For Fall, Geek Chic Meets Glitz At Rodarte

As soon as I saw Rodarte’s Fall collection, I envisioned the model as a chick knee deep in books + tech gadgets, but trying to be sexy while wearing a turtleneck with everything.  I asked myself, ’Could she be too cold for being so skinny or is she trying to hide a zit on her chest, wearing a turtleneck under a sleeveless dress, with such a flattering deep front plunge?’, but then designers Kate + Laura Mulleavy told WWD it’s all about time travel.

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Both Mulleavy’s are products of the late Seventies + for this collection, childhood nostalgia prevailed as the impetus for such genius irony.  Laura explained to WWD that ‘Things you would imagine you wanted to wear when you were younger, or even just our understanding of the time period we grew up in,’ was the inspiration for the collection.  Don’t you just love these glittery utilitarian coats with fur collars?imageThe Seventies celebration kept going with crystal encrusted dresses (below, looks 2 + 4), along with a sweater decorated with crochet flowers (below, look 1).

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But the ultimate geek chic moment of the collection was, in two words, Star Wars.  Imagery from the designers’ favorite movie trilogy – Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, R2-D2 + Yoda – was printed on asymmetric draped silk charmeuse gowns.  It’s cool how the top of the dress with Luke Skywalker on it (below, look 1), bears a slight resemblance to the same kimono style jacket worn by the Jedi image, yet ‘tied’ on the opposite side.image

(photos: Giovanni Giannoni)

(via WWD)

Petit Fantôme: L on Nowness.com

Wake up + dive in ‘head first’, into the sick video of Petit Fantôme’s ‘L’ track, created by artists Rosanna Webster + Charlie Sheppard.  Considered by Webster as ‘a take on the extreme + feverish phases of love + heartbreak,’ by using dense amounts of copyright-free online material, highlighting some dating how-to videos, with tight editing, Webster + Sheppard were able to visually translate the complex relationship between the two lovers discussed in the track.  The duo also created an interactive video you can view here.  There was no doubt Petit Fantôme chose the right artists for the project telling NOWNESS, ‘Charlie + Rosanna totally matched the sentiment of the song,’  + adding, ‘It tells a love story between two people with complex personalities, + they found the romance, poetry + longing that I was looking for.’

Enjoy!

(via NOWNESS)

Hood By Air Vogues Into Fall With More Than Fashion Film ‘FUCCBOI’

(video: SHOWstudio)

Wake up to Hood By Air’s fashion film “FUCCBOI” that accompanied their unisex Fall 2014 collection.  Directed by Matthew Williams + Lack Heller,  according to HBA designer Shayne Oliver, the film is dedicated to “all the FUCCBOIS who shred the status quo with aggression + lush energies.”  Considered to be a study in movement + performance, in this film you see guys in HBA’s latest looks turning it out to the beat of Total Freedom, as they vogue in slow motion .  

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Carrying the influence of the underground ballroom culture, the raw aggression + lush energy Oliver referred to, was present throughout the collection.  There were looks that exposed skin through zippers + partly stitched pieces, often in leather + suede.  Street wear looks were present including oversized jersey sweatshirts together with pants that were logo-driven or covered with zippers.  Half-done + exposed weaves on models further punctuated the mood, with the a soundtrack of barking dogs, Beyonce samples + a Moonwalker’s song called ‘Ten Thousand Screaming Faggots’ as the perfect backdrop.

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The energy + freedom of self-expression must have been something fierce as what came next totally topped Rick Owen’s ingenious step team at his SS/14 fashion show.  Towards the end of the show, out came several shirtless guys, wearing bright long haired wigs, serving the audience a voguing performance very few of them will ever see again in their lives.  Wigs were flipped back + forth while some dipped to the floor + others spun on + on + on.  

