the little black jacket |

Charlie Siem 

Indian Princesses on the Paris Bombay Express|

From the underwater world featuring the beautiful voice of Florence Welch to a palatial Indian setting in the Grand Palais, Karl Lagerfeld once again delivers a stunning collection for Chanel fans to feast their eyes. The latest looks from the Chanel atelier encompass shimmery gold harem pants, soft draping bottoms paired with structured jackets as well as the traditional boucle and tweed in red, plum, cream and hot pink. New accessories come in the form of large pendants adorning the models' foreheads, sitting atop piles of dreadlocked hair or a simple low bun with a middle part. Personally I prefer the dreadlocks, it gives that almost punk, rebellious princess feel. On the accessories side, the wrapped-parcel style handbags have been carried over from the Spring 2012 collection but we're also seeing some Indian henna influenced prints on clutches and mosaic-on-pyramids designs (see photo below). 

Whilst flicking through the photos of this collection I could not help but marvel at how clever it is that the team at Chanel has steered their focus towards India when every other luxury brand seems to still be fighting for their share of the booming Chinese luxury market. It seems that the other brands have almost forgotten about the potential growth of India's emerging luxury market, which, if you think about it, really plays out to Chanel's advantage. No doubt this Paris Bombay Express will raise a few heads. I wonder how the other luxury giants will respond? x 

Photos sourced from Style.com and CHANEL News. 

(un)Subtlety meets Magnum

On my way to finding must-follow fashion twitter accounts today (I had just started a Twitter account you see), I came across this video. For those of you who haven't seen it before: it is short "film" directed by Karl Lagerfeld, starring Rachel Bilson and that f***ing hot male model Baptiste Giabiconi (I can never remember how to spell his name). By film they really mean long version of your typical ice cream ad. I've seen quite a few Magnum ads before, and they like to make their chocolate blocks on a stick seem all glamorous and desirable, with Brangelina look-a-likes pulling off super spy moves and girl in evening gown sliding her way down a building to get to those Magnum ice cream bars. This ad, and the two below, are just as over the top as the rest of those Magnum ads and you know what? It is probably the worst thing I've ever seen Lagerfeld  direct! Actually I think that they are so bad that they are hilarious, but I'll let you be the judge of that. 

                                                 

                                                 

Despite how bad these "films" are, I'll probably go try one of those ice creams someday just to see how Rachel Bilson felt when she repeatedly bit into those chocolate blocks. I wonder how many takes she did for those ads...

xoxo