Dutch Fashion Here & Now India, part 1

Dutch Fashion Here & Now aims to create awareness beyond borders of the Dutch fashion design identity – from academy to industry- by creating sustainable networks between Dutch fashion entrepreneurs and foreign countries with aspirational consumer markets and production facilities. This week a delegation is present at India Fashion Week in New Dehli, and Team Peter Stigter is joining them, but also Mariette Hoitink, James Veenhoff, Jan Taminiau, Ellis Faas and Star Studded Studios. They and others will exchange their knowledge and experience in workshops and collaborations with designers and other fashion-entrepeneurs.

First stop was a cocktail at the Dutch Embassy in New Dehli.

Dutch Fashion Here & Now is an initiative of HTNKs NL Fashion Incubator Foundation and is part of the Dutch DFA-Design Fashion & Architecture program. You will find updates at the website of Dutch Fashion Here & Now

Streetfashion Womenswear SS2013 Paris Day 8

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Prada-shoes, your latest Kenzo-sweater or that vintage Gucci? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks 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. Next stop: Paris Fashionweek, season spring/summer 2013.

Miu Miu Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013

On a barely lit runway Miuccia Prada sent out her fifties style ladies. Ladies that appeared elegant, but there was something off. Their clothes were tailored, but ill-fitting. The designs had a feeling of couture, yet were definitely ready to wear.

Miuccia did her first few looks completely in denim; pencil skirts, large coats with ¾ sleeves and strange tops. Pointy shoes, long leather gloves, rhinestone details, high bangs, long hair and cat eye glasses to completely capture the Mad Men feeling.

Even though the models appeared like well dressed fifties women; there was not one ‘picture perfect’ in the collection. Rich fabrics were destroyed (satin was pummeled, furs were tie dyed) and poor were upgraded (dark denim was lined in satin). “It was not about destroying elegance, but achieving a different kind. Very Parisian,” said Prada, “but in a fake way, in a wrong way! The femme fatale is never perfect…at least the ones I like.”

The dark show area, the countless furs and not the brightest of shades Miu Miu didn’t really breath summer. Yet Miuccia did manage to portray that 2013 feeling by bringing together conventional chic with contemporary raw.

Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013

Please enjoy the pictures for now. Our review will follow shortly.

Streetfashion Womenswear SS2013 Paris Day 7

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Prada-shoes, your latest Kenzo-sweater or that vintage Gucci? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks 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. Next stop: Paris Fashionweek, season spring/summer 2013.

Alexander McQueen Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013

Bees. That hardworking, matriarchal society where the femaile rules was Sarah Burton’s inpiration for her Alexander McQueen collection ss2013. And because the artful shape of the honeycomb, it opened range of possibilities to create a strict and form-fitting silhouette.
Burton transported the honeycomb shape into jacquards, nets and laces, some embroidered with bees, and used all kinds of iridescent versions of honey, gold and black. She opened with wasp-waist jackets, their peplums constructed for exaggeration over bustiers; thin skirts or pants and boots made from a crystal-studded stretch of netting that ran up the leg. The focus was on the hips. As the collection went on, Burton began to undress and add, putting cages and corsets on the outside as dresses. Eventually these went undercover in eveningwear.

Streetfashion Womenswear SS2013 Paris Day 6

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Prada-shoes, your latest Kenzo-sweater or that vintage Gucci? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks 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. Next stop: Paris Fashionweek, season spring/summer 2013.

Saint Laurent Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013

It was not the most easy job to take the helm at a house like Saint Laurent. Hedi Slimane delivered his first collection yesterday, ans some people seemed a bit disappointed. Yes, it was edgy, it was chic and it was skinny, but it looked more like a costume parade than a new take on what Yves Saint Laurent created.  The first look was a small black jacket with skinny black pants, a white frilled shirt,  big, soft bow at the neck anda bigger-brimmed fedora. This was followed by countless variations of the same — the fabrics changing from wool to leather to glitz to pinstripes and from cotton to silk and back.  Slimane incorporated typical YSL codes to be developed in the future: tailoring, smoking, gypsy tiers, long evening-dresses, saharienne, animal spots,  demonstrative jewelry.

The clothes were good, but on the safe side: slick, sexy pants, jackets and shirts, which didn’t scream retro and gowns that women will want to wear. But Slimane needs to add more, a risky sizzle that let women crave for Saint Laurent.

First View Paris Womenswear SS2013: Drape to Go

An ode to femininity! Embracing womanhood by wrapping ladies gracefully in luxurious layers of precious draped cloth. Slouchy softness in weighty wrap blouses and full trousers. Knotted and folded décolletées, peplums and roomy ribbons. All draped and dressed up to go in layers of luxurious georgette, soft, dense satins and heavy drape silks. Smooth polished surface looks in a sober and strict palette of pearl, silver, black and white. Wrapped, draped and swagged outfits make powerful statements about femininity and sensuality. Each fold minutely controlled, to realise such perfectionism needs in-depth sculptural knowledge of the human body and supreme tailoring skills.

Céline shifts from geometric minimalism to a much softer silhouette. Maison Martin Margiela drapes carefully and restrained. More statuesque and dramatic folds at Victor & Rolf as inspired by old Hollywood. Vandervorst covers as well as reveals in a way that reminds us of the classical antiquity.

Paris shows us a series of supreme crafted styles subtly sculpted by the grand masters of shape.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

First View Paris Womenswear ss2013: Futurist Foils

All about enchantment, entertainment, fun, freedom and sexiness. This soft side of techno in synthesised sheen. Optimistic vibes that reflect from iridescent surfaces. Sheer foils and parachute veils are layered over plain, cut, as well as printed opaques. Dress-up dresses, most in simple a-shapes, are slashed and cut in graphic shimmery blocks, as well as prettily patterned in luminous florals and arty and decorative abstracts.

Looks like playful exercises, mixing and matching layers and veils to trick and puzzle the eye.

Luminous surface looks add an alienating dimension to pure iconic shapes at Christian Dior. Rue du Mail plays with items, blocks and layers of mixed materials. Dior ’s ball gown skirts in featherweight organza are shot with pearlised reflections. Where Chalayan’s translucent, intergalactic sheen adds a virtual touch to sculpted geometric minimalism.

These futuristic and surreal surface effects revibe even the most classical couture silhouette.

Stijlspot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

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