Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law, Science & Technology: February 2014

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Ritualistic Infographics: Mary Katrantzou A/W 2014 (Vs Valentino/Paco Rabanne)

It is becoming extremely difficult to find genuinely innovative collections among the ones from the Autumn/Winter 2014-15 season. They may be more or less coherent, cohesive, interesting from the point of view of surface elaborations and embellishments, eye-catching palette or arty connections, but truly innovative designs practically do not exist.

There were for example some interesting news on Mary Katrantzou's runway, as she decided to leave behind her digital prints to work with a series of different materials and techniques, but some of the silhouettes and colours gave you a sense of déjà vu.

The designer stated professional uniforms (from classic businessman's suits to army, school kids and scouts' uniforms) were the starting points for the embroideries, showing a series of stylised characters sitting around a table or busy doing business. Densely assembled road signs and assorted symbols pointed instead towards infographics.

Appliqued crests, heraldic emblems, and sequinned Guipure lace embroideries formed at times narrow panels or totemic figures similar to Haitian Vodou banners, while Masonic Lodge symbols like compasses hinted at members, organisations and meetings, topics that linked the collection to rituals, a theme that emerged also in the silhouettes (at times pleated) of the long evening gowns.

The silhouettes and colour palette with emphasis on dark green and wine red, at times called to mind Valentino's Spring/Summer 2014 collection (View this photo) that, some readers may remember, was borrowed in turn from traditional costumes of Mediterranean countries and from Medea's costumes.

Katrantzou also included a selection of chainmail dresses, draped on the bias or with pleated inserts. Though she stated they were references at another "uniform" - a butcher's metal apron - they looked like modern versions of Paco Rabanne's metallic designs (View this photo).

A few years have gone since Katrantzou first showed her trademark eye-catching prints, proving computer-manipulated images can provide instant visual joys and be absolute winners on the shop floor as well.

With this collection the designer looked somewhere else, trying to enrich her visual language with a new series of symbols and techniques, coming up with embroidered, pleated, draped and metallic designs. While Katratzou proved she can leave behind her prints whenever she wants, you struggle to see real innovation on a tailored level. It would be much better if, before hailing young designers as geniuses and pigeonholing them into labels ("queen/king of digital prints" and such likes...), we would let them grow a bit more to reveal their full potential.

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Posted at 07:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Empire Strikes Back Revealing We Have a Serious Fashion Problem

This is embarrassing. This is actually terribly embarrassing. And the culprit will have to step forward soon.

There were times when most of us thought famous fashion designers only pretended they hated each other, but in reality they would go out to dinner every night all together and, before the new season arrived, they would even amicably sit around a table and decide which colours, silhouettes and accessories were going to be fashionable. Though such an idea was absurd, it was reinforced when the collections were unveiled and similar looks appeared on very different runways.

Friendly meetings do not happen in reality, but trend agencies and forecasters suggest specific themes, colour palettes and inspirations, ending up playing silly tricks on many designers who, at times, end up referencing the same artist, architect or exhibition. But what happened recently is simply ridiculous.

During New York Fashion Week, on Rodarte's runway we saw evening gowns with digital prints of the Death Star, the twin suns on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2, and Yoda.

Yesterday in London Darth Vader's mask reappeared on 7 (some in a Darth Maul palette) designs on Preen's runway. Now here we have a huge problem. First of all there is the same theme - Star Wars - in two different collections, even though it looks like Rodarte went for the good and Preen for the bad characters. This may be the fault of a lazy trend agency/forecaster who managed to convince them Star Wars is cool (yes, it is, but read the second point before judging).

The second problem is more vast than the first actually. Between 2009 and 2013 High Street retailer H&M came up with different Star Wars collections (see last pic in this post with images taken from eBay), that included unisex sweaters with Darth Vader and a T-shirt dress with a print of the original poster for the first film.

The retailer also did quite a few kids clothes with Star Wars prints, and last year they released a woman's T-shirt with the mask of Darth Vader on a fluo pink background. What looked like (more or less) the same faded image of the mask was replicated on Preen's tops, shirt and silk dresses, at times mixed with their signature geometrical print.

This is where we do have a serious fashion problem: while it's the High Street retailer that should be immorally copying designers and not the other way round, somebody should be explaining designers that consumers may be tempted to buy a cheap garment with a Star Wars print, right because it's a cheap and affordable garment, but things may change when that same shirt/dress/top costs a lot more and obtains the same effects.

