Women in Red

As the New Year's Eve celebrations are usually associated with the colour red, I would like to talk about the clothes in red or crimson in this post. Before moving to examples from runways, I just want to start with a red dress that I very much like. In fact it is my favorite in this post

The most striking aspect of the dress is certainly its skirt with its numerous leaf-like folds. The thin yellow stripes at the edges of the folds enhance the look, give a delicate appearance to the dress like the petals of a flower. And the flower connection also fits into the green background that reminds me of lush green grass. The ribbons and embroidery at the body of the dress are beautiful, too. The model's pose, deep in thought, enhances the sensualty of the image. This gorgeous dress deserves another look.:

Now, let us see Linda Evangelista in a red gown from Valentino's 1987 collection:

Red hair suits Linda well indeed! She reminds me of Milla Jovovich in the movie The Fifth Element. Move 20 years forward and have a look at Linda in a haute couture dress by Dior.

The purple-blue-bordeaux-red colour harmony is splendid. At first sight I found the crimson red gloves a bit odd since they looked more showy and less elegant than the colour of the dress, but thinking again I admit I was wrong.

 

I would like to talk about an Indian bride gown. This glaring red bride's dress is dazzling with its golden lace and semi-precious stone embrodiery. In fact, the bride's gown is red in our (Turkish) tradition, too. Likewise it has lots of embrodiery and it definitely includes "bride's golden filament." Nowadays white gowns are in fashion, following the European influence but this ancient custom is resisting in the form of a red ribbon that is tied over the white gown. I think a red ribbon is a bad compromise, it is better not to have any reds in a bride's gown if it is not drenched in red.

The harmony of red and golden colours in the following outfit from Dior's 1990 collection inspires an association in me with the Indian bride's dress above. Though a closer look reveals that the texture of the fabric of the jacket and the skirt is very different; the fine red-pink knobs are made from velvet or a woolen fabric, but then such misalignments may happen in an inspiration. (In fact, I remember another haute couture dress that is more reminiscent of this Indian dress, but I could not find it. Let me have a look around, I might stumble upon it, hopefully soon...)

We see another red gown from Dior's 1992 collection, this time on Helena Barquilla. The embrodiery on the dress and the golden detail at the breast cleavage look great. When I take into account all the outfits I have presented above, I come to the following conclusion. Red is such an outstanding and attention-grabbing colour that while embrodiery and golden lace are normally considered to add some flare to outfits in other colours, when red is the main colour, these embellishments work towards balancing the severity of red's purity.  

I would like to conclude this post with a crimson ensemble Eugenia Volodina presented in the Valentino Fall-Winter 2004 fashion show.

Though her shoes are not visible at all, she is immersed in red from head to toe, except the shoes. The skirt of the gown embellished with ruffles is delightful, but I am still thinking about the red flower in the first image above! The beaded embrodiery extends down like a feather and it's a fine detail. Of course, the fur stole gracing Eugenia's shoulders, made from dyed fox fur is dazzling. While the satin-silk fabric of the dress reflects light in a shiny way, the fur stole's softness is apparent from the distinct way it reflects light. For that reason it looks as if its colour is slightly lighter than that of the dress. The fur has its own texture, which leaves a distinct imprint even when dyed to a uniform colour

The opaque, android looks of these Slavic women (and of men too!) are killing me! When one's gaze is moved from the crimson red fires of the dress to Eugenia's eyes, it has a chilling effect...

When all the pictures in this post are taken into consideration, an interesting but tentative result emerges: With the exception of the first dress, none of the models were blond! While Linda makes me think that red looks too exaggerated on redheads (keeping in mind the fact that the clothes were haute couture, hence exaggeration their part and parcel), it seems as if red looks best on dark haired beauties. Well, it's not without reason that Spanish and Gypsy women are reknown for their love of the red dress!

So, did you like this selection of red-crimson outfits I have presented above? (Clue: If you liked it, there will be more!)

