Givenchy at the Oscars!

(left) Cate Blanchett looking gorgeous in Givenchy Couture at the Acadamy's

je veux Céline

                               Celine spring-summer 2011                    3.1 Phillip Lim fall-winter 2011

     Since Phoebe Philo returned to French label, Celine, from maternity leave, the fashion crowd has gone wild over her.  Ms. Philo's minimalist approach to design not only resulted in clean, effort-less pieces all women love to wear-- for work and for the weekend, but also became influential this season to New York designers who embraced her line of thinking. 
     Several looks appearing in Phillip Lim's fall-winter 2011 collection showed the extent of Ms. Philo's influence.  Mr. Lim combined brown leather with ultramarine blue in a sporty top, paired with white trousers.  The message is clear: clean, minimalist sportswear in leather with new color pairings.
     Celine's spring collection exhibited a similar look-- pairing a blue cotton shirt with brown leather skirt.  The brown leather displays a certain toughness, but its effect softened by the lightness of the cotton top.

Celine Spring-summer 2011
3.1 Phillip Lim Fall-winter 2011

Mr. Tisci and the Boys of New York

     Somehow, the Proenza Schouler show this season in New York kept reminding me of Riccardo Tisci's Givenchy spring-summer 2010. Mr. Tisci’s silhouette seems to have trickled down as the seasons went by— the fitted blazer (with peplum) and harem trousers.
    Proenza Scoulder, the uber-cool New York duo, along with Alexander Wang, seem to be doing well feeding the likes of downtown-meets-west-village girls. Their clothes are always cool, but sophisticated at the same time.
    The P.S. show I recently saw (via live-stream) gave me an immediate, visceral feeling of tribal, voodoo-practicing society.  With the first few models' jet-black hair in Native-American-inspired, disheveled pony-tails and the presence of tribal prints, the collection could easily have been "old-world." However, the boys had successfully pulled the collection together and put a novel, modern touch to it.
     Mr. Hernandez and  Mr. Mccollough of P.S. are no followers. While Mr. Tisci, a few seasons ago, displayed a severe, "tough" collection of sharp jackets and geometric lines, the New York boys have put a more relaxed attitude to their clothes, but with the same control and innovation in fabrics— this time around, digitically designed, Native-American inspired prints. Even the geometric patterns and lines echo a tribal vibe in Tisci's collection: abstacted tribal motif with the likes of the Modernist: Picasso.  The boys in New York, however, gave us innovative textures and colors that call to mind Western landscapes, which Mr. Tisci was probably foreign to.
 
Proenza Schouler Fall-winter 2011

Givenchy Spring-summer 2010

Fashion Equation.

     Thanks to Jonathan Zawada's Fashematics, we can now put fashion into equations... or can we?

     The trends can probably be simplified into an equation by breaking down the components of a designer's inspiration. I enjoy connecting the dots, finding the sources of each designer's inspiration.

     During this season's NY Fashion Week, many designers are reinterpreting the "parka," the "down" jacket. Designer Thakoon, a recent CFDA veteran, was praised for an outstanding collection that bolstered his talent with prints (this time, it's all about the plaid in complimentary colors, blue-orange).  The tribal theme showed up in many of the asymmetrical dresses smartly cut and colored for a vibrant, modern feel. Thakoon's winning hit was his down vest in blue-orange plaid with inventive puffs on the peplum. Thakoon Fall-Winter 2011

     When viewing this down vest in blue-orange plaid, one cannot help but recall Rei Kawakubo's Comme Des Garçons collection from two seasons back.  The Japanese via-Paris designer, is known for her "avant-garde," bordering gothic, aesthetics.  The collection played on the idea of tumors and abnormal developments of the body visible to the outer world.  Although the looks from the collection are filled with jackets and shirts puffed in all the places that aren't exactly "flattering" to a woman's body, they nonetheless pushed the boundaries between fine arts and fashion.  The traditional plaid in black-and-red used in the former collection translated to a more vibrant one in New York. Thakoon took Ms. Kawakubo's quirky shapes and simplified them to fit as "puffy" peplum on the down vest, but intensified its color scheme. Now can we see someone walk down the street without having to worry about all the unflattering parts of her body? Comme Des Garçons Fall-Winter 2010

Well done to Thakoon, and thanks to Rei Kawakubo for taking the lead.




My Equation #1:

The Definition

 Why I created this blog:
 I want to take note of the current state of fashion, providing interesting content for readers to digest.

 My goal:
I hope to break down the trends on the catwalk and put them in perspective (personal, historical, and social).

I  love contradictions in life, in fashion. Fashion = Art = Life.