BEAUTY: Clothing--Asher Levine

With barely a week of summer remaining, autumn clothing is starting to make an appearance. And Asher Levine's Fall/ Winter '11-'12 collection is a thing to behold!

Levine's work is rooted in the natural world: animals, plants, and minerals make their way, whether obviously or subliminally, into his creations. His silhouettes and shoes often seem to be sprouting scales or lizard-like spikes. (I like the idea of a traditional fall/ winter plaid flannel shirt but given the Asher Levine treatment so that is looks like it is fleeced with odd vestigial flaps...)

As a side note, I will not wear real fur, and I suspect that Levine is using a lot of it in this collection. Although I disapprove of this material, I still see the beauty and art in what he has created. ESPECIALLY those shoes!



http://www.asherlevine.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing and Art--Gareth Pugh and Ruth Hogben

Gareth Pugh was the Pitti Guest Women's Wear designer in Florence this month where he showcased his designs for an upcoming F-W '11-'12 collection via a short film made in collaboration with Ruth Hogben; the two of them collaborated on an equally stunning and mesmerizing short film for his S-S '11 collection that I blogged about here.

http://www.garethpugh.net/

BEAUTY: Clothing--John Galliano

Paris Fashion week.

Galliano loses his mind. Again.

I love fashion designers who weave together themes, places, art, culture and make me ask, “What the hell was he/she thinking?” And John Galliano seems to be the king of “what the hell was he thinking.” His shows and collections are always so inspired and inspiring. They are a collage, a pastiche of ideas and thoughts that must represent how Galliano thinks… rapid ideas and connections, references, knowledge and a thirst for… well, for the world itself. Galliano’s world seems stuffed to bursting with amazing people, places, colors, epochs and societies.

And for his Fall-Winter ’11-’12 showing at Paris Fashion Week this week, his thematic references included a risky elan vers dieu… émigrés from the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the stylistic iconography of Rudolph Nureyev. Now, I am not sure exactly what it says about me that I can actually follow that train of thought, but it makes oblique sense to me. Thousands fled the Revolution… and Nureyev fled Russia by defecting to France in 1961. Russian = Russian, fleeing = defecting. The ideas seem linked. It all works. And the change from Rasputin-looking men in huge wool coats, enormous chunky cable-knit hats and matted and snow-covered beards to slim androgynous Nureyev in swinging 60s silhouettes and then in sweaty rehearsals could have been a disaster in anyone else’s hands. But Galliano finds the bravado and grand gesture connecting them and makes fireworks. Topping off the collection is a section of embroidered Russian evening pieces that seem breathtaking.

http://www.johngalliano.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Thom Browne

Thom Browne is a designer I have watched from afar but now I think I need to pay much closer attention. His last few runway shows have been thematic and theatrical spectacles—just how I like them. And his Fall-Winter collection for ’11-’12, shown at Paris Fashion Week, was a spectacle indeed. Not a traditional runway show at all, the models were seated at a fifty foot long gilded dining table in the grand ballroom of the Westin Hotel on Place Vendome in Paris. After waiters in grey jackets and mohair aprons brought out platters of turkeys, the show began. Sections of seated models then got up to take a turn, slowly, around the table, parading their coats and trains. With silhouettes and pieces of clothing reminiscent of France in the 1700s (cream colored cable knit caps turn into facsimiles for the classic white powdered wig!)as well as the 1800s, crossed with a certain modern sense of Edwardian England, the clothing was a dizzying mix of eras and cultures.

Long Ngyung, co-founder and style director of FLAUNT writes of Thom Browne for Fashionista.com:
"Since he started making suits in 2001, Mr. Browne has pushed the boundary of men’s fashion first by altering the basic proportion of structure and fit–his extra small-looking suits–then by toying with the nature of defined gender garments, often mixing the elements considered basic to womenswear–like ball-gowns and tulle–into his clothes. In a sense, his shows make us realize how limited we are in our thinking about fashion. Even if he hasn’t liberated men from these limitations, he has managed an on-going discourse."

http://www.thombrowne.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Alexander McQueen

I still miss McQueen terribly, but I am glad the house goes on; Sarah Burton seems to be skillfully channeling the tone and direction of McQueen's spirit. And this week in Milan for Men's Fashion Week, she showed us a wonderfully evocative Fall-Winter '11-'12 collection based on antique military silhouettes and influences. I know Lee was a great devotee of a certain British sensibility, and Burton has shown a fondness for this style as well with her first menswear collection for McQueen (the marvelous "Pomp and Circumstance" Spring-Summer '11 collection which I blogged about here), but this current collection sure feels a bit Russian to me as well as British. I see ANNA KARENINA swirling around in the regimented jackets and coats. Sashes, referencing an old style military honor or military parade dress, appear here and there. But gold braiding on zip-front jackets, slashed sleeve seams, and track suit pants place the collection in the twenty first century.

http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing

Men's Fashion Week In Paris continues. Alexis Mabille, who is fast becoming one of my favorite designers, showed amazing lace up pants for his Fall-Winter '11-'12 collection. At once rocker/ punk and Pirate/ Romantic, the look seems new and old. A Scottish theme permeated the clothing (hence the plaids) and the show opened with the "Choose life" monologue from "Trainspotting." Tees--some of them sheer--adorned with labels from whiskey brands complete the "rocker" look nicely...

http://www.alexismabille.com/