Easter vacation in Punta del Este...

You ask me, what to do during this mini-vacation in Punta?

Well, if the weather's nice as it's being predicted, I would recommend to enjoy the beach and the sea. It's a rule that then, in April, Fall shows up unexpectedly... and bye-bye to the sun till October!

There are also plenty of movies to see at the Hoyts, as Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," and "Where are the Morgans?," featuring Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant. Others will premiere on April 1st.

Of course, it's always a good chance to meet with friends and go out to dinner. Many restaurant will close till Spring after Easter. Others, opened all year long, such as La Bourgogne, Bungalow Suizo and La Huella, are great options to have lunch or dinner. Then, at la Barra or by the seaport, there's plenty of charming places to eat under the starry night and enjoy the moon (Today!).

On Thursday, at the Conrad Hotel, Mexican singer Paulina Rubio will be giving a concert.

Punta del Este certainly offers something to everyone!

To be well dressed, you must be well naked...

I've received many messages from our readers asking me what I think about Elegance and its laws. I do appreciate you putting me as a judge on the matter, but I believe that here no rules apply... 

It is important first of all to have a clear idea of ourselves, of who we are, how we look in front of the mirror...

I like to think of myself as a hanger. Why? Because I strongly believe that clothes are not everything... You have to know how to wear them, carry them. And that is given by your body, your own personal hanger, the one that will help you to really show off what you are wearing...

Style for me is the air, the allure, achieved by the correct, dedicated and methodical care of your body and the confidence in yourself and in what you are capable of. It has to do with your way of thinking, living, seeing things. That's why style can't be bought on a shopping spree, no matter how much we spend. Nor does it has to do with fashion or the latest trends. All that is temporary. Style, however, as it is a product of our personality, lasts longer, defines us. 

On a recent interview on US' Vanity Fair, my beloved Oscar de la Renta explained that the difference between Fashion and Style is that Fashion has to do with getting dressed according to the latest trends, while style is more about being oneself. "To be well dressed, you must be well naked... Comfortable in your own skin."

However, you must not think of Style as something still, but mainly as something that can be re-educated, developed and updated every day, every morning, according to our state of mind and mood.

This is why I do not recall a certain date as origin to my sense of style, for it has suffered transitions along my life, becoming what it is today, without me being very conscious of its changes.

To work on your own Style, it is important to build a relationship with the mirror, because it can became your best friend but also the cruelest of your enemies. You need to invest on a good mirror, big enough to reflect your entire body, head to toes, and good enough to have no imperfections or waves that may distort your reflection.

You must place it on a convenient spot, where you could step in front of it comfortable and with enough room to turn around. Good lighting is essential, for if not you'll see flaws where there are none. In my house, all the doors in my dressing room have mirrors and I also have huge ones on my bathroom, because that's where I get dressed and apply my make-up.

The image reflected by the mirror is the result of the intimate combination between your inside and your outside. The outside needs creams, lotions, beauty treatments and exercise. Your inside is nurtured with books, good movies, exhibitions, happy experiences, friendship, meditation. The perfect connection between the two of them will result in your hanger.

As George Bryan Brummel said, Elegance is movement. He was a dandy, a snob, a true original that was never afraid of his sense of style nor of his will to impose that style on others. He spent a fortune on clothes. He is credited with introducing and establishing as fashion the modern men's suit, worn with a tie. He worshipped the difficult and impossible art of being "conspicuously inconspicuous." He must have done so once or twice during his busy life...

Fashion in Buenos Aires...

I've been reflecting this afternoon on how hard it is to design a fashion collection in Argentina today...

First of all because of the economic limitation we all are aware of: not many dare to import exclusive and expensive fabrics from abroad, loaded with terrible taxes and then face the risk of a devaluation stuck with unsold merchandise. 

Then there's the issue of the past or coming Seasons, which never coincide with those showcased in New York, Milan or Paris. I mean, what we see in Buenos Aires these days is mainly a leftover of what was presented abroad a year ago, without being able to reflect what was seen on international runways two weeks ago... because there's simply no time!

