backstage world ss2010: ray of light

It’s a whole different world backstage at the fashionshows. A world of fun, excitement and creativity. Today: backstage at John Galliano, where a ray of light catches a glimpse of the extra-ordinairy heels.

Catwalktrends ss2010: showstopping shoes

The designers gave the models a hard time walking the runway to show the spring/summer collections. The shoes they had to wear often had eye-catching shapes and heights.

The shoes in the Jil Sander show had iron pins for heels. Donatella Versace used platform shoes. John Galliano’s shoes were extremely high and his stiletto heels seemed to be made of colored pearls. Chanel introduced a few clogs.

Some models in the Dsquared show had spikes all over their shoes. Viktor & Rolf embellished theirs with pink flowers, Vivienne Westwood decorated hers with wings. Matthew Williamson’s shoes had bows.

Next to the ultra high shoes we saw ultra-flat sandals (Issey Miyake, Anna Sui, Valentino, Lacoste, Etro, Armani, Chloe). Those sandals, snake leather and wearing socks in open shoes seem to become the trends for this spring.

Of course the Alexander McQueen shoes were real showstoppers. His shoes were high, had crazy alienated shapes and had reptile prints all over them. Gaga oehlala…

backstage world ss2010: smile!

It’s a whole different world backstage at the fashionshows. A world of fun, excitement and creativity. Today: backstage at D&G, where models are telling jokes and making fun of each other.

groupielove, the end

In his time away in New York, Williamson learned something about putting on a show. Honed by exposure to that city’s demand for brevity in design, his show in London was a much more focused, slim-contoured collection consisting of leather-inserted polished-linen sheath dresses, super-skinny pants, and paper-bag-waisted shorts.

Groupielove # 15

A piece of paper displaying eco-slogans greeted guests on their seats at Vivienne Westwood. The same messages (“Act fast, slow down, stop climate change”) appeared on the clothes, sometimes pinned to the models’ chests as if they were competitors in a running race.

This is nothing new for a Westwood show; Dame Viv has been spreading her anti-consumerism and pro-green beliefs via the runway for years. The collection trod mostly familiar ground as well. There were the clingy intarsia knits, the wrapped and draped dresses with odd volumes, the bustiers with the deflated bra cups.

The unfinished edges and hems on almost everything reminded you that Westwood did them, if not first, then decades before this season’s manifestations.

Catwalktrends ss2010: Headbands

Although many designers gave their models a natural look and let their hair hang loose, some of them experimented with the model’s hairdo’s. We saw braids, we saw curls and we saw headbands!

Stefano Pilati created the most outstanding headband-look for Yves Saint Laurent. His girls wore the zig zag headbands you may remember wearing when you were a kid. Yet his models didn’t just wear one of them; it must have been at least ten headbands per model.

Then we had the Hermes models who wore wide headbands, some with a snake print. In the Bottega Veneta show all girls wore the same white ones. At Lacoste the models got a braided white version or a colorful striped one. And Michael Kors’s models showed some transparent plastic ones that matched with his bracelets.

Marc Jacobs of course used his headbands with bow and Sonia Rykiel had the black flat circular ‘hats’ attached to hers. Sienna Miller gave her girls a turban-looking headband for her Twenty8Twelve show.

groupielove #14

After Fall’s long, almost clerical lengths and the fifties ball skirts of the season before, he went short and leggy for Spring. The recurring silhouette was a drop-waist frothy minidress reminiscent of the twenties. Smothered in dense fringe or feathers (both real and represented in trompe l’oeil prints) or swirls of jeweled embroideries, these jazzy numbers were interspersed with the egg-shaped dresses and cocoon coats that have become a signature of Valli’s nearly five-year-old collection. This season, those came in graphic color-blocking or overscale prints and embroideries inspired by antique carpets. Bold leopard-stamped ponyskin was also in the mix; a short-sleeved jacket and shorts suit in the stuff seemed to attract particularly strong interest from his socialite fan club.

Beautytrends ss2010: frizzy hair

While we’re spending millions on hair straighteners and anti-frizz products the frizzy hair look is promoted big time on the catwalks.

In many shows the models’ hair was messed up and looked frizzy. At the Etro, Westwood and the Sonia Rykiel show the hair looked extraordinary. And what about the big Afro-wigs at Vuitton!

Of course the frizzy hair had to be the look of Sonia Rykiel’s models. That hairstyle has become the brand’s trademark. Other fashion brands must have chosen the look because they wanted to show something else, not because it looks so good.

The frizzy hair trend could be catastrophic for the economy. Yet it would be a solution for all women who’ve died, bleached, curled and straightened their hair so much that it has become frizzy itself.

Groupielove # 13

The Valentino-duo is now designing with a new Valentino generation in mind—one that likes its party dresses short and isn’t afraid of sheer. There wasn’t a (Valentino)red dress in sight. Instead, Piccioli and Chiuri romanced the soft tones of nude, rose, lavender, gold, and gray that have become the big color story of the season. Their methods included swirling organza around the body and tying it off with a flamboyant bow, embroidering tulle T-shirt dresses in antique laces and geometric metal paillettes, and printing chiffon with black orchids. A couple of fitted leather jackets and minis embellished with laser-cut rosettes provided a bit of edge. Glass slippers didn’t figure in this story, but the London-based milliner Philip Treacy did whip up some fanciful footwear with lace wings arcing upward from the heels.

In sum: This was a well-timed step forward for the new Valentino duo, one that put the brand at the center of some of Spring’s key trends and started to give it a new relevance.

Trends ss2010: the men’s skirt

The men’s skirt has been all over the news lately. Maybe because fashion brand H&M recently introduced a men’s skirt for their spring/summer collection 2010. And usually when H&M comes up with a trend it is picked up by many followers.

Of course H&M is not the first brand to introduce the men’s skirt. We’ve seen this fashion item on the runway for years. One true lover and wearer of skirts is designer  Marc Jacobs, who takes his bows most of the time dressed in a kilt.

This year there were some skirts in the menswear collections as well. At Thom Browne we spotted an ultra short version, at the show of Jean Paul Gaultier (one of the first designers with skirts for men)  the skirts were much longer. Rick Owens’ models wore multiple layers, one of those layers being the skirt. Other brands which had skirts in their collection were John Galliano, Francisco van Benthum and Kris van Assche.

We’re very curious if the skirt will become the trend for men in 2010.

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