If somebody could volunteer to explain such simple concepts to fashion designers and also remind them their role is about bringing innovation into garments and not reproducing and replicating items we do not need, things would be much better and our planet would also be less polluted.

In the meantime, while we wait for the trend agency/forecaster responsible for this embarrassing mess to step forward, consumers who bought Star Wars designs at H&M can be very happy: between 2009 and last year you spent very little for a look that will be trendy even in the Autumn/Winter 2014-2015 season. Now that's what I call an investment.

PS Very keen to see if in Milan or Paris designers will come up with T-shirts with Han Solo, Boba Fett or the Stormtroopers (well, the Stormtroopers actually were also part of the Preen show as they were stationed at the exit providing photo opportunities for many fashionistas, so better go for Boba Fett or Han Solo). My bets are on Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, what about yours?

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Posted at 06:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brief Sunday Comparison: Band of Outsiders A/W 2014 Vs Roberta di Camerino

Band of Outsiders' Scott Sternberg stated that the Autumn/Winter 2014 collection moved from inspiring figures such as Lee Miller, Man Ray, and Elsa Schiaparelli (no, not again Schiap, spare us...). You could actually see hints at Miller in some of the silhouettes, while Schiap vaguely reappeared in what looked like the mediocre imitation of her iconic trompe-l'oeil ribbon jumper.

Trompe-l'oeil was actually one of the sub-themes of the A/W 14 designs and it was introduced (in this functionally preppy collection with a romantic twist here and there) by a white skirt with a belt and a PVC cape with fake toggles and pockets.

Shame Sternberg didn't actually mention the queen of trompe l'oeil - Giuliana Coen Camerino, better known as Roberta di Camerino (and he also didn't mention 1950s trompe l'oeil looks by Hermès...View this photo).

With the help of gallery owner and textile print designer Romeo Toninelli, the Italian designer developed in the '60s ironic trompe-l'oeil prints of buttons, shirt cuffs and pockets that became Roberta di Camerino’s signature designs. Giuliana often conceived her dresses and tops as "illustrated" garments, turning simple pieces into funny and realistically surreal dresses.

"La dogaressa", as Giuliana was dubbed in homage to her Venetian origins, received the Neiman Marcus Award in 1956, together with Cecil Beaton and Marie Louise Bousquet (Irene Brin and Diane Vreeland were in the audience). No wonder the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion was hosted for the last year in 1995 - which contemporary designers among the ones revered by the servile and acritical fashion media out there would indeed deserve such prize?

PS As a bonus Sunday comparison, please note that the top with the eyes seems to be a direct reference to the Schiaparelli-inspired blouse donned by chronic gossiper Sylvia in George Cuckor's The Women.

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Posted at 07:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Future in the Past: Alexander Wang A/W 2014 Vs Cinzia Ruggeri

Prada's designs may be dubbed as "ugly chic", but, given the adverse weather conditions in New York and the emphasis on outerwear designed to keep the wearer warm, Alexander Wang's collection was re-christened "survival chic".

The hottest ticket in New York, Wang's show was also the one that worried most editors and journalists invited for its location - Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn.

Wang tried to hint at extreme conditions, temperature changes and survival via references to a series of outdoor activities and competitive sports – including mountain climbing and camping. But the survival theme was also reinterpreted in a urban key.

The multiple pockets on the opening simple V-neck Space Age tunic dresses matched with a rubberised leather button-down had indeed the same sizes and shapes of contemporary gadgets and accessories including smart phones and notebooks, lipsticks and lighters. In the same way, the bags were combinations of detachable hunting/fishing pockets and flasks, aimed at containing a series of small objects we all carry around with us on an everyday basis.

Sharp and angular silhouettes prevailed together with a lot of surface elaborations: thick knits had indeed a bubble-like texture; there was embossed leather and printed Neoprene, a fur vest for that added urban primitivism and garments (one reminiscent of Charlie Brown's zig zag shirt) made with knotted leather and tulle or woven shoelaces.

Emphasis was on the outerwear with puffers, shearlings, windbreakers with mountain scenes at the hem, and leather coats and jackets with unfinished rugged hemlines.

The final looks, though, were the ones that captured the audience's attention, providing that perfect Instagram moment: lights went down, the edge of the runway started to move and the leather clothes (jackets, city shorts and coats) on the models - heat-activated by the air from special vents - changed colours producing shades that went from black to chartreuse, electric blue and purple.

Despite the media telling you this was sci-fi fashion and despite the eye-catching moment, this spectacular high-tech grand finale wasn't so new. Heat-sensitive garments first appeared on the fashion scene thirty years ago.