Most certainly, too, there are some influences of Spring-Summer 2010's trends, which already crowd all main fashion magazines... 

So what to expect from a Fall-Winter 2010 Argentine collection?

Of course, none of these apply to those very creative designers (two or three) who present mostly local trends, but which do not fit everyone. 

All these thoughts crossed my mind as I sat watching Menage à Trois' runway show today, at the Sheraton Hotel, surrounded by the "It" women of Buenos Aires. Menage à Trois is a respectful label, its owner, Amelia, is lovely and she dresses many of the refined and elegant women in town.

What was shown was inspired in Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Lanvin, Prada, etc., but that mixture of trends instead of becoming weird, was certainly charming. Correctly adapted to its clientele, the outfits were presented by beautiful models, all of them carrying their hair in a low untidy bun, very chic and elegant.

I liked the jewelry: big and shinny earrings and necklaces with huge stones, very Swarovski. The dominant color was definitely black, with some sparks of red, mainly on party dresses. And as an exotic detail, a leopard imprimé fabric that worked perfectly when paired with black lace. 

Brava Amalia... As I was saying in the beginning of this post, it takes a lot of courage to do fashion here...!!

Menage à Trois, Fall-Winter 2010

(Photos: Courtesy of mass+ Grupo PR)

Just for women...

"Patricia, do you have some extra advice other than that of your great post on Paris? I have four really cool friends traveling there and they were fascinated by your post... Any more tips? They are between 35 and 45, single, really nice... Kisses!"

This nice message was left to me by an Argentine girl and I couldn't help coming up with a new list of personal tips for this four friends visiting the "Ville Lumière"...

1. Get to know Parisian underwear... I do not know another city with such refinement as that of French lingerie. Start with the tiny and famous boutique Sabbia Rosa, on Rue des Saints-Pères, where you'll find satin ensembles of every color, lace and silk petticoats, so short and... sexy! Madonna shops there every time she's in town. They also provide taylor-made pieces. 

A 100 meters apart, on Rue de Grenelle, always in St. Germain, kind of hidden, you'll find Carine Gilson's store. She's a designer from Belgium and does really refined and exclusive pieces... Silk kimonos with their "nuisettes," culottes or shorties paired with soutiens, everything in a mixture of colors as orange with green lace, or violet with pink details. Totally worth it!

However, if you are on a budget, you can find great pieces in H&M Lingerie Store, at the Passage des Halles, behind Printemps, one of the two big department stores of Boulevard Haussmann.

2. You must also visit one of the many H&M stores spread around Paris. My favorite is precisely that of Boulevard Haussmann, between Galerie Lafayette and Printemps. It has amazing prices and it's a must for all those Parisian girls how love mixing an expensive Balmain jacket, with leggings, and H&M t-shirt and an Hermès bag. Twice or three times a year, a famous designer creates an entire collection exclusively for H&M: Karl Lagerfeld, Roberto Cavalli, Jimmy Choo, Matthew Williamson have already been called and, most recently, Sonia Rykiel. In fact, Rykiel's was presented on February 20th and shoppers started waiting in line outside the store around 5:30 am. Doors were opened at 9 am and by 9:50 am there was nothing left...!

3. If you are into vintage shopping, you must take a look at Scarlett, on Rue Clermont Marot. As a modern Ali Baba's cave, this store has suits, bags and lots of Chanel jewelry. For me, the best vintage store in town.

4. You might probably know it, but the temple for "branchitude" (that is, what's in vogue) is definitely Colette, on Rue St. Honoré. A concept-store with many brands where you'll always find the latest on world trends. It has clothes, make-up products, jewelry, music and even a restaurant. I go as if I was visiting a museum: most of the times I buy nothing, but I capture with my eyes  the latest creations by famous designers and some that soon will be. Do not miss it!

5. Visiting one of Christian Louboutin's stores is also mandatory. I like the oldest one, that of Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. And it's near an old arcade also worth seeing: the passage Vero-Dodat.

