PARIS (Reuters) - Stella McCartney sent models down the runway in sporty but sophisticated school girl outfits on Monday, as cutesy collars and flouncy skirts found an anchor in classic English tailoring and rich country tweeds.
The British designer presented a winter ready-to-wear collection that was young, fun, feminine and light in the spectacular grand ballroom of the Hotel de Ville, Paris' city hall, with its soaring painted ceiling, imposing arches and ornate chandeliers.
McCartney described the collection as English countryside meets 'urban energy, color and shine.'
'It was very much the country girl discovering the urban edge,' McCartney told Reuters TV backstage, adding that she tried to 'mix the two worlds together but in an unexpected way.'
At the end of the show, McCartney's ex-Beatle father, Paul, raised his fist in triumph, while singer Alicia Keys, her first time at Paris Fashion Week -- 'It's like magic!' -- gushed.
'It's so beautiful, the colors are so vibrant but still so sophisticated and chic and strong,' Keys told Reuters TVd 25, will be the new fa. 'I just love her whole style so I'm really glad to be here.'
A PLAYFUL POP
Hem-lines were short, torsos were tight, and electric blues and white whites gave a pop to silhouettes that still felt sensible.
Panels of stretchy blue fabric and glossy blacks were sewn together with warm tweeds in a streamlined patchwork to create body contouring, flirty dresses with flouncy hems span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_133. The look was sensual, smart and sporty, complete with a peek-a-boo of skin behind the shoulder.
The collection felt fresh and playful, with a nod of irreverence.
Blue and white striped collars, as one might see on a varsity letter jacket, found their way onto boxy coats and a herringbone below-the-knee suit dress.
Pretty little white collars in white organza popped up from necklines, swirling white embroidery adorned crepe bodices and sleeves, and jacquard -- which can look overworked and old -- felt young in precisely tailored long royal blue blazers.
McCartney is one of the few high-profile designers to refuse to use fur and leather, on moral grounds11_8'Paris Fashion Week/span . In relying instead on crisp fabrics, her clothing escapes much of the heaviness and outrageous excess one sees at winter collections.
Stella McCartney brand is a joint venture with French luxury and retail group PPR, whose brands include Gucci, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen3-5, 2011) where she . PPR said last month that operating profit from its luxury operations rose 34 percent in its fourth quarter.
(Additional Reporting By Cindy Martin, editing by Paul Casciato)
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Monday, March 5, 2012
Miyake's shrink-wrap pleats delight Paris
The hiss of a steam iron set the tone as Issey Miyake sent out an ingenious line-up of shrink-wrap pleated dresses at Paris Fashion Week on Sunday, the latest find from the ever-inventive Japanese house.
Old-fashioned irons in hand, black-and white clad assistants stepped onto the runway, where rectangles of pleated fabric were suspended at regular intervals, and proceeded -- to the audience's delight -- to steam them into shape.
Designed from a new house textile dubbed steam-stretch, the clothes morphed into body-contouring jersey dresses and the pleats pulled in around the figure, more or less depending on the garment pattern.
One became a short green-blue dress with close-fitting ribbed bodice, but with puff sleeves and cupped shoulders -- created from the parts of the pattern that were not responsive to the steam.
Another became a floor-length red and tan sleeveless pleated dress, flared slightly at the ankles, for a casual, gently contouring look.
'It's an instant technique -- a bit like microwave foodrding color, there we. It's ready straight away,' the house's young womenswear designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae told reporters through an interpreter backstage.
After the theatrical introduction, Miyamae sent out a string of pleated creations, from dove grey jersey dresses to draped coats and jackets, worn with chunky boots -- both high and low -- in black, tan and gold.
Among other eye-catching novelties, thick 'waffle' coats were woven to resemble grids in black or white, with gold or turquoise glimpsed through the gaps, creating a 3D impression of depth, above geometric-patterned wool pants.
Miyamae earned warm applause for the playful collection, which had the legendary New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham grinning broadly as he snapped the last few colourful silhouettes from his front-row seat.
This article is brought to you by MATCH.
Old-fashioned irons in hand, black-and white clad assistants stepped onto the runway, where rectangles of pleated fabric were suspended at regular intervals, and proceeded -- to the audience's delight -- to steam them into shape.
Designed from a new house textile dubbed steam-stretch, the clothes morphed into body-contouring jersey dresses and the pleats pulled in around the figure, more or less depending on the garment pattern.
One became a short green-blue dress with close-fitting ribbed bodice, but with puff sleeves and cupped shoulders -- created from the parts of the pattern that were not responsive to the steam.
