Liselore Frowijn Backstage Catwalk Show Paris SS2017

It’s always exciting to watch the mayhem backstage at a fashion-show. Dutch designer Liselore Frowijn presented her collection for the second time in the capital of fashion yesrday. We checked what went on behind the scenes.

Liselore Frowijn Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2017

The SS17 collection ’SAGOI’, is an homage to an old canal house in Amsterdam with beautifully contained ‘Delft Blue’ tiles dated 1667. Liselore Frowijn has interpreted the iconic hand-painted ceramics by tracing them with her signature style, both painting the illustrations directly on silk and using blown-up graphics in bold overall prints.
The illustrations display mythical scenes of an escape to a pastoral lifestyle of farmers in the Dutch 17th century. Research on these tiles’ topography brought Frowijn to the Japanese island of Kyūshū, where Dutch-Japanese exchange started around 400 years ago. Liselore Frowijn visited the Japanese island this summer to work with local artisans in the indigo-workshops on developing several textiles and implementing techniques that have been used for decades.
Next to the abstracted pastoral scenes, the pieces feature nude figure drawings inspired on the traditional Japanese Shunga erotic woodcut prints, combined with flower-dessins from the Mantero archive. With additional screenprinted graphic layers of blown-up Japanese masks, shibori-indigo dyes, woven kasuri textiles and Delft Blue paintings, the entire collection embodies the story of two worlds meeting once again in intermixed cultural traditions.
Using the tunic as a base piece, the collection has grown into a semi-couture extravagance of where each look presents a new layer and playfully stacked bold prints. Each garment can be worn as a canvas depending on your mood, with a dazzling richness in combination as a result, balancing on luxury-couture and sporty details. The woman Liselore admires embraces the unknown with a sweltering sensuality and as you imagine the Amsterdam house, she takes you to an idyllic realm where two worlds collide.

Roberto Cavalli Catwalk Fashion Show Womenswear Milan SS2017

Fashion might have made a big turn from normcore to maximalism over the last few seasons, the Roberto Cavalli woman has stayed true to her sexy seventies style all along. For spring/summer too she’s going to dress like a free spirited vixen, be it with a little more accessory and detailing.
Not only will she be wearing colored velvet flared pants. They’re going to be embroidered from top to bottom too. Patchwork (a mix of floral and animal prints as seen on pants, tops and dresses) is going to be a big theme in her warderobe ass well. Airy maxi dresses and studded leather jackets fit in perfectly as extra fringes, lace up details, studs and ruffles will add to the seventies swing. Beaded jewelry, bee-like glasses, cowboy belts and skinny scarves in the mix. The Cavalli girl has always loved to live life to the max, she’s just turning things up a notch for next summer.

 

Gucci Catwalk Show Womenswear Milan SS2017

We left the Gucci show venue a bit overwhelmed. That was a lot to take in. From the setting (the carpeted catwalk with trademark Gucci stripe to the barely lit, smoke filled mirrored room and Florence Welch reading the poems of William Blake on the soundtrack) to the clothing; Alessandro Michele let it all out. Elaborating on his previous – extremely successful – collections he sent out a selection of outspoken, costum-y clothes matching the SS2017 “illusion of love”-theme. A collection not too different from the one hitting stores right now. Never change a winning formula, right? The success formula of seventies meets Renaissance was still a big theme. Evening dresses, platform loafers (with an extra slipper inside), frilled cocktail dresses and silky co-ords. Lots of metallic accents, florals prints, huge earrings, enormous hats and those crystal embroidered glasses topped it all of. A marvellous collection that will surely have Gucci fans all over the world go wild. And while we’re still head over heels with this current Gucci image. We can’t help but wonder when Michele will surprise us with some new ideas. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Yet a few more seasons of this maximalism success story and we might start to think it wasn’t true love, just a fling.

Alexander Wang Catwalk Fashion Show New York SS2017

The spring 2017 collection of Alexander Wang was delightful and young and was lightly inspired by the surfculture. Youth culture and irreverence are key tenets of his brand and this time he choose fresh material and handled it with the balance of irony, relevance and good design. t Rash guards were interpreted into slinky dresses with neon seams. A black bikini top laced around the torso was worn over a sequin skirt that wrapped like a beach towel. A cropped fluorescent-pink sweatshirt with a palm tree print bore the phrase “mind detergent.” Wang also used a cliché Eighties-Nineties thorny tattoo into a print, and gave the ultimate symbol of slacker culture — the bathrobe — a witty upscale treatment in shaved mink. Flat sandals had straps that looked like surfboard ankle leashes and necklaces looked like lifeguard whistles.
Looks like Wang caught the perfect wave this season.

Maison The Faux Catwalk Fashion Show New York Spring Summer 2017

Dutch fashionlabel MAISON the FAUX showed for the first time in New York, invited by MADE. Their theme: Chubby Chaser. Once again MTF showed their view on fashion by the means of a conceptual collection presentation. A strange fat worshipping ritual took place at Milk Studios. Having models continuously circling around a giant blow-up fat-tent and worshipping the ultimate “Chubby Chaser” queen. MTF likes to shake thing up. According to their pressrelease: ““CHUBBY CHASER” is a never ending desire for more, more, more. In the insanely strange world of fashion, fashion houses act as godlike institutions; telling us how to look, act and who we should be. Fashion seems to be a repeating ritual of brands overfeeding us. We are never satisfied; only ever hungry for more.”
The “Chubby Chaser” collection consists out of a number of looks restraining excessive fabric and skin. Garments with carefully proportioned excess of fabric, breast augmentation dresses and cinched waists to exaggerate the overabundance of bare skin. Mi-parti, denim, leather, recycled furs, slits, knits, silk in earthy tones of nude as well as fleshy baby pink and baby blue. To create “CHUBBY CHASER” MTF worked under the art direction of Joris Suk and Tessa de Boer together with a number of creative partners called “les Résidents”. The label is convinced that young talent and concession free designs are an important addition to the current fashion landscape.

Given Catwalk Fashion Show Amsterdam SS2017

Each season Given designs a wide range of mens- and womenswear. Yet on Sunday afternoon the label decided to only present it’s latest womenswear collection for SS2017. A collection with no less than 47 contemporary ready to wear looks in a soft palette of army greens, powder pinks, beige and sandy tones. The Given models appeared confident and ultra feminine sporting their skater skirts, body con dresses, waistcoats, lace-up pants and ruffled, off shoulder tops. Hair slightly curled, sexy legs on display, strutting the runway on their elegant open heels. All easy to wear / street chic items that will appeal to a lot of young Dutch women. The label believes that what you wear is a powerful statement about who you are. And we believe that’s a given.

SUE ft. VJR Jewels Fashion LAB PRO Catwalk Fashion Show Amsterdam SS2017

As soon we arrived at the Transformatorhuis we knew something was up. SUE ft. VJR Jewels was not going to be your average LAB fashion show. As a starter there was a dog laying front row (that’s a first!). But there were also women in wheelchairs placed in front of the rest of the audience. As the first model appeared it became clear: Warriors of the new revolution turned out to be a fashion show on wheels.

All models elegantly drove onto the runway in a wheel chair making a clear statement on diversity. And why not present a collection shown by models in wheelchairs and therewith portraying a refreshing image of beauty. As far as designer Kelly Sue is concerned beauty comes from with. Her fashion label Sue is all about diversity and this collection spoke about power, militancy and spirit.

That power was visible in fashion classics like the trenchcoat, the jeans and the pencil skirt. All developed for a sitting position to perfectly fit the customer in a wheel chair. Even with the selection of fabrics designer Kelly Sue kept her special customer in mind opting for elastic and airy fabrics. A new fashion category of ‘Seated Fashion’ is born!

The selection of casual must’ve designs was given some extra strength by the army inspired VJR Jewels attached to the clothes, the gloves, the accessories. A doggy on the runway accompanying it’s owner all the way up to the photogapher’s pitch gave the show a welcome soft touch; ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhhs’ all over.

Not your average AFW show, but a perfect start of this sunny, fashion filled Sunday.

Tony Cohen Catwalk Fashion Show Amsterdam SS2017

Influenced and inspired by recent personal experiences Tony Cohen named his SS2017 collection Restrained & Release. Never before did he choose a theme so strongly related to his feelings, as he mentioned in the show notes. The feeling of being stuck versus finding freedom translated to couture creations in which bondage structures and airy supple silhouettes alternated each other.
Freedom was written all over the large and elegant silhouettes as the contrary was visible in tight enlaced looks cinched by black ribbons, leather belts and even corsets. Mostly black and white hues as well as mono prints symbolized Cohen’s idea of light and dark. A few touches of dusty pink were pleasant. Cohen’s signature pleats were given a twist, turning into fan structures.
Overall quite experimental ideas translated into more wearable pret a porter pieces. Now it’s up to the Cohen woman to decide. Does she want to be all tied up or let loose?
Since it’s Friday night we’re opting for the latter. Cheers to the weekend!

Karim Adduchi Catwalk Fashion Show Amsterdam SS2017

Aaand fashion week is officially started! Illustrator, artist and fashion designer Karim Adduchi (1988, Imzouren, Marokko) opened a fashion filled week with his ‘She lives behind the courtyard door’- collection. Ignoring trends and other fashion codes Adduchi took us to a place where tradition and mystic determine everything. His designs represented hidden beauty and strength, as colors and patterns also referred to Adduchi’s Moroccan roots, his dreams and barriers. Lots of focus on detail, which is much appreciated after years and years of minimalism. Carpets, both fresh from the loom and antique, are draped and sculpted, combined and mixed, their heavy wool textures contrasted by the occasional shimmer of elaborate modern details. All pieces are handmade and unique; the carpets hand-loomed in Morocco, the seams hand-stitched by Adduchi. Drawing inspiration from his own heritage, reconstructing it and using this history to tell us about courtyards and the women living in them. Adduchi invited us to create our own story, handing us the material to dream and to follow him behind the courtyard door. Adduchi is a storyteller, and fashion is his way of communicating without having to speak. Oh well, enough words, just take a look at the image gallery above and you get an idea.

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