Saturday, May 6, 2017

INSPIRATION John Galliano SS 2011… Gucci FW 2017||18


John Galliano for his Spring Summer 2011 collection has been inspired by the twenties con artist Maria Lani who persuaded the era’s leading artists to paint her portrait for a film she claimed their work would star in. Then, she sold them all and escaping to America without trace. Galliano made every model a separate artwork, with “each outfit in this collection as individual as each portrait”. Individual outfit fashion shows are being a thing since a while now, and Gucci is one of the brands, that through the work of Alessandro Michele, has turned this way of showing into perfection. For FW 2017||18 the styling of one of the 119 looks Gucci showed in Milan might have been inspired by Galliano.


Tuesday, December 6, 2016

INSPIRATION Francesco Scognamiglio SS||2009... Saint Laurent SS||2017

Anthony Vaccarello’s debut show as new creative director for Saint Laurent was one of the most awaited this season, alongside the Maria Grazia Chiuri one for Christian Dior. To be Hedi Slimane’s replacement must have been a fairly demanding venture for the Italian-Belgian fashion designer who  has decided to close his own line to concentrate on the new responsibility. For the SS||2017 collection [right] Vaccarello has been widely inspired by the eighties and some archive pieces from Yves Saint Laurent. As for the fierce one-silver-covered-nipple-out styling, a particular look from Francesco Scognamiglio’s SS||2009 show [left] might have been an inspiration.


Wednesday, October 12, 2016

INTO THE SAME IDEA… Marni and Loewe SS||2017

Gatherings and drawstrings were seen on various shows for SS||2017, but nowhere as beautiful as at Marni [left] and at Loewe [right]. Consuelo Castiglioni for Marni created asymmetries of pleats gathered by nautical ropes and over-did-it beautifully with huge billowy sleeves and hip-widening poacher-pocket bags, all in a fresh mint tone. Also Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe suggested a pastel colour for his peasant dress with balloon sleeves full of gathers created by drawstrings. A lot of volume, but more is more and less is a bore regarding the volumes this season.


Sunday, October 9, 2016

INSPIRATION Demna Gvasalia… Jil Sander SS||2017

In my previous post I called it the Vetements effect, but it should be rather be the Demna Gvasalia effect. Many designers for SS||2017 could not do less than being influenced by the new wave created by Demna and his creative team during the last year, through both, the collections of Vetements and Balenciaga. In addition to silhouette inspirations from Vetements’ FW 2016||17 [left above], Rodolfo Paglialunga seems to have taken for his Jil Sander SS||2017 [right above and below] also other collections designed by Demna into consideration, for example in terms of styling, his creative direction debut at Balenciaga for FW 2016|17 [left below].



Friday, October 7, 2016

INSPIRATION Vetements SS||2016… Mulberry SS||2017

The Vetements effect this season is all around us and this is just one of many posts that will follow. Gvasalia's collections are causing a huge ripple effect in the the creative work of designers, in the industry and the consumers. Nobody and nothing is safe, from silhouettes to colours to garment types to styling and to color palettes, it is out there. In this case the asymmetric shirt-dress from SS||2016 [left] might have inspired the ensemble designed by Mulberry’s Johnny Coca [right] for SS||2017.




Sunday, October 2, 2016

INSPIRATION Yves Klein 1960... Céline SS||2017

Fresh from the runway comes an eye catching art inspiration transplanted by Phoebe Philo from canvas on graceful flowing gowns. Todays Céline show was all about body shapes and volumes, therefore the electric blue Yves Klein print [right] stands out like an anthem to the concept of the collection. The blue body shape is inspired by the painting series “Anthropometrie de l’époque bleue” from 1960 [left], produced by having nude women douse themselves in his signature blue paint before they imprinted and dragged their bodies across canvases in front of an audience. To see the performance please click here. I wonder if Philo got the inspiration after visiting this years "Performing for the Camera" exhibition at the Tate Modern where many Yves Klein performances were documented.  




Friday, September 30, 2016

INSPIRATION Issey Miyake Pleats Please.... Jil Sander SS||2017

Rodolfo Paglialunga has been the head of Jil Sander for two years now and in my opinion he, together with Raf Simons, is one of the creative directors who understand Jiline’s design DNA. But is he already out of original ideas? The faux pas to get so close [right] to one of fashion’s most recognisable designs: the Pleats Please of Issey Miyake [left], comes quiet as a surprise. So far only fast fashion houses dared to copy this Japanese creation, first launched in 1993. Made from single pieces of high quality 100% polyester fabric, the innovation behind Pleats Please is that  clothes are first cut and sewn together two-and-a-half to three times larger than the finished garments. Individual pieces are hand-fed into a heat press sandwiched between two sheets of paper. The garment then emerges with permanent pleats.