Rosie Scott Blog about Women

Having worked with artists such as Ladi6, Stan Walker, Hollie Smith and Vince Harder, Sammy Salsa’s experience in ensuring his clients look polished for the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards has been one of his strengths as a stylist. Sam gives us his tips on how to look red carpet ready ahead of tonight’s awards:

1. Foundation

Just as important as the exterior of any outfit, the interior is just as vital. Having the right undergarments is the start for any red carpet look. The right shapewear, bra and underwear can make you feel confident and camera ready.

2. Perfect fit

This is a no brainer. Make sure your outfit fits. If it's too loose get it tailored to fit you in all areas. If it's too tight find another outfit!

3. First aid kit

No, not the one that saves lives but one that will save your outfit! Having a compact kit (small enough to fit in your clutch) containing double sided tape, band aids, thread and a needle will save you from any unexpected red carpet boo boos.

4. Don’t reveal too much

Know the limits when it comes to showing too much skin. For example, if you’re opting for a gown that has a high thigh split, you don't want a plunging neckline. Balance the look out so that you are showing just the right amount of skin in all the right places.

5. Fashion vs costume

Once in a while there will be those that take risks on the red carpet by opting for something a little more avant-garde. Opting for something that looks accessible and put together will still have you looking fashion forward, and not like Annie on Broadway.

6. Less is more

Be strategic when it comes to accessories. Sometimes less is more and other times you just need that one statement piece to pull off a look.

7. Backup plan

Anything can happen from a month out leading up to the awards night — trust me it's happened! The best way to eliminate any stress is to have a backup outfit and make sure that backup outfit is just as fierce as your first choice.

8. Comfortable and confident

It's going to be a long night of posing for photos, partying with the winners and losers of the night so make sure you are comfortable. The confidence will come naturally from that. Also downing a few vinos beforehand helps.

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Few fashion events can rival the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in terms of scope and magnitude. With models dueling for spots on the brand’s prestigious runway and millions tuning in on television, casting the show takes on a special significance. For models, an appearance at Victoria’s Secret can serve to introduce them to a whole new audience, kick-starting their careers and putting them on the path to Angel status. The casting lineup at each show is hotly debated, with online aficionados building their fantasy Victoria’s Secret leagues for months in advance and seemingly everyone chiming in with an opinion on who ought to walk. Enthused fans aside, the final decision falls into the hands of John Pfeiffer, a fashion industry veteran with more than 20 years’ experience casting some of the industry’s biggest shows. During fashion month, Pfeiffer handles model selection for everyone from Diane von Furstenberg to Michael Kors, but in the postseason, he and his team are dedicated to the creation of the ultimate Angel squad.

What defines a Victoria’s Secret model is constantly evolving. Over the years, the brand’s runway has featured several incarnations of the Angel, from the refined sexiness of Stephanie Seymour, Daniela Pestova, and Helena Christensen to the Amazonian glamour typified by Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum, and Tyra Banks. Pfeiffer has been behind each shift, curating a cast that adheres to the mood of the moment yet retains the brand’s unmistakable aesthetic. 2015’s lineup is as accurate a representation of the current modeling scene as one will find. Led by supermodel mainstays like Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio, the cast features an array of haute first-timers, including social media stars Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner. With a focus on youthful joie de vivre and bombastic personalities to match those oversize wings, this year’s models are bubbly bombshells next door. On the eve of the show’s taping, Pfeiffer talked to us about making the final selections, the impact of social media, and the new faces to watch.

Since the show will be televised, are there concerns you have to address that wouldn’t come into play with a regular fashion show?

One thing that’s different is that we don’t book anyone under the age of 18, which wasn’t always the case. Adriana [Lima] started with the brand quite young, and in the past before the show was televised that would occasionally occur. I don’t think the age thing has to do with the fact that it is televised, per se, but there was a conscious decision made many years ago that we wouldn’t book anyone under 18. That extended to the girls who are shot for the brand, which is an especially important issue right now.

How big a role does personality play in the casting process?

I think personality is one of the most important things. At this level of casting, we’re nitpicking physically because they’re all gorgeous. What makes a girl stand out is her personality, and there are a lot of ways to define it.

The casting process occurs over several days with my team. But on those last few days of casting, when we’re in the room with Ed [Razek], Monica [Mitro], and Sophia [Neophitou] and other people from the brand, camera crews, film crews—that is the first real taste. You see who is going to make it through because you’re seeing a hundred girls; truly, they are all gorgeous, and any one of them could be chosen from that standpoint. What you’re looking for is who captures your attention, who stands out from the crowd. If you can’t do it in that room, you’re not going to be able to do it on the runway.

