So, it seems Sonam photobombed Julianne Moore last night. There is no such thing as red carpet dance space taught in starlet charm school, I guess?

First, let me say, I have admired Sonam Kapoor’s style in the past. There was a time when it was absolutely effortless, or at least it appeared to be so. Remember the Anamika Khanna toga dress, kundan and flat gladiator combo from a few years ago? It still stands apart today, on any red carpet.

The problem is just that – any red carpet. We now find Sonam on most of them, don’t we? And there is so much effort involved, isn’t there?

She is a lovely looking young woman, who happens to have a lot of designer friends, great style sense and a killer closet (not to mention her Mumbai film industry lineage), so I don’t think there is a need to try so hard.

Sonam, in everything.

Her ensemble last night was a perfect example. She chose old friend Anamika’s couture collection. You know that Anamika Khanna and I are soul sisters (and sole sisters) and I adore her collections. I think the flaws are in the styling of it.

My eye doesn’t know where to look, but wants to look at the detailing on that jacket.

I’m not sure I would have opted to wear both the sari/blouse combination and the embellished trailing jacket together. That jacket is a conversation piece and needs to be heard in this crowded space of lace, beading, jewels, makeup and other accessories.

It would have been so much stronger with a Dior pant (see Ms. Ziyi’s pair for an example), or even an Anamika high-waist harem pant, as worn by Sonam earlier that day, and paired with the pointiest of shoes. That collection was one of my favourites.

Sonam, dressed for a press interview, in Anamika Khanna.

Wearing both the sari and cape together, as they were intended by the designer could have worked without the silver peep-toe shoe, without the 12″ extended remix eyeliner and braided and put-up hair.

A shorter flick would have sufficed.

Plus, a polki nath (uncut diamond nose ring) of such proportions is a piece you put on with a simple South silk bordered sari or a back-drape Stephane Rolland couture column – it’s not an add-on on an already too-loud-in-here-can-we-go-outside party.

Bas. No more.

I am guessing that she and her L’oréal buddy Freida Pinto (another any red carpet candidate) shared a hair stylist last night.

Over-braided.

I thought they both looked much lovelier during the day.

Simplify your lives – and your PR strategies, ladies.

In a Huemn sari and Suhani Pittie jewels.

Now, I understand that she’s there on official business as a L’oreal ambassador, but three photo ops in one day, alone? It’s not like she’s a jury member, is it?

Oh, but Vidya Balan is. What was I saying about red carpet dance space?

Careful, Sonam, your entourage is showing.

Catch up on all Cannes 2013 posts.

Images: 1,2,6. Pascal Le Segretain; 4,5. Gareth Cattermole – all Getty; 3,7,8 – Twitter photos. 

May 16th, 2013
Categories: Red Carpet . Tags: #Cannes, Anamika Khanna, Cannes 2013, Cannes opening ceremony, Cannes red carpet, exshoesme.com, Festival De Cannes, Freida Pinto, Freida Pinto in Gucci, Gucci, haute couture, Huemn, Sonam Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor in Anamika Khanna, Sonam Kapoor in Huemn, Suhani Pittie . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

If there are red carpet lotteries, then Cannes is the millions-for-life edition, or in fashion-speak, sales spikes for the next couple of seasons, at least. Raf Simons seems to have won the red carpet raffle this time – if the opening ceremony at Cannes is any indication.

First, there was Zhang Ziyi, looking perfect in peplum and pants. Then, Nicole Kidman took her floral SS13 couture to new heights with her ponytail ‘pohawk’.

Julianne Moore, a recurring member of both the best-tressed and the best-dressed clubs, also opted for Dior Spring 2013 Couture tonight.

On someone else, this dress would have been too simple (the best couture in my opinion, often is the one that looks the simplest but is secretly made with diamond thread by a million fashion fairies). Ms. Moore, however, shines within it.

Julianne Moore est belle in a Dior bell-skirted gown.

I also loved her locks, forever fuss-free and fabulous.

Très chic tresses.

Loved the tresses, loved the dress, but I digress…did Ms. Moore get photobombed by a Bollywood babe?

Sonam Kapoor “borrows” a bit of the carpet, cheeky Bolly dolly that she is.