In the early '80s Italian designer Cinzia Ruggeri focused her research on finding alternative materials in the same way Otti Berger experimented at The Bauhaus with materials such as cellophane and cotton.

Ruggeri created for her Spring/Summer 1982 collection two designs displayed by the following sketches. The first shows a black skirt suit conceived as a kinetic piece with sections in primary colours that, when hit by light gave the impression they were moving; the second design featured instead a checkered pattern made with liquid crystals graduated at a certain temperature. When the temperature changed they reacted producing different colours. These designs were early environmental garments modified by the changes that occurred in the spaces surrounding the wearer or in accordance with the wearer's body temperature.

What we saw on Wang's runway were the modern versions of these early thermo-chromatic experiments and they obviously look much better as they are made with modern technology that didn't exist in the '80s. What's disappointing about all this is that several hundreds iPhone cameras simultaneously snapping the same scene will not be able to reveal you key moments of fashion history if you haven't studied them, but will only give you instant visual pleasure and make you think you have seen a glimpse of the future. From an Italian perspective it is even more depressing to realise that all the best ideas Italians had are currently being reinvented by designers in other countries who are simply taking the merit. Survival of the fittest? Survival of the copycat more like.

PS For people interested in fashion history - Ruggeri also included in her Spring/Summer 1980 collection garments with unfinished rugged hemlines.

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Posted at 06:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The California Clay Movement Vs Proenza Schouler (Vs Balenciaga)

Part of the California Clay Movement together with Kenneth Price, Robert Arneson and John Mason, Ron Nagle was first inspired in his work by Giorgio Morandi's still lives. Starting from basic forms such as Morandi's cup and snuff bottle, Nagle then moved onto experimenting with colours, materials and scales.

Influenced by Art Deco architecture and culture from the '50s and the '60s, Nagle reworked these themes into his textures and nuances, coming up with polished surfaces and sleek lines.

His ceramic style is dubbed as exuberant: he creates indeed globe like formations, coral-like spires, enigmatic abstract shapes, miniature dreamscapes and alien forms and formations, some of them modelled while watching old Charlie Chan films.

Nagle's porcelain pieces displayed last year at the Venice Art Biennale were the starting point also for Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez's Autumn/Winter 2014 collection.

The latter mainly focused on volumes: sculptural shapes prevailed in the rounded structured shoulder tops and wool jacquard coats that gave the impression they were made in a kind of multi-grain fabric dotted with specks of bright colours that called to mind innovative materials such as waste recycled plastics and plastic sheets used in the construction industry for kitchen worktops, desktop surfaces, wall finishes, furniture and signage.

The designs were matched with functional above the knee skirts or trousers and accessorised with flat shoes, though some silhouettes such as full sleeves, hourglass waists and flaring hips seemed borrowed from couture.

Moving from Nagle's sleek, glossy, translucent and richly glazed textures, intricate surface designs and abstract motifs, Proenza Schouler created a series of dresses in which different panels and curves intersected with straight lines or made in a series of fabrics that called to mind insulation foam.

Shame it was exactly those techno moods, scuba-like insulation foam materials, rounded architectural silhouettes that tapered toward the wrist, and embossed fabrics that gave you the tangible sensation of déjà vu the global press may have forgotten to write about to avoid getting into rows and problems.

The silhouettes, cocoon coats, jackets with rounded shoulders and some of the embossed surface elaborations seemed to be re-edits of Balenciaga's Autumn/Wnter 2012-13 (see image 8 in this post - remember the skirts or high-waist pants matched with tops characterised by rounded or exaggerated silhouettes and with embossed motifs?) and Autumn/Winter 2013-14 collections (see image 9 in this post - remember the cracked surfaces/swirling textures?).

The Balenciaga derivation was actually the weak point of the collection (that also referenced Proenza Schouler's Autumn/Winter 2012/13 designs): how can this be considered as innovative when we have seen similar designs not so long ago on at least another two runways? Ah, the great mysteries of fashion.

There is one huge advantage, though, in such collections: if you are a jourmalist and have reviewed the collections these designs are derived from, you may even be able to copy your own reviews and reuse the same words to describe the new one. Fashion may have never been so disappointing, but writing has never been easier.

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Posted at 06:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Surrender to The Dark Side: Yes, Geek Is the New Chic, But Where Are the Skills?

According to Texas-based Global Language Monitor, a company that documents and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, New York is currently "The Fashion Capital Of The World".

