Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The art of anti-fashion

Yohji Yamamoto: The fashion designer who redesigned fashion













As one of the most mentally rigorous designers working in fashion, Yohji Yamamoto creates garments that can be intellectual—sometimes even difficult—yet always beautiful. Yohji’s free-spirited world is explored here via i-D magazine’s archives starting back in the 1980s, including his adoration for women and the female form, the painful process of creating anti-fashion through fashion and how his timeless utilitarian designs can be both avant-garde and classic at once.

Packed into 120 pages is biographical and personal information as well as imagery from over 30 years of i-D's history with images from photographers including Paolo Roversi, Max Vadukul, and Nick Knight, plus interviews with Jamie Huckbody, Holly Shackleton, and Terry Jones.


The editor:
Founder and Creative Director of i-D magazine, Terry Jones started his fashion career in the 1970s as art director of Vanity Fair and Vogue UK. Since 1977 his Instant Design studio has produced catalogues, campaigns, exhibitions and books, including TASCHEN's Smile i-D, Fashion Now 1, Fashion Now 2 and Soul i-D.

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

More Pics of Saint Laurent Men's







bleached mane, for Saint Laurent's new Skinny men's line by Hedi Slimane. Now come these beautifully brooding campaign images of the larger Saint Laurent men's collection for spring, modeled on a makeup-less Saskia de Brauw and of course, once again, photographed by Slimane...

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Gagathon at the Guggenheim




 
By Franklin Melendez

New York Fashion Week came to a close as Lady Gaga took over the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum for the launch of her new fragrance, Fame. The piece of performance art found Gaga up to her usual ‘original’ and ‘provocative’ antics, with a lavish masquerade ball providing the backdrop.

To a pap crush, the lady arrived fashionably early, only to encase herself in a large-scale version of the bottle, where she proceeded to snooze until well into the festivities. Guests soon followed, including Marc Jacobs with Brazilian BF Harry Louis, Alexander Wang, Rachel Zoe, Yoko Ono, and Lindsay Lohan, who managed to show up to this opening, if not Richard Phillips'.
Everyone gallivanted about and approached a sleeping Gaga, who rose from her slumber and treated the gathered monsters to the night’s big moment. She was stripped to her lacy underthings by assistants and the back of her neck was shaved. Attendees were then treated to a live tattoo session that was televised throughout the museum. Passing out and getting a tattoo? Maybe she’s a Jersey Girl at heart.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Supermodels Glam Up the Olympics






Proving yet again that supermodels are the center of the universe, as if contractually obligated, eight exemplary British specimens strutted down an Olympic-sized catwalk in the Closing Ceremony last night in London. To a snazzed-up rendition of David Bowie's Fashion, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Stella Tennant, Lily Cole, Lily Donaldson, Karen Elson, and soon-to-be supes Jourdan Dunn and Georgia May Jagger, plus male model David Gandy, appeared on pedestals before taking to the runway in the likes of Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Burberry, and Christopher Kane—all gold, silver, and bronze, naturally.
Any time the fashion world ventures outside the domains of Fashion Week or a fashion magazine, it's sure to get censured, and sure enough this parade was roundly criticized in the Twitterverse for the usual reasons (unhealthy body image, sports and fashion don't mix, Kate's history of drug use, etc.). But here's what we think. Since the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are all about celebrating the host country's cultural achievements, and since the walk took all of three minutes, let them have their fun.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

FRED BUTLER SS13 "A Bee In My Bonnet with a Honey Haircomb"





Fred Butler brings her inimitable style and unique brand of creativity back to the heart of London Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2013 in her third On-Schedule live presentation. Working again with Red Bull and The Catwalk Studio Project, Fred Butler and Two Inch Punch debut an original track – “A Bee In My Bonnet” accompanying the SS13 collection and Fashion Film directed by Elisha Smith-Leverock evoking life within the hive, both made possible through Red Bull’s support. This season Fred Butler’s unlikely inspiration came from bees, with Two Inch Punch creating a crackling, buzzing, humming soundtrack. Marian Newman contributing razor-sharp sting-like talons whilst exoskeleton influenced undergarments in latex and rubber are in collaboration with William Wilde, costume director at The Box and known for dressing celebrities including Kelly Brook, Alek Wek, Daisy Lowe and Rihanna.

