CFDA-Awards 2010

The CFDA-awards are considered to be the Oscars of the international fashionworld and is organised by the Council of Fashion designers of America. It’s one of the hottest tickets on the fashion calendar, and the awards are much coveted.

The Swarovski Awards, which are given to emerging talent, went to Jason Wu favourite of Michelle Obama.  He fought off competition from Joseph Altuzara and Prabal Gurung who won in the womenswear category. Richard Chai landed the menswear prize and Alexander Wang received the award for accessories.

The biggest prize of the night, Womenswear Designer of the Year, was won by Marc Jacobs. Christopher Bailey picked up the International Designer of the Year Prize.

There were also some special awards handed out. Michael Kors, the only winner to receive a standing ovation, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Anna Wintour. Legendary model Iman was given the Fashion Icon Award.

Sarah Jessica Parker, who was wearing an Alexander McQueen-dress hand-picked for her by the label’s new head of design, Sarah Burton led a tribute to the late, great designer.  She was followed by a parade of some of McQueen’s most iconic designs.

Fashion Focus: all about Alexander Wang

 

 

 

Name of the brand: Alexander Wang

Name(s ) of the designer(s):  Alexander Wang

About the designer(s):  Alexander Wang (1984) was born and raised in San Francisco. He moved to New York City at the age of eighteen to try his hand at designing clothes. He studied one year at Parsos and did an internship at Teen Vogue. Then he decided to quit school and launched his first collection. It was immediately very well received. Everyone loved his perfectly crafted cashmere sweaters.

Start of the brand: 2007

First collection: spring 2007

The Wang woman: has a streetchic style and likes to mix and match

Wang women: Rachel Bilson, Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Erin Wasson, Megan Fox, Mary-Kate Olsen, Nicole Richie and Gwyneth Paltrow

The clothes are: edgy, masculine, well taillored, casual, cool, sexy vs androgyny, French chic and rock grunge. They are always finished with a slouchy rolled-out-of-bed edge.

Type of clothes: Alexander Wang makes a full range of ready to wear pieces, from distressed boyfriend jeans and shrunken vests to, of course, covetable cozy cardigans. The inspiration comes from the street and thus the clothes have a downtown feeling.

Signature: model-off-duty style

Collaborations: Alexander Wang for Keds (Fall 2008), Alexander Wang for Uniqlo, capsule collection (May 2008).

Quotes:

• ‘There are pros and cons to starting so young. In the beginning, people said, ‘I’ve never heard of this person, he’s what, 21?’. There are stereotypes, but the greatest satisfaction has been proving them wrong.’
• I didn’t have any investors. My mum and I, my sister-in-law and my brother, we’re the four partners”
• It’s all those quirky people you just bump into that inspire me the most.’
• “When I started out, I wanted to pick one familiar item that evoked luxury—cashmere was perfect. But moving forward, I want to make it more of a lifestyle brand. I kind of want to be the new Theory.”

Awards: he won the CDFA Fashion Fund, which was 20.000 USD.

Extra:
Wang’s favorite outfit is skinny jeans, T-shirt and a backpack
He has a simple belief that has taken him very far: ‘I’m in New York City – I can do anything I put my heart to.’
He got an internship at Marc Jacobs
He always keeps in mind an advice Marc Jacobs gave to him: ‘Give them something that’s going to take time to sink in. By the time they get it, change it again – you’ve got to keep them guessing!’
He showed his first collection to an editor at Teen Vogue. She loved it
He was already cutting frocks at the age of fifteen
He named one of his shoe designs after Dutch Model Mirte Maas
(The pictures you see are of the fall/winter 2010/2011 collection)

Topmodel of the Week: Lily Cole

This red-haired beauty is not only a great model, she does some acting too and is even still studying at Cambridge University. Though she’s slowing down on the modelling she’s still making the headlines. Like last week when Glamour reported on her finishing her exams and other media spoke of her participation in a search for a new topmodel. Read here why Lily Cole is different from other models…

Name: Lily Cole
Age: 22
Date of Birth: May 19, 1988
Place of Birth: Torquay, England
Discovered: by actor Benjamin Hart at the age of fourteen
Breakthrough: 2003, when Steven Meisel took her picture for Vogue.
Runway debut: Anna Sui
Agencies: d’management (Milan), Marilyn Agency (Paris), Storm (London)
Fashion shows: DKNY, Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Louis Vuitton and Hermès.
Last season she opened the fashion show of Hermès
Covers: Playboy, Numero, Vogue
Lily was the youngest model to appear on the cover of the British Vogue at the age of 16.
Ad campaigns: Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Hermès, Cacharel, Accessorize, Rimmel, Prada, Moschino, Tiffany & Co and Longchamp
TV Commercials: Rimmel London make-up
Quotes:

• ‘I’m compared to a doll a lot’
• ‘I’m a student and a model; I get the best of both worlds’
• ‘It’s much nicer to watch a fashion show than to walk in one’

Extra:

• Lily is still studying history at Cambridge University
• She was named Model of the Year at the 2004 British Fashion Awards
• She appeared in a video clip of the Sugababes
• Together with Storm Model Management she is now scouting some New Faces.
• Lily Cole is an actress too, she played in movies like St Trinian’s and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (with Heath Ledger).

Topmodel of the Week: Sasha Pivovarova

Most people know this girl from Prada. She was the face of the brand for three years in a row. Yet this Russian beauty does so much more….

Name: Sasha Pivovarova
Age: 24
Date of Birth:  21 January, 1985
Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia
Discovered: Her friend, photographer Igor Vishnyakov took her picture in 2005 and sent it to IMG modelling agency. She was studying art history back then.

Runway debut: Prada, the brand immediately signed an exclusive three-year contract with Sasha.
Fashion shows: Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Pringle of Scotland, Rag & Bone, Rodarte, Max Mara, PHI, Christian Dior (couture), Elie Saab(couture), Valentino (couture).She opened last season’s (fall/winter 2010/2011)shows for: Jean Paul Gaultier
Covers:  American Vogue, Greek Vogue, Russian Vogue, British Vogue and Australian Vogue.In May 2007 Vogue named her as one of the new ‘supermodels’ together with models like Doutzen Kroes, Jessica Stam and Chanel Iman. As one of the favorite models of Steven Meisel, she appeared on the cover of the Italian Vogue five times.

In 2009 Pivovarova was ranked second on the Models.com top 50, together with Natasha Poly.
Vogue declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.
She won the Best International Model award in Shanghai in 2006

Ad campaigns:  Pirelli 2008, Armani, Longchamp, Chanel, H&M, Mulberry

Agencies:  IMG models (NY), Unique (Denmark), Donna Models (Tokyo)

Quotes:

• ‘I was on board  of 148 airline flights in 2008!’
• ’I’m not a person who likes waking up early’

Extra:

• Sasha loves to paint and draw.
• Her paintings have been published in French Vogue.
• She uses anything as a canvas hotel papers, casting and itinerary papers.
• She is working with Miuccia Prada to produce a book of her own artwork.
• She is also illustrating a book for Karl Lagerfeld based on Russian fairy tales.
• She is married to long-time friend and photographer Igor Vishnyakov.
• She practices Kung Fu.
• She recreated her wedding for a Vogue spread
• She has a very strong Russian accent

Streetstyle vs. Catwalk fashion

Each fashion season we all get very much inspired by the collections presented on the catwalk. After New York, London, Milan and Paris we have new creative ideas and we have picked up the trends we will probably be wearing a season later. So there’s no doubt fashion designers create trends or at least a certain style.

Yet it’s also true that a big part of  fashion starts on the street. What people wear in their daily lives is a starting point for fashion too. Whether it’s your grandma walking her dog in a floral printed skirt, your father in one of his suits or your neighbour is a pair of old school jeans. Every kind of streetwear can be the beginning of a fashion trend.

During the fashion weeks our team always spots the most fashionable people outside the fashion shows. They wear clothes not everyone dares to wear. Their streetstyle is often bright-colored, crazy-shaped and remarkably printed. Not to mention their shoes and accessories.

To show you that streetwear can be an inspiration for fashion designers we selected six outfits that were seen in the streets as well as on the runway.

The fashion we’re gonna see this summer is very lady-like and romantic. Pastel shades and ruffles therefore are unmissable in your summer wardrobe. In need of inspiration? The Valentino show has some great ruffle examples.

Victoria Beckham was one of the first who started wearing bleached denim again last year. And it proves she was right about this denim trend.

Milla Jovovich ones again showed the popularity of the navy trend. Anna dello Russo worked a splendid (Balmain) jacket with silver embellishments (as seen at Anna Sui). And one of the girls we spotted on the street, showed she had guts with a pair of checked pants (which might just be inspired by the Watanabe show that was full of the black and white checked print).

And by the way… Did you know that olive green (Celine) can look this great?

Fashion focus: all about Alberta Ferretti

 

 

This Italian fashion designer started working with fabrics at the age of 12. When she was 31 she presented her collection for the first time during Milan Fashion Week.

Learn more about Alberta Ferretti…

Name of the brand:  Alberta Ferretti
Name(s ) of the designer(s): Alberta Ferretti
About the designers: Alberta Ferretti is an Italian fashion designer. She designs for Alberta Ferretti and another label, called Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti (for younger women and less expensive). Before she had her own fashion label, she had her own boutique in Cattolica, Italy. She designed her first collection in 1973 and started showing her clothes on the runway of Milan in 1981. Besides her two clothing lines Ferretti also heads a manufacturing company that makes and distributes the lines of designers Narciso Rodriguez and Jean Paul Gaultier, among others.
Start of the brand: 1980
First collection: 1981
The Ferretti woman: is a curious woman with charm and is part of the cocktail crowd. She never misses a good party and loves to show of her legs in a skirt or dress (at knee-length)
Pilotto women: Eva Mendes, Kristen Bell, Hayden Panettiere, Claudia Schiffer, Drew Barrymore and Meryl Streep
The clothes are: very feminine and made out of delicate fabrics. The Alberta Ferretti dress is often slim and has folded pleats, separated by rows of tucking.
Type of clothes: little elegant dresses are Ferretti’s trademark.
Signature: Alberta Ferretti’s designs often are twisted, tucked and draped. The clothes are also regularly layered. Many of the dresses are cut high in the front and draped low in the back. Alberta Ferretti takes inspiration from many cultures, not just the Italian one.
Remarkable: Alberta Ferretti would never wear a pair of jeans. She says jeans don’t look good on her body, are not flattering and not comfortable.
Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti was first called Ferretti Jeans Philosophy for five years.
Ferretti once said: ‘I work all day. I’m a real woman. I cater for different needs. I’m not tall and I’m a bit, shall we say, rounded. I understand such problems and always design clothes that I myself would like to wear.’
Awards: Alberta Ferretti was named best female entrepreneur in the state of Emilia Romagna, Italy, 1991.

(the pictures you see are of SS2010/2011 and F/W 2010/2011)

Topmodel of the Week: Abbey Lee Kershaw

This topmodel from down under is unstoppable. She walks in all the big fashion shows, was a Victoria’s Secret angel twice, was a model for the famous Pirelli calender and did a tv commercial for Gucci. You might wanna read more about this Australian beauty…

Name: Abbey Lee Kershaw
Age: 22
Date of Birth: June 12, 1987
Place of Birth: Melbourne, Australia
Discovered: While she was on the beach with her grandma in Australia. After that she took part in a modelling competition and won.
Runway debut: Milan, Gucci. She was booked exclusively for Gucci.
City: New York
Fashion shows: almost any fashion brand; one season Abbey walked in 84 shows.
She was a Victoria’s Secret angel for two years (2008 & 2009).
Last season (fall/winter 2010/2011) she opened the shows of Chanel, Michael Kors, Isaac Mizrahi, Issa, John Rocha and Pucci.
Covers:  Australian Vogue, Japanese Vogue, V, Dazed & Confused, Muse, Numéro. In 2008 Style.com named her one of the top ten newcomers.
Abbey Lee is ranked 8th on the Top 50 Models Women list by models.com.
Ad campaigns:  Gucci, D&G, CK Jeans, H&M, Levi’s, Lord & Taylor, See by Chloé, Guilty Brotherhood, Express Jeans and Pirelli Calender 2010.
TV Commercials: Gucci fragrance Flora
Agencies:  Next Management (London, New York, Paris), Chic Management (Sydney), 2pm Model Management (Copenhagen)
Quotes:

• ‘I like my hands. They do most of the talking.’
• ‘Let’s just say, if I weren’t a model, I’d be a walking collage. I see my body as a blank canvas that’s aching to be decorated; I find it all very fascinating.’
• ‘TV will never be something I commit to.’
• ‘I didn’t even know modelling existed as a job’
• ‘In New York you have to be very ambitious to stay ahead of everyone, otherwise you get lost in the crowd.’

Extra:

• Abbey Lee worked in the bakery section at Newmarket Safeway before.
• She has a pierced nose and a pierced nipple.
• During Paris Fashion Week Abbey Lee fainted at the Alexander McQueen runway right before she was to exit the runway.
• She is currently seeing Puerto Rican fashion director, producer, and runway coach Daniel E. Rivera.
• She fell at a spring Rodarte show in New York (2008)
• She had to skip a whole fashion season due to a knee injury.
• She smokes.
• She said no when Alexander McQueen asked her to walk in the spring/summer show in the crazy Armadillo shoes

Gaultier for Hermès: an overview

Today the news came through that designer Jean Paul Gaultier will leave Hermès, the brand for which he has been designing for seven years. Though Gaultier will design one more spring collection for the French fashionlabel, we thought it would be nice to look back upon seven years of Gaultier for Hermès.

We selected the most eye-catching pieces of clothing and accessories Gaultier has been designing the past seven years. With every show Gaultier was able to amaze us; theywere great fun as well. The cultural themes of his shows made his collections look even more powerful, but he still managed to let the clothes remain classy.

The styling of the shows was always over the top with lots of great accessories and a different hat-style every season. We’re sure Gaultier had a lot of fun working for Hermes, and we think he did a great job too.

Now let’s wait and see if Christopher Lemaire is able to equal that at Hermès…

Streetstyle vs. Catwalk fashion

Each fashion season we all get very much inspired by the collections presented on the catwalk. After New York, London, Milan and Paris we have new creative ideas and we have picked up the trends we will probably be wearing a season later. So there’s no doubt fashion designers create trends or at least a certain style.

Yet it’s also true that a big part of  fashion starts on the street. What people wear in their daily lives is a starting point for fashion too. Whether it’s your grandma walking her dog in a floral printed skirt, your father in one of his suits or your neighbour is a pair of old school jeans. Every kind of streetwear can be the beginning of a fashion trend.

During the fashion weeks our team always spots the most fashionable people outside the fashion shows. They wear clothes not everyone dares to wear. Their streetstyle is often bright-colored, crazy-shaped and remarkably printed. Not to mention their shoes and accessories.

To show you that streetwear can be an inspiration for fashion designers we selected six outfits that were seen in the streets as well as on the runway.

The leopard print (Paul Smith) has been a huge hit for many seasons. No wonder we still saw it on the runway and on the street. Yet the fact that snake prints are taking over was already visible in the streetstyle as well. A snake-printed coat (seen at Pucci) seems to be the new must-have of the season.

Another popular trend: ruffles. You can chose for the plain ones, but as we saw at Valentino big floral details can be very cool too. And as Balmain showed: you can never go wrong with a pair of skinny pants and a tight, shoulder accentuated jacket.

Streetstyle vs. Catwalk fashion

Each fashion season we all get very much inspired by the collections presented on the catwalk. After New York, London, Milan and Paris we have new creative ideas and we have picked up the trends we will probably be wearing a season later. So there’s no doubt fashion designers create trends or at least a certain style.

Yet it’s also true that a big part of  fashion starts on the street. What people wear in their daily lives is a starting point for fashion too. Whether it’s your grandma walking her dog in a floral printed skirt, your father in one of his suits or your neighbour is a pair of old school jeans. Every kind of streetwear can be the beginning of a fashion trend.

During the fashion weeks our team always spots the most fashionable people outside the fashion shows. They wear clothes not everyone dares to wear. Their streetstyle is often bright-colored, crazy-shaped and remarkably printed. Not to mention their shoes and accessories.

To show you that streetwear can be an inspiration for fashion designers we selected six outfits that were seen in the streets as well as on the runway.

The navy theme was a big inspiration for catwalk fashion and streetstyle. Next to the blue and white we could spot a lot of red and white stripes. Anna Sui used the Tartan check in one of her outfits; a comparable blue check could be seen on the streets. For the summer of 2010 Iceberg and Jeremy Scott were inspired by Mickey Mouse (mostly his ears). One of the fashionista’s we spotted also proved to be a fan of the Disney character. And if you are planning to buy any fur these season, it seems hairy blue is the style you should be going for….

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