Dressful

The city is slowly sinking into depths of winter. In this chilly and monochromatic transitory period, it feels unseemly to wear my retractable winter coat. Despite low enough temperatures, to me, the emergence of long coats in the streets signifies November, Christmas lights they always put up too early, and whimsical atmosphere at the end of the year.

These jackets from the current Hogan by Lagerfeld capsule collection are exactly what I'd like to wear these days. Less serious than coats but just as warm, they became my instant favorite months ago at the Hogan by Karl Lagerfeld Fall/Winter 2011/2012 presentation in Paris. The first jacket's beetle shine (actually a graffiti effect created by silver brushstrokes on black leather) corresponds brilliantly with Chanel Péridot, my go-to nail polish for the season.

I finished this season's fashion week tour tonight in Paris, attending the presentation of the Hogan by Karl Lagerfeld Spring/Summer 2012 capsule collection at Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild. This is Lagerfeld's third collaboration with Hogan (see my photos of Fall/Winter 2011/2012). A mostly black and white collection is accompanied by a book of sketches and photos of models Bianca Balti and Jacquelyn Jablonski by Lagerfeld.

The pieces were presented on an enormous sleek, black construction spanning across five rooms (the event design was a joint effort of Karl Lagerfeld and Hogan's creative teams). Small white candles added the bit of magic that comes more than handy when you're launching a new collection. There has to be beauty with a pinch of drama. The presentation and the well thought-out collection had (have) both - after all, this is fashion!

Hogan and Lagerfeld showed sneakers and patent ballet flats whose main theme is wearability. Sneakers are made of black or white python, two-toned nappa leather and rubber - a juxtaposition of luxurious and ordinary materials. You'll appreciate them if you understand the difficulty of coming across sneakers you don't want to immediately dismiss as a fashion crime.

Black technical nylon trench coats and gorgeous fitted soft leather jackets with zippers meant to be worn as a second skin. There are also zippers on the back of the jackets for a better fit. If unzipped, imagine all the ways you can wear them and the new dimension it adds to your outfit!

I loved the clutches with a bubble pattern (a similar pattern is also used in larger bags and flats). The collection is incredibly consistent; the pieces create a distinctive, uniform-like look paired with one another - a look that ranges from cosmopolitan to tough rockstar glamour, the latter mostly due to super skinny high rise jeans. It's unmistakably Hogan, but it takes a designer of Lagerfeld's skill to give wearable, practical pieces that oh so necessary pinch of drama.

I'm flying back home tomorrow and like half a year ago, I feel sad about leaving Paris so soon, postponing the occasion to have more time for its streets and spirits. It's a beautiful opportunity to come here for fashion week, though, and I wouldn't prefer it any other way. See you next season.

Post title inspired by Stylebizarre.

If you're seriously into fashion, I bet my left arm people who feel more passionate about seemingly less ephemeral things have asked you more than once why of all things on this Earth the subject of your passion is fashion. Fashion is trivial, there are other things much more important than clothes and models and magazines, can't you find something more important to do in life?

Daphne Guinness, Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld: Three people who live for fashion

Yes, fashion is vain, it cannot be anything else but vain because it focuses almost solely on appearance, making it ever so easy to reach prejudiced conclusions about us who have at one point in our lives realized fashion is it, accelerates our heartbeat and gives us that sense of belonging we yearn for so much, just like someone else decides to devote their life to helping others and become a doctor. We all have to find that one thing that makes us feel complete.

In fashion, bloggers often face prejudices because there are still many fashion people (gatekeepers) out there who believe we, mostly lacking formal fashion education and industry experience, don't know enough about fashion to comment on it, that we get too much attention (and, ultimately, business deals and $$$, which I guess hurts the most) for the "fluff" and narcissism we share with the world. They judge us personally for it - judge us on the basis of our fashion blogs. Ridiculous.

It's not just fashion people, though. People in general are often unable to make the distinction between our complete personality and what we choose to share online.

Whenever I find myself in the midst of such a scenario with someone, I can only say:

I am not my blog.

Fashion is a huge part of my life, but it's not the only thing I'm interested in. When I meet someone who knows me from the blog, they're mostly very surprised I'm studying literature and not something fashion-related (my fancy literature degree will come in real handy in 2 years when I'll be getting a fashion journalism MA in London though). Apart from fashion and blogging, I also like to see my friends, travel, go to classical music concerts, dabble in photography etc.

Before I became a fashion blogger, I wanted to be a film director (since I was 13) and spent some time studying filmmaking in NYC in 2008. I also played the violin from age 6 to 17, most of that time we all thought I'd go on to study it at uni and become a professional musician. I did competitions and concerts and who knows, maybe I'd still be on that path today if it weren't for my left shoulder that was constantly in pain. All this (and more) is a part of my life and personality, not only fashion.

Another common misconception people have about me as a fashion blogger is that I won't like them because they don't care about fashion or dress fashionably. There are instances when I too care less about fashion or don't dress fashionably, and I'm sure the same goes for every other fashion blogger because - to answer the question in the title of this post - we do care about other things than clothes too.

Our interest in fashion, although fashion might be what we're the most passionate about, doesn't automatically mean we think fashion is the only important thing in the world. Recently the fashion blogging community responded to the events in Japan by organizing For Japan With Love, which raised a ton of money. Here's the catch: FJWL is a public call to action that everyone can see. How many bloggers helped Japan, only they never mentioned it online? We'll never know.

This is one of many examples illustrating you can't know what someone is really like solely from their online presence. If not before, you're bound to reach the same conclusion when you meet your favorite fashion blogger in person. Chances are we're going to talk about everything but fashion!

Last weekend I took a quick trip to Paris because I was invited to the Hogan by Karl Lagerfeld Fall/Winter 2011/12 presentation and party. The event took place at Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, a beautiful old building in Paris' 8^th district. I arrived there at 6, armed with almost all of my brother's photo equipment (... my shoulders) and wearing high heels.

It was as if Milan Fashion Week hadn't taught me anything, but hey, can't go against a special occasion!

Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild entrance

Before entering the dark, spacious room where the collection was exhibited, you had to go through a labyrinth of black walls and photos. Lagerfeld took black-and-white portraits of his 13 favorite people from the world fashion and art wearing pieces from the new collection. A little sneak peek to get us excited seconds before seeing the pieces in life.

The presentation room was full of stylish display cases and racks:

These jackets are going to be huge. They're ultra-light and very warm, which makes them appropriate even for the more severe winter weather. I love the asymmetrical diagonals on the white bomber jacket and all the different textures - undoubtedly the best thing about the presentation was that you could touch everything!

Many jackets are hand painted with ink to achieve an embossed effect. They used high-tech materials and leather for the collection. Its main idea is comfort; the pieces are practical and straightforward. I really appreciate that the collection is so full of details and unusual techniques. Jackets and sneakers, i.e. everyday wear, are often not very creative in order to stay practical, but the ideas and work behind this collection took these pieces to a new level.

Oversized detachable collar and mittens. Inspiration? Kitchen gloves. The collar is my favorite piece in the collection. You can see it with the white jacket above, but I like that you can wear it with practically everything, it's great for mixing and matching.

Black and white: signature Karl Lagerfeld colors

I giggled when I saw these platform shoes. Graffiti are often still understood as marginal in our culture. Considering this, the Hogan by Karl Lagerfeld graffiti logo can be interpreted as somewhat devalued. The genius idea behind this is that even a devalued logo is still a logo, so those wishing to let the world know they bought Hogan by Lagerfeld shoes will be able to do so nevertheless (it would be crazy not to give people this option in this day and age).

There were constantly changing holograms based on Lagerfeld's sketches for the collection in every display case.

The presentation was over at 8 when VIP guests started arriving to the party. I went upstairs for the photocall and the first celebrity who showed up was Karl Lagerfeld. I thought he'd be about as intimidating as Anna Wintour (who I'd seen the week before at Emporio Armani in Milan), but he seemed to enjoy the photographers' attention quite a bit, which was not intimidating at all.

Diego Della Valle (CEO of Tod's) and Karl Lagerfeld

Of course, Karl wasn't the only celebrity at the party:

Leigh Lezark

Elisa Sednaoui. Most photogenic person I've ever seen.

Paloma Faith

Elodie Bouchez

Du Juan

M.I.A. You can't see it in the photo, but her manicure matches the pattern on her romper.

Natalia Vodianova

Shu Pei

Lou Doillon

Jessica Stam. She kept making faux-bored grimaces, but she's so pretty not even that made her look weird.

Jessica Stam's amazing sandals

Elisa Sednaoui and Leigh Lezark

When I was leaving, I almost bumped into Leigh Lezark on the stairs. I've never seen more celebrities in one place - pretty much everyone who was in Paris for fashion week came to the party. It was exciting and glamorous and Paris at night was the perfect backdrop for the occasion.

I'm very honored to have been invited to this event. After Hogan and Emporio Armani, once the fashion week adrenaline has calmed down, I'll have many stories and photos to return to until the next season.

Paris fashion week was the one I was looking forward to the most this year for two reasons: luxurious line-up (old French houses, the greatest authorities in fashion) and a very subjective feeling that collections shown in Milan, London and New York as a whole lacked a spark. They weren't bad, but will we remember them in 5 years?

To my disappointment, Paris generally continued in the same vein (except Yohji Yamamoto, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin and Kenzo, all of which I really liked). Collections that could (should) have been better, shows running late and lack of live streams (I understand that Paris has a different status than other fashion weeks, but please, this is 2010) caused my excitement to gradually tone down. In the back of my mind, however, I was still keeping my hopes high for Chanel. Karl ought to make up for the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 Yeti fiasco somehow, doesn't he?

Chanel's Spring/Summer 2011 show was held at the Grand Palais in Paris. The set was out of this world, a French garden set around three fountains. It was so large that each of the 90 models' exits - accompanied by live orchestra music - lasted for approximately 5 minutes. It was all so perfectly thought out that when I focused on the collection itself, my initial thought was that Lagerfeld must have put much more time and energy into the show than clothes.

PLUS: Classic Chanel - tweed jackets and pearls - far from revolutionary, but these are the iconic pieces that Chanel customers will always want (besides, you have to pay Coco her dues!). I thought they looked lovely, not at all outdated, and so did the dresses, especially this blue one. The Chanel dream was very much present in these designs.

MINUS: Hot pants and shoes are the pieces I cannot connect with Chanel at all. The former look like an attempt to modernize Chanel's image, but they're just not elegant, which is possibly the first thing this brand is supposed to be. The same goes for shoes (even the models looked clumsy in them - way to discourage not-model-perfect women from buying), but then again, one of the biggest Spring/Summer 2011 trends seems to be strange orthopedic footwear and there's nothing we can do about it except not buy it.

Will we remember this collection in 5 years? I feel that the extravagantly beautiful show made even the best outfits look insignificant. Unless Lagerfeld presents Chanel's next collection at the Taj Mahal, we might only keep in mind the French garden and great casting.