Lacroix // Schiaparelli Collection

After taking a short break from blogging I thought I'd return with something massive to firstly talk about, so here you have it Lacroix and Schiaparelli! Finally we're seeing his collection for the French label being revealed, I love that Lacroix chose not to present the collection in a massive show but rather on this mirrored carousel. Currently on dispay at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs the 18 piece collection is a definite collection of interest. 

 

  

  

Lacroix talked about how his approached was as natural as possible towards the project, wanting to pay tribute to the two very different sides of Elsa Schiaparelli. He described her work as 'crazy baroque, opulent, extravagent' but also commented on her 'modernity, simplicity and purity'.

I think this is a really perfect way to describe Schiaparelli's work, clearly a great way to think about the project tackle the challenge. If I were Lacrox I'd hate to have all of this pressure on me with regards to creating this collection. 

  

 

  

My thoughts on the collection are that I think Lacrox did a really good job at creating a modern collection for Schiaparelli, he really did manage to create a collection for 13/14. There are so many various elements in the pieces which I love, great patterns and silhouette to highlight women's figures and then more crazier ideas too. I do think certain looks are more Schiaparelli than others but regardless it must be so hard to attempt to follow up someone as famous as Elsa.

Paris // Men's Fashion Week

Paris is burning, blazes of menswear being show in Paris Men's Fashion week and obviously I have to make aware what I loved and who were my highlights! Prepare yourself because there's a lot coming, trust me! 

//Viktor & Rolf// 

   

Starting with Viktor and Rolf and their collection, I think it was a great mix of casual and smart clothes. In terms of a colour pallette there wasn't really one but it still worked together, my favourite pieces have to be the jumper/jackets with the side zips and the font printed pieces. I think their collection is really interesting in terms of looking at pattern on trousers too and who doesn't love a pinstripe!

//Raf Simons// 

  

Raf Simons collection had a lot of different elements to it and was similar to a JW Anderson show having men in womenswear, not really sure how I feel about this possibly if im unsure if its more JW's signiture or definitely becoming a trend. Aside from that Raf had prints which I thought were great, they had colour and grabbed your attention, looking stylish and appealing to a group of peole in my opinion. 

//Balmain//

  

Honestly I'd have to say Balmain is one of my favourite collections from Paris, mainly because of simplistic yet chic it is, it has various elements to it and pieces from jackets to jumpsuits. I'd probably question some material choices being an SS collection but again it all worked really well together, I'd say my favourite and most desired collection (if only). It has so many elements to it through denim and leather, blacks and blues and still manages to just be effortless cool, also really nicely shot for their lookbook too! 

//Issey Miyake// 

 

Colour and pattern were brilliant at Issey Miyake, there was so much to choose from I really did struggle trying to find images I liked and wanted to show! I think the pink abstract patterns worked really well, they look great and stand out from a lot of the darker collections shown. I love the blue of the second image I'm slightly disappointed there was only one look really in that colour and the thid image of multi colours is just something else, all making for a really strong collection. 

//Dries Van Noten// 

Florals for SS is generally something people tend to avoid, it's overdone boring and predictable but Dries Van Noten basically did the best version of florals I'd seen in Paris. It wasn't bring and in your face, working with lots of greens and browns generally it was a lot darker than you'd expect florals to be. I think this is another strong point of the collection, alongside the embroidary and styling of looks too. Another favourite look has to be the second look, that yellow jacket is perfect it breaks up the green and still looks great and could work with other parts of other looks perfectly. 

//Commes Des Garçons//

Commes used majority black in their collection which I've said I hate so much for SS, but they weren't they only people to use black either. I'm slightly confused because these three looks burst with colour, stand out so much more and its a shame there isn't maybe two or three more looks like this. Possibly it highlights how special these are but I love them, they're perfect for an SS collection, they stand out, they're interesting and intriguing. 

//John Galliano// 

 

Colour is always a major love in a collection especially if you use yellow so Galliano was a really interesting collection to me. I think there could have been more of a balance between the three primary colours but good to see them being used. I see this as almost going back to primary colours, back to basic kind of thing and it looks great, the styling of the looks really pulls them all together. Like Balmain I think we've got another effortlessly cool collection. 

//Lanvin// 

Lanvin surprised me because it was a majorly smarter collection which usually I'd roll my eyes at and dismiss. Uses of colour really have impressed, by having a collection which had whites and some darker colours but also having this pale blue and off toned down red it works well, it's fancy and chic. This red white and blue I've picked all shows how they look together and I think they look like pieces which would be so easily interchanged and would be able to still remain as strong together. 

//Paul Smith//

  

Yet another colour I love for menswear besides yellow is pink, mainly just because its so fun! Don't think it's used enough I guess probably because most men refuse pink and won't wear it. Paul Smith's collection to me had varying levels and intesitiies of pink which was brilliant! Varying from pale to neon I love the idea of the it and the spectrum, I also haven't been a fan of neon I've seen it done and it's not interesting and I think Paul Smith has just broken that hate for me.

Givenchy also really shined, possibly not my favourite Givenchy collection but I thought they had an interesting concept, pattern and colour scheme and my thoughts are purely personal, it's still an amazing collection. Haider Ackerman was another collection that really stood out amongst the crowd and I liked, I thought there was a great use of layering and some really interesting materials and pieces really delivering a Hugh Hef suave appeal. 

Alexander Wang was another collection which contained black and yet I loved, think there was a great monochrome feel but also with the mix of white and cream. I loved Wang's uses of material and also thought the collection had strong accessories too. Junya Watanabe gave me a hiking/fishing theme so used some typical darker browns, greens and greys but then also mixed it up by using reds, oranges and even pinks into the mix and it really worked having a strong transition of colour through out.

I thought Paris had some amazing menswear, Balmain was most likely my strongest favourite out of it all mainly because I'd wear it all! Dries Van Noten and Paul Smith totally were second and third favourites all three of these brands really bringing something different and really appealing and interesting me! 

Chanel // China's New Love

I was reaching an article //here// on Forbes and results show that Louis Vuitton have finally fallen as China's favourite brand, according to World Luxury Index by the Digital Luxury Group a luxury retail consultancy. So have LV finally been ruined? Accorind to CEO of DLG it may have something to be with LV being so oversaturated in the market. With Chanel's new London store opening, are they still standing as the great fashion power. 

Acording to the finding it also shows Chinese consumer's interest focuses on ten major global brands which are Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, Coach, Prada, Dior, Burberry, Giorgio Armani and Versace. It also highlighted that handbags and wallers dominate the Chinese fashion accessories market, bringing 90% of interest to the brands. 

Chinese women's fave handbag is the Celine Luggage bag, we all know the fascination from the Chinese towards luxury brands. How have LV become such a saturated product, do the brand know how to come back from this?

I think it's really interesting to see such a classic favourite be refered to as a product which is oversaturated, I guess that because of LV's popularity over the years it's clearly now at a decline. Clearly the Chinese market is something which has been flooded by LV and now other brands are being turned to in favour. I think China may have possibly just reached a point where having a Louis Vuitton isn't as glamourous as it used to be, the Chinese's love definitely stands with French design for their two top brands right now. Possibly the Chinese are begining to become more diverse with their taste. 

Abercrombie // 'Too Thin and Cool?'

So Abercrombie seem to be constantly making mistakes recently firstly with their CEO's comments saying such things along the lines of “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” Even though the comments were made six years ago, the comments have surfaced and caused a massive storm of hate towards the brand. 

Reading a report about A&F sales it turns out their sales have dropped 17% in US first quarter, which honestly I'm really happy about. Mike Jefferies Abercrombie CEO has become such a target of hate, insulting not only people who aren't 'attractive' or people without 'a lot of friends'. He stupidly even describe their target as clothes for 'thin and beautiful people', honestly I have such a problem with A&F it's unreal. 

Offense has clearly been cause when a change.org petition to 'stop telling teens they aren't beautiful; make clothes for teens of all sizes' has 78,100 signatures to date.

//Fitch the Homeless//

Greg Karber from California has started a campaign and hands out A&F clothing to homeless people, clearly not Mike's targe audience of thin beautiful people. Honestly I'm confused with my position on this though, mainly because I feel like the homeless are being used a weapon, although agree its great they're being given clothing too. I think there's definitely a positive in there through them getting clothing! 

//#More Bfs than Taylor Swift//

Yet another of A&F's 'brilliant' ideas was this 'more boyfriends than t.s' the T.S standing for Taylor swift, firstly CEO comments then this. It's as if they're trying to ruin their own name and company.   

A main business rule should be careful who you trash, seriously this would keep so many people out of trouble if they just followed it. I mean the woman has nearly 30 million twitter followers, come on use some common sense?! 

Basically A&F just seem set on tarnishing there name and causing their brand trouble. Besides from this A&F are yet another brand who just use nudity as a way to sell their clothes, something I'n really against as I've mentioned when talking about brands such as American Apparel and the use of women in their campaigns.  

I've read comments about larger members of female staff having to wear menswear as uniform, if a brand can't support their own employees how can you even justify them as a customer? 

I think Mike Jefferies should no way name comments the way he should, it gives a whole range of companies a negative aura making them all seem elitist and judgemental. People see enough in the media based around body size and beauty to make them self-conscious, we don't need a brand supplying clothing to do the same. 

As blunt as it is Mike Jefferies remarks were disgusting, he shouldn't discriminate towards anyone. Possibly A&F aren't as in touch with youth as they think and should really take a good look at what they've been doing? 

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.