The Red Bull Catwalk Studio enabled Fred Butler to collaborate with Two inch Punch, the alias of London based produced Ben Ash who has made beats for the likes of Lil’ Wayne and has been proving a favorite in Diplo’s mixes, pioneering a new genre called “Lovestep”. The track will be previewing exclusively during the SS13 presentation and be available for complimentary download along with Fred’s Fashion Film at
www.redbull.co.uk/catwalkstudio, bringing the catwalk directly to your playlist. Fred Butler is working with The Bumblebee Conservation Trust in support of the declining number of Urban Bees within our cities. A special edition key ring by Fred Butler will be available exclusively through her blog and The Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s homepage with all proceeds going to the trust.
 



This season pieces are constructed from patchwork hexagons, heavily embroidered in gold-work referencing Fred Butler’s previous piece for Kim Howells’ “House Of…” project celebrating extraordinarily talented designers and asking each to contribute one piece under a central theme. In a departure from past collections, “A Bee In My Bonnet” brings a fresh street and sport inspired edge to the designer’s quirky craft-inspired aesthetic. The muse of a “Hip Hop Honey Bee” is both urban and feminine, softened with ethereal touches and a gold iridescent colour palette. Luggage also makes a debut within Fred Butler’s work with bumblebee backpacks, bee-stinger bum-bags and money purses. Other key pieces include worker-bee baseball caps, honeycomb headphones, hexagon hoop earrings, bangles and flower fobs on daisy chains. Fred Butler continues to collaborate with Rosy Nicholas on bold statement footwear this season presenting itself through architectural art-deco wedges in gold echoing honeycomb and the interior structure of the hive.
 

Since graduating from The University of Brighton in 2003, Fred Butler has amassed an enviable industry following after involvement in countless projects and commissions for editorial, journalism and corporate clients. Fred Butler’s ever expanding portfolio of clients includes celebrities such as TEED, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and Beth Ditto and corporate clients including Swatch, MTV, Nike, Adidas, Samsung, Havaiana, Mini, Vauxhall and BT.
 


WATCH FRED BUTLER'S SS13 FASHION FILM HERE
 


CREDITS

Music in collaboration with Two Inch Punch (@TWOINCHPUNCH)
 Enabled by the Red Bull Catwalk Studio (@RBStudiosLondon)

Fred Butler and all those involved in her presentation and fashion film would like to thank the team at Red Bull and The Red Bull Catwalk Studio for all their help and support throughout the season, without which none of this would have been possible. Fred Butler would also like to thank Two Inch Punch and everyone who worked in The Red Bulls Studios to make their collaboration possible.

Fred Butler x Red Bull Catwalk Studio Official After Party
 Salon Club London (@SalonClubLondon)

Stylist and Consultant: Kim Howells (@Kim_Howells)

Hair: Bianca Tuovi (@Biancatuovi) and team @ CLM Hair & Make-up (@clm_uk_ny_la)
 for Bumble and bumble (@Bumble)

Makeup: Yin Lee @ Premier using Melvita (@MelvitaUK) and AOFM Pro (@AOFMakeup)
 Nails: Marian Newman (@MarianNewman) at Streeters for Nail Rock (@Nail_Rock)

Casting Director: Paul Isaac (@MRPaulIsaac)
 Shoe Collaboration with Rosy Nicholas (@RosyNicholas)

Latex in collaboration with William Wilde (@William_Wilde_)
 Presentation Creative Production Curator: Ryan Lanji (@RyanLanji)

Styling Assistants: Daisy Newman (@Daisy_L_Newman) & Isabella Sumner (@IsabellaSumner)
 Studio Assistants: Keely Hunter, Emily Beard, Phoebe Simpson, Emily de Vale, Charlotte Bruton, Ruairi McInerney, Risa Mitsui and Lisa Watson

 
WWW.FREDBUTLERSTYLE.COM
 
 
Nail Rock has collaborated with British designer Fred Butler for her SS13 London Fashion Week show. Models donned bespoke nail wraps with beautifully crafted 3D bumble bee designs to complement the bee elements of her new fashion collection.