Why am I not surprised, Sonam? More to come on Ms. Kapoor and other starlets who can’t seem to find their way off of a red carpet…anywhere.

Catch up on all Cannes 2013 posts.

Images: 1, 3. Andreas Rentz; 2. Pascal Le Segretain – all Getty.

May 15th, 2013
Categories: Couture, Red Carpet, Spring Summer 2013 . Tags: #Cannes, Cannes 2013, Cannes opening ceremony, Cannes red carpet, Christian Dior, exshoesme.com, Festival De Cannes, haute couture, Julianne Moore . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

Maybe it’s the influence of that almost-punk, nearly-punk and not-really-punk that surrounds fashion media lately, but did I just see (what I am calling) a ‘pohawk’ in Cannes?

Nicole Kidman debuts the ‘pohawk’ walk.

Note the Dior Couture – SS13 this time. That’s two for Raf on opening night, and I’ve only just begun counting.

It was jarring at first, but it’s an interesting way to contrast the floral couture.

Kidman’s a sly one, when it comes to her red carpet choices.

Whether you like it or not, she clearly wins the prize for most durable hair products!

Do we like, or is the jury still out?

And while a couple of fellow fashion daredevils tried, their tresses left them, well, stranded.

Bye Bye Bai.

Although Lady Hervey’s locks weren’t as locked down by lotions and potions as Nic’s, I appreciated that she took a fashion risk. Also, she’s a Lady and thus, entitled to hair ornamentation.

Honorable hair mention to Lady Victoria Hervey for going for it.

It’s the risk-takers that make the red carpet dance, after all. That’s one thing I’ve always appreciated about Nicole Kidman – she doesn’t always win the sartorial lottery, but she takes chances.

She’s a jury member this year, so there will be a few more surprises over the next 11 days, I am sure.

Hair’s to you, ladies, but I took it to new heights tonight.

Watch this space…

Catch up on all Cannes 2013 posts.

Images 1,2,5,6,7. Pascal Le Segretain; 3. Gareth Cattermole 4. Vittorio Zunino Celotto – all Getty.

May 15th, 2013
Categories: Couture, Red Carpet, Spring Summer 2013 . Tags: #Cannes, Cannes 2013, Cannes opening ceremony, Cannes red carpet, Christian Dior, exshoesme.com, Festival De Cannes, haute couture, Lady Victoria Hervey, Nicole Kidman . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

My dears, I am back. Cannes I help it? Not really, no.

I was sitting here quietly in front of my laptop, planning on just looking at what was strolling, strutting or simpering down ze tapis rouge on ze ozzer size of ze pond and well, opinions started to spring forth. Also, I missed you, darlings.

Cannes 2013 is kicking off in couture-ish and chaotic style (punk pun fully intended), despite the rain. I think for Cannes, one has to go either way – full-on couture or crazy chaos – both are respected and expected. After all, those sea breezes do affect one’s whims.

Zhang Ziyi always makes red carpet dressing look breezy, and I thought she played it brilliantly tonight, in Dior Couture.

Easy breezy red carpet dressing.

She wisely chose trousers while other starlets had their rain-soaked trains trod upon. The petit peplum, pants and patterned pumps are perfection. Plus, that hair!

ZZ tops in strapless Dior Couture FW12.

She tops the looks I’ve seen so far, tonight.

Also, I might need every shoe Raf Simons has sent down his Dior-era runway…

Those stilts were made for strutting.

Catch up on all Cannes 2013 posts, and see who else wore Dior Couture on opening night.

Images: Pascal Le Segretain; Vittorio Zunino Celotto; Andreas Rentz – all Getty Images Europe.

May 15th, 2013
Categories: Couture, Fall Winter 2012, Red Carpet . Tags: #Cannes, Cannes 2013, Cannes opening ceremony, Cannes red carpet, Christian Dior, exshoesme.com, Festival De Cannes, haute couture, Zhang Ziyi . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

Feeling ka-powed by the gazillion fashion weeks that have suddenly come into your consciousness? Have they deemed you unconscious? I know I’ve been feeling the punch. What used to be a few weeks every season (when fashion seasons were only two), has turned into a global year-long extravaganza. There are, of course, the main mode ports of call: New York (the FW13 shows were better than many US fashion excursions I can recall in recent years); London (we’re back, luv); Milan (ciao amore); and Paris (gush avec stilettos – and pointed ones, at zat) which make up Fashion Month. A handful of global cities soon followed suit – and like their Western counterparts, wore suits – both traditional and non.

As I write this, Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week AW13 in Delhi, Japan Fashion Week FW13 and World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto have all recently wrapped. Lakmé Fashion Week (another of many such weeks in the Motherland – this one showing Summer/Resort 2013 in Mumbai) is in full swing, and there was one other big one inbetween – I forget which. Do you blame me?

All of this fashion ubiquity has led me to fashion oblivion, actually. There are dozens of shows each day appearing on hundreds of sites and it’s been a challenge to keep up with it all. As you know, I try not to read reviews and prefer to make up my own mind from runway shots, but it is hard to avoid the constant conversation that surrounds me on all mediums, digital and otherwise, 24-7. Then, there is the ‘hurry up and move on to the next thing’ mentality that has taken over our lives. It’s old news if it happened 10 minutes ago. Goth forbid we think about how things connect, or find their context and resonance within our lives. And yes, fashion is indeed personal to me.

When I over-indulge, I do pay the price. Forgive me, my dears, I am still suffering from a prolonged case of fashion laryngitis. However, when I do manage to block out the noise of others, I start to hear my own voice again.

I’ve been resting my voice for weeks (I know you’ll understand) but I’ve been listening silently to what’s been spinning down the catwalks – from couture to Calcutta … to cattle ranches?

Well, that is only thing that can explain Tom Ford’s FW13 collection – his Texan roots. He’s been cited as saying the collection was inspired by Rihanna, but I noticed a few other influences.

It was first and foremost the furthest thing from the Fordification that we know and love – the extreme sexed up simplicity of a slinky backless zippered dress or the cape that captivated the carpet and left others blushing for lack of trying.

Ford for the first time since debuting his namesake women’s collection a couple of years ago via ultra-exclusive and intimate presentations, was on the official schedule at London Fashion Week. There was talk – much of it – weeks before the show. And he responded with a Wham!

Tom went from couture catwalkers to cartoon characteristics in one season?

Was he making fun of the cartoon characters of fashion, perhaps? He is a father now.

Was it that more-is-more is indeed now more than less-is-more? It hit us with a wallop. Would we ditch our demure in favour of far-out and over-the-top?

Explosion 1965-6 by Roy Lichtenstein

But wait, it wasn’t that far to go. Ford’s son likely has a Lichtenstein colouring book – cartoons would be too pedestrian.

The ka-pow evening gown…the new power dressing?

Super-Ford powers, ACTIVATE! It’s no wonder that pop art popped up everywhere – the wee wunderkind (by relation, nach) must be proud of his Pops.

Whaam! 1963 by Roy Lichtenstein from the Tate Gallery in London.

But, because I’m me, I saw beyond the Pops and the pop art and the pop tart. For me, it was a double-whammy.

Tom Ford’s double-wham gown for FW13.

I can’t think of wham without thinking of well, Wham!

The original double of Wham! – George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.

To bring it full fashion circle, their cover sleeve for Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go mixed multiple colours and prints, too.

The cover that wakes one up.

The expression on the model’s face, the full lip and the lined eye bring it back to Lichtenstein.

In the Car by Roy Lichtenstein

The leopard fur drives it back home, to Texas, where Tom likely was tutored in animal prints.

A ferocious mix at Ford FW13.

Leopard and lace…and fur…and clashing prints…

You could say, Tom was mixing his media, perhaps for the media?

Just when we thought we had him figured out, he gives us a ‘wham, bam, thank you, I AM Tom Ford!’ wake up call.

Nowhere to go-go but up, darlings, for our Mr. Darling.

Images: Tom Ford collection pics from Style.com; Lichtenstein prints from Tate.org.uk; Wham! image via Guardian UK, cover sleeve via Wikimedia.

March 25th, 2013
Categories: Collections, Déjà Vu, Fall Winter 2013, Fashion and Art History, Fashion and Music . Tags: exshoesme.com, ka-pow, ka-power dressing, LFW FW13, London Fashion Week, Mr. Darling, Tom Ford, Tom Ford FW13, Whaam! . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

Speaking of dance, the second-ever CR Fashion Book is on newsstands this week.

Centred around themes, each issue is a dalliance with divine inspiration; each page expands your visual vocabulary, and before you know it, your couture cup runneth over.

The dance issue double cover features one with world-renowned ballet dancer Sergei Polunin leaping across it, and the other with a high-heeled ballet slipper (you’ll slip and fall, alright) by artist Brigitte Niedermair.

We all dance to Carine’s tune…

Heaps – and leaps – of inspiration.

There’s no tiptoeing around this issue, you need it right now.

You might want to take off the 8-inch Louboutin ballet heels (that you can only sit in) to go and get one.

There’s a reason they call it a book – it’s something you’ll want on your Castelli bookshelf for years to come, to dance with again…

Need more ballet? Tiptoe over to: Did Someone Say Ballet?, The Parachute Club, and I’m Your Private Dancer.

Images: TFS.

February 26th, 2013
Categories: Mag Rack, Magazines . Tags: ballet, Carine Roitfeld, CR Fashion Book, dance, exshoesme.com, Magazines . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

That Sugar Plum Fairy of fall? She changes her mind, not her colours, with the seasons.

By day, she rules the land of the sweet…

Riveting sweetness at Burberry FW13.

…by night, she dances til dawn.

Gucci’s sumptuous plums for FW13.

The plum brandy/bordeaux/claret dance continues for the coming fashion season. I’ll drink (and dance!) to that.

Images: Vogue.com.

February 22nd, 2013
Categories: Collections, Fall Winter 2013 . Tags: bordeaux, Burberry, burgundy, claret, exshoesme.com, Fall Winter 2013, FW13, Gucci, plum . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

Last night saw red carpets rolled out on both sides of the pond.

In Los Angeles, Grammy attendees received a memo asking them to cover up, and we were all a little more than grateful, weren’t we? However, those restrictions led to a lack of noteworthy fashion moments. I expect edgy, hip, and crazy during “music’s biggest night”, but it was all tuxedos and big bow ties. Even the beatniks kept the beat to a humdrum pulse. Interestingly enough, my best dressed at the music fest was a Brit.

As Adele accepted another award (is anyone counting anymore?), another big night was happening in her homeland – the BAFTAs – the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards.

I look forward to the display of Brit style each year, which usually involves a few more risks and that English ease approach to this whole red carpet business. It’s a welcome break from the fish tails and froth of the rest of awards season. Sadly, this year proved to be a disappointment. For one, the weather was dreary and not entirely conducive to glamour. Starlets here, too, had to cover up in proper overcoats (not those couture-y runway coats we’d expect them to wear)! Second, there weren’t as many Brit style mavens around as I would have liked to have seen. Where were the Kates? Livia and Colin? Plus, the usual sartorial suspects like Dame Mirren and Eddie Redmayne didn’t give us anything to gush on Twitter about. Mirren, though, has coloured her hair a metallic pink. I am hoping it’s for a film role and not an actual hairstyle choice. Poor Eddie, too – he apparently got food poisoning soon after his red carpet appearance.

So, with that said, here are those who not only braved the weather, but put a brave fashion foot forward.

Anne Hathaway changed it up for this side of fame – her pixie cut has grown in a bit, so it’s softer. She ditched her usually glitzy gowns for a Burberry studded column, which had just enough sparkle and just enough subtlety.

Anne Hathaway keeping it British, in Burberry.

I thought it fit her well and was fitting for her age. I am tired of young actresses dressing like their mothers.

Fit and function – and she didn’t even look cold.

Loved the Les Mis book bag, but I think the cuffs should have been a little more rock and roll.

It’s the best I’ve ever seen her look. Speaking of that, look who else changed it up last night – Mrs. Affleck (still finding it funny how she used her stage time at the SAGs – or was it the Globes – to finish her husband’s thank you speech).

Jennifer Garner in Roland Mouret.

You can do the math, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen her in something with geometric lines.

The other dresses have been boring, haven’t they, Jen?

