Highlights Milan Fashion Week SS2011

With the beginning of Milan Fashion Week the colorblocking started too. All big Italian fashion houses were in the mood for brightness. It started off with Gucci, then Prada, Missoni and Jil Sander followed.

It also became clear that the clothes were becoming more and more comfortable. The silhouettes were elongated and looser than before, the heels less high. That is, perfect clothes to lounge in next summer.

Oh, and one other trend: fringes and tassels as details on any possible item; dresses, bags, tops, hats, shoes, skirts and jackets. Major!

Gucci
The Gucci show was a great example of colorblocking to the max. The models looked glamorous from head to toe in their colorful designs, perfect leather pieces, shiny accents and numerous items with playful tassels. Like Marc Jacobs’s show in New York Gianni opted for a seventies vibe too. Yet the outfits of the sexy Gucci ladies were a bit more body-tight.

Jil Sander
Seemed to continue the colorblocking vibe the brand had launched during it’s menswear show in June. Simons used green, pink, yellow, violet and orange in one outfit and called it ‘a mille-feuille of color’. There were a lot of stripes too. The first few looks were made of large, floor-sweeping skirts and white tees. They made the models appear larger than life, but still looked elegant. We were impressed.

Bottega Venata
No colors at Bottega Veneta, but shades of black, white and grey. The silhouette was very loose letting the body shape almost completely disappear. Items like shirt dresses and suits made gave the collection a manly touch, without becoming less elegant. A great wearable collection from look 1 to look 41.

Roberto Cavalli
At Cavalli we celebrated forty years of an amazing, glamorous fashion house. Cavalli held a great show and a just as impressive after party. His spring/summer collection, which he presented in an area full of gigantic tropical leaves, was revealing and sexy. He came up with croc and python jackets and dresses with fringes all over the place. A perfect glamazone collection with all the right Cavalli ingredients.

Prada

Colorblocking, banana & monkey prints, stripes and Mexican hats, that is Prada SS2011 in a nutshell. Miuccia herself called the collection brave, bold and obvious. And only a designer like herself would be able to pull off some of these looks. The designs were often over the top, but there’s no doubt Prada will set some new trends for summer.The show immediately became everyone’s favorite and surely was one of the highlights of Milan Fashion Week.

Streetfashion Toronto Fashion Week ss2011 Day 3

The shows are not over yet. After New York, Milan and Paris we were curious what you would wear during Toronto Fashion Week. Our streetwear-photographer Jon Loek – based in Toronto – caught the streetvibe and spotted the fashionable and young in Canada’s most trendy city. Fashion and style are everywhere, we don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy looking at you and what you wear….

Toronto Fashion Week Impressions Day 2

The second day of LG Toronto Fashion Week labels like Pink Tartan, Jessica Jensen/Alexander Berardi and Line Knitwear were on the calendar.

Pink tartan is a true Canadian brand co-founded  by Kimberley Newport-Mimran. The label is a reflection of Kimberley’s personal style: pretty, polished, and elegant. As a contemporary woman with impeccable style, she always wanted to design beautifullymade, practical clothes that can take women from day to dinner.

Jessica Jensen is a Canadian handbag label. The collection combines luxurious Italian leathers, handcrafted workmanship, unique detailings and seasonal hues creating designs that are both timeless and fresh. For Spring Summer 2011, Jessica Jensen is proud to collaborate with New York designer, Alexander Berardi on an exclusive collection of limited edition handbags. He also presented a selection of his ss 2011 ready to wear.

Combining their distinct confidence in style and appreciation for simplicity, long-time friends John Muscat and Jennifer Wells recognized the need to revolutionize the face of knitwear in hopes to produce quality knits that accommodate both practicality and style. A timeless staple for any woman, Line exudes feminine class and luxury while identifying the need for comfort and ease.

Streetfashion Toronto Fashion Week ss2011 Day 2

The shows are not over yet. After New York, Milan and Paris we were curious what you would wear during Toronto Fashion Week. Our streetwear-photographer Jon Loek – based in Toronto – caught the streetvibe and spotted the fashionable and young in Canada’s most trendy city. Fashion and style are everywhere, we don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy looking at you and what you wear….

Highlights London Fashion Week SS2011

Though for years London Fashion Week was left aside a bit by the media, with the return of Burberry to the British capital that is changing. More and more brands want to show their new collections during London Fashion Week. And why shouldn’t they? London has a lot to offer and has quite a lot talent. London fashion is very hip and funky and really stands out in its own way.

Some of our favorite shows we saw in London were Matthew Williamson (who will be launching a new line soon), Burberry and Christopher Kane. We loved the colors and the special prints. We were blown away by the setting of the Erdem show and of course we’re very proud of the Dutch sisters of label Spijkers en Spijkers which is a big success in London too.

Matthew Williamson
For spring Matthew Williamson designed for a girl marooned on a desert island. The girl’s wardrobe had lots of nature-inspired shades (and prints) in it like khaki, beige and sand. The clothes, safari blouses and cargo pants, seemed perfect for the jungle as well. Yet Williamson managed to keep his collection feminine and city chic by adding corset-bodies and sheer airy fabrics.

Christopher Kane
‘Neon gets me going’, he said backstage. And we sure could see that. The Christopher Kane show was full of fluor fashion. Fashion-forward bright shades of green, pink, orange an yellow were used for more classic outfits. Like a sophisticated jacket of floral-printed lace of an Argyll-printed vest with matching top and skirt. Together with the funky prints, he introduced during the second half of the show, it felt like a very fresh new collection.

