fashionologie

Minimalism - Just a "Blip on the Fashion Radar" Come Spring?

fashionologie — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:20:59 PDT

>> Is fashion's minimalist revival going to be over come Spring? In the wake of Paris Fashion Week, a number of insiders seem to think so.

Marc Jacobs is on board with the idea - the campy Spring 2011 Louis Vuitton collection spurred Vogue.com's Sarah Mower to write: "The excitement of stylized, decadent fun, running rampant as a backlash against minimalism [is] an idea that fashion editors will take up." Style.com's Nicole Phelps, too, made note of Jacobs's about-face from last season: "Not unlike his seventies-inflected signature show back in New York more than three weeks ago, this was a flat-out refusal of the minimalism that was all over last season's runways, his own included."

The New York Times's Eric Wilson chimes in: "It was striking to see jarring pink-and-orange combos at a number of shows: Martin Grant, Yves Saint Laurent, Cacharel, Giles Deacon, Christopher Kane and Marc Jacobs. (Not buying it was Karl Lagerfeld, who, at the Chanel show, told Cathy Horyn of The Times: 'I really don’t think women want to go around looking like a Saint Laurent shopping bag.') Regardless, it made last fall’s foray into minimalism feel like just a blip on the fashion radar." Paper's Mickey Boardman adds: “After the Céline-ification of fashion, everything became about good taste and beige. I think we all hungered for hot pink.”

Retailers seem to be feeling similarly. Ed Burstell, managing director at Liberty of London, told WWD: “I think there’s going to be some boredom for minimalism [by Spring]. I’m not sure everyone’s willing to walk away from things that are a little more fun and sexy to [looks more suited to] a Connecticut soccer mom heading for lunch.” Lane Crawford's Sarah Rutson agrees: “The customer has had enough of neutrals from fall. We need to set the sales floor alive with color and print."

Style.com Will Have a Competitor in Vogue.com, But It's Not Going Away

fashionologie — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:04:11 PDT

>> Instead of shuttering Style.com, as many speculated would happen after Vogue.com's big relaunch - which comes right after Labor Day - Drew Schutte, SVP and chief revenue officer for Conde Nast Digital, is ready for the two to take over the web together: “In my mind, why not have two of the leading brands in the online space? There’s lots of competition coming up, so instead of letting someone else become the number-two competitor, I’d like to make one ourselves and have the number one and two in the space.”

Style.com was once the online home of both W and Vogue, but all three are now entirely separate - no pooling of resources. Style.com will send its own reviewers (Tim Blanks, Nicole Phelps, Meenal Mistry) to the upcoming fashion shows, as will Vogue.com (Jessica Kerwin, former Style contributor Sarah Mower, as well as Vogue senior staffers Mark Holgate, Hamish Bowles, and others).

There's good reason to keep Style around »

fashionologie — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:10:58 PST

>> Is Anna Wintour the Original Catalyst for Stylists' Current Fame and Fortune? - Vogue and Style.com contributor Sarah Mower thinks so. Twenty years ago, she says, a stylist's job consisted of “being the handmaiden. Literally on her knees, picking up the pins from the floor. It all changed in the late 1980s, when the names of fashion editors were put on magazine pages. Anna Wintour did it when she first came to edit British Vogue, because she believed they deserved acknowledgement for their work. Then, in the age of the supermodel, the fashion show became a huge great production. You’d sit at a fashion show, and say, ‘Who is the stylist?’, as if that was the key.” [Times UK]

Spills and Thrills at the 2009 British Fashion Awards

fashionologie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:27:13 PST

>> Last night's British Fashion Awards provided a forum for all kinds of announcements - Christopher Bailey, who accepted both BFC Designer Brand of the Year for Burberry and BFC Designer of the Year, confirmed that Burberry will show in London again for Fall 2010; and Victoria Beckham said she's planning to take an active role in the BFC that in which she would mentor young designers or serve as an ambassador.

Christopher Kane was awarded BFC British Collection of the Year, Kate Moss won the publicly-voted London 25 Award, Peter Pilotto nabbed the Swarovski Emerging Talent Award for Ready-to-wear, and Georgia May Jagger took the BFC Model of the Year award - "Thank you so much to the BFC for picking me. I'd just like to say [fellow nominees] Daisy [Lowe] and Rosie [Huntington-Whiteley] are amazing girls and amazing models. Thanks to my mum for being the biggest inspiration."

