Editor Watch: Anna Dello Russo for H&M

When this nugget of news pinged into my inbox at the start of the month, I meant to write up something on it, but then Paris being Paris, the days melted quaintly away and I forgot all about Anna and her collection for H&M. But now that I'm back in her native Italy, it seems more appropriate to tackle the topic.

So Anna Dello Russo is to be the first Vogue editor to turn designer for the fast fashion giant, joining the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace and most lately Marni's Consuela Castiglioni. I suppose it was only a matter of time, either that she'd collaborate as such or launch her own line of fruit-inspired headgear. But somehow, I'm not sure the timing of this is ideal. Now, before I go any further, allow me to point out that I'm merely marinating on the significance of this collaborative first and what it means for the industry, as personally I have always thought ADR to be rather fabulous. In particular the message she sends in an industry obsessed with youth that one can be just that at any age.

Anna Dello Russo has been a fascinating figure to watch from the sidelines over these last two or so years, her intriguing ride from Fashion Director at Large for Vogue Japan to flamboyant street style mogul to what the H&M press release described as an "idol of the blogosphere." About two years ago, maybe slightly less, I pitched an article to print that never ended up being commissioned with the working title "The Rise of the Edilebrity." Thanks to Gmail's excellent archiving, a quick search has managed to bring it up and I share it with you here:  Reality TV, social media and the rest of it have given new visibilities to those in traditionally "behind-the-scene" roles, suddenly transforming ordinary working people into celebrities overnight. As far as fashion is concerned, via the Hills and the City we've seen it with interns, with the Rachel Zoe Project we saw it with stylists and with the filming of the September Issue, at long last, the fashion editor, the ultimate industry insider icon, was laid bare to the world. Examples of editors crossing into the realm of celebrity are numerous enough to call it a trend: Anna Wintour to Grace Coddington (now both covering magazines recently!), Joe Zee (just launched his own reality TV show), Andre Leon Talley (America's Next Top Model), Twitter sensation Hilary Alexander, Franca Sozzani (also on ANTM), there are also more...I would argue that Anna Dello Russo is at the heart of this trend (alongside Wintour), because she managed to turn herself not into a celebrity per se, but for sure an "edilebrity," in a matter of months. Through her blog, social media, and street style shrines she has now definitely approached the realm with the launch of her own fragrance. Editors are no longer just journalists, stylists or marketing mavens, they are public figures (brands even) with tens of thousands of twitter followers, dolls being made in their likeness, TV shows, and so on and so forth. Hence, the birth of the "edilebrity." So I'd like to propose a feature on the trend, with an exploration of where it came from, who are the key and up and coming players (Emmanuelle Alt, for example) and will it last?

Fast forwarding from fragrance to fast fashion, last, it seems, it has. Well, at least further infiltrated the mainstream. It's interesting to point out that Anna was not amongst their year's attendees at the Met Gala, like in previous years. Sure, she could have been busy elsewhere, but who RSVP's no to the Met Ball? And this season, at fashion week, I noticed her outfits slightly scaled back in their signature flamboyance which seems to me to go hand in hand with the fact that many feel that a street style "backlash," so to speak, is imminent. Already this past season I noticed a few former favourites of the sidewalk lens actually declining to have their photo taken, an interesting shift in mood. Is attempting to fly under the street style radar a play for more attention? Have certain members of the upper echelons of the industry merely had enough? Or have all their best Christopher Kane bits simply already been shot? Anna Dello Russo famously told NY Mag about six months ago that she sometimes changes up to five times a day during fashion week. But in February, she seemed to have scaled it back. Not only were her looks slightly more subdued, I'm fairly certain there were less of them.

So to return to the question with which I wrapped up my edilebrity pitch--will it last?--I think the answer is at once obvious and not so much. The press release harps on Anna's iconic status as a blogger, both herself the subject of street style stardom and wielding a website of her own, and they emphasize it more than her role as Fashion Director. To return to my point in the pitch about Andre Leon Talley guest judging on America's Next Top Model, it was announced a few days ago that a certain boy blogger will be taking up that seat which ALT vacated a few seasons back. It seems to me (and this has been a rather long time coming and isn't necessarily the newest bit of info on the block) that the rise of the edilebrity has morphed into that of the bloglebrity. Bloggers are much more malleable in terms of branding, not limited by the DNA of the magazine they represent but still have accrued a similar scope of insider-status, access and authority. Hence the collaboration being between ADR and H&M and not H&M and Vogue Japan. Therefore in sum, Anna Dello Russo's greatest chameleon act is her ability to flit between Fashion Director and fashion blogger, the combination of which once it goes mega-mainstream post HM will take her out of the varying ranks of "lebrity" puns into the full blown arena of celebrity proper. Where she and the phenomena will go from there, remains to be seen (big screen cameos, perhaps--is there a Hangover 3 in the works?), but at least we know that she'll get there with a whole heap of fabulous accessories.

Anna Dello Russo's H&M accessories range will be available from October 4th (I feel a PFW launch coming on...) and features jewellery, sunglasses, shoes, and bags.

Visiting withe Vuitton: The Paris Maison and Espace Culturel

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a while, but just never got around to it. Quite some time ago, I visited the grandest Maison of them all, the heart of the Louis Vuitton retail empire, so to speak: the Champs-Élysées flagship. The Paris Maison is also the home off the Espace Culturel, an exhibition space on the top floor just a short oblivion-simulating ride up a lightproof, soundproof elevator that I'd always wanted to see and did not disappoint.

