The silhouette is under scrutiny and undergoing radical change and manipulation. In an attempt to render the body evermore slender and streamlined, simply doing elastic bandage mummy numbers doesn't seem do the trick anymore. The need for slim is pressing and therefore fashion looks at tricks to play with optical illusion, slicing ounces off the body by using colour as a tool. In a surrealist revival of form (think Schiaparelli), many designers are using a slim front and back panel in a dark colour on a lighter background, or even human skin, with lace-up fastenings holding the pieces together; the result is stunning and makes the body become a silhouette that somehow moves very differently, as if seeing a mirage. A mirage that might make fashion history as it could give consumers slimmer options, especially for knitwear and swimwear.

Most designers and brands, like Stella McCartney, Maison Martin Margiela, Dries van Noten and Fatima Lopes, manipulate this optical trick-in-a-box to obtain the suggestion of slimness and the breakable fragility of the hourglass. There is however one designer that uses the optical illusion as an artform, designing a dress upon a dress as if it were a cut-out paper doll garment; and that designer is Rei Kawakubo. With her insatiable curiosity for the innovative and unexpected, she continues to shift the borders of what is wearable or not, and what in fact defines fashion at Comme des Gracons. Her absurdist and clownesque colourful collection for the coming winter is yet another example of her genius.

Lidewij Edelkoort

Fragrance is an element in our lives we count on. A recurrent need we have to embellish life. Fragrance like an old friend or a trusted parent, fragrance like a moment of reflection and concentration, fragrance telling the stories of our life, fragrance that envelops us with a great sense of space and perspective, fragrance like a scent of dreams or reacting on us and thus being interactive, fragrance to feel protected, fragrance able to master us and to bind us, fragrance as a hidden place to rest or to muzzle us, fragrance as a tribute to flowers and the energies of mother nature, fragrance as a hovering veil that surrounds us or brings out a person we didn't even know, fragrance as an ultimate fantasy to hold us, caress us, enclose us and decorate us at the same time… Fragrances that are real and not only marketing projections or pale variations of loved classics.

To answer this growing need, François Hénin, owner of the Jovoy brand, unveiled in Paris a grande parfumerie to present rare, limited edition and exclusive perfumes. Made from raw materials that are noble and natural, these perfumes resonate with consumers who really know and love perfumes, as well as an increasing number of people who are disappointed with today's “muse”-oriented fragrances that are no doubt the product of too-wide distribution.

It would be a mistake to presume that rare perfumes are automatically more expensive than other fragrances on the market and François Hénin takes great pride in showcasing rare perfumes at prices that are comparable to the most widely available fragrances. For aficionados, a new sub-family of rare perfumes is beginning to come to the fore: haute parfumerie. In general, these are perfume extracts, bottles made by artists and small productions with very limited distribution, and their prices are proportional to the exclusive character of the creations.

Sophie Carlier

In the fashion world, financing can mean that labels come and go (and come back again), but true talents continue to flourish even when they are absent from the official calendar. When the Majorcan-born designer Miguel Androver first presented his line at the turn of the Millennium, an exciting energy was released in Downtown Manhattan and the press embraced him as a creative talent to watch. His deconstructed silhouettes and accumulated ensembles turned the established scene upside-down, previewing the notion of blending recycling and re-appropriation with imaginative drapery.

Androver’s winter 2012 show—the designer's first in New York since 2004—was therefore a much-anticipated event, yet few could have fully-predicted its sophisticated impact. Entitled “OUT OF MY MIND”, Androver’s starting point was a scenario where a plane flying over the Amazon crashes; its alien luggage found by the Yanomami tribe, who has no knowledge of how to use the garments or of the different statuses they represent.

The idea of found materials re-interpreted as coverings for the body translated into collages true to Androver's style, draped effortlessly and with wit, yet discretely in tune with several current trends. Its true genius lay in the fact that a disastrous event was turned into a magical inspiration for investigating interesting ideas for clothing: cotton jerseys and flannels were twisted into dresses; debris sports sweats became sarouel pants or were sewn on the bias as elegant skirts; suit jackets draped vertically to become gowns; a trench was deconstructed into a coat-dress; a men's business shirt was turned backwards into a blouse; cashmeres, wool knits and scarves from the First Class cabin were recuperated as materials for layered ponchos, shrugs, veils and sweater-dresses; sports graphics and streetwear logos were mixed with plaids and prints from other western artefacts; caps and fringes were converted into savvy head-dress; fur coats were torn apart and recomposed as jackets and trousers.

The influences from the Amazon were controlled and tasteful. The garments were put together obliviously and instinctively, teaching us about the primal utilitarian and aesthetic roles of clothing. Foliage, dried grass, feathers, hide and bones were blended with all kinds of textile shrapnel to create a contemporary sense of tribalism. Channelling the Yanomami’s innate sense of style, this outsider collection explored how creativity can spawn a new way of thinking: its disregard for materialism critiquing today's consumerist society. The models gently discarded green dollar notes into the air, and we are left wondering if we are the ones who are “out of our minds”?

Philip Fimmano

The children's market became in fews years the most prized and innovating part in every sector. Many new concepts, shops or workshops have been created. Maybe because children are now the point of attention in our families.

Bogato is a food concept store in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, near the beautiful rue Daguerre. This shop is enchanting, full of childish magic, run with enthusiasm and poetry by Anaïs Olmer. This ex artistic director in advertising offer a meeting place where children as adults can participate to thematic cooking classes on wednesdays and saturdays. From the age of 3, children can become pastry cooker and make cakes looking like planes or princess shoes.

We find lot of utensils and old forgotten colorful candy. Mums can buy silicon cake pans with funny forms or join classes to improve their know-how.Then it became easy to make a birthday cake for a little princess or decorate the table like in a fairy tale. I could even found sparkling sugar, inevitable to well finish a chocolate cake, a charming child apron and a small icebox to bring kid’s snacks after school.

With Bogato you will celebrate events such as birthdays or Easter in a fancy way !

Vanessa Batut

www.chezbogato.fr/

Ever since I saw the Jean-Paul Goude exhibition Goudmalyon at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris mid February 2012, slaved to Grace Jones’ rhythm videos from the late 80s, I start seeing high-top fade hair styles a la Grace Jones everywhere: a preppy-dressed black man in Union Square New York, androgynous young designers in London, graphic poster ads in Cape Town.

This architectural haircut popular amongst African-American youth and men in the late 80s early 90s is cut short on the sides and grown long on the top, as if to elongate the silhouette. This facetted style echoes the recent trend for facetted, geometric shaped fashion and for constructivist garments. Up we go, pumping the volume just like Wesley Snipes in New Jack City in 1991.

This hairstyle also goes along a general tiring with the denying of the real nature of African hair, too much flattening and wig-wearing, as stated black actress Viola Davis, Academy Awards nominee for the movie The Help, when she wore her hair natural and short on the red carpet.

Winking at African barbershops!

Emmanuelle Linard

The Grand Palais, in Paris presents a retrospective of the photographer Helmut Newton. The exhibition is accompanied by his wife June, and shows 200 pictures almost all exclusive. A must to see for his sulfur, erotic and sometimes violent side.

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