anymore. It's become a lot more real now and people are embodying their dreams.


In addition to having a fabulous husband, how do you balance work and family?


It's about trying to be present wherever. I don't have a Blackberry and my husband is totally against checking email at home. We don't have phones at the dinner table. But it's a struggle. One day, I'm feeling like I'm not devoting enough energy to everybody at the office or at home, constantly guilty that I'm not quite managing it. Another day you just stop beating yourself up and you go well you can only do what you can.
designers like to have uniform look throughout the show, but we like women to have their own look not a cookie-cutter image. It's much more interesting

Check out the rest of this article at The Huffington Post

The Galliano Saga Continues...

Photo from dailymail.uk

You know the kids song " This is the song that never ends"? Well this is the story that seems to never  end. If anything this is a lesson to watch your mouth and your liquor because you stand to lose everything you have worked for.

 John Galliano has been sacked from his eponymous label, following a decision made by the company's board. The fashion house will hand the designer's responsibilities to its in-house creative team. Christian Dior SA currently owns 91 per cent of John Galliano, although there are as yet no plans to sell the brand - according to reports by WWD. [Source]

 Ouch!

Mary Kate and Ashley To Launch New StyleMint in July

Getty Images via Fashion Telegraph

OK I will be the first to admit that I am a fashion snob and I really hate when actors quit their day jobs to magically become amazing designers. With good reason because 98% of the time there is an actual designer busting their ass creating a line of clothes only for the celeb to come in for an hour and pick out what they like. Often times the designer never even gets mentioned for all their hard work.

OK tangent over because this is not the case with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, they're legit designers and obviously entrepreneurs so it isn't a surprise that these two are expanding their ever growing empire and going digital with their fashion projects.



According to Fashion Telegraph the Olsen Twins Style mint is a subscription based website that offers a customized and unique shopping experience for the customer, think online personal personal shopper:

Those hankering after a slice of the duo's revered style will be able to do so from approximately £21 a month ($29.99). Functioning as a monthly opt-in site, shoppers will be invited to create a personalised profile after taking a style questionnaire. Debuting with a collection of women's T-shirts designed by the Olsens, customers will then receive a selection of pieces to choose from, based on their style profile. Style videos featuring the twins will also feature.
Mary-Kate Olsen told WWD: "With Stylemint.com, Ashley and I have created an online experience reflecting our love of style and allowing us to engage with our customers directly, which is an inspiring new way for us to think and create as designers."[source]

What do you guys think of the having a subscription based service like stylemint? Would you pay that much for it? I personally am not a fan of making customers pay to have access to clothes only to pay again to buy them but you know what whatever people do with their money is their business. My comment box is in full swing now so let me know how you feel about it.

Former Vogue Editor in Chief Carine Roitifeld " Today's fashions don't let people dream like they used to."

Former French Vogue Editor in Chief Carine Roitifeld gives an honest look on the current state of fashion her interview with Speigel International. I really appreciate her candidness in this interview, a lot of people see the glamor and glitz of the fashion industry but have no idea how tough this business really is especially in the modern world where trends cycle globally twice as fast as they did decades ago before blogging and the internet.


An excerpt of the Speigel Interview: 

SPIEGEL: Does this world of vanity, in which fortunes are spent on trivial things, corrupt people?
Roitfeld: The fashion industry certainly has its obscene sides. The cost of a coat can be obscene. So can the cost of a photo shoot if you're working with a really good photographer. But when I see how good the photos have turned out or even how well the coat was made or how many people worked on it, it's not quite so obscene anymore. Of course, it's not like we're working in a hospital; we don't save lives every month. We just make decisions about skirt lengths, about an inch more or an inch less. That's all.
SPIEGEL: Did that ever seem pointless to you?
Roitfeld: For 10 years, it was a hell of a lot of fun. But, toward the end, it unfortunately got less and less fun. You used to be able to be more playful, but now it's all about money, results and big business. The prêt-à-porter shows have become terribly serious. The atmosphere isn't as electric as it once was, and they now have about as much charm as a medical conference. But it takes just one good fashion show to get things exciting again.
SPIEGEL: If fashion can tell us anything about the age it's created in, what do you think current fashions tell us?
Roitfeld: Today's fashions don't let people dream as much as they used to. Twenty years ago, fashion was a promise -- something that was part of your life and perhaps enriched it, something that reflected a particular era. If you look at advertisements these days, all you see are handbags. They aren't about dreams anymore; customers are buying objects now, not dreams.[Speigel]

If you get the chance read through the entire interview, its actually quite interesting and really gives and honest view of the fashion industry from someone who has spent 20 years working in it.

