Team Peter Stigter is ready for Milan Fashion Week!

Tess: sorting the invitations

Started the first day of the Milan Fashion Week by sorting our invitations. Loved the D&G invitation (floral printed, with some real seeds in it) and the one from Moschino, which was lemon shaped.

Marc Jacobs Catwalk Fashion Show New York SS2011

Marc Jacobs’ fashion shows have changed a lot in the last few years. They used to start 3 hours late and Monday night it appeared Marc and his crew was too early. Half an hour before the show his team Tweeted ‘Marc’s ready now. Were waiting for editors.’ Eventually the show started exactly one time, which led to Courtney Love watching only the tail end of the show.

With Vivaldi’s ‘Summer’ coming from the speakers Marc’s first models entered the catwalk. After only one look we could tell what Marc’s inspiration was. His seventies-theme was visible in every little detail.

There were easy breezy dresses, blouses and jumpsuits all, of course, in the right seventies shades (burgundy, amber, coral pink, Byzantine, bright maroon). The busy prints from that era were present too, as well as the flared pants, which we saw on a jumpsuit and a metallic pair of pants. The shorts were tiny and the slits were high. Lots of fabrics were sheer ones and the pants were high waisted.

The make-up was perfect for the show. The models had bleached eyebrows, shiny eyelids (from lots of Vaseline) and matte, stained lips. Their hair was all frizzy and often decorated by an enormous flower.

Those flowers (which were actually lily’s) popped up everywhere in the show. Around the models’ necks and waists and on the collars of their clothes. Large hats, round sunglasses en small bags and clutches completed the looks.

Marc Jacobs brought back the seventies! And he did so in a very cool and modern way. So just like the curvy collection he designed for Louis Vuitton last season this one is bound the set the trend for a whole new fashion season. (And we’re so excited!)

Ps. It was rumoured that the show area is also the backdrop of the spring/summer campaign. Marc Jacobs might have show the campaign in tandem with the show.

Catwalktrend FW2010: a taste of toffee

A little bit of mocha, a hint of cacao, a slice of hazelnut, just a drop of caramel and some toffee. Those are the ingredients for a whole new trend, that we’re gonna see a lot this fall: light brown shades.

The different hues of brown looked splendid in their multiple variations, from beige (almost nude-colored) to chocolate brown, used on any kind of material.

Overall this trend was seen on the more sophisticated and minimalistic clothing in which the models looked very elegant.

If there’s one best way to wear the toffee trend it’s by combining the different shades into one outfit. Gianfranco Ferre, Salvatore Ferragamo and Chloe sure proved that. Even their accessories, small belts, hats and bags, came in a light brown shade.

So, if you’ve already picked up the camel coat we discussed earlier, you can easily upgrade it to this brown shaded look. Just ad some brown leather gloves, a belt & a hat and you’re good to go!

Claes Iversen Catwalk Fashion Show SS2011

On Tuesday fashion designer Claes Iversen presented his spring/summer collection for next year. He chose the Felix Meritis building (a meeting place for art, culture and science) in Amsterdam as his show location; the perfect spot for a fashion show.

To the sound of piano’s the first model appeared in the round show area. She wore a white dress embroidered with hundreds of butterflies. Even her braided hair had butterflies in it. While the model was waiting to start her runway walk, small butterflies came falling down from the ceiling.

Those butterflies appeared to be the theme of the show. For Claes they represented the passing of time, beauty and fragility. They were everywhere; attached to skirts and dresses, but also in yellow and white prints (and even in our goodiebag!). Though the butterflies were something new for Claes, they reminded us of the post-its he’d used is a previous collection.

Apart from butterflies Claes showed a lot of pleats in his summer collection. He designed pleated skirts, dresses and tops. Other show stopping items were several detailed corsets, made with lots of patience and combined with, for example, a pleated or a feather skirt. The sand-shaded jumpsuits and trench coat-inspired jackets were a little more save, but just as stylish.

Overall the collection was beautifully made, pretty wearable and feminine. The color palette existing of hues of beige and sand, mixed with coral/salmon pink, turquoise and light yellow seemed perfect for spring. And hats off to the styling team who combined nude-colored knee stockings with high heels, waist belts, eye-catching clutches and gorgeous hair.

Catwalktrend FW2010: Graphic Prints

Digital graphic prints, Peter Pilotto made them into it’s signature technique and has a lot of success with it. Even Michelle Obama wore several pieces of the brand. It’s digital prints are always very vivid and colorful and are inspired by nature’s element like water or the sun. For fall the designers drew their inspiration from seventies interiors.