But the model who really stole the night was Karen Elson, who, when onstage to present Grace Coddington with the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator, walked straight into the orchestra pit and fell four feet out of sight. She emerged minutes later, ”I am the clumsiest person on this earth. I cannot believe I just did that. That is the worst fall I have ever had. I might have broken a rib, but I’m fine.” After presenting, she took to the emergency room to see about her injuries - including a sprained thumb.

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Peter Copping's First Nina Ricci Collection for Spring 2010: The Reviews Are In

fashionologie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:30:26 PDT

>> To an audience of only 75, Peter Copping sent out his first runway show at Nina Ricci in the salon above the brand's Paris store. Copping, who spent the past twelve years at Louis Vuitton, took Ricci to a much more feminine, commercial place than previous Ricci designer Olivier Theyskens. “I like wearable clothes,” he told WWD. “I’m not necessarily into being too avant-garde . . . whenever we did more feminine-based collections [at Vuitton], the sales were always incredible in the stores as opposed to the more austere or hard-edged things."

The Spring 2010 show was about all about the house’s “signature codes” - bows, lingerie, lace - Copping said, and he's keen to add capsule lines of lingerie and wedding dresses soon. So what's his verdict? Hilary Alexander called the collection "charming," T staffers were fans - Anne Christensen deemed it "very pretty" and Armand Limnander "lovely" - and Elle's Joe Zee, too, was won over: "I'm not usually a fan of romance (clothes that is) but Peter Copping's Ricci debut was a slamdunk in romance. Sweet but not saccharin."

Some, however, seemed more hung up on the switch to commerciality: Los Angeles Times's Booth Moore noted, "Olivier Theyskens' Nina Ricci was all vision; Peter Copping's is all saleable product." Suzy Menkes commented: "[It] is not necessarily a bad thing for a house [to be very commercial] . . . but Mr. Copping, having staked out his pretty girl territory, needs to take her to a newer place." And Style.com's Sarah Mower is holding judgment: "At first sight Ricci is now in a safe pair of hands but the jury's still out till next season."

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Quote Of The Day: Sarah Mower On Dries Van Noten

coutorture — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:34:51 PDT

“

Many designers seem to be running into difficulty over how to approach women this Fall... dividing their collections schizophrenically between sober-sided sellers and artistic gestures of the sort they hope magazine editors will put on their pages. Dries Van Noten has no such conflicts: He doesn't have to cast about for a "realistic" attitude because that, and never made-for-editorial fireworks, is what his business is based on.

”Show Review, Style.com

Quote Of The Day: Sarah Mower On Luella Fall 2009

coutorture — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:48:15 PDT

“

"Building a brand" can sound like a dull and onerous mission these days, especially for a junior-focused designer who came out of London's free and easy years. Yet that's exactly what Bartley is proving herself capable of now. There's value for money in each of her outfits, from all the patchworking of contrasting fabrics that goes on in a single piece (a dress might be made up of a polka-dot top fused to a draped bustier, connected to a wool skirt) down to the Confederate caps and fur pompoms on the toes of her pumps. The sense of continuity shows an impressive business focus, but even better, somehow, is the way Bartley will also break into a bit of gold lamé to keep things "up."

”Show Review, Style.com

Quote Of The Day: Geology Themes During London Fashion Week

coutorture — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:02:53 PDT

“

Josh Goot is the third designer in London to mention geology as his inspiration. Where Marios Schwab and Graeme Black looked at mineral deposits (as Peter Pilotto did last season), Goot was thinking of "the organic lines of stone, and cutting and chiseling it."

”Show review. Sarah Mower for Style.com.

Quote Of The Day: Sarah Mower On Yves Saint Laurent Fall 2009

coutorture — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:02:50 PDT

“

From there, Pilati worked into the flannel and chalk stripes, developing the most elegantly desirable pants (no more Japanese drop-crotch extremes) and cutting jackets with an unpadded extended shoulder. There was no falling back on the all-too-easy clichés of the eighties that have beset many other collections. That was down to the effort Pilati put into honing the tailoring into new but accessible shapes.

”Show Review, Style.com

Quote Of The Day: Sarah Mower On Balenciaga Fall 2009

coutorture — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:47:01 PST

“

The word, in the end, was sophistication: Ghesquière didn't pull back on the Balenciaga insistence on developing couture-level handwork, but there was also a sense of reality that sent cohorts of pressured buyers out onto the Place de la Concorde with relieved smiles on their faces. "Wearable" and "money in the bank," they were calling it. Not compliments they're throwing around easily in these strained times.

”Show Review, Style.com