Highlights Milan Fashion Week SS2011

With the beginning of Milan Fashion Week the colorblocking started too. All big Italian fashion houses were in the mood for brightness. It started off with Gucci, then Prada, Missoni and Jil Sander followed.

It also became clear that the clothes were becoming more and more comfortable. The silhouettes were elongated and looser than before, the heels less high. That is, perfect clothes to lounge in next summer.

Oh, and one other trend: fringes and tassels as details on any possible item; dresses, bags, tops, hats, shoes, skirts and jackets. Major!

Gucci
The Gucci show was a great example of colorblocking to the max. The models looked glamorous from head to toe in their colorful designs, perfect leather pieces, shiny accents and numerous items with playful tassels. Like Marc Jacobs’s show in New York Gianni opted for a seventies vibe too. Yet the outfits of the sexy Gucci ladies were a bit more body-tight.

Jil Sander
Seemed to continue the colorblocking vibe the brand had launched during it’s menswear show in June. Simons used green, pink, yellow, violet and orange in one outfit and called it ‘a mille-feuille of color’. There were a lot of stripes too. The first few looks were made of large, floor-sweeping skirts and white tees. They made the models appear larger than life, but still looked elegant. We were impressed.

Bottega Venata
No colors at Bottega Veneta, but shades of black, white and grey. The silhouette was very loose letting the body shape almost completely disappear. Items like shirt dresses and suits made gave the collection a manly touch, without becoming less elegant. A great wearable collection from look 1 to look 41.

Roberto Cavalli
At Cavalli we celebrated forty years of an amazing, glamorous fashion house. Cavalli held a great show and a just as impressive after party. His spring/summer collection, which he presented in an area full of gigantic tropical leaves, was revealing and sexy. He came up with croc and python jackets and dresses with fringes all over the place. A perfect glamazone collection with all the right Cavalli ingredients.

Prada

Colorblocking, banana & monkey prints, stripes and Mexican hats, that is Prada SS2011 in a nutshell. Miuccia herself called the collection brave, bold and obvious. And only a designer like herself would be able to pull off some of these looks. The designs were often over the top, but there’s no doubt Prada will set some new trends for summer.The show immediately became everyone’s favorite and surely was one of the highlights of Milan Fashion Week.

Highlights London Fashion Week SS2011

Though for years London Fashion Week was left aside a bit by the media, with the return of Burberry to the British capital that is changing. More and more brands want to show their new collections during London Fashion Week. And why shouldn’t they? London has a lot to offer and has quite a lot talent. London fashion is very hip and funky and really stands out in its own way.

Some of our favorite shows we saw in London were Matthew Williamson (who will be launching a new line soon), Burberry and Christopher Kane. We loved the colors and the special prints. We were blown away by the setting of the Erdem show and of course we’re very proud of the Dutch sisters of label Spijkers en Spijkers which is a big success in London too.

Matthew Williamson
For spring Matthew Williamson designed for a girl marooned on a desert island. The girl’s wardrobe had lots of nature-inspired shades (and prints) in it like khaki, beige and sand. The clothes, safari blouses and cargo pants, seemed perfect for the jungle as well. Yet Williamson managed to keep his collection feminine and city chic by adding corset-bodies and sheer airy fabrics.

Christopher Kane
‘Neon gets me going’, he said backstage. And we sure could see that. The Christopher Kane show was full of fluor fashion. Fashion-forward bright shades of green, pink, orange an yellow were used for more classic outfits. Like a sophisticated jacket of floral-printed lace of an Argyll-printed vest with matching top and skirt. Together with the funky prints, he introduced during the second half of the show, it felt like a very fresh new collection.

Paul Smith
We loved the Paul Smith collection, because his girls looked very tough and edgy. And even though they were wearing very manly clothes (suit jackets, blouses and ties), they looked sexy as hell. Highlight of the show were the sheer shirt dresses, the floral prints and the skirts combined with sweaters. Great styling!

Burberry
Burberry of course kicked of London fashion week with a dazzling show. The brand showed tough leather jackets combined with bright colors and tight leather pants. We would love to have every single studded jacket. And despite the staggering models in the super-high heels the show was perfection.

Peter Pilotto
Since it has become their trademark for their new collection Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos of course used digital printing. Only this time they took it to another level designing silk-screen prints and making them look three-dimensional. It looked spectacular on the lady-like dresses they’d designed. The Pilotto woman seemed to have grown up; changing her cocktail party dresses for column gowns and mid-calf skirts. Yet she’s keeping her sexiness and still feels comfortable. How wonderful.

Highlights New York Fashion Week SS2011

The New York Fashion Week was a good start of a whole new fashion season. It was the first time the fashion week was held on it’s new location: Lincoln Centre, but the fashion crowd seemed to like it. For the ones who’ve missed it here we discuss the highlights of New York Fashion Week.

A week full of contradictions; from minimalistic to over-accessorized,  from collections full of neutral shades to big color parades and from the seventies to the future. Yet one thing the collections had in common was the fact that the clothes overall looked very wearable. So goodbye to the ultra-tight skirts and tops and hi to the loose, long dresses.

Marc Jacobs
One of the most memorable collections was that of Marc Jacobs. With his seventies inspired disco-chic clothes he set a new trend, which we all loved immediately. The colors (burgundy, amber, coral pink, Byzantine, bright maroon) looked lovely together and created exactly the right mood for the show. Marc paid attention to every little detail and the big flowers, the hats and the sunglasses felt like the perfect summer accessories. After the fifties-inspired collection he had just designed for Louis Vuitton this seventies collection is bound to become just as big of a hit.

