Latest news with #FédérationdelaHauteCoutureetdelaMode
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Viola Davis, Jane Fonda Spotlight Emerging Directors at L'Oréal's Lights on Women's Worth Award
CANNES, France — Cannes was lit up by Jane Fonda and Viola Davis, who arrived on the final weekend of the film festival to honor the next wave of female filmmakers at L'Oréal Paris' Lights on Women's Worth Award ceremony, celebrated in a beachside ceremony. Fellow brand ambassadors Gillian Anderson, who joined the L'Oréal family in February, Simone Ashley, an ambassador since last year, and Elle Fanning were in attendance, after hitting the red carpet earlier in the evening. Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch and Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode executive president Pascal Morand were also among the guests. More from WWD Elle Fanning Masters Off-duty Glamour in Giuseppe Zanotti's Angular Heels and Max Mara Shirtdress for Cannes Film Festival 2025's Final Day Paris Jackson's Dramatic Cannes Corset Dress Sparkles With Synergy in Christian Louboutin for 'Honey Don't!' Film Premiere Jane Fonda Goes Bold at Cannes in Caged Sandals and 3D Florals, Elle Fanning's Winning Look and More Closing Day Ceremony Style 'It's not young filmmakers, it's young women filmmakers, and that's what's important,' Fonda emphasized. 'Women, for centuries, have not been a powerful presence in Hollywood. This is slowly changing.' Reflecting on her early days in the industry, Fonda recalled often being the only woman on set, forced to navigate complex on-set politics, as well as love scenes, without support. While she praised the introduction of intimacy coordinators and acknowledged growing representation, she insisted there is still a lot of work to be done. 'This is why it's important — we respond differently to everything. We respond differently to war, to poverty, to health. And so, if you leave our voices out of the media of the culture, then everybody's getting half the story. We're poorer because we're only getting half the story. So when you bring women in, then suddenly there's the full picture. And that's good for men as well as for women, and for boys as well as girls.' Fonda, who hasn't appeared on-screen in two years, has been devoting her energy to climate activism. She also admitted she's been turning down scripts. 'I get offered movies all the time and they're bad, they're not good. They're stereotypes — you know, the 'old woman.' And so I am waiting for a good project,' she said. In the meantime, the iconic actress is working on a memoir titled 'Before I Forget,' which she is still in the process of writing. For Davis, the juror for the award, the evening felt personal after screening the 13 eligible films from the short and student film categories. 'I feel like I have a front-row seat to all of these great female filmmakers' stories, [and] that I'm now a part of it,' she said. 'I have a front-row seat in congratulating them, celebrating them, spotlighting them, awarding them. And that's the gift that it gives to me.' She also praised the powerful narratives being told in women-led films. 'There's some extraordinary films that are out there. The thing that surprises me — but see, it doesn't surprise me — is the depth of storytelling. When you give a woman a story where the woman is in the center of the narrative and they control that voice, what you get is a level of truth that you haven't seen in filmmaking. It's a brutal truth at times and it makes you feel seen because it's so honest.' While progress is happening, Davis acknowledged that there is still a glass ceiling that exists in Hollywood. Still, more actresses are stepping behind the camera to direct, including Kristen Stewart, Scarlett Johansson, and Regina King among them. 'It's still very difficult, but what's happening now is, we're getting hip to the fact that we have to do it anyway,' she said. 'They're out there and they're doing it despite of [difficulty] and they're doing it on their terms. That's the future of filmmaking. I think that we've discovered the elixir.' One of the few actors to achieve EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), Davis admitted she rarely visits the room where her trophies reside. But recently she took some time to revel in a moment of celebration. 'I did allow myself, a few months ago, to sit in there for a couple of hours. And I forced myself to look at them so I can squeal, be proud of my story and my journey and actually, almost proudly say that I've had an interesting life.' At the ceremony, Davis presented the award to Heo Ga-young for her short film 'First Summer,' which was selected from the eligible films. The South Korean director's film follows a woman torn between attending a memorial service and her granddaughter's wedding. 