A preview presentation of the show “Diana Vreeland after Diana Vreeland” will open at Corridor and Stairs, a new cultural project space for fashion photography in Milan this coming Friday, perfectly timed to coincide with Milan Fashion Week.

The project by Mauro Grifoni is located in a unique structure in the Milanese high-fashion district, comprising literally of a corridor and four flights of stairs.

Corridor and Stairs will celebrate its upcoming opening with “Bizarre, Colorquake, Flamboyant, Personalities, Allure”, a cameo show previewing the “Diana Vreeland after Diana Vreeland” exhibition (Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, March 10 until June 25 2012) curated by Maria Luisa Frisa and Judith Clark. Order is by Lisa Immordino Vreeland with support by Fondazione dei Musei Civici of Venice and by the Diana Vreeland Estate.

The Corridor and Stairs space will be brought to life with a series of iconic words particularly dear to the late Diana Vreeland, a noted columnist and fashion editor together with images and snapshots that give a foretaste of the exhibition to be seen in Palazzo Fortuny. For this occasion, Maruo Grifoni, who is also the partner of the Venetian exhibition, has produced a limited edition run of T-shirts devoted to Diana Vreeland and bearing the five words that are the title of the presentation.

The preview will run from February 24 to April 6 2012.

www.dianavreeland.com

Entitled ‘Town and Field’, Burberry Prorsum’s latest offering for Fall 2012 creatively merges the division between city and country. A herringbone padded pocket hip trench with its nipped-in waist and matching Baker boy cap hint at vintage details with echoes of the 1940s, the ruched mustard bow belt all at once bringing it back to today and giving the country look added urban appeal.

The Museum of Modern Art will unveil a retrospective exhibition on influential artist Cindy Sherman.

Widely recognized as one of the most influential artists in the contemporary art world, Sherman has presented a sustained, eloquent and provocative exploration of the construction of contemporary identity drawn from the unlimited supply of images from movies, TV, magazines, the Internet, and art history. Working as her own model for more than 30 years, she has captured herself in a range of guises and personas which are at turns amusing and disturbing, distasteful and affecting.

To create her photographs, she assumes multiple roles of photographer, model, makeup artist, hairdresser, stylist and wardrobe mistress and has hitherto deftly altered her physique and surroundings to create a myriad of intriguing tableaus and characters from siren to clown to aging socialite.

Bringing together more than 170 photographs, this retrospective traces the artist’s career from the mid-1970s to the present. Highlighted in the exhibition are in-depth presentations of her key series including the ground-breaking series “Untitled Film Stills” (1977-80), the black and white pictures that feature the artist in stereotypical female roles inspired by several genres of films from European art-house to film noir.

The exhibition will explore dominant themes throughout Sherman’s career, including artifice and fiction; cinema and performance; horror and the grotesque. Also included are Sherman’s recent photographic murals (2010), which will have their American premiere at MoMA.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Sherman has selected films from MoMA’s collection, which will be screened by MoMA’s theatres during the course of the exhibition. A major publication will accompany the exhibition.

The exhibition will run from February 26 to June 11.

http://www.moma.org/

http://www.cindysherman.com/

House of Holland’s Fall 2012 offering saw his familiar pizazz back with a bang. The eye-catching magnified houndstooth print here was splashed across a multitude of fabrications, seen on tweed texture pants and a slinky silk shirt – showcased as a glorious gradient in a mouth-watering palette of hot pink, fluoro strawberry and ultra-violet. This shirt ‘suit’ was teamed with a coordinating houndstooth hand strap clutch in the same textured tweed as the trousers and glossy red lace up platforms. And the pièce de résistance? A matching houndstooth mani and red alert pout, packing a stylishly youthful punch.

Moschino Cheap and Chic’s debut LFW show on Saturday entitled ‘Make up Your Life’ saw their signature tongue in cheek kooky cool brought to a city celebrated for it’s eccentric dressers. The 50s silhouette is revamped with a nod to surrealism here as eye-catching (quite literally) print adorns cinched-in waists. The ensembles reminiscent of the period in films such as Revolutionary Road are upgraded with a tongue-in-cheek twist and a zestier lady who lunches is born. A summery outlook is married with a nod to the outdoors as kaleidoscopic splashes of color on a fur collar and a polished box purse are contrasted with clinically neutral leather gloves. And not forgetting the imperative retro touch – a slick of candy toned lip color (injected with a modern glitter gloss finish on closer inspection).

Basso & Brooke have collaborated with Cambridge Satchel Company to create a capsule collection of satchels for FW 2012, showcased on the runway at LFW over the weekend. Inspired in part by the paper cut era Matisse – both the work itself and also the technician’s tendency to set aside his own rulebook and re-engage with his work from a new angle.

