Sleazy and Smarmy. Saint Laurent SS16

October 11, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

This, what Hedi Slimane is doing at Saint Laurent is rude. Simply impolite. After seeing the spring-summer 2016 collection, I wonder what other designers think. They surely feel an unbearable frustration. Keeping up with fashion industry, season-to-season, is hard. And when they compare their hard work with Hedi’s, they just retire for a ten-day escape to the country-side. Hedi Slimane is praised for nothing – or at least, for his truly effortless fashion which doesn’t need much of thinking. Saint Laurent’s fashion became as shallow as Moschino by Jeremy Scott, or even to a bigger extend.

So, the SS16 collection is an explosion of smarmy eroticism – sheer slip-dresses, trashy fish-net tops and kitsch, gold sandals look tasteless and definitely not as expensive as they are. There is no big deal that the feather boa was made by the Parisian couture assistants, if it looks like a stolen prop from an opera. The tiaras don’t need any comment. And “free the nipple” moments were meant to be so “accidental”, that the overall effect felt pretentious and artificial. The solemn faces of models (and Agyness Deyn) just helped Hedi Slimane say out loud – “I am the designer at YSL and I really don’t care“. If everybody, except a few of critics and consciously thinking clients, adore this collection, then where is fashion heading off to? Hopefully not to a pair of basic jeans and an effing tank top.

Woman to Women. Celine SS16

October 10, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Even though I am quite exhausted with the fashion month, looking at the newest colellection by Phoebe Philo for Celine gives me energy. As I mentioned hundreds times before, Phoebe Philo is a woman who designs for woman – and this makes her collections always feel the most desirable from the brand’s client point of view. These dresses and coats are what women want today. And the perfect balance between masculine chic and sensual lace makes this collection an updated check-list of what a contemporary woman should have in her wardrobe.

“It’s about taking her out of urban life and putting her feet on the sand. It’s where I long to be, more and more.” Although the orange-yellow-blue coloured tent foreshadowed a very bold collection, the designer delivered a discreet, but powerful outing – and, as usually under a tent, we really had sand instead of a tile or a carpet. Which felt so hearty and down-to-earth. Just like the clothes. “I am somebody who is interested in how clothes make us feel,” she said, “and in how we behave in different places. I thought, If you were traveling for a year, what would you need to take with you?” Well, the answer is – the basics. Both, a breezy and warm dress; a light-weight coat; something more intimate and something more built-up.

Just like the shoes. My initial reaction to the boots was reserved, however after a moment of reflection I thought it’s a smart move. It depends where you are heading this summer – mountains? Why not. This collection is a spectrum of variations – really, every outfit, in its own way, is good for a specific occasion, creating a beautiful combination of daily essentials. And Phoebe Philo knows, what’s essential. We trust her.

Japanese Memoirs. Olympia Le-Tan SS16

October 10, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Olympia Le-Tan expands her ready-to-wear, by looking forward to meticulous embroideries and reinterpreting her obsessions into clothes. This season, her collection oozed with sexuality coming straight from Japan – it was intensively inspired with Nobuyoshi Araki, the famous photographer who captures his models tied up with ropes and striking sophisticated poses. The black, satin dresses had those hand-embroidered harness details that looked provoking with red tights and platform heels. Also, the “polaroid” tapestries on mini-skirts pictured geishas and their bodies in an Araki-esque way. But what really made Olympia take Japan as her primary idea behind the collection? The visit to Japan, basically, and her love to Hotel Okura, which was recently demolished in order to build a new, modern skyscraper. A sentimental nod to this beloved place was reflected in “Hotel Olympia” tops and the geometrically patterned floor-covering of the fashion show venue, which reminded everybody of the 60’s-70’s atmosphere.

Blue Witches. Comme des Garçons SS16

October 10, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Rei Kawakubo is bored with “fashion”. That’s why her Comme des Garçons collection for spring-summer 2016 is so different. “Blue Witches” (the title of the collection) was created out of shapes that resembled coats and dresses – however, the silhouettes covered with metres of synthetic velvet, thousands of feathers and prickly fabric that resembled the back of a hedgehog looked peculiar. The cloudy, red wigs styled by Julien D’ys gave me goosebumps, as they had a horror-film vibe about them. If talking of Comme des Garçons and Rei, you can’t say whether you liked or disliked the collection. These clothes (if you even dare to call them “clothes”) are so out of the standards that it’s to some extend pointless to even review them. The only thing left is to a) interpret them and b) wear them, with attitude and understanding.

Feminine Fighters. Haider Ackermann SS16

October 9, 2015October 9, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

I won’t lie that during Paris Fashion Week I just can’t wait to see my favourite designers’ work. Haider Ackermann tops the list with Phoebe Philo of Celine, and there is a reason why. There is a small group of designers who really do have their signature and can freely have fun with it, in an unconventional way. Haider is the Belgian master of layering – his talent of styling and mixing clothes is unique. And his spring-summer 2016 outing is one of the most intriguing. This season, his woman had a punk attitude, with fluorescent hair and a classic, biker jacket. “There was leather, velvet, silk, a mix of everything in women who were sexual, fighters. But they weren’t warriors, like all women they were in search of something, so they went out and found it.” The collection was rooted in femininity. I thought that Haider Ackermann’s role-model was an imaginary version of Marie Antoinette, who came across Coachella and Glastonbury. Note the shoes – Cubano boots will be strong next season. The ones with zebra print look so good with the decadent, pink slip-dress above. I can say straight- ahead, that this is my favourite look of the season. It’s just perfect in its acid splashed chaos.