Armani Prive Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Bad news for the brown-, black- and red-haired models who wanted to walk in Armani’s couture show. The Italian designer chose to work only with blonde models this time. He gave them all a classic and feminine look, with a business touch.

The girls wore Armani classics; skirts at a decent knee-length and perfectly tailored jackets. One black croco leather jacket with a waist belt worn over it looked stunning.

The theme of the collection was ‘A play on amber’. This was visible in the large wooden and amber brooches Armani put on his jackets. They were the perfect classic accessory and really made the looks work.

For evening Armani brought on the floor sweeping dresses, mostly in brown and beige like the rest of this couture collection. They all flared out form the bust down. Armani used some gorgeous draping on the dresses. He played with materials like tweed and cashmere. And he ended the show with some mermaid dresses covered in thousands of shiny sequins.

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Jean Paul Gaultier’s couture collection was all about proportions. The designer accentuated the shoulders and the waists of his designs and therefore made his models look super feminine. His shoulders were not highlighted like on a regular eighties dress, they had extra (thick) fabric and even fur on them which was placed on a big part of the sleeves.

All models wore hat sculptures, which, regardless of their crazy shape, looked quite elegant.

The collection was an obvious fall/winter collection; lots of leather, lots of fur and lots of black. There were a few outfits in remarkable colors though, like a bright green dress, a yellow (almost neon) one and a purple jumpsuit.

With a few looks Jean Paul Gaultier was reminiscing his previous success items. He for instance emphasized the boobs and buts of one outfit by placing a cone of black mink on them to remind us of his already unforgettable cone bra moment.

The whole collection felt very Parisian chic; the models looked sexy and feminine. Dita von Teese’s appearance was the perfect match for this kind of fashion show. The burlesque artist walked the catwalk twice in a detailed lingerie look to promote the upcoming lingerie line of JPG and La Perla.

Chanel Haute Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

The setting of the Chanel Couture show was a round stage on which a huge bronze Lion was standing. Getting the lion inside of the area must have been just as hard as it was with the iceberg, cause it was HUGE! The lion’s front paw was resting on what looked like a giant pearl. From out of that ball Lagerfeld’s models appeared.

The girls made a tangled impression; their hair was messy and most times was hanging all in front of their faces. The clothes on the contrary were flawless. Karl Lagerfeld designed many typical Chanel suits. They were made out of tweed, camel, velvet and many other thick autumn fabrics. The focus was often on the sleeves; those were loose and had pleats.

Karl also played with his jackets; he let his models wear short jackets over long ones and made them look like a one-piece. His skirts were all at knee-length or longer and were often wide like the skirts at the latest Louis Vuitton show. The waists of the outfits were small.

All creations came in shades like maroon, brown, camel and navy. They were highlighted by gold details;  embroideries, sequins and beadings. Eye-catching bracelets and golden boots completed the gorgeous looks.

And we sure hope that big lion was a sign of Karl Lagerfeld saying ‘Holland is going to win the World Cup’. We’ll see about that on Sunday.

Ps. This week rumours were spread about Lagerfeld appearing on Gossip Girl any time soon. Since Blake Lively and Leigthon Meester from that serie attented the Chanel show we think it’s not going to be long before we see Karl on TV.

Christian Dior Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

John Galliano kicked of the haute couture fashion week with a ‘flowerful’ collection. His creations were based on the most exotic flowers. They had outstanding shapes (resembling the shapes of famous flowers) and gorgeous colors (yellow, purple, cobalt blue, turquoise and red).

To stress the floral theme large flowers were the backdrop of this couture show. Plus, the model’s heads were packed in colorful plastic, like bouquets.

Galliano came up with his designs after studying real flowers for hours and hours. He for instance watched the light change on a tulip, which resulted in some stunning shades and a few amazing degrade effects.

Galliano paid attention to every details of his couture gowns. The ruffles, the feathers, the pleats and the lovely volume of his dresses were all close to perfection.

On the night of the next big gala event, Blake Lively, Jessica Alba, and Lou Doillon, who attended the show, will be fighting over these smoking hot couture creations.

Jan Taminiau Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Next week we will have to miss him at the Amsterdam Fashion Week. But this week Jan Taminiau gave his audience in Paris a good look at his great couture collection.

His latest work seemed to be an homage to and a reflection of couture. No mass fashion but craftsmanship and attention and love for qualitative goods are the things Jan Taminiau sees in his future.

And with this theme Jan gives his view on the future, the past and the now. Therefore the collection was all about reflection. Jan played with classical silhouettes, accessories and poses and made them modern again. His silhouettes were tall, small and slender and gave the models a certain status.

His creations didn’t have a lot of color. They were made out of grey, light pink and nudes. They were never boring though; Jan embellished them with small sparkles. Sometimes only on the upper body, sometimes all over the fabric.

Like we see in fashion right now the shoulders of most of the outfits were highlighted. Yet instead of the sharp, pointy shoulders we now see in stores, Jan designed round shoulders in more of a couture style.

