Fashion Faux Paris

Questionable collections came from some of the most respected labels, and whilst this does not tarnish the entire label, it will definitely deter some from expecting the best from the designers in the future. Even the fashion capital of Paris produces some faux pas...

Oh how terrible it is to follow a wonderful Haute Couture collection with a outstandingly bleak and somewhat useless collection. Fashion legends Viktor & Rolf offered a disappointing colour palette, which was accompanied by the unnecessary attention to sheer fabrics, which is completely impractical in near freezing temperatures. Deconstructed cable knit details and printed bras, waistcoats and sleeve details were seen throughout, but was unable to cover the boringness of it all.

Obvious imitation seemed like the "in" thing to do, with Dries Van Noten's latest collection being too similar to Prada's Fall/Winter 2013 menswear collection, Nicolas Ghesquiré for Louis Vuitton's denim a mirror image of Olivier Rousteing's denim creations for Balmain, and Akris using oddly familiar photographic prints which stray too close to Dries Van Noten's Autumn/Winter 2011 collection. It's an awful cyclical process. I guess this fashion expert must be either uninspired or burnt out, which is not a good sign.

Nicolas Ghesquiré's collections for Balenciaga were undoubtedly glorious, but his debut for Louis Vuitton was inexplicable, in a bad way. Extremely muted colours, dismal styling, and generic designs seemed to have been indicative of withheld extravagance. The possible reason for this is the pressure to fill the shoes of Marc Jacobs, and favouring to take a safer direction and not toy with the reputation of Louis Vuitton. Who can blame Nicolas for taking that sort of move? I just hope his next collection does not push the label into dire straits.

I've adored every collection by Raf Simons for Dior since his debut, but his Fall/Winter 2014 collection has made me less than cheery. To boil it down, Raf's minimalist style is too apparent, and he must remember that he is designing for another brand, not his own, and injecting it with a sneaker-shoe hybrid that would usually be in his namesake label is just plain insulting to the history and integrity of Christian Dior. Although a more reserved collection, statement pieces such as the distorted layered dresses and those ghastly shoes just did not elevate the mundaneness of the basics within the collection.

Despite the outweighing negatives of the week, trends always shine through, and will never cease to be worn by fashion followers worldwide. An emphasis on shoes seemed obvious throughout the week, with the return of knee-high boots, ankle boots and the distasteful flatform shoe. The gladiatorial pleat has made a comeback, along with the '60s and '70s inspired geometric prints. 

Images courtesy of Jacques Habbah and Dazed Digital

The Positives of Paris

Human installations at the Iris Van Herpen show

Fashion month for the Autumn/Winter 2014 has come to an end, and the tedious work between now and when the collections will hit stores and boutiques worldwide begins. As Paris is the fashion capital, the trends that spurt out of the designer's collections are the most influential, but God only knows how or if designers from other streams of fashion will distort or glorify the trends. In every fashion week, there are the beautiful collections and there are the downright questionable ones, so let's save you the eye sore for the moment and explore the most pleasing.

The second collection from the resurrected Vionnet label was indicative of the naturalist fad that has come about in recent years. Goga Ashkenazi emphasizes the trend of the organic into this collection with the minimal floral motifs and brightly greens, and coupled with the structural form of the garments, makes the proposal of bringing pinstripe into some of the pieces welcome. The straightness of the collection, with singular block lines and blocky silhouettes, is somewhat a perfect contrast to the more organic elements. There seemed to be a balance of the positive and the negative looking back at the collections presented, so I took to analysing what made my favourite collections either of the two.

The pleats trend for the upcoming Autumn/Winter season is no doubt mastered by Yoshiyuki Maeme for Issey Miyake. The pleats in the collection are not produced in the usual up-and-down model, but flowed with the fluid forms of the garments. The juxtaposition of the curvaceous and the quadratic is apparent, with the squarish bags and prints diversifying this modernly beautiful collection. The cross-cultural and minimalist aesthetic of Issey Miyake has been preserved perfectly once again. 

Of course, one of the most anticipated shows of the season, Karl Lagerfeld unveiled the Chanel Shopping Centre - a pseudo-supermarket right in the Grand Palais and the sight of the Autumn/Winter 2014 show for the parisian pride label, Chanel. Amongst the shelves and piles of faux Chanel groceries, the models walked out revealing a continuation of the urban x high fashion look shown in the Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2014 collection. Pairing iridescent metallic sneakers with classic Chanel tweed is a a reflection of women today and of the past - chic yet fashionable, wherever they are and whatever they're doing. The glory of women has been personified in one collection - oversized coats reminiscent of the power dressing era of the 80s and an ode to the sudden rise of feminism amongst the youth recently. But, even though this symbolic collection emerged as the best of the week, the trend of mixing high fashion and urban trends is not new.

Now, don't be fooled, the beauty of these collections were much overshadowed by the preposterous collections by other respectable designers. As most of us know, fashion isn't always beautiful, and sometimes even the best of the best make mistakes, and I will explore these in my next post....

