BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week

Now that Paris Fashion Week has ended, here is a wrap-up of notable moments, elements, and details that could have otherwise slipped by...

But before I move on, I want to say that Ann Demeulemeester was conspicuously and sadly absent from Paris Fashion Week. She announced in November that she would be leaving her eponymous label she started in 1985. No word yet on who might replace her at the house. Word is that her men's collection for Fall-winter '14-'15 will be shown with the women's collection at the end of this month, January '14.
Also conspicuously absent was Jean Paul Gaultier. Hmmm...

Onward:

Carven showed a collection straight out of "The Wild Ones," "On The Waterfront," and "Rebel Without A Cause." Dock worker pea coats, ski caps, and jackets that are a cross between a motorcycle jacket and a 1950s car coat were shown in a shady, highly atmospheric pool hall!

Alexander Wang's ode to petroleum products nearly fetishized rubber--but not in that way (nudge nudge wink wink). He was thinking of rubber tires on motorcycles, race cars...and he showed his lookbook in front of a heap of smashed, totaled cars. Pants that looked like oil slicks on asphalt, and jackets that could be recycled tires...

At Louis Vuitton, it was a stripe story... in luxuriously draped scarves and cashmere sweaters. It feels cool, and jet-setty, and Old World all at once.

Jackets on top of coats...on top of trenches... at Cerutti.

Several designers showed their Fall-Winter '14-'15 collections with models draped with or carrying blankets, quilts, or afghans. And here, Sacai has a few blankets inspired by Navajo prints.

Miharayasuhiro has some great shoes to offer for Fall-Winter '14-'15. I love the paint droppings on the boots which bring to mind McQueen's wonderful paint-splattered collection of SS '10, here. Also of note is the shoe with toes dipped into flocking! I also like how Miharayasuhiro showed shoes pre-distressed in metallic leather.

And for a finale, I want to point out a collection at Berluti that was perfectly pleasant and supremely wearable, but looked even better on a variety of models that included mature men. It is always nice to see the tyranny of youth breaking down bit by bit. I mean, just look at these men. Some silver, some lines, some mileage... grrr...
Thanks, Berluti!

http://carven.com/
http://www.alexanderwang.com/
http://www.louisvuitton.com
http://cerruti.com/fr/
http://www.miharayasuhiro.jp
http://www.berluti.com/en/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Lanvin

There was a fun 1980s "New Wave" vibe at Lanvin for their Fall-Winter '14-'15 collection at Paris Fashion Week, as evidenced by neon pinks, leopard prints, and skinny ties. Lanvin men's wear director Lucas Ossendrijver created some really great shoes, too...

http://www.lanvin.com

BEAUTY: Clothing--Dior Homme

Belgian designer Kris van Assche has been helming the male side of Dior since Hedi Slimane's departure in 2007, and with this '14-'15 Fall-Winter collection, he channeled Dior himself. Looking back at Dior's own wardrobe of Savile Row pinstripes and polka dot ties, and symbols (lily of the valley, a stylized rose, a coin, a heart, etc.) with which the highly superstitious Dior surrounded himself, Van Assche came up with a luxurious, interesting, wearable, and unique collection. I like how the pinstripes and polka dots are both revered and deconstructed.

http://www.dior.com/couture/en_us/mens-fashion

BEAUTY: Clothing--Rick Owens

I have said it before. I'll say it again: I am so glad there is a Rick Owens in this world. He is like an artist who creates art that cannot be defined... a Mapplethorpe or a Hirst. I am glad there are people who create things that annoy, chafe, or don't make sense to the status quo. Someone has to do it. And Owens, season after season, sends his own particular brand of futuristic, ecclesiastical minimalism down the runway for all of us to ogle. His collections always transport me to another place or time, and that place is often another planet and the time is one that probably has not happened yet. I love it.

For his '14-'15 Fall-Winter collection at Paris Fashion Week, he obviously looked to the desert for inspiration. His usual black and white palette is toned down here in favor of tan, brown, rust, and ecru. But his dedication to the Owens silhouette, a sort of sci-fi spartanism, is unflappable. We see the simplistic tunic, the asymmetrical shift, the odd loose boots that rise past the knee (I adore every boot Owens has ever made), and the wimple-like head gear (here made out of knit cashmere!).

