10 things id kiss about you

Monday, 31 October 2011

Imaginative and contemporary awareness are the words, which in short, epitomize Steffie Christiaens’s work. Through experimenting and observing the world around her, Steffie creates striking garments that altogether capture the metamorphoses of “Mother Nature.”

Steffie grew up in a little village in the south of the Netherlands. As the place was so remote, far from sophistication and modernism, Steffie started contemplating and amusing herself with the elements of nature around her at quite an early age. She became intrigued by its natural, organic and distorted phenomena, which together felt inspiring and adventurous.

As a teenager, she began photographing “the changes in the seasons and the sky” and would build 3D shapes out of wood and metal to set them and picture them in the wild. One day, while filming a cherry tree covered with netting, she finally came to realise her “elemental inspiration.” Steffie says that from growing up in the countryside, she realised that one can find influences everywhere in the world, “it doesn’t have to be enormous or beautiful.” A few years later, those inspirations evolved into a design process where the arts meet fa

High School and travelling made her want to explore more. Steffie applied to ArtEZ, Academy of Visual Arts in Arnhem, Netherlands where she was trained in the fields of fabric design, 3D construction and printing. On graduating in 2008, she then moved to Paris for a postgraduate diploma at IFM, Institut Français de la Mode. Above her strong personal sentiment towards the city of Paris, Steffie says her love for the fashion houses based there was a strong motivation. And when Steffie sets herself some goals, she seems pretty good at reaching them...

Between 2007 and 2010 Steffie successively became ‘collection assistant’ at Maison Martin Margiela (2007) and Atelier Balenciaga (2009 - 2010), and collaborated in the design of a shoe collection with Louis Vuitton in 2008. In the meantime, she was also selected as a finalist at the prestigious Hyères festival in France and produced a short silent movie ‘Deliquesce’ in conjunction with the launch of her website. In 2010, Steffie Christiaens established her studio in Paris and managed to get her label represented by TOTEM, one of the leading young designer Press Offices in Paris. The young designer then went on to hold her first runway collection at the Monnaie de Paris in March 2011 during the official ready-to-wear AW1112 schedule.

The collections “personify” the asymmetry of nature and the movement of wind, water and fire. The clothes are indeed conceptual, body conscious and rather fluid with somewhat of a futuristic twist. The colour palette is deep, contrasting with very light, nude tones. So far, the shades range from charcoal, dark purple, piercing blue to delicate creams and powdery ash. Alongside with cashmere and silk, Steffie tailors with luxury materials such as exotic skins, crocodile and nubuck python. Her intuitive approach to the human body is definitely reflected in her provocative, wavy but at the same time, sharp silhouettes. The construction of the garments is also definitely technical. Talking about her dream and given her successful debut in the fashion industry, Steffie remains utterly down to earth considering her young age: “I would love to create an appreciated fashion house, achieved with the people with whom I’m working with closely. Together with them I would love to fulfill the desire of bringing every season a new collection that satisfies the expectations of the people who wear my clothes.”

Dress made from yak nipples that shocked London Fashion Week

A BRIT designer has been slammed as “sick” after her show at London Fashion Week included dresses made from yaks’ NIPPLES.

Models wearing Rachel Freire’s creations – fashioned from 3,000 nipples – paraded down the catwalk at Somerset House on Monday.

The 32-year-old designer – who has worked with stars such as Christina Aguilera and Courtney Love – said she was excited about the two dresses and bras made up from body parts given to her by a tannery.

The controversial show also included an elaborate bra made from protruding nipples.

But animal rights campaigners and MPs lined up to attack the Liverpool-born designer.

Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock told The People he found the bizarre items “wholly inappropriate and disturbing”.

And Labour MP Kerry McCarthy blasted: “It seems to me absolutely grotesque. I think most people will find it sickening and repulsive.”

Justin Kerswell of animal rights organisaton Viva joined said: “Isn’t the way we treat farmed animals bad enough without turning their dead bodies into a runway freakshow?”

But Freire – who is preparing to exhibit at Paris Fashion Week – defended her clothes. She said: “They really make you aware of the animal itself.

“I create fashion using material that would otherwise end up on the scrap heap.

“What I am doing is recycling. The people criticising are clearly clueless about the amount of leather wasted on a daily basis."

LONDON NOT SO BONKERS ANYMORE

London's reputation as the home of bonkers fashion may be on the slide. After a week in which British design talent has embraced bright colour and pattern, the capital of print might be a more accurate description.

At Mary Katrantzou's show, it become clear that London, more than any other of the fashion cities, – New York, Paris, Milan – now owns print. Throughout the week many of London's most talented designers, including Jonathan Saunders and Peter Pilotto, produced heavily printed collections. Even the trenchcoat maestros Burberry featured bold African prints.

Katrantzou is not a name that is well known away from the bubble of the fashion industry, but the Greek-born designer is already hugely influential even though her label is just three years old.

Despite never wearing anything other than black herself, Katrantzou's collections always use explosive colour. In previous shows the designer – who once studied architecture – has used ornate interiors, Ming vases, and Fabergé eggs as inspirations, to unique effect.

Before the show started, it looked as if flowers, specifically carnations, were to be the basis of her explosive prints. A carpet of red, yellow and pink carnations, planted neatly in blocks of colour, dominated the centre of the catwalk. Sure enough, carnation prints that looked almost hyper-real featured in the show and were best on a beautiful stiffened trouser suit.

This was not some retro flower-power suit; this was a modern piece of tailoring with a powerful and unexpected print.

Other motifs that featured in the collection – some obvious, some pixellated – included fish, plumage and coral reefs.

But it was not just nature that inspired the designer – industrial materials also figured in the show.

The skirt of one dress was constructed from hundreds of crushed tin cans and car parts.

Backstage after the show, Katrantzou commented on the American artist John Chamberlain, whose sculptures are created from crushed steel and old cars. "I wanted to make metal beautiful in the same way that flowers are," she explained.

Roksanda Ilincic is a label that was once little known beyond the fashion industry but which has recently received a boost as a result of being worn by Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron. In Ilincic's collection , featuring hot colours such as saffron and fuchsia, there was evidence of some first lady pandering. A couple of the designer's more muted and less dramatic dresses looked destined for a certain No 10 closet. But it is rather unlikely that Ilincic's newest catwalk accessory – a couture-style beanie hat knitted from thick strands of raw-edged silk – will segue easily into Cameron's wardrobe, even with her best fashion ambassadorial will in the world.

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

IZMAYLOVA

Ever checked out the Izmaylova website? No? Well you should. The motion graphics are of clouds, as if you’re travelling through them like a pilot flying his plane. There are also statistics in the right hand corner of the destination you ‘wish’ to travel to. There is a choice of Moscow, London and Paris. Why those three cities? Well, the two creative forces behind Izmaylova, Antonina Izmaylova and Nathaneal Gam, hail from Moscow and Paris, and now have a common habitual ground of London. So there you have it, locations and bearings indentified.

So what brought this pair, who are separated by 4,100 miles, together? Was it fate, destiny, serendipity? It’s slightly simpler than that, it’s just two individuals who share the same creative vision to constitute modern luxury. Perhaps you could call it destiny, if you take into account that Antonina’s graduate collection at Central Saint Martin’s was what merged her vigor with Nathaneal’s, who is accountable for International Relations and promoting British Fashion Worldwide within the British Fashion Council.

Antonina has been compelled to textures and the perfect silhouette of the female form since a young age, which are reminiscent of trips to stylish boutiques accompanying her mother. Her forte is not only in fashion; she also possesses qualifications in Art, Sculpture and History. Whilst Parisian Nathaneal, continues to drive his ambition to develop Izmaylova into a luxury lifestyle group, all whilst protecting their image, beliefs and principles.

Upon realizing they shared the same ideals, objectives and dreams, the idea for ‘Izmaylova’ was conceived. A trip to Florence helped fortify their intention of wanting to translate a feeling of desire and emotion through fashion. They drew stimulation from Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’, Michelangelo & Leonardo da Vinci at the Uffizi Gallery and adhered to the idea of art inspiring fashion.

Their latest campaign for AW10/11 is aptly named ‘Edge of Darkness’, though I don’t think they are referring to the lack of seasonal sunshine. “Set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world, far beyond the realm of our imagination. This is a journey beyond fashion, as it exists in the present, taking the customer into an extraordinary experience. Fashion and craftsmanship teleported through time to a parallel universe; where the iconic woman is finally fashioned into ultimate perfection; a fusion between tough independence and ladylike poise.”

This correlates well to their resolute ambition and a good understanding of commerce, “One of the dreams we had was to redefine what is considered luxury. Luxury is about being subtle it is not about being overt rather the detailing and finish the garment should speak for itself” says Izmaylova. “We’re influenced by a new era with a distinctive futuristic sensibility, grandeur, grace and careful attention to detail” and these are all evident in this new Russian inspired luxury brand. Well there’s always Louis Vuitton and Fendi should you need something with a brash logo, I suppose.