Paul Smith
We loved the Paul Smith collection, because his girls looked very tough and edgy. And even though they were wearing very manly clothes (suit jackets, blouses and ties), they looked sexy as hell. Highlight of the show were the sheer shirt dresses, the floral prints and the skirts combined with sweaters. Great styling!

Burberry
Burberry of course kicked of London fashion week with a dazzling show. The brand showed tough leather jackets combined with bright colors and tight leather pants. We would love to have every single studded jacket. And despite the staggering models in the super-high heels the show was perfection.

Peter Pilotto
Since it has become their trademark for their new collection Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos of course used digital printing. Only this time they took it to another level designing silk-screen prints and making them look three-dimensional. It looked spectacular on the lady-like dresses they’d designed. The Pilotto woman seemed to have grown up; changing her cocktail party dresses for column gowns and mid-calf skirts. Yet she’s keeping her sexiness and still feels comfortable. How wonderful.

Toronto Fashion Week Impressions Day 1

The LG fashion week in Toronto just took off. Yesterday department store Holt Renfrew presented their selection of interesting labels. Jon Loek went backstage.

For more information: www.lgfashionweek.ca

Streetfashion Toronto Fashion Week ss2011 Day 1

The shows are not over yet. After New York, Milan and Paris we were curious what you would wear during Toronto Fashion Week. Our streetwear-photographer Jon Loek – based in Toronto – caught the streetvibe and spotted the fashionable and young in Canada’s most trendy city. Fashion and style are everywhere, we don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy looking at you and what you wear….

Highlights New York Fashion Week SS2011

The New York Fashion Week was a good start of a whole new fashion season. It was the first time the fashion week was held on it’s new location: Lincoln Centre, but the fashion crowd seemed to like it. For the ones who’ve missed it here we discuss the highlights of New York Fashion Week.

A week full of contradictions; from minimalistic to over-accessorized,  from collections full of neutral shades to big color parades and from the seventies to the future. Yet one thing the collections had in common was the fact that the clothes overall looked very wearable. So goodbye to the ultra-tight skirts and tops and hi to the loose, long dresses.

Marc Jacobs
One of the most memorable collections was that of Marc Jacobs. With his seventies inspired disco-chic clothes he set a new trend, which we all loved immediately. The colors (burgundy, amber, coral pink, Byzantine, bright maroon) looked lovely together and created exactly the right mood for the show. Marc paid attention to every little detail and the big flowers, the hats and the sunglasses felt like the perfect summer accessories. After the fifties-inspired collection he had just designed for Louis Vuitton this seventies collection is bound to become just as big of a hit.

Calvin Klein
The Calvin Klein show like last season was very minimalistic. Francisco Costa again opted for clean cuts and a minimal amount of colors. Though he didn’t surprise us with this collection, he stayed true to his winning formula. Besides there were at least seven Dutch models walking in the show, so we couldn’t possible be any more proud (some of the girls are already named as the New Faces of this season)

Rodarte
For next summer the sisters Mulleavy created a collection full of hand crafted creations inspired by their native Northern California and its redwood forests. There were leaves and tree-trunk prints in any possible shade of brown you could think of. Yet there were also blue and white checks and prints from porcelain antique vases. The collection Laura and Kate had designed, was different then we’d expected, yet we loved every piece of it.

Phillip Lim
Every fashion-city has its darlings. In New York Phillip Lim is one of them. The reason for that? He makes beautiful clothes, which woman can actually afford to buy. For spring/summer Lim showed a luxurious collection. He played around with a puzzle concept en used a lot of sheer fabrics. Together with a beautiful neutral color palette and some menswear tailoring that resulted in one of the best Lim collections we’ve seen so far.

Alexander Wang
As one of the first big brands to show during NYFW Alexander Wang kicked off a new fashion season. And he did so in a great way. His girls looked street-wise and tough in their white-shaded garments, influenced by painters’ overalls. We loved the way he used his parachute silk and the shades of mint and terracotta he added. We’re sure there will be more women wanting to wear these clothes, besides the models off duty Wang designs for.

Tommy Hilfiger
The Tommy Hilfiger collection was actually not very new or special. It was just a good combination of all the Hilfiger items we’ve seen before. The reason Hilfiger is one of our highlights however, has to do with the fact that the designer celebrated the 25th anniversary of his label. He held a big party at the Metropilan Opera and invited great American celebs like Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker. We say: on to the next 25 years!

Miu Miu Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

Miuccia Prada ended the Paris Fashion Week with a Miu Miu collection inspired by becoming famous. The soundtrack of the show was from American Idol, there was a red painted dance floor and the models wore colorful design + heavy make-up.

The color palette had shades of silver, gold, red, blue and yellow in it.  Feminine dresses had pleated bottoms ended just on the knee. They were worn with a small belt to accentuate the waist. Everything looked a bit over the top, but with a theme like this it should.

Besides bright color Miuccia created prints with snakes, swans, exotic lotus flowers and stars referring to the Sunset Strip. By putting on one of these dresses you might not immediately become world-renown, but at least you will look famous.

Hermès Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

It was the last collection Jean Paul Gaultier designed for Hermès and it was a good one. The show started by horses galloping through the show area bringing up Hermes’ heritage.

Again lots of (broad brimmed) hats and lots of leather. Yet this time in a softer color palette of camel, sand, beige and cognac, which immediately turned the masculine suits in more feminine clothing.

The pants were loose and long, the jackets had accentuated shoulders. Pieces of leather tied around the waist resembled corsets, but still looked tough.

Every look was timeless and perfectly lived up to the house’s name.

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