Giovanna Battaglia At Met Gala 2011

For the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Gala, Giovanna Battaglia turned up the glamour and found inspiration in the look of Mina, her favorite Italian pop singer from the 1960s. Giovanna is simply gorgeous in a gown and matching clutch by Marni for the unveiling of the anticipated exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and in keeping with the evening's theme, her accessories give the look the perfect exotic touch. I vote for Gio for best dressed woman at the ball, selvaggia bellezza straordinario! Also must mention I utterly adore Anna Dello Russo's look for her first Met Gala and I admire Crystal Renn's dress. Oh yes, and Alexa Chung looks cute but the real point is Giovanna standing directly behind her! What are your favorite looks from this year's Met Gala?

Giovanna Battaglia photographs courtesy of nymag.com and © 2011 Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Giovanna Battaglia: Styling Spring Fling

I have a few gorgeous editorials styled by Giovanna Battaglia for which I have no details. They are too beautiful not to share so here I present a random sampling of Giovanna's talented styling. As the adage says a picture is worth a thousand words so enjoy these in lieu of my paltry ones...

Giovanna Battaglia editorial images © 2011 Condé Nast et al. All Rights Reserved.

Giovanna Battaglia: Arancia

Dear readers, I am thrilled to share with you the first guest column by Nick Robinson from Style Prompt in which he analyzes the secret to the style of Giovanna Battaglia, no easy feat! I adore Nick's sharp observations and it is wonderful to read the male perspective on fashion so I have asked him to write a recurring column for the site. Please be sure to let us know what you think of his analysis of Giovanna's style by leaving a comment, I would love to hear your reaction. I am also delighted to feature the lovely illustration of Giovanna by the talented Judit Garcia-Talavera.

If you have watched the fashion world much over the last few months, you have seen the massive popularity of orange in just about every collection for this upcoming season. There are quite a few ways to wear this celebrated color, be it as an orange blazer, dress, or shoes. The conundrum one faces with wearing orange is that while you may be predisposed to a certain shade of orange, it is as complex a color to wear as green.

For those with higher contrast palettes, following Giovanna Battaglia's example in wearing this color is something to behold. While I've written before about her ability to place contrasting items around her face, she has done the exact opposite in this picture. These black leggings simply make the look. The black Fendi bag that she carries here is quite important, however, it is not nearly as important as the leggings are. I can't remember the last time I've seen leggings worked as well into an outfit as Giovanna has done here.

Regardless of how it might seem at first glance, the orange dress, the black leggings, and the black bag are only the base to the outfit. The things that make it Giovanna's own are the long, simple necklace and the playful leopard print shoes. Having never been a fan of animal print before, I'm impressed at how she pulled this off. Each of these pieces has its own individuality, but together they are absolutely stunning. Simplicity and style — who doesn't want to be a Battaglia?

Giovanna Battaglia illustration © 2009 Judit García-Talavera. All Rights Reserved.
Giovanna Battaglia photographs courtesy of trendycrew.com and shoothebreeze.blogspot.com

Giovanna Battaglia: Visionaire 60

For the sixtieth issue of Visionaire, Giovanna Battaglia styled the editorial seen above featuring model Lea T with photographs by Pierpaolo Ferrari. The theme for Visionaire 60 is religion and the guest editor is Riccardo Tisci in collaboration with Givenchy. Tisci curated the issue for which all work was commissioned especially except for one previously unpublished Robert Mapplethorpe photograph; other contributors include Karl Lagerfeld photographing his new stylist Carine Roitfeld, Paolo Canevari picturing Franca Sozzani as saintly, and Yann Vasnier of Givaudan crafting a new Religion scent. The divine limited edition is encased in stamped leather, reminiscent of a traditional prayer book, and will be available in Givenchy flagship stores and select bookstores in June. Only 3,000 numbered editions of Visionaire 60 will be produced so preorder your copy today.

Visionaire editorial images © 2011 Visionaire Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Giovanna Battaglia: New Yorker

On Tuesday night, Eddie Borgo and Keegan Singh organized a party to officially welcome Giovanna Battaglia to New York City — che festa! Gio has moved to the Upper East Side for work and love: she has begun styling for W Magazine based in Manhattan and her beau, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, has made his home there for the past few years though I am unclear as to whether the couple will actually reside together.

Giovanna Battaglia and Vladimir Restoin-RoitfeldThe evening began with dinner at The Upstairs at Cipriani Downtown where the crowd enjoyed an Italian repast of beet and caprese salad, pesto pasta, ravioli, risotto, butter cream and chocolate cake, and lots of champagne. Giovanna looked perfect for the occasion wearing the “I LOVE NY” tshirt studded especially for her by Eddie Borgo paired precisely with her red Marco de Vincenzo skirt and her studded Giuseppe Zanotti heels. I imagine that Borgo made her red tassel earrings as well.

Giovanna Battaglia studded to perfectionDespite being the guest of honor, the adorable perfectionist insisted on taking time to attend to every detail right down to the Italian music she brought to accompany dinner, che portamento. Her attention to detail paid off and Giovanna had everyone dancing on the tables.

Paola Kudacki, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Alexia Elkaim Among the fabulous that gathered to warmly welcome Gio to New York were Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Joseph Altuzarra, Alexia Elkaim, Paola Kudacki, Stavros Niarchos, Gaia Repossi, Camilla Staerk, Andy Valmorbida, and PC Valmorbida. Appropriately they all received “NY LOVES GIO” tshirts to commemorate the night and Altuzarra customized one for Giovanna on the spot.

Before Joseph Altuzarra's scissors

After Joseph Altuzarra's scissors

Giovanna Battaglia et al photographs courtesy of twitter/BatGiovanna, twitter/FaraoneMennella, twitter/FinottiLuca, twitter/SergioTavelli and © 2011 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.