“Through Karl [Lagerfeld] is how I’ve known Chloé since I was a child,” said Natacha Ramsay-Levi, who selected six archival photographs and quotes representing the dearly departed designer’s 25 years at the brand and had them printed on postcards as mementos for every guest at Thursday morning’s show. “The clothes joined the personality of the woman rather than taking all the personality of a woman,” she said in praising Lagerfeld’s work, which was unstructured, weightless and totally feminine albeit of a different time. Her fall 2019 collection was less romantic romp than full gallop through the everyday wardrobe needs of today’s active women, featuring equestrian tailoring bent to a woman’s will. Chic without screaming so, it was all about wearability with considered details. Continue reading
Category Archives: BREAKING NEWS
ROCHAS COUTURE IN PARIS
Alessandro Dell’Acqua has been delving into the couture heritage of Rochas for a couple of seasons, as a form of antidote to the streetwear flooding luxury fashion. Or perhaps he was inspired by the launch of the house’s latest fragrance, Mademoiselle Rochas Couture, a bottle of which was placed on each seat.
For fall, he took the exploration in two directions. The first was fabric, with materials including a heavy speckled tweed, cloqué textures, and a jacquard covered in wool tufts that looked like tiny feathers. The second was cut, via trapeze and cocoon constructions that harked back to the heyday of post-war haute couture.
A roomy black collarless tweed coat was trimmed with a thick band of jet beads at the hem, while a pleated black cloqué skirt was worn with an oversize short-sleeved shirt in ultrafine glossy black leather. Elbow-length black gloves and skintight black leather over-the-knee boots gave the look dramatic bite.That edge was missing from some of the other outfits, like a duo of tent dresses in frothy tiered organza. Indeed, some teetered dangerously close to period costume, such as a hump-backed black skirt suit, topped with a saucer-like crinkled plastic hat by Stephen Jones. A striking silhouette, for sure. Wearable? Not so much. Continue reading
PATRICK McCARTHY DIES AT 67
Patrick McCarthy — who brought intelligence and wit to his former role as chairman and editorial director of Fairchild Fashion Group, overseeing WWD and W magazine — died Sunday after a short illness at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. He was 67 years old.
McCarthy was well-respected in the fashion industry and the newsroom for his brilliance, wicked sense of humor and gregarious personality. An intensely private person with dashing good looks, McCarthy kept a calm exterior and was adamant about getting the scoop and getting it right. He not only instilled in his journalists a sense of aggressiveness and purpose, but created a lively presence in the newsroom.
THE 2019 OSCARS BEST DRESSED
Lady Gaga in Alexander McQueen, 2019 Oscars
Charlize Theron in Dior Haute Couture, 2019 Oscars
Helen Mirren in Schiaparelli Couture, 2019 Oscars.
BOTTEGA VENETA
Daniel Lee’s debut at Bottega Veneta was one of the most awaited events of this season. The need to regain another authoritative voice in the Milanese fashion week is stronger than ever, and this show reassured the Italian institutions.
The creative director of the house from Vicenza perfectly did his job for two reasons. On one hand, he didn’t replicate word-for-word Phoebe Philo’s beloved Céline style, the house which was the last stage of the designer’s notorious background.
On the other hand, a buzzed-about show like Bottega Veneta added an important player that amped up the international interest in Milano Moda Donna. The result was good: a boost of modernity in the traditional techniques of leather manufacturing, a simplicity, both feminine and tough, made with biker jackets, pants and boots together with catchy glittered outfits or light layered tulle dresses. Continue reading
MAX MARA MILAN 2019
The fall collection was an exploration of some of them, including monochromatic dressing, statement coats in wider, shorter, boxier silhouettes, leggy skirts, and thigh-high Wonder Woman-worthy boots that recalled the Nineties, while managing to avoid falling into the too-retro trap.
The miniskirt looked fresh, especially in nylon with utility zipper details, and worn with a blouson top. So did the long trouser skirt under a bomber jacket. Reaching into the archives, Griffiths created prints from past designers’ sketches for the house, including one from the dearly-departed Karl Lagerfeld, who worked for Max Mara for two years in the Seventies. And while the idea was certainly dress to impress, he nodded to the comfort revolution with a sweatshirt with utility pouch detail, sensible belt bags and a renewed focus on knitwear in the same spirit as the brand’s snuggly coats, namely fuzzy, oversized sweaters and animal-patterned sweater dresses. Continue reading
ALBERTA FERRETTI MILAN 2019
KARL LAGERFELD DIES IN PARIS
One of the most influential and celebrated designer of the 21st century and an iconic, universal symbol of style. There are no words to express how much he will be missed.
Lagerfeld worked tirelessly until the end, giving instructions to his teams for the Fendi fall ready-to-wear collection, due to take place in Milan on Thursday. The only sign of his declining health was his failure to take a bow at Chanel’s recent couture show in January.
He was most closely associated with the French fashion house, where he was couturier since 1983, engineering one of the modern fashion industry’s first and most successful brand rejuvenations and propelling the fabled French name from near obscurity to the summit of international luxury.
Lagerfeld was also the creative force behind the furs and rtw at Fendi for more than half a century, of Chloé from the Sixties into the Nineties and of his signature fashion house, which encompassed everything from designer rtw to jeans and fragrance over the years. Continue reading
JW ANDERSON LONDON FASHION
SIMONE ROCHA LONDON 2019
Their head-held-high attitudes proved that Rocha’s collection of full-skirted belted coats and dresses isn’t meant only for girls.
Looking more closely at the clothes the organza see-through layers of trench coats, the bodices and bras caught in deshabille, the bloomers glimpsed in the back-views of skirts it was obvious that there was something deeper going on beneath the surface.
There was a something dark lurking within her research. The collection was an honoring of Rocha’s formative attachment to the work of Louise Bourgeois, whose themes in themselves were also a startlingly honest struggle between tenderness and sexuality, often expressed in fabrics and textiles. The spiderweb embroideries and prints Rocha used on her puffball coats and dresses were made in collaboration with the Louise Bourgeois Foundation. Continue reading
BLACK FAKE FOR GUCCI CEO
The Gucci ceo was in New York Wednesday evening for the Marvin Traub Lecture. What was meant to be an interview spanning his career and his tenure at Gucci became heavily dominated by talk of the fashion house’s recent faux pas a balaclava-style sweater that critics said evoked blackface.
“Gucci is often in the news for their extraordinary commercial success, but also for their commitments to communities around the world.
Explanation of what went wrong, telling the audience that the sweater was debuted at a February 2018 show, but “nothing happened” until it was recently linked to blackface on Twitter, which sparked the social media storm.
He admitted that when his team first told him about this, he didn’t know what they were talking about, which he puts down to ignorance on his behalf. Continue reading
MICHAEL KORS WINTER 2019 NEW YORK
THE RETURN OF THE PANTHER
Animal prints, like camo patterns, seem to be a style that will never completely wither away. They might go away for a while, come back unnoticed in subtle touches here and there, but eventually, they always resurface in full (visual) force. If the question comes up among editors or younger crowds, it is often mentioned that the look is overdone and not so subtle, by times associated with a style proudly boasted by lower and higher peripheries of a socio-economic spectrum. Continue reading
JOSEPH ABBOUD N.Y FASHION WEEK
Joseph Abboud (born May 5, 1950) is an American menswear fashion designer and author.Abboud was born in Boston, Massachusetts. The Abboud family was a working-class Lebanese Maronite Catholic family that started out in the South End of Boston, and later moved to Roslindale. Abboud’s father,Joseph worked in a candy factory and his mother, Lila, was a seamstress. He had one sister, Nancy Ash. On a trip to Australia, Abboud discovered that his great-grandfather had owned Australia’s largest canine-clothing company.
Abboud graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Boston in 1972, then studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he grew to love the sophisticated polish of European style. While in high school, he worked first for Thom McAn dyeing women’s shoes and then the Anderson-Little men’s store, where he sold suits. As a college student, he worked part-time at Louis Boston. Abboud stated: “Louis Boston was a huge part of my career. Continue reading
VOROZHBYT & ZEMSKOVA KIEV 2019
KIEV Continue reading
COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK
The appeal of the Copenhagen fashion girl, often found riding a colorful bicycle and sporting pearl-encrusted hair clips, is here to stay.
Apart from charming the world with their flair for candy colors, cozy decorating and quirky accessories, the Danes mean business: Pioneers in the contemporary category, they are experts at offering trendy, fuss-free pieces at what they refer to as; honest price points. Now, they are ready to shift up a gear.
Sustainability in Denmark is less marketing ploy and more a way of life, so when Copenhagen Fashion Week’s newly appointed chief executive officer Cecilie Thorsmark laid out her ambitious plan of turning the three-day showcase into the most sustainable international fashion week, she found that local and international brands were quick to align with her mission.
