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

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Think Pink...or Think Lazy?

Among the popular children's magazines published in Italy in the '80s there was also Barbie Magazine, a mix of news, activities, fashion shoots, and a photo story in which Barbie ended up in ridiculously improbable situations involving kidnappings, trips to space and mysterious adventures among the pyramids in Egypt. In one of these stories Barbie went shopping for Christmas and passed in front of a series of designer's shops - Valantino, Emporio Ermani and Farrè - fake names modelled on real ones to establish a rather tacky yet latent connection with fashion while avoiding being sued for copyright infringement.

Throughout the years this connection was strengthened by ensuring that designers created dresses for Barbie or released limited editions of the popular doll. Up until Moschino showed its collection at Milan Fashion Week, the latest collaboration was the one with Karl Lagerfeld who is set to release at the end of the month a Barbie Lagerfeld (obviously dressed like him...View this photo).

Creative director Jeremy Scott designed indeed an entire Barbie-themed collection for the Spring/Summer 2015 season.

The Barbie mood pervaded everything: people sitting in the front row were greeted by a Barbie Moschino dressed in a miniaturised version of the first look that appeared on the runway (cropped leather jacket and skirt in hot pink) and the show featured a series of happy Barbie replicants (Roller Skating Barbie, Work Out Barbie...) in voluminous platinum blond wigs, pink lipstick and pink mules.

Some of them sported pink sweats, shirts and rucksacks with a Moschino logo recreating the classic Barbie logo, then there were miniskirt suits à la Chanel with prints of paper dolls or in ironic terrycloth; golden raincoats and golden bustiers with matching trousers, and a series of showpieces in bright and vivid colours. In a way, this was the perfect show to complement Scott's McDonald's-red-and-yellow uniforms for the Autumn season.

The first problem was the striking resemblance that some of the pieces showed with specific Barbie dolls or Barbie garments and accessories: pink naturally prevails in the doll's wardrobe and this was a very "Think Pink" collection, but the annoying thing was the perfect correspondence between certain Barbie dolls or clothes with these designs.

The golden shade of some of the designs were lifted from Barbie Golden Dream, though one golden trench coat was the version for grown up women of a garment from the Barbie Fashion Avenue collection; the colour combinations of the bikinis and swimwear was reminiscent of My First Barbie circa 1980; two of the final showpieces were remixed versions of the dress donned by Barbie Dream Date, an elaborate costume with a long ruffle element that you could use to create different designs (the nearest thing Mattel created to a Capucci sculpted dress).

Which leads us to one question (still leaving aside the body size/body image debate): can you adapt a doll's wardrobe for a real woman? Even though, we saw that happening in Rodarte's S/S 2012 collection (see Van Gogh dress - Barbie Van Gogh View this photo), the simple answer is no, because usually it works the other way round and, Scott may not be aware that one of the highlights of having a Barbie doll is not idolising her and her clothes, but making clothes for her with scraps of fabrics and other assorted crazy materials.

The second problem was that Jeremy Scott didn't create anything new here: his paper doll print shirts (already available online as part of a 28-piece capsule collection comprising T-shirts, sweaters, bags and headbands) are derived from a paper doll (male version) graphic shirt he did for Adidas a while back.

In the past he also did a Barbie collection that featured pink tops and skirts with the Barbie logo that show striking resemblances wuth the new Moschino pieces.

Finally there is also another connection with Moschino and Barbie: in 2009 Italian furniture store, Kartell dedicated its windows during Milan Design Week to Barbie's anniversary (and to its own anniversary) recreating the doll's house layout in store, dressing the dummies in Moschino.

Taking these things into consideration proves that, rather than being about thinking pink à la Funny Face or about pink being "the only true rock'n'roll colour" as Paul Simonon may state, this collection is about giving the consumers the same things while remixing them just a bit for a new and younger audience. So think lazy rather than think pink it.

For some reasons editors are happy and enthusiastic about it, they say that accessories will sell quickly (exactly, accessories not clothes; by the way, a little note about the inflatable bags: you can still find those "pool-float inspired" bags that were popular two decades ago at little shops in Italian seaside resorts for 5-10 euros...) and enthuse about the irreverent American genius who is currently heading Moschino. And if you don't join them you are a sad person who never has fun and feels the joy (the joy of selling cheap and lazy crap to consumers...).

Bets are open on how soon we will see (already during Paris Fashion Week?) Anna Dello Russo holding an iPhone-cover-cum-beauty mirror (sold as the ultimate item to look at yourself before taking a selfie, this rather cringy object looks straight out of the case of Barbie Beauty Secrets...) outside a fashion show.

Yet while rambling on eBay for vintage Barbie dresses to copy or maybe studying the Mattel archives, Scott forgot to realise that Barbie also had reversible clothes, real leather clothes and furs, so she had more variation and luxury in her wardrobe than could be seen in this collection, apart from the fact that she also led a multiple life that allowed her to be a doctor, a pilot and astronaut and not just a plastic woman lounging near a pool.

So, how to react to all this trash? Well, you can always embrace it, loosen up and have fun, as editors suggest you do, because, after all, you have found the outfits to go to your next Barbie Cosplay convention. Mind you, the brave woman who went dressed as Zombie Barbie at the latest Phoenix Comicon surely made more efforts than Scott, so you may not be that successful even as a cosplayer.

All the other women who don't want to go around dressed like My First Barbie circa 1980, will obviously be considered fun spoilers who don't want to bring joy into fashion, but may be able to retain their dignity.

PS We can't wait for Scott to sit again at the computer and ramble through Ken's disastrous wardrobe for Moschino's menswear collection, or maybe move from Gem and The Holograms for his next womenswear collection.

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Posted at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fay, We Have a Problem

You would think that after a couple of barely passable collections at Fay, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi had finally started feeling more at home and therefore capable of starting from scratch with a blank canvas and some original ideas. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Snoopy appeared in their Spring/Summer 2014, Woodstock in their Autumn/Winter 2014, and it looks like Charles Schulz's Peanuts are still on their minds. For their Spring/Summer 2015 collection the duo paid homage to the irresistible bossy Lucy van Pelt, printing her on jackets and rucksacks or decorating tops with a sequinned version of the most opinionated of the Peanuts.

