Monday, September 27, 2010

'There is no blue without yellow and without orange' (Van Gogh)

All the Italian fashion powerhouses delivered their S/S 2011 collections with a colourful punch during Milan Fashion week, surpassing London and New York.
The message is loud and clear: next season is going to be very colourful. 


Pucci



Costume National



Gucci



Fendi

Etro



Prada



Jil Sander



 Missoni



Versus




Moschino



Max Mara



Marni



Versace



Thursday, September 16, 2010

Rad is RAD!


With no formal training in fashion, Jordanian- born Rad Hourani started out as a stylist in Montreal. In 2007, after 2 years of residing in Paris, he started his namesake label. Rad is not influenced by trends nor dictated by seasons and cites 'gender-agnosticism' as his main design dogma. His clothes are androgynous, versatile and mostly in shades of  black and grey.


F/W 2010

'I’m not very influenced by a country, or a nationality or a race or whatever it is. I’m interested in a world that has no limits, no nationality, no country, no division, and I think we’re all one of the same thing'.

His clothes can be worn as separates or layered with other fashion pieces. Check out Rad here.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Wintour vs. Gunn

Anna Wintour, editor- in -chief of American Vogue since 1988.
Not to be messed with.


Tim Gunn, best known as a mentor in Project Runway. 
Taught at Parsons from 1982-2007.
Has a deathwish.


Tim Gunn just recently released a book called Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work and in it, amongst other things, he spills a LOT of beans about c*ntish diva behaviour in the fashion industry. And one of the said divas is Anna Wintour, THE most powerful woman in fashion. 
While at a Peter Som event in 2006, Tim Gunn and a friend witnessed Anna Wintour being carried (yes you read that right) down the stairs by her bodyguards. Mama Wintour has an aversion to getting in elevators with other people, you know!!!! Tim obviously thought it would make for an interesting read and included it in his book. If I had witnessed it myself, I would've taken pictures and blogged it! So as to be expected, Anna blew her blow-dried top and asked her director of communications to call Tim Gunn to demand an apology for implying that 'Anna didn't know how to work a Manolo.
Tim is standing his ground, refusing to apologise and said that 'she is an adult and should take responsibility for her own behavior'. But he now jokes that he's been enrolled in the Witness Protection Program because of Anna's fury.
When asked for a comment, the Vogue team said 'Tim Gunn has a very vivid imagination. There is no truth to any of this'. 

Ding! Ding! I think Round 1 goes to Tim Gunn!!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Mass-elitism is all the rage


Kaiser Karl has pulled out of his signature collection show that was supposed to be shown during Paris Fashion Week next month to concentrate on a fashion line he calls 'Masstige', an amalgamation of mass and prestige. 

'I've wanted this for a long time' said Lagerfeld. 'I can't compete with Chanel. I don't want to be the poor-child of myself.'  The range, which will consist of clothing, shoes and accessories 'will be affordable for everyone. My dream is to turn the whole house of Lagerfeld into this kind of mass business'.

The range will essentially be sold online, a first for Karl Lagerfeld. Expect the range to come out mid to late 2011.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

An Evening with Nicholas Kirkwood


A couple of months ago, a little bird told me that Nicholas Kirkwood was coming to town to launch both his F/W 2010 and his Keith Harring- inspired collections. I've been foaming at the mouth since then, and after what seemed like a very long wait, I finally met Mr. Kirkwood last Thursday at a party thrown in his honour at OnPedder.


Referred to by ones in the know as just 'Kirkwoods', his shoes are the hottest fashion accessory, worn by famous celebrities and women with cash to throw. The Keith Harring collection is just one of the many collaborations under his belt alongside Erdem, Liberty and Rodarte. Kirkwood is known for his avant- garde shoe designs, especially the sexy sky- high architectural heels. They are unique and a breath of fresh air amongst the Louboutins, Manolos and Choos, which can seem quite Deperate Housewife-ish at times. Come 7th of December, Nicholas will go head to head against Camilla Skovgaard and Emma Hill (Mulberry) for Best Accessories Design in the upcoming British Fashion Awards. I'm quite certain that Nicholas will take the award home.


