What captivated us this month...

{T H E
DIRTY TRUTH} DID SHE REALLY SAY THAT?
Pradas s/s 2011 monkeys; Anna Suis f/w 2011 cat hat

AFTERPARTY

NATURAL BEAUTY
Mother earth goes glam this month!
While many designers embraced saturated petal power this spring, others, like Valentino and Donna Karan, went for a more earthy mud-inspired hue. According to trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort, theyre picking up on the dirty design zeitgeist. Artists are metaphorically mining the earth, she says. Theyre finding inspiration in chalk, soil, rocks and precious stones. Rock on! Donna Karan

DRESS CODE

The perfume smells like an expensive hooker. I wanted to extract the feeling and the scent of blood and semen from molecular structures.... It was taken out of my own blood sample, so its like having me on your skin.
Lady Gaga, in an interview with an Australian radio station, on the rumours that her perfume, Monster, which is due out in 2012, will smell like blood and semen

THE PARTYS OVER...

At first we were gaga for Pradas whimsical gorillas and bananas, but our jungle-inspired crush with Miuccias monkey business is over. The look has morphed from couture to cartoon.

Valentino

THE PARTYS JUST GETTING STARTED...

Cats have always been fashionableat the age of six, Cristbal Balenciaga made a coat for his catbut this fall theyre really prowling the runways. Watch out for wildchild tiger prints at Louis Vuitton and leopard spots at Dolce & Gabbana, Blumarine and Giambattista Valli.

Dust your lids with M.A.Cs limited-edition Fashionflower eyeshadows and let the spring-fever flirting begin. Try whimsical shades like Aqua (a soft, petal-like teal), Fresh Daisy (a pearly white) and Free to Be (a bright peony pink). ($17.50 each, maccosmetics.com)

LOOT BAG

LAST CALL

RSVP

Los Angeles-based artist David Wiseman doesnt mind a little flowery flattery because his take on nature is definitely more baroque than minimal. He earned a posy of compliments after his 500-plus porcelain lily-of-the-valley blossoms were installed at Christian Diors flagship in Shanghai. Bring a touch of his outdoorsy high style into your home with his illuminated bronze table branch with porcelain blooms (price upon request, R 20th Century, r20thcentury.com, 212-343-7979).

Weve invited a few more fellas to join the party in June. From spa divas to romcom fanatics these arent your typical guys.

GUEST LIST

Literary wunderkind David Bezmozgis pens next months ELLE First, and ballerina Greta Hodgkinson takes us on an adventure in Wonderland.

greta hodgkinson
ELLEC AN AD A.COM

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TEXT, ALANNAH ONEILL, CHRISTINA REYNOLDS & AMANDA WENEK; MARCIO MADEIRA (DONNA KARAN RUNWAY); NORBERT MAYER (M.A.C); IMAXREE.COM (VALENTINO RUNWAY); OLAF HAJEK (ILLUSTRATION)