The Best and Worst Dressed of 2011's Academy Awards.

I could not miss this year's Oscars... although as I'm in Paris, the time difference with L.A. is huge... 9 hours!!!

So I was just able to see something before surrendering to late night sleep. Above all, I got to see much of the Red Carpet that, for us, women, it one of the most attractive parts of the TV broadcast. 

As usual, I liked best the lighter and brighter dresses... As actresses arrive very early to the Kodak Theatre (around 3 p.m.), darker dresses don't look so well under the sun and the light of day.

Anyway, here's my choice of the best and worst dressed:

Best

1. Halle Berry. She wore a nude embroidered Marchesa that was really divine.

2. Cate Blanchett. A Givenchy Haute Couture dress, very original and "très chic." And she had the right haircut, the right height... just perfect.

3. Hilary Swank. I do not like her body type that much, but I adored her Gucci Première dress, grey, with sequins and feathers.

4. Anne Hathaway. Because of the red vintage Valentino (I have one very similar) and because she arrived hand in hand with Valentino himself. Very "top."

5. Michelle Williams. A Chanel, nude and young, very nice.

Worst

1. Nicole Kidman. She wore a 2009 Haute Couture Christian Dior dress that looked too stiff... I hated it... and the shoes... red!!

2. Helena Bonham Carter. What can I say?... A costume by Collen Atwood, black and sinister. We forgive her because she is English and such a great actress.

3. Penélope Cruz. She is one of my favorite and most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, but after giving birth to her son just a month ago, such a shinny dress did not look good on her. A very vulgar L'Wren Scott outfit.

4. Sharon Stone. I usually love the way she dresses, but yesterday, her black Dior, made her look like Morticia Adams.

5. Scarlett Johansson. An awful Dolce & Gabbana purple lace dress, with transparencies... not good...

Just a few words about the men... Not only he's a great actor, but Colin Firth is also handsome and elegant... tall, chic and married to an Italian.

Lousy host, yet very sexy, James Franco is better as an actor and writer than as a showman. 

I loved Jeremy Renner, ugly and tough, but interesting and sexy. He's the supporting actor of "The Town," which I've already seen twice.

My beloved Javier Bardem has gained too much weight... Does not look good on him...

Spring-Summer 2011 must-haves...

Although on a day like this it sounds impossible, Summer is near and will soon be here. It's hard to imagine it so after this rainy afternoon and with 4°C outside, but it is already here... Or at least it's so in all fashion magazine, store racks and boutique's windows.

A few days away from the beginning of 2011-2012 Fall Collections on Paris' Fashion Week, let's point out what we'll be using in the next months, before Fall trends mix up on our minds or, at least, on mine!!

Let's see...

1. Color. Is the "IT" feature of season. Mostly monochromatic, although also seen in a mixture of two-colors, three-colors or four-colors (see Gucci).

The key hue is orange, present in most collections in suits (Prada) and dresses (Céline, Hervé Leger, Costume National). Then comes blue... from marine (Chanel, Pucci, Prada, Lanvin, Rochas) to French (Armani, Versace, Pucci). Also Kate blue, which is the hue of the dress Catherine Middleton used to announce her engagement to Prince William.

Anyway, all colors matter and work... Fuchsia, yellow, green...

(Gucci)

2. Lines and stripes. Vertical (Versace, Kenzo) and, above all, horizontal!! Revamped in a stupendous way by Prada, who was included them all over her collection, they were also seen on the runways of Sonia Rykiel, Moschino, Isabel Marant, etc.

Use with precaution... They can widen your shape.

(Prada)

3. Trousers... They are everywhere. Go for "flare," that is, wide and high-waisted. They work perfectly when paired with high heels or platforms. Check out Dior, Fendi, Etro...

4. Hippy. This means long, printed dresses as those in the 70s... Very romantic. Divine those designed by Pucci and Cavalli. Marvellous those presented by Dolce&Gabbana, white and with lace...

(Pucci)

5. Strass y paillettes. Dresses with sequins in all sizes and shapes. To use during the say (Manish Arora, Marni, Ferré).

6. Long skirts. For the say, as seen on Lanvin's y Hermès' runway. Interesting.

7. Shorts. Again. To pair with a blazer of the same length and high heels. Or done out of jeans destroy, with a red leather jacket and a "tye-dye" tank top, as presented by Balmain.

(Balmain)

8. Men's shirt. Best if closed to the neck, as shown by YSL. Or white and severe,  as Prada's. A new way of being sexy, yet revealing almost nothing...

