Raw Girl. Acne Studios Pre-Fall’16

January 13, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

The newest Acne Studios collection for pre-fall 2016 is a perfect set of looks, which defines the current fashion obsession – so the raw girl, who is wearing her favourite, yet slightly dilapidated knitted cardigan, cowboy boots from a Los Angeles thrift shop (Gilda Ambrosio style, of course) and a satin slip dress, but in a very party-hard way. The grunge edginess of this Parisian outing is softened with toned and warm autumn colours of curcuma and dove grey, while the focus on knitwear (this green, super-long scarf looks perfect for a lazy, September day) felt like a fresh gust of air for the brand. If talking of the textures, one of the coats is a real, one-of-a-kind piece – the tartan check has a kind of an arty, hybrid contrast on the waist-line. The contemporary usage of velvet as a bra-piece of a slip-dress looks both dramatic and flawless with a delicate shawl tied around the neck of the model. Jonny Johansson, this collection is a BOMB.

Only Lovers Left Alive. Rodarte SS16

September 17, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Only Lovers Left Alive is one of my favourite movies, ever – vampy Tilda Swinton, elusive Detroit and the beautiful story of two, pale-faced lovers always makes me have goosebumps. So when I saw the first looks from Kate and Laura Mulleavy‘s Rodarte SS16 outing, I was mesmerised. I am absolutely share, that New York’s favourite sister duo had this movie on their mood-board. The collection had a fancy, psychedelic approach towards romantic dresses. This signature, Rodarte-ish romance is not shallow – it is like poetry. You need to interpret it the way you want. The designers spent the summer immersing themselves in Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, and Leonard Cohen, while listening to Electric Light Orchestra’s early synthesized, sparkly music. The collection also had something of Old Hollywood – the gowns were made of collages of lace, velvet, embroidery, beading, and silk fringing, cut into Victoriana bodices and ethereal, floor sweeping lenghts. To complete all that lavish heaven, Rodarte introduced their gorgeous, Art Deco inspired boots. The effect? With black fish-net tights, this collection felt authentic and nostalgic, but in a good sense.

The Sunset. Altuzarra SS16

September 13, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Not only Rosie Assoulin brought the sun to our lives through her collection. Altuzarra‘s spring-summer 2016 is basically a fantasy of vacations in Tuscany, with Italian wine and beautiful sunsets over the vineyards. Joseph Altuzarra always keeps the femme-fatale attitude (the unbuttoned shirt, flesh exposing skirts), but this time his woman was much more relaxed. Flawless dresses were kept in warm colours of ombre, orange and emerald-green. Intricate embellishments adorned peekaboo pencil skirts and slouchy, cotton blazers felt perfect for breezy evenings. The accessories game for Altuzarra is strong – by expanding his brand, the bags and shoes look even better and better each season – the bags with leather tassels are the instant must-haves. And the heels with espadrille finishes perfectly matched this laid-back collection.

Jungle by Malwina Konopacka

September 9, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Malwina Konopacka is one of the most promising new-gen talents coming from Poland. She has her own, precise vision of design and art. Or rather, a fresh combination of these two. JUNGLE is the name of new, limited edition of hand-painted ceramic vases made by the Warsaw-based illustrator and designer . The series consists of 20 individual leaf-motif vases, including 2 inspired by the works of Henri Rousseau, and 10 designs with gold elements. The artist continues to explore form, function and pattern, as she initiated with the first series of vases called OKO (The Eye), presented in 2014 (more here). But what makes me really proud as a Pole, is the fact, that Malwina and many other Polish designers will have their major exhibition at EXPO 2015 in Milan!

The JUNGLE collection will be presented at “The Polish Table. La Tavola Polacca” exhibition in the Polish Pavilion at EXPO 2015 in Milan between 13 – 27 September 2015.

Photography by Paulina Pajka

Cara Marie Piazza

July 30, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

You can discover truly inspiring people on Instagram and Cara Marie Piazza is the best example of that. She lives and produces in New York as a textile designer and natural dyer. Cara creates one-of-a-kind textiles only using natural dye stuffs such as botanicals, plant matter, minerals, non-toxic metals and food wastes. She treats her fabrics through alchemical dye sessions, ancient shibori techniques and bundle dyeing, transforming each textile into its very own story. The designer creates custom Kimonos for private clients (which look stunning, just check our her Insta-feed!). But also you could have seen her touch at New York’s hottest fashion labels like Eckhaus Latta or Alice Waese. Watch out for this girl.

@caramariepiazza / caramarienyc.com