If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): women

It was a bold move by Karl Lagerfeld and CHANEL to put all their runway models in flat tennis shoes for their 2014 Spring Summer Haute Couture show, but it was a bad move.

Attempting to play up the 'sporty' aspect of the largely sparkly haute couture collection for Spring/Summer 2014, many of the models look like those dreadful commuter women who carry their heels in a bag while they take public transportation to work.

And, you know that if a 5'10" stick skinny model on the runway looks dumpy, any other woman who attempts to wear it will look god-awful.

To top it off, the sneakers are ugly (lace or sequin covered with gossamer shoelaces) and not unlike what you see overweight sweat-suit clad mothers wearing in Palm Springs.

Some of the sneakers on the runway:

I've never been a fan of funnel necks and fanny packs and this collection was full of them.

Funnel necks and flats:

That said, many of the pieces in the large collection are beautiful - especially the floor length gowns- and all have the expert craftmanship expected of CHANEL. Mixing textures and patterns, the collection includes everything from structured dresses and rompers to harem pants and glittering sheer suits.

Some of the beautiful gowns:

In terms of the styling, the models sported hair pieces and crystals applied under their eyes, both of which were interesting:

But I had a lot of trouble getting beyond the fanny packs, knee pads and elbow pads on some of the models (I've already bagged on the ugly shoes). I don't care if it's CHANEL, it's a friggen fanny pack, for god's sake. And unless you are going down on a Rap artist or taking part in a luxury roller derby, no one should wear embellished elbow and knee pads.

Fanny packs with matching elbow and knee pads:

And this? WTF is this?:

I like the large emphasis on the waist in many of the silhouettes and the take on their classic CHANEL jacket in this collection. But, given how much I usually admire CHANEL couture, the unflattering bubble skirts, old-lady sneakers and silly accessories ruined the collection -which does have some amazing pieces in it - for me.

Take a look and decide for yourself.

The Entire Collection:

Close-up images of some of the prettiest and ugliest details:

A video of the entire runway show:

CHANEL

Russian born Nikita Zolotarev (aka Nikitzo) is both a make-up artist and commercial photographer who works and lives in Leipzig, Germany. With food, fashion and tabletop work and his credit, it is his stunning ballet and contortionist photos that I find the most compelling.

Zolotarev is best known for the calendars he has shot of world-renowned contortionist Julia Gunthel, who goes by the stage name Zlata. I'm not sure if the two are merely business partners or a couple, but both Nikita and Julia were born in Russia, both now live in Leipzig, he has taken almost all her photos for the past several years, travels with her (she has a son) and together they own and run Zlata Media.

The Telegraph covered her 2012 calendar, The Daily Mail featured her 2013 calendar and HuffPo recently covered her new 2014 Calendar, but I wanted to share with you the best from those as well as some of his lesser known photography.

above: photographer and make-up artist Nikita Zolotarev in his studio

I have chosen some of my favorites from the breadth of his work to share with you so you, too, can marvel at both the flexibility of his models, and the beauty of his work.

And although not featuring contorted models, here are some of his other fashion photography:

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Nikita is also a make-up artist. Below he is applying the makeup on Julia Gunthel for the cover of her 2014 Zlata Calendar: