THE JITROIS 'ROY' DRESSES

It was, and is still, a huge honour that I had my name dedicated to not one but FIVE of the pieces from the Jitrois Spring/Summer 2012 collection. The four ROY dresses and the IMOGEN green suede skirt have done pretty well in the press too, suggesting that a little of the attention-seeking nature of their namesake rubbed off on them. The 'Imogen' skirt was hastily conceived when I walked into the final fitting with Jean Claude Jitrois and the Creative Director the day before our presentation. I was wearing my €1 yellow pleated skirt from Freep'star and it was literally grabbed off me and taken to the atelier to be 'Jitrois'd' up. The green suede looks absolutely sensational. If I say how much it costs your eyes will pop out of your head and into your Earl Grey, so I'll keep mum. 

Above: Jitrois ROY V dress in black in Vogue Germany's March issue; Below model Sarah Marshall wears the dress at the Prix Mont Blanc awards in Berlin, pictured with Teri Hatcher; The dress in the SS12 lookbook.

Above: ROY BRODERIE dress in LOVE magazine's March issue. Below: On Arizona Muse in January's Vogue Paris; and in the SS12 lookbook

Above: Imogen suede skirt in L'Officiel March, below in the SS11 lookbook. Below right: The shortsleeved ROY crochet dress in the SS12 lookbook, also available in black.

Below: Jean Claude Jitrois poses with a model wearing the Imogen skirt for Jewel magazine.

AT HOME WITH DESIGNER JEAN CLAUDE JITROIS

Fashion designer Jean Claude Jitrois and myself playing the role of égerie (having been squeezed into a sample from the Jitrois SS 2012 collection), in his apartment overlooking the Tuileries gardens for Italian fashion magazine Collezione . If the last four months in my job as PA /PR for Jitrois have taught me anything, it has been to look model-ready at all times! 

Funnily enough, 26 years ago,  another 21 year old brunette was helping Jean Claude go through his sketches at home, none other than Princess Stephanie of Monaco. Below, her shoot with Jean Claude for l'Officiel magazine in 1985. I think I have some pretty big shoes glass slippers to fill.

Portrait of Jean Claude by Yves Bady for his latest book, 101, a compilation of the leading figures in French culture in their environments. Jean Claude Jitrois' apartment, where his incredible collection of contemporary art meets antique furnishings, medieval tapestries and the occasional Modigliani, has been heavily documented in the French interiors and fashion worlds.

I wore look 1 from the SS 2012, the DS dress in emerald.

Photo for JEWEL magazine. Models wearing the SS 2012 collection with Jean Claude in his apartment during Paris Fashion Week in October. The green full suede skirt is the Imogen skirt.

LES SAPINS DE NOEL DES CREATEURS

For the past 16 years, the brightest names in the worlds of Parisian fashion, art and architecture have come together in December to each create a Christmas tree in their own aesthetic for Les Sapins Noël des Createurs. The brainchild of Marie-Christiane Marek, esteemed journalist and producer of fashion and design programs for television networks France2 and TV5 Monde, Les Sapins de Noël are exhibited to the public for the first week in December, with the exhibition closing with a private charity benefit dinner at which the one-of-a-kind trees are auctioned.

Dries van Noten (left) and Jean Paul Gaultier's Christmas trees.

Every year a different charity is chosen to benefit from the sale of the unique trees. For 2011, children's cancer charity A.V.E.C - Association pour la vie, espoir contre le cancer (Association for Life and Hope against Cancer) will receive the proceeds from the auction. In the grand surroundings of the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild, 37 designers offered an immense variety of interpretations and materials in creating their Christmas trees. Men's fashion house Smalto chose a minimalist brushed-steel effect design formed of three two-dimensional shapes bolted together, while Sonia Rykiel's tree more resembled an apple tree than a pine.

Predictably, famed patisserie house Pierre Hermé's vision (right) was a tower of macarons, while Jean Claude Jitrois cast his sapin in leather, in an artistic collaboration with painter JonOne. 

Parisian lingerie designer Chantal Thomass applies her signature cheekiness to her design, while Stella McCartney's knitted tree is reassuringly traditional.

 Antlers by Les Garcons, and Sonia Rykiel's lighted tree (right)

The prospect of owning a one-of-a-kind designer artwork by Jean-Paul Gaultier, Chanel, Jean Claude Jitrois or Dior has enormous appeal, and several 'trees' sold for as much as €5000. The Pierre Hermé macarons may not be a long-lasting choice, but Stella McCartney's knitted tree or Louis Vuitton's 'jack-in-the-box' style are sure to be future classics for their proud owners. Furthermore, in an ever-increasingly environmentally conscious climate, the idea behind the investment in a designer sapin, to be celebrated year after year in lieu of a real cut tree, is a welcomed one. 

A version of this article appeared in the Huffington Post on 10th December 2011