The Full Film

Without further ado, the critical masterpiece that we've all been waiting for:

I was expecting to be be delightfully entertained from second-hand embarrassment, but I actually think Karl made a decent film this time around. I wasn't cringing (that much) and everyone played their roles well. I guess no one was really playing too far out of their comfort zone (unlike Freja as a Chinese peasant girl) so that helped with the flow and execution of this film. Things were more believable and realistic, keeping in mind that the "reality" portrayed is true for like .0001% of the human population. But that's Karl Lagerfeld for you. It's about the glamor, the luxury, the unattainable, and the fantasy.

Would we expect anything less from the Kaiser? No, of course not. And that's what attracts us to high fashion. We can get lost in a world far away from our own. It's interesting that fashion itself can simultaneously occupy a very basic utilitarian role and an escapist role in our lives. It's operating on two ends of the spectrum, which of course brings me back to Freja and the many paradoxes that seem to contribute to her being: modern yet classic, commercial yet high end, distinct yet malleable, and so on and so on. I'm digressing.....I thought she played the Fairy role as best as she could and she did a good job. She looked gorgeous and I'm sure many girls are questioning their sexualities as we speak. Although I wish Karl would stop using her as a gimmick so much. But Freja's obviously more comfortable with it than she was at the beginning of her career, so good for her!

In any case, your thoughts? Did you love it? Hate it? Find yourself wishing you could teleport into Anna Mouglalis's body? Find yourself unable to stop drooling over Mark Vanderloo? Who am I kidding....I know my audience here, so I'm pretty sure I was the only one looking at him and not Freja. ;)

Videos courtesy of Chanel.com and FataleFashionII Youtube

One Girl

Seven Chanel campaigns overall

Five in a row

Three solo campaigns

One girl

It really doesn't get any better than that. As WWD tells us, the F/W 11 12 Chanel campaign was shot in Paris and styled by none other than Carine Roitfeld. With the darker and tougher collection, Carine styling and Freja modeling, the results should be nothing short of amazing.

But wait, it does get better.....kind of. Depends on whether you enjoy Karl's short films, because he's shooting another one for the upcoming Chanel Cruise collection.

"To wit: Lagerfeld has assembled a slew of his favorite ladies — including Erichsen, Lady Amanda Harlech, Anna Mouglalis and Kristen McMenamy — to star in a movie he is making in tandem with the Chanel cruise collection he will show in Antibes on May 9. It will be shot in Monaco and other locations in the South of France."

With this 7th Chanel campaign under her belt, Freja sits firmly at the top of the modeling world. I started this blog partly so I could vent about what I saw as her wasted potential back in '08 and '09, but now that she's so successful I really don't know what this blog stands for anymore. Maybe it's segued into an homage, or a place to talk about the work free from petty gossip, or a force of writing habit, or.....I don't know. Whatever it is, I'm just so happy and proud that we've all been able to witness the changes, the ups and downs, and the transformations as they've happened.

St. Tropez Fun

It was great to see Freja back on the runway again. Despite donning three disparate looks, I thought she looked refreshed, comfortable and happy to be walking. Then again, who wouldn't be happy getting whisked away to St. Tropez this time of year to walk on the beach and play Chanel themed Bocce Ball?

The rest of the cast was made up of a mix of old and new models, all who seemed to be having a blast walking (mostly) barefoot around the cafe like beachfront setting. No matter what you think about Karl and his designs, he sure knows how to put on a good time for everyone, audience and models included. (There's a reason why Chanel is the one show that most models want to walk.)

We saw all of the usual suspects walking, but we also saw the likes of Crystal Renn, Tanga Moreau, Marloes Horst and Veroniek Gielkens making for one very interesting, unexpected and diverse cast. But diverse only in age, body shape and industry experiences. Racial diversity was glaringly non-existent, which is especially surprising to me since we're coming off a FW1011 runway season that saw breakthroughs for a wide variety of girls from different backgrounds: Lais Ribeiro, Joan Smalls, Mengyao Xi, Sun Fei Fei and Carla Gebhart immediately come to mind. Where were they?

Anyway, Karl's full film "Remember Now" also premiered in conjunction with the runway show:

There is surprisingly little of Freja to be seen throughout, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it and taking into consideration the Paris-Shanghai film. For me, this film was definitely less cringe-worthy and actually pretty enjoyable. I'm going to attribute it to the fact that there was less talking and more dancing/partying. Taken for what it is--a tone piece meant to showcase the attitude of the collection--the film delivers and the models do a great job. Karl isn't pretending to be Spielberg here, so as long as you recognize that it's pretty easy to revel in the sheer entertainment value of it all. And I have to say that I laughed so hard when Uncle Karl made his cameo. Never change Karl....never change. And never stop using Freja for your work. It's something I've come to expect and frankly, depend upon. It's reliable and it comforts me, and that's a very rare thing to find in this industry that thrives off of trends and constant change. So even if I do complain sometimes, it's out of love and appreciation.

