>> THE MODELIZER —Coco Rocha may not have ended her modeling sabbatical just yet — maybe we'll see her at Chanel tomorrow? — but another model who took a break is back. Irina Lazareanu, who took the Spring 2009 season off — runway, editorial, and all — walked Alexis Mabille and Christian Dior today.
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If you're down for the saving the environment, show off your fashionable do-gooder side with Teresa Missoni's cool tee. Margherita's little sister, along with Angela Lindvall and Irina Lazareanu, are part of LENY's (Limited Edition New York) campaign to save the climate. T-shirts, retailing for a whopping $180, will be available next month. Pretty pricey but it's for a good cause. Proceeds from the tees — all designed for free — will benefit Al Gore's Climate Project.
>> Phillip Lim created the mascot skirt of Fashion Week earlier this year — not kidding, I've seen it on at least one person every day this week — and if the attendance to his newest collection's presentation is any indication, Spring 2009 will be smooth sailing for 3.1 Phillip Lim — the Tent was packed to the gills with fans, including friends Richard Chai and Irina Lazareanu, both sitting front row.
Christian Louboutin designed ruffled heels for the collection, eliciting covetousness in many — in fact, the whole Spring 2009 season is about ruffles for Phillip. The treatment in some of the dresses and skirts reminded me of a tamed version of Marc Jacobs's Spring 2007 ruffles, but among the hazy smoke that hovered on the runway, the real standouts emerged — the stiff, open-edged zipper pieces, and the jewelry Eddie Borgo made for the occasion.
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>> It's been an odd Fashion Week without Carine Roitfeld's impeccable style or Tanya Dziahileva's cherubic face, but another person of note was missed — on the runways, anyway — Irina Lazareanu. She's been spotted at Monday's Vogue/Cole Haan party in Missoni, yesterday's V magazine party in a sequined top, denim cutoffs, and a feather, and also yesterday, front row at 3.1 Phillip Lim.
Sitting front row isn't a new thing for Irina — she was in row one last season at Erin Fetherston — but what is new? For the first time in three years, she's taking a break from the runway: "To be honest, I wanted to take a season off." But just in New York — she will be walking "a little" in Milan and Paris.
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>> Still no word on Irina Lazareanu's maybe or maybe not album, but she did join the British band Cazals on-stage at their live performance on June 29 in Paris. Previous clips of her singing have been more folky — I guess that's Sean Lennon's influence for you — but this clip (first 1:30 of the video) makes Irina seem very much of the Pete Doherty school of rock.
>> THE MODELIZER —According to Irina Lazareanu, the models who walked the Christian Dior couture show yesterday got to keep their shoes. [The Cut]
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>> Seeing a Chanel couture collection is a thrill, but the clothes are always rivaled by what new, huge installation Karl Lagerfeld has plopped in the center of le Grand Palais for the models to stream out of. In recent seasons, there's been a giant tweed jacket and a larger-than-life carousel; This time around, it was a gigantic set of organ pipes.
The show started with a fugue of ominous organ music, and together with the central pipe installation and the tube-like detailing on many of the intricate dresses, reflected the inspiration which had come to Karl during a concert.
Enjoy the big production while it lasts, folks — word is Karl is talking about reducing the Chanel shows to be more intimate experiences in the future.
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>> Transparency is still the word, in John Galliano's mind. The beanie-sporting designer had Lisa Fonssagrives, wife to Irving Penn and oft-credited as the first supermodel, in mind when producing his typical voluminous dresses, but with layers of light chiffon, rather than the heavier, stiffer fabrics Christian Dior couture has boasted in recent seasons.
Frequent collaborator Stephen Jones, meanwhile, looked to Eduardo Garcia Benito, famous for his '20s Vogue cover illustrations of women in cloches, when creating the accompanying skull cap-cum-cloches.
Peplums were aplenty and Galliano couldn't help himself, sneaking a little leopard print into the bunch. But the unifying thought with this collection seems to be: What will we see on newfound Dior client Carla Bruni-Sarkozy first?
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»Ali Stephens demonstrates her runway walk, superior cross-country talents [The Cut]
»Lane Crawford enlisted 12 designers, including Alexander McQueen and Rick Owens, to create Olympic-inspired looks [FWD]
»Lily Cole was spotted in New York [Fashionista]
» . . . while Irina Lazareanu has been in San Francisco [Style File]
»Helena Christensen reads Dazed & Confused poolside in Miami [Egotastic!]
»Is Tory Burch trying to up her cred by partnering with Surface 2 Air? [Nylon]
»Previews of the Jenni Kayne, Yoehlee, and Richard Chai Resort 2009 collections [Style.com, WWD, WWD]
>> Irina Lazareanu has been working with Sean Lennon on her album, Some Place Along the Way, since 2006, but it looks like 2008 is the year we'll finally get to have a listen to the final product.
Tuesday night, the musician-cum-model said the album, which is produced by Patti Smith and features some songs by Irina's close friend/maybe boyfriend Pete Doherty, is due out in September: "All we need to do is get Sean [Lennon] and Patti in the same town and make sure Pete's not in prison and we can get rolling."
As for potential stagewear, Balenciaga is her staple, "but I find brands like Ann Demeulemeester and Martin Margiela also look fabulous on stage."
For a preview of the folkiness to come, here's Irina's duet with Sean, "Strange Places," which debuted in July 2006:
