Mesmerizing in Margiela

I loooove this photo of Carine Roitfeld, it perfectly captures the flurry of photographers that hover around this beautiful creature trying desperately to cement the ethereal. Note the shoulders of the Margiela jacket she is wearing. Sublime, non? I must admit a certain fascination with Martin Margiela the designer as well as his designs and I so appreciate the glimpse inside his world that we saw during Carine's CNN interview. Be sure to check it out if you missed it...

Photo source: The Fashion Spot

The Guardian Interviews Carine Roitfeld

I realize I went on and on about the interview in The Guardian with Carine yesterday, but I hadn't seen this photo yet. The Margiela python boots, s-ss-sssigh. Equally great is the title as caption, "Carine Roitfeld: Fashion's sharpest operator." Cue Sade stage left. Yes, this is distinctly the lair of one sharp serpentine. Note the June photo from Le Calendrier 2008 Vogue Paris in the background. As if you had trouble spotting it. And let's not overlook the fact that she is coiled ever so parfait on the arm of the sofa. In such small details, she is so unique. Of course we've all sat on arms of sofas. But was it during magazine interviews in our 50s?

Carine Roitfeld, Vogue Paris office photograph © 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.

How to Get the Carine Roitfeld Look

The Guardian published a delicious little piece of journalism today on a few points where we mere mortals can attain some semblance of the Roitfeld chic. Yes, collectively we may know all these tidbits already but it's pleasant to read them at once as a sort of checklist. For example, I began growing out my poker straight, honey-brown bangs a year ago so that I could peer out from them, so check that one off the list... now for glossy...

Here are the highlights:

The hair
Every editor-in-chief needs a signature hairstyle. Roitfeld's is poker straight, glossy, honey-brown, and falls to her shoulders from an odd centre parting. To emulate, cover part of your face with hair to mysteriously peer out from in that sexy French way.

The makeup
It's all about "le smoky eye" so invest in a good khôl eyeliner. Carine prefers YSL Dessin du Regard Haute Tenue Long-Lasting Eye Pencil in Mink Touch and YSL Eyebrow Pencil. The key to her look lies in the strong, dark brows, which must be perfectly groomed. Leave off the lipstick. And the foundation. Simply moisturize.

The handbag
There is no handbag, silly. She famously hates them, preferring to keep her hands in her pockets. Not for her the lure of the It bag carried in the crook of her arm. At a pinch she might carry a tiny snakeskin clutch.

The jacket
Her preferred styles are edgy, tailored, and chic with a strong biker/rock element. She is always, but always, in black. Roitfeld likes to mix the masculine with the feminine and favours designers such as Balmain, Balenciaga, and YSL, who excel at this.

The skirt
Jeans are for her assistants and holidays, although she's not averse to a denim skirt, providing it meets her sharp-tailored standards. Think sexy body-con dresses and pencil skirts cut to the knee—classic and chic.

The shoes
High, high, high heels. Killer stilettos are by far the fashionistas most flattering and feminine choice. Look for a hidden platform and straps, laces, or buckles aka "bondage light". She hates Uggs and forbids them in the Vogue Paris office. Her favorites include the YSL Tribute and Alaïa (note the belle bells above, sigh).

The legs
Always bare. Even in winter. They must be tanned, lean, and ready for action year-round. The only other option is black opaques. Or covering the entire leg via a thigh high boot.

Bonus: The Guardian also has an in-depth interview with Carine Roitfeld by Jess Cartner-Morley

Interview © 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Alaïa shoes with bells photo © 2009 KarenCooper.com All Rights Reserved.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld On Page Six

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld recently did a Page Six interview complete with behind the scenes video.† As she herself describes it, it's all very sexy chic, very provocative, all about selling ideas, feminine but tomboyish.

Also, if anyone is at a loss for the perfect gift for me, the Wolford Medallion Tights that Julia is wearing are sure to add a certain allure to virtually any girl, non?

† I had posted the video but then I couldn't view the blog from my phone so the embedded link had to go. It's available on the New York Post site, click and then enter "Behind the Scenes: Julia Restoin." Interestingly she does not use the name "Roitfeld" here.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photograph © 2009 Matt Jones. All Rights Reserved.

Update on jeudi 11 juin 2009 by kellina

OMG, I am so excited, I just ordered these!! They are on sale through Saks Fifth Avenue for $45.90 instead of $78; be sure to enter the promotional code SAKSSHIP9 to receive free shipping.

Acne Paper Interviews Carine Roitfeld

Carine Roitfeld warms that jeans and mini skirts are aging:
I only wear jeans and flat shoes when I am on holiday, never for work. Jeans suit me very well but it’s not for me anymore. It’s horrible to say but it has something to do with age. I have good legs, so I prefer my skirt lengths and my high heels. It’s like my uniform. I never wear jeans. Jeans are for my assistants... I wear knee-length denim skirts. I never wear miniskirts because they make me look older.

She thinks people in Russia, China, and Eastern Europe don’t have a culture of clothes:
If people ask me to describe my look I always say: quite classic with an edge. Look at my dress. It doesn’t look like I have on anything special, it’s more the way you mix the clothes and how you move, how you open your bag, how you cross your legs — just little things that make a difference. With French women you first see the woman and then you see the clothes. Imagine other countries like Russia or China, even Eastern Europe. They don’t have the culture of clothes so they want to show that they can afford to buy a Dolce & Gabbana bag, they want to show labels. In France you cannot see what labels we are wearing. It is very snobby.

She loves the Yves Saint Laurent woman:
You know the idea of the Saint Laurent woman. What a dream she was: wearing trousers, hand in the pocket, no handbag, transparent shirt. I love that woman. It is exactly who I would have loved to be if I could choose. So I would have to go blonde because he loved the blondes, and I would have to have bigger breasts. But it’s the idea of the woman I love, and I try to repeat this in my magazine.

And Cartier too:
Do you know why? Because Cartier is the jewelry you give to your mistress. It is not the jewelry you buy for your wife. I heard that and it might be totally wrong, but it is this idea and I love Cartier because of that.

She has the power of making a model a supermodel:
It’s great to have the power. I understood some years ago that we have a lot of power. I never thought I would get power before. The power to make everyone you want successful. You have the power to make a photographer a big photographer. You have the power to make a designer a top designer. You have the power to make a model a supermodel. It is great this power, so you have to use this power in a good way.

But feels unrecognized:
It’s funny, because I never get awards for fashion. I’ve got an award for being the best-dressed person. I got an award for amfAR. I was on the Time Magazine list of the most influential people last year. But I never got an award for my fashion pictures.

She talks about her old Gucci days:
Now we have to put the foot on the pedal [with sexually charged images]. We can’t go as strong as [Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin] did back then. When I started doing all the Gucci campaigns with Tom Ford and Mario Testino we pushed so much and after that everyone copied it. Everyone tried to be this Gucci girl that we created. So I am sure we were part of this tendency. It was good at the time because we were the first ones to do these kinds of images to sell a product, and after that everyone kept on doing it. I think now it’s too much. It’s no fun. It’s not chic. We always had a chic eye on everything, even when we shaved the G on the girl. A lot of girls started shaving in different ways after that so it really became a trend. Many artists played with the pictures too, so it was fun.