Brad Pitt equals which number?

I saw it this morning.

Was I impressed?  Quite frankly, no!

When I heard earlier this year that Brad Pitt was to front the new campaign for No.5 (not "Chanel no.5 - but that is a whole other story and discussion...) - I was shocked.  How audacious!  How clever, how revolutionary!  Go, CHANEL... a very powerful move, indeed.

However, the results came through - and all I saw was pretentious drivel, with Pitt coming across like an elitist "tosser".  A friend of mine has carefully said she can't wait to be besieged on counter by "morons who will come in to ask for the men's No.5 with Brad Pitt..."  Enough said!

If you are yet to be convinced, log onto YouTube and see for yourself.  Your thoughts and opinions would be gladly welcomed.

"It's not a journey. Every journey ends, but we go on," Brad utters huskily.

"The world turns, but we turn with it. Plans disappear, dreams take over, but wherever I go, there you are."

Such drivel, if ever I heard it.  What on Earth Have CHANEL done here?  Once again, they are very clever little boffins.  No matter what our opinion - they are very smart in Paris.  They have created yet another publicity coup that will have us all talking.

No matter what: love or hate the ad, it will bring us all to our knees, as it will consume many a conversation the world over - from men to women; gay or straight; Chanel connoisseur and neophyte...

Maybe Mademoiselle was beyond plucky and intelligent  - she was truly a visionary!  Although, she will never be my Miuccia!

Check it out for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGs4CjeJiJQ 

What is their defence: The Devil made them do it?!!?

This morning seemed like any other beautiful Tuesday morning...  I was in bed, getting ready to awaken from my slumber when the phone rang.  As I was chatting with Marzy, Paloma's Godfather, I was briefly interrupted by a text message that sent shivers running through my core.

My girlfriend Loz had messaged me with a disturbing comment: OMG, Prada in Sydney, not good love...  I instantly reacted by thinking the impossible: bad service?  To which she replied: Store ram-raided last night!

The scene of the crime: such brazen violence should
 not be shown on television, EVER!

For the Love of Goodness and style, what the hell is up with people?  Do we need to desecrate the innocent temples of chic to validate people's idiocy and criminal intent?  What has PRADA done, other than send a message of style and beauty around the world?

Although, secretly I am thrilled that they chose PRADA, when they could've chosen other brands...

I love PRADA... pure and simple!

However, I am worried about how these innocent pieces of beauty are faring, kidnapped, unable to voice their thoughts.  To be worn by bogans wearing GUESS? and totally undeserving of their bounty...

All I can say is that these pathetic losers, the scum of the earth need to be brought to justice - and then some!  Let us deal with these savages, one by one.

Perhaps we need to ram-raid their tenements, and also throw them into shark-infested waters!

Stand up with me and be counted:  DO NOT CONDONE THE VIOLENCE AGAINST HIGH-FASHION!  SAVE PRADA FROM THESE UNDESERVING MORONS!

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, CALL THE (FASHION) POLICE, AND CRIME STOPPERS!

The scene of the Crime, as Forensic Police
are now involved in the mission of discovery.

What will their defence be?  The Devil made them do it?  The Devil Wears Prada, so should our ugly wives?

What next:  THe SCUMBAGS wear Prada, and they work for BOGUE magazine?

Seriously... I am not a happy camper today!

Please find these bastards and do away with them....

Also, stay tuned for my round-up of my best and worst shows from the recent collections in Paris and Milan...

Don't even get me started on the arrogant car-crash that is Hedi Slimane at SLP?  What happened to the icon of YSL?  Lanvin cross-references... Alber must be smirking with the justice that is long overdue him... but that is a whole other post....!

For now, it is ciao...

Stay PRADA-licious, PRADA-loving and always PRADA-TRUE!

Miuccia loves you - and so do I!

Bisous, Gougou. x.

La vie est belle

Following the decisions made only a fortnight ago, I am basking in the luminous glow of self-realisation. I did it!

New career. Simon Does, Gougou Says will be a primary focus in the journey of evolution.

A new love. The Good Doctor.

