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.

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!

Spring is in the air #7

Something white and something beige make a great mix. Especially in the cowboy-inspired collection of D&G, with skirts in broderie anglaise and tops in buttersoft suede.

Spring is in the air #6

Time to get your BIG sunglasses out. Like these from Giambattista Valli, made of wood and metallic-colored plastic. So glamorous.

Spring is in the air #5

A bold color and a nice jacket or big shirt are all you need to spice up your spring-wardrobe. Here at Isabel Marant.

Top 5 Beauty Trends SS2010

If you want to look stunning this summer not only stylish clothes are required, your make-up needs to follow the trends too. Overall the beauty-rule for ss2010 seems to be: keep it simple. In many shows the hair and make-up looked natural and effortless. If you do want to go highlight your best assets and get a little crazy we have five beauty trends for you…

1. A healthy blush
We must say blush is not for everyone. Your skin has to be in a very good condition and if you already have natural red cheeks you should not put any extra blush on. Blush looks the most natural on a slightly tanned face and can variate from light pink to bronze to red. The make-up at Derek Lam looked extraordinary and although the models all wore blush their faces looked very natural.

2. Between the lines
A little bit of eyeliner is almost always used to accentuate the model’s eyes. Yet for spring/summer the eyeliner was very outspoken. The lines were thicker and longer than normally and created mysterious-looking models. If you want to work the eyeliner like Marc Jacobs and Roberto Cavalli, it’s best if you wear it to some party. Cause at the office people will think you’ve lost your mind.

3. Disco-colors
For this trend you have to be some sort of make-up expert. While not everyone can create the magic we saw on the eyes of Viktor & Rolf and Derek Lam’s models. Beautiful rainbows of colors were placed around the models’ eyes, each color fluently changing into another. The pastel shades (purple, green and orange) made their eyes look extra bright and matched very well with the clothes from the spring/summer collection. Once again, you’d have to be a make-up maestro for it, but if you can make this look work you’ll be the belle of the ball.

4. The looser the better
In case of a bad hair day a braid can be a good solution. And since braids are the hair-trend this summer that’s good news. On the catwalk loose braids, mainly worn to the side (Alexander Wang), were a big hit. Other nice braid examples were braids which had pieces of fabric braided into them (Oscar de la Renta) and French and Fishtail braids. And the more complicated the braid, the more classy the look.

5. Lovely lips
Apart from a light lipgloss, bright, red-colored lips will be seen a lot this summer. Rodarte, Viktor & Rolf and Dior showed the mostly lovely lips in the bunch, perfectly shaped and pretty colored. Some brands promoted green (Iceberg), orange (Loewe) and blue (Paul Smith) lips as well, but we think it’s better to save those for Halloween.

Overall we were most excited about the make-up at Dior, Viktor & Rolf and Derek Lam. The models looked fresh, playful and sexy at the same time. Since the make-up on the runway is always exagerated we might not copy the complete looks, but we’ll take some inspiration from it and we’ll do our best to create a subtle version of the looks presented above.

Spring is in the air #4

Time to put on something white, a shirt, skirt or dress. Add some color with a yellow cardigan or purple tie-dyed scarf – like the collection of Bottega Veneta. And keep it simple and clean.

Spring is in the air #3

Add some color and fun retro-items to you wardrobe. A nice bow or polkadot will set the mood. Here backstage at Luella Bartley.

Spring is in the air #2

Transparent black and blue make a great combination. Here at Rochas.

Spring is in the air

Put on those new high heels and show some leg. Let the sun shine with the new spring colors and smile!

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