The main theme, though, was streetwear and, while it is admirable for the duo to try to provide their consumers with an elegantly casual wardrobe, the results proved they don't have a clue.

Streetwear is trendy and saleable at the moment, we have for example seen how Haute Couture prefers pairing sneakers and flat sporty yet luxurious sandals with exclusive designs, but it takes a clever designer to twist things around and come up with some desirable and unique pieces.

Aquilano-Rimondi created their own hymn to freedom - the slogan "Fay Time" - and they used it on techno fabrics, on sequinned tops and on sweater seams. Their clothing semantics – including oversized T-shirts, trunks and parkas – was borrowed mainly from basketball and boxing, though they tried to make it more feminine using pink shades and unnecessarily romantic ruffles and quilting.

Sports also appeared in the footwear and they combined elements of sneakers with heels and straps. Yet the shoes displayed some connections with Balenciaga's A/W 2007 elegant yet dynamic and futuristic sandals (see image six in this post); the Peanuts and Lucy in particular also appear as cutesy prints on Peter Jensen's S/S 15 collection (see images one and seven in this post; even though it must be said that all these designers referencing the Peanuts are somehow spoiling Charles M. Schulz's humour and sense of freedom by turning his kids into vehicles for certain brands), while the elastic bands with "Fay Time" written all over them were reminiscent of Nasir Mazhar's designs (images two, three, four and seven).

You could argue that underwear elastics with logos are very common and popular in sports, but some of the moods and the designs (anoraks,shorts, backpacks...) looked very similar to Nasir Mazhar's.

Sequinned pieces also called to mind Ashish's glamorous designs (think for example about his S/S 14 and A/W 14 collections; see the following image) with their sporty shorts and casual tops covered in sparkling elements.

It isn't a crime to try and make more casual clothes that may appeal to a young audience, but Aquilano-Rimondi do not seem to have found their identity yet or do not have enough confidence to come up with their own vision and design clothes just for the sake of it, without putting their hearts in what they're doing (or is there a consultant that is misleading them into thinking that copying is the key to success?).

You would think that working for a brand that has already got the infrastructure, manufacturing facilities and distribution channels would be easier than establishing your own label, but it is proving hard for the duo. Aquilano-Rimondi are indeed trying to generate commercial value while following a trend, yet the key to more sales doesn't stand in following a passing fad, but in establishing your identity and developing your personal signature style.

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Posted at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When the DJ Becomes the Designer or Keys to Become a Successful Brand: Celebrities, Friends and Maybe a Pile of Assorted Lies

There is something truly fascinating about fashion: the untold story that unravels behind closed doors. You may say that part of the untold story is currently being recounted by high profile bloggers and established journalists posting pictures on Instagram that show us intimate backstage moments of a catwalk show, such as models eating and having their make up done. But the untold story I'm referring to actually hints at the power games that end up taking a designer or a brand to massive success. It is for example extremely exciting to investigate the Marcelo Burlon phenomenon from different perspectives. According to the fashion media, Burlon's brand, County of Milan, is one of the most successful labels around. But how did it all start?

Born in Patagonia, Argentina, Burlon moved to Italy over 20 years ago. After spending some time in Porto Potenza Picena, in 1998 he relocated to Milan becoming a PR, DJ, party organiser and event manager with a list of famous friends that includes Raf Simons and Riccardo Tisci (he met the latter while organising events at the venue Magazzini Generali).

Roughly two years ago, Burlon launched a line of T-shirts - dubbed County of Milan - in collaboration with graphic designer Giorgio Di Salvo, better known as art director of the Iuter brand. In 2013 Burlon's name is still linked to his main job, that of organising cool events for major clients and taking cool people to them, so he's still not a phenomenon of "streetwear".

In April of the same year he angrily leaves on his Facebook page a poetical message to the people who have vandalised his space: "If I find whoever did this, I'm going to nail him from his balls to my scooter and drive him back and forth along via Tortona....I'm offering cash and free pussy to whoever finds them for me!!!", he angrily writes. Total street poet there, absolute urban Shakespeare. But let's go back to fashion.

As the months passed, Burlon became more popular, got support from Claudio Antonioli from the Antonioli boutique in Milan, and built his little empire. So, from posting murdering threats on Facebook, he passed to being stocked first in 200 stores all over the world and now, according to style.com, in 450. In June he presented his menswear collection during Pitti Uomo and also launched his childrenswear line at Pitti Bimbo. In July it was announced that the line by basketball player Russell Westbrook for Barneys New York Inc. (Westbrook-XO-Barneys New York) was also going to include pieces from County of Milan.

Burlon claims his fame comes from hanging with the crowd and belonging to a gang, but this is not a socialist statement as his prices aren't socialist at all and his crowd hangs around Barneys in New York and Colette in Paris and seems to include famous artists and celebrities (LeBron, Pusha T, Maxwell, Tinie Tempah), who, he states, were never given the garments for free but bought them by themselves. Yet why would they buy something that shows a strong derivation from other designers? Burlon claims the prints in the County of Milan shirts were indeed inspired by Patagonia, but some of the motifs in his collections seem borrowed from other designers.

Burlon's snaking serpents are reminiscent of Alexander McQueen's mountain Kingsnakes writhing on the dresses of his A/W 2009-10 collection; bird's wingspan is also not that new (see Barbara Bui's S/S 2014 bomber jacked and Burlon's T-shirts and leggings), while assorted animals have so far appeared on many ready-to-wear collections by fashion houses à la Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci (by the way, was it Tisci who copied Di Salvo's VNGRD or Di Salvo who copied Tisci for Burlon?) and High Street retailers like Asos, H&M, Topshop and Kiabi, not to mention products availabe from online sites like Etsy. You may argue the print is far more edgy and distributed in a cooler way around Burlon's garments, yet would you still be willing to pay roughly $200 for a shirt?

While a few people may want to do that, Burlon justifies the prices with the fact that his garments are high-end products made by an independent label associated with celebrity status. A statement that doesn't make sense when he claims he hangs with the "crowd" (either you hang with a wider crowd or you hang with an exclusive crowd...), but actually points towards hyped up luxury and not streetwear, linking Burlon's label to other partners in crime.

