A Moment With Yves Saint Laurent

What constitutes a "fashion moment"? In a word: "Wow!" In a feeling: privilege. And in an experience: stepping into the studio of a fashion legend and having a good old rifle through their sketchbooks, their collection bible and beyond. All three boxes ticked, that's not bad for a run-of-the-mill Friday. But this is anything but run of the mill. I'm in Paris, at the YSL Foundation. And I'm stepping inside the world of  Yves Saint Laurent: all soft green carpets, regal sofas and ornate chandeliers. This is where Yves's clients would, back in the day, have sat and watched as his latest creations paraded out in front of them and they mentally compiled their shopping lists - ones that, over the course of his career, would have included the designer's greatest hits: the smoking jacket and the Mondrian dress among them. And it's here where my tour begins.

Officially, the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent opened its doors in 2004, following Yves's retirement in 2002. But it had been the designer's couture home since 1974 - he and Bergé had previously resided at 30 Bis Rue Spontini. Here is where all things Yves Saint Laurent are preserved, protected and celebrated - Jalil Lespert´s biopic of the designer, which is released on DVD this month, was partly filmed here.

Hidden away behind mirrored doors and staircases are 5,000 couture garments and 15,000 accessories, items of jewellery, drawings, miscellaneous objects - the things that inspired and informed the YSL world. But the most exciting part is, of course, the studio itself. It's a surreal and exhilarating space to step into, knowing that once upon time Saint Laurent himself would have sat here, lost among a river of sketches on the floor, a buzz of creativity around him.

A colourful collection of art on the walls (pictures of his beloved French bulldog Moujik, or photographs or the man himself, glamorous friends in tow), a seemingly endless line of books on the shelves and mini diorama vistas - Yves loved to create costume for ballet and theatre, too - punctuate the bright, white and serene space. Tools for work sit tight on the desk and, today, the aforementioned tuxedo and Mondrian designs standing before us.

Artisan Sketches

And while this experience is open to the public (and what a treat it is), what isn't on view are the sketchbooks and the collection breakdowns - otherwise known as the bible - of those famous collections.

Classical Style

It's wonderfully strange to look down and see the workings of his mind in these, a train of thought played out from beginning to end and the ideas that underpinned and informed a new way of dressing. For Saint Laurent embraced a masculine and modern wardrobe, one that was in complete contrast to that of the pronounced femininity and New Look of  Christian Dior for whom he had worked as an assistant until 1957. Following the designer's death, Yves was subsequently appointed artistic director at the age of just 21 - quite a fashion moment of its own, too.

Showroom Collections

Yves Saint Laurent is out on DVD from July 14, but you can step inside the studio here.

Miuccia's Dolly Girls

Short coats with pert buttons, iron-flat hair with dolly-girl eye make-up and a whiff of London's Carnaby Street in the Sixties - the Miu Miu resort look was familiar - yet tailor-made for the twenty-first century.

As the models strode out with gladiator sandals climbing towards bare thighs and psychedelic patterned dresses, it was Miuccia Prada's artful mash-up of fashion decades that revitalised the past for this show on the eve of Paris haute couture.

A graphic crochet tab across the bust? It was pure Seventies laced with today's fresh love affair with handiwork. Floaty, full-sleeved blouses with skinny-hip pants were a new take on androgyny. The sour colours, mixing orange and pink, or greens from olive drab to emerald, were pure Prada and her Nineties ugly aesthetic.

It was the digital element, blowing up paisley prints until they looked like grass green plankton squirming on a mud brown surface, that stopped the show from feeling retro - even if the bucket chairs lining the geometric carpet runway suggested another revival.

But Miuccia's skill is to make the commercial seem artistic. The line-up for the dinner - where the flower vases and bread plates were carved in wood - had an arty feeling. Add Steve McQueen, Uma Thurman, Roman Polanski with his actress wife Emmanuelle Seigner, designer Marc Jacobs and Prada's art and architecture friends - and the recipe for success was as certain a hit as the Italian menu.

Is Twitter Turning Transactional?

Eagle eyed  Twitter users spotted earlier this week that a "Buy now" button appeared alongside tweets containing links to products sold through Fancy, an online shopping site, and that clicking on the button took them to a checkout page. The feature is no longer working, but hints that the social media platform may be coming to the ecommerce table - albeit a little late.

Facebook added an ecommerce feature in 2012, making it possible for users to buy and send gifts to one another and Instagram shopping is booming - although still relatively unsophisticated with most brands using the comments facility to allow users to order. Nevertheless, the impact is huge, with one designer - Charlotte Beecham of scarf label Charlotte Simone - telling us that more than 40 percent of her sales this year have been from Instagram users arriving at her website from her bio link.

