The ABC of womenswear ss2012, part 3
Next spring will be a lively season, with lots of color, elegance and femininity. Good times are coming! Today part 3 of our ABC.
G is for GIANNI VERSACE
Oh, good old Gianni, we surely do miss his vibrant collections full of prints, color and sexy clothes. But with a collaboration with H&M ahead – and a promise made by Donatella that she will be using some Versace classics in prints – we do expect a revival of the Versace-print. Some designers used the baroque prints and foulard prints in their collections. Just to offer something different than just clean minimalism.
H is for HOLIDAY in retro-style
With the Fifties back in style, the glamourous holiday-dressing returns too. This theme shares with us moments of nostalgia and makes us long for times that were innocent and frivolous. Holiday forever in these not just referenced, yet simple literary quoted historic silhouettes.
I is for INNOCENT & SWEET
The fashion merry-go-round keeps spinning and brought us sugar SWEET fashion. The word ‘pretty’ was banned from the fashion dictionary for seasons, but made a majestic comeback. Opulence, intricate embellishment and exquisite craftsmanship modernise romance by alternating laser cut silk cellophanes and crafted Broderie Anglaise.
To be continued
The ABC of womenswear ss2012, part 2
October 12, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items, London, Milan, New York, People, Trends, womenswear
Season ss2012 seems still far away, and there is so much to tell about what’s coming up. So we’re putting everything in an ABC round-up. Today part 2.
D is for DIGITALIZE
Digital prints were all over the collections this season, but why did it take that long and why does it stay that close to the pavement laid out by those great pioneers, Alexander McQueen and Mary Katranzou? Lovely, happy and very exiting though.
E is for ETHNIC
Ethnic influences are still visible in fashion. take a look at Burberry’s collection with the rattan and tribal patterns and jewelry, or Donna Karan with her African vibe. Dark earthy colors, ocre, green and red are dominating but there’s also a more tropical and colorful side to this trend with vibrant colors and fantasy patterns.
F is for FIFTIES
This trend tells an entertaining tale of pretty dresses, fit and flare, full as well as swirling and swinging skirts and sweet, sorbet-like colors. It brings us back to the Fifties as known in movies and books. Prada, the brave, alternated this prettiness with spiced up romance, moving beyond stereotypes. Then surprisingly well coordinated was the return of Fifties swimwear.
To be continued.
The ABC of womenswear ss2012, part 1
October 11, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items, London, New York, Paris, Trends, womenswear
What a great season ss2012 will be. It’s a pity we’ll have to wait until next year, before we can touch, feel and wear those beautiful clothes. There was so much to see and experience the last few weeks, starting with the shows in New York and ending in Paris. Time for a large ABC-round-up.
A is for ARTIFICIAL CHIC
A cool, modern twist to classic and iconic shaping and experimenting with mixed materials, layered patterns and strange color-combinations. Plastic is favorite, as are high sheen sparkling surfaces and innovative finishing.
B is for BARE SKIN
Slits and slices showed bare arms and legs, as were transparent fabrics but there was more to see: bare midriffs because of all those bandeau tops. A great contrast while lengths of skirts are dropping. After seasons of revealed bellies the elongated tops seemed so much more luxurious and sophisticated. Yet now we seem to enter a period of hedonism once more, celebrating the body, enjoying fashion and consuming style.
C is for COUTURE
The clear read line through Paris catwalk shows is a couture spirit reminiscent of the fifties and sixties.One designer more then the other found ways to translate this precious era in a contemporary and new look. Materials where traditional and precious, yet some realized that typical sculptural aspect in novel man made yet ever so luxurious fabrics. A, I and egg shaped, reduced and iconic, minimal use of details and executed in mostly black and white.
To be continued.
Round Up Paris Womenswear ss2012
October 10, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items, Paris, Stijlspot, Stylespot, Trends, womenswear
Paris offered us a week of mixed emotions and mindsets. From thoughtful calmness and flirty elegance to sweet prettiness. The overall fashion feel was optimistic which makes a welcome escape from the ‘outside’ world.
Hardly ever before the overall look was that feminine and sensual, and surprisingly some of the most influential collections where inspired by some of the most iconic male drivers; cars (Akris), sex and sports (Stella McCartney). And that involves all global catwalks. Also nice to note that sea world inspiration was back on track with just one winter in between, it inspired Chanel to create organic sea shaped silhouettes and Givenchy to fuse mermaid and surfer looks.
Yet THE lead for summer 2012 is couture excellence and best staged by Celine: her COUTURE SPIRIT showed reduced fashion with sculptural quality.
Then we list the sensual impact of SLITS AND SLICES that made models floating over the catwalks. Long strategically placed cuts revealed legs, midriff and décolleté.
The fashion merry-go-round keeps spinning and brought us sugar SWEET fashion by Louis Vuitton. The word ‘pretty’ was banned from the fashion dictionary for seasons, but made a majestic comeback. Opulence, intricate embellishment and exquisite craftsmanship modernise romance by alternating laser cut silk cellophanes and crafted Broderie Anglaise.
Ann Demeulemeester showed just one of many fairy tale like collections with sheer POETIC VISION; featherweight translucent layers in fluid, floating silhouettes. Wrapped in silky veils, gathered and draped or enveloped in long, lush, layers of silk.
Then there was that single spark of freshness by Stella McCartney. Happy and FRESH, sporty and sexy, framing bright colours and white in bold ornaments and edging them with curvy cutouts.
Accessories where strikingly innovative in most collections; coordinated, iconic and all precious treasures that in some cases reflect the sign of the fashion times even better then garments do.
Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam
Claes Iversen Catwalk Fashion Show ss2012
October 7, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Amsterdam, Fashion, Featured Items, womenswear
After having traveled through all four fashion capitals in the past few weeks, last night the fashion circus arrived at it’s final destination: Amsterdam. It was Claes Iversen’s show which brought Dutch celebs and fashion professionals together at Zuidpark on Thursday evening.
Inspired by a small group of women, who seem to have everything in the world Claes came up with a whole lot of elegant dresses, duo colored pants, sheer skirts and detailed blouses.
Crosses seemed a big theme in the show, in which models walked on a cross-shaped catwalk. They were used as embroideries on skirts, short jackets and long evening dresses, varying in shape and color.
A poppy print (in white and orange/red) was used in many of the couture-like designs as well. It beautifully mixed in with the rest of the color palette (many whites, cardinal, cyon).
Huge (filled) shoulders and large bows (on the models’ chests) gave the designs a more structured look.
Going through Claes’ Tweets of the past few weeks we learned not everything in the design process went as smoothly as the designer had hoped. But on Thursday night, when everything just came together, there was no sign of all of that. I was just a perfect presentation of a graceful, beautifully made and positive spring/summer collection.
Alexander McQueen Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2012
October 5, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items, Paris, womenswear
Although Sarah Burton wanted to celebrate femininity and womanhood with her collection for Alexander McQueen it also brought a strong fetishistic vibe to life. That was because of the strong curbes and (beautifully made) masks. It was pretty and sometimes romanticwith hint of lingerie. There was just one silhouette: a small bodice, tiny waist, tight skirt flounced or godeted at the hem for flirtatious walking.
Chanel Catwalk Fashion Show Paris ss2012
October 4, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items, Paris, womenswear
It was a poetic Chanel-show. Especially after the dark, gloomy autumn show half a year ago. Is Karl Lagerfeld looking at the bright side of life again? His imaginary underwater world surely made the audience forget there is a serious financial crisis going on in the real world.
Lagerfeld changed the typical commercial and somewhat safe Chanel-look into a sporty one, with silver shoes, conch-shaped heels, a stripped Chanel-suit where the chains were replaced by pearls and he introduced modern fabrics, like the transparent plastic jacket over a swimsuit. For evening there we light lacy and mesh dresses. It was amazing what he did with his element of inspiration, the pearl – one of the Chanel-icons. Not only the colors, also the way fabrics looked, the accessories, the make up.
Florence Welch was the guest-performer, hidden in a gigantic shell where she sang her siren-song. Mysterious and magical.
Chloe Catwalk Fashion Show Paris ss2012
October 3, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items, Paris, womenswear
That was a light-hearted and feminine first Chloe-collection of Clare Waight Keller. The British designer just came from Pringle of Scotland and made a big change crossing the Channel.
She said to the press she wanted ‘a sense of ease and femininity’ in her collection, and she succeeded. She even used elements Karl Lagerfeld introduced during his time at Chloe, not only the prints but also embroideries. Keller took the flower-prints and put them at the sides of white pants and shorts or all over a white blouse.
Pleats, a major trend in the European collections, were a key element and gave the collection an appealing attitude. The show opened with long, flowing dresses, where the over-dyed pleats looked like sunrays. There were boyish elements too, like wide shorts and trousers, and sheer dresses shaped like dungarees and worn over a tunic.
Stella McCartney Catwalk Fashion Show Paris ss2012
October 3, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Paris, womenswear
The collection Stella McCartney sent out this morning was a fusion of sportswear, femininity and comfort. Vitality, relax and baroque were the keywords. The last balanced out the collection, since one of the main motifs was curling embroideries that edged the scalloped hems of miniskirts and the lapels on blazers. This neo-Baroque element gave the collection, which was divided into tank dresses and tailoring, an elegant touch.
The tankdresses were short and formfitting. They came in combinations of white, black and cobalt blue. McCartney’s signature men’s wear looked fresh in white bonded materials, a clean-lined baseball jacket will surely be a hit.
The second half of the show introduced mini-prints and paisleys, shown on tailored jumpsuits and men’s pyjama looks. The prints came back at little dresses, sometimes with a shot of color or with mesh insets.
Comme des Garcons Catwalk Fashion Show Paris ss2012
October 2, 2011 by Jetty
Filed under Fashion, Featured Items, Paris, womenswear
In a season with an overload of prints and color Rei Kawakubo decided to go with pure white. “White drama” was her description of her spring collection, which opened with an ivory satin long-sleeved dress, straight at front and a full bouffant skirt in the back. The model, veiled and with a high white headpiece had her hands folded in front and tied together at the wrists with a big bow.
The rest of the show all dresses were white and all models looked like prisoners in skirts like padded cages and capes done in grand couture shapes but no armholes. Some dresses were tight and completely restrictive. This was a true Kawakubo-collection: provocative, beautiful and sometimes shocking.
