TOM FORD IS HOME IN HOLLYWOOD

Los Angeles on a friday evening at 6:30pm on the 20th of February. All of Hollywood is just in the final moves for the biggest night of the year, the annual Academy Awards on sunday. Well that’s what you would think would be the case normally, but what is normal in Hollywood? Exactly, so instead if felt like all of Hollywood is coming together to see the Tom Ford A/W womenswear collection presented at the L.A. Milk Studios this season. The reason for the move had to do with nothing less than the just mention Academy Awards taking place on sunday the 22nd February, Tom Ford was scheduled to show as usual during London Fashion Week one day later. How much attention would he be able to get after the Oscars? Ford, as much businessman as designer, turned the game around. He wanted to even profit form the Oscars and use his L.A. network in a perfect strategic way. And the media reaction both before and after the show just proof that he did everything right.

And there we are, 6:32pm on the 20th of February Julianne Moore makes her appearance on the red carpet, which was TF approved black of course, at this time only a few people knew that within the next 45 minutes the A-list of show business would be lining up to see his show. This included: Beyonce and Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Adams, Reese Witherspoon, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Miley Cyrus, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Naomi Campbell, Rachel Zoe, Nicole Richie, James Corden, Rob Lowe, Fergie and Josh Duhamel, Elton John and David Furnish, Ingrid Sischy and Sandy Brant, Rita Ora, Jason Statham, Anjelica Huston, Brad Grey, Vivi Nevo, Gia Coppola, Elizabeth Olsen, John Legend, Sofia Vergara, Amber Valletta, Molly Sims, Emily Ratajkowski, Brad Goreski, Liberty Ross and Anna Wintour.

Having this army of celebrities it was no wonder that there would be drama, it was Jennifer Lopez who arrived so late on the red carpet that some photographers already left and Beyonce missed almost the entire show as she was still being sewn into her dress. Both names still delivery enough of buzz for the event and this is where Tom Ford’s move to L.A. has to be seen as a success and not the collection itself. No fashion show in London will be be able at all to bring together this amount of names. These names created a media sensation 100 times more powerful than anything on a runway presented. Which raises the question about showing in L.A.: What took Tom Ford so long? Tom Ford does not aim to please the magazines in first place, his brand wants the celebrity attention to support his commercial growth, and does well in doing this.

 

The collection featured a wild mix of Texas; denim in all forms, furs in all extremes, animal prints and fringes head-to-toe. A few light Victorian inspired looks opened the show, but also touches of bohemian-chic combined with TF bold sleek signature shapes created a strong message. Certainly, a message which was not not about setting new industry trends, neither change fashion entirely. No, it was just what the Tom Ford lady wants to have in her wardrobe next season and what the ones of Rihanna, Beyonce and Julianne Moore can wear for the upcoming red carpets and stages from L.A to Cannes. This show was all what hollywood stands: commercial success in a very sexy and glamours and entertaining way. And let’s not forget that there are millions of fans out there, falling in love with perfumes, make-ups and sunglasses Tom Ford creates seasonally, so his collections do run under way less pressure, than other fashion houses in that price point without the commercial base.

Well played Mister Ford!

SEE THE FULL SHOW HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkgBdzsoR-c

SUMMER OF BRAZIL

Summer in fashion is always ahead of the actual weather conditions that we are surrounded with. While Brazils busiest women ADRIANA LIMA  & GISELE BÜNDCHEN are striking sexy poses in seductive bikinis and exotic fashion from billboards from H&M or various May covers of Vogue Spain and Turkey, are we still holding close to our umbrellas and trenches. Music’s most wanted person in fashion is without doubt Rihanna, and so even she finds a place in our summer of Brazil with a cover on their May issue!

While Gisele even sings for H&M to support UNICEF SEE HERE, there are more reasons why Brazil will be the place to be. Not only the world of football is coming together for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil this summer and but also two years later the Olympic Games take place in Rio, summer 2016!