6. I love walking around the boutiques of the Palais Royal gardens, which are a mixture of modernity and antiquity. It's a wonderful place. Do not forget to visit the perfume store of Serge Lutens, absolutely unique...

7. If you want to see what a true Middle-East Hamman is like, visit the Hamman du Marais, on Rue des Blanc-Manteaux. Try the oriental waxing, with caramel and lemon... It will leave your skin divine!

8. After so much sight-seeing, have dinner at Mathis, on Rue de Ponthieu. On one side you have the restaurant, chic but a little decadent, and on the other, there's the bar, for the after-dinner. The most interesting and attractive men in town use it as headquarters...

Enjoy!

Things I wasn't able to do in Paris...

I reach my seat at Air France flight AF 418... "la navette," as we like to call it, we being all those who live between Buenos Aires and Paris, constantly traveling between them, two cities so different from each other and yet so similar, almost as sisters separated by birth.

Anyway, as I was saying, I get comfortable in my seat with my super classic Chanel black dress (circa 1998) and my black Manolo Blahnik slingbacks (circa 1999), an outfit I use every time I take this flight for good-luck, and as I get ready to cross the Atlantic, fly the 11.112 km to my destination and spend the next 12 hours and 35 minutes here, I get to thinking of all those things I could have done in Paris but was not able to...

So I decided to write a top-ten list of them:

1. See Roman Polanski's new movie "The Ghost Writer," featuring Ewan Mc Gregor and Pierce Brosnan... The controversial and usually talented director finished editing it after the time he spent in a Swiss prison for a crime he committed almost 30 years ago. It is said to be a great thriller which I really want to see...!

2. Dress according to the new military style which will be "the look" of 2010 Spring-Summer season... It couldn't be: too cold all the time... For the same reason, I could not use my new 14-cm-high Gucci sandals...

3. Go to the Musée d'Orsay to see the new exhibition called "Crime et Châtiment," or Crime and Punishment, which takes a period of almost two centuries, from 1791, when Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau asked for the abolition of the Death Sentence till September 30th, 1981, when its abolition was finally voted in France. During those 200 years, literature and art created numerous criminals. The name of the exhibit itself is taken from one of Dostoievki's works. A real guillotine from the French Revolution  is showcased in the museum.

4. Go see my friend Arielle Dombasle's Music Hall at the La Cigale theatre, mainly because she is incredibly talented and fun, and a little because I'd like to see Jean-Paul Gaultier's costume, specially designed for her...

5. Take a gym class at the Klay Club, where they teach the latest pilates techniques mixed with weight lifting. 

6. Take the Bateaux-Mouche and sail around the Seine as a first-time tourist, taking pictures of all the monuments!!!

7. Have a beauty treatment at the Biologique Recherche Institute, on Champs-Elysées Ave., one of Paris finest, which state-of-the-art products are specially designed to bring oxygen and tighten tissues. 

8. Return to the "L'Avenue" restaurant, to have once again the wild salmon with avocato vinagrette... so tasty!!!

9. Stop by the Café de Flore, to breathe the air of that temple to the germano-pratin (those who live in St. Germaine-des-Prés).

10. Admire for the tenth time the windows of Lydia Courteille's jewelry store on Rue St. Honoré...

All this must wait then...

Au revoir Paris...

Hello Buenos Aires!

Forever YSL...

As the cherry in the cake of this frenetic and amazing (at least for me) Fashion Week in Paris, today I went to the Avant-première of the retrospective exhibition dedicated to Monsieur Yves Saint Laurent, le plus grand parmi les grands...

At the Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris, located at the Petit Palais, from March 11th to August 29th, 300 of Saint Laurent's creations will be shown to the public on a display set and supervised by Pierre Bergé, long-time partner to YSL and also his manager and heir. 

In the Fashion World, Saint Laurent receives the admiration and respect of a Royal Highness... which he certainly was!

To visit such an exhibition I felt I had to wear a design of his, and what could be best that one of his trademarks... the smoking!

So I rescued my old, yet impeccable, black smoking circa 1995... so well cut in a grain de peau no longer available. It fitted me perfectly, except for the length of the trouser, not because I'd have grown since then but because in 1995 I used 8 cm-tall heels and now I only go out with 14 cm-tall shoes!!!

