Short ‘n Sassy Haute Couture trend SS2019

When you think couture you might automatically picture romantic, floor sweeping gowns. Fact is short and voluminous couture dresses are becoming more and more popular. Just take a look at the examples below, short ‘n sassy couture dresses by the likes of Balmain, Givenchy and Dutch designer Iris van Herpen. Shorter but with the same impact as most of the long gowns. Lots of volume, so no bold sexiness (accentuated waists and deep cleavages) here. But there’s elegancy and seductiveness in the details; the bare shoulders or those killer legs for example.

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Viktor & Rolf Haute Couture Paris SS2019

On Wednesday Viktor & Rolf surprised us with their latest couture collection titled “Fashion Statements”. A collection filled with statements, fashion wise, but literally too, as all gowns had large quotes/memes added to them. Classic quotes and statements that turned a smile on everyone’s faces. “I’m not shy I just don’t like you”, “F*ck this I’m going to Paris” or “Sorry I’m late I didn’t want to come”. Things we say on a usually base and things we’d love to say out loud more often. They were the extra touch to the 18 statement makers of couture gowns. Bright colored and voluminous (which seems like a big understatement as the dresses really were larger than life) with layers and layers (and layers) of tulle). The good old “NO” we’ve seen pop up in many more collections was present too. And the show concluded with a black gown reading “I want a better world”. Bold, bright, artistic, fun, refreshing, impressive and very Viktor & Rolf. The “Less is more” that could be read a pink tulle gown just doesn’t apply to their own collections.

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Dior Haute Couture Paris SS2019

It was a circus both outside and inside the Dior show. Inspired by circus depictions in Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Cindy Sherman, and Richard Avedon’s Dovima with Elephants, which he shot in Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver circa 1955 Maria Grazia Chiuri turned her show venue into a circus tent. She even named the designs of circus costume maker Gérard Vicaire as the haute couture that led to this collection. The checked floor matched the theme as well as the collection’s color palette. Even female acrobats were hired to do some of their stunts. It’s showtime! And with all that “distraction” the couture designs still spoke loudly. Harlequin checks, clowneske collars, lots of tulle, lots of glitters, lots of stars. Looks were either black and white or pastel colored. Eithr short and above the knee or long and floor sweeping. Either masculine or extremely feminine (showing skin, showing curves). All models wore sparkling classic caps with a little lace in front or their faces. When all else fails, join the (Dior) circus!

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Iris van Herpen Haute Couture Paris SS2019

With Iris van Herpen showing her new collection you know you’re in for a treat. And this Dutch designer keeps on amazing us, season after season. This week she litteraly lit up her Paris runway with her latest collection Shift Souls. While many designers look back to former decades Iris looks into the future as early images of galaxies and stars, like Harmonica Macrocosmica by a German-Dutch cartographer published in 1600, representations of mythological and astrological animals and the evolution of the human form and the possibility of engineered human Cybrids were her inspiration. A beyond interesting source of inspiration which led to a breathtakingly beautiful collection of dazzling, voluminous, 3D lasercut, futuristic dresses. Completed with 3-D printed face jewelry and glow-in-the-dark plexiglass, carved by hand, heels infused with two colors of ink this collection was literally out of this world. What else can we say. This show was “otherworldly” and “lit” in more than one way.

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Streetwear Day 2 Couture Shows Spring/Summer 2019

Couture week has started in Paris and our team is there to shoot the best dressed show goers. Day 2 is a wrap. Below our pics from the impressively dressed lads and ladies outside the couture shows.

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Streetfashion Haute Couture Paris FW2018

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that Balenciaga-shirt or your latest Vetements-denim? 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 Haute Couture Fashionweek FW2018/19.

RVDK Catwalk Couture Show Paris FW2018

Dutch designer RVDK/Ronald van der Kemps message is still the same: the only sustainable way forward is by making the most of what’s in front of you. And you don’t need to know about his stance on sustainability to enjoy his work, but it certainly gives it added relevance at a time where H&M sits on $4.3 billion worth of unsold inventory. Through this iteration of his upcycled collage of vintage fabric finds and unusual materials, van der Kemp zeroed in on the idea of disposable clothes, opposing the paper dresses of the Sixties to the “disposable clothes on the high street.”
He draws together his repurposed material in a joyous clash that imparts a perpetual of-the-moment feel. As ever, he remains undaunted at the idea of offering outré pairings, or of being handed materials others may consider subpar.

Iris van Herpen Catwalk Couture Show Paris FW2018

In a world facing depleted natural resources, Iris van Herpen’s fascinating biomimicry world looks increasingly relevant. As the movement for lab-grown materials continues to gather momentum, van Herpen this season explored synthetic biology and the intertwining relationships between the organic and the inorganic, biology and technology. The designer even had a term for it: “Syntopia.”
As a prelude, she handed the floor to like-minded Amsterdam-based artist duo Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of Studio Drift to create a kinetic sculpture. Suspended above the runway — and based on the concept of a glass bird — the installation was composed of rows of glass bars suspended by invisible wires that made them move like wings. It made for some novel runway entertainment, but the show really took flight with van Herpen’s creations based on interpretations of a feather’s architecture.
The designer used chronophotography, a technique from the Victorian era that captures movement in several frames, to guide the draping of a garment, breaking the process down to emulate the layering of a bird’s feather on sculpted dresses with undulating hems.
Other looks had an ethereal underwater feel, seen in rippling dresses with a classical allure, and luminous cape gowns in sheer silk organza, their liquid-coated pleats echoing the lines of the kinetic installation.
The Syntopia theme also played out in a series of gray coats and dresses in laser-cut wool fused with sections of intertwined digitally designed and traditional weaves, fringes of leather tassels swinging from the hems.

Viktor & Rolf Backstage Haute Coutureshow Paris ss2018

Please take a look backstage at the show of Viktor & Rolf yesterday before their haute couture-show, season spring-summer 2018.

Viktor & Rolf Haute Couture Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2018

The designer-duo Viktor & Rolf created their entire s2018 couture-collection from the same fabric: a technical satin duchesse from Japan, a noble cloth that for the design duo spells couture.
They ticked off a run of best-of silhouettes while they were at it. The opening woven minidress recalled the hessian dress worn by Maggie Rizer in the label’s fall 1999 collection, for instance, with signature elements like cape shapes, flowers, bows, frills and ruffles adding texture to the collection.

Long silk gowns and skirts cut on the bias sported bold colored stripes or geometric motifs sewn into the fabric, recalling granny patchworks. The standouts included a double-breasted blue and red striped blazer with a royal-blue frill framing it, running from the collar down the sleeves.

The collection had an old-school couture vibe but was wearable, with the highlights including a green silk minidress with 3-D daisies.

The newness in the colorful lineup mixing conservative and clownish attitudes came not only in the innovation, with the designers managing to create new materials using the fabric, but also in its sustainable bent.

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