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

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.

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Photos and video courtesy of stylerumor.com

Creative Director: Nicola Formichetti

Womenswear Designer: Sebastien Peigne

Hair: Sam McKnight

Makeup: Charlotte Tilbury

Dior Homme Fall Winter 2013 Collection

Saturday January 19, 2013 – Garde Republicaine

Dior Homme creative director Kris Van Assche has always delivered collections that have adhered to the house’s tradition of fine tailoring, technically well-cut clothing, and elongated silhouettes but he’s also been adept at injecting a sporty spirit that speaks to the modern man. This season was no different with suit, pant, tie, and jacket combos that look fit for a businessman; what is less revealing are the proportions. Structured, wider shoulders on jackets as well as looser pant legs allow for the inner athlete to flex his muscles more easily.

That sporty spirit translated into key design choices, with buttons being swapped for zippers on shirts and smoking jackets, while seatbelt buckles on belts and trenches seemed fit for sports extremists. It wouldn’t be a KVA collection without a bit of sublime ‘je ne sais quoi’. A powerfully bold and hollowed out triangle embedded within a larger circle had an occult-ish, vexing symbolism that left us wondering what it could mean. Free Masons? Gattaca? Other than Kris, few may ever know; still, that brilliant shape in crimson red or snow white simply popped in all the right ways when paired against the backdrop of black and grey Mao jackets or monochromatic, svelte knit sweaters.

Waistlines were cinched with flight seatbelts and asymmetrical zippers creeped up to the neckline on a few numbers. Foam-filled wool flight jackets and bombers move fluidly while a military trench was transformed into insets of a purple pin-stipe suit, elevating it into something grander than the sum of its parts. Blue hooded overcoats and parkas get the glossy treatment as a trench while the same technique was applied to minimalist, elongated jackets. Overall, the collection pushed the envelope in all the right places, evolving the Dior ‘uniform’ of black and white suit combos into unrestricted, powerful clothing that has the allure of fitting perfectly like a glove.

Shop Dior via dior.com

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Photos courtesy of stylerumor.com

KRISVANASSCHE Fall Winter 2013 Collection

Friday January 18th, 2013 – Palais de Tokyo

Some of today’s greatest hybrids, be it electric cars or powerful tablets, came from the idea of unifying the best qualities of mutually exclusive elements and forging something better. So it’s no surprise that Kris van Assche saw an opportunity to bridge the two worlds of athletic sportswear and fine tailored formalwear to create a hybrid that might be deemed “fortswear” (loosely translated between French and Engish as ‘strong clothing’). The idea was a simple one, but the genius lies in how well the two concepts are interwoven effortlessly.

The first series of looks, dark suit jackets with lateral cross-sections of a sports sweater or the top half of a hoodie, will redefine casual Fridays at the office. White Oxford shirts bonded in the middle torso to cable knit sweaters, at times used as the shoulder and collar piece to a simple grey pullover and completed with a tie, are made for the consummate professional that can easily leave his Park Ave. digs for skater park pipelines. This idea evolved into a few ‘formal pullovers’ that combined several different shirt and sweater materials, colorfully stacked latitudinally, to create a potpourri of patterns to great visual effect.

Trompe l’œuil trouser-sweatpants were fastened at the ankles with stretchy elastics and black Derbys with blue, white, or gold accents were made to appear as sneakers. Nods to one’s inner rebel shone through black suit jackets and grey granite wool trenches bearing a stitched eagle patch along the back. Whether KVA’s man is planning a business pitch or sloshing through one, his “rough, rugged and refined” man is Fall’s newest male archetype.

Shop KRISVANASSCHE at SSENSE

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Photos courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Hair: Joseph Pujalte

Make-up: Gina Van Den Bergh

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.

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Photos courtesy of Matthieu Dortomb / Louis Vuitton

Hair : Guido Palau For Redken

Makeup : Peter Philips

Mugler Fall Winter 2013 Menswear Collection

Wednesday January 16, 2013 – Garage Turennes

Fluo futurism, glossy patent kevlar vests, foamy jodhpurs and bold symbolism collide to form Mugler’s Fall 2013 collection. Nicola Formichetti and Romain Kremer’s vision of tomorrow’s man is one where the superhero paradigm is translated into refined, fluid martial-tailored clothing. Über-masculine four-pocket military coats, velcro strap bullet-proof vests, regalia-adorned bombers contrasted beautifully against sleeker numbers like silk trenches, acid pink suits, and a lapis jacquard with black lapel jacket.

Equally at home at the army base or at the base of the ski slopes, Mugler’s man seems comfortably adept at taking on gregarious activities. Monochromatic knitted sweaters with a vivid triangle symbol, sometimes appearing as layered chevrons, were paired with thermal pants and sealed at the ankles with weather resistant Paraboot derby’s or combat boots; a perfect look for keeping warm on the snowy streets of Paris. Oversized overcoats in bold blues with contrasting black straps and glossy patent sweater and pant combos left us yearning to hit the slopes of Chamonix. With such an arresting collection, you can’t help but surrender to Mugler.

Shop Mugler via ssense.com

Mugler Fall 2013 Menswear show video

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Photos courtesy of stylerumor.com

Music: G-DRAGON / BIGBANG

Creative Director: Nicola Formichetti

Menswear Designer: Romain Kremer

Hair and Makeup: Tomo Jidai @Streeters London

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

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

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Photos and video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Beauty by Clé de Peau Beauté

Lanvin Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Thursday September 27, 2012 – Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris

There must be something in the water in Paris because it seems that a slew of designers have all been afflicted with a strong case of nostalgia. Take Alber Elbaz’s Spring 2013 show, which showed all the tell-tale signs of a yearning for the past, with its strongly defined 90’s shoulder silhouettes, YSL smoking jackets and classic Japonismse kimono belting.

