Modern Softness. Paco Rabanne SS16

October 5, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Julien Dossena looked at the heritage of Paco Rabanne from a totally different side this season. It rather feels more him, than Rabanne. The collection is designed for a modern girl – however, it’s much more feminine than the built-up looks we’ve seen last season. The fresh, summer outing was all about the high-tech sportiness with a sense of casual sexiness. Baby doll dresses walked alongside motocross-influenced leathers; the graphical prints on tank-tops had the Native American feeling about them. Definitely, Julien introduced a more slouchy festival attitude to the brand, rather than continuing Rabanne’s futuristic strictness and rawness. The textiles are softer in comparison to the signature Paco chain-dresses and the woman reflecting the brand changed.

Gypsy Life. No21 SS16

September 27, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Care-free. Comfortable. These are the words that can easily describe Alessandro Dell Acqua‘s No21 spring-summer 2016 collection. With George Michael’s moody tune playing during the fashion show, the models of the moment – Lineisy Montero, Molly Bair, Stella Lucia – wore long, silk dresses in delicate cigarette prints. The romantic colour palette was broken by gypsy-esque florals and modernist stripes. Also, the collection was plenty of the season’s favourite bias-cut slip dresses thrown over t-shirts – this gave the entire collection a very easy attitude, and the socks styled with sheer skirts were a throwback to #normcore. These clothes will definitely hit the stores with success, just like the statement tasseled, raffia sandals. These will be truly popular next season, as they are instant favourites of street-style stars. Also, it is worth to note that within the new season, No21 starts a new eyewear business. The first silhouettes are circular, simple and very comfortable. I must admit, that season after season, Alessandro builds his fashion identity with amazing speed – this collection can be called as the best one to date. And no wonder why. It is really good.

Electric Combinations. Christopher Kane SS16

September 22, 2015September 21, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Christopher Kane moves to the rythm of SS16 with a return to neon brights and patchwork dressing – python skins combined with plastic? Yes, I’m totally into that electric combination. What about the abstractly panneled cocktail dresses with straw-fringes? Acid-spilt lace skirts are back, too – but in a much more futuristic edition. The designer behind London’s fastest growing label happily let his creativity take over the reigns, and that is visible by the amount of uncommerical pieces presented during the show. Also, hand-made stuff fans, here is one for you – if you wish to do some DIY for next season, try out Christopher’s jewellery. You can find those plastic thingies in every Castorama or Ikea around your place!

Unlooped. Derek Lam SS16

September 15, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Layered whites, lace trim and silk fringes, and a row of black buttons intentionally left unlooped for that haphazard sexiness. Derek Lam discovers feminine silhouettes for his spring-summer 2016 collection, creating great outfit compositions, and of course clothes. Fur stoles were carried by the models in a non-chalant way while the long, medieval-esque gowns looked weightlessly on Grace Hartzel. Although I felt A LOT of references to Celine and Chloe (as usually), the collection is lovely.

Smooth. Victoria Beckham SS16

September 14, 2015 | Design & Culture by Ed

Thanks to this collection, Victoria Beckham positively updated her importance in the fashion syste,. Why? It was her best NYFW outing up to date. She showed, that her clothes can be commercial and edgy at the same time. Spring-summer 2016 was simple, but bold and optimistic. Childish patterns of circles (or rather “moons”) and squares appeared in forms of suede elements and bags. The tank-tops had fantastic cut-outs, while the suede harness-vests looked pretty interesting on white t-shirts. Also, the designer paid attention to prints, which weren’t her strong side lately – it got fairly breezy when surfer prints showed up on sweatshirts and culottes. It is clearly visible, that Victoria enters her much more playful side – she puts her cocktail dresses aside and lets more over-sized, wearable clothes come into her clients’ wardrobes.