When art is fashion...

Since the last post I was raving on RTW designs, this time I would like to show some fashion design that are on a different level.

Sometimes fashion is considered a piece of art, which is a concept of the designer that would never became pret-a-porter. Like the stunning show S/S 2007 by Hussein Chalayan, a designer who has a mind of an architect and always put art and concept before wearability.

"Chalayan is the designer who pushes clothes to the point where they become sculpture, furniture or even architecture. While most fashion design seems to be obsessed with glamour, Chalayan's work is conceptual and political." - except from Icon Magazine, UK.

I think it is true that a lot of time fashion is considered as "that piece that Kate Moss/Mischa Barton/Rachel Bilson wore", especially in the states, fashion is lead by celebrities (now even fashion magazine covers are celebrities), designers would give away 10-100K worth of clothings to celebrities just so their designs can appear on the media. It definitely pumps up the brand's image and induce sales, and the phenomenon shows that people are really focus on the business side of fashion, what is sell-able and wearable. Even on Project Runway, Nina "Gaga" and Heidi always have comment on the design by whether they can imagine themselves wearing the garment or not. I mean, there is nothing wrong with fashion being wearable, glamorous or practical, but it should not be settled in as "just that".

Another designer that I recently spotted is Sandra Backlund, to me, this Swedish designer has a perfect sense of art, beauty and fashion. Her design is kind of in between wearable and concept art pieces, I found this intro on her site tells a lot about the designer's concept and work:

"Collage is my passion. In the same way that I like collage in picture form, it is also the way I prefer to work with fashion. I never make a sketch for a garment and then implement the sketch, but improvise from the ideas in my head. I work with a lot of small parts which I turn, twist and attach in different ways to build the shape that I want. The handicraft process and the handmade feeling is very significant. I do experiment a lot with different kinds of material and handicraft methods, but knitting is one technique which I keep returning to. I think it is important that we take responsibility and preserve ancient handicraft techniques which will die out if we do not carry them forward to a new level. Consciously I don´t think much about trends, it is more the feeling of timelessness that fascinates me. For me, fashion will always be the perfect combination of tradition and renewal." - From sandrabacklund.com

while I wouldn't wear anything that is made out of human hair (on far right), I have to say that is an amazingly beautiful top. Her work on volume and proportion with wool (first) and origami (third) are phenomenon. And then there is this knit crochet baby doll dress (second) that I would absolutely love to wear to parties.

New and Hot New York Designers I

The girlie hamptoners:
Tibi, designed by Amy Smilovic, who moved to Hong Kong in 1997 after leaving her job and hometown, new york. She then started designing clothes, and finally moved back to home base new york to continue launching her successful brand. As the designer said: "Naiveté and an absolute love of pretty things has been my best asset so far", it is not a surprise to see a beautiful line of clothing that has such consistency in exquisite details, luxurious fabrics, girlie but chic design.

Crazy beautiful:
Tracy Reese, Parson Graduates in 1984, her designs are ultra-feminine and delicate. If comparing to also girlie design like Tibi, Tracy Reese is a little less high street but more romantic and glamorous. It certainly gives you a "billion dollar baby" look.

Super vintage:
Jovovich-Hawk: Co-designed by ex-models Carmen Hawk and Milla Jovovich, is selected for CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nomination. Plenty of long flowy dress with vintage prints. Not really my personal favorite and I have yet to see more of her designs other than all these long vintage print dresses.

Vena Cava: Co-designed by recent Parson Graduates Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai, just having their second season of design. I feel like while their clothes are heavily vintage inspired, they have much more of a unique design factor that is more modern. I especially love some of the beautiful neckline that they have made.

The sophisticated and clean:
3.1 Philip Lim - There is always something different about young man designing clothes for women. His use of light fabric (tissue weight cashmeres, laundered cottons, washed silks and brushed wools), feminine and sophisticated night wear and the boyish cool day wear (the luxurious and flowy fabric makes it very inviting even to the ultra feminine type of girlie girl). Although only two seasons into his new fabulous line, this sure will become a staple of many fashionastas' wardrobe.

The perfect fit?

The hot new jeans brands come and go - seven, earnest, j brand, paper denim, hudson, siwy, sass and bide...whatever it is, they have their moment for awhile but still there are always the next hot thing coming up. The more brands there are, that just means we have to spend on time at the Barney's jeans section to try them on. So anyways, aren't we all just looking for the one that is the most flattering to our body?

There is currently a company called Bodymetrics, which pioneers the use of body-scanning and virtual reality technologies in fashion. At Selfridges, in Oxford Street, and in Harrods, Knightsbridge (yes they are all in europe!), customers can get their body-scanned and order perfect-fitting designer jeans and women’s luxury suits. Customers would have to be naked (or in nude color underwear) when inside the bodymetrics "pod"(see pic), which make it easy when light scan through the body to gather accurate data. In 5 secs the computer will have about 200 measurements which creates a virtual replica of your body.

