Carine Roitfeld For David Webb

Jeweler David Webb hired a fierce team to create his image for Fall 2011, the company's first advertising campaign to be produced in more than two decades: Carine Roitfeld, stylist; Alex Wiederin of Buero New York, creative director; Terry Richardson, photographer; and Eniko Mihalik, model. Watch the brief video filmed during the shoot for a look at this gem of a campaign although don't bother searching for Carine as she does not appear. Unless those are her hands...

David Webb images © 2011 David Webb. All Rights Reserved.

Carine Roitfeld: Boy Scout

Carine Roitfeld photographs courtesy of terrysdiary.com.

Roitfeld Beauty Secret: Sunscreen

Did you know that the leading cause of premature aging in women and men is sun damage? Research has proven that 90 percent of wrinkles are caused by the sun's UVA light. Julia Restoin-Roitfeld is well aware of this fact and scrupulously cares for her skin, protecting it from the damaging effects of the sun even while occasionally sunbathing: "For me, beauty is more about prevention than anything. Especially now that I’ve hit 30, it’s more about being careful and maintaining my skin. I want to keep my youth and freshness and be wrinkle-free as long as possible because I don’t want to have to cheat—that’s what I call any cosmetic surgeries, cheating. So of course I like to be tan but now I try to avoid it. I don’t mind having a little glow, but now when I go to the beach, I put SPF 50 everywhere — either Avène or La Roche-Posay Anthelios."

An effective sunscreen protects against more than the aging effects of the sun, it can help to prevent skin cancer. The Skin Cancer Foundation reports that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer, yet only eighteen percent wear sunscreen daily. If this is you, make it a habit to wear sunscreen daily starting right now. Commit to 365 days per year regardless of weather conditions and choose a quality sunblock that protects against both UVA and UVB rays. Don't rely on the SPF 15 of your favorite foundation to block the sun's damaging effects, it's not enough to provide adequate protection. Finally, when applying sunscreen, don't forget your décolletage to cover all of your assets. Take care of your skin, it lasts a lifetime.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photographs courtesy of twitter.com/RestoinRJulia and twitter.com/EllenaNiarchos.

Channeling Carine Roitfeld

It gives me extraordinary pleasure to present the words of today's guest contributor — the lovely Madeleine Gallay from In New York Paris Tomorrow. Madeleine graciously assumes the aura of a Roitfeld for the day and shares her transformation here with all of us. She was surprised to find that a simple change of attire could change her entire attitude and her inspiring story nearly dares all of us to give it a try... I hope you enjoy Madeleine's engaging manner as much as I do. Merci mille fois, MG! Très sexy, très chic, très Carine... Thanks also to Svetoslav Petrov for sending me the terrific image of Carine seen above.

Channeling Carine Roitfeld
By Madeleine Gallay

Channeling Carine Roitfeld is a leap of faith; she is muse and always has been. She is heavily kohled smoldering eyes peering beneath a sometime veil of locks of her hair, she is a tight skirt with high heels, she is a simple button-down shirt. She is as charming as she is sexual. Actually she exudes sexuality, whimsy, and intelligence. Karl Lagerfeld and Tom Ford, both of whom can be more than a tad picky, adore her, maybe are in love with her in the deliciously naughty ways fashion designers desire a muse even before an investor.

Poring over IWTBAR photos of Carine, the white high necked, long sleeved Dolce & Gabbana dress with black heels tantalized and disturbed me. Black heels with a white dress are wrong, I know that. But it's not true. Carine in black heels wearing white was disturbing in a good way. She was right. It was somehow sexual and impossibly chic.

I kept coming back to that image as I rummaged in my closet for a summery dress. A cranberry cotton sleeveless dress and instinctively I reached for the London Sole leopard ballet flats with shocking pink ties. I let the beach breeze dry my hair, liking its looseness. Moisturizer and a smokey smudge from my Benefit Bad Girl fat kohl pencil. Shalimar and oversized pink ombre sunglasses. Very different than the cosy Victorian white rather graceful easy skirts that are half of my summer wardrobe; the Bedouin grunge hippie look with shawls and loads of chunky bracelets, not Carine-chic.

I picked up a white eyelet high necked long-sleeved tunic with side slits to the waist and smiled; Carine indeed. Black sheer leggings under that and black sandals. I imagine Carine wearing this to a restaurant, cameras snapping in mad adoration as usual, pushing that piece of hair away from her eyes. The shop owner was French and maybe flirting a little; I paid and pushed a piece of hair away from my eyes.

The Gary Graham black slinky bias slip dress at the next shop was not like my closet of LBDs, all plain and familiar. Bias, sexy and plain. I paid and thought about black heels, maybe with an extravagant bow in red, and remembered my Moschino black suede heels with miniature lipsticks sewn on each, so French and sexy.

I love the thoughtful, breezy way Carine talks about a collection to the herds of dogged reporters... as easy as her lovely, gracious "Oh yes, I like it very much." Because she sees through the runway styling to pieces of clothing that she can transform into an entire fashion story rampant with her humor and her stark statements.

Tom Ford was brilliant in the 1990s with Gucci but if you look at the pieces on a hanger, I suppose now on eBay, his presentation was very simple. The velvet jeans (men, women) and silk shirts opened down to there. A white crepe dress lean and showing the body, shirred tight satin skirts. Channeling Carine and exploding stereotypes of what sexy is.

Thank you so much for inviting me to share my own Carine thoughts and know how much I love your I Want To Be A Roitfeld. I do! And for a day, I felt like one.

Carine Roitfeld photographs © 2011 Getty Images and courtesy of waynetippetts.com. All Rights Reserved.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld: Back To Black

Each fashion season brings some commentary about how blue or red or brown or orange is the “new” black. Try as they might to convince the public there is a new front-running go-to color, the truth is, black is always the new black. No other color can make the same statement in any way, shape, or form. And no one brings black back better than Julia Restoin-Roitfeld. How refreshing it was to see her going “Back To Black” and using juxtaposition in the ensembles she chose for the recent soirees she attended with her beau Robert Konjic. A short body hugging dress and wide grommet leather belt paired with a leather jacket at the Emporio Armani Summer Garden Live Party in association with Atlantic Records. Julia somehow always manages to make her looks not only hot but feminine, too, so her platform ankle strap sandal is the perfect shoe to pull it together.

It is rare to see Mademoiselle Restoin-Roitfeld in flats, but the black leather ballerines, leather skirt, and sheer lace blouse are a more demure look for Julia, while still providing the requisite hint of sexiness at the Barclaycard Unwind VIP Pod during Wireless Festival, where she saw Pulp, one of her favorite bands. You will notice she is standing on her tiptoes in the photo with Robert. She is clearly used to being in at least 4-inch heels, but we all wear flats once in a while, right?

Back in heels, whew! Knew it wouldn’t last for too long. At the party for the Emporio Armani store on Bond Street in London, for the fashion brand's Summer Garden Live party in association with Island Records, Julia’s pencil skirt and sheer black blouse combine for a subtle, sexy, sophisticated but not fussy look that simply works perfectly. They say that dark colors attract heat and black is surely no exception. With all of the black garments in Julia’s current rotation, it is obvious to see her summer heat is on and we are glad to see she is Back To Black.

As I was planning to write this feature a few days ago about Julia and her wardrobe of late in black, I wanted to include one of my favorite Amy Winehouse songs, “Back To Black,” a powerful and heart-wrenching ballad of love and loss by an iconic singer and songwriter. As I sit down to write this today, I am shocked and saddened by the tragic news of her passing. R.I.P. Amy!

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photographs © 2011 Getty Images and courtesy of WireImage. All Rights Reserved.