Kim Jones made his Haute Couture debut for Fendi

Kim Jones made his Haute Couture debut for Fendi on January 27 at the Palais Brongniart in Paris. Named Artistic Director of Women’s collections of the Roman house last September, the British designer is also head of Dior Men. Inspired by the writings of Virginia Woolf and timeless Italian codes, Kim Jones proposes a romantic vision of the Fendi woman.

The only surviving recording of writer Virginia Woolf is from a 1937 BBC radio broadcast series called ‘Words Fail Me’. Kim Jones chose her mysterious voice to open his first haute couture show for Fendi, setting the tone for the collection: “Words, English words, are full of echoes, of memories, of associations – naturally. They have been out and about, on people’s lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries”.

Words infuse the collection, from love letters written by Virginia Woolf to her lover Vita Sackville-West, to her novel ‘Orlando’, inscribed on mother of pearl minaudières or leather boots. The set for the show also referenced the author in a glass labyrinth decorated with bookcases to create intimate ‘rooms of their own’.

For his first haute couture show, Kim Jones surrounded himself with longtime friends including Demi Moore, Kate Moss and her daughter Lila, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Cara Delevingne. They took to the runway alongside androgynous models with carmine lips wearing long flowing capes to the sound of Max Richter’s soundtrack.

Fendi represents artisanal quality of the highest order, and it is all about family. It is in its third generation with a Fendi at its helm, and I am guest starring while bringing in the fourth.

Kim Jones

In addition to literature, Kim Jones also found inspiration in the murals painted by Virginia Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell at Charlheston Farmhouse, the regular meeting place of the Bloomsbury group to which they belonged. Her decorative motifs are embroidered on gowns. Another key theme of the collection is marble, mirrored on an imperial gown worn by Naomi Campbell. The marble palette is a tribute to the Galleria Borghese in Italy, a country adored by the Bloomsbury group, and above all the native land of the Fendi family.

The history of Fendi provided a final and equally central inspiration for Kim Jones’ maiden haute couture collection. He paid tribute to Karl Lagerfeld, who shared his love of literature and was his predecessor at Fendi for over 50 years. The final Fendi monograms designed by Karl are beaded onto boots. The history of Fendi is that of the family that founded the Maison in 1925. Silvia Venturini Fendi is today Artistic Director for menswear and accessories, while jewelry designer Delfina Delettrez Fendi also walked the runway. As Kim Jones noted, “Fendi represents artisanal quality of the highest order, and it is all about family. It is in its third generation with a Fendi at its helm, and I am guest starring while bringing in the fourth”.

Come into the beaautiful world of Fendi.

Burberry Her Blossom

Founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, British fashion house Burberry crafts stylish, modern and chic fashion lines and sensual perfumes. First Burberry perfumes showed up on the industry market early 1980. All Burberry perfumes are unique, long-lasting, memorable, desirable, sensual and delicious.

Effortlessly stylish, energetic, optimistic, adventurous and bold – the spirit of Her, captured in London – a beautiful, bustling, creative metropolis, eclectic and full of life.

Burberry Her Blossom perfume is a new nice and sensual scent for women made of lovely pure and fresh aroma. Created by Francis Kurkdjian, it blends aromatic and beautiful flowers with fresh ingredients to make it more lingering and easy to be worn during the whole day, seasoned with woody ingredients in the end.

Gorgeous model Cara Delevingne, photographed by Juergen Tellerwho, is the face of this new tempting and feminine perfume, says: “The thing I love about the London attitude is that it’s so bold – people are not afraid to say what they think. This is the place where people change things”.

The flacon is luxurious yet understated, inspired by an archival Burberry fragrance design. Burberry Her Blossom is available as 30, 50 and 100ml Eau de Toilette. 

Come into the beautiful world of Burberry.

 

 

 

Holy Grail: YSL Touche Éclat

To this day, one Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Éclat it is sold every ten seconds somewhere in the world – not bad for a product nobody understands. I assures you it is not only an under-eye concealer, yet you can hardly be the only one who’s used it as such for years – and very successfully too, I like to think.

Yves Saint Laurent’s most iconic product, and a true Holy Grail under make-up artists, is without a doubt the Touche Éclat which has won many, many awards in the twenty years since it launched. The YSL Touche Éclat contains tiny light particles and mineral extracts to create an healthy, natural glow, light and luminosity with the click of the pen.