Images courtesy of Style.com, Louise Damgaard, Dazed Digital, Metro, Marie Claire, Chanel and Fashionising

Milan's Momentous Fashion

Jeremy Scott's latest collection for Moschino is an ode to the deceiving positivity offered by capitalist companies such as McDonald's

As the fashion weeks are drawing to a close, Milan has fed fashion followers worldwide with an array of collections worth wearing. It seems as though Italian designers want fashionistas to go for a more affirmative look for the dreary weather, which is certainly welcome to brighten up one's and other's winter days. Trends such as pastels, artistic patterns, bright orange, knee high boots, Pre-Raphaelite long sleeved dresses and innocent capes filled the designer's collections, allowing women to have choice. Overall, the historical, minimal and eccentric were the streams of fashion that dominated the runways.


Historical

Alberta Ferretti drew inspiration for their latest collection, but without swaying into the cosplay dimension, effectively done so by modernising the motifs into contemporary garments women wear day in day out. The luminance of the sunset colour palette only vivifies the beautiful details that adorn the garments, especially the lace and crumpled silks that are used throughout. An interesting perspective of the collection is that without these adornments, the collection would also do well with a straight to the point monochromatic colour palette, indicative of the collection's contemporary relevance.

Dolce & Gabbana continues with the royal motifs from the menswear collection, but the fantastical fairytale quality is what makes it differentiable. The grandeur of the Italian designer duo's collections are forever their signature, and they have damn well improved upon it every single season. Red riding hoods, mini dresses featuring intricate patchwork of woodland animals, crystal embellished handbags and golden meshwork footwear created the fairytale ambience of the show and collection. Amongst the innocent details, silver embellished headdresses and dominating gauntlets were seen in the finale, sharing commonalities with the menswear collection.

Minimal

The designers from the minimal and understated fashion stream such as Bottega Veneta, Gabriele Colangelo and LVMH newcomer Marco De Vincenzo focused on offering a subtle approach juxtaposed against the resolute collections of others. Bottega Veneta showed - geometric prints amongst the abundance of pleating, which gave the collection an aquatic quality, Gabriele Colangelo layered ghostly materials in a structural collection that caters to the followers of dark fashion and Marco De Vincenzo unintentionally followed the same aesthetic as Bottega Veneta, but is distinguished by the rainbow colour palette and oversizing of outerwear.

Eccentric

And of course, last but not least - the eccentric fashion designers. Roberto Cavalli and Jeremy Scott wowed fashion elite with their complete change of aesthetic for the labels they creatively direct for. Roberto for his diffusion line, Just Cavalli, has surprisingly calmed down his often overly sexy for this season, throwing away the animal prints and leathers and opting for cosy wools in sombre colours. But, Mr. Cavalli could not resist adding shimmery gold to up the boldness. Jeremy Scott has used gold as well for his Moschino collection, with most of the garments an appropriation of pop art in fashion. McDonald's, Spongebob Squarepants, fast food and hip hop culture references are obvious, an ode to the deceiving positivity and elitism capitalist culture 

View the complete collections including beauty, backstage and details at www.fashionising.com

Images courtesy of Paolo Musa, Lea Colombo and Dazed Digital

The Home of Avant-Garde

London designers never fail to deliver what the city is known for in the fashion industry - the weird and wonderful. Distinguishable trends that were picked out amongst the myriad of designers include distressed knits, cosy fur and classic lace. Commonalities with New York in terms of trends include oceanic blues, shocking reds, artistic patterns and knee-high boots. Besides J.W. Anderson, Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane and House of Holland, who have always kept to their acquired taste, designers such as Preen by Thornton Bregazzi and the iconic Burberry Prorsum displayed their ability to produce artistic ready-to-wear garments. 

Justin and Thea from Preen have once again proven their ability to fuse the sophisticated without hindering on the punk heritage of London. The colour palette of black, red and white have always been signature to the label, and combining these with geometric patterns and futurist fabric choice is applaudable. As a sci-fi geek, what won me over was of course, the Star Wars motif. You can't go wrong with a Darth Vader mask smack bang in the centre of your outfit.

Mary Katrantzou has been recognized as a woman who starts trends - especially with her famous kaleidoscopic creations. Over the years, her aesthetic has altered, but remains true to the puzzling pizzazz to the eye which she pulls off. This season, she has mixed Art Nouveau patchwork and modern British signage into dresses, sweaters and evening wear. Despite this bold move, its much more subtle than her previous collections, but the occasional odd toilet signage creeps its way into the garments, which is camouflaged well by the expert technique shown by the designer.

Christopher Kane is a favourite amongst the artistic fashion enthusiasts. For this collection, Mr. Kane has somewhat reduced the abundance of the ornamental and focused on materials. The most interesting details of his latest collection is the pvc leather detailing which is consistent throughout, even spreading to shoes and bags, fabric layering and the laser cut sleeve details that resemble the presence of ruffles, throughout the evening wear. In contrast to this, fluid lace has replaced the daring prints Christopher is known for, but is nonetheless executed well. An abrupt change of aesthetic for Christopher Kane, but a welcomed one.

Burberry Prorsum was highly anticipated, and the hype was certainly to no disappointment. The flurry of notable socialites attended the show didn't overshadow the outstanding artwear on offer. With the overly exposed Cara Delevingne leading the runway, timeless dresses, scarves, shoes and bags were emblazoned with painted floral prints. Comfortable custom designed capes were what captured the audience's attention during the finale, accompanied by Paloma Faith's powerful singing, proving that Burberry is still a fashion force to be reckoned with.

View the collections at www.fashionising.com

Images courtesy of Jamie Stoker, Dazed and Confused, Lea Colombo, Burberry, Fashionising