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.

Fashion Week is vaporised!

It’s bye bye to Paris and a farewell to another season of fashionshows. We will post our round-up soon. First we take some time to recover and catch up with our families. Thanks for visiting our blog during the shows!

Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

For Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs presented a collection with a disco-chic vibe. Like in his Marc Jacobs show we saw lots of vibrant colors with a lot of extra’s added to the mix. There were fringes, glitters, animal and floral prints.

He gave the collection a bit of an oriental feeling by adding shiny Eastern-inspired designs. Besides animal prints he also had images of panda’s and giraffes on the clothes. Plus two large tiger were placed on stage.

It was quite a change compared to the neat and sober fifties-inspired looks from last season, but it was again something new. And we’re quite sure some new trends will be picked up from this collection and become a major hit next summer.

Elie Saab Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

It was back to the seventies at Elie Saab, like we’ve seen on so many other runways this season. The designer tried to catch the  the wild nights of Studio 54 with a lineup that was long on jersey, chiffon, sequins and platform sandals. Michel Gaubert’s soundtrack of Rolling Stones, Blondie, and Diana Ross tunes worked hard to add some sizzle to the show. ,

Alexander McQueen Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

It was the first McQueen collection former assistant Sarah Burton had made on her own and she did a great job.

She presented a collection inspired by Mother Earth that was slightly lighter than we are used to from McQueen himself. Burton showed baroque-details, golden embroideries, high collars and pointy shoulders

Colorful prints in orange and ochre were combined with black and white. There were lots of sheer designs and many creations had nature influences, like leafs, feathers, peacock feathers and wheat.

The hair of the models was done in a special way; it was braided like a woven basket and looked stunning.

After the show everyone was enthusiastic, even the photographers thought it was a perfect McQueen show. So, job wel done Burton, McQueen would be proud.

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