(Note to me: I'll lengthen the hem tomorrow!)

I felt as a servant paying homage to her Fashion God as I entered the Petit Palais...

So much people were waiting outside, trying to get inside or grab an invitation to do so... maybe hundreds... all of them facing the deep winter cold of Parisian nights...

But it was worth it, just to see those designs that now have become masterpieces, some inspired by trips (mostly to Marrakech), paintings (Van Gogh's, Mondrian's...), or cultures (for example, Russian), also all his creations for the movie business, such as the amazing costume worn by Catherine Deneuve in "Belle du Jour."

I was so impressed by the smoking section, with all its variations: with skirt, as a dress, short, long... never-ending versions of a unique concept. A concept that spoke of the freedom in women to dress as men but still keep intact her femininity and seduction...

It was not enough for me... I have to go back again, maybe several times...

So much to see... impossible to see it all once...

Lucian Freud and me...

This afternoon I've been to the avant-première of the most awaited exhibition of the year: that of Lucian Freud at the Centre Pompidou.

It's been a while since his work was last shown in Paris: in fact, since precisely 1987, with his last retrospective. But his talent and fame was grown so much since then!! He is said to be the most expensive living artist, specially since his painting "Big Sue" (a naked portrait of Susie Tilley sunk on a couch) was auctioned for 33 million dollars in 2008.

As you probably know, he is the grandson of Sigmund Freud, was born in Berlin in 1922 but has been living in England since 1939. He started out as an illustrator (a very talented one indeed) but his art changed completely when he first met Francis Bacon, another great English artist. Since then his work suffered radical changes and became utterly cruel: his portraits, as also his self-portraits, picture bodies on the verge of decomposing, mostly completely naked, or women beaten by the action of Time, with clinical realism. He even made a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of England, but not much is known of the procedure for he is also famous for having a temper!

He has always had a passion for women, specially young ones, and it is said that he has about 40 children between the legitimate and the illegitimate ones. He does not enjoy leaving his country, even less his house and atelier, where it is said that he paints completely naked.

He lives with his assistant, Dawson, who acts as personal secretary, model and even cook if required!

So back to this afternoon, it was the Minister of Culture himself (Frédéric Mitterand) who greeted special guests at the entrance of the Pompidou. Fifty paintings in total, divided into 4 rooms: indoors, outdoors, self-portraits and giant naked works.

Everything wonderful to me, specially now that I'm particularly sensitive to his work, but I do understand that some of his paintings might be rather shocking to others...

... But that's how Art is, right?

As I was walking around the exhibition I saw a tall thin man with magnetic blue eyes. A younger man was standing next to him... suddenly I realized... it was he, Lucian Freud himself!!!

I almost faint! After considering it for a couple of seconds, I couldn't help it anymore and instead of regretting it for my entire life, I walked to him, shook his hand and said: "I want to express my admiration, you the most big artist for me!!! Sorry for my English, but I'm Italian..."

So he took my hand, smiled and said something I could not understand because I was in such a state of emotions... but he was gentle and kind.

I stood still in embarrassment and hot red as a tomato... I never blush!!!

But I did it and was able to overcome my shyness...

The opportunity of a lifetime...

Painter at work, reflection. 1993

Lanvin Hiver 2011: a wonderful runway-show!

I've crossed all of Paris today to attend to Alber Elbaz runway show for Lanvin today...

And it was totally worth it!!!

It was enough for me with the party mood that could be felt outside of the Halle Freyssinet, on the 13th arrondisement: a terribly uncomfortable place to reach, which however was absolutely crowded in spite of the unbearably cold weather that has unleashed over Paris...

A thousand guests, including all (and I mean it) the fashion editors of the entire planet!

At least a 100 photographers, although I might have run short...

The arrival itself was a show: paparazzi and bloggers fought hard between them to get a glimpse of the fashionistas, always carrying the latest trends...