Your thoughts? Am I the only one who didn't mind the film? Thoughts on the runway casting? Did your favs walk? Didn't you think Freja looked good?

Image Credits: wwd.com

Whetted Appetites

Don't forget.....Chanel Cruise show tomorrow, and premiere of the full Remember Now short film on Chanel News at 7:30 pm CET, meaning 1:30 pm EST. To get yourself ready, check out the trailer above if you haven't yet, and watch for glimpses of Elisa, Freja, Anja, Magdalena, Karolina, Abbey Lee and Baptiste (natch). Aren't you just dying to see how good/bad/so bad it's good the final product will turn out to be?

Over the weekend, models were dispatched in full force to St. Tropez, including Dorothea, Hanne, Jacquelyn, Sigrid and many more. Add all the girls in the film and the runway is sure to be full of all your favorite models. Short of sitting on a beach in St. Tropez myself, I can't think of a better way to usher in warm weather than catching Chanel Cruise looks on all the girls I've been missing since the end of FW1011. Good job Karl...our appetites are sufficiently whetted and we're ready for the full course!

St. Tropez - 8 Months Later

Last week WWD and Fashionologie told us that Karl and Heidi Mount would be in St. Tropez this week to work on another short film for the Chanel Cruise Collection set to show in May.

"He’s zooming down to Saint-Tropez to shoot a minimovie for Chanel’s cruise show on May 11. It will feature model Heidi Mount and French actor Pascal Greggory."

Well it turns out that Freja and a handful of other models are in St. Tropez too, presumably all working on that Chanel short film. Pictures have surfaced of Abbey Lee, Freja, Heidi Mount, Karolina Kurkova, Leigh Lezark and Magdalena Frackowiak all walking around in what I assume are looks from the upcoming Cruise show:

Curiously missing from Karl's crew is Baptiste. But perhaps he's still hard at work on that upcoming album. That's the only reason I can come up with for his absence at both last month's Chanel campaign shoot and this month's set in St. Tropez.

I have all my extremities and appendages crossed in the hopes that this film will be better and more culturally sensitive than the last Chanel short film that Karl did for the Paris-Shanghai Pre-Fall Collection. Not that we have much to go by from the pictures above, but things are looking good so far.

Oh, and as the title of this post says, Freja was in St. Tropez about 8 months ago if you can remember. She was there last August with Karl, but I really can't recall why.

It must be nice to be a part of Karl's entourage. Gotta wonder though--with the Cruise collection showing on May 11th, and most European air travel currently debilitated by a cloud of volcanic ash, will Freja, Karl, Heidi and co. just stay in St. Tropez for the rest of the month? And since Leigh and Karolina are also in the film (and not Chanel runway regulars), can we expect to see them walk the Cruise runway as well? Sometimes the more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know. Oh well. At least we know what Abbey, Freja, Heidi and Magdalena will be doing May 11th.

Image Credits: bauergriffin via VogueElle Addict @ tFS, fashionologie, plejada.pl via slow_hands @ tfS, WENN via ERIKIMISUN @ tFS

Cruisin

The FW shows are barely over and we already have news about Cruise Collections. According to Vogue.com:

"Lagerfeld is already at work on his next film, which will debut in St.-Tropez in May along with his [Chanel] cruise collection."

Chances are that Freja will walk. She hasn't missed a Chanel show in a long time, and she is the campaign girl for the third season in a row, fifth time over all. But I wonder who will be in the video? Perhaps Freja and Abbey since they're both staring in the FW campaign? Maybe Edita because she's been in all the past videos? (But she hasn't really been walking the Chanel runway recently.) Maybe Heidi? Baptiste for sure of course.

If Freja is in it, I just hope it's better than her last foray into acting. At least we know that she won't be asked to play a Chinese courtesan or peasant, so that's a start. Maybe with St. Tropez as the setting (and possibly inspiration?) we can expect a video of gorgeous models lounging around on a beautiful beach? Now that is a video that I can get behind 100%.

Speaking of Chanel, pictures of Karl, Freja and Abbey shooting the campaign have been all over blogs recently. But just in case you haven't seen them, here they are:

And tons more good ones here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachel_photo/
Plus a wonderful, detailed writeup here.

