Friday, March 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Friday, December 25, 2009
Fashion Show In Paris
PARIS -- Lavish lingerie fashion shows are a la mode these days, but none more so than those of French lingerie, as I discovered when I was invited to attend the launch party of the Sonia Rykiel pour H&M collection in Paris last Tuesday. Though frankly, party doesn't seem quite the right word. The spectacular, perhaps? H&M took over the Grand Palais, the sprawling domed glass building originally built as an exhibition hall in 1900, and it's a tribute to consummate French fashion house Sonia Rykiel that they were permitted to use the important historic building: The only other fashion house ever to do so is Chanel.The invitation called for "Parisian chic." Which means artfully dishevelled, look-like-you-don't care gorgeous and lots of black -- and it was. Lone American celeb Kate Bosworth, tied up like a lovely bow in a blush pink sequined Rykiel dress, seemed out of place among the louche French fashion flock: Jean-Paul Gaultier, Alexis Mabille, Lou Doillon, Emmanuelle Beart, Loulou de la Falaise, Philippe Starck, Martine Sitbon, Ellen von Unwerth -- I even brushed up against dreamy French actor Melvil Poupaud.
To get to the main party hall, you first had to walk through a black tunnel illuminated only with coloured neon stripes a la Rykiel. Next came the trippy woodland fantasy -- a forest of giant pink and purple mushrooms, white rabbis and treetops with not branches and leaves but clusters of shimmering grey, fuchsia, pink and white balloons. Faintly off in the distance, I could hear a circus calliope slowly trilling the refrain from The Nutcracker. The idea behind the production was a Parisian Alice in Wonderland; whatever it was, it was a dreamscape like none I've seen before, more elaborate than even the best studio backlot.
On one side of the inside grounds was a simulated town and streetscape dotted with pastry shops, bars and fortune tellers meant to conjure St-Germain-des-Pres, the Parisian Left Bank neighbourhood -- birthplace and soul of the Sonia Rykiel brand. Nearby, a sparkling wheel loomed over illuminated treetops of the Champs Elysees. On the other side, a carousel swing operated by very handsome carnies; models munched fresh candy floss and poison-green candy apples or bobbed for prizes. Two balloon poodles, each a few stories high, stood sentinel at the gate and the entire floor was covered in glittering black sand, including the circular track of the parade route.
And did I mention the fashion parade? It opened with fife and drum leading a group of very well-behaved geese in the round and then, the swell of the Swedish national anthem -- ABBA's Dancing Queen, remixed with symphony, techno and marching band music. I took it all in from the tiered central stage, above which rose a, well, rather towering 25-metre replica of the Eiffel Tower that lit up dramatically when ABBA kicked in. Then came the models, emerging on slowly gliding floats from under the modified Arc de Triomphe, also painted in the trademark Sonia Rykiel stripes.
Lily Cole opened the show, holding the reins astride a chariot (actually, a giant horse head). Her strawberry blond hair was teased out into a huge halo, to mimic the famously frizzy flaming red coif of designer Rykiel, and she wore the key look of the holiday lingerie collaboration: a '50s pin-up style satin brassiere and matching high-waisted granny panties. Lady Gaga meets Betty Grable. Another model gamely perched among the swags of a giant crystal chandelier float, blowing kisses and dusting the audience with twinkling fairy dust. My favourite float was the playground swing, with models exuberantly swinging back and forth in rosette brassieres and panties. "I always ask them to forget they are a model," CEO and artistic director Nathalie Rykiel had told me earlier. "I'm not interested in having the girls pulling a face like they do everywhere else. It's become a trademark of Rykiel that the girls are not only smiling, laughing and talking but they are just happy, because they loved the clothes and feel good in it. I don't ask them to pretend," she explained. "It's become as much a trademark of Rykiel as the stripes, the strass and the words. It's an attitude in life."
The gorgeous smiling and laughing models in sexy lingerie having a blast perfectly embodied the atmosphere of pure wonder and joy of the party. Later, I wasn't surprised when bits of gold confetti fell out of my clothes.
The Sonia Rykiel pour H&M collection ($12.95-$99) arrived in select H&M stores on Dec. 5: Eaton Centre, Bloor Street and Yorkdale in Toronto; Peel/St. Catherine, Les Galeries D'Anjou, and Rockland in Montreal; West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton; and Pacific Centre in Vancouver.
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