Lil’Kim Approved. Area SS17

September 11, 2016September 11, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

For spring-summer 2017, Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk of Area searched deep for inspiration in their favourite issues of Vogue, coming from the 1960s and 2000s. Both of these major fashion eras are alive in the new season clothing, full of shiny rhinestones and feminine tulle. At Area, there’s often a stark contrast between what’s “good taste” and what’s kitsch – but in the end, the collections always ooze with glamour. Ahh, the I-used-to-be-cool Lucite accessories flecked with suspended glitter. Big, big rings, hoop earrings, and chopsticks for hair (which, by the way, would be a perfect fit for Samantha Jones). And I nearly forgot about those sunglasses! I mean, they revive every single thing, from Spice Girls to Bubble from Absolutely Fabulous. The look-book, photographed by Charlotte Wales, is full of fluorescent, gleaming flares and ruffled tops. One of the dresses, made of a croc-skin imitating fabric, is strangely sexy with all those cuts and bows. Then, suddenly, we’ve got the Dalmatian print all over the pants. Fun. Who else would have slayed Area’s newest creations? My vote is for Lil’ Kim (of course the old, good 2003 version of her)!

Down to Earth. Rachel Comey SS17

September 10, 2016September 10, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Rachel Comey‘s attitude to fashion has its down-to-earth, modest appeal. After having a look at Tom Ford‘s glamorous outing filled with grown-up celebrities, Comey’s outing is like a brunch with your friends – unpretentious and casual. The show was literally taking place on New York’s Crosby Street, just a few steps from Rachel’s flagship store. Chairs were set up on the sidewalk for guests, and the models, varying in age, size and look – walked down their path as naturally as it’s possible. In her press notes, the designer described the clothes as perfect for “farmer’s market,” or “to pick up the kids” adventure. But those pieces were far, far from boring. The chain skirt styled with a simple, white sweatshirt was outstanding; denim overalls and well-cut pants will sell out right away when they hit the stores. Also, Comey revives her menswear line with rainbow-striped cotton shirts and dad-style coats. Low-budget, but the result is impressive.

P.S. Instead of letting the models faint in the sun, because Kim arrives three hours late, and selling plain-looking trash-clothes to the masses, Kanye West could really take a lesson or two from Comey in “how to keep a fashion brand” subject.

Empowering. Tom Ford AW16

September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Fashion month kicks it off, and we’re all ready for the next marathon of womenswear. But surprisingly, New York Fashion Week starts with a first industry ‘paradox’. It’s September, and throughout the years we’ve got used to the fact that we start reflecting on the next summer wardrobe at the very beginning of the cold season. Tom Ford does the opposite, presenting autumn-winter 2016 collection, instead of spring-summer 2017 (which you will see a lot during the upcoming weeks). But he isn’t an exception – this new model of selling, so see-it-now and buy-it-now logic, is already in the process at Burberry or Thakoon. But why is Tom Ford, and the others, making it even more complicated, if we already have all those pre-collections and capsules? Well, in fact they want to make it all easier for us all, even though the transition moment is HARD.

Here’s why. Tom Ford presented his AW16 collection yesterday in the evening during a celebrity-filled dinner (Tom Hanks, Julianne Moore, Uma Thurman to name a few), and today, a majority of those clothes hit the on-line stores and boutiques world-wide. Looking behind-the-scenes, the international buyers ordered the collection months ago, Tom Ford factory had its time to produce the one-of-a-kind pieces, and the customers are really into buying those velvet skirts and sequined turtlenecks, because they feel so “relevant”. They just saw it on the internet and their heavily-Instagrammed feed. As easy as that – virtually, the sales boom. Logistically, everyone is appealed to this new deal, which will MAYBE slow down the pace of the industry.

But Tom Ford’s newest collection isn’t a sensation just because of its new, business strategy. This glamorous outing of diverse models (featuring 90s stars like Amber Valletta and todays newcomers) wearing feminine silhouettes and gorgeous accessories, is one of Ford’s best for a long, long time. Belted corsets on seductive leather jackets and slim pencil skirts. Ornamental, gold necklaces contrasted with elegant, tweed dresses, while over-the-knee boots made the models look even taller and badass. Mica Arganaraz and Lineisy Monero walked down the runway in colourful fur coats; Grace Hartzel, in her all-black outfit, looked like a rock’n’roll chick with whom you can’t argue. It sounds like a collection oozing with sex-appeal, a typical thing for Tom’s past, provocative Gucci-era. But in fact, it was much more mature, and it celebrated this specific type of killer woman, who enters the room and makes people drop. Guys in velvet blazers and duvet jackets looked nothing but harmless next to those girls. Ford definitely has a toast to a very good start of the fashion month, and his brands’ future of the revolutionary retail model.

Autumn Dibs from A Détacher

September 3, 2016September 3, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

I’m not suggesting that this look from A Détacher‘s brilliant autumn-winter 2016 show is perfectly fit for yak pastures. But it looks so, so autumnal. It says “hello October forest walks,” or “November evenings are welcome” to me. First, have a glance at the layering. A beige, V-cut sweater under a brown blazer seems easy – but looking down, we’ve got those knitted pants with a buttoned, cardigan-like trompe l’oeil idea. Second, the way Mona Kowalska considers wearing a wool beanie (or rather two wool beanies). She’s like your mum – she wants to keep you extra warm this season, so you want catch a cold.

Get The Party Started. Marc Jacobs Resort’17

June 9, 2016June 9, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Winning a CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year prize a day before means something. But for Marc Jacobs, it’s just a great reason to celebrate with a new collection. For resort 2017, Marc and his team prepared a mini-show, which appeared to be more than a dose of extreme opulence and surely in Gucci’s Alessandro Michele Italian-splendour taste, who took a seat in the front row. “We took Fall and made it kitsch, and went from YouTube back to MTV,” the designer said backstage, cheerful after his psychedelic outing of models wearing their hair tightly crimped, and storming the runway in already desirable MTV-logo sweatshirts. The voluminous silhouettes and platform boots from AW16 stay for good, but now, they are all splashed in fluo colours of shocking pink and electrifying blue. In some of the most Instagram-ed moments, the outfits looked as if they were straightly taken out of my all-time favourite “Sorry” music video by Madonna – note those varsity jackets, disco jumpers with sequins and, yes, cargo pants. Marc Jacobs makes me want to hit the dancefloor right now, even on a Thursday evening.

But the collection was not only about making 2005-and-so pop music relevant. Paradise was patched on the dresses, and it had a meaning in the entire show. “Just paradise, this fictitious idea” was on Jacobs’ mind. Zebra stripes, hula dancers – it’s rather like an old-school postcard from Hawaii or one of these must-go “kitsch” party outfit tips. Cool pussy-bows (also all in stripes!) styled with Barbie-pink sweatshirts would make it for a great, one-in-a-life-time club nights in the 80s. And undoubtedly, this bold bricollage of ideas and textiles, prints and embellishments, will nail it in this 2016.