The company got to this conclusion after analysing thousands of online sources, but, frankly, the title seems to have been given with the same random logic that one day allows a rating agency to give a triple A to a country and the next to downgrade it to A-.

In a way, if we consider the extremely long list of fashion designers on the New York calendar and the buzz it generates thanks to its powerful sponsors, it is simply undeniable that the city deserves this title.

But quantity is not all in life: quality should indeed be one of the main prerogatives to win such a title and, despite raving reviews and lack of tangible criticism by the global press, there are still some major faults in quite a few of the collections on the New York runways.

Designs by Rodarte for example remain among the biggest fashion mysteries of our times. It is indeed clear that the design duo and many fashion critics who praise them do not understand the meaning of basic sentences such as "flattering clothes".

This definition is usually given to clothes that, while not being able to perform instant plastic surgery on the body of the wearer, highlight not the worst parts, but the best ones. Instead even celebrities with perfectly sculpted bodies end up looking awkward when they wear Rodarte at special events, as if their waist or shoulder lines were in the wrong places.

Mind you, in their Autumn/Winter 2014 collection Laura and Kate Mulleavy made some progresses by remixing in one collection a series of previously seen ideas and designs that included smocked dresses, crocheted elements (used for boleros, handbags and long dresses), turtlenecks, plaid wool vests with shearling collars, patchwork gowns, and drawstring waist pants that gave you the instant feeling you were looking at the pages of Vogue Italia from the '70s, imagine a mix of Walter Albini, Missoni and Max Mara with some hints of Gucci, but in a cheaper key and with a palette possibly borrowed from Dario Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet (think mustard and orange) and you get the idea (somehow this makes you think: since designers in New York were tired of people saying they copied the Europeans, the local fashion week was anticipated, but current designs display a wide range of derivations and inspirations from different decades...).

There was an explanation, though, behind this feeling of déjà vu: the collection was apparently inspired by childhood memories, though maybe they meant also memories of previous collections.

The glitter-covered shoulder-baring sleeveless parkas and sparkling berets and stoles came indeed in the same shades of the glittery pumps - fuchsia, turquoise, orange and powder pink - from Miu Miu's Autumn/Winter 2011 collection (View this photo), though the rhinestone-strewn socks matched with glittery sandals and wing-eyed spectacles were more Prada than Miu Miu.

The Mulleavys also had a fake Renaissance/Pre-Raphaelite moment with a section of patchwork chiffon, embroidered silk tulle and silk velvet gowns (maybe symbolising the passage between childhood and adulthood...).

The impression you had seen a revisited version of Prada's ugly chic was strong until they moved to the geek section with five asymmetric draped silk gowns with digital prints of the Death Star, the twin suns on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2, and Yoda (no Boba Fett? how disappointing...).

While we don't even want to wonder how much does it cost to use these images on such gowns (assuming they paid for the rights to use these images...), this was a clever trick: Star Wars fans may swoon for the gowns and they will work well in editorials, but - bloody hell - fashion is not about copying and pasting the double sunset of Tatooine on an ill-fitting (yes, it looked ill-fitting) gown. It is indeed about the uniqueness of the cut of that gown and about evoking moods, images and cultural connections. In a way you get the feeling that there are more in-depth references to history and culture in figure-skating costumes than in contemporary fashion.

Besides, in a world in which you can satiate your thirst for all things Star Wars with a wide range of T-shirts, memorabilia, costumes and gadgets sold all over the world through different media (and if you're not happy you can still digitally print your own Star Wars design...) or you can perpetuate the myth by buying for your own kids Star Wars shirts in any High Street store, creating tiny clones that will bring forward the legend, you wonder why we need a Star Wars gown.

In fact, it is exactly when you find yourself staring at the double sunset on Tatooine that you finally have a sort of epiphany, a revelation: yes, geek is the new chic, but most designers have succumbed to the dark side of fashion. If you think about it, Space Age fashion from the '60s is still widely referenced and copied, but this is visually pleasing sci-fi fashion for the Instagram generation. Sadly - very sadly - the times when a fashion designer created the logo for a space mission are by now lost in a galaxy far far away.

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Posted at 06:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unique Materials, Collective Emotions: Avec Motifs Apparents @ Le Centrequatre, Paris

Collective exhibitions can be at times too vast and confusing to really allow visitors to appreciate each and every artist involved. But this will not be the case with "Avec Motifs Apparents" at Le Centrequatre, Paris.

This collective event will indeed focus only on six artists - Prune Nourry, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Jérémy Gobé, Xavier Juillot, Alice Mulliez and Kader Attia - who will be creating and recreating monumental work in situ between March and August 2014.

The installations will look at different topics and themes, from architecture to design, passing through sugar levels in food and the consequences a male dominated society is having on women.

Prune Nourry, a multidisciplinary French artist who has been focusing on anthropology and bioethics in her works, will display sculptural pieces the audience can interact with.

One of her most recent and interesting projects is entitled "Terracotta Daughters" and consists in an army of 116 life-size figures of girls. Inspired by the Terracotta Warriors, the Chinese artefacts dating back to 210 B.C. discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well, the pieces recreate the style of the warriors and were made with the same technique.

The "Terracotta Daughters" were modelled by Nourry on 8 Chinese orphan girls for a project analysing the preference parents give to having a son in Asia. There is actually a social twist to this project: Prune met the girls who inspired the artworks through the non-profit organization The Children of Madaifu and decided through it to support the education of the 8 girls for a minimum of 3 years thanks to the sale of 8 original sculptures.

Born in Nkongsamba, Cameroon, but based in Belgium, Pascale Marthine Tayou moves instead from everyday objects and experiences in his works. He mixes cultures, recycled objects and materials, images and human experiences to recreate new spaces and monumental installations that are difficult to categorise and pigeon-hole. In his practice art is something that can't be separated from life, but it's a medium that can help people grasp the beauty and ugliness of the world we live in.

Jérémy Gobé also moves from recovered objects and recreates through them a range of works including textile sculptures. Gobé ennobles his materials, sculpting out of them marine landscapes, forms of life or abstract shapes.

At times the materials he pleats, folds, assembles and sculpts form dense landscapes spilling over tables and chairs like waves, ending up looking like animals or like dismembered parts of a human body.

Thorough her gourmet and food installations, Alice Mulliez creates innovative textures employing icing and crystal sugar to reference wider themes, tackling issues such as traditions, heritage, gastronomic culture, and aesthetic forms, designing architectural ceiling decorations moulded in sugar.

Xavier Juillot is known for his experiments with plastics: a while back he wrapped a 19th century building (and the surrounding trees...) in Ludwigshafen in 13,000 square feet of silver polyamide using vacuum-shrinking technology that integrated air channels into the fabric.

Focusing on disciplines such as geography, politics, history and gender, artist and researcher Kader Attia uses mediums like installations, photography, video, sculpture and drawing. So far for his artworks he has employed rather unusual materials including couscous and aluminium foil, though his best known work remains "Flying Rats", an installation of life-size, birdseed sculptures of children being devoured by a flock of pigeons.

"Avec Motifs Apparents" is designed to attract the attention of the visitors through the themes, materials and colours of the installations, charming them and sparking dialogue between the emotionally charged works on display and the reality of the themes dealt with.

"Avec Motifs Apparents" (Prune Nourry - 22nd March - 1st June 2014; Pascale Marthine Tayou, Jérémy Gobé, Xavier Juillot - 22nd March - 10th August 2014; Alice Mulliez and Kader Attia - 24th June - 10th August 2014) is at Le Centrequatre, 5 rue Curial 75019, Paris.

Image credits for this post

1. Pascale Marthine Tayou, Empty Gift, 2013
© Christian Hinz
Courtesy Galleria Continua (San Gimignano/Beijing/Les Moulins)

3. Prune Nourry, Terracotta Daughters, Magda Danysz Gallery, Shanghai, September 14th-October 26th, 2013
© Prune Nourry
Courtesy Madga Danysz Gallery

4. Prune Nourry and the craftsman team from the Li Yuan Terracotta Factory for Terracotta Daughters, Xi'an, China, 2013
© Zachary Bako
Courtesy Madga Danysz Gallery

5. Pascale Marthine Tayou, Favelas, 2012
© Pascale Marthine Tayou
Courtesy Galleria Continua (San Gimignano/Beijing/Les Moulins)

11. Pascale Marthine Tayou, Empty Gift, 2013
© Markus Tretter
Courtesy Galleria Continua (San Gimignano/Beijing/Les Moulins)

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Posted at 06:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Survey of Australian Archetypes: Dion Lee A/W 2014

"Write about what you know" is the main advice aspiring writers receive. Maybe fashion designers should be told the same thing more often: in recent years the search for unique inspirations and the will to prove themselves as knowledgeable in different matters including art, architecture and exotic countries, quite often meant designers came up with incoherent collections. This is certainly not the case with Dion Lee who usually opts to be inspired by what he knows.