9. Beige or nude. For a total look. Could be seen on Thakoon's, Oscar de la Renta's y Dior's runway.

10. Hawaiian imprimé. It's joyful and summery. Best examples? Those presented by Dior, Cavalli, Jean Paul Gaultier and Moschino.

(Dior)

And mini-dresses... They are still hot.

But above all, just use whatever looks best on you and fits your personal style.. 

That is my advice.

Cranach at the Musée du Luxembourg...

What a privilege to go on a Winter afternoon, in Paris, to a Museum to visit an exhibition exclusively dedicated to Cranach! And it seems I'm not the only one... I arrive around 5 pm on a Monday and there's a long line of people waiting patiently outside... I thought that Lucas Cranach l'Ancien was a German artist (even if the Germany of the 16th Century barely existed as a country) few people knew. The exhibit at the Musée de Luxembourg is the very first dedicated to Cranach, although there's 6 paintings of his at the Louvre and they recently organized a public fundraising so that the Museum could buy "Trois Graces," another marvelous work by this incredible artist.

So back to Monday's afternoon, luckily I had bought and printed my tickets through Fnac's site, so I was able to get inside fast, followed by the look of "hatred" of all those waiting outside in the cold. 

I loved the exhibit a lot, I was charmed by the erotism of his nudes, the definition of the colors (reds, oranges, greens), his almost pre-surrealist style, the eternal beauty of the women he painted... with those serene faces, blond hair, porcelain skin, small bust and round hips...

To think that Cranach was a friend of Luther, lived in Friedrich the Wise's court and faced a ferocious competition with Albrecht Dürer, another master of the time. In fact he usually used Durer's work as inspiration: there are two or three of his paintings to compare.

It's so stupendous that such masterpieces can endure so many centuries and provoke so many feelings on us...

A fun detail... the American producers of "Desperate Housewives," in California, used one of Cranach paintings for the opening titles... that of Adan and Eve...

Cranach would have never imagined it would be so, never ever...

Escape to Milano...

With just a few euros is possible to buy a plane ticket on EasyJet and travel in the morning from Paris to Milano, and return the next day. It's one of the many advantages of living in a central city as Paris... I can do the same with London, Venice or Madrid (vueling.com in this case). And with a minimum internet knowledge, I can get round trips for the same day at a very low cost.

Thus, two days ago I decided to spend the day in Milano. First, because as a true Italian, every once in a while I need to breathe the air of my country, smell its perfumes, hear its voices. And second, because I love Milano, which is the most cosmopolitan, central and interesting city in the peninsula. And I always have willing friends ready to lunch with me at "Baretto" in Via Senato, my favorite restaurant in town.

EsyJet's plane departs form Orly's airport at 11 am and I already have my boarding pass and my SB, which stands for Speed Boarding: for 9,50 euros I have the right to be among the firsts to board the plane and choose my seat. EasyJet does not give-out seats when checking-in: families with small children and SBs have priority.

The plane is full: tourists, businessmen and women. I read my newspapers and before you know, we are ready to land, a little more than an hour later. In Milano the sun shines fiercely and in the air you can already breathe the smell of Spring. The florists on Via Manzoni have mimosas, violets and scented hyacinths. 

The four streets of Milano's Fashion center (Via della Spiga, Via Montenapoleone, Via Sant'Andrea and Via Manzoni) are busy with extremely elegant women, all pedaling their bikes (bicycles are Milanese people's favorite way to move around, for the city is completely flat). Their Hermès bags in the basket, a short fur coat, ballerinas (Do they carry their heels in their Birkins perhaps?) and an impeccable brushing. The guys from PETA know that Milano is a lost cause, Milanese women love fur...

In just a small ratio it's possible to find the biggest concentration of luxury stores in the world... You can go into Prada, cross over to Gucci, return through Pucci and then stop by Dior, YSL, Etro, Ralph Lauren, Missoni, Dolce & Gabbana, etc... Enough to drive any fashionista mad. Now, there's only one place to go for a coffee: the mythical Cova, which exists on the corner of Via Montenapoleone and Via Sant'Andrea since 1817 and everyone stops by. They sell the best "pasticcini" on Earth!!!

I go visit my buyers at Prada and see the last trends. Lots of horizontal lines and strong colors: orange, green and blue. The shoes are either too tall or flat, like some very original leather-braided ballerinas. Few clients around, some Russians from Georgia... I can tell because they want to have something shipped and the saleswoman explains to them that DHL does not go all the way to Georgia.

