Knitwear on the couture level.

Sweaters and the knitwear in general from the day of its appearance have experienced a number of evolutional stages, from the practical point of view to the high fashion statement, honorary earning the ‘multifunctional clothing’ rank.

The sweater FAÇON was formed in the beginning of the XIX century on the basis of the northern Europe traditional clothing.  It was considered as a weigh loss accessory.  Later on that era, it was assigned by fisherman and sailors as a part of the working uniform.

Marc by Marc Jacobs FW 2011

Nowadays, designers   are showing a sweater some serious love. From New York city to Paris the runways have been boomed with a new way of mixing the couture and the knitwear. It can be worn as both – the street & the eveningwear. A tiny belt on the waistline would add a delicately feminine touch to the final look.

Rodarte FW 2011

A new styling possibility refreshed women’s wardrobes with new ideas and innovations. 

Do you know Frank Sintra?

 

SS 2012 Trendreport.

Four week worldwide stir honorary handed under the powerful control of the international fashion capitals, seem to surprise the public with the new fresh and unexpected statement.

What I love about Milan, is that every year it gets the most pleasant weather conditions to actually enjoy ‘walking around the show’ process while Paris, despite its greatness, always frustrating with the unfortunate rain problem.  Of course, Milano never dispenses with unpredicted surprises: as I had my operator waiting for me in front of the Paola Frani showroom, I decided for once in a blue moon be punctually polite so I spent more than half an hour arguing with a taxi driver to detour the city traffic :).  With a forty minutes delay, hoping for the best not to miss the show, we ran upstairs but as soon as I heard ‘un caffè, per favore’, I realized that I am quite punctual following the Italian standards.

Trendsetting procedure is complicated due to the big number of collections to look through, compare and understand the resemblance. 2012 will not just be the year of London summer Olympics but also the season of the prèt-a-portè changes.

Fringe is something inherent to many fashion shows including Marc Jacobs and Missoni. The fringe itself was mostly seen on the hem of the skirt or a dress. 

Gold mania was introduced with the rebirth of a weary Roberto Cavalli practically astonishing the public with a new technical approach – the amazing handmade gold embroidery and the high-class couture level. (Gucci)

  

Pleated skirt trend was played around with different materials also taking part during the next summer season represented by the famous Fendi, Prada, Roberto Cavalli and many others. 

The gentle flowery print spread its way to the latest runways underlining the warmth, sophistication and femininity of a woman (Antonio Marras, Marni).

 Transparency boom has unexpectedly appeared in many collections sometimes with an interesting structure. Seems like Givenchy has settled a standard with the AW2011 collection: narrow ‘above-the-knee’ skirt, flared from the hip, seem to have an interesting lining: the transparent underskirt which allows to see the knees in a playful manner.  (Marc Jacobs, Marni, Jil Sander).

Milano Fashion Week SS 2012.

 Lorenzo Riva SS2012

 

Lorenzo Riva SS 2012

Shirt Ralph Lauren
Jacket Ralph Lauren
Skirt Zara Woman
Shoes Giuseppe Zanotti

 Lorenzo Riva SS 2012

 Lorenzo Riva SS 2012

 Paola Frani SS 2012

Paola Frani SS 2012

Paola Frani SS 2012
Dress Vintage
Shoes Giuseppe Zanotti
Clutch Pelotti

Micam Milano september 2011

Micam shoe event has a global character – the world famous exhibition collects millions of buyers and brand representatives every year. Milano Pho Fiera crowd seems to be speaking an international language – from Russian and English to Arabic and Chinese.

At the trade, I felt myself almost an outsider wearing a pair of lovely handmade designer high heel shoes. Surprised? I was as well, discovering the fashionistas walking around in a pair of sneakers or comfy timberlands. After couple of hours of mooching around, I realized the buyers’ clever foresight – 3710000 square feet expo surface was quite a journey for a five-inch ‘suffer for beauty’ tour.

Whilst 2010 saw an inversion of trends following the serious international economic crisis, 2011 production is beginning to recover so it bodes well for business. 

The shoe market this year presents a various number of collections quite different in the origin but so far a trend can be settled. The spiky breath was inherent to many shoe designers: aggressive in it’s essence but yet with a touch of feminine colours such as light pink or beige. With the presence of both, its makes the perfect neutral combination.

The ‘sea theme’ has always been a part of the every SS collection. This year is not an exception.  The never fading red blue white stripes are bursting on the runways.

Another interesting trend comes with the inspiration of the men shoes right before the French Revolution in 1792 (Vittorio Martire). In the modern version, high hill is reduced down to the 1.5 inches making it comfortable for the everyday wear.  The shape is quite interesting: elongated narrow form allows the feet look more graceful. When it comes to the fabric, there is a big choice from the

velour and  velvet to the silk and patent leather. Feminine, businesslike and elegant pair of those shoes will be a great part in every womens wardrobe. 

'God save my shoes'.

 High hills or the shoes in general have always been an unexplainable obsession for women reaching an absolutely ridiculous ‘no limit quantity’. The disease has a global scale extension with a contagious character.

Of course, the shoe-shopping urge can be closely related to the various factors from the power of the fashion industry and pop culture to the fetish and psychological reasons.

The relationship between women and shoes are quite particular: through all the pain and ‘lattice-hill’ disaster, somehow women sacrifice to feel more powerful, sexy but yet beautiful and feminine.

The abstract shoe love stereotype is not the only one pushing women to the ‘buy reflex’. One of the brightest examples would be the famous Carry Bradshow from Sex and the city. Due to the Variety, Nielsen Media Research, there are more than 10.6 million people watched the series last year so lets imaginary guess the outweigh sex percentage.

Psychological reasons can also play a big role in the ‘shoe buying process’. As many women honestly confess that the problem lays deep down in the childhood roots due to the material or ‘strict parenting’ reasons. The fear of ‘not getting’ forces the women to grab the pair so it leads to the ‘Imelda Marcos, here I come’ issue.

‘God save my shoes’ directed by Julie Benasra is the latest justified shoe film (clear from the name itself) coming out soon so we are impatiently waiting for the perfect color palette wardrobes along with its lucky owners. 

Highlights couture 2011-12.

The nervous anticipation is something inherent to the every seasonal couture runway show, making the fashion diaspora heatedly excliam with the every model apperance. ‘Il est un génie’, they would scream on the way out to the next show.

This season, the close group of eminent designers with a new candidate for the ‘fabric maestro’ honorary rank,  did not have a chance to dissapoint the public.

‘After leaving the show, I am soothed, because I know that the future of couture is in safe hands’ said Tim Blanks leaving Valentino show in Paris.

The highlights this seson would be pointed at the Chanel, Valentino and the new member of the high fashion crew – Giambattista Valli.

The last mentioned pleased the viewers with the super elegant, sexy but not overdressed silhouette, with a small touch of a Hollywood glamour. For the first couture collection, Valli was able  to present an extraordinary handmade work of cocktail dress proceeding downward from a pink coral yoke to a crystal-ed black body to a hem of ostrich feather or the coat-dress in oh-so-serious gazar that dissolved from a coral bodice to a skirt in lacquered lemon blossom.

Karl Lagerfiel at the same time decided to stick to the long history of Chanel’s first apperance from the early beggining of the 30s up till the modern look with the ‘almost historycal’ femminine but straight and boxy garnments.

Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri drew the inspiration from an interesting topic of Russian women. The particular moment when they arrived to Paris in the early 20s, the culture was changing so a lot of them became artist muses due to the increadible mentality independence. The color pallette is quite dark varying from the deep purple to brown but it becomes unnoticable with the use of light fabrics such as chiffon or silk.