the best of the rest of london a/w 2009

so at this point, you've basically discovered the best of london through the eyes of yours truly (20/20, if you ask me). i want to wrap up this amazing season for london with a couple note-worthy designs by old favorites as well as up-and-comers.

mark fast
the breakdown: cutouts, knitwear, surrealism.

(more)

ann-sofie back
the breakdown: slashed knitwear, classic colors, zombified make-up, dreamcatchers? (love it)

(more)

mary katrantzou
the breakdown: optical illusions a la bridget riley, body con silhouettes, embellishment.

(more)

richard nicoll (i had a hard time editing the looks. it was a 40-something-piece collection)
the breadown: photographic screenprinting, architectural bodysuits, pinks/grays/metallics.

(the rest)

wow. what an excellent season for the brits!

louise goldin, london, a/w 2009

if i haven't made this clear on my various networking profiles, i will repeat myself and say that i love louise goldin. from her debut collection in spring 2007 to the present, she has constantly impressed me with her utilization of knitwear as a garment for all seasons. her exoskeletal creations have garnered a bit of press recently (rightfully so), being featured on british websites like topshop.com and recieving their much-coveted new generation funding. as a CSM graduate, nothing suprises me about her rapid succession towards fashion reverence. as for goldin's a/w collection, i was a bit disappointed by her limited use of color (actually, i think she used black exclusively), since she typically chooses tasteful and refreshing hues for her clothing, but in the words of karl lagerfeld in his recent interview in harper's bazaar, "black is the best color!" (more on that nauseating interview later).



view the rest here.

"I want to push knitwear to a future vision."
- louise goldin

an amazing cirriculum

my FIT cirriculum for the next two years:

sorted by course type, number, description and credits.

Semester 1:
SD 112 Textile color Fundamentals - 2
SD 113 Styles and Sources - 2
SD 121 Studio Practices - 3
SD 141 Nature Studies G6 - 1.5
TD 111 CAD Principles for Text. Des. - 1.5
TD 131 Woven Design - 1.5

Semester 2:
SD 122 Printed Fabrics - 3
SD 142 Advanced Nature Studies - 1.5
SD 181 Fundamentals of Screen Printing - 1.5
TD 132 Woven Design - 1.5
TD 133 CAD/Yarn-Dyed Woven Fabrics - 1.5
TS 111 Fundamentals of Textiles - 3

Semester 3:
SD 156 Intro. to Decorative Fabrics - 2
SD 224 Computer-Aided Print Design - 1.5
SD 228 Techniques for Fashion Fabrics - 2
SD 229 Screen Print Techniques - 2
FA 131 Life Drawing I - 1.5

Semester 4:
SD 253 Advanced Decorative Fabrics - 2
SD 261 Industrial and Studio Practices - 3
SD 271 T/SD Using Adobe Illustrator - 2
SD 321 Advanced Hand Screen Printing - 2
TD 237 Experimental Wovens - 2

love.

julien macdonald, london, a/w 2009

i'm a huge supporter of knits and wovens, and anybody who can successfully combine the two materials is the star of my liquid dreams. julien macdonald's fall collection is the perfect example of luxury knitwear. i see visible resemblances from balmain's spring 2009 collection and the fall collection of CSM branchild simone shailes. what i love most about this collection, though, is his ability to make a gown look chic, slimming and modern. so many gowns these days are incredibly over the top (i sometimes think marchesa falls under this category). these full-length dresses with the sexy slit down the front-side are perfection. i just realized that some of his pieces have an almost optical illusionistic effect. excellent.



view the rest of the collection here.

christopher kane, london, a/w 2009

mr. kane's design sensibility always errs on the side of the fantastic, whimsical (and at times questionably unwearable) end of the spectrum. i can't help but think he played it safe this season (compare this to, say, 3 seasons ago; remember that fabulous snakeskin?) i don't think his accounting for taste ended when he put down the shredded chiffon, though. the went-a-little-crazy-with-the-organza-hem-tape look fared well in the storm of hideous plaid and dowdy wool materials. oh, wait. is that plaid and wool i see in the first 10 looks? my, my. one can't have it all. but these dresses are beyond fantastic. i saw similarities between this collection and one of his fellow Central Saint Martins graduates, kinga malisz (who graduated in 2008, with a fabulous M.A. show under her belt), but i think kane edited himself to a more communicable degree.



view the rest here.

josh goot, london, a/w 2009

i fucking dig Australians. the quality of life they claim to posess reflects in the quality of ready-to-wear they produce. josh goot is a perfect example of this; although he moved from down under to the big apple and then big ben, the surf and turf still seem to be evidenced in the construction of his meticulous sportswear. and this season, i'm proud to announce, he finally gave me something i've been craving for the past couple seasons, which is a successful nod to 60's mod. i can't help but find the entire idea a little far-fetched and tired, but he blocked his blacks and whites in a manner that suggests a leap past contemporary, far far away from modern. the looks towards the tail end of the show also suggest a rugged sensibility that wasn't as evident in the first portion, and i think we can all agree that range is really our friend.



view the collection in its entirety here.

ozman yousefza, london, a/w 2009

ozman yousefza is underrated, but never overstyled. his overall design aesthetic seems stripped-down and uncomplicated, but it's his attention to slight detail that lends complexity to everything he does. i'm a bit upset about his lack of coverage in the nymag.com and style.com sects, but the trusty London Fashion Week site is always there when you need a soon-to-be staple to wear. i'm not suggesting the guy is a total unknown; i choose not to reiterate his design history, but to instead direct you to his LFW rap sheet here (warning: pdf format).

a few looks i found myself lusting after:

feel free to check out the rest of his show.

bardostone

how did i never make the connection before?!

lara stone & brigitte bardot.

i am such an idiot.

london shows, a/w 09

i was a little late in making the transition from a spill canvas for incredibly inane personal baggage to a minimalist-chic (although sometimes not) fashion blog thingy. i don't know. daul kim has a blogger. you know that?

i digress. anyway, the London shows finished today, and i must say that some of the looks i witnessed were positively heinous (read: select pieces from luella, vivienne, house of holland.) my aforementioned favorites have potentially reached the point of insanity.


"the breakers palm beach" is all that comes to mind. i feel like henry holland pulled back a lot for this collection, to his detriment. the shapes and silhouettes were interesting, but the horizontal stripes, fugly colors and strange monochromaticity left something to be desired. admittedly, those tights are fabulous; but they should be mutually exclusive to the outfit, to be sure. i like his nod in the direction of the minimalist characteristics of, say, calvin klein or jil sander, but come on! this is henry holland, not francisco costa. in the words of brian wilson, be true to your school.


dowdy as hell! i love vivienne westwood's constant utilization of fabulous, ethnically and anatomically diverse models in her shows, but she missed the mark in the flattering one's shape and mixing plaids appropriately department. that poncho looks pilled, and it's (supposedly) a brand new item! but that's why we love her, right? loving her overall aesthetic does not coincide with purchasing her designs, unfortunately. but cheers to pam anderson as the face of westwood's s/s 09 advert!


well, it is true that halloween comes around in fall; but i don't think it's appropriate for fall collections to mimic the same shit you can find in the pathetic halloween store that's only open 2 months out of the year. gold lame? really, luella? and the jumper is rather childish, too (not in the refreshing, "i feel seventeen again!" manner, either). i believe she missed the mark on both quality of construction and appropriateness of material. everything just seemed really cheap. be a recessionista in mindset, not in execution! just my opinion (which has been likened, like everyone else's, to assholes).

in summation, let's get one thing straight: what else could one desire from experimental fashion? everything was incredibly refreshing, despite some serious misses. i expect nothing less from my motherland. i cannot wait to fullfill my anglophile wet dreams in the not-so-distant future (but i'll have to make damn sure new york doesn't kick my ass first!)

favorites from the week will be published shortly.

oh-kay

i've been guilty of posting fashion-related things on my facebook that make most people want to gag, and considering this blog is basically an idle piece of shit, i figure i'd make fashionable use out of it.

so with that said, one question has been resonating in my head for the past 2 weeks: where in the world is lily fucking donaldson?

ps: thought i'd mention that i'll be attending the fashion institute next year for textile design. niggawhat?