Calvin Klein
The Calvin Klein show like last season was very minimalistic. Francisco Costa again opted for clean cuts and a minimal amount of colors. Though he didn’t surprise us with this collection, he stayed true to his winning formula. Besides there were at least seven Dutch models walking in the show, so we couldn’t possible be any more proud (some of the girls are already named as the New Faces of this season)

Rodarte
For next summer the sisters Mulleavy created a collection full of hand crafted creations inspired by their native Northern California and its redwood forests. There were leaves and tree-trunk prints in any possible shade of brown you could think of. Yet there were also blue and white checks and prints from porcelain antique vases. The collection Laura and Kate had designed, was different then we’d expected, yet we loved every piece of it.

Phillip Lim
Every fashion-city has its darlings. In New York Phillip Lim is one of them. The reason for that? He makes beautiful clothes, which woman can actually afford to buy. For spring/summer Lim showed a luxurious collection. He played around with a puzzle concept en used a lot of sheer fabrics. Together with a beautiful neutral color palette and some menswear tailoring that resulted in one of the best Lim collections we’ve seen so far.

Alexander Wang
As one of the first big brands to show during NYFW Alexander Wang kicked off a new fashion season. And he did so in a great way. His girls looked street-wise and tough in their white-shaded garments, influenced by painters’ overalls. We loved the way he used his parachute silk and the shades of mint and terracotta he added. We’re sure there will be more women wanting to wear these clothes, besides the models off duty Wang designs for.

Tommy Hilfiger
The Tommy Hilfiger collection was actually not very new or special. It was just a good combination of all the Hilfiger items we’ve seen before. The reason Hilfiger is one of our highlights however, has to do with the fact that the designer celebrated the 25th anniversary of his label. He held a big party at the Metropilan Opera and invited great American celebs like Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker. We say: on to the next 25 years!

Fashion Week is vaporised!

It’s bye bye to Paris and a farewell to another season of fashionshows. We will post our round-up soon. First we take some time to recover and catch up with our families. Thanks for visiting our blog during the shows!

Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

For Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs presented a collection with a disco-chic vibe. Like in his Marc Jacobs show we saw lots of vibrant colors with a lot of extra’s added to the mix. There were fringes, glitters, animal and floral prints.

He gave the collection a bit of an oriental feeling by adding shiny Eastern-inspired designs. Besides animal prints he also had images of panda’s and giraffes on the clothes. Plus two large tiger were placed on stage.

It was quite a change compared to the neat and sober fifties-inspired looks from last season, but it was again something new. And we’re quite sure some new trends will be picked up from this collection and become a major hit next summer.

Emanuel Ungaro Presentation Paris SS2011

To celebrate his first collection for Emanuel Ungaro Giles Deacon held a garden party in Paris. It was the brightest most cheerful one you could think of and really breathed a perfect summer vibe.

There were no models walking the runway. No, this time they got to sip champagne and chit chat with the audience. Fortunately for Anna dello Russo who was, in fact one of the models at the party.

The girls wore sexy cocktail dresses of lace and fur. Their hair was classically braided, their lips were deep red and they had the cutest sunglasses on.

Deacon said he wanted to ‘reinterpret the sensuous, soft, vivaciousness that Mr Ungaro was known for’. Therefore he came up with lace work and embroideries, both things that are synonymous with Ungaro.

The collection was sexy and playful, but we’re not yet sure if we loved it.

On our way to Paris

Yesterday Peter and his colleague Jonas took the train from Milan to Paris, a 7 hour drive with stops in the Alps.

Salvatore Ferragamo Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

On Sunday Massimiliano Giornetti showed his second women’s collection for Salvatore Ferragamo. He used the free-spirited, bohemian, gypsy feeling from the late sixties movie La Piscine for inspiration, which we think was a good choice.

His luxurious, yet relaxed collection started off with lots of nudes. Sexy swimwear, airy, floor-sweeping dresses, long coats and comfy (slightly flared) pants. Head scarves, simple necklaces, big bags and small belts gave all looks their finishing touch.

Halfway the show some pastels, olive green and dark slate grey gave a bit more color to the designs. Remarkable were the tummy revealing puffy tops shown through the whole collection, yet Giornetti made them in such a way they didn’t look cheap.

He ended the show with several sheer evening gowns which gracefully moved with every step the models took. A great ending of a chic collection with perfect designs to hit the beach in, yet also enough clothes for a day in the city.

C’N’C Costume National Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011.

Since the C’N’C fashion show was held outside, at the Piazza Duomo thousands of people could have the joy of watching a live fashion show. But before the models came on there was music and there were dancers as part of the Milano Loves Fashion concept.

For spring 2011 Ennio Capasa presented womenswear and a few menswear looks. He chose white and gray as his main colors, but towards the end he added nudes and brights like yellow, blue and red.

His maxi dresses, tunics and bandeau tops looked easy going and elegant, but didn’t make our fashion hearts beat faster. Yet it was a good collection and it’s just great that so many people could enjoy it in the centre of Milan.

Versace Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

It was clear Donatella Versace wasn’t into the seventies theme for her spring collection. Unlike at other big shows this week, at Versace there was not an airy, long, loose dress in sight. In stead Donatella opted for body-tight designs and stayed very true to the key aspects of the Versace brand.

The models looked fierce in their tight-fitting pencil skirts and dresses which stood out because of their multiple cutouts in so many places. Shades of blue, red, white and black were used for the looks and were even combined in several graphic prints.

Big pockets and large buttons were placed on a few skirts and jackets. They didn’t look very flattering. Yet towards the end the designs became more gracefull as goddess gowns with tight bodies and loose fringes at the bottom concluded the show.

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