CURIOUSER NEW YORK

So, I'm caught up in the moment today thinking about how awesomely great, just absolutely perfect Meryl Streep was in "Devil Wears Prada" movie. 

Who doesn't know Anna Wintour? Or, let me rephrase it - who in any of the industries that have at least something to do with the fashion world does not know Anna Wintour? 

Even though the winter holidays are over, it doesn't mean that they have left you without the gifts that keep on giving...

"Fashion must be the intoxicating release from the banality of the world" One word for you - if you haven't seen this documentary yet, you are not a true fashionista! "Is there anything beyond fashion?"

Last March I've learned that a legendary fashion house that used to be the 'it' to go to in Hollywood and among the most notorious fashionistas around the world - PAGANNE fashion house - is coming back after almost three decades of being 'silent'.   When I learned the history of PAGANNE fashion label, I was mesmerized by how exquisite - and mysterious - and customized the brand, found by Gene Berk, was back in the days. Celebrities wore it. Vogue and Harper's Bazaar featured it over and over again. But not only that, when I started digging in, I found many vintage lovers who up until today have been writing about PAGANNE printed dresses as if they were talking about an 'urban legend'. The fact of the matter is that PAGANNE has taken over the world of fashion back in the 60s and 70s. All the prints that were going into the design of these spectacular immaculate dresses were hand-made and customized and the fabric and the final dress were man...

Yesterday I met the creative force behind one of the greatest versions of the Vogue magazines in the world - Vogue Italia . I've met Franca Sozzani , the Editor-in-Chief, who has been with Vogue Italia since 1988 and who came to the Museum at FIT to share her wisdom - [ you should have seen the line of people, some of which really looked like serious fashionistas, to the auditorium to meet with Sozzani! Good thing I've booked it way in advance! ] To say that this woman is brilliant is an understatement, she is beyond the visionary. She is also hilarious and is not afraid to push the envelope. Her bold statements in regards to how the fashion industry works and what goes into the production of one of the most prestigious fashion magazines in the world once again proved, why she's been considered one of the most controversial editors in the history of Vogue. She shared with us the things that most of the fashion industry players are afraid to say out-loud....

French Vogue: A celebrity smoking? - Yes. S&M? - Yes.  Wrong? - Maybe. But at least they are not hypocrates.  I'm back to talking about French, France and the whole how 'openly sexual' the French fashion journalism is. I can't get enough of how liberated the French press is about talking and showing the sexual images on both - the screen [mind you - on the public TV] and magazines and that does not make French youth more, how to put it in a respectful non-sexual way? - over-sexed than the youth in other countries... Well, France - and the rest of the world - is about to get one more liberated fashion magazine in stores.

What's with the French fashion that they feel more free to publish semi-naked sexy photos in their fashion magazines, why can't the American Vogue do it?   

I like the fact that what used to be a very stereotypical - [and, thus, widely known around the world] - souvenir that the visitors to Russia bring back home - the Russian Dolls , are now taking attention from the biggest fashion designers in the world. They are now a very hot commodity- both in a private collection on the shelves of one's house and in the fashionable art exhibitions.

  I enjoy the fact how Russia has been progressive in many areas of the life since USSR has ceased to exist - [except for the politics and economy, obviously] - and how it has been progressively integrating the 'WEST' into the 'EAST' fast, adding its own cultural charms and peculiarities.

Deep down I knew there was something quelque chose de nouveau about Carine Roitfeld - one of the most controversial - [and sexual] - women in the fashion industry, the Editor-in-Chief of French Vogue.  

The other day I was passing the press stand and have noticed something that brought some memories back. I saw this month's Vogue... And you must ask: "So, what?"...