vintage icon: grace kelly

grace patricia kelly was an american actress who, in april 1956, married rainier iii, prince of monaco, to become princess consort of monaco, styled as her serene highness the princess of monaco and commonly referred to as princess grace.

Grace Kelly

after embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of 20, grace kelly appeared in new york city theatrical productions as well as in more than forty episodes of live drama productions broadcast during the early 1950s golden age of television. 

in october 1953, with the release of mogambo, she became a movie star, a status confirmed in 1954 with a golden globe award and academy award nomination as well as leading roles in five films, including 'the country girl', in which she gave a deglamorized, academy award-winning performance. she retired from acting at 26 to enter upon her duties in monaco.

wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainer

she and prince rainier had three children: caroline, albert and stéphanie. she also retained her american roots, maintaining dual american and monégasque citizenships. she died after suffering a stroke on september 14, 1982, when she lost control of her automobile and crashed. her daughter, princess stéphanie, was in the car with her and survived the accident.

Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly

in june 1999, the american film institute ranked her number thirteenth in their list of top female stars of american cinema. 

The Hermes Kelly bag

while pregnant with her daughter caroline in 1956, princess grace was frequently photographed clutching a distinctive leather hand-bag manufactured by hermes. the purse, or sac à dépêches, was likely a shield to prevent Kelly's pregnancy from being exposed to the prying eyes of the paparazzi. the photographs, however, popularised the purse and became so closely associated with the fashion icon that the purse would thereafter be known as the kelly bag.

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five bags to lust after

ever since i started blogging, the only bags i've acquired are eyebags (see what blogging has done to my sense of humour?)... haha... all right, lame jokes aside, i love bags too. i have a bag for every aspect of my life: a haversack for work, a sports bag for dragonboat, a gym bag, a bag for climbing. with bags, i don't need them luxurious and expensive but these are five bags that we can all lust after.

1) mouawad's 1001 nights diamond purse - $3.8 million

officially certified by guinness world record, the heart-shaped purse is handcrafted from 18kt gold and has 4,517 diamonds with a total weight of 381.92 carats. it was made by ten artisans who worked on it for a total of 8,800 hours.

2) hermes birkin by ginza tanaka - $1.9 million

this was sold in 2008 for around $1.9 million. it is made of platinum and has over 2,000 diamonds. it is also versatile, so that in addition to being a handbag, the diamond strap can be used as a necklace or bracelet by removing it from the bag. the bag also has an 8-carat pear shaped shimmering diamond that can be used separately.

3) chanel 'diamond forever' classic handbag - $261,000

this handbag boasts 334 diamonds for a total of 3.56 carats, in 18-carat white gold. the shoulder straps are also made from white gold. worldwide, there are only thirteen available with five of them being in the usa.

4) lana marks cleopatra bag - $250,000

lana marks produces one cleopatra clutch for retail each year. helen mirren wore the $250,000 lana marks cleopatra clutch at the 2007 academy awards. lana only allows one star per year to carry her handmade diamond studded designs down the crimson carpet.

5) hermes matte crocodile birkin bag - $120,000

named after british singer / actress jane birkin. the clasp of this tote boasts 10 carats of white diamonds and the bag is made of crocodile skin.

happy lusting (i mean lunching!) fash'on... BAM!

five leaders you must know

i remember sitting in economics lectures eons ago, thinking about how big exactly are multi-national companies. how much money can the top companies in an industry generate? well, A LOT... before we move to the nitty gritty five things of the fashion industry, there are just five companies (which are market leaders) that one must know...

LVMH global logo, image courtesy of Forbes

1) lvmh: french multinational apparels and accessories company headquartered in paris. the company was formed after the 1987 merger of fashion house louis vuitton with moet hennessy. it controls around sixty subsidiaries that each manage a small number of prestigious brands... brands include fendi, donna karan, emilio pucci, givenchy, kenzo, berluti, moynat, louis vuitton, marc jacobs, loewe, celine, thomas pink, bulgari, tag heuer, zenith, hublot, chaumet...

Francois-Henri Pinault with wife, Salma Hayek

2) ppr: previously known as pinault-printemps-redoute until 18th may 2005. the company is a french multinational holding company which develops a worldwide brand portfolio distributed in 120 countries. it was founded in 1963 by the businessman francois pinault and is now run by his son, francois-henri pinault. subsidiaries include fnac, gucci, puma, stella mccartney, alexander mcqueen, balenciaga, sergio rossi, yves saint laurent (or saint laurent), bottega...

Shanghai Tang Fall/Winter 2012 featuring Hu Bing, He Sui and Hyunyi Lee

3) richemont: compagnie financiere richemont s.a. is a swiss luxury goods holding company founded in 1986-88 by the south african businessman johann rupert. the group's activities and products include jewellery, fine watchmaking and premium accessories, which encompasses writing instruments, leather goods and fashion. it is the second-largest luxury goods company in the world by turnover, behind lvmh moet hennessy - louis vuitton s.a. the list of subsidiaries would include alfred dunhill ltd, cartier, chloe, maison azzedine alaia, met-a-porter ltd, shanghai tang...