Another became a floor-length red and tan sleeveless pleated dress, flared slightly at the ankles, for a casual, gently contouring look.
'It's an instant technique -- a bit like microwave foodrding color, there we. It's ready straight away,' the house's young womenswear designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae told reporters through an interpreter backstage.
After the theatrical introduction, Miyamae sent out a string of pleated creations, from dove grey jersey dresses to draped coats and jackets, worn with chunky boots -- both high and low -- in black, tan and gold.
Among other eye-catching novelties, thick 'waffle' coats were woven to resemble grids in black or white, with gold or turquoise glimpsed through the gaps, creating a 3D impression of depth, above geometric-patterned wool pants.
Miyamae earned warm applause for the playful collection, which had the legendary New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham grinning broadly as he snapped the last few colourful silhouettes from his front-row seat.
This article is brought to you by MATCH.
Fashion is for fun at Kenzo in Paris
Hands on hips, the US model Karlie Kloss glided down an elevator, shaking her mini-skirt to a punchy soundtrack, at the start of Kenzo's autumn-winter runway show on Sunday, day five of Paris Fashion Week.
Showcased inside a 1960s Paris university, its walls coloured orange, pink and yellow, the latest look by Kenzo's design duo, the New Yorkers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon brightened up a wet, blustery day in the French capital.
Models slid down the elevators criss-crossing the interior courtyard, four-storeys high, walking round its corridors in patterned trenches, neon stiletto heels, animal-print sweaters or wool coats with colourful knit sleeves.
The design duo explained they used home decoration as the starting point for prints on raincoats and jackets, suggestive of a country interior like a grapevine motif set against black or white.
'We wanted this girl to know who she was,' Lim told reporters of the bold palette of blues, reds, bright greens or magenta, after greeting a long line of well-wishers including the hip-hop icon Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs.
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Showcased inside a 1960s Paris university, its walls coloured orange, pink and yellow, the latest look by Kenzo's design duo, the New Yorkers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon brightened up a wet, blustery day in the French capital.
Models slid down the elevators criss-crossing the interior courtyard, four-storeys high, walking round its corridors in patterned trenches, neon stiletto heels, animal-print sweaters or wool coats with colourful knit sleeves.
The design duo explained they used home decoration as the starting point for prints on raincoats and jackets, suggestive of a country interior like a grapevine motif set against black or white.
'We wanted this girl to know who she was,' Lim told reporters of the bold palette of blues, reds, bright greens or magenta, after greeting a long line of well-wishers including the hip-hop icon Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs.
This article is brought to you by FREE PERSONALS.
Wrapping up in style: Paris looks to arctic winter
The fashionable crowd won't be caught out twice: after this year's arctic cold snap in Europe, Paris Fashion Week designers are rolling out sumptuous cashmere and deep fur to keep warm in style next winter.
Jean Paul Gaultier sent out a graffiti-inspired ready-to-wear line Saturday night to the edgy sound of the Velvet Underground, with coats that were an overt challenge to the anti-fur activists at animals rights group PETA.
On single models the French designer mixed up fox, mink, Mongolian lambskin -- a deep, shaggy fur -- and goatskin, while a stunning bright orange mohair coat had fur sleeves in the same tone, along with pink or blue fur jackets.
A trompe l'oeil knit dress had sleeves growing from the hips and knotted at the front, while a black and red velvet bustier dress extended at the ankle into a slate-grey stole that was thrown back up over the shoulder.
Gaultier was also one of the rare designers to show puffer jackets this season -- in a gesture to people who need a 'really warm coat'.
Mink and fox topped the wish list for fur lovers at the ready-to-wear shows, although rabbit was a less ruinous way to keep out the chill, printed in bright colours or with a leopard motif like at Isabel Marant.
Britain's fashion icon Vivienne Westwood on Saturday imagined coats in Mongolian lambskin, to be worn over a tunic dress in dusty pink mohair and platform boots with chunky crocodile heels.
Westwood's show was brimming with poetic touches, like a model balanced on a bicycle, in a corset adorned with ostrich feathers, or a bride covered in tulle, a bunch of mimosa on her arm heralding the arrival of spring.
Deep coat hoods were there to hide from the cold, while tweed jackets had large lapels to keep the shoulders warm, paired with boyish leggings, buttoned along the inside seam.
Japan's Tsumori Chisato took the fashion crowd skiing, with a playful collection inspired by a recent ski holidays in Switzerland.
'I loved the cable cars,' said the designer, who used her holiday snaps to create original prints for the collection.
But no anoraks, please: for the designer, skiing is no excuse to look a mess.
Ski poles were used as minimalist motifs on a pink coat with blue sleeves.
Blouses and dresses were printed with child-like fir trees or a red cable-car, while photographs of snow-heavy tree branches or a ski run decorated dresses, like a tongue-in-cheek invitation to wrap up and get mountain-bound.
At Cacharel, where the Chinese duo Ling Liu and Dawei Sun were showing their second collection, the focus was on coats, warm outfits in wool or felt, and sensual knit dresses that wrapped up around the neck.
And the Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf sent out sculptural coats that alternated between deep fur and fitted bands of fabric around the body or sleeves, in a collection inspired by the moon.
US pop star Katy Perry sat front row with bright blue hair as the models stepped out with fur trim on their shoes, highlighting their sleeves or running down the side of tuxedo pants instead of black satin.
Fur was also embroidered onto sheer, lingerie-like long black dresses, that suggested a brothel from the American Far West.
This article is brought to you by ONLINE DATING.
Jean Paul Gaultier sent out a graffiti-inspired ready-to-wear line Saturday night to the edgy sound of the Velvet Underground, with coats that were an overt challenge to the anti-fur activists at animals rights group PETA.
On single models the French designer mixed up fox, mink, Mongolian lambskin -- a deep, shaggy fur -- and goatskin, while a stunning bright orange mohair coat had fur sleeves in the same tone, along with pink or blue fur jackets.
A trompe l'oeil knit dress had sleeves growing from the hips and knotted at the front, while a black and red velvet bustier dress extended at the ankle into a slate-grey stole that was thrown back up over the shoulder.
Gaultier was also one of the rare designers to show puffer jackets this season -- in a gesture to people who need a 'really warm coat'.
Mink and fox topped the wish list for fur lovers at the ready-to-wear shows, although rabbit was a less ruinous way to keep out the chill, printed in bright colours or with a leopard motif like at Isabel Marant.
Britain's fashion icon Vivienne Westwood on Saturday imagined coats in Mongolian lambskin, to be worn over a tunic dress in dusty pink mohair and platform boots with chunky crocodile heels.
Westwood's show was brimming with poetic touches, like a model balanced on a bicycle, in a corset adorned with ostrich feathers, or a bride covered in tulle, a bunch of mimosa on her arm heralding the arrival of spring.
Deep coat hoods were there to hide from the cold, while tweed jackets had large lapels to keep the shoulders warm, paired with boyish leggings, buttoned along the inside seam.
Japan's Tsumori Chisato took the fashion crowd skiing, with a playful collection inspired by a recent ski holidays in Switzerland.
'I loved the cable cars,' said the designer, who used her holiday snaps to create original prints for the collection.
But no anoraks, please: for the designer, skiing is no excuse to look a mess.
Ski poles were used as minimalist motifs on a pink coat with blue sleeves.
Blouses and dresses were printed with child-like fir trees or a red cable-car, while photographs of snow-heavy tree branches or a ski run decorated dresses, like a tongue-in-cheek invitation to wrap up and get mountain-bound.
At Cacharel, where the Chinese duo Ling Liu and Dawei Sun were showing their second collection, the focus was on coats, warm outfits in wool or felt, and sensual knit dresses that wrapped up around the neck.
And the Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf sent out sculptural coats that alternated between deep fur and fitted bands of fabric around the body or sleeves, in a collection inspired by the moon.
US pop star Katy Perry sat front row with bright blue hair as the models stepped out with fur trim on their shoes, highlighting their sleeves or running down the side of tuxedo pants instead of black satin.
Fur was also embroidered onto sheer, lingerie-like long black dresses, that suggested a brothel from the American Far West.
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Sunday, March 4, 2012
Givenchy's Hard Core Chic
If one had to pick a designer who is setting the fashion agenda above any other this season it is very much Riccardo Tisci of Givenchyn house to span class='yshortcu.
His sizzling, hard-core chic, fall 2012 collection staged in a college in north Paris Sunday night, March 4, also announced the comeback of a triumphant sexuality in today's fashiony of the span class='yshortcuts'.
Opening with tough, cool, all-black lambskin leather cocktails and striking redingotes finished with superbly cut masculine tailoring touches - tails, reverse lapels and back pockets - the show was a hit from the get-gocation/span Elle,fr, Casiraghi foll.
Tisci injected all his signature references - religious insignia, military boots, dramatic earrings and a certain Renaissance flourish - into some fantastic looks span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1330696711_.
Beautifully cut coats came with multiple panels - worsted wool, chiffon and sleek silk - often finished with mink sleeves or elbow femme fatale high gloves696711_6'Gucci Masters/span --. Done up with dark brown eye shadow and dark mauve lipstick, the models strutted with tremendous self-confidence down the catwalk, illuminated by three huge fluorescent rings hung from the rafters of the high school gymncess of Monaco/span and daughter of span clas.
No other designer is more clued into current club culture and kids than Riccardo Tisci, who took his bow dressed like an uber-cool street tough-nut himselfst edition (December 3-5, 2011) where. Just back from a trip to club capital Berlin, where he visited the legendary Panorama Bar, Tisci inserted a tough and dangerous vibe into his clothes as in his dragoon's leather boots and dessert plate sized earringsootsteps of span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_13306. Influences one only sees in an after-hour club where the prevailing message is that anything is possiblean -- including the last e. In Tisci's able hands this feeling turns into actual clothes and merchandise and his multi-colored fur bombers, always including his signature red, and lace-trimmed dresses will be sure to lead a generally luxurious and mannishly tailored season into a darker and tougher directionharlotte Casiraghi/span, aged 25, will be t.
'Guy Bourdin, equestrian and late Berlin,' explained Tisci in a packed backstage, referring to the legendary surrealist French fashion photographerss='yshortcuts' id='lw_1330696711_1'Evan Rach.
Before the most celebrity packed front-row of Paris so far, it felt like a defining moment for this designeroung equestrian show . Suddenly, Givenchy is the hottest act in town.
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITE.
His sizzling, hard-core chic, fall 2012 collection staged in a college in north Paris Sunday night, March 4, also announced the comeback of a triumphant sexuality in today's fashiony of the span class='yshortcuts'.
Opening with tough, cool, all-black lambskin leather cocktails and striking redingotes finished with superbly cut masculine tailoring touches - tails, reverse lapels and back pockets - the show was a hit from the get-gocation/span Elle,fr, Casiraghi foll.
Tisci injected all his signature references - religious insignia, military boots, dramatic earrings and a certain Renaissance flourish - into some fantastic looks span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1330696711_.
Beautifully cut coats came with multiple panels - worsted wool, chiffon and sleek silk - often finished with mink sleeves or elbow femme fatale high gloves696711_6'Gucci Masters/span --. Done up with dark brown eye shadow and dark mauve lipstick, the models strutted with tremendous self-confidence down the catwalk, illuminated by three huge fluorescent rings hung from the rafters of the high school gymncess of Monaco/span and daughter of span clas.
No other designer is more clued into current club culture and kids than Riccardo Tisci, who took his bow dressed like an uber-cool street tough-nut himselfst edition (December 3-5, 2011) where. Just back from a trip to club capital Berlin, where he visited the legendary Panorama Bar, Tisci inserted a tough and dangerous vibe into his clothes as in his dragoon's leather boots and dessert plate sized earringsootsteps of span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_13306. Influences one only sees in an after-hour club where the prevailing message is that anything is possiblean -- including the last e. In Tisci's able hands this feeling turns into actual clothes and merchandise and his multi-colored fur bombers, always including his signature red, and lace-trimmed dresses will be sure to lead a generally luxurious and mannishly tailored season into a darker and tougher directionharlotte Casiraghi/span, aged 25, will be t.
'Guy Bourdin, equestrian and late Berlin,' explained Tisci in a packed backstage, referring to the legendary surrealist French fashion photographerss='yshortcuts' id='lw_1330696711_1'Evan Rach.
Before the most celebrity packed front-row of Paris so far, it felt like a defining moment for this designeroung equestrian show . Suddenly, Givenchy is the hottest act in town.
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITE.
John Galliano: Ladylike Erotica
If any designer is having a good fashion season it has to be Bill Gaytten, whom after a highly accomplished show for Christian Dior two days ago, staged a suggestively seductive collection for the house of John Galliano on a rainy Sunday, March 4, in Parisd oriental and Western refer.
Inspired by English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, this fall 2012 collection was thoroughly revealing, and not just because the chiffon fabrics outlined the elan figures of the clever casting, but also for unveiling Gaytten's ability to create clothes in the Galliano style tailoring in the cut of pants and jackets, .
