Yves Saint Laurent

Last night I went to the Yves Saint Laurent show held on the top floor of the Pompidou Museum – what a fabulous place to have a show. The views from the museum are incredible. You see all of Paris by night – the Eiffel Tower, Sacré Coeur, Notre Dame – truly a feast for the eyes. But no better than the most beautiful collection so far by Stefano Pilati, the designer for YSL.

Lots of black and grey – voluminous short coats – sophisticated but modern suits. The fabrics were of the finest quality. Very sleek and very chic – I think my clients will go crazy for this collection.

YSL signature Le Smoking was taken to the highest level – while still maintaining the signature stamp of the YSL from yesteryear. Stefano has put his own stamp on the easy yet chic pant suit. My favorite piece was the strapless jumpsuit above with a thin bandeau across the chest.

Yves Saint Laurent

The accessories were also fantastic made by Alexis Mabille – who I have also written about for his own collection (another designer to watch out for).  Jessica Biel was there, and I bumped into my friend Philip Utz from Numéro magazine.

Dior Haute Joaillerie

I had the great pleasure to be invited to a cocktail to view the new collection of Victoire de Castellane‘s newest creations of Dior Haute Joaillerie on the Place Vendôme. Her inspiration for this one comes from nature. I don’t know how she comes up with new ideas. No picture could express the workmanship and detail of her work. Her rings were flowers with movement – the petals open and close.

She finds the finest stones from South America – opals, rubies, tourmalines. These are unique one-of-a-kind pieces – for a woman who really wants something unusual and special or for a collector who understands quality and design. The collection is truly breathtaking. They practically sold out the entire collection which is really unbelievable – these jewels were hundreds of thousands of euros – one piece was over 1 million euros.

I was fortunate enough to be able to try on one of her masterpieces – long earrings enamel and opals. I was lucky to have this experience – because while they are beautiful in the display. To actually see them on me – it was totally something else.

Second Life snapshot

Also, of note is Dior’s foray into Second Life, the virtual world everyone is buzzing about. Dior is the first luxury fashion brand to have presence there and along with Victoire’s new designs, it illustrates their forward thinking – very exciting.

And last but not least, after a long day I stopped by to see my friends at Requiem.  Two young handsome designers, Raffaele Borriello and Julien Desselle.

With Requiem’s designers Julien Desselle and Raffaele Borriello

I met them in October 2005 when they were just starting out – I was with my friend and journalist from The New York Times, Armand Limnander and insisted he see their work. Armand thought they were great, too. Requiem has now been recognized by Bergdorf Goodman and other stores in the US and Japan – definitely designers to watch. (Sometimes my style secrets escape, but nonetheless a good thing!)