Anna Wintour Graces The Cover of The Wall Street Journal

 

One of the most powerful voices in the fashion industry graces the cover of The Wall Street Journal. For people who don't follow the ins and outs of the fashion industry. Anna Wintour is the Editor-in- Chief of American Vogue magazine. Taking over the reins of the classic magazine in 1988, Mrs. Wintour brought a new life to Vogue and the magazine industry as a whole being the first to use celebrities on the cover of a major fashion magazine. Her demanding and often times aloof personality is a famous as she is being the inspiration behind the book turned movie The Devil Wears Prada. With all of that aside Anna Wintour is a powerhouse of celebrity that has well earned her respect in the fashion industry branding Vogue and herself so well she is easily shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart. Check out The Wall Street Journal's article on The Business of Being ANNA.

[Photo Source: The Wall Street Journal]

CFDA Announces Dates for 2012 Fashion Season In New York

Mark your Calenders! The Council of Fashion Designers of America just announced the dates for the 2012 collections held in New York. Starting on September 8th and ending September 15th you will be seeing what designers have cooked up for their Spring 2012 collections. The CFDA also announced their Fall 2012 dates which will be held from February 9th to February 16th, 2012.

After viewing the Fall 2011 collections I am so excited to view the collections for Spring 2012. Hopefully you guys will get a chance to see the full effect of some of the up coming trends I have been yammering about for last few weeks or so. Like this last season I will be reviewing some of the major shows but I think I will be focusing more on less well known designers that sometimes get brushed over.

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Christian Dior Honored In Art Exhibition In Moscow

Another great designer is being honored for his contributions to the arts and fashion. The works of Christian Dior will be honored in an exhibition entitled Inspiration Dior that will be held in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. Womens Wear Daily reports:

The showcase, opening to the public April 28 and running through July 24, is to feature about 120 couture dresses along with some 60 blue-chip artworks, including paintings from the Pushkin’s bulging collection and others on loan from top museums and private collections.

Dovima with Elephants

Along with many of Christian Dior's most famous looks including 1479s "New Look", will be an image of Dovima with Elephants one of the most iconic photographs taken in world of fashion. Photographed by the famous Richard Avedon and Irving Penn this photograph  " set the gold standard for American Photography" according to Owen Edwards. Dior's famous dress really made this photograph an icon, any other design would have fallen short of its grace.

The exhibition will be covering the full history of Dior including pieces of his famous successors such a Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano even expanding to the company's leather goods, jewelry, and perfumes. But nothing will over shadow the influential designs of Christian Dior's pieces when he reined the fashion industry.

Students of fashion and even those who have a love of fashion recognize the influence of Dior on the fashion industry, but the general public would probably fail if this were a test question on a game show. In case you had fallen asleep during your "Fashion History 101" class here is a brief history.  When WWII began, in order for the country to save money from war cost, everyone had to cut back, including designers, those fabric heavy dresses from the 1930s vanished and designers took to designs that fit closer to the body therefore using less fabric.

The debut of The New Look

 Fast forward to after the war,  Dior debuted the "New Look" which turned the fashion industry as a whole on its head. Long gone where the body hugging dresses of the last 8 years and in came the famous circle skirts and play on volumes on parts of the body that have not been seen in fashion. The audience and especially Hollywood took to this look quickly and it easily became the look of an entire generation.   Anytime you look Hollywood film  from  that decade or a movie based on that decade such as Audrey Hepburn's Funny Girl  and even Grease you will see the influence of Dior's look.

Christian Dior only saw the beginning of his fashion influence passing away in 1957 but not only will the work of Christian Dior live on so will the contributions of  his successors. Dior has always obtained an extremely high standard when it comes to its clothes, standards that very few designers wouldn't dream to duplicate, but when you have such a rich heritage and body of work such a Dior's it is expected for you to be always be in the forefront of fashion and the Dior name along with its standard will live on for many generations to come.



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Roberto Capucci Celebrated In New Art Exhibition

The name Roberto Capucci is probably a name that doesn't ring a bell when you think of the power houses of couture designers in the last 100 years, but in fact Capucci is one of most famous designers in the history of Italian fashion. According to the Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Museum Of Art will be showing an exhibit of  Capucci's masterful pieces in an art exhibit entitled Art Into Fashion showing from March 16th though June 5th.

