The Future of Birkenstock

The future of Birkenstock footwear looks pretty amazing. After a successful collaboration with Rick Owens, Birkenstock has worked with four recent graduates from the Fashion Program at Central Saint Martins in London (only the alma mater of Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Craig Green, Stella McCartney, Riccardo Tisci, and John Galliano) to elevate the brand further.

Alex Wolfe looked to the idea of Motocross and BMX boots for his Moto Sandal creation.

Alecsander Rothschild places a large plate across the top of the foot...

...while Ding Yun Zhang stays close to the original Birk but with a puffed body.

And finally, Saskia Lenaerts created a Birk that looks a lot more like an athletic shoe!

These shoes are supposed to be available through Birkenstock as of February 2021.

https://www.birkenstock.com/us

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week

Here are some details I did not want to miss mentioning from the Spring Summer 2020 shows at Paris Fashion Week:

Off-White
Blankets with designs by old-school graffiti artist Futura (who worked alongside the likes of Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat in New York back in the day). I love blankets as an alternative to scarves.

Lemaire
Wide-cut, high-waisted trousers with a 40s silhouette. Beautiful.

Lanvin
Adorable silk shirt and jacket with Babar imagery in this lovely seaside collection shown at an indoor pool.

JW Anderson
Fascinating flip-flop sandal with straps but also a decorative gold leash that reminds me of the type surfers wear to tether their board to their ankles...just without the crystal drops.
And a cute, home-y, felted clog in yummy colors.

ACNE Studios
What at first appears to be a chunky running or hiking shoe with a big lug sole turns out to be a sort of double wrap, peep-toe sandal! It looks great in distressed chartreuse leather worn with funky, slouched socks.

Christian Dada
Beautiful black or white chunky beaded necklaces from a collection based on Japanese pilgrimages to Buddhist temples and shrines.

https://www.off---white.com
https://www.lemaire.fr/
https://www.lanvin.com
https://www.jwanderson.com
https://www.acnestudios.com
http://www.christiandada.jp/

BEAUTY: Shoes--Magliano

Entering into our Milano leg of Fashion Month, I want to share with you some amazing shoes by Luca Magliano who started his eponymous brand only in 2016! I love a classic huarache which Magliano showed in several colors for his Spring Summer '20 collection at Milano Moda Uomo, but along with this came a a great loafer mule with zippers as a snaffle, a fascinating modern sandal that looks like it is wrapped with Magliano logo-printed, tan packing tape (!), and loafers in croc and snakeskin that got a half-and-half treatment...only for the left shoe!

https://www.magliano.website/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Milano Moda Uomo, SS '17

Before we move on to Paris, here is a wrap up of some miscellaneous details from the Spring Summer '17 Milano Moda Uomo shows.

MP Massimo Piombo took his lookbook to the Indian Subcontinent as did many designers so far including Alexander McQueen (here), Craig Green (here), Casely-Hayford (here), and Astrid Anderson (here). Piombo's color choices on his kurta tops conjure images of India.

Bottega Veneta showed a lookbook with some gorgeous, extremely full trousers out of a nylon-ish material (or perhaps waxed cotton?) that made me recall a garment I have been obsessed with since 1978: the enormous, olive green, very high-waisted plastic trousers cinched with a wide belt David Bowie wore on his Isolar II-Low/Heroes-Stage World Tour. Oh, I have coveted those trousers for nearly 40 years now...

Now on to shoes:

Dolce and Gabbana's collection, while fun, well-done, and full of the usual staggering variations on a theme, did not thrill me. But the shoes are another matter. The motif for their SS '17 collection was a 1950s jazz night club in Palermo (they have to get that Italian angle in there, bless them, and I can't blame them...I'm Italian too...) and the loafers, lace ups, and sneakers came in metallic, sequins, and animal prints. I'll take one of each , please...

Les Hommes showed a beautiful studded Roman sandal in black and white leather. They are simply cool, that's all...

http://mpmassimopiombo.com/
http://www.bottegaveneta.com/
http://www.dolcegabbana.com/
http://www.bottegaveneta.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week SS '16

Fashion season is over. There were some interesting shows in London, Milan, and Paris, but overall the season as a whole felt a bit lackluster. Too many collections shown were just versions of hip-hop, streetwear, or basketball clothing. Ho hum.

