Sites of the week

Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is a shopper’s Shangri-la, but (surprise, surprise) all isn’t as it seems. On the hunt for jewelry, you quickly realize that the many black-around-the-edges estate pieces that catch your eye probably aren’t much older than a kindergartner. These new-old pieces hold little allure. Next!

On the advice of a couple of chic acquaintances, I sought out Sevan Bicakci, a jewelry designer whose pieces—mostly spectacularly bejeweled rings (above)—aren’t masquerading as anything but the mini works of art that they are. (Strictly speaking, Bicakci is located on a street radiating out of the bazaar, but he’s in the neighborhood.) Bicakci, 38, began apprenticing at the age of 12 and by now has developed techniques that boggle the mind, like micro-mosaic work—there may be thousands of tiny tiles on the side of a ring. Knowing that, it won’t surprise you that the workshop’s annual output is a minuscule, inhuman-level-of-attention-to-detail 400 pieces.

“We like to push limits and conquer new areas,” said Bicakci’s creative director, Emre Dilaver. (Bicakci, who looks a bit like a Turkish Alber Elbaz, doesn’t speak English.) But the beauty of these innovative pieces is how they plumb the city’s Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman heritage as well as Greek mythology for inspiration. Each piece is an exquisite little history lesson. And while the rings appear purloined from the treasury of Emperor Justinian—the gold-haloed visage of his wife, Empress Theodora, adorns one specimen—they’re quite modern, certainly modern enough to sell at Barneys and Browns. These are happily the Old-New.

And within the Bazaar, there are true Old-Old treasures to be found, too. Try Mavi Kose, which has the added allure of historical significance—Grace Kelly is said to have shopped there. Located in the Old Bazaar section, Mavi Kose’s two stalls are presided over by the Yoda-like Mr. Diran Ozculcu. You can try on one of the antique diamond brooches and pendants, vintage watches, and more by applying to an aide, but to bargain and buy, you sit with the man himself, as I did when getting serious over a pair of rose-cut diamond earrings. I took the occasion to do a little fact-checking. Is it true that Grace Kelly shopped here? I asked. He nodded. One time or many times? The answer: many times. I bought the story and the jewels.

The Mayor of Venice has objected to Julianne Moore’s Bulgari ad being displayed in St. Mark’s Square. In the name of all that is anti-censorship—and pro-hot, hot Julianne Moore with some adorable baby lions—here it is above. [Racked]

Congratulations to Georgina Chapman—the Marchesa designer gave birth to her first child on Sunday night, a girl she and husband Harvey Weinstein have named India Pearl Weinstein. [Page Six]

A few months after Christophe Lemaire announced he’d decamp for Hermès, Lacoste has tapped his replacement: Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who’s been showing his womenswear on the Paris ready-to-wear runway since 2003. [WWD]

B excited! Brian Atwood has signed a deal with Jones New York to produce a more affordable line of footwear, B Brian Atwood, which will retail for between $200 and $550. [WWD]

Some people dream of opening their own boutique. Some people dream about editing their own magazine. Giambattista Valli gets to do both: Valli (left) is the guest editor of issue No. 10 of A MAGAZINE, which will launch in tandem with the opening of his first store, in Paris this November. Following designers such as Yohji Yamamoto, Riccardo Tisci, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler onto the Belgian pub’s masthead, Valli has conceived his issue of A MAGAZINE as an extended essay on the topic “What is beauty?” Work by Chiara Clemente, Nan Goldin, Louise Bourgeois, Richard Avedon, and the late Corinne Day will help him answer that question. The print magazine launches in late November, but impatient Valli fans can get a look at the online edition on October 10. To tide them over in the meantime, Valli prepared a special “scrapbook” collage of inspiration images, seen here (below) for the first time.

Six years ago, South America-to-Brooklyn transplants Gabriela Perezutti-Isacson and Natalia Kuks-Jacobs were doing like the Williamsburghers do—they were silk-screening T-shirts. Fast-forward to the present, though, and they’re a rarer breed: working designers with a full-fledged women’s clothing and footwear line and, as of today, e-commerce boutique. “It’s important for us that we finally get a direct connection to our customers,” Perezutti-Isacson says. “If you are only selling wholesale to other retailers, you don’t have that. We’d like this to be a place where people can better understand the Candela girl.”