There was a bit of irony in the juxtaposition between showing at the École des Beaux Arts, with its sculptured marble statues perched high above the stadium-high ceilings, and Elbaz’s collection of square shouldered jackets and box-shaped printed tunics. But given his whimsical nature, it should’t surprise many. What was a surprise however was his break from beautiful one-shoulder dress-draping and experimenting with a variety of new materials and techniques. Take for example his opening look, a cleavage baring black cotton jumper with a cropped silk lapel smoking jacket, cinched at the waist with a faded wood-grain textured belt. This foreign departure from his usual one-piece dress repertoire was a welcome shakeup of the usual fare. And the timing could not be better either; after celebrating his 10 years at the famed fashion house, Alber might’ve felt compelled to break from the cycle of the house codes and opt for something new and different.

Black cotton or leather jumper looks with kimono-belt fastened waistlines, while exquisitely done, felt a bit too literal in their references to YSL though an asymmetrical bathing suit number with a pair of ankle-cropped trousers looked absolutely stunning. But there were quibbles to be had with the belting on certain dresses which, while appearing to have been integrated as deconstructed seams across busts and waistlines, looked a bit sloppy and having been integrated as an afterthought. But his fortés lied with his jackets. especially a perfecto with a white lapel inset and a sharp black-grey fabric division at the sleeves that accentuated the length of the torso and had a sublime slimming effect.

Sleeveless Venus de Milo silk prints on boxy tunics with gold-plated choker necklaces were humorously playful, though that moment was quickly replaced by severely embellished numbers. Geometric hardware in metallic gold and shiny black stone varieties were intricately stitched across the fabrics of taffeta jackets, jumpers, pants, and dresses that, despite its decorative qualities, felt a little-bit ‘kitchsy’ and not unlike something that one’s mother might’ve worn to Studio 54 in her disco-heyday. It seems that in Elbaz’s haste to make these highly ornamental looks, he might have also neglected to take into account about how one could comfortably sit on chair with them on, but that might be resolved prior to production.

The final series of looks were done in variety of neutrals, muted turquoises, mustards, violets, burgundies and greens evolved the belting theme into ribboning, along shoulders and hips. Taking a step back at the collection does offer a bit of perspective about the direction where Lanvin has been and where it is heading. Given his time at YSL many moons ago and the location choice (Beaux-Arts was a favorite of Yves), Alber may be trying to cash in on the attention being focused on Hedi Slimane as he unveils his first Saint Laurent collection. Thunder-stealing? Perhaps a bit, but when done as well as Elbaz has demonstrated, one can’t complain too much either.

Shop Lanvin via Net-A-Porter.com

Lanvin Spring 2013 Video

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Photos and Video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Mugler Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Wednesday September 26, 2012 - Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine

Nicola Formichetti and Sebastien Peigné brought equatorial heat to the concrete jungle for their latest Spring 2013 collection, infusing sculptural designs, hourglass silhouettes, and bold tropical colors into the urban street girl archetype. The show notes mentioned “Mexico City to South East Asia” as sources of inspiration but we’re more inclined to believe that Nicola’s affinity for vacationing in Tulum and working on magazine shoots in Japan had some influence as well.

Though Formichetti is an avid proponent of social networking medias, his choice of a single-sided runway inside of the Cité de l’Architecture positioned the audience to view the clothes like they would view a film; perhaps a subtle nudge to have attendees focus on the presentation, not their status updates. But the subtleties would have been unnecessary, given that the duo put out their most mature collection to date.

Deconstructing the futuristic frocks that makeup the Mugler paradigm resulted in separates that kept the brand’s DNA while making it easier for folks to mix and match looks. Take for example the series of opening numbers with knife-pleated skirts that would look just as great with the rust toned silk scarf top or ‘opium’ burgundy varnished lambskin tee. Scuba knitwear miniskirt-short hybrids and sliced armorial accents on pants, skirts, and dresses conveyed a sense of rigidness and sturdy construction that contrasted beautifully against lantern sleeve shaped skirts and kimono-like blouses that conveyed a feeling of fluidity and ease. Ink printed mylar tees, with emblazoned hues of orange, reds and sky blues, look like they were plucked from Nicola’s memories of a beautiful summer sunset on Playa Del Carmen. Peigné and his team appeared to have fun with prints, taking a white tiger head print and placing it on a burnt rust tone pleated skirt giving the impression of seeing the majestic creature peer his head out from amongst tall bamboo stalks.

But the show wasn’t just a forum to display the latest RTW. In fact, my first point about the set design begins to make sense when you consider that this was the Mugler house’s first foray into handbags. With each model sporting the newest bags on their left hand, everyone was treated to getting their first look at Formichetti’s designs. The most notable of these were the rigid, sac-à-main clutches which harken the Mugler design ethos, but with infused exotic leathers for added effect. The results are artisanally built bags that simultaneously convey a not-so-subtle sensuality with a futuristic sophistication.

And while she was busy on tour in Zurich that night, Lady Gaga’s presence as musical director was still felt as her yet-to-be released track ‘Cake’ was remixed by Michel Gaubert for the show. Azealia Banks, herself a front-row attendee alongside the Courtin Clarins sisters, had her “Esta Noche” track make its own cameo for the show.

Perhaps the most paradoxical of all sentiments that one takes away from this Mugler show is that despite all of its multi-faceted components, they all seemed to have come together as one unified idea; a formula that has served Formichetti and Peigné well these past few seasons and which seems to be the secret to their meteoric successes.

Visit Mugler.com for more

Mugler Spring 2013 video

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Photos and video courtesy of Stylerumor.com

Makeup by Val Garland

Hair by Sam McKnight

Music by Lady Gaga remixed by Michel Gaubert

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