Dolce & Gabbana is the emporium of lace: in black or white versions, lace is all over their Summer proposals. 

I go have a look around Gio Moretti's, which is multi-brand boutique I love. Something from Balmain, Ermanno Scervino, Lanvin, even some clothes still on sale... It's a pity the Jimmy Choo's booties I like  are size 40... too big for me.

The sun is fading and the twilight is beautiful... my favorite moment of day.

It's time to head to Linate and take my plane with the privileged workers that go or return to Paris...

By Security Control there's a line of at least a hundred people. No stress. I'm not wearing heels... ça va.

In few hours, I'll be in my bed in Paris...

First week in Paris...

Suddenly, it's been a week since I got here, to Paris. The weather is much better, 9°C... almost hot in comparison to the chill of the first days. I did lots of things already, saw many friends and got up to date with the latest Parisian trends. There's not much out there yet... February is a very calm month, a month for Winter escapades to some, a month to stay at home reflecting on things to others, all far from the effervescence of Christmas Season.

Spring-Summmer collections are timidly beginning to appear, but I must say I'm not at all enthusiastic with what I've seen. The economic meltdown still weights over the heads of American and European citizens and this is reflected in the poor, luxury-free fashions hanging in the boutiques in Paris. Where are the amazing dresses seen on Lanvin's runway? Have they not yet hit the stores? Or the ones I saw yesterday are the street version? And what about Peter Dundas for Pucci's marvellous designs? Do tell me they are not just those two black ones I saw yesterday? So sad and banal... 

Let's give them all some time. The only ones that really caught my attention were some Céline dresses in furious orange (THE color of Summer 2011), which had much more light and joy. Céline's new designer, Phoebe Philo, previously worked at Chloé, when Stella McCartney left. I can tell she's talented and has a certain air very chic. 

I also stopped by Christian Louboutin's, who is mu favourite shoe designer, and much to my surprise classic, black, pointy, platform-free shoes are back! They were seen already at Balmain's runway, paired with worn-out jeans and corsets. A look to bare in mind.

Evidently trousers are back... They were seen in many collections and most fashion magazines want to make them the item. But not to me... I won't wear trousers again! I'm fine with jeans but I no longer want trousers... don't know why. I'm happier with dresses and skirts.

Well, it's all for now. Just some final words to tell you that I'm eager to go visit Cranach's exhibit in a few days and it was a pleasure to see a TV adaptation of Marcel Proust's "La Recherche du Temps Perdu:" a marvelous work of Nina Companeez, with great French actors... a must-see.

Back in Paris...

Et voilá, as the French say... I'm back in the cold Paris. I left behind the 32°C of Buenos Aires and was received by -3°C and grey skies. But this doesn't bother me at all, I love changes, even if they are a little abrupt as this one!

Women in the streets still wear their Winter uniforms: mini skirts or shorts, dark leggins, Uggs, feather jackets or doudounne, hat and gloves. Everything rigorously black. However, the French seem to feel rather happy. Winter is about to finish... a month and a half to go and soon Spring will be at the door. Parc Monceau, just in front of my house, already shows some trees with flowers.

On February 11th Winter holidays will begin and the most important ski resorts, such as St. Moritz, Gstaad or Courcevel, already have no vacancies.

There's no reason though to leave town, for there's plenty of interesting things to do here too. In few days, at the Musée du Luxembourg, will open the exhibit "Cranach et son temps," very awaited and extremely interesting. At the Centre Georges Pompidou is "De Stijl et Mondrian," which I've not yet visited and will be open till March 21st. Also in theaters there's plays worth seeing, such as "Une Journée Ordinaire," a modern comedy by Eric Assous, written specially for Alain Delon and where he'll be sharing stage for the first time with his daughter Anouchka Delon. They've already worked together on TV, but never in theatre. And although everyone thought it would be the typical play specially written to attract Delon's fans and show him in a familiar situation, it seems it's actually quite good and both do a great job.

As for the movies, I went to see Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan," with Natalie Portman. I liked it very, very much. The story is strong and distressing, the cast amazing and Natalie Portman deserves the Academy Award! But in fact the entire ensemble works perfectly: Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder (in a small but decisive role), Mila Kunis (I didn't know her, but she's an actress with a great future). I strongly recommend it to you!

And now I'll get my coat and will go out to the big city... There's always so much to discover...