Westwood is never boring and one expects at least one Auntie Viv sighting in a red carpet strut. Andrea Riseborough and her date, boyfriend Joe Appel gave us a double dose of the Westwood aesthetic.

When couture complements, you are sure to receive many a compliment.

This woman is no stranger to couture – she chose one of the best dresses from Dior’s recent garden haute couture collection by Raf Simons and it also happens to be in the colour of the moment.

All flowers need a little sprinkle of water – Marion Cotillard tries to keep the Dior dry.

TV presenter, Laura Whitmore didn’t need a golden gown – she has golden tresses. And she didn’t need fancy dresses either, opting for a smart jumpsuit instead. I thought her makeup was classic glamour.

A red lip and a cat’s eye – oh my.

Right now, this girl needs a little shut-eye, but I’ll have a few more design details for you tomorrow.

Photos: 1. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Europe; 2, 5, 7, 8. Ian Gavan/Getty Images Europe; 3. Dave Norton/Bauer Griffin; 4. PacificCoastNews.com; 6. Dave Benett via Vivienne Westwood.

February 11th, 2013
Categories: Fashionable Events, Red Carpet . Tags: Andrea Riseborough in Vivienne Westwood, Anne Hathaway, awards season, BAFTA Awards 2013, BAFTAs 2013, Burberry, exshoesme.com, Jennifer Garner, Laura Whitmore, Marion Cotillard in Christian Dior Couture, red carpet dressing, Roland Mouret . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

And the Grammy for best dressed at last night’s awards goes to…

…the woman who has every other award in the known universe.

I thought Adele looked fabulous in floral lace.

I like that Adele shunned conventional thinking and her usual black or navy dress, daring to dream in this floral number from Valentino Couture. It was a shorter version than shown on the runway and I liked her choice of a coordinating printed shoe.

She is a gorgeous woman – inside and out. I love her spirit and her humility despite her ubiquity.

A and B girl-chat at the Grammys last night.

If you are going to go, go all the way girls. I’ll take bold over boring any day.

All photos by Christopher Polk/Getty Images North America.

February 11th, 2013
Categories: Fashionable Events, Red Carpet . Tags: Adele, Adele in Valentino Couture, exshoesme, exshoesme.com, floral, garden prints, Grammy Awards 2013, Grammys 2013, lace, red carpet dressing . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

As I immerse myself in the daily deluge of images that is Fashion Month, I cannot help but remember which month we are in. February always holds a heavy place in my heart – the 11th in particular.

Amongst the sea of scenes, the tumble of tweed and tulle, the pomp of PR and the media mayhem, you still stand apart.

Your talent is unequalled; your influence, ever noted. Your voice, for its poetry amongst the noise, is sorely missed.

The stars are brighter for having you amongst them, darling Lee. Our world is still a little darker without you.

Lee Alexander McQueen photographed by Steven Klein for Vogue.

Image via TFS. 

February 11th, 2013
Categories: Inspiration . Tags: . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

Has Victoria Beckham quietly become a caped crusader for what smart, busy, chic women want to wear?

The cape jacket and cuffed capris that I can’t stop thinking about.

You know how much I love a tailored capri and if it has a sky-high cuff and a pointy shoe attached, all the better.

Her collection at New York Fashion Week this morning was a Sunday place to rest your eyes, after a chaotic week. Good thing, too, because you’ll need her sophisticated, luxe and easy-to-wear pieces to get you through your next crazy week – and you won’t look like you went to any trouble at all. Oh this fabulous thing? Vic just whipped it up for me.

Electrifying. This might prove to be the biggest seller of the collection.

This is a woman who clearly understands what modern, multi-tasking women want (and need) to wear. We are busy; we manage families, friendships, Fortune 500s, and still find time to fluff the pillows on the living room sofa. We love fashion, but the cost-per-wear ratio on our recent purchases is as sky-high as some of our stilts. Fur boxing gloves are cute, but may not help us to win any battles, fashion or otherwise. We need options.

For those of us who cannot separate our work ethic from our fashion ethic.

