At Real Style Network we loved the following Red Carpet Gowns at last night’s Academy Awards.
Here are our winners for the fashion Oscars:
Sandra Bullock in a stunning silver form fitting Marchesa gown. We also loved her with darker hair and red lipstick, her skin was flawless as well. The Best Actress also wins the best dressed.
Jennifer Lopez took a chance on this pale pink/mauve Armani Prive dress. We loved it, but it definitely had its fashion critics.
Kate Winslet looks elegant and fit in a gray corseted Yves Saint Laurent and finally we loved what Helen Mirren wore, the light gray crystal adorned dress suited her perfectly and was very elegant. Finally a very slim, Demi Moore looked stunning in her Atelier Versace nude colored strapless fitted bodice dress with ruffled bottom.
Huffington Post added Charlize Theron in a purple strapless Christian Dior gown and Diane Kruger in a nude and black ruffle Chanel dress to their best dress list. Elle Magazine loved Avatar star Zoe Saldaga’s sparkling purple Givenchy Couture gown. People Magazine included Cameron Diaz’s gold Oscar de la Renta and Rachel McAdams’ pastel Elie Saab haute couture gown on their best dressed list.
For the final show of Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, the house of Valentino showed a fashion collection with hopes to attract a younger audience.
Sheer chiffon dresses and leggings in pale nudes and bright neon colours dazzled on the runway. There were lots of ruffles and the line had a dream like quality with many of the models being blindfolded while walking.
With short hemlines and asymmetrical tops, don’t be surprised to see young Hollywood in these gowns on the red carpet soon.
While many critics are commenting on how far from the original vision of Valentino the collection is, Marie Claire reports that the Valentino designers wanted to “create a sense of ‘magic and fantasy’ in a ‘virtual Eden’.”
On the final day of Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, lucky viewers got to see one of the wildest show of the event as Jean Paul Gaultier got inspired by Mexico.
This year, Jean Paul Gaultier showed what ABC News is calling his strongest collection in several seasons. Many blogs are comparing the line to a scene straight out of Avatar.Mariachi music played and sombreros were worn in the line that Jean Paul Gaultier says was inspired by the Mayans. The clothes feel native with rich blues and turquoises contrasting the armor and long braids worn by the models.
His haute couture fashion line consisted of pant suits, gowns made of armor and “Aztec princess cocktail dresses made from woven palm fronds.” (ABC News).
Fashion Television’s Jeanne Becker was tweeting live from the Jean Paul Gaultier show saying:
As wild as JPG sometimes gets, he has a knack for being wonderfully realistic too. First wearability, then fantasy. Ole!!!
JPG’s riff on exoticism and romance have been captured perfectly. Jungle looks coming at us now. Lush, tribal, stellar!
See photos of the Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show here. Photo courtesy Dariovander twicpic.
As Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week continued, the Elie Saab haute couture fashion show contained some gorgeous gowns made for the red carpet. The fashion designer is a celebrity favorite, having had everyone from Beyonce, Heidi Klum to Marion Cotillard wear his gowns at the major award ceremonies.
Beautifully draped floor length gowns floated down the runway in light airy fabrics. The colour pallet was mainly nudes with some pastels in the mix. The show ended with a large white wedding gown complete with sparkles, a train and a long flowing veil.
See the luxurious Elie Saab fashion show here.
While some of the designs are wild, this is haute couture week. These outfits are for the ultra-elite who have $20,000 to spend on a dress. For the rest of us, this is art.
Givenchy haute couture fashion collection was reflective of the spring fashion trends we are seeing now, only more exagerated. Ruffles, sequins and feathers adorned almost every look. The clothes were light and airy with a agreat deal of sheer fabrics.
Some commentators called the Givenchy fashion show underwhelming. We at Real Style thought it was lovely. Also making the news was the singer Ciara who was scheduled to perform at the show and arrived 40 minutes late for her performance. When she finally did make it WWD reports that the photographers booed her.
Haute Couture week has begun in Paris. This is the week fashionistas dream of. When the biggest names in fashion show you their most extravagant designs.
Christian Dior started the show off in Paris on Monday in a salon filled with roses according to Canadian fashion maven Jeanne Becker from Fashion Television. According to reports, John Galliano’s Dior line was inspired by the women of the 1900’s with tiny waists, big skirts, and even bigger hair.
We have been following Jeanne’s tweets from Paris. She said from the Dior show: Seeing these garments up close like this is dizzying. Crystal-embroidered tulle skirt, made of petals, is eye-popping.
