During Milano ModaUomo I went to the Vivienne Westwood show in corso Venezia. The show featured a contemporary Ötzi, a kind of defrosted Neanderthal man, a traveller in elegant checked suits or fun sporty printed leggins, with backpack and coloured male melissa plastic shoes or embroidered house slippers.

The frosted beards were there to focus our attention on the responsabilities we have for dangerous ice melt in the world’s ecosystem.

I felt at home beacause Ötzi is austrian-italian as I am… so I went with no fear to the backstage right after the last model to meet him and get to know him better. Back there I made this video of andreas kronthaler, who wears a beard like he does and designs the male collection with his wife Vivienne, while he was explaining the reasons of the rainforest t-shirt all models were wearing for the finale (unfortunately this one was very hard to take sorry).

In between all the classical male fabrics I liked the colour accents and the crazy prints, but most of all I enjoyed having dinner next to Vivienne on a roof apartment later that night and chatting with the many austrians in her staff. I also got a push to go on with the little thing that can help the planet: I always annoy friends and collegues asking them to recycle, and sometimes I feel stupid too, but seeing her worry about left over plastic plates at her own party, taking care that they weren’t thrown away, made smile satisfied.

If I am, at least, I am a pain in the neck as She is!

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pics by paolocolaiocco more backstage pics on the fb page

pics by kristinnkis

“Narcissus so himself forsook,
And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.”
William Shakespeare

Raun Larose met Narcissus for his Autumn Winter 2011 collection creating chic and luminous designs.
Raun decided to go into menswear design because at 24 he was not satisfied with what the menswear market had to offer to him. So he started designing clothes that he, himself would wear. His mother, being a seamstress used to design high-end designs and would take him to fabric stores and let him watch while she worked. This was a great influence on Raun as a designer.

He studied at the Art Institute of NYC where he majored in women’s wear designs but later realized that menswear was his calling. Raun was there for the launch of Z-SPOKE by Zac Posen line as he interned with the amazing designer before and during the Paris Menswear Week. He didn’t make his collection according to a single style of man but rather he gifted his collection to all men of various styles who understand well from good design, tailoring and quality fabrics. Boyish charms are a hit of the season for sure but Raun Larose has outdone the menswear designers this season, he went beyond the classic style we’re used to seeing in the catwalk.

For menswear there is always less room for art in fashion than women’s wear, which considerably gives out the gap in the market. Larose designed a witty collection that involves well-tailored suits tostripy pieces of the First Mate and Valli-esque use of semi precious sheep skins.The boys will be boys attitude of Raun Larose’s designs, combined with the exceptional tailoring, has him jump off the paper. However, I think what makes Raun Larose really different and peculiar than the rest of the menswear designers we see on Mens Fashion Weeks is that he has the element of styling.

Besides the shapes, the colours, even the tailoring lies beneath the amazing sense of style. The stripy pieces layered with black slim fit pants combined with a shorter version of an accountant jacket. Or an above the waist thin belt to have a leaner silhouette and liquefying the harsh volume of the jacket. I love Raun Larose because of this sense of style and edginess to a very well known, kind of dull market. He plays with the limits of menswear to the extent of staying between having no face to one face; one man and every men: Narcissus.

You might enjoy his behind the scenes film of the previous collection.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Last week I had the luck to enter to one of the most exclusive areas in the 080 Barcelona fashion week: the backstage. Here s where I shared all the excitement, nerves and efforts of the designers launching their new spring summer 2012 collections at the historical building of the University of Barcelona.

