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?

Men’s – Detournement. Gucci SS16

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Detournement is the art of taking some parts of the past and using them in the present with a contemporary approach and away from their original contest” is what Alessandro Michele of Gucci said before his SS16 show for men. “I love to work with the past to translate the future,” explained Michele, and although his designs are certainly rooted in Gucci’s heritage (those horse-bit loafers, the green and red equestrian stripes, bee motifs and famous GG logos) they update the house’s codes in a way that’s unrecognisable, thanks to his desire of not wanting “to stay a prisoner inside of the brand.” There are many retro references, with suede jackets and wide collars adapted from classic silhouettes of the 70s, but there is, as Michele puts it, no room for nostalgia – his focus is on youth. “They really are the future – when someone asks me what the future is? The future is now, between us, between young people,” he says. Also, the dynamic, new creative director of Gucci has a truly amazing point of view on beauty for men fashion. “My idea of masculinity is beauty,” Michele said after the show. “If you want to be beauty you can be beauty how you want; it doesn’t mean that you are not a man or woman.” That is strongly visible in this collection – hand-made embroideries, royal looking textiles, tudoresque jewellery and that Italian “dolce vita” attitude towards life is felt all over these clothes.

As it is in Michele’s philosophy to have female models in his menswear collection, the mesmerizing robes and silk scarves were jaw-dropping for both genders. And even though, many of these clothes feel like out of this era, they are all looking far into the future. It is a great pleasure to have a peek at all that artisanal beauty and reflect on it in the same, poetic way. Maybe because Michele himself is a great poet?

Men’s – Masculine Chic. Bally SS16

June 23, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Bally‘s SS16 felt like a nice comeback to menswear reality. Great trousers, desirable jackets, super cool pajama suits – and all of that styled in a chic, modern way. With always chillded-out Clement Chabernaud as the face of the brand, the Swiss house instantly became a hot spot for guys which search for comfortable clothes with stylish twist. Pablo Coppola, the new creative director behind Bally, knows what men want.

Men’s – Naive Years. Prada SS16

June 23, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Youth and naive were the main keywords behind the recent Prada collection for men (and women). Miuccia Prada made everybody confused this time, bringing on the wardrobe of messy, skinny boys, which wear over-sized socks, “poor looking” sweatshirts and turlenecks-under-shirts. I am not just uncertain about what it all means (the rabbits and rockets on knitwears, the post-Soviet attitude kept all around these clothes), but whether I actually like or dislike the collection, as Prada bases her ideas on the power of ‘ugly’, transforming it into something strangely desirable. By that, I mean the clothes from SS16 are not beautiful at all – they are definitely ugly. The way the models wore the jackets; the perverse short shorts; even the creepy colour palette made it all look like a wardrobe of a crusty. It felt like seeing a Gosha Rubchinkiy show, but sponsored by a major luxury house.

As usually, Miuccia did not forget about girls. In this collection, almost 50% of the models were girls. And their outfits did not really differ from the boys. Slouchy, over-sized rain coats; mini python skirts; same, pixellated prints on knits, which told a story of naive childhood, where the boy dreams of being an astronaut while the girl is pretending to be a bunny. However, the collection definitely told a more “parental advisory” kind of story – one of the main inspirations behind the women’s collection was the famous film, Female Trouble by John Waters. The cat-eye makeup and kitten heels with socks instantly transported us back to Chicklette and Concetta, the symbols of bad-girl defiance from Water’s 1974 work of genius. These troublemakers have made their presence in Miuccia’s world more than once (Miu Miu SS15, for instance). As you see, there is always a kind of pleasure while interpreting Miuccia Prada’s collection – even though some are definitely not in my taste. This collection represented a mingle of many topics and ideas – childhood, femininity, fake modesty and of course, ugliness. All of those often appear at Prada, but they are always presented in a new, reflection-causing way.