They don’t believe in one-hit wonders that are relentlessly duplicated by the high street either “The brand epitomizes a combination of couture expertise and wearable elegance in a graceful style that is made to last. Using only the finest materials, each piece of IZMAYLOVA is hand crafted to the highest standard, every detail gently completed by our skilled couturiers. Delicate in design and completed with longevity, IZMAYLOVA garments are timeless pieces that can be treasured for years to come.”

You could look at this as an anti-thesis to the status of ‘fashion’ and ‘trends’ today. There is such a fast turnaround of what is available at our disposal now; that the sentiment of buying something that lasts is now a distant memory. And hey, if you didn’t catch it the first time around, surely there will be something similar next season?

Designers don’t only bring out main season collections, there are the ‘cruise’ collections, the collections ‘for when it’s kind of sunny, but not quite rainy, but you definitely need a coat’ collections...and in the midst of all this, Izmaylova offer something that maybe, just maybe you could pass down to generations after you. This craftsmanship is not to be discarded to the back of your wardrobe after approximately 6.5 weeks, it’s the kind you store in acid-free tissue inside moth proof bags, and bring out to wear again and again. Imagine the complimentary mints you receive after a rich, heavy meal where you probably indulged in excess, and now let’s revel in the refreshment the fashion world has been craving for a very long time.

ole yde

Reincarnating classic femininity and shedding some monochromatic light on the elegant woman, Ole Yde has me positively salivating with his distinctive fashion-meets-18th century-art-in-a-dark-Danish-fable aesthetic…

Born out of a “dream of attempting to bring back the gentle, strong and above all elegant woman” Yde is the industry’s unhinged, dream designer, sending the world of apparel into a modern-romance tailspin.

From polar ends of the fashion spectrum, Yde has been representing the extremes of Danish fashion since 2005, churning out demi-couture juxtaposed with clothes for every woman, causing a mass breakout of contagious excitement with each innovative collection.

It’s always been a rocky road for fashion and fantasy, but Yde has easily smoothed the path and lead the way for an ultra-modern, ultra-sophisticated union of reality and the fantastical. When the Dane designs, it’s about more than just clothes. There’s a multitude of twisted yet tantalizing universes created in relation to each collection, generating a unique fashion fusion of nostalgic retro with a contemporary spark.

Focusing on elements of history and tradition could be a recipe for fashion regurgitation disaster, but not when Ole Yde is at the wheel, steering the brand above and beyond the realms of convention. “The goal is not to make a nostalgic copy of the past, but to have the light of the past shine upon both the present and the future.” Whether it’s a fur-stoled moll in her gangsters sharply tailored jacket and oversized velvet trilby, a vulnerable private eye in a sleeveless skirt-suit, or a femme fatale in a sensuous silk evening gown, there’s always a character straight from a storybook with an elaborate Yde twist. Standing up against the trend bullies with seasonless creations, Yde has filled a void in womenswear, turning the banal humdrum of tanks and t-shirts into untamed silhouettes and matchless intricities.

But it’s not all enigmatic film noir inspiration and folk tale musings. There’s timeless staples, clean lines and empowering precision tailoring too. And with a boutique as unconventional as his label, a collaboration with Georg Jensen and an Illum Design Award under his career belt there’s seemingly no end to the Copenhagen resident’s talent.

Exceptionally minimal or extremely complicated, Yde is bringing femininity to the forefront of fashion in an elaborate couture manner – think Marlene Dietrich glamour meets Marie Antoinette promiscuity in an enchanted forest after dark. An uncompromising pallet of black and white might intimidate most multihue enthusiasts, however, elaborate embellishment, exquisite draping and splashes of brushed gold and burnt orange are enough to penetrate the gloom. With bordering-on-fetish leathers, dangerous micro-mini’s and sensuous sheer blouses, the fairytale king has proved that femininity doesn’t stop at twee and fantasy doesn’t have to look like Alice in Acidland.

Long live the king!

NEW designers on the scene

i started trying to scout out new up and coming designers from all over the world to see where this post post modernism is going. i found a few designers i thought where worth mentioning :)

first is CHARLIE MAY

Charlie May is one of the new breed of fashion all-rounders. She is a designer/blogger hailing from Devon who does photography on the side. At just 23 years old, Charlie has achieved what many young fashion commentators aspire to- writing a successful blog, being photographed by fashion press for her personal style and launching her first collection. Her style,designs and work ethic are all something i found great about charlie. She is definitely inspired by the 1990s and the huge minimal thing with Helmut Lang and Calvin Klein which is still filtering through and evolving. Also by Ann Demeulemeester and her very clean line, long silhouette and layering. Colour isnt a important factor in her designs, when you keep colour simple it shows off the design more.

Thursday, 1 September 2011

COUNTDOWN