AnnaLynne Won't Stop Blowing Kisses

This post has absolutely no relevance to anything, but it seemed like a good enough subject to start Wednesday morning on. AnnaLynne McCord from 90210 attends a lot of events and, in the nicest way possible, she's a bit of an 'opening of an envelope' girl. Last night she was at the LA premiere of Inception, and on the red carpet she was blowing kisses. To whom I'm not sure but she was blowing them anyway, and she's blows kisses everywhere she goes. Literally, everywhere.

AnnaLynne blows us a kiss at the World of Calvin Klein event, July 7th, in Berlin

I find her kiss-blowing pose really rather entertaining, now whenever I see someone blowing a kiss I think of AnnaLynne. A celebrity hasn't managed to trademark such a common statement since Paris Hilton decided she owned the phrase "that's hot". In fact, I think it's time everyone got their own signature pose, think how fun Facebook profile pictures would be then.

To see the full extent of AnnaLynne's kiss obsession (trust me, it's hilarious - she even does it at the dry cleaners!) just read more.

The Date: July 13th
The Kiss Location: Inception premiere, LA

The Date: July 13th
The Kiss Location: Mural painting at the El Salvador Community Center, California

The Date: June 28th
The Kiss Location: Leaving the dry cleaners, LA

The Date: June 24th
The Kiss Location: The Eclipse premiere, LA

The Date: May 25th
The Kiss Location: Alliance For Women In Media's 2010 Gracies Awards, Beverly Hills

And finally (there are are a million more examples, but we haven't got all day) the over-the-shoulder kiss....

The Date: May 20th
The Kiss Location: Express 30th Anniversary Party, New York

Which is your favourite AnnaLynne kiss? For me it's the one outside the dry cleaners, it shows pure dedication to her pose. And will you be getting your own signature pose anytime soon?

images Getty/famepictures/PacificCoastNews all via picapp.com

Would You Rather Part Three

The "would you rather" game has become one of the most popular Coco's Tea Party posts, so I thought now would be a good time to play another round. All you have to do is decide whether you'd chose Bieber over Timberlake and a Midi over a Maxi, which is simple enough. However, when it's Mary Portas vs Kelly Cutrone things get a little more difficult, but the rule of the game remains - you can only chose one answer. So pick carefully...

For me it's is easily a PS1, and if I have to chose (because I adore both) I'll go Kelly Cutrone, then blogging from home, Jean Paul Gaultier, leopard print, Justin Timberlake, tennis with Andre and the Marc Jacobs maxi.

How do your answers look?

All clothing and accessories from net-a-porter.com
Catwalk images from style.com other images from google

Hollywood Catwalk

Back in February you may remember I was a panelist at LCF's discussion on the influence of celebrity in fashion. Kate from Make Do Style's fabulous short film about a Wannabe-Wag was screened and there was lots of interesting debate. It was there that I met fellow panelist Tamar Jeffers McDonald, a lecturer in films studies. Tamar's latest book Hollywood Catwalk: Exploring Costume and Transformation in American Film has just been released and it's a fascinating read. Instead of simply exploring the history of costume in film, Hollywood Catwalk looks specifically at transformations in film through fashion - think Andy in The Devil Wears Prada and Sandy in Grease - which is a really interesting angle.
Tamar has been kind enough to answer a few questions for the blog, which is a treat for any film fans. And if like me you're fascinated by the relationship between fashion and Hollywood you should definitely add Hollywood Catwalk to your list of summer reads.

Your book Hollywood Catwalk has just been released. In a nutshell what does it explore?
I originally intended to write a straightforward book about film costume, but the longer I worked on the project, the more I realised the films that really interested me were ones that contained a transformation through clothes. This became a theme very early on in cinema – from its birth at the end of the 19th Century – but is still being worked through today and, fascinatingly, in very similar visual and thematic terms. We are all familiar with the moment where the librarian or high school nerd takes off her glasses and lets down her hair, to reveal that she is actually beautiful.

