Loewe Flores

November 19, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

The place I would love to visit right now is the newly opened flower shop at Madrid’s Casa Loewe. The entire space is tremendous – filled with “myriad of natural Spanish materials, from the spectacular central staircase made of Campaspero stone to the Valencian clay floors below, all imbue the interior with provenance” as the brand says. But the spot with freshly cut flowers steals my heart especially. For this occasion, Jonathan Anderson, the creative director of the house, invited Ariel Dearie (a New York-based florist) and Steven Meisel to create a series of still-life flower portraits. The entire collection of these enchanting photos is now on display at the Jardin Botanico de Madrid.

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Pansies. Christopher Kane Resort’17

June 2, 2016June 2, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Christopher Kane is obsessed with pansies. To this extend that he dedicated his whole resort collection to these small, springish, cheerful flowers. “Pansies are a symbol of freethinking! I like that. I never want to follow trends. Pansies also look like they’ve got cheeky laughing faces. And they’re all these colors because they’re crossbred. And that’s what I’m doing now—crossbreeding my ideas.” Cute. Just like the petal-shaped shoulders of satin dresses, girlish gingham skirts signature, woollen cardigans (in case you want to keep your inner pansy warm during cold, March days). The collection, presented in Kane’s boutique in London, looks back at Chris’ best-selling pieces, his love for flora (which is emphasized nearly each season, from embroideries on biker jackets to neon-yellow lace) and blush baby-Lolita style (see this look with goth-like gloves and a slip-dress. Grunge, but of course drowning in pansy print!). Miranda Priestly used to be skeptical about flowers – but Chistopher Kane really makes florals look ground-breaking for spring.

Collage by me

San Francisco. Rodarte AW16

February 18, 2016February 18, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

San Francisco is more than hippie flowers, even though we have literally seen real orchidees as earrings and crowns on the models’ heads during the Rodarte show. Kate and Laura Mulleavy looked back at their collage roots, reinterpreting the city of their youth in the most original way ever, leaving the well-known stereotypes behind. The sisters had a seat at Caffe Trieste, where Francis Ford Coppola wrote the script for The Godfather; that venue, and the whole mood of old San Francsico inspired the collection’s nods to art nouveau. It all started with a few, black leather looks. And then, it was all about the ethereal whites, as if the Rodarte bride had her spectacular escape from a too cheesy wedding. But don’t get me wrong – these weren’t JUST white, wedding dresses. The veils were made of white fish net, the leather chokers and black lipstick gave a cool-goth look – this girl wasn’t looking for “love at first sight”, but for fun…

Men’s – Flower Power. Comme des Garcons AW16

January 25, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

We all got used to the breath-taking and avant-garde garments for woman, which are envisioned by Rei Kawakubo‘s always surprising imagination. In case of menswear, however, the woman behind Comme des Garcons bases her ideas around classical, quintessential clothes, like for example a well-tailored suit or a leather biker jacket. In the effect, these usual pieces appear to be one-of-a-kind. For autumn-winter 2016, Rei explored the blurry borders of masculinity, and humanity, by representing an ethereal, yet dark performance of warrior-like models, who wore beautiful, floral head-pieces created by Julien D’Ys. The whole outing, which sensed like a “war and peace” manifesto, felt very emotional – there was pure sadness in models’ eyes, but supreme happiness in the bold, flower colours. Surely, the show’s meaning was deeper than a “flower-power” cliché. But flowers do cheer up our lifes. Even, when the world is becoming a very dynamic and dangerous place.