tabitha simmons

>> Last night, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti were in New York to fete the opening of Valentino: The Last Emperor — arguably their biggest Manhattan party ever, between the screening and the dinner for 200 of fashion's finest (including Anna Wintour, Anja Rubik, Jason Wu, and Chanel Iman) at the Plaza's Oak Room.  The designer's six pugs Molly, Milton, Monty, Margot, Maude, and Maggie, who director Matt Tyrnauer has dubbed "the costars of the film," weren't present — according to Valentino, "they're getting some time away from me in Italy" — but maybe that's a good thing: Karolina Kurkova admitted, “they’re really not nice to everybody” and Gwyneth Paltrow agreed, calling the pugs "kind of mean."

When Giancarlo Giammetti was asked about his comment on film that the designer looked too tan, he was quick to explain, "We'd come from the beach, and we were about to show summer suits, and he just . . . it just seemed like too much. But it was one time, and one time only."  And as for those rumors that he was back to helping out at Valentino for Fall 2009, Garavani denied having any hand in it, "No, not at all.  Very far from the truth. I don’t think about it. I wish my assistants to do the best. It’s a big job, though, and to know my name goes on the designs, I want them to do the best.”

Meanwhile, the film seems to have already inspired at least one person — Zac Posen. "I wouldn't mind being followed around too for two years.  It's all about having the right collaborators."
*image: source, source, filmmagic

>> Rag & Bone always attracts the legions — last season there was enough trouble filing in when the show space was the vast Pier 94; this season, the crowd had to push and shove their way through the two small double doors of Cedar Lake Ballet Theater, and a number of people who were supposed to have seats were forced to stand.  While the rest of us were bumped and budged, immobile, Julia Restoin Roitfeld knew how to conquer the immovable best — just after she waved hello to Genevieve Jones, a tall, modelesque man parted the crowd with an "Excuse me, I'm late for the show."  Presumably, everyone assumed he was a model trying to get backstage fifteen minutes after the show was scheduled to start.  Julia saw him and latched onto his elbow with a "Hey, Zack, I'm going to use you as an excuse to get through."  And with that, she was in — the rest of us still in the same place.  Turns out, the guy wasn't even in the show.

But Edita Vilkeviciute was, and Isabeli Fontana — who closed — Diana Farkhullina and Sigrid Agren — all new faces, in addition to Rag & Bone perennial favorites like Coco Rocha, Lily Donaldson, Sasha Pivovarova, Jessica Stam, and Julia Stegner.  The label's usual palette of navy, black, and gray was in place, with some unexpected pops of red in a flower brooch here, in an obi belt there.  Marcus Wainwright and David Neville worked with a different stylist this season — Tabitha Simmons — and she helped them take it to a new level — the chain mail detailing on a hem or peeking out under a jacket was an especially unique touch.
*image: source

>> Alexander McQueen's Fall 2008 ad campaign — his first since 2003 — may be mighty fashionably late, but the first images are finally here.  The campaign, shot by Craig McDean in New York and styled by Tabitha Simmons, features Alice McGibb as gothic bird, tangled among the sticks of a giant bird nest.
*image: source

>> In the second installment of Vogue editors styling models as themselves for the August 2008 issue, may I introduce Tanya Dziahileva as fashion director Tonne Goodman.  The stick-straight blonde hair, solid-colored clothes, and sunglasses are all spot on.

Karen Elson as creative director Grace Coddington still takes the cake, though; Filling out the rest of the editorial are Sasha Pivovarova as Elissa Santisi, Raquel Zimmermann as Marie Amelie Sauve, and Maryna Linchuk as Tabitha Simmons, none of which are as well-done. 
*image: source, source