Burlon quite often mentions in interviews his brand in connection with Off-White, the label designed by Kanye West's creative director Virgil Abloh, to prove that "streetwear" rules and claiming they support each other (well, they surely have the same ideas: interviewed on CR Fashion Book, Abloh stated about his first collection "My collections are inspired by everyday living and current culture. There is a sort of language of dress that exists in Hôtel Costes in Paris, that lives in the Mercer Hotel lobby in New York, or that thrives in a cool club in Berlin," I frankly didn't know that four star hotels were social centres where subcultures thrived...).

The truth is that both of them come out of the same factory. County Srl actually provides production capabilities to Off-White and the two societies - County Srl and Off White Operating Srl (including another partner, David De Giglio, fashion consultant and founder of rather bland brand Vintage 55) - are based in Via Pasquale Paoli 3, Milan, a couple of doors from Antonioli Srl (based in Via Pasquale Paoli 1; yes, this starts looking like one of those Chinese boxes that Italian entrepreneurs create to evade taxes and such likes...).

But let's move on to Burlon's kidswear label, launched in July at the Pitti Bimbo fair. It takes time and money to go to a fair with a coherent collection, it takes days to fill in forms, be approved by trade fair committees, pay invoices and be sure your stand is located in a good position. Burlon had the most prominent stand, located outside the main building.

The booth was covered with portraits of multiracial kids in the best Oliviero Toscani for Benetton fashion, though these poor souls sported extremely serious and miserable expressions on their faces that made sure they looked like factionless elements out of a dystopic world à la Divergent rather than members of Burlon's "gang" or "tribe". Buyers weren't queueing outside the booth to get in, probably because it wasn't a proper collection, meaning that it didn't offer any variety when it came to shapes and silhouettes (one of the main things that many buyers from many prominent department stores all over the world will rebuke you with if you're a designer and have only got a line of T-shirts...).

For his childrenswear collection, Burlon didn't do much else apart from miniaturising the motifs in his grown-up collection. Now, it is true that grown ups buy garments for kids according to their own tastes, that's why H&M produces Star Wars saga, Kiss and Rolling Stones shirts for babies and young children, but, at the same time, kids are becoming more and more aware of what they want to wear and there aren't too many 6 year-old children out there who would cheerfully wear a black T-shirt covered in contorting snakes.

Yet that's not all, the epic fail in "Kids of Milan" is actually its name: in the '80s Benetton went for "United Colours of Benetton" to hint at its wide range of colours and at a global appeal; the name of Burlon's company hints at a restricted kind of market, almost to say that kids of Milan are cool, but the brand is actually produced in Abruzzo, a region located in the centre south of Italy (and if you're from there like me you have probably experienced at some point in your life some mild racism courtesy of the Milanese gentility...), by UCW - Unique Children Wear (also producing Patrizia Pepe and Bikkembergs). By don't get me wrong, I'm happy and proud that the kids from the South are actually manufacturing in Italy what the kids from Milan are wearing.

Anyway, there are undoubtedly dark areas in the making of County of Milan.

It took decades to Elio Fiorucci to establish a solid brand (who wasn't about including people in a gang, but in celebrating diversity and outsiders); there are young and talented designers who have proven they are no one hit wonders and have been dropped and forgotten by the media after two collections; Jean Paul Gaultier recently announced the closure of his ready to wear line, so how can somebody make millions selling a pile of T-shirts with cut and paste prints?

Apparently, the social media are responsible for Burlon's fame, but we have all met people who can use social media in a much better way and haven't achieved his sales. It is therefore clear that you need key friends and a few condescending magazines/editors and buyers to get these results and bring a brand to global success, unless you're also offering "cash and free pussy" along the way to all the people on your path (or unless you are laundering money from criminal organisations in your brand...sounds like the perfect conspiracy plot for a dark novel set in the world of fashion...).

At the same time, who can blame Burlon? He is a product and a barometer of culture, of our sad sad culture. In the late '90s Takeji Hirakawa, one of Japan's leading fashion critics, coined the phrase 'Fashion DJ' to define designers who had turned into merchandisers; now the DJ is a a designer, so it is ok if the DJ also "samples" inspirations from other designers (County of Milan's womenswear collection showcased yesterday in Milan was a pastiche of KTZ's previous collections, though the result was more verging towards depressed Spice Girls...) and if he thrives in the banality of re-enacting and remixing things.

Time will tell if Burlon's brand is a youth cult and a branding religion, or a short-lived, hyped-up label, in the meantime you can maybe ask directly to him the same questions I'm asking myself. Burlon will indeed host tonight a talk as part of the "lectio magistralis" (bloody hell, don't make me laugh) programme at the "Vogue Experience: A Conversation with", organised by Vogue Italia at Palazzo Morando. But, watch out, I think you may be arrested if you ask him where he finds his favourite and disposable giveaways, "cash and free p***y"...

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Fashionable Ruins: Herculaneum Vs Marios Schwab S/S 15

Equipped with modest walls, the city of Herculaneum was built on a volcanic plateau, on a cliff over the sea at the foot of Vesuvius. Though modestly sized compared to Pompeii, the dynamics of the burial of Herculaneum (covered in 79 AD by flows of pyroclastic rock that solidified to an average height of 16 meters) led to a preservation phenomenon completely different to the one that destroyed Pompeii, providing historians and researchers with plants, fabrics, furniture and structural parts of buildings, including upper floors that allowed archaeologists to get a precise idea of specific construction techniques.

There is a temple in Herculaneum called the Sacellum of the four Gods, dedicated to Minerva, Neptune, Mercury and Volcano, divinities related to the world of manufacture, trade and crafts.

These gods seem to be perfect connection between Herculaneum and the fashion industry (without forgetting more practical links such as the shop of the lanarius or fabric merchant with its wooden screw press to iron clothes...) and, who knows, maybe they were on Marios Schwab's mind while working on his new designs. His Spring/Summer 2015 collection, showcased during London Fashion Week, moved indeed from the ruins of Herculaneum.

The inspiration wasn't too literal at least at the beginning of the show that opened with what looked like a trench coat, but revealed itself as a beige trench skirt suit. Clean cut separates and suits in teal and putty shades followed, hinting not at sculptures but at sculpted tailoring.

Tops with a print of a fractured wall introduced the theme, calling to mind the walls of the temple of Venus, or the building technique called opus quadratum in which square blocks were laid in regular courses. The main inspiration also appeared in the black and white prints on blouses and scarf dresses.

Bi-coloured column dresses introduced evening wear with a wide selection of chiffon gowns with architectural motifs reminiscent of sectile opus (decoration of floors and walls with marble tiles that outline geometric or figurative patterns) or fourth style frescoes (painted wall decorations also known as "fantastic").

Graphic sequinned chain elements on tulle or satin skirts recreated polychrome marble decorations as seen in glass paste mosaics or in the motifs around Hellenistic style atriums, creating contrasts between architectures and fluid garments, while the turquoise and orange shades of the tape-like geometries may have been lifted from the Hall of the Augustals or the House of Neptune and Amphitrite. .

A Greek misogynist maxim in the backroom of a taberna (pub) in Herculaneum reads: "Diogenes, the cynic, seeing a woman swept away by a river exclaimed: 'Let one ill be carried away by another'", but surely Schwab can't be called misogynistic as most of his garments (maybe take away the jersey pants slashed open on the in seams...) looked flattering and sensual.

As a whole, this was a wearable and commecial collection, though it would have been interesting to see also accessories inpired by architectural elements. Imagine for example the marble oscilla, those discs or masks used to ward off evil and hanging around the House of Relief of Telephus, turned into bags...

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Debating Scottish Independence...on the Runway

Scotland has become pretty cool recently: should we blame Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin with sensual alien Scarlett Johansson, or the Commonwealth Games that brought tourists to Glasgow? Or was it the TV adaptation of Outlander eagerly awaited by hordes of fans in love with tartan and with impossible romantic stories. Or maybe it's the fault of major art fairs and exhibitions that won Glasgow the title of hotbed of arty geniuses, not to mention the successful writers Scotland has produced throughout the decades, the legendary story of J.K. Rowling writing a masterpiece in an Edinburgh café, and an enviable independent music scene with too many artists to list.

Fashion-wise Scotland is also enjoying quite a bit of attention: two years ago Chanel acquired Hawick-based cashmere mill Barrie and Lagerfeld put Linlithgow on the fashion map hosting there Chanel's Métiers d'Art catwalk show, while the creative juices of quite a few Scottish designers are freely flowing in the fashion industry.

"Pursuing the essence of the Scottish soul and decor", as stated on its site, Holiday Magazine's latest issue (N°374) also focuses on Scotland with features on author Irvine Welsh, stylist Joe McKenna and model Stella Tennant (among the others).

Last Sunday Scotland ended up on the London Fashion Week runways thanks to Vivienne Westwood's Red Label collection. The designer sent her models out wearing "Yes" badges hinting at the Scottish independence referendum taking place on Thursday.

Born in Glossop, to English parents, Westwood harbours a special passion for Scotland, and often employs tartan in her creations. She actually has her own pattern - the "Westwood MacAndreas" (named after her third husband, Andreas Kronthaler who designed it, and officially recognised by the world's leading tartan manufacturer Lochcarron of Scotland) and developed for her Autumn/Winter 1993 "Anglomania" collection. Her contribution to the textiles and fabric industry in Scotland won her at the beginning of September admission to the Hall of Fame at the Scottish Fashion Awards (held in London...).

Westwood's Red Label collection featured a series of masculine bold and oversized suits with jackets characterised by broad shoulders matched with shirts with exaggerated collars.

These designs were juxtaposed to more feminine looks that included bustiers and corsets that may have come out of the 18th century (not new to Westwood, but in this case they looked like connections with Scottish history and with the Outlander iconography), light dresses decorated with lace and silk taffeta frocks. Some of the looks were matched with pirate hats, while "Yes" badges were used as decorations for the necklaces and hats or were proudly sported by models on the lapels of the jackets.

A print with a stylised blue bird on a white background and some of the knitwear with geometrical jacquard motifs looked like indirect references to the Saltire, but, to make her support to independence more explicit, Westwood also wrote her own manifesto about the referendum.

Rather than hoping for "Anarchy in the UK", in her show notes Westwood opted for a "Democracy in the UK" message, reversing the Trainspotting mantra that prompted Irvine Welsh's characters to shout "it's shite being Scottish", and stating "Fingers crossed they'll win. If they do, it could be the turning point for a better world. They could lead by example. Scottish Independence could be a great day for Democracy. They already have a more democratic financial system, eg no tuition fees, and they care more for people. They just wouldn't do what we're doing in England...In England there is hardly any democracy left. The government does what it wants. That which should belong to people - it gives it all to business."

Westwood is not new to openly supporting certain causes: she brought on the runway protests against the incarceration of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, and she is currently fighting against fracking and climate change. Westwood has also supported and visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was inspired in a previous collection by imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier and also appeared at Occupy London protests.

In a nutshell, fashion has turned for Westwood into a vehicle for her activism and political views. In a world in which fashion can be mainly considered as a huge dehumanised industry interested in making money, what she does is admirable.

Taking a stand is not easy, also considering that, in a commercial venture, you may easily lose consumers and buyers by supporting certain causes, so Dame Westwood has got some guts (though, when it came to Scottish history and themes, the collection was as a whole less controversial and political than Alexander McQueen's "Highland Rape", inspired by the 18th and 19th centuries Highland Clearances...).

Yet this time you wonder if she has thought about all the implications behind the birth of a nation, considering that Scotland is not Minecraft and that, while independence is a glorious ideal and a better way to spend the money of Scottish taxpayers, in practice it may have some important choices to make involving key issues such as nationality, passports, embassies, finances, currency and health, not to mention foreign, defence and immigration policies.

The repercussions that Scottish independence may have on style are actually much more dangerous: the worst impact that the "Yes" may have fashion-wise is on the fashion editorials of The Herald Magazine that already look like pastiches of Disney's The Brave-meets-Outlander with models perennially lost among romantically sublime landscapes.

Besides, if politics and fashion are intertwined and the way a politician dresses hints not at style and elegance but at power, once independent Scotland may not have many chances if you consider the dress code of Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (call the fashion police) or First Minister Alex Salmond's tartan/Saltire ties (not that the pinstriped kilt with traditional white shirt donned by previous First Minister Jack McConnell will ever be removed from the worst nightmares of many Scottish people View this photo).