This veteran designer, who worked for Galliano for over a decade and a half, wowed from a Tudor era start, with alluring drop-dead sexy silhouettes, mixes of see-through chiffon and courtly costume silked out in Elizabethan-i. Combining mini capes, slinkily cut bias cut cocktails and micro pleat skirts, the models marched out into the all-black setting through a cloud of dry icettes stepped out in Eliza.
Gaytten also managed to riff on the Galliano tradition of deconstruction though with his own touch, keeping it tougher and adding fox fur arms and panelsshortcuts' id='lw_1330538305_0. Done up with matching tights, garter belts and saucy padded booties, the models emoted all the way down the runway, clearly enjoying the edgy sexualitysaid he sought to blend or.
For winter, Gaytten plans to wrap his ladies in mohair plaid, cut like Restoration dandies, though underneath the whole semi-sheer look kept the mood red hotart Renaissance hunting . Beardsley, known for his erotic fantasies, obsession with mythology and famed images of Salome, would have loved this showt were overlaid with apron-like breastpl. It re-ignited his love of sexuality, and the power it grants womeno the span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1330538305.
The designer was also blessed with some fantastic hats from Stephen Jones, fabulous assemblies of peacock and crow feathers jackets, Sculptural little hats balan. Add a cast that clearly loved the clothes and this was a sure-fired hit for Gaytten - a perfect finale for this quiet Englishman, who lingered happily at his bow, the audience applauding lustily.
Inspired by English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, this fall 2012 collection was thoroughly revealing, and not just because the chiffon fabrics outlined the elan figures of the clever casting, but also for unveiling Gaytten's ability to create clothes in the Galliano style tailoring in the cut of pants and jackets, .
This veteran designer, who worked for Galliano for over a decade and a half, wowed from a Tudor era start, with alluring drop-dead sexy silhouettes, mixes of see-through chiffon and courtly costume silked out in Elizabethan-i. Combining mini capes, slinkily cut bias cut cocktails and micro pleat skirts, the models marched out into the all-black setting through a cloud of dry icettes stepped out in Eliza.
Gaytten also managed to riff on the Galliano tradition of deconstruction though with his own touch, keeping it tougher and adding fox fur arms and panelsshortcuts' id='lw_1330538305_0. Done up with matching tights, garter belts and saucy padded booties, the models emoted all the way down the runway, clearly enjoying the edgy sexualitysaid he sought to blend or.
For winter, Gaytten plans to wrap his ladies in mohair plaid, cut like Restoration dandies, though underneath the whole semi-sheer look kept the mood red hotart Renaissance hunting . Beardsley, known for his erotic fantasies, obsession with mythology and famed images of Salome, would have loved this showt were overlaid with apron-like breastpl. It re-ignited his love of sexuality, and the power it grants womeno the span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1330538305.
The designer was also blessed with some fantastic hats from Stephen Jones, fabulous assemblies of peacock and crow feathers jackets, Sculptural little hats balan. Add a cast that clearly loved the clothes and this was a sure-fired hit for Gaytten - a perfect finale for this quiet Englishman, who lingered happily at his bow, the audience applauding lustily.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Haider Ackermann's Sculpted Chic
Ackermann's shows became must-sees several years ago, so the presentation of his fall 2012 collection in Paris City Hall drew an elite pack of every important editor in town for the French pret-a-porter season20300_5'JIKI/span, based in Monaco, span class.
A question had remained about the scope of Ackermann's talentg /strongDerby shoes, because they . He cuts brilliantly, has an uncannily good sense of color and is a marvelous image maker, yet the very elaboration and complication of his designs was beginning to appear an impediment'lw_1330520300_2'Christian Lacroix/span and has . There was a growing refrain that it was often hard to even work out how to put on his clothesved to be in the field, d.
Not anymorert in fashion assist. The clothes he presented today, while dripping in drama, were entirely comprehensible and clearly far more commercial I would have loved to see Grace.
For fall, this Columbian-born, Dutch-raised designer wants women in courtly dress - surgically cut shantung boleros, medieval condottiere leather coats or biker jackets with padded tails definitely a matter of taste, but black leather p. Something always ripples and curls in an Ackermann outfit, whether it's a leather peplum or twisting insect like extensions to leather coats or a twirling Obi beltss='yshortcuts' id='lw_13305. Though the contrast between his petal like jackets and his mega strict pencil pants has never been strongerway, There's a quality of timelessnes.
Composed of mottled versions of mud, titanium, ochre and cooper, and staged with an almost religious solemnly, this more restrained version of Ackermann was a hit show and collectiony 28-March 7), span cl.
"I wanted to show that the clothes can be wearable and still be beautiful," the designer explained post show.
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