Versatility is the secret to a great wardrobe and when you have those special key pieces you are well on your way to easy, stylish looks. With retro classics making a comeback, sway your style towards cool elegance with an A line skirt. Its architectural shape makes it easy to go from day to night without having to change too much.
Styling by Vanessa Cocchiaro
Hats have always been the key element to complete a woman’s outfit, even hundreds of years ago. Back then, ladies used to wear them constantly, not only because of their beautiful and original shapes, but also because of the lack of makeup as a common tool – hairdressers were not so easy to find.
In the beginning of the XIX century, makeup was considered quite vulgar for women who were not actresses. Consequently, the main utilities of the hat were to protect and to adorn. It surely represented the perfect solution to be on vogue and feel comfortable.
After the Second World War things started to change: people became poorer and poorer, Americans moved to Europe and makeup begun to be more commercial as well as hairdressers, whose services became cheaper. From that moment on, hats started to be seen as a superfluous and expensive, almost useless, item for most of the people.
We still have images in our minds of those beautiful actresses playing romantic roles and wearing cool, huge and bizarre hats. But there was a woman in Paris who contributed to make this fashion item really popular, stylish and, above all, part of the history. Her name was Madame Paulette and everybody used to know her special creations. A book about her art will be published on April 22th. Hats by Madame Paulette will trace the creative process of the so-called ‘Queen of milliners’, who grabbed the enthusiasm of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn and Princess Grace of Monaco, just to name a few. Annie Schneider has curated the tome that aims to be a guide that showcases diverse images and stories. Some pictures taken by acclaimed photographers such as Avedon, Newton, Horst and Klein, will be featured, too.
When the new collections are shown on the runways, we look out for some key points which are strong trend indicators for the coming season. Silhouettes are one of them. With the pre-fall 2014 shows in full swing, we have been catching up with the new trends for next pre-fall 2014. A particular silhouette which has caught our eye so far is the architectural upper silhouette, with bold square voluminous angles which are formed in various ways combined with a tailored slimmer lower shape. The trends have lent towards a more sculptured silhouette the last few seasons anyway but what is updated this season is the wrapped and tied idea with a protruding back.
Designer Jonny Johansson at ACNE Studios has created some bold combinations with clean cut lines, molded and sculpted in new forms for the upper body, creating juxtaposed design lines.
At Thomas Tait, oversized shapes and extreme proportions set the scene in bold colours. New proportions for the biker jacket created a rather masculine feel to the style. Longer coats were cleverly cut to give angular shapes, re-shaping the female form and accentuating the back.
At MMM; Maison Martin Margiela, Renaissance inspired shapes were hinted at. Colours were tonal and subdued, as expected but the textures and forms cleverly made a bold distorted statement to the female form with the back clearly being a focus point.
“Wash at your own risk – we do. We recommend washing projects by hand with a mild detergent. Drip dry. Make sure you remove your power supply first!”. That’s what is stated in black and white on the official website of LilyPad, Arduino’s microcontroller devoted to the development of e-textiles projects. The high-maintenance of LilyPad based garments isn’t only about care. Their fragility, in fact, talks about the current state of the art of the wearable technologies sector. While few electronic components have become a mature and affirmed standard, their applications still live in the age of infancy: full of unbridled enthusiasm, broken steps and great expectations, looming an intriguing horizon of new shapes and functions, that we only glimpse in the distance.
Back to the present and its underground world of tech nerds, we have been looking for an exception, somebody engaged in developing a personal aesthetic vision that might be closer to a meaningful artefact, instead of a feasible application. Thus, we came across the wonderful talent of Ying Gao, a Montreal-based fashion designer who stands out for her capacity to satisfy both the demanding taste of fashion victims and the quest for interaction of design geeks. Her approach to e-textiles is not focused on implementing the most widespread tech features (such as the geolocalization or the embedded energy recharging systems). On the contrary, she’s keen on researching a new poetical language that puts together sensitive dresses and imaginative concepts into an unprecedented interactive process.
The spectator has a key role: triggering the dialogue between the garment and its environment. In Incertitudes, people’s voice activates the garments’ pins, which start moving and simulating a halting dialogue with humans. In Walking city, inspired by Archigram’s mobile structures, the breath provokes a garment inflation through the launch of a pneumatic mechanism embedded between the two materials used, cotton and nylon, with electronic components.
Inspired by Jacques Tati’s masterpiece, her Playtime stimulates the viewer to reconsider the perception of her dresses: the flashes of cameras (and tablets) light up their surfaces, transforming both of them into a dazzling surface: a metaphor of the trompe l’oeil that keeps on making our society, and even its most intelligent contemporary coutures, invest.
Giulia ZappaThe Folk culture has been on trend for several seasons now. It is actually one of those trends that never disappears. The reason probably lies in the fact that it is relatively easy to achieve, quite comfortable to wear and almost reachable to different ages. We have seen through the years the ethnic and gipsy moods and eventually the boho chic, that is still on vogue – think about the Coachella festival and other similar music events. Donna Karan took inspiration from folk prints for the Spring/Summer 2014 catwalk. The result was a collection based on huge skirts and capes, playing with Aztec motifs, too. Also Valentino worked with different races in a swing of fringes and Renascence details with a sartorial approach.
This perpetual connection between folk culture and fashion has recently inspired the American Folk Art Museum in New York, to challenge thirteen couturiers, invite them to choose works from the museum’s holdings and create an original piece of couture – it could be a sculpture, a painting, a decorative quilt or even a picture. Alexis Carreño, guest curator of Folk Couture: Fashion and Folk art, says “there is not a literal translation of the artwork into the ensembles, spectators have to find the connections”.
Fashion designers as Chadwick Bell, Creatures of the Wind, Catherine Malandrino, ThreeASFOUR, and many others have given life to a variety of fashion pieces with diverse stylistic approaches. The confirmation of the relation between one world and the other comes also from the designers themselves: they have also been influenced by folk culture in the past, mostly because of its geometric patterns and the feeling of freedom.
The show will run until April 23rd.
Sweatshirts have been reinvented on the runways for both men and women, and there is an array of styles you can choose from! The classic grey, colour blocked and printed matched with great accessories will have you looking stylish and feeling cozy in no time.
Styling by Vanessa Cocchiaro
The law is – in the word of Aristotle – reason free from passion. This isn’t quite the case within the fashion laws. At least not when you take into consideration what creates a fashion forward look, innovation and bending the rules. Fashion rules have always existed as well as those who break them, repeatedly. Although this could also be a case of fashion double jeopardy.
Double jeopardy is a term used within judicial instances in for example the United States. The term simply put concerns the fact that a defendant cannot be sentenced for the same crime twice. Something I would like to plea is also an occurrence within the fashion world. When committing a fashion crime there can be harsh sentencing. Magazines raving about the fashionable heroes but condemning the criminals. Remember the ridicule Lady Gaga faced for wearing a meat dress a few years back? Or the iconic Swan dress Björk wore to the Academy Awards? These were naturally women with an already eccentric style but the ruling of the jury was still a unanimous “guilty”. Ironically, designer Jeremy Scott later produced his own take on the meat dress validating the act of communication instead of a fashion crime.
The ruling of fashion double jeopardy is made possible since the argument can be made that the defendant has no criminal intent but is simply expressing a personal style, a sartorial communication. Even though the fashion court may not find it “chic” the criminal has paid its due and made it their own. Perfectly matching an outfit from top to toe was for several seasons unthinkable. Instead it should look as if you just happened to wear something that went together. Today, wearing the same print on both top and bottom is simply “stylish”, a result of monochromatic influences.
Another reason to embark upon fashion double jeopardy is that it will nourish the invention of new street style which can inspire designers and therefore aid the industry. For a very long time the fanny pack was a fashion faux pas of grand proportion. Some listened, others did not and for SS14 it was seen on several runways, including Tory Burch. There are many other so called fashion crimes that, when broken, have created a new way for fashion, the aspect of “more is more” is one that comes to mind. So before you object, the notion of fashion double jeopardy can infuse the industry with the innovation and creativity that is needed to move forward in the cycle with or without passion.
Chances are that if you walk into any ski shop, you’ll be affronted with an array of ski apparel options. Fortunately, ski clothing doesn’t have to be complicated and look great. If you aren’t sure what to wear skiing, it’s best to start with the basics. Here are a few for when you begin to assemble your ski wardrobe.
Styling by Vanessa Cocchiaro
Burberry is one of those traditional, authentic and iconic brands which founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, has built a solid British fashion house around its’ strong heritage values. Burberry was the originator of the gabardine fabric and classic British trench coat along with the iconic tartan pattern which has become today the worldwide recognizable trademark of Burberry. Very much a luxury brand but with functional roots, the brand spent quite some years with a more mature and traditional customer base and reputation. In order for the brand to engage with new and younger customers and become relevant in today’s market, they had to make some fundamental changes to their marketing strategies. Burberry has recently introduced some innovative digital campaigns into their marketing which has allowed the brand to grow in a significant way.
The Art of the Trench was introduced in 2009 via a form of social media, encouraging its’ users to upload images of themselves wearing the classic Burberry trench coat. This platform was used worldwide and successfully inspired younger and media savvy customers to engage with the luxury brand, promoting Burberry not only as a classic brand but as one which was relevant and aspirational to the next generation.
Following on with similar youth-engaging campaigns was the Acoustic campaign where young emerging bands and musical artists collaborated with Burberry with the release of an LP and the songs were also uploaded to the Burberry YouTube platform, again creating a certain scene for the brand. The latest in the dynamic re-invention of Burberry has been Burberry Kisses, an interactive tool which allows users to send letters sealed with a virtual kiss to friends and loved ones anywhere in the world; a fun, innocent and sweet gesture.
So can Burberry sustain its new-found relevance and popularity and continue to keep its’ high-end customer base whilst still attracting new and younger fans? Time will tell but as Burberry’s Chief creative officer, Christopher Bailey describes the brand as being “as much a media-content company as a design company”, it seems we can look forward to some new digital experiences from Burberry as well as the expected collections on the runways.
The Fashion and Textile Museum will host a new exhibition that will trace the history of the 20th century art through textiles. We have talked many times about the love-hate relationship that exists between fashion and art, but this is a good chance to go deeper and discover a different point of view.
The most important art movements, both European and American, will be presented in Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol. From Fauvism, Cubism, Constructivism or Abstraction, to Surrealism and even Pop Art, all of them will be showcased in a way that is unusual: through different textiles created by various fashion designers.
Over two hundred pieces will be shown: some of them have never been presented before. The work of big artists such as Marc Chagall, Georges Braque, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol -just to mention a few ones- aims also to show the public the other side of the coin. The incredible story of how, back then, ordinary people had the chance to meet modern artists in an intimate way, and engage with them through their clothing and home furnishings. A fact that sounds a bit odd today.
The exhibit will open on January 31st and will run until May 17th.
