The Buzz

Valentino Gets His Own Exhibit

theFashionSpot August 2nd, 2012

We've just gotten notice that "Valentino: Master of Couture," a new exhibit dedicated to the decades-long fashion career of the iconic Italian designer, is opening at the Somerset House in London on November 29.

The exhbition will span fifty years and showcase 130 of Valentino's favorite and most famous couture creations. If you live in or near London, or will expect to find yourself in the city between November and mid-March, you can look forward to spending some quality time with both Jackie O's and Princess Marie-Chantal's wedding dresses and Julia Roberts' iconic 2001 vintage Valentino Oscars gown.

It's always quite an accomplishment when a living designer gets to see a retrospective of their work in their own lifetime, and Valentino seems totally pumped:

"Each of these designs have a beautiful story. The atelier crafted each so diligently by hand, taking hours, sometimes days to complete. The details are incredibly intricate, though outside the runway shows and events, the dresses have rarely been seen, so to be able to showcase these designs at Somerset House, where they can be seen in great detail by the public, is very unique."

So much breathless Italian enthusiasm coming through in that run-on sentence! Also, sorry to push the new media bit on you, Valentino, but all of these intricate handmade details need to start getting Tumbled. If you want to show your hand-crafted gowns in all their glory, the Internet is here to serve.

Valentino with models, 2007 © Lorenzo Agius @ www.aandrphotographic.co.uk

Top image via Flashpoint / WENN.com

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Alexa Chung to Cameo on Gossip Girl’s Final Season

theFashionSpot August 2nd, 2012

Alexa-Chung Gossip Girl is ending, and it looks like the producers are doing their best to build up a little hubbub around the series finale.

Enter Alexa Chung, a tFS Forum favorite and a natural fit for the pop-y, fashion-conscious teen soap. The TV presenter and Vogue UK contributing editor was spotted shooting for the series' sixth season in full Gossip Girl regalia (meaning: she was wearing cute clothes, which is not a major stretch for the style icon).

Her spokesperson confirmed to Vogue.UK that Chung would be making a cameo appearance on the show, and she'd be playing herself. Cute, but the series has long made good use of cameos. I'd like to see Blake Lively do a weird meta cameo as herself, maybe by bumping into Serena Van Der Woodsen or even Dan Humphrey at a Gucci party, and having the character and the actress switcheroo as part of an ensemble scheme. The show's probably already been written, but it can't be too late to do a quick rewrite. Please!

Image via WENN,com

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Raf Simons’ Dior Couture Makes Yet Another Red Carpet Appearance, This Time On Jessica Biel

theFashionSpot August 2nd, 2012

Jessica Biel

Following Marion Cotillard's and Rachel Weisz's turns on the red carpet wearing pieces from the collection, Jessica Biel stepped out for the premiere of Total Recall wearing a look from Raf Simons' Dior couture collection. Even though critical reception of the Belgian designer's debut at the French fashion house has been mixed, both Cotillard and Weisz did a good job showing the potential of his interpretation of Dior couture. The pieces are sophisticated in terms of design without being showy, and the woman wearing them ends up looking elegant but still fresh, not fussy.

The powderpuff pink dress Biel chose to wear is a harder look to pull off, and the actress floundered. The problem here is mostly one of styling, and Biel would have done well to remember Coco Chanel's edict: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” In this case, Biel could have removed two: the oversized Tom Binns necklace and earrings surely look lovely in other contexts, but here they look gaudy and junky. Betting Raf would have never approved this styling, but I'm sure he isn't complaining that more and more A-listers are jumping on his Dior bandwagon and strutting around in front of cameras wearing his gowns.

Image via Apega/WENN.com

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AM Eyewear Looks to 60s Marseilles and Spoiled Millionaire Playboys for Spring 2012

Hannah Ongley August 1st, 2012

The Internet is getting crazy hyped up over the latest collection from AM Eyewear. ‘Riviera Rebellion’ is a continuation of that fresh, idiosyncratic aesthetic that has garnered the brand followers from Jay Z and Lady Gaga to various hipster kids dotted around Australia and the globe, but also marks a bold new direction that should have competitors quivering in their Italian cellulose acetate frames.

The Spring/Summer 2012 collection looks for inspiration in life on the coast from Nice to Marseille in the 1930s through 1960s. As proposed by AM’s slick campaign featuring the requisite shiny speedboat and painfully debonair models, this means frames you’ll want to be wearing next time you are prevailed upon by a wealthy shipbuilder to travel to Europe with the task of retrieving a spoiled millionaire playboy à la The Talented Mr Ripley. The Malcolm X style has been transformed into a bolder “Kaz” and a streamlined all-plastic frame goes by the name of “Merridy”. New hues include the limited-edition “Milky Way” colour and a unique tortoise aptly dubbed “Old School Tortoise”.

AM’s Italian cellulose acetate frames are Mazzucchelli, and no expense is spared in the production process. Each pair is individually handpolished for up to 14 hours using only the highest quality materials, with German OBE spring-loaded hinges and Italian Military-grade APX Nylon lenses confirming your suspicions that these are indeed some of the fanciest frames around.

‘Riviera Rebellion’ will be dropping in stores this month.

Images via AM Eyewear's blog

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Zara Lines Up a Stellar Cast for Their Fall 2012 Campaign [VIDEOS] (Forum Buzz)

Chrissy Makkas August 1st, 2012

What’s not to love about Zara?! First, they make affordable, on trend, fashionable clothes that make the retailer a forum favorite, and now they’ve produced a great, perfectly cast ad campaign for Fall 2012 featuring Freja Beha Erichsen, and the smoldering hot Jon Kortajarena and Sean O’Pry. These men look so good I don’t know how I’m lucid enough to even write this. I feel compelled to confess that I’ve already made one of Sean’s shots the desktop background on my computer. Do what you will with that information.

Zara Fall 2012 - Freja Beha Erichsen

In addition to a multitude of great campaign shots (you can see the rest here), Zara has also produced videos for their Woman and Man campaigns. Freja’s video is good, but if you ask me, the men’s video is really the one to watch if you're pressed for time.

LagerfeldBoy posted, “Adore this. The video just makes me love this even more. And what a terrific cast. Couldn't be any better.”

Zara Fall 2012 - Jon Kortajarena

Thiago:) commented, “That's very cool. I'm glad they tried to do something different; it really worked.”

“I am in love with this campaign,” TeeVanity wrote. “Pure greatness.”

Zara Fall 2012 - Sean O'Pry

There’s a high probability that I will be found staring at these images while pretending to shop in the Men’s section at Zara, so if you’re the one to catch me I ask that you please be kind.

Here are the campaign videos for your viewing pleasure:

Images: zara.com

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Link Buzz: Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed; Karlie Kloss to Star in Neiman Marcus/Target Collab Campaign

Nika Mavrody August 1st, 2012

A lot of people made Vanity Fair's Best Dressed List. Pretty much everyone you'd expect. How swell for them. [Fashionologie]
Freja Beha Erichsen is the pretty pretty model in Zara's Fall ad campaign. [FabSugar]
Twilight fans are so furious with US Weekly for scooping the KStew cheating story that they've organized to hide issues of the tabloid all across America. What a productive use of their time! [AmyGrindhouse]
Here are 6 essential nail polish colors that'll never go out of style. [BellaSugar]
More September covers rolling in: Keira Knightley for Harper's Bazaar UK is the real deal. [DailyStab]
Karlie Kloss will be the welcome face of Neiman Marcus and Target's epic designer collaboration. [StyleBakeryTeen]