While the support of ex-punk Westwood may be seen as cool and bold in Scotland and she remains the most prominent stylish ally Salmond can count upon, not many actually thought about the impact the referendum is having outside the Scottish borders, and in countries where extreme right wing parties have been harbouring dreams of secession.The Italian Northern League leader Matteo Salvini - a man whose life choices and political directions are dictated by the slogans on his sweats/T-shirts (View this photo) - hopes for example that a "Yes" vote in Scotland will help achieving secession in Italy, and finally separate the richer North from the poorer South.

Yet not everybody at London Fashion Week agrees with Westwood on Scotland breaking away. Scottish designers Holly Fulton, Jonathan Saunders and Christopher Kane oppose independence.

Fulton is worried about the impact a "yes" vote may have on new designers and students in London. "I think it would slightly ostracise new designers and students from maybe having opportunities down here which I think would be a terrible shame," she told Reuters. Fulton grew up in Edinburgh, but became known when she moved to London and opened her studio there.

A first superficial look at her Spring/Summer 2015 collection wouldn't maybe reveal direct connections with Scotland as the designer was mainly inspired by folk art and her craftsmanship excelled when it came to garments made with handwoven ribbons or with floral appliques on jackets and frocks (though some of the pieces in PVC were unnecessarily rigid).

Yet her show notes reveal further elements that combine her origins with wider inspirations: the main theme - sun worshippers - came from the book, The sun in Art by Walter Herdeg, but Scotland appeared in two further references, the elegant and highly polished sculpture "Eástre" (Hymn to the Sun, 1924, View this photo) by Scottish colourist John Duncan Fergusson, a representation of the Saxon goddess of spring and a portrait of the artist's partner, dancer Margaret Morris; and the Celtic Ballet Club, founded by Morris (who also started two Scottish National Ballets in Glasgow and Pitlochry 1960).

Folk art and in particular the Roses and Castles movement were therefore combined with modernism, floral elements were borrowed from Morris's look, while the shiny and polished surfaces seemed to derive from Fergusson.

Jonathan Saunders's Scottishness was highlighted by the soundtrack of his show, the music for Glasgow-based alien dystopia Under the Skin. His confident woman opted for masculine jackets, coats and cropped trousers, and feminine full and mid-length skirts decorated with prints of flower motifs or with three-dimensional flowers and leaves that called to mind Matisse's cut outs (a big theme at the moment, we will hopefully explore it in a future post).

The consistency of the fabrics was inspired by a Japanese paper-like cotton. Saunders worked indeed with a Japanese mill to make the fabrics, and this allowed him to come up with light and crisp, soft and solid textures that hinted at the masculine-feminine dichotomy. While there were no real references to Scotland, the sky blues in the collection palette (that also comprised olive green, carmel brown and gold) indirectly evoked the Saltire.

Christopher Kane took two steps backwards in time for his S/S 15 collection. The palette, mainly revolving around dark shades (though the dark turned into soft mauve and cream towards the end of the show) with bordeaux prevailing, was borrowed from the uniform of his school - Tayor High in Motherwell. Then he looked at his education at Central Saint Martins, where, inspired also by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, he experimented with ropes and cords.

These elements came back in the first and last garments in this collection, as functional elements for his day-wear or as decorative motifs for his evening-wear. Though bondage may have been on his mind, the results were actually elegant especially when it came to corded twin sets, slip dresses and sheer tops with intricate configurations of ropes. In between Kane sent out silk dresses with sheer panels anchored with thin metal bars or with flute formations and sprays of tulle exploding underneath.

Ropes linked the past with the future in this show that the designer dedicated to his former lecturer at Central Saint Martins, the late Professor Louise Wilson, who also grew up in Scotland. In a way, this was a symbolic collection in which Kane looked back at his past, while setting his eyes on the future opportunities that being part of a luxury group will give him.

Nobody can guess what the results of the referendum will be: independence is a great choice and an irresistible temptation, especially when hypocrite British Prime Minister David Cameron talks about breaking "a family of nations" and the Queen gets worried about her possessions.

Yet history has proved that divisions quite often failed, and in this case the best solution may be not a "Yes" or "No", but a mix of both. Think about it: designers such as Jonathan Saunders and Christopher Kane were rewarded by their Scottish-English education.

I have personally benefited from university exchanges involving institutions in my home country (Italy) and Scotland, exchanges that were sadly reduced or brought to an end in more recent years because European students on such exchanges weren't paying tuition fees in Great Britain (though Overseas students paying more than European students for the same course were welcomed...). I personally felt more inspired in Scottish institutions with a higher percentage of people coming from all over the world, while I deeply resented the narrow-minded views of some very conservative and nationalist lecturers.

So, who knows, maybe the solution could be not unity or independence (by the way, will sectarianism and the ridiculous rivalry between Catholics and Protestants finally be tackled with independence?) but a huge leap forward in favour of more cosmopolitan views. Fashion in a way already does so: Scottish Christopher Kane has worked with Italian Donatella Versace and his company is owned by French Kering; Westwood's tartan may be produced in Scotland, but her Red Label collections are actually made in Italy. You may argue this is capitalism and not tangible proof of internationalism, and while in many ways that's true, the future of Scotland may lie not in a "Yes" or a "No" vote and in a great utopia that may turn into the umpteenth wonderful dystopia, but in cosmopolitanism, and that's not a badge or something you acquire with a referendum - it's a state of mind.

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Fashionable Sets, Visionary Performances: Simon Costin’s Impossible Catwalk Shows @ The Fashion Space Gallery, London

The words "fashion industry" immediately conjure up in the minds of many of us stressed fashion designers, glamorous models and exclusive garments and accessories. Yet the fashion industry leviathan is much more than just that. Luckily, the Fashion Space Gallery at the London College of Fashion comes to our rescue organising talks and exhibitions that try to go beyond the most superficial layers of the industry, providing innovative approaches to this subject. To coincide with London Fashion Week, the gallery launched last week a visionary exhibition dedicated to the world of set design.

