Super Fun/Hilarious: Couture F/W'12

Unexpectedly so far couture has been super fun, although I am not entirely sure how intentional the effects were. First of all, I think we all know where Karl got his inspiration for this season of...

...Microsoft Word! And also in my opinion, Meadham Kirchoff and riot grrrls! There was pink, pom poms and midriffs - all riot grrrl staples. And this is getting way meta because of course riot grrrl-friendly Meadham Kirchoff referenced Chanel a couple seasons back. Perhaps Karl's been looking at that as well as Petra's work over at Rookie Mag. Anyway, this interpretation is very kind, because without it the collection is just straight tacky. Karl's hella tacky, but I think it's going to take a while for everyone to realise it. Perhaps they never will.

Alexis Mabille gave us even more metallic and the best hair ever. It is like the models are those scary angler fish, but beautiful! A part from that, I admire that Mabille managed to make the models look like they have hips. 

Grouped together they look like a scary fish gang! In contrast, who knew how adorable Alexis himself is?

images from vogue.com, style.com and one great fish from The Oatmeal

Edeline Lee Cool Cool Cool

Saw this collection on NY Times' T Magazine Style blog or whatever its called (I get so confused on that site), I thought it was awesome in a more wearable/down to earth Bouchra Jarrar kind of way, and I had no idea who Edeline Lee was so I looked her up. Now this collection is pretty cool, make no mistake, but the importance of presentation was highlighted for me because I liked these images a whole lot more than the ones on her website. I might not have given any of it a second thought if her website was where I'd seen it first.

T Magazine tells me that the collection is inspired by the Wiener Werkstätte, an early 20th Century design movement/collective. All very art deco and with an ordinary-as-art and beauty-is-practicality ethos. Lee's logo is riffed directly from the Wiener Werkstätte's, which is a little too literal for my liking, but I do like the subtle way that she's incorporated their design principles into the clothes. One lovely detail mentioned by T Magazine was the "beauty buoyed by craft: soft pleating of a cream-colored Grecian frock is anchored by an inner grosgrain belt that preserves its shape without interrupting its flow".

Special mention must go to the redhead. I don't know what that expression she has is, but it sure works for the clothes and the vibes. Also: Couture Winter 2012 is happening! Reviews coming shortly.

all images from NY Times

Game of Thrones and Fashion!

I have this great friend Billie who does fun stuff like dream up what designers/collections characters from Game of Thrones would wear. I reckon she got Cersei in Alexander Mcqueen A/W'10 and Daenerys (or Khaleesi for you t.v. watchers) in Rodarte S/S'10 down to a tee. So of course I had to make use of my most excellent photoshop skills and turn this into a visual reality.

So let's start with the matriarchs. Catelyn is super classy and smart so, duh, Dries van Noten for her. And although she is a Tully she's a woman of the north too, so I could definitely see her in furs. Cersei speaks for herself, although I don't think she'd wear that head thing.

Daenerys and Melisandre are another pair of strong, self-posessed women. That's what is so great about Game of Thrones, finally we have fantasy with fully developed female characters! Billie could see Daenerys in tribal-y Rodarte and so can I. Melisandre is a perfect fit for gothic Givenchy IMO.

And finally a couple of the younger ladies. Sansa is sweet and sweet = Louis Vuitton S/S12. The similarity in this image to Angela Anaconda is purely coincidental. And I was pretty pleased with this last one (not with the photoshop! The matching) because Ygritte lives in the cold so has to wear fur all the time, but she is also pretty saucy and so this Michael Kors is pefect.

I tried to find something for Arya, I really did, but I just don't think she'd wear anything that came down a runway.

That Time Again

It's Resort time again, and I'll parrot what I said six months ago that Resort, like Pre-Fall, is generally pretty boring. It does have its merits though, one being that the presentation can be a little more creative because it's not such a big deal, like a fun side project! Well, ideally anyway.
Givenchy was tops this season, and whaddaya know? Straight after posting about him it seems that Riccardo Tisci's been thinking about Jason Evans too. The photographs are remarkably similar - framing, posing, setting, and lighting all either the same or running parallel. I'd like to think that there really is a connection, coincidence isn't nearly as interesting.

