Body Show. JW Anderson SS16

September 19, 2015September 20, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Jonathan Anderson is a designer with that spark in whatever he does. For his eponymous, London-based brand, J.W. Anderson went baby-pink with arty, Keith Harinng-inspired graffiti art. The models looked “nude” in their pastel sweaters, while the duvet dresses and voluminous shoulders gave the collection an edgy, slightly eerie feeling. But what really shocked in terms of Anderson’s style was the opening outfit – a black, minimal bra and high-waisted pink trousers. I think that’s the most flesh-exposing look delivered by the designer ever! It played a strong contrast towards the built-up tops, though.

Childish Haphazard. Molly Goddard SS16

September 19, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

She left her M.A. course at Central Saint Martins, where she’d studied under the late professor Louise Wilson, a year early to focus on putting together the spring 2015 collection. Her hope was that it would help her get a job. While she always wanted to have her own label, she assumed she’d work for someone else first. However, her real dream came true. Molly Goddard is one of the most exciting and fresh talents from London due to her secret weapon – the super cute, sheer tulle dresses. Inspired by the frilly outfits her mother and grandmother made for her as a child, Goddard gets her ideas from old family photographs and children’s knitwear patterns, and visiting Portobello Market, Alfies Antiques and the Retro Clothing Exchange in Notting Hill Gate. Her spring-summer 2016 presentation had some naive, hand embroidered skirts, checked crop-tops and of course, the signature pink dress which looks great with denim trousers or with nothing under. The chaotic and childish haphazard of putting clothes together is also the thing that makes Molly’s label so… enchanting. “At that age, you don’t even care what you’re wearing—and that’s quite a nice thing,” she says. “You’re wearing a big dress, then you put on your mum’s shoes and then you put your favorite T-shirt on top. When my sister was born—she’s three years younger than me—I used to wear all her clothes. When I was three, or older, I was wearing these tiny little dresses with my entire bum slipping out the bottom. I was just obsessed.”

Neo – Gothic

September 6, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Blame Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs for introducing one of the most significant trends of autumn-winter 2015 season (remembering, that there as many trends as the number of designers presenting their collections during New York Fashion Week – A LOT.) Goth. Or rather, neo-goth. Wang opened the fashion week, sending his models down the runway wearing chained jackets and skirts, maxi gowns and the must-have platform boots. The hair was all about a messy, black mullet while the whole atmosphere felt disturbing. The mood-board of the designer had a lot to do with punk and metallica, and surely Goths that we can see on the streets. However, fashion history is scattered with all-black collections – so what is so special about this collection? It translates more than the black colour. It conveys a refreshing, rebellious attitude. But not the Perry Ellis one, though. It didn’t raise that much of scandal and is definitely much more commercial.

Marc Jacobs also presented his dark side, but in a totally different way. Rather than listening to metallica all day, his woman preferred opera and drama. Marc’s gloomy AW15 was all about Diana Vreeland’s glamour, The Night Porter sex-appeal and every Goths wardrobe essential, a leather choker. Personally, I hate seeing 14-year-old teens wearing those because they all look the same then – but seeing chokers during Marc Jacobs’ show was absolutely fascinating. And somewhat, chic. Besides chokers, Marc made pleated skirts and brocade jackets have a major style moment.

The trend for Goths went overseas and landed in London, where Giles Deacon of Giles presented his highly theatrical collection. The season’s hottest face, Molly Bair, wore a long dress and had a black lipstick on. Tim Burton’s model reflection, Esmeralda Seay-Reynolds, killed it while wearing a latex, Victorian-mannered waist jacket. The voluminous ballroom skirts have swept the audience away. Not only Giles presented his best collection to date, but he showed, that gothic fashion can be shady and really all about splendour.

Alessandro Dell’Acqua reinterpreted the topic of goths in his own, Italian way. Of all mentioned collections, No21 felt the most wearable and minimal – however, the devil is in the details. It was visible, that Dell’Acqua has been thrilled with Alida Valli in Visconti’s Senso. Long lace gloves and over-sized ruffles there-and-there had more to do with the Victorian era than stereotypical Goths, however the collection looked forward in a street-style-wise way. The beautifully embroidered skirts were styled with black, neoprene hoodies, forming new, gender-fusing silhouettes.

The main aim of this post was to show you, that 2015-goths are not only about black, black and black. Well, of course you won’t really see a gothic person wearing bold pink dress, but – the neo-gothic style blurs elegance with extravagance, while it can also be more wearable and boyish. It can start on Victorian references and stop on a more modern-day punk mood. And the season of AW15 definitely proves, that being a stylish neo-goth is totally fine.

