spring is in the air #9

Time for some bare legs, beautiful shoes and an African touch. Dries van Noten mixed French elegance with tribal influences. Great for spring!

Spring is in the air #6

Time to get your BIG sunglasses out. Like these from Giambattista Valli, made of wood and metallic-colored plastic. So glamorous.

Spring is in the air #5

A bold color and a nice jacket or big shirt are all you need to spice up your spring-wardrobe. Here at Isabel Marant.

Streetfashion: celebrate color

Who’s afraid of yellow, purple and red? We’re definitely not.  And so are the people we spotted in the streets of Milan and Paris. Color adds flavor to your outfit and it sure makes  the sun shine on a rainy day. Red is favorite, but also the soft shades Dries van Noten introduced in his 2009 fall-collection.

Streetfashion: in the army

Army-green is one of the hottest colors in fashion right now. Not only this spring, but also next autumn. The color itself has been used in militaries since at least World War two, but every now and then it pops up in high fashion. Of course it never really disappeared from the streets, it only got a lot more fashion character  because of Junya Watanabe, Balmain and Burberry. In the streets of Milan and Paris we spotted many parka’s, jackets, combatpants and big coats.

Spring is in the air #2

Transparent black and blue make a great combination. Here at Rochas.

The best of Paris Fashion Week FW2010

The Paris fashion week was the last fashion week of the season, but it was worth the wait. The brands in our top 4 (Celine, Dries van Noten, Lanvin and Louis Vuitton) all showed beautiful, wearable clothes in which women can feel confident and sexy.

Celine
The Celine fahion show was one to remember while it was a great follow-up for the amazing collection Phoebe Pilo showed for spring. Cause just like Pilo’s first collection for Celine this one was simplistic, yet never boring. Or as she described it herself: ‘Strong, Powerful, Reduced.’ The best fabrics were used and the clothes were made with Pilo’s signature clean and sophisticated cut. Shades of navy, black and white alternated each other. Leather details, like collars and pocket, and transparent fabrics gave the looks a bit of an edge. There’s no doubt this elegant and sexy collection will get it’s approval from Celine’s loyal customers. It had everything the women had been waiting for ever since Helmut Lang left the runway.

Dries van Noten
As one of the first designers to present his collection Dries van Noten managed to design exactly the kind of clothes women feel confident in. His designs were wearable, comfortable, feminine and refreshing. And the great thing about it; the models didn’t look as if they’d spent hours in front of the mirror. It seemed like they had just mixed and matched some of their own basics with some designer items. Therefore they looked streetwise and sophisticated at the same time. Two elements that really struck us were the colorful floral prints and the silver embroideries on the sleeves. Dries van Noten did a great job making fashion seem effortless, for once.

Lanvin
Dries van Noten wasn’t the only designer who proved he knew what women want. Alber Elbaz showed some great style as well. On the runway he built a stairway to heaven from which the models started their walk. They wore the cutest cocktail dresses and the most elegant evening gowns. Those dresses looked easy to wear, but were never simple. While most designs were very flattering, classy and still modern many women will feel comfortable wearing them. The collection felt urban, yet also had a light African tribal influence originating from Elbaz’ background (he was born in Morocco ). The tribal details were visible in the accessories, feathers and furry details. And we’re sure that between all those different items there was a little something for every woman.

Louis Vuitton
On the final day of the Paris fashion week Marc Jacobs once more amazed the world of fashion by presenting a 50’s/60’s inspired collection. He must have had the same thought as Miuccia Prada, only he took it a little further. His (full-figured) models (Laetitia Casta, Bar Refaeli, Catherine McNeil, Karolina Kurkova, Elle Macpherson) looked as feminine as ever with their wasp-waists, long circle skirts and full busts. Jacobs also re-introduced the famous Speedy bag. The show was inspired by the movie ‘And god created woman’ which made Brigit Bardot famous thus the models wore their hair in BB-inspired bouncy ponytails. The fashion spectacle was held around a fountain in the middle of a tented courtyard. It made up for a wonderful Parisian atmosphere, the perfect ending of a great fashion season.

Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

The circle is round. What started with the 50’s/60’s inspired show at Prada two weeks ago ended yesterday with a Louis Vuitton-collection in a production that breathed the Fifties-sixties in every outfit. The collection was inspired by And God created women, the movie that made Brigitte Bardot a big star, and the models looked sensual, feminine and curvy.

Marc Jacobs explained his take on the Fifties as an excuse to to pause and appreciate what a house like Vuitton is capable of creating. And that are bags actually, so there was a beautiful bag for every oufit Jacobs sent out – like fantastic redos of the Vuitton Speedy.

The silhouette was curvy with focus at the waist, full skirted dresses or full skirts mixed with tailored jackets- that’s probably why Jacobs hired Laetitia Casta, Bar Refaeli, Catherine McNeil, Karolina Kurkova, and finally Elle Macpherson, all women who were banned from the fashion-shows for a long time because of their beautiful, curvy body.  Jacobs made them look  fresh, feminine and ingenue, with hair scraped back into high, bouncy ponytails; clean makeup; and square-toed, block-heeled pumps trimmed with flat bows.

Hermès Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

It looked as if Jean Paul Gaultier wanted to stress the origins of the Hermès fashionlabel. There was leather everywhere in the collection, which was inspired by the British 60’s television serie The Avengers.

A not-too-great-looking Lily Cole opened the show in a black leather pantsuit, zipped on the front. The rest of her outfit was made from leather as well: shoes, belt, gloves, bag. Even her bowler hat and umbrella could easily have had some leather parts.

Some crocodile leather followed, on a skirt, a belt, a pair of trousers and a jacket. After that, the leather designs became so thick they seemed more appropriate for men. Especially when the (leather!) ties and the extra-wide pants came by, the show got a very masculine feeling.

Fortunately shades of light gray, camel and brown softened the looks. Just when one of the models came on carrying a New York Times under her arm (slightly pushing Suzy Menkes, who works for the newspaper, to write a good review on the show).

Most of the woolen coats that followed, had leather collars in a different shade. A beige toggle coat popped up out of nowhere, shoulders were accentuated by leather parts and a long leopard printed skirt was seen from under a stiff leather jacket. And though we were happy most labels temporarily said goodbye to this specific animal print it later came by on several dresses, a coat, a blouse and even on one of the two hoop skirts.

There was so much animal material in this collection any PETA activist would have gone mad watching this show. Even we could hardly handle the amount of leather JPG sent off on the runway. Yet we did get very inspired on how many ways there are to wear it.

Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

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