Watch highlights from the Dior show here:
Later last night, Giorgio Armani Prive held their Haute Couture fashion show. The Armani show had a crescent moon theme throughout. There were business suits with moon shaped adornments and beautiful strapless gowns with ruffles and moon shaped handbags. See more from the Giorgio Armani Prive show here:
This morning began with the Chanel fashion show. The Chanel collection consisted of cocktail dresses with ruffles and sequins, boucle suits and pale pastel colours. We looked to Jeanne Becker for the review. This morning Jeanne tweeted: Genius of Karl is that no matter how many confections he whips up, there are always subtle new twists to his vision…
Chanel Haute Couture Fashion Show
Check back here for more videos and photos of Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week as it progresses.
World renowned jewelry houses will be joining top designers next week to create the most extravagant fashion week that Paris has ever seen.
The Telegraph reports that in January, haute joaillerie houses have been invited for the first time in 150 years to join haute couture fashion houses in fashion for Paris haute couture week to bring in the spring/summer 2010 season.
Chanel, Dior, Gaultier, and Valentino will be joined by well-known jewelry makers Boucheron, Cartier, Chanel Joaillerie, Chaumet, Christian Dior Joaillerie, Mellerio dits Meller and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Paris hatue couture week begins on January 24th and end on the 28th, which will be the day dedicated to the jewellers.
Wow, this will be something to watch and dream about!
Chanel is being sued by a 61-year-old seamstress in France over a crochet pattern that she alleges the fashion house copied from her.
Carmen Colle is suing Chanel for $3.7 million over a crochet pattern she saw on a sweater in Tokyo that she says they stole from her. Carmen Colle is not just your average little old lady crocheting and looking for an easy buck. She owns World Tricot, a company that hand makes haute couture items for Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gautier and Chanel.
If she wins, this case could set standards for the fashion world empowering the little guys that work as tailors and seamstresses in these big fashion houses. They could fight for more control over the patterns they create if of course they do in fact have a copyright to those patterns.
Carmen Colle told the Guardian: “It is not just World Tricot at stake. It is the recognition of small businesses and their creations,” she said. “[Big names] treat us as things they can take up and then throw away. It’s a shame for them. The greatness of a country, and the greatness of a brand, is the respect it shows for its petites mains.”
She also says that since the lawsuit has been filed her company has suffered by losing clients and the support of the bank. She should be ready for some type of backlash when she is taking on a company this big.
Chanel is denying the claims saying she does not have copyright if she made something based on Chanel’s outline. This will potentially set a new precident for the fashion industry which is beleaguered by copy cats and fake goods.
This past week’s couture shows in Paris dazzled critics and fashion-lovers alike. There was no sign of the recession as models pranced down catwalks in architectural, high-end glamour.
Trend Watch
These trends emerge from the haute couture shows: metallics and sparkle,structured shapes, nipped in waists, sequins,retro glamour, suits (yes, more strong shoulders — playing with proportion is key) and lingerie-inspired looks, tulle, silks and embellishment. Keep this list in mind should you be nominated for an Oscar this winter. We’re looking at you, Penelope Cruz. We know you have two movies coming out….
Here is a look at the 2 top kings of High Haute Couture, whose creations are both uber glamorous and trend setting: CHANEL and CHRISTIAN DIOR .
Chanel
The folks at Style.com couldn’t gush over Lagerfeld’s show enough. He’s in a class of his own. As per usual.
Lagerfeld’s single conceit was a play on graphic proportion–suits and dresses with a longer flyaway panel in the back, all shown with lace tights and stiletto-heeled booties. As the show progressed, he offered up some remarkable looks: a “smoking” redingote with a ruffle-necked blouse; a crinolined dance dress; pretty, light chiffon dresses in nude or midnight blue with ruffled trains. The outstanding look, though, was the one where the panel device was the least evident: a superchic spiral-cut dark blue dress with an asymmetric “tail” lined in red.
Christian Dior
Canada’s own Jeanne Beker chimes in (via The Globe and Mail) on the 1950s-presentation-styled show.
The collection was an ode to elegance and sexuality, with many of the nipped-waist silhouettes featuring an air of drama and playfulness. Bold Stephen Jones hats - some with huge, feathery pairs of wings - were great complements to the vibrant theatrical pieces, many which were teamed with retro-looking lingerie.
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On the final day of Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, lucky viewers got to see one of the wildest show of the event as 
