DO YOU BELIEVE?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Twitter has been all a buzz today with the news that Marc Jacobs is to move to Dior, with Phoebe Philo taking up office at Louis Vuitton while continuing to design for Celine. We reported a few weeks ago that Marc may have been in talks to take over the Dior role but the addition of Philo's name is a new detail to mull over.

Some examples of the tweets fuelling the rumour mill:

'@Bryanboy: Imagine: Marc Jacobs at Christian Dior, Phoebe Philo at Louis Vuitton. Match made in heaven, yes? Can Marc do couture? That's the question.'

'@FashionFoieGras: Marc Jacobs for Dior and Phoebe Philo to fill his shoes at Louis Vuitton... That is today's prediction of the fashion musical chairs'

Phoebe Philo in The Gentlewoman (Image from www.rag-pony.com)

'@Vogue_London: Is Marc Jacobs really set to take over at Dior, and will Phoebe Philo be taking his place at @LouisVuitton_HQ? http://t.co/c1eLjmG'

'@JimShi809: #MarcJacobs said headed to #Dior, leaving #LouisVuitton open for Phoebe Philo (who'll also do Celine) & starting a major LVMH reshuffling.'

Where is Marc off too? Anywhere? (Image from fashionindie.com)

What are your thoughts, dear readers?

Would Phoebe Philo really take on the Louis Vuitton job when she has previously said that she only took on Celine because it meant she could remain and in London and juggle it with her two children? Would Marc tear himself away from all he has built up at Vuitton? What would Marc Jacobs' couture be like?

Can we really take these new rumours seriously? After all it's August and so everyone in Paris is en vacances. The FashEd's tip is that all will become clear in Septemeber once John Galliano has been sentenced. This is quite probably just another installment in this now long-running Dior job saga

Comment or tweet us @fashedatlarge.

CFDAS: YOU'LL FEEL LIKE YOU WERE THERE

Posted by Bethan Holt and Fashion Editor at Large

We've had a snoop around to find all the most fabulous, non-red carpet pics from Monday's CFDAs... Enjoy!

Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs (WWD.com)- Wang's little face is ADORABLE!

Giovanna Battaglia from Derek's Blasberg's blog on HarpersBazaar.com

Chloe Sevigny and James Gardener A.KA SubversiveGlam (his twitpic)

AWW- LIz Tyler provides a shoulder to rest on for French Graffiti Artist Andre Saraiva
(from wwd.com)

Kirsten Dunst and Phoebe Philo looking like twinnies (From Derek Blasberg again)

Mary-Kate Olsen with Olivier Theyskens (from wwd.com)

Cameron Silver, Michelle Harper and Rod Keenan all looking like they may have just come from the Mad Hatter's Tea Party- Fabulous! (via Silver's twitter feed)

The inimitable Hilary Alexander, dressed in her signature texture mix plus statement necklace, with her CFDA from telegraph.co.uk- Fash Ed At Large will be attanding her farewell party tomorrow.

And now for Her Musical Highness, LADY GAGA...

Before the event in her Mugler creation- pic from the Twitter feed of her trusted stylist, Nicola Formichetti.

Keeping it in the family- Gaga with her sister Natali and Formichetti (his tumblr image)-
they're ravin'

A little later... a layer has been removed from Gaga's outfit to reveal... pretty much everything. Here she is with Terry Richardson (From Derek Blasberg)

Karolina Kurkova and Gaga: Fierce + colour co-ordination. Formichetti's twitter.

Gaga with Patti LaBelle at the after-party (Formichetti's Tumblr)

Our favourite image of the night- A megastar image from Formichetti's Tumblr

And the winners were...

Fashion Icon Award: Lady Gaga

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award: Marc Jacobs

Eugenia Sheppard Media Award: Hilary Alexander

International Award: Phoebe Philo

Womenswear Designer of the Year: Proenza Schouler

Menswear Designer of the Year: Michael Bastian

Accessory Designer of the Year: Alexander Wang

Swarovski Award for Menswear: Robert Geller

Swarovski Award for Womenswear: Prabal Gurung

Swarovski Award for Accessory Design: Eddie Borgo

Founders Award: Hal Rubenstein

Board of Directors' Special Tribute: Arthur Elgort

THIS BAG WILL CHANGE FASHION

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

By the amazing Tommy Ton at JakandJil

As a handbag fan, I look back on my little cupboard that represents the last ten years of handbag history and see an era encapsulated. The noughties were a time of big, ostentatiously designed and very quirky handbags. These receptacles represent the modern womans' predicament - out and about away from home operating with what she can carry to achieve her aims. Throughout the noughties that was a lot of kit.

While on my Greek holiday just now I was asked by a masseuse (and not for the first time) whether I had scoliosis. I DO NOT. What I do have is an over-developed right shoulder from carrying large designer bags with lots of stuff in for a decade, and an underdeveloped left shoulder that won't take the weight of a bag comfortably.

When Arete the amazing woman who realigned my back on holiday had finished with me, I vowed never to carry a heavy handbag again, which lead me straight back into the imaginary clutch of the handbag I haven't been able to get out of my head since I first clapped eyes on it. Yes, I am talking about the Celine Classic bag again!

Without wishing to over do the "Phoebe Philo is a genius" blather that has taken over as the default line of thought for every fashion writer and blogger in the western world, Phoebe Philo has pulled off something approaching genius with this bag.

