Naomi Campbell and Versace go together like peanut butter and jelly, or a Little Black Dress and a red pout, to make a more fashionable analogy. Versace was made for Naomi, and Naomi was made to rock Versace. A match-made in fashion heaven.

So to have Naomi both open and close the Fall 2013 Atelier Versace show seemed perfectly natural. In fact, it made me wonder why Naomi doesn't open and close every Versace show. Regardless of your opinions about Naomi as a person (like every awesome supermodel, Naomi has had her fair share of scandal) you must admit that no one rocks Versace quite like her.


In precarious, painstakingly-detailed dresses - all half-undone from the hooks and eyes that so delicately held them together to reveal sultry lingerie - Naomi & Company strutted down the catwalk in true vampy fashion. It was only fitting, seeing as how Donatella was inspired by black and white photography of the 1930s.

As with most Versace collections, it was also about skin - how much to show, and how one's perception of an individual can totally change based on how done (or undone) her hook-and-eye-fastened dress becomes.

Think about it. Look 13 (above, at right) could either be fastened up to the shoulder to become a relatively tame (by Versace standards) mini dress, complete with long sleeves and turtle neck. Basically a nun. Or those hooks and eyes could unclasp and the wearer would be left there in nothing but fabulously provocative lace lingerie (and towering high heels, of course).

It could go either way.


On a more obvious level, the incredible detail of these dresses and undergarments absolutely exude what it means to create a couture collection. Donatella said it best herself, in reference to her 30s inspiration:

"It was a moment about precision, about perfection, and lots of work."

 Lots of hard work, indeed. But it looks like its paying off.


images from Style.com

Summer is in full swing, my friends, and that means the mercury is staying high for a good while longer. Presently in Los Angeles (about ten miles inland) it is a balmy 80 degrees, with an expected high of 90 for tomorrow. And believe me, I know there are some of you reading this who would kill to have it be that "cool" right now.

It's times like these when I just can't believe how few tank tops, shorts, and sleeveless dresses I have (which is a total lie because I have plenty, but I go through them so quickly when the weather is this warm, and then it's awful because I have nothing to wear) and I just want to take all my pants and turn them into cute little cut-offs. In fact, sometimes I ask myself why I was so stupid to buy all these pants. When will I ever use them? (And then I remember January when I cursed myself for having so many dresses because I was tired of wearing my favorite jeans over and over again). C'est la vie, I suppose.

But if you can spare an old pair of pants - or better yet, score an old pair of Levi's at a vintage or thrift store - I highly recommend getting a little crafty and preparing yourself a pair of cute cut-offs to get through the rest of summer. They are all the rage right now (clearly, if street style mavens like Miroslava Duma and young starlet AnnaSophia Robb are rocking them) and it seems easy enough to turn a pair of worn jeans into perfect summer shorts.

It seems Raf Simons has started to settle into the rhythm of things at the Christian Dior house, and his third haute couture collection for the esteemed French fashion house stands as a fabulous example of Simon's talents as a designer and interpretor of the Dior aesthetic.

He took for his inspiration different world cultures, hence the initial unrelatedness of it all. Perhaps an easy answer to explain all the jumping around, but the more I study this presentation the more I do identify the influences of world cultures.


I think Raf has presented a couture collection that is a combination of his own talents and the traditional Dior style, a difficult feat for designers working at such established brands with well-known looks.

And while Raf's collections may lack the theatricality of a Galliano show, I think he has finally gotten comfortable experimenting with form and textile in a way that is new and refreshing, like a couture show should be.