Glamour and Glitter

Feathers

These dudes are awesome.

Like Clockwork

What is up with the colour Orange and Resort 2010?  Was there a memo sent out?  So far, like 80% of the collections have at least one silhouette dedicated to orange.  Here are a bunch of examples.  The softer versions of the colour are very beautiful, as well as red-oranges closer to the bottom.

 

Isaac Mizrahi                                       Temperley London

 

Stella McCartney                                                           ADAM

 

Rachel Roy                                                 Vera Wang

Yves Saint Laurent                                              Zac Posen

Carolina Herrera                                           Oscar de la Renta

 

Chris Benz                                                        Lanvin

Bottega Veneta                                            Giambattista Valli

Camouflage Patterns for Hunting

While we think that hunting is bullshit, we had a certain love affair with the hunting apparel department of a Buffalo, New York sporting goods store a few months back.  It's all about the prints.

With developing inkjet printing technology, camouflage prints are getting more and more sophisticated.  These prints used more for hunting apparel rather than military apparel are high definition, photorealist renderings of nature.  Many variations are available depending on terrain (forest, field, desert, mountain...) and season (autumn, winter...).  According to a New York Times article on hunting, special camo started to be marketed directly to hunters in the 1980s and is big, big business.  Hundreds of variations are available.  Here are a few found at King's Outdoor World.

Promotional Images from Mossy Oak, one of the largest designers of hunting-dedicated camouflage:

Interesting Graphics at Hervé Léger

We think it's cool that Max Azria is sticking hard to the iconic bandage dress thing. He adds just a few technical innovations each season and it works. For Resort 2010, there was a peekaboo effect with gemstones suspended between the bands and really cool graphic patterns.  Here a few of them:

This one, though, isn't as great.  It made us think of Mugatu and the Piano Key Tie:

Highly Accessorized Glitter

We were starting to worry that the Glitter momentum was slowing down but then Lanvin showed these sparkly ensembles.  The photos from this shoot are great!  It's totally chic and totally playful!

Ari Tabei

Japanese artist Ari Tabei has won Sprout's emerging artist competition.  We don't really know what that is, or what Rebecca & Drew is either, the store where her work will be displayed, but this image we found on Hint Mag is super cool.  

Ari Tabei has shown at A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, NYC and Onishi Gallery in Chelsea, NYC.  She constructs intricate garments that tend to take on a life of their own, consuming her.  Her work is performance based, and filmed and photographed for record.

Prunelle

In our Internet travels, we came across this awesome illustration by Prunelle.  She's a Paris based artist that was recently part of a group show at agnès B..  She has done some awesome illustrations for playing cards, as well.  Some quality prints of her work are available on her website.

The Big Chief

Kirsten Dunst

Best Dressed of the CFDA Awards!  She looks so adorable wearing Rodarte that were the Womenswear Designers of the Year.  The entire look works for her, especially the makeup... fresher than we've seen her in a long time.

Antwerp Fashion Academy Show 2009

The Royal Academy of Antwerp is considered one of the best design schools in the world.  Their end of year show is notoriously long, showcasing the work of students from all 4 years of the program.  We went one year and couldn't make it through the whole thing.  The standing section in heels for 3 hours did not work out for us.

There were 14 graduating students this year, of them Alexandra Verschueren was the big winner, with her collection 'Medium'.  She was inspired by paper, folding and cutting fabric to resemble paper.  She also included a print that resembledd grid paper that had been doodled on.

The collections were very diverse, including menswear and womenswear.  Each student clearly had their own vision, which is refreshing to see.  More coverage can be found at A Shaded View of Fashion, Sonny Photos and the Antwerp Fashion Observer

Katherine Hepburn

Katherine Hepburn was an American actress, who had a 73-year long career.  She won 4 Academy Awards and 8 Golden Globes.  She had a very athletic upbringing, competing in figure skating and golf, and was able to use this physical strength in her acting, often performing her own stunts and physical comedy.  For a major Hollywood actress, she was very unconventional: she often wore trousers, did not like makeup, and was outspoken.  She was definitely not the 'Blonde Bombshell' type.

Her personal style continues to serve as inspiration to many designers.  Simply a white shirt and wide pants can conjure up her image.  For us, she is the ultimate reference for mid-century tailoring.  Shoulderpads looked amazing on her.

Below some inspiration: