ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories: Monaco

Sunday, 18 May 2014

LOUIS VUITTON Cruise 2015 Presentation in Monaco

The coast of Monaco might be dotted with soaring skyscrapers, but there’s still nothing to rival the view from the Prince’s Palace of Monaco. Tourists who ascended the Rocher earlier this evening would have been surprised to find an awe-inspiring, glass-paneled salon that looked like it landed from out of space smack in the middle of the Palace Square. As the first fashion presentation to take place on those grounds under the patronage of HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco, Louis Vuitton’s resort show was a landmark occasion. It also brought the house’s long-standing history with the monarchy full circle it’s exactly 100 years since Vuitton received its first royal commission, a supremely luxurious crocodile skin garment cover to be precise.

Yesterday, some hours before the show, I enjoyed this wonderful LOUIS VUITTON lunch invitation, take a view on my Instagram, and discover the fashion show video with HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco arriving at the scene, at the end of this post!

LoL, Andrea

Artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière was invited to the palace by the Princess earlier this year, and his tour of the impressive thirteenth-century castle provided a gust of new wind to the reference points that had been percolating in his mind since his debut collection for Vuitton in March of this year.

“I didn’t think they would open the Palace gates for me like this, but I think Her Highness wanted me to be inspired by this city and what Monaco really is,” said Ghesquière, seated in one of the wood-paneled antechambers of the palace after the show. “I was drawn to the amazing collage of architecture here, the way that buildings of different eras sit together in such density, against an a lush and tropical environment.”

With a digital aquatic montage by artist Ange Leccia bubbling beneath the runway as the lights went up, the scene for the new collection was set right from the start. The opening a look, an embellished raspberry red top with hip-skimming powder pink flared pants, evoked the rich palette of the local landscape, from the bougainvillea in full bloom to the palace walls, which are painted afresh with a different pastel hue every year. Ghesquière described the clothes as an extension of the wardrobe he put forth last season, and a 1960s-leaning silhouette came through in neatly buttoned A-line suede skirts and mock-neck skinny knits. After the somewhat subdued tones of fall, the designer let in the sunshine this time around in a major way, and leather paneled blazers came printed with a gorgeous riot of hand-drawn flowers. Brightly colored leather jackets were layered over embroidered chiffon and flirty black lace dresses a passing nod to legendary photographer and erstwhile Monaco resident, Helmut Newton.

In those optimistic tones, he captured the true joie de vivre of resort a season that is exuberant and playful by definition while hitting on the sweet spot of transitional dressing, where winter and summer are expected to coexist in harmony. Few designers can treat fall layering pieces like shimmering leather minidresses (laser cut, coated in silver, and spliced in a myriad of intricate ways) and intarsia furs with such a skilled, light touch the way that Ghesquière does. Indeed many of the looks felt easy and weightless in the same way that the charming teeny-tiny handheld “petite malle” box bag does. And the double strap ankle pumps that came in bright ponyhair were exactly the kind of thing you’d want to pack in your suitcase regardless of your destination.

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Photo Credit/Source: The House of LOUIS VUITTON

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'67th Cannes Film Festival | From Runway To The Red Carpet'

The 67th Cannes Film Festival has officially kicked of on Tuesday May 14th with the 'Grace of Monaco' Opening Ceremony. Stunning Nicole Kidman (take a view on my Instagram teaser), embodies Princess Grace in the film, arrived at the red carpet in an ARMANI Privé Haute Couture soft blue lace gown.

Monday, 20 May 2013

DIOR Cruise 2014 Presentation In Monaco

The Christian Dior Cruise 2014 presentation took place in Monaco Saturday evening with many celebs taking to the front row to select their red carpet looks (Marion Cotillard in DIOR Cruise 2014 on Tuesday!) first hand.

The umbrellas at Monaco's Hôtel de Paris boast the cheery motto, "It never rains in Monte Carlo." For the past three days, it has done nothing but rain, which meant that the spectacular show staged by Dior for Raf Simons' Cruise collection wasn't open to the elements as originally intended. A shame, especially when Simons said that regular visits from giant seagulls during the construction of the seaside venue had created a perfect Hitchcockian vibe. He'd hoped the birds would visit during the show itself. No such luck with the audience safely closed off from the driving rain behind thick sheets of plastic. But maybe the weather's refusal to cooperate was a blessing in disguise. The collection that Simons showed was all about the speed of life. With the promise of a glorious sunset over the Med buried under serried ranks of gunmetal storm clouds, it was easier to focus on clothes that were the very embodiment of a dynamic forward movement for Dior.

Enjoy the DIOR Cruise '14 fashion show at the end of this post! Love, Andrea

Monaco made sense as a venue for a few reasons. Historically, there was the connection between Christian Dior and Princess Grace, which is now echoed by Simons' friendship with the principality's Princess Charlene. Five minutes of chat with her and it's obvious that she's a Euro-royal Katniss Everdeen. She'll do for Simons in Europe what Jennifer Lawrence has been doing for him in Hollywood. Both of them are young women on the furious move.

Then there's Monaco's rep on the Formula One circuit. In a few days, the fastest folk on dry land will congregate to race through frighteningly narrow streets in terrifyingly high-strung cars. Tonight, Michel Gaubert mixed hysterically revving engines and a revision of Depeche Mode's "Behind the Wheel" to soundtrack Raf's race to the finish line with a collection that streamlined conventional Dior tropes flowers, lace, a rounded silhouette for the twenty-first century. First and foremost, Simons was challenging himself, the way Miuccia Prada does with things she feels she has no natural instinct for. Lace, for instance, has never been part of Raf's lingo.

“I wanted to do something with lace for a long time, but to twist it, create something more edgy, so it almost becomes futuristic,” said Simons at the show venue, a purpose-built minimalist structure perched over an unusually raging sea, the result of an unseasonable downpour. And indeed in the Belgian designer’s hands this prettiest of fabrics was revved up by broad foil panels, acid green inserts, and bold prints taking on a contradictory almost subversive appearance. Diaphanous and jacquard lace crop tops, fluid jackets, and a myriad of sleeveless silk frocks were layered over lamé bra tops and big knicker combinations, charmingly referred to as “sun wear.”

He didn't want the history or the romance of the stuff, so he juxtaposed it against urgent striations of color in a dress that felt like gravity was dragging it sideways. He laid lace over a bandeau top and metallic tap shorts for a carelessly sporty effect, and he streaked lace dresses with fractured, angular graphics. But if there have been times in the past when Simons seemed like an arch iconoclast, what is increasingly coming through in his work with Dior is his ultimate respect for tradition. Why else would he try so hard to make it relevant for the new clientele that is being drawn to his clothes? So here there was a gorgeous cropped blouson with an abbreviated kimono sleeve, couture and casual in one compact package. As well as a floaty, peachy sundress in a satiny twill that wouldn't have gone amiss on Grace Kelly, but Simons bifurcated it with a zip. "A symbol of sport and dynamism," he said.

He's always eulogized the movement of Christian Dior's dresses, but here, at last, he acknowledged the restriction of those original looks, so there were zips everywhere. And aerodynamism. And asymmetry. One message came through loud and clear: release yourself. That timeless incentive amplified the notion that Raf Simons is about to take Dior on a long and glorious ride.