Male collection award winner Karlota Laspalas delighted us with her white painted soldiers in her collection “Believe”, Women collection award winner Manuel Bolaño presented a colorful positively driven dramatic collection “How to heal a broken heart” full of tiny colored skulls, roses and daisies while black tears dripped out of the models eyes. New Zealander designer Ehud proposed geometrical structures in tailored pieces in contrast with technological fabrics and electric colors. Juan Pedro Lopez and his stunning muses floating in transparencies and silk braid dresses, Miriam Ponsa and her spontaneous living cloth dolls and the dessert and last show of the fashion week Krizia Robustella with her sweet and sticky “lick my ice cream baby” collection were some of the “main dishes” between other talented and well known designers such as English designer Omar Kashoura, Toni Francesc, the designer trio Brain and Beast, Steffie Christiaens, Yiorgos Eleftheriades, Mal – Aimeé, etc… Here some shots of some exciting moments at the backstage, more coming soon!

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Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending what I would consider one of the most eclectic fashion events of the year: SUB MODAFAD 2011, 15 looks of top ranked independent designers such as El Delgado Buil, Jan Iu Més, Krizia Robustella, María Escoté, Juan Vidal, Josep Abril, Juan Avalos, Cati Serrano, Jordi Espino, Georgina Vendrell, Natalia Laperche, Alba Gracia + Joan Taltavull, Mercedes Fernández and David Cabra all showing in a catwalk in the middle of one of the main metro stations in the center of Barcelona (Diagonal). This event was organized by MODAFAD, in a well received effort to let fashion meet the masses and approach great public locations. MODAFAD has been one of the most important event in propelling independent fashion designers, whose aim is to become internationally known for their experimental, avant-garde and diversified fashion. It is based in Barcelona but always open to local and international new proposals.

It s 8 PM on a warm Friday afternoon, immersed in fresh colors, sexy sheer fabrics, shiny materials and simply shaped garments; some occasional viewers are passing by breathing in a great atmosphere spiced with a cool beer: it’s going to be another amazing summer in Barcelona.

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After a full Spring Summer fashion shows in Europe and New York, it is Istanbul turning the spot light. New to the fashion world, Istanbul is growing greater by the minute especially with the collaboration of the emerging designers and ITKIB (Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporter Associations), forming Istanbul Fashion Week. Istanbul Fashion Week, a.k.a. , IFW has swept through fashion lovers in Istanbul. The four day event started with a breath taking party at the Energy Museum with designers from all disciplines, bloggers, critiques and editors on the attendance list. Better yet, the few really good designs of each designer attending the Fashion Week were showcased at this private party. And thus begins the design week. Simay Bulbul’s collection was one of the favourites at the Fashion Week along with Zeynep Tosun’s designs both in the Spring Summer show which hosted both upcoming and established designers. Many of them have caught a few of the trends from the European fashion capitals such as flowy skirts and silver sequins, and some of them like Gunseli Turkay kept it simple by sticking to what she knows best: the cartoon characters which identify the look.

Frames taken from Blog Markafoni

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One of the events I attended during Pitti Uomo in Florence was Liberty’s… In the unbelievable English Library on the ‘Rive Gauche’ of the Arno River.

The Men’s collection was featuring “happy” yet polite oversize scarves, with the typical floral prints, mixed and matched over tight tailor made jackets in precious fabrics, over comfortable and larger pants. Everything was warmly coloured in a palette which invoked an oriental taste, with its range of olive greens, greys, purple reds coming from Turkey, Morocco, Pakistan, beige and browns.

Beautiful dandies were reading books with nonchalance, in the dark atmosphere of the Library, or dancing to Egyptian nostalgic notes (on the spot translation courtesy of an egyptian waiter) together with the guests; reminding of a sometimes superficial yet cultural environment of the 20’s, between Europe and the British Raj.

Intimate elegance for smiling people.

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these last three pics by Vanni Bassetti, a DC friend

last four pics by Kristinn Kis at Doris Club, Florence

There’s no way to tell what it is like to watch a video on the ceiling of Orsanmichele in Florence, an unusual church that once was a granary, that opens a surprising insider view of the city.

Vanni has fortunately given DC some pics of the people (mine were horrible…I was too concentrated on the video) watching it lying on the floor, while desperate photographers and cameramen where trying to do their job in this unusual way.

