I’m not one to really comment on the way celebrities dress for their awards and shindigs, but the Oscars is perhaps the only exception where we expect celebrities to dress their best. Plus, it makes you appreciate some of the designs out there that perhaps you’ve over looked during fashion weeks.

While most women would try to go out in big dresses, I like Michelle Williams winning look – subdued glamour and minimalistic. Her Chanel Haute Couture dress is simply a great elegant choice with her pixie blond haircut. Sure Michelle looks to be as white as her dress, but I think it gives her a bit of an ethereal look. I’m simply love it.

There are a couple of mentions that fall into the lilac and lavender colors, worn seldomly and I think it’s because it’s so rare to see that color in real life that I’m naturally drawn to it. Nicole Kidman once wore a lavender colored YSL dress and was an instant hit on the red carpet. Such is the case this year for Mila Kunis in her lacy Elie Saab Couture, and Cate Blanchett with an interesting Givenchy Couture dress. It’s especially Cate’s dress that intrigues me because it’s so unusual in shape and style. And coincidentally, she too is sporting a pixie blond haircut.

While there’s not much to analyze in celebrity style (they’re heavily influenced by personal stylists and free dresses), I suppose once in a while, we can mindlessly forget and simply enjoy the clothes.

Mila Kunis in Elie Saab Couture

Cate Blanchett in Givenchy Couture

Images credit: JustJared.com

One of the main issues of the luxury industry and aspiring clientele is that often their products are incredibly expensive and unattainable for the general public. While any educated person can learn to appreciate the craftsmanship of luxury products, the financial confinements of their incomes often limits them from supporting the industry.

This is especially true in the fashion industry, where in days of old Haute Couture were only for the rich, and Ready To Wear was created to be more “accessible” to the public. Yet nowadays in business, RTW is not affordable enough, and the business has trickled down to bridge collections to fast capsule collections.

While I personally don’t want to downgrade to fast fashion level, I can certainly appreciate the revived interest in vintage wear. Now, most friperies are based on no-name brands from past eras, where much of the revival is based upon. But I was introduced to a new store in Montreal that has a higher level concept of the word vintage.

LXR Produits de Luxe is a boutique that specializes in selling vintage luxury brands of Hermes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton in NDG. Baptiste Ballet, Vice-President of the store, which is run with his partner and President, Frederick Mannella, took his time to explain to me the concept of the store.

Established away from the busy streets of downtown, LXR is exclusive enough that had I not received an email from them, I wouldn’t have known of their existence at all. This cachet of being known only to their private clientele already establishes a sense of personal service that is often lacking while shopping in higher end stores in the downtown area. Though small, the boutique is large enough to give people space to peruse, stare, and even sit down and have a glass of wine while Frederick or Baptiste chat with them about their exclusive collections. The pieces are acquired mainly through an existing clientele in Europe who are seeking to resell their used luxury bags at a discount price, often at 40-60% of the original. Most bags were in pretty good condition, namely the Chanel bags, others looked tired and worn out like some Speedy Louis Vuitton bags. But evidence of the state of these bags confirms that these aren’t just any bags acquired randomly from random women, they’re acquired from women that they have met and known, and whom they can trust to sell something authentic. By selling these vintage bags, the state of many of these bags prove through the test of time that the price tag they command are worth every penny.

A prime example would be the now discontinued Hermes Pullman bag, an 80 year old bag from the 1930′s in pristine black crocodile skin, in the unmistakable Hermes trapeze shape. The handles are unlike the standard poingée ronde (round handles) made today, they were thin and flat (probably because women didn’t carry as much stuff as they do now). Inside, it has an extra pouch that has two metal latches (like a briefcase) that must be simultaneously pushed outwards in order for it to open, it also has a lock on it. During its pre-war days the bag cost 250€, today, in Hermes prices, it’s a bag that could’ve sold for at least $20,000. At LXR, I saw it retailing at a fraction of the price and sitting prettily at their window display. If only I had the money, I’d snatch it up in a heartbeat!

Of course, the biggest question of all would be: how can they guarantee authenticity? Well, in general, they can prove it, they keep the receipts of the original purchase and they often come with their original boxes. But keeping in mind that for a purse as old as the Pullman bag, receipts from the 1930s are probably long gone and thus could make it harder to tell from real to fake. However, because of their close relationship to their suppliers, there are many telltale signs to show if a bag is authentic, such as alignment of the stitches, quality of the leather, in some cases little number stickers (Chanel) or printed series and numbers (Louis Vuitton). Some of these tips I didn’t even know existed and helped me check my own used LV bag to see if it was authentic (it passed).