All looks were finished by large hats out of which slim ponytails appeared. They made the looks feel heroic.

Too bad Jan Taminiau doesn’t show in Amsterdam this season, his collection looked stunning.

Graduation Shows: Artez – Arnhem

As the last fashion academy Artez held it’s graduation show last Friday. And the saying last but not least does apply here, cause we saw a lotttt of talent.

It was probably the hottest day of the year. Yet the 38 degrees didn’t stop the students, the models and everyone else involved from delivering a great show.

Kris Berden
Kris Berden was one of the students who proved to understand fashion. Her collection was fully built around pleats in al kinds of shapes and size. They were there on a skirt, a top and a dress, which were all in black. The pleats came back in Berden’s grey coats. One ultra-thin and slightly transparent, the other somewhat thicker. All outfits looked great, but maybe the jute top and the black transparent ‘cape’ could have had some pleat-details as well. That way the collection would have been slightly more cohesive.

Britt Tan & Fred Farrow
Two students really dared to experiment with their graduation collections. Britt Tan and Fred Farrow both used a great variaty of colors, materials, shapes and techniques. Britt Tan showed us a bright yellow jumpsuit, a loose knitted orange dress, a skirt made out of all kinds of different pieces of fabric with frayed ends. Her models all wore head scarves. Fred Farrow came up with a few light-colored coats. He used some trenchcoat-inspiration and showed one example with fur and checks. He mixed his coats with printed, colored skirts and tights. On all looks loose pieces of fabric were hanging.
We appreciate the fact that Tan & Farrow both showed some gut with their experimental collections. Yet we feel there collections could have been more cohesive and better tailored. Cause both collections came across as a little messy.

Lotte van Schijndel
Before Lotte van Schijndel’s the models started walking they all stood still on stage in a certain pose. We then could already see some great designs. Lotte van Schijndel made a collection with a classic feeling. Loose clothes, long silhouettes and plain fabrics. The blouses and coats were all without buttons. A few waistcoats gave the models some shape. There was no fuss; Van Schijndel didn’t add anything unnecessary. And that’s a good thing cause minimalism is hot in fashion these days!

Piotrek Panszezyk
Piotrek Panszezyk took the hottest fashion item of the moment, the jumpsuit, and gave it a whole new classy image. He gave all (of his many) designs a feminine, classic twist by adding some sort of airy trail to them. He showed one in black, one with lace on the sides, one white, one red, one purple. All looks varied slightly from each other, yet were still an obvious collection. The only misplaced item was an animal printed fur design. It didn’t look feminine or classy and had no connection to the rest of the collection. One other thing we didn’t understand were the loose ends on – for example – the olive green short and the collar of the purple outfit. But altogether Panszezyk’s collection was pretty impressive.

Melissa Siegrist
One last great collection we want to highlight was that of Melissa Siegrist. She designed womenswear with a very masculine touch. She mostly used grey and showed some perfectly-tailored shorts and blouses. She gave her collection a sporty vibe by adding polo’s and shorts made of jersey fabric. And her transparent pair of navy-colored pants just fit in perfectly.

Graduation Shows: AMFI Fashion Transit

Tuesday evening The Amsterdam Fashion Institute celebrated the 5^th anniversary of it’s graduation event. They organised a exhibition and a talk show and of course all graduation students were present at the World Fashion Centre to show their collections.

Most of these collections looked solid and well-made. Some people in the audience already said the AMFI students showed the best designs so far.

One thing that struck us was the fact that the students chose either very thin, transparent fabrics of heavy, thick ones. There was not a lot in between.

A few students really stood out with their work. One of them was Samira Algoe. She designed a menswear collection. Geometric fields were visible on her designs, remarkably colored in shades of pink, turquoise, grey and ultra-light yellow. Algoe’s pants and waistcoat were perfectly tailored. And for the fact that she even came up with a quilted coat she earns some extra points.

Another of our AMFI favorites was Roya Hesam. She used ultra-thin, airy, fabrics, which were sometimes partly transparent and other times gave away a lot of the models’ bodies. A pair of beautiful pleated pants and a brown dress with puff sleeves  were perfection. And although the clothes were very revealing, the models looked very elegant and sophisticated in them.

Merel de Jong, who actually kicked off the show, didn’t go for the easy way. She chose to mix metallics with thin fabrics throughout her collection. Therefore her clothes were a mix of stiff and smooth materials. She used white and silver, but also transparent red and copper. Apart from the fact that her clothes looked great, she even managed to design a few matching metallic accessories.

Floor Kolen closed the show. Her designs had lots of eyecatchers. First were the masks, second were the huge polka dots, third: the creative collars and last the stiff bodies Kolen let her models wear. She must have used some iron wire to let the clothes stay in shape. This collection was not the most wearable we’ve seen, but it surely showed creativity.

