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| The Complete Works of Shakespeare embroidered clutch £955 |
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| The Catcher in the Rye embroidered clutch £955 |
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| The Great Gatsby embroidered clutch £955 |
Monday, January 30, 2012
WhisperLust: Olympia Le Tan on Net-a-Porter
We Like To Party: Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def live at the Vans Party, Berlin
In Berlin I met up with fellow blogger Livin' Cool for a wee party thrown by Vans with special guests Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def. All piccies here borrowed from the lovely and talented Emanuele, head to his site for a smorgasbord of photos from the night.
Berlin Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2012 Part 2-Kaviar Gauche
The show I enjoyed the most at Berlin Fashion Week this time around was that of Kaviar Gauche, the label of design duo Alexandra Fischer-Roehler and Johanna Kühl whose ethos can best be described as feminine "conceptual," so I've decided to share the images with you in a separate, stand-alone post.
After graduating from the Esmod Fashion School in Berlin, Johanna worked alongside Vivienne Westwood in London and then assisted at Martine Sitbon in Paris. The two teamed up in 2003, launching Kaviar Gauche with a guerrilla fashion show in front of Paris' Colette.
In September 2006, Kaviar Gauche received the London “ON/OFF Visionary Award” and its SS07 collection was presented in a runway show at our very own London Fashion Week. The Autumn/Winter 2012 collection was all-white and ethereal with religious underpinnings in terms of inspiration, you know, incense-bearing priestesses with g-strings visible beneath flowing, sheer kaftans.
A big dankeshein to Mercedes Benz and Yellow Door PR for having me along!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Versace Autumn/Winter 2012
The boys were back in town at Versace. After the runaway success of the house's collaboration with H&M, Donatella has gone back to what her brother did best, fashion resplendent with flamboyance, sex appeal and men who aren't afraid to rock studs, leather and sequin berets.
A self-proclaimed "icon of masculinity," the collection was all about attitude and confidence. Dontella imposed V-shaped silhouettes, silm hips and powerful shoulder lines on her tailoring. The collection purported to play with different tropes of masculinity, military, biker, tribal and so on, and this is did, albeit dunked in the playful-yet-powerful aesthetic of the late Gianni.
After a battalion of fluorescent green, pink and yellow boys, clad in suits in dégradé pinstripe wool, bright-coloured cavalry twill, gold-embellished denim cut off vests, studded fur-collared aviator jackets and more, barreled down the runway, their camouflage prints overlaid with florals and accessories adorned with Medusa medallions, the lights went down and the Versace man took his look even further for evening.
As the houselights dramatically went dark, throwing the giant, glowing Medusa logo at runway's end into stark relief, shawl-collared evening jackets and tuxedos emerged, one after the other, an explosion of sparkle as jackets, berets and the odd mesh shirt were painstakingly coated with Swarovski crystals. It was Versace for H&M, that is, Versace distilled to it's 90's glory days with new post-Gianni life breathed into it, ratcheted up a notch from high street to high fashion, the exquisite detailing and craftsmanship of the complex garments demonstrating that the house's legendary aesthetic can work just as well at a couture-like level as a fast fashion one, a very prudent marketing move on Donatella's part. Let's hope the same can be said for next month's womenswear show.
Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Vivienne Westwood MAN Autumn/Winter 2012
The Dame keenly looked back to the time when man (or MAN, in this case) first set frozen foot to iceberg, citing the polar explorers of the early 20th century as her sartorial cue, she looked back to the time when mankind first ventured to the extremities of the earth, marking the true beginning of his cannibalization of it thereupon. Taking as her inspiration and the polar explorers of the early 20th century, Viv bundled her boys in layers of tweed, patchwork puffas and shearling trenches. Chunks of ice and dangling icicles were matted in to the models' hair and beards (babyfaced boys in the blossom of puberty boasted rather amusing stick-on-beards). Her diatribe (show notes boldly admonished the inevitable and imminent melting of the polar ice caps), however, would be a bit easier to digest if, say, said show notes on which said warning was issued hadn't been printed on scores of paper among other potential holes to poke in the methodology of this sartorial crusader.
Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Moschino Autumn/Winter 2012
Perhaps its the pending 2012 games or the fact that they've opted to move their Cheap & Chic womenswear show from Milan Fashion Week to London come February, but for their Menswear Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, Moschino definitely rose to the beckon of London calling. The invitation--a customized Twinings tea bag stamped "Classic Milano Grey" in lieu of English Breakfast--gave it away. Well, that and the greeting of guests upon arrival with teacups not filled with the steaming leafy beverage from which said china takes its name, but prosecco. "Savile Rock" was the name of the collection, a show that at once saluted the sartorial tradition of London but thoroughly imbued with an Italian perspective.
The Moschino man on his trip to Mayfair is certainly a dandy, but a young one, taking his first tentative and slightly-punk informed first steps into the world of tailored three-piece suits, fedoras and bow-ties. Irreverent is a great word to describe the fun collection, Prince of Wales check and pinstripes were cut into pieces and sewn in patchwork jackets, coats and even a quilted studded jacket. There were unfinished seams on jackets and basting stitching detailed classic jackets and waist coats in the form or roses, microphones, guitars and other talismans of a rock n' roll attitude in the beginning, but as the show went on, the looks grew more complete, and more bold--the newborn dandy had found his dapper stride.
Double-breasted and Chesterfield coats were worn over sharp, fitted tuxedos accessorized with gloves, pocket squares, undone bow ties, hats and umbrellas. Colors grew bold, with suiting separates appearing in neon greens and tangerines, mixed, matched and colorblocked or worn tone on tone, head to toe.
Sh*t Fashion Girls Say
A little comic relief on a lazy Sunday...new mantra: "Don't cry over spilled coconut milk"
Friday, January 27, 2012
WhisperViews: Beast of Burden
When I was in Milan last week, Alistair Guy took me along to meet an old mate of his, Richard Taylor, who together with his partner, Virginia Chairelli, heads up what seems to me to be the world's first ethical AND affordable crocodile accessories label, Beast of Burden.
Beast of Burden is a croc-only company that has brought the extremely pricey exotic skin to a new age group and price bracket. Starting at around £4,500 for a large tote bag (as opposed to the same price for say, a wallet), the Beast's designs are young, trend-lead and totally useable (what is the world's first crocodile snap bracelet!!).
Lined with African printed textiles and hardwired with oversized zips recalling a metallic version of a croc's gaping maw, Beast of Burden has successfully managed to retool crocodile for the masses. But rather than myself continue to wax lyrical about the brand, I'll let one half it's mastermind, Richard Taylor himself, tell you all about it.
NB All pictures courtesy the Beast's Blog...that is to say, from Richard and Virginia's African adventures!
Beast of Burden is a croc-only company that has brought the extremely pricey exotic skin to a new age group and price bracket. Starting at around £4,500 for a large tote bag (as opposed to the same price for say, a wallet), the Beast's designs are young, trend-lead and totally useable (what is the world's first crocodile snap bracelet!!).
Lined with African printed textiles and hardwired with oversized zips recalling a metallic version of a croc's gaping maw, Beast of Burden has successfully managed to retool crocodile for the masses. But rather than myself continue to wax lyrical about the brand, I'll let one half it's mastermind, Richard Taylor himself, tell you all about it.
NB All pictures courtesy the Beast's Blog...that is to say, from Richard and Virginia's African adventures!
Labels:
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Bags,
Ethical Fashion,
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Andiamo a Roma con Louis Vuitton!
I'm in la La Citta Eterna today with Louis Vuitton to celebrate the opening of the Maison Louis Vuitton Roma Etoile (Vuitton's first Maison in Italy), housed in the iconic Etoile cinema. So in the meantime, I thought I'd leave you with a little aperitivo to whet your appetite for Friday's main event. But rather than begin telling you about the intricacies of Vuitton's converted cinema, and how the new flagship will not only preserve the Hollywood heritage of the building, but internalize and revitalize it, I'll share with you this wonderful interview with Peter Marino, Vuitton's master architect for whom Etoile is his newest born.
Q: What makes thi setting exceptional?
A: Once upon a time there was a cinema built in the beginning of the XXth century, whose front was intact. The story begins like this... Louis Vuitton asked us to make reference to the glorious past of the cinema Etoile while also undertaking a major renovation. It is the kind of challenge I love – precise and fascinating from a conceptual and an architectural point of view.
Q: How did you design the project?
A: We drew our inspiration from the world of cinema to design this store. The first thing one sees upon entering the store is a piece by artist Dokoupil who works using hundreds of strips of film. Customers then continue through a frame-like structure bearing images of the history of Roman cinema. It is a way of taking customers out of their everyday world, and into an exceptional environment.
Q: What are the key words that describe this achievement?
A: Speed, movement, light and film. From the entrance, a large six-metre screen will be visible. It will be possible to watch anything from short films, documentaries, or even creations by video-director artists. The store really will be the only one of its kind in the world.
Q: How is it set out?
A: The ground floor is dedicated to leather goods, leather taking prime position. The basement is reserved for men. The monumental and elliptical staircase leads from here up to the first floor where the women’s collections are to be found, including ready-to-wear, jewellery, shoes, and the cinema screen as the finishing touch.
Q: Does the staircase have a special role in this layout?
A: Rome is a baroque city. As an artist, if I want to make the spirit here baroque, I need to interpret it in a modern way. This is why I created this staircase in the form of a calyx; it is unique in the world. The one I created for the Louis Vuitton Maison on New Bond Street is totally straight; the one in the Maison on the Champs-Elysées is very different with the big escalator. The one in the New York 5th Avenue store is brutally logical, inspired by a gridline system which recalls the grid pattern layout of the city.
Q:...and in rome?
A: I played with the architecture of the staircase. I made an enormous hole in its centre and steps of different widths to make it elliptical. It is not a perfectly round Renaissance-style, nor does it have a modern shape. It is alternately thick then thin, and then changes again. It is baroque-shaped, very uneven, highlighted by a luminous strip that runs under the stairs like a strip of film.
Q: What are the main principles of the sophisticated architecture of Rome Etoile?
A: Three key factors were at the basis of the creation. The lobby with the photo gallery which retraces the history of cinema, the baroque staircase in the form of a calyx which calls to mind the architecture of the city, and the presence of a cinema on the first floor which acknowledges the history of the venue. All of this in a Louis Vuitton store. For me, that is the spirit of Rome.
Q: In your opinion, is a store made to last, in the same way a monument is, or is it rather a short-lived creation, following fashion and therefore destined to fall into decline?
A: I like the fact that stores last a generation. I don’t like trendy places, which are subject to the diktats of fashion. Once the effect of surprise has worn off, two or three years later they look dated! It is very unpleasant when something is so old- fashioned that in a glance it can be seen as belonging to a specific era. On the other hand, I also don’t like the idea of a concrete creation, built to last forever. I like the changing nature of my creations. But what I am most proud of is when a store I have designed lasts a generation without ever going out of style.
Labels:
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Missoni Autumn/Winter 2012
Things were easy-going at Missoni's Autumn/Winter 2012 menswear collection, focusing on their core DNA as a knitwear brand resplendent in neutrals and rich earth tones first and foremost. The collection had a tinge of British countryside in the air, where motorcycle jackets and other garments key to classic English sportswear were given a Missoni zig-zag twist.
Tartans, houndstooth, Prince of Wales check fabrics and traditional Cornish fishermen knitwear inspired the cardigans, parkas and jackets constructed of boiled wool and panelled with signature Missoni knits. There was something very boyish about it all, the layers, the toggle coats, the clash of heritage plaid with classic Missoni...the oversized and big-billed felt pseudo-baseball caps. The two and three button jacket dominated and Missoni gracefully sidestepped the more formal double breasted, which cropped up on most of Milan's menswear runways.
