Maiyet Fall Winter 2013 Collection

Monday March 4, 2013 – Palais de Tokyo

One of life’s little joys is bringing home a piece of memorabilia from a place you’ve visited so that upon a glance or a touch, you can be instantly whisked back to whence you came from. Sometimes holding onto the souvenir is as important as holding onto the memory, especially when that place is far off the beaten track. So it bears notice that Maiyet’s designer, Gabriella Zanzani, who upon returning from her treks into the Himalayas, was inspired to translate the sights, textures and colors of that region into an imaginative Fall collection that gives a poignant glimpse into her memories of fiery villages and snow capped panoramas.   Naturally, outerwear was a key component to the narrative, with cropped jackets, blazers and parkas giving off a young, downtown feel. The brand’s sense of youthfulness is never lost on the audience and is reinforced through fun, feminine numbers like a schoolgirl look with white pleated top and matching short jacket with a layered skirt. The incorporation of a horizontal fuchsia line across a vest and hooded parka number was a welcome pop of color which later transcended into a series of fiery red numbers such as a cloque harness long sleeve top, skinny pants and a degrade sweater. Sleek, Italian-crafted black and burgundy wood boots, either studded or tasseled, came in mid-calf to knee length proportions; ideal for making it through the snowdrifts on the sidewalks of NY or Paris this past winter. Fur t-shirts and felted blanket skirts kept with the theme of softness and comfort. Sculptural gold and horn necklaces as well as truss bracelets from Indonesia will be sure to please accessories addicts. Sleeveless dresses, either short or maxi, looked effortless and silhouette-slimming while a black, v-neck cleavage-baring gown was goddess-like. Though memories of places and dreams can become clouded over time, Maiyet’s vision for Fall is as sharp as ever.

Shop Maiyet via Net-A-Porter.com

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Photos courtesy of stylerumor.com

Backstage at Vanessa Bruno Fall Winter 2013

Friday March 1st, 2013 – Grand Palais

There was a certain confidence in the model’s step at Vanessa Bruno’s Fall showing,  and with good reason. With her eponymous line growing exponentially in the past few years, Vanessa Bruno has set her sights on the American market, first with a pop-up store bowing during NY fashion week and, later this year, her first U.S. boutique opening in the Big Apple. You get the sense that VB was all about getting down to business, with opening looks featuring masculine suiting that were reworked into flirtatiously youthful pieces.

Pinstripe suit jackets and trousers paired with white-collared color-blocked shirts introduced the collection. Knife pleats on billowy skirts, blouses, and dresses were sharp and sexy while the use of grommets along the hems of mini-skirts will get no complaints from boyfriends and husbands. Cleavage baring V-necklines on a few looks offered a little flesh-baring for all, looking best on a shiny black number with a layered, A-line skirt construction.

For outerwear, white-quilted shoulder, pocket and hem trims on grey granite, asymmetrical coats and jackets answer the need for something fresh for fall. There was a variety of beautifully textured patterns used in tunics, skirts and shift dresses, some sporting vertical rhinestone arrangements while others taking a mosaic approach. Dark silver sequins were worked into white shift dresses in a kaleidoscopic fashion to great effect.

A harbinger of great things to come this autumn, Bruno’s immense joy could hardly be contained by this collection much to the delight of many waiting shoppers.

Shop Vanessa Bruno via Net-A-Porter.com

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Photos and video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Hair by Eugene Souleiman

Mugler Fall Winter 2013 Collection

Wednesday February 27, 2013 - Halle Freyssinet

If you follow Nicola Formichetti on any number of social networks, you quickly realize his home is where his work and leisure call him. Whether he’s styling a shoot in Tokyo for Vogue Japan, working out of V Magazine’s offices in New York, or just unwinding under a palm tree in Tulum, Mexico, Nicola has probably earned his platinum flyer stripes by now, which may explain the world-traveler inspiration for this latest collection.

Understandably, after spending time in quite a few airports and planes, Nicola drew inspiration from therein, incorporating into the collection elements of airy openness, clean architectural lines, and a potpourri of elements from all walks of life and time. Nicola and Sebastien Peigné crafted clothes that took quantum leaps and bounds across the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s but that held an endearing view of what the past envisioned of the future.

The first series of cocooned, shoulder tapered looks showed Peigné’s natural talent at taking a basic element like wind and reconceptualizing it as a soft, caressing garment. Even the choice of tones and materials, from coral, sea foam and gentle yellows to cashmere and pilled wool, appeared to evoke a sense of calmness and restraint. Petal-leaf top dresses and cropped blouse-skirt combos flashed just a bit of skin before transitioning into sculptural white sweater and pant combos that would look at home in Oscar Niemeyer’s Niteroi Art Museum.