British label Mother of Pearl opened Copenhagen Fashion Week, which ran from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, with an intimate presentation of its seasonless, sustainably made range. Creative director Amy Powney said the growth of the brand in the Scandinavian market and customers; engagement with its sustainability mission encouraged her to get more involved. By showcasing a seasonless range, the idea was to make a statement that collections don’t need to be new to be exciting. Continue reading
DOLCE & GABBANA KNOCKOFFS IN CHINATOWN
In visiting a labyrinth of malls in Flushing, Queens New York City’s largest Chinatown we find various dresses imitating Dolce’s Sicilian-homemaker after-midnight attitude as well as knockoffs of its signature logo.
This just two months after remarks about Chinese culture were posted on social media by designer Stefano Gabbana that many Chinese found insulting and forced the abrupt cancellation of the brand’s fashion show planned in Shanghai. In the time since, blue-chip Chinese retailer Lane Crawford has dropped the label, while numerous high-profile Chinese celebrities have pledged to never again purchase or promote the brand. Continue reading
SORBIER POETRY AND HAUTE COUTURE
Poetry and Haute Couture are the highlights of Franck Sorbier presentation, the unique and exclusive Paris Fashion show and those who attended belong to the Paris intelligentsia.
The fashion poet, who is on the edge of exceptional creation, reinvents the Haute couture at each collection, to the extent that large fashion companies such as Dior or Karl at Chanel’s copy the Fashion show process and has dictated to the other fashion designers.
Tenacity and passion can overcome any financial obstacles – to note that today Franck Sorbier is the only designer to realize himself his collection of Haute Couture, without having to call for dressmakers.
The others draw their collection and then give what they have conceived to dressmakers named in France “petites mains”. I must say that it is very sad not to even participate in the manufacture of its creations and being able to feel the material in his hands. Continue reading
VUITTON A BILLION EURO BABY
LVMH reported fourth-quarter sales of 13.7 billion euros, painting a picture of resilience and offering a measure of reassurance to investors fretting about Chinese luxury consumption as economic uncertainty looms. Profit from recurring operations for the full year hit a new milestone, jumping 21 percent to top the 10 billion euro mark and meeting analyst forecasts. Continue reading
COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK 2019
Running Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, the first edition under Thorsmark’s aegis, and the second since the event became an entity independent of the Global Fashion Agenda (formerly the Danish Fashion Institute), will host 26 runway shows and five presentations during the four-day event, the final being dedicated to the capital’s trade shows, CIFF and Revolver.
Copenhagen Fashion Week is fast approaching, and has its sights firmly set on becoming Europe’s most sustainable fashion week under the new leadership of CEO Cecilie Thorsmark. Continue reading
GUO PEI DRAGON-NISSIMO
Guo Pei took to the temple, allowing her imagination to roam a spiritual safe haven of palatial proportions. With elaborate craftsmanship as the driving force, the designer offered a wide-ranging futuristic and Gothic-infused lineup, part warrior princess, part illustrious queen.
An unusual experiment with waders came at the start of the show, covered in golden-hued dragons and hanging open at the thigh to reveal a pair of bright blue HotPants. On top, more skin, with tasseled shoulder armor leaving an exposed bellybutton.
The complexity of her pieces can be overwhelming, even if they’re sent down the runway at a snail’s pace affording time for a good look. Models were perched on towering platform shoes architectural pieces, too, like the garments.
Her dragons were everywhere, hailing from the Han dynasty, which had them slim and masterful at transforming themselves as was the clothing.
In an example of her East-meets-West aesthetic, Guo embellished a colorful tweed with large, randomly placed rhinestones, and used it to build one of the wider pieces, overlaying a body-fitting bustier.
YANINA COUTURE PARIS 2019
CHAKRA L’HOMME QUI AIME LES FEMMES
BRUNO SIALELLI NEW DESINER AT LANVIN
Lanvin has appointed Bruno Sialelli artistic director, signaling new direction for the historic French house. “His singular and very personal vision, his audacity, his culture, his energy and ability to build a strong creative team definitely convinced us,” said Lanvin chief executive officer Jean-Philippe Hecquet.
The Fosun Fashion Group-owned label cited the designer’s “youthful translation” of its storied heritage along with his ability to navigate between men’s and women’s wear among reasons for settling on the designer in a process that involved an “incredible array” of candidates for the position.The former Loewe men’s wear designer worked under the direction of J.W. Anderson. He has also worked at Balenciaga, with Nicolas Ghesquière and Alexander Wang, as well as Acne Studios, where he was the senior designer for women’s wear, and Paco Rabanne. Continue reading