Céline pre-fall 2015

Today I spent my lunch break looking at Céline's pre-fall 2015 offerings, trying to cleanse my soul after seeing the monstrosities that were last night's Met Ball dresses. A few months ago I agreed to write an article about the red carpet trend for sheer, 'illusion'-style dresses, but I still don't understand why celebrities still continue to wear them despite the fact that their vibe is basically prom queen meets Strictly Come Dancing. Which – I imagine we all agree – is pretty weird. 

 

Although it may not fit in on the red carpet, Céline's pre-fall 2015 collection is welcome to hang out in my wardrobe any day. My favourite look is obviously the striped one (which could easily be copied right now if you pop into Zara), but there is so much goodness going on here. While I don't think fringed (read: frayed) trouser hems would translate well on anyone other than a model in a showroom, I've got a lot of time for the fringing elsewhere; even the dress with an all-over fringe skirt doesn't look too OTT thanks to its navy knitted top half. 

Overall, another triumph from Phoebe Philo. The only misstep was a massive fur coat that looked outdated and vulgar in comparison to the rest of the collection's stripped-back modernity. Not a good look when it's 2015 and there are so many amazing fake furriers out there, like Shrimps and Helen Moore.

Favourite collections: Christopher Kane

I haven't had much chance to write anything detailed on this blog for a while, so as my writing comeback of sorts I thought that it would make sense to write about Christopher Kane, as his designs (and Raf Simons’) were what sparked my interest in fashion in the first place. If I had more time, I’d write an article on all 23 of Kane’s womenswear collections (maybe just 22, actually, because SS08 didn’t do anything for me), but instead I’ve had to go through the painful process of creating a really tight edit. The collections below are those which speak to me the most, evoking happy memories as well as general awe. It’s no great coincidence that I’ve warmed to the spring collections more; while for my own wardrobe I favour monochromatic safeness, I love looking at beautiful clothes in the kind of colours I’d never be able to get away with wearing. 

SPRING/SUMMER 2012

I wrote heaps about this collection ages ago, but it deserves another mention. SS12 had triumphs aplenty, but Kane’s offerings were definitely the greatest. Artists in any field shouldn’t ever have to rein in their creativity, but, these days, fashion designers (particularly those heading up smaller, less financially-stable brands) are under pressure to create clothes with mass-market appeal. If you’re a fresh-faced designer whose income barely covers the rent of your dingy London studio, let alone the materials for your craft, you need your clothes to sell if you want your brand to expand. It’s not rocket science; producing clothes for esoteric interests doesn’t cut it unless you are Hedi Slimane, i.e. rolling in it (in which case you’re absolutely fine — continue to make clothes for your friends in bands that everyone else got over years ago — if it makes you happy then that’s all that matters). So, what made this collection stand out to me was Kane’s ability to pull off what very few designers can: the perfect balance of the commercial and the conceptual. The white shirts, cricket jumpers, boxy schoolgirl skirts and denim pieces are all accessible pieces — women all over can emulate Kane SS12 looks with ease simply by reaching to the back of their wardrobes — and yet there are some elements that just scream ‘expensive’ and ‘creative’ in the way that only runway looks can. The killer cuts, the aluminum-infused organza, the exquisitely detailed embellishment and sequin-lined appliqué… you can’t buy this sort of design complexity in Topshop (not even in the Boutique section, no, even though the brains behind it strive to emulate this sort of class). 
                   

SPRING/SUMMER 2007

I like this collection for sentimental reasons. SS07 was the season when I first became infatuated with fashion, particularly the young British fashion scene, so please don't think I have an affinity for highlighter-coloured frocks. When you see some perma-tanned party girl spewing up over her fluro pink bandage dress on the Diamond Strip, sticky-soled Office platforms in hand, do you ever wonder if her bold sartorial choices are some sort of working class homage to Kane’s debut collection? Me neither — when she picked up said dress in Quiz that morning, the thought probably never crossed her mind — but it does make you consider this collection’s influence on evening dressing. I loved the Swarvoski detailing on the pieces — a burst of crystals on plain fabric is something of a favourite of mine, having seen it implemented perfectly on a Marios Schwab dress that took centre stage on the cover of Dazed and Confused a few years back. Oh, and that Kane and Versus collaboration? Just look to this collection to see why Donatella picked him to bring new life to her diffusion line.

SPRING/SUMMER 2010

Like most British girls, my first encounter with gingham was the classic John Lewis easy-iron dress that was a welcome alternative, in the warmer months at primary school, to a black skirt or trousers. In my early teens I would make my own simple 60s-style shift dresses, cutting up gingham cloth in red and blue; it was fine to wear gingham even at that awkward age as, with bundles of innocence coupled with stick-thin limbs and doe eyes, I was deemed 'cute' and 'adorable'. If I wear gingham now, even though my chest is still as flat as the school desks I associate with the fabric, it can feel a bit Lolita-esque. Kane's tackling of  girlie checks was perfect, as he managed to brush away any smutty connotations, instead leaving us with the perfect balance of the pretty and the peverse – a 'good girl gone bad' look, if you like (or bad girl gone good?).

