Posts Tagged ‘J. Mendel’

We have to admit, we expected that “Up in the Air” femmes Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, both much nominated this awards season (and we’ll see what happens when the Oscar noms are announced Feb 2), were not the fashion standouts at the Golden Globes that we expected – or that they were hyped up to be. Vera Farmiga did wear a great black strapless fishtail Dolce & Gabbana gown, which was figure flattering – but it slid into the background when confronted with Drew Barrymore’s pink Versace or Kate Hudson’s white Marchesa creation. Anna Kendrick looked stunning leading up the Globes – at the Palm Springs Film Festival and other events. But at the Globes, she disappointed a bit in a big ruffly off-white frock that overwhelmed and dulled her. But leave it to the SAGS to pick up the fashion slack! Both Vera and Anna opted for real color – maybe they saw their photos online, and realized neither one popped. In a sea of bright strong color, black is backburner and prints look fussy. Anna’s SAG fuschia Alberta Ferretti gown is a fabulous choice for her – no one else has worn that shade, so she owns it – and it’s very flattering with her hair and skin. Some may call it purple – or orchid. To us, it was fuschia. A gorgeous fuschia. Vera Farmiga’s J. Mendal pale sky blue goddess gown from the J. Mendel spring 2010 collection in New York was one of our SAG favorites. We love that she paired that robin’s egg blue with cherry red lips – pale pastels with red lips (Drew Barrymore at Globes) really pops out of photos! It reminds us of the 1930’s, the Golden Age of Hollywood. Her wavy hair is very 1930’s, too. And of course, Vera’s NY based stylist, Amanda Ross, has been best friends with Gilles Mendel from J. Mendel for years. J. Mendel makes some of the best American eveningwear around. It never looks too fussy or overdone – or too tight. Sometimes, it takes two awards shows to get it!

Okay, here at FR, we aren’t going to go on at giant length on the all the looks of the models and the celebs at the Met Ball in NYC – it’s a New York-centric event. But we do think it’s interesting to go over the trends and how they might affect real life and what this do to trends in evening looks overall.  Here’s what we noted:

MINI’S AT NIGHT ARE HOT: Gwyneth started this trend, and now it’s everyone – mini for black tie events. Anne Hathaway did a Marc Jacobs purple poufy mini, and while she was ever so slightly Minnie Mouse with her big hair, it got looks – and was cute and young. Kate Moss also did a short metallic Marc Jacobs with an assymetrical cape, Jessica Alba did a blue crystal short dress, January Jones did a gold Michael Kors long sleeved mini, and Giselle wore a very tiny blue Versace dress in crystals that made everyone else nearly irrelevant. And of course, Madonna’s LV mini and headdress made a statement – and not necessarily a good one. What does all this shortness mean? If you want to turn heads at a dressy event – and you have great legs – AND you’re under 50 – or even 40 – go for a colorful or metallic mini. And have good legs.

 

COLOR IS THE STATEMENT: No one who wore a black dress – and there weren’t many women who did – got that much attention, except for Rihanna in a Dolce & Gabbana sleek tux (the boy look is always a grabber.) Jessica Biel’s orange long tiered Versace gown was vibrant, so was Kate Hudson’ s backless Stella McCartney gold dress – a bit of a body-conscious cliche, but pretty. We also loved Marion Cottilard in her pale peach Dior , and Cindy Crawford and Blake Lively both wore bright Versace blue. As did Donatella – at least you never forgot whose dresses were hers. However, neither Cindy nor Blake look like their dresses fit them well. Sample sizes aren’t always flattering on real bodies.

 

BIG BIG DRESSES: Heidi Klum stole the night in her deep blue strapless J. Mendel dress, that needed a whole city block to walk on. This woman knows how to grab the eye. Elizabeth Hurley’s ecru Elie Saab confection and Kate Beckinsale’s giant Marchesa also were impossible to avoid. Jessica Biel’s orange Versace was pretty big, too. So that’s another option – if you’re going to wear a gown, were a gown with a LOT of fabric!!

 

SO – scorekeepers – what was the total tally of how it broke down on who-dressed-who at the Golden Globes? Since every designer and big fashion house was hustling nominees to dress them, who won the red carpet sweepstakes – the second biggest one outside of the Oscars?

 

Here’s the breakdown, according to the information received from Fashion Rules:

 

THE BIG WINNER OF THE NIGHT WAS: OSCAR DE LA RENTA,  who dressed Kyra Sedgwick, Amy Adams, Jennifer Morrison and Marisa Tomei. He had FOUR great women in his gowns.

 

After that, it breaks down like this:

 

JOHN GALLIANO FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR: Drew Barrymore, Eva Mendes, Sandra Bullock

 

ROBERTO CAVALLI: Rita Wilson, Christina Applegate, Jessica Lange

 

J MENDEL: Taraji P. Hensen, Kate Beckinsale, Elizabeth Banks

 

REEM ACRA: Rumer Willis, Eva Longoria, Olivia Wilde

 

ARMANI PRIVE: Penelope Cruz, Anne Hathaway

 

ATELIER VERSACE: Angelina Jolie, January Jones

 

LANVIN: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kristin Scott Thomas

 

ELIE SAAB: Beyonce’, Laura Linney, Evan Rachel Wood

 

YSL: Kate Winslet

 

MARCHESA: Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus

 

VINTAGE FROM DECADES: Heidi Klum in vintage Galanos, Sophie Dahl in vintage Ceil Chapman

 

CHRISTIAN LACROIX: Freida Pinto

 

NINA RICCI: Blake Lively

 

CHADO RALPH RUCCI: Rachel Griffiths

 

BOTTEGA VENETA: Salma Hayek

 

HUGO BOSS: Susan Sarandon

 

GIANFRANCO FERRE:  Hayden Panettiere

 

HERVE LAROUX: Anna Pacquin

 

LOUIS VUITTON: Laura Dern

 

CAROLINA HERRERA: Renee Zellwegger

 

VERA WANG: Debra Messing

 

If you go to Style.com, you can see they did a feature today on Vogue.com’s TOP TEN AT THE GOLDEN GLOBES (http://www.style.com/vogue/bestdressed/011309/).

 

Well, we here at Fashion Rules have gotta say: NO WAY! This was the order of Vogue.com’s list, and we’ll give you FR’s talking points along the way:

 

1. Renee Zellwegger in Carolina Herrera  ARE YOU KIDDING US??? The hair, the dress – it was so OLD SCHOOL. And it wasn’t flattering at all. We love Mrs. Herrera, we love Renee – but not in THAT LOOK!! It made most site’s WORST look lists.

 

2. Marisa Tomei in Oscar de la Renta: okay, it was lovely. But it was a bit conservative and safe – even if it WAS chic. New York society LOVES its designers, doesn’t it?

 

3. Kate Winslet in YSL: Okay, we agree with this one.

 

4. Maggie Gyllenhaal in Lanvin: We agree here, too.

 

5. Blake Lively in Nina Ricci: VOGUE – WAKE UP!! THE DRESS DIDN’T FIT!!! And it was BOR-ING!!!

 

6. Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta: Okay – that was chic.

 

7. Anne Hathaway in Armani Prive: should have been higher up the list – it was a beaut.

 

8. Elizabeth Banks in J. Mendel: We love J Mendel, too – but we liked Kate Beckinsale’s white J. Mendel a whole lot more than this peachy tight dress matched with the wrong necklace, and bad hair.

 

9. Cameron Diaz in Chanel Haute Couture: pretty dress. Too bad she’s got four inches of roots in her hair.

 

10. Salma Hayek in Bottega Veneta: She looked just GREAT.  

 

The two most couture style looks at the Critics Choice Fashion Awards were worn by Marisa Tomei and Kate Beckinsale, two fashion risk-takers if there ever were ones.

 

Marisa’s Giambatistta Valli heavily ruffled strapless gown in black had a daring peplum at the waist, and then went only to what is called “tea-length” – it stopped a few inches before her feet. Some observers thought the heavy ruffle overwhelmed her, as she is petite – but we thought it was CHIC CHIC CHIC – and tres’ Francais, tres Parisienne. She wisely put her hair up with it, making it truly couture looking. Not only that, Giambatistta Valli is one of the great dress designers in the world.

 

Kate Beckinsale’s deep brown/plum also-strapless satin silk gown – with a fabulous fashionable fishtail him – was by J. Mendel.- but we can’t find it from any runway show of spring 09 or pre-fall, so it may be a one of a kind gown. It also looks very Paris. We understand that Kate has been working with New York and London based stylist Kithe

 

How will these two top these looks at the Globes on Sunday? It doesn’t seem like you could get more dramatic looks than these two gowns.

 

Amy Adams is digging the strapless cocktail dress look. On Tuesday at the Palm Springs Film Festival Opening, she donned a purple strapless sheath by J. Mendel. Then at the Critics Awards, she wore a deep midnight blue Oscar de la Renta strapless cocktail dress from his pre-fall collection. Strapless was a big theme this week – despite chilly January nights in L.A. But then, what do nominated actresses care? All they have to do is get in and out of heated cars! But Amy is working her youth by wearing cocktail dresses instead of long – and going for colors that really accentuate her red hair, her best feature. She mixed it with Van Cleef & Arpel jewelry, a Roger Vivier bag and Christian Louboutin shoes. HOT! We’re glad she lost the stocking looks for the Oscar pre-fall runway.

WHO: J. Mendel

 

WHO THEY ARE: Gilles Mendel took his skill from beautiful furs and applies them to cocktail and evening dresses

 

COLOR TRENDS: rust, poppy red, peacock blue, cinammon colored leather jackets and furs, white, cream, violet and pale peach

 

MAJOR TRENDS; Instead of holding a regular runway show, J. Mendel decided to show their spring group of dresses, furs, leather jackets and gowns at the Chelsea Art Museum on west 22nd st, on pedastels in presentation format. This was both bad and good – viewers kept banging into photographers to get a better gander at the magnificent clothes – but at least once they got there, they could really get near the clothes and see the details. We loved the rust color silk gazar dresses above the knee, with satin piping and hand pleating. Almost all the cocktail numbers are chic and snug, with tight waists, and so many darts they’re fitted like gloves – but with appropriate softness. The pale violet group was also a stunner. But then again, the whites and creams looked amazing, too. These are new york rich girl clothes that look like they originated in europe, they are so well made.

 

MOST RELEVANT TO HOLLYWOOD; one long violet hand pleated gown, with ruching running horizontally in four successive places. But the cocktail dresses have so much detail; layers of chiffon, tiny pockets of beading – that they are like short gowns. When paired with matching shortsleeved dyed belted fur coats, they are as luxe as Nicole Kidman. There aren’t any pieces here that aren’t't perfect for almost any Hollywood event.