The Names To Know

August 29, 2015August 29, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Stella Jean AW15

SS16 is coming with big steps, guys! The fashion month will begin really soon. The first week of September will be all about New York’s bliss and sophistication. Then, we will all have a jet-lag in London. Have a large plate of pasta in Milan and eat breakfasts at the new Fondazione Prada. Go to the sleaziest night-clubs of Paris for fashion shows. Also, this means a constant Instagram overload, long evenings spent on writing reviews and this fabulous / exhausting feeling you have during the fashion month. As we are all still charging our batteries on these last days of summer, here is my list of designers to KNOW & WATCH during the spring-summer 2016 marathon.

Eckhaus Latta / Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta from Los Angeles don’t care about their model’s size, age, gender. Their street casting and friend-models wear their clothes on runway as if they were having a stroll around Downtown. Raw domesticity is explored and modified, as imperfections are made beautiful and comfort found in the most unexpected of places, due to spontaneous fittings and very soft textiles.

Rosie Assoulin / Many designer who do evening-wear think that an excessive amount of Swarovski and flesh-exposing-cuts is just it. But thankfully, Rosie Assoulin is the woman who says a loud “NO” to that. The New York-based designer creates dresses which are mostly categorised as “evening” ones, but surprisingly look as good with white sneakers as with heels. By looking at her previous, autumn-winter collection by Rosie, it’s easy to conclude, that these simply cut, boldly coloured dresses look at their best with sweatpants and yes, even with hoodies.

Marques Almeida / They were the ones who discreetly made frayed and cut denim cool again; they made 90’s vibe strong and most noticeable this season. And there is something about their cool, ghetto attitude. The Portuguese duo rocked London just a few years ago and from the beginning smelled with success. Winning the LVMH Prize Award this year, Marques Almeida is now excepted to be really IT, after the luxury group, LVMH, takes them under their wings.

Faustine Steinmetz / In Steinmetz’s label, each textile is solely hand-woven by one person using their traditional hand looms.
And, each piece is meticulously made by hand, with some pieces taking over a week to weave. “In our East London studio we spin, dye and weave all our own fabrics. We reproduce iconic pieces, the kind everyone has or has had in their wardrobe at one stage, except we make them all by hand.” Faustine Steinmetz creates and designs denim which isn’t really denim- it’s a new apparel vision, but on upper level. And I just can’t wait to see how her amazing vision is going to evolve.

Stella Jean / The brightest star of Milan Fashion Week, I must admit. Stella was born in Rome, however its her Creole roots that make her fashion so unique and open-minded. From season to season, she offers her clients a mix of ethnic prints and references with a chic, Italian heritage. Although this might sound quite avant-garde, her clothes are a combination of “hand-made” tradition and European comfort – beautifully embroidered trousers evoke the warmth of India; a kimono from Tibet looks like a dream. Stella Jean should be praised not only for her breath-taking clothes, but for her idea of giving women and men around the world a chance to do their craft, work in good conditions and being paid for their talents.

Vetements / Lately, I have written a long post about this eponymous, yet provoking label from Paris. Vetements in French means clothes – but Vetements goes far beyond the meaning of clothes in today’s fashion industry. It exaggerates clothes. It elongates the sleeves, gives volume to cowboy boots and makes floral grandma dresses look scandalous, and kind of sexy. Led by Demna Gvasalia and six other anonymous designers, who met while working as design team at Maison (Martin) Margiela, Vetements is the new force which makes fashion rules feel even more useless than ever. Even their AW15 fashion show wasn’t a typical event where clothes were celebrated in a traditional way. But don’t think it was done in a buzzy, Chanel way – oh no. The “creative network” of the brand took their guests to Le Depot, a dark sex-club, where everybody felt a mood of anti-fashion. At first sight, you might not really understand the collection – but in reality, it is not that deep in its meaning as you might think. These clothes, even though look pretty grotesque, are wearable. Gvasalia claims “as long as we can make clothes that people want to wear and they find them cool and relevant, that’s my understanding of hype”.

Eckhaus Latta vibe. Forget the fashion rules, it says.

This is my list of designer “to watch out for” during the SS16 season. Would you add anybody else?

London in Brazil. Marques Almeida Resort’16

June 14, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

After winning the LVMH Prize, Marques Almeida quickly updated their brand schedule, by introducing a new season to it – Resort. And for their first Resort, Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida went to Brazil with their muse, Sofia, to photograph and present it. The effects? A collection of wearable clothes, which have a very specific MA signature. Special denim tops with ruffles; grungy silhouettes; bold colours. And lovely dresses which were styled in unusually elegant way. Loose-weave light knits were slashed and knotted just like their tattered T-shirts, which came reinvented here as beachwear. Digital jungle-print silks and florals were a clash of femininity and the typical rawness Marques Almeida has in its codes. It is worth to mention, that going to Brazil was worth it – the clothes looked really laid-back and the lookbook will definitely catch your eye.