Isabel Marant Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

After having shown her bestseller items with her H&M collection Isabel Marant was in for a (slight) change with her fall/winter 2014 collection. Don’t worry, there were still plenty of shoulder accentuated jackets, ethnic prints and bare legs at sight. Yet Marant took a little more risk, stepping away from the expected it-girl kinda creations. She, for instance, introduced new pants proportions (not skinny but slouchy this time) and gave her girls a boyish and almost a nerdy kind of look with her chunky grey knits, large overcoats, camouflage shades and careless styling. Oh and not to mention the shoes… woolen ankle boots, full of leather straps with a fur lining every now and then, which might just become next winter’s it-shoe. Perhaps Marant is slightly changing her focus onto a different kind of girl. But changes are her loyal fan base of hot, cool girls is just changing with her. She might just skip the new proportions and rock those fur vests, metallic military tops, super short skirts and overall inspired safari dresses like never before.

Christian Dior Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

After opening a brandstore in Amsterdam last month Dior made clear The Netherlands form a target market important enough to focus on. So Dutch actrice Carice van Houten being invited as a front row guest (next to Jessica Alba and Rihanna) at this afternoon’s show for the first time was no coincidence either. And if you ask whether those fall/winter ensembles looked suitable for the Dutch woman, the answer is yes. Raf Simons presented a colorful, well tailored, elegant and sophisticated collection women can actually wear (yes even while cycling to work, like us Dutchies do). There were deep colored, double breasted suits to hit the office in. Models wore chic woolen trenchcoats which had ¾ sleeves with long colored gloves. Simons sent out quilted, flared dresses, paired with flared scarves. Bright (fluo) dresses were worn over tank top dresses in a different color. Each and every single double breasted, pinstripe jacket paired with a shirt dress and bare legs looked super chic. Lace up going out dresses seemed elegant for women of any age. And the finale, existing of a number of floor sweeping sheer dresses worn over shorter simpler designs, had a fresh kind of coolness we’d sure like to try.

Lanvin Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Xtravagant, Xtreme, and Xperiment; it was a triple X collection for Lanvin. The extravagant part was visible through pleated leather, shiny satin and large amounts of fur. Among other creations a big fringed, flamenco tweed dress could pass for the extreme part. And overall Alber Elbaz seemed to have been experimenting with silhouettes, textures and.. fringes. Starting of pretty raw and edgy, the show turned more glamorous and sophisticated towards the finale of color blocked, fringed (of course) party dresses. Wide brimmed hats often covered the models’ fresh faces, chunky pieces of jewelry and tasseled leather bags truly made a statement as well. It all felt quite heavy shows on the runway, but seen in daylight, without the darkness of the show area and the extreme styling, there will be beautiful slip dresses, silk gowns and tweed skirt suits for that elegant Lanvin lady. Backstage Alber said he wanted to go back to the dream factory fashion once was all about. And a dream it was.. a fringed one, that is.

Balmain Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

“This time, the only travel I did was to myself, to my generation and to global ethnicities”, Olivier Rousteing stated backstage. And so we arrived in his jungle where models were more ethnically diverse than ever and it was all about camouflage colors (with a few pops of yellow and red) as well as animal prints. This wasn’t a regular safari, it was safari chic at it’s finest. Elaborating on his pre-fall collection (when he was talking about he was talking about a more all-inclusive Balmain—one that embraces different ethnicities and cultures) Rousteing introduced an army of pencil skirts, worn with peplum accents and statement khaki jackets. Without showing a lot of skin his models were super sexy rocking cargo pants and rigid leather jackets with large pockets. Robe details, metallic accents, colourful fur, statement (and we mean a real statement..) golden jewelery and a large focus on the waist made us all want to book a fall safari trip with Rousteing.

Please enjoy the pictures for now, our review will follow shortly.

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2014, Day 2

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that vintage Prada or your latest Givenchy-sweater? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Womenswear Fashion Week fall/winter 2014.

