Paris SS '10 Fashion Week

It's been a very long time since I wrote anything here! and I feel guilty about it!
BUT I have some nice things to share with you all! :)
Some of you know that I moved to Florence last June, to do a Masters Program in Luxury Management in Polimoda, I was sponsored to do this program by Chalhoub Group in Dubai.

Last week I went to Paris for fashion week, and I had such a great time!
I went to 6 shows! yes 6! :) Chanel, Giambattista Valli, Celine, Elie Saab, Hermes & John Galliano! My favorites were Chanel ofcourse, Giambattista Valli & Galliano.
It was so exciting, because I don't know how I managed to get in! I mean they are very strict with the invitations and everything, yet I managed to go to the best shows!

I met so many people, people I see only in Vogue and Bazaar, I saw almost everyone from US Vogue, editors in Chief, contributing editors, models, muses, you name it!
some of them were very nice and I talked to them, some were very snobbish!
I met Tim Blanks and Candy Pratts Price from Style.com, both were very nice, I met Glenda Bailey Editor in Chief of US Harper's Bazaar, she was very nice too! I met everyone from the Signe Chanel documentary, Mme Cecile & Mme Jacqueline, Virginie Viard & Karl!.

The Chanel show was amazing! when I got in, I couldn't believe that I'm actually inside the Grand Palais for Chanel show! I mean it has always been like a dream, Chanel, Karl, the show, the people and this time it was magical! The set was a farm house in the country side, seconds before the show started everyone was standing and moving around, and when the show started with a roosters sound, everyone was in place in exactly 1 second! :)
Then came the surprise, Lilly Allen came up from nowhere and performed her song "not fair" then disappeared again! it was a great show!

Next day I managed to go to Elie Saab, I was standing in the back, and just like 2 minutes before the show, I found a free seat in the front row , right in front of Nelly Furtado and Dita von Teese, rushed there, and thats how I got my front row seat at Elie Saab.
Couple of hours later I was outside the Hermes show, ofcourse they were not letting people in because the show was about to start, but luckily we managed to find a back door that leads to the backstage, where I met jean Paul Gaultier, Eva Herzigova, Chanel Iman, Isabeli Fontana & caroline Treniti - and by we I mean me and people I meet there who is trying to get in too! :)

The Galliano show was taking place at the same venue, right in the next hall, and there was noway to miss his show, so Michele and I managed, and again please don't ask me how because we were so lucky to get in, the show was about an hour late, and only staff were inside as they were still rehearsing and John was checking everything out, and ofcourse the show was fantastic!
I was so happy to meet Ms. Laila Hamdaoui, a Stylist and Fashion Editor, we had previously met almost 3 years ago in Dubai during the LCDA and she remembered me, she was such a sweetheart! :)
I also went to see my friend Srdjan who launched his own footwear label Aperlai (website coming soon) I loved it ! very nice designs, and he had good responses from buyers and im so happy for him! I also met Zoe Saldana at Giambattista Valli's showroom the day after the show and we had a small chat on what she was picking from the collection. I got my copy of The Sartorialist and I met Scott and got it signed, I met him first in Milan but all bookshops had ran out of the book, but I'm happy i bought it from Paris, you know, it's Paris! ;) I met Mario Testino again (first time in Milan also) he told me he maybe coming to Jordan soon (hope I'll be there). Models were so tall, and more beautiful in person, esp. Claudia Schiffer & Natalia Vodianova.
The sole purpose of my visit to Paris was to try to get an internship with Giambattista Valli in December, unfortunately he was very busy, but I managed to send him an email asking him for it, so wish me luck with that!

Over all it was a great trip! and if I'm in Paris again, I would for sure do it all over again and try to get in! :) RTW fashion week is great, but I still wanna experience Haute Couture, so January maybe? ;) Please find some pics on my twitter account.

Love,
Styloholic.

CHANEL ...