But for now lets keep our eyes on fashion and enjoy some of the most beautiful summer shots in the gallery bellow, and with that in mind it’s going to be a hot summer for sure!

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Spain May 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue SpainMay 2014

Adrian Lima Vogue Turkey May 2014

Rihanna Vogue Brazil May 2014

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Gisele Bündchen for H&M

Texas to London One Way – TOM FORD F/W 2014 Review

If one would have to describe the Tom Ford Fall/Winter collection on the basis of a plane ticket, it would definitely be a one way Texas to London flight. A year ago the adventure of the Tom Ford scheduled shows at London Fashion Week started, with a cross-cultural multi-ethnic collection, in other words more is more and maximalism is the norm followed by a powerful, powerful, powerful and feminine sex shaped collection playing with hiding and showing body. Now arrived in 2014, Ford brought on the runway his homage to his two homes in Santa Fe, New Mexico and London, this homage is timely inspired by a visit to the crazy 60’s.

CLICK TO SEE THE FULL SHOW VIDEO

I took me a night to get chummed up with this new collection, as one the first view it was very sporty, plain and french chic like. The so famous Tom Ford shape got a break and the tops and skirts were more loose this season. Velvet and Pony Skin were among the chosen fabrics to a lot of black and a little red and white. But with a closer look at these pieces, one can clearly see that Tom Ford knows again what his clients do not know yet that they want.

Yes, there were cowgirl boots, in black, white and animal prints, the latter ones did not quite work, but with these boots you will not hit on sandy ranches in Texas, but on the glass floors and red carpets of Monaco and Moscow clubs. There were looks even reminding of an Carine Roitfeld moment, with masculine straight sunglasses and a white shirt suit with black boots and fur top. It is a collection that will sell, simply because you can wear most of the pieces and combine them endlessly.

Mesh tights gave the rock-star feeling to the collection, and so it was no surprise Georgia May Jagger was among the model-cast. The music swinging from cool to disco (Paloma Faith & Avicii) showed the modern Tom Ford with love to pop culture. Which in recent days used him in plenty of songs, most famously Mr Carter, Jay-Z! You do not need ecstasy when wearing Tom Ford and so he doesn’t pop molly but rocks Tom Ford. Here comes Ford again and bringing two sequinned football jerseys with the year of his birth 61′ and the crossed molly, a ‘knock off’ to Jay-Z’s  T-shirt he was wearing on one of his concerts last year with the difference that the fake jersey was 65$ and the Ford version will be 6500$. Tom Ford is not only expert in design but also PR, securing him many tweets and Instagram pics with these outfits. The open question now is, how long will we have to wait till Beyoncé wears this outfit?

And beside the many black looks ( Tom Ford’s favourite colour and which one can never have enough of in your wardrobe) he stayed to his core values for winter, some fiery red, pink and ginger combined fur coats ensuring no Tom Ford girl will have to freeze in Gstaad and Moritz. The only thing that did not work on a night of rockstar glamour where the leopard and animals printed looks with way to much déjà vu from last season’s Cavalli’s and Burberry’s collections.

Yes, Tom Ford surprised everyone by bringing the unexpected to runway but do not think for a second that the Tom Ford Girl would do anything else than first class on her flight from Texas to London, we still talk luxury fashion baby.

THE CLASS OF COUTURE SPRING 2014

In the world of ready-to-wear fashion there are plenty of fabrics, embroideries and textiles assembled together into garments, which are globally distributed to a wide audience, the so-called consumer.

And then there is the craftsmanship of the Haute Couture, where grands couturiers create artful garments beyond fashion, made out of the finest and luxurious materials. There are about 500 customers  in the world who buy these hand-made pieces. While the actual amount of clients decreases, the spending power of the remaining ones is higher than ever before. And for those who only talk numbers, Couture gowns are between 30.000 to 150.000 euro per piece.

