André Leon Talley on SAG Awards Red-Carpet Fashion: ‘Enough of These Bad Choices of Designer Clothing and Messy Hair’

André Leon Talley didn't have many nice things to say about the dresses actresses wore to the Golden Globes. He has even fewer nice things to say about what actresses wore to the SAG Awards. But they had it coming — it was a tragic red carpet, indeed. Last week he compared Christina Hendricks's Christian Siriano frock to a "roadside-diner peach melba." This week he gives Marion Cotillard the food treatment:

In a short white Elie Saab Haute Couture with clunky shoulder pads, Marion Cotillard looked like a Ladurée coconut macaroon reject

He might have said she looked like an upside-down whipped-cream-topped roadside-diner vanilla milkshake. But he offered more scathing critiques of other women. Such as Christina Hendricks. Again.

Christina Hendricks ... last week looked like something from a bad bridalwear special on WE tv. Her red Carolina Herrera dress with a giant bow on one shoulder continued her unfortunate streak. At the Globes, she smiled through her peach-colored disaster. This week, her look was more like, “Please don’t tear me down. I’m trying harder with less makeup, softer hair, and a slimmer gown.” My advice for this talented actress is to go to Lily et Cie for some sound advice on dressing for her body type.

Can we stop harping on this woman's figure? Okay, she's not a size 4, fashion people. Everyone gets it. But it seems like critics look at her and see a size 20 woman stuffing herself into a size 4 pleather skirt. Moving on:

Paula Patton, you, one of the most beautiful African-American actresses: What were you thinking with that strapless white froth of J. Mendl [sic]? Black Friday stampede shopping in a Jersey bridal warehouse?

And the worst dress?

Helen Mirren’s gray embellished Badgley Mischka with a cloud of smoky organza like some nightmare coverup that falls in swaths of excess fabric. Simply not the look for Dame Mirren, who was the picture of class last awards’ outing. Save that dress for a private Mardi Gras at home in New Orleans!

This the beauty of working at Vogue. You can say anything about anyone because even if you offend them they're not going to turn down a Vogue feature. And as long as everyone else is buttering up their egos, one magazine can afford to not. Someone in this business has to say how they really feel from time to time.

Enough of these bad choices of designer clothing and messy hair. Hollywood: Call me! I have some tips for you.

Or make a public plea for freelance work!!

Anna Wintour Talks French Officials Into Letting Designers Work Longer Hours

After Anna Wintour backhandedly criticized France for not helping young designers, she landed a meeting with a government official to help them devise a plan to do something about it. Between couture shows yesterday, she met with Industry Minister Christian Estrosi, and brought Vogue's Hamish Bowles and French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld along with her. As anyone who's seen The September Issue can attest, Anna can be very convincing. "She's right," Estrosi admitted.

The Wall Street Journal reports:
Mr. Estrosi said state-owned banks and investment funds will soon offer streamlined financing for start-up fashion businesses.
A new master's degree is in the works to help French students better compete with peers who attend schools such as London's Central St. Martins College of Art & Design. And Mr. Estrosi said he had pledged to Ms. Wintour to relax the country's 35-hour work week for fashion-house employees who need to work twice that amount in the weeks before fashion shows.

Oh, Anna. She breezes in for couture and earns the right for fledgling designers to work around the clock. True, it's hard to quickly climb those theoretical workplace ladders as a young professional in any industry when the government only lets you work 35 hours a week (bastards). But the 35-hour week is one of the greatest things about France! And now Anna has kind of done away with it. Love her.

Loose Threads

• Couture is no joke: At the Chanel couture show, one dress and jacket featured over 13,000 satin flowers; the final wedding gown, which included a cape made from 200 meters of tulle and silk, took 1,300 hours to make.

• Escada announced plans to enter the kidswear and menswear markets in an attempt to turn a profit in 2011. The label was recently rescued from insolvency by 33-year-old Megha Mittal.
• Mariacarla Boscono was unable to walk for the Givenchy couture show yesterday, so Natalia Vodianova took her place in the final spot on the runway.

• Jimmy Choo: “I wear heels when I go to a club. English people are all taller than me. I have three inches with a half inch platform at the front. You have to get used to them.”

• Baptiste Giabiconi landed the spring 2010 Baldessarini campaign, shot by Mauro Taliani, not Karl Lagerfeld.

• The California-based Center for Environmental Health sued H&M and New York & Co. last June for selling accessories containing unsafe levels of lead, which violates California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. Last week the parties came to a settlement, and the retailers agreed to abide by the restrictions on the amount of lead found in bags sold in California.

• Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of Jane Birkin, does not own a Birkin bag. "It would be weird to have my mother's bag," she said. "It's so close to what she is and how she is. I'd have the impression I'd be copying. But it is a beautiful bag."

Denim Manties???

Every magazine seems to be doing a denim spread this spring. VMan just sent over a preview of theirs, in which they have something a little different from all the other denim spreads we've seen so far: denim manties. Bravo!

Kanye and Amber Are Caught in a Fur Trap!

Kanye West and Amber Rose attended the Louis Vuitton menswear show in Paris Thursday wearing long, floor-length fur jackets (though one or both could be faux). Amber's even had a hood.

Do you wear fur?

Can You Say......Awkward......Chris Brown and Gaultier?

A few days ago in Paris, Jean Paul Gaultier presented a fall 2010 boxing-inspired men's show in which the models were made up to appear battered and bloody. Gaultier walked the runway for the finale, jolly as ever, in the same makeup, appearing as though he'd just taken a few swift hits to the face. And who should pose beside him after the show but Chris Brown? Of course, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault last year. And surely the photos of Rihanna that surfaced after the Grammys are not too distant a memory for many. So, this is one hell of an awkward photo op — the birth of awkward, if you will.

WWD spoke to Brown:
Brown noted he is also open to any propositions in the fashion field, though he would prefer to collaborate with a label rather than launch a full line under his own name. “It has to kind of blend with what I’m doing because I’m so busy,” he said.

It's so strange — when a celebrity has a falling out with the world or an industry, fashion people scoop them up like they're going out of style. As with the eighties revival of fall 2009, they often don't care if these people have already gone out of style. MTV fired Alexa Chung, but hey! Madewell will take her! Jessica Simpson no longer has a recording career or even a reality-television career, but she's got her own lines of shoes, swimwear, and most recently jeans, with more sure to follow. In a more extreme example, Lindsay Lohan has a top position at Emanuel Ungaro. And now designers are welcoming Brown to their front rows with open arms. And if his acting and recording careers don't quite pan out, like Lindsay, he could probably find a label to let him "design" a line, too.

Loose Threads

• Marc Jacobs: "I wear a white shirt and plaid skirt every day, so I'm not the best person to speak about menswear."
• Louise Goldin won the British Fashion Council's Fashion Fund this week (it's like the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award). She beat out fellow designers Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab, and Erdem.
• Annie Leibovitz stars in the new Louis Vuitton core-values campaign. She agreed to be on the other side of the camera if she could pick her co-star, which she did: ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov.
• Catherine Malandrino: “I read all the blogs. I think it’s important to have influences from all over, and I like that these sites are so creative and self-expressive. It makes your own imagination work in different ways.”
• Jean Arnault, father of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault and member of the company's board of directors, passed away yesterday at the age of 90.
• Real-life boyfriends of models are posing with their ladies. Aside from Anja Rubik and her model boyfriend starring in Gap ads together, Maryna Linchuk and her boyfriend, D.J. Salvatore Morale, star on the cover of Russian Tatler together.
• Another shot was released of Claudia Schiffer starring in the spring campaign for Salvatore Ferragamo, shot by Mario Testino.

DVF to Launch Home Décor Line Next Year

Following the lead of many multitasking designers before her, Diane Von Furstenberg is launching her first collection of home décor in partnership with Springs Global. The line will include the works: bedding, bath, tabletop, and decorative items. Venturing into the home-design realm seems like an obvious move for Von Furstenberg. Sure, it may not turn out to be as avant-garde as some (Margiela's cotton-covered tables, anyone?), but we can easily imagine her colorful spring prints splashed across a duvet or a set of dishes. The line will be available on DVF.com and in department stores next January.

Bruce Webber's Film About Nudity for YSL's 2010 Fall Show

Yves Saint Laurent precedes each men's show with a film. This season, Bruce Weber shot it. Weber is perhaps best known for his ad campaigns and catalogues for Abercrombie & Fitch, which feature semi-nude hotties. In this film — Weber's exploration of nudity — there's nothing "semi" about it. It opens with a clothed Simon Nessman singing to a puppy dangling out of a jacket pocket. Then he and his friends start taking their shirts off (in slow motion). Then they take all their clothes off and jump into a swimming hole in the wilderness. Weber splices in some vintage shots of nude women, too. The whole thing culminates with the boys cradling an adorable baby, and some more torso flaunting. You have seven and a half minutes to spend watching this, enjoy!

