Bottega Veneta Catwalk Fashion Show Milan ss2012

For Bottega Veneta ss2012 Tomas Maier wanted to make a collection with a sense of freedom and high spirits. He managed to create clothes with a certain joy in its mix of colors and textures. The colors were so strong and full, the silhouettes so feminine and free and the fabrics modern yet comfortable. Maier started with corsetted dresses, followed by shirt dresses of matt silk en leather inserts that gave it a cool attitude.

As always the collection was full of ideas from trouser-suits to wide knits, elegant silk dresses with ethnic/geometric patterns and transparent overlays. The tunic dresses and tops had a hippie-feeling, while the rich colors (indigo, purple, red, fuchsia, orange) and organic feel of the fabrics gave it a more homemade character. Of course there were some signature dresses that were tied and twisted around the body and looked very sophisticated.

 

Antonio Marras Catwalk Fashion Show Milan ss2012

It was a very feminine and soft collection Antonio Marras sent out this morning. It moved between elegance and casual, color and nudes, prints and plain colors. Marras started with floral prints for draped blouses and floaty dresses with a romantic touch.  Several emsembles also reminded ofItalian bombshells, like an animal-print jacket teamed with a bra and pencil skirt, or a curvy dress with a molded bust. For the finale, Marras sent out a group of his familiar folkloric looks. Black and white, blue, purple and red dominated the collection.

Moschino Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2012

This morning Rossela Jardini took us on a trip to the South of Spain where wowed us some with flamenco and matador influenced fashion. To the usual strong black and white looks, she added lots of embroideries (gold and colored), fringes, lace and golden coins.

Some models wore their hair in braids around their hat, others sported crazy hat pieces, like monteras, which gave the looks even more drama. The bold shiny jewelery and the golden shoes with multiple ankle straps were also hard to miss.

The silhouette was feminine; tight pants mixed with short jackets, ruffled dresses worn tight around the waist. Apart from a golden/yellow shade Jardini didn’t use any color for their fabrics, but we can’t say it made the collection boring. There were so many details in every look it was hard to check all of that out, before the following model would appear.

So when you’re going for the Espana-look, just slow down on the jewelery and accessories and you’ll look ‘elegante’ to the max. Olé!

Prada Catwalk Fashion Show Milan Womenswear ss2012

Shiny, streamlined and sexy like a car, that was Prada’s ss2012 womenswear-collection. The sweet colors, full (pleated) skirts and carcoats reminded of the Fifties but of course Miucca Prada added her own modern touch by the use of fabrics, prints and accessories. And instead of last summer’s bananas she presented another print that surely will be copied sooner or later: cartoon cars and Thunderbird-flames.

There was more, of course:  grey felt coats with appliqué flowers all over the front in blue and cream or in orange and green; stiff, pleated skirts worn to the knee with Thunderbird-flames in pale pink broderie anglaise; cotton tube tops worn over pencil skirts; cotton house coats in pale blue with lapels in a contrasting print;  dresses with elastic in the waist. This was certainly a collection to be remembered.

Fendi Catwalk Fashion Show Milan ss2012

The models at the Fendi-show looked like housewives from the Sixties with their beehive hair and pleated dresses with apron-fronts. The collection Karl Lagerfeld presented reminded us of women cooking, baking and cleaning dressed in stiff apron-like dresses, black and white ensembles, bermudas and jackets. It was a no nonsense chic, with the fly-eye shades and cotton jackets, featuring bare shoulderparts and soft, shapely cuts to match the full skirts.

The tufted fur coats of mustard and green fox, wide mesh striped knits and multiple bangles worn up the wrist had a homespun appeal. While the sleeveless cable-knit jumpers – oversized in cream or black with sheer back panels – and the little jackets added a more casual feeling.

Gucci Catwalk Fashion Show Milan ss2012

From the flowing, moody jewel-colored Seventies style to a more constructed, hard and geometric jazzy style – that’s the turn Gucci-designer Frida Giannini took this season. And this anniversary-collection looks quite different. Polished as ever, but with jazzy influences (flapper-dresses), references from the Twenties and Thirties, Louise Brooks, African Art and Man Ray. But also the geometric lines of the art deco style the American way – as in the Chrysler building – and the metallic surfaces. Giannini herself said in the show-notes she wanted to show an optical side of femininity, a sculptural glamor.

Well, glamorous it was, and polished but somehow it lacked a certain softness and sensuality. Maybe it’s because of the mix of equestrian elements like striped, double-breasted jockey-jackets, the green/ocre/white and black. Or the straight lines and hard metallics.

Hopefully we’ll find more of Gucci’s sensual warmth in the museum that’s soon to be opened in Florence.

 

 

Highlights London Fashion Week ss2012

Some 104 shows and presentations in London in one weekend. After one week of New York fashion this seemed an unreasonable task, but journalists, buyers and photographers succeeded. And just before Milan takes off, we want to present you the highlights of London ss2012. Erdem, Burberry, Christopher Kane and Paul Smith all delivered beautiful collections which made sense and also fitted in the trends we saw already blossoming in New York.

Burberry Prorsum

Christopher Bailey was paying homage to all things natural. Skirts with high, tight waists  teamed with form-fitting tops of striped crocheted wooden beads. Woven raffia, in stripes of mustard and navy or plum and black, made super slim, high-waisted pencil skirts under cropped, cotton Parkas. There were African inspired prints for draped dresses, jackets and skirts.

 

Erdem

Erdem’s focus was again on florals, which he re-uses season after season. This time round they were  pretty: buds of cornflower-blue, lemon and poppy-red dotted, off-the-shoulder dresses, chiffon skirts and shifts.

 

Christopher Kane

To create his “ghost fabric”, an iridescent metallic floral that crackled with light and movement, Christopher Kane layered four materials including an organza made almost entirely of aluminium. He mixed it up with semi-transparent dresses patched with flower stickers, washed-out pastel satins,  sleeveless cricket jumpers and flat sandals.

 

Pringle of Scotland

This was Alistair Carr’s debut at Pringle’s womenswear.  Knits were the star, from trompe l’oeil intarsia technique that made light work of chunky herringbone. Twinsets were present too, fastened at the back for summer. There were also silk dresses patchworked together with twinset buttons.

 

Paul Smith

Sir Paul and his team know more about tailoring than any other womenswear designers, that’s why is menswear-inspired womenswear-collections always looks so stunning and perfect. And his use of color is unique.

 

Giles Deacon

The collection and show of Giles Deacon seemed a meeting of heaven and hell. The angelic looks of feathers, silver dresses and laser cuts combined with vivid red detailing to offset them. The swan became the overriding theme, featuring as it did as a print on everything from couture-esque gowns to trousers and tunic and in tiara’s. This was drama to the max.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spijkers en Spijkers Catwalk Fashion Show London ss2012

No doubt that the Roaring Twenties are the favorite era of the Spijkers-sisters. They picked this period – in which women tried to free themselves –  before as a source of inspiration. Spijkers en Spijkers are not alone in this for next summer, in New York there were more designers who were influenced by this stylish period, like Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Tory Burch.

Spijkers en Spijkers took the silhouette and used their signature geometric play, colors like black and white to form their collection. Dresses dominated the collection, a loose pantsuit here and there and fragile chains as decoration or part of the construction. Fringes added a frivolous detail.

 

Marc Jacobs Catwalk Fashion Show New York ss2012

For a change, Marc Jacobs closed the New York Fashion Week. The Lexington Avenue Armory was decorated like a dance hall situated in the twenties.   As the Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach started, a sweeping gold curtain parted to reveal all the models waiting to hit the runway.

The collection was a cocktail of strange elements. Starting with the see-through plastic cowboy boots. And also: drop-waist flapper dresses, denim workwear, clear plastic sewn into skirts and dresses, sporty sweatshirts, and techno-checks.  Some of the silhouettes looked like last season’s narrow silhouettes, but there were also boxy, drop-waist shapes that reminded of the 1920’s. There was plenty of fringe,  bold-colored sequins and paillettes, and a lot of that clear plasticTextural experimentation was strong in this collection. To journalists backstage, Jacobs explained he didn’t want his collection “to feel real”.

 

Ralph Lauren Catwalk Fashion Show New York ss2012

Ralph Lauren took inspiration from the The Great Gatsby, the movie he designed the clothes for in 1974. When he designed the clothes it started a mini Jazz Age at that time and Lauren’s career took off. It seems the time is ripe for an updated version of this style, especially now Baz Luhrmann is busy with a remake starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan.

Lauren loves the feminine/masculine mix and that shows. There were  wallpaper floral t dresses,  pastel silk pajama pants, and “vintaged” cashmere sweaters with fake moth holes. For accessories: raffia platform sandals, embroidered and fringed bags, and delicate scarves.  As for the masculine side:  pinstriped three-piece suits with cropped pants, shorts, full trousers and the leather Perfecto jacket. For the evening Lauren introduced silver flapper dresses and column gowns.

 

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »