Someone named Zainab Bint Abu Talib, an aide at the Libyan ministry of cultural affairs, wrote a letter to the New York Times and the Metropolitan Museum of Art offering up — or, rather, totally assuming the aforementioned parties’ interest in — “a retrospective in 2013 of Colonel Ghaddafi’s four decades of superior dress sense.” For you see, Libya under Ghaddafi‘s leadership has not only been “transformed…into one of the most prosperous and progressive nations in Africa and the Middle East,” but Ghaddafi himself “has been at the fashion forefront for much of the African/Arab world.” Ghaddafi has “over 3400 items of breathtaking sartorial magnificence” to lend the Met. The letter goes on:
Indeed many of his clothes have been featured in global magazines from the hundreds of state visits and functions he has hosted over the years for world leaders. All of whom are in agreement, ahumdillah, that our President is one of the very best dressed men of the last half century…It is not only African and Arab leaders who have been influenced by his style and substance but many western rock stars and celebrities who have also been won over by the Ghaddafi look: most notably Michael Jackson in the late 1980’s copied the signature motif military style of our leader to great chart success on his own terms.
Michael, apparently, never wore anything military-inspired until the Colonel made it cool. The Times‘ Horacio Silva declined the Libyan government’s kind offer of a trip to Tripoli to check out the goods. [T]
Gwyneth Paltrow will, as previously rumored, be the next face of Coach. She shot the campaign with Peter Lindbergh and the ads will run internationally in Europe and Asia. [WWD]
Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci guest-edited the new issue of Visionaire, from which this image of Christina Ricci as the Madonna is taken. Tisci, whose often Gothic-inspired work has put him in the running to replace John Galliano at Christian Dior, says Catholicism has always been important in his life. He prays before showing his seasonal collections. “At the end of the day, I believe in my Jesus Christ, I believe in my God, and I am Catholic. It’s one of the world’s oldest religions and it’s not quick to change. But my mother will tell you that, I might not seem it, I might not look it, but I am a good, religious boy.” [Independent]
Diane Halfin and Prince Egon Von Fürstenberg, at their 1969 wedding. [Models.com Facebook]
Nicki Minaj says she has “a hundred?” wigs at least, and wants to do a celebrity perfume. “Of course! Hopefully, I’ll do one this year. I like scents that feel summer-y, but have a va-va-voom [factor]. I want to smell like a sexy and confident woman, not like candy.” [Allure]
J. Crew‘s new catalog includes a shot of Arizona Muse and her two-year-old son, Nikko. [J. Crew]
Cindy Crawford looks pretty smokin’ on the May cover of Vogue Mexico. [TFS]
Bregje Heinin wears a yellow jumpsuit that could probably double as a flotation device or a parachute, were she unexpectedly dumped into an ocean or dropped from a great height, on the new cover of Greek Vogue. [DS]
Zac Posen: “I am totally unattached to material items. But when it comes to things everyone should have, a scent is very important, as is good underwear and a great pair of sunglasses.” See? It can’t be materialistic to just appreciate “things everyone should have.” QED. [Guardian]
“Designs in the 1950s reflected the new optimistic mood of rebirth and revival. The muted tones of the war years were replaced by bright florals, such as the blues and pinks in the Jacqmar scarf shown here.” It’s sort of best to read this random collection of scarf-related trivia in the voice of your arch, brandy-snifter-swirling, know-it-all great-uncle. [Telegraph]
A French man has patented a new, apparently highly flexible high heel sole design. This is entry number 976,348 in the product category “stilettos that make extravagant and inevitably disappointing claims of comfort.” [Daily Mail]
This is what a $4,500 python skin gym bag looks like. Reed “Spheroid Toilet” Krakoff — who else? — designed it. [Racked]
- The Telegraph is jumping on the Angelina Jolie for Louis Vuitton rumor earlier reported (generated?) by E!. Although the story doesn’t name any sources — there’s not even a single “according to people close to the actress” — the paper reports that Jolie will, indeed, be paid close to $10 million for her efforts, that the ads will break over the summer, and that the photographer will be Annie Leibovitz. Sounds like Angie’s doing a Louis Vuitton “Core Values” ad, à la Gorbachev and Keith Richards, not a seasonal ad campaign, à la Madonna, because Leibovitz usually shoots the “Core Values” stuff and Steven Meisel already reportedly photographed a gaggle of models for Louis Vuitton’s fall campaign. [Telegraph]
- Lara Stone: “I never gave it that much thought to pursue acting or anything, but I would definitely be a Bond girl if they asked me. For sure — I would make a great evil Bond girl!” [WWD]
- Karl Lagerfeld never cuts his hair
because then someone might discover he’s actually a robotbecause he’s afraid it won’t grow back. He also says he thinks Riccardo Tisci should take over Christian Dior, and Haider Ackermann should take Tisci’s spot at Givenchy. And he doesn’t want to talk about Balmain, which recently fired its designer, Christophe Decarnin, and presented a collection largely completed by the stylist Melanie Ward: “Forget about it! This was a job done by a fashion editor. I don’t even know the name of the man who did it, so don’t ask me about that.” [W] - Model turned bride-of-Trump Melania Knauss seems unsure whether she’d rather be First Lady or have the current FLOTUS wear her QVC jewelry line. [NYDN]
- Vera Wang‘s wedding dress guidelines, though probably sensible (“I once had a bride get red lipstick on the front of her dress when she pulled it on over her head. Keep anyone with colorful drinks, beverages or makeup away from you”), kind of make getting married sound like no fun at all. [WWD]
- Two executives at Manolo Blahnik run a boutique dairy company. Their cows get shampoo according to their hair type, and the milk costs $4.49 a half-gallon. It’s not actually organic, even. [WSJ]
- People hate tights. [NYPost]
- Here’s some fashion advice from Tina Fey: “A wise friend once told me, ‘Don’t wear what fashion designers tell you to wear. Wear what they wear.’ His point being that most designers, no matter what they throw onto the runway, favor simple, flattering pieces for themselves. Anyone who has never met me can tell you that fashion has always been very very very very very very very important to me. For example, I once told my cousin that my dream would be ‘if the whole store Express was my closet!’ How prescient, because now, of course, I wear nothing but Express. It can’t be said enough. Don’t concern yourself with fashion; stick to simple pieces that flatter your body type … By 19, I had found my look. Oversize T-shirts, bike shorts, and wrestling shoes. To prevent the silhouette from being too baggy, I would cinch it at the waist with my fanny pack. I was pretty sure I would wear this look forever. The shirts allowed me express myself with cool sayings like ‘There’s No Crying in Baseball’ and ‘Universität Heidelberg,’ the bike shorts showed off my muscular legs, and the fanny pack held all my trolley tokens. I was nailing it on a daily basis. Find something like this for yourself as soon as possible.” [Fashionista]
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