The ABC of womenswear ss2012, part 4

You can fill two alphabets with all the news and trends that will appear in spring 2012. But let’s stick to the main stuff for now. Today part 4.

J is for JEWELRY

The more feminine and elegant womenswear gets, the more refined the jewelry. For the first time Prada presented necklaces and earrings in shiny stones and little roses, sweet and sophisticated at the same time. Marni is always strong with her jewelry, this time she focused at bracelets. And what to think of the accessories at Dolce & Gabbana, made of fake-pasta, pepperoncini and garlic. While they got inspired by the Italian kitchen, Alber Elbaz of Lanvin looked at the street and borrowed the chunky metal for his big bold chokers and pendants.

 

K is for KANYE WEST

For years Kanye West is a regular visitor of the fashionshows. He loves fashion and it seems he wanted to prove his knowledge with a collection of his own. Well, not everybody is convinced about his skills as a fashion-designer after seeing the collection for ss2012. The show he gave in Paris illustrates what he likes and problably what he likes women to wear. Lots of fur, lots of skintight dresses and a trashy (track)suit now and then.

L is for LAYERS

Although the couture spirit doesn’t leave much room for layers, there are designers who don’t want a stiff, minimal look but search for more fluidity, layering and movement in their clothes. Luckily. Not every woman is waiting for Balenciaga-esque silhouettes. So thanks to Haider Ackermann and Ann Demeulemeester there are still exciting layers, color-combinations and silhouettes. But even a modernist as Raf Simons plays with see  through layers in his collection for Jil Sander.

 

To be continued.

 

 

 

The ABC of womenswear ss2012, part 3

Next spring will be a lively season, with lots of color, elegance and femininity. Good times are coming! Today part 3 of our ABC.

G is for GIANNI VERSACE

Oh, good old Gianni, we surely do miss his vibrant collections full of prints, color and sexy clothes. But with a collaboration with H&M ahead – and a promise made by Donatella that she will be using some Versace classics in prints – we do expect a revival of the Versace-print. Some designers used the baroque prints and foulard prints in their collections. Just to offer something different than just clean minimalism.

 

H is for HOLIDAY in retro-style

With the Fifties back in style, the glamourous holiday-dressing returns too. This theme shares with us moments of nostalgia and makes us long for times that were innocent and frivolous. Holiday forever in these not just referenced, yet simple literary quoted historic silhouettes.

 

I is for INNOCENT & SWEET

The fashion merry-go-round keeps spinning and brought us sugar SWEET fashion. The word ‘pretty’ was banned from the fashion dictionary for seasons, but made a majestic comeback. Opulence, intricate embellishment and exquisite craftsmanship modernise romance by alternating laser cut silk cellophanes and crafted Broderie Anglaise.

 

To be continued

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ABC of womenswear ss2012, part 2

Season ss2012 seems still far away, and there is so much to tell about what’s coming up. So we’re putting everything in an ABC round-up. Today part 2.

D is for DIGITALIZE

Digital prints were all over the collections this season, but why did it take that long and why does it stay that close to the pavement laid out by those great pioneers, Alexander McQueen and Mary Katranzou? Lovely, happy and very exiting though.

 

E is for ETHNIC

Ethnic influences are still visible in fashion. take a look at Burberry’s collection with the rattan and tribal patterns and jewelry, or Donna Karan with her African vibe. Dark earthy colors, ocre, green and red are dominating but there’s also a more tropical and colorful side to this trend with vibrant colors and fantasy patterns.

 

F is for FIFTIES

This trend tells an entertaining tale of pretty dresses, fit and flare, full as well as swirling and swinging skirts and sweet, sorbet-like colors. It brings us back to the Fifties as known in movies and books. Prada, the brave, alternated this prettiness with spiced up romance, moving beyond stereotypes. Then surprisingly well coordinated was the return of Fifties swimwear.

To be continued.

The ABC of womenswear ss2012, part 1

What a great season ss2012 will be. It’s a pity we’ll have to wait until next year, before we can touch, feel and wear those beautiful clothes. There was so much to see and experience the last few weeks, starting with the shows in New York and ending in Paris. Time for a large ABC-round-up.

A is for ARTIFICIAL CHIC

A cool, modern twist to classic and iconic shaping and experimenting with mixed materials, layered patterns and strange color-combinations. Plastic is favorite, as are high sheen sparkling surfaces and innovative finishing.

 

B is for BARE SKIN

Slits and slices showed bare arms and legs, as were transparent fabrics but there was more to see: bare midriffs because of all those bandeau tops. A great contrast while lengths of skirts are dropping. After seasons of revealed bellies the elongated tops seemed so much more luxurious and sophisticated. Yet now we seem to enter a period of hedonism once more, celebrating the body, enjoying fashion and consuming style.

 

 

C is for COUTURE

The clear read line through Paris catwalk shows is a couture spirit reminiscent of the fifties and sixties.One designer more then the other found ways to translate this precious era in a contemporary and new look. Materials where traditional and precious, yet some realized that typical sculptural aspect in novel man made yet ever so luxurious fabrics. A, I and egg shaped, reduced and iconic, minimal use of details and executed in mostly black and white.

 

To be continued.

 

 

Round Up Paris Womenswear ss2012

Paris offered us a week of mixed emotions and mindsets. From thoughtful calmness and flirty elegance to sweet prettiness. The overall fashion feel was optimistic which makes a welcome escape from the ‘outside’ world.

Hardly ever before the overall look was that feminine and sensual, and surprisingly some of the most influential collections where inspired by some of the most iconic male drivers; cars (Akris), sex and sports (Stella McCartney). And that involves all global catwalks. Also nice to note that sea world inspiration was back on track with just one winter in between, it inspired Chanel to create organic sea shaped silhouettes and Givenchy to fuse mermaid and surfer looks.

Yet THE lead for summer 2012 is couture excellence and best staged by Celine: her COUTURE SPIRIT showed reduced fashion with sculptural quality.

 

Then we list the sensual impact of SLITS AND SLICES that made models floating over the catwalks. Long strategically placed cuts revealed legs, midriff and décolleté.

 

The fashion merry-go-round keeps spinning and brought us sugar SWEET fashion by Louis Vuitton. The word ‘pretty’ was banned from the fashion dictionary for seasons, but made a majestic comeback. Opulence, intricate embellishment and exquisite craftsmanship modernise romance by alternating laser cut silk cellophanes and crafted Broderie Anglaise.

 

Ann Demeulemeester showed just one of many fairy tale like collections with sheer POETIC VISION; featherweight translucent layers in fluid, floating silhouettes. Wrapped in silky veils, gathered and draped or enveloped in long, lush, layers of silk.

 

Then there was that single spark of freshness by Stella McCartney. Happy and FRESH, sporty and sexy, framing bright colours and white in bold ornaments and edging them with curvy cutouts.

 

Accessories where strikingly innovative in most collections; coordinated, iconic and all precious treasures that in some cases reflect the sign of the fashion times even better then garments do.

 

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

First View Paris ss2012: Slits & Slices

A powerful design-feature this Paris season is the slit. Nothing makes a look that obviously 80’s inspired. Immediately it’s taken out of the reigning 50’s couture prettiness to create a more daring and slick appeal.

Cutout, slashed and sliced and sometimes pinned, wrapped and knotted back together again. Cut-outs unveil long lean legs as well as deep décolleté and hints of midriff. Jean Paul Gaultier plays with wide gathered volumes and wraps, folds, turns and twists these. Where Lanvin unveils in a more cool and understated manner, carefully exposing hints of skin in a subtle and sophisticated manner, Maison Martin Margiela shows more brutal constructions and deconstructions where Mugler goes futuristic and uses cuts and slashes for streamlined, organic and a more architectonic shaping and sculpting.

Sure that it adds movement and flare to silhouettes.

Stylespot is a collaborations with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

First View Paris ss2012: Couture Spirit

The clear read line through Paris catwalk shows is a couture spirit reminiscent of the fifties and sixties. One designer more then the other found ways to translate this precious era in a contemporary and new look. Finding a shared challenge in the search for new proportions yet clearly inspired by the rounded full shaping of that era. Materials where traditional and precious, yet some realised that typical sculptural aspect in novel manmade yet ever so luxurious fabrics. A, I and egg shaped, reduced and iconic, minimal use of details and executed in mostly black and white.

Going back to the archives was what most designers did. Céline created a masterful understated and reduced version and managed to shape couture within a desirable ‘Philo’ mould. Dries van Noten offered grand couture looks in pouf dresses and skirts, finding a way to update by combining these with print and sturdy biker jackets. Rick Owens shifts in all its striking understatement between pillar and egg. Where Balenciaga made the most modern translation by truly redefining couture’s contours. He turned urban wear into couture, so took another road to come to richness by giving city wear the haute treatment. Rochas, how else could it be, took it factual and dived fully into archives using silk duchesse and organza to show the full flavour and grandeur of the couture legacy.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

 

First View Paris ss2012: a dress is a dress is a dress

So the dressed-up mood seems there to stay. From careful sculpted and tailored precious gowns with Hollywood appeal, to immaculate sweet nothings in fluttery organza.

Sure is that a couture mood runs through prêt-à-porter collections worldwide. A dressed-up dress-parade shows a rich variety of smart classy daywear as well as more dramatic evening wear. Next to couture spirit an obvious 80’s flavour is intertwined that loosens up hard edge couture looks and adds flair by means of long slits and slices in shifts, tunics and robe manteaux.

Lanvin adds strong character to luxurious understated and monumental shapes in interesting fabrics where texture and drape determine the look in total absence of unnecessary details. Nina Ricci adds urban twists to a heavenly and lingerie inspired collection, where Rick Owens turns tailoring into religion, showing monolithic gowns. Dior opens the box of its rich legacy; showing reworked and modernized dresses reminiscent of the golden age of haute couture.

So to be fair, a dress is more then just a dress.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

First View Paris ss2012: Poetic Vision

Viewing the first Paris collections immediately made clear that 50’s Retro, Tropicana and Crafts are definitely on trend, worldwide.

But here we want to highlight a different mood. A lovely tale of heroines travelling the world, picking up inspirations, connecting and merging the east and the west and marrying these influences in lovely, narrative and poetic stories.

The spirit is romantic, exquisitely elegant and fuelled with craftsmanship in tailoring, embellishment, pattern as well as cut. Some glowful decadence in androgynous looks with a daring sensual twist. Shades of China show in dangling tassels, kimono-like wraps, north-African caftans and western suiting. Manipulated city- and landscapes in photo print as well as historical engravings of gardens of Eden.

Ann Demeulemeester goes sensual and combines fluid flared skirts and dresses with elongated suit coats. Severe black suiting with barely-there veils and free flowing fringes. Dries van Noten adds ruffles and ruches to pure, stern silhouettes and narrative prints to bold black and white. Rick Owens adds roundness and softness to column-like contours. Each of them envisioning a positive future. To speak with Owens: a gateway to heaven.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

Round Up Milan SS2012

Milan was swinging and optimism reigned. The best looks where flirty and sensual and the Italians rooted love for crafts inspired by artistic decorations and intricate iconic patterns. Retro reminiscence was key, offering romantic nostalgia as well as prim, costumy looks. Patterns went wild from perpetual animal prints, giant size kerchief patterns, geometric deco graphics to a more hot tropical boost of wild and exotic flowers and plants.

Listing the key looks of Milan season:

SWEET MEMORIES

This trends told an entertaining tale of pretty dresses, fit and flare, full as well as swirling and swinging skirts. Prada, the brave, alternated this prettiness with spiced up romance, moving beyond proper and prim stereotypes.

 

DARED TO GO BARE

Versace stuck to sensuality and with midriff-baring bandeaux in lush, lacy, laser-cutted leathers. As did D&G, Blumarine and even Prada.

 

PRE DEPRESSION

Gucci amongst other showed 20’s glamour in a rich style, unmistakably deco inspired with the grand Chrysler building as a muse.

 

MODERN CHIC

Marni went for a cooler style and more, adding a modern twist to classic and iconic shaping and experimenting with mixed materials, layered patterns and as always in her spectacularly strange colour combinations.

 

50’s SWIMWEAR

Then surprisingly well coordinated where the pan-designer-bathing-belle looks. Like spectacular overdressed swimsters the models strolled over in crafted costumes with high waisted briefs and armoured corsetry tops, announcing a glorious return of Fifties swimwear.

 

TROPICAL ENERGY

The party went full on in a vibrant coloured festival of that was donated to us by Bottega Veneta, Missoni, Pucci and Dolce & Gabbana whose collection was inspired by the colorful Italian kitchen.

 

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

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