GILES CASTS A SPELL ON LFW
This season GILES takes us on a hallucinatory journey into a wild walled garden. Imagine it’s the witching hour in a long lost apothecaries’ playground where, in centuries past, aristocratic revellers indulged in potent tinctures and run amok through its yew tree tunnels and stony cloisters. Now a gang of ghostly girls and phantom queens wander among waist-high weeds in A/W 15’s intoxicating prints and ribbon-strewn gowns.
“I was thinking about the allure of the Chelsea Physic Garden, the phantasmagoria of Arthur Rackham illustrations and the haunted tales of Elizabeth Gaskell,” said Deacon, backstage at his LFW show. “This collection draws on the eccentricity, romance and mystery of English craftsmanship. Trippy haute, if you will.”
These inspirations cast an instant spell on the darkened catwalk as a heartbeat-like rhythm began to play and GILES’ opening girls, among them Edie Campbell, Kendall Jenner and Lily Donaldson, appeared in a series of deceptively strict looks.
Black wool cloaks and PVC frock coats were worn with leather knickerbockers, frilled Victoriana white shirts and Jimmy Choo mules. But the mood was soon spirited away by Jessica Stam wearing a dramatic bodice and tulip skirt in a rich jacquard that conjured up dark gnarled branches dripping in pearl chains and medieval gemstones.
Then it was time to get high as magic mushroom prints and embroideries crept up bell- sleeved fitted dresses and cropped riding jackets, becoming intertwined with silver roots and autumnal tendrils. Meanwhile a regal lattice motif engulfed blouses, smocks and wide skirts all tied up with plaits.
Oversized princess coats and bow-waisted cocktail dresses were engulfed by a psychedelic swirl of canary yellow, absinthe green and midnight black florals on rich silks and crushed velvet.
Finally a refracted acid digital print reminiscent of old master oil paintings took over dramatic ball gowns, pleated frocks and grand coats. Erin O’Connor and Anna Cleveland whirled through the dreamlike-space, spinning the audience into blissful oblivion.
Words Helen Jennings
(more…)
Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2015-16, GILES, GILES FW 2015-16
Fri, March 6 2015 » Fashion Blog
Fri, March 6 2015 » Fashion Blog
Fri, March 6 2015 » Fashion Blog
For fall/winter 2015 Antonio Berardi presents a vision of sculptural sensuality. At the juncture where the juxtapositional architectural tropes employed by Frank Gehry — curve and line, nature and artifice — meet, a vision was conceived.
Light, distorted, magnified and undulated, brought movement and transparency to this vision for fall/winter, a vision that retains the trademark Berardi femininity and dynamism.
Fabric is soft and elsewhere structured, sculptured into shell-like curves that spiral and sweep around the Berardi woman’s form.
A palette of pitch, midnight and emerald is interspersed with splashes of neon pink and lilac and shocks of sunflower yellow.
From the folds of floral jacquard emerge, perhaps surprisingly, flashes of crimson and cerise. And, in a blending of formalwear and daywear, heavy beading and rich embellishment encountershearling and cashmere, bringing the collection out of the realms of the fantastical into the everyday.
The Berardi woman is at once revealed and yet concealed, sensuous yet chaste, in a contradictory but highly compelling state of femininity.
(more…)
Tags: ANTONIO BERARDI, ANTONIO BERARDI FW 2015-16, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2015-16
Fri, March 6 2015 » Fashion Blog
“Girls. All I really want is Girls. And in the morning there is Girls. Cos in the evening it’s Girls.” Beastie Boys, Girls (1985). “It’s about the girls,” says Ashley Williams. “It’s always about the girls.” The ones you want to hang out with.
The hard one at the back of the bus. The pretty one at the make-up stall. The one you to want to have your back. The one who slapped her guy. Girls in bands? Why not. The high-heeled X-terminator. The gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking bad girl that’s always in detention. B52s to Sky Ferreira. Kathleen Hanna to Shampoo. Chloe Sevigny to Jennifer Lawrence.
The Human League chicks to Lana Del Rey. Viva la megababe. Ashley’s girl. She’s such a hot sensation. Clad in PVC, pink shearling, sheer skirts and Swarovski crystals. Her world is street-smart, sexy, shot through with an arch dose of humour and fully realised in brilliantly bratty slogan prints.
She came to rule the world. She did it. With applications for one-way tickets to Mars now open, this is the intergalactic girl to beam you up and escape planet earth with. As her print spells out. “Improve your image. Be seen with me.” Who wouldn’t want to be? “Boys. They’re a dime a dozen.’ Sky Ferreira, Boys (2014).
(more…)
Tags: ASHLEY WILLIAMS, ASHLEY WILLIAMS FW 2015-16, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2015-16
Fri, March 6 2015 » Fashion Blog
The absorbing depiction of the Parisian apartment of a fictional art collector created by Robin Brown for Helly Nahmad Gallery’s Frieze Masters The Collector, acted as the conceptual impetus for Autumn Winter 2015. A masterful study of character through environment, the notion of building a narrative around a muse captured Erdem’s imagination.
A sense of broken down decorum surrounds his protagonist for the season, the world in which she exists is one of faded glamour where vestiges of an affluent past merge curiously with undeniably modern elements, her wardrobe an amalgamation of decades. The collection acts as a visual memoir of her life through an intense colour palette of regal purple and jewel like hues, applied in offbeat pairings, echoing her peculiarity of character.
The aristocratic richness of materials within the collection is tempered through elements of rawness. Suggestions of loss of grandeur is expressed through metallic jacquards, oddly reversed to expose a textural underside as if through thrifty repurposing, its traditional floral chine intensified through garish accents now revealed. Elsewhere mid-century dress making techniques are explored with pinked antique jacquard cut by hand and then re-stitched to achieve a collage effect, distressed texture found within its fragmentary composition.
A nod to the romance and realism of Visconti’s A Conversation Piece, Erdem explores the clash of culture within her world through transitional pieces where needle punch techniques allow a blending of opposing fabrics; a utilitarian camel coat in weighty wool seamlessly melding with and unexpected rich and ornamental jacquard. Elsewhere luxuriant leopard printed fur coat, an imagined 1950s heirloom, is seemingly and incongruously patched with a wild 1970s shearling back.
Throughout, her imagined surroundings are implied, oval and damask motifs suggestive of stylistic 1960s wallpaper are applied to textural cloque and elsewhere found as guipure lace where delicate contours are engineered around the body, high necked on an organza base to emphasise form in dramatic bold colour combinations. These baroque, sculpted silhouette garments are paired with equestrian inspired boots by Nicholas Kirkwood, underlining the odd, irrational style of Erdem’s muse.
A theme of reveal and conceal, allowing an underlining sensuality from outwardly ladylike designs, continues with the damask motif applied to cutwork midi length, long sleeved leather dresses whilst a rose crested fil coupe balances short hemmed translucency with embroidery-panelled laced ankle-boots and an ostensibly Victorian ruffled high neck – a nod to the contradiction within our muse.
Elsewhere uninhibited short skirts of distressed fil coupe diaphanous dresses are matched with Watteau backs and flounced mini dresses in thread patchwork come to life with phosphorous accents and ostrich feathers, redolent of a spirited Claudia Cardinale character.
This allusion to the golden age of Alta Moda is interrupted and cleverly juxtaposed with the glacially restrained silhouette of the classic Hitchcock anti-heroine form, lending an urbane air through pencil skirted suiting and rounded shoulder outerwear worthy of Kim Novak. The theme of texture continues through tailoring, with hounds tooth Italian tweed left raw and frayed.
The irreverent nature of our muse and her transitory world is epitomised in a speckled narrow engineered rib knit, transmuting seamlessly into a fil coupe gown of unexpected volume and adorned with ostrich in a declaration of tenacity, achieving enduring allure through adversity.
(more…)
Tags: ERDEM, ERDEM FW 2015-16, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2015-16
Thu, March 5 2015 » Fashion Blog
Evoking the narrative and precision of board games, Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos rediscover their multi-hued layouts throughout their AW15 collection, with references of snakes and ladders, connect four and ludo.
Shiny counters and pieces, winding mazes and chromed cabochon buttons trace circuits down pinball inspired ensembles. Tracks are needlepunched through boucle jacquards and textures shiver resplendant with intricate handwork.
Tundra whites, dusty rose, caramel and hunter green are shot with chartreuse, peacock blue and mandarin. Tactile snowflakes are knitted into split collar ski sweaters for an opaque density that returns in the chenille-effect of baby alpaca intarsias.
Diverse tactile embellishments continue as wool embroidery blooms across silk crepe picked out in icy crystals flowers, creating a futurist motif through woolen eyelet lace.
(more…)
Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2015-16, PETER PILOTTO, PETER PILOTTO FW 2016-16
Wed, March 4 2015 » Fashion Blog
Horror vacui vs modernism. Heritage vs techy. the billowing bourgeoisie vs the restrained rectilinear. For Autumn/Winter 2015 Katrantzou observes the inverse relationship between the horror vacui art movement and reactionary modernism. An exploration of the relationship between heritage opulence and techy utopia, the collection seeks to redefine the parameters of modern luxury and documents the significance of value perception.
From the victorian grandiose, a maximalist demonstration of wealth and social stature through heady excess, to the contemporary pursuit for minimalist luxury – stealth wealth. The collection juxtaposes both paradigms, capturing the filtered beauty within each. The linear contrasts with the sinuous; the modernist restraint is in dialogue with the floridly embellished and kenophobia is observed through a purist lens.
The victorian parlour found a parallel on the back of the victorian woman. decadence and decoration moved to the body of the female: a walking embodiment of social stature. Katrantzou references this through flounced, ruffled silhouettes, embracing the body tightly, kicking to fullness below the knee, with the bygone elegance of a belle epoque grandee. Garment surfaces are crowded with detail and texture. The contrast to the nineteenth century bourgeoisie? tubular echoes of a modernist aesthetic, emulated in strict rectilinear shapes and abbreviated hemlines. Silhouette is simplified, a stark contrast to the heritage verbose. Seamless moulded tailoring breathes life into the utopian concept of the ideal female form, with Katrantzou looking to automotive textile technology to create seamless sculptural forms without stitching.
Perceptions are inverted. Flared skirt panels are realised through tucks, ties and wadded hem channels. Hand-folded pvc strips create tubular volume; slim plasticised strands are embroidered onto traditional damasks adding depth and dimension. Flocked tulle and intarsia mink cut in purist lines offset with swarovski crystal and macro sequin geo embroidery. Patterns are drawn from heritage fabrics. classic damasks, rose prints and paisleys intertwined with techy organza pleats, plasticized ruffle bands and graphic foam applique.
This collection challenges and explores our notions of status, value and plain good taste.
(more…)
Tags: FALL WINTER 2015-16, MARY KATRANTZOU, MARY KATRANTZOU FW 2015-16
Wed, March 4 2015 » Fashion Blog
In dedication to our mother, Christine Kane
“Everything I do essentially comes from drawing; it ultimately reflects how I feel,” says Christopher Kane. “I wanted a feeling of attraction and sensuality in the collection, something sexual but not grotesque – this is about love and art in life as well as fashion. We had a series of life drawing classes in the studio, with everybody in the team involved. It is all of our sketches combined that makes the ‘lovers lace’. It reflects that sense of togetherness; of male and female in an almost molecular and mechanical attraction, as well as a more classical sensuality –both feelings that I wanted to come across this season.”
The pull of attraction and the power of seduction infuse the current Christopher Kane collection. Opposites attract and sensuality is expressed both literally and metaphorically throughout –a combination of masculine and feminine, hard and soft, romantic and real. Altogether for Autumn-Winter, there is a notion of the desirability of desire.
Here, sumptuous fabrics in a rich ‘night-life’ colour palette form a foundation for experiments in silhouette and decoration, encouraging a notion of touching as well as looking this season. Unlikely combinations abound; high-shine chainmail is inset with stylised floral Swiss lace, tulle is printed with life-drawn figures in glitter, an ‘electric orgasm’ current is reflected in velvet flock while cascading forms elegantly fall apart and reveal flesh in a two tone ‘tonic velvet’. These experiments reach a form of consummation in the life-drawn ‘lovers lace’; figural drawings silhouetted in Swiss lace, entwine, build and in turn form themselves into new silhouettes, this time of clothing.
An element of the sensual is frequently played out against the scientific this season in a notion of molecular attraction. Accessories and fastenings are frequently ‘chromed’ and act as rounded protection on box calf bags and shoes as well as desirable decoration. Some are sexually slotted into place –like the signature safety buckle, that is a leitmotif throughout the collection and extends itself from fastenings to jewellery this season. While others simply feature as a reflecting, mirrored surface, seen in many of the leather treatments that abound for bags and shoes.
On February 20th 2015, Christopher and Tammy Kane’s beloved mother, Christine Kane, passed away after a sudden illness. In the light of such overwhelming and upsetting news, there will not be any access backstage today for greetings and interviews with Christopher Kane. The designer thanks everyone for their kindness, support and patience at this time. Thank you.
(more…)
Tags: CHRISTOPHER KANE, CHRISTOPHER KANE FW 2015-16, FALL WINTER 2015-16
Wed, March 4 2015 » Fashion Blog
Issa © Copyright 2015
February 2015, Issa presents Autumn/ Winter at One Great George Street, London. The brand’s first Collection under the Creative Direction of Jamie O’Hare explores the confidence and sensuality of the Issa woman. Animal prints and fringing allude to her wild side, but the fluid fabrics, slivers of exposed skin, and attitude with which she stalks the runway, make this a polished rather than bohemian interpretation of the sauvage.
Print inspiration came from aerial views of the graphic patterns in the desert made by the Bahrain race track; interpretations of these patterns weave through the collection in diverse fabrications and techniques; prints in black, white and red are patchworked against animal print on an embroidered shift dress, woven and knitted on jacquard coats and separates, and embroidered on hemlines and stone encrusted dresses. Subtle black, white, navy and blue base colours are enlivened with bright red, topaz and chartreuse.
The mixing of contrasting prints and patterns is prevalent throughout; a crocodile effect jacquard coat is worn with abstract leopard print trousers, whilst a race track inspired knitted blanket coat is belted over a leopard print top. Patterns are also juxtaposed on the brand’s signature pieces; a knitted dress features contrasting print panels in leopard and paisley, and a roll neck jersey wrap dress features varying floral prints pieced together to create stepped hems.
Differing jersey fabrications are combined to progress the brand’s signature draping; sheer, opaque and shine jersey panels combine in wrap dresses and tops constructed from asymmetric panels that lend a modern fluidity to the silhouette.
The subtle reveal of skin is a recurring collection theme, through lace and sheer paneling on trousers and dresses, cut outs on knitted tops, and embroidered dresses that disclose a glimpse of the body beneath. This is a collection that comes alive in movement; a suspended back dress appears to float, slashes on a long dress reveal the legs when walking, and dresses and coats feature stepped fringing that flows and floats in the wearer’s wake.
(more…)
Tags: FALL WINTER WOMEN 2015-16, ISSA, ISSA FW 2015-16
Wed, March 4 2015 » Fashion Blog
