The NewGen looks promising/ Do it like a brother

by Neslihan
Hello, dearest fashion lovers
If you're still hungry for more Fashion Week collections: grab a mug of coffee and put your fashionable reading glasses on. And make sure you've got Fashionmania on your screen.

The Fashion Week I love the most is LFW because it's all about being innovative, extravagant and avant garde fits in this row too. It's about young designeres standing up and showing their most amazing creations. And since I tend to neglect the men's collections on this blog, I'm going to show you some style for guys today. And there have been a couple of very different collections pour le mâle. Star Wars, the Beatles, and sporty elegance were all to be spotted at this season's lfw for guys. Let's start with Martine Rose.

   

 Martine Rose LFW RTW A-W 2012

Martine Rose is one of the NewGen designers this season. The New what? The New Generation is an organization created by the British Council of Fashion that looks for new talents every season. It was thanks to this project that we can/could enjoy McQueens gaga creations, fall in love with Erdem's rose garden and go nuts with Christopher Kane's prints. And a little more recent is Mary Katrantzou's launch. Martine Rose though is different. Her show consisted of  black suit pants and amazing white shirts. She played with proportions while giving the male models a waist and  destroyed this waist again with bomber jackets. She used shiny, satin like fabrics to make the whole collection luxurious. She didn't only play with proportions when it comes to sizes and shapes but also when it comes to gender. She gave her dudes a blond/ grey wig but then again she made them wear Cats ( she had a collab with them), with which she tried to man her collection up. Not so many colours: think of spicy orange, military green and lots of black+white. The capes gave the collection another dimension. So I liked it because it was wearable but still had a few weirdnesses to top things of.

Matthew Miller LFW RTW A-W 2012

Oh how I nearly passed out looking at those delicious prints! I've got the impression that men's fashion is always a B plan but how Matthew Miller, another NewGen launch, puts it on A again! He knows to keep the balance between elegance and being laid back. He splashes with colours that make your head spin around. And his fittings are just so fine! His keywords are industrial, tailoring and sporty. One thing though: I don't get the futuristic black trench coats in this collection. Maybe drop 'em next time?

J.W. Anderson Men LFW RTW A-W 2012

The first thing I thought when I saw the first look (first picture) was: Starwars! How it hit me like a fireball! Seconds later 'the Beatles' popped into my mind. So that might've been J.W. Andreson's (also a NewGen designer) two inspirations while designing, well euh...his outfits. Don't get me wrong, I think his collection is rather interesting. I mean at the end I am the one who said that you have to look further than words like 'beautiful' and 'wearable' because like Simon and I agreed: fashion is a form of art. Fashion is there when no more words are left to say. So keeping that in mind I truly liked what Anderson did but it's just too literal. I can deal with futuristic but a full length homage to Darth Father and C-3PO is just a little too much. Maybe wear the jumpers but the shiny jumpsuits? Nah, didn't think so.

Move your fingers towards this site's direction for more fashion because less isn't more when it comes to exploring new designers.

Love.

Fashion Circus

by Simon
Going through Fashion Week show reviews, I couldn't help but notice the remarkable amount of Circus-esque looks on the catwalk. These colorful acid trips might be attempts to bring happiness in times of crisis. Or maybe the designers are just as sick of the grey Fashion we've seen lately. My general opinion about these kinds of collections is that they can become wearable by picking separate pieces and teaming them up with some good basics. These shows are very entertaining to watch and could inspire some interesting editorials!

Meadham Kirchoff, Fall 2012 RTW, London 

Meadham Kirchoff presented a mad collection that could be the moodboard for a Tim Burton movie. Neon Marie-Antionette-style wigs & bold Picasso-like make-up made for a fitting styling. The looks mainly consisted of bright-colored socks tucked into colorful heels, generously splattered with glitter. Layers are a generally present trend this season and this consisted added some sheer and animal-print fabrics to the mix. My favorite pieces were the faux-fur coats that looked like Muppets were slaughtered during the production process, just because they're so on trend and playful.

Conclusion: there were some very nice garments but the combination of everything together was quite hard on the eye.

Jeremy Scott, Fall 2012 RTW, New York

Jeremy Scott continued to prove that he's a a designer to watch: his collection was one of my absolute favorites because it's so cheerful and wearable. The few men on the catwalk wore pop-art sweaters printed with emoticons and Bart Simpson images paired with bright galaxy-print pants. The shoes look like they're bright canvas sneakers and there were some really cool palmtree shades. I wouldn't mind owning some of the pieces of this collection! The women wore rainbow-toned bodycon silicon dresses Katy Perry or Nicki Minaj will soon be spotted in. The raincoats with computer symbols were really interesting as well and this collection also contained some great faux-fur garments. The cripped hair and blue lipstick was rather off-putting, the looks would have been a lot stronger with simple styling.

Conclusion: A playful, fun collection that saves Scott's position on the list of hot designers for at least a few more years. He could ofcourse do without the cardboard unicorn dresses though, unless he wants to look like a first-year student.

Bas Kosters, Fall/Winter 2012, Amsterdam

Dutch designer Bas Kosters's collection was sponsored by Vodafone, resulting in phone-prints on many of the garments. My favorite pieces, however, didn't have any communicative devices on them. A great black, floor length dress had a pink and orange maxiprint on it that I adored. The men (or were they women?) wore really cute jumpers but I didn't quite like the digit-print leggings (they looked like something from the Forever 21 sales rack), especially the fringed version (disgusting!).

Conclusion: A fun show you'd have to select from. Styling was fresh and on-trend but the garments had a few too many ideas going on.

HEAD OVER TO STYLE.COM OR TEAMPETERSTIGTER.COM TO SEE THE WHOLE COLLECTION

Introduction of a Stranger

Hi Fashionlovers,


My name is Simon, I'm 17 and I was lucky enough to be asked by the amazing author of this blog to join her and  to contribute to this great blog. I'll start by explaining why Fashion (with capital F!) is so important to me. First of all, it's a true form of art and expression that has a purpose beyond being decorative. It's basically wearable craftmanship and innovation. Furthermore, Fashion mirrors the ideas and atmosphere of the era it was made in, so it's historically very interesting. And last but not least, life is simply too short to wear ugly or boring clothes.

What can you expect from me? 


I will try to voice my opinion about the latest Fashion shows and trends, as well as some journeys back in time. Taste is ofcourse different for everyone, I hope you like what I like and if you don't, feel free to let me know why! (feel free to say something if you do agree as well ;))


Things to come:

Thom Browne Fall 2012 RTW NY

VPL Fall 2012 RTW NY

Jeremy Scott Fall 2012 FTW NY

My favorites of the Fashion Weeks so far! Lots and lots more to come (with commentaries), so stay tuned!


Fashionable Greetings, Simon

Mary Katrantzou: not the ordinary designer

Hi, I have so much to show you, guys! So, so, so much! I've saved tons and tons of pictures on my computer. Pictures of fashion collections, you know: the usual inspiring stuff. Mary Katrantzou is a name I've just (read 3 months ago) discovered. I 'discovered' this creative young lady thanks to a friend. I'd like to call him a fashion friend because that's what we do: talk about fashion. My first impression of this young Greek woman was: damn, she's different! Why? Because when other designers are extremely wearable and following the trends, she's creating her own. When other designers stay at the surface, she goes underneath it and creates the most amazing visual stuff ever. She isn't afraid of playing with volume and shapes. Her clothing, no 'clothing' sounds too less,  too ordinary, her pieces of art are 'humpy' and it's not about elegance. It's about being outspoken but not because it's cool but because she knows what to with the weirdest shapes and most loaded prints. She managed to colour my early fally days and she will continue doing that. It has always been a big discussion, is fashion a form of art? Well, after seeing Katrantzou's collection, my answer to that would be 100 % yes! She has industrial influences in her collections and uses the most magnificent colours. Your first impression can be like: "Oh, it's so outstanding. Not really wearable either." But you have to look closer, look at the materials, the prints, the colours... It is special but why not? Why not going over the top in a classy and great way? Why not Mary Katrantzou? Exactly! Watch it,  examine it and love it!

Pictures: vogue.fr

N.D.

Ps: On Thursday the 20th of October there's something we call Zuiddag here in Belgium. It's an organisation that donates money for charity. There's a different charity each year. This year's charity is going to be Tanzania. Several grades at my school will work on that day and they'll give their earned money to this organisation. This organisation will donate it to Tanzania and the money will be used to create a common place for the Tanzanian youth. A place where they can meet and find jobs and get the needed information in order to find a job. They'll learn how to work with computers as well. I think it's a wonderful charity. Each and everyone of my grade had to find a job. I have one too. I will be working in the library the University of Ghent. It's a library with Latin and Ancient Greek books. I'm super excited and cannot wait until that day! I wanted to share this so you know what's happening in my life right now and so you know that the youth of today isn't ignorant or careless Wish us luck!