Born in 1930, Robert Capucci rose up the fashion ranks quickly, assisting designer Emilio Schuberth in his later teenage years until he opened up his own studio in 1950. From then on Capucci has graced us with his architectural approach to fashion designing.

In 1956, the international press praised him as the best Italian designer. Through the years Capucci earned his title as one of the best designers in Italy and received many awards and praises from designers such as Christian Dior for his accomplishments. In 1965, Capucci released his first mens fragrance entitled Capucci.

Capucci was a true artist in the respect that he designed merely the love of the art not for commercial following,most of his shows held in private. Interestingly enough Capucci refused to duplicate the designs of his garments. If a patron wanted to buy one of his garments they had to be the same measurements as the model who originally wore his gowns.

Through the late 60s into the 1970s Capucci shifted his work to costume design for theater and films. His work in costume design was later noted as the foundation of his works in the later parts of his career. In the latter part of his career, his garments were finally recognized fully as works of art. Some of the largest museums in the world, from the Galleria di Arte Moderna to Guggenheim Museum in New York displayed art exhibits of his work.

Usually showing close to 100 pieces in his art exhibitions, Capucci's pieces are if anything a study of architecture around the human form.
His pieces have the ability to softly flow in three dimensions. Every angle you look at in his pieces is a new take on his garment, showing layers upon layers of different angles and shapes that are sometimes hard to imagine being done on a piece of clothing.

Not only did Capucci explore the realms of archetecture on garments with shapes, lines, and angles he also explored color with his pieces. Capucci had the amazing ability and knowledge of color and had the ability create and blend color combinations with his fabrics. Naturally mastering color theory, Capucci was not only able explore color but he was able to pull back and explore the absence of color. He seemed to know when color was not needed in his garments and shift the focal point to the actual construction of his pieces.

Not only were his garments praised as works of art but the fashion sketches he created of his garments were praised as well. Beautifully drawn pictures of flourishing shapes are often put on display along with his garments. It is truly amazing to see his creative process, recreating every detail of his vision on paper and translating them identically into something tangible. Celebrating his 81st birthday in December, Capucci as a living legend in the the art world and his work should be a study to not only fashion designers but artist, and those who have an  appreciation and respect of the arts.




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John Galliano FIRED from Dior: UPDATE With Video

Welp it is the end of an era. According to The Wall Street Journal  Dior is proceeding forward with axing John Galiiano as creative director of Dior.

PARIS—Christian Dior launched a dismissal procedure against John Galliano, its star designer, as the iconic French fashion house moves to distance itself from anti-Semitic statements he allegedly made.

French police have been investigating Mr. Galliano's actions. Making anti-Semitic remarks is illegal in France, and can bring up to six months in prison.

On Tuesday, Dior said it had launched the procedure to fire Mr. Galliano because of the "odious behavior and comments" displayed by the designer in a video that circulated widely on the Web Monday.   

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I have no words for this besides pure disgust. Prejudice people simply hate themselves and are just in denial about it. In order to soothe their own self hatred, they let it manifest itself into other people when in reality it is a projection of their own feelings about themselves. The fashion industry has its faults believe me, but its good to hear that there are design houses out there that have a no tolerance rule against such actions. I only hope that this is a lesson for Mr. Galliano and he is able to take accountability for his actions and work towards helping himself.

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UPDATE: We've got video! Take a look at John Galliano spewing a drunken, racist rant. Watch here.

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Breaking News: Dior Creative Directior John Galliano Suspended

So here's the scoop. Apparently Mr. Galliano has been a very bad boy. This morning Dior has announced that Mr. Galliano has been suspended as the creative director at Dior pending further investigation. Allegedly when he was in Paris, he had a little too much to drink and not only assaulted a couple but spewed some very anti-semetic remarks. To get the low down play by play go here. Mr. Galliano was apprehended last night, but no word if he has been released or not. JUICY! For more details head to Vogue.UK

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News: You didn't hear this from me...

 Spring 2012 you might want to dust off all your tribal inspired prints and buy lots of bangles, we might be heading towards Bohemia. Developing...

News: All Hail McQueen

One year after losing the iconic Alexander McQueen, fashions big hats come together to celebrate the life of Mr. McQueen and reveal a new exhibit entitled Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty  . Get more on this story and more at Links of The Daily


 Photo Source: Modelina.com