Tai pre-makeover in Clueless
Hollywood films have been showing this scenario to us for decades! What I have found so fascinating in looking at transformation films too is just how the changing of clothes is supposed to impact on the internal self. The character has to be sufficiently altered by her new outfits to start getting what she wants – whether it’s success at work, as in The Devil Wears Prada – or a man, as in so many other films that use the transformation. On the other hand, it would be very worrying if she – and the transformed person is generally a she – could change completely just by trying on different clothes. Wouldn’t that mean her identity had never been very developed or stable in the first place...? What I totally love about the films, besides the emphasis they give to the costumes, is how hard they have to work to make the transformation both vital and not that significant, life-changing and really not altering anything at all.

In the past there were movie stars, now we seem to just have a varying array of celebrities. Do you think there are any actresses working today who have the magic of classic Hollywood icons?
I often ask myself this! I think it is easy on Oscar night or at the Met fashion gala when we see the contemporary stars go down the red carpet to think we are seeing ‘Classic Hollywood Glamour’. We have to remember though, that Hollywood stars from the 30s to 60s were signed to studios which controlled every aspect of their lives and images, telling them what to wear, who to date, where to be seen, changing their hairlines, outlines and even names.

Sandra Bullock's take on Hollywood Glamour at the Oscars
No star today has that pressure nor does she have the support of vast numbers of professionals to rely on for every aspect of her image. So while there is no denying the glamour and allure of, say, Sandra Bullock when she got her Best Actress Oscar this past March, that look will have been put together by a small team of people - stylist, star, designer, make-up, hair and jewellery people - hired for the event, not a huge group working for the same stars at the same studio for years and years. Today’s stars can’t hope to compete.

Of all the iconic costumes in film history which is your favourite and why?
I would have to say the white dress which Doris Day wears in Pillow Talk (1959). I love this dress! It was by designer Jean Louis who also made the famous black satin dress in Gilda (1946) and the notorious nude satin and sequins dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to John F Kennedy. For Pillow Talk the producer decided to revamp Day’s image totally: she had become stuck in family-friendly roles and her success, which had been huge, was seen as slipping a little. The film’s producer, Ross Hunter, decided to showcase Doris’s fabulous body in ways that had never been done before on film and, since either she or her husband/agent was against breast display and cleavage, it was decided instead to make the back of the dress the focus instead.

Doris Day in Pillow Talk
The plot of the film involves a rivalry between the characters played by Rock Hudson and Day, who hate each other though they have never met, only talked on the phone. When he is in a night club and realises that the woman sitting behind is his enemy, he is intrigued to see her finally, but is unprepared for how gorgeous she looks. His first glimpse is of Day in a long white column of a dress, with a crisply cut-out back panel which highlight her bones and satiny skin, while the material is cut tight across her bottom. Though the front of the dress and the rest of the outfit are very modest - high neckline slashed above the collarbones, long white gloves, floor-length dress – and the pure white colour might suggest purity or even Puritanism, the nude back reassures us that Day’s character is completely aware of and confident in her body, sensuously enjoying both the feel of the dress on her skin and the attention it gets her from Hudson’s character.


Your next project focuses on Doris Day. What is it about her that you find so fascinating?
The fascinating thing about Doris Day to me is that everyone assumes she “always played a virgin”. This is a star who not only played all sorts of women in her 39 films – brassy showgirls as well as naive ingénues, mothers with children as well as single women and widows, and people with careers of all types and varieties of glamour, from heiress to lobster farmer, stagecoach guard to professor – but was very well-known to have been married three times before she was 27, and to have become a mother by 20. So neither the home life nor the on-screen roles seem to bear out the virginal myth of Day. I am interested therefore in why it is so widespread and permanent when it is so unfounded. In my next book I will be looking at Day’s performances across her film and TV career to see if she implies a kind of chastity or sex-aversion in her acting, but also looking at her portrayal in the media, across fan magazines, newspaper articles and journal pieces from the late 40s to the 70s, which is where I think the old maid idea actually comes from.

And finally, which five Hollywood films should every fashion fan have in their DVD collection?
I am probably going to surprise you with my choices! Call me a fashion heretic if you will but I think Doris Day is the unsung, unappreciated heroine of chic and other people who get far more noticed are over-rated....

1) Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959) Not only for the white dress but practically everything Doris wears. And the hats!

