The fashion observer

Arnem Mode Bienale

 > Every two years the Arnhem Mode Biënnale presents the state of affairs in fashion design at an international level. In the space of four years the fashion biennale has evolved into a major trend-setting event with a robustly international orientation.  Arnhem Mode Biënnale is an initiative of the City of Arnhem and ArtEZ Institute of the Arts .

Participants of the event include most of  international trend-setting designers such as Boudicca, Rick Owens, Maison Martin Margiela, Come des Garcons, Kei kagami together with emerging new talents such as Andrea Ayala, Iris van Herpen and a large list of promising new designers.

Arhem Mode Biennale presents ” Form” , “which is currently setting the tone in fashion. During the biennale dozens of fashion designers demonstrate that there is more than one way of attaining exceptional forms. The starting point for Jil Sander’s Summer 2008 collection was geometric forms, such as the triangle, circle and rectangle. Moulage (creating patterns in three-dimensional space) is the basis for the feminine gowns by Lanvin. Thom Browne designs men’s fashion inspired by his admiration for existing forms. These and other interpretations of the aspect of SHAPE will be explored in the guise of clothing, images, texts and historical references”.

Afhem Mode Biënnale ( 6 june-6 july) . Complete information about participants and events at Arhem Mode Biënnale web.

Yoshiguro Yamagata´s photo courtesy

> Yoshikazu Yamagata is a japanese designer who studied fashion design at Saint Martins School in London, and returned back to Japan. He created the brand Writtenafterwards which is a fashion label for ladys’ real clothing, that provides communication of an education, society, culture and environment into fashion.

He has been commited to different projects that express new kind of fashion freely, and now is using his new approach for teaching fashion in Japan. ( You can read more about this project at Diane´s Pernet  blog).  

Yoshikazu Yamagata Earthbackpack. Photo courtesy Diane Pernet

  He has a particular and vision about fashion that I´ve extracted from an early interview to the designer that I´ve considered could be a guideline for new designers in search of fashion as self-expression : 

” I would like to work in a different style from existing designers’ works. I guess it comes down to self-expression.  I think due to the quick development of internet technologies, the way of expressing oneself will change and differ. Does it mean people will not express themselves throughout clothings in the near future? …. New designers will easily get snapped off by the huge companies, and after two weeks of the newest fashion show, the copies will be in the high street shops everywhere. Even in such situation, I don’t want to give up attracting people through fashion and expressing fashion in different ways. We might need to change the system of fashion from top to bottom though… Maybe we will find some possibilities for the future through the changes in society, such as the intimacy between customers and designers through use of the internet... From clothing, space, system to picture books… I would like to realize many possibilities to seek new platforms of fashion”.  ( Complete interview to Yoshikazu Yamagata here ).

Yoshikazu Yamagata is presenting his new collection next week at Arhemmodebiennale.

For a complete overview of Yoshikazu Yamagata you can visit his web.

Hedi Slimane new menswear campaign for Prada. Photo courtesy of Prada

Hesi Slimane diaries. Photo courtesy Hedi Slimane

Hedi Slimane diary

>  Hedi Slimane’s  has been focusing on photography since he exited Dior Homme last year . Hedi Slimane main interest has been portraits of  street teens in black and white, which are not only beautiful but a sharp documentary of today´s adolescence. Hedi´s new collaboration with visionary Prada  means a new step forward in the menswear commercial arena, focusing  more on feelings an unconventional attitude.

Complete overview of  Heidi Slimane here .

> Terrence Koh wi’ll be hosting a pop-up shop called “Everything Must Out Going.” We’re going to ignore the obvious race jokes for now and concentrate on the clothes: anything tees made with Aurel Schmidt for $40, Comme des Garçons tees created with Tauba Auerbach for $100, and more drawings, records, books, clothes, and accessories from over 30 artists “. ( refinery 20)

> Music innovator Invisible DJ  has teamed up with fashion designer LnA to create The Music Tee, a T- shirt that is creatively designed to contain “album art” on the front, and a track list on the back. Each shirt comes with a hang tag printed with a URL and a unique code; each code will allow the owner of the shirt to download one copy of each of the tracks printed on the shirt from the Music Tee Room on LnA’s website.

Invisible DJ has launched in California with the idea that ” all things are possible”. They merge music and fashion creating unique platforms for music to be discovered.

A great example of innovative ideas that works building sinergies and brand partnerships in order to build strong new concepts.

>  Walter Raes comes from an artistic family in Belgium and moved to London in 1989. After living in the UK, he observed, “I think that what is thrown away in London and around the world is criminal; it’s from these consumer society throw-outs, that I make my designs.” For the last 6 years, Walter’s obsession has been creating WEARABLE & DESIGN ART entirely from household and industrial materials, frequently recycled from skips. His artistry is totally inspired by these rejects. In short, he takes the disposable remnants of our everyday lives to create his brilliant pieces, explorations in form and function. Isabella Blow, the late international fashion guru, was very passionate about Walter’s art. She included his Video Tape Boogie Dress in her article Avant Garbage, alongside Galliano and McQueen designs, with the following quote: “What is so exciting is how Walter is able to transform the objects in such a way that the original use is hidden.”

Working along his own lines, outside the normal fashion seasons, gives Walter the freedom to create his work from recycled materials that spontaneously excite his talent and approach the challenge of creating WEARABLE & DESIGN ART. He´s an innovative representative of a ” recuperation couture”  that enriches with brand new concepts just launched.

> ”Miles Aldridge’s images depict a stupendously glossy and magnetically vibrant world with ultra slick, hyper-lit models, signature acid tones, and mysterious narratives. Cinematic expression marks Aldridge’s work; his dream-driven, erotic style has been compared to Bergman, Bunuel, David Lynch, and Hitchcock. Aldridge is first of all an artist of the subconscious, secondly a fashion photographer”.

Now he´s showing a complete overview of his fashion photographs together with pictures for photographs at Steven Kasher gallery ( NYC). “ Scrawled in pen or pencil, the black-and-white drawings generate ideas for potential photographs and map out series of pictures like a film storyboard. Sometimes dotted with raunchy hand-written notes — such as “green/yellow bra” or “painting nipples with lipstick” — Aldridge’s drawings are crucial to his photographs”.

M·A·C Cosmetics is taking part of this project as has a long- standing relationship with Aldridge as they have collaborated on nearly every beauty image for the brand over the past 5 years a.

Miles Aldridge: Pictures for Photographs will be on view May 28th through June 20th, 2009 at Steven Kasher Gallery ( 521 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 100119

For a complete overview of Miles Aldridge you can visit his web , and for more details about the exhibition please search at Steven Kasher Gallery website

> La revista View on Fashion  adelanta la próxima campaña de Christian Laboutin, Still Life. Una extraordinaria nueva campaña en la que sus icónicos zapatos son reinterpretados formando parte de una naturaleza muerta,  con una puesta en escena completamente pictórica a modo de bodegón del siglo XVIII. Peter Lippman ha realizado las fotografías, la dirección creativa ha sido de Nicolas Menu, y el estilismo de Amandine Moine. El resultado final resulta soberbio y todo un ejemplo de las infinitas posibilidades de reinterpretar el pasado. Es un verdadero placer ver este ejercicio artístico y de estilo, en el que la marca consigue elevar su imagen de marca lejos de lo meramente comercial. Bravo!

 Complex Geometries autumn winter 09  collection

> Complex Geometries is a canadian label that creates multi-purpose clothes for men and women. What´s very unique from this label is that the customer can twist, turn and play with geometrical & oversized pieces to create different shapes and customize the final look. They have just presented aw09 collection inspired by the idea of conflict and exploring  different references from religion to phantoms.

Complex Geometries: oversize, geometrical and multi-purpose pieces

For more information and complete collections about Complex Geometries you can visit their web here

> The Brandery, a new urban trade show that fills the gap that Bread & Butter left in Barcelona after moving to Berlin. The Brandery will take place between july 7th-9th.

The Brandery, “the big new fashion rendezvous for southern Europe, was created to come up with a new identity for fashion based on the brand as the protagonist.The fashion trade show in Barcelona is setting its sights on the present and, most importantly, the future. A new paradigm of transgression, design and innovation to project brand value as a totally individual and differentiating concept. The Brandery is more than just another fashion trade show. It’s a made-in-Barcelona event and devised with Barcelona in mind, one of the most modern, cosmopolitan and dynamic cities when it comes to setting trends in Europe.” Good luck !

For more information about the Brandery click here

> ” The lady noir affair” es un corto dirigido por Olivier Dahan, que Dior utiliza como campaña de lanzamiento y comunicación de su mítico bolso y accesorios. Protagonizada por Marion Cotillard , al puro estilo de una película de cine negro, acaba de ser presentada y el desarrollo de la campaña ha podio seguise a través de Twitter.

La campaña  responde al cambio estratégico de la comunicación de determinadas marcas. Por un lado, una forma de diferenciación que abandona las campañas de publicidad al uso y abraza el formato de videocreación/ videoarte. Por otro lado, el uso del marketing viral  y las redes sociales ( Twitter) para asegurar  audiencias millonarias.

El resultado, la moda se alía con el cine para la creación de un fantástico clip con publicidad subliminal.

Björk portada de junio de la revista Interview

> Björk,  fotografiada por Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, portada de junio de la revista Interview. Como siempre, Björk, nos regala una imagen moderna y alternativa para una portada de revista de moda.

Nueva campaña OI de Givenchy. Foto cortesía de WWD

> Nueva campaña otoño-invierno de Givenchy con Ricardo Tisci en la dirección creativa .

 La nueva campaña de Givenchy sorprende porque presenta un giro inesperado en su identidad de marca, mucho más cercano a la línea editorial de Vogue Francia que a sus valores intrínsecos. La estrecha relación de Ricardo Tisci con Carine Roitfeld, directora de Vogue Francia, y una de las estilistas más relevantes del panorama internacional, deja entrever los motivos de esta evolución.