With both Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid walking this year, do you feel social media has played an increasingly important role in the decision-making process?

It would be impossible not to be aware of social media. That fact that you’re aware of it probably colors your judgment in some way even if you strive to be completely neutral and judge the girls only by the guidelines. But I say this truthfully and sincerely: I think Gigi and Kendall make it in based on merit. You can’t deny that they’ve got this incredible following and have great backstories, but they have proven themselves as models. They’re not dilettantes; they’re both professionals.

2015’s lineup seems to be driven by youth, with many in the cast walking for the first time—was that a deliberate choice?

There are 12 girls who are doing the show for the first time this year and it happened organically. We spent the last two days doing the callbacks and whittling it down to the final list, which is a lengthy process. The stakes are so high for the girls because they really make an effort to prepare for the casting, and they want to impress. The stakes are high for us because we want to be making the right decisions. There are a lot of tough choices, but I think really good ones in the end. I’m super happy with every single girl in the show this year.

Among the new faces, who impressed you?

One thing that ties into not booking girls under the age of 18 is that we’re keeping our eyes on certain girls who maybe weren’t old enough last year but came of age this year. Valery Kaufman is one of those girls; this is her first time doing the show, and she is incredible. Bruna Lírio is another brand-new girl—she’s only been in New York for two months and hasn’t even done a show season yet. This is her first big show! She was amazing in the casting, so effortless and charming. She captivated the room.

I’m excited about Pauline Hoarau, who is so divine. It’s Bridget Malcolm’s first time doing the show as well and she looks amazing. I’ve known her for a while, and I don’t know—something happened and she blossomed. I’m also really excited about Leomie Anderson. She did well at the castings last year and just didn’t make that final cut, but she came back this year and wowed the room again.

How does that differ from the experience of working with the girls who have been doing the show for several years now?

It may sound a little cheesy, but sometimes when you see those girls and they come in for those fittings, you just light up. I met Adriana [Lima] when she was 14, and now she’s a mom with two beautiful daughters and has become this incredible woman. I’ve been casting for 20-plus years, so the girls I knew back then were kids. It is wonderful to see them become women, develop and grow as people, create families and be successful.

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Many women strap on heels for a night on the town with the intention of turning heads.

Holly Burt avoids them for that very reason.

“It leads to nonstop questions,” the 20-year-old tells The Post at her photo shoot at Tender Bar & Grill. Standing 6-foot-5 — and with 49.5-inch legs — Burt already gets questions about her height 20 to 30 times a day, even when she’s just wearing sneakers.

The Florida native didn’t even buy her first pair of heels until October. That’s when she went public with the news that her legs are a half-inch longer than those of Lauren Williams of Houston, who claims to have the longest of any women in America.

But with those eye-popping gams come some unique tall-girl problems.

“I can’t fit on a plane — I have to duck,” Burt says. “I’m literally walking like I have a broken neck, and if [someone seated in front of me has] the audacity to put their chair back, I won’t let them do that. I’ll push up against their seat with my hands.”

Riding the subway to Parsons School of Design each day from her Bushwick, Brooklyn, apartment requires ducking down, too. She also has to deal with gawking straphangers who shamelessly snap her photo. “That’s where I get the most attention.”

Burt’s yet to try and squeeze into a seat at a Broadway show, but she’s got a strategy when attending lectures at school. The graphic-design major shows up early to classes to get a front-row seat. That way, she can stretch out and no one has to climb over her.

Luckily, Burt can solicit advice from her family: She comes from a long line of sky-high giants.

“My mom is 6 foot, my dad’s 6-foot-3 and my sister’s 6-foot-1,” she says. “And my grandpa was 6-foot-8.”

When it comes to dating, Burt, who’s single, turns to apps like Tinder and Bumble — which usually list a guy’s height — to help weed out the short stuff.

As her Bumble profile says, she’s looking for her very own Yao Ming.

“I’ve had one type all my life, and that’s tall,” she explains. “It’s not like I have trouble getting guys. I’m a pretty personable person, so if I see a really tall guy, of course I’ll go up to him and say, ‘Hey.’ ”

She tends to meet men at trendy nightlife haunts in Williamsburg and on the Lower East Side. But Burt cringes when recounting the main pickup line she gets from guys.

“‘Whoa, you’re really tall.’ Then that’s over right there,” she says. “They’ll be like, ‘What’s your name?’ and I’ll say, ‘You can just shut up now.’ ”

Another challenge when your legs are more than 4 feet long? You can’t just pop into a store and buy pants.

