Character study

With the help et hevvciemer Lily Collins, Star et this m0hth's Sriew white remake, Creative Director Joe Zee transforms the princess's costumes into clothes  fit for a mederh heroine

when I was four years old, I was allowed to go to my first movie, which, for me, was an ultraglamorous outing. I dressed up in a spiffy shirt and 1ny best brown polyester slacks and went with my grand mother to the local Toronto theater, where she bought me but tered popcorn and a large Coke, and I watched the story unfold on the giant screen. The movie was the Disney animation Snow White and the seven Dwarf,, and I loved the plot: A girl-the fairest in the land, of course-having been mistreated by her evil step mother and forced to flee, finds herself living among a community of dwarfs until she is rescued with a kiss and rightfully returned to her home. On paper, it reeks of a TLC reality show or even a Life time Sunday drama, but this cartoon was my uber-fantasy. It had all the mov1-perfect elements: A pretty princess! Singing! Dancing! Romance! It became the benchmark against which all future movies would be measured. This was my original rom-com, complete with the requisite final kiss and happily-ever-after ending

So imagine my excitement when l learned there would be a new take on this classic fairy tale. Director Tarsem Singlf's Mirror Mirror (out this month} has everythingl adored from my first movie and more: colorful costumes (think Bjork rejects!), insane glam our (julia Roberts as the chicest Evil Queen everl), and witty one liners, all headlined by my new favorite heroine-in-distress, Lily Collins, another dark-haired beauty who will, no doubt, cast her own spell in our earthly kingdom very soon.

 She radiates charm in every scene, rivaled only by Julia’s laugh-out-loud retorts. The movie’s dynamic and dramatic costumes, designed by Eiko Ishioka, prompted a fashion deja vu, and Lily was game to help me as I reimagined those princess looks: Think Snow White as a supermodel-cum-street-style icon, I show how even the most over-the-top cartoon ideas can translate to the runway and, ul-timately, to everyday wear. Because in the end, and this is from many years of movie watching, I’ve realized that all princesses-real or not-need plenty of options.

my fair ladies fashion

kate Bolick, who set the blogosphere afire with her recent story for  The Atlantic  ("All the Single Ladies”) on the rise of the permanently single woman and our  culture’s disdain for her, is not shy about arguing on behalf of what most still refer to as “alternative lifestyles." But if up to 52 percent of American adults aren’t married, as Bolick observes in her piece, I guess that means “making it legal” is the alternative state. She argues that a shrinking pool of marriageable men, coupled with the rising tide of successful, financially independent women, makes singledom not only more attractive but more likely. For ELLE’s New Girl package this month, Bolick looks at another relatively new idea: committed couples living apart. Her argument? Since domesticity is known to kill the erotic cat and breed a certain contempt for the other human always in your space, perhaps separate-but-together makes for not just livelier bedfellows but a more peaceful existence, It’s a compelling idea, though children are definitely an afterthought in

her dissection of this trend. And they, of course, are part of Bliss Broyard’s “problem” in managing her own unwieldy life of work,parenting, and cohabitation with an adult male.

 (Fortunately, he‘s the father of her children, and they share a big house.) Like many cynical New York types, she’s deeply suspicious of anyone who sets out to be a life coach, but she”s equally desperate for some insight and guidance not gleaned through years of therapy. Enter Laurie Gerber, professional ass kicker, goal—setter, and cliché-embracer,whose motto “Maybe it’s you" actually did help Broyard move the happiness needle. Gerber prescribed a system ol` punishment and reward in which coddling one`s excuses for not being happier/ more successful/more turned on by her partner wouldn’t be toler-ated anymore.

Who would have thought that radical meant having a reasonably happy marriage and living in the same house? An  other radical bit of news: As Laurie Abraham notes in the opener to New Girl, nearly 40 percent of wives now earn more than their husbands and both sexes are cottoning to their new roles. If you”re looking for a radical departure from your wardrobe, you’ve picked the right season for that. The lady, the lady, the lady! She’s back and as demure as ever-unironically so, worries Daphne

Merkin, who wonders in "Portrait of a Lady” if the new look means we're yearning for some rules in an increasingly disordered world, or if we just want to look pretty. And pretty il is, what with snappy A line and pencil skirts, nippecl-at-the-waist coats, flowered and pasteled and ginghamecl dresses. We even got a nurse from Jil  Sander, but more English  Patient than naughty. Fm one who always wants it all to mean something, and it did at Lhe Chanel show, during which,Fm embarrassed to admit, lactually cried. Wrhile you’ve likely read about Karl Lagerfeld's underwater wonder-world set in the Grand Palais, you had to be there to hear Florence Welch fill up the place with her soaring rendition of “What the Water Gave Me” as 83 looks floated by, one opulent Chanel sea nymph after another-so young, the girls, so beautiful, so sure they’re never going to die.

It was moving in away a fashion show rarely is, and I was grateful for a bit of genuine emotion, even if it was probably just sleep deprivation mixed with existential rage. Who was it who said 80 percent of life is showing up? I went back to my tive-star bunker in the Park Hyatt Paris feeling all the lighter for getting to, you know, be there.

Now, of course, we want you to feel the fashion yourself—and our point of view doesn’t confine you to just the lady, or the sea nymph, or the gilded cowgirl made popular at Balmain. Serge Leblon and Mattias Karlsson team up to cover the graphic print trend; Terry Tsiolis and Ondine Azoulay are inspired by the '60s; Laurie Bartley and Kate Lanphear head to the Southwest for some gritty charm; Adrian Gaut and Kate Davidson Hudson work out with the season‘s best accessories; and Joe Zee and Tom Munro get sporty with cover girl Blake Lively. We also go back stage for seasonal "best in show" awards for the beauty looks that will be driving hair and makeup trends throughout spring and summer. Flat hajr, French twists, winged eyeliner—start your en- gines, girls, there is a bit of naughty under all that nice.