Showing for the second season in New York, the Sydney-based designer was inspired in his Autumn/Winter 2014-15 collection by what he defined in a press release as "Australian Archetypes". Leaving behind Bondi Beach culture and Sydney's Opera House, inspirations he tackled in previous collections, Dion Lee moved on to explore a series of wider Australian themes including the landscape, the bush, flora, fauna, and childhood memories.

The opening looks in grey were actually supposed to re-set the collection in the late 18th century and evoke the convicts' work wear at the time when Australia was a penal colony. Squarish jackets with white panels and pin-striped sleeves, asymmetric skirts and geometrical fold-over sleeved coats were included in this first part of the collection that also featured a couple of unconvincing overalls.

Rigidity was briefly left behind with a section comprising angora turtle neck dresses as fluffy as golden wattle flowers matched with pleated skirts. Severe lines and rigid silhouettes soon came back on the runway through Dion Lee's signature body-con dresses that referenced the outback and Australian fauna through crocodile hide - employed in leather jackets or in the panels included in leather dresses - and laminated crocodile dresses/croc prints with red smudges evoking the bright shades of Australian flowers such as the desert pea or the waratah.

The dresses made with narrow strips of snakeskin criss-crossing the body were instead verging more towards the bondage theme than the body-con even though the designer was hinting at pinafores and childhood memories.

Architectural inspirations came back in the evening looks that comprised sheer draped fabrics and tulle over suspended frames in tarnished silver. There were moments of déjà vu in the collection (the crocodile looks were indeed reminiscent of certain designs by Azzedine Alaïa and the opening jacket with white squarish panels looked like a re-edit of a jacket from Ferré's Spring/Summer 1982 collection) while some designs seemed to lack genuine emotions. As a whole, though, Dion Lee coherently developed all the themes and inspirations, something that doesn't happen so often in many other contemporary collections.

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Posted at 07:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So Print, Wow Much Trend: When Too Many Fashion Inspirations May Conjure Up the Wrong Reference

It can be slightly disheartening (or maybe just extremely funny) for a fashion designer who has been working on a collection for a few months, ending up unintentionally producing a series of designs that, for its prints and colours, may picture in the minds of consumers very different connections from the ones they had hoped they would conjure up.

Calla Haynes moved for example from her chow chow Lilybear for her Autumn/Winter 2014 collection. The dog became the star of the season with colourful prints on dresses, trousers and a larger yellow silhouette of the dog appearing on a grey sweatshirt.

Haynes then mixed the dog reference to the story of a girl who moves from Paris to Nashville to become a country music star. This side of the story introduced country moods and hints at Dolly Parton in the collection, and Haynes mixed them with further hints at the Memphis Milano movement, reinterpreting Lilybear in the post-modern aesthetic of the design group.

Yet despite Haynes finding at least two other threads behind the dog inspiration, people who are into popular culture and not into fashion may end up seeing the collection as inspired by the infamous open source peer-to-peer cryptocurrency Dogecoin, created by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus combining the Bitcoin and Doge, the internet meme with sentences in broken English in Comic Sans overimposed on pictures of a Shiba Inu dog.

You may argue that Lilybear is a chow chow and not a Shiba Inu dog, but you can already imagine yourself getting on the underground wearing Calla's grey jumper with the yellow silhouette of Lilybear and hearing somebody amusedly commenting "So print, wow much trend".

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Posted at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brief Sunday Comparison: Schiaparelli S/S 14 Vs Gianfranco Ferré A/W 2000

As a follow up to the previous post and for the Sunday comparison column, let's quickly look today at two jackets, one from Schiaparelli's Spring/Summer 2014 collection and one from Gianfranco Ferré's Autumn/Winter 2000 collection.

Schiap's collection featured, as you may remember, a tuxedo jacket that could be turned inside out to reveal frothy white silk ruffles (other versions of this jacket hid instead panels of ostrich feathers or further chiffon ruches).

Ferré's collection included a peplum jacket that featured a series of appliqued ruches under the peplum. Yes, you are right, the two designs look different, but again the principle or the main idea is the same. Besides, the androgynous mood in Schiap's design with the emphasis on the white shirt, may have also been lifted from Ferré's past collections.

There are actually a few young Italian designers who may be able to tell you interesting horror stories about being told, suggested and pushed by consultants and press officers to steal and copy ideas from the collections of other designers such as the late Gianfranco Ferré. Could this be the result of one of such "suggestions"?