Grace Kelly in Rear Window
2) Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) I saw this film when I was quite young and it has forever fixed in my head the idea of glamorous luggage! Grace Kelly’s character opens her gorgeous overnight bag to reveals a puff of tulle for a nightie, slippers and toothbrush. Her dresses, by Hollywood stalwart Edith Head, are gorgeous too and I also love the way that clothes are integral to the plot.

3) A Place In The Sun (George Stevens, 1951) More Edith Head gowns, this time adorning the beautifully dewy Elizabeth Taylor. Not only the frocks, but Taylor and co-star Montgomery Clift are ravishingly gorgeous, and the close-ups when they kiss some of the most intense in cinema.

4) Cleopatra (Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1963) More Elizabeth Taylor, here proving that she could be just as gorgeous in gold leaf and carpets as in Edith Head gowns.

5) Love Me Or Leave Me (Charles Vidor, 1955) Another Doris film to finish. This one purports to be set in the 1920s and there are beaded shimmy dresses in evidence, but the emphasis on curvy female bodies is much more 50s than 20s. Doris is fab though and looks great as she goes from rags to riches as jazz singer Ruth Etting.

Sandra Bullock image from AdMedia/Picapp.com

Hit and Miss of the Week: Couture Cool

It was the week of the A/W 2010 couture collection in Paris, and a flock of young stars rushed to the front rows. Both Blake Lively and Leighton Meester were in Paris for the couture collections, and sported very different looks at Chanel. Rumour has it photographers “received specific instructions from Chanel not to photograph Blake and Leighton together.” Some might argue this is evidence of a rift between the two, but look at it this way: Blake was wearing a floral cruise dress, Leighton a leather pre-fall look. These two dresses are not meant to stand together. It would just look messy; and Karl does not do mess.
And away from the couture collections there were plenty of other interesting looks this week, from Serena Williams’ Burberry dress to Gemma Arterton’s knee-high sock moment.

Blake Lively: So-So

Blake was in Paris this week shooting the new season of Gossip Girl, but naturally she found the time to attend a few Couture shows. For Chanel she chose this beautiful pale blue Cruise dress. It looks fantastic on Blake, there is no doubt about that, but is maybe a little too casual for attendance at a Couture collection. If she’d tied her hair into a sleek ponytail instead of wearing it loose and beachy I would have given this a hit instead.

Leighton Meester: Hit

Blake’s co-star Leighton was also in Paris, and sat front row at Chanel too. I’ve recently become pretty disinterested in Leighton’s style for some reason, but she definitely nailed it for Chanel. The leather dress is a really interesting choice for Leighton, as there is nothing Blair Waldorf about it. The leather dress could eaily have looked too harsh, but Leighton lightened the look with a pretty smile and a adorable gold 2.55 handbag. It looks like Leighton is back on top.


Gemma Arterton: So-So

For Net-a-Porter’s house warming party (they recently moved into new offices) Gemma Arterton showed up in this gorgeous black Prada dress. I think it’s a fantastic choice for her – such a sexy feminine shape. The only problem is the socks. I have no idea what prompted her to wear them, but they are a huge mistake. From the knee and above she looks sleek and glamorous, but below the knee it looks more like a football kit (albeit with T-bar heels) it’s just wrong, wrong, wrong!

Serena Williams: Hit

I’m a big fan of both Serena and Venus Williams, and was really excited for Serena on her Wimbledon win. At the beginning of the week she celebrated at the Winners Ball in this gorgeous Burberry dress. I love that she chose a British label for the ball, and the sequins offered a lovely bit of sparkle. The strappy black heels are a nice choice, and beyond that her Hollywood smile is all she needs to accessorise the dress.

Olivia Palermo: Miss

It’s incredibly rare for me to give Olivia a miss (I think I’ve only done it once before) but her look at the Elie Saab collection really wasn’t working for me. The dress is a lovely colour, and it is nice to see Olivia in a bit of purple, but I don’t like the print very much or the addition of the leopard print belt. The silver acsessories also seem a little out-of-place and I’m not keen on her up-do. In way it’s quite nice to see Olivia slip up once in a while, though – it shows she’s human.