Oh right I should probably say something about the clothes. I liked the prints? Yeah the print mashing was cool. I liked the shoes. Wow this criticism is so inspiring. To be honest I'm probably biased by the photography, but even with a studio backdrop I think the clothes would speak for themselves. Tisci's Givenchy is getting more and more progressive, and I don't mean that his clothes look futuristic but that these are the kind of clothes we'll be seeing more of over the next few years. You never know what your decade or your era looks like when you're in it, but I think the 2010s might look a bit like this.

all images from vogue.com 

Art and Fashion #5

You know what really bugs me? Whenever somebody or something is described as cutting down borders or blurring boundaries or smashing barriers between art/design/fashion/music/film/architecture/books/whatever else these hack writers can think of. First of all, it's cliched and sounds lame, second of all these people are never actually achieving that (Pharrell isn't cutting down borders between music and design because he is a musician who designed something), and third of all, it's not like there really are these metaphorical barriers that need to get cut down! I'm fine with having different mediums that occasionally bleed into each other!

But, ahem. Having said all of that, I really adore these photos which some may describe as CUTTING DOWN THE BORDERS BETWEEN ART AND FASHION. I'm not going to describe them like that of course, I am just going to say that these photographs by Jason Evans were taken for Dazed and Confused but bought by the Tate Modern. Which is interesting. Because rarely is fashion related photography taken that seriously, and I found these via Jason Evans, not Dazed and Confused, and didn't even consider them fashion photographs until I learnt otherwise. They do just seem like portraits, which really is some kind of achievement for the stylist Simon Foxton.

You can read all about them properly here.

Images taken from the Tate website

One of the Best Things Ever

I'm in a pretty positive mood so I've decided to post one of my favourite *speshul* things. I'm talking a top-five collection no doubt. Fashion's hall of fame without question. One of the best things ever hands down. I am talking... CHRISTOPHER KANE WINTER '09

Ok so of course it's all subjective, I'll concede that this might not be one of the best things ever, but this collection will always have a special place in my heart. I can't pin down exactly why it is so excellent, maybe it's all that modern plaid that reps Kane's Scottish roots, or the metallic velvet and cashmere cardigans, or the stripes and lines that were everywhere, or maybe I've just been swayed by the flat shoes and non-hair and non-makeup. Maybe it's because it's just so damned cohesive! A single wonderful statement. Anyways, I'll leave you to just look at it.

Ooh though I do wanna say that Jessica Stam seemed like weird casting - she's got way too much attitude and is way too sexy compared to all these sullen cool Kane girls. There is angle to her hips! It looks like she's clicking along to music!

Pan and Zoom; Fade to Black

Two film-related posts quite close together, but I'm feeling the vibes at the moment so I'm gonna just roll with it. Once again I'm heading back to the 60s, and by some coincidence all these movies are full of moodiness and mystery. Maybe that's just how things were in the 60s for Italians, generally moody. Us non-Italians thought they just zipped around on their vespa's with pizaz but little did we know that it was all with a pervading sense of melancholy. Which brings us to Michelangelo Antonioni! The name Antonioni is synonymous with mood and melancholy and poignancy - we may not know what the film means but it sure is poignant! There is one actress who was particularly marvelous at personifying Antonioni's poignant vibes and that was Monica Vitti. In my opinion the best Antonioni films - L'Aventtura, L'Eclisse - were the ones filled with shots of Vitti looking enigmatically into the distance. But also part of the appeal were her meticulous outfits, always sensuous ensembles of kitten heels and crisp shirts and pencil skirts and soft sweaters. Everything good about Italian fashion.

I also can't help but throw in a non-fashion related by quintessentially Antonioni shot to finish off.