Givenchy Womenswear Spring 2012

I've had Givenchy on my mind all day.  I was in Chicago shopping for work and tried on 6 or 7 pieces from their Fall collection and it brought this collection to mind.  I'm surprised I haven't blogged about it already!  

You all know that Riccardo is my biggest design icon right now.  I can't say full heartedly that every collection has been a winner.  He's had moments where he's trying to be everything to everyone.  His strongest moments have all happened when he's hyper focused and really zoning in on an idea.  This collection was one of those moments.  He's self described this collection with a story about a mermaid meeting a grungy surfer.  There are definitely some oceanic references in this collection - mainly in the organic peplum shapes and fish tail hems, but most literally in the amazing shark teeth necklaces.  What really amazes me about this collection is that it references an emerging trend that was used on several runways throughout Paris, but he does them in such a way that has become part of the Givenchy DNA, that it becomes somethings so singular that stands on it's own.  This collection was a knockout in my eyes.  

Chanel Pre Fall - Paris Bombay

Only Karl Lagerfeld would allow such an opulent and over the top set and collection to happen in a time of economic uncertainty.  I guess that's why we love him, right?!?


Karl does no wrong in my eyes.  He's been around for such a long time and continues to have his finger on the pulse, pushing a house with such a recognizable DNA further.  The section of the show with the white sweaters was a bit of a step in the wrong direction, but the other pieces in this collection were spot on.  I am especially in love with the mummy wrapped skirts, which actually remind me of a traditional short from Thailand.  The jewelry is all gorgeous.  I'm also completely in love with the dreds!

MUGLER

Absolutely beautiful ads for the new Mugler collection by Nicola Formichetti.  Campaign model is Rick Genest, who Nicola discovered through Facebook.  He has quite the career ahead of him now.

Alexandre Plokhov Fall 2011

Video presentation for the debut of Alexandre Plokhov's namesake collection.  Some of you may remember him for his contribution to the cult menswear brand, Cloak, which just so happens to be one of my favorite male brands of the 21st century.  It was a brilliant flash in the pan!  Most recently, Alexandre was at the helm of menswear for Versace.  I would say he's responsible for taking the Versace man into a very modern place.  I'm excited to see Alexandre starting on his own line.  I expect to see great things in the future!



ALEXANDRE PLOKHOV FALL/WINTER 2011 Directed by Douglas Keeve from ALEXANDRE PLOKHOV on Vimeo.

Jil Sander Fall 2011/12

And so it begins!  The Fall 2011 menswear season kicked off this week, first starting off in Florence with Pitti, then traveling to Milan for the menswear shows.  One of the first collections to show in Milan is Jil Sander.  Jil Sander always has a minimalist take on fashion, with a slow and methodical evolution of the brand from season to season.  This season, the structured rigorous suiting that we've seen in the last several collections was replaced with an ease and unstructured quality.  The silhouette evolved to have more ease, the shoulder was dropped a bit, everything was less snug. The biggest update for me came through in the use of color, which will be a major trend for this Fall season. For the past three menswear seasons, color has become very somber, taking its direction from a very strong military influence. Last season, we saw some of the more directional brands begin to play with color, including Jil Sander. This season, color took a dramatic shift, with most of the collection playing between the expected dark palette of black and navy and injecting some super saturated brights and primary colors. Overall, the effect is quite refreshing. It's good to see designers realize that we men need some fun in our lives, too!

Raf's Army

Fantastic editorial film encapsulating the 15 year career of Raf Simons, by Pierre Debusshere.  I love you, Dazed!

Seven Days in Tibet

Absolutely brilliant photoshoot titled, "Seven Days in Tibet" in November's issue of Harper's Bazaar Indonesia.

Lanvin For H&M

The most anticipated fashion collaboration of the year is soon to be released!  Lanvin and H&M have joined forces to create a beautiful capsule collection that really embodies the vision that Alber Elbaz and Lucas Ossendrijver see for the world.  Here are some words from Alber about the collection.  I'm waiting in line for this one!

Lanvin Hearts H&M

And so do I!!!  The most anticipated fashion collaboration of the year is being released a couple of weeks from now.  I'm so excited!!!

LANVIN FOR H&M. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION AT HM.COM

The Dog Days Are Over

So, I've been dragging ass when it comes to updating my blog with fashion shows for Spring 2011!  I do have to say that a major reason for the delay is that it's become very difficult for me to find good videos of the shows!  I do think that it makes a world of difference to get to see the clothes move.   So, I'm still playing catch up.

Ok, back to business.  The Paris portion of fashion month really started out with a bang for me.  Dries Van Noten's collection was one of the very first ones in the city and it really set a tone for some of the most anticipated collections in Paris.  Dries always has his finger on the pulse and his ear to the streets.  This collection was another perfect execution in blending femininity with a play on proportion that blended into a collection that was SO street.  Milan gave us a shock of color that seemed to have hopped onto a plane from Proenza Schouler's fantastic season closer in NYC.  Dries gave us a palette cleanser.  The color was all barely there in the solid pieces and the print pieces had a wonderful bleached out effect that left just a shadow of a print in parts of the clothes.  Dries did play with proportion in a way that was an unexpected surprise in the Milan shows, but nobody can do it quite the way Dries can.  Some of those pieces looked as if they would fall of the model if she shifted the wrong way.  Dries also has the most amazing ability to put a worldly influence in his work and the kimono prints were a subversive way of keeping the world in mind.  The pieces that I loved the most from this collection were the anti-fit dresses that were an example of masterful cutting and draping.  They were deceptively simple and oh so elegant.  This collection showed us all that Dries will continue to influence what women want.

Jil Sander Sring 2011

Spring 2011 turned out to be quite a powerful season for fashion.  For the past two years, every collection has been a reinforcement of the house language or a safe and salable collection.  Those boundaries were broken for Spring 2011.  Designers began to feel joy in what they do again.  I was very happy to see this change.  I have enough to be depressed about in my daily life, I don't need fashion to add to it!  


Raf Simons has never been one to be safe and there have been occasions when his risk taking doesn't work out to his benefit.  When it works, it shines beyond what anyone is doing around him.  His latest collection for Jil Sander was a revelation.  It was one of those moments that you know is going to cause a ripple throughout fashion.  The proportion of the pieces reminded us of YSL's genius with couture.  The color was so refreshing!  The minimalism was so Jil Sander.  This collection sang from beginning to end.  It was, hands down, one of the strongest collections of the season.


p.s. - This is not the music from the actual runway.  It was actually music from the film, Psycho.