Fashion Focus: all about Thakoon

This week we chose designer Thakoon for our fashion focus. The reason for that? Up until now we didn’t know a lot about him, besides the fact that Anna Wintour said she loved his designs in The September Issue. But why did she like Thakoon so much? Why are his designs so special?

Name of the brand: Thakoon

Name(s ) of the designer(s): Thakoon Panichgul

About the designer(s):
Thakoon Panichgul was born in 1974 in Thailand, but now lives in America. He moved to the United States when he was 11 years old.

Start of the brand: 2004. Thakoon had been working as a fashion editor at Harper’s Bazar before.

First collection: a ten pieces collection in 2005

Thakoon is based in New York and sold in 34 countries

The Thakoon woman: has an inner sensuality. She is nonchalant and casual, but still very sensual.

Thakoon women: Rachel Bilson, Demi Moore, Michelle Obama and Sarah Jessica Parker. (Michelle Obama was recently seen in two different dresses from Thakoon’s spring/summer collection on 5 and 11 May 2010.)

The clothes are: easy and sophisticated. For Thakoon the most important thing is the clothes are wearable. Thakoon also has a thing for prints, he works together with different artists to create the most lovely prints. He likes to use colors in his collections too.

Type of clothes: mostly dresses made out of classic materials like lace and chiffon, but used in a modern way.

Signature: combining punk and chic

Collaborations: Thakoon for Nine West (accessories)(2006), Thakoon for Gap (2007), Thakoon for Hogan (2008), Thakoon for Target (2008). Thakoon even designed a few menswear cardigans for Aloha Rag (2010).

Quotes:

• ‘For me it’s about creating silhouettes that sort of have built-in gesture.’
• ‘I would love to dress Coco Chanel, she embodies al those things I love so much. She has a chicness and a rebelliousness around her.’
• ‘My clothes represent a combination of punk and refinement’

What to expect: Thakoon’s fan base will keep on augmenting and we’re sure there are some interesting collaborations ahead of us.

Above you can see several of Thakoon’s designs from four of his latest collections.

Topmodel of the week: Chanel Iman

This week we focus on topmodel Chanel Iman. She always wanted to become a model. And with a name like that she did seem destined to work in the world of fashion…

Name: Chanel Iman Robinson (yes, this is her real name!)

Age: 20

Date of Birth: November 30, 1989

Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia

City: she currently lives in New York

Discovered: when she was thirteen years old she was already accepted at a modelling agency.

Breakthrough: 2006, after ending third in the Ford Super Model of the World Contest

Runway debut: 2006 (fall/winter) for: Anna Sui, Derek Lam, Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler

Fashion shows: Aquascutum, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Valentino, Bottega Veneta, House of Holland, Nathan Jenden, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexis Mabille, Christian Lacroix, Diane von Furstenberg, Valentino couture, Christian Dior coutue, Givenchy couture.

Covers:  Korean Vogue, Teen Vogue, V Magazine, Time, i-D and the premier cover of Harper’s Bazaar Dubai

• In 2007 Vogue named her as one of the next topmodels

Ad campaigns:  Gap, Benetton, Ralph Lauren, DKNY and Victoria’s Secret

TV: she appeared on America’s Next Top Model as a guest judge

Agencies: Supreme Management

Quotes:

• ‘If I sound like my own drill sergeant it’s because modeling sometimes is like boot camp.’
• ‘In a couple of years, I’ll be the most glamorous woman, hopefully.’
• ‘But I’m still a regular girl. I go to basketball and football games. I want to go to prom.’
• ‘I used to dress up as a model for Halloween, like every year.’
• ‘All I can do is being myself. And either you like it or you don’t..’
• ‘Most models wear all black all the time. I’m kinda tired of all the black’

Extra:

• She is Phillip Lim’s muse
• Her mother is with her during the shoots and shows, because she does’t want Chanel Iman to experience ‘the dark side of fashion’.
• She loves eating icecream when she is in Milaan
• She appeared in in two editorials for the all-black issue of Italian Vogue
• She has a boyfriend; rapper Tyga.
• She walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show in 2009
• She was the DJ for the Sonia Rykiel for H&M party this year (2010)
• Chanel Iman has her own website.
• Follow Chanel Iman on twitter: @ itsmechaneliman

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.

While wearing your boyfriend’s clothes is a big hit this season we saw the masculine look at Lacoste and on the streets. In many fashion shows designers draped their fabrics, which gave their designs a very romantic twist. One of the girls on our streetwear photos showed even jumpsuits and drapery can work well together.Black and white or blue and white stripes belong to the navy trend that’s hot this spring. Dutch designers Spijkers & Spijkers showed this look on the runway, we saw it outside of the shows. And as more and more jumpsuits work their way into today’s streetwear, it was’t hard to find a yellow printed one that matched the Marc Jacobs version.

Topmodel of the week: Freja Beha Erichsen

If you’re a fashion fan you must have heard about Freja Beha Erichson. This week we’ll tell you all about this Danish supermodel.

Name: Freja Beha Erichsen

Age: 22

Date of Birth: October 18, 1987

Place of Birth: Roskilde, Denmark

Discovered: Discovered on the streets in Denmark by a modelling agent passing by in a taxi. She was still in high school by that time.

Runway debut: Freja made her debut as a model in 2005 at the fall Paris and Milan shows of Prada, Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu. She even had the honour to open those shows.

Breakthrough: 2005

City: Freja now lives in New York , she has her own apartment which she renovated herself.

Fashion shows: Freja has been walking shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris.
She has walked in shows for Roberto Cavalli, Balenciaga, Burberry, Chanel, Chloe, Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, Fendi, Gianfranco Ferre, Alberta Ferretti, Gucci, Hermes, Marc Jacobs, Max Mara, Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, Isabel Marant, Marni, Sonia Rykiel, Stella McCartney, Miu Miu, Pucci, Jil Sander, Valentino and Versace.

Last season (fall/winter 2010/2011) she opened the shows of Isabel Marant, Gucci and Max Mara,

Covers:  Freja has appeared on many cover of prestigious fashion magazines. We saw her on Vogue (US, Paris, British, Russia, China, Nippon) and on Harper’s Bazaar, Interview Magazine, and Numero.

• She won the Best Danish Model award at Dansk Fashion Awards in Copenhagen
• She was ranked 3rd on the Top 50 Models Women List by models.com
• Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.

Ad campaigns:  Just like Natasha Poly Freja Beha is one of the faces of the fragrance Gucci by Gucci. She was the face of a Calvin Klein fragrance called IN2U too. We saw her in ads for H&M, Vov and Chloe. She also appears to be one of Karl Lagerfeld’s favorite models and therefore has had a special role during the Chanel fashion shows and can be seen in the Chanel ad campaigns.

TV Commercials: Gucci by Gucci fragrance (2007), IN2U by Calvin Klein (2007).

Agencies:  IMG  (London, Milan, New York, Paris), Dominique Models (Brussels), Unique Models (Denmark)

Quotes:

• ‘Sneakers are my favorite pair of shoes, they’re so comfortable.’
• ‘I love all kinds of food and I usually eat four to five times each day. I love to taste different sorts of food when I travel, but my mother’s food is the best’

Extra:

• Remarkably several designers named one of their designs after Freja Beha. There is a Jill Stuart Freja Handbag, a Chloe Freja clutch and a Alexander Wang Lace-up stiletto boot.
• Freja has sixteen tattoos, but she says they don’t affect her work because they’re easily concealed.
• Freja enjoys listening to music of PJ Harvey, the Danish group Kira and the Kindred Spirits, Janis Joplin and Jeff Buckley.
• Freja has brown hair. It was long before, but after she established herself as a model, she cut it off.
• Freja has a really low voice.
• People say Freja is gay, but she never fully admitted that.
• Freja wanted to become a rock star (singer) before.
• Freja doesn’t do more than three fashion shows a day any more.
• Freja’s clothing style (off-duty) is very basic and even a little boyish.
• Her favorite brand is: Rag & Bone (to work for in NY), Acne (to wear herself).

Fashion focus: all about Peter Pilotto

As London-based brand Peter Pilotto is becoming more and more popular each season, we thought it’s about time to focus on the brand and unveil it’s success formula.

Name of the brand: Peter Pilotto

Name(s ) of the designer(s): Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos

About the designers:
Peter Pilotto is half-Austrian, half-Italian. He focusses on the graphical aspects; the textile and the print. He always knew he was going to work in fashion; his parents had their own fashion store.
Christophe De Vos is half-Belgian, half-Peruvian. His approach is mainly architectural; he takes care of the silhouette and the draping.
The fact that the two designers criticise each other always takes their collections to another level.

Start of the brand: in 2007
Peter and Christophe met in 2000 whilst studying at Antwerp’s prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The label was set up in Antwerp initially but moved to London.

First collection: fall 2008

Peter Pilotto is sold in: 29 countries and has about 100 stockists

The Pilotto woman:  is a woman beyond the classification of age and style. She can wear the label with her own expressions.

Pilotto women:  Rihanna, Claudia Schiffer, Amanda Seyfried, Kate Bosworth, Michelle Obama, Jessica Alba, Sienna Miller

The clothes are: elegant, classy, wearable, chic, sophisticated, flattering, perfect for the female body.

Type of clothes: Peter Pilotto first focused on dresses but has added coats and shorts. The designers try to expand their brand with each season.

Signature: While many brands use floral prints, Peter Pilotto wanted to take it further. The brand uses prints like sunsets, fireworks, volcanoes, reptiles or reflections in the water. These prints, all originated in nature, are combined with soft sculptural shapes and elegant draping.

Remarkable: The winning formula of Peter Pilotto has worked for over several seasons. During the recession period in 2009/2010 the number of Pilotto’s stockists even doubled.

Awards:

• Topshop New Gen Award at London Fashion Week
• Swarovski Emerging Talent Award at British Fashion Awards
• Pilotto was hailed by Style.com as 1 of the 10 most promising talents, after reviewing his fall collection in 2008.

What to expect: Pilotto’s digital prints and beautiful shapes are improving each season. And since Peter Pilotto was able to grew during the economic crises, the brand will certainly be successful in the future.
We will definitely keep our eyes on these two talented designers.

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.

Anna dello Russo worked a golden dress that could just have walked out of the Gianfranco Ferre show. The lollipop pink she chose for another dress was Lindsay Lohna’s color-choice for Ungaro too. The red leopard print Dolce & Gabbana introduced, was seen on a pair of streetstyle pants. And of course the style of a tweed Chanel suit can always be seen on a chic lady somewhere in the streets.

Topmodel of the week: Natasha Poly

This week we’d like to focus on one of our favourite models: Natasha Poly.

Name: Natalia Polevshchikova (shortened to Poly)

Age: 24

Date of Birth: July 12, 1985

Place of Birth: Perm, Russia, two hours from Moscow (by plain)

Discovered: ‘When I was fifteen I went to Moscow for a model competition and I kind of won’ (Natasha)

Runway debute: Emanuel Ungaro

Breakthrough: 2004

Family: Still lives in Russia and is very proud. They all love Natasha’s pictures.

City: Natasha lives in New York

Fashion shows: Lanvin, Chloé, Stella McCartney, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, D&G, Louis Vuitton, Roberto Cavalli, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Gucci, and Sonia Rykiel, Kenzo, Givenchy…. Just all the big fashion brands.
Last season (fall/winter 2010/2011) she opened the shows for Kenzo, Roland Mouret and Rick Owens.

Photographers: Any big shot photographer has taken Nathasa’s picture. Patrick Demarchelier, Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz, Terry Richardson, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Emma Summerton, Steven Meisel, Craig McDean, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Mario Sorrenti and Solve Sundsbo to name a few….

Covers: Natasha has appeared on covers of many Vogue issues. For example we saw her on Vogue Australia (Dec 2004), Germany (Jun 2006), Japan (Jan 2005), Paris (May & Sep 2004, march 2007), Russia (Aug 2008, Mar 2009), Paris (Apr 2010). Plus:

• Vogue Russia dedicated a whole issue to Natasha Poly in July 2008.
• Vogue America named her one of the faces of the moment in 2009
• Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models in the 2000s.

Ad campaigns:  Gucci, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Robeto Cavalli, Sonia Rykiel, Nine West, Dolce Gabbana, Calvin Klein Jeans, D&G, Epoca, Philosophy by Alberta Ferretti, Fabrizio Corsi, Fornarina, Jimmy Choo, Krizia jeans, La Perla, Louis Vuitton, Massimo Rebecchi, Marc’O Polo, Max Mara, Ralph Lauren, Nina Ricci, Jil Sander, Blumarine, Givenchy.

We also recently spotted Natasha in the campaign for the H&M Garden collection.
Gucci is one of the biggest deals for Natasha, she has worked with the brand for several years now.

TV Commercial: Gucci by Gucci fragrance (2007)

Agencies:  Women management (NY, Paris, Milan), Select Model Management (London), Mega Model Agency (Hamburg) Traffic Models in Barcelona.

Quotes:

• ‘I hate it when they say that models are like mannequins, and not the people in the flesh.’
• ‘You’re never fully dressed without a smile.’
• ‘A driver is a must during fashion week. Having a car means you have somewhere to nap during shows, a place to leave your bags, and a trunk to stock up with generous gifts from designers, like shoes and handbags.’
  (yet we saw her arriving at a Paris Week fashion show on a motorcycle last season)
• ‘Besides my iPod, during show week I carry make-up remover, some money, lip balm, gloves, my ID, face cream, and my Sony Cybershot in my bag.’

Extra:

• Natasha has walked the Victoria’s Secret fashion show twice.
• Paris is her favourite city
• Natasha had long dark blond hair before, now her hair is very light blond and it’s shorter too.
• Natasha thinks Karl Lagerfeld is a genius.

Dreams: Natasha dreams of opening a shop in her city with fashionable, yet affordable clothes.

Forty years of Roberto Cavalli

This year fashion label Roberto Cavalli celebrates it’s fortieth birthday. 2010 also happens to be the year in which designer Roberto Cavalli himself, like many of his first customers, turns seventy. Time to take a look back on Cavalli’s work from over the years.

Roberto Cavalli, who started working in fashion just to make some money, became first known for his printing techniques. After he had been hired by great fashion labels he decided he could just as well do it on his own. He set up his own fashion label.

Cavalli’s first collections were best described as boho- and hippie-chic. He knew innovative techniques to use silk and leather. His designs were ultra-feminine and heavily decorated and they were loved by the wealthy people in Saint-Tropez (his first boutique was also opened there).

After a small downfall Cavalli makes a comeback in de nineties, by that time assisted by his – much younger – wife Eva Duringer. His clothes, best known for their outstanding animal prints, embroideries and other embellishments are worn by the rich and the famous. All of those women confident, sexy and super glamorous. (The reason Cavalli women are so often referred to as glamazones).

Celebrities proved to be a great way of promoting the brand. Victoria Beckham, Jade Jagger, Hally Berry, El Macferson and Jennifer Lopez were often spotted in Roberto Cavalli’s designs. They were the ideal women to promote Cavalli’s clothes, cause with their sex appeal and confidence they can perfectly show off Cavalli’s fearless designs.

After years of glamorous collections Roberto Cavalli decided to move in a new direction. The past few years he has slightly changed his designs away from the limelight. Cavalli’s so well-known animal prints sometimes were not used at all or, like in his latest collection, were used in a faded variant. His colors have become less outspoken and his heels – from time to time – even turned to flats. Cavalli introduced suits and overalls and with his boyish designs he showed a more subtle sexy. The new Cavalli woman proved to be less of a show-off, but Cavalli has kept his customers satisfied.

Judging from how Roberto Cavalli is doing now we think he’ll have no problem celebrating the brands fiftieth anniversary in ten years. Cause although he admitted he’s less of a party animal, Cavalli (thanks to his wife Eva) is still going strong. But let’s first just celebrate the clothes he made over the past forty years. We selected the most eye-catching, showstopping pieces out of Cavalli’s last ten collections. Enjoy!

Cavalli has big plans for his label’s fortieth anniversary and is working on a book about his career in fashion. We’ll keep you posted!

The most Gaga-worthy outfits for SS2010

There’s no doubt Lady Gaga’s success has something to do with the way she dresses. From day one she has looked out of the ordinary with her structured creations, body-exposing outfits and crazy headgear. She has been wearing those extreme designer outfits no one dares to wear in public and therefore she’s always in the news…

We’ve seen Lady Gaga in Armani prive, Gareth Pugh, Jeremy Scott, Chanel and Hussein Chalayan to name a few. The pop-diva has also worn some Viktor & Rolf creations before. The Dutch designers even got to make an outfit for Gaga’s video Telephone. But apart from all those designs, we think there are many more looks that would get Lady Gaga’s approval.

Out of all the spring/summer fashion shows we selected the most Gaga-worthy outfits. Those pieces mostly have crazy shapes, they show a lot of skin and several times they go with an eye-catching headpiece.

We selected multiple black body-revealing dresses with cut-outs, wholes and tears all over them (Asish, Byblos, Julian Macdonald, Mark Fast).

We picked out over the top hats from Aguggini (large with zebra-print), Jean Paul Gaultier (blue with Napoleon shape), Givenchy (shape of a lamp shade) and Watanabe (strange kind of turban).

We chose for two designs with accentuated shoulders. At Ilincic the shoulders were huge and made out of feathers, at Todd Lynn they resembled shark fins.

The opted for the Giles dress because of the big spiders and we picked Julian Macdonald’s dress because of the scales. Alexander McQueen’s outfits need no explanation; Gaga has already worn one of those (incl. the crazy shoes) in her video Bad Romance and we think Gaga would actually love to wear all of his designs.

Unfortunately Gaga’s on-and-off boyfriend Matthew Williamson didn’t design anything kinky that that would suit her. Yet we think there’s more than enough to choose from for the 23-year old singer. And if she doesn’t find the right outfit, she can always ask a designer to make one for her. Cause designers understand that Lady Gaga wearing one of your outfits is good publicity and they’ll do anything to make that happen.

Catwalktrends SS2010: yellow-inspiration

Still suffering from a small winter depression? Just looking through the photos from this trend report will brighten up your day!

The trend for this spring/summer we’re discussing is the color yellow. From pastel to ochre to gold, it was there in many SS2010 fashion shows. It proved to be a good color to combine with other shades like blue, purple, green and red. Yet a completely yellow outfit can be very inspiring as well.

Emilio Pucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and Bottega Veneta used yellow in it’s brightest variant and showed blondes and brunettes can look equally sexy in this summery shade.

Which yellow item will you add to your wardrobe? The Dsquared jacket, the Jean Paul Gaultier bangles, the Marc Jacobs top or the Tartan Anna Sui skirt?

In any case, it won’t matter if the sun is shining this summer as long as you’re working your yellow fashion!

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