The Spirit of High Society September 2014 506 pages our biggest issue ever! Show & Tell We peek into entrepreneurs creative spaces work mode consummate multitasker Tjin Lee never takes a break from dreaming big $8.00 www.singaporetatler.com
GAllery Fashion in Frame A selection of haunting haute couture images, shot by renowned fashion photographer Cathleen Naundorf over six years and compiled in a book, are on display this month at Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles. Grace Tay reports As the fashion cognoscente would aver, there s magic in true haute couture the creations of yore that entail thousands of hours of handwork, crafting, embellishment, finishing. It s what sartorial dreams are made of. For six years, from 2005 to 2011, Cathleen Naundorf handcrafted her own Dream of Fashion, Un Rêve de Mode, working with couture houses Chanel, Dior, Gaultier, Lacroix, Elie Saab and Valentino. Delving into their physical archives to handpick gowns and following intensive discussions with the designers and research, she mapped out her vision in storyboards with sketches, archive photos and texts. Sets, locations (Paris Grand Palais, among skeletons in an anatomy museum), props (lobsters, a raven, swords), models, hair and make-up, hats and hairpieces from Philip Treacy and Odile Gilbert, were meticulously planned and selected. The result: ethereal, cinematic images that captured the exquisiteness of the ensembles and the intangible magical allure of haute couture. Artworks of artworks. In a digital world and fast fashion, Naundorf s use of large-format cameras (Deardorff or Plaubel) and Polaroid or negative film parallels the anachronism of haute couture. These photos were compiled into Haute Couture: The Polaroids of Cathleen Naundorf, published in 2012. In it, a good number of images pay tribute to the late fashion photographer Horst P. Horst, whom Naundorf counts as her mentor and inspiration for getting into fashion photography. In Homage to Horst P. Horst, shot in Gabrielle Chanel s apartment in Rue Cambon, a model in a Chanel gown is draped over the very same white satin armchair on which Mademoiselle Chanel posed for a portrait by Horst in 1937. The story goes that in the 1990s, the gutsy 20 something Naundorf looked up Horst s number in a New York City phone book, called the elderly gent one of the 20th century s top fashion photographers and told him she was from his hometown. He told her to get herself to New York and she did, and although they never worked together, he would dish advice It s the lighting, the drama when they spoke on the phone, nearly daily. Naundorf moved to France and began photographing backstage at Paris fashion shows for Condé Nast in 1997. Horst died in 1999 at the age of 93. This month, Naundorf will be in Los Angeles to attend the September 11 reception of Haute Couture: The Polaroids of Cathleen Naundorf La Exhibition at Fahey/Klein Gallery. A selection of her works from her Un Rêve de Mode series will be displayed from September 4 to October 11. cathleennaundorf.com, faheykleingallery.com La fille en plâtre (2009) 472 singapore tatler. september 2014 singapore tatler. september 2014 473
La fille en plâtre XI (2009, left) GAllery IMAGE: TrisTAn Siegmann Artist behind the lens Cathleen Naundorf on a photo shoot in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (top). She works in film and has a unique technique of processing her prints to give them a painterly effect La fille en plâtre VIII (2009, above) 474 singapore tatler. september 2014 singapore tatler. september 2014 475
GAllery Madame au Châtelet (2007, right) Dior Haute Couture Winter 2007 The studio of the artist, Rue Caulaincourt, Paris My paradisebird I (2008, above) Chanel Haute Couture Winter 2006 Theatre du Trianon, Paris In Print The images in Haute Couture: The Polaroids of Cathleen Naundorf were shot using large-format cameras and Polaroid or negative film The last sitting III (2011) Elie Saab Haute Couture Winter 2011 Grand Palais, Paris 476 singapore tatler. september 2014 singapore tatler. september 2014 477
Homage to Horst P. Horst (2008, left) Chanel Haute Couture Summer 2006 Coco Chanel s apartment, Rue Cambon, Paris GAllery La libellule (2008) Jean-Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Winter 2008 Home of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Paris 4pm in London (2009) Hat by Philip Treacy, lingerie by Cadolle Kensington, London 478 singapore tatler. september 2014 singapore tatler. september 2014 479