MFW AW12: GET CAPE, WEAR CAPE

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Given the amount of angst which capes cause when they're in the shops ("Where do you put your bag?", "The wind's blowing up it!") one sometimes wonders why designers persevere with them. But then you see them in their purest form, hung upon models with hands empty, perhaps save for a clutch bag and on a warm, wind free catwalk and we are once again seduced. This happened in Milan where capes popped up all week. There were long, swooshing cloaks and cute short capelets, plus everything inbetween.We love the grand, dark capes offered up by Dolce and Gabbana and Gucci, but Marni and Moschino showed a cape doesn't have to signify doom and gloom....

At Dolce and Gabbana, there were capes in all guises but they all contributed to the show's take on Catholic opulence- a cape hints at priests' cassocks and nuns' habits.

Dolce and Gabbana AW12

Dolce and Gabbana AW12

Gucci was goth with glamour. The capes were styled with jodhpur trousers, even if there were embellished with a ton of crystals,  and riding boots. These looks make me think of the  'Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse'.

Gucci AW12

Gucci AW12

Marni and Moschino offered up brighter versions of the trend. Marni's red belted version is modern day Little Red Riding Hood while Moschino is blinged up 60s Park Avenue Princess- the mandarin collar is a sweet detail.

Marni AW12

Moschino AW12

Etro's capelet, with Tudor red ruffle neck, is more structured. If you're not sure about the swooshing required of a larger cape, this is a nice compromise. This is what, one hopes, Elizabeth I would wear if she were alive now.

POP: THAT GUCCI GIRL

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Just before Christmas, the lucky Fash Ed got to spend a day in Rome with Gucci designer, Frida Giannini. The resulting feature is in the new issue of POP which is out now. As we looked through the shoot this morning, we thought there was something very AW12 about the look of this collection, like it skipped over SS12's pretty pastel girliness and instead acts as a precursor to the dark, gothic elements which were so strong in Milan.

And the interview, though I may be biased, is a must-read insight into Frida's ability to combine the archives at her fingertips with the commercial edge for now.

All images from POP SS12 edition

NANCY CUNARD: A RELUCTANT FLAPPER & GUCCI'S UNLIKELY MUSE

Guest Post by Victoria Loomes

Nancy Cunard

At the Gucci show yesterday, Frida Giannini’s show notes - which cited her inspirations in detail - made for some interesting reading. Her Roaring Twenties homage was, she wrote, an attempt to “explore an optical side of femininity by creating a sculptural glamour for the Gucci woman”. But jarring against the easy jazz age familiarity of Louise Brooks and Man Ray, one name stood out ­– Nancy Cunard. The surname comes with connotations of luxury cruises…but Nancy? Who’s she?

Gucci SS12

Of course she was rich. Her father was Bache Cunard, the heir to the Cunard shipping business. Of course she was beautiful. During her youth, her beauty captivated writers and artists. In Anne Chisholm’s extensive biography, David Garnett recalled her “skin, as white as bleached almonds, the bluest eyes one has ever seen, and very fair hair. She was marvellous.” Later in life, Nancy became obsessed with primitive art, and wore African ivory bracelets stacked up each slender arm from wrist to elbow. Anthony Hobson recounted how “conversation was punctuated by their rhythmic clashing.”

Nancy, a woman who liked a bangle, and a finger wave

Michael Arlen based Iris March, a character in his best-selling novel The Green Hat (1924), on Nancy. Aldous Huxley, in the throes of unrequited passion sealed Cunard’s fate as ‘muse’ in Antic Hay, in which Myra Viveash owes more than a passing resemblance to Cunard. But it was in Paris that Nancy found her calling, becoming increasingly involved with provocative and fashionable artists. Her influence among the Dadaists led founder Tristan Tzara to write and dedicate Mouchoir de Nuages to her, sculptor Brancusi immortalised Nancy in Jeune Fille Sophistiquee. It was the Surrealists however, who truly captured Nancy’s attention, notably co-founder Louis Aragon, who was to remain a close friend for much of her life.

Nancy posing against a very this season polka dot screen

Yet Nancy was much more than a muse. A published poet, founder of the Hour Press, publisher of avant-garde and experimental literature, she was a passionate journalist, and a fearless traveller, but her greatest, and most controversial, achievement was Negro. Published in February 1934, this hefty tome (almost four years in the making) recorded ‘the struggles and achievements, the persecutions and the revolts against…the Negro peoples’ as she herself wrote in the foreword. In a limited run of 1,000 copies, Negro included around 250 contributions from over 150 writers, and was born out her relationship with Henry Crowder, an African-American jazz pianist who hailed from Georgia – a relationship that almost caused her mother to disown her.

Gucci SS12

Recently, shades of the uncompromising personality that Nancy personifies have crept onto the catwalk – these strong women coloured their lives with a splash of assured glamour, a little decadence and an unwavering self-belief.

It started at (where else?) Prada, last year. Spring Summer 2011 saw Miuccia send her models down the runway sporting the distinctive finger waves that Nancy favoured throughout her life. Styled by Guido Paulo, hair was teased into waves around the face, curved round the ear and moulded to the head, throwing the features of the models (themselves chosen by Miuccia for their striking distinctions) were thrown into sharp relief. 

Prada SS11

Fast-forward a season and Mary Katrantzou chanelled the strength and spirit of these women, albeit from a different source. Her striking interior prints were indebted to the stylish apartments of Cunard, Chanel, Vreeland, Paley et al – and their eclectic living spaces were simply an extension of their strong-willed personalities.

Nancy Cunard may be an unlikely fashion muse, but her particular blend of pioneering fearlessness is one that captivates contemporary designers. Her refusal to be defined by glamour and class may now seem inconsequential, her list of achievements overshadowed by an impressive roll call of lovers, yet a remarkable and enduring legacy remains.

Nancy died on March 17, 1965, aged 69, in a Paris hospital where she was being treated for mental illness and alcoholism after being found on the street, destitute, a few days earlier. She weighted 26 kilos. In her healthier, happier days would have recoiled from the epitaph of style icon, but there’s no denying that she is one, and it’s time she took her place among the greats.

Find more of Victoria Loome's writing at http://www.girlsdofilm.wordpress.com/

Photographs of Nancy taken from Nancy Cunard: A Biography by Anne Chisholm

FLORENCE + THE GUCCI MACHINE

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Gucci's was the number one most influential catwalk collection for Autumn/Winter 2011. Frida Giannini is on a roll. From a high fashion perspective it was a slam dunk in evey way - the colours, shapes and silhouette's will have a massive uptake at red carpet events globally for the next six months. And just you wait until you take a stroll to your local high street retailer - those colours, shapes and silhouettes - ops, I mean clothes inspired by them - will be everywhere. I've seen the evidence.

Luckily for us, we can enjoy the purity of the design as it was intended before the stylistas of the world ruin it with overkill, by taking in these rather fabulous photos of Flo on her American tour. I hope Flo brings out some new material soon...in the meantime this new material suits her just fine.

Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine performs on stage at Central Park SummerStage on June 24th , 2011 in New York City.

Flo works her chiffon as she opens for U2 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, Wednesday, June 29th , 2011.

Flo offers up her best Kate Bush impression at Spartan Stadium on June 26th , 2011 in East Lansing, Michigan.

Photos: Courtesy of Gucci/Getty

RESORT 2012: THE BIGHEADS ARE BACK!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Oh, I just couldn't resist the lure of a Big Head post! What better way to celebrate my favourite looks from the Resort 2012 collections, I ask you?  It is a bit "look at me" as so many blogs and fashion editors columns are these days but Susie Lau, Lisa Armstrong, Jess Cartner Morley and Polly V have so much fun starring in their own personal fashion shoots, why not join in? This way I get to be skinny and jump around a lot in nice clothes without lifting more than a few fingers on photo-shop (well, ahem the Fashion Junior does that, so I can't lay claim to the effort). I've been confined to bed all week due to a rather unexpected turn of events so have had ample time to peruse the resort SS12 collections and formulate exactly where fashion is going. Here are my top ten personal picks.

Max Azria

The easy cotton shirt, tracksuit-ish trousers and little retro looking pumps are so SS12. Trust that sporty vibe

Celine

Phoebe is still leading the pack with her work. Love the trilogy of shirt, trouser and sporty jacket in an all over wallpaper print on black.The sporty track jacket is delicious.

Celine

Mmmmmmmmmmm.... Makes me want to break out  my copy of White Women by Helmut Newton

Gucci

I am a confirmed fan of Frida Giannini's work.Think what you like about that, as I'm not your cookie-cutter Gucci girl. This dress is proper great. I'm also in the market for a Gucci handbag. I haven't bought a designer bag for over a year because I cannot find anything I like enough.

Kors

This outfit has my name all over it, except the shoes. NO to them. I still love pink trousers, a year after first seeing them

 

Preen

Thea, Justin? Remember when I saw you the other night and said I loved your Resort coll? Well, this is my favourite outfit. OK?? (Mel, stop fantasising)

 

Vuitton

Marc has been doing patterned pajama's at Vuitton for a while. A lot more people are doing them now (Celine, Jonathan Saunders, Thakoon, Gucci to name a few) but his are still my favourites. I could do with a pair of these now, for looking stylish against the pillows, and enable me to pop up for yet another blood test looking cool)

Jason Wu

This guy is fast shaping up to be my second favourite New York designer

 

Lanvin

This is luscious

Lanvin again!

If you're going to buy a jumpsuit, this one with a matching turban has to be the ultimate. Looking at it makes me dream of the social events I might attend in it, and the things I would get up to and sod that its white. 

Photos: style.com

OUR PICK OF MFW AW11 - FASHION JUNIOR

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

The Fash Ed is currently negotiating the busy streets of Paris, and I am sure she will have plenty of insider gossip to report upon her return next week. In the mean time, this is the time of year when we analyse every look from every collection - and I mean every look. Before we get swept away in the glamour that is Paris Fashion Week, it's only fair to give Milan it's due attention, so here are my personal picks.

(Before anyone chides me on the high ratio of black outfits, Milan Fashion Week generally only offers three options: black, sparkly, or both. So it's a wonder that I found any colour at all!)

Dolce and Gabbana - a collection of two halves, and what truly awesome halves they were! On one side, the girlish and glamorous, on the other, tough tomboy chic with added retro-ness (see below). Everyone is raving about the floaty star print dresses, but this turquoise glittery number really sparked my imagination. I like how it's a simple, glittering block of colour that you can style many ways, and the long sleeves earn extra cool points.

 Dolce and Gabbana (part II) I couldn't limit myself to one pick from this collection. Having never been one to shy away from a sequin, I am drawn to these spectacular trousers, and enjoy the contrast with the masculine Teddy boy coat. An outfit for days when you feel a bit La Roux-ish. Did I mention the boy shoes?! Brogues and sequins; like I said, awesome!

 

Sportmax. A lovely treat for the eyes at the end of a fairly minimalist collection; this flamboyant embroidery is just wonderful when combined with the sheer chiffon and neutral colour. I like how covered up it is too, with that appealing midi length and long sleeves (again). Librarian chic, nice.  

Antonio Marras. Another tricky collection to pick just one look from, it was full of 1930s inspired midi-dresses, in a palette of black, navy and cream, topped off with genuinely wrinkly Nora Batty stockings. I don't know why that is a good thing, but trust me when I say it is! But this outfit was primarily chosen for those fantabulous shoes: platform, peep toe, granny-strap, old-fashioned RED DREAMS. They even match my lipstick!

Pucci. Something worrying has started to emerge from Milan - the return of the Afghan coat. Seventies chic is alive and well, but that is one trend that I cannot cope with. The furry collar and hem of this decadent jacket alludes to that late Seventies look, but is a little more chic than a shaggy old Afghan. Pucci, on the whole, seems to be getting stronger and stronger, a real favourite here at FEAL HQ.

Gucci: wowarama. This collection was full on, in your face glamour, with lashings of snakeskin, fur, chiffon and colour. Teals, purples, turquoises; Frida Giannini has dictated the shades of the season. So if you are going to pick a red carpet dress, why look anywhere else? Anything that floaty and floral instantly brings out my inner Kate Bush, which is always fun!

Check back for the Fash Ed's picks, and no doubt updates from Paris!

All pics: Chris Moore Catwalking.com