Five pocket petrol patent pants (try saying that five times fast) and a matching asymmetrical jacket added a bit of Blade Runner into the narrative. Mixing materials revealed a wondrous shearling overcoat with a satin ‘under-dress’ as well as a tropical neoprene and satin shift dress number. Flared wrap jackets, shiny slick trousers, pencil skirts, optic white tops, mohair-like turtlenecks, and leather headscarves appeared like a monochromatic summary of the best elements of the collection.

Even with all the retro nods, one cannot deny that the Mugler woman seems to always have one foot in the now and the other in the future.

Shop Mugler via ssense.com

See all the photos:

Photos and video courtesy of stylerumor.com

Creative Director: Nicola Formichetti

Womenswear Designer: Sebastien Peigne

Hair: Sam McKnight

Makeup: Charlotte Tilbury

Backstage at Tommy Hilfiger Fall Winter 2013

Sunday February 10, 2013 – Park Avenue Armory

In the world of fashion, few can claim to reinvent a style category that they themselves helped create. You can add Tommy Hilfiger to that short list with his latest collection, where he broadened the idea of ‘prep’ to mean Savile Row tailoring and bold patterns. For womenswear, TH took masculine attires and softened them into flirty, youthfully feminine silhouettes that gave nods to academia and Allie McGraw.

Oversized and miniature Prince of Wales patterns are beautifully incorporated into outerwear, either as a standout pattern on dress coats, trenches, blazers and perfectos, as part of a lining to beige tone and red trimmed parkas and trenches, or as a soft backdrop to a midnight blue cardigan. Several white numbers incorporated checkers and stripes into argyle patterns, sleeve cuffs, and pocket trims giving shirt dresses, peacoats, and button down blouses depth and dimension.

Deep navy blue argyle-perforated leather skirts, red pin stripe blazers and shorts, and cuddly white Steiff lining on coats and parkas delivered a powerful undercurrent of Americana. Knee-high leather derby boots were a ‘slight of the eye’ fetish interpretation of the school girl’s knee socks. The show’s climax came near the end when a series of black matte leather cable-knit sweater-dresses floated down the runway only to be bookend by a breathtaking black woven-leather argyle mini-dress.

With brilliant collections such as this one, it’s no wonder Tommy chose a library setting for his show; he’s clearly rewriting the American fashion lexicon.

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Photos courtesy of stylerumor.com

Altuzarra Fall Winter 2013 Collection

Saturday February 9th, 2013 – Skylight Modern  

The Altuzarra Fall Winter 2013 Collection is inspired by the ever-changing and multi-faceted aspects of the Street. It continues to explore the core Altuzarra aesthetic, with its restrained and ultra-feminine silhouette. Their strictness of line reflects the purity of the urban landscape. With the color palette concentrated in black, anthracite grey, sycamore green and forest green accented by shocks of optic white and persimmon, this collection’s tailoring gives the Altuzarra woman classic menswear with a fiercely feminine twist. The design and construction emphasize the nip of the waist and exaggerate the hip, while shrunken proportions mixed with a bolder shoulder volume sharpen the classic silhouette. This collection mirrors the street itself, melding disparate materials and textures to create a new whole: Wispy chiffon softens felted wools,Leather turtlenecks modernizes tailored flannel trousers,Fox fur peeks from behind bonded crepe, Black/White intarsia fox fur outerwear add volume and proportion to the strictness of pencil skirts, Satin-finished gunmetal hardware of snaps, rivets and industrial zippers strengthens fluid jerseys, Novel matte poly-leather plays with classic pieces in a myriad of ways, sensually pairing with mink in anatomical cocktail dresses and reinterpreting the classic biker jacket. Luxurious materials, exaggerated proportions and deconstructed classic tailoring: like the Altuzarra woman, this collection is consistent in its very ability to surprise.

Shop Altuzarra via Net-A-Porter.com

See some of the looks below:

Photos courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Backstage at Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall Winter 2013

Thursday January 17, 2013 – Grand Palais

The Magic Mountain. This season sees the Vuitton traveller, always journeying both literally and metaphorically, venture to the magical mountains of the Himalayas, particularly to the Kingdom of Bhutan.

“A collection is often an actual journey for us; it comprises what you take with you and what you bring back both physically and mentally from the experience,” explains Kim Jones, Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Studio and Style Director, working under the Artistic Direction of Marc Jacobs. “This season involved travelling to the Himalayas for research and it was the mountain Kingdom of Bhutan that still had that mystery surrounding it; it was almost a fantasy idea as well as a real place. Backpacking has not ruined Bhutan – you have to be invited there – and it feels so exotic, almost from another time. It is the only place in the world where snow leopards and tigers cross paths and that is one of the reasons why the snow leopard became a chief motif in the collection.” 

The snow leopard pattern and motif reoccurs throughout the collection, making its initial appearance in a subtle and new needle punched jacquard technique incorporating naturally coloured mink and cashmere. It transforms a traditional double-breasted overcoat and a café racer blouson and later morphs into a laser cut mink coat. The figure of the snow leopard (a design commissioned by Louis Vuitton to the Chapman Brothers) also appears on neckties and pocket squares and is given full expression in an intarsia knit sweater.

There is a confluence of past and present in the collection, particularly of mountaineering tech and tradition. The silhouette is suitably layered and on the whole mixes tailoring with traditional yet technically advanced and luxurious outerwear. The shoulder is often built broadly to emphasise the masculine and heroic point of these garments.

This season sees Jones commissioned the artists Jake and Dinos Chapman to supply key motifs in the collection.

“I sat down with Jake Chapman and we talked through the idea of a ‘garden in hell’,” says Jones. “This was the phrase Diana Vreeland famously used to describe her apartment. It was something we both responded to, that and all of the unusual animals to be found in the Himalayas.”

The designs commissioned to the Chapman Brothers appear in silk and cashmere prints and jacquards in red and navy respectively. These anthropomorphic animals and creatures also feature on accessories, charms and motifs throughout. They appear almost like the Chapman’s own spin on the Buddhist idea of ‘wrathful deities’, fearsome talismanic protectors from evil and a bridge between the natural and supernatural world this season. They are a linking narrative thread throughout, building to the tour de force ‘Garden in Hell’ eveningwear finale at the end of the show. Here traditional tailoring shapes and materials of the fifties contribute a literal, masculine heavyweight feel as a counterpoint to the extreme opulence of the ‘Garden in Hell’ motif.

The bags this season play very much on the traditional notion of maroquinerie. The large grained taurillon leather also makes a new appearance this season. The Lockit bag here makes its debut for men suitably oversized and also finds its counterpart in giant totes. Backpack shapes are frequently utilized and run throughout, even featuring in a cross fertilization with a Vuitton trunk to be carried on the back. Here the recognizable Monogram is eschewed, instead reverting to the traditional trunk material, leather. Branding is subtle this season in the bags, most frequently appearing as a shaved ‘V’ in the shearling pieces.

Shoes feature study soles and a flash of subtle metal work in the collection. Boots and derby shoes come in beautiful grained leather that contrasts with its more decadent counterpart, crocodile, in the same styles that appear in a palette of navy, moss green and earth brown. For evening the height of luxury can also be found in what appear to be velvet dancing slippers – in actual fact they are shaved mink. They are an appropriate opulent counterpoint to the ‘Garden in Hell’ theme of the collection.

See all the photos below:

Photos courtesy of Matthieu Dortomb / Louis Vuitton

Hair : Guido Palau For Redken

Makeup : Peter Philips

Louis Vuitton Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Wednesday October 3, 2012 – Cour Carree du Louvre

A strict perpendicular block interrupted at three levels forms the basis of every silhouette in this collection. The only deviation from the straight and narrow comes in the curve of the sleeve head. This disciplined approach is inspired in part by Les Deux Plateaux, a work by the conceptual artist Daniel Buren, which consists of 260 columns of three different heights arranged in a grid.

This is the first ever Louis Vuitton collection not to make use of the Monogram. Instead, the Damier pattern provides the house’s signature. Squares are arranged in mathematical grids in differing colours and textures and at varying scales, creating a boldly graphic quality. Abstracted flower shapes offer an organic contrast to these rectilinear structures.

The fresh simplicity of the forms belies the intensity of the processes that created them. The embellishments for which Louis Vuitton is renowned are deployed in ways that are not immediately obvious. The smallest sequins ever produced are arranged by the thousand to create fluid metallic surfaces. ‘Tuffetage’, a technique taken from carpet-making, is embroidered on cloth and leather to create a flock-like effect.

The collection is presented on a site-specific installation created by Daniel Buren in collaboration with Louis Vuitton. This presentation is dedicated to Yves Carcelle, for his years of dedication to Louis Vuitton.

Visit louisvuitton.com

See all the photos below:

Photos and video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Style by Katie Grand

Hair by Guido Palau for Redken

Makeup by Pat McGrath

Elie Saab Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Wednesday Ocotber 3, 2012 – Espace Ephemere des Tuileries

Rounding out Paris fashion week was a delightfully blissful and optimistic collection at Elie Saab. Known for his red carpet dresses that have graced Hollywood darlings for well over many years, Saab’s work usually conjures up images of elegantly elongated dresses with billowy trains and simple, but sophisticated silhouettes. But Elie strayed from his mainstay with his Spring collection and the results were more than rewarding.