YSL - Fall/Winter 2010-11 - Ain't Nothin' Like The Real Thing -Bruce Weber Short Film

Kim Kardashian to Show During Fashion Week....Huh?

In the 10 to 11 a.m. time slot on the Fashion Week calendar, a listing between "Derek Lam" and "TSE" reads "Bebe/Kardashian." This can only mean Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian are showing their Bebe line during Fashion Week. Every year these — oh, how to label them? — sham shows occur. Sheree from The Real Housewives of Atlanta staged her She by Sheree show at New York Fashion Week last season. I don't know if she's showing this season and I don't care enough to try to figure it out, but with more and more celebrities and fauxlebrities designing clothing lines, and with more and more people taking them seriously, we can only expect the sham shows to proliferate. Because what is a sham show one season, in a dingy Lower East Side apartment with a taco booth out back, could be a legitimate show with only sham flavor during Fashion Week next season (read: Erin Wasson's RVCA line). If the Kardashians can show during Fashion Week and get on the freaking official calendar, can Snuggie please come back with a Bryant Park blankie spectacular? Last season's show made me feel so alive!

ALT's Mixed Review

This week Cathy Horyn lamented the barrage of badly designed dresses on the Golden Globes red carpet. Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley just blogged a review of his own, and was similarly distraught.
When you start watching red-carpet shows at 6:00 p.m. and don’t see a stunning dress until 9:00 p.m. — Julianna Margulies’s ruby paillette crepe robe de style with cutouts, by Narciso Rodriguez — it’s sad what passes for style in Hollywood.

We don't agree with all of Talley's critiques, though we do appreciate his honesty:
Julia Roberts. Well, this is how to make a black dress look wrong. She is no Sharon Stone; she can’t pull off a draped-jersey high-waisted number — even if it is vintage YSL. She is the embodiment of thoroughly sloppy star.

Hiss. But perhaps the biggest loser of the night, gown-wise, was Christina Hendricks, who wore Christian Siriano — a frock Horyn also panned.
Says Talley:
Though their drama Mad Men won a statuette for Best Television Drama, the biggest style losers of the evening were Elisabeth Moss in Amsale and Christina Hendricks in Christian Siriano’s strapless ruffled dress, which she called “peach champagne” but looked more like roadside-diner peach melba. It was so wrong for her ample figure and golden-sunshine personality. The ruffles thudded like industrial tarp along her body like a peplum but missed the point of what a peplum should do: define the waist to flatter a woman.

Is this the beginning of Siriano's undoing? He has quite a recovery to make from this gaff at his Fashion Week show. And we can't say Talley has a bias against Project Runway, since he praises Meryl Streep's Chris March–designed black belted gown. Rather, Talley's comments seem to point to what Horyn highlighted as the chief problem with the clothes Sunday night: bad design. Would Hendricks's "peach melba" outfit have looked good on anyone? It reminds us of a prom dress you might have found on the sale rack in Dillard's in 1987. And that peach melba looks like a dessert you might have found on sale at Johnny Rockets that same year.

Golden Globes 2010--Wet and Wild

Here is my Best Dressed list from last night's Golden Globes. The rain put a damper on the the evening, but the fashion Gods shined down on us.

RONALDO. RONALDO. RONALDO.

Earlier in the week, we showed you Megan Fox taking over for Victoria Beckham as she became the new face and, more important, the new body of the Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani ads. Similarly, we see that Posh's hubby, David Beckham, has been replaced by the younger and more muscled (if that's possible) Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo for the new men's campaign. Said Giorgio Armani about Ronaldo, “For me, he is the essence of youth — spontaneous, exciting, a real maverick.” Obviously, replacing both Beckhams is a bid for a fresher image for a younger target audience, but we imagine there are a few British tabloid editors out there right now feeling a tad abandoned.