"Simon Costin's Impossible Catwalk Shows" (until 13th December 2014) features several imaginary model sets offering visitors the chance to discover the working processes of set design and prompting them to think about a collection not just in terms of clothes, but also in relation to space and architecture.

In the last few years these elements have become more and more important as they have started to strongly contribute to the creation of a narrative path for a collection, revealing the moods that generated it and providing the audience with a permanent context where transient and temporary clothes and accessories can be placed.

Simon Costin, Gareth Pugh's art director for the past 5 years, is known for his work with many key fashion houses, designers and brands - including Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Valentino, Givenchy, Gucci, Stella McCartney, YSL, Margiela, Matthew Williamson and Bulgari.

Costin also created adverts for many companies and designed parties for Ferragamo's Cinderella Ball, Hermes and the New York Academy of Arts Tribeca Ball. His work has also appeared in solo and group exhibitions at key institutions in New York, London and Paris.

Among his most memorable creations there are Costin's photocopied collages of skeletons and muscle human figures from 16th century anatomical plates dressed in McQueen's "Elect Dissect" collection for Givenchy (Autumn/Winter 1997-98), and his decadent and dark jewellery pieces (that at times appeared on McQueen's runways) like the controversial "Incubus Necklace" (1987), that incorporated vials of human sperm.

"What I want to present here are a series of suggestions as to how fashion presentations could be; an invitation to dream and speculate," Costin stated in a press release.

The event at the Fashion Space Gallery revolves indeed around imaginary sets for fictitious shows: Costin takes visitors to a street flanked by cardboard buildings with spray painted graffiti decorating its façades; he lures them into a disused miniature sanatorium with dresses suspended on hangers and lowered and withdrawn on steel baths filled with dye, or invites them to search for the models hid among the trees of a baroque forest.

Garments become almost secondary elements in these spaces: the dome-like structure inviting to explore 16 deconstructed garments is the protagonist of its own space, in the same way as the abandoned nuclear plant covered with black crystalline elements assumes a sublime post-accident beauty, almost erasing the garments displayed within it that will be left to decay over time since they can not be retrieved because they are contaminated.

There is space also for Costin's sketches and notebooks and for a moodboard for Gareth Pugh's Spring/Summer 2015 collection and some behind-the-scenes footage from Alexander McQueen’s infamous Spring Summer 1998 show "Untitled" (formerly called "The Golden Shower") for which Costin designed the set.

The moodboard is particularly interesting since it assumes a revelatory meaning about fashion: photographs of the Burry Man in South Queensferry, the Pearly Kings and Queens, and an iconic portrait of Bronislava Nijinska by Man Ray are all combined together, offering an almost logical path in a visually illogical collage. In a way it's as if fashion and set designers told us that fashion has its roots in traditions and folklore, but passes through art and finds form and definition in a performance that at times may turn into a proper spectacle.

Commissioned and curated by Ligaya Salazar, "Simon Costin's Impossible Catwalk Shows" is accompanied by a programme that also includes hands-on workshops and masterclasses, check out the Gallery's site for further information and updates about this event.

Image credits for this post

Photographs by Katy Davies

1. Street; 2. Dome; 3. Forest; 4. - 6.Sanatorium; 7.- 8. Nuclear Plant; 9. Sketchbooks by Simon Costin (Courtesy of Simon Costin); 10. Gareth Pugh, moodboard for Spring/Summer 2015 collection (Courtesy of Gareth Pugh); 11. Street.

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Physical Fontana, Digital Fyodor Golan

If you have adopted this Summer (or are planning to do so this Autumn) the spatial indefiniteness trend - that is garments that feature holes or perforated elements revealing the skin or another layer of fabric underneath - you may be happy to hear that it will still be fashionable come next Spring. Fyodor Golan's Spring/Summer 15 collection, showcased during London Fashion Week, features indeed a series of dresses characterised by vertical slits à la Lucio Fontana.

As you may remember from a previous post, through his slashes Fontana prompted viewers to go beyond the physical canvas and explore the dimension hidden behind. Mila Schön was one of the first designers to get inspired by Fontana in her creations, but the theme of slashes and cuts reappeared quite often on the runways, also in more recent years (we last saw them in Alexander Wang's Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection).

Fyodor Podgorny and Golan Frydman moved from Fontana, but added a futuristic edge to the artist. In some cases the reference was obvious, in others the slashes were reinvented and readjusted turning into pockets or were employed to create modern fractured edges in drop waist dresses for techno flappers.

The main theme of the collection, showcased in a South Bank railway tunnel, was indeed "Digital Romanticism" and was symbolised by an inverted pyramid-shaped screen that acted like the fashionable version of the monolith out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Developed by Microsoft, the pyramid projected live images of models and audience members, shot with Lumia 830 smartphones (a reference to the Nokia Lumia Skirt the design duo showcased last February during London Fashion Week).

Technology translated in the iridescent fabrics, high-tech textures characterised by a plasticky consistency, multi-coloured digital patterns that mixed fantasy with reality (mainly pictures of American football players), plastic floral appliqued elements and rows of coloured round sequins.

Circle dresses, shaved fur bomber jackets, oversized babydoll dresses, miniskirts and sweatshirts with bright florals added a luxuriously feminine note. The designs were matched with perilously high heeled shoes (17 cm) in neon shades.

The palette - mainly fluorescent nuances, rainbow stripes and collages of prints (hinting at surface manipulations and therefore once again at art) - evoked raves and Acid House (this is actually not the first rave-inspired collection for the next season as we will hopefully see in a future post).

While they balanced art, rave, luxury and sport in equal measures, Fyodor Podgorny and Golan Frydman do not seem too sure which path they will follow in future. Yet being young has a great advantage: you can still experiment and have fun for a few more seasons while trying to find your way and destination. In the meantime, spaceship FG can rest assured that their clothes will be among the most visually striking of the next season.

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Julep, Suprematist Colours

This may be a confusing time of the year for fashionistas: Summer is almost over, Autumn will be here soon, but the current fashion weeks are already providing us with glimpses of what will be trendy next Spring. It is therefore a period of transition from one season to the next and beauty company Julep has just released a chart of nail polish colours to help costumers picking their favourite shades for the Fall season.