“Tall orders are [usually only] available online,” she says. But sometimes even that’s not enough: “At Gap you can get a 35-inch inseam online, but I wear a 37-inch inseam.”

Burt’s favorite online retailer is alloyapparel, which specializes in tall sizes. When she finds something she likes, she buys in bulk.

“I swear I’m a normal girl!” says Burt, who wears a size 2 from the waist up. “I can shop anywhere really for [tops and dresses]. It’s just pants — and shoes. I wear size 11.”

Her favorite article of clothing right now is a Bebe bandage skirt, size XS.

“It gives [me] a really nice hourglass, and my legs look really awesome in it.” It just barely skims the tops of her thighs, and she’ll pair it with flat boots and a crop top for a night out on Ludlow Street.

Soon, she might have a camera crew tagging along: A major cable channel has contacted Burt about a possible reality show, and she’s more than game. But even though she gives supermodels like Heidi Klum — whose own legs are insured for a combined $2 million — a run for their money, don’t expect to see Burt stomping the runway anytime soon.

“I don’t see myself walking New York Fashion Week,” she says. “I’ve been hit up by one modeling agency that specializes in [body] parts — like ad campaigns that need a real leggy model — which is where I would be perfectly happy.”

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Baggy or slim? Boxy or narrow? This fall, the pants debate extends to the guys, too. Below, one Vogue editor tells us why this season, inspired by the likes of Vetements and Patrik Ervell, he’s opting for a wider cut. And over here, another point of view.

The first time I saw a guy in wide-leg pants, I didn’t know what to think. It was the early ’90s and the skater wearing them was a grade below me in high school. These days, a slouchy look is back in fashion—see the cult menswear designer Craig Green, for example, whose loose, boxy cuts appeal to women as well as men. But back then, those kinds of proportions looked really odd to my eye: The skater’s outsize pant legs were nearly big enough to obscure his Airwalks. This was before big pants had moved beyond hip-hop, skater, and raver circles and entered the mainstream, so I had no frame of reference for such an outfit.

But I found the style intriguing, and—as these things often go at that age—within a matter of months, I was sporting oversize trousers, too. For the next few years, loose-fitting pants and extra-large T-shirts became my go-to look. (I also skated, though never very well.)

At some point in college, when many of the guys on campus started dressing this way, I gave up on baggy proportions and embraced the slimmer silhouette worn by characters in Trainspotting and favored by indie rock bands like The Make-Up. I was decidedly over big pants, and for years afterward my attitude would be, the skinnier, the better.

It was the late ’90s then, and Helmut Lang and flat-front pants held sway, though many men’s brands were still pushing relaxed denim. Hedi Slimane was a few years away from becoming creative director of Dior Homme, where his tiny suits and skintight jeans would help enshrine the slim fit. So I resorted to buying vintage and wearing women’s button-downs and jeans to achieve the look I wanted.

By the mid-2000s, though, finding slimmer menswear was easier. Designers like Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders and Thom Browne were cutting their clothing closer to the body. Toward the end of the aughts, the style migrated from the runway to the mall, where the Gap, H&M, Uniqlo, and other retailers helped to popularize the skinny-jeans trend, which continues today.

But an ultra-slim look no longer appeals to me the way it did even a few years ago. A looser, boxier silhouette seems more modern and represents an evolutionary step beyond the skinny fits I wore for so long. My interest in moving past this look was prompted in part by the recent men’s collections, as well as the slack, elegant styles worn by David Bowie and Bryan Ferry in the ’70s, but I’ve also been studying the slouchier vintage designs of Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, and Yohji Yamamoto. And I’ve drawn inspiration from current womenswear, paying attention not only to labels like Vetements, but also to the way my wife, my colleagues at Vogue, and a lot of women on the streets of New York are dressing. They’re showing that choosing comfortable clothing doesn’t have to mean a rejection of style, and the voluminous, architectural trousers that many of them wear offer another way of presenting oneself.

Over the summer, I took a stab at a looser silhouette with relaxed linen trousers from Our Legacy and a carrot-fit canvas pair from Death to Tennis that were loose on the upper leg and tapered to the ankle. After years of skinny pants, the sense-memory evoked by fabric swooshing against my legs as I walked really brought me back. It also felt very liberating, and led me to my Halloween costume for this year: a ’90s wannabe skater in a knit cap; extra-large band T-shirt; Vans; and old, oversize Dickies work pants. It’s probably the most comfortable I’ve been in ages, and my wife was definitely a fan—she wants me to break out that look more often.