El ejemplo más evidente de la influencia de Carine en el cambio estilístico de una marca , fue su pasada colaboración con Tom Ford en el relanzamiento mundial de Gucci. Los elementos de esta campaña , nueva dirección de fotografía por Mert Alas y Marcus Pigot, estilismo y actitud, llevan el sello Roifeld y , lamentablemente,  la pérdida de identidad del estilo Tisci.

SUMO, edición limitada de fotografía de Helmut Newton en el atril de P.Starck

> SUMO, es un libro-joya gigante que  Helmut Newton realizó con la editorial Taschen hace una década , en el que recogía  374  fotografías que abarcaban la trayectoria completa de Helmut Newton. Fotografías de moda, sus icónicos desnudos y retratos, en una edición de 10.000 copias, firmadas por Helmut Newton. El libro incluía  un atril diseñado por Philippe Starck, para exhibir este libro de gran formato. La obra se convirtió en una pieza de coleccionista cuya edición de se agotó.
Ahora, en conmemoración del 10º Aniversario de la publicación de SUMO,  la Fundación Helmut Newton organiza una exposición en la que , por primera vez,  se podrán contemplar  las fotografías de SUMO, muchas de ellas inéditas, junto a la obra de tres asistentes de Helmut Newton: Mark Arbeit, George Holz y Just Loomis, en una exposición bajo el nombre de “Three boys from Pasadena”.

Al mismo tiempo la editorial Taschen presentará una reedición de SUMO asequible al gran público.

Más información sobre Helmut Newton: Sumo &  Three boys from Pasadena: Helmut Newton Foundation

Sandra Backlund FW09-10. Courtesy of Diane Pernet

> Sandra Backlund , the swedish hand knit designer that creates sculptural exclusive pieces and has already colaborated with Louis Vuitton and won 2008 edition Hyeres prize. Now she has moved forward and in addition to her hand knit pieces, she introduces designs resulting from her new collaboration with the best knit manufacturer in Italy . A collaboration that was born at the White Club

Fashion´s night out

> Fashion´s night out

El próximo 10 de septiembre, primer día de la Fashion Week en NY, el horario comercial de las tiendas de moda en Nueva York se alargará hasta la noche. En esta fecha, la ciudad se convierte en centro mundial de la moda concentrando a diseñadores, celebrities , fashionistas y personalidades relacionadas con el sector.

La iniciativa es un acuerdo entre la alcaldía de NY, Vogue USA ( Anna Wintour) y los CFDA ( Confederación de creadores americanos), alianza que implica el poder de convocatoria y la trascendencia del evento, que pretende impulsar las ventas en tienda, un sector que emplea a más de 175.000 personas en Nueva York.

Hay ya 100 tiendas asociadas al evento, al que añadirán todo tipo de actividades, presentaciones y lanzamientos exclusivos para atraer la máxima audiencia.

Otras ciudades internacionales como Londres, Tokio y Madrid, han declarado su intención de unirse al proyecto, convirtiéndose así en el Gran día internacional de la Moda.

Más información sobre Fashion Night Out en: www.fahionsnightout.com

Nike Gladiator

Colección Zaha Hadid para Lacoste

> La mirada al pasado es una de las principales fuentes de creatividad de marcas y diseñadores. La tradicional influencia de marcas deportivas , sin embargo, ha sido hasta ahora la calle. El  streetwear, parece estar agotando sus posibilidades y las grandes marcas deportivas empiezan a revisitar tendencias de pasarela. El look gladiador en sandalia se ha convertido en una tendencia recurrente desde su lanzamiento en pasarela hace dos temporadas. Nike y Adidas, de la mano de la arquitecta Zaha Hadid, la incorporan también al lenguaje deportivo, con aire futurista. La distribución de estas series ” de sideño” es limitada y con una distribución exclusiva ( Colette, Corso Como..).

> “In 1971, nothing like the American artist’s cross between sculpture and adventure playground had been seen in a national gallery. The public went wild. The slides, seesaws, tightrope, climbing frames and crawl spaces lasted just four days at Tate Britain …Visitors to the gallery – have survived the vertiginous Carsten Höller slides, and Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth : it’s not about eliminating risk but managing it” ..
Bodyspacemotionthings is part of UBS Openings: The Long Weekend at Tate Modern  throughout the bank holiday weekend, offering live events and activities.

"The Ultimate Robot Woman Is Invincible". Dazed & Confused Junio 09

>La tendencia en pasarela de una mujer inspirada en la estética del cómic, super-heroína, fue recurrente en varios desfiles del otoño-invierno 2009. Rodarte, Moschino, Gareth Pugh, ofrecieron propuestas de mujeres robóticas , fuertes, capaces de enfrentarse a la negra situación que nos amenaza. Su inspiración más evidente está en los 90, y la estética galáctica de Thierry Mugler.

La editorial de Dazed & Confused de junio 2009, realizada por Katie Shillingford, nos habla de la permanencia de este modelo de mujer en la próxima campaña, elegante e inalcanzable. Gareth Pugh, Margiela, Chalayan, Balenciaga y Givenchy, son las marcas que mejor ejemplifican esta tendencia y que combina esta fantástica editorial. Bravo!.

Más fotos sobre la editorial ” the ultimate robot is invincible” aquí