INTHE FRONTROW
Hilary Alexander reports from behind the scenes at New York Fashion Week
Anna Wintour (below) hasn’t seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yet, so she can’t comment on whether Johnny Depp was inspired by her style when he chose his Willy Wonka look (bottom). However, her daughter, Bea, has seen Depp’s latest film – and she’s convinced. “Completely, totally – especially when he’s wearing those big dark glasses,” she tells me. “He’s got the bob and he’s even got these little bangs, just like my mother. It’s fantastic.”
TOPSHOP devotees need no longer miss out on their regular cheapchic fi x while in New York. The British high street chain has made its first foray into the American market in a deal with the funky Opening Ceremony boutique on Howard Street in lower SoHo. The mezzanine level is given over to Topshop’s current Unique collection and prices appear to be pretty much on a par with those in the UK. A full, cotton skirt with the new bubble hem is $200; a washed leather waistcoat is $ 110. The deal lasts for a year and then, who knows? “It could mean a New York Topshop,” says a spokesman. “We’ll have to see how it goes.”
ALTHOUGH Prada is
obviously the top choice for the wardrobe of The Devil Wears Prada, which begins shooting in New York this week, Meryl Streep, who plays the semifi ctitious glossy magazine editor, will get her pick of some of the best British designers, too.
“ She’s wearing a mix of Prada and Chanel, with a sprinkling of Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Roland Mouret,” says Patricia Fields, the stylist who turned Sex and the City into a style guide. “Meryl is great, smart and funny; she looks amazing in everything.”
ACTRESS Milla Jovovich
and model Carmen Hawk
have joined forces to create
their own fashion line,
which they launched
with a big party
in Greenwich
Village last
night. Both
girls are from
Ukraine, so it’s
not surprising
that the
collection has
distinct folkloric
touches. They
even went to Kiev
to source fabrics and
traditional embroideries.
Top London boutiques,
including Browns
and Matches, are
queuing up to
place orders.
“It’s kind
of pre-
Raphaelite
meets Miu
Miu,” says
Jovovich.
FLOWERS
and
fruit have had
their 15 minutes
of fame in the big
print revival. Now it’s the turn of the vegetables. Diane von Furstenberg turned the exotic artichoke into a fashion statement in her collection, while Carolina Herrera favoured the more humble carrot. Can lettuce and cabbage-print dresses be far behind? The designs are perfect for advertising: “I am what I eat.”
PETA is on the
rampage again. Heather Mills McCartney joined a crowd of anti-fur activists who protested at a J. Crew store on Madison Avenue this week after the store began to sell scarves, jackets and hats made from coyote and rabbit. New York Fashion Week is safe, as it is spring/ summer collections that are on show and temperatures are in the Nineties, so there is not a piece of fur in sight. However, underwear designer and Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson better watch out: she has just been named as the new “face” of Blackglama, the fur company best known for its slogan: “What becomes a legend most?” Macpherson follows in the footsteps of such icons as Elizabeth Taylor, Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Cher and Ray Charles.
MEANWHILE, the
yummiest mummy of them all, Angelina Jolie, is being tipped as the new “face” of American knitwear brand St John, replacing Gisele, “the boobs from Brazil”.
Vegetable patch: Diane von Furstenberg’s artichoke design