Haute Couture | Rad Hourani is rad…

25 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

Above and below, photos of the haute couture collection by Rad Hourani presented at Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris.

Exploring film making, photography, music… with no background set in any fashion school, Rad Hourani has no boundaries to creates his fashion. Unisex is his statement. Rad is a rad… designer.

For the first unisex haute couture collection in history, Rad Hourani designed geometric lines. Vertical and horizontal lines, satin and matt fabrics, black and a touch of white.

The pants, sometimes with vertical cuts all along, fits beautifully. Horizontally, the belts are gorgeous accessories and affirm this very radical and strict silhouette. The double collars, wide open, folded, break the lines and give air to all of this.

Unisex shoes

In the attendance

Black ! Unisex ! Black ! Black ! Unisex ! Black ! Black !

Arts of Fashion Foundation 2012

20 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

The Art of Fashion Foundation program offer the possibility to a group of international selected students to go further in the creative process, with the help of various designers and by exploring new techniques. Each year a four week masterclass is hosted by Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

The theme of this year was Transparency. Led in collaboration with Maison Lesage, it was for the students the opportunity to learn parisian Haute Couture embroideries techniques such as the Luneville.

The masterclass was driven by Zoé Vermeire (fashion designer, five prizes winner at La Cambre 2011) and Caroline Winckel (textile designer for Maison Lesage & Consultant at UNESCO for the African craftsmanship technique).

The main focus was handcrafting, to build an archi-couture, an antidote of uniformity.

Above Zoé Vermeire, last year student at famous belgian design school, La Cambre, this year teacher for four weeks…

Florina Ivascu, Romania, Cluj Napoca, University of Art & Design

Gio Kim, South Korea, Samsung Art & Design Institute

Elizabeth Barbaro, Australia, Whitehouse Institute of Design

Niki Baker, United States, Apparel Arts, San Francisco

Nika Tang, United States, Academy of Art University, San Francisco

Nika Tang’s boyfriend is helping on embroideries

Nika Tang’s coat

Samar Nasraldin, Saudi Arabia, International Fashion Academy, Paris

Caroline Winckler, textile designer, Maison Lesage

Xiaotian Zhang, China, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology

Alexandra Nam, South Korea, Parsons the new school for design, New York

Zoé Vermeire is explaining her techniques to a selection of international selected students.

PFW | Alexandre Vauthier

14 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

Dear readers,

His glamorous amazons goes back and forth on the runway without any constraints, they are beautiful, bold and gold, some of them, like the girl in James Bond’ Goldfinger are totally dress in gold.

The golden girls

Casual Couture, a golden shirt with rolled sleeves.

The colour palette from white to creme is very soft leaving gold and embroideries full room to express themselves.

The result is compelling. How can you resist to these girls?

Paddings are almost everywhere as the V of Vauthier (V for Victory?) in the dangerous necklines, the cuts and the accessories (see the earrings below).

When a dangerous-V-neckline padded dress is left full white (above), the accessories does the job. Golden Louboutin and gold bangle.

You have it all, jumpsuits, dresses, skirts, shirts, evening gowns. All very chic and dynamic.

Wow Vauthier ! Vamp me i’m famous !

The show is nearly perfect, each silhouette is stunning and leave you amazed and speachless. The sexual powered silhouette, the eighties, the show business, as the former assistant of Thierry Mugler, Alexandre Vauthier is giving is own personnal touch of this symbols fully used by his master. At this game is actually the best in town.

Combining the European crisis and a slowdown in China, the luxury market is gonna get weaker. Does Alexandre Vauthier superwoman has a future? What the next move?

Kusama’s obession on Samsung vision

10 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

Yayoï Kusama is obsessed by dots, these days i am obsessed by Samsung… Early yesterday morning I was in the taxi for the airport not thinking of my flight for NYC but the korean firm.

Is it the huge neons above the buldings showing the name of the Korean conglomerate?
Is it my trip to Seoul last year?
Is it the fantastic Juun J show i saw last week during men’s fashion week where my dear friend Sun told me all about Samsung family and the acquisition of the fashion brand?
Samsung is planing to help Juun J expand his brand through Europe.
Is it because i’ve just discover that Samsung is sponsoring young designers around the world through an award created in 2005?

Can we see something like this in our country? Does Orange could invest in young designers and launch new mobile phones all together?

Time is money

Creative process is very long.

Creation, selling, recover the revenue of previous season and sometimes it’s 3 seasons that overleap. During this time the young designer is struggling. Money is mostly what is waiting for, being with a marketing manager is also welcomed as he let the designer concentrates only into creation.

Organizations like Mode et Finances, Les Anges de la Mode or IFCIC in France are helping creativity by establishing financial tools, explaining to banks the designer’s needs. But the selection is harsh and edgy, for Mode et Finances the designer must have 500000 euros of sales and the season overleap discourages the investors and the banks.

Last year Dassault Systèmes part of Dassault group teamed with french young designer Julien Fournié to develop a 3D software for designing clothes. It’s not yet a sponsorship, but perhaps the premises of something.

Mercedes-Benz is sponsoring many fashion events in the world (Australia, Germany, Japan, Russia…).

Conglomerates (a corporation consisting of several companies in different businesses which allow diversification of business, for exemple in France we have Bolloré) are not culturally as implemented in everyday life in France as it’s seems to be in Asia.

Before the crisis, french car brand Renault was defining itself as a luxury brand, trying to use the same codes. Fashion and creativity, as arts, could give business companies an image boost, many firms collects arts in their offices and not only well known artists (even if we know that it’s not only for philanthropy).

Can we see designers like Alexandre Vauthier sponsored by a car firm?

Snobbery?

Paris is the capital of fashion, France the historic country of Haute Couture… Does this strong heritage allows a french fashion brand to team with a cellphone company?

Creativity need to be feeded by new designers and new houses. It’s a tricky move as investing in new designers is a 5 to 10 years with little or no rentability. But actually for the survival of french fashion is (perhaps) the only way.

PFW | Tsolo Munkh

8 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

Last time i saw Tsolo Munkh was in 2010 when she receive the Public award of Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival, i remember spending a long time mesmerized, listening to her explanations on how she work.

Thanks to Philippe Pourashemi for bringing me back, during the last fashion week to her showroom and get a chance to view her first men collection.

The outfits, more of a warrior, surely not as easy to wear for every man, are strong, raw and very masculine.

Her influences are still coming from Mongolia, her country, where she still live. The shapes and the stories she told are based upon bouddhist references.

Tsolo is obsessed with handcrafting The cuts are handmade only and for the embroideries you don’t find the usual pearls and strass. Those are made with various fabrics often diverted, then sewn by hand.

Above, see the fully embroidered head of the eagle as a collar.

Above, on the coat, cuts of an eagle, emblem of this collection.

An eagle’s prey (detail of the coat)

Eagle’s prey, detail of a pant

For this necklace, she used bones then add the crystals.

PFW | Juun J

7 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

Two years ago, it was a show of urban silhouettes, dark birds of prey in the raw décor of garage Turenne.

Then the work of the korean designer goes tailoring (see summer-spring 2012), season after season we saw more jackets, structured outfits.

For the autumn-winter 2012-2013, Juun J was showing in the classic salon of Gallery of Mineralogy in The Muséum.

If you judge a show by the level of applause, then Juun J.’s show was certainly a success and it was ! As many shows during the week (even after during Couture) the inspiration was taken from the past. For Juun J. it was the forties.

Exagerated volumes (large shoulders, XXL pants, cinched waists) and superpositions, Juun J. reinterpreted beautifully all his codes mostly on jackets and trench coats in an urban way.

Juun J. is trying to fill the gap between outerwear, sportswear and tailoring, creating a new suit. Undoubtedly he is one of the most exciting men’s designers of the moment. With the help of Samsung which bought the brand last year perhaps he will succeed where others talented designers failed.

Tapping into the past, the show was very modern and dynamic, the boys were fierce but no arrogant.

Very inspired, Juun J goes white in the last part of the show with new silhouettes, a bit futuristic, with large embossed tees upon long shirts upon shorts…

above: this sweater is a must-have

adding colors on accessories…

… or mixing all his inspirations on this multicolored large trench.

A collection where you want to buy everyhting!

Berlin Fashion Week | Augustin Teboul

5 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

You would think that presentations should give greater scope for designers to tell their story compared to the narrow confines of a runway show. Very rarely is that the case though.

Design duo Annelie Augustin and Odély Teboul really showed how it should be done. The scene was grand and sophisticated, with silver trays of vodka cocktails weaving amongst the guests and Chopin playing from a grand piano.

The atmosphere on the other hand was full of sexual tension, like finding yourself at an exclusive high society party and forever feeling that an orgy is about to break out at any moment.

Models draped themselves across the couches and furniture in provocative poses, flowers arranged in huge sculptural forms rose up around them. Black lace was pulled tight across skin. Sheer silk, often embellished with glossy black beads, was draped from the shoulder and waist in varying volumes and lengths. A tougher edge took the form of leather jackets and pants in biker styles.

Annelie Augustin and Odély Teboul

The word presentation doesn’t accurately describe the final result – this was a performance.

Text by James Castle

This post is a collaboration with Derzeit

Léa Peckre | Sold out !

5 juillet 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

Talented Léa Peckre, Mona Lisa of fashion

Léa Peckre, winner of Festival d’Hyères 2011, sold her previous collections during an exhibition. Friends, collectors and institutions buy most of the pieces and made it a success.

The next step is september, Léa Peckre will introduce her line Léa Peckre with a « surprise » she said.

Future talents | Antwerp, Miquel Boutens (boys don’t cry)

26 juin 2012 ~ CHRISTIAN POULOT

Chers lecteurs,

one of my favorite designer this year at the graduation show of Antwerp’s Academy was Miquel Boutens with his collection inspired by Le petit prince. In the middle of the creative uproar appeared delicate silhouettes wearing light fabrics with pastel colors and gold.

Fragile and powerful, the silhouettes have short pants with silk capes. It’s like little boys playing a game where they would be emperors. It reminds me of the young Malcom McDowell playing Caligula (see below), so innocent and so cruel.

Angel face: Malcom McDowell in Caligula (1979)

With colors and fabrics usually shown in women collections, all the gold and embroideries « like stars falling from the sky » on a navy jacket, the imaginary boys of Miquel Boutens are very poetic. But looking at them you’ll notice that they are not « weak », metrosexual, nor caricatural. Those garments are the expression of a dream. Miquel Boutens (4th grade) won two prizes, the Flanders Fashion Institute Award and the Feeling x Essentiel prize