Eternally beautiful Monica Bellucci with Alain Delon for Annabella Furs, 20 years ago

I suppose I first watched Monica Bellucci in the movie Malena and I had fallen in love in her voluptous, "womanly" beauty. We all know the French and Italian ladies who get more beautiful with each passing year: Catherine Denevue, Sophia Loren, Isabella Adjani, Sophie Marceau... These women are always fashionable, elegant, but at the same time feminine and attractive. Monica Bellucci too is that way. She is an actress who had continued her career for a long time and made a belated entry to acting. As she grows older, her beauty does not go away; it simply matures...

I recently discovered that Monica had appeared in an advertising campaign all the way back in 1987 with the unforgettable French actor Alain Delon for the Italian furrier Annabella and then decided to share some wonderful images from this campaign with you. Annabella Fur House has been established in the city of Pavia in Italy in 1953. It is a company that reflects the well known Italian attention to detail and quality and their highly appreciated taste in design. It is a company that treasures craftsmanship, handiwork and hard labour. Annabella Furs is noteworthy for its advertising campaigns and fashion shows in which besides Monica Bellucci and Alain Delon, such famous names as Catherine Denevue, Sophia Loren, and Naomi Campbell has appeared.

In these images, Monica Bellucci and Alain Delon play a couple in the midst of a passionate love. The caption of the above photograph in the campaign is: "French charm, Italian beauty and elegance: Alain Delon and Monica Bellucci." Indeed, Alain Delon represents charm in his black tuxedo with his highly charismatic and "cool" attitude, while Monica Bellucci is the epitome of beauty and elegance in her magnificent sable coat and understated makeup. They both look at different directions, but with Monica leaning against Alain Delon's shoulder, this is a very intimate moment between the two as reflected on the camera lens.

We see Monica leaning on Alain Delon's shoulder in this shot too. Monica's stare pierces through the lens and reaches straight into our gaze. They are very close to each other, but there is something that is worrying them and this casts a shadow over their happiness. Monica finds refuge like a ship does in a calm harbour after a terrible storm. Alain stands firm in his determination to protect her whatever the cost.

The same sentiments fill the picture above. Alain Delon wraps his arms around his companion in a way to claim her. We see Monica Bellucci in a gorgeous Russian lynx fur coat that has its own unique pattern consisting of a white fur background with black spots over.

After the somewhat melancholic and sentimental shots above, we see the couple walking in a blissful happiness in the picture below, walking with a broad smile on their faces. The sunlight coming in from the windows to the left warms up the atmosphere. The caption of this photo in the campaign is, "An unforgettable moment with Alain Delon and Monica Bellucci in the magic of Pavia." Pavia is a historic city in norther Italy, where Annabella is based. Monica is wearing another lynx fur.

We see Monica alone in the next picture, with her serene beauty on display. Her mink fur frames her face gracefully. She is barely wearing makeup-any intervention can only conceal her beauty! She is a testament to elegance with her white silk/satin blouse and leather gloves which match the colour of her fur coat perfectly!

In the final picture that I shall present in this post, we see Monica alone once more. In keeping with the general atmosphere of the campaign, she is by herself, immersed in thoughts, wearing another beautiful mink coat...

Advertising spots were also produced within this campaign, for TV broadcast. Though the image quality is low, you can see a clip below, found on youtube:

Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld, Jessica Stam

I have thought a lot on how to title this post. Usually, one person from the trio of the model, the designer, and the photographer stands out, but here, when the model is Jessica Stam, the designer house is Fendi, and the photographer is none other than Mr. Karl Lagerfeld himself!, it is inevitable that a conflict (in my mind, that is, not in actuality) would arise that was similar to those that arose in the music hall days with the lead acts fighting among themselves to have their names displayed more prominently on the billboards. Finally, I made the ordering as displayed above. I have not had difficulty in placing Jessica Stam towards the end, since she looks like she is a cold person.

