Monday, June 20, 2011

Embrace the Lace

Ever since I tied lace bows in my hair Madonna-style as a kid in the 80's, I've loved lace. Love these pics of Anna Della Russo, Editor at large and creative consultant for Vogue Japan, in her Dolce & Gabbana beautiful lace sheath dress.
Anna Dello Russo in Dolce & Gabbana



Lace seems to come around every few years and has been hot in 2010 and 2011. I love that lace can go from ladylike, preppy or Royal Wedding-prim to dark, gothic and cool. I summise that the trend may have been given a nudge along by the fabulous show Downton Abbey set in England in 1912 - all Edwardian lace, tightly bound corsets and rows of pearl buttons.

Lady Mary in lace and jet choker

Lady Mary's choker also seen on Monica Bellucci in a 2001 horror



Miss Havisham in Great Expectations has long been a favourite character and fashion inspiration of mine. She is a tragic, wealthy woman who was left at the alter. She rattles around her dilapidated mansion Statis House still wearing her faded Victorian style lace wedding dress, in mourning of her predicament. She is surrounded by the crumbling decays of the long forgotten wedding cake & banquet, cobwebs sweeping from decrepit, dust-riddled chandeliers and candelabras. It's all fabulously tormented and gothic!

I recently watched the fantastic 1998 version with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow - beautiful. Gwyneth is the perfect icy cool Estella, Francisco Clements artwork features but Anne Bancroft's crazy-as-a-cut-snake Miss Havisham character Ms Dinsmoor is gold! For her Fall 2011 line, Georgina Chapman from Marchesa channels Miss Havisham with distressed wedding dresses and frothy lace affairs: “I love the decaying opulence,” Chapman said. “We just thought, its so Marchesa."

"Yes, Miss Havisham regrets to inform you she has inspired another designer. It was evident from the raw hems of their gowns, the corsetry and the numerous deflated veils, that Ms. Chapman and Ms. Craig had that character in mind. Some of the fabrics were shown with zigzag edges shorn by a pair of fabric scissors. Ignoring the theme, these were actually quite imaginative designs, intriguing because they are so unlike the examples of stiff, origami-like constructions that are Marchesa signatures". From the New York Times:



Marchesa Fall 2011



I am obsessed with this gorgeous lace dress from Aussie label Lover. Lara Bingle models it for Aussie Grazia magazine, and Harper's Bazaar Christine Centenera also wears it below.

Marc Jacobs and Dolce & Gabbana lace dresses in US Vogue

Katie Holmes for Vogue Spain

Madonna had long been a devotee of Dolce & Gabbana and she looks fabulous in lace in this shoot for Fall 2010. Photographed by Steven Klein, the shoot was inspired by Italian Neorealist cinema and featured Madonna as a sultry Fellini style Italian housewife in the tradition of Anita Eckberg's platinum femme fatale.

Madonna in Dolce & Gabbana with Lourdes, 2011



Pearl Lowe's label designs some beautiful lace dresses. Pearl uses antique lace, sourced from vintage outlets and custom dyed. She is inspired by "Things like antique markets and shops, vintage fairs, old fashioned movies, things from the past. Daisy is my muse, because she is what I would love to look like in my clothes. Sadly, I can't always wear the things I create."

Daisy in Mum Pearl Lowe's designs for Peacocks

Daisy in Pearl Lowe creation

In Elie Saab

With Kelly Brook, in Marchesa

Emily Blunt's editorial for ELLE UK September last year is a stunner, particularly the Valentino cover.



Emily Blunt in ELLE UK, 2010



More celebs in lace...

Marion Cotillard in Dolce & Gabbana, Vogue US 2011

Brit Brit for Blumarine, Fall 2011



Antonio Berardi's campaign with Blake Lively, and his lace confection



Kate in lace mini-dress

Sienna in Ralph Lauren, June 2011



It girl Olivia Palermo loves her lace, and shakes it up in anything from lace stocking or a tee, to full lace Valentino dress. Loving her looks:



In Valentino mini

In lace dress by Preen

Olivia in MNG campaignReese loves her lace too, both Marchesa

Emma Stone in Bottega Veneta, June 2011

Emma Watson says goodbye to Hermione and brings a sexy back in Rafael Lopez
Gaga is often seen rocking the lace. It certainly helps her penchant for see-through attire.

Here she is in black in Dolce & Gabbana, and McQueen.



Lace


Lace by LoulouBlue featuring a lace ring

Preen lace evening dress

£570 - brownsfashion.com



Cut out dress

$374 - net-a-porter.com



Lace shirt

$395 - 25park.com



Dorothy Perkins short sleeve top

£25 - dorothyperkins.com



Carine Gilson bra

$645 - net-a-porter.com



Tutu skirt

$485 - 25park.com



Hanky Panky ruffle panty

$62 - journelle.com



Topshop

$60 - topshop.com



Trasparenze

€33 - pret-a-beaute.com



Great Expectations

$20 - modcloth.com



Jimmy Choo high heel pumps

$995 - net-a-porter.com



Aurélie Bidermann lace ring

$460 - net-a-porter.com



Wedding glove

£28 - black.co.uk





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