Collette Dinnigan’s Best Moments
Collette Dinnigan’s bombshell announcement – she’s closing her label after 24 years to spend more time with her family – got us all nostalgic.
Dinnigan’s floaty, feminine style has showed up on red carpets and magazines all over the world, and defined the Aussie elegance of the 90s and 00s.
Here are RESCU’s picks of her best moments – do you agree?
One massive career high for Dinnigan, and Aussie fashion, was when she became the first Australian to be offered a show at the exclusive Paris Fashion Week – a basically impossible feat.
She remembered, in one interview, hand-making every invitation, borrowing shoes and wigs for the five models and panicking about the complicated corsetry.
However, the show at Angelina’s on the Rue de Rivoli was an unmitigated success – Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave even allowed her to use the then-unreleased song Where The Wild Roses Grow as her soundtrack.
Now, 24 years later, there’s her book Obsessive Creative, a collection of thoughts and sketches over her years in the business which was apparently the ‘catalyst’ for her decision to quit.
And the bridal world received a shot in the arm when she launched the legendary Collette Dinnigan Bridal in 2007, bringing her breed of fashion and flirtation to a whole new realm of couture brides.
She really shot onto the celebrity radar in 2002, when Halle Berry wore a barely-there Dinnigan creation in silver to the Tomorrow Never Dies premiere. The world took note, and Dinnigan’s path was set.
Since then, she’s adorned many famous women – Nicole Kidman, Taylor Swift, Faith Hill – but her muse has definitely been Miranda Kerr, DJ’s ambassador and die-hard Dinnigan devotee.
And it was the red lace dress heard round the world when Catherine Duchess of Cambridge (still then Kate Middleton) wore Dinnigan to the wedding of a famous friend in September 2011.
Another royal favourite? Princess Mary of Denmark – our Mary- stepped out in a floor-length red creation for a wedding in June this year.
However, her crowning moment (for us at least) has to be dressing Jacki Weaver, the shock Best Supporting Actress nominee for Animal Kingdom, for the red carpet at the 2011 Oscars. It was a high-couture moment where the whole world was watching – and the gown was Best-Dressed in every list.
What are your favourite Dinnigan moments?
Image: Our favourite Dinnigan dresses.
Scarlett O’Hara’s Dressing Gown Up For Auction
Looking like Vivien Leigh as the doomed Southern heroine in Gone With The Wind has never been so easy – if you have fifty thousand dollars, that is.
The breakfast gown worn in a scene in Gone WIth The Wind has gone up for auction at Bonham’s in America, just in time for Halloween.
While many bits of costume memorabilia from the epic film have been snapped up by costume collectors and museums, this particular outfit has been missing for more than 40 years.
On such a huge, haphazard set, costumes and props were occasionally misplaced, and this particular piece of clothing was given to a seamstress, who, for unknown reasons, decided to take it home.
And there it stayed, until the seamstress herself died and the piece of Hollywood history came onto the market again.
It’s a blue silk gown in accordion pleats, perfect for sulking and sparring with Rhett Butler – if you’re willing to pay the price.
What do you think – movie magic or overpriced?
Image: Scarlett O’Hara’s dressing gown, courtesy Bonhams Auctions.
Karl Lagerfeld Releases Line Inspired By Choupette
Looking to get dressed up as a cat this Halloween?
Karl Lagerfeld’s heard your prayers – and given us the accessory line every cat lady dreams of.
It’s directly inspired by his much-loved, incredibly spoiled fashion icon kitten, Choupette, who is Lagerfeld’s ‘muse’.
The line, which will come out in stores on November 13, will be a little late for trick-or-treating, but luckily it’s a range that can be worn for everyday as well as dressing up.
In black leather with white nose-and-whiskers appliques, the collection includes bags, iPad and iPod covers, a beanie, a scarf and – of course – fingerless gloves.
Personally we’re loving the beanie, in white wool with black whiskers and knitted cat’s ears. It might be wildly out of season, but for next winter it’ll be a hit. It’s also relatively inexpensive – 45 euro.
Are you feeling the feline fashion?
Image: Karl Lagerfeld’s Choupette line, courtesy Vogue.
Rihanna and Damien Hirst Team Up For GQ
For the 25th anniversary of their magazine, GQ invited a very odd couple to make up the cover.
And it’s been revealed – as a frenzy of Greek legends and writhing serpents.
Damien Hirst, the wealthiest artist in the world, photographed Rihanna in a closely-guarded shoot as Medusa, the Greek legend who turned men to stone and had snakes for hair.
Rihanna herself is wearing exactly nothing of note – not even a toga – but she does, true to form, have a crown of live serpents, snake eye contacts and a companionable boa constrictor or two around her neck.
Medusa’s most famous outlet in fashion is, of course, the Versace logo, which splashes a considerably calmer-looking snake-headed woman inside a Greek circlet.
However, evidently Hirst and Rihanna decided to ignore the reference and go for nakedness instead.
It’s not the first time Hirst has dabbled in fashion. Earlier this year he did a collaboration with The Row in which he covered leather backpacks with his signature dots and prescription pills – all for hugely high prices, and all of which sold out, most to art collectors.
What do you think – art triumph or unimaginative?
Image: Rihanna by Damien Hirst, courtesy GQ.