Often though, graphic prints aren’t based on anything. Their just beautiful figure- and color combinations printed on a certain fashion item.

Apart from Peter Pilotto, Matthew Williamson creates gorgeous prints as well. The short, printed cocktail dresses and long evening gowns he designs, always are true show stoppers.

Unlike floral prints and animal prints, graphic prints often look very modern. They can even look kinda spacey when printed on a black background. The most beautiful examples are printed on satin or sheer fabric. It makes the clothes look expensive and the women look elegant.

We think all women wanting to look modern and hip should have at least one graphic printed cocktail dress of her own.

Catwalktrend FW2010: All that glitters…

After so many season of hearing navy or grey being the new black, this year’s new black comes as a surprise. Gold is the new black for 2010/2011. Though it’s not a very common color for winter, it certainly is a big trend.

It popped up at Balmain, Moschino, Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Pucci. At Balmain it matched perfectly with the whole baroque-theme and all the purple.

Moschino combined it with black. Rosella Jardini designed a golden fringe coat and decorated a black one with lots of golden (ear)rings.

Dolce & Gabbana showed golden headphones for your i-Pod and used small golden coins as emrbroideries on their clothes.

Donatella Versace mixed all kinds of metallics in her collection. Even her pants and bags had metallic pieces on them.

So, everyone saying gold looks cheap and trashy should keep their mouths shot for at least half a year. Cause it’s the trend. And even if it’s fake, it’s still fashionable.

For the winter of 2010 all that glitters IS gold.

Catwalktrend FW2010 – Black leather

Black leather, it can look so sophisticated, yet it can appear very nasty & gothic as well. For fall, both examples were shown on the catwalk.

More than any other color leather, black was by the world’s top designers. Often total looks were created out of black leather. So the models wore coats, capes, hats, pants, gloves, dresses, skirts, belts and shoes of black leather.

Alexander Wang made it look grungy, at Moschino it was cool and Hermes used a croc-version. Ann Demeulemeester gave it a Gothic touch, Dior’s was girly and at Dsquared the black leather was worn by Dominatrix.

It’s clear you can go create many different looks with just this one material. On the catwalk it all looked great, yet when walking down the streets fully dressed in black leather, you’ll soon be judged. Our advice is to mix & match your leather with other pieces, so you won’t come across as some leather fetishist.

Catwalktrend FW2010: his jacket

Your man’s pants, shoes and jackets are no longer safe next season. ‘Cause chances are you’re leaving the house in them. Especially the masculine jacket is an easy, stylish fashion item you can throw over almost any look. Whether you combine it with a cocktail dress, a pair of pleated pants or a pencil skirt. You can never go wrong with your man’s jacket.

The so called boyfriend jacket was already popular this summer, yet for fall it has become even manlier. The shoulders have broadened and the length has increased.

At Sonie Rykiel the jacket was part of a suit and seemed to belong to some kind of giant. Preen, Dries van Noten and Bottega Veneta showed large pieces as well. Also, quite a few designers opted for a double breast version.

In case you’re afraid to look too masculine in these jackets we have a few tips to make the jacket appear more feminine:

1. tuck or roll up your sleeves
2. wear nothing underneath or at least something with a low v-neck (like Michael Kors showed on the runway)
3. wear a small belt over your jacket, around the waist to accentuate your silhouette.
4. add accessories like a brooch on the collar of the jacket

Catwalktrend FW2010: Pencil skirts

Since Christian Dior introduced the pencil skirt in the late 1940s the item has had several popular periods. A few years ago it’s popularity increased again. Victoria Beckham, who – at that time – seemed to be a pencil skirt-ambassador, might have started the trend then. And now the skirt is still hot.

For fall Italian fashion houses like Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino showed many pencil skirts. Domenico and Stefano made theirs less stiff. They looked more comfortable than the average pencil skirt and they’d probably be much more easy to walk in too. At Moschino the skirts ended above the knee.

We’re not quite sure if they’d count as pencil skirts, but we did spot some ruffled pencil-shaped versions. Both Moschino and Nina Ricci came up with those, one in black, one grey-shaded with flowers.

Other brands that made the pencil skirt work were Dior, Dsquared, Etro and Paul Smith. Some looked more comfortable than others, but overall the skirts appeared elegant and made the models look sexy and feminine.

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