Karl Lagerfeld said: ‘In the past, rich women bought five dresses. These new women, in five minutes, they buy 30!’ ‘It’s a new wealth,’ he continued. ‘Don’t ask me where the money is coming from – we don’t ask – but as long as they spend it everything is ok!’  The remaining showcasing Couture houses are Chanel, Christian Dior, Elie Saab, Jean Paul Gaultier, Giorgio Armani, Giambattista Valli, Versace and Valentino.

Magical Moment at Chanel: Sneakers meet Couture

Karl Lagerfeld’s magical moment whit his modern interpretation of the 1840s-1880s epoch, where women where wearing flat shoes to ever occasion was one of the high-lights of the week. And so the woman of today would choose a pair of hand-made, matching the dress, sneakers made by the couture shoemaker Massaro. The houses of Valentino, Versace and of course Elie Saab proved again that you can not leave shining opulence, sequins and glamour out of the game when taking Couture. While Jean Paul Gaultier paid another tribute to the burlesque area with his couture collection.

Here is a selection of my favourite outfits from Paris Couture Spring 2014:

Alexis Mabille

Giambattista Valli

Chanel

Atelier Versace

Atelier Versace

Elie Saab

Chanel

Jean Paul Gaultier

Armani Privé

Armani Privé

Valentino

Valentino

Chanel

Elie Saab

Elie Saab

Atelier Versace

Armani Privé

Atelier Versace

Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier

THE BEST DRESSED AT THE 71ST GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2014

The first major red-carpet of the year took part last night in Los Angeles. Hollywoods “crème de la crème” attend the awards, held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel . Winners of the evening included Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence. Here are my ten favourite red-carpet moments.

Naomi Watts in Tom Ford

Amy Adams in Valentino

Kate Beckinsale in Zuhair Murad

Jenna Dewan in Roberto Cavalli

Jessica Chastain in Givenchy

Margot Robbie in Gucci

Cate Blanchett in Armani

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior

Emma Roberts in Lanvin

Lupita Nyong’o, in Ralph Lauren.

2014…fashion at its best!

We are back after a fantastic festival break, and so we go straight into action with no time to waste! As you can see I’ve updated the design of my blog slightly, with a more extreme and magical black theme. The inspiration came from the new Beyoné “self-titeld” album and the new TOM FORD S/S 2014 campaign which features German Topmodel Esther Heesch! Have a look at the campaign:

Esther Heesch Tom Ford S/S 2014

Esther Heesch Tom Ford S/S 2014

Esther Heesch Tom Ford S/S 2014

In the next weeks the focus will be on the award season and the hottest red-carpet looks! Beside that I will feature some of the latest campaigns for spring/summer. I will post more images on Instagram as well, so check out: http://instagram.com/dejanpoletan/

And my music advise of the year is Mrs.Carters über-cool new album, she moves, rules and sings like never before, she truly is a artist that is able to develop with ever new piece of work she produces and that is not easy if you see at the history of her records, Beyoncé is a G! Have a look at my favourite looks from her new visual album:

Beyoncé – Partition

Beyoncé – Haunted

Beyoncé – Rocket

Beyoncé – Drunk in Love

Beyoncé – Pretty Hurts

Beyoncé – Partition

Beyoncé – Jealous

Beyoncé – Superpower

Beyoncé – Mine

2014 will be exciting, and I can tell you there will be plenty of amazing fashion, models and lifestyle moments! Looking forward to share them here on my Blog!

THE GLAMOUR EFFECT

Monaco has it, the British Fashion Awards not yet and what about the German fashion-culture? 

Every new week brings new exciting things with it. After some several events in London, last week it took me abroad á la Côte d’Azur. To be accurate, we have been in Antibes, Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo. And I can say, Monaco gives you the ultimate glamour, jet-set and opulence feeling and for a good reason Côte d’Azur is famous for its blue, azure, shinny water, just like diamonds from Graff!

Antibes

Monaco

Crazy Chic

Shooting Time

Monaco

Feel the Sun

Tea Time with Siri

Monaco

The reason why I went there was the production of an editorial for the April issue of the Australian fashion magazine KURV. We were shooting in the former house of F.Scott Fitzgerald. My job was basically to cast the models, and we selected Siri Mesmer and Stefan Pollmann from Modelwerk. I believe that the task was completed pretty successful. But not everything was running as smooth as the models, KLM airlines did not seem to care much about our production and so our styling luggage arrived more than 24 hours delayed in Nice, and a fashion shooting without fashion seems to be quite difficult. So Instead, I used the free time for day trip to Monaco, including sight-seeing trips to the beautiful Palace, Casino and Stadium of Monaco.

During this trip to Monaco I realised once again that fashion culture in Germany is left behind and how thin the line between luxury fashion and no sense for luxury at all is. Its about the details but at the end of the day, I believe true fashion taste and all well thought through style concept has nothing to do with where you come from. It has to be your inner vision and your intuition to develop and create a personal style.
I know for me it will always be the interaction between high-fashion, sex and glamour lifestyle in relation to the zeitgeist. Something Germany just can’t offer at the moment.

For me ‘normal’ is mostly connected to boring, to be politically correct. Not that there is anything wrong with being politically correct, but I simply prefer it un peu ‘crazy chic’ when talking about fashion, style and being creative.

Monday evening was show-time for the British Fashion Awards at the London National Opera. The society of fashion, from designers over to models and style icons came together to celebrate the very best of british and international fashion. Muccia Prada, Marc Jacobs, Donatella Versace and Victoria Beckham attend the event. Kate Moss received the BFC special recognition and Christopher Bailey took two awards home from Burberry. To get back to ‘crazy chic’ and the ‘glamour effect’ that was what I missed that night. The venue gave the opportunity to install a glamorous, entertaining ceremony, but I did not fell anything of this at all. The night lacked of magic, feelings and sense of organisation. The awards were thrown out like newspapers in front of suburb houses  in the morning and the speeches by the winners were limited  to the worlds ‘thanks and bye’. A bit from Paris couture and a bit of Milan luxury with New York show effect would be well advised last night, but would it still be London then? All I know is, let’s lift it up for the next year please….

Ready for the Night

Champaign Reception with Dahlia

Red Carpet BFA

Beautiful Venue

The VIP Tables

From 34 to 34…A WEEK FULL OF GLAMOUR

I believe in the sentence ‘life is good to you, exactly as much you want it to be good to you’ You can replace good with glamorous in this case and here we go, welcome to fashion. Indeed, some weeks are glamorous and some weeks are even more glamorous, and last week has been the latter.

But let’s take one thing at a time and start with Monday, where Mary Katrantzou launched her new website with e-commerce. In order to celebrate this milestone for the young brand, she hosted an exclusive dinner at one London finest restaurants, the 34 in Mayfair. Karla Otto’s events department was responsible for the event and once again I felt honoured to assist such a great team at a beautiful event. Guests included beautiful top-model Arizona Muse who is familiar to me from my modelwerk days, and others like Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis for Vogue US and Tim Blanks from Style.com. The dinner was held in the private dinning rooms for the 34, newly redesigned by famous artist Tracey Emin.

Beautiful Arizona with Mary and Elisabeth

Arizona’s seat

Mary holding a speech

Sophie from Karla Otto and Me

34 Restaurant

Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis & Tim Blanks

Wednesday was followed by the Baccarat book launch at Claridges Hotel in Mayfair. Baccarat who is a famous french crystal manufacturer chose the hotel’s ballroom, which  in my opinion was the perfect venue for a luxurious heritage brand like Baccarat. As beautiful as the Baccarat event was, I feel that the choice with this year’s christmas tree in the hotel lobby was unfortunate by the hotel. The tree, or lets say the big green something, has been designed by Dolce&Gabbana and is inspired by Sicily, for a good reason I never associated Sicily with Christmas before, and I associate it even less after seeing this tree. It is bit of everything too much. Don’t get me wrong, I adore “more is more” but there has to be a clear structure for me, and I just could not see that. Nor does the tree fit in the historical venue and atmosphere of the hotel.