Charlotte Beecham

Twitter investors are looking for every sign that the company can boost dependable cash flow, the LA Times reports, and the news of a second revenue stream would almost certainly please worried shareholders. Twitter has dabbled in ecommerce before - teaming up with Amazon in May to allow users to add items to their Amazon shopping basket by adding "#AmazonCart" to tweets containing links to products from the online retailer - but a more direct approach would be welcomed by users ever keen to simplify how they shop.

Stella On Confusing Her Customers

Stella McCartney´s cruelty-free synthetic bags look like they are made of leather - so much so that the designer herself is having fun confusing customers who don't know the difference.

"It's all real skins. Don't tell anyone! I've just decided that all that environmentally friendly stuff is boring," she said ironically. "No, no, no - I'm joking: we use vegetable coatings and materials and we are really pushing boundaries in a sustainable manner without sacrificing style in any way. Half of the women here tonight probably don't even know the bags aren't leather, and I find that very exciting."

Stella McCartney

McCartney was in Milan for the launch of her pre-summer 2015 collection, a decidedly more glamorous affair than the weekend´s Glastonbury mud-fest, which the designer attended with her husband.

"I love a bit of Glasto," she told  The Telegraph. "I used to be a stay-in-a-tent girl but now I'm a stay-at-my-friend's-down-the-road girl. I've had many fabulous times there - both before and after the fence went up, which felt like the most devastating thing when it happened. Last year I went with my kids, they were running everywhere, and was the most nerve-racking experience of my life."

Clueless Wardrobe Comes To Life

IT was the wardrobe that every teenage girl wanted. A computer-generated revolving closet, bursting to the seams with  Alaia, Calvin Klein and Fendi that would help you decide what to wear. The one catch? It belonged to Cher Horowitz and it was as fictitious as her Clueless character. Until now that is.

Online technology company Metail.com has developed a virtual shopping environment, identical to the one in Horowitz's Beverly Hills mansion, in which shoppers enter their vital statistics to create their own three-dimensional model, on which clothes can be tried. Users can then share their digital apparition with their friends over email or social media.

Clueless: The Dream Wardrobe

It has been a long time coming for co-founders Tom Adeyoola and Duncan Robertson, who started to develop the technology for the concept in 2008, working closely with Cambridge University.

"We know through feedback that the 'share' option is key to moving our user experience forward," Adeyoola told WWD. "Sharing outfit combinations with friends for comment and advice in the same way that consumers shop for clothing on the high street has been a key experience missing from the online shopping experience, until now."

Having launched with Tesco clothing in 2012, it now partners with Warehouse, Zalando in Germany and Dafiti in Brazil, so, while it may not be Alaia just yet, it's likely only a matter of time.

River Island Enlists Lady Gaga's Brit Girl

River Island has named Liz Black as its new Design Forum collaborator. Following in the footsteps of Brit-based design talent including Eudon Choi, Katie Eary and Joseph Turvey, the print designer drew inspiration from Russia's last Imperial family for the collection - with Russian muffs and Fabergé-egg-inspired cut-out detailing featuring alongside her signature moody prints.

"The first time I visited London I went shopping in River Island, where I ended up buying much more than I intended!" Black said today. "I never imagined that 14 years later I would be asked to design a capsule collection especially for them. Working with the River Island team has been a fantastic experience and professionally very rewarding."

Liz Black for River Island

A Central Saint Martins graduate, Black was  chosen by Roland Mouret as a semi-finalist for 2011´s Fashion Fringe Awards and has dressed Lady Gaga - gaining immediate notoriety worldwide for her gravity defying ¨circle¨ dress, which the star wore in 2011.

Black's nine-piece Design Forum collection - comprising dresses, outerwear, separates and accessories - will launch during London Fashion Week's Fashion Film event, and will arrive in stores and online at Riverisland.com  in September 2014 with prices ranging from £30 to £100.

The New Girl On The Block

Models 1 has named 20-year-old Lauren Punter as the winner of their curve supermodel competition. Run in collaboration with  ASOS,  the competition looked for women aged between 17 and 28, who were a dress size 18-plus, to Instagram an image of themselves with the handle #MakeMeACurveModel - and professional model bookers then chose their winner.

"The prospect of walking into a model agency can be daunting and Models 1 wanted to open their doors to a wider audience by utilising the power of social media and assuaging those initial nerves," said Models 1, adding: "We believe that beauty comes in different sizes."

Picked from thousands of entries, Punter was understandably floored when she was told she had won. "I am still in shock," she told us. "I entered the competition on the final day and I have never done anything like this or entered a competition like this before. I feel so proud and grateful to be representing plus-size models and women alike. Growing up it wasn't cool to be curvy, and the brands around at that time weren't cool either, but now thankfully times are changing."

Lauren Punter

She is more than ready for her close-up. Her prize - in addition to securing a contract with Models 1 Curve division - is £500 worth of vouchers to spend at ASOS and, more importantly, modelling the e-commerce site's Curve collection.

"In line with ASOS, Models 1 know the importance of a healthy body image in all shapes and sizes - it is important to represent healthy girls," said ASOS.