WhisperLust: Aladeen Chic in Cannes

Despite an inbox riddled with the latest from 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival, there is only one actor, one film and one camel-riding style icon who is holding my imagination hostage: Supreme Leader Admiral General Hafez Aladeen. He was recently spotted cruising into the bay of Cannes (the Mirror has a shamefully delectable assortment of snaps e.g. the treat above) wearing his trademark dictator shirt plastered with medals he awarded to himself (Equipment version no doubt to be launching sooner than the nearest nuclear rocket) and of course, venerably swapping his slacks for a speedo. We plebeians of the West have so much to learn from Aladeen, who, if you didn't know is the self-appointed editor in chief of Wadiyan Vogue, on the chic low-down regarding all white military suiting, excessive gold accessorizing and world-domination-reflecting eyewear. So for those of you contemplating resort along the lines of "yes we Cannes!" remember your Wadiyan and repeat after me, "yes we Aladeen!"

1. Alexander Wang Square-frame acetate sunglasses £240

2. Alexander McQueen Embellished crepe blazer £2,430

3, Alexander McQueen Embellished crepe straight-leg pants £930

4. Alexander McQueen Studded leather sandals £1,295

5. Alexander McQueen Swarovski crystal skull and starfish ring £180

6. Alexander McQueen Swarovski crystal-embellished skull necklace £250

7. Zadig &Voltaire Coated stainless steel skull motif watch £265

8. Alexander McQueen Skull charm python wrap bracelet £195

9. Ileana Makri Skull 18-karat rose gold diamond ring £715

10. Ileana Makri Skull 18-karat rose gold ruby necklace £530

11. Alexander McQueen Swarovski crystal double-skull ring £155

12. Alexander McQueen Serpent Skull karung knuckle box clutch £1,150

A Visit To The Aigle Boots Factory-Châtellerault, France

Anyone who has spent some quality time in England can be forgiven for believing that rubber aka "Wellington" boots were born and bred in the soggy hills of Britain and named, of course, after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. But after a trip to Châtellerault, a field-filled two-hour train ride from Paris, to the home of Aigle Boots, I emerged with a slightly amended rubber footwear chronology. 

It was an American in France (fancy that, eh?) who first applied the technology of vulcanization (a chemical treatment of rubber for the purposes of reinforcement that basically amounts to baking the stuff at obscene temperatures) patented by none other than rubber titan and fellow American Charles Goodyear to boots and then raincoats at the end of the 19th century.

Paying a little visit to the former US-military base turned factory and immersing myself in the history of les bottes en caoutchouc was a rather fascinating experience. Much, one would imagine, like a trip to Charlie's beloved factory albeit with a rather less enticing smell. I've visited factories before, but always where the emphasis was on the craftsman rather than a larger-scale industrial process with wondrously crafted machines that look like they've stepped right out of a 19th century novel. 

That is not to say that there isn't a handmade element or craftsmen and women behind it all, but the process of producing rubber and working with it thereafter is a highly industrial one that must have truly seemed beyond revolutionary when it was first introduced a century and a half ago. What is revolutionary to me now is that, evidently, the process and mechanisms involved have not changed much since then.

"I always say that our boots are like a Hermes handbag," quipped Gideon Day, Aigle's Creative Director over a glass of champagne later that evening at the Champs Élysées store opening back in Paris. "They're made by hand and the process involves just as many steps, just not in leather. Even though our boots are a democratic product, they're still luxury and 'made-in-France.'"

Mixed, stretched, pulled, oozed through curious machines, I'd never seen the manufacture of rubber before and watching it was somewhat mesmerizing. After the rubber has cooled, it begins the journey of being molded into boots via various treatments; application to metal forms and eventually vulcanization. The Châtellerault factory produces about 10,000 pairs of shoes annually--which amounts to about three quarters of the brand's total output. 

Aigle also produces a range of ready to wear for men and women, which is extremely popular in Japan due to its fusion of function and fashion handled a la Francais. "Our aim is not just to dress people for a function," explained Gideon when I nudged him away from boots. "What we've tried to create for ourselves is a niche where we're a casual brand with a hidden function."

After our morning at the factory, we re-boarded the train back to Paris to join Aigle in toasting their new Champs Élysées store. Perusing the wide array of boots on offer, including special editions laden with Swarovskis, collaborations with brands like Agnes B and a properly lust-worthy simple cropped Chelsea boot, I asked Gideon if there was any conceivable incarnation of the rubber boot he had been unable to realise in his half decade at Aigle's helm.

"To be honest, I have this conversation every week with the guys at the factory!  We wanted to do perforated wellies and brogue shoes--this is a problem. We wanted to do leather boots with rubber bottoms, it is possible but not altogether that easy. There are so many things that we've wanted to do or tried to do. The roll-up boots, for instance, I wanted to do as waders to become a little S&M. But the process is very industrial, even making the shapes the metal forms when you want to change a shape is a half a million euros of investment because you have to have all those forms in all those sizes: small changes have enormous consequences." In terms of what's next, Gideon filled me in on an upcoming heritage collaboration with Harris Tweed for fall and a few new ventures brewing in the far east, namely Japan. 

"I like to think of the wellingtons as the guys who spin plates. I've got about ten plates spinning at any one time--collaborations, new prints, shapes, textures, materials, there's always something going on. Some of it can't happen, some of it doesn't work, but some of it does," Gideon summed up. "We invented the rubber boot and we are the best rubber boot company around so we should be at the forefront of everything that's going on." 

The Wandering Whisperer: Paris-May, 2012