Groupielove #6

Trey Speegle’s giant paint-by-number canvas spelling out the word YES at the back of Stella McCartney’s runway summed up the mood of her collection quite succinctly. These were uncomplicated, upbeat, and above all colorful clothes for women who prefer not to think too hard about getting dressed but still want to look young, sexy, and chic. It’s a sentiment that McCartney, a mother of three young children and the head of a growing fashion empire, understands intimately—as do her loyal customers, including front-row pal Gwyneth Paltrow.

Groupielove #5

After a couple of seasons of citified dressing, collectors of Dries may well be pining for his more eclectic, decorative pieces. If so, they’ll find plenty of them: coats, soft boxy jackets, wrapped dresses, and sarong skirts in a plethora of fabrics and embroideries that looked as if they’d been sourced from a trip around the markets of China and Southeast Asia.

In among them, there were items—like the silver lamé tank with a sheer back, the khaki shorts, and the sparkly jackets—that will also allow fans to dip into trend without going overboard. The incredible necklaces—rich-looking pearl chokers dangling geometric pendants set with large semiprecious stones and crystal—made gorgeous viewing.

Trends ss2010: lace details

Although lace is usually only seen in lingerie or underwear, we were now confronted with  lace in all kinds of daywear  in many shows. The largest  fashionbrands like Chanel, Dior, D&G, Oscar de la Renta, Cavalli, Valentino and Galliano introduced their clothing for the summer of 2010 with loads of lace.

The lace mostly came in neutral shades like black, white or beige. Yet in the Dior show we saw some black mixed with bright colors, like purple or pink. Erdem showed a combination of blue and black. At the fashion show of Antonio Marras  lace was mintgreen. And the models at Nina Ricci wore it in nudes and navy blue.

Jenny Packham designed some great feminine dresses in white lace. Paola Frani came up with a stunning jumpsuit in black lace. Barbara Bui made a few wonderful black lace jackets and Jasper Conran’s lace dresses felt a little bit like wedingdresses. At the Chanel fashion show the models wore many layers, topped with lace.

The most outstanding lace designs were a white mini dress with puffy shoulders from Jill Stuart and an elegant lace dress and jacket from Oscar de la Renta.

Introducing lace as a new trend for summer seems perfect. The fabric is airy and comfortable and makes women feel and look very ladylike.

Trends ss2010: skinny pants

Although the first celebs are already wearing wide-legged jeans, the skinny trend continues. For spring/summer 2010 the long and skinny model legs were still accentuated by tight leggings or ulta skinny pants. Not in denim, but different kind of materials.

Often it was hard to distinguish a pant from a legging, as they were equally tight. The skinny pants were often combined with loosely-fitting long tops, blouses or jackets.

At the Balmain fashion show there were skinnies in black and (glittery) camouflage. Barbara Bui designed hers with fish scales. Balenciaga’s pants had leather details. The Burberry and the Ungaro pants were pleated from bottom to top. At the Chanel Fashion show the boys wore the same black/green skinny pants as the girls. Roberto and Eva Cavalli designed a pair of light and shiny trousers with horizontal tears. The skinny pants from Matthew Williamson, Tony Cohen, Givenchy and Versace had all kinds of  patterns.

Since the skinny pants and the loose-fitting tops make such a great outfit together, it’s not time yet for the wide pants to return.

Groupielove # 2

In a serene and beautifully judged collection done almost entirely in shades of cream, Tomas Maier put the individualistic way we use clothes at the center of his thought process. “I think of it as a collaboration with women,” he said to style.com. “The clothes are meant to be a backdrop, a blank canvas, so the wearer can play with color and accessories to change the look and make it her own.” The concept of the neutral background came when he saw a group of children being dropped off at a karate class in Florida, where he lives: “I liked the look of the canvas, and that became my color card—white, cream, straw. And the idea of the soft belt.” Et voila, another beautiful collection was born.

Trends ss2010: endless variations

Since a white blouse is one of the most popular basic items, we spotted a lot of these in almost each summer collection. They appeared in three main versions: blouses that looked like jackets, tight waisted blouses and loose-fitting men’s shirts.

New details that were added to these blouses were rolled up sleeves, puff sleeves and collars decorated with ruffles and extra layers. Although designer Gianfranco Ferré has always been honoured for his multiple variations of the white blouse, I’ll bet he couldn’t come up with all the versions we saw for summer 2010.

The models wore their feminine blouses with ruffles and puff sleeves mostly in their pants or skirts (Moschino, Sophia Kokosalaki, Derek Lam, Max Mara), so the waist was accentuated. On the other hand, there were blouses that showed no bodyshape at all at the Junya Watanabe, Cacharel and Chloé fashion show.

There were a few outstanding white blouses. Stella McCartney designed an ultra-long, loose version. At the LoveSexMoney show there was a white blouse with an extremely big collar made of several layers of airy fabric. The white blouses at Girbaud looked like straightjackets. The best white blouse was shown by Aquilano & Rimondi. They made a super feminine white blouse with puff sleeves, large ruffles and ribbons… so classy.

Tess van Daelen

One last impression of Paris Fashion ss2010

Streetfashion Paris ss2010 Day 5

What are you wearing during Fashionweek? Your Givenchy-heels, your latest Marni-dress or that vintage Chanel? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashion-weeks we refresh our streetwear-category daily. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris.

John Galliano Catwalk Fashion Show ss2010

Powerful red laser-lights and only the contours of a woman’s body were the start of Galliano’s fashion show. On the catwalk it seemed as if there were leaks of fire. Bubbles floated through the air and created a shady smoke-effect as they collapsed on the runway. These settings immediately set the mood for the rest of the show, which was a true visual spectacle. Galliano was said to be inspired by the very first Hollywood actresses from the time when movies were still silent. His models had classic white-powdered faces and small dark-red lips. Their heads were decorated with feathers, pieces of fabric, nets and bouquets.The clothes were a bit of a chaos but there were some good pieces as well. Thin dresses in romantic colors were matched with large jackets. They had prints of dots and flowers. A long white sequined dress with a shiny silver jacket looked exquisite. (Tess van Daelen)

Hermes Catwalk Fashion Show ss2010

Jean Paul Gaultier took us to the tennis club, where he presented more than fifty hot new Hermès looks. The catwalk had white lines on it and the girls all wore headbands in colors matching their outfits. In some of the clothes (short white, beige or lavender skirts, shorts, polo’s and cardigans) the girls could actually play a good game of tennis. The rest of the outfits (long halterdresses, trouser suits and chiffon tops) were perfect for chilling along the sideline. Though the clothes were very diverse Gaultier showed a cohesive collection of classic/sporty pieces. He used classic color-combinations of red, white and navy-blue. Great leather pieces came in beautiful chestnut brown. The models wore big bangles (colored or silver) and fingerless gloves. They carried small clutches and the famous Birkin bags. One of them even had a tennis-touch to it with a long band, a special part to put the tennisballs in. (Tess van Daelen)

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