Monday, July 29, 2013

INTO IT… the Delft porcelain patterns

Blue and white prints have been around since a while now, but a only a certain type of pattern really keeps to come up season after season: the Dutch tile inspired motifs for which the city of Delft is famous. Delft is well known for their Delftware, other than to be the city where the painter Johannes Vermeer was born. Delftware or delft pottery refers to blue and white and tin glazed pottery made in and around Delfts. The colors of the porcelain products are inspired by the imported Chinese porcelain (bone china) of the 17th century, which have been imported by the Dutch East India Company, while the motifs are changing.



Friday, July 26, 2013

INSPIRATION Hussein Chalayan SS||2013... Alexander Wang for Balenciaga FW 2013||14

Alexander Wang must have been terrified by the thought of becoming the new creative director for such an important French heritage brand like Balenciaga, what a responsibility! Imagine the pressure he must  have been under for his debut collection, also because he had to succeed the amazing work of Nicolas Ghesquière. Might he have looked up some of the PFW fashion authorities during his research? If yes, that could be the explanation why some of his details and patterns for FW 2013||14 [all rights] seem to be inspired by Hussein Chalayan's SS||2013 collection [all lefts].



Wednesday, July 24, 2013

INSPIRATION Zara SS||2013… Dion Lee resort SS||2014

Can this be true or am I missing a step? Might this be the first time Zara could be the victim (!) of a rip-off? Fact is, that these white asymmetric Zara shorts were in the stores this summer [right], while the same looking white asymmetric skirt by Australian designer Dion Leer has been presented just recently within his resort SS||2014 collection [left]. My doubt is, that there might be an even earlier and original version that I did not have come across.



... Some time of research later I've found my missing step: the original asymmetric skirt version has been designed by Dion Lee for his SS||2012 collection [left] and after becoming a kind of IT-item it has turned into his signature skirt. Still I am asking myself if the creation of the new resort SS||2014 skirt [right above] has been influenced by the success of Zara's version of it.



Saturday, July 20, 2013

INSPIRATION Raf Simons for Jil Sander SS||2008… Raf Simons for Christian Dior SS||2013

Every designer has an acclaimed style and his distinct signature in every design he creates… that can remain unchanged even in different  creative director positions... as we can observe in the work of Raf Simons for Jil Sander SS||2008 [left] and Christian Dior SS||2013 [right].



Wednesday, July 17, 2013

INSPIRATION Twiggy 1966... Christian Dior SS||2000

This picture of sixties super model Twiggy wearing a dress made out of newspapers [left] might have been an inspiration to John Galliano's hobo-chic collection for Christian Dior SS||2000 and a specific newspaper print featuring news on Galliano himself [left]. Newspaper dresses were huge in the 1960s,  they were made of actual newspaper and would of course get ruined if it rained.



Saturday, July 13, 2013

INSPIRATION Comme Des Garçons FW 2007||8… Hussein Chalayan SS||2010

The Minni Mouse gloves outfit, designed by Rei Kawakubo for Comme Des Garçons FW 2007||8 [left], exhibits a strong similarity to a white jersey gown with surreal ceramic fists clutching the drapery, of Hussein Chalayan's SS||2010 collection [right]... both beautiful!



Friday, July 12, 2013

INSPIRATION Albert Einstein 1951… Céline SS||2013

Albert Einstein, also a fashion genius? It appears this way, ... at least from this picture from 1951 where the theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity is wearing some comfortable furry house slippers [left], which might have been an inspiration to Céline's SS||2013 odd fur-covered stilettos in bight yellow [right].



Wednesday, July 10, 2013

INSPIRATION Mademoiselle 1970… Dries van Noten SS||2013

This wonderful country side editorial from Mademoiselle magazine, photographed in 1970 by Gosta Peterson [left], might have been the inspirational picture for the folk mood of Dies van Noten's SS||2013 summer tartan collection [right].



Sunday, July 7, 2013

INSPIRATION Lino lo Pinto 1974... Mary Katrantzou FW 2012||13

This wonderful graphic dress representing an Olivetti typewriter designed in 1974 by Sicilian designer Lino Lo Pinto [left], here photographed by William Connors for Vogue Italia, might have been an inspiration for Mary Katrantzou for FW 2012||13 collection [right].


Thursday, July 4, 2013

INTO THE ARCHIVES... Madeleine Vionnet 1930 and Vionnet SS||2013

Whenever arrives a new creative director at an heritage label like maison Vionnet, the debut collection is most likely based on a strong archive exploit and the SS||2013 collection, designed under the new creative director Goga Ashkenazi is no exception. Madeleine Vionnet, the inventor of the bias cut and asymmetric necklines, has created this wonderful goddess dress in 1930 [left] and it is still more than up to date and wearable today in its re-elaborated version [right].