Showing posts with label womenswear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label womenswear. Show all posts
Kanye West Spring/Summer 2012 Collection
Kanye West said he found taking a bow at the end of his first fashion show in front of a few hundred industry professionals much more daunting than encoring in front of thousands, as he usually does. No surprise there. West's genius as a groundbreaking musician is unquestionable, whereas his status in the fashion world has been, until now, that of an ardent-bordering-on-obsessive fan. Which was clear from his genuine delight when Silvia Venturini Fendi and her daughter Delfina Delettrez Fendi came backstage to congratulate him after the show.
They were two of a surprising number of designers who turned out for Kanye: The presence of Azzedine Alaïa, Dean and Dan Caten, Olivier Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, and the Olsens sealed this evening's deal as a fashion event. Equally, they underscored the goodwill he had going into this. And Kanye himself was poignantly aware of the challenge. "The biggest hurdle I had to face is the celebrity designer or the hip-hop designer concept," he said backstage. But he had some major help in battling preconceptions. Among the people he bounced ideas off, he name-checked Kim Jones, Louise Goldin, Katie Eary, and Louise Wilson, the guiding light of Central Saint Martins and, by extension, guru of British fashion.
Maybe that's why what Kanye actually offered on the catwalk was such a surprise. He was keen to communicate that, as far as he was concerned, there was a couture level of workmanship in items that had taken three days to complete in the atelier he'd established in London. What we actually saw was something that looked like a baby Balmain vision of womenswear. The context was impeccable—soundtrack and staging exactly what you'd expect from someone whose 360-degree vision has been responsible for some of the best albums and concerts of the past decade. The clothes? Heavy might be the operative word: zippers in excelsis; suede and leather high-performance clothing; beading, crystals, and appliqué weighting jackets and tops. And more fur than you'd want on a night when the mercury hit the roof in Paris. It's kind of a cheap shot to go the trying-too-hard route with someone who is so undoubtedly passionate about what he is doing, but at the same time, it's frustrating that someone who seems to almost effortlessly realize his vaulting musical ambitions comes up short elsewhere, at least on the first attempt. Of course, what Kanye West is trying to achieve is unprecedented. There isn't a fashion designer alive who could match his music. But tonight's show suggests that conquering his new medium is a work in progress.
They were two of a surprising number of designers who turned out for Kanye: The presence of Azzedine Alaïa, Dean and Dan Caten, Olivier Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, and the Olsens sealed this evening's deal as a fashion event. Equally, they underscored the goodwill he had going into this. And Kanye himself was poignantly aware of the challenge. "The biggest hurdle I had to face is the celebrity designer or the hip-hop designer concept," he said backstage. But he had some major help in battling preconceptions. Among the people he bounced ideas off, he name-checked Kim Jones, Louise Goldin, Katie Eary, and Louise Wilson, the guiding light of Central Saint Martins and, by extension, guru of British fashion.
Maybe that's why what Kanye actually offered on the catwalk was such a surprise. He was keen to communicate that, as far as he was concerned, there was a couture level of workmanship in items that had taken three days to complete in the atelier he'd established in London. What we actually saw was something that looked like a baby Balmain vision of womenswear. The context was impeccable—soundtrack and staging exactly what you'd expect from someone whose 360-degree vision has been responsible for some of the best albums and concerts of the past decade. The clothes? Heavy might be the operative word: zippers in excelsis; suede and leather high-performance clothing; beading, crystals, and appliqué weighting jackets and tops. And more fur than you'd want on a night when the mercury hit the roof in Paris. It's kind of a cheap shot to go the trying-too-hard route with someone who is so undoubtedly passionate about what he is doing, but at the same time, it's frustrating that someone who seems to almost effortlessly realize his vaulting musical ambitions comes up short elsewhere, at least on the first attempt. Of course, what Kanye West is trying to achieve is unprecedented. There isn't a fashion designer alive who could match his music. But tonight's show suggests that conquering his new medium is a work in progress.
Here’s what the critics had to say about it over Twitter. Warning, it’s not pretty.
@CathyHorynNYT: Next season Kanye should get a tailor so clothes might fit. Models swimming in some looks. Kills the hot look, no?
@JessicaMichault: The Kanye West show, in my humble opinion, is proof that everyone can love fashion but not everyone can be a fashion designer.
and
I think that every one of the designers sitting in the front row at Kanye West must have had a deja vue moment at some point during the show
and
Kanye West taking his bow after his debut as a “designer.”
Kanye West acknowledges the applause of the audience after the Kanye West Ready to Wear Spring / Summer 2012 show during Paris Fashion Week at Lycee Henri IV on October 1, 2011 in Paris
source: style.comMiss Vogue: Parisienne | Vogue Paris October 2011 : Magdalena Frackowiak by Katja Rahlwes
Miss Vogue: Parisienne
Photographer: Katja Rahlwes
Stylist: Geraldine Saglio
Hair: Marion Anée
Makeup: Christelle Cocquet
Photographer: Katja Rahlwes
Stylist: Geraldine Saglio
Hair: Marion Anée
Makeup: Christelle Cocquet
Model: Magdalena Frackowiak
Kyle Anderson in Dolce & Gabbana Fur Vest
Kyle Anderson, senior accessories editor at ELLE magazine, was pictured at New York Fashion Week in a fur vest with a tuxedo collar from Dolce & Gabbana fall/winter 2011-2012.
'The Discipline of Fashion' | Vogue Italia September 2011 - Stella Tennant by Steven Meisel
The Discipline of Fashion
Photographer: Steven Meisel
Stylist: Karl Temper
Hair: Guido
Make -Up : Pat McGrath
Stylist: Karl Temper
Hair: Guido
Make -
The cover is sure to raise the eyebrows of many a reader. Vogue Italia was recently forced to apologise after publishing a story in which on-trend hoop earrings were called 'slave' earrings.
The contentious Vogue story read: 'If the name brings to the mind the decorative traditions of the women of colour who were brought to the southern United States during the slave trade, the latest interpretation is pure freedom.'
Ethel Granger
Sparking an international race row, the glossy magazine went on to release an apology, blaming a translation issue for the poor choice of word.
Ex-supermodel Iman condemned the racial gaffe, telling Fashionista:
'Is it controversial? Yes. The naming of it, I don’t get it. I sometimes wonder in this age of reality shows has it become part of the language - the more controversy the more [buzz] it creates.
'I didn’t like it. Slave does not make it ethnic. Mind you, it’s not lost in translation - the word slave, we know what it is.'
Certainly, Vogue Italia seems, like Granger, to be dedicated to the hoop earring - whether worn through the nose or otherwise.
The marvellously eccentric Granger experimented with looks that were way ahead of her time, variously sporting large tribal-style nose rings, cheek and lip studs and multiple earrings decades before it was common for women to even pierce their ear lobes.
Granger, who lived from 1905-1982, still holds the Guinness world record for smallest modified waist, clocking in at just 13-inches.
Ms Tennant's corset - not the most common wardrobe addition, by any standards - was made by Deborah Milner, although we can only guess that a hefty dose of digital modification went into making Ms Tennant's waist so impossibly miniscule.
Ms Tennant, 40, is a mother of four whose stellar career is partly attributed to early-career work with Mr Meisel.
As for featuring a 13-inch waist on its cover - in the name of art as it may well be - the magazine looks dangerously close to glorifying a ghoulishly skinny body, too.
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