VALENTINO VAMPIRE PART II

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Keira 4 Valentino

Keira Knightley always looks alright. I often feel her fashion choices are a bit odd, though, and that some of the designers she wears don't suit her as much as they could. But that's just splitting hairs.
ANYWAY.

The initial impulse for this post is that Keira looks outrageously stunning in this Valentino dress from the Spring 2011 collection. The best she has ever looked. Regular readers of this blog will know I have a penchant for the way Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli the creative directors of Valentino are refreshing the codes of the house.

You ought to know, too, that the Valentino showing for Spring/Summer 2011 was the highlight of the season for just about every woman in the fashion media and more besides. So expect profiles of the designers, and lots of Valentino love and red carpet action next season.

Luckily for me, I got to spend time with the designers during Couture week in July, and wrote up my interview for POP's current issue. MC and PP as they are known are funny and fabulous, and doing such a great job. Here's ten reasons why I'm still a Valentino Vampire.

Read more about my Valentino obsession here.

ERDEM TELLS ME ALL ABOUT THE MOST EXPENSIVE DRESS HE HAS EVER CREATED

The pouty house model for Erdem in the most expensive (and intricate) dress the designer has ever created.

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

I have known Erdem Moralioglu ever since he came onto the London fashion scene. And I can safely say he is one of the loveliest men alive. He is charming, with a dry humour, a good business head and above all he is a super-talented designer with a laser sharp couturiers eye for detail. His intricately detailed and very beautiful clothes are timeless and modern all at once. So

I'm not at all surprised that his fame is spreading at a pace. Sarah Brown (wife of British PM, Gordon) and Michelle Obama are fans of his clothes; but its not just first ladies who like him. Racy ladies do too. Thandie Newton is a confirmed fan, as am I (and my style is the polar opposite Mrs Brown and Obama); Keira Knightley and Halle Berry are partial too.

I dropped in to see Erdem during Paris at the London Showrooms, the one-stop address for up-and-coming British designers in the city, and he told me he was having his best season ever for sales. He also told me his inspiration for the season were the Modan Gaaru - this is Japanese for Modern Girl - who were the Japanese equivalent of flapper girls.

"They were self sufficent, they smoked, had sex. They took their kimono's and cut them up," he told me. I like the sound of the Modan Gaaru.

In the process of designing the collection Erdem found he had created his most expensive dress ever. "Do you want to see the most expensive dress I have ever created," he teased. "Look here," he said inviting me to eye-ball one of the 3,000 hand-embroidered flowers that make up the multi-coloured floral shift dress. "Each one of those took an hour at least. So that's 3,000 hours before you get to constructing it as a dress." Woah. Wonder who will buy one?

My pictures look good, but I have to say they don't do the detail in the individual flowers justice. Next time I'm at his studio I will do a close-up and update the blog.

Fonally couldn't resist a shot of Erdem with his dress, especailly as we was wearing his signature look of stripey top, jeans and his adorably geeky specs.