As to be expected, there were cocktails and champagne. OnPedder really knows how to throw a party. The bite-sized food they had on offer was delish! The visuals, as always- especially the Kirkwood installation- was stunning! Great creative talents under this roof, definitely.





We watched as Nicholas quietly entered the room. He seemed quite shy at first but once you start talking to him he actually is a very friendly, quite relaxed and very down to earth sort of guy. People were just dying to speak to him. I tried very hard not to act like a crazed fan. I wanted to pick his brains about a lot of things but as I mentioned, there were throngs of people waiting to speak/touch/have their photos taken with him. My friend and I spoke to Kirkwood for as long as we could, occassionally being interrupted by the in house photographer and other people. I was so nervous I kept gulping my champagne. In the end I was grabbing the waiter by his collar, demanding a refill! 

So here is how the conversation with Nicholas went:

Me: Hey Nicholas, welcome back to Hong Kong! Are you finding it too hot just now? 
NK: I'm not finding it too bad as I'm being ferried from one air-conditioned place to another...but it is definitely hotter than London!
Me: So where did the OnPedder team take you last night?
NK: I was taken to Dragon-i and some bar afterwards. Can't remember the name.
Me: How long are you here for?
NK: I'm here till Saturday!
Me: Not bad, innit...
NK: No, not bad at all. This is my 3rd outing to HK. I do quite like it here.
Me: Hmmm, yes. It's not too bad.
NK: No, it's not.
Me: Adding flat shoes to the Fall/Winter collection is a quite a nice surprise...

*click, click*  *flash, flash*

NK: Er, where were we.... ah yes, the flat shoes are nice and surprised a lot of people. Hellooo?!
Me: Oh sorry, was just stuffing my face with smoked duck breast.
My friend, A: Yeah I really like the gold metallic brogues.
NK: What's your shoe size?
My friend, A: 43!
NK: *ponders for a few seconds*
My friend, A: *waiting and full of hope*

*more clicks and flashes*

NK: Hmmm, am afraid I don't do them in that size.
Me to A: Well done for having massive feet!
NK: *laughs*
Me: I am a big fan!
NK: *looks down at my feet* I see you have YSLs on.
Me: Er, yeah. Don't you just love them?!

*cue waiter with mini cones of ice cream*

Me and my friend, A: Hmmm these are delicious! You want some Nicholas? 
NK: No thank you.
Me to Nicholas: You're not drinking?!
NK: Maybe later, luv. I can tell you two have been drinking a lot though! *laughs*
Me and my friend, A: Us?! Naaaaaah....

*a guy forced his way through to us and introduced some floozy to Kirkwood*

Guy: Hey Nicholas, sorry, but I just wanted to introduce you to blah blah blah.
Me: *giving the guy evils*
NK: *shrugs his shoulders and looks at us*
Me: Well it's been lovely talking to you! Enjoy the rest of your stay and avoid assholes like that guy in front of you!
NK: Will do!

My friend and I partied on as there was still champagne to be drunk. It was fun meeting and talking to Nicholas. It was also fun bumping into the usual crowd as this made me look as if I knew everyone! After a while both my friend and I had to sit down as we were wobbling all over the place. There was a group of British and European housewives all in their blow-dried and Deperate Housewife-ish glory, giving us disapproving looks. Fuck you and your Birkins, I muttered under my breath. Although one of them, who had a Kristen McMenamy look going on, gave me a smile.

We went outside for a breath of fresh air only to find that it had been raining heavily. We bumped into more people and drank the last drops of champagne in our flutes. Having had enough to drink, we decided that it was time to go home and went back in to say bye to some friends, giving the housewives and their Hermes a wide berth. They may have felt like a million dollars that evening but what I had safely stowed away in my Stella McCartney clutch was my invite to the party that Nicholas had signed. Now, that to me is priceless.