ALICE AS SEEN IN VOGUE MAGAZINE

As promised on Friday, we have swung ourselves in a whole new direction.  Join us this week as we explore the design possibilities of our muse of the week:  alice in wonderland.

Several years ago, Vogue Magazine gifted its readers with, in my opinion, the most beautiful fashion spread ever.  It stars a baby faced, and teary eyed, Natalia Vodianova as Alice, and is styled by the ever brilliant Grace Coddington.  Coddington chose a different designer for each look (apparently no one turns down Grace Coddington) with the one rule being:  you must use Alice's signature color, blue.

What follows are my own photos of the Vogue spread which I have lovingly saved in a blue binder all these years.  A thousand apologies for the various crinkles, smudges, and blurry edges.

Alice dressed by Karl Lagerfeld

Braxton and I came up with the following elements one could use for a Alice in Wonderland inspired wardrobe or decor;

• Stripes
• Tendrils; fiddle head ferns, rose vines, other flower vines
• Flowers, botanics
• Thorns
• Hearts
• Playing card symbols
• Insects; beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, caterpillars
• Fur; cat and rabbit
• Super shiny doors with shiny hardware
• mirrors and mercury glass 

and so much more.

How fantastic of KL to dress her in an era appropriate dress with super modern boots.  Wow.

Dressed by Olivier Theyskens for Rochas.

We decided to separate our Alice muse into three distinctly different looks. 

1. Modern:  plain modern furniture in darker masculine colors with large scale prints of flowers and plants.
2. Young Single Female Living Alone:  thrifted furniture, lots of light blue and silver, mirrored furniture, very very feminine, bordering on girlish innocence.
3. Romantic English Cottage:  Victorian elements, lots of flower patterns, tea pots and cups, smaller scale furniture, garden themes.

We will expand on all of the above as we move through the week.

The ruffles remind me of lettuce leaves.

It seems Jean Paul Gaultier really captured the little girl vibe.

Alice as seen by Christian LaCroix.

Love the frayed ruffled.

 If you have any interest in a movie adaptation  of Lewis Carroll's alice in wonderland we can't recommend Tim Burton's version enough.  It stars Johnny Depp as the mad hatter, enough said.  Really, it's fabulous.

Yup, that's John Galliano as the queen of hearts.

This one appears to be made from plastic bags.  Very swank plastic bags for sure.

Alice dressed by Donatella Versace.  Why is Rupert Everett here?  No idea.

 I can't thank Vogue Magazine enough for this glorious photo spread, it makes my heart sing.

Again, fantastic ruffles.

Of course Mark Jacobs plays the mushroom dweller.

Have you noticed that almost every alice is wearing a blue bow in her hair?

Falling down the rabbit hole..........

in a dress by Tom Ford (as the white rabbit).

 An important element in any Alice inspired venture would have to be proportion.  Remember, Alice herself changed from large to small and back again many times in the story.  I think large scale (or small scale) flowers and botanicals would be perfect for this muse.  Think huge or tiny.

Wearing a design by Viktor and Rolf.

I love the play of proportion here.

Thanks for joining me on our first day exploring the design muse alice in wonderland.  If you would like to contribute please drop us a line.

"It would be nice if something made sense for a change"  Alice

Have a beautiful day.

YANCEY

Alice dressed by Helmut Lang.