Penelope and Monica Cruz for Mango (Once More)

The world can’t get enough of them Cruz sisters! Or at least the Mango enjoy-ers. Penelope and Mónica signed another collection for the high street fashion giant. (or is it that nobody was available for the new season?).

The 38-piece collection features ads campaign shot by Mert and Marcus (need I remind you that the last Louis Vuitton campaign wears the same Alas-Piggott duo signature?) with the two sisters resembling like twins. The designs are in the general trend of celebrities designing for high street fashion labels:

red-carpet-inspired evening wear, jeans, knits and daywear based on vintage pieces from their own wardrobes.

Wonder why, if it was such a smashing-hit-collection (the first one), the Cruz-Mango line is a “limited edition” one… Could it be that, actually, it doesn’t sell that good?

If this Mango Mert and Marcus ad campaign doesn’t strike you as weird, then think about all those tabloids flooded with the Cruz brother’s music video starring his two sisters kissing each other.

Is marketing getting out of resources? Or are the two so desperate to get attention that they’re willing to cross over any moral boundaries?

No good news is old news! I wondered what life can be for someone who lost (almost) every penny… And thinking about that, and a solution for everyone to apply in order to make their life wonderful all over again, I came across this incredibly beautiful line of jewelry from our favorite disinherited heiress..

Sterling Silver and Swarovski Crystal in an exclusive design to meet fans taste. Let’s take a look…

Oh, this sterling silver and crystal Star Pendant just took my breath away! I’ve never seen such defying ugliness since I was accessorizing my Barbie-Dolls with plastic jewelry.
Definitely, this sterling silver and crystal Heart Earrings came into a cereals box and she didn’t know how to get rid of them…
Save the best for last: the sterling silver and crystal Multi Cross Necklace features 7 pendants, all in form of cross. Now, if she was to pay a tribute for each sin she’d committed, I truly doubt it for there must be more than seven! Maybe she just fell out of inspiration (haha!) and repeatedly filled the chain with cross-signs so everyone, even God, will forgive her lack of taste in the matter.

I’m not saying that was all for the collection in cause, I’m just not putting up with this anymore, out of respect for you!

This is one fashion paradox explained by architectural conceptual symbolism: a store in plain desert, store under the proud flag of Prada.

..the combination of a vast, open desert landscape in an un-populated area and a luxury goods store is completely unthinkable. nature suits fashion as a visual backdrop, as one often sees in advertisement. the minimal, corporate prada design and the desolate surrounding ranch land make a great impression together, but simultaneously the two forces also render each other useless.

The theory was confirmed in practice – the bags and shoes line up untouched since 2005 near Marfa, Texas in which store money has never been handed and people were very rare to see (I wander if they keep someone in the store all the time, or if there is an actual schedule for this spooky work-of-art-crazy-design stunt.. Then again, if someone is indeed hired on regular program schedule, he or she should at least be champion of some arcade game on a portable device.. or at least studying for some university degree, or plain dying bored after two days!).
Anyway, this was the Prada Marfa, Texas, the loneliest store in the world! (oh, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about all those gorgeous handbags and shoes all by themselves in the desert!)

I’ve got to admit that when first laying eyes on these Balenciaga Ads with Jennifer Connelly, I was misled into hoping there was a secret sequel for “Requiem for Dream” (if you have no idea what that is, I strongly advise you to search this film and wait for the right moment to play it. It’s not easy-to-chew).

But sadly it wasn’t any Aronofsky behind the camera for this crazy campaign but David Sims. What can I say.. she’s strange enough to make the images work, but damn it if I can think of anything else than the Requiem’s junkie Jennifer..

Balenciaga Spring Summer 2008 was very colorful, very print-scary but put together in a Ghesquière manner. In fact, I can’t look at his models and think of any different way to wear them but together. Those overtheknee sandals that Jennifer features for the ad campaign are uniquely unwearable but exquisite in their own way.

