Givenchy Mens Spring 2013 Review

Riccardo Tisci’s last menswear collection for Givenchy was a nice distillation of everything he does well. The heavy sports influences were a nice contrast to the suit trend that was seen in so many other collections (most notably Prada). It would seem that Tisci may have been swayed by his peers as he has turned his focus to suits for spring. Single, double-breasted, sleeveless, satin, long, short. There were all types of suit jackets but they all retained a slightly boxy shape that was paired with a slim pant and many that had sheer draped shells floating underneath.

There was something very early 2000’s about some of the shapes and prints. I felt like there were some strong Ann Demeulemeester vibes with the draping, layering, and the use of black and white. The footwear was marvellous. I never imagined I’d want to own Teva-style sandals with thick gold chains but there you go.

My major criticism is that it was bloated and repetitive. The collection had a whopping 65 looks which could easily have been halved. I felt like I’d taken away so little from the collection which is ironic considering there was so much to look at.

Prabal Gurung Fall 2012 Review

After Prabal Gurung's last spring collection-digital prints and Japanese rope bondage-I was starting to perk up my ears at his work. Unfortunately his fall collection had me lost. Not for words (I have plenty of those) but just like, where is this collection going? Some people are seeing Givenchy references with the hats, the frills and the gown that closed the show. Whether or not he mimicked Givenchy intentionally or not is irrelevant because the show was shit. It started out strong with the first 5 looks all in black but then turned into a drag queens interpretation of Donatella Versace at a fetish club. It was all vampy cut-outs and sheer fabrics. But then the collection turned again with coats that had abstract lumpy fabrics thrown in. It was a pained experiment in texture that was totally not needed. Gurung continued his interest in digital prints from last season but this time around it felt tired and didn't look as though a lot of thought had gone into them.
There were also a few stand out pieces of what-the-fuckery that are worth mentioning, even if it's just for the lulz: The dress jacket with opalescent sleeves. Like, what is air? Those fucking frilled dresses and that sexy gold disco dress. Bitch please, you couldn't even get into a roller disco in that.

On a positive note, I'm not sure if this is a new collaboration but the sunglasses were made by Linda Farrow.

Givenchy Men's Fall 2012 Review

The men's shows have come to an end and pre-fall collections are STILL trickling in and couture week is just around the corner. I don't normally review men's shows because I don't keep as close an eye on them as I do the women's shows. This probably explains why I dress so awfully.

The main take away from the men's shows would have to be the suit which I find odd because so few men wear suits seriously or in a way that designers would like them to. Everybody blew their load over Prada's take on power dressing and Givenchy's steady evolution of dark aggressive sexuality. What interests me most about Givenchy is that Riccardo Tisci has founded a look that is all his own and people want to buy it which I think is extraordinary for a luxury menswear brand. I find with most men's collections I see things here and there that I like but they don't equate to any brand or designer identity. You could show me a Gucci jacket and one by Hermes and I would fail to see any distinction. But with Givenchy there's the digital prints, the star motif traced from shoulder to shoulder, or the loose sportswear shapes.  It may not be the most innovative or the most radical clothing but the collections are selling out and I think it's thanks to the casual, sports elements he adds. If Tisci has found a winning formula-and he clearly has-why are so many other designers heralding the return of the suit?

Givenchy Spring Summer 2012 Review

The theme for Givenchy's latest collection was-according to head designer Riccardo Tisci-about a surfer who falls in love with a mermaid. For someone who usually does dark, romantic and gothic clothes I was thrown off a bit. I guess he's taking a mental vacation and lightening up a bit. 

Though this collection is beautiful it failed to spark interest. There was a strong focus on tailoring but many of the clothes were too rigid and looked like they belonged on mannequins rather than models or real people. Some of the shapes, like rippling waves of fabric overwhelmed the models and splayed out at odd and unflattering angles. Unflattering would have to be the major fault of this show due the the wide cuts used on so many looks. The worst look was on Fei Fei Sun, a silver sequined get-up that made her look bigger than she is. 

DW Kanye West SS 2012 Review

 Ugggh this is so mundane

  And what is up with those jeeeeans?!

Eniko Mihalik's tits wear dress by Kanye West

By now you’ve probably read a ton of reviews on Kanye West’s debut womenswear collection. My impression is that he thinks that by doing things (in what he believes to be) the right way will win approval from (what he believes to be) his peers. This is seemingly all he wants to do, to seek approval. Where is his interest in dressing women because I don’t see it in this collection?
Apparently the clothes were made by Central Saint Martins graduates in London. The inspiration was like, let’s take a Givenchy print but bead it like a Balmain dress and then cut it like a Céline jacket. Everything looked familiar and that always breeds contempt. A lot of fashion journalists are focussing on the major fit issues but honestly they were no shittier than Joseph Altuzarra’s. There was an awful pair of Céline inspired colour blocked pants with zippers running down the front and back of the thigh. These pants were in desperate need of a waistband. This was paired with a white long sleeved top that for some reason appeared to have no buttons to close it. Tits in a blanket. And a black long sleeved mini dress with a very wide and very deep cut in the front was almost tits falling out of a blanket. That was probably the most offensive look in the collection and I don’t mean that in a pro-feminist kind of way. It was just so poorly designed that it should have been vetoed but I’m thinking a lot of other shit was culled before show day and he may have felt forced to throw it in to flesh things out.
Another issue I have. A lot of reviewers are harping on about how there was too much fur and too much leather. Prada did fur last season and everyone chuckled and thought how marvellous and clever Miuccia Prada was to do so. So in Kanye’s defence, show as much fur as you want. And for all my Kanye bashing you’d think I could consider that this was his debut collection and I should ease up on the guy. No. This isn’t baby's first step. This is a career and sitting front row at a handful of fashion shows for 6 years is not adequate training. Neither is picking leather swatches at Louis Vuitton for a line of sneakers.
Also he should not have shown in Paris because he doesn’t deserve to. Designers work for years before they show in Paris because it’s the tippy top, the big league. Did Alexander McQueen debut in Paris? Marc Jacobs? Vivienne Westwood? A showroom in London would’ve been more appropriate. And here’s an abbreviated transcript from the after party where West had a rant and begged for a chance.

Thank you for anybody that didn’t believe, because they motivated us to break our boundaries ... we don’t know what the reviews will be, we don’t know what they will say, but I got a chance to go to Italy and feel those fabrics....This is my first collection. Please be easy. Please give me a chance to grow. This is not some celebrity shit. I don’t fuck with celebrities. I fuck with the creatives in this room, the amazing people who spend every day of their life trying to make the world a more beautiful place.

Other celebrities that have clothing lines such as the Olsen twins and Victoria Beckham faced the same criticism, scepticism and derision that West got. And to be fair, many fashion journalists were quite tame in their reviews (except for Eric Wilson of NYT). To do fashion you need to be incredibly focussed and determined and it is your sole career. You can’t be a rapper and a fashion designer and expect sparkling results. If he is truly committed to womenswear design-and I believe he is not-he would quit the music business. Currently this looks like a poorly conceived vanity project.

New Zealand Fashion Week Fall 2012

NZ Fashion week just wrapped so I've been scavenging the net looking for images from the shows. For some strange reason the NZFW website only post 6 or so images from each show. What shitty coverage! I've seen more images on random blogs.


Unfortunately a lot of collections lacked originality and just weren't very special. If NZ designers want to gain some international recognition then they need to inject their collections with more personality and have a stronger point of view instead of liberally borrowing from the European collections. Huffer took Prada's foam creeper in an embarrassing show of plagiarism.

Photos: Amber & Hilary

Miuccia is not amused.

As for the trends, well, after looking at a handful of shows I saw a lot of lace, velvet, some awful floral prints, sheer elements, sportswear and the blouse. If young kiwi fashion girls can tear themselves away from Karen Walker for a moment they'll be wearing a blouse next winter. The blouse was everywhere, typically with a 40's cut. There were pussy bows, peter pan collars and leather touches. Huffer, Juliette Hogan, Deryn Schmidt and Annah Stretton all had some variation.

Above: Jimmy D fall 2012

The sheer elements were most evident at Jimmy D who has a very New Zealand fashion aesthetic: Black, drapey and tough much like Nom D, Zambesi and Stolen Girfriend's Club. There were some great pieces but designer James Dobson needs to push himself more. I couldn't help but be reminded of Givenchy's spring 2011 show with the black sheer fabrics and the leather harnessing. Aside from that it was a modern, cohesive collection with many desirable pieces and it was the best show of the season by a mile.