Here are some miscellaneous details from Paris Fashion Week.

At Haider Ackermann it was all about the waist with obi-like sashes and high-riding belts worn on the outside of jackets. Of course Thom Browne trumped this with his literal geisha outfits seen here!

In an interesting Hundredth Monkey moment, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli at Valentino showed the kind of sateen Japanese tour jackets GIs brought back from Asia after WWII...just as we saw Kim Jones do at Vuitton here!

AND Christian Dada designer Masanori Morikawa decided to show the exact same detail--embroidered tigers and cranes along with the flags of Japan and Korea--on sateen jackets as well as leather motorcycle jackets...the collection was inspired by Marlon Brando in "The Wild One." These elements showed up on shirts and trousers too!

Perhaps the most startling shoe of the season came from this Christian Dada collection: are you sitting down? A FEATHERED ENGINEER BOOT! The classic motorcycle boot is here covered with guinea fowl, and multicolored feathers...as well as an all-black version. It IS a black leather motorcycle boot, after all...

And before we leave the 50s Asian souvenir jacket motif, Saint Laurent slipped one in during a collection of grunge-glam-rock based on Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love...

...as did Masaharuyashiro with embroidered palm trees, a wolf head and various crests.

Kolor showed a whimsical shoe: a mash-up of a hiking boot and a sandal! Love it! (It shares thematic territory with Balmain's lace-up desert boot, seen here.)

Finally, Julien David showed a whimsical idea that coincidentally crossed my mind the other day. I was trying to think of something new for a collection or a fabric, and as I took a shirt out of my closet, disappointed at some wrinkles it accrued while hanging, I realized that a way to avoid such disappointment is to pre-wrinkle the fabric. Go for it, do it up good. Wrinkle the hell out of it. That way, no one will see "wrinkles." David used a wool suiting material that was forcibly wrinkled twice to make sure it retains its form!

http://www.haiderackermann.be/
http://www.valentino.com/
http://www.christiandada.jp/
http://www.ysl.com/
http://www.miharayasuhiro.jp/
http://kolor.jp/
http://juliendavid.com/

We now return to our regularly scheduled program...

BEAUTY: Clothing--Balmain

Balmain went on a wild adventure for its Spring Summer '16 collection at Paris Fashion Week. Safaris in pith helmets (here rendered as caps), the Foreign Legion, and English campaigns in deserts formed the basis for a stunning show of luxury versions of khaki clothing.

Woven leather and tiger printed hair-on-hide make an appropriate appearance. And fashion journalist Luke Leitch at Style.com noted that "the house's Fabergé lush military braiding was reissued in a jute-ish organic twine."

Also present is the idea of some kind of medieval chain mail...and the connected medallions of wood or metal. At first glance, it all might seem uneventful, but keep looking. Olivier Rousteing, Balmain's creative director has created a cohesive sartorial statement with depth. Rousteing has been head of Balmain since 2011 when, at the young age of 25, he took over for Christophe Decarnin... and this collection is all the more amazing because it is his first menswear show for the catwalk!

I don't usually post close-ups from shows but in this instance, I can't help it...this Balmain show has so many fascinating, mind-boggling details that need to be studied to be appreciated. Look at these textures like the latticed braiding and twine, and materials like the linked square medallions...it's all fairly breathtaking.

And last but NOT least, I need to draw your attention to these fantastic sandals! A cross between a desert boot and a Roman sandal, they are exquisite. Wow!

https://www.balmain.com/en_us/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Iceberg

Federico Curradi, the creative director at Iceberg, cited Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 movie “Zabriskie Point” as inspiration for his Spring Summer '16 collection shown at Milano Moda Uomo. It was not a sartorially acrobatic collection, but it was nonetheless true to its source. And while not slavish, the cut and tailoring did indeed invoke the late 60s/early 70s. But more than that, the color palette of blues and mustards and rusts really sent me in the direction of Los Angeles in 1970, watching Mark Frechette in "Zabriskie Point" walk across a college campus among other young people dressed like this.

FANTASTIC Roman sandals that have a sort of "hippie"-Summer of Love vibe. And I really love the ankle warmers shown with a Birkenstock-type sandal.

http://www.andreapompilio.it/