Actually, we have too many fashion options, but what we need is really simple. We want clothes that feel good, make us feel good and make it easy for us to look really, really good. Not everyone speaks fashion fluently, after all. What our friend Vic does is she edits our closets from within her studio. She gives us clothes that we can wear to work, that we can slip on, to meet our favourite girlfriend for Early Spring Darjeeling at the Shangri-La, to spend our booked-solid days in. As an aside, she did have hunky male servers, passing around tea before her show, but the choices were English Breakfast or Japanese Popcorn, according to Twitter.

Dressed for dinner – and a fabulous evening of artistic endeavours.

Shangri-La di da Darjeeling tea outfit.

For Fall/Winter 2013, she has expanded her silhouette – quite literally – with voluminous jackets and curved shoulders. What Mrs. Beckham has done is marry her signature look with her penchant for Japanese shapes (she does wear lots of Junya and CDG, after all). The Japanese inspiration is evident, but not copied. It is very much her own. I can now recognize a Victoria Beckham garment, and that is saying something in this day and age when the work of multiple designers starts to blur together. Wait a minute, were those tea options all part of her 360-degree branding strategy? This marketing girl loves that level of strategic detail.

Controlled volume speaks well, volumes.

The wear everywhere coat from Victoria Beckham FW13.

I appreciate a brand and a fashion line that evolves over time. So many designers try to re-invent themselves each and every season, veering far away from what they’ve done just a few months before. We are missing the art of story-telling within so many collections – not all of them take the time to punctuate, to highlight, and to pause. I don’t necessarily want a new book each season. Sometimes I want to know how the story you started to tell me last time, turns out. What Victoria Beckham has done is to build her collections, referencing her last one but giving us a new plot twist, having the patience and discipline to deliver her vision, one season at a time.

That discipline, that patience, that gradual evolution in her collections has also given us the evolution of Victoria Beckham, the professional.

She is now a fashion designer, first – one who happened to have been in a pop group years ago.

Like the collections she designs, she has grown, evolved, moved forward – and in that way, she is also very much like one of us.

Victoria Beckham, as her fabulous self.

Photos: top two images from The New York Times; remaining photos via Vogue.com.

February 10th, 2013
Categories: Collections, Fall Winter 2013 . Tags: exshoesme.com, Fall Winter 2013, FW13, Mrs. Beckham, NYFW, Victoria Beckham . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

Can you please stop wearing your woolly toque/bobcap/beanie indoors? Please?

If it ever were cool to be so warm away from the elements, the moment has long passed; the element of irony, too, long lost.

I loved the BCBG show this morning (hello NYFW!), but not the toppers.

Indoor insulation at BCBG FW13.

Photo @tmagazine.

February 7th, 2013
Categories: Accessories, Collections, Fall Winter 2013, Hats and Headpieces . Tags: BCBG, beanie, bobcap, exshoesme.com, FW13, NYFW, toque . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

What’s that thing I always say? If you’re going to dream, dream big! Well, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto did just that for their BIG exhibition, currently on view at the Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles and Costume.

Taken from the ROM’s own vast collection, 40 articles speak to what it means to be “mega” in fashion.

Was it big or small in terms of size? Was it a big event, commemorating something of significance? Did it take a long time to make or transport? Was it a big/groundbreaking innovation? Is it or was it made by a big name designer? Is it symbolic or artistic in a big way? Does it have big monetary, political or spiritual value? Is its impact global, national, social or personal?

The piece that welcomes you into the exhibit answers a very large “Oui!” to so many of those questions. It’s from the final Christian Dior Haute Couture collection designed by John Galliano – the one based on the divine drawings of René Gruau.

I dream of Dior – the dreamy Galliano created especially for the ROM.

What you may not know, is that the ROM commissioned the dress for the exhibit (how nice of them to give us all a piece of couture!). If you are a couture dreamer (avec moi), a denizen of the haute House that is Dior, then you simply must be at the Museum this Saturday.

Dr. Alexandra Palmer will be sharing the story of the commission and the ROM will also be presenting the world premiere of Dior, a film about the making of the dress.

See you there, with your new look?

John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture.

