You are currently browsing articles tagged Fall 2009.
In the wake of financial turbulence husband and wife design duo Swaim and Christina Hutson found themselves lost without a backer, Green Day bassist and money man Mike Drint pulled the plug on their Obedient Sons and Daughters line last year. Yet the pair proved resilient and had been secretly working on their own collection all the while. They presented Hutson, a new project that continues their signature sartorial wit with collections for men and women for Fall 2009.
Alex Galan, Oliver Helden, and Paul Marlow have quietly herded their Loden Dager collaboration along never before beckoning publicity with the hype of a runway show until now. Slow and steady wins the race. For fall they presented a scarce 14 looks, thickening out the march with some womenswear, you wonder why they even bothered and not have just left it to a lookbook. LD’s clothes are subtle, understated, and lack the drama you expect for a catwalk. In a way though, it’s the negative, that pared down elegance that lends itself to menswear and to these bleak times that made the prospect of their clothes in motion exciting.
DON’T STOP NOW »
I opted to see Karen Walker instead of going to the Patrik Ervell show thinking that a higher production budget and feminine extravagance would make for more entertainment. And besides, I wasn’t sure I needed to go to the show to see what I anticipated would be another set of air jackets and slim suits. Patrik’s collections have a continuity that is commendable, never using theme or seasonal tangents to jeopardize his design integrity. His aim is to offer classic practical pieces that can be worn beyond the perceived obsolescence of any fashionable trend. It was due to my own shortsightedness that I assumed this way of working meant repetition. So of course when I asked about which shows everyone enjoyed the most it was without surprise and to my regret when every editor, stylist, designer, and photographer enjoying the week as either businessman or spectator named only one menswear show as a standout of NYC, Patrik’s.
At the presentation I spoke with the editor of a particularly keen men’s fashion journal who didn’t understand Tim Hamilton’s aesthetic, he said he “didn’t get it” preferring the more sedate collection from Patrik Ervell. My explanation was that he should look at Tim’s background as a designer, all the years he spent at Ralph Lauren working on their concept team and the vintage research he did there. Hamilton’s penchant for historicism is a key part of his collection, taking century old details and shapes, reinterpreting them in modern fabrics, placing it into a world so estranged it feels quite radial despite that its DNA has been laying dormant in standard contemporary men’s dress for a century or two. For example, the nipped in waist of the glistening trench coat, evocative of the corset’s that men wore in the earlier part of the 19th century, a fossil marking the all forgotten fanciful possibilities men once earnestly engaged in. Or the knit leggings taking a cue from men’s sleepwear of days past briskly awakened into modernity and the lifestyles we live now. The collection however, was inspired by the early 20th century Viennese Weiner Werkstatte design movement but that only seemed to be a point for departure.
It all culminates into a look that is part steampunk and part new romantic with the harder looks moving towards new wave. The 80’s were after all a decade full of historic references re-imagined for an over stimulated and confident society. Add on top of that lux fabrications that rival anything from the most indulgent European brands and you have something quite special and unique. Certainly Hamilton’s clothes are not the most accessible in either their look or their price point and they’re not supposed to be. But they are truly desirable. Hamilton is surely one of the most promising menswear talents on either side of the Atlantic.
*images by Shawn Brackbill for Dazed and Confused
There’s been a growing feeling here in NYC that excitement and some resemblance to the glory days of the city’s creative industries are coming back. It’s contradictory of course to the current economic times as a recession clouds cast a gray shade over all of us. But it’s in the darkness where the motivation to find the light emerges.
Loeffler’s clothes are very much about darkness and the embracement of the mysteries within. Fall 09 was her second season showing and she kept up the same loose, light, and raw energy from spring. Her collection was done in a sampling of grey wools, distressed leathers, and gossamer chiffons, each carrying the feeling of lightness due to the fabric itself or the way she effortlessly draped it. The palette was simple in black, grey, and some saturated inks of blues and purples. Her inspirations are worn on her sleeve taking a cue from designers like Rick Owens and Anne Demeulemeester who pioneered the neo-gothic/deconstructivist aesthetic. Yet Iris’s voice serves more to augment and contribute than merely approve of those before her. Her work is more primal with its raw edges and uneven hems, done of course in the most luxurious of fabrics. The clothes have a frankness to them, an honesty that makes them alarming and yet so extremely accessible. Not to mention, that wrapped up in Loeffler’s unassuming folds and drapes any girl could carry a sense of chic all her own.
The fact that in NYC you can have a designer like Loeffler and like minded jewelry designer Victoria Simes (who also designs for Maria Cornejo) engaging a fete through the whirl of fashion week with German beer abounding, fashionistas enjoying each other’s camaraderie, and the dark sparkle of deep disco blasting through the space while a video of the collection projects across the crowd, is perhaps a sign that NYC still has something to say, something to feel, and people who are ready and willing to experience.
DON’T STOP NOW »
The show was set at St. Mark’s Cathedral and the monastic chanting that played as guests filled in hinted at the collection’s mood. Even before the first look, the sunlight pouring through the stained glass windows evoked a sense of calm pious reflection. To little surprise it was the monastic quality of the church and its ecclesiastical confluence of uniform and ceremony that proved to be a starting point for Telfar. Taking a cue from the strict lines of clergy attire Telfar used this inspiration to add his own touch to active wear jackets, leggings, and jumpsuits, boldly imagined for the youthful and daring – worn with Dr. Marten variations on Mary Janes. The stark effect was only hampered by what seemed to be fit problems, tailored clothes lacking the required precision giving way to pull lines and seam pucker. The clothes would have perhaps been more compelling if they were as soft as the vibe the rest of the presentation gave. Still, the practical essentialist nature of the pieces will be sure to be a hit with Telfar’s usual customer and perhaps for those who have been too reserved to attempt his clothes before.
