I Want To Dress Like A Roitfeld

My dear friend Kate Ringo Suzuki paid me the ultimate compliment and invited me to write a guest post for her blog Everyday Glamour. Of course the subject is Carine Roitfeld...

Would you like to learn the secrets to dressing like a Roitfeld? Specifically we will focus on how to dress like Carine Roitfeld, perhaps the most challenging of all. I say "challenging" because if you wish to dress like her son Vladimir, it is simple: don black trousers and either a black or white shirt underneath a black jacket, likely Armani. Julia is a bit less formulaic: a short dress by a newly discovered designer, stilettos and bag by Miu Miu, and stunning original jewelry designed by an FOJ (friend of Julia), perhaps a classmate from Parsons. Loads more variety, yet Julia's style choices are achievable provided you have the figure and the dough.

Now we come to the mother lode of style: Carine Roitfeld, editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris and editorial director of Vogue Hommes International among her many influential roles in the world of fashion (amFar and ANDAM come to mind immediately as other examples).

How to dress like Carine Roitfeld:

1. Awake at 7 a.m., stretch, Pilates.
2. Scent with Opium Body Lotion by Yves Saint Laurent.
3. Create smoky eyes using Yves Saint Laurent liner, groom brows.

Yes, this is all part of dressing like a Roitfeld! Ambience, ma chère, plus nonchalance. Très Roitfeld. Never forget that Pilates provides the perfect underpinnings for any chic ensemble. Carine's signature look combines classic designer pieces, a blouse, a tailored jacket, a knee length skirt, often in black with bare legs and killer shoes. She is most likely to be seen taking risks with transparent clothing underneath a professional exterior while peering mysteriously out from behind her hair. Like I said, challenging...

I will leave you with a few thoughts from Carine Roitfeld's Twitter account:

• Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.
• Make style an expression of your soul.
• Fashion is something you buy, STYLE is something you OWN!
• Fashion is not about utility. It is merely a piece of iconography, to express an individual's identity.
• Fashion isn't to make you look attractive, it's to make you look different.
• Never wear anything that panics the animal.
• I dress for women and I undress for men.

Carine Roitfeld photographs courtesy of Fashion Spot.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld In ELLE UK

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld is featured in a spread titled "Closet Confidential" in this month's issue of ELLE UK looking ever so sultry. I love the outfit she is wearing here, particularly the fringed skirt — yippee-ki-yay! In the article Julia discusses her glamorous life from photo shoots with mom as a child right up to present day when she is gifted with Richard Nicoll clothing via her Facebook page. Tough gig, n'est-ce pas ? Regrettably I found only the first page so far, let me know if you have the second...

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photograph © 2010 Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Vogue Paris Translation: Editorial, June/July 2010

For her editorial for the June/July issue of Vogue Paris, Carine Roitfeld selected a seductive image to accompany her text featuring Lara Stone and Freja Beha as shot by Terry Richardson and the colors make the photo. The detail of the sunglasses is so fine, all of the accessories add to the mood (the YSL chokers!) but inverting the color and shape of the glasses on the two models is genius. Tough and sexy, Kellina likes. Here is the translation from French to English of La Roitfeld's June/July Vogue Paris editorial:

Si l'été est un peu le dessert des saisons, force est d'admettre que c'est aussi le moment de l'année où la mode n'est plus complètement la priorité : on sculpte le corps, prépare la peau et les cheveux au soleil, et le maillot de bain devient la pièce maîtresse du dressing. Des maillots et des conseils beauté vous en trouverez dans ce numéro, mais pas seulement... La vocation de Vogue, c'est d'exciter le désir en général et celui pour les vêtements en particulier. Coup de projecteur sur les créations de six jeunes stylists mis en lumière par la vénérable ANDAM et dont on va parler, des robes du soir légères comme un souffle photographiées dans les calanques de Cassis, ou encore le meilleur des pré-collections endossé par Lara Stone et Freja, deux égéries de Vogue Paris... Toutes les clés de la séduction estivales sont au programme. Sans oublier, en supplément de ce numéro, un documentaire de 52 minutes consacré aux cinq top models les plus en vue, suivies en exclusivité par Loïc Prigent pendant les dernières collections parisiennes, des backstages des défilés à l'intimité de leur chambre d'hôtel. Un divertissement des plus inspirants.

If summer is the little dessert of the seasons, we are forced to admit that it is also the moment of the year where fashion is not completely the priority: one sculpts the body, prepares the skin and the hair for the sun, and the bathing suit becomes the focus for dressing. Bathing suits and beauty advice you will discover in this issue, but not only... The vocation of Vogue, this is to excite desire in general and for clothes in particular. Spotlight on the creations of six young stylists highlighted by the venerable ANDAM and we must talk about this, the dresses for the night light as air photographed in the creeks of Cassis or even the best of the pre-collections endorsed by Lara Stone and Freja, two muses of Vogue Paris... All the keys to summer seduction are in the program. Without forgetting, in supplement to the issue, a documentary of 52 minutes devoted to the five most prominent top models, followed exclusively by Loïc Prigent during the last Parisian collections, from backstage at fashion shows to the intimacy of their hotel rooms. A most inspiring entertainment.

[Editor's note: Here is a preview of the video.]

Vogue Paris editorial image © 2010 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Restoin-Roitfeld At Serpentine Gallery

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld was out for the annual summer party at the Serpentine Gallery in London last night and she looks so beautiful. Julia stood out from the crowd dressed in a floor length black lace gown custom made for her by Emilio Pucci, accompanied by sandals adorned with leopard (also by Pucci) and diamond earrings designed by Solange Azagury-Partridge. Pure seduction, non ?

The outdoor pavilion of the gallery created by French architect Jean Nouvel this year was unveiled as part of the festivities. The theme was red hot: red glass walls and a reflective metallic floor lined with red ping pong tables and red chess sets to keep guests playful. British rapper Dizzee Rascal provided the evening's entertainment.

The glamorous guest list included Donna Air, David and Paloma Bailey, Tamara Beckwith, Lily Cole, Poppy Delevigne, Charlotte Dellal, Nancy Dell'Olio, Tracey Emin, Zaha Hadid, Nicky Haslam, Grace Jones, Myleene Klass, Beverly Knight, Jasmin LeBon, Jared Leto, Piers Morgan, Astrid Muñoz, Caroline Sieber, Margo Stilley, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Alice Temperley, Holly Valance, Celia Walden, Assia and Steven Webster, Matthew Williamson, Bill and Suzanne Wyman, and Will Young.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photographs courtesy of Getty Images and graziadaily.co.uk

Ask Carine Roitfeld

Olivier Zahm is editing a book about Carine Roitfeld tentatively titled Album of a Woman of Fashion and he needs your help... Originally slated to release this October, Rizzoli pushed the publication date to next autumn and has invited questions from Carine's fans that she may answer in Zahm's forthcoming book. See Rizzoli's invitation here (and note that I have verified the request is genuine). If you have a personal question that you would like Carine to answer, send it to inquire@purple.fr and you may be one of the lucky few that receives a response from La Roitfeld herself. If you do send in a question, I would love to hear about it. Bonne chance, mes chéris !

Carine Roitfeld and Olivier Zahm photograph courtesy of fashionista.com.