For Louis Vuitton, though currently it’s a more fashionable brand, there were some limited edition bags like the 2008 collaboration with Stephen Sprouse to a unique 1960s travel suitcase bag, which sort of looks like today’s Satellite travel bag. I love the vintage luggage of Louis Vuitton more so than their handbags, so having a piece from the 1960s was pretty fascinating to see.

Other items would be sort of harder to tell from authenticity such as the jewelry or some unorthodox bags like a Chanel tied bag from the 80s that was nearly all in gold with embroidered fabric, big round gold spheres with the Chanel logos. But clients who usually shop here trust their sellers and despite the discount price, they’re still large enough sums that they can’t really afford to lie in these particular circumstances.

So, while the luxury industry pushes forward, it’s refreshing to see that some brands’ products prove that their high price tags are justified. LXR has carved out a nice niche for itself in a too crowded room of fashion competitors, as I think they’re probably the only kind of their kind in Montreal. Definitely worth seeing.

Given that I don’t go to New York City too often, this particular trip had me lured to Soho. I’ve never been in the popular places of NY for lack of information since there’s just so much about New York that it’s difficult to cover in short trips. But like all bloggers, I went on Google Maps’ Street View to get an idea of what Soho looked like. Honestly, it was even better than I had imagined it to be!

It’s like being on Montreal’s Plateau except with 1000 times the number of stores to shop from. I was in shopping heaven.The streets aren’t too wide, there’s stylish people at every corner it’s ridiculous. I can see why Scott Schuman finds so many people to photograph around these corners. Soho is definitely the most fashionable district I’ve encountered so far. 5^th Avenue? That’s just for show. Nobody shops there. They’re all in Soho, talking with friends, stopping by at a café for a healthy (affordable) sandwich and boutiques that are inviting, not daunting.

I had passed by the Chanel store and they had already set up a huge screen that take up the length of a large terrasse. And there’s a surprise, keep reading!

It didn’t take long for me to find the store I hadn’t expected to come across: Reiss. My first brush with this UK brand was in Washington D.C. a couple of years ago and fell in love with a  strapless plaid dress with built in corset. So I had to into Reiss and see what they had. Of course, so many choices, I could only buy one thing. I reached out for this light lilac wool coat and the sales person, a tall, sleek, black man with an English accent said to me “That’s our best selling coat in the store”. How nice. But I live in Canada, our winters are nothing to be trifled with, that coat wasn’t going to get me through the season. I saw these nice front end leather pants (apparently also a best seller accord to Black Brit) but alas, did not have my size. However, there was another person who brought me a couple of selections.

I tried on 3 pairs of pants: one of a thick wool/viscose material, another of viscose/cotton, and one pair with an elastic waistband (I didn’t pick that one).

The elastic waistband was said to be a UK 4 size or size 0, and normally I fit into those sizes, but this had to be much smaller because the pant legs would not fit over my calves! How skinny do I have to be?? Anyway, I didn’t bother trying that one on since I was too big for it, and tried the others. The thick pants were ok, but a little too snug on the tummy. The viscose/cotton pair had some nice textured details on the sides with a paneling on the knees with seamless front zip pockets. The effect kind of made me look like I had leggings on, but not quite tight enough to be leggings. I preened in the mirror. When I preen, it means a must buy.

Reiss pants: Made in Turkey, Dry Clean Only.

Note that Reiss has also a lot of clothes made in China, some better built than others. There were only 2 structured dresses that I thought were up to snuff for quality, but the rest was sort of left to be desired. So be forwarned!

While I was trying on my pants, I overhead a conversation between Reiss employees gushing that Karl Lagerfeld would make an appearance at the Chanel store in Soho for Fashion’s Night Out. Had I not heard this conversation, I wouldn’t have changed my plans for tonight, but I will definitely make a trip back to Soho to see the Kaiser in the flesh. He’s like the Pope of Fashion.

I’ll probably be hanging out more in Soho than going to the department stores. I’d still make an efford to go to the Ace Hotel to see Open Ceremony’s flea market.

I stopped in the hip Kid Robot store, a store that specializes in vinyl toys known as Dunny (rabbit-like) and Munny (human-like). I couldn’t help but buy myself a cute little pull zipper character ($3.95).

I also stopped by A Bathing Ape pop up shop, with special collaboration with Hello Kitty right around the corner. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to take photos of the shop at all. True to Bape culture, you had to ring a doorbell in order to be let in. It was much smaller than I had anticipated and wasn’t quite sure if the store would make any sales considering the few items they sold. However, I’m still amazed by the quality of their t-shirts and hoodies, I’ve never touched anything like them. They’re like premium quality t-shirts and hoodies, and I’m not talking about designs on the clothes, it’s the materials themselves that really shine for me. I was tempted for a split second, but I think I should save my money for my real trip to Japan in the Spring.

And now dear readers, I must get ready for Fashion’s Night Out!

Granted that the colors and style are dated, but the approach and conceptualization of the commercial I find is pretty relevant to today. I think the fashion industry is in dire need of a “stranger” to come and breathe life back into our wardrobe. Sure, fashion editors spew this mantra every season, but every so-called golden designer is yesterday’s news  within 2 weeks of being announced.

Plus, when was the last time you’ve seen a memorable fashion commercial made by neither by Gap or Chanel? I don’t particularly recall any significant tv air time for fashion brands anymore. Perhaps because they are too costly to produce, considering Chanel No. 5 with Nicole Kidman cost a whopping £18million ($25 million) to produce in 2004. Too many brands rely too much on celebrity influence to sell their products when they could invest those millions into smart ad agencies and come up with a spectacular concept. If beer and sports companies can come up with the most original works during the Super Bowl, you would think fashion (who needs to be the best at – well, everything) would come up with the best ideas for their air time.

Fashion is drowning by clinging onto magazine ads, their life support needs to extend beyond magazine pages and into cyberspace and back to the tv airwaves. Mere runway shows won’t do, we want to be excited again by fashion. Calvin Klein ads begone! We want something fresh, new and exciting! This is a perfect time to bring back significant, original fashion commercials.

After some maneuvering in crossing a few streets, I ended up in front of the Mikimoto Boutique, to my knowledge at the time, the 7 story building was THE Mikimoto store, home of the pearled wonders. It was beautiful, impressive, glistening white and silver, so luxurious, I was in another world. I was greeted by 2 young and refined saleswomen.

Mikimoto Boutique International

As I soon found out, this wasn’t Mikimoto’s headquarters as I had thought. The jewelry was cheaper in price (affordable stuff at $400 to $1500 a pop) and I was too shy to ask where the rest of the collection was since what they had here was only a minute amount of what I’ve seen on their official website. Instead, the other floors contained pens, plates, purses, fans, all of the utmost quality and care in presentation. Saleswomen on the other floors wore gloves to clean and adjust objects to make them look just right. Nonetheless, I was impressed by the quality of service and care of such a fine jewelry store.

It’s my mother’s dream to own Mikimoto pearls. And she has yet to fail on taste that’s for sure.

Mikimoto Headquarters

While walking on the main Ginza avenue, I saw Mikimoto’s Headquarters and sure enough, it’s breathtaking window display of cherry sized pearls with a $20,000 price tag made it too intimidating for me to step inside. I could see behind the tinted glass windows that sales women and men were peering out like lionesses guarding their pray. Way too scary.

I think the next time I visit Mikimoto, it’ll be with my mother, and several credit cards.

Cartier, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Chanel

I think I got Ginza and neighboring district Omotesando confused as I was expecting glittering crystal-like buildings in unique architectural designs…instead in Ginza I was met with run of the mill glass fronts with some mildly (but not entirely exciting) interesting exteriors. Mind you, the Chanel store still made for a pretty visual treat with it’s graphic black stripes, or LV’s checkered effect making it look like a 3D puzzle, but the stores were square, they were all glass…not the architectural wonders I had imagined from reading Deluxe. Cartier’s building stood out the most with it’s golden cage and trademark vibrant red framing the doorway, even if I did found the structure to be tacky in the end.

Hermès 10-story building of square glass blocks almost made for an imposing (but not quite as chic) structure. I was too wowed by its display cases outside and peering through the door only for a few seconds to see wealthy women inside fawning over Birkin bags and silk scarves.

Chanel – Premiere service

I was brave enough to step into Chanel, a 6 story building of which the general public had access to 4 very large floors. Not even 2 minutes inside, I see a Japanese worker (in uniform of course) passing swiftly to buff and clean the marble floor with a swiffer – erasing all foot print marks we’ve left behind. Of the dozen or so staffers, we were all greeted with “Irasshaimase!” with a slight bow. The store felt like a museum, with Chanel’s Summer 2008 Americana collection sprawled on several mannequins. Floor after floor was filled with all things Chanel. Upon walking up the 2nd floor were followed by 2 staff people, upon arriving 2 more staffers stopped and bowed deeply pausing for more than 5 seconds before they went on their way. I felt like a non-deserving Queen as I was only a college student with a meager salary. I felt their eyes on me, sizing me up despite their politeness, I was as uncomfortable as I was fascinated.

I figured in such a high end store we weren’t allowed to take pictures, so I took a picture of the only place I was allowed to take a picture of: the elevator.

With interlocking double C’s.

Seibu – High end grocery shopping

Now this may seem a little fanatic going into a high end grocery store in a high end department store like Seibu in Ikebukuro. But Japanese people take the high quality very seriously. Previously in Nagano, my host told me that high end grocery stores do not allow you to approach fruits and vegetables at a certain distance as they’re trying to keep the food at a certain room temperature. If you stand too close, your body heat will affect the surrounding temperatures thus accelerating the process of spoiling the food. No pictures with flashes are allowed as the flash from the camera will also affect the food temperature. Think of it as being in a museum of “look but don’t touch” policy.

Well, entering Seibu was pretty much like that. There were temperature charts updated every hour recording what temperature the food was kept “5C…4C…4C…5C..” In Japan, there is no such thing as rummaging through the mounds of oranges and strawberries, trying to pick the best of the bunch. No. Here, it is pre-picked so that all foods are exactly the same shape, same size, same color. It’s like picking among plastic food, where everything is identical except everything is real. It’s a real time saver, but at the same time, you sort of wonder where all the “imperfect” foods go.

That melon better be good!

And a high end grocery store wouldn’t be high end if you didn’t put a hefty price tag on it. Perfectly round, big green/red apples were worth $7-$10 a pop. A small watermelon, $52.50. A box of 12 big round cherries, $200. Honey melon, $150. Sorry, I didn’t see any square watermelons. The prices were staggering if not perplexing. Of course they’re all perfectly wrapped in their plastic containers or foam nets.  There are even chefs at individual food stalls all quietly preparing and wrapping the delicacies. There was maybe 2-3 shoppers in the entire store.

I’d say only shop at Seibu’s grocery store if you’re willing to fork out a pricy gift! Or else, save your cash, go to those food souvenir shops at Tokyo or Ueno stations, they’re good and they’re cheap!

Image credit: melon picture by tobze

Now, people often ask “What’s the difference between Haute Couture and Pret-a-porter?”

Well, quite a lot. Namely, Haute Couture is not catered to the mass audience but rather an exclusive and very rich clientele. The very rich are very few and in between, even celebrities only cover a fraction of the truly rich people in the world. Haute Couture involves custom-made tailoring and only uses fabrics of the highest quality. More often, they are less publicized in commercial fashion as the price range of their pieces is not made for the average household income.

In the world of luxury however, the houses recognized as Haute Couture by the Federation Francaise De La Couture in Paris are very few, 11 to be exact. They would be Christian Dior, Chanel, Adeline Andre, Christian Lacroix, , Givenchy, Dominique Sirop, Emanuel Ungaro (read more about Ungaro’s newly appointed young head designer at the Business of Fashion Blog), Franck Sorbier, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Maurizio Galante, Anne Valerie Nash. This is the current list as of 2007, among the former members include Balenciaga and Lanvin. If some of those names don’t seem familiar to you, it’s because you and I are not part of the social elite and the ultra rich to have heard about them. There are strict protocols to become a real Haute Couture House. But you’ll find much more information about why Haute Couture has become what it is today at Fashion-Era.com.

These houses are the only exception to their low-profile colleagues as Haute Couture shows in Paris are one of the most coveted media events next to Fashion Week.

10yrs of Dior Couture by John Galliano Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Image from Style.com

I find these shows to be a designer’s fantastical carousel of art pieces more so than realistic wear. John Galliano in particular for his fantastical theatrical shows, especially his Spring 2007 collection. I think for Haute Couture you’d have to really see the collection with an open mind.