When crossing the entrance, we were met by a huge 100-mts-runway with five stands on each side... Out of the blue, or maybe because of my friend Fabien Bonnin, of Lanvin, I was seated between French Vogue Carine Roitfeld, Italian Vogue Franca Sozzani and Anna Piaggi, a usual guest of these shows, with her weird hats. Anna Wintour and her lovely daughter Bee were just in front of me... I could not have asked for a better place!!!!

Flashes struck every time a celebrity arrived: Jade Jagger, Juliette Binoche, Cecile Cassel, Nathalie Baye... but of course the most followed by photographers was fashion Empress herself: Anna Wintour, who stared at them indifferently... 

The last to arrive was writer Danielle Steel, wrapped in a coat bigger than herself...

Exactly at 6.20 pm an army of men dresses in black overalls lifted the plastic covering the runway as lights started fading. A perfectly rhythmic music marked the beginning of the show as models started to appear from behind a black velvet curtain. All of them carried black shoulder-length wigs with fringes... impossible to recognize who they were! Clear make-up, blackened eyes and no lipstick. Short skirts, bare legs and booties, some of them with thick straps around the ankle, which made them look as sandals. And of course, the unique style of Lanvin: drapes, coats with feathers or long-hair-furs, embroiders and excessive jewelry. Lots of black, most of it, and some no-colors, as beige or grey...

Girls walk the runway and climb a snail-like stair. A ten-minute show, 50 models, 50 looks... and a grand finale with R&B Soul music of the 70s... All together, they walk the runway again, as an army of clones... so shocking!!

After them, comes he. Alber Elbaz does a timid appearance to salute and is received with a general ovation, as a true artist deserves... short and rather fat, he looks like a panda bear... so tender...

Bravo Alber!!

Here goes the video of the show... I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

2011 Fall-Winter collections....

So we are back with the runway shows...

Time does fly!!

In fact, we are reaching the final installments of the season... here, in the city of Fashion and Creation: Paris!

Runway shows will begin tomorrow and will reach their highest climax (at least for me) this Friday with Alber Elbaz show for Lanvin. It's the only show I'll actually be attending because I consider Elbaz a genius. But before everything kicks in, I've been watching the collections presented in New York, London and Milano, mostly to be well aware of what's coming...

In general I can say that for Fall-Winter 2010/2011 we'll still be seeing (luckily) a lot of miniskirts, shorts, and skirts above the knee... all of them to be used with dark opaque tights. Marc Jacobs tried to impose some longer skirts but they were not very flattering. Prada did the same... oh, well... it's your choice...

High-heel sandals are still in vogue, most of them very strappy, and to be used with socks! They do create a "bootie" effect which, paired with the correct skirt length, can bring fresh and young air to the final look.

Socks in Ferragamo's runway show

Of course, there were lots of booties too and some stilettos... not so many tall boots. It seems that designers are putting the focus of the look in shoes. Just check Pucci's collection (one of the nicest ever thanks to Swedish designer Peter Dundas) or Gucci's (much more classic than usual...).

It must be said: Winter collections are much more exciting and interesting than those of Summer... there are coats, furs, jackets... so much more creativity is needed!

As usual, I want to highlight Oscar de la Renta's, my favorite, which was sumptuous, luxurious and full of color... Delightful!

Full color De La Renta

Prada's... what can I say... I find that so much print is visually fattening, and the bra-detail-thing that she included in most of the dresses wasn't flattering either... We'll have to wait to see what will actually reach production and finally boutiques and stores.

I liked Dolce & Gabbana's runway show because they did what the know best... tailoring. Lots of jackets, short or long, crossed and not... all of them presented, for the sake of the mis-en-scene, by beautiful models (most of them from Russia) wearing only "culottes." I found them well-done, elegant and easy-to-wear. 

Roberto Cavalli's collection found inspiration in a bohemian chic woman, very Talitha Getty, with long romantic skirts, lace, fur coats, long scarfs and loose hair. Interesting, but not at all my style.

So, here in Paris, we reach the final destination of this adventure called Fashion... at least for Fall-Winter 2011...

He would have been 200 years old today!