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(photo: IMAXTREE)

(via WWD)

Surrealist Dames Inspire Band Of Outsiders For Fall

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For Band Of Outsider’s Fall collection, Scott Sternberg cited Lee Miller, Man Ray + Schiaparelli as inspirations, but very loosely.  The popular forties ‘uniform’ of pencil skirt with top had various Band iterations including a fitted ruched skirt. Then there were those surrealist touches like tromp l’oeil toggles on a cape (row 2, look 2) + the black seams on a cream pencil skirt (row 2, look4). Yet, the best tromp l’oeil was in fact on the black opera length leather gloves (row 3, looks 2 + 4).

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The fake fur coat with toggles (row 1, look 1) was pretty interesting as well as the trench wool coat hybrid (row 3, look 3).  The long floral dress with a dark ombre detail, from the bottom up, paired with black opera length leather gloves sparked thoughts of a chanteuse taking the mike, in a room full of WWI soldiers, thick with cigarette smoke.

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(photos: Steve Eichner)

(via WWD)

Soooo loving Lily Allen’s new video for ‘Air Balloon’, the second single from her forthcoming album.  Directed by That Go, the video, like most, has nothing to do with the song but you have to appreciate the random zebra, cheetah, growing mushrooms, butterflies, surrounding solar panels + hippies just in awe of Lily.  Did I mention the floating crucifix in space at the end?  But who cares, it works + Lily can do no wrong in my book.

And the song is just plain fun, especially the hook – this one is definitely going to be on REpeat on the radio .  And what about her look? – from her denim fringed ponytails, single gold dangling earring, fuchsia lips, her colorful bracelets including one with yellow feathers, her nails, her yellow + white cocktail glass shaped purse, her sparkly white top over a neon bra, denim cutoffs + gold platform wedge sandals, complete with gold paillettes – love, love, love! 

Enjoy!

(via pitchfork)

For Fall, Peter Som Is Crazy About Movement + Pattern

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For Fall, Peter Som had a bit of everything to offer.  The many looks included something playful (row1, looks 1 + 4) + something dressy (row 3, look 2).  But what really stood out for me was how movement + pattern proved to be key to this collection. 

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Movement was present in skirts + peplums out of ostrich feathers that moved while the model strutted down the catwalk (row 2, look1) but, even more fabulous was how it was also in a lot of the patterns that looked blurred (row 4, looks 1 + 5).  If you didn’t know any better, you would think the model’s body moved too fast while the rest of her stood still, thanks to the blurry patterns.  As for the other patterns in the collection, there was a lined pattern on a fur coat  (row 3, look 3) + a floral pattern that disintegrated into grey, back to florals, into black then into plaid (row 2, look2 + 3).  

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(photos: Giovanni Giannoni)

(via WWD)

Soko: Love Letter on Nowness.com

Get in the mood for love with the cool animated short by Aaron Rose for MOCAtv featuring the late artist Niki De Saint Phalle’s drawings on desire from her 1988 book, ‘My Love, Where Shall We Make Love?’.  By pairing these seductively inviting drawings with Soko’s moody + sexy yet sultry ‘Love Letter’, a song inspired by these illustrations, the book truly comes alive as if Saint Phalle herself was mouthing the words.  Rose told NOWNESS ‘how cool it would be to package an artist’s writings in a pop format’ + adding, ‘Sometimes their words are only heard in lectures or read in the pages of academic catalogues; I thought it would be fun to reframe them + turn people on to writings that they would never have read before.’

When artist, curator + filmmaker Aaron Rose came up with the idea, he immediately thought of Soko ‘as there is something very tough + tender in everything she does.’  Rose told NOWNESS, ‘The way Soko took the feeling of the text in the book + completely transformed them into her own just blew me away.’  This video forms part of a collaborative series of art-inspired lyric videos created by Rose + MOCAtv.  But there was never any doubt Rose could rise to the occasion having created the 2008 documentary ‘Beautiful Losers’, which looked at the art movement that he helped to spearhead along with Harmony Korine + Shepard Fairey.

Enjoy!

(via NOWNESS)