Touche Éclat is also not strictly a highlighter; it’s a ‘complexion enhancer that delicately places invisible ribbons of light’. YSL describe their iconic Touche Éclat as being eight hours of sleep in a magic wand, as it promises to banish shadows and tired-looking eyes by adding light, and creating instant lift. The Touche Éclat is packaged within a golden, metal pen with a black button on the base which you click to dispense the concealer through the white bristles of the brush applicator. When you use it for the first time: don’t click to quickly many times. Give it a little time to come out into the brush: so click slowly…. otherwise much will come out, and that would be a pitty…

There are ten different shades available. There are many ways in which the Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat can be used; under the eyes to cover dark circles, along the brow bones as a highlighter, blended over the eyelids to even out the skintone, as an eyeshadow primer, on the cheekbones as an highlighter, or used on the cupids bow of the lips for a plumping effect.

Face of YSL Beauty since 2013, Cara Delevingne has appeared in multiple campaigns for the brand. Her three latest advertisements for the brand focus on the Volupte Tine-In-Oil lip line, Mascara Volume Effect Luxurious Mascara range as well as the Touche Eclat concealer where she poses alongside Cindy Bruna.

Touche Éclat N° 1 Rose Lumière is particularly effective under the eyes due to its ‘pink ivory’ tone as it helps to cancel out any darkness under the eyes and give a more illuminated effect to disguise any signs of tiredness. It has a lovely, vèry lightweight formula which blends into the skin easily without clinging to any dryness or looking cakey.

I thought I’d list a few wonderful and correct uses for the much-loved clicky pen.

1. Mattify your makeup: To turn a satin eye shadow into a matte one, mix a little powder shadow (you’ll need an ultra-fine textured one, so you’re safest with a fancy brand like YSL, Guerlain, Clarins or Dior) with a dollop of Touche Éclat on the back of your hand, and apply with a brush.
2. Contour your face: Blended onto on the bridge of the nose, between the brows, on the tops of cheekbones and on the tip of the chin, it will sharpen your features. No matter your skin color!
3. Make your skin pop with brightness: Dabbed onto darker areas of your face (undereyes, corners of your mouth, the hollow between your bottom lip and chin, and the corners of your nose), it will make you look brighter and less tired.(it does work to blur minor under eye circles, but is not good on pronounced ones).
4. Make your eyeshadow last longer: Touche Éclat can be used as an eyeshadow primer: simply apply all over the lids to anchor any eye shadow. It can be a lip base as well.
5. Light up tired eyes: Applied in the inner eye corners, this stuff will really brighten tired eyes and enhance their Whites.
6. Arch your eyebrows: A quick trick for more defined brows is to blend a line of Touche Éclat below and above them.
7. Highlight your cheekbones: The pen comes in seven shades (above); if you’re pale-skinned, no5 can be used to contour the cheeks, while no6 works as a warm cream bronzer (this could come in handy if a well-meaning boyfriend gives you the entirely wrong shade).
8. Enhance your pout: Create the illusion of fuller lips by applying and blending Touche Éclat around the lip line and in two inverted triangles below the outer corners of the lower lip, before putting on lipstick. Then dab a tiny bit over your lip colour in the middle of your bottom lip, and soften.
9. Show off your nail art: You can even dab Touche Éclat around your cuticle to make your manicure pop. Probably best to make sure you have well-hydrated hands and cuticles before you try this

The Touche Éclat ‘Rock Lace’ comes in the original shade, N° 1 Rose Lumière. The perfect balance of allure and elegance, Collector Rock Lace is a must-have for up-close and bold seduction. The ultimate accessory for eyes, available in a limited edition.

I like that it’s such a versatile product. Jolanda, a colleague, who worked for Yves Saint Laurent Beauty in the time it was launched, introduced it to me, and sinds then I use it standard in my work. I tried some others, but in my opinion, nothing compares to the results it gives.

Touche Éclat is so widely used that I don’t really need to spread the word about it. Of course there are cheaper highlighters. Sleek does a nice highlighting palate for next to nothing, but the packaging and ease of this product make it stand out… and all the celebrities they use to advertise it doesn’t hurt its popularity either.

You may ask any respected make-up artist, they all would admit: it’s a Holy Grail!