DIOR'S GARDEN COUTURE

WOW!!! So this is the breath taking magic that happens when fantasy meets unimaginable budget.

Over three days and using more than one million flowers a team of set designers, florists and truck drivers converted 5 rooms of a parisian mansion into a floor to ceiling floral fantasia for Raf Simons highly anticipated debut at the Dior 2012 AW haute couture show earlier this month.

Who cares about the clothes when you have the sensory overload of my favourite peonies and orchids combined with goldenrods, dahlias, carnations, delphiniums and roses as the back drop.

Watch the behind the scenes video below to see how it all painstakingly came together smelling of roses.

Source: Fashionologie, The House that Lars Built, Aesthetics of Joy, Honestly WTF, Dior

FASHION HOUSE DRAMA

Even after watching The Devil Wears Prada i've always loved the idea of working in fashion publishing (just watch The September Issue to understand why) but while the top fashion houses might want us to believe it's all catwalks, globe trotting buying trips and partying with celebrities the truth is there's always plenty of in-house drama & often thanks to some of those larger-than-life designers.

Refinery29 has a fun little article detailing the stories behind 12 of the biggest (or at least, most interesting) names in fashion, and the moments, people and designs that have made them such icons.

And how adorable are the shop-front illustrations by Gabriela Alford.

A common theme I noticed... the Nazi's must have been very well dressed.