Jesus Luz Knows How to Model Some Sheets

Jesus Luz stars in his own spread and Q&A feature for the new issue of Interview magazine. Photographer Mikael Jannson shot the Dolce & Gabbana face in seven different situations, a variety that includes a bondage-inspired look with a blindfold and leather straps as well as a make-it-rain photo where his Jheri curl is totally drenched. His abs get prime placement in the other pictures, spectacularly, especially in one where he's lounging on the bed with Calvin Klein Home bedding with one sheet placed so low you can see all of his down-there manscaping preferences up close. With that cigarette dangling from his mouth and his hand covering his eyes, it's hard to say exactly what he's thinking, but surely it has to be something nasty

Zac Posen for Target

With memories of Rodarte's recent stand at Target still fresh in our heads, we were happy to see that Fashionista had posted an early look at Zac Posen's Go International collection for the megaretailer late last night. Not afraid to be floral, girlish, and just a bit boho, the line features a selection of simply constructed dresses, shirts, jackets, and skirts that seem pulled from a John Hughes film (the use of Liberty-like prints, simple buttons on the bibs, and the color palette have a certain eighties sexy-babysitter quality to them). Though we could do without the red-and-fuchsia zebra-stripe dress and the floral gown, there were some standouts. The swimsuits are classic, chic, and sexy, and a pair of simple, black pleated slacks are a winner. The real gets here, though, are the cocktail dresses, which, given their low prices and somewhat ironic high-school prom aesthetic, look ideal for bringing an extra charge to late-night cheap thrills about town. Expect long lines when the collection bows in late April.

Loose Threads

• John Bartlett is launching a women's capsule collection for fall 2010, which will be presented with his menswear collection on February 10. “A lot of women will come in and try on my men’s clothes," he explains. "These are women that are not looking for ruffles or lace or jeggings. It’s a different kind of approach to clothing.”
• Analysts say that Martin + Osa, which is owned by American Eagle Outfitters, has been losing money continuously, so the unit might be closed in the near future.
• Tom Ford selected Nicholas Hoult, an actor who stars in Ford's A Single Man movie, to star in his eyewear campaign alongside Carolyn Murphy.
• Julia Restoin-Roifeld said that her mother's best piece of fashion advice was that it's unacceptable to mix navy blue and black, but that you should.
• Eric Kim, the former chief executive officer and designer of Monarchy, is launching his own high-end contemporary label during New York Fashion Week named Mik Cire. Kim left Monarchy last week to focus on his own collection.
• Natalia Vodianova is really into charity. So far she has raised enough money to build 39 parks in Russia.
• First Among Equals in the Lower East Side is closing. They are having a closing sale featuring outerwear, knits, and more for up to 80 percent off.

Loose Threads

Martin Scorsese shot a Chanel commercial over the weekend in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Roberto Cavalli selected George Clooney's girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, to star in his lingerie campaign, which was shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
Brace yourselves! The Fall 2010 Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week schedule is out. Who are you looking forward to seeing?

Elie Saab is collaborating with Tiger Woods Dubai, a private residential community and resort, on a luxury boutique hotel named the Al Ruwaya, which is set to open next year.

The inaugural British Fashion Fund (which is similar to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, just for Britain) finalists were announced, and they include: Christopher Kane, Erdem, Marios Schwab, Richard Nicoll, and Clements Ribeiro for womenswear; menswear newcomer E.Tautz; accessories label Angel Jackson, and shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood.

Acne is going to launch a furniture collection.

Ksubi is struggling financially and placed itself into voluntary administration, which is a way for companies who have financial problems to get some time before reporting to their creditors.

Megan Fox Employs a Softened, Sexy Death Stare for Armani

Why, it only seems like last week that Megan Fox, she of the high, alabaster cheeks, swinging hips, murder thumbs, and unchecked mouth was absolutely everywhere — the big screen, SNL, the blogs, the cover of Nylon. Somehow, though, we reached full saturation level with the young, aggressive actress, and the cold season has seen little of the Transformers ingenue. But, as you may remember, the high point of the last Megan Fox media cycle concluded with the raven-haired sex bomb landing the Emporio Armani underwear and Armani Jeans ad contract. As promised, here she is, showing off her curves and reigniting the flames in teenage hearts with these come-hither shots by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and the results are frankly better than expected. Piggott and Alas have smoothed down some of Fox's natural "hardness," adding intrigue to what was becoming a tired image (the digital removal of every one of her many tattoos didn't hurt, either). And, sure, the campaign lacks the edgy absurdity delivered by the actress's predecessor, Victoria Beckham, but certainly no one can look at Fox's hips and accuse Armani's team of a Ralph Lauren–style Photoshop foul. See another shot after the jump.