Since this is an advertising campaign for Fendi products, our Uncle Karl has somewhat poked the Fendi brand right into our eyes in some shots. Smoke is the common point of all the photographs in this campaign covering more than half the image area, which led some commenters to the conclusion that it was a bit "boring." But I, like the majority, relate the mysterious atmosphere created by the smoke to Lagerfeld's genius. Indeed, the photographs have an eery air, pulling the viewer inside and whipping up curiousity. In some shots, a male silhouette seems to appear just a little from among the fog, but since our attention is fully locked on Jessica, we don't even see those men. That's the subtext of the campaign, and its message to prospective customers: Once you wear these clothes, you will look so beautiful that all men standing next to you will disappear in a nameless fog.

If the smoke and the fog give a gray and depressed aura, the stones in the background soften it with their natural colours and texture. The clothes are in neutral (and natural) colours too. The simple colour plate is enlivened in one shot with Jessica's bordeuaux coloured nails, with her velvet dress in the same colour, and with her leather bag, again in the seducive colour of a deep red wine. She wears very little makeup, her lips are painted in a shiny gloss without deviating from their natural colour. I cannot stop thinking what if her lips were also full in deep wine red, but I suppose Master Karl knows something.

Let us now come to the furs that are prominent in all but a few photographs. First, a minor silver fox detail, adorning the tie straps of a sleeveless but hooded dress in beige colour. The dress is as simple as it is elegant. Next, a dark brown Russian sable fur coat, whose price is probably not less than 20 grand. Then, a "knitted fur" coat in gray-brown-black tones. That gorgeous dark red velvet dress is accompanied by a fur coat with an original design. Its body is made from Russian sable, and the 3/4 long sleeves made from gray mink fur are given a special texture, probably using a "shearing" technique, so that the fur is shortened and it is made up of thin fur strips.

In general, the furs used in the campaign are far removed from dramatically contrasting colours and patterns. They are either monochrommatic or they are made from pieces with similar colours. Some fur design techniques, which were pionereed by Saga Furs of Scandinavia, have been used to give a slight edge and movement to the furs. Most importantly, the furs in the Fendi collection are at the pinnacle of luxury, as it is only appropriate for Fendi. These furs are not of the type "Oh, how nice, let me just get one to wear on the New Year's Eve, and then if I don't like it, I can simply throw it deep into my wardrobe!" They are beautiful, luxurious, and of course, very very expensive. Of course, this does not mean that we can look at them for inspiration and ideas.

So far so good, but what are you going to say to the huge bag in the last shot? I have carefully looked at the picture and arrived at a conclusion, but I shall not reveal it now, so as not to spoil the surprise for you. Please do give your answer in the comments section.

In order to fully appreciate the beauty of these images, please click on them and let their full sized versions cover your screen for a moment or two.

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Now, let's get to the bottom of this. When I had first seen these photographs from the Fendi campaign and decided to post a blog entry on them, I had not thought that Jessica Stam was a Victoria's Secret model, TOO! When I became aware of the fact that after Caroline Trentini, I was going to have another VS model featured in my blog, it was too late. You remembered who Jessica was, didn't you? For those who did not (or could not!), let the following little memory refreshers come!

Supermodel Caroline Trentini in furs -1-

I would like to talk about the furs modeled by Caroline Trentini at the runways and the editorials of fashion magazines. She belongs to a new generation of supermodels. Firstly, if you are like me, that is, you remember models more with their image than their names(!), let us remember who Caroline Trentini is by looking at her at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows:)

The first one was from the 2006 show. The next picture is from the 2009 show. I guess Caroline's facial expression and personality has matured a lot (Yep, I am looking at her face, don't you believe me!?!)


Caroline Trentini was born in 1987 in a small city of 40 thousand in Brazil and grew up there. When she was discovered by the same "head hunter" who discovered Gisele Bundchen, she was only 13 years old. If you ask me what the outstanding quality of Caroline is, I say she has a beauty that has not lost its childlike purity.