And who’s that? Think 20th-century model-turned-photographer Lee Miller, who provided the inspiration for the Fall ‘10 collection. “The Candela girl is worldly, adventurous and confident,” Perezutti-Isacson explains. A worldly girl’s going to need a good pair of shoes for those adventures, so no surprise that footwear makes up around 75 percent of the label’s business. Menswear-inspired spectator shoes come in graphic prints and metallics, and over-the-knee boots have been a line staple for seasons. But no item points to the design duo’s South American roots and New York edge like the Polo boot, crafted as a feminine homage to the sportsman’s footwear of choice. (Polo is huge in South America, and Nacho Figueras, one of the game’s most famous players—thanks in part to years of Ralph Lauren campaigns—is from Kuks-Jacobs’ native Buenos Aires.) The style is sure to make a reappearance at Candela’s first-ever presentation at New York fashion week, September 9 at the Jane Hotel.
Heel Polo boot, $473, available at www.candelanyc.com

The English fashion photographer Corinne Day passed away this weekend, following a long fight with brain cancer. Day’s stripped-down, de-glossed aesthetic was a breath of fresh air when she rose to prominence in the early nineties, coming on the heels of the ultra-stylized shoots of the 1980’s. Today, she’s most famous for one such pared-down editorial that ran in Britain’s The Face in July of 1990—one that launched the career of her friend, a then-unknown 16-year-old named Kate Moss. (She later shot Moss for her first Vogue cover, in 1993, and for the National Portrait Gallery, as well.) Day was 45.

At the still-young Istanbul fashion week, which just completed its third season, the signs of an international fashion week seemed to be in place. Old shows (Chanel’s Spring ‘10 hayride, for one) were playing on the hotel television. From the abbreviated crews of American, Italian, French, and British editors and retailers, you could easily pick out Anna Piaggi, Patricia Field, Susie Bubble, Satine’s Jeannie Lee, and Olivier Zahm. Even the absent Bryanboy wistfully tweeted that he’d like to be in the mix.

The runway offered up a mixed bag. There were the cartoony club clothes of Gunseli Turkay and the crafty futuristic eveningwear of Arzu Kaprol, an established designer with boutiques across the country. Central Saint Martins grad and Londoner Bora Aksu created a special collection just for the week, a parade of pretty pieces in nudes and pales with lingerie details inspired by a 100-year-old Istanbul shop called Butterfly Corset. But for his Spring ‘11 collection, you’ll have to head to London, where he’ll show alongside countryman Hakaan Yildirim, who nabbed this year’s ANDAM prize.

“The inspiration is very literal, but it’s a first step,” said Los Angeles boutique owner Des Kohan. “The government is really positive, and there’s great buzz.” Kohan saw the pervading influence of Turkish Cypriot Hussein Chalayan, whose retrospective Hussein Chalayan: 1994-2010 is showing at Istanbul’s Museum of Modern Art. (It runs through October 24.) Chalayan, though, shows in Paris, as does another major Turkish export, Dice Kayek, the subject of a concurrent show at the museum called Istanbul/Contrast. And at a dinner for the latter label’s designer Ece Ege on the rooftop of the Marmara Pera hotel, Zahm (pictured with Ege, above) admitted the city inspired him more than the shows. “It’s the first time I’m here professionally. Istanbul has great energy; it’s like New York,” he said, before snapping pictures of the spectacular view. Truthfully, the week seemed to be more about discovering that than anything else.

Are we seeing more Miranda Kerr than usual? Actually, with the Australian Angel’s new Steven Meisel-shot Vogue Italia cover (pictured), we are—it’s the first fashion mag in 3-D! [Vogue Italia]

Louis Vuitton’s “Core Values” ad campaign soldiers on with three new stars: Bono, wife Ali Hewson, and (gasp!) some non-LV apparel. Hewson and Bono wear items from their eco-friendly (and LVMH-owned) Edun line in the new shots, along with Vuitton’s own goods (and the first-ever made-in-Africa Vuitton piece—the dangling charm hanging off Hewson’s bag). [WWD]

Does anyone need a Tom Binns cuff emblazoned with the complete lyrics to the Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?” Probably not. But are we glad Racked turned it up? Absolutely. [Racked]

Take a tour through the L.A. home of Decades’ Cameron Silver. Try not to be too jealous of his shoe closet. Just try. [Opening Ceremony via Refinery 29]

Gucci’s an old hand at e-commerce—the label’s been selling its wares online since 2002, years before many of its fellow luxury brands dipped a toe in the digital waters. So when it set out to revamp its Web site, it had to raise the already-high stakes. So while the digital flagship, as Frida Giannini and co. are calling the new site, has all of the online shopping features you’d expect—multiple views, on-message visuals, integration with its Facebook and Twitter accounts—it’s the all-new stuff that’s the real news. That includes Web-focused holographic window displays and iPad docking stations at select Gucci (bricks-and-mortar) flagships to bring the online world and the real world together, and gucciconnect.com (above), where you’ll be able to stream the brand’s runway shows—and attend, as a “virtual guest.” It’s Milan, now without the jet lag.