The designer nail wraps were unveiled at Fred Butler’s SS13 presentation held at the iconic Somerset House.

Nail Rock Creative Director, Zoe Pocock said, ‘Fred Butler is such an exciting designer and I absolutely love her collections. Both brands have a British connection and the collaboration felt natural. The designs we’ve chosen really emphasize her bee theme and give the models a fun and unique edge. I’m absolutely delighted to have worked with the iconic Marian Newman for this show’.
 









 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Philip Treacy



Philip Treacy
Michael Jackson's actual Thriller jacket with a smiley-face hat? Yeah, that happened at Philip Treacy's phenomenal collection tonight—his first show in London since 1999—as did a hat modeled on the Neverland ranch, complete with a miniature carousel, and a Swarovski-encrusted creation resembling a sparkling white glove. Treacy's trademark feather headdresses were also on show, as well as fantastic experiments with light, including one that covered the model's body entirely like a Christmas Tree.
This was as much a rousing retrospective of Jackson's stage outfits by his longtime co-designers Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins as it was a millinery collection inspired by said outfits. Piling up the tributes further, Treacy dedicated the show to his late friends Isabella Blow and Alexander McQueen. Not one to miss a spectacle, Lady Gaga served as mistress of ceremonies, decked out in a floor-length pink veil and McQueen's Armadillo shoes as she introduced "the greatest milliner of all time."

Thursday, October 18, 2012

ChloƩ Celebrates 60 Years







It's been 60 years since ChloƩ's fateful debut collection at Le CafƩ de Flore, a Rive Gauche favorite among artists and boho young things whose laissez-faire spirit came to define the label. On Friday, ChloƩ celebrated six decades in a diamond jubilee of historic proportions (because why should the Queen of England have all the fun?).

Historic, because the house's Egyptian founder, Gaby Aghion, made a rare public appearance. Surprisingly charismatic, even at 91, she held court in the newly renovated Palais de Tokyo as guests including Karl Lagerfeld, Carine Roitfeld, Franca Sozzani, Jonathan Newhouse and Emmanuelle Alt paid their respects, to the tunes of Little Boots and Cecile Cassel & The Twins.
The celebration also served to launch ChloƩ Attitudes, a retrospective consisting of 70 signature looks over the years. On display are archival pieces from each of ChloƩ's nine designers, starting with Gaby Aghion and continuing through Maxime de La Falaise, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, and, currently, Clare Waight Keller.

We caught up with curator Judith Clark, who told us, "A lot of this is being put together for the first time, so sometimes I have been the first person to see drawings, documents, and cuttings. What people underestimate about ChloƩ is how witty the designs have always been, how whimsical, and still exist in the same spirit."

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Emanuela Naccarati>Deco Demi-Couture Collection/FW 2012 -13 /Rome







