First View Paris ss2012: Poetic Vision

Viewing the first Paris collections immediately made clear that 50’s Retro, Tropicana and Crafts are definitely on trend, worldwide.

But here we want to highlight a different mood. A lovely tale of heroines travelling the world, picking up inspirations, connecting and merging the east and the west and marrying these influences in lovely, narrative and poetic stories.

The spirit is romantic, exquisitely elegant and fuelled with craftsmanship in tailoring, embellishment, pattern as well as cut. Some glowful decadence in androgynous looks with a daring sensual twist. Shades of China show in dangling tassels, kimono-like wraps, north-African caftans and western suiting. Manipulated city- and landscapes in photo print as well as historical engravings of gardens of Eden.

Ann Demeulemeester goes sensual and combines fluid flared skirts and dresses with elongated suit coats. Severe black suiting with barely-there veils and free flowing fringes. Dries van Noten adds ruffles and ruches to pure, stern silhouettes and narrative prints to bold black and white. Rick Owens adds roundness and softness to column-like contours. Each of them envisioning a positive future. To speak with Owens: a gateway to heaven.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

Daily favorites in Paris

It was a busy day yesterday, and a good day. Inspiring collections from Balenciaga and Rick Owens, while Ann Demeulemeester and AF vandeVorst choose their own path. My favorites of thursday were the return of models like Stella Tennant at the runway of Balenciaga. I love it when designers decide not to go for the blond Caucasian girls who all seem to look alike but to choose different types instead. And Tennant looked great.

Manish Aurora is a designer that fascinates me. He just does his own thing and keeps on presenting collections that make you happy and smile. I mean, I don’t think I will even wear one of his designs but I love the way he brings that Indian vibe – messy, colorful, over the top, ethnic – to the fashioncapital of the world with all his o so serious looking fashionpeople.

I think the vandeVorst-show was about feminine knights regarding the silver armor-wear and the banner that one of the models carried during the show. The designduo likes to dress strong women who protect themselves with an ultra feminine yet tough style. I personally liked the drapes dress in gray with a wet finish, underneath the dress was a silver body.

And the show of Rick Owens was the best of the day in my opinion. His dark shows alway gives me shivers, but yesterday his show made my heart jump. The women looked like goddesses from another planet, so gracious and proud.

Catwalktrend FW2010 – Black leather

Black leather, it can look so sophisticated, yet it can appear very nasty & gothic as well. For fall, both examples were shown on the catwalk.

More than any other color leather, black was by the world’s top designers. Often total looks were created out of black leather. So the models wore coats, capes, hats, pants, gloves, dresses, skirts, belts and shoes of black leather.

Alexander Wang made it look grungy, at Moschino it was cool and Hermes used a croc-version. Ann Demeulemeester gave it a Gothic touch, Dior’s was girly and at Dsquared the black leather was worn by Dominatrix.

It’s clear you can go create many different looks with just this one material. On the catwalk it all looked great, yet when walking down the streets fully dressed in black leather, you’ll soon be judged. Our advice is to mix & match your leather with other pieces, so you won’t come across as some leather fetishist.

Catwalktrends FW2010: oh boy!

For fall men should keep an eye on their closets, cause their wardrobe is still not save. Putting on your man’s clothes for a masculine look is again going to be a big trend. Yet the boyfriend jeans is not so cool any more and is replaced by a pair of pleated pants, for good.

Many brands promoted the masculine look in their fall collections (Ann Demeulemeester, Dior, Ferragamo, Marc Jacobs, Kenzo and Michael Kors to name a few). Chloe stood out the most with not only wide pleated pants, but also big coats, in grey and in beige. Yet, as manly as these outfits looked, Chloe’s way of styling still made every outfit feel sexy. Also in other collections details such as thin belts, tucked up sleeves and low v-necks made the masculine looks appear feminine.

At Hermes all models appeared dressed up like man. They wore black leather suits, ties and hats and carried umbrellas. Yet it was the fit of the outfits that gave the looks a feminine twist.

Another label that took the menswear trend to another level was Sonia Rykiel. Gigantic woollen suits and coats were sent off on the runway. Dutch model Mirte Maas had to open the show in a grey woollen suit that seemed about ten sizes too big for her. But it was Sonia Rykiel’s version of the masculine trend and she sure had fun with it.

Alexander Wang Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2010

It looked like Alexander Wang took the traditional banker’s uniform – the darkblue pinstriped suit – deconstructed it and put it together again. The result was sexy and dark, almost with a Belgian touch. But where designers like An Demeulemeester and the early Martin Margiela put a lot of effort in the making, the cut and the fit, it seemed Wang aimed more at the effect. Cropped blazers, tailcoats and vests exposed flashes of skin and were worn with thick thigh-high legwarmers and chunky heels. Layering also played a part in this collection, but was less relaxed. For evening and partywear Wang chose velvet and chenille.

Trends ss2010: sporty fashion

Hoodies, zippers, caps, sleeveless tops, short shiny jackets and net fabrics dominated the menswear collections for 2010. That can only mean one thing: sports influences.

There was the basketball look (Kris van Assche), the gymnastic look (Francisco van Benthum, Calvin Klein) and the football look (Bikkembergs). There were sailing types (Burberry), the boxer types (Ann DeMeulemeester), the diving types (Moncler Gamme Blue, Gucci) the golf player and the horse back rider (Frankie Morello).

Especially Gucci had a lot of shiny sports jackets, not referring to a specific sport.

Sportswear and casual wear really seemed to merge with each other on the catwalk. Of course menswear is always a little bit sporty, but this time sports were all over the place. However, whether a tanktop made  of a net fabric is very suitable for going to the office remains to be seen.

Trends ss2010: black & white

Although you might expect bright colors for the summer-season, many designers chose black and white as their main colors. There were lots of outfits in full black or white, but also good combinations as well.

Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester and the two Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto and Junya Watanabe didn’t use any color in their shows at all. Their designs were all in black, white and some hues of grey. Rick Owens’ designs stood out because they were very pointy. Watanabe’s clothes had black and white checks that matched with the checked shoes.

Givenchy showed some black and white in his renewing geometricaly shaped outfits. Jill Stuart made a few pairs of extraordinary black and white leggings. At the Moschino fashion show modern white blouses were mixed with black bows.

(Tess van Daelen)

Impressions from Paris and Milan Menswear FW09 season

Now the menswear FW09 season in Paris and Milan has closed, I would like to post some impressions from outside the shows.

It all started in Milan, where the weather was really bad; lots of rain

Peter Stigter very concentrated: shooting a show

Photographers Gaspar and Jordy love to shoot the shows 🙂

People without invitations waiting at Ann Demeulemeester, hoping to get in

At Thierry Mugler, the backstage for the models was outside of the show’s location. Just before the show started, the models had to walk to the catwalk.

A HD movie of the Thierry Mugler models right after the show

The superstars at Dior: Karl Lagerfeld and Kanye West

Finally we arrived in Amsterdam. At Amsterdam Central Station we were welcomed in Holland by twenty big prints of Peter’s catwalk pictures!

Another shot of the catwalk prints at central station.

Now it’s time for Amsterdam fashion week!

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