PFW SS14 : Undercover

Jun Takahashi's, unveiled a brilliant collection, deriving inspiration from the MOD era, which caught my eye and made me so happy. Street trends and tailoring habits have transcending into his collection, classic sharp tailoring is also slapped into his collection and the juxtaposition between the two types of  tailoring has created a truly stunning collection. 

The best features of the collection was the glow in the dark pieces..I mean that is awesome. Six looks are ignited up with LED lights, the pieces have quotes such as "I Am Here I Am Here". An undertone of bondage-esque vibes with appearances of PVC and leather made appearances in this collection. 

Asymmetry was an additional key feature, ribbons tied in bows around necks, the colour palette was great, from block colours to strong accents of red. The tops held bold phrases, a sort of campaign motif, some read SNUG (GUNS backwards) and Silence Yourself. The individual pieces from skinny neck pieces, mint drainpipe trousers, a sort of clean cut wardrobe laced with lovely colours and notions. 

To Ra. 

LFW SS14: Bernard Chandran

I'm a fan of Bernard Chandran, I saw him last season and I love his collection. This season was also a delight  and I got to interview him, which was lovely. Womenswear is usually fully controlled and I don't like the rules that are applied to, nevertheless Chandran pushed the boat out. Inspiration for the collection came from his home land, Malaysia and a mixture of metallics and princesses.

(ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF DEBORAH CROSSWIRE)

The traditional Malay sarongs were of obvious and important inspiration, along with the usage of native silks.  "I wanted to break conventions and give normal girls the chance to become princesses", this is what is done rather well in this collection, traditional dresses of the royal members are being modernised with a urban undertone. Oversized caped sleeves providing strong silhouettes, celebrating the female form in all it's sultriness, this seemed to be a motif throughout the show. An appearance of pinstriped -bandeau jumpsuits assembled with asymmetrical cuts gave the line a futuristic air about it. A radical re-invention of princess-wear and royal uniform is something we are embracing.

To Ra. 

NYFW : Yigal Azrouël SS14

Firstly, I just want to give a high-five to New York, I mean I never assessed New York to be key, groundbreaking or of any relevance, in terms of fashion. This sounds extremely harsh, in my mind New York was living with a stain, the stain of being a "celebrity brand" city, they took no notice of classic tailoring or key trends, all I can say is that....the stigma is no longer attached.

Nevertheless, after Rag and Bone, Jason Wu, Alexander Wang and the many more radiant designers to come I am definitely more observant and considerate towards the  fashion of New York.
Next designer, Yigal Azrouël, this designer has caught my eye and pulled my heart strings (which is not an easy task), the whole collection is flawless. Yigal, is a Israeli American, New York based designer, and I can say, hands down, he is a gift to New York and the rest of the fashion world. I think the colour palette is simple but nevertheless smooth, the tailoring is superb looks immaculate harking and boarding on futuristic...hmm maybe a modernist streak has been applied to this line. Nevertheless, I love it and the strong devotion to art expressed through the monochrome pieces, I love the detail it's slightly playful.

Debs Crosswire 

NYFW : Louise Goldin

(IMAGES COURTESY OF STYLE.COM) 

New York City, so far has showcased a dazzling collection of designers from Helmut Lang and their collection of stripped back minimalism to the flower power of the Ruffian collection. The designer who has caught my eye, is designer Louise Goldin, her collection has embraced a stunning combination of sports-luxe and simplicity. I do adore the colour palette of the collection, the use of nude has incorporated really well, the details of collage-like clothing is something I love, the input of art in the collection is liberating.  The outlining of the clothing pieces an exaggeration is brilliant, I'm not a big fan of the other colours I think they are great but I wouldn't wear them, my favourite pieces are the white pieces with the black outlining. I think the shoes and frilly socks are adorable, remind me of Catholic school girls, the socks that is, the heels are not really my thing, but they fit well with the collection. I will certainly be keeping an eye on Ms Louise Goldin. 

To Ra. 

Feather.M SS14 Event.

 (Pictures taken by Deborah Crosswire)

On Thursday, Pop PR revealed their new client, a handbag brand, Feather.M’ Spring/Summer 2014 collection, it was unveiled at Wolf and Badger’s Dover Street store. The collection exhibited a vibrant range of handcrafted clutches, from day bags to evening clutches, although crafted in London a selection of worldwide fine materials are used, such as snakeskin, suede and leather.  

Feather.M is a company which holds ethical standards of being simplistic, contemporary and classy; a use of classic of patterns such as leopard print combined with a fine clean-cut leather outline provides the clutch with a sense of simplicity. In terms of the colour palette of the clutches and bags, yesterday bright fuchsia pinks, mustard yellows were the choices of colours; this approach really does give the bags an avant-garde air about them.

To Ra.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER COUTURE AW13.

Meooow! Jean Paul Gaultier is playing with the big cats, the big female cats, for his fall couture collection. 

A celebration of the female as a predator is an evident motif of this collection, through the figure-hugging pieces and catwoman motifs. Women in this collection are seen to be totally female and totally animal...the dominant and almost animalistic aspects of the  female sexuality are fully exploited through the choices of fabric and colouring on Gaultier's part, I love the harking back to key symbols such as Grace Jones, Madonna and Bjork. The names of the pieces are surrounding the subject of women being man eaters “Pussy Faster” which despite its name is a leopard-print biker jacket with over defined should pads. Gaultier paraded down his runway nostalgia from the era of the eighties, broad shoulder pads, over sized hips, body defined outlines; the exaggeration of the female form through silhouettes is evident from this collection.

The hair I thought was a stunning touch, sprayed on cheetah spots with sometimes nodding cone -quiffed hair, as well as the clothes this really embodied the presence of the female inner animal! As well as the eighties being of inspiration to Gaultier, David Bowie was of inspiration to as we see from the wedding dress at the end; songs from David Bowie albums were also used as the name of some of the outfits. Suffragette City was the black velvet dress which incorporated a fiery orange petticoat and matching cheetah prints tights and shoes. 

To Ra.

London Collections Mens: Matthew Miller SS14.

(I DO NOT OWN THESE PHOTOGRAPHS) 

I am a sophisticated young lady in every way nevertheless, I have a soft spot for menswear from the clean cuts to the cool color pallets. So therefore I held an interest in London Collections Men's and with a intrigued and keen careful eye I observed, every detail and I can say that  I was very excited by what I saw. I have to hand it to the all the LCM designers, pretty much every designer knocked the nail on the head when it came to the runway. Gentlemen I hope you know how lucky you are , designers put so much effort into menswear, guys have no excuse to dress badly at all, for us females, we have to work a little bit harder.  Miller's SS14 runway, for me establishes the essence of the modern-gentleman's wardrobe, detail and precision of an outfit is completely defined, that's my humble opinion, of course this may not be to your liking...but it should be.

Matthew Miller's SS14 runway collection was flawless, from the European male models to the raw hemmed cuts, every piece of detail was so well fragmented together that every model seemed to be wearing a piece of art . Although I do congratulate Miller's male line, this runway did contain two female models so if you can work the androgynous style then Miller has catered for you.  From the collage above you can see the industrial color palette of steel, white and off white, and even though the painted chest piece is for the runway it was a lovely touch, therefore establishing his runway from the rest of the pack. Through the industrial and architectural type cuts, the complexity of clothing is removed from menswear and Miller establishes a clothing line of complete unity and harmony between color and material as well as this Miller acquires a sense of uninterrupted simpleness.

To Ra.