Cute Love. Simone Rocha SS15

September 18, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

I hear Vanessa Paradis Pourtant when I look at Simone Rocha’s SS15 collection. It’s so romantic, oh my! Ad cute! Those model’s curly hair styled with these fur trimmed broques and fragile dresses feel so truly naive and sublime at the same time… Rocha has always been ambitious with her textiles, but what felt new this season was the sensitivity and specificity with which she deployed them: a light touch of embroidery on pink mesh, the graphic counterpoint of floral embellishment on a sheer white sheath, that lurid marabou snaking around a dress of silvery brocade. The collection, having a lot of themes, felt all the time truly girlie and interesting (my heart belongs to those shoes with fur!) with those rose appliqued sheer dresses. Surely, this will be a retail challenge- but Simone’s fashion is always best-sellng at London’s Dover Street Market, so no worries!

Disruption. Thomas Tait SS15

September 17, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Brutalistic venue. Loud music. Nipples. Plastic. Stripes. Provocative. Georges Rousse. Minimal, but abstract. The star is born. Thomas Tait, the latest treasure of London showed a striking collection, under the wings of LVMH. And it’s totally something you didn’t see before (well, only if you saw the older collections by Tait). “I work so hard on the clothes inside and out, and most of the time it does boil down to a straight up runway image and people only get a fraction of the story.” Thomas Tait might me slightly similar to Gareth Pugh- also a Brit doing extravagant fashion. But what I love more about Tait is the fact that his clothes are wearable. The leather geometrical cut-out skirts, satin tops, transparency… who cares about the nipple? We live in the times, where being scared of your own nipple is funny. Transparent dresses were worn with metallic stilettos that morphed into nude tights, and ran alongside block coloured leather jackets with only one sleeve. I also loved the stripe episode! It was sexy but pretty “ugly”. Just like the colours, which were eye catchy, but for most very unattractive. This collection just says one thing: whatever. Whatever people say, Thomas Tait is Thomas Tait. And that counts for now. Love that vibe.

Re-Visted. Christopher Kane SS15

September 17, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

Being thankful for his teacher, Louise Wilson, who died earlier this week, Christopher Kane dedicated his show to her. The SS15 collection felt like a moment of breath; of memory; of reflection. Kane definitely did his first “re-visted” show, meaning he summed up his best looks and seasons, to create something of a summary, In reality, we saw a lot of these pieces before- the velvet / seatin mix. Burgundy explosion. Interesting couture embroideries. Street influenced sophisticated looks. And a lot of sheer fabrics. I can’t say this collection made me stunned- no, not at all. It looks pretty innovative, with it’s new, glamorous mood. But it really feels, that Kane got commercialised. Even the fact that his first flagship store is on it’s way means something. Hopefully, the next time is going to be more Kane-ish.

Warping Romantic. Burberry SS15

September 17, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

This season, Burberry’s creative director Christopher Bailey clashed reality with pure romanticism, pairing trainers with tulle and Birkenstock-style sandals with cropped box-like jackets in soft lilac suede. In my opinion, it all felt tasteless and ugly. Like if Bailey took a long trip to the teen wardrobe of Carrie Bradshaw and still didn’t come back.

Take a Bow. Jonathan Saunders SS15

September 16, 2014 | Design & Culture by Ed

I like that, Jonathan! This season is possibly the most strong to date for this British designer. In his files, he’d come across a piece of cotton voile from a Japanese mill as light—and pliable—as paper. The possibility of combining the two inspired a striking effect: paper saturated with blue, impressed on fabric, like artisanal color-blocking. “It’s about process,” master printmaker Saunders explained. He wanted lightness. He got it.The show was really about beautiful lightness, ruffles and ribbons. This fragile yet very dynamic collection had also a beautiful shade of blue in it at the end. It felt elusive and fresh. And, in comparison with last season, it was much better!