The collection is currently on view in an installation at EVA, 355 Bowery
*images by Shawn Brackbill for Dazed and Confused
Paris Men’s Fashion Week Fall 2009: Fabrics Interseason by Wally Salner and Johannes Schweiger, Damir Doma
The nature of the avant-garde, a word frequently and obnoxiously misused to describe costumey gimmicks, is that it is the future. The references are never of the present or grossly accessible which is why those who are quick to judge and not think will immediately label any clothes they don’t understand with this term. But the key idea behind the avant-garde is that it will come to pass, it is the forward guard breaking through the limits of dress and societal expectations laying the groundwork for their ideas to ripen and others to adopt. It’s not about theatrical collars, crazy hoop skirts, or slashed up ripped up black bondage, that’s only in the movies (and project runway).
The avant-garde is in fact so practical, so wearable, so in tune with our needs and dreams that we won’t ever notice until we’ve found it in our own wardrobes 5 years after the fact. That’s what an observant eye will do for you. Rick Owens, for example, embodied the avant-garde spirit in the late 90’s and early 2000’s with his raw slabs of fabric swathed around the body, exuding a jagged softness, a muted edge, and an aesthetic that is now being copied across the board from Jil Sander to DKNY to BeBe in cowl neck wrap cardigans and asymmetrical motorcycle jackets.
In Paris, amongst the throngs of the establishment and the incubation of rebellion, a subtle discourse has been brewing. A new set of designers, young and restless, have been engaging a way of design that is part reactionary and part historical. It’s a reaction against the artificial nature of contemporary fashion and the codes that have become meaningless in an environment that rewards copying and sameness. Some are calling it “anti-fashion”. It’s historical as it looks back to past eras, to ethnic wrapping, Japanese innovation, to medieval ceremony, and a late 70’s exasperation of the body. Time will tell what their influence will amount to but their presence and their voice is seeping into the air. Let’s all take a deep breath.
…and, it’s a good example of the kind of influence a focused and clever stylist can pull…
First two photo sets from Fabric Interseason’s Fall 2009 collection. Last three are from Damir Doma. Presumably all styled by Samuel Drira.
Paris Men’s Fashion Week Fall 2009: Raf Simons
Raf Simons began as a fashion designer taking inspiration from the nuance of adolescent life in Belgium, from all the boys he knew, their bodies, their music, their perspective on the world. Now, at almost 15 years the boys have become men and perhaps that’s what set the framework for the collection. The first few looks out were variations of a standard suit in all its impeccable glory. Interesting considering Simons’ early collections where essentially the same: standard tailoring with subtle yet provocative improvements. It’s as if after so many collections moving away from that basic grounding Simons wanted to remind us that a well done jacket and pant is just as compelling as any fanciful futurist vision. And at a certain point in the show he aggressively showed us their contrast and then dissolved them into each other and into something new.
The rounded shoulders and stiffness of the neoprene saddle sleeves elaborated on the silhouette proposed at the Jil Sander show. It marks a significant menswear development that’s been underway in womenswear for a few seasons now: shoulder emphasis. In the same way a strong shoulder announced a certain level of confidence in the 40’s and 80’s it has come back with such sudden newness that the timing can only be right. The suit’s matter-of-fact attitude is embellished by the absurdly dominating frame.The impact of the shape heightened by the bold color blocking (yet another trend cemented in the season) reads as menacing and alien yet in true Simons style it’s only a matter of time before its presence is felt all across.
Paris Men’s Fashion Week Fall 2009: Dries Van Noten
The Fall 2009 season has shaped up to be as dark and dreary as the world’s economic outlook. Interpreting the somber mood with palettes of blacks and grays designers propositioned clothes that matched rather than contrasted the grim view. Leave it to a Belgian with a penchant for color and vivid celebrations yet all too familiar with the overcast of northern European life to offer the most compelling color story of the season. In a paradoxical spectrum of saturated neutrals and muted brights the Dries Van Noten show managed the sensitivities of bold chroma while never forgoing wearability and practicality.
It’s a testament to the value of color in times like these, its ability create a sense of innovation, optimism, and seduction. It’s to Dries’ credit he understood that kind of subtle power. The clothes were clean and utilitarian mirroring the show’s setting at the Communist party headquarters. Double-breasted overcoats and belted vintage military jackets paired with essential menswear basics, each resting on the strength of their uniformed formality, became definitive of the ease and simplicity that so many designers strived for but only a handful achieved. The sophistication and complexities of Dries’ colors and the clothes dyed in their hues are sure to find themselves all over the spring 2010 catwalks come June.
Photos: frillr.com
Milan Men’s Fashion Week Fall 2009: Burberry Prosum by Christopher Bailey: In the looming shadow of economic doom the megabrands are scurrying to keep their customers shopping and to maintain an aura of luxury that won’t dissolve when the pressure finally lets off. So it was peculiar when Christopher Bailey reintroduced Burberry’s signature Nova check onto their Prosum catwalk. Considering Bailey has been fruitfully pulling the line away from vulgar overt branding and has instead
DON’T STOP NOW »
Milan Men’s Fashion Week Fall 2009: Jil Sander by Raf Simons: Broad rounded shoulders, the nip in the waist, and architectural fabrics superbly tailored like hot steel hammered in the forge, fashioned into the man of tomorrow. It evoked the feel of the 20’s- the raised waist, bell flair at the hem of the jacket, and the era’s startling modernism. Yet like his women’s spring show, it denied any implications of recession modesty opting instead for Weimar Chic.
DON’T STOP NOW »
