Oh no! How distressing! Remember those gorgeous Versace ads 10 years ago featuring Madonna, shot by Steven Meisel? Well, don't expect a repeat. Fellow blog A Socialite's Life has the first picture of Madonna's new campaign for the Italian label, in which she comes across more housewife than business mogul. Her hair looks like cardboard and is that a faint 'tache I spot? Plus she has that perennially surprised look of the recently lifted.
It's that time of year again. Here is an interesting Best/Worst Music list (again courtesy of the Daily News). Sometimes reading these lists makes you feel like you've been living on another planet for the last 12 months. I mean, I buy a lot of CDs but most of these I have never heard of. All the more stuff to discover!
The latest from the fashion trenches, courtesy of today's New York Daily News:
"Fashion insiders are buzzing with the rumor that Helmut Lang is preparing to step down from his namesake label.
It's been five years since Lang sold a majority stake in his business to Prada. And the Italian company's tough management style has caused trouble with other designers whose names they bought - notably Jil Sander, who stormed out in 2000, came back and stormed out again last month.
"Helmut's stuff isn't selling, and the stores are empty," says one insider. "And [Prada CEO] Patrizio Bertelli is so fractious he was never going to get on with these visionaries whose labels he bought." Acquiring Helmut Lang and Jil Sander was part of Prada's as-yet-unrealized plan to go public. But quality-control issues have increasingly plagued the Lang brand."
Karl Lagerfeld triggers "mass hysteria" in Tokyo at the opening of the new Chanel megastore. Now Babelogue is a haven for the seasoned fashionista and therefore most sympathetic to outbreaks of cold sweat in the department store -- usually followed by the foolhardy flexing of credit cards. This fall, we even suffered a mild episode of cardiac arrhythmia at the sight of the new season's Miu Miu bags. But could we please stop this insane worship of the pony-tailed one? First there was the worldwide scrum at H&M for its Lagerfeld label collection. Babelogue was thankfully spared this episode (as true fashion snobs, we had been proudly displaying our black leather messenger bag since September -- a little souvenir from the ultra-glamour launch party in Paris). Now Japanese people are sleeping on the pavement for first grab at the Chanel tweed? REALITY CHECK. Much as it pains us to pronounce these words, it's ONLY FASHION.
Never mind the war in Iraq. George W. Bush clearly has more important things on his agenda, like giving P. Diddy a guided tour of the White House. Dubya found out his wife Laura and The Didster have the same birthday. He suggested they have a joint party next year. Now that I would pay to see.
The New York Times reports that Robert Evans, legendary producer ("Chinatown", "The Godfather") and ex-husband of hot-damn 70s babe Ali McGraw (until she dumped him for Steve McQueen) is looking to take his crayzee life story to Broadway. Now Babelogue has had the pleasure of an hour in the company of this man. Picture this...Cannes, 2002...a cream-coloured suite at the Eden Roc hotel...view of turquoise sea out the window. Evans has summoned the press to promote his documentary "The Kid Stays In The Picture", based on the memoirs of the same name and produced by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter (who really shouldn't have been messing around in Hollywood, as we later discovered). I'm thinking this guy is over-the-hill. He's 71 and has had a multiple stroke. He can barely shuffle from his coffee table to the closet, fer chrissakes. There's three of us, two French guys and me. Since I am the only one speaking fluent English, I kick off the questions. And as soon as those first gravelly notes hit me, I am sucked into the charisma vortex that is Bob Evans. This guy speaks like Bogie in "The Maltese Falcon" -- all the time. Bob/Bogie is not shy about discussing his legal woes. "I took the biggest dive in the history of the motion business and you know what the reciprocity was? Zero minus zero. And you know what it did to me? It branded me for the rest of my life," he says. I'm hooked. My questions become increasingly fawning and sycophantic. At one point, I apparently channel Marilyn Monroe and breathily wonder: "Mr Evans, how does it feel to be a legend?" My journalistic credibility now totally snuffed, I secretly decide that I want to have this man's babies. How to explain it? He has a George Hamilton perma-tan and his light blue satin shirt is stretching over what appears to be a corset. I know, like I said, I was in a secondary state. Had he been spritzing pheromones? Performing black magic? Whatever it was, I'm not the only woman to feel the vibes. Discount wife number 7, or 8, another pneumatic blonde who no doubt wants to sink her claws into his Beverly Hills estate. I'm talking cream of young Hollywood. Newsday reported at the time: "Recently, at a chichi Oscar party, Evans' dinner partner, Selma Blair, told everyone that she wanted to marry him." Yeah, join the queue, honey. Anyway, all I have left of my brief encounter is an autograph from the great man. It makes me smile when I am down. Bob wrote: "Go for it, beautiful lady. You can do it if you try."
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't."
A fashion correspondent in Paris, I'm a style junkie with a passion for shopping. From haute to high street, I love combing shops for that perfect sweater, lipstick or pair of shoes. Covering the fashion shows means that I get to see the full range of every designer's vision. With those powerful images in mind, I can help you achieve the key looks of the season or get a headstart on next season's trends. Style is timeless, and I love nothing more than helping people find theirs. So whether your role model is Audrey Hepburn or Gwen Stefani, Boutique will serve you a little slice of shopping heaven! Email me!