WhisperCrush: Bags In Progress, NYC
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| Inside Chiharu's Bag In Progress |
Let me tell you a little story about the recycling of bags, "auxuilary bags" as Mamma Whisperer and I like to call them. Growing up, Mama Whisp was, true to stereotype, a feng-shui expert slash neat freak and I was a bumbling American child who was perpetually throwing off the "energy of the house" with my piles of toys and later clothes springing up in all my designated areas of the house and my senseless clodding about indoors with shoes (the horror).
But back to the bags within bags. One respect in which Mamma Whisp was not ruthlessly zen was in the practice of recycling shopping bags, keeping pretty much every and any decent sized and decent papered carrier (and you can imagine how much we shopped) and hoarding them in one crammed corner of her closet, literally an archive of shopping bags dating back to the heyday of Gianni Versace himself and annexes one to her purpose daily to hold things like umbrellas, a spare pair of flats, etc. And to my horror, as I find myself getting older, I've noticed that I too have begun to do the same with fashion freebie canvas totes, a shameful sky-scraper of a stack rising steadily in one corner of my entranceway, as that Japanese-bag-recycling gene begins to kick in.
So when I was home for Christmas and hanging out with Mamma Whisperer's bff, a lovely East Village neighbor of hers called Chiharu, and she told me about her accessory label, Bags In Progress, or better yet, showed me, my Japanese half went into hyperdrive. Bags In Progress' purported mission statement is to "provide better bags for a modern lifestyle," and that is exactly what they have done. The designs are simple, materials raw and organic (heavy-duty canvas, for example), but it is the inside where it's all going on. The simple exteriors belie the wealth of functional detail concealed within. Every detail and size of each bag is placed with purpose, and materials are carefully chosen to fit each function--for example, Chiharu is currently working on discipline-specific bags, with specially designed pockets and pouches for photographers, architects and (hopefully, hint hint) fashion bloggers. Based on the philosophy of classic American accessory designs, all styles can be folded flat for easier travel and less room to be stored, and each piece is designed to be layered with another to serve further function.
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| My Wang Rocco "in progress" |
For stockist info etc email Chiharu at info@bagsinprogress.com
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Bloggers' Delight: Krazy 4 Karl at Net-a-Porter
On Monday, I walked all the way across the Holland Park roundabout in order to join my friends at Net-a-Porter in a cheeky preview of Karl Lagerfeld's new Karl Kollection (sorry, Kardashians, there's a new "K" alteration in town and I'm pretty sure Karl beats Kim any day).
Champers aside, what bloggers' event would be complete without a wee stitch of hair, makeup and style n' shoot? Surely not a NAP one! So I hope you like the little looksy I put together with the discerning eye of Alistair Guy (and by discerning I mean politely urging me away from all the sequins) and the kollection in general. If I do say so myself, the attachable collars--excuse me, kollars--are a cheap and fun update to any rocker chic's wardrobe. To that extent, I've now got two ;)
Karl goes live on Net-a-Porter today...bits to look out for include the kollars, sequin gym shorts, an army of tees, leatherette denim and metallics aplenty.
PS The shoes (one pair pictured here) are also surprisingly as comfortable as they are cool.
Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Salvatore Ferragamo Autumn/Winter 2012
The Salvatore Ferragamo man was well-groomed and sophisticated as ever for Autumn/Winter 2012. Minimalist and urban, black and white snapshots of a city skyline served as the collection's primary inspiration and translated in the grey and midnight palette and constructed tailoring. The word to reach for is "sharp" with "contemporary" not far behind. There was ample use of traditional luxury fabrics, printed velvets, cashmere, double-sided woollen cloth, alpaca weaves alluding to ponyskin and bouclé effects resembling fur.
Playful graphics enlivened knitwear detailed with architectural geometrical necks and worn layered contrasting tailored shirts. Patterns alluded to artists’ canvasses in progress, re-inventing heritage prints like houndstooth and herringbone by breaking them, producing never-ending trompe l’oeil effects that echo the Autumn/Winter 2011 womenswear offerings.
For evening, the Ferragamo man slides effortlessly into the opalescence of velvets, in shades of blue and red and experimenting with the subtly eccentric elegance of outsize moiré. He even dons an electric blue tuxedo worthy of Mr. Bond himself as well as a collarless jacket with grosgrain detailing, sophisticated cufflinks or jewel buttons and a signet ring. He is an effortless creature of the masculine metropolis, with a wardrobe every bit as slick as his impeccably gelled hair.
Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Jonathan Saunders Autumn/Winter 2012
Jonathan Saunders launched his first standalone menswear collection in Milan last week. Consisting of 22 looks, Saunders' signature use of bright color and dizzying prints were carried over in full force, creating a collection whose aesthetic could best be described as Missoni-meets-Marni with a bit of London edge thrown in.
Saunders' new take on menswear staples include four button suits, knits, waffle knit bombers, classic polos with cutaway collars and slim leg trousers. And while he's still got a ways to go in his mastery of menswear, the offerings from Saunders mark a welcome injection of contemporary color and cut into a sector that, at least this season, has a penchant for taking the practice of dress a bit too seriously.
To probe deeper inside Jonathan's creative process, head to Grazia.it and check out a great interview my friend Delphine did with Jonathan...on yours truly's Flipcam ;)
Berlin Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2012-Part 1
Last week, courtesy the gracious folk from Mercedes Benz, I staged a return to Brandenburger Tor, hitting up my second installment of Berlin Fashion Week for a short but sweet 36 something hours. In one day, we saw four shows, all part of the Mercedes-sponsored on schedule offerings and taking place in the main venue: Schumacher, Kaviar Gauche (which I will review separately), Laurel and Rena Lange.
It seems to me, after two seasons now in Berlin, that the city's fashion aesthetic, is a bit like its most infamous vestigial landmark, the wall that fell, dividing the city into two distinct halves. Just like Berlin retains the two different traffic sign men as talismans of those divided days, so do the city's designers seem to fall in two two camps--one with hats, and one without. On side of German fashion, you have folk like Hugo Boss, Escada, Schumachers etc, who play it traditionally conservative and lack that youthful spark needed nowadays to catapult a designer into the beating heart of the zeitgeist, but still keep their faithful clients coming back season in, season out.
The target costumer is fashion's pre-recession consumer-of-yore, she is older, financially established and doesn't like to rock the fashion boat too much. She has her silhouettes and shapes tried, tested and true, and is only looking to update with a new print or accessory (think: jewel tone satin suiting accented with fox stoles and collars). She is an industrious German who has weathered the downturn, she has money to burn just as she did pre-crash, for her, things haven't changed all that much.
But then on the flip side, you have young, trendy Berlin, designers like Patrick Mohr, Michalsky, Vandevorst, and Noir, who cater to a different generation of Germans. They deconstruct like their Belgian neighbors, look to all-black and more edgy palettes like the forlorn French and generally imbue their collections with the same artistically sinister quality that permeates the city and the youth who frolic there for just that reason. The other sentiment one picks up on very much in Berlin is that this is a city still in progress--it is still healing, rebuilding, a new generation is finding it's voice in a post-wall 21st century, and this is very much echoed amongst the echelons of the new guard of German designers.
But at the end of the day, this clash of aesthetic is what makes for an autonomous fashion industry--divisions and diversity, something for every market. Division means that German fashion, Berlin fashion in particular, is indeed finding its own autonomous voice, breaking with a past that looked towards whatever was transpiring across the way in Paris and emerging with a new, hell, it's a German word, so let's use it, zeitgeist, all unto itself.
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