Frenchie. Chloe SS15

October 3, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Gaby Aghion, the creator of Chloe, passed away one day before the SS15 show. And the summer collection is dedicated to her big role in French fashion. It just couldn’t be more french- by happenstance, the designer Clare Waight Keller sent out a collection that is the closest she has come yet to capturing Chloé’s free spirit. It may now be a label for international – rather than specifically French – young women, but the British-born designer has reached a point where everything is working well. The clothes had loosened up. A lot of the inspiration seemed like hippie-de-luxe from the Seventies – a trend for Summer 2015. But the high quality of a fresh, full-sleeved white shirt worn with tailored shorts, or a shorts outfit in saffron and rust suede, put Chloé in a class all its own. The denim here looked designer-worthy – especially a skirt with the denim-blue dyed into a sweater. And what the designer called her minimum and maximum looks – billowing long dresses and short ones – created a nice balance. Surely one of the strongest Chloe collection up to date.

Modern Frida. Celine SS15

October 3, 2014December 23, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Phoebe Philo of Celine always does unexpected. After furry birkenstocks, orange muffs and Brassai inspired silhouettes, now it’s the time for… the modern woman. Celine’s modern woman reminds Frida Kahlo- strong, brave, provocative. She feminine, but wears masculine trousers and coats. She likes fringes, but without madness. She thinks colours, but tones them with black and white. She knows herself well, and knows what to cover and what to uncover. In other words, the SS15 collection is mix of everything Philo achieved up to now. We had some 60’s floras, we had long dress, we had trousers that in reality became skirts. And the new IT bag- the Curve. It’s sharp and architectural. Just like the cut-out tops with circle that exposed shoulders. But also, there was one thing I totally didn’t understand- the swiss cow bells worn as necklaces. I seriously don’t get it. But well, some things are getting more clear after sometime. That was surely one of the most experimental collection by Celine. But it truly explained the Celine woman.

Paris Á Paris

October 2, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Louis Vuitton SS15 par Nicolas Ghesquiere… with portraits by Juergen Teller. Different, heritage, fantasy. Paris. The review in the upcoming days.

Red Queen. Comme des Garcons SS15

October 1, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Why brilliant fashion designers, a notoriously nonanalytic breed, sometimes succeed in anticipating the shape of things to come better than professional predictors, remains one of the most obscure questions in history and, for the historian of culture, one of the most central.” said Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm. This sentence perfectly introduces you to Rei Kawakubo’s extraordinary summer, full of blood and roses. Very theatrical it was the SS15 for Comme des Garcons was very politically-historically connected. We switch from 2014 to 1914. Pain, wars, love, favourism, feeling, power- all of these things left a clew in those massive pieces. There was not even a major variation in reds; it was the same rose red, or poppy red, expressed again and again in widely different textures and silhouettes that ran like exploded and tattered versions of an invented history, one of Kawakubo’s own making. It was all RED. And very dramatic and deep. The hair reminded me of Alice in The Wonderland‘s big-headed queen while the exaggerated hoodies felt like The Red Riding Hood. Maybe it’s not hard to live between the world of kids and world of adults? Maybe we shouldn’t initially think of red as blood, but more of love? Rei Kawakubo, the poet of fashion, asks us again a strong question.

Moody Ruffles. Ellery SS15

October 1, 2014January 5, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

The Aussie girl, Kym Ellery, does sculptural beauty this time in Paris. The collection is so, so breath-taking. It has so much movement, flair, boldness… the materials used are so gorgeous, that the amazing over-sized ribbons look super effortless and wearable. Ellery always masters best the fun with fabrics- in their Paris-based studio, the real magic happens, making their collection better and better each season. Ellery had two main emphases: creating a lean, attenuated silhouette, and elaborating it with rich textures. The opening look established the theme: a pair of extra-long tweed trousers topped with a mesh undershirt and matching tweed singlet. The singlet had a buoyant flare, but this was a more measured take on the sculptural volumes Ellery has explored in the past. The tailoring was a highlight—lots of great pants—and the shirting, too, done in heavy-duty cottons with a touch of sheen. Ellery also scored with her long, almost monastic tank dresses, which kicked out under the hip. Serene but with a vibrant atmosphere in the air.