Interestingly enough, some of the shades they are launching for Fall have an arty twist about them as they call to mind the palettes for Kazimir Malevich's "Composition with the Mona Lisa" (1914) and "Mower" (1930).

Founded in 2007 as a nail parlour, Julep has expanded into a rapidly-growing beauty brand offering products made with high-quality ingredients. Their toxin-free nail polish is indeed made with a vegan-friendly formula that also includes strengthening Hexanal and antioxidant green coffee extract. The company employs advanced techniques such as Oxygen Technology to make sure their nail polish lasts longer while guaranteeing protection to the nails.

One of the main aims of the company is empowering women through beauty: all their nail polishes are named after women who inspire them and Julep also donates through the Powered by Girlfriends program a percentage of proceeds to organizations that support women, including The Malala Fund, Girl Up (United Nations Girls Education Fund), and the Washington Anti-Trafficking Response.

A few days ago, during New York Fashion Week, Julep provided the bright and cheerful floral nail art - inspired by California and the vibrant colours of flower markets - for the show to present Trina Turk's Spring/Summer 2015 collection.

Yet, if florals is not what you have in mind at the moment, but you're into an arty palette inspired by Malevich and Suprematism, the choice on the Julep nail polish page is wide.

The company has got three yellows - Alma, Catrina and Dawn - and a matte white, Alexandra, that are perfect to evoke Malevich's palette for "Dissolution of Sensation" (1917); mustard yellow Catrina, tomato red Brielle and cobalt blue Bailey could be the starting points for "Complex Presentiment: Half-Figure in a Yellow Shirt" (1928-1932) while "Suprematist Composition" (1916) can be recreated with royal blue Gunta (a name taken from the Bauhaus textile artist Gunta Stölzl we guess...), vivid green Payton, cantaloupe orange Cody, matte black Cleopatra and marigold yellow Catrina.

If you're looking for further arty shades, check out the Julep nail polish page, while you can find more information about their products, colours, collaborations and inspirations on the company's blog. Who said you couldn't elevate beauty to fine arts was probably terribly wrong.

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Spatial Freedom and Dynamic Geometries: Malevich: Revolutionary of Russian Art @ The Tate Modern, London

"I conquered the lining of the colour of the sky and tore it off, put the colour into the resulting bag, and tied a knot. Fly! A white hue of endless infinity is before you," Kazimir Malevich

Quite often fashion designers mention this or that artist as a reference or as a starting point for a specific season. In the last few years Malevich's name has popped up quite often in different collections.

In a way this connection is almost too easy to understand: Malevich's Suprematist compositions look incredibly modern, adapting almost too well to our times. We live indeed in a digitally overloaded world that feeds constant stimuli to our eyes, and taking refuge in Malevich's simple forms, such as his modern anti-religious icon "Black Square", is almost a radical act of defiance and rejection of a visual clamour distracting us from thinking and seeing clearly.

Since it is too fragile to travel, the original "Black Square" is unfortunately not part of the current exhibition about Malevich at the Tate Modern in London, but there is a larger version of this panting from 1929, and many others works that allow visitors to rediscover this artist.

"Malevich: Revolutionary of Russian Art" is indeed the first retrospective in thirty years and the first ever in the UK since Malevich's death in 1935 and offers the chance to see works borrowed from collections in Russia, the US and Europe.

Born in 1879 to a Polish family, Malevich studied drawing in Kiev from 1895 to 1896. After the death of his father, in 1904, he moved to Moscow where he studied at the School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture until 1910 and in the studio of Fedor Rerberg. He took part in the second exhibition of the group Soyuz Molodyozhi (Union of Youth) in St. Petersburg in 1911, together with Vladimir Tatlin, and, in 1912, he joined the third exhibition that also included works by Aleksandra Ekster among the others.

The exhibition at the Tate Modern starts with early paintings of Russian landscapes, agricultural workers and religious scenes. Many of them show a Russian spirit ("Peasant Woman with Buckets and Child", 1912; "The Scyther", 1912), but borrow from movements including Impressionism, Futurism and Symbolism and display the influence of Monet, Gauguin, Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso and Van Gogh (see "Self-portrait", 1909).

First inspired by Russian avant-garde painters Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, from 1913 Malevich was deeply influenced by the exhibition of Aristarkh Lentulov's cubist paintings that opened in Moscow and started calling his style "Cubo-Futuristic".

This same style also characterised his set and costume designs for the 1913 opera "Victory over the Sun" with writers Aleksei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov, and composer Mikhail Matyushin (see the funeral of the sun and the costumes of the pall bearers; the designs are on display in one gallery together with a video recreation of the play) .

Gradually, the exhibition turns into a journey into abstract painting that reflects Malevich's life and experiences. Surrealism and Cubism blend in "Cow and Violin" (1913) and "An Englishman in Moscow" (1914), while in "Woman at a Tram Stop" (1913) the main character is erased, almost swallowed by tram lines, assorted bits and pieces of means of transport and timetables.

In 1915 Malevich published his manifesto, "From Cubism to Suprematism", exhibiting his first "Black Square" at The Last Exhibition of Futurist Painting 0.10, in Petrograd, and worked with other Suprematist artists in Skoptsi and Verbovka.

Nine works orginally exhibited in Petrograd are part of the Tate Modern event: they are displayed in a dark room with the "Black Square" in a prominent position. There are plenty of paintings to discover here, from the blocks of colours and lines in "Suprematist Painting (with Black Trapezium and Red Square)" and "Supremus No 55" to the vanishing lines of "White Planes in Dissolution" (1917-18) and the sound-wave-like diagrams in "Construction is Dissolution" (1918), or the black and yellow rectangles flying on the red horizon line in "Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying" (1915), a sort of aerial view of Suprematism.

After the October Revolution (1917), Malevich taught at the Vitebsk Practical Art School in the USSR, the Leningrad Academy of Arts, the Kiev State Art Institute, and the House of the Arts in Leningrad. In 1923, Malevich was appointed director of the Petrograd State Institute of Artistic Culture. His teaching materials and drawings, but also his architectons (plaster maquettes that seem built with solid and impenetrable blocks) from these years are also showcased in two large galleries, they are the tangible proof of a very prolific period in his career.

Malevich returned to paintings in the late '20s with figures and rural scenes that combined realism and Renaissance portraits with Suprematism: the human shapes or some of the elements in the costumes in "Girl with the Red Pole" (1932-33), "Female Torso" (1928-29) and "Woman with Rake" (1930-32) borrow indeed from suprematist shapes, while a tiny black square can be seen alongside or instead of a signature reminding visitors the true essence of Malevich's art.

Confiscated and banned since the Stalinist regime promoted realism and conceived forms of abstraction as "bourgeois" art, Malevich died of cancer in Leningrad in 1935. An image of the black square was hung above his deathbed and the mourners at his funeral rally were permitted to wave a banner bearing a black square.

Almost 100 years after he released his manifesto that introduced Suprematism into the art world, Malevich's paintings with those black/red and white-on-white squares, rhomboids, circles and black crosses that look at times like rockets floating in a vast space, can be interpreted not just as the representation of a quest to find an innovative code or language made with shapes and colours, but as a urge to escape modern conventional systems of perceptions and find a greater freedom.

"Malevich: Revolutionary of Russian Art" is at The Eyal Ofer Galleries, Level 3, Tate Modern, London, UK, until 26th October 2014. The exhibition is accompanied by a series of events including a talk about "Zaha Hadid and Suprematism" on 8th October 2014.

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Maths the Wor(l)d

Judging from the renderings, the new Maths gallery at the Science Museum in London may be the perfect setting for a sci-fi film set in a dystopian future à la Divergent. Yet there is nothing scary about it, in fact the museum hopes it will help turning maths in the mind of visitors from a complex and abstruse concept to a mysteriously fascinating subject.

Set to open in 2016, the gallery - made possible by the largest individual donation ever made to the museum from long-standing supporters of science David and Claudia Harding - will focus on the work of mathematicians, mathematical tools and ideas and - to appeal to a wide audience - it will look at how maths influences our lives and shapes our world and our everyday lives.

The stories told in the gallery will span 400 years, from the Renaissance to the present day, with objects ranging from intriguing hand-held mathematical instruments to the 1929 experimental Handley Page aircraft that, suspended from the ceiling, will help visitors linking mathematics to aerodynamics and aviation technology.

This experimental British aircraft made by Handley Page was part of a 1927 competition to design an aircraft that could take off and land slowly and steeply without stalling.

The aircraft on display will also be closely linked to the gallery layout: the latter will indeed follow the Handley Page aeroplane's turbulence field and the gallery will be designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA).

In the renderings provided by ZHA, the gallery is conceived as a wind tunnel for the aircraft. The rest of the gallery spaces will be defined by three-dimensional curved surfaces representing the aircraft's aerodynamic turbulence field.

These curvilinear surfaces convey complex mathematical ideas such vector-fields with their capacity to describe constantly-varying quantities.

Moving from the same principles, the sophisticated gallery displays and pods will be inspired by the minimal surface concept.

Taking about the gallery in an official press release, Zaha Hadid stated: "The design explores the many influences of mathematics in our everyday lives; transforming seemingly abstract mathematical concepts into an exciting interactive experience for visitors of all ages."

The David and Claudia Harding Mathematics Gallery will be curated by David Rooney, who also worked on "Codebreaker", a Science Museum exhibition about the life of Alan Turing.

Yet Great Britain is not the only country set to celebrate the achievements of mathematics: "Mateintaly: Matematici alla Scoperta del Futuro" (MathinItaly - Mathematicians discovering the future; the title of the exhibition is a pun on the definition "Made in Italy" and "matematica" - mathematics in Italian) opens this week at the Triennale di Milano (14th September to 23rd November 2014).

The event explores maths from the early days to our times, mixing it with the world of arts and culture. Visual and interactive installations tackle various disciplines, subjects and topics, including medicine, economy, weather forecasts, air and rail traffic management, sports and industrial design.

Not many of us realise indeed that maths is behind many key everyday operations, it secures the development of new technological devices including 3D printers and mobile phones, and improves the performances of athletes and vehicles helping to design special suits and means of transport.

The exhibition tackles the issue from an Italian perspective through figures like Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo Fibonacci, Niccolò Tartaglia, Galileo Galilei, Vito Volterra and Federigo Enriques. "Mateinitaly" will also look at art through the invention of perspective and the representation of a three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional canvas.

Though there are sections in this event about mathematicians designing extravagant shapes that may inspire future designers, there are no proper sections on patterns for fashion and mathematics and fashion proportions. Guess we will have to wait till 2016 and the opening of the Maths Gallery at the Science Museum to see them, but, eventually, we will get there.

Image credits for this post:

1. View from East gallery entrance, Mathematics Gallery, Science Museum, London, UK;

2. Top view of Handley Page aeroplane exhibit - its turbulence field used to organize exhibition zones and displays, Mathematics Gallery, Science Museum, London, UK;

3. Top view of Handley Page aeroplane exhibit, Mathematics Gallery, Science Museum, London, UK;

4. Front view of Handley Page aeroplane exhibit, Mathematics Gallery, Science Museum, London, UK;

5. Plan Diagram of the Mathematics Gallery - its arrangement follows the Handley Page aeroplane exhibit's turbulence field;

6. Display Case forms - a series produced by variations within a singular mathematical equation;

7. - 9. Study of 3D surface variations produced by singular equation.

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

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September 2014

September 20, 2014

Think Pink...or Think Lazy?

September 19, 2014

Fay, We Have a Problem

September 18, 2014

When the DJ Becomes the Designer or Keys to Become a Successful Brand: Celebrities, Friends and Maybe a Pile of Assorted Lies

September 17, 2014

Fashionable Ruins: Herculaneum Vs Marios Schwab S/S 15

September 16, 2014

Debating Scottish Independence...on the Runway

September 15, 2014

Fashionable Sets, Visionary Performances: Simon Costin’s Impossible Catwalk Shows @ The Fashion Space Gallery, London

September 14, 2014

Physical Fontana, Digital Fyodor Golan

September 13, 2014

Julep, Suprematist Colours

September 12, 2014

Spatial Freedom and Dynamic Geometries: Malevich: Revolutionary of Russian Art @ The Tate Modern, London

September 11, 2014

Maths the Wor(l)d