Naomi Campbell Reportedly Couldn’t Commit to Britain’s Next Top Model

Naomi Campbell was reportedly going to be a judge on the next season of Britain's Next Top Model. But she allegedly pulled out before any contracts were signed because she couldn't "reach an agreement over logistics or the amount of time she would have to commit." Hello, she's just too busy for reality-television nonsense! Though it would have been kind of amazing to see how she dealt with the prissy attitudes of contestants on the show

First Lady’s Office Displeased With New PETA Ad

A new PETA ad running in the D.C. metro area features Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Tyra Banks, and Carrie Underwood. All four women have publicly shunned fur, but the First Lady's office is upset over the inclusion of Michelle, which was done without her consent. "We did not consent to this," a spokeswoman for Michelle told USA Today, declining further comment. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk says the First Lady's consent wasn't sought because they know the White House can't make such an endorsement; they just included her because she has publicly renounced fur. So by that logic, if we say we love broccoli, and broccoli farmers decide to make us the face of broccoli, we're just supposed to be okay with our faces randomly appearing on a broccoli billboard one day? Or if we say we feel bad for eating veal and lamb because it makes us think of poor baby animals, does that give an organization the right to put our face on an ad renouncing baby-animal eaters? Because we wouldn't want either of those things. Well, most likely.
Though this ad could have been slapped together by a Photoshop amateur, PETA has done highly stylized ads in the past. Maybe Michelle and her people are partly upset that her photo wasn't given the same artistic consideration. She has been in Vogue, after all.

Loose Threads

• The winners of the 2010 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation awards are Prabal Gurung, Joseph Altuzarra of Altuzarra, Ross Menuez of Salvor Projects, and Phillipe Rollano and David Trujillo of the Blonds for women's design; Siki Im for men's design; Irina Arakas of Prova for accessories design; and John Patrick of Organic for sustainable design. Each winner gets $25,000 for their fall presentations during New York Fashion Week.
• British GQ named Prime Minister Gordon Brown the worst-dressed man of 2009.
• Uniqlo's December sales rose 11.5 percent from last year. Each customer spent less, but the number of customers grew.
• Rihanna was supposed to cover up for her New Year's Eve performance in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She didn't quite do that.
• Josep Font is a Spanish-born designer who is invited to show at Couture Fashion Week in Paris this season. “It is one of the few examples of the French recognizing Spanish talent. There has always been a bit of reserve towards Spain on the part of the French, like a superiority complex," says Pedro Mansilla, a fashion specialist at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University.
• Kate White, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, wants a Lady Gaga cover. What, she's not into Ke$ha yet?
• Rachel Zoe hung out with Marc Jacobs in St. Barts over New Year's and misspelled his name on Twitter.

Trophy Jackets Versus Trophy Girlfriends

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have an online magazine called Swide, which is of course yet another marketing device to sell their clothes. They've taken to their blog to try to sell statement jackets, a key piece of their spring 2010 men's collection. It's a hard sell for most straight men, and we're not sure this argument will be powerful enough to persuade them:

Who needs to bother with trophy girlfriends? Dolce & Gabbana's SS10 array of great embellished jackets means you can forego the hassle of dating and make your blazer your best spokesperson.
... Light and chic or dark and interesting, you can be all sorts of men this season. Varying your pleasures: go for fail-safe baroque or conversational black and white. Getting lonely with your great jacket collection? Not a concern anyway, the trophy jacket is your best ally to find that trophy girlfriend!

Except that a guy who has a collection of jackets that are this ... fussy is bound to be fussy about all kinds of stuff. Most chicks probably don't want to date a guy who spends longer in the bathroom tweezing his eyebrows and putting on cheek highlighter than they do. And people with that much time on their hands just aren't having that much sex.

Beauty Marks

MAKEUP
• Kate Moss says she wants to create a makeup line. Also, she dished her beauty advice: "Iced water with cucumber; and waxing, definitely — it’s better than shaving. Moisturize, sleep — and happiness: that’s a beauty secret. I know I look different when I’m happy. I don’t really stick to one thing."
• The Rock & Republic cosmetics line is reportedly being discontinued. It launched last year.
• If you want to color your eyelids the color of the Caribbean Sea, it's possible. In one set of how-to instructions, it only takes nine different products to achieve the look.
HAIR
• Now Lady Gaga's hair is a bright-yellow hue. No, it's not blonde ... it's the color of Big Bird.
FRAGRANCE
• Givenchy is launching two fragrances this year. One is named Dance, which features fruity floral notes, and the other is named Eaudemoiselle de Givenchy, which is described as a refined floral.
PLASTIC SURGERY
• Cosmetic surgeons are countering the government proposal of a "Botax" (the idea of taxing 5 percent on cosmetic surgeries) with the notion of a tanning tax, or taxing tanners 10 percent for every purchase. The Indoor Tanning Association says the thought is "laughable," but they also note that they have less lobbying power in Washington.