Gucci Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2019

Over 120,000 LED light bulbs filled the mirrored Gucci show area which endlessly reflected and refracted the lights. A kaleidoscopic backdrop to Alessandro Michele’s latest Gucci collection. Another bizarre parade of costume-y clothes and this time with an extra focus on face masks. . “If appearance represents the physiological conditions of our thinking of ourselves as persons in relation, masks can offer themselves as the means through which we can give citizenship rights to our manifold becoming,” read the show notes. And so models wore face masks with studs and spikes. Some of them also wore pieces of gold on their eyes and ears. As always lot of attention was put into the details. The belts, the scarfs, the bags, the knee pads, the necklaces, the tights, the ties (also for the girls), the (dog) collars with huge spikes. Models carried around their back-up sneakers in case their high heels got the best of them. The men wore oversized suits, the women wore lots of lace and dresses and tops with puffy shoulders and peplum details. Checks came in all forms; harlequin, pied de poule and tartan. Flowers prints, leopard prints and snake prints all found their way onto the runway. Towards the end Unia Pakhomova even rocked a print mix look and cloak fit for a queen. And if you’d skip all the grungy spikes and moody masks there were actually quite a lot of beautiful, wearable pieces in the collection. But you’d have to look through Michele’s more is more signature and perhaps take a closer look at the Gucci showroom tomorrow to be able to see these designs for what they really are. As far as this show’s concerned, this was yet another memorable Gucci spectacle.

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Mary Katrantzou Catwalk Fashion Show London FW2019

Enormous bright colored feather dresses kicked off the Mary Katrantzou show. They were followed by everything else that was outspoken, over the top. Like a voluminous ruffled dress with butterfly print and shiny sequined edges. Inspired by natural elements earth, fire, water and wind there were prints of beautiful landscapes (and some dresses even looked like a landscape, like the four brown colored looks that must have been talking about earth). There was nothing modest about this collection. Even the most wearable designs got an extra touch of tulle, feathers and ruffles. Yet every detail Katrantzou added, she did so with class and elegancy. And so the finale of rainbow colored, feathered dresses, that would have looked cheap and easy at any other fashion houses, was like a parade of true pieces of art. The colors, the shapes, the way the designs moved on the runway. A fashion fantasy come true.

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Victoria Beckham Catwalk Fashion Show London FW2019

It felt as if Victoria Beckham expanded her collection a bit. More looks and more diversity in pieces of clothing, so it seemed. Not just airy dresses, but a solid, complete fw2019 collection from A to Z. Chic trousers, elegant blouses, boxy blazers, midi skirts, woolen coats, cashmere sweaters and a little black dress. Perfect pieces to fit the wardrobe of any modern day woman. Nothing too over the top, but statement making nonetheless. Looks Victoria Beckham would (and will!) be able to pull off herself perfectly. And even newest family member (Brooklyn’s girlfriend) Hana Cross who attended the show with the rest of the family would look stunning in any of these outfits. “An A-Z of a woman’s life. She’s a lady, but she’s not ladylike. She’s proper, but she’s not prim”, was how the designer put it. It included tweed jackets, argyle sweaters and polka dot blouses. There were even some dresses with a chain print. Pops of bright red gave the collection it’s vibrant touch and after having seen Victoria dressed head to toe in that red color after the show we’ve all added it to our fw moodboard/wishlist.

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Burberry Catwalk Fashion Show London FW2019

Burberry started off young and vibrant. With cool kids wearing polo shirts, rugby shirts, leather jackets, colourful checks and V-neck tops. The girls wore their hair in a tight bum, but had the coolest artwork of small little hairs on their foreheads. Halfway through the show Sara Eirud turned up in an enormous puffer coat. What a way to shake and wake things up! A few asymmetric patchwork dresses and corseted tops in the mix and then on came the trenchcoats. The second – and better – half of the show was filled with the chicest looks; perfect posh cocktail dresses, skirt suits, capes and trenchcoats with the iconic check as a lining (the classic coat everyone would love hanging in their closets). Not to mention the picture perfect men’s tailoring. So eventually Riccardo Tisci pleased everyone. Fashion forward statement makers at the beginning and signature success numbers (that will generate most of the label’s income) towards the end.

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Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019): an overview

Today we lost a true fashion legend, a visionary, a genius, an icon. Aged 85 Karl Lagerfeld died in a Paris hospital. The cause of his death is not yet known.

Karl, or Kaiser Karl, is best known for his creative director function at Chanel at which he started in 1983 (after having worked for Balmain (1955) and after making a name for himself designing poetic party dresses at Chloé (1963)). In the decades that followed since his arrival at the luxury fashion house he managed to turn the brand into one of the most iconic labels in the world. Chanel even contracted him ‘designer for life’. His over the top, million dollar fashion shows at the Grand Palais (turning the place into a supermarket, airport and a frozen world (incl. that XL iceberg) were unrivaled. A ticket to his show was still the hottest ticket in town during any Paris fashion week for the last couple of seasons.

And as if designing four to eight Chanel collections a year wasn’t enough for a man of his age, Lagerfeld managed to work at least three of more jobs on the side. He also designed for Fendi and his own namesake label. Not to mention he was the photographer to many of his own fashion projects and he made short films to accompany every new collection. The past couple of years he worked with Coca Cola, H&M, Magnum and Opel and never showed any sign of slowing down. Karl was unstoppable or as he once put it in an interview: “To design is to breathe. So if I can’t breathe, I’m in trouble.” “Why should I stop working?” he said. “If I do, I’ll die and it’ll be all finished.”

Eager as he was Karl also never stopped studying and learning from the books of his libraries filled with just about every single book on fashion written in the past two hundred years. And when asked how he was able to deal with such information overload he said he had a “Google mind”.

Like no other Karl Lagerfeld was able to keep Chanel and it’s tweed suits and quilted bags relevant. By improving and reinventing himself every single time (he wanted every season to become better than the one before, he never looked back). By joining forces with the latest it-girls (which he immediately turned into muses) of the fashion industry and being completely unpredictable in both his designs and his statements to the press. And boy, did Karl Lagerfeld say things like he meant it. He had no filter when talking to the press and always made sure journalists left with a bunch of new Lagerfeld oneliner headliners.

He turned himself into an icon wearing the same black and white outfit, the black sunglasses, the grey ponytail and the gloves for ages. And he made sure to involve his favorites Baptiste Giabiconi, Brad Kroenig and his cat Choupette in many of his projects.

He was the subject of at least three documentaries, “Lagerfeld Confidential” (2007), “Un Roi seul” (2007), and “Karl Lagerfeld se dessine” (2013), and several books, including a compilation of his quotations, “The World According to Karl,” from Flammarion (2013).

When asked about his secret to life and success he said: “There is no secret to life. The only secret is work. Get your act together, and also, perhaps, have a decent life. Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t take drugs. All that helps.”

Coco Chanel kept designing till her 86^th, Karl Lagerfeld nearly matched that. He will be missed.

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Recap New York Fashion Week FW2019

New York Fashion Week might have scaled down a bit, we’re as inspired as ever for what’s to come. To give you a short summery of the #nyfw highlights and to inform you on what styles you might be wearing six months from now we’ve selected the biggest trends for the new season.

So far it seems the aw2019 season is going to be a colorful one, purple being the main color of choice (Michael Kors, Sies Marjan, Anna Sui). The dress up game is either classic and super feminine  – think: Victorian collars (Marc Jacobs, Zimmerman), cinched waists (Prabal Gurung, Proenza Schouler) and glamorous feather skirts – or androgynous and sharp – & crispy white – (Prabal Gurung, Ralph Lauren, Proenza Schouler).

Interesting were the quilted evening gowns Oscar de la Renta sent out, amazing how the label turned such heavy fabrics into elegant dresses. Talking heavy fabrics, the patchwork trend made it’s way onto the runway too (Prabal Gurung, Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta).

And good news for anyone who isn’t planning on giving up his/her collection of leopard printed fashion pieces: the trend is here to stay (Marc Jacobs, Coach, Anna Sui).

Below our galleries of all the above trends, a first sneak peek for the upcoming season, FW2019.

Crisp & Sharp

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Quilting

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Animal prints

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Cinched

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Patchwork

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Victorian collars

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Purple

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Feathers

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Coach Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2019

So here’s a few trend items you’d might want to hold on to a bit longer. Small, pointy sunglasses, boxy tweed blazers, shearling coats, animal printed anything. Today’s Coach collections included all these trends and a bunch of fresh ingredients Stuart Vevers added for fall. Most looks existed of sheer floral dresses worn over checked pants (or shorts) paired with a heavy coat and leather laced boots. Bare legs and faux fur coats (Coach is officially fur free since October). Transparent florals and the thickest leather’; the layered looks were perfectly balanced out with opposing item. The coach boys and girls looked cool and collection in the range of wearable fits.

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Marc Jacobs Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2019

Marc Jacobs presented us with a complete A-line shaped collection this week. Forget cinched waists, the volumes of Jacobs dresses only got bigger and bigger from the shoulders down. It all started off with a anima printed cape followed by lots of voluminous and heavy capes and coats. Costum-y dresses with exaggerated proportions, tulle, feathers and ruffles in the mix. Looks topped of by the Stephen Jones–designed hats. It felt like a classic game of dress-up in your grandmother’s attic. There might have been a few award show worthy gowns in this collection. Yet apart from wearing these designs to such extravagant occasions like the Oscars or the Golden Globes the collection lacked wearability and modernity for clothes to be worn anywhere else. Then again that probably isn’t a concern for Jacobs at this point.

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Anna Sui Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2019

A backdrop of sixties concert posters, rainbow colored clothes and bright wigs for the models to match; Anna Sui invited us to her world of pop. A touch of retro, a bit of granny chic and a whole lot of dressing up going on here. The main ingredients for the Anna Sui fw2019 look? A floral printed dress and an heavy cardigan, bright colored legs, flat ankle shoes, a funky wig and some shaggy hats. Knits, silks and faux furs in the mix. It might have all been a little too retro, but the clothes breathed Anna Suit in every fibre. The swinging sixties in full effect. Are you ready?

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Proenza Schouler Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2019

After a few shows in Paris Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough returned to NYFW this week. With a collection of oversized boxy jackets and long, dashing silhouettes. Tweed suits were made feminine by the tight bodies and bare skin underneath it. Roomy coats were cinched at the waists. A few long and lean dresses had wholes at the armpits, others had mesh details around the neck. There was duality in many looks, like a semi leather jacket, a sleeveless denim jacket (worn over a trench) and the pleated bottoms of some dresses. A plastic trenchcoat looked like a huge necessity for our Dutch fall season. Overall the collection was sophisticated and classic with the right touch of modernity.

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