The satchels channel the same energy as Basso & Brooke’s RTW collection. No ditsy or dainty prints to be seen. Instead a vivacious explosion of ideas and contrasts – a collection as challenging as it is chic, as progressive as it is powerful.

As with Matisse’s paper cuts, the base prints here are relatively simple – typically flat and graphic, with iconic and familiar patterns from every era – with the dynamism being injected through their assemblage: freeform, torn, and joyous – “chromatic and rhythmic improvisation,” as the French master would say and the overall effect merges a Japanese-like surface serenity with surprising and sometimes almost jarring juxtapositions and strange but alluring plays on perspective.

The bag collection will be available through Basso & Brooke and Cambridge Satchel Company stockists and will be launched in stores FW 2012.

London Fashion Week kicked off today with pundits predicting it to meet the high recent benchmarks it has set itself in terms of media, acclaim and design. And at least one show is happy to stick to London’s signature wit and playfulness in order to that. For, at Antoni & Alison, the first reference to mind was a deeply sardonic. Remember “Derelicte” from Mugatu’s murderous finale in Zoolander? It was a high-comic prank on fashion’s penchant for thematics and all about twisting a vagrant chic into premium looks. This was kinda similar but – breathe easy – much more subtle and thankfully fearless. The bin liner skirt and haberdasher fashion is all about re-using the fabric scraps for a fashion-on-a-shoe-string look. The added dimension of a photocopied corsage turned embellishment into print, very cleverly indeed. And not at all derelict.

The BFC has teamed up with River Island to launch Fash/On Film, a project designed to nurture relationships and creative teamings between fashion designers and filmmakers.
The initiative is set to produce screenings as a fixture on the LFW schedule and will also launch a nationwide search for emerging filmmakers, inviting film ideas in response to a brief set by a leading designer. The winner will receive professional mentoring through the production process, with the resulting film shown at September’s LFW.
The project is a nod to the growth of film as a fashion product, in an age of live streaming and multimedia branding. Caroline Rush, CEO of the BFC, said: “This is a great opportunity to support and develop the profile of young fashion designers whilst encouraging the rising stars of filmmaking into this arena. We look forward to having the chance to create a recognised showcase for incredible emerging British fashion film talent, supporting our global reputation for innovation and creativity.”
The debut Fash/On Film showcase is kicking off at this week’s LFW with the premiere of a film by Royal College of Art graduate Julian J Smith, which is sponsored by River Island, and features the store’s new Design Forum range. It will be shown alongside a special Test Presents screening of the Diana Vreeland documentary The Eye Has to Travel, created in conjunction with Studiocanal. Author and producer Lisa Immordino Vreeland will introduce the film and take part in a Q and A session after it. The screening will be hosted on Sunday at official LFW hotel, The May Fair.
www.britishfashioncouncil.com

Ditch the pastel, look beyond the color block, and fight the bright. Because the sportiest, trashiest, most eye-watering take on color is a rainbow holographic that recalls the girly toys of your youth. The pretty, glittery plastic sheen is combined with a brace of artificial brights in the wig and bag as it tips somewhat into the low-budget alien of Star Trek’s early days. But the point is that the sporty can look luxe. The trashy can be chic. And the fun can be pretty serious. And if you’re looking for filter-down influence, then the silhouette here is key: the biker gets crossed with the trench for a fitted waist and extended length hem, that makes it work as a dress.

This October, the V&A in London will gather over 100 of the most iconic movie outfits designed for cinema in its Hollywood Costume exhibition.
Exhibits span from the current – like Consolata Boyle’s designs for Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady – to the classic, including Walter Plunkett’s designs for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. Among the round-up of instantly recognisable looks are of Judy Garland’s blue-and-white gingham pinafore dress from The Wizard of Oz, the Givenchy LBD worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Johnny Depp’s Galliano-recalling outfit from Pirates of the Caribbean. Slightly more subtle stylings hail from the likes of Brokeback Mountain. Alongside these will be film clips and specially commissioned interviews with Hollywood directors, costume designers and actors including Meryl Streep and Robert de Niro, all layering-up the multimedia experience.
The exhibition will be structured in three parts. The first section Deconstruction, looks at the role of the costume designer, exploring how designers help to build up a character’s persona through costume. The second, Dialogue, will focus on the collaboration among filmmakers and costume designers, while the third, called Finale will focus on some of the best known costumes in cinema’s history.
Deborah Nadoolman Landis, Hollywood costume designer and senior guest curator, said: “This landmark exhibition will provide a once in a life-time opportunity to explore the most beloved characters in Hollywood history and gain insight on the role of the costume designer.”
The exhibition’s lead sponsor is Hollywood jeweler Harry Winston.
www.vam.ac.uk