Playing with monochromatic tones in azures, pastel turquoises, brushed peach, soft crimsons, and of course whites and blacks, Elie played with the notion of taking his glamorous dresses and making them into ‘everyday-wear’. Shirt-trouser combos, butterfly lapel jackets, pleated silk blouses, and knee-high skirts with Bishop-sleeved shirts looked ideal for the working woman. The play with graphic prints was a striking departure from the rest of the looks, but tied in nicely with the plays on structure and form. A black union jack overlaid on a kaleidoscope print shift dress was the first taste at this new narrative followed by arm-baring maxi and A-line dresses with darkened stripes running vertically down the silhouette.

And almost on cue, this visual play with geometric prints transitioned into bandages that criss-crossed earlier looks, this time redone in basic whites and blacks. Beading and peep-through embroideries on neutrals reminded us of Elie’s talent at subtle sublimity. Covetable bags were the unsung heroes of the collection, appearing in leather and exotic snakeskin varieties, following the overall motif of tone-matching the clothing to complete the look.

Nowadays, it’s rare to find fashion houses that are able to be recognized for having a particular ‘look’ that is uniquely their own. Sometimes it’s a good thing since it gives the brand an identity, although when repeated too often, can easily stray into the mundane and expected. It can be a double-edged sword too, with buyers and critics panning collections that don’t correspond to expectations. Thankfully, Elie’s Spring experiment is in full equilibrium, with equal parts elegance and modernity. This designer recognizes his legacy but his forward-thinking collections aren’t defined by it; they redefine it masterfully every season.

Visit eliesaab.com

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Photos courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Maiyet Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Monday October 1, 2012 – Palais de Tokyo

One can’t deny the nobleness of eco-friendly luxury brands that seek to deliver on their promise of exquisite design as well as giving back to disenfranchised communities by employing local artisans to produce their wares. But oftentimes the two ideas are imbalanced and can lead to clothes that, while are made of renewable resources or built by developing societies, fall flat on the aesthetics.

It seems that Maiyet’s broken the mold for next Spring and achieved what some would consider the “triple crown” of a brilliant collection – luxuriousness, desirability and wearability. But it also inscribed a fourth criteria that is very much a category it owns; the positive sentiment buyers get knowing that the pieces they’re wearing were forged by the hands of craftsmen whose works are little known outside of their isolated communities. That uniqueness is already the basis of what makes luxury items so desirable; its uniqueness that sets it apart from the rest. Thus, the first criteria has already been achieved.

Zanzani drew inspiration from the Mario Testino’s native Peru, taking elements from the artisana of ancient Incan stone carvings, the floating wood ‘cities’ along the banks of Lake Titicaca, and the cornucopia of colors dotting the fauna and flora of the Amazonian jungles. The first series of handwoven cotton white numbers came in shirt, shirt dresses, “skorts”, shift dress, and long-sleeved billowy-belted dress varieties, appearing to be right on trend for next season’s ‘see-through’ movement. Soft python appliqués and handmade floral embroideries on pleated skirts, chakin tops, jumpsuits, strappy dresses and tunics added a punch of sublimity and detail. Frog prints on skirts, trousers, and crew neck tees worked especially well when paired against contrasting tones, as seen with a turquoise back-pleated shirt with a broken lapis lazuli placket. At no point though did the looks stray from these successfully simple but sophisticated silhouettes, which already affirms that Zanzani achieved a second criteria – wearability.

Lush green and blue handmade silk tops, pleated skirts, and blazers, mosaic yellow flowy skirts, and amphibiously red and black strapless dresses showed the designer’s knack at working with powerfully graphic prints. The wide array of accessories, with jewelry crafted in such exquisite varieties as to stand out on their own, perfectly complimented every single look. Poison dart lariats, carved Amazonian horns, diamond cuffs, studded chunky rings, and Machu Pichu print bracelets could give jewelers in Paris a run for their money. Other covetable pairings included Aztec cage wedges, leafy heels, structured clutches, and softened leather bags. The beauty of these pieces lies also in the fact that they are mostly separables, making them instantly appealing for their ability to adapt to any wardrobe; a fact that instantly satisfies the final criteria of desirability.

After a sullen start only a year ago, Maiyet finally breaks from convention for next Spring and introduces a collection that is equal parts fashion and philanthropy; a trend that we hope more designers begin to imitate.

