Georgian Fashion Week S/S 2011

 GOLA & PEPELA SS2011            ANDRÉ TAN SS2011              DALOOD SS2011

If you're planning a trip to Tbilisi, take the following advise from a true fashion girl - or like  the lovely  Tato, my new Georgian BFF, put it: An Amazingly Adorable Capricious Fashion Princess  (yep, that's me, whahaha!):

1) Leave your Pigalles at home. Believe me, Tbilisi on 12 cm Louboutins equals suicide!

2) Do not bring fur coats with you the end of October, thinking it's probably cold. I found myself  with a suitcase full of winter outfits while it was 22 degrees...


 3) If hot headed, or slightly suffering from ADHD syndrome, do not stay more than 15 minutes in  a sulphur bath. Your head will explode and you will feel all bubbly thinking that you're      completely re-energized but all you really are is stoned, or at least your body is, because you  won't be able to move for an hour or so...


4) If you want to keep your waist and your flat stomach, stay away from Georgian food. They keep  you eating, those Georgians. And when you think, dinner or lunch is over, it only just started and  the next delicious dish  will be served. So, S T A Y    A W A Y    F R O M    T H E    F O O D    !

5) If you're there to cover Georgian fashion Week (hey, maybe we will meet next time!), please  visit the State Academy of Art where most of the fashion designers studied, go visit F-Labour, the  store where these young designers sell their collections and go have a look at the multi brand  store Prive. It will completely change your outlook on Georgian fashion.

Anyway, yes, it took me almost a week to digest the experience of the second edition of Georgian  fashion week ...and the many, many, many Georgian delicacies...Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia is a  strange mixture of never ending contradictions. Its beauty, history, and wealth go hand in hand  with traces of war, communism and poverty.  The Mother of Georgia statue, also known as Kartilis  Deda, located on top of the Sololaki Mountain, is the  epitome of these contradictions: she's  holding a bocal of wine in her left hand to welcome people to Georgia, and  Tbilisi in particular,  while her left hand is holding a menacing sword, to warn enemies...

Mademoiselle Perle was invited to her first trip to Georgia by the ever so beautiful Sofia Chkonia  to attend the  SS2011 collections by Georgian designers. That bocal of wine, symbol of Georgian  hospitality, translated in a  jammed packed schedule, where private chauffeurs, a mini coach, two  Guardian Angels, numerous restaurants, after  parties, champagne and vodka were at our disposal  24/7. After visiting national treasures like the said Mother of  Georgia statue, the national  museum and the costume museum, followed by delicious but heavy Georgian lunches, the  days  continued with eight shows. Eight different designers mostly from Georgia, with a few exceptions  like the  Parisian designer Gaspard Yurkievich, André Tan from Kiev and the Italian trio A-lab  Milano.

 

KETI CHKHIKVADZE SS2011 BICHOLLA SS2011           GASPARD YURKIEVICH SS2011

  

My first impression of Georgia's fashion was the opening show on Friday evening October 22,of one  of Georgia's most established designers Avtandil. The show was held on the Metechi Bridge crossing  the Mt'k'vari river, better known as the Kura. Surrounded by mountains, and high lighted monuments  and churches, the setting was almost surreal.

The following three days, the young designers showed their collections mainly at the Rustaveli  Theatre right next to the Marriot hotel, where yours truly was staying with an interesting fashion  crowd from all over the world: the charming Phivos Istavrioglou @Vogue Greece, the lovely Zoe  Maughan @Another Magazine, the hilarious Sophie Trem and her gorgeous collegue Claire Khoriaty  @TRANOÏ, stylist Catherine Baba, mr Godfrey Deeny @Fashion Wire  Daily, Julia Melkonova Zaalishvili  @Vogue Russia, the cooky Beth Arnold @The Huffington Post accompanied by her  husband Jim, and the  London based Yvan Rodić, better known as The Face Hunter. As my impression of the city, the  collections were as diverse as possible. One moment we were watching a gypsy inspired show which  mainly consisted of fringed colourful scarves wrapped around shoulders, hips and ankles, designed  by Goga Nikabadze. The  other, we were put front row to watch Keti Chikvadze's hand crafted lady  birds on elegant black jackets, or  Bicholla's fluffy heels - he offered me a pair, and they're  mental! Highly photogenic but seriously  mental! Love them!