Yesterday was the Chanel SS09 Couture show, and ofcourse Karl never disappoint us (or me at least). Every time I look at the collection I think, he is repeating himself, the famous Chanel suit, the black and white contrasts , the pastel colors, the Camellia's and so on, but every time I look at the details and see the collection again and again,I realize how much I Love it!

The more I see the details, the little details,I love it more, and this happens all the time! for every collection! :) first look I think...mmm.. its nice, but then I compleletly change my mind! :)

Maybe I like Chanel because , I'm a person who likes original, classical yet timeless designs, and ofcourse Chanel is a big example about this. I like the fact that sometimes people say about my designs "oh its very Chanel..."

Anyway, I liked the fact that this collection was all white, almost.
As Sarah Mower from Style.com put it: Karl said he'd cleared everything away and "started with a clean sheet of paper." For more about the show and pictures please click here.

Alexandra Tomlinson almost fell on the runway, and a member of the front row helped her up.

You can find more Info. and updates about Paris Fashion week on Style.com.

Till next time...

Love,
The Styloholic.

PARIS... Je t'aime!

This post is dedicated to my favorite city in the world, Paris!
Since I am a Fashion/style-holic, Paris has always been the place to be, the place where fashion dreams can come true. I've always dreamt of visiting this magical city, and last July I had the luck and great chance to visit this city.

All the time before I got there, I felt, this can not be true, is it real? am I really going to Paris? that easy? as simple as that? because for so long going there was almost... Not impossible, but very very out of reach. And I was at the Airport in Pisa Italy, waiting for boarding, and looking at all the people around me thinking, "how can they be so cool" and I am very close to jump over the seats from excitement! :P

well anyway I arrived at around noon, and headed directly to my friends house where I was going to stay, didnt see the Eiffel tower on the way, I got there, fell asleep at around 5, thinking, what am I doing sleeping in Paris, I got up, got dressed and went out directly! :)
I got the Bir Hakim ( Tour Eiffel) station, and I was walking towards the tower, and there it was, La Tour Eiffel! I was over the moon happy! and for a second I told my friend " we are in Paris , do you understand what this means" :D
and I stayed out, roamind the streets till 2 am that night! it was an out of this world feeling.

Well, The reason why I love Paris because its home of Coco Chanel, YSL, Christian Dior, Lacroix, and many many others. Reading magazines ever since I was a kid, and reading about "Paris Fashion week" made everything I love, associated to Paris. And that's how the love affair started! :)

When I was there, I passed by the Grand Palais , where Chanel have their Fashion shows, One Chanel show made the Grand Palais famous for me, was their SS 06 Haute Couture collection, with the amazing staircase in the middle, the show was magical.

So I looked inside the window and looked at the exact space where Chanel models, Chanel creations and the Master mind himself, Karl Lagerfeld walked, the place I've always only seen in magazines and on the web. That was fantastic!

Late 2007, I had ran into Giambattista Valli in Amman, Jordan (what are the chances? I KNOW!) I went over , introduced myself and talked to him for a while( it was weired, talking to him so cool!) and he gave me his email& the studio phone no. and said "whenever you are in Paris, let me know, try to make it in January, during the fashion week" and I was like thats FANTASTIC! :D so I call them later to tell them that I'll be coming to Paris during the summer and they were very nice and suggessted I got see them , the design studio , the workshop, and I was hoping to land me an intership there, now that would have been ... simply unreal! but unfortunatly, I couldnt make it, I tried to call several times, Mr. Valli was travelling for meetings , and they were off the whole month of August.

I also wanted to visit Chanel's famous workshops at the Rue Cambon, and maybe send a message to Chanel's Studio Manager Virginie Viard, telling her how much I'm in love with Chanel and maybe take me for a tour, sounds a bit crazy, no? :P but anyway I didnt, but I'm still hoping for Next time! :D

I know it is so hard to find a job in Paris, esp. in the Fashion field, BUT I'm still hoping that one day I will travel to Paris and work there, and make this dream come true!

I will be obssessing more about Chanel later on, and talk about a documentary for the brand called Signé Chanel.


Love,
The Styloholic.