The Post-Materialist | Fashion Grows Up

93 year-old Mimi Weddell in the documentary Hats Off, and a snap by Mister Mort on the Advanced Style blog, launched in August.

A report from our Berlin correspondent on design and society.

One of the more interesting trends in fashion this year has been a vogue for older models. The theme seems to have started in March, with the New York premiere of Hats Off, a documentary about the 93 year-old actress and model Mimi Weddell. As the New York Times reported when it interviewed the effervescent Ms Weddell, her motto is “Rise above it!”, which implies not just the ability to transcend small anxieties, but also the idea that higher things — even ages — are better things.

Now Online | T Women’s Fashion Winter 2008 Issue

The new issue of T Magazine speaks in a thick French accent. In addition to the cover story on the actress Eva Green, we feature a portfolio of Gallic stars, including Carla Bruni, Vincent Cassel and the euphoniously named Clémence Poésy. Elsewhere, Cathy Horyn profiles Balmain’s Christophe Decarnin whose brand of louche glamour has the style world enamored; Daphne Merkin interviews the art-world provocateuse Sophie Calle; Christopher Petkanas remembers the decorator Madeleine Castaing; and Catherine Deneuve muses on her favorite trench coat.

The New Garb | Agnès B. for Versailles

For the Versailles palace staff, new 18th-century inspired attire designed by Agnès B.

The Château de Versailles has a deliriously decadent history. This is the palace where Louis XIV personified baroque excess, where style mavens like Marie Antoinette (and later Sofia Coppola) showed us 18th-century chic. This fall, the pop-art star Jeff Koons moves in with a massive sculptural exhibition. For all the splendor of Versailles, one critical detail has been overlooked: the uniforms of the palace staff, who are clad in museum-issue slacks and blazers in unenthralling shades of blue and gray.

That is about to change.

Catching Up With | Harmony Korine

(Photo: Ari Marcopoulos)

There’s unlikely to be a more star-studded film this summer than “Mister Lonely,” which features a motley crew of impersonators playing Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Buckwheat, to name a few. The Moment chatted with the director Harmony Korine about everything from the inspiration behind his latest film to the hold that Chicken McNuggets have on his brother and co-writer, Avi, and the special beauty that comes from repulsion. The movie’s limited run at the IFC Center ends May 13th.

Tell me how the idea to use impersonators came about.

Everything usually starts with images for me. When I was living in Paris, there was a German Michael Jackson impersonator who lived down the street from me. I used to see him dancing, but he would only do two or three moves, almost like a human loop. It was weird. One night, for whatever reason, I had wrapped myself in tin foil and was wearing a shower cap to keep all my thoughts in. I walked by the guy and just started talking to him, and he told me that he’d actually been in Vietnam or something. The bottom part of his leg had been blown off and he was dancing with a kind of prosthesis.

That seems like a good starting-off point for conversation.

Yeah. And then from there, we just talked about things and I thought it was an interesting idea. He told me some stories about what it’s like as an impersonator. And just the image I thought was interesting. I spent years on a commune as a kid and I thought there would be a lot of comic potential in putting all these different icons together.