I had no idea that 1997 was such an important date in recent fashion, until I visited “Fashion Big Bang” at Palais Galliera and discovered that it is the year when Alexander McQueen presented his first show at Givenchy and John Galliano at Christian Dior. It also marks the unique moment of Jean Charles de Castelbajac designing all the clothes for … Read More
Karl Lagerfeld again! but by a master biographer…
There is something magical about a biography written in a firm style and meticulously researched. There are so many bad books published at the moment, like the completely superficial text on Carlos de Beistegui, that William Middleton’s “Paradise Now, the extraordinary life of Karl Lagerfeld” is a miraculous treasure. The author, whom I discovered with “Double Vision“, an extensive study of … Read More
The Faubourg Saint Honoré is the hip street to visit…
Faubourg Saint Honoré has definitely become more hip these days with contemporary art galleries joining Talabardon et Gautier and Galerie de la Présidence, Sotheby’s and the Canadian Cultural center. The flower shop Lachaume which moved from rue Royale some years ago has even become good again and Nathalie Obadia opened a new show of Collin Sekajugo, an artist from Uganda … Read More
At Yves Saint Laurent, “Gold” is slim
When Pierre Bergé was still alive, he always had fabulous ideas for the Yves Saint Laurent Museum and we saw, a few years ago, extraordinary exhibitions of Moroccan jewelry and David Hockney’s first iPad drawings in 2010. Now it gets harder to be fascinating with just the collections of couture even though they are fabulous. “Gold, Les Ors d’Yves Saint … Read More
Kimonos and Mardi gras costumes at Musée du Quai Branly
At Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac, an exhibition of 19 th and 20 th century kimonos is illustrated with great prints in teh small first floor galleries (until May 28) while Mardi Gras costumes from New Orleans, decorate the ground floor galleries (until January15). Both shows are a fireworks of color which warmed me up on a recent freezing … Read More
Scotland remains unequalled as far as humor, sceneries and now food
I thought that it would rain all week end so I had practiced to play golf in the rain the previous week so as not to be too disappointed. And the weather was so sunny in Dornoch, the town forty miles north of Inverness, that we could not believe it. A four day week end in Edinburgh and Skibo castle … Read More
Running around and enjoying it…
I was very happy at the prospect of seeing Marc Boisseuil‘s new boxes at Pierre Passebon‘s and when I spotted a huge crowd in galerie Vero Dodat, I was a bit surprised… Well there were two openings at the same time and the other one was of actress Isabelle Adjani‘s dresses in her period films like La Reine Margot and … Read More
At MAD, the 1980’s reign
Former minister of culture Jack Lang was visiting the exhibition with a following of admirers and I am glad I started the visit in reverse, escaping all the politics of the Mitterrand years which are the prologue to the show. Instead, I immediately ran into the heart of the subject, the craziness in design, fashion and advertising of the 1980’s … Read More