Glance Deco
FW 2012 -13Zora & Neva Emanuela Naccarati

Inspiration for the Deco demi-couture collection of 18 pieces submitted for the coming winter by the young designer Emanuela Naccarati.
The Heads, limited edition characterized by processes and dyes made by hand, are the result of meticulous workmanship and craftsmanship, use of materials absolutely natural and historical, the result of meticulous research into the archives of companies of Italian textiles.
The Outerwear have basic volumes, they become armor, imposing high shoulders clamshell; pants follow clean lines in fabrics complete male (cashmere, wool / cashmere and pure wool 120's of national production) blouses in bourette of
hand-dyed silk are limited edition, as well as the shirts in pure silk.
For the evening, faithful to the call Deco 30s, feminine imagery of Lucien Lelong and that of the photographer Hoyningen Huene clothes made with Indian saree because optical are also unique in shape, color and imagination:
geometric hours, playing with contrasts of colors, effects light / dark texture of hypnotic, sensual hours as in the one-shoulder neckline or V neckline down to the waist and reminiscent of the volumes of the creations of Jeanne Lanvin and Madeleine Vionnet.
A sound installation space and welcome guests into space lab designer. The work is the result of research and cultural craft designer who explores his collection with the sophisticated models and curvy fashion 30's, the elegance of the voltage architectural and structural forms of outerwear, and the renewed interest in heritage traditional Italian craftsmanship.
Skilled hands working tissues, selected from the archives of famous Italian companies, according to the dictates of craftsmanship and design research.



EMANUELA
Naccarati
BIOGRAPHY

Emanuela Naccarati is a designer from Puglia who lives and
works in Rome.
Thanks to the passion passed on from parents, drapers high fashion, milliner and grandmother, decides to undertake an artistic career, graduating the Academy of Costume and Fashion in Rome, the most prestigious school in the Italian context.

While studying
, he worked for small local productions. Then he won an internship at a prestigious costume workshop and begins his experience in the world of theater and cinema.
First as an assistant, then as a costume designer, accumulates eighteen years of experience in the world of opera and drama, cinema vintage and contemporary work in national and international productions.

Has no way of knowing that the "dress" in every facet: construction, functionality, workmanship and aesthetic experience without which the project would never come to a personal brand, zora & neva.

zora & neva for Emanuela is not a change, but an evolution dictated by the desire for uniqueness: each dress has its own history and its own path and she goes in search.

The brand was created to meet the curious spirits looking fabric in the shape and processing, hidden messages from the past: the experience lives on in new forms.

The search for materials, dyes craft and the geometric rigor of forms are witnesses of a style "unique" and timeless, which escapes from today's dynamic business by making his work a collection continuous.

Glance Deco made ​​his debut with the desire to reflect the artistic imagination of Emanuela, collecting the essential points of its formation: the dress is research, construction, detail
and aesthetics.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

How it Works




You do things.You try it, this way, that way. You stray, you flop and then you flip again, and something, some things come out of it.

You do them and please, please, you think, do not ask me what I'm doing, what my political take on this, for the moment now I just have a political in-take, the out is not political to my best knowledge. Fortunately, your knowledge is not best. You see, you do things.

And although most of them, you can honestly say, you know little about, the matter speaks for you. (Which, of course, does not mean you do not try to talk with it, for it, explain it, relate it and convey it, extrapolate it, and prove where it, the matter, stands).

Some of the works you work, frankly, are worthy of the highest criticism. They are, yes it has been said before, the flops. Or worse, they have the wrong ideas, wrong media, wrong impressions and plenty-wrong outcomes.

Yet within these plenty-wrong outcomes, things are born. And these things might just make connections, little roots holding on to little pieces of earth. Not that roots hold on to any particular piece, but this metaphor just decided to go its own way, and we at New Art listen to metaphors, so yes, there might be no palpable piece of anything that the roots hold to, yet the work (by now it is work) is starting to appear as if it were actually something, about something, into something, for something. It gains weight.

And then, at some ungiven points, not necessarily at the end or at any sort of finale, the Holy-Flip happens. It could be a form, it could be filled with air or helium, it could be pretty far away from you, but still yours, still stemming from this surprizing head. You might say "things came into place", but you have no clue what you are saying, you don't have the perspective, you just enjoy it, the fact that now it seems clear, there is a connection, things are being said which you knew you wanted to say or wanted someone to say, some other head maybe.

And you know what? When it works, it's so simple.

Monday, September 24, 2012

On the Fall Campaign Trail

Fall campaigns—that put a spring in our step, let us sleep in, fix us a daiquiri, and other summer-related metaphors...