Now, since Sonia Rykiel's guest collection for H&M is in the news, let us begin our Caroline Trentini tour with the gorgeous dress and fur she carried in Rykiel's FW 2004 show (Of course you can see an enlarged version if you click on the picture, but the original version is quite big, with 1280x2030 pixels and 613 KB size, just reminding).


Just look at the beauty of the dress, and the elegance of the model wearing it! How nicely do the flowers reminiscent of Sonia Rykiel's red hair fit in the green dress! Of course, we understand that Caroline was chosen to preent this dress due to her green eyes. Naturally, the model needs to have a body with perfect proportions, that's true as well. If we look at the dress closely, we see that it actually consists of an underlayer made of shiny satin fabric in green, something that could well be called as a nightie, and the real dress carrying the flower print over this nightie, which is made from a transparent fabric. The fur Caroline is carrying in her hand is dyed blue fox, that much is certain, but is it a bolero type short jacket or a stole, I could not be sure.

In the next outfit, we see Caroline again in a green coat with a black fur collar. I was not able to determine if the coat is made from velvet or fur. If you are asking me if it is possible to have fur in such form, the fur technology has developed significantly in the last 15-20 years. The "shearing" technique removes the longer guard hairs and a fur with shorter hairs but a much softer feel is obtained. I am unable to comment on her boots, but if you can, you are welcome to do so in the comments section...


We see another embrodiered coat below, with sable collar. The shiny gold lace in the embrodiery is in harmony with both Caroline's gree eyes and her hair.


I could not find the source of the above picture, I mean, to which designer's collection in which year it belongs to. However, the next photo very much parallels the embrodiery style. Four models together backstage in a Robert Cavalli show. Caroline is not wearing fur, but models at the extreme right and left are wearing coats embellished with gorgeous embrodiery. The coats' collars and sleeve ends are chinhcilla fur. Again, I would like to remind, this is a large size (680 KB) image.


At this point in a post on Caroline Trentini and furs, it is now time to present the two furs I like most. The first is an Arctic fox coat she wore in Michael Kors' FW 2005 show. In the first photo, in the pose Caroline is giving to the photographers' at the end of the runway by slightly turning to her side, pay attention to how the coat drapes immaculately towards the hem without fault and how the coat has acquired movement thanks to Caroline's swing. The colour of the fur coat is fantastic, its collar frames Caroline's face exquisitely and reveals the beauty of her face in all its glory. The dress is very beautiful too, in its perfectly matching colour and its tulle detail.

Another photo of the same appearance. Do not be misled by the small size of the thumbnail, if you click on it, a supersize image will appear, but if your internet connection is limited, let me warn you beforehand that it's about 1MB (925KB, to be exact)!

The third photo lets you see Caroline's shoes in detail. You know, we the men do not understand women's shoe craze much, but it does not mean that we do not know how to win over your hearts by zooming into shoes!

The red fox coat below is from Emanuel Ungaro's 2006-2007 fall and winter show. Red fox is one of my favorite furs and this coat's colours cover the whole spectrum available from the reds to the yellows, from the browns to the whites. In the past, there used to be a warning "Do not wear a fur coat whose colour is close to your hair colour," but this image is a living testimony as to why such a warning is not necessary at all. You may be thinking, when looking at the image from a distance, that the black dress forms a nice plain background to highlight the fur coat, but if you look closer, you will see that the dress has a very nice texture and an interesting cut.


I would like to end this first instalment of my posts on Caroline Trentini. There are many more images of Caroline in fur that I would like to share with you. Besides, I am aware that I have made almost no comments on her hair, but once I left the chestnut-caramel paragidm, my hair knowledge has simply dried away!

Hello world!

Hello everyone! In these days when the weather gets colder every day, what could be more beautiful than wrapping up yourself in the warmth of fur? Fur, the oldest clothing for the mankind... Fur is beautiful, and fur makes beautiful. It keeps you warm, it is natural, and it is soft.

I have been a fur lover all my life. I take great pleasure in touching and wearing fur, and getting mesmerized by the beauty of a fur-clad woman. I am planning to share some of my thoughts with you, as a fur lover.

See ya!