Victoria Beckham with her Hermes Birkin bag

4) hermes: hermes is renowned for its handmade luggage and handbags. the company does not use assembly lines. only one craftsperson, who may have been employed by the company for decades, makes a single handbag at a time, hand-stitching individual pieces with linen thread and using an awl. hermes international s.a., or simply hermes, is a french manufacturer of quality goods established in 1837. part of hermes' management secret is keeping it in the family.in june 2013, axel dumas will become joint-ceo of hermes international. dumas is a member of the sixth generation of the hermes family and is currently the chief operating officer.

Beyonce in L'oreal ad

5) l'oreal: the l'oreal group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. with its registered office in paris and head office in the paris suburb of clichy, hauts-de-seine, france, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics with concentration on hair colour, skin care, sun protection, make-up, perfume and hair care. click here for their list of brands...

if you didn't know about them before, you're welcome!

fash'on... BAM!

FBTs: five basic terms

so for the rest of the week... we are going back to basics... it's going to be terminology overdose for some of you but for each posts, i have selected five words that will be useful for you to know... thinking of it as fashion vocabulary 101 so that when you next speak fashion, you'll be able to find the right term instead of saying... neh, that dress from that shop a few months ago...

where are these dresses from?

here are the five basic terms that i think all of us should know:

1) fashion: it is the general term for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, make-up, body piercing or furniture. fashion usually is the newest creations made by designers and are bought by only a few number of people; however, often those 'fashions' are translated into more established trends. fashion can finally refer to clothing generally and the study of it. more from my friend wikipedia here...

2) label: yes, that little thing sewn onto your clothing that tells you which brand you bought... the first label is credited to charles frederick worth. before that, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses. worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear instead of following the customers' lead as earlier dressmakers had done. while all articles of clothing from any time period are studied by academics as costume design, only clothing created after 1858 could be considered as fashion design.

1858: Charles Frederick Worth inaugurated the first couture house in Paris

3) house: in fashion, a reference to house is not merely about the place one stays but it's a reference to maison de couture... translated, maison de couture is simply house of fashion. while you can find a label that goes by the same name, the idea of a fashion house is people working from a house instead of a huge factory. think the personal attention to details, handcraft as opposed to machines and mass production... and the most popular address? nope not wisteria lane but rue du faubourg saint-honore...

Hermes, image courtesy of panoramio.com

Miranda Kerr spotted outside Dior

4) seasons: spring, summer, fall (autumn), winter... yes... we all know the four seasons but in fashion, seasons operate on a slightly different schedule. several months in advance of the season, fashion weeks are held to allow the press and buyers a chance to preview fashion designs for the following season. from january through april, designers showcase their autumn and winter collections. the fashion week for spring and summer is held from september through november. this is also to allow time for retailers to arrange , to purchase or incorporate the designers into their retail marketing. the latest innovations in dress designs are showcased by renowned fashion designers during these fashion weeks and all these latest collections are covered in magazines.

over the past few years, more and more designers have shown inter-seasonal collections between the traditional autumn/winter and spring/summer seasons. these collections are usually more commercial than the main season collections and help shorten the customer's wait for new season clothes. the inter-seasonal collections are resort/cruise (before spring/summer) and pre-fall (before autumn/winter). there is no fixed schedule for these shows in any of the major fashion capitals but they typically happen three months after the main season shows.

Valentino Pre-Fall 2012

5) couture: this is the business of designing, making and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made, women's clothing. now, haute couture is the phrase we should all know. french for 'high sewing' or 'high dressmaking', haute couture is made to order for a specific customer and it is usually made from high quality, expensive fabric. it is sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses, often using time consuming, hand-executed techniques. 

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regardless of religion

i think everyone is curious how the links to this post are going to work... the relationship between indians and religion... and how it connects to fashion... let's take it one step at a time...

indian religion has always fascinated me for their diversity. i claim no expertise in it, hence if you want for information, my best friend, wikipedia, is on hand to help you... long story short, whether you choose to view indian religion as polytheistic or monotheistic... it's about diversity yet displaying a seamless unity... this probably echoes my sentiments towards the sari... a strip of unstitched cloth that can be worn in more than eighty ways... that is true unity in diversity in fashion!

different ways to wear a sari

as we wrap up looking at the different fashion traditions within the races of singapore, the best reminder of what truly is singaporean comes from the sari... the people of this nation are highly distinctive in outward appearance and outlook but what we sometimes need is to find within ourselves, the recognition that we are all 'saris', expensive ones (like the ones from Hermes)... 

Hermes sari

anyway, here's how to tie a sari...

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