Marion Cotillard: Hit

Marion attended the Paris premiere of Inception wearing this gorgeous strapless lace mini. I’m not normally a fan of bow-details on clothing but I actually really like the bow tied around her wait, it makes her look tiny and creates a stunning silhouette. Like the red carpet pro that she is, Marion accessorised this dress (I think it’s Dior) perfectly with simple nude heels and a fantastic hairstyle.

Who do you think deserved a hit this week? And which looks woud you give a miss?

Images Getty/Newscom via picapp.com

The US August Covers Are In

I was quietly confident that the August 2010 covers would feature a few models, but the US August covers are all out (apart from W, which is sure to be good whoever it is) and there is not a single model in sight. ELLE paired Drew Barrymore with photographer Carter Smith, and I like the result. Drew hasn't been around much recently, so it's nice to see her on a cover. It's a rather awkward pose though, right?

Fellow Charlie's Angel, Cameron Diaz was photographed by Terry Richardson for Harper's. I normally love Cameron's magazine covers, but there is something about this image that seems a little off. At least she looks fabulous in the red dress.
Over at Marie Claire Dakota Fanning continues to branch out of the teen market, landing one of her few 'grown up' covers. I like the slightly androgynous stying, it's an interesting direction to take. But the matching floral rings are a little too fussy for my taste.

My current favourite (I need to see W before I decide) is Gwyneth Paltrow's Vogue cover. While I think she's a boring choice for Vogue she looks so fresh and beautiful in the Testino image, so I can ignore the fact she's a really predictable cover star.
At the moment it looks like UK Vogue is the only glossy to use a model for its August cover. I hope there are some model covers for the September issues but so far it is looking unlikely.

Which US August cover is your favourite?

images from thefashionspot.com and justjared,buzznet.com

Zoe Saldana's Calvin Klein Campagin

As you all know I am a big fan of Zoe Saldana, she rules the red carpet and is also insanely beautiful. Zoe has just landed a the Fall 2010 Calvin Klein Underwear campaign, photographed by Mikael Jansson, further securing her place as Hollywood's hottest actress. I know Megan Fox's Armani underwear ads were a huge hit with the male population, but as far as I'm concerned Megan has nothing on Ms Saldana.

Image © 2010 Mikael Jansson
For me bra shopping is one of the most tedious activities out there, as it seems virtually impossible for anyone to make an A-cup that doesn't look like it's designed for a 13-year-old, but I can always rely on Calvin Klein. I love their underwear. Zoe's Calvin campaign features their new Envy range of underwear which, according to the press release, will create a "more revealing silhouette."
As you know Calvin Klein has had a great lineup of campaign faces over the years, from Brooke Shields to Kate Moss, and they have an equally impressive selection of stars for A/W 2010. Zoe fronts their underwear, Lara Stone features in their mainline ads and Diane Kruger is the new face of Calvin Klein beauty. All three ladies were in Berlin last night for the "World of Calvin Klein" event.

What do you think of Zoe's Calvin Klein Underwear ad? And who do you think was the best dressed Klein 'face' last night? For me Lara and Zoe are joint favourites.

images Getty/Picapp.com

It is Absolutely Hallucinating

Jean Paul Gaultier used the rather bizarre expression "it is absolutely hallucinating" when talking to Sunday Times Style about fashion designers paying celebrities to wear their dresses on the red carpet. I'm not exactly sure what "it is absolutely hallucinating" is supposed to mean, but it's a fantastic phrase, and it feels fitting to describe his A/W Couture collection as absolutely hallucinating.
I am in love with the collection. It's possibly knocked Givenchy out of the number one spot. And I don't think I have been this obsessed with a piece of headwear since the Vuitton bunny ears. I need one of these turbans, they're too much fun!

I could easily have posted every look from the collection, but have somehow narrowed this post down to four looks. The bright blue turban is my absolute favourite, and I love the pleated trench coat worn with red heels and matching tights. I'll definitely be trying that look this winter.

Kim Noorda has quickly become one of my favourite catwalk models, and I adore the LBD she wore. Her look reminded me of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's - she has real pizazz. And even though I hate smoking I can't help loving the gesture of the long cigarette holder in the models hand. I know it's wrong but there is something very glamorous about it. Don't hate on me though - it's all part of JPG's hallucination. 

What do you make of the JPG collection? Absolutely hallucinating?

images from vogue.co.uk