The Ballroom

The Claridges Christmas tree 2013 designed by Dolce and Gabbana

Baccarat Crystal

The day after, Estée Lauder invited editors from around the world for a cocktail party at the David Gill Gallery in London central, to introduce their latest lipstick called envy. Brand Ambassador Carolyn Murphy attended the reception at the classy gallery and showed her talent of being an excellent host, beside looking unbelievable beautiful.

Alexander Werz & Carolyn Murphy

Kiss it!

Envy by Estee Lauder

And Friday was the big day at college of me. Hand-in and presentation of our first term public relations projects. Surprisingly, I chose Tom Ford as my brand for this term, how would have guessed that?

Tom Ford

Tom Ford

Tom Ford

Tom Ford

Tom Ford

To celebrate this exciting week, my friend Carmen got us together for a lovely dinner on Saturday evening. The occasion was her 22nd birthday. She asked me for a great restaurant, and after a week like this, I just could not resist to suggest 34 restaurant. And there we are again, six nights after working there, now sitting in this fine restaurant and realising how lucky and happy I am to enjoy and review such weeks with great friends. And I think that’s what life is about, to find personalities who experience these special moments with you, are there for you and vice versa.

Of course this week could not end without a bang. No one else than my friend Dahlia from Texas brought me this surprise on Sunday. She took me to Browns Bridal and we found a wonderful Vera Wang wedding dress for her grand day next year. I can’t wait to see her strutting down the church in this breathtaking gown and being the perfect princess in Texas.

Dahlia and Me

Carmen, Dahlia and Me

Happy Bride Dahlia

But one thing at a time, let’s see what next will bring…

FASHION IS A RELIGION AND ANGELS ARE WEARING LINGERIE

If fashion is your religion, who is god, who the pop? Karl Lagerfeld? Anna Wintour? Well, lets leave this question aside for a moment and focus on the angels in the religion of fashion. The heavenly bodies I am talking about are no one else than the Victoria’s Secret contract models, better know as the ‘VS Angels’. Yes, these angels are magical with their wings and fantasy -million dollar- bras walking down the runway, or lets say hover over the runway and being watched by millions around the world. Without question, it is the fashion event with the biggest media buzz around the globe and annually getting more glamorous and spectacular.  The chosen angels for this year are: Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel, Doutzen Kroes, Karlie Kloss, Lily Aldridge and Lindsay Ellingson.

The most anticipated model is always the angel with the multi million dollar fantasy bra, this year worn by the blond South-African goddess Candice Swanepoel. 32 of the most sexiest, beautiful and hottest models are joining the eight angels and taking part this year’s show. Music acts include Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy and two newcomer bands called A Great Big World and Neon Jungle.

The six segments are divided in British Invasion, Shipwrecked, Birds of Paradise, Pink, Parisian Nights and Snow Angels.  If you still find it hard to convince yourself and you are not really getting all the excitement, these following facts below it will underline the title ‘The Show of the Year’ and make you want to see the full show ( airing on the 10th of December): 15 Million $ budget, a 10 Million $ Diamond bra, 2 million Swarovski crystals used for stage and outfits, 100s of staff working backstage, more than 70 amazing outfits, more than 30 pairs of gorgeous wings. And only one brand is able to pull-up all this : Victoria’s Secret!Fasten your seatbelt! The Angels are about to spread their wings again! The hottest, sexiest, most beautiful and volumshous show on the planet is back, curtains up for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2013.

Halloween in High.Fashion

You don’t have your Halloween look yet, but got some money or even some more money over? Well, why don’t you just go for a couture costume? Here are some inspirations, that will ensure all eyes are on you tomorrow:

Louis Vuitton

Giles

Gareth Pugh

Marc Jacobs

Alexander McQueen

Hope you are having a fashionable Halloween and don’t forget that Halloween is only one night! There is no reason to scare people with your outfits 364 other days in the year, so keep reading my blog to stay in fashion… and very soon with more hot stories for you!