Sounds cool, isn't it? Imagine the whole fashion market will be adapted to this technology where they can customize your clothes with the data from Bodymetrics. Or, another cool idea would be a super tailor store that would make alteration to your clothes base on that data. That would be so sweet.

Updates: Apparently Vivienne Westwood has joined force with Bodymetrics to make custom fit VW signature hour glass "Amphora suit" (figure-hugging jacket cinched in at the waist, with oversize lapels and a single button, and a gloriously curvy pencil skirt). The whole process takes about 6 weeks and the starting prices is a handsome fee of £1,500. So basically this is just something that's "cool to know about".

Pringle of Scottland...not Pringles

I know that was a cheesy title...hehee, I tried. I like the Pringles logo by the way, so I just want to throw that in here for the fun factor. :)

Well, what I really want to talk about, is this equally saliva inducing grey baby doll cable sweater made by Pringle of Scottland. This is a prestigious luxury brand that just got revamped and heavily advertised on fashion magazines. It was the royal, romantic, and cozy prints that got me interested a few months back. I think this is a successful campaign.

Recently I found that H&M has came up with an imitation of this beautiful knitwear in light turquoise. I hope they have other colors to choose from as well, and altho I wouldn't prefer a turtle neck, I will be sure to try this one on. I like that white cable knitted scarf as well...

Right on Target

Ever since the Issac Mizrahi ankle boot (see my other post "Shoes Shoes Shoes..."), I have been eagerly waiting for the new target + designer collaboration goodies to come out. This November on the Go International is Behnaz Sarafpour, which is not a surprise when I read further on this Parson alumna who has Issac as her mentor. She was praised and raved by fashion authorities like Anna Wintour and Barney's VP, putting her on the same place as hot fresh new york designers like Zac Posen, Derek Lam, and Proenza Schouler.

I think I did go a little crazy on buying the stuff. I initially planned to only get the duffel bag that was shown on Instyle, style.com...etc. But when I went on the Target site on Nov 1st (the date when Behnaz stuff is launched), I found myself clicking on "add to cart" like I was being hypnotized. How could one possibly resist $40 brocade bubble skirt in silver, $30 stretch velvet berm pant, $17 brocade clutch and mere $8 lace headband (well I never wear headband but that one was just so cute...). And, to my surprise, the duffel bag was on back order (I will get it in Jan 2007) even on the first day and it's gone within a week. I got the rest of the stuff two days ago and I am really satisfied with the quality - especially the silver brocade bubble skirt and the clutch which is the same fabric, it is sooo high street and expensive looking.

See, I think Target is right on target (no pun intended) with this mass targeting strategy. Once you tried - you are hooked.

Dress [Coat]

Finding a good winter coat is hard. A winter coat has always been something like a big bulky outerwear that I reluctantly wear in the cold. I remember I used to refuse wearing a coat out when I was younger but now I am too old and weak to resist. Good thing is, now I have a new view to wearing a winter coat - outerwear that looks like a dress!

I especially love the Jean Paul Gaultier ones, so chic, so beautiful and flattering to the body. It's like wearing a couture dress strolling down the street against the cold breeze. I have yet to find an affortable version. Any suggestions?

Edit: I recently spotted this cute looking coat by Lux on urbanoutfitters.com. It is less femme, more cutesy and more street. Maybe not exactly what I am looking for, but something that I would recommend and if I happened to go shopping some time soon in an urban outfitter store, I would try it on.

Billion Dollar Babes!!

I found sample sales...annoying. I rarely RSVP to one, but sometimes I came across some, and there I found myself surrounding by an overwhelming amount of clothes in the most disorganized fashion possible. But then again, I feel like the only kid on the block that doesn't attend the annual toy fair where i can pick up nice cute goodies at a much cheaper price.

So as the trick to this, you gotta find the good ones to devote all your energy to - because you will really need alot of will power and energy to struggle on the line to get in, try on items, pay for items, fight with strangers on the same size...and many many more horrendous scenarios.

So here I found one that I must try out - Billion Dollar Babes. This is quite a nice looking sample sales organization, they have a very comprehensive brands selection (40+ designers). Some of the ones I look forward to see (Bold ones are most desired): alice + olivia, catherine malandrino, dior, costume national, cynthia rowley, diane von furstenberg, dkn, fendi, gucci, ingwa;melero, jill stuart, jimmy choo, miu miu, miss sixty, plenty, prada, sass & bide, Tracy Reese, Temperley london, trina turk, trovota, twelfth street by cynthia vincent, vivienne westwood. The event is just one day, so I know that its going to be CRAZY there. Who wants to join me to get a platinum membership? ;)