I have also said before, and will say again here, that Owens might possibly have seen David Lynch's highly stylized 1984 film version of Frank Herbert's DUNE and that he might possibly be working out the costume ideas from that film, here, here, and here. I have never heard a fashion journalist make this connection before, but I imagine that when Owens saw "Dune" lo those years ago, he was either so inspired or traumatized by it, he has been trying to work it out ever since. To me, it seems obvious. Season after season, we have seen similar silhouettes and ideas that could have come from Bob Ringwood, the brilliant costume designer for "Dune." We have seen many an Owens collection that looked eerily like saint Alia of the Knife (for those who have not seen Lynch's "Dune," please do), complete with Bene Gesserit nun head coverings, or collections that looked like Guild Navigators! And here we are, back to Bene Gesserit habits. But this time it seems to be tempered with the idea of the Fremen, the desert dwellers on the sand-covered planet of Arakis Prime. There is even what looks like a safari vest (or Still Suit?) in the last look below...

Thank you Rick for your unwavering dedication to expressing your unique, singular aesthetic!

http://www.rickowens.eu/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Dries Van Noten

There is always a captivating density to a Dries Van Noten collection--a density of pattern, of color, of texture, of detail. And for his Fall-Winter '14-'15 collection at Paris Fashion Week, the density was all about layers of tie-dye and batik (a technique of dying fabric native to Southeast Asia), in dark jewel tones. Peeking out from under the the restrained psychedelic swirls of coats, jackets, and suits were poet shirts, with a single large pearl button high at the frilled collar. Another mash up of a native style with a traditional European idea, like we just saw with Van Beirendonck? Again, is it Colonialism or a blending of elements from the global village? Taking Van Noten's output as a whole (we will get a chance to do just that this March when his retrospective opens up at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris), one can see that he is dedicated to blending.

http://www.driesvannoten.be/

BEAUTY: Clothijng--Yohji Yamamoto

Um...wow, that's a lot of prints. When Yohji Yamamoto was asked to explain his Fall-Winter collection shown at Paris Fashion Week, he coyly said, "People kept telling me I do too much black." Well, alrighty then.

This is certainly an avalanche of prints and in the hands of a less seasoned or talented designer, it would have been a disaster. But Yamamoto manages to make it look like a spirited grab bag, a cavalier "oh-what-the-hell" moment. All the Yamamoto shapes are still here--the extremely wide cut trousers that skim the calf which read like Samurai pants, boxy jackets, fluttering overcoats, and skirts/ dresses (since practically every designer has shown a kilt, a skirt, or a dress for men, there is very little shock value left... incredulous, panicked voices used to ask "Will men ever wear skirts?"... yeah, they will and they do... so now what?). The addition of the print riot makes it seem unrestrained, a little crazy and wild. "Who would put all those prints together?" Yamamoto, that's who. But here's a little secret I practice in my interior design career: you can absolutely combine patterns and prints as long as you follow two little rules. 1) Vary the scale and shape of patters and prints so that you are combining organics (florals) with geometrics (stripes, diamonds). Vary tight patterns with larger prints. And 2), unify disparate prints and patterns with the same color palette. And he has done all that here.

Thematically, the idea of death seems to hover around the periphery of this collection with skull patterns, and rope details and closures that take the form of a noose! This collides with the kaleidoscopic nature of the collection and makes me think of cultures that treat death like a party, and celebrate the life of the deceased, not mourn their absence. Or perhaps it is more simple: live it up now, because none of us get out of here alive.

And once again, kudos to Yamamoto for casting mature and unconventional models. Silver hair is a welcome sight on the runway.

http://www.yohjiyamamoto.co.jp/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Haider Ackermann

Paris Fashion Week for men is underway. The outrageous, eye-popping shows are coming fast and furious, so let's jump right in.