The sculptural dresses Nicolas Ghesquière imagined for his prêt-a-porter line for spring-summer 2008 are catwalk friendly but that’s all. Haute couture in it’s true meaning. And now featuring a scary-frightening Requiem-looking Jennifer Connelly. What do you make of it?

When Fashion is business nowadays, when business has always been a matter of marketing, will Fashion end up as collateral damage to the Writer’s Guild War?

The recipients of Golden Globe Awards in 25 categories will be revealed during an hour-long HFPA press conference at The Beverly Hilton to be covered live by NBC News beginning at 6:00 pm PST on January 13. ‘The 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards’ NBC telecast and champagne dinner in The Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom is officially cancelled.

Or is it that in their Stars War (need I remind you that The Writer’s Guild is strongly backed by the Screen Actors Guild) they’re actually targeting Fashion Industry?
I’m getting paranoid, I’m sure of that, but it’s a way to look at things, admit it…
Haute Couture lives through marketing. Marketing fashion means marketing big names at big events. How can they do that if big events are flushed down? Oh, pardon me, if big events are stroke down in an endless Stars War? Rhetorically speaking, of course, for I don’t imagine someone really answering this kind of question when big issues are in stake (at least officially).

Oh, imagine all those dresses put away for strike reasons! Imagine all those meters of red carpet being eaten by mice for cancellation reasons. Oh, that brings tears to my eyes thinking I will not witness an endless set of picture poses, fake smiles, anorexic figures or disturbingly ugly outfits! (imagine for instance another fashion deep infliction signed by Keira Skeleton Knightely or another style-deprived-but-shock-full dress wore by Cate Blanchett!)

In the mean time, I allowed myself to ease up your pain with some Palm Springs Film Festival photos (Amanda Bynes, Brittany Snow, Halle Berry, Marion Cotillard) plus photo shots from the 27 Dresses LA Premiere ( Jennifer Love Hewitt, Katherine Heigl, Maria Menounous, Christy Turlington) and bonus Katie Holmes from the Critics Choice Awards.

When I saw this platform, I started wandering why it looked so familiar. It felt like I’ve seen it already. In my dreams.

A candy platform perfect for winter days. Light up your inner pink with this Miu Miu Deco Patent Platform (available at Bergdorf Goodman for $695).

I wasn’t quite shocked to see Drew Barrymore in a Gucci Resort 08 Dress. It’s a commercial thing, after all, since she’s the spokeface for Gucci.

But I was truly shocked to see how dreadful it looked on her.

Take for instance the catwalk vision of this Gucci Resort Dress.
Ok, it’s not fair to put pressure on Drew to match Natasha Poly’s figure, but she could have made a smarter choice of outfit.

Not saying she should’ve picked something else, Gucci would’ve made it, even Resort 2008. But I guess that when you’re given something for free, you take it and don’t discuss it.
At least that’s how education works in some cases.

We knew he was a deco-superfreak (remember the 10 years he spend at Gucci that he personally signed, approved and verified all the display windows from all the Gucci stores worldwide?).
Now we have official confirmation that Tom Ford is still Tom Ford, even Gucci-less.
According to “Interior Design” magazine, Tom Ford’s Madison Avenue Store is the Best Looking Store in the World!

Tom Ford
845 Madison Ave., 212-359-0300
For men content with off-the-rack clothing, the ground floor stocks three-piece suits (from $2,900), dressing gowns, twelve colognes, and dress shirts in 350 colors and three cuff styles. Upstairs (via an ebony staircase or velvet-lined elevator) are the made-to-measure services. In three private rooms, men can customize suits (from $5,000), ties, shirts, shoes, pajamas, tennis shorts, even knit socks. Call ahead to book a private shopping appointment.

I’ll cut short on the details, just know that the store was intended as a residence. The ready to wear is the “living room” from the first floor, the clothing room is a “sitting room”. Upstairs, to the suiting salons, one can get by taking the dramatic oval staircase trimmed with faceted panels of Macassar ebony.

Just imagine private fitting rooms and master tailors, plus! A butler and maid! As Ford said, the store is dedicated to “the kind of sumptuous setting that matches the client’s lifestyle.”