The Milan Fashion Scene
MILAN--Forget backstage at the shows; the place to be during fashion week is the bar at the Hotel Principe di Savoia. (Imagine a vignette from Robert Altman’s film “Pret-a-Porter” and you get the picture.) Alexander McQueen stopped in over the weekend for a couple of bottles of bubbly with friends. The British designer, who works in Paris, was in town to meet with buyers, but he had some big news for L.A. He’s planning a trip this spring to scout out locations for his first L.A. store.
Holding court at a round table on another night was celebrity makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin, who had some sad news. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor last fall. The tumor has been removed and he is looking well. Plans are still going forward for his makeup line, which should be in stores in a few months.
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Earrings Made a Splash
What people wear in the audience at fashion shows can be as important as what’s coming down the runway. Here, the major trend was earrings--the bigger the better--with chandelier styles and anything turquoise being the most popular. The handbag of choice was the Yves Saint Laurent leather hobo with an antler for a handle, and the shoe was Prada’s buckle-toe D’Orsay pump in suede, gold brocade or animal print. Most editors picked their shoes up in one of Milan’s three Prada stores where, as one woman put it, “It wasn’t ‘Do you have that color in my size?’ It was ‘What do you have left in my size?’”
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Like Father, Like Son
Stephen Fairchild, the son of legendary fashion editor and W magazine founder John Fairchild, is the latest fashion progeny to venture into the business.
After stints designing for Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, Fairchild launched his own line in Italy last year. To stand out among the new names on the runway calendar here, the designer created an irresistible photo op to show his clothes: an Asian-themed party at Hotel Diana Majestic Sunday night with models clad in kimono coats, mandarin collar shirts and low-slung menswear-inspired trousers who lounged seductively on velvet pillows, smoking fake opium pipes a la Marlene Dietrich in “Shanghai Express.”
Although his father coined the term “beautiful people,” Fairchild said he isn’t interested in running with the jet set. “Who says I have to be in that group?” said the 40-year-old, who lives in Brussels with his wife, Erin, and daughters, ages 5 and 7.
“I’m married, I’m into my family and I just want to make women look beautiful and feel good without ripping them off.” (Fairchild’s clothes start at $70 wholesale and are not available in the U.S.) As for his now semi-retired papa, who was at the party: “You have to be a madman to go into fashion,” he said. “I don’t miss it a bit.”
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Chelsea and Donatella
New girlfriends Chelsea Clinton and Donatella Versace had such a blast at the designer’s couture show in Paris last month that they were back together Tuesday night. The former first daughter warmed a front row seat at the designer’s ready-to-wear show, the week’s finale. With her sleek new hairstyle and kohl eye makeup still intact, Clinton looked splendissima in black pants, a white trench coat and stilettos with lace-up corset detailing on the toes--all Versace, of course. This time, boyfriend Ian Klaus, a 22-year-old Rhodes scholar at Oxford, was on her arm.
It must be love, because Clinton kept her hand on his knee throughout the entire parade of sexy psychedelia.
Between the filmy gowns and busty tops, was there anything Klaus saw for his gal?
“Sure,” he said. “She looks good in just about anything.”
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Hollywood Italian Style
Tod’s founder Diego della Valle was so inspired by his trip to L.A. last March, he decided to bring a little Hollywood glamour to Italy.
For his Sunday night bash at a warehouse, he tapped Italian production designer Dante Ferretti (who has designed films for Federico Fellini, Martin Scorsese and others) to re-create sets from six classic films, incorporating Tod’s products.
In the store windows from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Ferretti showcased evening bags from a collection designed for this year’s Academy Awards. In the center of the dance floor where John Travolta and Uma Thurman did their famous dance in “Pulp Fiction,” he put a pair of sleek black boots.
Della Valle also brought in a few of his artisans to demonstrate how Tod’s handbags and shoes are handmade. “This is just like my factory,” he beamed.
So what happened to all those croc mocs churned out that night? A company rep said, “They are just for show.”
