THE OBSESSIONS editorial photos were taken by editor-in-chief of DESIGNANDCULTUREBYED, Edward.
The Obsessions
Fur
Russian Forests. Vika Gazinskaya AW’14
Yesterday when I saw Vika’s Gazinskaya new collection for autumn-winter I fell in love with her. Vika is a Russian seriously talented designer that is known for street style aestethics, graphical prints and minimalistic silhouttes. This season it was pretty mature with a youth vibe that gave these little foxy muppets! Lots of beautiful coats, paper jewellery (Gazinskaya classics), leather, ruffles were seen. And what’s more, in the lookbook the model that wore the clothes was standing in real snow and had a deep, dark forest behind her… This collection is so beautiful and awesome. Love it. And you?
The fox topic was my favourite one in collection. You can chose from a muppet scarf or a mini fashionable fox costume! And thanks god, Vika is more eco, opposite to Ulyana Sergeenko, and uses faux fur! So no harm! And effect? Even better than with real fur.
Sad that Vika together with her fashion Russian mafia- Miroslava Duma, Elena Perminova and Anya Zhiorouvna- already show all the clothes during fashion week… There was no real surprise unfortunately, but still, Vika Gazinskaya is a great designer.
Furry Tales
Boudoir. Louis Vuitton AW13
I’m a bit disappointed with Marc this time. He really did leftovers from his Marc Jacobs label that was like three weeks ago on NYFW. Some pieces were very similar, as well as hairstyles. Everything looked like a tone of really good, hand made pyjamas, but in a more sexy way. Unfortunately it some how didn’t made me stunned. And this a problem- Marc Jacobs do his line and Louis Vuitton, but he designs them same. He uses his fresh ideas on Marc Jacobs in NY and his leftovers in Paris. But maybe that’s a bit better because LV can’t be bought on-line and MJ can be bought. The other thing is that LV is three times more expensive!
Still everything was kept in Parisian way. Fur and Art Nouveau flowers were here and a stunning interior was present. The models were coming out on a huge corridor from their rooms, were luggages and hologram men were sitting. And who was there to make everything hotter? Of course Kate Moss, that was walking in a silk dress with flowers on it. Looked strange with black hair but who cares?
So, bye bye Paris Fashion Week and all other fashion weeks! All were great! Soon a summary!
Kitsch Vs. Neutral
There is a new fight between two trends in Paris! Simple or Kitsch? Strong colours or beige and creme? Flowers, jewels, some kind of LOVE signs or shirling and leather? In this post I will cover four collections- Lanvin and Balmain that are classified as kitsch and Rick Owens and Nina Ricci as neutral and simple. So lets start maybe with something calm for eye, Nina Ricci. Katia and Marielle Labèque performed “Two Movements for Two Pianos” by Philip Glass on side by side grand pianos in the middle of a huge runway covered with old red carpets, giving a romantic feeling. Indeed, the collection was as romantic as the music that these two artists produced!The collection was a bit sporty but still very elegant. Everything was kept in simple colours hat are still eye caching- red, white, beige and black! My favourite look was for sure the dress with a bustier with mink fur on the top that gave a slightly different look!
Now it’s the time for other collection are pretty liked, and was very simple in lines and cuts, Rick Owens. These hilarious hairstyles the models had were so great! I think that Owens is always winning with other designers, with we are taliking about hairstyles. Rick used a lot of creme and white shirling fur on jackets and coats. There were some minimalistic column like silk dresses, ruffles on tops, leather gloves. But it wasn’t, you know, much of it. Rick Owens showed this season a sensitive beauty of ready-to-weat clothes!
And now it’s the time for kitsch in Paris. I think, Alber Elbaz was sick at the moment of designing the collection. Everything was so not matching. Without a form. A fail! Why did the Lanvin designer, put these horrible necklaces with hearts and pearls with a horrible signs like “YOU” or “LOVE” or something else? How is it possible to spoil a nice long silk beige dress with some kind of a furry scarf and jewellry that looked like from a petrol station? Why? It wasn’t even luxury. It was passe. Sorry Alber Elbaz, but that was a very poor collection. P.S. What the hell did these bugs were doing on a ruffled top?
(This post is going to end soon :D) Balmain with Olivier Rousteing did a good job. Let’s say it straight- Balmain can’t be easy and minimalistic. It should be always luxury, ornamental and kitsch! This time Olivier chose new colours like emerals, red and violet. Most of clothes were velvet and had a really decorated details. I really liked all the structured tops and skirts. I liked the green suede jacket that M. Frackowiak wore. And the big belts were really eye catching! It was altogether sexy and sophisticated, just as it should be at Balmain! I’m clapping! 
So after these four collections I should say that I loved Nina Ricci and Balmain. Rick Owens was good, but a bit classy (for Rick of course) and Lanvin was horrible… So there is 2-2 for both of these categories! As we know from New York, Milan and london, luxury and ornamental clothing is back for good, but a little bit of minimalism is always the best!
Design & Culture by Ed 
