LA MACHINE MODE

There is a new tendency emerging I think. . .

 Photo: Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images

- A reaction to fast fashion.

Yesterday I heard that Jean-Paul Gaultier is closing his Prêt-à-Porter line, to focus on Haute couture instead. He apparently is tired of the fast pace of fashion. Creative ideas doesn´t come easy - to really create takes time.

Dries van Noten is another example - that holds on to produce only 2 collections a year, but never the less is very popular. If you want to learn about his inspirations, you can still make it, visiting Les Arts Décoratifs.

When I was in Montreal, I read about a young designer, Jeremy Laing, who launched his label in 2005. He said: - "I want people to collect my pieces. I don’t make disposable fashion. It should last".
But after experiences in fast fashion, he was so frustrated and decided to take a time-out to rethink his role in the fashion world.

The fast fashion industry can be very demanding and stressful, when you have to design and produce 6-8 collections a year.
The Industry says that it is the consumers who demands fast and cheap fashion - but personally I think they created that need to profit from it.

I wish that consumers would be more conscious when they shop for fashion. But the Industry and media also have a big responsibility. Maybe they should rethink, why they are in the fashion business.

Personally I think that quality, enduring values and sustainability will play a major role in the future. It is not enough just to profit from it. It has to make sense too.

You can read more about the subject in Huffington Post and Forbes.

I wrote another post about this issue a few years back. Read more about things like that under  thoughts.
I´m curious to known what you readers think? -if you have any opinion on the subject.

ONE IN A MILLION. . .

 PhotoArt by John Frantsen

Are you living your life or just virtually ? It looks like everybody are online - to make their mark on the internet these days.

Today you have to be every where - and, if you are, you can almost do nothing else.

But how to stand out ?
Back then in the days, where it all started, it was probably easier. The numbers of people and companies and the competition were not the same, at all.

Maybe it´s just me who is getting older or getting other priorities. But, I just can´t help wondering, if that is what we really want. Do we want to just continue, go further all the time. Is that what life and happiness is all about ? -And how social is social media anyway ?

No - I find the internet rather over rated these days. . . it´s not even safe or trustworthy any more.
Do you wonder - or do you just follow the stream ? Make your mark here today, on my blog ;o)

 Photo Art by John Frantsen

THE GREAT GATSBY

 

The recently released film by Baz Lurhman, is based on F.Scott Fitzgerald  (1896-1940) famous novel by the same name. The novel from 1925 -"explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz age that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American dream".

The movie have not had the best reviews. . . It should be too superficial with less focus on the story. With present designers as Pradas interpretation of the style and the Soundtrack, contemporary music from Jay-Z and Beyoncé. . .
-It sounds more like a show-off. But of course I´ll have to see for my self.

Here is a few pictures from the 1974 movie adaption of the novel instead.

 Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan in the Movie from 1974

Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby

Photo credit: Paramount pictures

Nevertheless the movie about the Roaring twenties is probably going to be a big trendsetter and inspiration for fashion to come. . . we already saw that in some of the latest designer collections.

The Roaring twenties, was a reaction to the the first world war, where people wanted to forget and celebrate peace. That led to excesses and eventually the big Colaps on Wall Street in 1929. 

It´s a fascinating period, that I wrote about  in my Costume Exam when I graduated, back then. . . 

 

But my starting point was Europe and especially Berlin, with Christopher Isherwood famous novel: Goodbye to Berlin as inspiration. The novel that was the base of the musical and film Cabaret. I will try to find it and post about it eventually.

SHOPPING EXPECTATIONS!

This past weekend we went shopping for clothes. . . at a near by shopping center. We were looking for a nice summer jacket and some shirts.
But unfortunately all in vain. Because, we didn´t find anything we really liked. . .

I´m just wondering why all the men stores we went in to, wasn´t more different. Everywhere they had the same kind of stuff, just in various quality and price range. In other words they played it pretty safe. None of the shops really stood out.

That just means, I will have to make my own clothes from now on, like I used to do.

Maybe danish guys are not that fashion conscious after all. Do you agree? Feel free to comment and share your thoughts below.

FASHION EXTRACTS

Readers! - You are not forgotten. I am still here! Though I have been busy with different jobs, meetings and preparations for a future project. Sometimes reality takes over - you know ;o)

Freja Dalsjö

The Show season is on. From today Copenhagen Fashion Week is up and running until sunday. Unfortunatly it was not possible for me to be there. 

But from what I saw on the net today, I would like to mention a very talented newcomer, Freja Dalsjö and veteran Benedikte Utzon with her new line, Est. 1995 as well as a furcollection for Great Greenland. Both very contemporary and refreshing.

As usual DR K has dedicated time to report from fashion week and showing designer-portraits, that actually can be very rewarding to look at, if you dream about entering the fashion world. 

When you look at Karl Lagerfeld Confidential and the portrait of British designer, Paul Smith for example, you will see very different approaches to fashion. . .

From the latest runway in Paris I think Raf Simons, Galliano´s successor at Dior made a brilliant job. A simple and romantic collection, true to the heritage, but in his own way. Especially the short pastel colourblocked cocktaildresses were nice.

I also kind of liked Stephane Rolland´s Collection for spring/summer 2013. Very seductive future godesses, that reminded me of Montana and Mugler, but elegant and contemporary.  

Stephane Rolland

Follow these links to keep up and see what´s coming next :

Milano - Camera Moda, 10/1 - 9/2

New York - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, 7 - 14/2

London - Fashion Week, 15 - 19/2

Paris - Ready to wear, 26/2 - 6/3

CONTEMPORARY COLLECTIONS

Towards the end of 2012, The Fashion-house of Paco Rabanne (18 February 1934 – 3 February 2023 ) and Guy Laroche (16 July 1921 – 17 February 1989) seems to have been revitalized.

I were quite impressed by their Fall/Winter collections earlier this year - they looked very contemporary. Here a few pics to illustrate. . .

Paco Rabanne SS2012

That Manish Arora, the Indian Avant-garde designer, actually managed to reintroduce the Spanish  Fashion-house, Paco Rabanne also surprised me. . . Because his own line of clothes are very bold and flamboyant. See my previous post on him here.

The Paco Rabanne SS2012-collection reminded me more of Thierry Mugler updated, but his take on FW2012-13 was more like it. . . the Paco Rabanne spirit. Unfortunately he was only assigned for one year.

Photos from: Sight-management.com,
RightandAboveit.tumblr.com and GoRunway.com

But let´s see, if their new Artistic Director, Lydia Maurer can keep up. The SS2013-collection was an attempt, but not very convincing.

Marcel Marongiu, who was appointed for Guy Laroche in 2007, challenged himself by doing something unexpected for the Fall/Winter 2012 Collection, using a strict colourpalette and mixing new materials, so it ended up in a very nice and cohesive collection.

Photos from : Fashionbombdayli.com, Elle.es
and Nowfashion.com

THE INDIAN TREND

"Now it’s all about India"

- Karl Lagerfelt proclaimed, when he launched his Metier d’Art collection for Chanel last year.

You can say the same about ARKEN - The Museum of Modern Art south of Copenhagen. Because this fall the museum has it´s first fashion exhibition ever, INDIA : ART NOW. It runs until 13 january 2013.

The exhibition displayes creations by seven of the most prominent young Indian designers: Manish Arora, Morphe by Amit Aggarwal, Little Shilpa, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Prashant Verma, Varun Sardana and 11.11 by Cell DSGN.

Photo: Anders Sune Berg/Arken

Especially Manish Aurora is quite known. He is regarded by many as "the John Galliano of India", says Hilary Alexander, The Daily Telegraph 2007.

He is known for a rich palette of psychedelic colours and kitsch motifs in garments that combine traditional Indian crafts like embroidery, appliqué and beading with Western silhouettes. He makes clothes for the adventures woman with a very strong individuality.

The Indian trend is all over at the moment.
Even the latest collections from American designers Marchesa and Vera Wang are clearly inspired by India.



THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE 2012

I am talking of Vogue of course, if you haven´t guessed.

The September Issue, made famous by the Documentary, directed and produced by R.,J. Cutler from 2009, told the story of legendary Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour and her team of editors creating the biggest issue ever in 2007, ruling the world of fashion.

This year Vogue celebrates it´s 120 anniversary, even bigger and with Lady Gaga on the cover. 

She looks a little bit deformed to me though, probably worked too much over in Photoshop.

Anna Wintour said then: - "Fashion is not about looking back, but it´s about looking forward". But actually this years cover reminded me of some fashion-sketches I did 12 years ago. 

Fashion-sketches by John Frantsen

FASHION NEWS OF THE WEEK

There is always so much going on in the world of fashion, that I from now on have decided to mention it in "headlines" until I get to write more about it later on. . .

Sadly the great Italian fashion Icon, editor and collector, Anna Piaggi, that I posted about here, passed away yesterday, 81 years old. May she rest in peace.

Announcement: 5 year old Dansk Fashion Award transforms into Elle Style Award from 2013. Read more here.

Take a look at Spring/Summer 2013 at Copenhagen Fashion Week, that started today! As always you can follow it on DR K, starting tonight.

H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark is on The International Best-Dressed List in Vanity Fair´s September Style Issue. Take a look here or pick up the Magazine later this month.

A VINTAGE WEDDING DRESS

My mothers pale blue wedding-dress with white lace and beautiful rose detailing from Lilly is 50 years old, but looks quite stylish and contemporary, I think.

Maybe it´s because short dresses and the look of it, has a revival in these years. With that I´m wishing all of you a very nice weekend.

My parents 1962 

DANISH AWARD DRESSES

Danish Fashion Award, the Fashion Event of the year here in Denmark, took place a few weeks ago at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen.

Danish Fashion Award was founded 5 years ago by Uffe Buchard and Kim Grenaa, to celebrate and promote Danish fashion industry, since it is the 4. biggest industry in Denmark.

They are also the founders of the fashion magazine DANSK, that just celebrated it´s 10th Anniversary with an Exhibition at Danish Design Centre.

This year they finally succeeded in making Aqua-singer, Lene Nystrøm a Co-Hostess.

Ten designers/brands were appointed to dress her up for the Event. Among them, three stod out in my opinion.
Unfortunately I only found this photo of  the very nice dress from Designers Remix, that looked contemporary.

But a black and white dress by the very talented Ann Sofie Madsen and a futuristic fairytale-dress from Trash Couture by Ann Wiberg looked stunning too.

The rest of her dresses were a little bit out of touch: some quite ordinary and not very well fitted, as was some of the attending guests. 

-An Exception was the TV-host, Signe Lindquist, who looked quite stylish and radiant in a vintage-dress from F92.

Photos: ScanPix

WHAT ABOUT REALITY ?

 

Grace Jones

Social Media, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Slideshare, VooPod, FlickR, Digg, Delicious. . . Where does it stop ? 
Is there a limit ? What to do ? Do we really need them all ? - and Why ? Why do we need to be all over the internet? Because we can ?

I have reached a point where I feel like I am loosing my time. Because it is time-consuming and takes time to maintain and keep up, if you don´t want to repeat yourself everywhere. Preventing you from doing what you really want.

Can You imagine what the consequences might be ? 
-Loosing focus and eventually yourself, if you don´t pay attention - could be one.  
It is time to take a break. . . when you get frustrated and don´t recognize who you are anymore, questioning what happened.

Do You know the feeling ? How do you cope ? What are your thoughts ?

ON CELEBRITY DESIGNERS

-Do we really need them ? Yet another performer has ambitions in fashion. Rihanna is trying to make the most of it. After a few Capsule collections for Armani, she wants to pursue her own Fashion line :

-"I want to design. This is also a road that I want to earn it. So I’m working with designers. Designers that I respect, and companies that I respect. I want people to really trust me before I just say 'Buy it because it's mine."      

From Style.mtv.com

Rihanna´s capsule collection from Armani

Come on! - what is her qualifications for doing that ? Does she have a degree in fashion ? No! But a big EGO for sure. To be famous and a so called brand doesn´t qualify to do fashion collections, in my opinion.
I am thinking exploitation and lack of respect for all fashion-designers that has a passion for fashion and have used years to qualify, to make their dreams come true.

Like a friend on facebook said:  -"whom does the real job is anonymous. The worst thing is we have to limit our creative potential to submit to personal taste of our employers with no technical knowledge.
Imagine how more interesting fashion would be if it was made only by capable professionals". Ingrid Lima, Fashion Editor at IDsetters. - and she is right.

Maybe designers should consider to start new careers as actors or entertainers. . . instead of sticking to what they are good at.

Read more about Suzy Menkes from Herald Tribune thoughts on the subject here and tell me what YOU think ?

"STARS EN DIOR"

Not long ago Chanel was publishing a fashionbook about "Northern Women in Chanel"  by Peter Farago and Ingela Klemetz-Farago, who also had an exhibition at Design Museum Denmark in Copenhagen.

I didn´t see it myself, but the exhibition had mixed reviews. . . questioning if it just was a concept to promote Chanel, the photographers and why northern women ? - missing the context.

Now Dior takes it further. "Stars en Dior" is an upcoming book about Dior dressing the Stars of Hollywood. 

-Telling the story of Dior and featuring 250 photos of film stills, location shots, photographs and of course portraits of stars past and present in looks by the iconic designer and his successors.

Books for fashionistas and collectors, but also another way of getting  more publicity and valuable exposure, to keep up the interest I guess. 

"Stars en dior" is published by Rizzoli and coming out in France this May and later on in other countries.

DRESS REVIEW

From the 84th Academy Awards, february 26 at The Kodak Teater in Hollywood.

My favourite dress was not worn by a nominee, but nevertheless fabulous and outstanding. It was the dress of George Clooney´s girlfriend, actress, wrestler and model, Stacy Keibler, who wore an intricate draped dress from Marchesa.

Mila Jovovich also looked stunning in a white one-shoulder draped sequin-dress from Elie Saab.

I prefer Oscar-winner, Octavia Spencer´s beautiful sequined dress from Tadashi Shoji rather than Jennifer Lopez´s version. It doesn´t need to be bare to be sexy. This cut suits her very well.

Camron Diaz looked fabulous in a dress with asymetric flounces and sequins from Gucci Couture.

Giuliana Ransic looked nice in what I first assumed was a Marchesa dress; but actually it is from Tony Ward.

Kristen Wiig looked nice in this fitted dress from J. Mendel with layers of tulle, even though it was a neutral colour.

Emma Stone looked effortless elegant in her red chiffon dress from Giambattista Valli.

Last but not least, Penelope Cruz looked quite stunning in this dress of layers- and draped chiffon. Real Hollywood Glamour style from Armani.

Do you agree ? If not, tell me who your favourit were.

Photos: from ABC.

CURATING ART & FASHION

Part of Haute Couture Exhibition by Erik Mortensen/The House of Balmain, 

1989 at The Museum of Modern Art, Kunsten i Ålborg, Denmark

Curating is often what makes something stand out.

A curator used to be someone who works in the art world, selecting art-works and arranging exhibitions.
Since then, fashion has become an extensive subject for exhibitions, fashion editors have made their entrance into that world.

But when you think about it, it is already part of stylists, fashion- and interior designers and editors work.
Because they are able to put cohesive collections together, make homes look stylish, make somebody look their best or put an inviting magazine together by selecting the right stuff, in a way that it gets noticed.

The curators choice is basically about personal taste.
When you work in a creative field you have to be very conscious about style and have the ability to select the right things, put them into a context and present it appealing.
Of course it takes experience and serious effort to do that. . . You have to be talented, conscious of style, to know about trends and what is going on, to present your work for the right people, to get noticed.

If you are conscious, you may have noticed the way I work for instance.
The lay-out, the subjects I choose to write about and the pictures I choose to display here on my blog, are picked carefully and tells you something about what I like and who I am.

But does it all matter? Are you conscious about style and do you care? How does it affect your life ? I would like to know. Feel free to leave a comment!

WEAR VELVET!

Model: Ann-charlott

Photo: John Frantsen

Velvet is having a renaissance these days, but in my opinion it has always looked fabulous.
This rich crushed velvet dress with a waterfall in the front still looks the part, if you dare to stand out in a crowd.

Maybe you recognize the model, who has been a contributer on My Fashion Moment.

Apart from that I have been working on a big pile of unfinished and new stuff at the same time. . . If you wonder about my absence here. I will post it along the way. Have a nice day out there.

DISTRACTIONS

-Sometimes I get the feeling, that I'm caught up and getting nowhere. Maybe you know what I mean.

Because, fashion is a tough world of dreams and aspirations that you easily can get caught up in, if you don´t remember why and what you are doing.

According to Karl Lagerfeld, it is interpretations of classics and of our time that is pushing fashion forward and making it new. In short: Vision and Re-invention.

It is a good reminder. Because so much is going on in the fashion world, that it's sometimes hard to keep up and make it, without forgetting what you are doing and why you are working in this fasci-nating world, that is changing all the time.

I think the best way to go on is to be persistent and make the things that you believe in, without getting too distracted. To work on your own vision and make it come true.

Success will eventually follow if you stick to that. But to compromise it, will probably jeopardize your integrity. What is your motive and your vision, if you have any ?

Here is a little reminder! 

CHRISTMAS FASHION DISPLAYES

Just wanted to share some fabulous window displays from some of San Francisco Department-stores, just for inspiration. Enjoy!

 

All photos by John Frantsen