04/06/2015

Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo was adored by the fashionable crowd simply for being herself and, therefore, unconventional. Her vibrant look of irregular stacked heels, long skirts and an iconic uni-brow was often elevated through her relationship with the nature. Kahlo would pick flowers from her own garden and wear them in her hair. The combination of all these elements amounted to a fashionable yet relaxed style of the painter, which made her a fashion icon. Looking at Frida Kahlo, we can understand the power of fashion to portray our surroundings as much as our personality. And taking a walk through Frida Kahlo’s garden – recently staged in New York – is almost like taking a peek inside her eclectic closet.

The exhibit “Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life” at the Botanical Garden in New York is made up of two sections. The first one is a re-creation of Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s garden at Casa Azul; an installation made possible from photographs, paintings, and firsthand accounts. What to expect in the garden as you pass through it, is the Mexican flora to a T. Hidden within the garden is also a model of Kahlo’s painting studio, perfected to the very last oil paint and brush to illustrate the uncanny resemblance. A few steps away in the museum are 14 botanical-themed works by Kahlo, as well as several photographs of the artist herself.

Kahlo’s botanical guidance within fashion can still be found today, for instance in Gucci’s 2015 fall collection. On the runway you could see petite gold bees balanced on the straps of lacy tops, dresses sprinkled with flowers, hummingbirds swishing across sweaters and everything colored within Kahlo’s aesthetic, showcasing the artist’s establishment as a fashion icon and adding to the debate on art and fashion. Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life is on display now to the 1st of November at the New York Botanical Garden.

Victoria Edman 
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01/06/2015

Style Suggestions: Pastels

Candy colours are a perfect addition to your Summer wardrobe and there are so many options to choose from. Here are our some of our favourite pieces to get you started.

Sweater: Loewe, Skirt: Kenzo, Bag: Bottega Veneta, Shoes: Miu Miu, Watch: Givenchy

Styling by Vanessa Cocchiaro 

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29/05/2015

The New Scandinavian Maximalistic Minimalism

Fashion design graduates from one of Sweden’s most respected and valued design schools, Beckmans College of Design, recently showcased their collections. The results of their studies that were sent down the catwalk gave a promising look on the future. Although each collection had its own distinct style and approach, a common tendency emerged. Scandinavian style, often defined as simple, clean and crisp aesthetics seems to have been replaced by a less commercial and more ”maximalistic” perspective. The well detailed and conceptual pieces were reminiscent of the point of view often seen on European mainland, rather than the simple aesthetics that Scandinavian style is commonly identified with.

Hanna Björklund Olsson is one of the many talented and creative designers graduating from Beckmans College of Design this Spring. Her approach is inspired by the balance between elegant and more rough aesthetics and she is often working with different surfaces and materials. Her work challenges the notion of wearability – while the designer takes everyday use in consideration in the process of creating, she also states that it does not necessarily have to mean that her pieces are functional.

Another interesting upcoming designer is Annika Lunneskog. Interested in fashion as a balancing phenomenon often inspired by its opposing forces, Lunneskog works with unique surfaces created by manipulating fabric and using progressive cutting techniques, combining exclusive materials, like leather, with more unusal fabrics. While Beckmans College graduates often tend to focus on the visual and creative part of the design process, designers such as Björklund Olsson and Lunneskog have been able to develop their unique personal approches seen. When their work is positioned within a wider perspective of classic Scandinavian minimalism, it becomes an alternative modern classic – a maximalistic minimal aesthetics.

Hanna Cronsjö
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28/05/2015

Style and Scent: Designers as Testimonials

The link between fashion and perfumes is tight and long-dated. Since the beginning of the century, designers have pulled the production of fragrances alongside their clothing and accessory lines, and nowadays they have incredible economic importance, sometimes even sustaining the sales volume of the whole brand. Their importance is shown in the adv campaigns, which sometimes place the designer himself on stage to promote the fragrance. The forerunner of this was Yves Saint Laurent. In 1971, he decided to use himself as a testimonial for his first fragrance, eau d’homme: the shoot of him naked, directly looking into the camera, by photographer Jeanloup Sieff, is almost legendary. The intention of YSL was to shake and shock the public at the beginning of the seventies, with an image both powerful and unexpected. In turn, instead of merely promoting a fragrance, he presented himself. In a moment, the shy designer became a symbol of the lure for transgression that was in the air at the beginning of the seventies and together with him, the perfume he was fostering became the scent associated with that crave.

