Marc Jacobs // LV Leaving

News has erupted that Marc Jacobs is leaving Louis Vuitton after 16 years at the brand, apparently Marc wants to focus more on his own label! The news is interesting as peoples thoughts turn to who next will be the head of LV, many people are saying Nicolas Ghesquiére althought Delphine Arnault's name had also been given a mention.  

Marc's Final LV show was a magical set of black carpets, lifts, merry-go-round and butlers. The set itself was breathtaking and had a very sad undertone in my opinion, as if the brand saying goodbye to Marc. I think the show was a perfect way for Marc to leave the brand and the brand to close and start a new. 

Talking about how he was inspired, looking for the showgirl in everyone I think Marc Jacobs really did put on a celebration for all to witness. The whole collection was full of dark mysterious glamour and everything fabulous you'd expect with showgirls in mind as the main running theme for the collection! The details on some of the dressing being absolutely exceptional and wonderful. 

With all things coming to an end I wonder where LV will be going and who will take over the reins from Marc. Part of me feels sad to see Marc leave LV, especially after he's been there 16 years but I'm also so excited for someone to take over and give their all to LV. 

Milan // Men's Fashion Week

Following up from LC:M we have MMFW, showing us just what Italy are bringing to the table for SS 14 with so many brands showing collections from Saturday 22nd June til Tuesday 25th June. I thought it'd be nice to select my highlights and favourites, find everything that really stands out to me. 

//Jil Sander//

My first love of Milan was Jil Sander I mean look at it where can you go wrong, the use of whites and this mix between a pink and orange. I love that colour and it was great to see such a bright collection for summer rather than black, which I hate as an SS colour!

//Versace//

 

Versace showed another collection who brought so much colour to Milan and can do no wrong. Honestly when I briefly saw this I hated it, but looking closer I realise how great it is. My favourite piece has to be the second look it's basically like bright abstract painting as clothing so mixing two of my favourite things ever. 

//Bottega Veneta//

  

Bottega Venta's collection was really dark and like I've said that is usually an issue especially for SS collections but with the patterns and lines of the trousers I couldn't help but love them. There was such a cluster of patterns and shapes, they work really well and look great too. I also loved how there was touches of colours throughout too!

//Calvin Klein//

  

Another brand to break away from a dark SS collection was Calvin Klein, their collection was majority blue and mainly a really nice lighter blue which I loved. Another area of their collection I loved was their sky based pieces, their pink based sky look has to be my favourite becaue it really did break up the blue of the collection but they really do stand out and look great. 

//Marni// 

  

Marni had some of my favourite jackets of the whole of the collections, I'd more than happily wear any of them. I think they're great, they have such an interesting shape to them and their colours and patterns are brilliant too. I think my favourite has to be the white one it's oversized, brilliant and perfect.

//Prada//

 

Prada had such an interesting collection, it had a lot of pattern and colour which I thought Milan really needed. I think the mixes of materials including the silks and patterns which were combined all really worked together and the whole collection flowed perfectly. Prada's set was called 'Menacing Paradise' which seems like a really apt name for what they delivered. 

//Moschino//

 

Moschino for me was yet another amazing collection and one of my favourites, it had so many different elements to it whilst still standing together as a whole. There being more formal and casual elements, mixes of print and pattern, all of it stood out and looked great. I love the shirts which were a mixture of different elements and the lighting patterns are one of my favourite menswear things I've seen for SS 14. I loved the additions of metallics and red, they really ticked everything for me. 

Other notible mentions go to Vivienne Westwood who's political India themed collection really stood out from all of the collections, obviously underooted in her collection was politics but that's what I love about Westwood. Diesel Black Gold had some really nice looks from their collection that had some great whites and off whites, they also had clothes that had a great fit on the models. 

Gucci probably had the best florals of Milan, they really had interesting and not the obvious colour too with a darker olivey green too. Belstaff jackets stood out to me alongside Marni they had a strong mix of colours and styles with orange, orange being a colour I love to see making an appearance. Marc Jacobs delivered some toned down colourful looks with the inclusion of some greys and silvers, their collection was understaded and brilliant. 

I think Milan Mens Fashion Week really had so much brilliant collections to show, I think some of the brands had a lot of black which really didn't appeal to me personally. I also think some of the formal looks don't appeal as well but that's more of on a personal level, I still think some amazing stuff was shown at Milan. I think my favourite shows have to be Calvin Klein, Moschino, Marni and Jil Sander.

Louis Vuitton // Hatsune Miku

I've talked about it before because its one of my favourite things when it happens and it's happened again. Fashion and technology coming together this time in a very different way. Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs have done a collaboration with surprisingly Hatsune Miku. If you don't know who Hatsune Miku is, she's basically a completely computerised popstar/vocaloid star.

Firstly I think the whole idea of vocaloid is crazy yet wonderful, almost so futuristic it's too much but as you'd have an artist who has costumes and clothes designed for them and their shows why not the same with a vocaloid star? She performs live by animated projection, sells out stadiums when she does and is considered a cyber celebrity. 

Opening in Paris in November The End is a massive opera in which Hatsune collaborates with Marc and LV on her stage costumes based on their SS 13 collections. For people attending the shows they get the chance to see the digital outfits in real life too and LV have also released sketches of the clothes.

Personally this is something I love as an idea, more so for the idea of the technology involved, if this can be done then why not change how we use technology to promote fashion. What if we were to have more virtual fashion shows, you'd still be able to see how something fit onto a body.

 Have Louis Vuitton crossed a new line which might lead to something brilliant in the future?

Punk//Chaos to Couture

With all the focus around the Met Gala and their Punk Chaos to Couture exhibition I wanted to highlight something I found really interesting about it all. 

I saw this picture circulating around the internet of Grace Coddington being interview about the night, her reply being: 

"Well I'd Like to see some real punks in here, some real street punks. But I doubt they were invited." 

In all honesty, the woman has a point. Now excuse me for being someone to dampen the mood but personally I don't see how Kim Kardashian attending is remotely punk in the slightiest. It's almost insulting. Kim Kardashian is probably the opposite of punk, again not to attack her but I felt this with most people who attended and dressed up with to the 'punk theme'. 

Don't get me wrong I love the idea of it all but is it really okay to imply that punk is just a costume, rather than a culture? 

So compare the difference between real punk shot by Steve Johnston in 1978 to Katy Perry and Madonna today in 2013, I think it's almost so far removed is it really punk? I mean certain outfits have been deemed questionable and the fact they still were worn to the Gala has been described as acting 'pretty punk' but in all honesty, get a grip. I think there's more to punk that just the style and some people really did look amazing and I think yeah that outfit is punk. But it's also more than that they pull it off because they feel it, rather than dressing and looking out of place. 

Anja Rubik and Miley Cyrus are two people who personally I think look amazing, Anja in Anthony Vaccarello looks amazing and Miley in Marc Jacobs. These two both managed to capture the essence of punk rather than just using it as a costume. Especially with Miley and her Disney upbringing it's like two different people. 

I really think that the who affair just ironically really isn't very punk. Like Grace said, she doubts any real/street punks were invited, which is probably be a good thing because they'd most likely be offended. I do think it's a good thing that punk influences luxury brands and designers, I think it's great to see designers using youth and subcultures as something to be respected rather than ignored.

But I think getting various A-Listers to dress up to a 'punk theme' can just misses the whole idea of punk. I think you could almost call it ignorant, I know it goes hand in hand with their exhibition but then still is the respect there or was it just seen as a theme?