A new bag. PRADA or a speedy Bandolière by Louis? Many choices to be made.

A sporty approach. A sporty new collection for the Cruise Season by Miuccia. Milan is in full bloom.

The glamour of relaxed and languid tailoring reminiscent of track and field, draped and expressed as only the Mistress of the Italian Moda could create.

Many wonderful choices. One wonderful statement. Life is Beautiful. La vie est belle. La vita è bella.

In anyone's language, it is a simple truth.

All I need now is a note of iris in my parfum.

Any suggestions?

The little boy from Oran

Today, as I left home first thing this morning, many things played on my mind: don't be late for your flight. Lock the doors. Is the iron switched off?

Today is the first of August. As I locked the door of my house behind me, the date echoed with its power and clear message... This is Yves Saint Laurent's birthday.

Although the house founded over fifty years ago still reigns with its own level of supremacy, it is his touch that will forever be longed for.

The humble boy from the Algerian town of Oran.

The bespectacled youth. The tortured soul. The genius. The derided and misunderstood.

The leader. The innovator. The political activist, albeit unwittingly.

The House of Love. One word. One power - LOVE.

In the rarefied world of the couture his sense of genius has stood triumphant. The final guardian of a lost age sadly left us a little over four years ago.

His legacy remains clearly all around us... The safari suit. The tuxedo for women (aptly named "Le Smoking").

The original scion of the sexuality and undertones of carnal, illicit desire of the 1970s.

A man who breathed his art, and exhaled almost a sense of palpable insanity so crystalline and lucid in its creative magnitude... We are left wondering who the truly sane were.

After all, aren't we (all) just a chemical reaction from madness?

The inimitable Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune proudly declared in 1993 that "...if all the world was to lose the references of popular culture and history, and yet we were to maintain the works of Yves Saint Laurent, future generations would know where the world stood in terms of history and culture. From women's liberation to sexual equality and revolution, art and culture..."

Pierre Bergé the Scorpio, the fearless brains behind the business and longtime partner in business and life with the Angelic Schoolboy also poignantly is quoted as saying: I don't know that fashion is an art... But he IS an artist..!

Van Gogh, Braque, Picasso, The hippie trail, sexual desire, masculine design and lifestyle, Segovia. Just some of the influences that have defined styles of the times.

Ah, our beloved Yves Saint Laurent. How we celebrate the towering genius that IS you, a loving, sensitive, yet eternal flame to burn in our minds.

Your sense of impeccable design, matched only by your sheer force of creative passion.

We thank you on your special day for having enriched this world. After all, my idol Miuccia Prada wore your couture to student rallies and demonstrations in Milan.

Aside from yourself, who else would have created the wardrobe that interwove such diametrically opposed strains of political trains of thought?

May you watch over the house that bears your name. May you influence the world's style once more, from the radiantly lit and sacred space you find yourself in.

Happy Birthday to the man that fell in love with a city, claimed its name, and lived life with a love of beauty and freedom.

Many happy returns, forever.

You are missed and loved, and I dedicate a few words to your memory.

Tearfully yours,

Gougou.

X
X
X
X

What a difference a day makes...

A Melburnian winter. The most perfect of all seasons. Contrasts compete for our attention. Sunny, cloudless skies carelessly intermingle with freezing cold winds.

Rain falls of its own volition. Either masses of it, or discreet little showers.

Either way, one cannot escape the climatically-induced changes to dressing and living in this Magnificent "Ville".

Melbourne. Pleasure to all of the senses. A fashionista's dream. A cultural force.

A place where hopefully only very few (fashion-related) faux-pas are made.

By its very definition, this is a city that defines the style of the Antipodean outlook. Only Wellington can begin to compare. (That is a whole other story)

Sitting here on this rainy weekend, I cannot believe just how simple our pleasures are. Sitting at Tucci Brown in Brighton, and yesterday at Manakish in Elsternwick- I was stirred by the beauty of the breeze flying... My FENDI shawl billowing, and my fragrance permeating the air. Until I remembered, winter brings out the the ferals.

Like some tribe known to totally exist of a sense of primeval "style".

The ferals have a way of making themselves known wherever they may hail from. Bad hair, mis-matched foundation, and a genuine sense of judgement (you read that correctly) for anyone who embraces chic.

More to the point, maybe it is because I accessorise with high-end pieces from the prèt-a-porter féminin... Either way, I couldn't care less for what those philistines have to say or think... After all, I don't wear a scrunchy in my hair.

Ultimately, Judgy-Wudgy was a bear. And this Judgy-Wudgy frankly, doesn't care!

Lana can't sing live... Who cares?

When I think of he empowered elements of the défilé, there is quite simply nothing that makes the experience as truly wonderful as the soundtrack.

From the halcyon days of the 1980s when Yves Saint Laurent sent models down he runway to the best of Frey's "The Heat Is On" - bare-breasted, one shouldered togas... There was no turning back.

Music had become the quintessential entrée into the world of the rarefied Salons du Mode.

If I could, I would sit down and rationalise my top 1,000 songs of the shows. Soundtracks have become a ubiquitous part of the Fashion Universe.

Lana del Rey features quite strongly on my list. From the flowing, dark and dangerous BORN TO DIE, to the sexual undertones of OFF TO THE RACES.

She knows how to evoke the various incarnations personified by the designers themselves. DIET MOUNTAIN DEW transforms me into a Denizen of PRADA's 2012 Spring-Summer collection.

ABC's perennially chic début album THE LEXICON OF LOVE arguably won the title of the greatest album of the 80s, as voted by SKY magazine. Melodies equally at home in the long-gone boys' clubs of the 50's... Slickness, lyrics of enchantment, the battles of the sexes in Love. This album couldn't do any wrong.

Even THE LOOK OF LOVE received a major makeover in 1990. This track fed my soul, my desire to design, and perfected by strut, as styled by feel of the times.

Saint Etienne's classic remake of Young's classic ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART graced the runways of Lagerfeld, post Inès de la Fressange for Chanel.

Ah, soundtracks. They maketh the mood of the collection come to life.

Who are we entrusting the future of recording the world of fashionable music for posterity? We must try - are future generations were aware of how things really were?

Until then, I will feel many moments. Especially the eternal sense of chic that emanates from LOVE IS A STRANGER.

Strutting through life, many will ask: WHO'S THAT GIRL!

Girl? Wrong? Who's that Gougou?
A queen?

A king?

A stalwart of individuality?

A protector of a bygone era, lived with passion?

Or, all of the above?

There is no accounting for taste, style or image.

Only the truth can be accepted. Style is mutably immutable. Only those open to themselves can understand that change is as obvious as we choose to make it, if at all.

Until next we speak, listen to Paloma. Respect. Miuccia. Dream of Patrizio. Love PRADA, and desire to understand what I am talking about.

Bisous.

Gougou, x.

Ps, Simon may not say, but I think where Dior is concerned: Simons says!

Just ask Raf.

Aren't we going to love his work even more than ever now?

Can anyone beat her?

Contentious issues are the order of the day. At this stage, I intend to set the cat amongst the pigeons by declaring a statement of such magnitude, its repercussions will be felt for a long time to come.

I

Am

About

To

Declare

The

BEST

WALK

On

The

Défilé.

Yes. I said it. I am throwing caution to the wind, speaking my mind, and not holding back! This issue is so central to who I am, how I think. What I feel. How my life is motivated, or perhaps what dominates my life.

I am going to make a statement. I must back it up with nothing short of conviction.

Who? Is she famous? Is it a past face... A star in the making? A current champion of the boards?

From which collection does the mention pertain to? Am I going to jump on the Miuccia bandwagon, or not at all...?

Hmmm, should I say it? Hold my peace?

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Award goes to Maria-Carla Boscono in the miu miu Fall 2011 collection.

Her stride, her presence, her innate sense of ownership. That show was hers, for a reason.

Move over Parisiennes, the Italians are here.

No wonder Miuccia chose her to open the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwB21kp7HwA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Until next time,

Bisous, Gougou. X.