Hard to believe that his '14-'15 Fall-Winter collection is only Haider Ackermann's second for men. His debut men's collection for the SS '14 season, seen here, was pretty amazing, and this follow-up does not fall into a sophomore slump. We again see a gloriously loose, unkempt, slouchy style, buoyed by the innovative cuts of his clothing (check out those incredible trousers in the third set of photos down, on the left). But new is the sense of Dandy-ism. Indeed, these men rolled and layered in beautifully patterned jacquard, silk, flannel, and wool (I love that tight geometric black and white pattern) could be drugged out Symbolist poets of old France, debauched and drunk Edwardians, or they could simply be New York City rockers on a morning walk of shame in their disheveled clothing--and amazing scarves, all of which I covet--from the night before. Except they have no shame, just a knowing, confidently sexy sense of decadent style.

http://www.haiderackermann.be/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Raf Simons and Sterling Ruby

Raf Simons has known the American artist Sterling Ruby for nearly ten years and this collaboration for Simons' Fall-Winter '14-'15 collection at Paris Fashion Week was astonishing for its thoroughness and complete isolationism--the pair managed to imbue their collaborative collection with its own internal logic, separate and apart from any references or links to the "fashion world."

Ruby is a multidisciplinary artist working in bronze, ceramic, soft sculpture, painting, and collage... particularly something he calls "bleach collage" which played a large part in this collection. Atop the minimal lines of a typical Simons collection, Ruby placed his "bleach collages", strips and scraps of tattered and worn fabric, stained with bleach and paint. The strips served as bold slashes of chaos within the simplified Simons garments. Pants and jackets are splashed with bleach. Seemingly random words are pasted onto pieces of clothing like bumper stickers. One says "abus lang" which stands for "abusive language." Another simply, mysteriously, and ominously says "fathers," a rather charged word and concept. Ruby's monumental soft sculptures are referenced as well in red, white, and blue knits, echoed in his stuffed serpentine of the American flag that adorned the show space.

Of note are the fascinating, swollen, bulbous shoes, stuffed like one of Ruby's sculptures.

The entire collection has the energy, madness, and rush of creation in the studio. And this collection is creativity in clothing (fashion) at its best.

http://www.rafsimons.com/
http://sterlingrubystudio.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Walter Van Beirendonck

One can always count on Walter Van Beirendonck to deliver a collection that clearly pushes the concept of fashion into art. I have said in the past that Van Beirendonck's work seems like the product of an an art-school studio experiment... as if he had been able to raid a huge supply room and use all the clay, paint, fabric, and bits and bobs stored there. There is a fearless sort of freedom with what he does season after season. His concepts are always engaging, puzzling, sometimes disturbing, and expansively liberating. The concepts seem to soar up and around like wild birds, or lightning. One never knows from what direction it's all going to come. Ideas assemble themselves in astonishing ways in his mind.

And his Fall-Winter '14-'15 collection at Paris Fashion Week shows his powerful imagination at work, and it is also an example of why I find the world of haute couture so compelling. Clothing at this level truly is performance art and sculpture. And what Van Beirendonck is saying with this collection is, as usual, layered, oblique, and full of references and inferences: the name he gave this collection is "Crossed Crocodiles Growl." In Ghana, the symbol of conjoined crocodiles speaks to the idea of "unity in diversity" or in more practical terms, the inherent difficulties of reconciling individual and group interests in a democratic system. But the growling part... well, that is pure Van Beirendonck. The crocodiles are not going to put up with it any longer and their stylized teeth played across footwear, pullovers, and lycra leggings. Towering feathered headdresses reminiscent of head gear worn by certain native groups in rain forests were painted with the slogan "STOP RACISM." The designs of the collection may have refelcted native cultures across Africa and even in South American jungles (Amazonian feathered or furred jackets and shorts, Guatemalan patterns, and Masai blankets and jewelry ), but Van Beirendonck said of racism, "It's a problem everywhere, in Russia particularly." Hence the military helmets...

The sense of the collection is a blending of native and European styles. But does it speak to colonialism or a brighter, more optimistic approach of unity, a kind of "we-are-all-one" idea...? I like to think it is the latter since Van Beirendonck has been crafting his own native style and symbolism for many years now, albeit in a modern, graphic, highly individual way. He is, I can say confidently, a force of unity.

A side note: I like the humorous sweater woven with his face which uses long strands of yarn for his beard! Hey, even Hitchcock made a cameo in every film he made...

http://www.waltervanbeirendonck.com/