It was the first Gareth Pugh video I saw on a presentation, and even if  some friend said that it wasn’t “that” new impression, the location gave it definitely something unique. So maybe that’s what Pitti events and Florence can give to fashion. Warm Oneness….and surprising myself….through the pictures of the photographer Kristinn Kis …also some club atmosphere (with Chicks on speed playing)  that even Gareth seemed to enjoy a lot! Have a look on her blog and you’ll see also Carson mcCall, musician and performer that worked a lot with Gareth Pugh.

I added for you the entire video by Ruth Hogben and an interview made some hours before by Luisaviaroma’s blog.

enjoy

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George Gray from Ambrogio Bergamaschi on Vimeo.

Blockbuster ideas created by fashion are unmistakably done by EAK. Her designs show the significance of the subconscious and the chaotic environment in between the double sided mind. Carrying elements of the mind, the collection is an awe towards anatomy. The hand crafted prints over the satin shows the true essence of the soul within the body and with every drop, every shade on the fabric many, many feelings comes out with the frill of fashion. I was one of the lucky few to have a chance to chat with this secret talent at a hip cafe where Venus is defined by her cow head and the bed spread is a wall hang consistent with her theme of the wonders of the subconscious. Eda Akpinar is a young mind who studied Fashion and Textile design in Istituto Europeo di Design Milano later to accomplish her life long dream, her ambition to be a designer, hence to create. Besides working for the Nike Italia Art & Football workshop, she also worked with the alternative fashion guru Hussein Chalayan. She, then put what she has learnt through great designers towards building her fashion label, EAK..
Her brand, EAK., was formed with both her initials and in 2008 EAK was launched in Magazzini Generali with a marvelous catwalk. The designs in EAK are quirky with a childish fun and a reminder of her childhood when she used to play dress up with her sisters. Thereof, I am sure that EAK will always remain being the contrast between things, ids and ideas- and between the conscious and the subconscious.

Eda Akpinar website
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-Recycle

We recycle plastic, paper, glass even animal waste nowadays. Although, recycling today is replaced by the organic movement on Martha Stewart’s list of make-it-yourself, but we can not ignore that we are moving towards a more nature based life, relating to the core of things. This young talent does things differently than other fashion designers on the loose today. Zeynep Engin uses her knowledge of fine arts and design into a different approach that is not only pretty in a traditional sense but also respecting of nature. Besides her brains, the education she got double majoring in Industrial Product Design with Fashion and Textile Design gives her the edge she needs in creativity, ability and forwardness. Her background includes working for a shoe design company which she made use of in her current collection.

What had started out as a futuristic concept turned out to be something a bit different than the usual fashion show for Zeynep Engin. She is a true believer that futuristic architecture, sculpture and design react similarly with each due to the common component; the cellular structure. Zeynep argues that the concept of any design is derived from the the simplest organism; cell and its structure as a result of its highly intriguing nature. As other masters she used the cellular structure which forms the core of every living thing and took it to a life size level for all to enjoy. Many different textiles were used to create the geometrical and futuristic designs including an unusual combo of leather and chiffon. On top of this, she used recycled leather pieces, which were the left-outs from her shoe designs and applied the shape to her fantastic designs while adding back to the nature  by recovering the pieces of her creations.

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Lilia

Lilia Poustovit is a woman with energy and light in her eyes. Right after her show she looked really happy to speak with me about herself and fashion, even if she had very little time because she had to run to Georgian fashion week.

She describes herself laughing as the “mother of new Ukrainian fashion”; she is really proud of her country and of the new projects going on; She wants her country to grow in fashion: she shared and shares her experience had in the late ‘90 in Paris, encourages new designers and is not afraid of sharing the stage. Kikot used to work at her studio.

I could see, speaking with her, how much she was feeling her work and passion. No shadows, no negative individuality.

I could perfectly see this attitude reflected in her second line, L.P by Poustovit, on Kiev Fashion Day’s Catwalk: it’s a collection made by a woman for a woman, soft and conscious.

Is there a Lilia in Italy? in France? in New York?

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