These campaigns are enough to put me back in time and remember the essence of 2007. My all time ever favourite Prada collection and all that knitwear...
I stumbled upon a French Marie Claire from September 2007 and apart from the Marseille city guide (that will be very useful for my upcoming trip there) I found an interesting Q&A with Monsieur Valentino.
This Sonia Rykiel knitted dress lives so vividly in my fashion memory:
What makes Ed Westwick and half of the Formula 1 driver line-up alike?
Apart from the boring obvious (young, successfull, handsome guys...) it's modelling Swiss designer Philipp Plein's collection. While the Gossip Girl star did so in the brands current campaign and the Milan catwalk during men's fashion week, 12 of the elite group of Formula 1 drivers walked His Serene Highness' catwalk for charity at Amber Lounge Monaco.
Think heavy leather jackets and cool tailoring sprinkled with ice...lot's of ice! It's all in the finest materials and the exquisite details: studs, diamanté details, velvet slippers and sharp suits. It's real men's fashion definitely not for the faint-hearted - so they couldn't have found a better group to channel the Philipp Plein vibe then the men racing in the fastest cars as a day job.
After the initial shyness and several sessions of alteration (carried out by moi - people on the screen may appear bigger than in real life...) they were Pulling. Them. Off.... and not in a Red-Cowboy-Boot way.
And as for Ed Westwick - well show me something he wouldn't pull off. But you can judge it for yourself who did a better job:
Ed Westwick v. Jean Eric Vergne in a navy blue velvet suit
Ed v. Valtteri Bottas in grey one-button suit
Ed v. Vitaly Petrov in croc sleeve baseball jacket
And here is what the other guys were wearing for the catwalk:
Daniel Ricciardo in a grey Chelsea suit - he gets the thumbs from me for his Gucci high tops he showed up in
Dani Clos in 'Gentleman' leather sleeved blazer
Bruno Senna in a 'Terrorist Bunny T-shirt'
Esteban Goutierrez in 'Burton' blazer
Sam Bird in a skull detail shirt and velvet slippers
And here is Ed Westwick strutting his stuff on the catwalk
So what's the verdict?
Picture right of philipp-plein.com, sutton images and moi
I have an unconditional love for the French Riviera and my heart skips a beat any time I see a picture of the Nice port, the Cap-Ferret coastline, the Monaco harbour or a gigantic cruise ship in the Villefranche bay.
It makes me feel like an insider, spotting the places I know so well and brings back all those happy memories.
Riviera - place spotting always cheers me up and what easier way to do it then to watch a movie that's set there (for the 1000st time.....)
Here are my all time favourites:
Priceless (Hors de Prix)
Audrey Tautou speaks French that I actually understand (I still have no clue what the Coco Avant Chanel is all about having seen it 3 times), and there are beautiful clothes and shoes too! There's a bit of Nice Chateau, a bit of the Gare, some Croisette and Hotel de Paris...
To Catch a Thief
I think everyone can find something to love about this movie... first of all it's a Hitchcock one (which doesn't really matter to me, but I know many who would take me more seriously now), second of all Cary Grant.... I wish every men would be a little bit like him such a perfect Gentleman - and my all time fashion icon.
And then there is Princesse to be Grace with her amazing wardrobe...beautiful cars and beautiful scenery..and all that Moneguasqe Royal gossip on how she met the Prince when she was shooting this movie..
You can see how the Cours Saleya Flower market looked back in the fifties (not too much different then today!) and get a glimpse of the sandy beach of Cannes back in the day.
And you get a thrilling story if all this is not enough to keep you entertained!
An Affair to Remember
It's something you need to experience in order to understand, but on the Riviera somehow you feel like time slows down in a comforting and calming way. I bet everyone who has been to Villefranche took a photo of a ginormous cruiseship that was waiting around in the bay. Not much changed in the last 60 years, that's what you will see in this movie too. And some of the lovely hidden villages up in the mountains. Another movie with the amazing Cary Grant and some more fashion footage from the fifties.
Heartbraker
To sum up this movie all you need to think of if the title title pronounced with a very strong French accent. It's nothing serious but most of it is set in Monaco which makes me watch it over and over again. And the French speaking English always lift my mood and makes me start speaking like them:)
Killers
Another chick-flick with only a tiny part of the movie set in Nice, but this one is special for me because they were shooting it when I was living in Nice and for a few days all the talk was about my friend who met Ashton Kutcher in Vieux Nice:)
This list is dedicated to all my dear friend from Nice because you are who I always think of when watching these movies! The list is nowhere near complete though, so you are all welcome to add to it:)