'The depth of understanding the complexity of human loss is a mighty feat. Heo Ga-young through [main character] Yeongsun captures that desperate need for us to claim what makes us feel alive at all costs. Brave, bold and absolutely the story of what it means to be a woman,' Davis said. Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, global brand president of L'Oréal Paris, reflected on the award's significance. 'This fifth anniversary of the Lights on Women's Worth Award is a powerful reaffirmation of our enduring commitment to uplifting women in cinema. This mission is deeply woven into the fabric of who we are at L'Oréal Paris,' she said. 'For the past five years we have been committed to giving recognition and visibility to promising young female directors. I hope one day this award will no longer be needed — a sign that our women have finally claimed their rightful place at the heart of the cinema industry.' Best of WWD Model and Hip Hop Fashion Pioneer Kimora Lee Simmons' Runway Career Through the Years [PHOTOS] Salma Hayek's Fashion Evolution Through the Years: A Red Carpet Journey [PHOTOS] How Christian Dior Revolutionized Fashion With His New Look: A History and Timeline
Tatler Asia
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Inside Chanel's SS2025: How comfort, colour and Coco's spirit continue to define a haute couture revolution
Gabrielle Chanel's philosophy that 'comfort has forms, love has colours' continues to guide her successors in their contemporary creations. As the maison celebrates 110 years of haute couture excellence, the arrival of its latest spring-summer collection in Hong Kong offers an intimate revelation of Chanel's enduring creative philosophy Haute couture represents the apex of fashion creation. Its creators operate under strict regulations set by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Since its establishment in 1868, the governing body's core mandate has been to preserve centuries of French dressmaking expertise. Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel made her haute couture debut in 1915, making Chanel the oldest couture house still in operation today. She established her first atelier in the southwestern French town of Biarritz and staffed it with 300 workers, who produced her debut haute couture collection. Requiring all handwork and at least 130 hours per piece, haute couture provided a platform for her to explore her revolutionary vision of modern luxury—the freedom of movement. Above Chanel multicoloured tweed two-piece outfit Above Chanel organza and tulle dress embellished with plumetis feathers and beads During the presentation of the collection in Hong Kong, Chanel screened rare interview footage of the maison's eponymous designer, in which she addressed the essence of her approach. 'We move every second. I am moving constantly now, even when I don't intend to,' she says. 'A dress has to facilitate that and still look perfect when the wearer moves.' Read more: Haute couture SS2025: Chanel's three silent transformations 'Comfort has forms' was, and still is, the foundation of every Chanel design. Take the classic tweed jacket, for example: subtle touches allow comfort of movement while ensuring the jacket's structured silhouette remains intact. The shorter length defined the body's proportions; sleeves were set high on the shoulder to liberate arm movement, while shoulders were slightly rounded to add a boldness to the overall silhouette. A delicate metal chain sewn into the lining kept the jacket's shape as the wearer moved. These basic structures remain to this day. For this season's iterations, silk crêpe is placed at the sleeves to amplify the elegance of movement. Such is the essence of Chanel—transforming simple movements into refined elegance. Such details are thanks to the expertise of master seamstresses, led by the maison's première d'atelier (workshop leader), Jacqueline Mercier, known as Madame Jacqueline; and to the minimum 30 measurements and three fittings that each client undergoes. Above From left: Chanel silk chiffon godet-panelled dress and tweed two-piece outfit with embellished camellias Above Chanel chequered tweed vest jacket While renowned for her revolutionary embrace of black, Chanel was a masterful orchestrator of colour, an approach the house continues to celebrate. The chromatic journey in this collection follows