TREND I-SPY

I recently went to see the Met's Spring 2012 Costume Institute exhibition,  Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations  and was quite smitten with the striking head coverings and masks of the mannequins.  They were designed by the hair genius Guido Palau who also created last year's head pieces for Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.  The Met has issued both prints and cards of the work with  illustrations by Miguel Villalobos.

Hard to believe it's been 40 years since David Bowie's landmark 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.  It will be reissued in a special 40th anniversary edition on June 5th 2012. The record, which was Bowie's fifth and features such enduring classics as Five Years, Moonage Daydream, Starman and Ziggy Stardust will be presented in several formats, including CD, 180-gram vinyl and 5.1 mix DVD.  The original album shows Bowie dressed as Ziggy standing with one foot on the steps leading into a building that, at the time, housed late photographer Brian Ward's makeshift studio .  Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet recently unveiled a plaque at the location in Heddon Street, London.  Kemp said, “Ziggy was the ultimate messianic rock star, and with him David Bowie successfully blurred the lines not just between boys and girls, but himself and his creation. Bowie was...

There's been a tendency recently in ready-to-wear to both reveal and conceal: cold-shoulders on a long-sleeved high-necked dress for instance. Or think about Angelina Jolie at the recent Oscars wearing a sober black gown with a provocative split-up-to-there slit.  It has also spawned a fascination with net-like fabrics from several of the designers. Some have given it an athletic spin, while others favor something more attuned to the Helmut Newton-esque dominatrix that seemingly lurks inside so many of us. Here are a few examples. It all began a year ago with the Jil Sander hat with a  facial net.  I love it because it manages to be a sporty beanie AND a vintage 1940s lady-like creation all in one.  In this Vogue.com photograph, model Hanne Gaby Odiele successfully negotiates eating an ice cream cone whilst wearing it. Here is the marvelously iconic Anna Dello Russo in a pale blue version of the same hat. From Dolce & Gabbana SS12 Fo...

Giambattista Valli                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ...