Menswear AW11: 'Maximum of Minimum'

One of my favourite menswear collections for A/W11 is from the designers Sachiko Okada and Aaron Sharif, for their fashion label Blaak.

I love firstly the title of the collection, which reminds me of my work- in my photo shoot concepts I like to look at extremes, from maximum taste to minimal classics.

Menswear collections for AW/11 flirted with the androgynous look, the collections were also heavily influenced by functionality within clothing. Blaak's Maximum of Minimum collection does have these key styles and themes within their collection, but it's not overtly out there and in your face which I really like. You can see subtle greats in their pieces for A/W11- for instance, I love their black shirt with zipped collar, it looks fab as it is, but when the collar is zipped away, it gives the shirt another style.

This shoot below, from Dazed and Confused online, reminds me so much also of The Hurts style- one which you guys know I love!

This shoot in itself, is fab! I love the yellow undertones of the images, and the 4th image below is just stunning. The way the photographer caught the models movement yet shot the product so clear is gorgeous.

Christian Louboutin: A Ballet slipper at new heights, literally.

I did not see Natalie Portman in black Swan wear these for her perfect, final performance....

'Make It Hard' An artistic way to Recycle & Reuse

I wish I could see the Helmut Lang's solo exhibit, Make It Hard at the Fireplace project, East Hampton. Although when reading Lang's interview on Hintmag.com there was a sentence in it that made me wince....

"What methods did you use to destroy the reported 6000 garments from your fashion archives?

Lang: 'The pieces where put through a big shredder truck under my supervision.'"

...wow, to imagine beautiful garments, with stunning detail be shredded in a huge piece of machinery, is an idea that is so far away from one another that this intrigues me. I wonder if this was a hard task- to choose which pieces to shred and which to have for Lang's archive, yet Lang seemed quite relaxed in his choices, saying, 'I shredded all the pieces without remorse or preference. It was about erasing the difference of what they once stood for.'

Although the sculptures look quite simple, in that they don't have complex silhouettes, I reckon when seen up close they are a very interesting sculpture to look at- to understand which collection each sculpture holds is quite interesting.

If anyone gets the opportunity to see it, please fill me in!

Designer: Phoebe Philo

"I like the idea of women not showing too much, of being quite reserved"


I read a fab article today in the 'i' saturday paper about the reserved yet highly talented Phoebe Philo, designer for Celine, the french and very chic fashion label.

Since I noticed Celine back in 2008, when Ms Philo took over the direction and design of the brand, I have loved every collection, specifically Philo's first collection for the Celine fashion brand. As the article states, that collection was so right for the time and it was 'very well judged' as we were in the midst of a recession (back in October 09) and Philo herself 'was immediately hailed as being at the forefront of "the new minimalism"'. This is a key reason as to why the Celine brand, and Philo herself is ranked in my top 5 of my favoured designers: Philo discusses in the article that the fashion house chooses the best fabrics and the most creative and crafted cut, so that every piece is perfect for every collection, this again is another reason why I love Philo: her work ethos is contemporary and so right for the time.

Below are some of my favourite pieces from Philo's archive of collections for the Celine fashion label.

Fall11



Celine S/S11






Celine Fall10





Celine S/S10

Yohji Yamamoto: Pure Genius

I am very excited to see this film.

This week in fact, I am in london attending Graduate Fashion week which will be fab! but whilst I'm in london, I might try and go see Yohji Yamamoto at the V&A, has anyone seen the exhibit? Thoughts?

Yohji Yamamoto: This Is My Dream from Hintmag.com on Vimeo.

British Fashion Awards

I'm so happy for Phoebe Philo for winning the Designer of the year award. Her collections, since Phoebe rejoined the fashion world from having time off after her time at Chloe, have been incredible and so right for the time.





Also, my favourite model of the year, Lara Stone won the model of the year award which again I'm really pleased about, (although she's not neccessarily british she has married a brit and one of her parents are british so whatever...) but she deserved it. Fashion in 2010 specifically, really showed love and enjoyment of the 'real' woman and Lara Stone played a huge part in that.

Burberry Prorsum looks SS/11

I'm still trying to take in the amazing Burbery show yesterday, it really was phenominal. Here's a few of my favourite pieces from the collection...

(my review)

Ashish SS/11

The video above is the music that accomppanied the Western themed Ashish london fashion week show. It has a fab and playful beat to it, much like the collection today.

I believe Ashish may have seen ToyStory 3, loved the film and wanted to create replica adult sized costumes, only much more glamorous and with a fashion twist for SS/11.

The first look to hit the runway (the models gave the runway a ton of attitude) was a Cowgirl, yes a cowgirl, with the hat and the boots, everything.

For the show, the boots seemed to become an advertising space for brands, specifically with MacDonalds, which is quite ironic considering the song. The golden arches were spread all over the footwear. However, this may sound very costume-like, maybe a fancy dress idea, but you can see Ashish's influences and his style is influenced by fashion. The fringing in the pieces for instance is gonna be a trend for SS11: I've seen fringing on recent shows in the past few days, maybe not this literal but still fringing is key. I felt an androgynous theme with this collection too, although there were some dresses, in sequinned leopard print, but some of the structure and silhouette of some pieces was quite masculine. Underneath the fringing you saw glimpses of the lovely loose trouser, in nude tones acting almost like a back drop to Ashish's artwork. The relaxed fit seem to run throughout the show too which is fab for SS11.

There was one look which took comfort to it's extremes: the model was dressed in sweats-soft, grey marl sweats with added fringing to the pockets and side seams of the trousers, so if you are feeling the fringing trend and want to see it in your wardrobe next season get those pins out and add fringing to some of your basic wardrobe staples.

When looking at past collections of the designers, you understand that from the outside the show looks fun and playful, but I think there's an underlying thought to his 'out-there' pieces.

A fun show and what a way to bring Jessie the cowgirl (Woody's friend in ToyStory) to life.

Burberry Prorsum SS/11

Oh my goodness....

I have just finished watching the Burberry show, (I've been thinking about the show since last season) I've been so excited and when the live stream appeared on my computer screen I became even more so: the venue looked incredible, Christopher Bailey certainly doesn't do things by halves does he?

Did anyone else see the show? Or is that just a really silly question?

After seeing a couple of interviews before said show, which included the likes of Serena Williams, SJP, Alexa Chung and the god of fashion, Anna Wintour, the filming then went straight to the catwalk. Our view was more so from above so you could really understand the sheer size of the catwalk runway (apparently one of the biggest if not the biggest in the country for LFW). The floor was amazing although, if you did see the show: could you see the model falling before it happened? I could, I felt worried for her then embarrassed, but you know what, it was completely worth it, and I'm sure the model would say the same thing because if your gonna fall wouldn't you want to, in an amazing, heavily studded Burberry biker jacket?!

Anyway, enough about the show, lets discuss the clothes.

Burberry's statement trench coat this season was belted with fun, coloured belts, which juxtaposed lovely with Burberry's style of country/britishness. As for design of the trench, Bailey added leather with some trench coats whether as an arm, or trimming and most of the leather was quilted, giving the look a much softer edge although some of the trench's reminded me a little of the military look-quite structured and strong. The trench for Burberry also lost a little of it's length; alongside Burberry's statement trench there was a plethora of biker jackets (a definate trend for next year: well if it's at Burberry...): biker jackets that were heavily studded with spike studs or ball bearing studs where amazing (and they looked extremly heavy but gorgeous). My favourite biker jacket from the collection has to be the gorgeous, soft ruffled leather biker, the layering of leather looked beautiful and made the biker a lot more feminine. A note I also made with the biker was the amount of straps, buttons and detailing each one had, giving the look that Rock 'n' Roll feel.

In terms of colour palette, there were a lot of muted tones,specifically in Burberry's khaki green, but also some off beige colours too the only shots of bright colour were really seen in the accessories- the belts, the enveloped clutch bags. However, saying this, colour did come through in Bailey's dresses, which were just gorgeous- they were ruched and draped on the body, short in length: they reminded me of bandeau dresses but much more glamourous and sohpsiticated and the colours of these were stunning- soft mint green, dusted rose. The pieces looked really quite elegant, yet very wearable.

We saw leather pants again for the season from Bailey, with quiting detailing too- I kinda got a feeling of the equestrian look with regards to the Burberry trouser this season- some trousers were the colour of traditional riding trousers and looked skin tight.

To end the show, not only did the last model, in the last look, fall on the mirrored floor (oh dear) in those beautiful heels but the ceiling became studded with silver confetti. Very rock 'n' roll. Such a fantastic show.

Mark Fast looks SS/11

Here's some fab photos of the amazing Mark Fast runway show at London Fashion Week...

(Here's my review)