a complete cycle of day to night, beginning with a dawn-hued silk crêpe pyjama ensemble, transitioning through a sunshine yellow tweed suit and a lilac tweed dress with box pleats. A painted and embroidered white-and-black tweed suit gives way to an orange-pink coat layered over a purple jacquard dress, while a mimosa-hued dress suit adorned with pale pink flounces captures the day's warmest moments. The shoes, both flat and heeled, echo this progression in hues ranging from sky blue and violet to pristine white and cream. The mastery of colour extends from exterior to interior: each lining either harmonises with the ensemble or creates bold contrast, offering surprises and adding depth to the complete look. Such devotion to inner beauty reflects another core Chanel principle, that 'elegance is being as beautiful inside as outside'. Read more: Juno Mak on his latest film 'Sons of the Neon Night' and why Chanel fosters avant-garde projects Above Chanel satin dress with sequins and lamé tweed godet coat Unique pieces made with masterful artistry—Chanel's haute couture collection is at the pinnacle of sartorial value. Yet its virtuosity is subtle: there are no logos, and the maison's heritage speaks purely through signature silhouettes and design codes. It exists in the spaces between—where comfort meets elegance, structure embraces movement and exterior beauty converses with interior refinement. Above Chanel silk chiffon godet-panelled dress Above Chanel satin dress with sequins and lamé tweed godet coat Credits Photography: Ivan Wong Styling: Madeleine Mak Creative Direction: Zoe Yau Hair: Dickson Chan, Ruth Lam Make-Up: Kit Li, Jovy Chai Set Design: Lit Model: Sin Yan, Yee Tung @Self Management Photographer's Assistant: Nick Lai, Haydn Yu Styling: (Coordinator) Alix Lefebvre Production: (Assistant) Carlos Hui
New York Times
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Inside Fashion's Mysterious Silly Hat Festival
Every year on or around the 25th of November, the French fashion industry hosts a kind of runway show just for itself. Wearing mostly green-and-yellow hats — the color combination is said to represent either family and hope or faith and wisdom, depending on which milliner you ask — young people from the Parisian luxury houses gather at City Hall to celebrate St. Catherine's Day, a Catholic holiday dating to the Middle Ages that was first observed by the couture industry in the late 19th century. Historically, the Catherinettes, as they're known — single women, each 25 years old and working in one of the city's then-dozens of haute couture ateliers — were granted a rare opportunity to meet their bosses before getting the rest of the day off to enjoy street parties, all while wearing opulent, often garish hats that were sometimes personalized to represent their individual skills or interests, or at least their house's codes. (In the late 1940s, Schiaparelli's Catherinettes wore oversize versions of the designer Elsa Schiaparelli's surreal fragrance bottles in the shape of suns and candlesticks.) Though only midway through their 20s, the Catherinettes were already considered spinsters, and their hats sent a clear message: 'I'm available,' says Sophie Kurkdjian, an assistant professor of fashion history at the American University of Paris. 'And I'm looking for a husband.' She likens the tradition to Tinder for the petites mains, or 'little hands,' as the generally anonymous artisans responsible for sewing and embroidering the world's most exquisite gowns are known. The Catherinettes' patron saint is Catherine of Alexandria, a skilled debater who died in the fourth century and who, according to legend, converted pagan scholars to Christianity and refused to wed a Roman emperor. (She's also believed to watch over scholars and students.) More than a mating ritual, though — one that was practiced across France long before it was adopted by the fashion industry — St. Catherine's Day was also a 'bonding experience,' says Pamela Golbin, formerly the chief curator of fashion and textiles at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. 'Today it would be considered a team-building exercise.' Men from the houses eventually adopted a parallel tradition in honor of St. Nicholas, another patron saint of many, including those looking to wed, who once purportedly paid the dowries for three unmarried sisters by secretly tossing gold into their father's home. They celebrated on St. Nicholas's feast day, Dec. 6, and enjoyed five additional years of shame-free singledom, becoming Nicholases at 30. Two years ago, the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, the governing body of Paris Fashion Week, which had long heard complaints about the holiday's 'antifeminism,' decided that participants no longer had to be unmarried, says its executive president, Pascal Morand. It also lowered the age for Nicholases to 25. The rule change affected people like Victor Weinsanto, a 30-year-old French designer who started his own label in 2020 and has now missed his opportunity to be feted as a Nicholas. He had appreciated the tradition since his internship at Chloé, where he'd watched Catherinettes receive handbags with their hats. (Along with the hats, which participants can keep, many houses provide additional gifts: Balenciaga, for example, offers full outfits.) Nevertheless, Weinsanto still relishes the spectacle from a distance. 'It's a moment where you can have some freedom about taste,' he says, recalling the large feathered hats worn last November by employees of Hermès, a brand not especially known for its flamboyance. At City Hall, the participants — about 400, many dressed in black, representing 17 houses as well as the federation itself — modeled their colorful hats in a private fashion show, with each brand having chosen its own music. (Hermès opted for Sabrina Carpenter's 'Espresso'; Patou went with a Lil Wayne song.) For a competitive industry that generally takes itself quite seriously, the event is a goofy anomaly and rare moment of unity. And yet the ceremony isn't without a bit of good-natured one-upmanship: The Catherinettes' hats are often designed by the house's creative director, but some revelers at City Hall had added personal touches; an employee of the millinery Maison Michel affixed a wooden stake to theirs to reflect their passion for the TV series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer.' Others attached rhinestones or felt Chanel logos to their hats, the same way American college students might customize their graduation caps. The Catherinettes and Nicholases, who now both celebrate in November, no longer come from only the world of couture, which means that employees from any of the 100 or so houses in the federation can participate. (These days, only 14 of those maisons still make haute couture: custom garments produced entirely by hand and requiring at least four full-time tailors and seamstresses.) Nor must they make clothes at all. Among Balenciaga's 23 participants last year, there were employees from its retail stores and corporate departments. (The brand, known for its subversion and streetwear, dressed its staff in black baseball caps designed by its creative director, Demna, with green and yellow on the brims.) Delphine Bellini, the chief executive of Schiaparelli, sees it as a moment to 'pass the baton between the senior experts and the young talents,' and an opportunity to impress upon the company's next generation the importance of craftsmanship. 'I have to admit that I'd rather represent the modern interpretations of the tradition than the old ones,' says Emma Spreckley, a press assistant and recent Catherinette at Dior, which had 68 celebrants in 2024. Each year on a Friday around the holiday, the house throws a lavish ball for its team — not just any corporate office gathering but an extravagant cocktail party attended by its creative directors, along with Delphine Arnault, the chief executive of Dior fashion, and her father, Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of Dior's parent company, LVMH. (Everyone at Dior gets the following Monday off.) 'It's our most important meeting of the year,' says the British milliner Stephen Jones, who learned about the Catherinettes when he was hired at Dior in 1996. He acknowledges some mystery around the tradition — outside New Orleans, which hosts a small neighborhood hat parade to acknowledge St. Catherine's Day, the celebration is unfamiliar to most Americans, even those who work in fashion. Multiple houses and designers were reluctant to say too much about the custom — almost as if it were a secret. 'Some things are meant to be kept private,' Jones says. 'When you buy a Dior haute couture dress, what are you buying? You're buying a dress, but you're also buying privacy — something that's just for you, not anybody else.' To him, the event is about the pride fashion takes in its artisans: The hats he designed for this year's event, inspired by the brand's resort 2025 collection, were made by the Scottish knitwear manufacturer Robert Mackie. 'In the United States, they celebrate sports heroes or military heroes,' says Jones. 'In France, they celebrate dressmaking and fashion design.'
CNN
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Chanel and Armani celebrate big milestones at Paris couture week
Haute couture is an enigma to most. Accessible to only a select few (an estimated few thousand people globally) because of the eye-watering price tags that such extraordinary designs command, the fashion designers who partake in the exclusive event in Paris must ensure that strict criteria are met, in order to be approved by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, France's governing fashion body. Taking place following men's fashion week, during which ready-to-wear designs are shown, the haute couture shows serve a wholly different purpose. The pieces are not intended for everyday wear and cannot simply be purchased off the rails at a department store (couture clients make direct orders and have private fittings). With that, the designs are often more experimental than commercial, and showcase exceptional savoir-faire. The week had plenty of celebratory moments, including Chanel's 110 years in haute couture. Presented in the Grand Palais, on a runway that featured a crossing C formed by two monumental staircases, reflecting the house's double-C logo, the collection was designed by the studio while awaiting the arrival of new designer Matthieu Blazy, who is expected to join by April 2025. The cropped skirt-suits in richly embroidered tweeds, embellished hem and shoulder lines, soft silk shirt dresses and capes with pussy-bow fastening offered a fresh take on the French house's classic codes. Another big milestone was celebrated by Giorgio Armani, who celebrated 20 years of his couture line Armani Privé with a collection that explored themes of light and shimmer. Titled 'Lumières' (French for 'light' and 'enlightenment', the 90-year-old designer's show was held at the newly acquired Palazzo Armani in the 8th arrondissement, a lavish private mansion complete with gilded moldings and a marble staircase. The collection, comprised of 94 looks, including beaded suits, sleek peplums, silky Mao jackets, crystal-encrusted evening gowns and 1920-inspired headpieces, revisited iconic moments of his career, providing a dialogue between the glamour of more recent and distant pasts, When it comes to Armani's work, the devil really is in the details. For Alessandro Michele, the designer of Valentino, luxury means taking time, as he explained backstage after presenting his first couture collection for the Italian house. Under his creative leadership, Valentino now stages one couture show a year, instead of the typical two. Michele compared the experience of haute couture to a ritual, describing the process as a labor of patience. Held at the Palais Brongniart, Paris's former stock exchange, each look appeared with a number displayed behind them, a nod to early haute couture presentations, when models would carry cards with their look numbers. A Harlequin crinoline dress, moiré Ottoman pants, a poppy-red bolero jacket, ruffled collars and other nods to Ancien Régime, the social and political order that existed in France from the late Middle Ages until the French Revolution, seamlessly merged, underlining Michele's knack for interweaving genres and epochs. Among Michele's influences were Stanley Kubrick's 1975 black comedy-drama film 'Barry Lyndon', Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel 'Orlando' and Umberto Eco's 2009 literary anthology 'The Infinity of Lists'. The designer also emphasized his fascination with the concept of lists, which served as a creative starting point for the collection. 'Creating a handmade dress is like drafting a never-ending list, with many pieces composing this mosaic,' he said. The inspiration also took a physical form on the runway, where a list of unconnected words, such as 'Sigmund Freud', 'crêpe-de-chine' and 'Bloody Mary', alluding to each of the model's looks, scrolled past on a giant screen. Crinolines also appeared on the Dior runway. Held at Musée Rodin on the Left Bank, the show was something of a blockbuster event, attended by stars including Pamela Anderson, Venus Williams and Jenna Ortega, who sat on the front row Some models wore crinoline styles in raffia and lace; others had embroidered butterflies and dragonflies that looked like a wearable garden. Natural materials like straw were woven with gold into a broderie anglaise. Evoking Alice in Wonderland, the collection also featured floral arrangements that had been woven into the models' hair and the fabric of the clothes. The trapeze lines — first introduced at Dior in 1958 by then-designer Yves Saint Laurent, who sought to make women look sexy without having to accentuate a slim waistline — also made a return. Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri shared that her inspiration was 'the transition between childhood and adulthood and how this moment is represented in a transformation of what we wear.' At Schiaparelli, designer Daniel Roseberry offered a contrasting idea of womanhood as he presented looks with extremely cinched waistlines. A dramatic corseted nude gown with Chinoiserie embroidery, worn by Kendall Jenner, showcased an accentuated hourglass shape. Alex Consani, who last year became the first transgender Model of the Year, wore a floor-skimming feathered coat. For Roseberry, the collection was a nod to the past, as he took influence from haute couture pioneer Charles Frederick Worth. The goal, as stated in his show notes, was to 'create something that feels new because it's old' – encapsulating fashion's ongoing love for archival pieces and the rise of vintage as a luxury status symbol.
CNN
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Chanel and Armani celebrate big milestones at Paris couture week
Haute couture is an enigma to most. Accessible to only a select few (an estimated few thousand people globally) because of the eye-watering price tags that such extraordinary designs command, the fashion designers who partake in the exclusive event in Paris must ensure that strict criteria are met, in order to be approved by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, France's governing fashion body. Taking place following men's fashion week, during which ready-to-wear designs are shown, the haute couture shows serve a wholly different purpose. The pieces are not intended for everyday wear and cannot simply be purchased off the rails at a department store (couture clients make direct orders and have private fittings). With that, the designs are often more experimental than commercial, and showcase exceptional savoir-faire. The week had plenty of celebratory moments, including Chanel's 110 years in haute couture. Presented in the Grand Palais, on a runway that featured a crossing C formed by two monumental staircases, reflecting the house's double-C logo, the collection was designed by the studio while awaiting the arrival of new designer Matthieu Blazy, who is expected to join by April 2025. The cropped skirt-suits in richly embroidered tweeds, embellished hem and shoulder lines, soft silk shirt dresses and capes with pussy-bow fastening offered a fresh take on the French house's classic codes. Another big milestone was celebrated by Giorgio Armani, who celebrated 20 years of his couture line Armani Privé with a collection that explored themes of light and shimmer. Titled 'Lumières' (French for 'light' and 'enlightenment', the 90-year-old designer's show was held at the newly acquired Palazzo Armani in the 8th arrondissement, a lavish private mansion complete with gilded moldings and a marble staircase. The collection, comprised of 94 looks, including beaded suits, sleek peplums, silky Mao jackets, crystal-encrusted evening gowns and 1920-inspired headpieces, revisited iconic moments of his career, providing a dialogue between the glamour of more recent and distant pasts, When it comes to Armani's work, the devil really is in the details. For Alessandro Michele, the designer of Valentino, luxury means taking time, as he explained backstage after presenting his first couture collection for the Italian house. Under his creative leadership, Valentino now stages one couture show a year, instead of the typical two. Michele compared the experience of haute couture to a ritual, describing the process as a labor of patience. Held at the Palais Brongniart, Paris's former stock exchange, each look appeared with a number displayed behind them, a nod to early haute couture presentations, when models would carry cards with their look numbers. A Harlequin crinoline dress, moiré Ottoman pants, a poppy-red bolero jacket, ruffled collars and other nods to Ancien Régime, the social and political order that existed in France from the late Middle Ages until the French Revolution, seamlessly merged, underlining Michele's knack for interweaving genres and epochs. Among Michele's influences were Stanley Kubrick's 1975 black comedy-drama film 'Barry Lyndon', Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel 'Orlando' and Umberto Eco's 2009 literary anthology 'The Infinity of Lists'. The designer also emphasized his fascination with the concept of lists, which served as a creative starting point for the collection. 'Creating a handmade dress is like drafting a never-ending list, with many pieces composing this mosaic,' he said. The inspiration also took a physical form on the runway, where a list of unconnected words, such as 'Sigmund Freud', 'crêpe-de-chine' and 'Bloody Mary', alluding to each of the model's looks, scrolled past on a giant screen. Crinolines also appeared on the Dior runway. Held at Musée Rodin on the Left Bank, the show was something of a blockbuster event, attended by stars including Pamela Anderson, Venus Williams and Jenna Ortega, who sat on the front row Some models wore crinoline styles in raffia and lace; others had embroidered butterflies and dragonflies that looked like a wearable garden. Natural materials like straw were woven with gold into a broderie anglaise. Evoking Alice in Wonderland, the collection also featured floral arrangements that had been woven into the models' hair and the fabric of the clothes. The trapeze lines — first introduced at Dior in 1958 by then-designer Yves Saint Laurent, who sought to make women look sexy without having to accentuate a slim waistline — also made a return. Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri shared that her inspiration was 'the transition between childhood and adulthood and how this moment is represented in a transformation of what we wear.' At Schiaparelli, designer Daniel Roseberry offered a contrasting idea of womanhood as he presented looks with extremely cinched waistlines. A dramatic corseted nude gown with Chinoiserie embroidery, worn by Kendall Jenner, showcased an accentuated hourglass shape. Alex Consani, who last year became the first transgender Model of the Year, wore a floor-skimming feathered coat. For Roseberry, the collection was a nod to the past, as he took influence from haute couture pioneer Charles Frederick Worth. The goal, as stated in his show notes, was to 'create something that feels new because it's old' – encapsulating fashion's ongoing love for archival pieces and the rise of vintage as a luxury status symbol.