Since 1971, designers have been protagonists of campaigns for their own clothing lines, putting as much of themselves in the name of the brand, as in its public image; Vivienne Westwood was the first, and after her, many others. However, with fragrances the situation is different: the perfume is something designers do not ‘design’ personally, but it is a communicative tool as immediate as it is inconsistent, and has to sum up the philosophy of their brand in a scent. After YSL, many other designers have put their persona on stage to promote their fragrances; among them, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and Giorgio Armani, all of them communicating something of themselves in the photos: sensuality for Ford, racy playfulness for Jacobs, rigorous refinement for Armani. Advertising campaigns are primary made to sell something physical. Together with the product, campaigns are shaped to make the product the most desirable, adding elements, telling a story, and inevitably selling something more than the product itself. So, the real question here is: what are designers really selling, putting their faces of the billboards?

Becoming ambassadors of their own philosophy and work, and the world they think about while designing clothes, they actually ‘sell’ themselves. It is a matter of identity, captured in the ethereal qualities of the combination of many components. Mr. Armani, for example, referred to his perfume as ‘My style in a box’, so it was a natural move for him to put his own image in the adv. Italian sociologist Alberto Abruzzese said the testimonial is not informative, but attractive and seductive; however, the kind of seduction these men have put in their campaigns informs of their private lives, their tastes and choices. It makes the designer in contact with the widest public, because everyone can easily step inside a perfumery and try the scent on, get the feeling of the perfume on the skin, and virtually enter in the world of a design house. The reasons of this kind of choice, which is primarily aesthetic, are numerous: branding, sales and – why not? – a good dose of narcissism; but again, they all have to do with a project. To design something means having a clear idea of the place, the world, in which these designs fit. It is about establishing a certain style coming from an idea, a reflection, a thought; which, ironically, has the same consistency of a scent.

Marta Franceschini 
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27/05/2015

And the Winner is…Marques’ Almeida

Last week Delphine Arnault announced this year’s winner of the LVMH Prize: none other than the London-based brand Marques’ Almeida. The fashion duo have always put forward attitude in their work, straightforwardly mimicking a raw effortlessness, yet demonstrating that there is so much more to the brand than simple aesthetics.

Looking back at their collections over the past seasons, the focus has definitely been denim, specifically shredded denim in all shapes and forms. The interesting aspect of the brand is their ability to reinvent the essence of 1990s trends with 21st century flair, updating both the grunge look and minimalistic tendencies into a new unique quality through layering and more exclusive materials. It displayed the brand’s capability to be both in the time and of the time. Marques’ Almeida has also alluded to a stylistic juxtaposition by bringing together two materials and styles in one, either in a completely unison color scheme or with an added splash to elevate the simplicity and showcase intricate work.

Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida are both from Portugal. They met when attending the local Fashion School, from which they both graduated in 2007. In 2009 they moved to London where they were given separate opportunities at Vivienne Westwood/Anglomania and Preen. The same year, they began the highly regarded Fashion MA at Central Saint Martins starting, in London, their now established partnership. The launch of Marques’ Almeida came in April of 2011 after their graduation from Central Saint Martins. Despite their established position within fashion circles, LVMH Prize is the first big prize for the house.

The couple responsible for both deconstructing minimalistic look has recently been expanding their creative zeal into working with new textiles and accessories. As they are now 300,000 euro heavier and about to embark upon a year-long mentorship from fashion giant LVMH, the question on everyone’s lips is, what will happen next?

Victoria Edman 
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26/05/2015

Style Suggestions: Animal Instinct

Release your inner animal with this season’s leopard print trend. This is a print that never ages so choose one piece that you love and keep it for years.

Sweater: Rag&Bone, Skirt: Saint Laurent, Bag: Christopher Kane, Shoes: Tabitha Simmons, Sunglasses: Dolce&Gabbana

Styling by Vanessa Cocchiaro 

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22/05/2015

Floating, Falling, Drowning, Flying in Fashion

Ever since British designer Phoebe English launched her own brand in 2011, she has created womenswear collections with a distinct, unique and dramatic design aesthetic. Her fondness of draped silhouettes and hand-woven fabrics has been translated into art in the exhibition “Floating, Falling, Drowning, Flying – An Introspective of Process” currently showed at NOW Gallery in London. English sees the exhibition as a way of showing her creative design process, and describes the work shown in the exhibition as both an exposing and, at the same time, wonderful experience.

The exhibition includes an experimental and diverse collection of objects- from toiles, never before seen sketches to innovative fabric swatches and artisan tools. Every object exhibited tells a story not often told in a fashion context. The aim is to create and show something more raw and real than the fashion world usually might tend to show. English means that, despite this being a side of fashion not often exposed, these objects were invaluable to her and the team behind her when creating the collections.

Besides showing the designer’s work processes and creations through staged looks and looped video montages, the viewer will also be able to experience a large textile installation, created by hand and made from over 60,000 metallic glass beads. It is a beautiful and subtile interpretation of fashion and its close relationship to art, making it hard to categorise the installation as either one of the two. This idea about a flowing and undefined line between fashion and art, might also be representative of the exhibition in whole, due to the fact that it is as unique as the designer’s pieces and therefore differs from most other fashion exhibitions – in a much welcomed and exciting way, of course.

Hanna Cronsjö 
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20/05/2015

Style Suggestions: Clashing Prints

Clash is back, so make sure to make a statement by not looking perfect. This trend lets you express your inner fashion eccentric and have some fun mixing bright colours and prints.

Shirt: Burberry Prorsum, Trousers: Proenza Schouler, Scarf: Kenzo, Purse: Saint Laurent, Shoes: Nicholas Kirkwood, Sunglasses: The Row

Styling by Vanessa Cocchiaro 

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20/05/2015

An Impossible Match: Walter Van Beirendonck for IKEA

Having, for several seasons, created collections that are both thought provoking and provoking in many other ways, it was an unseen twist when Walter Van Beirendonck and the Swedish furniture retailer IKEA announced the news of a collaboration. The Belgian designer’s latest collection sparked quite a bit of controversy, with butt plugs as accessories as well by using his fashion to respond to the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris. The provocation, however over the top as it may be, has always been constructed in an interesting and intelligent way. So even though the designer has an apparent aesthetic interest in male genitals, the collaboration with IKEA is most definitely an exciting upcoming event.

The Swedish furniture giant is famous for its minimalistic Scandinavian touch – an aesthetic that embodies precisely the opposite of what Walter Van Beirendonck has come to represent. Is this to be interpreted as a statement collaboration, of IKEA willing to venture into unexplored paths and borrow the approach of famous fashion-design crossovers already exploited by other brands? Is it ready to renounce on its clean looks, in order to attract different types of consumers?

IKEA’s main designer Marcus Engman discusses the extent of the collaboration, which, apparently, will see the Antwerp Six designer employed in pattern and print design, perhaps shaping the premise for a perfect juxtaposed collection of the minimalistic Scandinavian product design and Van Beirendonck’s crazy antics. A video released by IKEA has Van Beirendonck talking about creating his textiles abound “Wondermooi”, a concept of his own fabrication but which roughly translated from Flemish means “very beautiful”. He elaborates on making up a story about characters that live in the clouds which ignited his creativity by moving from something fun into a more gloomy territory. The story would eventually evolve to different patterns each representing a character’s look, culminating in five different ranges of patterns and fabric.

Nevertheless, Walter Van Beirendonck’s work will not be confined only to flat surfaces, as all five prints will be transferred to a whole collection of interior design pieces, to be released in June 2016.

Victoria Edman 
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19/05/2015

Martin Margiela: The Artist is Absent

In the midst of the brand-obsessed 1990s, the now famous yet incognito designer Martin Margiela emerged. The Artist is Absent is a new short documentary from the Yoox Group discussing the Belgian designer and his contribution to the world of fashion. Initially screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, the twelve minute documentary directed by Alison Chernick, profiles the distinguished designer elaborating on the complexity of his character.

The 1990s were a time in fashion when designers’ personalities were much part of the reason why a brand gained popularity. Martin Margiela refused to give into the limelight and in doing so became a figure that stood for rebellion against what can be viewed as the domestication of creativity. Using archive footage in combination with current interviews with his peers and collaborators, the documentary brings to light and elaborates on Martin Margiela’s decision to be anonymous. In today’s world of social media, it seems improbable to pull off again, for a brand’s image seems almost intertwined with its head designer’s persona, making a concept such as Maison Martin Margiela interesting to ponder. For Martin Margiela it was always about the clothes and nothing more.

The documentary showcases the early Margiela shows, children running up and down the catwalk while the audience is packed into a tight space. Models are wearing garments made from plastic, coat hangers and other unconventional materials. As is pointed out in the documentary, the 1990s ware the era of the supermodel. However, Margiela shunned this approach making his models often cover their faces, so that the focus would always remain on the garments being presented. The irony of the story is that by remaining anonymous Margiela instead became mythical and an icon, obtaining a power that is illuminated in The Artist is Absent. He wasn’t the first to deconstruct fashion. However, he was one of the first to push deconstruction to another level: to a point where he presented a way to turn almost nothing into something.

Victoria Edman – Images courtesy of Yoox Group 
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