Shop Maiyet via Barneys.com

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Photos courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Stella McCartney Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Monday October 1, 2012 – Opera Garnier

Graphic and layered, the collection plays with geometry in fresh and optimistic colours.Elliptical shapes of white, bright orange and black flow on sheer linear dresses. Ultra-fine silk rib knits worn under micro-plisse skim the body, creating shadows in movement.Spearmint and paper white gauze knit is effortless. Sleeveless and belted summer tweed in forest green brings the utility of outerwear onto feminine and delicate columns.
Skin is subtly revealed in crisp white twill sharp cut shoulders, boned cotton bustiers and asymmetrical pique wrap dresses and skirts. Tailoring is tapered, touching the hips, defined by boxed-in jackets and paired with cropped sleeves and trousers. Print plays on scale in deep green on fluid crepe de chine. Circular cuts add a twist to traditional patterns.

Diamond cut work embroidery in white and black silk organzas are contrasted with masculine shapes to define the understated sexiness of the collection.
Silk organza, cut on the bias for evening, is embroidered in circular shapes of abstract print or bold colors to contour the body and reveal fleeting glimpses of shadows and transparency.

Utility bags with wide long straps. Floating Lucite platform wedges in scuba or organic cotton are in a mix of vivid colors. Oversize sunglasses echo the spirit of the collection. Clutches are in giant gem shapes, or clear Lucite, trapping the dotted print.

Shop Stella McCartney via stellamccartney.com

Stella McCartney Spring 2013 Video

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Photos and video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Isabel Marant Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Friday September 28, 2012 – Couvent des Cordeliers

There was a time when Isabel was solely known for her innate ability at translating Parisian ‘street chic’ into brilliantly wearable RTW. But for the past few seasons, Izzy’s girl has moved on from the city of lights onto other locales, from New York to the Midwest, each time adopting the clothing of the terra franca while still keeping to her French roots. This time is no different, as the Marant girl heads even further west, leaving behind her Navajo-inspired digs for the glitz and glam of Las Vegas casinos and the beach-life of Maui’s north shore.

The show kicked off with a surfers tune playing overhead followed by a sequence of flirty petal-print rompers, one-shoulder tops, and short-sleeve blouses knotted at the bust. Red coral-like embellishments added a beautifully bright contrast against the darker tone pieces, while cropped, narrow white jeans carried a variation of the floral print down to the mid-calf. The theme of bathing suits worn as normal day-wear (a concept seen across a few Paris runways this season, namely at Lanvin and Gauthier) also made a debut here, this time worn with a rose-red knitted print on a skirt. And given the short hemlines across several looks, we’ve gotten the impression that 2013 will be all about showing some leg.

Playing with the flower narrative, this time with rivets as the medium of expression, led to some interesting results. A short, ivory cropped jacket with a floral rivet design along the shoulders and pastel paisley-flower cardigans and skirts with riveted linings had a an welcome edgy contrast to an otherwise purely feminine piece. Isabel’s play with rivets is actually not without reason: using it as linings on pockets, across the sides of pant leggings and trimmings on skirts added a nice bit of detail and attention to the piece’s lines, in many cases creating dimension or the illusion of added length. Silky shirt-dresses with a low-slung brown leather belt and gold buckle looked like a mirage of some of our past favorite Marant pieces, but with a colorfully hypnotizing twist. The paisley print was toyed with in mustard yellows, taking it back into a one-shoulder romper shape and then stretched into shirt-jean combo.

After finishing her criss-cross tour of Americana, will we be seeing Marant heading even further west and onto the Far East? Who knows. But it seems that whatever city or region Isabel sets her sights on, she never loses sight of making clothes that are ‘oh-so-beautifully’ French.

Shop Isabel Marant via Net-A-Porter.com

Isabel Marant Spring 2013 Video

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Photos and Video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Vanessa Bruno Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Friday September 28, 2012 – Grand Palais

For Spring 2013 Vanessa Bruno unleashed her bohemian side, in very lovable fresh way. She delivered what she does best; clothes that you want to wear, now.

“I wanted simple clothes that can translate to a purified sensuality, a sort of soft bohemian chic, the simplicity of wearing a long chiffon dress with Spartan sandals” said Vanessa Bruno backstage.

Skin revealing necklines, slithery silk chiffon on draped dresses, and sensually ‘nude’ hue pieces will not only be big hits on the streets of Paris and New York but in Los Angeles as well, where the designer opened a store on Melrose Ave. nearly a year ago.

Shop Vanessa Bruno via Net-A-Porter.com

Vanessa Bruno Spring 2013 Video

See the photos below:

Photos and video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Beauty by Clé de Peau Beauté

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