More Tommy Tom

With the Classic she has stripped the fashion handbag back to its purest form and created a perfectly formed and useful design classic, that I, among many, many people, can't wait to wear for the rest of my days.

The many combinations of colour, leather and skin means that each new owner feels she is getting something tailored to her taste.

Crucially, the dimensions of the bag are the thing that mark it out as something new. It is small, the dimensions are 19cm high, 23.5 cms across and 6.5 cm deep, but it is large enough to hold a notebook and diary, wallet, two smartphones and essential make-up items. This is a bag for an organised woman who can reduce! The Hermes Constance bag (below) is even smaller.

Hermes "Constance" bag

My gripe with the Classic is that it is just too small for an iPad. Can you make a bigger one please?  You only need to go up by a few centimenters in height and width to fit it in, and then it really will be genius.

A selection of colours of the Classic

Hopefully I be treating myself to one of these if the next couple of months are good on the work front. What I won't be able to do is win one. BUT one lucky person, hopefully one of you, will, and all thanks to me!

I've started working as a consultant on what promises to be an amazing new e-tail website that launches in October. When they asked me what handbag to recommend for an elegant little teaser campaign they are doing to introduce the site, there was no hesitation. With stealth planning and a well timed swoop on Celine in Paris I managed to get hold of not only a new-season Classic, but one in the most in-demand colour, geranium red - i.e a little lighter than the one at the top of this blogpost.

In fact, I handed it over to them today, and when it left my possesion to be photographed, there was a pang of loss. Look back here NEXT WEDNESDAY for more news on how this £2,200 little beauty can be yours.

All summer I have been imagining my head on top of these bodies

Photos:
Celine Resort Lookbook
JakandJil.com
Celine.com

IN LOVING MEMORY: KATY BAGGOTT

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

British Fashion lost a heartland member of its ranks on Wednesday night. Katy Baggott, 39, the agent to Phoebe Philo, Juergen Teller and Katie Hillier among others over the years, has left us. Tonight I am attending the 40th birthday party of her best friend since the age of 14, Sammi, who has told me the party will be bringing all of her friends together, and that the evening is dedicated to celebrating her life.

Katy Baggott with Juergen Teller at Marc Jacobs SS10 show last September in NYC.

"Katy Baggott, agent extraordinaire, tragically and unexpectedly passed away yesterday, Wednesday 28 April, in her sleep. Baggot was one of those hugely influential and yet oft-unsung heroes of the fashion industry, a force of nature and enthusiasm. She was an agent who chose to work very closely with a small and hugely talented roster, her directness and honesty helping her to skilfully negotiate commercial contracts for her clients that gave them enough room to maintain their own character and style. She was unstinting in her loyalty, generosity and kindness to her friends as well as randomly helping anyone she was impressed by along the way with a simple introduction or recommendation. All that aside, Katy was great fun to be with and will be horribly missed by so many."

from http://www.showstudio.com
photo: Retna Pictures

WHEN I MET MY MIRROR AT GIVENCHY

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Vanessa Coyle mirroring Fashion Editor at Large

It is not often that I will post photographs of myself on this blog but I was going through my shots from Paris and there was this crazy one of me and my old friend Vanessa Coyle of Harpers Bazaar. It was taken straight after the Givenchy show, and Vanessa and I were thinking along the same lines with our look of the day, don't you think?  The jacket is - surprise, surprise! - by Celine.

Celine was by far the most popular label amongst fashion editors in Paris, and spotting it became something of a sport for myself and yet another British journalist who has this jacket, Fran Burns from Love magazine. It is unfortunate that Frannie wasn't wearing her jacket at the Givenchy show - that would have been a great picture!

That wasn't the end of the Celine-athon. This evening Sarah Mower and myself attended the press event for the Central Saint Martin's MA graduate show. Sarah was wearing the very beautiful Celine coat in camel; she also has it in black. The coat has a very particular look which Ms Philo described to Alice Rawsthorn for the New York Times last month: “It’s cut very specifically like a double-breasted coat, but worn open like a single-breasted coat,” she explains. “The cut of the shoulder and sleeves is twisted at the front, so you get this feeling that it’s sitting on your shoulders.” 

Like me, Sarah is not alone amongst her colleagues in ownership of the same item. She tells me Brana Wolf, [Harpers Bazaar USA], Aliona Doletskaya [editor-in-chief Russian Vogue] and Alex White [W Magazine] and Phoebe Philo regularly wear theirs.   

Sarah Mower looking fabulous in one of her TWO!! Celine coats. She also has it in black.  

Over the course of Paris Fashion Week, Fran Burns said she counted 17 individual women wearing the below jacket - both this length and the shorter waist-length version. I'm torn between being glad I don't have one, to jealous of those who do.

I buy my Celine from Matches. www.matchesfashion.co.uk

On another note the caramel and nude pink colour vibe ushered in this season by labels such as Celine, Stella and Chloe - to my eyes the three most influential labels for AW10 - have inspired the beginnings of my proper Spring wardrobe, which I will explore and share through this blog as it happens. Hence why, during my lunch hour from Grazia HQ today I bought this silky nude-coloured shirt from Zara for £49.99. The girl in who served me said they came in-store today. I love it! What do you think? 

  

Excuse the pose, I was camping it up for my friend Angela Buttolph, Grazia's web editor.

Picture credits:
Chris Moore/Catwalking.com
Fashion Editor at Large