The Best of AW14

September 1, 2014September 1, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

My number one this season is Haider Ackermann. His beautiful fall was dark, elusive and very Parisienne. Models wore masculine coats and trousers, slim maxi dresses, over-sized shirts and leather jackets. This collection is the quintessence of chic.

Celine had the cool non-chalance in it. Phoebe Philo brought us fur muffs, kimonos, over-sized tunics and sleek coats, making the collection extremely casual with these fabulous, patent leather clogs. As usually, it’s one of my favourites.

Tibi from New York had the best ponchos of the season! Styled with black mules, Amish hats and black midi skirt, the label had one of the most great looks in the whole season. And many other pieces are still having a spotlight…

Dries Van Noten was all about stripes, colour and florals. It had a lot of coolness in it- a midi skirt worn with a orange skirt was never so interesting and sophisticated!

Miuccia Prada as usually brought Prada the most outstanding pieces of the season. Shearling jackets, cricket v-neck sweaters, Bauhaus inspired heels, monkey fur dress, bags with chains… and many, many more.

I have a special place in my heart for that Acne collection. It’s fresh, Scandinavian vibe and tribal printed culottes are simply amazing. And of course the exaggerated hats! You want get a cold wearing one of them, that’s a sure thing!

Louis Vuitton has Nicolas Ghesquiere right now, and his debutant collection was simply it. 40’s & 60’s fashion come back with huge steps. And all these boots are a must-have, just like the Petit Malle clutches.

Yohji Yamamoto’s winter collection is the most unwearable and most fantastic of all. The cocoon coats with those hand painted manga illustration are not clothes any more, but art.

N.21 by Allesandro Dell Acqua was very Italian. It has three key pieces- a cozy, wool sweater, an embroidered, midi skirt and pointy polished flats. And nothing else.

The relaxed Marc Jacobs collection was my favourite from New York. It was all head in clouds, with these pastel colours, v-cuts, solemn and pale faces of models and Jessica Lange attitude.

These were my 10 favourite AW14 collections… and on the 4th, officially, the NYFW starts with SS15! Yay!

Cultural Fashion

August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Fashion and culture always had a power, if joint together. So no wonder why the artsy trend for fall’14 are so strong- we’ve got Bauhaus architecture, we’ve got Russian films and we’ve got dadaism- an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. Many claim Dada began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916, spreading to Berlin shortly thereafter but the height of New York Dada was the year before, in 1915. One of the most famous dada artist is Hannah Höch. The collage art movent which had a lot of grey, khaki and solemn colours, got spotted at Celine, Carven and Haider Ackermann this season.

Weimar was another artistic movement, but this time coming from Germany. With Bauhaus at it’s roots, Weimar was popular for it’s geometrical forms, strong colours and minimalism. The rectangular pockets from Givenchy are totally Weimar, isn’t it? And these Jacquemus coats and bold, Thomas Tait dresses…

Bauhaus! art school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term Bauhaus – literally “house of construction” – was understood as meaning “School of Building”. It’s most famous graduate? Mies Van Der Rohe. But nowaday, it’s Prada, Balenciaga, Alexander Wang, Dior and Acne, who does the symetrical silhouttes and metallic “constructions” in their designs (best example- that Prada wedge).

If talking of cinema, Miuccia Prada learnt by hard all the scens of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. This German movie from 1972 has an all-female cast and is set in the home of the protagonist, Petra von Kant (Berliner fashion designer). It follows the changing dynamics in her relationships with the other women. It’s very sensual, and the clothes and mood perfectly match into Prada’s AW14.

The Place of Meeting Can’t be Changed is a Russian movie, which has it’s plot happening in 1945, Moscow. The fashion here strongly reflects Nicolas Ghesquiere’s debutant Louis Vuitton collection. The higlighted collars, masculine jackets, v cuts, floral prints and tweed are all very, very 40’s.

Aah, Marlene Dietrich! The famous singer and actress, all-time fashion icon! Her flawless gowns and love to non-chalant fur is strongly visible in the moodboards of such designers like Jason Wu, Rodebjer and Ports 1961. In other words, lady-like, chic and effortless.