Now I’m ready to go even baggier. This fall, I’m eyeing Patrik Ervell’s monumental, Brutalism-channeling skater pants. And for spring I’m fascinated by Raf Simons’s leg-flooding, rave-and-Northern soul–influenced trousers. They’re a departure from his stovepipe jeans of recent years, and offer the most exaggerated—and exciting—silhouette of the coming season. It’s a shape that, while it does tie in to the ’90s revival—or perhaps refracts the ’70s through the prism of the ’90s—paradoxically also seems attuned to the way we live now, in which we prize dressing well, but with comfort and ease over the tightly fitted rigors of the very recent past.

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The last time I saw Claire Boucher, we were 90 miles off the Florida coast aboard the S.S. Coachella, a music-festival-meets-luxury-cruise from the promoters that brought you the desert romp of the same name. Boucher—more commonly known by her experimental alter ego, Grimes—was belting out hits from her 2012 Billboard-charting album, Visions, while her self-styled ponytail, replete with multicolored scrunchies (and a pair of cat ears), swung in the air.

The moment was remarkable for a few reasons, the least of which had to do with our proximity to dry land. With only about 100 people gathered in the small venue to take in Boucher’s action-packed live show, it was an intimate performance with the burgeoning pop star, whose career promptly went stratospheric. It was also one of the only times in recent memory that the Vancouver-born, Los Angeles–based Boucher took to the stage with her natural brunette hair, which she’s been dying a kaleidoscope of colors since she was 10.

When we finally meet again, nearly three years later, it’s to talk all things beauty for this month’s issue of Vogue. Just ahead of her highly anticipated new record, Art Angels (out this Friday), Boucher’s strands are a fresh shade of Manic Panic purple with a wash of pink on top. “This is my album color,” she reveals of the precise lilac hue—a combination of the company’s Electric Amethyst and Mystic Heather shades—that she also wore front row at Louis Vuitton’s recent Spring 2016 show in Paris.

A self-taught beauty junkie, she’ll manage her own root touch-ups while she’s on the road this winter, part of her DIY mantra that hinges on looking ‘not professional,’ ” she says. “Sometimes when I’m doing stage makeup, I just want it to look weird and abstract, like I just smeared a bunch of crap on my face and let it live!” Still, there is a method to the madness that has the musician dipping into pots of black kohl liner, toting her trusty Kat Von D liquid eye pen across continents, and stocking up on beauty essentials sourced everywhere from Canadian discount stores to Kickstarter campaigns. Here, the 27-year-old talks natural skincare solutions, homespun energy drinks, and why she occasionally loves a really mean nail tech.

How do you choose your hair color for each album cycle or tour?

I just kind of go by vibe. Every time you do a color, though, everyone else starts doing it. I’m like, ‘Damn. I shouldn’t have Instagrammed this!’ I really wanted to do red this time, but I think Florence [Welch] just did it. And Bowie. And even Rihanna’s red phase is so iconic. I don’t think this [purple] color is taken, though.

Do you ever get as expressive with your makeup and nails as you do with your hair?

I have a kohl eyeliner that I use to make a smoky, goth-y eye, and I’m really into this one Kat Von D pen that’s super-easy to draw on, but I can’t wear lipstick; I look simultaneously like a baby and a lady of the night. I use lipstick on my eyes, though, like a red or a black—or even a lip gloss. I have all of these weird sparkly glosses from the dollar store in Montreal that are great. I also really like getting acrylics—really long ones in black, or navy blue.

Do you have a go-to L.A. nail spot?

I go to this nail salon that I found in Highland Park. They have pictures of all of these D-level celebrities on the wall, and they’re really mean to me. I love it when they’re mean to me—it’s kind of amazing.

Is beauty an onstage-only undertaking for you, or is it part of your daily routine?

Every time I leave the house, I guess I do a little something, at least my eyebrows. I always fill them in. I got this weird, white, organic Halloween makeup that I mix with regular foundation for a pale look, and then I fill in my eyebrows so they’re super contrasty. It’s subtle, though. Like, you can’t tell that I’m wearing clown makeup!

Is there a specific foundation you like to mix with said clown makeup?

Josie Maran. It has argan oil in it.

Are there other good-for-your-skin ingredients you find yourself gravitating toward?

I have Burt’s Bees everything and I take vitamin D, but I use olive oil more than any actual beauty products—and I eat a shit-ton of avocados. There’s also a great rosewater toner and a shea butter body oil that I really love that I got from my friend Alexis [Krauss] who’s in the band Sleigh Bells. She just started this website called Beauty Lies Truth, which is how I started getting more into cosmetics. She did a Kickstarter campaign, and if you pledged, you got a big box of ethically made products.

Do you make a concerted effort to maintain an ethical, environmentally conscious lifestyle?

Yeah, definitely, whenever possible. Vegans are too hard-line, but I don’t eat meat or dairy—and I never use plastic bottles. Every night, I fill up my purple S’well bottle with ice-cold maté [tea], and I put it by my bed, so when I get up in the morning I can just chug it. I’ve been infinitely more productive since I started doing it.

I imagine the maté boost also helps make music you can move to. Was that important to you on this new record?

Dancing is really important for me. I’ll make a slow song, but it’s important to me that the songs are fun and at their core, there is just an incredible love for music.

Do you dance a lot to get in shape for your live shows?

Training for a live show is emotionally and physically like training for a fight. This is so off-brand, but I’ve been really into the Ballet Beautiful workout videos. They’re really hard! ButI’ve also been skipping rope because the main thing I need to work on is being able to move more, dance more, and not lose the vocals.

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Jacqueline de Ribes has an actual title — she’s Jacqueline, Countess de Ribes — and she’s been given many more. “Reigning Queen of Paris,” for example, and “Empress of Café Society.” Unlike the formal title, which she was both born with and married into, the others she earned over 86 years of totally over-the-top living, doing things like arriving very late for dinner dressed in a Turkish disguise. Her father-in-law once described her as a cross between a Russian princess and a showgirl from the Folies Bergère.

De Ribes had a dark, if privileged, childhood in wartime France. There were châteaux, sure, but there were also Gestapo staying in them, and her parents were as glacial as they were glamorous — she often says that as a child she was kissed only once.

At 18, fresh out of the convent, she married Edouard de Ribes, and a particularly flamboyant uncle took her to buy some dresses at Christian Dior (“I’m the last customer on Earth who remembers the actual Christian Dior,” she points out). What followed was a lifetime of haute couture patronage (Dior, Jean Desses, Emanuel Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent) and attendance at a never-ending cycle of charity galas and bals masqués.

De Ribes is unusually beautiful, with a long, graceful neck and a big, distinctive nose that inspired Richard Avedon (who photographed her dozens of times at the suggestion of Diana Vreeland) to express pity for all the other girls in the world with noses less extreme. Soon, lots of people were calling her Nefertiti.

As a fashion client, she could be quite imperial. “I always wanted bigger sleeves or shorter sleeves,” she says. “And they always said okay. They knew that Monsieur Saint Laurent would always agree with me.” Then, at age 53, de Ribes began her own label, picking up clients in America (Barbara Walters, for one), Tokyo, and elsewhere with a collection that matched her lifestyle: black-tie dresses with long sleeves and necklines, but also suggestive panels of sheer black lace. When her family refused to invest, she found backers on her own.

A few years ago, Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute were invited to lunch at her Parisian hôtel particulier and discovered an astonishing cache of perfectly preserved couture. On November 19, an exhibition opens featuring clothes from all the major couture houses as well as from her own line.

At 86, the countess is a great-grandmother of three and still quite busy in Paris. She was widowed several years ago and mourns her husband deeply. “My real admirer was my husband,” she says. “He was wonderful, and I am just so sad without him every single day.” She still keeps up with fashion (she likes the new team at Valentino) and has lots to say about style. Like on the topic of vulgarity: “First of all, loudness in general is vulgar. You can have loudness in so many ways. The way you move, the way you talk. If you laugh too loudly, it’s vulgar.” And on sex appeal: “You must remember that you’re never going to be sexy for everyone. You are sexy for someone, and for someone else you are not. Being totally nude is not sexy. The art of being sexy is to suggest. To let people have fantasy.”

Asked whether, in all her titled years, she ever made a fashion mistake, she has this to say: “My mirror is my best adviser. Once I did make a mistake. There was a great hairdresser in Paris named Alexandre, and he was going to have a story on him in Life magazine. He said, ‘Could you give me the great favor that I will do your hair in front of the camera of Life?’ But then, after, when I saw the pictures, I discovered that I had hair up in the air and I was covered with too many diamonds! I only did it to be nice to him. And I hope he was happy.”

The Met show is a couture lover’s dream. These clothes were made perfectly, and they were worn in the context for which they were intended, a context that doesn’t really exist anymore. No one would’ve thought to whip out cameras at the parties de Ribes attended for most of her life, an idea almost inconceivable in an age when the whole point of fashion can sometimes feel like providing fodder for Instagram. There was never an ounce of democracy in any piece of this wardrobe, and now here it is, available for the world to lay eyes on. “My upbringing was always to be discreet,” de Ribes says. “When you are an aristocrat, you are not supposed to be in the press, so of course for me, this thing of being in a museum makes me go back in time — for the past 20 years, I have been very calm, and now to go back in the press when you are an old lady — I will just say that it is a very wonderful feeling.”

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Doesn’t dressing up celebrities (as a career) sound like the best profession on earth? Working with someone as chic as Mahira Khan, especially, can safely become a dream job and that’s exactly the way Amar Faiz feels as Mahira Khan’s wardrobe stylist.

We caught up with the suave celebrity stylist Amar Faiz, whose client list includes some of the biggest names in international fashion and we are talking everyone from Kylie Minogue to Iggy Azalea and tons of other red carpet regulars, to find out his experience of styling the Lux Lady, Mahira Khan at the Lux Style Awards 2015.

Instep: First things first, can you please elaborate what a wardrobe stylist’s resume looks like?

Amar Faiz: A Wardrobe Stylist is one of the most popular emerging professions in the fashion world globally. It is someone who understands the client’s style sense, sources and selects the clothing and accessories for his or her campaigns, shoots or public appearances. He helps a client define his or her personal style and choose different outfits to suit that style. It’s a common concept around the fashion world but it’s fairly new in Pakistan.

Instep: So you chose all the stunning outfits that Mahira wore at the LSAs?

AF: Well no, she had the final word on the dresses. But I had shortlisted them, based on the discussions we had about the look that she wanted for the big night. Plus, we both wanted something international and exclusive. A stylist’s job is to make the star’s life easier by short listing the hundreds of dresses for consideration. And if the star is someone like Mahira Khan, then more and more designers want to dress her up. Hence, it makes the selection process much more difficult. And this is where a stylist plays a major role.

Instep: How did you manage to get international designers on board?

AF: I have been in this business for the last 13 years and have developed a network with international designers and PR companies. My aim was to introduce Mahira to a different region and to create her international profile. So when Mahira and I had a discussion about the different looks she wanted for the LSAs, I liaised with the fashion designers based on her requirements. I shared Mahira’s portfolio with them, which was very well received. She has significant presence on social media; Twitter, Instagram and Facebook fans number in millions and that says a lot about her profile. Social media following is also one of the barometers to assess a star’s popularity. And Mahira Khan is already on her way to be the biggest star that Pakistan has ever seen. She is taking the right steps, doing the right projects and with the right people. There is nothing that can stop her.

Instep: How many dresses were shortlisted for Mahira? And what was the story behind the ice-blue dress by Georges Hobeika?

AF: We short listed at least 35 dresses before she confirmed that one. It had to be special as she had to attend the red-carpet in that dress plus she was opening the show as well with that one. And finally she picked Georges Hobeika, the Lebanese Haute Couture designer who has dressed names like Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Hilary Swank etc. For many months she had been receiving a lot of attention from several Arab designers and they had shown their interest in her.

Instep: How did a sari make way amongst the gowns? I mean the beautiful Feeha Jamshed creation?

AF: Honestly, it was very last minute. Mahira wanted to go for another change before sliding into another gown. But the clock was ticking and we just had a few days before the show. We had a Chinese designer’s exclusive creation as backup which was a black gown but Mahira wanted to wear something eastern to balance her multiple appearances. So we checked with her friend Feeha Jamshed, whom she trusts completely and time and again she has donned her creations. I personally love Feeha’s sense of style. We know each other since 2006 and I knew we could count on her. She was kind enough to agree and delivered within a week. That’s how the sari happened. I think she looked fabulous in that.

Instep: What about the swan-white grand finale dress?

AF: That white one was a tough call. Actually, Mahira had shortlisted a Brazilian designer’s creation but when I checked, that dress was reserved for Giuliana Rancics (from E-Entertainment) for an event that was scheduled two days before the LSA night. Even though the designer insisted to send it across to Pakistan but I did not want to stress out as it would have been a close call. So logistically it was not feasible. So I whatsapped around a dozen images to Mahira to select from and she chose this beautiful runway creation by Cecilie Melli. But to make it event appropriate I suggested adding Chantelle lace to the upper part of the dress and it was especially customized for Mahira.

Instep: And how did they arrive from different part of the world to Pakistan?

AF: I got all the dresses couriered to Norway where I live and then brought them along with me to Karachi. The best thing about all these designers is that we did not have to do any alterations after the trial. Each dress fit her like a glove. Plus Mahira was extremely comfortable in each, which matters the most.

Instep: Will you be collaborating with Mahira for her future projects?

AF: I have known Mahira for a long time and I was supposed to collaborate with her for her Bin Roye appearances around the world. But it took me a while to sort things out and I missed the bus. So I thought to start off with the biggest event in town, the LSAs. But my association with her is not going to be a one-off. We see a great deal of synergy here and I will continue to be her wardrobe stylist for her appearance for Ho Mann Jahaan and Raees.

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Kiran Rao slowly sips on a glass of water as she waits inside the seemingly tranquil Wild Garden café at Amethyst. On a balmy October evening, the place is filled with notes of pleasant jazz floating above and the distinct hum of conversations below.

The launch of the newest Amrapali and The Amethyst Room on Khader Nawaz Khan Road will mark the presence of this lifestyle space’s third location in the city. The new store, which doesn’t have a café (“Nungambakkam has plenty of cafés”), came about when Kiran felt the time was right for a standalone boutique, and so she finally settled upon this place. The Amethyst Room will also exhibit clothes, gold and silver jewellery and more.

Kiran’s brainchild Amethyst, when it first opened its doors in Gopalapuram 15 years ago, was an old zamindari bungalow. It was later restored by Kiran, who was on the lookout for a small space to showcase “interesting and affordable jewellery. I was looking at something similar to the mada veedhi shops in Mylapore, when I came across this place — it was elastic and magical. Since I’m one of those ‘follow the rabbit’ people, I thought why not,” Kiran remarks. With a self-confessed passion for jewellery, Kiran draws her experience for retail from the many years she worked in the industry and in galleries in London, and from an “ad hoc continuous retail exposure”.

A student of Indian history and anthropology, Kiran says that it helped her develop an “unconventional view of retail”, in that she sees people “as artists rather than magpies” and not as “fashion victims”. She finds them to be greatly “too complex and genuinely interesting”.

In 2010, Amethyst moved from Gopalapuram to a new restoration project in Royapettah — a granary warehouse on Whites Road. “It was a simple box-like structure; it was not glamorous at all,” Kiran says, adding, “Anything can be made beautiful. It was a very good location and it offered me a chance to accommodate all the other things that I was already doing, such as preserving Nature, restoring heritage structures... There’s a lot of 1950s detailing in this building, if you notice carefully,” Kiran says.

Amethyst has now become a sort of a culture hub — it’s where some of the city’s intelligentsia and the glitterati gather for book launches, boutique showcases and author rendezvous. It’s also where the proletarians (if you please) sometimes come to think and relax amidst the chic-posh surroundings. Point out that she has eclectic taste, and Kiran more than readily agrees.

“I knew the ropes; I knew what would work. I’m my own interior designer. I had the space, and intuitively, I saw what it told me.” This was how the café (Wild Garden), the flower shop (Bloom), the fashion and accessories store (Upstairs), and the event and exhibition space (The Folly) at Amethyst came about. “There already was space in the garden; we enlarged it and that’s how The Folly happened,” Kiran says.

Apart from the store in Royapettah and the one on Chamiers Road (Chamiers), Kiran has also restored La Maison Rose in Puducherry. With its signature rose-pink walls, a huge atrium, and breezy evening engagements, the colonial-style restaurant has all the markings of the Amethyst at home. It’s a theme that runs across her properties and one that Kiran strongly believes in. Green. “I definitely have a missionary zeal for green; I love natural-looking gardens. That’s how the name ‘Wild Garden’ evolved — the name just suggested itself.”

Born to a European mother and an Indian father, and having studied in Church Park, Kiran is an out-an-out Chennai girl. But she does acknowledge the influence that being abroad gave her in setting up Amethyst. “It brought a remembered past to this place — a slower, relaxed pace of life, it helped me create an ambience as you slow down,” she says, as she waxes eloquent about life in general. “You’re always looking for contradictions, for luxurious beautiful things that provide escapism from the mundane and the ever practical.” It’s what she envisions Amethyst to reflect — “a space where people can express themselves; where people can sit for hours and not be trailed or badgered.”

So what does it take to be as successful as her? Well, for one, Kiran says that her trick is to view everything she does as separate businesses — “I’m running several businesses, not the one” — and that there’s only one lifetime so it’s better to not be typecast as someone or something.

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With the autumn season reaching its fashion climax, furs (hopefully faux) and animal prints are bound to make their much-awaited reappearances from attics, suitcases and the dusty top shelves of our wardrobes. For some of you, this winter-ready haul may include a leopard-print coat. My advice? Be charitable and throw it into the donation bin.

I have yet to figure out what makes the leopard print so appealing to women in this region. Sure, blingy, bold and rather ostentatious style elements are stereotypically key to Middle East dressing, but why is it that, season after season, leopard-print garments make tiresome comebacks in stores here?

Many of us have that odd leopard-­print top hanging in our wardrobe, saved for those once-in-a-blue-moon days when we simply have nothing else to wear, or are just bored by the multitude of geometric and floral patterns that hang around it. At times, we may feel like getting rid of it, but we hold onto it as if there’s some unspoken rule that every woman must have at least one leopard look in her wardrobe. Others limit the print to our beachwear or undergarments.

Maybe my tone is a tad too extreme, because I’m not a total hater of animal prints. I’m quite a big fan of python patterns, especially in luxe greys and beiges. I don’t think I’m alone in my favour of sleek snakes over garish leopards, so all of you undercover leopard haters should step out from the shadows of catty clothing, and have the courage to turn down the spotted pattern. The leopard print is one that you must absolutely adore to pull it off comfortably and confidently. If you’re not quite sure where you stand, stick to less-palpable patterns, such as python.

There’s a swanky safari trend currently in vogue, and if you ask me, it’s one of the few instances in which you can get away with rocking a leopard print right now. Khakis, olive greens and whites are great colours to play with, and leopard spots make nice accents. Carry off a serene and subdued colour palette – don’t turn to jewel tones with satiny sheens, which will cheapen your look.

I wouldn’t be caught dead with some of the leopard-print bags on the market – there’s quite a vile design in stores by Saint Laurent. It’s beyond me why someone would drop about Dh7,000 on this, when they could instead go for classic all-black or burgundy quilted design. That said, the new collection from Coach does have some rather nice leopard totes and cross-body bags, along with a range of travel accessories – perhaps it’s the scale, shade and texture of leopard prints that determine whether they’re hits or misses.

Still, no matter what the scale, leopard coats don’t ever become hits, especially if they’re of a furry texture – tacky much? Make sure your outfits channel icons other than Cruella de Vil, and downplay the leopard. Think flats, scarves and even the occasional button-down blouse with the print. There’s also something about a leopard-spotted maxi dress that can be quite fun – a cotton number for poolside, or a tiered chiffon design with a dramatic slit for a fancier evening out.

Be warned, the same sultry-­yet-playful-effect isn’t achieved in a skirt of the same print. Leopard skirts can make you look like an overeager cougar or a not-quite-there newbie at a fashion magazine whose outfit lacks that effortless appeal. So if it catches your eye on your next shopping escapade, give ample thought to this risky pattern before you open your wallet.

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September has been a pretty stellar—and busy—month for designer Anna Sui: She showcased her spring 2016 collection at New York Fashion Week, opened her new store in SoHo, and launched the latest addition to her fragrance family, Romantica. Phew. Between runway shows and campaign shoots, she sat down with us to explain what it’s like to create a perfume and her biggest challenge.

What was the inspiration behind Romantica? “Every fragrance that I create is part of my world, and we’ve explored discovery and travel, all my loves of bohemia, but this time I wanted flowers. I think flowers are in almost every print that I do. My whole fantasy is to have a flower garden, and I just love arrangements, so it’s really about my love of flowers.”

How did you turn the idea into a completed fragrance? “After the concept, we start thinking about what’s going to personify it. One of the things we came up with was the whole color palette. Because of my purple-and-red environment, we thought, let’s try to find flowers in that same world. And then we started thinking about titles, which is always the hardest thing, because everything is taken. Luckily we played on the concept, so Romantica became the title. And then it’s the visual. We were so lucky to have Steven Meisel shoot, Pat [McGrath] and Garren behind the scenes, with the beautiful Ine [Neefs] as the model.”

How did you decide on the bottle design? “I love Art Nouveau, and we had such success with the packaging of the Art Nouveau from the previous fragrance that we thought, why don’t we introduce it into the bottle this time? And of course it has the inspiration of vintage bottles.”

What’s been the most surprising thing about creating fragrances? “I guess we don’t really understand that most of those beautiful vintage bottles were probably all done by hand, handblown, hand-painted. And since we don’t have those craftsmen anymore, you couldn’t capture that same feeling until technology caught up. You can get that look now, because there are all these new techniques, like laser cutting, which you probably wouldn’t have been able to do ten years ago.”

Anything coming up next? “There’s always another one. The last one, La Vie de Bohème, we followed up with La Nuit de Bohème, and that was just as successful, so I think each time we do a fragrance, we’ll take that same concept into another direction and spin it a little bit.”

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