Versace Returns To Paris Fashion Week

After a 7-year hiatus, famed designer Versace returned to Haute Couture today, officially opening the Paris series of shows with the luxurious, excessive glamour that we know and love. The show was nothing short of decedent; we had Couture glamour at its finest. Stunning gowns from the sheer metallic, brazen cold and tangerine orange all flowed effortlessly down the stairs (call me old fashioned, but I'm a runway girl). The hair was sleek, the make up dark and sensual but it was those gowns that took our breath away.

It was a successfully stylish way to open Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week 2012. From January 23rd through January 26th,the world renowned designers will flaunt their most flamboyant and glamorous fashions for the entire world to see and envy. The week is reserved for some of the most dramatic and daring designers, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Givenchy and a big favorite of mine, Chanel.

If the opening show is anything to go by, all fashion lovers are in for a big Couture type treat over the next three days. Versace is quite possibly my all time favorite designer (and a big hit come award season too). These dresses are stunning!!!

See below for a video of highlights from the highlights of the Versace show and try your best not to drool while doing so. (This will be beyond difficult, believe me).

Fashion From a Fairytale..

Stumbled across this gorgeous montage of fairytale-esque gowns on the web. Love the simplicity of the pictures and dresses and the short dresses in particular are a very modern version of the 'fairytale' look. Beautiful, no?

Alice in Wonderland Vogue Shoot

Here are some of my favourite photos from a 2003 Vogue Magazine shoot done by Annie Leibovitz with Natalia Vodianova as Alice. It's a very modern, fashionable take on Tim Burton's 'Alice...' movie. Beautiful, quirky shots with gorgeous sets and colour use.

Alexander McQueen's Final Fall Collection

“Each piece is unique, as was he.” Those simple words, at the end of the show notes for the final collection by the late Lee Alexander McQueen, captured the sentiment of a singular talent extinguished too soon. The 16 showpieces that paraded slowly through a gilded salon at the headquarters of luxury titan Francois Pinault were all cut “on the stand” by McQueen in the weeks before he took his own life. In their artistry, imagination and technical wizardry, they brought his fashion spirit to life. Here was a designer with the intelligence and depth of culture to reference centuries of history, and such a forward-looking vision that some of his final messages to the world came via Twitter. A floor-length black gown — the skirt a sweep of couture satin caught in curtain folds at the hip, the bodice paved in golden rococo swirls, the sleeves erupting into three-dimensional embroideries for the “Avatar” age — captured the span of his mind and the skill of his hands.

McQueen continued to experiment with ideas from his last collections, this time engineering prints by digitally capturing entire works of art and weaving them into fabrics. His inspirations ranged from Byzantine art and Old Master paintings to the carvings of Grinling Gibbons, and each look was worn with a bronzed cap, some spiked with a Mohawk of gilded leaves like a Roman war helmet. In a quest for new shapes, he folded sturdy fabrics into jutting and swooping lines that were both organic and otherworldly. Here was a windblown swirl of gilded brocade transformed into a minidress with a pouf skirt; there, a monastic gown depicting statuary, folds of fabric gathered at the back into regal panels. Such an intimate setting allowed for up-close appreciation of the details, the digital patterns painstakingly plotted so that angel wings aligned with the shoulder blades; the grand but graceful line of a dress’s sculpted neckline that arched above the collarbones.

With a haunting soundtrack of operatic music, the presentation was solemn, funereal and even a little spooky — and the references to angels, broken skulls and religious themes eerily prescient. Tears were welling in the eyes of some spectators as the finale dress entered: a grand coat of gold feathers that ended in a froth of embroidered tulle.

Source: wwd.com

The long gowns in particular are just stunning. RIP Alexander McQueen - Fashion won't ever be the same without you.

Milla Jovovich teams up with Tommy Hilfiger to fight Breast Cancer

Helena Christensen photographed Milla Jovovich (above) holding a Tommy Hilfiger handbag benefiting Breast Health International. Milla Jovovich is the ambassador for new campaign.

The handbag -- Hilfiger's fourth for the charity -- is on sale in Europe now, with 50% of the proceeds benefiting the Fund For Living campaign, which supports those dealing with breast cancer.

According to a company statement:

"I am excited to work with Milla Jovovich and Helena Christensen in our continued support of the Breast Health International," Hilfiger says in a press release.

"With the limited-edition bag series we've been able to contribute to building breast cancer awareness, and offer our customers an opportunity to make their contribution as well."

"As a devote supporter of charitable causes, I really am grateful to be the ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger's initiative to support Breast Health International," said Milla Jovovich. "To be a part of such an inspirational initiative is an incredible honor, and I hope that through our partnership we can help make a difference in the thousands of lives touched by the horrible disease."

Available for 279 euros (about $378), the bag will be sold in Tommy Hilfiger flagships and select retailers in Europe.

Get yours today to help support this fantastic cause!

Fairy-tale Fashion Shoot

Extremely beautiful shots. By Eugenio Recuenco.