The Corsets Of Carine Roitfeld

It is my pleasure to introduce the latest piece by our talented contributing editor Bernie Rothschild in which he examines the fascinating collection of corsets of Carine Roitfeld. Special thanks to Bernie for sharing his perspective with all of us and to Madeleine Gallay for our conversation that originally inspired this idea.

The Corsets of Carine Roitfeld
By Bernie Rothschild

Carine Roitfeld is hailed consistently as one of the best dressed women in the world and she has been the subject of street style fashion blogs for over a decade now. Every fashion-obsessed fan worships her as if she is the Virgin Mary, every fashion paparazzi portrays her as if she is the Queen of France, everyone profiles her fashion choices, but what distinguishes Carine's style from that of her front row and street style contemporaries? Besides the fact that she wears the dress before it even hits the runway of the fashion show... The legendary Liz Tilberis once quipped, "Fashion editors who look too good make models feel bad," but Carine proves the exception to the rule, she is as cool as the models in her editorials, and every bit as provocative, but somehow even more famous. After she left Vogue Paris some feared that she might vanish forever but she quieted her critics once again by becoming her own "brand," the spark of her star did not die, she is more popular than ever. One of the distinct touches that she often works into her outfit is the corset — Carine loves to wear corsets to accentuate her sexiness and particularly her slender waist.

Let's look deep into the art of corset dressing... The corset fashion has been around since the beginning of the 20th century, for a large part of the late Victorian period and the entire Edwardian era, adding appeal to the heavy, larger-than-life dresses of the women of that time; even some of the men chose to wear corsets to improve their physiques. The great example of this trend is the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as the Empress Sissi; aside from being an Empress she was also the Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia and one of the most beautiful women in Europe during her lifetime. The Empress Sissi was famous for her tiny and slender waist and for wearing her corset so tight to achieve it that she even came to a point where it affected her health negatively. The tightly laced corset of the empress was the main reason they could not save her life when she was assassinated by an anarchist.

In 1939, Horst P. Horst photographed the then scandalous Mainbocher corset for Vogue, the photo looks very mysterious, reminiscent of the beauty of a Greek sculpture. Later in the same decade, the equally controversial Wallis Simpson, also known as the Duchess of Windsor, wore a Mainbocher that accentuated her waist for her wedding to Edward VIII (who abdicated his position as the King of England to marry the women he loved) and the dress itself is regarded as one of the most copied and inspiring wedding gowns of all time.

Some see the corset in a different manner, but mostly this accessory has been associated with fetishism and sexual fantasy. Carine Roitfeld wears a corset or a waist accentuating dress as if it is a badge or a status symbol for having a perfect hourglass figure. Here are a few of her greatest corset styles that have made her the darling of the best dressed fashion crowd.

Futuristic Glamour

Carine attends a party at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival wearing Dolce & Gabbana. She is one of the only famous faces that is not an actress who participates yearly in this extravagant festival. With the presence of Carine and the movie stars, Cannes is becoming the unofficial fashion capital of the south (besides the glam and glitz of the film stars, it is the parties that keep people coming to Cannes). Here she invokes the ever futuristic glamour-metallic trend that’s becomes the new black and she almost looks like a sexy heroine of some sci-fi film meets the work of Steven Klein and Nick Knight. The red shoes of course give life to the outfit.

Dominatrix

This Tom Ford for Gucci Spring 2001 corset is so Carine Roitfeld: dark, risqué, provocative — all characteristics that have become synonymous with her style — and it fits her so perfectly that she looks like one of the portraits of Helmut Newton whom she admires greatly. It is very sadomasochistic and dominatrix. This outfit has inspired her photos and also pays tribute to the erotic porno chic of which she and Newton are the biggest champions.

Era of Elegance

Carine wore this Dior dress by John Galliano to the amfAR benefit in 2006. The Dior corseted nude gown is the complete opposite of her typical dark, risqué fashion but she still gives it her trademark sex appeal. She looks like a Gibson Girl meets the tight laced corset style of Empress Sisi and her style embodies the glamour and elegance of the past century. Carine looks like a goddess and she balances it by mismatching the look with her signature poker straight hair, she really can do wrong when it comes to dressing herself.

Simply Irresistible

Carine Roitfeld selected this Balenciaga dress and corset belt for New York Fashion Week in Spring 2008. Her style here does not look intimidating and avant-garde. She just look very simple, relaxed and casual, but she can still grab everyone’s attention. This is the most accessible style she ever wore but she still maintains her risqué allure. Is this not a 54 year old woman wearing a scarf as a dress? Does it get more risqué than that? Though this is the simplest style I have ever seen her wear she still manages to turn heads, that's for sure.

Plain Statement

Despite the grey shirt and pencil skirt that seem so plain, formal, and appropriate to her age, Carine keeps it exciting by adding the Alaïa leather corset that makes her look like a dominatrix while staying true to her trademark sexiness. I think Carine is a great ambassador of Alaïa designs as well as an unofficial muse and inspiration to Mr. Alaïa himself. She also makes a statement with the corset that no matter how boring your outfit is you can always manage to add a touch that will make it look sexy. This outfit is excellent inspiration for those who work in an office setting, you can wear either killer shoes or a corset belt to accentuate your style à la Roitfeld.

Carine Roitfeld corset photos via Condé Nast, Getty Images, Fashion Spot, royalforums.com, worldofwonder.com.

Carine Roitfeld: The It Girl

My darling readers, I have a treat for you... an article titled "The 'It' Girl" in which Hamish Bowles interviews Carine Roitfeld for the November 1996 issue of Vogue... enjoy!

Carine Roitfeld creates potent fashion images, but Hamish Bowles finds it's her own style that's most influential

With a look that combines hippie chic with the provocative edge of a Helmut Newton photograph, French stylist Carine Roitfeld has always stood out from the fashion crowd. But now the crowd is catching up with her sleek take on '70s revivalism. The mix of edgy French style (trouser suits with heels), bad-girl sexiness and ethnic elements (Jane Birkin caftans and Indian shirts) that Roitfeld has been wearing for years is suddenly rampant on this season's runways. What's more, with her smoky sloe eyes and ironed shag of bitter-chocolate hair, she's become a muse for Gucci designer Tom Ford.

"She's one of the most inspirational women I know," says Ford. "I love the way she puts things together unexpectedly. She usually wears one thing that throws the whole thing off. She's my ideal European woman."

While she embodies the subversive sophistication of Ford's Gucci woman, Roitfeld also works with him to translate this image into the advertising campaign. "Tom is a brilliant designer," says Roitfeld. "He doesn't need someone to style his show, but to push, so that it's the same girl in the show and in the campaigns. That's what makes Gucci strong."

It is this synchronicity between what appears on a designer's runway and the image for the campaigns that Roitfeld effects. By pointing the Missonis back to the work they were producing in the early '70s, Roitfeld not only revitalized the house but helped launch an international trend. Look-alike skinny knits cropped up all over this season's hippest runways on girls who looked a lot like Roitfeld herself. "It's not very professional," Roitfeld says with a laugh, "but I do project myself into my pictures; it's what I'd like to wear myself."

Roitfeld's fashion sense is pure but eclectic. "I would never wear a 'total look'; it's not me," she says. She prefers to mix occasional ethnic elements like her signature Indian men's shirts with pieces from designers as diverse as Gucci, Jean Colonna, Eric Bergère, Helmut Lang, Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano. "I like sexy clothes, that's for sure. And because I don't have an 'obvious' face, I can push that, and it's never going to look tacky."

Roitfeld started her magazine career at 20 Ans and went on the French Elle, where she first met Mario Testino, the photographer with whom she now works almost exclusively (for French Vogue and the ad campaigns of Gucci, Missoni, and Rykiel). They went on to work together at the now defunct French Glamour, creating memorable fashion portfolios like one in which Christy Turlington was dressed as a punk ["Sacrée Christy"]. "I like to use fairly 'normal' clothes in my stories," says Roitfeld. "When we did Christy as a punk, I just used the chain of a Chanel bag around the neck like a dog leash but at the end of the day it's a Chanel bag!" Says Testino of her style, "It's like a mixture of chic with fashion. Carine is never fashion victim, and she is never bourgeois."

One influential 1994 story ["Néo-moderne"] cast Nadja Auermann as the embodiment of the new neo-bourgeois sleek chic — in the serenely contemporary setting of Roitfeld's own seventh-arrondissement apartment. Roitfeld and her husband, Sisley, the creator of the Equipment shirt line, worked with British architect David Chipperfield on the space, a lush belle époque apartment with views of the golden dome of the Invalides. The emphatically non-modernist shell was stripped to the bones, and uplighters were set in the parquet floors to highlight the original detailing. Spare units that appear to float in the apartment hide clothes and even photographs.

Roitfeld admits to having had very bohemian tastes before she met her husband, and the detritus of her early life — kilims from Morocco, furniture found in India — is now banished to her office, where the walls are smothered in her own photographs of her two children, Vladimir and Julia. "I changed a little bit, because Sisley was very Zen, strict and classic in his style. This apartment demands a different way of life, and I appreciate it," she adds. "I used to be very messy; you can't be messy in this apartment. And please, only white flowers!"

Carine Roitfeld photographs and editorials © 1993, 1994, 1996 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Update on vendredi 3 août 2012 by kellina

Très bizarre, I just found a second version of this article in my archives from the June 1996 issue of Vogue, a mere five months earlier... why would they do that?

Carine Roitfeld in Vogue "The It Girl" editorial © 2006 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Carine Roitfeld At David Yurman Rooftop Soiree

Carine Roitfeld et al photographs courtesy of bfanyc.com. All Rights Reserved.

Roitfeld And Konjic At Harrods Toy Kingdom VIP Launch

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Robert Konjic photographs courtesy of contactmusic.com. All Rights Reserved.

The Little Black Jacket Contest

We are counting down the days until the publication of The Little Black Jacket: Chanel's Classic Revisited by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld and with only thirty days to go, there is no better time for an LBJ contest! If you love the style of Carine Roitfeld, now is the time to share your opinion and win a prize. Write an essay inspired by Carine to be eligible to win a copy of The Little Black Jacket upon publication as well as a black IWTBAR tee. The contest is limited to the first 100 respondents and ends 25 August 2012; please note that the IWTB team is ineligible to play. All submissions become property of IWTB and may be published at my discretion. Good luck to all!

Submit your essay here.

The Little Black Jacket: Chanel's Classic Revisited photograph courtesy of astairemagazine.com