AIFW Streethearts Award 2010

We proudly present the AIFW Streethearts Award 2.0. An upgraded version of our streetfashion-project/competition we’ve introduced last season at Amsterdam International Fashion Week. Thanks to Maasmechelen Village we are even able to hand out a serious award: a shoppingvoucher worth 500 euro.

This is how it works:

Streetfashion-photographers of Team Peter Stigter will try to spot as many fabulous outfits as possible in and around the AIFW-venue at the Westergas-terrain.  The best outfits will be shown on the wall in the AIFW lounge.

If your picture is selected and featured on the wall you can register at one of the hostesses at the Streethearts-desk, collect an enlarged picture of your photo and receive a 50 euro gift card. Once you’ve been registered you will enter the competition.

On Sunday-afternoon the winner will be selected by Team Peter Stigter, AIFW and Maasmechelen Village.

Openinghours: Thursday – Saturday from 14.00 – 22.00 h and Sunday from 15.00-17.00 h.

More info: www.MaasmechelenVillage.nl

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.

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.

Hermès Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

The Hermès show was as quiet and luxurious as the label can be. It just simply doesn’t need to scream fashion. It whispers. But when you listen carefully it tells you all everything you should know about next season’s way of dressing: the white suits, the lightweight fabrics, the shorts, the honey-colors,  the sandals, the summer-leather and suede and an accent in an intense color. The modern touch was added by ‘hybrid’ clothing: a shirt with a blouson back or diagonal zip-closure.

Jackets were unlined, scarves were knotted around the neck and the pleated trousers looks casual but dressed. Tobacco brown and emerald-green spiced up the mineral-base palette.

Goodiebag!? Launch ELLE Beach magazine

Today Elle magazine launched an extra summer edition of the magazine, named Elle Beach. To celebrate this special edition Elle organised a big boat parade through the canals of Amsterdam. It ended up being one big party with loud music, lots of food and drinks, a disco bingo and the best weather possible. And on top of all that we received a great goodiebag at the end of the day…

Useful

A brand new edition of Elle Beach magazine

World Cup tights (produced by Elle magazine)

Lancaster – Hydrating Body Lotion – 125 ml

Elle Beach bikini

Lollys laundry – tassel scarf

Estimated Value: €80,-

Rating: 8

Kenzo Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

At Kenzo, which celebrated fourty years of fashion, the models first appeared on a balcony, then came down the stairs and entered the runway. Their outfits were all about stains, stripes and checks.

The stains seemed like ink or coffee stains dispersed all over the guy’s suits. The blue and white Breton stripes were used in some double breasted jackets and sweaters.

We also saw the blue and white in several other looks, every now and then alternated by red items. Most suits seemed comfortable and in some way resembled overalls. Between all the suits some cute knitwear came by. And between all the male models there were some feminine models too.

The colors of the show were mainly white, dark blue, beige and grey. The touch of summer was added by bright green, pink, red and blue.

Kenzo’s jackets (with lots of pockets, zips and other details) stood out the most. And we definitely saw some good accessories (berets, glasses and bags) as well. Let’s just hope Antonio Marras will be a little bit more careful with his pencils and his drinks when he’s producing his next collection. Cause the stains didn’t really work for us.

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