Les Italiennes

Here are some photos of the ever-elegant and flawless Italian women . With that mild climate of Italia you can wear silk blouses and beautiful dresses, the precious privilege. The ideal Italian woman should resemble the heroine of Amedeo Modigliani's portraits - slender and graceful. So here are my favourite Modigliani's women portraits and their XXI century reincarnations.

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via garancedore.fr, tfs, worldgallery.co.uk

BCBG, pt.1.

The Voguettes

The Vogue Paris crew is adorable. Not only they look incessantly chic but they also look like people making not an overpriced luxury catalogue (a thing that most magazines turned into), but something that women flock to for actual fashion. Their style is easily recognizable: long legs, high heels, black from head to toe. Due to these minimalist leanings, the effect is long, lean and handsome. It possesses the charm of the nonchalance and refined arrogance.
As I find Emmanuelle Alt's and Géraldine Saglio's style most appealing and very inspirational, I was very pleased when the news came that Emmanuelle was appointed the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris. Mes congratulations!








P.S. This is my favourite look par Géraldine.




















pictures: tfs
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Winter drawings

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Anna

Anna Mouglalis, who, as you know, is not only a successful French actress, but also a model for Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld's muse, makes me think of two things. New Year celebration and, quite surprisingly, consumerism. Her beauty, which is of baroque kind (large dark yellow eyes and dramatic make-up), makes me think of stars and champagne and the clock that chimes at midnight. Whereas her style brings up the comparison with pathetic pre-New Year crowds I saw yesterday in the shopping mall. Women trying on colourful silk dresses to make December the 31st the greatest night of the year. I might have turned too pessimistic but I think it won't help. There's nothing you can buy to turn into a beautiful princess overnight. At first, I couldn't make out what exactly put me off. Now I know. It is that it was all about trying to impress. Plus, it was overdressing, which is unpleasant aesthetically.
These photos of Anna are my inspiration for the upcoming New Year celebrations. Hope they'll inspire you just as much.
xx

P.S. Did you know Anna Mouglalis speaks 5 languages and reads philosophy books? Makes me feel empty-headed. Beauty is certainly not only about clothes & make-up (banal, I know).

Elegance is refusal

The girl I'd like to tell you about might be called 'potentially stylish'. Agnia Ditkovskite, born in Lithuania, is a successful actress. She claims her favourite style is minimalism. Though sometimes her outfits are too eclectic, she looks genuinely beautiful when wearing subtle and sophisticated minimalistic pieces.

Seduction, etc.

I'd like to share a bit taken from a very inspiring article by Ellen Wallace. It concerns an ever-present issue of 'what's so peculiar about French nonchalant style'. However, it is not French style I'd like to focus on.
"French women do not dress for men. "We don’t dress to be sexy. Of course we do dress to seduce — that’s different from trying to ‘catch’ a man by wearing flamboyant clothes. The basic attitude is different. A French woman never feels she’s offering herself. There’s never a sense of surrender, but an attitude of ‘I belong to me’."
It's nothing new, of course. It is just that it made me think of all these poor girls parading the streets in extreme miniskirts, really tight dresses, higher-than-the-sky heels,with their overdone faces giving out the effort put into them in the morning right away. Don't you sympathize with them? At least, I do. Such severe sufferings to attract a man's glance in the street!
Don't get me wrong. I'm far from being a feminist, and I do like seductive clothes. But don't you think there is something utterly tempting about this "I belong to me" attitude. Self-confidence and self-respect come first. A woman should rather try to seduce herself. Well, it does imply a certain level of stylistic skills and a developed self-identity. So, it is not only "seduce yourself first", but it is also "be hard to seduce"!
P.S. Remember Carole Bouquet in "This Obscure Object of Desire"? She looked discreet, but very seductive (seductive enough to make a man obsessed with her, almost insane).
xx