Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
BALMAIN FALL WINTER 2019 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK
We don’t praise female trouble-makers nearly enough. Yes, of course, the fashion world adores nonconformists. We’re inspired by the greats that have beautifully rebelled artistically or sartorially. Season after season, we channel the spirit of rockers who have never given a damn and style icons with signature attitudes.
But my runway today celebrates a different, invigorating and new type of rebellious spirit, one adopted by increasing numbers of today’s young women. For inspiration, my team and I look to the self-assured women of my generation, who demand control and are not content to simply push back instead, they revel in pushing forward, (while also pushing every single button along the way).
This new attitude might have had its origins in the recent necessity of donning new defensive armor for battles that we had hoped were already won, but it has rapidly evolved, as our young rebelles grow increasingly aware of their own great power, celebrate their strong voices and demand to be heard.
This collection riffs upon that fresh, fierce resolve, that demand for control and love of bold action. And, just as today’s trouble-makers have shown us, first impressions sometimes fool those who haven’t yet wised up. So, train your eyes look past the feminine and flouncy skirts, the sensual tops and the Easter-egg pastels and focus on the underlying new spirit of this collection.
The tough-girl vibe is sometimes easily spotted and, just as often, cleverly hidden. Examine the expertly quilted leather skirts, for example, and what may at first appear to be a repeating pattern reveals itself as spiky, menacing studs. Yes, there are flowers but fashioned from patent-leather, they add a dark toughness that’s perfect for this rebellious mood.
Throughout, the mastery of the Balmain atelier is always evident. Eager to build upon learnings from couture, our craftsmen continue to push me in new directions, urging me to bend the rules that they’ve mastered so well. This runway relies on surprising deconstructions, sculptural shapes, incredible tailoring, skilled leatherwork and extreme embellishments.
I’m proud of my entire team’s efforts, as we’ve worked to ensure that our creations match the level of daring of today’s trouble-makers.
Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
DRIES VAN NOTEN FALL WINTER 2019 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK
INSPIRATIONS
“Rose is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose” Gertrude Stein from her poem ‘Sacred Emily’ 1913. A rose as a person or an emblem of beauty, a power in delicacy. Snapshots of garden flowers in the Dries van Noten garden in October 2018 – their imperfections and blemishes stand uncorrected, their shadows cast on a hand-held background evident.
From German Expressionism to the sublimation of the mundane in the study of human attitude and gesture in the work of Pina Bausch. Prints are frank, avoiding whimsy, fancy and romance. Pure Lines, range from the manly and austere, feminine and couture, day to evening to and the swaddling to structured.
FORM
Evoking 1940′s and 50′s couture, men’s tailoring. Amplified forms, details and lines contrast with the precision of tailoring. All from the freer forms of voluminous quilting to precise and considered garment structures.
COLOURS
A spray of greys, graphite, slate, charcoal, metals, burnished to gleaming, pewter, petrol. Hues of distilled pastels, rose, citrus, powdery mauve, fawn, eau-de-nil, duck eg blue, neon orange, gold, oxblood, imperial yellow.
FABRICS
From diaphanous and veiling to structured and classic. Chiffon, pinstripes, felts, matt to shimmering, faux fur.
PRINT
Photographs of flowers in Dries’ personal garden, October 2018, their imperfections and blemishes stand uncorrected, their shadows cast on a hand held background visible … 50 varieties of Rose, Salvia, 3 varieties of Delphinium, Acer Palmatum, Kniphofia Rooperi, 3 Varieties of Dahlia.
ACCESSORIES
High boots, Lucite Heels, flower photographs, neon faux fur stoles, over size bags.’Big-eye’ sunglasses.
COLLABORATION ON STOCKINGS
Stockings developed with Fogal for this collection exclusive to Dries van Noten in shades of cassis, stone, wild berry and light blue.
Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
MUGLER FALL WINTER 2019 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK
Swirling with otherworldly promise, the Fall Winter 2019 collection by Casey Cadwallader for Mugler vibrates with a savage alchemy – implanting magnificent architectures with a primal and aerodynamic elegance. In a call-and-repeat of decadent pattern and incisive structure, the silhouette pulses with complex densities and controlled volume. In acid and earth tones, mercurial graphic studies read animal, vegetal, and mineral.
Warping through a marbled stratum of natural stimuli, mixed media textiles soften the innate sharpness of turbo-charged tailoring in a macro-dose of tapestry, amoebic florals, and stained-glass leather. From chaotic patchwork to blurred print, silk georgettes and cloque wool jacquards create ruched incrustations in curving ‘trap’ dresses, as panelled columns cascade with fringed volants.
Peplum coats and zipped dolman blousons evolve hourglass shapes and bonded finishes, their flare echoed by smocked taffeta and compression corsetry built into flounced jersey dresses. Worn over snap-stud cargos and bootcut trousers, second-skin separates are embroidered in splashes of Mako beading or embossed with contoured stripes. The season’s organic energy is reflected in caged resin jewellery and the sleek construction of spoked spiral pumps or patent wedge cuissards.
“On the occasion of my second-ever Mugler show, I’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate Manfred Thierry Mugler on the opening of the retrospective exhibition this week at Musée des Beaux Arts in Montreal. Celebrating the past and present of Mugler as a duality of nostalgia and progress is truly important to me, and this exhibition pays to testament to Mugler as a beacon of culture, diversity, and innovation.”
— Casey Cadwallader, creative director of Mugler
Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
LANVIN FALL WINTER 2019 COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK
LANVIN “MYSTIC PILGRIMS”
The 13th century Musée de Cluny plays host to the first Women’s and Men’s collection designed by Bruno Sialelli for the house of Lanvin, sublimating the illustrious heritage of the Parisian maison in the midst of its own renaissance. As the first true purveyor of lifestyle, Lanvin encompasses a prismatic vision of fashion. Contemplating the life and times of our founder Jeanne Lanvin, a vital optimism permeates this respectful evolution – acknowledging the maison as a florilegium of creative energy.
Embodying a folkloric spirit, the Fall Winter 2019 collection roams from the Rue Saint-Honoré to Brest and far beyond, reminiscing upon cinematic and literary personas through history. Reviving Lanvin’s playful narrative in a symphony of romantic archetypes, Sialelli draws upon a multitude of moods: from nautical to bucolic, regal to childlike, the collection personifies lyrical conversations in cloth.
Pre-Raphaelite colours depart from Lanvin ‘quattrocento’ blue into powdery shades of avocado, absinthe, banana and bergamot warmed by mahogany, navy, tomato and a blaze of ultraviolet. Inciting pure comfort and a suite of leisurely pursuits, classic shapes are spliced with sensual fabrications, as Norwegian blankets, exotic Fair Isles, and giant clan tartans swaddle inherently French garments.
‘Whole garment’ knits create sinuous volumes shaped in cashmere and lurex, whilst the vareuse from Brittany, the heart-collar caban, zipped blousons and riding coats are rendered in cashmere, gabardine, intarsia shearling or wool gazar. Passing from myths to modern fairy-tales, graphics flit from Paul Iribe’s logo La femme et l’enfant (1924) on stamped muslin to mosaic monogram pyjama silks and delicate marguerite micro-florals.
Evoking the whimsy of Cécile and Jean de Brunhoff’s Babar the Elephant books, illustrated scenes float over crewneck twinsets and foulard riding boots, whilst tufted hares and foxes frolic across transparent tulle. Sensuous and in perfect symmetry, shaped necks and contoured sleeves impart blouses or dresses with a medieval line, as the scrolling imprint of illuminated manuscripts is writ large across
silk twill.
Faded Merovingian splendour is woven throughout, from gilded leather amulets and dipped thimble rings to St. George’s dragon resplendent on embroidered velvet. Voluminous kaftan gowns trail with linings inside and out, layered with bands of lace, pleated satin, and portrait print georgette.
Lanvin’s muse is embellished with abandon, adorned from head to toe with heraldic charm jewellery and porcelain chokers, fruit minaudières and salome wedges in Viennese metalwork. Grounding the season’s mystic vision, satchels, flat totes and asymmetric bucket bags are crafted in supple suede, canvas and calfskin to match fringed tennis shoes, studded clogs and moulded moccasin boots.
Fri, March 1 2019 » Fashion Blog
AFTERHOMEWORK FALL WINTER 2019 COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK
We started without even knowing where we were going. Pierre Soulages said “It is what I do that teaches me what I am looking for”. This is the résumé of our creative process.
Rap, Street, Radio, Social networks, TV, our inspiration comes from what is happening around us: All of this inspires for next season a silhouette mixing streetwear and Couture techniques with a futuristic eye. We are only focused on the future.
Colors of the collection: Paris on a dark and stormy night. Materials: Poor materials, cotton stitched, wool, nylon, corduroy, rope, K-way. Silhouettes: Daily clothes whose volume has been reworked. Some subtle touches of feminity.
Fri, March 1 2019 » Fashion Blog
SAINT LAURENT FALL WINTER 2019 COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK
The sharp and couture-refined tailoring gives Anthony Vaccarello’s silhouettes a distinct and graphic elegance. Sculptural lines, inspired by the eighties, recall the sophisticated and liberated spirit of Betty Catroux, Bianca Jagger and Catherine Deneuve, iconic muses of the house.
Following the strict geometry, the Opium myth of red and gold embroideries turns into new dynamic shapes in precious materials.
For the finale, in the mirrored kaleidoscopic show set, a black light unveils the contemporary, effortless aspect of Saint Laurent’s soul.
“Everything starts from the shoulder construction. The graphic sculptural tailoring gives a sharp sophistication to the liberated impulse of desire” Anthony Vaccarello
Fri, March 1 2019 » Fashion Blog