Speaking of Dior and couture, I’ve had a post written for you for weeks now, on Mr. Simons’s garden collection. Promise to get that posted this week along with snapshots of my favourite pieces. I also collected dozens of images comparing Gruau and Galliano when I first saw the Spring 2011 Couture collection. I’ll dig them up and share them with you, my dears. Sometimes just seeing them and having them is enough, but I must remember to share… love and couture, /moi

All photos are by Yours Truly. Please provide credit and a link back if you will be using them. Merci.

February 6th, 2013
Categories: Fashion Exhibitions, Fashionable Events . Tags: exshoesme.com, fashion exhibitions, fashion lectures, fashion talks, John Galliano, ROM, ROM BIG, Royal Ontario Museu, Toronto fashion events . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

…Daisy!

Downton Abbey’s Sophie McShera, holding her SAG Award, shared with others in the ensemble cast of the addictive show.

Wasn’t it nice to see Sophie McShera out of her dowdy Downton duds and in this golden gown at the SAG Awards on Sunday night?

This gown didn’t go over well with most critics, but I thought she looked adorable.

That colour is everywhere, so we had better get used to it on the red carpet. I first noticed the gown when the cast went up to accept their award for best Ensemble Cast, Drama, and it looked much better on air – satin isn’t always the best in photographs. Plus, I liked her poufy fun bun and red lips.

I know everyone and her Lady’s maid thinks McShera was one of the worst dressed of the night, but I think she looked like a fresh-faced, twenty-something English girl with fuss-free style. To me, she looked far better than the 22-year olds who can now pronounce but not pull off couture (okay, she did pull at it but did not pull it off).

She wasn’t my best dressed choice, but I applaud her being herself and not joining the one-sided, mermaid tail parade. I do wish it had fit her a twinge better, though.

The yellow and the nonchalance seemed to be a theme for sweet Sophie all week.

Sophie in a similar dress, with Allen Leech (who looks dapper in the subtle plaid jacket, collar detail shirt and skinny jeans) at the Entertainment Weekly Pre-SAG Party at Chateau Marmont, a day earlier.

In a yellow and black printed frock + pony booties, with Hugh Bonneville at the National Television Awards in the UK last week, after their Downton Abbey win. It’s been a good week for the lot.

Seems that Daisy is always being picked on for something, innit?

Daisy Mason, plotting her next move, or just having a wee rest between criticisms.

Careful, glam watchers, she can turn it out when she wants to – as seen in the December issue of Grazia, with cast mates Cara Theobold and Lily James.

Image credits: 1. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America; 2, 4. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin; 3. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America; 5. Courtesy of DigitalSpy. 6. Grazia / Photographer: Kate Davis-Macleod.

January 29th, 2013
Categories: Fashionable Events, Red Carpet . Tags: awards season, Daisy Mason, Downton Abbey, exshoesme.com, red carpet dressing, red carpet style, SAG Awards, SAG Awards 2013, Sophie McShera . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment

The modern minimalist me loves the clean lines I’ve seen in some couture collections this season.

The glamorous gal that sometimes resides within those clean black and white lines loves the full-on, head-on, go on, more, more, more, that is the essence of old haute couture.

Every detail should be dripping with drama, every element should elevate the equation of fashion. And really, who does that better than Jean Paul Gaultier?

I am still fully digesting Monsieur Gaultier’s spring couture dream – I try not to read reviews and just let the images sink in to my consciousness, so I can tell you what I see.

These accessories dared me to maximize the moment. Every moment.

The peacock earring at Jean Paul Gaultier – climbing couture.

Payal platforms – exceeding expectations, crushing conformity.

The great thing about these excessories, is how they change your view of yourself. You might be wearing a simple white shirt (okay, it’s bespoke) and tailored black pants (okay, they’re Japanese), but clip these onto your ears or wrap those payals around your ankles with an, ahem, more grounded 4-inch heel and pointed toe and you’ve completely re-invented yourself for the season.

Dream a slightly more couture-y version of yourselves this spring, my darlings.

Photo by Gianni Pucci / InDigitalteam / Go Runway via Style.com

January 25th, 2013
Categories: Collections, Couture, Spring Summer 2013 . Tags: Couture, exshoesme.com, Jean Paul Gaultier, Spring Couture, SS13 . Author: Jyotika Malhotra . Comments: Leave a Comment