You are here: Home / Archives for Fashion / Designers

Panelled armour clothing

August 4, 2011 by

It’s rather obvious that I’ve been away from things for a while, first with travelling, then with moving house, then waiting to get internet connected (a month without!!), and finally getting a new puppy. Sometimes there are more important things to do than spend time on the internet, yanno?

But as things have setlled down, I’ve found myself with a little breathing time, and am playing catch-up with blog-reading, retail shopping and finding inspiration. Checking out Luisa Viaroma, I drooled over this amazing dress from Gareth Pugh.  I’ve always loved the futurist/armour look, and in matt black it is much more subtle than the shiny silver slashed dress and leggings of his earlier collection. The jacket is there too – and also out of the reach of mere mortals pricewise – but each of them is SO wearable!

 

Moving on from one type of fab panelled garment to another,  Artifice Clothing  has an exciting new range of cyber panelled pvc clothing with trim that glows in the dark!  There are corsets, shrugs, bra tops, collars and wrist cuffs to complete the look. White shows the glow-in-the-dark nature really well, but black always has a classic look – see for yourself!

See the website for more covered up options as well.

For the guys, there’s always SDL which has been doing cool armour clothing for years. Like these tops:

 

The bug panelled bodices for both genders are also very cool:

If panelled bodices/vests with shoulder pads are more your thing, for a Mad Max look, try these babies:

 

And now, for more panelled-clothing drooling…..

Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Blog entry, Designers, Fashion, gothic fashion Tagged With: , , , , ,

Nozomi Ishiguro 2011/12 Haute Couture collection

April 20, 2011 by

One of the Japan Fashion Week shows I that most wanted to see, which was rescheduled for April 15th was Nozomi Ishiguro.

That the collection was Autumn/Winter made it no surprise that fur and shearling was used liberally – but in surprising ways and with splashes of colour that proved Winter doesn’t have to be about grey and black. Bright corals and reds add pops of vibrant delicious colour with hints of regal majesty.

Rich in textural detail, outfits featured shearling skirts and long shaggy shearling boots bound with buckles, but paired with lace leggings for lightness and contrast. Knitwear is artfully distressed, as if unravelled through wear and perhaps battle.

Ishiguro used quilting to great effect, lending a futurist almost cyber look even when paired with shearling or folk details. It reminds me of Burberry Prorsum’s biker pants and jackets, except Ishiguro takes it a step further, fashioning almost a breastplate in the men’s jacket – instant six-pack, anyone?

The warrior armour motif continues in the men’s looks with the use of metallic blacks & greys, luxe silver knit that signifies chain-mail, fur pant overlays and totemic tribal touches – although the tall pilgrim hats on some models seem at odds with the theme to me.

Overall there was a Mongolian warrior meets the 21st century theme. I loved the long shaggy fur coats and boots, but found the furry flat shoes less successful.

Even the ubiquitous camel coloured coat is given an edgy makeover in Ishiguro’s hands, when paired with an intricate belt as befitting an urban warrior, as well as sequinned lapels, a lacy ethereal blouse and drapy pants. Likewise a camel knit skirt is unravelled and paired with an intricate folk print jacket – and platform stripper shoes! There is nothing safe about the use of camel in this collection.

One of my absolute favourite looks is the black and white striped confection below, for its Tim-Burton like aesthetic and its kookiness. Even just the headscarf alone, with the shaggy fur tufting up like a bleached dread mohawk, is intriguing, although I can’t see anyone rushing out to buy the dress with the half fur/half knit skirt – or are they pants?

There are numerous looks to love, as well as a few to ponder over. The folk-futurism of the collection is certainly memorable if not always wearable. What do you think? What are your favourite looks, that you’d wear (if money were no object?)

* Photos from Fashion Snap, but you can see the entire collection at the Nozomi Ishiguro website.

Filed Under: Designers, Fashion, Japanese Fashion Tagged With: , , , , ,

Neon Brights & Coloured Tights

April 6, 2011 by

I have been vastly influenced by the neon brights and colour blocking coming off the runway at the various Fashion Weeks, already filtering down to the high street (albeit slowly). And so it was on my o/s trip that I went searching for some neon staples, if you will; some brightly coloured mainstays and accessories to zoozh up my impending fall/winter wardrobe. (Let’s face it; I often buy a lot of black, even on my Japan trips).

As mentioned in a previous post, I managed to find a pink faux-leather biker jacket from Sasch on level 5 of Noon Square, Myeong-Dong, Seoul, as well as  a glorious orange skirt with great pocket detailing from Zara, also in Noon Square.

   

 

Next up I went shopping for bright footwear….once again in Seoul, but this time in Hongdae, right near where I was staying. One was a pair of that yellow-green colour platform shoes, with contrast faux animal skin.

  

And the other pair were coral heels with a slight platform in front, again in the faux fish or snakeskin.  They went really well with the pink and orange outfit, being a shade between the other two.

  

So that shows you can buy cool things in Seoul – mind you, I really had to look for them! Well, in Hongdae there are a lot of great boutiques and shoe stores, but in some of the shopping malls, it was hard to find the middle ground between high end items and budget/nasty ones. For me, Level 5 of Noon Square was one of the best.

