Latest news with #SergeGainsbourg
Vogue
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Goodbye Ballet Flats, This French Shoe Will Be Trending Come Fall
The world of dance has leapt long in fashion's collective imagination. Consider the reign of the ballet flat—still twirling its way down runways from Ferragamo to JW Anderson to, of course, Simone Rocha. The style was (and remains) the cornerstone of the 2010s It-girl wardrobe, as shown by the likes of Alexa Chung and Kate Moss. After a brief fall from grace (during the dark days of chunky Fila sneakers, Y2K Buffalos, and other such ankle-breaking styles), the ballet flat has pirouetted back into our wardrobes in a big way: ballet sneakers, ballet loafers, ballet heels, we're all gunning for our own Black Swan moment. Quietly leading the (not so quiet) ballet flat revival? French It-girl brand Repetto, whose styles have been adopted by new-gen fashion girls like Lily-Rose Depp. But prior to ballet flats being associated with any kind of -core, Repetto had a more unlikely mascot: Serge Gainsbourg. In the 1970s, the Frenchman swore by the brand's Zizi style, a soft jazz shoe that was named for dancer Zizi Jeanmaire, daughter-in-law of brand founder Rose Repetto. Today, you can go to Maison Gainsbourg, a Paris museum dedicated to the late singer, and see a pair of his well-worn, well-loved Repettos. The shoes were originally bought for him by partner Jane Birkin, because she was worried about his 'delicate' ankles. It also recalls the classic Derby shoe silhouette—a style with queried origins that traverse Europe: Some historians say the design can be linked to Edward Smith-Stanley, who was the 14th Earl of Derby; his bootmaker was tasked with creating an elegant but hardy shoe. Others connect it to Russian army officer Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher who required shoes fit for the battlefield. The footwear style has also been known by the names Blucher, Gibson, and Lorne. It actually became a popular sporting and hunting shoe in the 1850s, and by the turn of the 20th century, the Derby had become appropriate for wear about town in everyday life. While they share a shape and much of the same sensibilities, Gainsbourg's shoe of choice is much more soft, glove-like, and free-flowing than those that stomped the British East Midlands. Derbies, then—specifically the slim and supple kind—are ready for a comeback. Jacquemus led the charge with its spring 2024 collaboration with Repetto, while Lemaire has quietly adopted the lace-up style in tandem. Most recently, Derby shoes popped up at Celine, where Michael Rider's French take on American prep is quickly emerging as a new trend. (See also: Jonathan Anderson's Dior debut).
New York Times
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Birkin: The Bag, the Woman, the Myth
The world is in the throes of Birkin mania. This month the original Birkin bag, made by Hermès for the British actress Jane Birkin in 1984, sold for $10.1 million at Sotheby's in Paris. The way Ms. Birkin wore it, festooned with nail clippers and stickers for political causes, has led to its own slang: to 'Birkinify' one's bag. The omnipresent Labubu plush toys that fans like to hang on their bags are said to have been inspired by the way Ms. Birkin affixed eclectic trinkets to her Birkins. Riffs on the Hermés classic, the Boatkin, have become sought-after novelty items that fetch their own hefty prices. On social media, explainers proliferate on how to emulate Ms. Birkin's late 1960s, carefree, bourgeois-bohemian style, with sheer crocheted dresses and ballet flats. All of this is happening two years after her death on July 16, 2023, following a cancer diagnosis and more than a decade of treatment. She was a cult figure, particularly outside France, where she lived most of her life. Ms. Birkin, who was born in London, became a revered actress who appeared in more than 70 films and a musician whose most famous song, 'Je t'aime … moi non plus,' with Serge Gainsbourg, was a worldwide hit. It was banned by the Vatican for its lasciviousness, and Ms. Birkin responded that the pope was their best publicist. In 2023, the black-walled house on the Left Bank where the couple lived opened as a museum, and tickets to tour the residence sell out months in advance. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
To the TV shows and actors that didn't get an Emmy nomination: I salute you
I first want to say congratulations to all the 2025 Emmy nominees. I have quite possibly written something nice about most of you, and nothing (too) bad about any of you, and to those I never mentioned at all, it was simply a matter of not having the time or space to write about everybody and everything. No criticism should be inferred. I will be happy whoever wins, because, as much as I think that awards for any sort of creative work are bunk, winning is nice and comes with tangible benefits. And you have done something, sometime in your career, to merit recognition. But to you who weren't nominated, all you makers of television the Academy has overlooked, it's worth saying, given all the energy, professional and amateur, that goes into fretting over who's been picked and who's been 'snubbed' — quotes necessary, there being no cabal dedicated to denying anyone an Emmy — that your lack of official recognition is essentially meaningless. All that might be extrapolated from 'qui est in, qui est out,' to quote the old Serge Gainsbourg song, is the narrow range of interest the nominations represent, year after year. The 2025 nominees, notwithstanding a few outliers, all come from a handful of shows, many making return appearances, repeating a pattern one sees year after year. The reasonable inference is that the voters don't watch much television at all. That isn't true of every Academy voter, of course, but all we know in the end is who was nominated, not who might have been nominated if five votes had gone another way, or who, though not even close to being nominated, nevertheless had their champions within the electorate. And I'm on record as a fan of many of these actors and shows. But many series and the people who make them are unlikely to ever be considered, belonging to the wrong sort of genre, or on the wrong sort of network, or lack word-of-mouth cachet, or are too marginal or weird or have no FYC promotional budget. It is true too that voters in all sorts of elections can be lazy in their choices. That's been many of us at some time. So, as we head down the road to the ceremony — Sept. 14 on CBS — when all but one contender in each category will become Emmy losers, I salute you, the un-nominated. Getting a show on the air, however good, is hard work, and though talent is, of course, variable, no one sets out to make bad TV. I might not have loved your show, but I respect the effort. (Nor am I so foolish as to believe I could do any better.) This is not damning with faint praise — every show has its fans, and it's the mix of high, middle and low programming that gives the medium its flavor and makes it a friend to millions. Non-prestigious television, unstudded with stars, may be as exciting and original as the Big Thing Emmy handicappers regard as a sure thing, even more so. Awards are beside the point.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Celebrity relics are no substitute for real art
Throughout the 1970s, the luminous British actress Jane Birkin and her partner, the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, were the coolest couple in Paris. Jane's signature accessory was a rustic straw basket. But in 1981 her then partner, the film director Jacques Doillon, deliberately reversed his car over it, so she boarded a flight to London carrying her belongings in a different receptacle. By chance (the story goes) she found herself sitting next Jean-Louis Dumas, head of the luxury firm Hermès, who offered to make her a better bag. A design was sketched on a handy sick-bag and the Birkin bag, that official signifier of celebrity status, as carried by Victoria Beckham, J-Lo, Lady Gaga and the ubiquitous Kardashian-Jenners, was launched. The mythology that has since accumulated around the Birkin bag is extraordinary. You can't just wander into an Hermès shop with a wad of cash and buy one, so the market for second-hand Birkins is lively, and owners are urged to keep them in pristine condition as investments. Jane Birkin did not keep her namesake bag in pristine condition: photographs show her with it crammed so full that it can't be closed, emblazoned with stickers supporting Unicef and Médecins du Monde, and hung about with trinkets. In 1994 she gave the original bag to be auctioned for an Aids charity. It later appeared in the V&A's 2020 Bags: Inside Out exhibition. At some stage the trinkets and stickers were removed – though the scars of use remain: scuffs, scratches and traces of sticker adhesive. Last week this battered object was sold by Sotheby's in Paris to a Japanese collector for €8.6 million, or £7.4 million, making it the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction. By way of context, a Titian portrait of a nobleman was sold at Christie's earlier this month for £3.4 million. What is it that makes Jane Birkin's knackered old handbag worth a couple of Titians?Humans are acquisitive creatures, and the things we collect tend to fall into two categories. Either their value resides in their beauty and superlative craftsmanship – such as the objects acquired by individual collectors that became the basis of museum collections such as the Ashmolean or the Wallace Collection. Alternatively, we desire objects that are perceived to have some precious numinous quality: thus the splinters of wood – enough to constitute an entire forest – supposed to be fragments of the True Cross and venerated as holy relics. In our secular age, stuff once owned by celebrities tends to fall into the latter category. In the league table of pricey celeb memorabilia, Jane Birkin's bag comes in well below Judy Garland's ruby slippers (£23.7 million) and level with Michael Jordan's 1998 NBA Finals jersey. But those objects have a place in cultural history that explains their price. Birkin's bag occupies more mysterious territory, not least because its restoration has stripped it of the idiosyncratic detail that made it distinctively hers. As a final indignity, a fashion editor has decreed that Birkin bags are 'no longer cool'. Jane Birkin died in 2023, as much an icon of her times as her contemporary, Marianne Faithfull. Whether her handbag can preserve that iconic quality for posterity remains to be seen. Someone in Japan evidently thinks so. But as a lasting investment, a Titian or two might prove the better bet. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Celebrity relics are no substitute for real art
Throughout the 1970s, the luminous British actress Jane Birkin and her partner, the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, were the coolest couple in Paris. Jane's signature accessory was a rustic straw basket. But in 1981 her then partner, the film director Jacques Doillon, deliberately reversed his car over it, so she boarded a flight to London carrying her belongings in a different receptacle. By chance (the story goes) she found herself sitting next Jean-Louis Dumas, head of the luxury firm Hermès, who offered to make her a better bag. A design was sketched on a handy sick-bag and the Birkin bag, that official signifier of celebrity status, as carried by Victoria Beckham, J-Lo, Lady Gaga and the ubiquitous Kardashian-Jenners, was launched. The mythology that has since accumulated around the Birkin bag is extraordinary. You can't just wander into an Hermès shop with a wad of cash and buy one, so the market for second-hand Birkins is lively, and owners are urged to keep them in pristine condition as investments. Jane Birkin did not keep her namesake bag in pristine condition: photographs show her with it crammed so full that it can't be closed, emblazoned with stickers supporting Unicef and Médecins du Monde, and hung about with trinkets. In 1994 she gave the original bag to be auctioned for an Aids charity. It later appeared in the V&A's 2020 Bags: Inside Out exhibition. At some stage the trinkets and stickers were removed – though the scars of use remain: scuffs, scratches and traces of sticker adhesive. Last week this battered object was sold by Sotheby's in Paris to a Japanese collector for €8.6 million, or £7.4 million, making it the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction. By way of context, a Titian portrait of a nobleman was sold at Christie's earlier this month for £3.4 million. What is it that makes Jane Birkin's knackered old handbag worth a couple of Titians? Humans are acquisitive creatures, and the things we collect tend to fall into two categories. Either their value resides in their beauty and superlative craftsmanship – such as the objects acquired by individual collectors that became the basis of museum collections such as the Ashmolean or the Wallace Collection. Alternatively, we desire objects that are perceived to have some precious numinous quality: thus the splinters of wood – enough to constitute an entire forest – supposed to be fragments of the True Cross and venerated as holy relics. In our secular age, stuff once owned by celebrities tends to fall into the latter category. In the league table of pricey celeb memorabilia, Jane Birkin's bag comes in well below Judy Garland's ruby slippers (£23.7 million) and level with Michael Jordan's 1998 NBA Finals jersey. But those objects have a place in cultural history that explains their price. Birkin's bag occupies more mysterious territory, not least because its restoration has stripped it of the idiosyncratic detail that made it distinctively hers. As a final indignity, a fashion editor has decreed that Birkin bags are 'no longer cool'. Jane Birkin died in 2023, as much an icon of her times as her contemporary, Marianne Faithfull. Whether her handbag can preserve that iconic quality for posterity remains to be seen. Someone in Japan evidently thinks so. But as a lasting investment, a Titian or two might prove the better bet.
