Streetwear Haute Couture Paris FW2015, Day 4

What are they wearing during the Haute Couture Week in Paris A Valentino dress, that vintage Dior or their latest Celine skirt? During the fashion weeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style.

Viktor&Rolf Haute Couture FW15 Backstage

Take a look backstage at the Viktor&Rolf Haute Couture Fashion Show yesterday at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Viktor & Rolf Haute Couture Fashion Show Paris FW2015

In February Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren announced they would stop creating and producing ready to wear collections and fully focus on their Haute Couture shows. There might have been some disappointment, but on the other hand it results in even stronger Haute Couture pieces. Just as they showed yesterday when they presented their Fall 2015 Haute Couture fashion show. Although fashion? Perhaps we should consider it more art, as the collection was named Wearable Art. And what better place to unfold your pieces of art than in the gallery at the Palais de Tokyo, led by the sound of Henrik Schwarz’ melodic soundtrack.

For coming fall/winter, the crossing line between the apparently separate worlds of fashion and art was pretty blurry. Can fashion be art and vice versa? According to the famous Dutch fashion duo, it sure can. A one shoulder dress transformed into an artwork, back into a dress and into an artwork again. We saw hinged frames on coats, dresses, and capes. Soft painted colors are splattered on purely and folded or cinched white canvasses. There seemed to be an interesting conversation between Dutch Golden Age paintings and raw and spontaneous action painting. And we spotted several trompe l’oeil techniques: each artwork is executed in a complex layering of laser-cut jacquards, embroideries and appliqués. As the show was built up beautifully by each look, unfolding slowly the whole art (or fashion)collection, the final look showed the biggest and most complete artwork, as a grand finale—a huge Dutch still life dress on a moving model.

Viktor and Rolf are always up for some entertainment and unexpected show elements, so of course they wouldn’t ‘just’ send their models on the runway. Once again, the designers took the stage themselves too.  They untied their works from several models and hanging them on the white backdrop. All for the sake of that one important question. “We are fashion artists. But what does this mean, we asked ourselves. What do we want to do?” the designers explained to WWD magazine. Art collector Han Nefkens, a longstanding collaborator of Viktor&Rolf, acquired once again a piece that will be donated to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. So would that make it art? Perhaps the answer is supposed to never be found. The question seems to be far more interesting than the answer.

Streetwear Haute Couture Paris FW2015, Day 3

What are they wearing during the Haute Couture Week in Paris A Valentino dress, that vintage Dior or their latest Celine skirt? During the fashion weeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style.

Streetfashion Haute Couture Paris FW2015, Day 2

What are they wearing during the Haute Couture Week in Paris A Valentino dress, that vintage Dior or their latest Celine skirt? During the fashion weeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style.

Streetfashion Haute Couture Paris FW2015, Day 1

What are they wearing during the Haute Couture Week in Paris A Valentino dress, that vintage Dior or their latest Celine skirt? During the fashion weeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style.

Individuals by AMFI 2015 Catwalk Fashion Show

Please enjoy the pictures for now, our review will follow shortly.

Moam Collective 2015 Catwalk Fashion Show at Het Rijksmuseum

Friday evening, one of the hottest of this summer (so far), the Dutch fashion scene gathered at Het Rijksmuseum to attend the Moam Collective fashion show. Or perhaps we should say underneath Het Rijksmuseum, since the cycling tunnel served as a stunning backdrop for the runway collection presentation.

On orchestra welcomed the many Dutch fashion journalists, bloggers, students and creatives (including Claes Iversen and Inez & Vinoodh) after which the Moam Collective RE-renaissance collection took over. Twenty four creations (18 womenswear looks and 6 menswear creations) inspired by the Renaissance were enough to blow everyone away.

The womenswear focused on layering and unique silhouettes as well as home designed fabrics and prints (created at het TextielLab). Menswear creations were all about effortless tailoring and a creative vision on sustainability.

Long silhouettes, the loveliest color combinations and unique prints; every single look seemed flawless. How could they not be when the five upcoming talents (Anbasja Blanken, Tijme Veldt, Barbara Langenijk, Hanna Wouda, Maartje Peeters) had dream coaches like Mart Visser, Claes Iversen. Cécile Narinx, Georgette Koning, Marly Nijssen, John de Greef and Saskia Stoeckler at their disposal.

During a week which evolves around Dutch fashion (Amsterdam Fashion Week’s catwalk program starts on the 9^th of July) this was the ultimate inspirational evening. The weather, the show location, the collection and the whole idea behind this new Moam initiative fell into place. Moam founder Martijn Nekoui couldn’t be more proud and we’re just as pleased with such talent. Dutch fashion at it’s best.

After the show it was time for cool drinks and typical Dutch bites (bitterballen and kaasblokjes) in the Rijksmuseum garden. What a way to start the weekend (and kick off a new fashion season)!

Donna Karan steps down, let’s recap DKI

Donna Karan taking her final catwalk bow at her autumn/winter 2015 show

Donna Karan is stepping down as the head designer of her eponymous label Donna Karan International. The 66-year-old, who co-founded (with her late husband Stephan Weiss) the company in 1984 that now includes such famous brands as Donna Karan New York and DKNY, has decided to invest more time in her independently owned lifestyle brand Urban Zen. She will however stay active as a close advisor to the company DKI (Donna Karan International) that is now looking for a new designer.

Over the past three decades, Donna Karan has inspired women around the world to embrace their power and sensuality. ‘When she started her collection in 1985 she set out to simply make clothes for her and her friends’, the company stated this week. Yet after her launch in 1984 Donna Karan quickly made a name for herself. One year later she introduced her first Seven Easy Pieces collection. Fashion items every woman should own, like a plain pair of trousers, a body suit, a woollen sweater, a leather jacket, an evening dress. Donna Karan wanted to dress women in comfort and liberate them from the eighties power suits. She made New York uptown dressing her signature and therefore used yellow cabs as backdrops and in her commercials. She introduced DKNY for a younger customer with her daughter Gaby in mind. Donna Karan is known for her red evening gowns too, dressing stars like Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz and, most recently, face of the brand Rita Ora.

Fun facts
Donna Karan:
was born into fashion in 1948 to a model mother, who worked on Seventh Avenue.
skipped school in 1969 only to come back and get her bachelor’s degree in 1986
invented “the body” – one of the most practical eighties items
once broke both knees skiing
is a Libra and claims she can’t make decisions
launched a special Ramadan collection for her Middle-Eastern customers

“LVMH and I have made this decision after much soul-searching. I have arrived at a point in my life where I need to spend more time to pursue my Urban Zen commitment to its fullest potential and follow my vision of philanthropy and commerce with a focus on health care, education and preservation of cultures. After considering the right time to take this step for several years, I feel confident that DKI has a bright future and a strong team in place”, Karan said in a statement.

There will be no spring/summer 2016 catwalk show at New York Fashion Week this September while DKI is looking for a replacement for Karan.

The end of an era, but the future is bright. Now let’s take a look back at some of the highlights of her twenty years of fashion design for both DKNY and Donna Karan with our image gallery below.

 

Trend Report SS15: The iPhone generation

Bags. Shoes. Glasses. Accessories. Cats. Men. Oh yes, we women have enough important accessories in our lives. But there’s one more appreciated, overly used and crucial accessory that secretly made it’s way to our top priorities and it sometimes even wins over having a lovely (offline!)dinner with your date: our phone. Yes ladies and gents, it seems to be one of the most persistent and denied addictions these days.

When we go on the hunt for our favourite street style icons, crawling down the streets of the fashion capitals, our eyes come across hundreds of models, fashion editors and style influencers holding their phones like it’s their new it-bag they’ve just picked up from the store. Keeping it close to them like it’s matter of life and death, which is true (crossing the street while texting or calling on your bicycle) when it comes to the rapid world of fashion. That small boxy thing that we call our phones, nowadays stores our complete lives in it: phone numbers, pictures, videos, agendas, music, secret messages, important notes, creative ideas, not to mention the incredible amount of time we spent on posting every single bit of our utterly interesting experiences, foods and OOTD’s on social media. And we spent even more time on following our favourite fashion icons and editors.  Sometimes that often, that we seem to forget we actually also have a online life to live ourselves. So what about you? Are you still able to spend a day without your phone?

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