Despite having a number of neon looks, Zambesi's collection had a quiet elegance to it. The Chuck Taylor's were a bit whatever because the sports elements were obvious without the need for a shoe like that. The giant knit collars are great and there was a draped velvet top which was really cool.

Photos: Amber & Hilary

Fluro, tailoring and sportswear at Zambesi

War of the Visors

Sounds like a battle between two old Korean women over who has the biggest sun visor. Srsly u guys, old Korean women have a thing for giant sun visors and perms. It's hot like fyah. Trust. I'll try and google something up for your viewing pleasure.

Seeing that resort is shaping up to be sports and swimwear centric we have a style battle between Balenciaga and Givenchy who both featured visors. I vaguely remember visors being quite fashionable in the late 90's. And when I say fashionable I mean wearing one to an outdoor rave, dancing to drum and bass and trippin balls.

Let the battle begin.

GIVENCHY

VS

BALENCIAGA

After careful consideration I'm gonna go with Balenciaga. The Givenchy looks are flawless and tough as nails but I don't know, there's something about the Balenciaga girls that seems to say 'I keep razor blades in my weave' which is weird because Givenchy have a tougher look. 

See. What did I tell you?

[image via vivianlostinseoul]

Couture. Like real, honest to god, made in France by hand haute freakin couture

Jean Paul Gaultier’s collection is being hailed as a return to form. Perhaps now he has more time to devote to his collections since he stopped designing for Hermes. I mostly enjoyed it. The punk elements were a bit tired. Like, punk? Really? Balenciaga did it for fall 2011 too and I didn’t like that much either.

Male model Andrej Pejic dragged up for la mariée. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I met him at a gay bar about a year ago I think. My friend who was with me at the time was falling over himself and I was just thinking whyyyyy? My taste in models is so vanilla anyway. If you’re skinny and look like a girl then I’m not ripping out your spread in Arena Homme Plus for a high-fashion fap.

Clockwise from top: Iris Strubegger, Linda Fargo, Lea T, Marc Jacobs, Andrej Pejic, model wearing JPG, Yves Saint Laurent pre-fall 2011. 

Something else that occurred to me is how fashionable it is to be transgendered right now. It’s so on trend right? Lea T, Pejic, The whole YSL le smoking trend, Marc Jacobs on Industrie, Linda Fargo in Paper.

It’s not like this sort of thing hasn’t been done before but it’s just trendy right now. It’s not even daring it’s just like, ooh, think I’ll trans it up tonight. Where’s my beaded shift? Maybe trans-wear will be the new skinny jeans/bow tie/geek glasses.

Dior. What can I say? John Galliano just stop mining the 40’s and 50’s. Look to the future. Fuck this Lady Dior bs.

Givenchy. A little too look at how many hours this took to make rather than just feeling the clothes. But this for me is fashion. So much control. So focussed. Brilliant.

Newbies: Alexis Mabille. I don’t like what he does. I find it deeply unfashionable. Bouchra Jarrar: Interesting to see what small companies can do.

Chanel was inconsistent. I don’t know it just seemed all over the place. There were some lovely, relaxed pieces that looked young and fresh. It may have been my imagination but there appeared to be less jewellery and the ballet flats were sweet too.

Valentino: Beige ruffles. I don’t even like what they do at Valentino but now the clothes seem more recognisable than ever when I’m flicking through magazines. Four years ago I wouldn’t have been able to pick out a Valentino dress but now I spot them a mile away. I guess they must be doing something right but I just want Alessandra Facchinetti back. Is she working for Tom Ford now?

2010 Fashionings of note (that makes no sense but I didn’t want to say milestones or high points coz I’m throwing in low points and I thought I’d combine fashion and musings into one word. You feelin’ my genius right now? Probs not.

Firstly I hope you had a great new years. I sprawled out on my friends couch in my Kate Moss t-shirt and drank booze till the wee hours. The next day I hid in my flat until sundown then made a hasty trip to McDonalds veiled by darkness. The shame.

This is my year end round up of things that were of note for 2010. A little book-end to a year of blogging if you will.

Alexander McQueen commits suicide. A true fashion genius gone.

Sarah Burton debuts at McQueen. She did a resort collection that was well received but Spring Summer 2011 was her first fully fledged collection. Everyone heaved a huge sigh of relief that the house of McQueen has been left in capable hands. Burton wants to move away from McQueen's theatrics and her designs will be softer, with less angst. Take that as you will.

Gareth Pugh opens first store in Hong Kong. Not a major news item but a great indicator of how far Pugh has come in such a short time. Interesting that Hong Kong was chosen over Shanghai or Beijing. Everyone in luxury fashion is all about the mainland right now. Maybe in a few years time?

Carine Roitfeld resigns/got fired/was asked to leave French Vogue. After 10 years of pushing boundaries Roitfeld’s image is tarnished by being banned from all Balenciaga shows and rumours of consulting for Max Mara. Apparently she lent out Balenciaga clothes to Max Mara. That's so not fashion C-Roit.

Also, Russian Vogue's Aliona Doletskaya steps down as editor in chief, Sally Singer runs from American Vogue and becomes editor-in-chief of T Magazine and Stefano Tonchi leaves T Magazine for W.

Aliona

Singer

Tonchi

Tom Ford is back. 

Mary Katrantzou. Getting rave reviews for her stunning Home and Garden printed dresses.

Photographer Corrine Day passes away. 

The bride wore Givenchy. Lara Stone got married. Aww.

But I much prefer what she wore to the reception. Super short and shiny Givenchy.

So roll on 2011. And while you're at it, make some resolutions like Chloe Seven-yee

Givenchy Spring Summer 2011

Layers, layers, layers. I love it

This is a nice continuation from the last couture collection

Hey daddy bear

I don’t feel this was his best work but it was still a beautifully gothic spring collection.
I think the collection could’ve done without the gay bondage touches, the press studs and the sports mesh. It looked outdated and felt more like a reflection of his taste in men rather than fashion.
The zippers were a nice touch and a continuation of what was shown for the couture show but it became tedious after the first ten looks and I also promised myself to put any designer on my strike list who did exposed zippers for Spring. I love how he used the zips to reposition the waist, dropping it ever so slightly making a languid silhouette.
The layering was also beautifully done, particularly on the opening look.

Fuck Me In The Ass

Above: Givenchy Spring 2011

Above: Celine Spring 2011

Resort or Spring or whatever you wanna call em collections are flying in and the mood is different, the approach is more considered than ever before.

I've been finding these pre-collections quite interesting to observe over the past few years and seeing how designers and brands are coping with having to design 2 extra collections per year. For the most part a lot of designers are taking it on with gusto.
A few years ago resort was just that. Resort. It was marine inspired, light cotton clothes that you could stuff into an overnight bag before jetting off to St Tropez in a pair of blue and white espadrilles. Fast-forward a few years and it's like, who the fuck goes to St Tropez? Valentino?
So now we've got designers such as Stella McCartney referring to Resort as Spring. The angle has changed and so have the clothes. And for a good reason. The clothes that are coming out for Spring and Fall are equally as good, if not better in some cases than the main collections. I say this because a lot of the conceptual bullshit (which I dearly love) is cut out and what you're left with is a clear message and clothes that people want to wear.
Go to Style.com and take a look at Celine and Givenchy. The clothes are beautiful (Celine in particular) and none of them are beach appropriate. Yay.

The only concerns I'm hearing about Spring and Fall collections are that designers may suffer from burn-out and customers are being given too many trends and ideas, leaving the market over-saturated with clothes.

I think in a few years Spring and Fall will either collapse and burn or it'll be just like Summer Winter with a full runway schedule.

On a different ntoe, how badly is Phoebe Philo caning the industry right now? She's had 4 collections and she's already got an it-bag and it-bags are dead.

Catholic-free Givenchy

Givenchy didn’t capture my imagination this season. Like his last couture collection it lacked polish and it felt very cookie cutter Tisci. All the ingredients were there: lace, single blocks of colour for an entire outfit, loads of black and leather. But there were a few nice touches like the opening coat in a boney beige tone. There were also some beautiful tuxedo jackets and there’s been quite a few this season, United Bamboo comes to mind. I did find the layering theme interesting. If you view some of the looks you’ll see what I mean. And how weird is it that Tisci and Ghesquiere did a remarkably similar pant. They both did a high waisted version with a zip that was half undone to create these curling flaps. I didn’t find it particularly inventive but it was a nice touch and in Tisci’s case added to the layering theme he had.

I’d like to see Tisci try and move away from his usual schtick, perhaps do a tracksuit or something remotely humorous. He’s taken some steps, like removing any traces of Catholocism but it’s like come one, push yourself further, stop being so comfortable.