Balenciaga Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

The overall look and silhouette of the Balenciaga-collection was determined by a strong, rounded shoulder; architectural arcs and folds; slim pants, all with a vaguely futuristic feeling heightened by details such as zippers.

Alexander Wang worked his knitwear premise creatively, delivering it with casual panache and a touch of tough.

He opened with impressive wool coats and jackets, big, horizontal scuba-inspired zippers making for aggressive decoration on their backs. Over each of these he put a beaver “apron scarf” with an attached kangaroo pocket knitted from shoe-laces and rubber cording. Some coats came in a polyester jersey that aped cabled textures; others were knitted and fused to outer shells of latex or leather. Dresses were structured shifts, their graphic quotient intensified with bold zippered strips, a detail used on pants as well.

For evening he tweaked the sweater motif, bejeweling the arc with lavish encrustations of pearls. He paired it with pants and a satin knot-front bodice.

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2014, Day 1

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that vintage Prada or your latest Givenchy-sweater? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Womenswear Fashion Week fall/winter 2014.

Dries van Noten Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW20914

Dries van Noten not only presented his fall/winter 2014 collection in Paris, he also prepared an exhibition in the Museum des Arts Decoratifs. His fall collection was audacious and practical, making for powerful, chic-with-a-twist viewing. Op Art graphics and color-centric rave-culture inspired the Belgian designer.

One of Van Noten’s great strengths is his ability to control visually intense motifs, any apparent randomness is intentional. His swirls, overlapping triptych circles and broken-striped grids were applied with bravado executed oh-so-carefully. At times, he went for the contrast of the caustic-on-classic. At other times, he opted for full-on visual shock value. Undulating stripes were another interpretation.
Throughout, Van Noten integrated athletic references — jackets and pants with zippers and parachute details that stood in contrast to the collection’s more obviously polished fare. Either way, he kept his proportions ample, right down to the primary accessories: big, 3-D flowers.

Rochas Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

For his Rochas debut collection designer Alessandro Dell’Acqua ensured he made a true statement. He presented a ultra feminine collection full of voluminous skirts, coats and dresses. Beside elegance the looks breathed luxury too, visible through the rich materials (velvets, jacquards, brocades) and embroidered details, which popped up everywhere. In a sober color palette ranging from baby blue and pastel pink to burgundy, petrol, navy and gold Dell’Acqua introduced fluffy winter coats (in fact two of them worn at the same time), tassled over the knee skirts, woolen fifties dresses, crystal encrusted bodices, embellished blouses, peplum tops, patent leather jackets and a finale of stirdy floor sweeping gowns. To make the oversize silhouettes even more powerful he added bright leather beaded gloves. Dell’Acqua sure had no trouble expressing himself and with so many statement pieces neither will the Rochas woman come fall.

Our review will follow soon, meanwhile enjoy our images.

First View Milan Womenswear FW2014: New Understatement

 

There are alternative ways to make a woman look beautiful. We saw brave and masterful innovative cut and pattern-making, smart updating of traditional skins and silks and an intelligent play with shades and light. The outcome looks new, modern and understated – sophisticated elegance with a self-evident comfort and natural flair in shapes that are not all that natural. What we look at are complex drapes, mathematical mosaics, intelligent coupes and smart technical finishing.

Tomas Maier, for Bottega Veneta, called these fab outcomes “puzzles’ – simple silhouettes with clever nips, skilful pleats and intelligent trompe l’oeil illusions. Ending up to be comfortable dresses in a sensual cosmetic pallet, to make women feel good.

Alessandra Facchinetti for Tod’s found ways to use leather less like skin and more like fabric which leads to streamlined, modern, women friendly outfits in lacquered patent leather.

Where Bottega Veneta uses ‘puzzles’, Tod’s mentions ‘mosaics’, both as results of in-depth explorations of pattern-making. Their efforts are inventive, unorthodox and challenging classical tailoring standards.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

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