Moving onto Osaka, from Love Boat I bought a groovy turquoise biker jacket, and a neon yellow-green transparent cincher:

  

While in the bag department, at OPA I nabbed a leopard print beauty with orange trim – to go with my orange and pink outfit, natch!

 

The store I bought it from was “Dith” – you can buy the label through Rakuten – Dith store here.

I spied some great wide belts in bright colours at Salire in Osaka….and so when I got to Tokyo, nabbed a few at Salire in Lumine Est, Shinjuku.

 

But I did buy at least one item from Marui One…on sale at Yosuke USA I fell for this purple suede pair of vintage looking boots, from the Leche line. They’ll work nicely with a victorian or Dolly Kei look. A size 24 or medium, is still available on sale at Rakuten.

And finally, the tights. There was a shop in Shibuya 109 that had soooo many patterned tights, I was in heaven. Not only the infamous Celeste Stein, but also a brand called Look from London. At around $45 each, they weren’t cheap, but I can’t find these in Australia.

Of course they look better out of the packet, so here they are.

 

Obviously flat products don’t look very exciting, but I’ll be using these in upcoming outfit posts..although some are still coming over from Japan in boxes, sent so I wouldn’t have excess baggage. What are your faves, or ones you’d like to see me put in an outfit?

Filed Under: Blog entry, Designers, Fashion, Japanese Fashion, Outfit posts, Travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

Kamishima Chinami

March 12, 2011 by

Kamishima Chinami is another show I’m looking forward to during  Japan Fashion Week A/W 2011-12.

Having launched her label in 1998 she showed her first collection in 2002, and opened her first store in Aoyama in 2004. Since then, she has had no less than 10 collections at Japan Fashion Week.  The most recent being….

The Spring Summer 2011 collection

In this collection her use of voluminous wigs proved distracting to some but certainly gave edge!

My favourite pieces were the more clearly eastern influenced ones with obi sashes or painterly, almost calligraphic floral prints.

 

 

Khaki coloured military or safari style jackets were paired with tight obi belts, feminising and softening the look, just as leather skirts toughened up flowing floral silk blouses:

 

There were quirky plays on texture as tight smooth skirts were paired with loose knitted tops covered in a multitude of ruffles in the divine coral colours of  a savannah sunset. Or dresses had form-fitting tops with the textured ruffles from the waist down.

 

Overall there was a lightness and an ease about the collection, seen as the models strode together down the runway:

Or see for yourself:


Even more interesting to me are some previous shows.

I especially loved the Spring Summer 09 collection which had somewhat of an African theme. The use of raffia (recently done by Sass and Bide, see last pic) reminds me of Masai headdresses. Some were in desert colours of ochre, while  black and cobalt blue were also used to striking effect.

 

 

Astonishing things were also done with safety pins to create unbelievable texture, the effect of which is couture, not punk, in aesthetic.

 

Filed Under: Designers, Fashion, Japanese Fashion Tagged With: , , , ,

Style Icon Ms Fitz

March 4, 2011 by

One of the truly quirky fashionistas who has been influencing me to wear clashing prints and colours, as well as baggy pants, is the inimitable Ms Fitz. She has a very inspirational blog, http://themsfitz.blogspot.com.

I just look at her outfits in amazement – they are so stunningly individual, and complete, and maximalist, and renegade and BRAVE. She WILL wear clown pants, she WILL wear a fur bag on her head as a hat, she WILL draw on a monobrow when it suits her, and throw caution to the wind when it comes to prints and fluoro colours. She doesn’t have that much cash, often wears thrifted/vintage stuff, and often wears the same items over and over (like the pink fur bag).  See for yo’self:

    

  

   

  

* Many of her portraits are by Thom Kerr and Elvis Di Fazio.

For those who don’t know her, she is an aussie fashion stylist now living in New York…and doing bloody well, too! She’s also Fashion Director at IN*Tandem Magazine, and is working on her new neon jewellery line and debut EP.  Busy!

On her inspirations:

“My style is inspired by my philosophies toward fashion—that fashion is for everybody, that fashion is an extension of your attitude toward life and that your own style is something valuable and beautiful. I’m currently inspired by my travels around the world.”

On how her style has evolved through the years:

“A lot, I hope! Otherwise I’d still be wearing MC Hammer pants. Oh wait…I am. Actually, my style evolves constantly; my inspiration changes all the time. But the common theme is that it is tongue-in-cheek, contrary and colorful.”

Here’s a vid of her modelling some looks for Time Out magazine:

She also has a regular feature called The Avant Guardians! She brings us exclusive “What I Wore” posts from people who rock incredible, genre busting looks everyday. I have to agree, both these and her own looks are the sort of looks you see in Harajuku, in the street style snaps.

You may not like all her looks (lord knows I can’t stand the vintage Coogi knit she wears, as an aussie who lived through the horrors of it in the 80’s), but you can’t help but be arrested by her use of print and colour combinations. She encourages me to be more zany and daring in what I wear, and I hope you’ll have a look at her site and be similarly encouraged. Fashion is bout expressing yourself and having fun, right? Let me know what your fave looks are.

Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Blog entry, Designers, Fashion Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »