Showing posts with label Dolce and Gabbana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dolce and Gabbana. Show all posts

06 May 2014

the MET SET Beyond Fashion

.


Cecil Beaton gloriously captured Charles James ball gowns in 1948.
from The Met here


Not to be remiss in a posting on the MET GALA, and the new ANNA WINTOUR COSTUME CENTER...Nothing gets one's twitter feed, facebook, and instagram stalled like the MET event. The naming of the center even gets batted around. The Costume Institute got underway through Diana Vreeland's chutzpah with help from Babe Palely and other swans. She had glamourized these women and helped create the legends that now exist around them-so it was her turn.We can thank them, and well, if Mrs.Vreeland had done the naming She too-would have named it ...THE DIANA VREELAND....

The red carpet rush was full of glamour, glitz- push-along with the ghastly.
But isn't that the way?
As I tried to point out to a raucous twitter person-(She wrote: "the Met Ball has been forever sullied by the pedestrian narcissist Wintour. No style. All ego. Trashy guests.")- the great benefit of the ball is the-thousands+++ thousands+++, and more,that will see Charles James: Beyond Fashion and marvel over his gowns, his construction, and his fine details.

Every last  inch of Charles James will be scrutinized- little secrets exposed- hems will be lifted and Charles James will no doubt be #'ed to death. That is why a MET GALA exists for the likes of Me, and for the MET SET, #EXPOSURE. Celebrities and models flock and an occasional society maven glides in sans red carpet. Anna Wintour has changed the landscape-and the Costume Institute thrives-and without the power of Vogue magazine (to which I no longer subscribe #agedoutof & the website features are great)- it was just survive amongst the sea of galas & benefits.




Zac Posen did three of these ball gowns, seems he has the Charles James touch at the moment, though it's noted that Harvey Weinstein has struck a deal with the James estate to have his wife's Marchesa brand retained as creative consultants-along with all that entails. (read more at Page SIX here). Marchesa does make beautiful dresses- but the Charles James touch wasn't evident from Marchesa last night.

 Bee Shafer in McQueen & Suki Waterhouse in  Burberry (at right) making a Charles James moment at the MET




 Undoubtedly The Dress of the Evening as Homage to Charles James- 
Dita von Teese in, and with, Zac Posen, wearing a very fine manteau.





Italian designers Dolce and Gabbana do know how to make an entrance-
conjuring Winterhalter or Visconti's The Leopard. 

Tabitha Simmons in Dolce Gabanna




Evening Gloves

 There was never a better evening for opera gloves. 

 I love them.

I missed the Charles James era.


Model Fei Fei Sun, Marina Rust and Tory Burch, & below-yes that's Katie Couric





Some people-and not just those at the MET Gala-always look well dressed-polished-turned out perfectly.
  
Last night...

 Mario Testino-with decorations, badges-He is OBE- Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - here with Stella Tennant-who always looks right.



Benedict Cumberbatch




The Beckhams




Stephanie Seymour




Hailee Steinfeld wearing, and with Prabal Gurung




Lily Aldridge in Michael Kors




...& Always.



Nancy Lee Gregory James, Charles James wife, photographed by Cecil Beaton




 Lauren Santo Domingo wearing Oscar de la Renta and below The Herreras




Stella Tennant, wearing Burbery- in repose at the Met Ball



for me -actress Maggie Q came away as Best Dressed for the evening.


Wearing Zac Posen, 
she looked to be a 21st century Charles James creation poised on the steps with him just before his 1950 collection debuted.





after hearing it all, No, not so-but enough about what Charles James would think, etc. etc....
Undoubtedly the perfectionist himself would have lots to say-about Charles James- because HE- & now- everyone knows -Charles James is Beyond Fashion.








02 March 2009

La Divina La Dolce Vita Dolce Gabbana

"Some say I have a beautiful voice, some say I have not.
It is a matter of opinion. All I can say, those who don't
like it shouldn't come to hear me."



Μαρία Καλογεροπούλου
"La Divina"
02.12.1923 - 16.09.1977


...from a review of the Dolce and Gabanna show from Style.com by Nicole Phelps:

"In 1954, Maria Callas recorded a memorable version of Bellini's Norma at the Cinema Metropol, the theater where today Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana stage their fashion shows. With the legendary soprano for inspiration, their collection was unapologetically operatic."


It's all a bit cheeky-but I like it!

(all D& G images from Style.com)






"You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist,
dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is
always there."


Callas as Violetta




Callas in Puritani





Callas in La Traviata




Callas as Norma







in her first La Traviata







LA DIVINA

"Some say I have a beautiful voice, some say I have not.
It is a matter of opinion. All I can say, those who don't
like it shouldn't come to hear me."







Maria with her dog




in Tosca at the Met






LA DIVINA





in La Traviata at La Scala






Callas performances and flowing baroque patterns for the D&G finale










last word:


"I don't need the money, dear. I work for art."



LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails