‘Défilé’ Co-ed Collection
Restoration signifies a return to worth: a re-awakening of traits and values evoking a collective sense of belonging within us. For the Autumn-Winter 2020 Défilé collection, Maison Margiela revives the dress codes of our shared societal conscience. Through the gestures and uniforms associated with the bourgeoisie, creative director John Galliano recycles familiar symbols of a mindful era, and upcycles them for a progressive new age. A study of the emotional make-up of our lived-in social identity, it is an illustration of the restorative power of heritage attributes and articles imbued with the soul of history; resonating the grammar of today.
Recicla is a new entry in the vocabulary of John Galliano at Maison Margiela. A portmanteau composed from terminology denoting reusability, the marque expands on the existing concept of Replica used to brand reproductions of vintage finds within the collections of the house. Items carrying the new white Recicla label – listing provenance and period – are genuine authentic pieces, handpicked by John Galliano, restored and re-appropriated as limited- edition garments or accessories, intended for sale. Recicla pieces integrate throughout the show, from coats cut into elongated collars to the splicing of several garments in poverina dresses. Recicla accessories include wicker bags, Snatched bags crafted from taro leaves, and 5AC bags upcycled from reclaimed luxury skins.
Informed by techniques developed for the Artisanal collection, elements associated with the bourgeois wardrobe appear alongside heritage uniforms invoking restorative sensibilities: dress codes exuding societally rooted emotions of familiarity, belonging and wellbeing. Recalling relatable values, instinctive bourgeois gestures are captured within garments: the blasé shrug of a jacket off the shoulder, the nonchalant drape of a scarf around the neck. They echo traces from the traditional bourgeois wardrobe – pussy-bow blouses, culottes, and Mary-Janes – while the invigorating pastimes of the bourgeoisie are emulated in uniforms native to hiking, sailing and exploring.
Through the technique of work-in-progress, the gestures of the dressmaker are freeze-framed within jackets and trousers. Here, the splicing of tailoring wools with calico – the humble material of toiles – conjures the acts of tailoring, the trademark of the classic gentleman. Fabric sequins, a scalloping method that reveals the contrast of linings in a lace-like effect, cut up the icons of the bourgeois wardrobe with progressive panache. The suspenseful colours of mid-century realism are evoked through an aquarelle filtrage created from translucent layers of fabric in bias-cut siren dresses.
Materials
Restorative reactions are triggered by materials nestled in associations of belonging. Wools, flannel, felt, knitwear, tweeds and trench cloth from the gentleman’s wardrobe are founded in the uniforms of bourgeois pastimes, echoing the bouclé, foulard, silks and velvet of that wardrobe’s female counterpart. Faux fur and faux crocodile nod at the seductive textures of luxury linked to the same lifestyle. Bourgeois gestures are captured within garments through tulle inserts. In work-in-progress pieces, tailoring wools are spliced with calico, the material used in toiles. Bias-cut dresses coloured through aquarelle filtrage are underpinned with layers of translucent crêpe de chine and chiffon. Re- and upcycled Recicla vintage garments appear in their respective original fabrics along with Recicla wicker bags and Recicla Snatched bags made from taro leaves, while Recicla 5AC bags have been created from the reclaimed skins of luxury overstocks.
Technique
Recicla, the new chapitre in the Maison Margiela lexicon, upcycles authentic vintage finds through restorative and transformative processes such as the hacking up of garments or the splicing of several garments into poverina dresses. Selected by John Galliano, each Recicla piece features a white label denoting its limited edition, provenance and period. Bourgeois gestures – our spontaneous shrugging, draping and clenching of clothes – are evoked within garments through cuts and tulle inserts. The work-in-progress technique freezes the acts of the tailor within sleeves and culottes by adapting calico into wool garments. In bias-cut dresses, aquarelle filtrage signifies the underpinning of translucent fabrics in different colours, which effectively blends colour within the garment. Developed as a hand-cut technique for the Artisanal collection, fabric sequins – the scalloping of fabric to create flickering holes that interact with the lining of a garment – are partly executed industrially for the Défilé collection. The house term for revealing a garment’s inside construction, anonymity of the lining appears across techniques and in outerwear folded into itself.
Palette
Informed by the bourgeois underpinnings of the collection, the colour comprehension of the American mid-century realist Edward Hopper renders a suspenseful and painterly palette inspired by the adaptability of natural and golden light and its contrasting shadows. It motivates the use of block colour as well as the observance of brown, a shade of heritage dressing revisited for a rebellious new age.
Accessories
Hats are created by Maison Margiela. In the Artisanal show, biodegradable jewellery was made from fresh fruit and vegetables. Now, adapted for the Défilé collection, these creations solidify on handmade chains in 3D-printed pendants and brooches hand-painted to convey the naturalistic illusion of real fruit and vegetables. Recicla – upcycled vintage pieces – include Snatched bags created from taro leaves, wicker bags and 5AC bags made from reclaimed skins. The Tabi – Maison Margiela’s signature split-toed shoe – features as lace-up derbies, tasselled loafers, knee-high boots and Mary-Janes; all crafted in leather, some painted white. A collaboration between Maison Margiela and Reebok, the Tabi Instapump Fury – first launched in the Artisanal show – stages a dialogue between the Tabi and the Instapump Fury in one hybridised shoe, either flat or heeled, founded in the technology and language of today.
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Tags: FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020, MAISON MARGIELA, MAISON MARGIELA FW 2020
Mon, March 9 2020 » Fashion Blog
BALENCIAGA WINTER 20
Balenciaga Winter 20 recontextualizes the structures inherently associated with desire, inverting the values of certain dress codes. The austerity of clerical garb and court robes are interpreted for casual wear. Classical traditions, hardcore aesthetics, and fetishized details are combined and rearranged, mixing business with pleasure.
Neo-gothic dressing looks back and forward at the possibilities of menswear, layering floor-length skirts and caped coats. Bodybuilder “made-to-measure” fits create oversized, anabolic suits for anyone. Sport, religion, obsession, and seduction are stripped of their functions, leaving only the sensation of a fashion object: extravagant, dramatic, erotic, or menacing.
Silhouettes defy convention, accentuating a garment’s technical construction, the body of its wearer, and the space between the two. Exaggerated pagoda shoulders and upright collars are created with technical processes that reinterpret past and present iconography.
The techniques and materials used to make motocross, hockey, or scuba suits inform outfits for every day, softening the hard constructs of protective gear, while the softness of nightgown-like prints and fabrics are pumped up in powerful proportions, quilted, pleated, and layered with jacquard messages. The fictional Balenciaga Football Club places the obsessive quality of team sports in another fanatical context.
Evening streetwear presents minimal, elegant shapes from a patchwork of athletic textures. A modern take on waist-training, stretch materials are thermoformed to create an illusory cinch, eliminating the infrastructure of rigid corsetry. Gala dresses are all inclusive: shoes, gloves, leggings, and gowns in one piece. Body-wear becomes a second skin, at once obscuring and revealing.
A collaboration with Vibram, the Toe and High Toe shoes twist and elevate an ergonomic innovation. Leather thigh high Texan rainboots provide another option for menswear silhouettes, while the Knife shoe reworks elements of lacey lingerie for the feet.
A sturdy Lunchbox clutch, along with crossbody backpacks and bondage wallets with chained wristlets reference other fetish objects; and in celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Classic Balenciaga bag is reimagined, called the Neo Classic.
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Tags: BALENCIAGA, BALENCIAGA FW 2020, FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020
Fri, March 6 2020 » Fashion Blog
Kenzo © Copyright 2020
GOING PLACES
KENZO. And the mind travels. At the start, the heart of an impulse, the first journey. A young Japanese man wants to discover France, a country with the promise of all possibilities. He embarks on a boat travelling for several weeks. He knows nothing more of Paris than the dream: a city that is the noble territory of Haute Couture.
He does not speak French, but he knows the language of colours. He combines Asian poetry with the rigour of European cuts. He understands the dialect of nature and the vocabulary of flowers. He leans upon the cultures of the world with a smile… This is the journey of Kenzo Takada. This is the spirit of the House of KENZO.
A journey through style, and a continued passageway between two designers. Two personalities blend and their common points shape a wardrobe of convergence. United in culture, their dialogue takes root in Paris, the fantasy capital of fashion. Emotional reference points converse and come together.
Summer memories of Felipe Oliveira Baptista’s childhood in the Azores. A photo album of his newlywed parents in Mozambique, on the threshold of skydiving. A surge of love from a moment in time. Imbued with evocations from a dream of Japan. The feeling of islands… Their journeys intertwine. Between intimacy and universalism.
The first Fall-Winter 2020 Collection by Felipe Oliveira Baptista for the House of KENZO.
The nomadic spirit of these wanderers of the world, sheltered by their clothes. A mobile wardrobe that heralds urban elegance and metamorphosis, transforming itself with fluency. Reversible coats that go from monochrome to printed.
Parkas that spread out like wings. Down jackets that become sleeping bags. Dresses as light as cocoons that expand with their armature of zippers. Flowing alongside each step, they follow in fluid pace, as if animated by a movement of their own. The colours come from nature, at times illuminated by camouflage prints that are in fact a trompe-l’oeil of roses.
This organic palette composes a unique painting at each glance, like colours as passers-by, or a garment that transforms into a canvas of a giant tiger head. These are “painting-dresses”, taken from the works of neo-realist artist Júlio Pomar (1926-2018). A Lisbon painter who lived in Paris for a long time and considered one of the greatest figures of Portuguese XXth century art.
In the 1980s, fascinated by tigers, Júlio Pomar created a major series of works on this feline. The amplitude of cuts, moving close and away from the body, attests to the dynamism of this wardrobe and its slender silhouette. The superimposition of materials adds to its energy. The House of KENZO, through this initial collection, celebrates the wanderers of life.
The transparent tubular structure that makes up the set of the show is designed as a modular nomadic object. It will be re-used in other forms at events in the coming seasons, such as pop-up stores or presentations. KENZO is committed to recycling the set, which can be transformed into new objects.
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Tags: FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020, KENZO, KENZO FW 2020
Thu, March 5 2020 » Fashion Blog
Lanvin © Copyright 2020
CONVERSATION PIECE
Crossing lines of dialogue – other voices, different personalities, points of view. The Lanvin Fall/Winter 2020 collection is a collection of discussions between past and present, patrimony and modernity, all using the language of the Maison to communicate to the now.
Conversations are found between manifest individuals. First, foremost, there is the conversation between Lanvin creative director Bruno Sialelli and the founder Jeanne Lanvin, traversing time and connecting the contemporary with the historical. His investigation of her design vocabulary discovers a fresh grammar and syntax.
But in turn, that conversation inevitably reflects others – namely Jeanne Lanvin’s visionary collaborations, uniquely based in dialogue with different creative disciplines – she not only designed clothes for women but, in collaboration with a family of creatives, devised childrenswear and menswear, interiors, cosmetics and parfum. All are referenced here, those individual tête-à-têtes feeding a more general discussion, each speaking of Lanvin in a different voice.
Lanvin’s 1949 collaboration with the French poet and author Louise de Vilmorin on the book L’Opéra de l’Odorat – in itself a collaboration, prefaced by Colette and illustrated by Guillaume Gillet with watercolours and expressive calligrams, is a source of graphicism. Words wind their way into illustrative lines of print, expressive watercolours are printed across feathers and silks.
The perfume and beauty lines of Lanvin are translated into bijoux de fantaisie and buttons furrowed like the flaçon of Lanvin’s signature 1927 fragrance, Arpège; Lanvin’s cosmetics suggest a whispered color palette of powder blue and blush- pink, bordeaux, rouge feu and rose-midi. Furthermore, their forms are used for accessories – minaudière handbags are formed from overscale lipstick and rouge compacts, like surreal objets d’art.
Lanvin’s conversation with designer Armand Albert Rateau resulted in the extraordinary interior of her home on rue Barbet de Jouy – a zoomorphic wonderland of animaux transmogrified into furniture, here translated again into jewellery and accessories. Menswear – originally launched in 1926 – here underscores the women’s silhouettes, each borrowing from the other.