However, my favorite collection was a minimalist one in red, off-white and black by the 23 years-  old Tata Nikolaishvili. She's still finishing her studies at the State Art Academy of Georgia, but  I already see a promising career. Her experimenting with cut, form and texture, while respecting  the female body should get her  an internship at Jil Sander, Calvin Klein or Celine. I was  sincerely surprised to see this kind of approach to fashion in Tbilisi. But a trip to the multi  brand store Prive, explains quite a lot. To my big surprise their best seller is Dries van Noten -  whose influence was noticable amongst some young designers - Chloé and Marc Jacobs come next, and  they just introduced Alaïa and Balmain. Alaïa! In Georgia! Where were all these fabulous dressed  women who bought their outfits at Prive? According to CEO Anna Bokeria, Prive's clientele is quite  diversified. Georgian upper class women but also the female elite from surrounding countries like  Armenia and Azerbaijan, find their way to Prive. Why didn't I spot some during the shows? The shop  has two different locations, one for day wear, where they sell brands like Dries van Noten, Marc  Jacobs, Chloé, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, and Balmain. And men's wear from brands like Givenchy,  Dior Homme and again Dries van Noten. A clean designed store evoking that Ford for Gucci touch from  a decade ago. Around the corner a very lady like two storey shop with powder-y, jade green walls  with a trompe l'oeil effect of french inspired ornaments painted in roughly white strokes. Very  Dior Paris. This boutique of Prive focusses on evening wear, and has a delicious collection of  LBD's by Alaïa, YSL and Dior. An exquisite collection of heels and bags at the first floor makes  this place quite a shopping paradise. It left me speechless, although, I quickly bounced back to my  talkative self and bombarded my lovely Gigi, interior decorator, and one of my two guardian angels  with all sorts of questions. He told me that the Bagrationi dynasty, the ruling family of Georgia  (early Middle Ages - early 19th century) was famous for its fabulous costumes, and parties. And  that the Georgian sense of style (Alaïa! Helloho!) is rooted in that part of their rich history. I  still have to go into that history, but it definitely awakened a curiosity to get to know this  country better.... What about spending winter holidays in Georgia? Did you know they have a  ski  resort over there??? TATAFORNOW♥ 
P.S. Read Phivos Istavrioglou's GFW report here: http//bit.ly/cRjGLZ

     Read Beth Arnold's report here: http://huff.to/9csQDw
      Read Zoe Maughan's report here: http://bit.ly/92XXz2
      See Yvan Rodic's (the Face Hunter) reportage here: http://bit.ly/aU3lFI

Autumn Days...

Coucou, I'm sorry for the silence, but I just came back from a trip to Tbilisi, where I covered the  second edition of Georgia Fashion Week. More about that, in the days to come. For now, I can tell  you that Tbilisi is an amazing city full of contradictions, a very rich history, and if I have to  believe the director of Prive, the only multi brand shop in Tbilisi, Georgian women have exquisite  taste: Dries van Noten, Alaïa, Bottega Veneta. Amazing selection. Anyway, will soon come back to  you with a detailed post. So, what are you wearing these days in autumn? TATAFORNOW ♥

Trend Report S/S 2011 - The Blue Angel

Marlene Dietrich in her big break

through Der blaue Engel (1930)

by Josef Von Stenberg

PRADA S/S 2011             CALVIN KLEIN S/S 2011      JIL SANDER S/S 2011

JIL SANDER S/S 2011        MIU MIU S/S 2011           AKRIS S/S 2011

As said in one of my former blog posts, spring summer is an explosion of prints and colours, 

and a part from the  red dress, a colour which stood out in manycollections was blue, 

from cobalt blue, to Prussian blue, to cerulean  blue toultramarine, you get the picture; 

blue in all possible shades...

TATAFORNOW ♥

Trend Report S/S 2011 - Did I tell you about William Morris?

William Morris Wallpaper            LOUIS VUITTON S/S 2011       LOUIS VUITTON S/S 2011

ALEXANDER MC QUEEN S/S 2011    William Morris Wallpaper

William Morris Wallpaper                       KENZO S/S 2011

What's summer without colourful prints? Well the spring summer 2011 collections were one big  explosion of colours  and prints. And some prints are so deliciously beautiful, they remind me of  the wallpaper prints by mr William  Morris. My favorite.

TATAFORNOW ♥

Trend Report S/S 2011 - Dashing Disco Days

Liza Minelli & Mikhail Baryshnikov

in full action @ Studio 54

Flashback: somewhere during the nineteen seventies, Amber and me at the Montessori  kindergarten. Amber was a perfect little angel with curly long blond hair and blue eyes. I was  slightly obsessed with this girl because of her mother (and because at the age of four, she already  had her own pony). Amber's mother permanently wore an enormous fur coat. Winter and summer. She  accompanied Amber to school and picked her up dressed to the nines with layers of seventies style  make-up and the perfect hair-do. To me, as a four year old, she was the personification of  glamourous (much to my mother's horror, who probably thought of her as the personification of  vulgarity...). What I liked about her, was that she was always dressed for some fabulous party. At  8.30 in the  morning. I wanted to look exactly like her. I wanted life to look exactly like hers,  as if there was something to celebrate every day, and not just on birthdays and Christmas. Her joie  de vivre/ over-the-top fashion sense did influence me while only a decade later I often went to  school as if it was Christmas (during summer, mind you). And today, I still like to do groceries  shopping in some Couture kind of princess dress and to-die-for heels at  10 o'clock in the morning.  I mean why just dress up for fancy events, if we can dress up every day? And Amber's  mom? Well  years later, when I discovered the stories about Studio 54, I often thought of her. How she would  have fit in perfectly...

Tell me, did you also have some obsession with a glamourous mother at the school yard? Or am I the  only one, who at the age of four, was already intoxicated with style and fashion????

Halston, Bianca Jagger, Jack Haley jr, Liza Minelli, Michael Jackson @ Studio 54

Anyway, back to the trend report: When the news broke in the beginning of this year that SJP would  take over the creative reigns at HALSTON many eyebrows were raised in the fashion industry. Then a  few months later, in spring, the documentary “Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston” by Whitney Sudler-  Smith premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. It affected a few designers, because unlike the  seventies influences we've seen the past seasons, the specific Halston look, that Studio 54 air,  seriously hit the catwalks this season. If it's up to the designers, next summer will be almost as  sizzling as those dashing disco days... If only...

Grace Jones and Pat Cleveland @ Studio 54

Debbie Harry aka Blondie with Truman Capote @ Studio 54

    

Halston & Marisa Berenson                        MARC JACOBS S/S 2011

TATAFORNOW ♥

Trend Report S/S 2011 - Salute the Saint

    

 After the dashing YSL exhibition at le Petit Palais in Paris, which ran from March till the
 end of August this  year, it was inevitable this retrospective would inspire designers
 worldwide for their spring summer 2011 collections. The colourful combinations, transparent
 blouses and dresses, the wide legged pants, the turbans, the 1977 Chinese collection
 (Louis Vuitton), it was all there. 

                                  

YSL @ le Petit Palais Paris 2010              

Halston, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minelli @ Studio 54

YSL Sketches

LOUIS VUITTON S/S 2011     JASON WU S/S 2011         GUCCI S/S 2011

TATAFORNOW ♥

Trend Report S/S 2011 - Daring Denim

 Jane Birkin, Queen of Denim

 CELINE S/S 2011               STELLA MC CARTNEY S/S 2011

VALENTINO S/S 2011             DEREK LAM S/S 2011

One of the trends for the upcoming spring summer, spotted at 

the international catwalks was denim. All over, from 

top-to-toe denim. 2011 with a 1970's touch, which made it 

very fresh and desirable. 

TATAFORNOW ♥

Trend Report S/S 2011 - The Red Dress

                              
                             
                             
                          
  Bianca Jagger wearing a red HALSTON dress during one of those sizzling disco nights 

@ Studio 54, with Halston on her right and Mick on her left.


  And I completely forgot about Kate Bush's debut single Wuthering Heights (1978) and 
  the video clip with "The Red Dress", check it out: http://bit.ly/18PqJZ

LANVIN  S/S 2011               MARC by Marc Jacobs S/S 2011  MARC JACOBS S/S 2011

VALENTINO S/S 2011             ERDEM S/S 2011                 CALVIN KLEIN S/S 2011

VALENTINO S/S 2011             FENDI S/S 2011                 COSTUME NATIONAL S/S 2011

TATAFORNOW ♥

I want them all!!

Leather Totes by CELINE

TATAFORNOW ♥