They were shooting on Wednesday and Thursday down in Soho on Orchard street apparently, so for all the New Yorkers out there, this is your best chance to do some model watching and Karl watching. Maybe you'll spot him drinking Diet Coke without his sunglasses on, or listening to one of his hundreds of iPods....

Interesting choice for the campaign setting too. I bet you all were expecting a cold locale considering the big iceberg at the show and all. But Karl wouldn't be that predictable. With a barn as his setting for the SS10 show, you'd think he would have made use of his Vermont country house again for the campaign. But instead, he went all the way to Argentina. Anyway, I'm very excited to see how this campaign turns out given the setting. A little reminiscent of the old Daria Chanel campaign with that last shot, non? And I'm anxious to see how Abbey will fare as a Chanel girl. She isn't an obvious choice; but then again, neither was Freja when she was picked and look at where she is now. Five campaigns and counting....

Image Credits: elleuk.com and ajchen.com. streetlevel.com, thelodownny.com, misschico.com, fringesocial.blogspot.com all via tFS member slow_hands

Inspiration

I could not get yesterday's Chanel Cruise collection out of my head. After I had a chance to digest the images, the styling and mood of show really struck a chord with me and I decided to do a little research about Karl's inspiration.

Before the show even happened, word was already making its way around the blogosphere about what to expect. We learned from style.com to look for something reminiscent of Peggy Guggenheim. Vogue.co.uk told us to imagine a collection inspired by 1930's Venetian high society. After the images came out, it was clear to me that Karl was more inspired by the later.

All of the models came down the runway in wigs and makeup clearly inspired by Marchesa Casati, an early 20th century eccentric Italian heiress who lived in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni located on the Grand Canal in Venice, the city where the Chanel show took place. Fittingly enough, in the late 1940s the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni became home to Peggy Guggenheim, and it is now the current home of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection of early 20th century European and American art.

When you take the time to research things you begin to see that everything is really connected. Marches Casati is not new to the fashion conscious as she also served as inspiration to John Galliano's Haute Couture SS98 Christian Dior collection.

She was known for her vibrant red hair, white powdered face, kohl-lined eyes and vermilion red lips. Once you realize this, the reference is just unmistakable.

(Edita Vilkeviciute)

You have to give credit to Karl for taking a theme and running with it. Whether it's the tropical luxury of Miami beach or the Russian nights of Moscow, Karl makes his inspirations very clear. This is exactly the kind of escapism that I think we all need at the moment. We couldn't be there sitting on deck chairs at Lido beach, but we could all certainly feel the atmosphere through the models, makeup and clothes.

(HQs)

One last note about the degree to which everything is connected: Casati lead a very lavish lifestyle as part of Venetian high society. She eventually amassed a great deal of debt and had to auction off her personal items, and rumor has it Coco Chanel herself was a bidder in the auction.

Image Credits: amazon.com, designhistory.org, fashionologie

On the Boardwalk in Venice

So what do you think? I'm loving the two outfits, but I'm not feeling that hair. Although I suppose that in context it works because I get that high society vibe circa the Peggy Guggenheim era, which is what Karl was going for.

Anyway, I'm happy Freja walked and I hope this means a good turnout for her during the upcoming SS10 season. Freja has missed parts of the last two SS seasons in a row and I'm just hoping history doesn't repeat itself. At least we're off to a nice start here.

Image Credits: WWD

Any Sightings in Venice?

The Chanel Cruise show in Venice is happening tomorrow and I bet we're all wondering the same thing. Will Freja be there? At this point, your guess is as good as mine. The last time she walked a Cruise show for Karl was back during the Spring/Summer 2007 Resort show. You can see pictures in this post. Other than that, Freja has not typically walked this runway so it's hard to know whether she'll be present tomorrow.

History doesn't seem to be on our side since Freja has not walked in the last two Cruise shows. However, I think that Karl would want her walking this runway considering that she is one of the current Chanel campaign girls along with Heidi Mount. And Heidi appears to be in Venice already. So maybe we can be hopeful!

Afterall, Freja missed three Chanel Haute Couture shows in a row before she came back to open and close the SS09 Haute Couture show. At this point all we can do is wait and see. In case you are interested there are teaser videos up on the Chanel site, but they're nothing to get in a fuss over. Just some scenic video shots around Venice featuring the canals and water. And here are some pictures of Karl's luggage and his mode of transport in Venice. You gotta admit, the man travels in style.

Image Credits: fashionologie