Lanvin lived beyond Jeanne. As a fragrance diffuses a room after the wearer has left, these clothes bear traces, evoke memories and emotions. They are redolent. Garments themselves reference not only Jeanne Lanvin’s signature sinuous lines of the 1920s 1930s, her robes de style and graphic Modernist embroideries, executed like jewels, but also the work of her successors, who converse with her as inspiration.
The curvilinear shoulders and structured brevity of tailoring recall mid-century haute couture, balanced on heels formed into a graphic, abstract ‘J’ for Jeanne, a Brancusi incline. A wider conversation comes from Lanvin’s perception – as an innate, distinctly French brands, the oldest couture house in Paris. References are draw generally from this abstract notion of Frenchness: the bourgeoisie gesture of a matching parure of jewels, the gesture of a gloved wrist matched to handbag matched to shoes.
From the art of Henri Toulouse Lautrec and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, executed when Maison Lanvin was founded in 1889, come ruffled rond de jambe skirts, a froufrou femininity. Playfully, a Parisian pâtisseries box can become a handbag. Exploding those periods, the show décor expresses a notion of contradictory domestic grandeur – a maison meets a maison de couture.
Created in the Manufacture des Gobelins, using archival tapestries drawn from several centuries to create an interior reminiscent of both then and now, it is another conversation piece.
In all, a manifesto of Lanvin. Past, present, always.
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Tags: FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020, Lanvin, LANVIN FW 2020
Thu, March 5 2020 » Fashion Blog
Marine Serre © Copyright 2020
MIND MELANGE MOTOR
Imagine Dune: humans have spread out over a series of inter-connected, life supporting planets. Their styles are way beyond what we know today – theirknowledge has evolved, their ability to comprehend has enlarged. They are able to travel between worlds, using a mysterious Mélange…
A Mind that Mélanges references, like a Motor. A Motor that Mélanges Minds. In this cosmos, creativity reigns. In this pluriverse, the uncanny, ambiguous, and obtuse are considered qualities, signalling realism, refined style, and insight. The hallucinatory endlessness of possibilities grasped, observed, faced, with eyes wide open.
A Motored Mind Mélange.
Land on a white planet, at night, where reflective moons tremble amidst snowy embroidered tablecloths and cushion covers, assembled forming flare djellaba’s and dresses. A distant explosion announces sharp houndstooth business armours, led by a double-breasted dress-coat, as a memory of our past in a thousand years from now. But the thread becomes softer until a comforted black and fuchsia knit intervenes, a couple in vibrant yoga activewear and pillow boa’s, walking across at ease, on a hybrid babusch-sportshoe – not forgetting their string bags and drinking bottle.
Tumbling deep down into the futurist wormhole, a black ball-skirted messenger appears, with glove-bags carrying her navigation device – for a type of steering devoid of linear notions of time, way beyond Euclidian space. Where we dare not look: a guardian of keys, a Reverend Sister-hoodie introduces a tribe of hunter- gatherers in faux-fur bedcovers, shaped with leather, next to a clan of regenerated knitwear.
Night turns day. Temperatures rise to an absolute maximum… A dug-up denim in sanded sunburned yellow birth a carpet-based family. The closer to reality, the more malleable it becomes, and the closer we get to the self-conscious hands from a range of child-magicians in burned psychedelic moons, or acid green-yellow silk scarves.
The sleeper must awaken – and when she does, the dry land passes. A fertile fuchsia flower bursts into the open, and a new generation takes over.
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Tags: FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020, MARINE SERRE, MARINE SERRE FW 2020
Mon, March 2 2020 » Fashion Blog
Fri, February 28 2020 » Fashion Blog
Versace © Copyright 2020
“Who is the man and who is the woman of today? The reason I wanted to show my men’s and women’s collections together today is because men and women are equally powerful. It doesn’t have anything to do with gender, it’s that their power comes from a different type of confidence, both from their sensual exuberance and their minds.”
- Donatella Versace -
Versace has always been synonymous with sensuality and self-confidence, freedom of expression and the sense of belonging: for Fall-Winter 2020, Donatella Versace continues this cultural conversation by presenting for the first time the women’s and men’s collections on the same runway in a celebration of equality and inclusivity.
Never afraid to express a strong point of view, the collection is for those who do not dress to please everybody. A new concept of sensuality, almost restrained, sketched and never shouted, is epitomized in the slashes that characterize both women’s dresses and men’s tailored suits.
Jewelry-style rings are engraved with Versace’s iconic Greek Key pattern and are used to hold the slashes together. Structured or bonded fabrics are doubled to give a firm shape to dresses, skirts and jackets because there’s power and confidence even in the silhouettes. Arching domed skirts, nipped-in waists and super-strength shoulders highlight the “centres of power” of the Versace tribe: flamboyant and unapologetic in its expression.
In menswear, the clothes channel strength and portray bold hypermasculinity. The shoulders are broad, and the waist is cinched. Sports references inform the collection and appear on head-to-toe tracksuits and netting-backed nylon separates. Here, the slashes add character by revealing sports-inspired netting beneath for a modern rework of a universally recognised brand code. A new sneaker, the Trigreca grounds the looks with utilitarian edge.
Prints focus on the V Barrocco that is distorted, deconstructed, enlarged and shrunk. It’s splashed across men’s tailoring, statement separates and women’s dresses and it becomes a reflection on today’s reality. It is also echoed in the tracklist, in which sounds are deformed, dissonant and not-armonic. The same V commands attention as a sculpture at the show space, a constant reminder of the brand’s unmistakable iconography.
The finale is a sequence of eveningwear. Graphic lines, accented shoulders and the Versace’s infamous metal-mesh drape over the body and is used to create short sculptural dresses. An instarsia finish composed of metal mesh and crystal mesh is used to weave the fabrics together for a show-stopping, red-carpet-worthy look.
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Tags: FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020, VERSACE, VERSACE FW 2020
Fri, February 28 2020 » Fashion Blog
Missoni © Copyright 2020
The narrative and emotional power of geometry is underestimated. As any other rigorous discipline, instead, geometry is full of feelings and nuances, as Edwin A. Abbott demonstrated a long ago in Flatland – A Romance of many dimensions.
This very geometric, unabashedly graphic Missoni collection is a story of feminine strength, empowerment and self awareness, told in straight lines, bold clean volumes, skin flashing throughout and the womanly taste for self decoration – using jewelry to add further layers to the story.
The freewheeling Missoni spirit is still there, but it marches to a beat of horizontal, diagonal and vertical stripes that shift, move, swing, wrap on and around the body, leaving no way to froth and frivolity – up to a point. The glittering of metal adds sparkle to a dense palette of earthy and burnt tones lit with dashes of red and turquoise.
Outerwear is bold and protective; blouson-cardigans have kimono closures and cropped tailored jackets in boxy shapes are worn with big trousers tucked into boots. Underneath, dresses and leggings cling to the body or reveal it, suggesting body-consciousness as just another facet of feminine power.
Even the New Bags with narrow scarves as straps have an assertive geometric presence. After dark, patterns melt and everything gets soft.
Menswear is just as bold in shape, sensual, and equally glittery. The neatness of the design lets geometry explode in a frenzy of patchwork, swarming everywhere and in every size, from micro to macro.
A Missoni signature through and through, patchwork is Missoni-ism elevated to an nth: a way to reaffirm optimism in these turbulent times. Letting geometry take the lead in the most playful and graphic of ways, patchwork allows for endless kaleidoscopic variations.
As such, it is luxuriously narrative, which finally demonstrates the theorem: the emotional power of geometry is potent. A warm thank you to Cameranebbia for their contribution to the setting of the show.
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Tags: FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020, MISSONI, MISSONI FW 2020
Thu, February 27 2020 » Fashion Blog
An explosion of vitality and movement, the Fall 2020 collection celebrates a sublime evolution. Rooted in a new dimension. Immersed in a dream. A poetic sensuality pervades every garment. The security of the vulnerability. Pure self-expression.
Rich wax palettes enhance the depth of the black colors;scarlet, lollipop, kiwi and chocolate. Elongated silhouettes wrap and adhere to the body. Refined comfort and warmth.
The delicate nuances of socks and bandages recall the curves and sinuosities of the body. Joy. Grace. Form. The braided continues to emerge, revolutionized by modernity.
The tension between tradition and innovation. Delicate family heirlooms glisten behind amplified fringes and perverse layers. A sense of loss and discovery. Hypnotic ornaments blend and move beyond intimacy.
Staff. Comforting. Sensitive. A fascinating journey through everyday life. A new elegance suitable for any eventuality.
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Tags: BOTTEGA VENETA, BOTTEGA VENETA FW 2020, FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020
Wed, February 26 2020 » Fashion Blog
MEMORIES
‘Moving back to London recently – a city I first discovered as a young student – gave me a real sense of nostalgia. It was the place where I learnt to be myself and a city where I gained the confidence to be the man that I am today. I have this strong feeling of pride when I think about the early days of my career, when I was an emerging designer still learning my craft and taking inspiration wherever I could find it.
The memory of this special and formative time in my life is what has influenced this collection – from the places I visited and the people that surrounded me to the music that inspired me. It is this side of my personal journey that I wanted to blend with the codes and language that I have started to define here at Burberry.’
Riccardo Tisci, Burberry Chief Creative Officer
THE COLLECTION
Named Memories, Riccardo Tisci’s Autumn/Winter 2020 collection for Burberry takes inspiration from reflections of his early years as a young designer, whilst continuing to solidify key codes for the fashion house.
The collection captures Riccardo’s memories of the diverse places he visited, discovering who he was as a designer whilst developing his craft. From Italy where he was raised, to London where he studied, to India where he moved after graduating. The collection combines signature Burberry pieces – from trench coats, tailoring and duffle coats – with modern silhouettes, prints and fabrications.
WOMEN
The trench coat softened with off-the-shoulder silhouettes, exaggerated ties, curly shearling and faux fur. A car coat, blouson and blazer spliced with voluminous capes. Long collarless coats in double wool-cashmere and leather and equestrian-inspired quilted jackets.
Panelled tailoring, jodhpurs, fluted skirts and reconstructed shirt dresses in collaged check. Layered cricket stripes and prints, and cinched rugby-style dresses. Gathered details on dresses and blouses. Evening silhouettes in fluid chain mail, plaid and jersey – contoured with crystal fringing and ring-pierced cut outs.
MEN
Outerwear is explored through textural contrasts and updated check prints. The car coat combined with a field jacket. The duffle coat panelled in plaid wool and felted cashmere. Classic trench coats with attached hoodies, puffer jackets and double-lapel details.
English-fit jackets with reconstructed cuffs and lapels, styled with slim tailored trousers, silk-twill shirts and sweaters – all patchworked in plaid. Low-slung tapered trousers in tailored wool and plonge lambskin, reworked rugby shirts, and silk-chiffon tunic silhouettes.
ACCESSORIES
Introducing the Olympia bag collection, featuring a shoulder bag in three sizes and a crossbody bag. Fabrications include Monogram jacquard, star-appliquéd suede and smooth structured leather in rich saturated tones.
A supersized Pocket Bag, Society holdall and duffle bag in plaid. A metal paillette clutch for evening.
The Arthur sneaker is updated with a Cuban heel, a new hybrid style for men and women. Sculptural point-toe pumps, mules and boots with wraparound tie details. Men’s Derby shoes are reworked with a square toe and Cuban heel in polished leather and check cotton.
Transparent disc earrings with logoed studs, and earrings and rings with sculptural silhouettes.
KEY COLOURS
Burberry beige and grey with black, dark green, russet and metallic accents.
KEY PRINTS
Exploration of checks from Burberry House check and tartan to Prince of Wales plaid and muted shades of beige and red. The animal kingdom evolves through spotted monkey prints and elephant motifs.
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Tags: BURBERRY, BURBERRY FW 2020, FALL WINTER MEN 2020, FALL WINTER WOMEN 2020
Thu, February 20 2020 » Fashion Blog
