Hermès© Copyright 2019
LA GARDE RÉPUBLICAINE
She heads out into the night. The late afternoon light has given way to a constellation in the sky. Her clothes feel different; the air is electric. She strides under the neon lights in a casaque jacket with a cosmic pattern. The night has patiently deconstructed each element of her Couvertures et tenues de jour carré.
Long or short; focal lengths reveal secret details. Cockades and equestrian browbands punctuate her closets. Reins trace the curves of her ultra-pencil skirt. She walks with a resolute gait, through shadows and light.
Knickerbocker jumpsuits, shorts and black leather jackets, dressage bodysuits, glove-fit trousers, sharply tailored day dresses, rhythmically pleated casaque blouses, and double-faced coats: the classic and the eccentric — hand in hand.
Here she is, at the very heart of her long journey. Everything appears more clearly defined. She makes her way through the charcoal night, surrounded by the sounds of romance.
Bathed in red moonlight, she smiles. The night belongs solely to her.
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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2019-20, hermès, HERMÈS FW 2019-20
Tue, March 5 2019 » Fashion Blog
“I went home for this collection, back to where I grew up in the North of England, surrounded by mill towns and wild countryside. I took my team to those mills, to a landscape that I remember from my childhood. The heart of the collection is inspired by the bolts of cloth we saw woven both by man and machine.”
Sarah Burton
Creative Director
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Tags: ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, ALEXANDER MCQUEEN FW 2019-20, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2019-20
Tue, March 5 2019 » Fashion Blog
Y/PROJECT BRINGS A RENEWED SENSE OF ELEGANCE AND DRAMA
La Maison de la Chimie was the setting of Y/PROJECT’s AW19 FEMME collection, presented on Thursday, February 28th. The classic XVIIIth century architecture of this hôtel particulier mixed with its authentic Art Déco design features mirrors Martens’ eclectic historical and aesthetic references that are trickling through the collection.
Glenn Martens creates a renewed sense of evening elegance, sensuality and drama, executed with the craft and wit Y/PROJECT is renowned for. Inspirations run from the Middle Ages to the 70s, bringing in an incredibly rich variety of fabrics, textures, colors and prints. The blending of corduroy, iridescent velvet, linen, faux-leather and fur, pearls, rhinestones, embroidery and Renaissance floral prints gives an extra bohemian accent to this prolific collection.
The opening look set the tone this new season: a skin-tight dress made of transparent latex strips creating a liquid effect, revealing a fierce, confident woman.
True to Y/PROJECT’s constructionist ethos, deconstructed pieces remain the brand’s main signature: panel, pop up, doubling features continue to punctuate the collection. Panelled shoulders are adapted to a variety of pieces throughout the collection: oversized cardigans, tweed coats with faux-fur details, silk shirt dresses and elegant sweater dresses. The trompe l’oeil hot pants are re-imagined in a tulle stirrup legging version.
The superposition of printed overlays, first explored during SS19 and continued for the AW19 HOMME collection, is taken further this season with tulle wrapping added to knit dresses, polo shirts and tops.
One of the show highlights this season was the surprise appearance of Dutch-Iranian singer Sevdaliza who captivated the audience in a Renaissance faux-leather and faux-fur pleated dress.
Accessories perfectly channel this season’s more dramatic take on fashion, with jewelry at the forefront. Oyster pearl earrings and multi-hoop necklaces, introduced for AW19 HOMME, lights up the runway with rhinestone and pearl embellishments for the womens collection. Erotic sculpture jewelry inject Y/PROJECT’ irony into the collection, with “explicit” bracelets, earrings and necklaces.
The oversize thigh-high heeled boots, now integral to the brand identity, are proposed in a wide ankle version, just like the waders that stole the show at Pitti in January. Lace up sandals brings extra sexiness to the show. A new shoe form, patent leather pointy mules appear to have been sliced open, are have also been revealed.
The best-selling accordion bags from the SS19 collection are now developed in new mini and oversized versions, colorways and floral prints. The collection’s undisputable elegance is accentuated by a new trapezium-shaped bag with chrome-plated details.
In a last ironic nod to traditional French couture, ever the historical enthusiast Glenn Martens completes the show with a dramatic Tudor-inspired wedding dress.
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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2019-20, Y/PROJECT, Y/PROJECT FW 2019-20
Tue, March 5 2019 » Fashion Blog
Tue, March 5 2019 » Fashion Blog
Strictly, playfully. A celebration of a mens tailored sensibility, for women. Tailoring rigor and couture craftsmanship. Severity and frivolity.
In January 2009, Thom Browne introduced his vision to Europe for the first time in Florence during Pitti Uomo with a performance staged at Istitituto di Scienze Militari Aeronautiche. Ten years have passed since. The singular idea that ignited an ongoing quest kept evolving and expanding, maintaining the strictness and the playfulness it originated from. The anniversary is the perfect occurrence to show how much.
The show of 2009 is replicated in 2019, in detail. Up to a point. Men sat at their desks typing in tailored grey suits, then. Women sit at their desk typing, now. What they wear is a playful rumination on that strictly tailored look.
A full wardrobe. Chesterfield coats, jackets, trousers are interpreted in inlays, intarsia, buillon embroidery, satin stitch embroidery on tweeds, checked tweeds, down filled tweeds, shetland wools. Thom Browne’s signature grosgrain tape and duck motifs are played with, extensively. The strict base of the look offers ample room for an exploration of embellishment and couture technique. Playfully, strictly.
This and that. Every full outfit is rendered in trompe l’oeil, for sake of technical prowess. Detail by detail, three dimensional to two dimensional. Strictly, playfully. A masculine sensibility pervades it all, down to the socks, garters, briefcases and brogues. Strictly, playfully.
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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2019-20, THOM BROWNE, THOM BROWNE FW 2019-20
Tue, March 5 2019 » Fashion Blog
In a wardrobe that mixes casual with evening, the real Parisian of today becomes an emblem. Volume, cut, and material represent the inventiveness and tenacity of a typical city local. Patterns and shapes emblemize common daily activities — grocery shopping, commuting via motorbike, and going out after work.
Suspended shapes allow for shoulders to be shifted upwards or for sleeves to be raised above the shoulders. Incognito collars and hoods on coats, long trenches and robes assume anonymity. Dropped or ring-shaped necklines that rest away from the body also redefine the profile.
Hidden or eliminated closures reflect the Parisian trait of opting to wrap a coat and leave a jacket open. Certain dresses, on the other hand, have many closures, modeled after a double-breasted jacket or trench coat worn with nothing underneath.
Atypical materials, too, represent resourceful intentions. A modern interpretation of the cocoon is made with fake shearling, another with a soft, duvet-like outer. Knee-length kick skirts are made with embroidered tweed and fake leather and insignia shirt are actually knitwear. Jackets rework the articulation of biker sleeves for the purpose of volume. Pants are either cropped or left extra long.
Easy Eveningwear encompasses the idea of wearing something all night after a long day, while At-home Outerwear imagines wearing something all day after a long night. Garments and accessories take the idea of house wear outdoors — a kimono-like robe — or they bring oversaturated symbols of tourism to a more intimate level.
Party dressing introduces still more silhouettes. A new evening set consists of a maxi kaftan shirt and maxi kick skirt in moire silk. A new babydoll dress deconstructs a longer style, reattaching the lower half to the bust line and tagging it with the graffiti that happens to someone who fell asleep at a party. A hand- sewn gown is beaded with curled paillettes, falling delicately around the wearer and continuing into a train.
Throughout the collection, new logotypes intersect with older ones, adding to a growing language. Bags and shoes flare and arch in new directions, balancing between dramatic tension and practicality.
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Tags: BALENCIAGA, BALENCIAGA FW 2019-20, FALL WINTER MEN 2019-20, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2019-20
Tue, March 5 2019 » Fashion Blog
Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
Balmain© Copyright 2019
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.
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Tags: Balmain, BALMAIN FW 2019-20, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2019-20
Mon, March 4 2019 » Fashion Blog