AUTUMN/WINTER 2010

Another fusion of sweet and seedy – seemingly a combination the designer thrives on playing about with – Kane's AW10 offering was a triumph. Admittedly the formula was pretty simple: take some black leather, some black lace, some vampy patent leather lace-up heels and you get, er, something that Rihanna might wear. Throw in some floral embroidery, though, and suddenly 'good' girls like Emma Watson want in too. Not to say that this was any sort of slapdash appliqué job; Kane gave the dying art form of hand-embroidery a new lease of life and, with his daisies, roses, poppies and wildflowers trickling just-so over otherwise sexually-charged PVC, lace and leather, it just looked so right. However, my favourite bits in this collection were the closing pieces, which were embroidered, equally as delicately, with crystals.

SPRING/SUMMER 2014

I could happily wax lyrical about all of Kane's collections, and you can find my thoughts on his other shows elsewhere on this blog. I was meaning to write about the SS14 collection as soon as I saw it, as it made me swoon in a big way, but I was so busy with work and other real world stuff and never found the time. 

Not that I really need to draw your attention to this collection, anyway, as it went down a storm with the fashion press and certain pieces (read: the logo sweats and flower motifs) have been rehashed to death by the high street. Fair play, I say, it is so dreamy after all. I hate to quote The Devil Wears Prada but, "Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking" – though one does imagine Miranda Priestley would eat her words if she saw Kane's take on this ever-enduring spring theme. Elsewhere in London, Mary Katrantzou made her florals embellished and Eudon Choi's were wallpaper-esque, smattered over biker jackets. Christopher Kane, meanwhile, went back to school, taking his botanical imagery straight out of biology textbooks (well, at least someone found them useful...). This resulted in beautiful floral embellishments, complete with blackboard-style pointers and annotations. There was something subtly sexual about the whole affair, too, thanks to the obvious parallels between the dissected flowers and a woman's anatomy. Besides the standout pieces, there were some fluffed-up, spray-painted dresses with holographic tinsel trims, which I really liked. Further evidence of PPR's investment in Kane's brand shined through subtly, too; the now ubiquitous statement sweaters were highly commercial, lower-priced items that were snapped up straight away by young fashion bloggers everywhere, and the slinky evening gowns in silk satin showed a new, more polished side to the London-based designer – dresses like that would look more at home at the shows in Paris and Milan. But, then again, Kane is now no longer 'one to watch' and is up there amongst the big-name designers, so it's not uncomfortable to see him produce such exquisite, sophisticated clothes. 

tba SS14

I had to share the tba SS14 lookbook with you as it is one of the most gorgeous sets of photographs I've ever seen. The photographer, Masha Mel, has certainly captured Brighton beach at its most resplendent; the whole thing smacks of a Lula editorial (R.I.P), which is probably why I love it so much, and makes me feel vaguely positive about spending another summer in Britain.

The collection is entitled 'A Love Letter to Brighton', the designer's hometown. Brighton is beautiful, creative and colourful, hence why the collection embodies a similar mood. There are obvious 60s vibes in the clothes, though 70s influences seem to have come into play as well - note the technicolour silk frills, flare trousers and brash, Liberty-esque floral prints. One of the things I love about this brand is the way it is so reasonably priced compared to its competitors — the tweed pieces are very Carven-esque and the scallop-edged silks could be seen as a cheaper alternative to something similarly swooshy from Simone Rocha — though, unless we're talking eBay or sample sales, I can't afford tba, I would love to invest in something from this collection, preferably the Jamily dress or the Saara dress (I've got the look for the latter locked down as I'm pretty sure I've got the same earrings as the model is wearing in the lookbook). 

tba's SS14 collection is available online at www.ilovetba.com. 

Balenciaga AW13

This morning Alexander Wang claimed that, for Balenciaga AW13, he was going back to the brand’s roots. Raf Simons and Hedi Slimane did this last season with their gentle invocations to the Dior/Saint Laurent archives — playing it safe, perhaps, but the general consensus was that it worked — and maybe that’s why Wang chose to tread a similar path with his own debut for an esteemed fashion house. Did the designer come out of it as well as Simons and Slimane? Nicholas Ghesqière’s shoes are difficult to fill, especially when his successor is a 29-year-old whose eponymous American label is known for its youthful spirit and sporty styles. Upon discovering that he was going to be replaced by someone who wouldn’t be averse to sending blinged-up sweatpants down the catwalk, the fashion industry collectively wept. Fine, I’m exaggerating, but it’s true that lots of people were pretty confused by Wang being hired to head up a brand that didn’t seem at all in tune with his own.

If today’s show was anything, it was a big ‘fuck you’ to all the cynics. Wang was on good form, proving his seriousness about this new gig. Cristobal Balenciaga’s work is something I’m no expert on, but I know enough to be able to say that Wang really did his research; the petal skirts and the cocoon coats say it all. The collection was definitely not an exercise in groundbreaking design, but it was beautiful. Everything looks better close up, of course, because then you can really appreciate the glorious fabrics and textures. The marbled pieces were interesting in their uniqueness, and they translated really well on the white knitwear; black paint made otherwise dull pieces look structural and edgy. The construction of the white tops, with those origami-like folds, was perfect. In terms of accessories, the simple silver cuffs complimented the looks well (especially the all-black ensembles with silver detailing in the bodice area) and the bags were small, structured, sensible. The shoes looked a little uncomfortable but they were unlike anything I’ve seen before and, providing I don’t ever have to wear them, I like them a lot.

It will be nice to see where Alexander (and, indeed, Raf and Hedi) will go next. Being the newcomer is never easy, whether you’ve been hired at McDonalds or at one of the biggest names in fashion, and everyone needs time to settle in. Thankfully, all three designers are experienced — Wang, less so, but he still knows what he’s doing — and it’s only a matter of time before they all come into their own and carve out their own signature aesthetic for the massive brands they’re now responsible for. And that’s when things will really get interesting.

I still love you, Raf

I’ve been neglecting this thing because I have been too busy being a 9-5 working/10-5 party girl but I have an evening of nothing ahead of me so I thought I would write about things that my friends don’t much care for me talking about over triple Cs. They’re all wildly intelligent, so things like fashion and music are trivial matters when compared to books, UMS points and snooziversity. I guess the old ‘opposites attract’ adage is true after all; there’s no way I would be friends with those weirdos otherwise. 

Heaps of people booted about Raf Simons’ Dior debut last week, and I don’t mean in a positive way. As usual, the majority of reviews from those who were actually on the front row were positive (so much so that I was only able to read a handful of them before they all began to merge into one another), and it was only really on TFS that the claws came out. Oh yeah, they really dug into Simons. It seemed that the popular opinion on the forum was that Simons’ first contribution was an insult to the very notion of couture. Lots of people are clearly still crying over the fact that Galliano has left Dior. This is great news for people like me who, although acknowledging the immensity of Galliano’s talent, are really not into the whole meringue-y, taffeta-explosion princess look. And that isn’t just what couture’s all about, you get me?

So, of course, what you make of it is all down to personal taste. Personally, I thought that it was a beautiful collection; so clean, modern and sophisticated. This is what contemporary couture should look like. It was all rather reminiscent of classic Dior HC, due to its lack of Galliano gaudiness and Raf’s clever invocation of the house’s archives. 

The idea of Simons doing couture was always going to be difficult to digest — he is to minimalism what Galliano was to ostentatiousness — especially having witnessed (and become accustomed to) all of the drama that Galliano/Gaytten brought to the table. However, change happens. Some take that harder than others. Raf is one of several designers who are changing the game and presenting us with something fresh and relevant. 

I think it’s kinda important, too, to remember that this was Simons’ first haute couture collection ever, so you’ve got to applaud him for producing something so divine despite his lack of experience in the field. Also, Raf’s AW12 offering is so much better than what Gaytten came up with for SS12 couture. Who actually buys dresses like this , anyway, and actually wears them?

In my dreams I wear Christopher Kane

OMG SS12. I don’t want to sound like a dumb girl by being overly excited about a show but, oh my, it blew me away. I read somewhere that people became all emotional and were crying (happy) tears at the end of the show. That’s how good it was.

Mr Kane is, quite simply, a genius. His shows never fail to render me speechless because the looks presented in them are pretty much perfect. Yet not completely perfect: although Kane does seem to have this knack for taking typically ugly things and making them desirable, sometimes he just can’t make the bad-looking good-looking. So where did the loveable Scot trip up this time? Well, it was the shoes. Ah, the shoes… the rubber-soled pool shoes… I want to warm to them, but I just can’t. Perhaps, as was the case with brothel creepers, I’ll ‘get’ them eventually. But I’m failing to see anything appealing about these new season shoes apart from the fact that they’re comfortable. Unfortunately there is only a small space in my life for comfortable shoes and it has been filled by ballet pumps and velvet slippers — I won’t be lusting after a Chris Kane pool shoe any time soon.

Apart from that slight sartorial slip-up, the collection was as dazzling as you would expect. There was a 60s feel in the air that could be witnessed in the cuts, the hemlines, the floral prints and the sort of futurism that Courrèges channelled. The show’s opener was a simplistic yet stunning metallic outfit which proved that, sometimes, less really is more.

A series of delicate-and-ever-so-pretty organza (70% aluminium organza if we’re being meticulous) dresses with floral appliqués stood out, as did some embellished numbers which would be perfect for those of us who party in style at the most exclusive clubs. For various reasons I am more of a Friday-night-at-the-local kind of gal, searching for something more casual, so the floral print denim pieces looked f9 to me. They offered us a glimpse of the exciting work that Kaney has been doing with J Brand recently. And if you’re into the preppy look (lol), perhaps the cricket jumper would take your fancy. There really is something for everyone in this collection, to be honest AND I forbid anyone to disregard its excellence just because of some ugly shoes (but Stella showed some as well, so maybe they’ll catch on and I’ll be eating my words come July).