Culture and counterculture; icons and iconoclasts; trophies and tropes; meanings and messages that time turns on their heads. Back in the day, Max Mara devised a code for women on the move. So called power dressing offered the keys to the executive suite. The price was strict conformity; self-expression wasn’t part of the deal for Working Girl.
Twenty or thirty oors below, in shadowy subterranean nightclubs, the style tribes’ studs, straps and chains signi ed a point blank repudiation of the corporate grind. You were one thing or the other. Forty years on, things have changed, barriers smashed, boundaries blurred.
Now, the Max Mara woman demands success on her own terms and dresses accordingly. Her don’t-mess-with-me coat and those tough looking leather suspenders hanging from her waistband are a declaration that our heroine is in a determined and de ant mood. Max Mara says classic doesn’t have to be conservative, especially when it’s served up with feline attitude, a little gothic grit and a big splash of bombshell glamour.
Everything is rede ned; tailored Teddies and voluptuous drapes; leopard spots and Prince-de-Galles; fringes and shtails; duffel coats and diamante; maverick camel and radical pink. Max Mara works the dialectic to generate a smouldering energy. Spotlight on punk queens Siouxsie and Sinead as they take the stage in a late night downtown cabaret.
Max Mara’s chanteuses wear mean looking stilettoes, catlike eyewear and a new take on the handbag to wear diva style. T-shirts featuring graphics dedicated to Max Mara by the legendary artist François Berthoud celebrate the imagi- nary gig. Luxury is a lazy word, used to lump together everything with a little practical purpose.
Max Mara merits a more precise de nition, after all, these are clothes with a purpose -to empower. And how can an item of clothing empower? Just watch a woman slip into a Max Mara coat; she feels like a star, she can conquer the world. That hasn’t changed since the brand began the long march with the working woman.
Year on year, it’s Max Mara’s job to recalibrate the can- ons of style to sync with “l’air du temps”; for 2018 Max Mara proposes a chic new mix that’s one part boardroom exec, one part husky songbird, and one part screen siren.
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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2018-19, MAX MARA, MAX MARA FW 2018-19
Tue, February 27 2018 » Fashion Blog
Stars from the Stars
This season at Moschino Jeremy Scott ventures deep into Area 51 territory to concoct a collection that puts conspiracy theory into fashion practice. What if extra-terrestrials really did walk among us? What if Marilyn Monroe really was knocked off by the feds to stop her spilling the beans about her Roswell pillow talk with JFK?? And – deep breath – wasn’t Jackie O too perfect to be human???
The parallel narratives of the paranoid are deployed by Scott to create a collection that’s so real it’s unreal. Our first contact comes via a series of out of this world dresses and separates that mix just so mid-century daywear with the cut and zippers of the iconic Moschino biker jacket.
The colors are pumped: Scott ventured beyond the realms of Pantone this season to discover powerful shades that have fallen into disuse. Some looks feature wide vertical stripes, others touches of leather, and yet other sports-touched looks come in a three colorway, cracked zig-zag brocade. A Moschino foulard print is twisted with polka-pixels. We see Venus in faux furs. Everything’s matchy-matchy. She’s fabulous – and she’s not from around here.
Further frazzle is delivered thanks to this season’s capsule collection, a collaboration with the awesome Australian artist Ben Frost. His hyper-stylised images of feminine ‘perfection’ collaged with the packaging of the products with which we self-medicate in this consumer age work perfectly on cute handbags, gamine dresses, to-die-for phone cases and more – buy ‘em now!
The daywear has landed – we orbit to night. We see a series of siren dresses and tuxedos that come slashed, chopped, hybridised and collided and mix metallics and sequins, crystals and silks. They combine goddess gathering from the first great age of Old Hollywood glamour with a hot-pink hello to Marilyn Monroe plus looks from a later, more empowered age – as if some new arrival had processed the humanity’s entire red-carpet history at hyperspeed then materialised the best of it all together.
These are looks fit for a star from the stars. Plan Nine from outer space. The Truth? It’s Out There! Believe.
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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2018-19, MOSCHINO, MOSCHINO FW 2018-19
Mon, February 26 2018 » Fashion Blog
The Alberta Ferretti Fall/Winter 2018 collection depicts an edgier woman, one that has more character, along with more style. This collection proposes a contemporary and decisive interpretation of daywear, that enhanced with personal styling, is capable of transitioning from day to night. These are bold silhouettes with statement shoulders that emphasize a new twist to the Alberta Ferretti’s aesthetic.
«Through my designs, I wanted to highlight character affirmation. I imagined a confident and assertive woman. For this reason, I have decided to include my friend Lorenzo Quinn’s sculpture “Gravity” as a focal point of the runway, a masterpiece that places the woman at the center of the Universe, which for me, is a metaphor of reality,» declares Alberta Ferretti.
Dynamic but not tied to trends, the collection exudes confident ability in mixing textiles such as denim with feathers as well as adding flashes of gold light through fabrics, sculpted jewels or metallic belts. Daywear includes coats, skirts, and leather capes lined with wool or jersey and paired with black denim jumpsuits. Jackets are reinterpreted in jacquard fabrics.
The transition from daywear to evening wear is characterized by vibrant gold and silver sequins seen also on the T-shirts and skirts. Simple silhouettes and embellished details come together to create a goddess gown sprinkled in crystals. Her muses are seen in high heeled boots and sandals made from colored silk cords, enriched with small tassels.
A collection that paints Alberta Ferretti’s new woman; she is decisive, strong, and aesthetically impactful.
«I want to bring justice to women by respecting their natural elegance,» concludes Alberta Ferretti.
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Tags: ALBERTA FERRETTI, ALBERTA FERRETTI FW 2018-19, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2018-19
Mon, February 26 2018 » Fashion Blog
MAJORETTE
Majorette. The title of the N° 21 fall/winter 2018-19 collection comes from the professional figure of a young woman who, in a cross between sport and spectacle, makes a pattern of movements with a baton, by turning it and throwing it into the air, usually within the context of a group exhibition. Once the show is over, the majorette takes off her uniform and returns to her daily routine.
Creative director. Alessandro dell’Acqua, N° 21 creative director, comments: «Starting out from an after- dark idea of fun, festive situations, I found in the majorette an embodiment of the incongruity between a common, working-class type of public entertainment and the spontaneous expression of an unconscious, off-the-cuff glamour that’s all the same authentic, uniquely personal. What I had in mind is a woman who – while no diva, no vamp, no star – knows how to dazzle in her everyday life. This enabled me to develop many aspects of today’s fashion that seem contradictory: as in, brightness and dark spirit, glamour and glam punk, as well as my ever-favorite masculine/feminine mix. Last but not least, it enabled me to get back the joy I take in a fashion that I’d like to become once again an expression of research, first and foremost.»
Luminosity. The neon signs of Las Vegas casinos make a splash on dresses, skirts, coats, jackets that all feature a shiny-sequin-studded wool/leather/leopard mix where black portrays the inkiness of wet asphalt and colors mimic the dazzling effects of bright lights. Likewise, gold inserts illuminate both the ponyskin parkas worn over short floral slip-dresses and the gold- or silver-fringed-sleeve shirts in mannish checks worn with lace sideband pants. Equally bright are the mannish outfits with crystal-trimmed jackets, pants and cabans; and the maxi sequin-fringed mohair cardigans, over tartan plaid chiffon dresses, under tulle slip-dresses with allover crystal embroidery.
Glamour. An element finding redefinition in fresh contemporary form, it highlights the mannish quality of sequin-embroidered sweaters and gilet vests, and of kid mohair pants, to create newly alluring images through long colored gloves and through ponyskin coats under wider camel tone wool ones. Similarly, the new glam uses lace dresses, gold brocade slip-dresses and sequined straight skirts as the ideal bases for mannish jackets.
Fringe. «An element expressing joy, for me it’s a first. I used fringe to design a collection that, in addition to focusing on the product, went back to taking a stance on fashion,» says Alessandro dell’Acqua.
Lolita. This is the name of the colorful new leather N° 21 bag, complete with big leather fringe pom-pom that will become its trademark.
Accessories. Shoes: crystal- and bow-studded medium heel pumps, satin crystal-trimmed creepers, leather or spotted ponyskin creepers, gold tone-soled sneakers. Bags: sequin-fringed shoulder bags in big and small sizes, large tote bags with long fringe. Necklaces with whistle pendant. Keychains with leopard print case. Eyewear, as ever in partnership with Linda Farrow, featuring crystal-studded frames.
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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2018-19, N°21, N°21 FW 2018-19
Mon, February 26 2018 » Fashion Blog
‘TIME’ REFLECTING THE PAST, CELEBRATING THE PRESENT, HERALDING THE FUTURE
Burberry tonight celebrated ‘Time’, Christopher Bailey’s final collection for the brand, against a multisensory installation that forms part of a new collaboration with United Visual Artists (UVA).
‘Our Time’, a piece of work on loan from the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Australia, investigates the subjective experience of the passing of time through movement, light and sound, and was reimagined in collaboration with Christopher, to provide the backdrop to the runway collection. The installation’s pendulums swung to their own rhythm in time to the show’s soundtrack by Jimmy Somerville, The Communards and Bronski Beat.
Models including past and present campaign stars Adwoa Aboah, Jean Campbell, Montell Martin and Edie Campbell – who appeared in her first Burberry campaign in 2006 – revealed the collection, which revisited past icons and house codes, including the trench coat, the aviator, the cape, the poncho and the military coat as well as introduced new designs.
The Rainbow check, the latest iteration of Burberry’s most iconic symbol and designed as part of Christopher’s dedication of his last collection to LGBTQ+ communities, featured throughout the show. A capsule of reissued archive pieces from the 1980s and 1990s rereleased as part of this collection is now available for immediate purchase.
Cara Delevingne, discovered by Christopher and Burberry over seven years ago, closed the show and led the finale as models walked under a spectrum of rainbow laser lights.
‘My final collection here at Burberry is dedicated to – and in support of – some of the best and brightest organisations supporting LGBTQ+ youth around the world. There has never been a more important time to say that in our diversity lies our strength, and our creativity.’
Christopher Bailey, Burberry President and Chief Creative Officer
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Tags: BURBERRY, BURBERRY FEBRUARY 2018 COLLECTION, BURBERRY FEBRUARY 2018 COLLECTION MEN, BURBERRY FEBRUARY 2018 COLLECTION WOMEN
Mon, February 26 2018 » Fashion Blog
Watch the Tommy Now Spring 2018 Fashion Show in Live Streaming – Milan 25 February 2018 at 8.00 PM CET. Stay Tuned! #TOMMYNOW
Tags: LIVE STREAMING, SPRING SUMMER 2018, TOMMY HILFIGER SS 2018, TOMMY NOW
Sun, February 25 2018 » Fashion Blog
Watch the Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini Fall Winter 2018-19 Fashion Show in Live Streaming – Milan 24th February 2018 at 7.00 PM, Milan time. Stay Tuned… (more…)
Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2018-19, LIVE STREAMING, PHILOSOPHY DI LORENZO SERAFINI FW 2018-19
Sat, February 24 2018 » Fashion Blog
Sat, February 24 2018 » Fashion Blog
In a hothouse of winter hedonism, Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos explore the antique riches of Persia via secessionist Vienna. Tapestries, blown glass and Biedermaier become noble orals that bleed and melt into cascades and curves. The marbled palette of frosted pastels and faded jewels washes from coral, caramel, chartreuse and peach to petrol and midnight blue.
The mood is decadent and soigné, as design and décor is transposed onto textural outerwear in brushed mohair jacquards and graphic ombré dresses in hammered satin. Kaftan and kimono shapes accent a soft shoulder, and deep v-necklines tie with a demure bow.
Shawl collared tailoring in piped crepe and quilted silk are cinched with tasseled belts that loop through the waist, and engineered knit dresses dissolve into stripes and ribbons. A stained-glass effect is suffused throughout in patchworks of tufted cashmere or teddy shearling and dresses paneled in gauzy sorbet silk. Prismatic sequins and giant cabochon buttons lift the season’s opulent hand even further into the third dimension.
In collaboration with Marco Panconesi, double hoops sparkle with Swarovski crystal, and resin petals clasp the earlobe or wrist.
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Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2018-19, PETER PILOTTO, PETER PILOTTO FW 2018-19
Sat, February 24 2018 » Fashion Blog
“I have never shied away from sex in the collections – and this one is no different,” says Christopher Kane. “Since the beginning, I have found it fundamental to our idea of women; women with their own power who create their own worlds and are in charge of them. We wanted to look at that in the collection, evolving it from last season; it’s less cheeky and more subversive, less an interior world and more an exterior view this time. It’s about s strength of character shown by the strength of the clothes. It all started with the illustrations from The Joy of Sex and More Joy of Sex, by Chris Foss and Charles Raymond. They’re both a textbook study and a sensuous display of line drawing, almost in ‘coffee table book’ form that’s both weird and really everyday. All of which always intrigues me.”
The power of clothing, both utilitarian and extravagant, is at the heart of the latest Christopher Kane collection. From cotton canvas coats to jewel-encrusted cage constructions; leather and lace; raw wools to regal crushed velvets. Each reflecting the interior strength of the Christopher Kane girl with an external display of power, here she appears at perhaps her most grown up.
Articulated, armour-like sleeves and rounded shouldered silhouettes, leather constructions and extravagant flocked, coated and embossed lace play with ideas of power and perversity, conflating periods of history. Eighties or Elizabethan, Forties or fundamentally now, essentially there is a search for something new.
Unafraid to play with sexuality, the collection comes to its conclusion with the line illustrations that inspired it all. With an almost sepia tint – one that travels throughout the collection in ‘valance’ floral prints, tough canvas and ecru lace – The More Joy dresses almost appear as marabou edged creations from a different time, something that Mrs Robinson might wear.
Once more intrigued by the utilitarian and the extravagant, a new collaboration appears in the form of shoes by Z-Coil orthopaedics. At once practical and echoing something more deeply historical, the shoes, like the collection itself, are at once.
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Tags: CHRISTOPHER KANE, CHRISTOPHER KANE FW 2018-19, FALL WINETR WOMEN 2018-19
Sat, February 24 2018 » Fashion Blog
