First View Paris Womenswear SS2013: the New Sexy

Our first spot on Paris hints at a classical and mature approach towards fashion. Powerful silhouettes in pure black and white. Well known modernist geometry peppered with a swift whiff of sex. Smooth sensual and pure looks that reveal subtle glimpses of skin. All executed with tailored precision.

Expanding on traditional classical beauty and clearly inspired by historical archives but sprayed with modern gloss. Hard edge geometrics and sharp shoulders are softened with curved décolletées, sculptured volants and roomy pleated pants.  Outfits suggest unashamed sex and sensual looseness but are staged with well-calculated sophistication and couture aspiration.

Balenciaga shows icons of sensuality and femininity in lingerie and swimsuit inspired tops matched with high waisted flat pleat pants. Balmain shows hard edge masculinity in broad shouldered power suits covering simple and sexy bandeaus. Carven is truly sculpting in curved sensual tailoring. Where Balenciaga was clearly intrigued by the Antique when shaping this revealing dress with meandering sculpted volants.

Who would ever have thought that the image of the ‘bare midriff’ could be raised up to classical standards?

Stylespot is a colleboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

 

Streetfashion Womenswear SS2013 Paris Day 2

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Prada-shoes, your latest Kenzo-sweater or that vintage Gucci? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Fashionweek, season spring/summer 2013.

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013

Rick Owens was in an angelic mood looking at the collection and the clouds that came tumbling down from the catwalk entrance.
The models came in dresses of puffed-out proportions to match those of the clouds behind them – strapless and semi-transparent inflated dresses in soft grey or apricot shades. There were capes that followed in the same vein and further dresses that splayed out from off the shoulder. It was more feminine and light and pretty than we have seen from Rick Owens before.

Balenciaga Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2013

Skin was the big news at Balenciaga. Designer Nicolas Ghesquière told the press before the show that its was “the most sensual collection I’ve ever done”. It was all about  stiff ruffles, movement, a-symmetric cut and technical fabrics, dense embroideries that looked like tweeds,  lace fused to molded synthetics, and T-shirt knits dipped in glue for stiffness.
Ghesquière set the tone with the first model’s midriff-baring molded bra and high-waisted pants. And from there came out swinging, slitting long black skirts almost to the hipbone and edging them with deep ruffles.  Asymmetric skirts pushed the leg-theme further, and even the pantsuits were paired with  bra tops.

Streetfashion Womenswear SS2013 Paris Day 1

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Prada-shoes, your latest Kenzo-sweater or that vintage Gucci? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Fashionweek, season spring/summer 2013.

Round Up Paris Womenswear FW2012

We have seen some supreme tailoring in Paris, resulting in sensual rounded shapes, exaggerated and challenging proportions and exciting fabrics. The world is clearly connected and the runways as well. Power looks, sculptured contours and very literary historical references were all over the place. Where we first spotted a hint of powder pink romance this was too scarce to be labelled a strong influence. The general feeling of tough powerplay and getting ready to withstand challenging times is ruling. Executed in a careful play with the existing parameters of couture, yet tailored with the contemporary flavor for bold statements. Think big.

It was not just the silhouette that takes on new dimensions this season; there is also the stage. Vuitton and Chanel confirm the feel for drama, stage setting and grand gestures. Catwalks became movie-sets, the models actors and the garments costumes. To quote one of the grand old NY ladies in the wonderful upcoming documentary: ‘Advanced Style’. ‘I dress up everyday for the theatre of my life’. That reflects clearly the attitude of women who opt for the most eccentric looks that where shown in Paris past week. These represent the icing on a cake that tasted very well, but were confirming the fact that the flavors of cakes today are not regionally bound any more. Globalization is a fact in fashion.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

FIERCE

Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent staged fierce and perseverance. Ferocious, brave and powerful women with a provocative attitude. Forceful shades as black and red gain power by leather sheen, high polish and slick coatings.

 

SCI FI

Balenciaga and Chanel teamed up showing challenging material with a science fiction character. Priestesses of techno cult in bonded materials, plastics, liquid films and technical coatings and foils.

 

SCULPTURE

Lanvin was the master of sculpture. An expression of exalted womanliness with a generous emphasis on the curve. Comme des Garçons took it to an extreme by showing models as paper cut dolls and labeling these as ‘the future in two dimensions’.  The exaggeration of shape, the bringing back contours to the explicit essence, seems key.

 

HISTORY

Louis Vuitton takes us back in the old days by showing series of costume outfits that stand out by their absolute supreme elaboration and embellishment. Making history relevant once more by showing truly innovative skills and craftsmanship in embellishment, scattering crystals generously.

 

ORIENT

Style.com claims that Haider Ackermann has the most sophisticated color sense of anyone in Paris and we just want to confirm this. He seems to reflect on the orient; the passionate shades of the east in subtle monochrome harmonies are stunning and truly inspiring. This combined with the intricate and elaborate patterns Dries van Noten showed are great inspirations for garments that will please the crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2012 Day 8

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Miu Miu-shoes, your latest Jil Sander-jacket or that vintage Gucci? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. This is our last post for now, until new events show up. Thank you all for posing and watching this season, you’ve been a wonderful audience!

Miu Miu Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2012

It’s been a while since Miucca Prada wove a common thread between her two lines, Miu Miu and Prada. But pantsuits are the only thing exciting to her after so many years of skirts and dresses, she explained to the press. And her pantsuits are still not ordinary. The Miu Miu clothes looked mannish and leisurely in a retro way. Jackets and matching ankle-length pants had roomy cuts, and were worn with buttoned-up blouses, scarves and ruffled, wide ties, all done in clashing patterns and color combinations.

Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2012

All aboard for the 10 o’clock LV train!

If you thought a Louis Vuitton show couldn’t get better after last seasons merry go round, you’re mistaken. This morning Marc Jacobs topped that performance off by sending out an enormous train on his Paris catwalk. By doing so he made sure – combined with yesterday’s Chanel crystals– Paris Fashion Week (and actually a whole fashion season) ended quite spectacular.

Jacobs even stepped away from his no celebs policy and invited stars like Catherine Deneuve and Sarah Jessica Parker to watch his show, held in a train station.

As the smoke of the train dissapeared elegant women accompanied by porters who carried their many bags stepped out of the Louis Vuitton train, which seemed to come straight from another era. They wore woolen a-line coats over skirts, over pants. The new type or layering already presented to us at Chanel yesterday. They looked extremely tall (thanks to a little help from Stephen Jones). The new silhouette made them look extra feminine. And shiny embroideries combined with kaleidoscopic applications turned otherwise simple outfits into jaw dropping pieces.

It was not the most modern collection, but it had the right kind of classic touch for todays Louis Vuitton women. And just in case after this show you haven’t had enough yet of the French fashion brand you can visit the exhibition Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs (opening tonight) and dig a little further into the Louis Vuitton history.

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2012 Day 7

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Miu Miu-shoes, your latest Jil Sander-jacket or that vintage Gucci? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Fashion Week.

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