London is more fun than all y'all

That's all I'm saying

I love you, J.W. Anderson

Dear Jonathan Anderson,

You ignite the fire of my life.

Your fan forever,
                      Lois xx


So, a quick recap to remind y'all of how fantastic last season J.W. Anderson was, via the ugh amazing campaign:

And I gotta tell you, I was nervous heading to style.com yesterday morning to check out the new show ~something about lightning not striking the same spot twice~ But it turns out I needn't have worried, because for the entire show (or in other words, for the entire slideshow) I was all be still my beating heart. It was a magical, magical collection. It was that perfect, usually elusive marriage of fantasy and form.

It reminded me of John Galliano's graduate collection because of the similar calls to romantic peasantry via Vermeer vibes. But Anderson manages to be romantic and somewhat clinical and conceptual at the same time. How can romanticism and the experimental and the clinical merge? I have no idea but Anderson achieves it. Oh yeah, and even though these peasant silhouettes are practically a cliche now, Anderson manages to reimagine their construction to make them to feel new again.

Even when he moved in less neu-peasantry directions and into the realm of colour, it was still cohesive. In recent Reddit AMA fashion writer Robin Givhan said "when a designer puts on a show, they're essentially picking up a microphone: what did they say? Was it coherent or was it a jumble?" which is a wonderful way to consider and assess a collection as a whole, single statement. Which is what it is! Or at least it is when the designer elevates it more in the direction of art rather commercial (which has its place too). But to bring it back to J.W. Anderson, the collection's range felt broad but still absolutely cohesive. And, I will argue, equal parts wearable and absolutely not.

Those shiny skirts are going to fly off the shelves! (The trompe l'oeil camisoles not so much) And I actually want to swan around day to day in this blue look. But I just wanna say thanks Jonathan. Thank you so much for the beauty you bring to my world.

images from vogue.com

I WANNA FEEL HAPPY TODAY OK

If it's raining where you are like it is here, you need a pick-me-up. So here is the happiest Marc Jacobs collection, with three (THREE!) iterations of Beethoven's Fifth disco-fied, involving man-of-the-moment Robin Thicke when he was less sweaty, and Kanye. You're welcome!

RODARTE LOVE or HATE TO LOVE #4-5

So Rodarte has just relaunched their website. And it is turning my bitter disappointment in their lacklustre collections into a great love. For years now the Rodartes (I know I know they are the Mulleavys, but ever since Grace Coddington referred to them as the Rodartes in The September Issue I can't call them anything else (remember the line? "Those poor Rodartes" - magic)). Woah, let's start that sentence again. For years the Rodartes have been taking beautiful fitting photos for each collection, but as far as I know they've been hidden until now. By having complete creative control of how their collections are presented, outside of the constraints of the runway show, the Rodartes are conveying their intentions far more effectively. I didn't like Fall 2013 or Spring 2012 at all, but thanks to these photos I am now understanding. It's like you are looking into the heads of Kate and Laura and seeing exactly what they see in their clothes.

I want to stress again just how disappointed I was with Spring 2012, the van Gogh one. No longer, these photos are like the phoenix rising through the ashes, disappointment and ambivalence burnt away.

I don't want to just show the collections I have only come to love now. The fitting photos for Spring 2013, the incredible fantasy role playing collection, are the ultimate, and it is a collection that I have always loved and will now love even more. Pseudo action poses lend themselves to ultra staged fittings well!

all images from rodarte.net go there!

Runway to Page

The looks in this editorial are way better here than they even were on the runway. This editorial should be unremarkable but man I love it. What is it about it? Maybe it's the stylist. I looked up the lady responsible, Catherine Newell-Hanson and boy does she kill it on the regular. She does do that annoying thing of reproducing entire looks from a show, but there is magic in the air here so I don't mind. 

images from Fashion Gone Rogue and vogue.com

Almost the Future

Malgosia Bela in Japan in Vogue Paris in 1999. I'd almost forgotten this look existed, which in its extreme form was straight blonde hair, sweaty orange skin, orange clothes and straight straight white teeth. With the same art direction as the Gossip Girl book covers. Anyway this was the more arty version, thanks Vogue Paris.

Awe and Despair

Watching To the Wonder was a confusing experience. Leaving the cinema I was elated and dizzy from two hours of intensely beautiful imagery, but I was also left feeling pretty cold. The love story is sad and horrible because it seemed so banally doomed, and the characters were very hard to like or empathize with. That could be blamed on the scene structures, which were fleeting, sometimes only mere moments, and layered upon each other in the same unending rhythm as waves against a beach. Each contain very little dialogue and are hard to grasp. But then it can be blamed only in small part. I couldn't understand anything about Ben Affleck's character or why these two women loved him, but then again I'm not sure if I was supposed to, he was one of the main mysteries (along with like, God).

Luckily for my blog the obvious success of the film is visual, and so the obligatory screencaps. Scrolling through them quickly will produces a similar effect as watching the film, I swear.