Men’s: Jokes on Classic. Prada SS15

June 23, 2014June 23, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

So, what did Prada serve us this time for her men’s SS15 and women’s Resort’15? Something you would probably not think of: a pool. In the middle of the show venue, we had a 90 deegree rectangular swimming pool filled with water. A pretty perfect mood for summer, isn’t it? But all the spark was in the fashion that was presented. “I interpreted the classics. It means everything and nothing. It means what looks good for me” said Miuccia Prada backstage, meaning that for menswear, she always can do what she likes most, while for womenswear, “we always have to push, push, push.” I totally agree with her in that fact – the men’s clothes were a fresh, updated version of her 70’s ugly-chic uniforms and the sandals had this Prada mood written all over it. “It’s kind of conservative. Conservative looks more new” Miuccia added. Utah boys visiting the concrete jungle, embroidered top-stitched everything, brown leather-detailed denim and cashmere versions of charity shop knits… it all felt old, but new in a way it was a bit forgotten by people. But as it sounds typically, nothing is really normal at Prada. The exagarated stitches are just the prove! You see them everyday on your denim, but here, Prada made them in the spotlight. If coming back to the pool, there was also an irony about it. Surrounded on all sides by bleachers covered in dodgy golden-brown carpet (only Miuccia would pair that with a glittering pool) that extended to a raised runway on the water, it was a Miuccia-style take on an old summertime chestnut. “It was a joke on what’s classic,” she commented after the show. So, was that just another show? No, it was a very Prada show.

About the artist: Israeli sculptor. He adopted the name Absalon on his arrival in Paris in the late 1980s. During his short career he achieved widespread recognition for the 1:1 scale architectural models that he constructed of idealised living units. These wooden models, painted white, demonstrate an obsession with order, arrangement and containment, and have associations both of protective shelters and monastic cells.

Men’s: Trend Report AW14

May 31, 2014December 23, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Yohji Yamamoto

Boys, we are looking forward towards the new times of fashion! So arty, gloomy, grey and posh- the AW14 season is for all sorts of men. Here, look at the strong five trends that are going to rule in your fall wardrobe.

They were moody, not sombre, said Haider Ackermann about his new season clothes that were all about his Victorian poets, floor length coats swaying through the room and Tchaikovsky chart topper. The fresh mood of men fashion is about dandy gloom that is romantic and attractive. Comme des Garcons had this wet hair look that reminded of gothic ghosts and Philip Lim had some neo-Romantism in it. Do you get that?

Camel coat, camel jacket or a camel parka- whatever, Parisian men think of camel as men’s best-friend. It’s neutral, but looks perfect with sweatpants, leather over-sized pants or elegant trousers. I really want to steal Ami’s look, where the models wore camel with white Adidas and wool sweaters… maybe it’s slightly normcore, but you may still wear it as a cowboy like at Versace (see leather bag, crocodile gloves and fur covered motorcycle helmet)!

Grey is beautiful, moody and human. There is nothing better than a luxe, comfortable track suit from Christophe Lemaire or Louis Vuitton. The razor-sharp relaxdness kills me! Every man shows his different shade of grey. So the question is, which one are you?

Raf Simons designed a collection in collaboration with Sterling Ruby. He managed to connect two worlds, fashion and art, in men collection. And he nailed it. Just like my favourite Yohji Yamamoto with his manga themed leather garments! The contrasting prints, smart signs and colour splash is the perfect way to kill normcore (normal hardcore) and be the men of art (and fashion).

This one is strange. And ugly in my opinion. But at the same time, takes men to a new dimension of uniformism- utilitarian vests Prada and Rick Owens; reconstructed and constructed coats at Maison Martin Margiela… this season brings more than excepted to men fashion. And which trend is in your type most?

Real Fantasies

May 11, 2014May 11, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Fairies? At Prada? Why, yes: When Miuccia is fed up with being perverse in the anarchic-fierce way, she’ll change tack yet again and go against the grain by being so sweetly unchallenging you (almost) can’t recognize her. So Prada for Spring went late sixties, early seventies, Art Nouveau-ish—tripping off into the kind of tendrilly doodles girls used to scrawl on their bedroom walls after studying their hippie-romantic rock album covers.” Nowadays, the fashion world is all buzzy about seasonless clothes that will forever be trendy. But, I think it’s impossible because fashion is art and art always tends to change it sides. After opening the Dover Street Market in New York, Rei Kawabuko (the designer of Comme des Garcons) is in strong relationship with Miuccia Prada. Creating lovely capsule collections made of unused archive Prada fabrics, the designers already created two collections- the one that was sold for AW13, and the second for SS14. The second one is all about SS 2008, when Miuccia took us to a fairy-tale full of fairies and elfs. I remember how hot it was in the stores when everybody stood in queue for a fairy bag! Thanks to that new flashback that DSM did with Prada, women which bought anything from this season may again wear their pieces, without thinking that they are so, so last season. As you see, fashion is very much like art- you never know, when it suddenly comes back… see the new capsule collection just like Lena’s archival pieces from SS08 (the skirt and the shoes are not it. We still seek the fairy themed dress in her wardrobe!).