And last but not least, hats off to:

Daniella Hod, who really made a collection and was creative with shape and material.

Hilde Eijgenraam, for using prints when hardly anybody dared to do that.

Suzanne van Rooij, who came up with nice shapes and paid attention to detail.

The Best Of.. Resort Collections 2011

There’s no doubt you won’t be able to relax in the clothes from this year’s resort collections. All designers came up with comfy clothes which can easily be mixed and matched. It was all about airy fabrics, floor-sweeping designs and lots of accessories to finish the looks. And though showing your tummy is never very classy, this summer walking around in a hight waisted pair of pants and a bandeau top is the style.

Chanel
In May Karl Lagerfeld was the first to show his resort collection for Chanel. He turned the presentation into a big fashion event held in Saint-Tropez. All of his supermodels were there, including Georgia May Jagger en Crystal Renn. They wore flirty designs with colorful stripes (some red, pink, yellow and blue), ruffles, lace and embellishments. With knee boots, hats, large sunglasses and waistbelts Chanel provided everything for the jet-set life.

Diane von Furstenberg
With DVF’s new resort collection you could hit the beach some thirty days in a row and look splendid every time. There were so many good outfits to chill in; no wonder the models couldn’t keep their eyes off themselves in the mirror. DVF’s look were flirty and feminine and were 90 percent printed. Most lovely were her rompers and high-waisted shorts combined with blouses and jackets.

Lanvin
Elbaz’ clothes for Lanvin existed of much more fabric than those of the previous two brands. His models were fully dressed up in their trench coats, skirt suits and column gowns. We felt they could better be having tea with their friends on a nice terrace, instead of strolling around the beach in those luxurious looks. Still, the bathing suits, small sunglasses and swimming caps were supposed to give us a beach-feeling. The Lanvin resort girls looked nice, but the presentation didn’t breathe the relax feeling we love so much about resort collections.

Louis Vuitton
The LV resort collection was no surprise. Like in his Ready to Wear show Marc Jacobs worked the curvy fifties/sixties look. The floral prints, though, were a bit more colorful and seemed more appropriate for summer. Oversize chain necklaces, leather driving gloves, and bold, floppy hats— completed the LV summer feeling.

Marc Jacobs
Jacobs own line was all about (Chanel-like) tweed jackets and pastel colors. Some outfits had lots of fuss like embroideries and flowers, while others were more minimalistic and streamlined.

Michael Kors
His own travelling places were the inspiration of Kors’ resort collection. Therefore not all looks felt like summer. Instead, thick grey capes, long knitted sweaters and fur hats seemed more appropriate for a trip to Russia than a holiday on some tropical resort. Yet there were a few summer dresses and bathing suits too. There must be; Kors was on at least 35 business trips last year. His main resort colors were grey with a splash of peach.

Oscar de la Renta
Beautiful summer dresses and long evening gowns, that was what de la Renta’s resort collection was all about. There was no sign of the present minimalistic trend here. Oscar heavily embellished his designs with beads, ruffles, bows, layers and pleats. His floor sweeping evening gowns are maybe not so handy to pack, but they sure were perfection.

Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney didn’t give a one-way presentation. She let the models and the audience interact and in that way let her collection come to live. She gave us lace shorts, A-line dresses and tulip-shaped skirts and thus it was a all about showing the legs at McCartney.

Yves Saint Laurent
Stefano Pilati gave us some seventies for YSL. High-waisted trousers and sophisticated dresses. He used some black and white and a bit of pink and lilac. His long pants with bandeau top looked very elegant and the models’ classy headbands perfectly matched with that.

Thom Browne Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

The die-hard fashionpack already knew where Thom Browne was capable of. They’ve seen his shows from New York, for the Italian Moncler-label in Milan and his presentation at Firenze a few years ago. Browne’s shows are set up like a military operation, a huge set, models acting as a group on stage and all dressed alike.

So the set of of his first menswearshow in Paris was not surprising, but still overwhelming. The location was a large conference room at the official headquarters of the French Communist Party in Paris, designed by Oscar Niemeyer. The audience had to sit behinds the desks where party-members used to sit an debate about the cold war. As an American in Paris, the choice for the venue was – well – daring. Also because Browne kept pointing at historical ‘fights’ between the USA and USSR. For example the army of astronauts which opened the show by marching into the room. The models were hidden in the space-suits, and they all stepped out  at the same time dressed identically.

Their dress-code was boyish, and typical Thom Browne: a tight jacket with shorts, socks and brogues. They came in checks, blue, black, khaki, stripes or decorated with little bows, some had a flash of sequins. Eye-catching were the knee-high socks, the gold-frosted lips and the gold-colored mirroring sunglasses. Browne made himself clear.

Streetfashion Paris Menswear SS2011 Day 4

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Givenchy-slippers, your latest Comme des Garcons-bermuda or that vintage Prada? 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: menswear fashionweek in Paris.

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