45 posts tagged "Giles Deacon"
Putting On—And Taking Off—The Best Of British Fashion
London calls, and the world answers. London fashion week is in full swing, and what better time for an English retailer to indulge in a little justified bragging? Matches tapped London’s best designers for a new installation at its Marylebone flagship, which it debuted over the weekend to a crowd that included Giles Deacon, Norton & Sons’ Patrick Grant, Elizabeth Saltzman Walker, Tallulah Harlech, and the British Fashion Council’s Caroline Rush. The store’s mannequins were ingeniously dressed in key looks by U.K. labels including Stella McCartney, Roksanda Ilincic, Alexander McQueen, Burberry, and Christopher Kane.
Matches’ stock is very English; its clientele, says CEO Tom Chapman, more a mix. “Fifty-five percent of our clientele is online, and half is international,” he said. “We send bucket loads to Australia and China—we’ve gotten used to tiny feet sizes. Then again, we get a lot of cool hunters after that very latest thing—and to be honest, much of that is created by our very own homegrown talent. They do us proud.”
The atmosphere last night on the South Bank, on the other hand, was a trifle more French—à la Moulin Rouge. The foxes were out for the launch of Marios Schwab’s new lingerie collection for Kallisti at the Crazy Horse. And not just the dancers who modeled the lingerie. A renegade (yet fashion-savvy) fox broke into one of the venue’s dressing rooms and chewed through dancers’ Louboutins right before show time.
For Schwab, lingerie has long been a part of life. “My dad worked in the lingerie industry for Triumph,” he said, “so I have always been surrounded by the stuff.” But it may be more topical just at present. “My seamstress is reading Fifty Shades of Grey during every break,” he laughed. “I think these days people are thinking, screw it—literally—we want to enjoy life, and our bodies.” A ten-minute show was enough to titillate the likes of Leigh Lezark, Harley Viera-Newton, Eliza Doolittle, and Pixie Geldof. And that, of course, was the point. “Being provocative is back on the menu in fashion,” Schwab said.
Musings From Phillip Lim, Erdem Moralioglu, And Giles Deacon
To kick off New York fashion week, Lifestyle Mirror and TheCorner.com debuted their new three-part series of editorials and videos, Designers and Their Muses, today. Before they roll out the full series, featuring designers Phillip Lim, Erdem Moralioglu, and Giles Deacon and their respective muses (Lissy Trullie, Sara Moralioglu, and Jessica Gough), Style.com has an exclusive glimpse at what’s ahead. Here, see each designer talk about these ladies who continue to inspire the look and feel of their brands. Insight into what’s in store from these three leading designers in the days to come? Don’t rule it out.
A Minnie Moment
Last fall, it was Miss Piggy who had a serious moment on the fashion scene, thanks to her role in the Muppets film as a Paris Vogue editor and the resulting collaborations, editorials, and beauty deals). This season, however, there’s another lovable starlet who is set to stage a fashion week comeback: Minnie Mouse. British Vogue reports today that Minnie is getting a style upgrade, courtesy of designers including Richard Nicoll, Giles Deacon, Piers Atkinson, and Meadham Kirchhoff. As part of the Disney collaboration, the designers will be creating one-off garments (called the Minnie Mouse Must Haves), inspired by her signature bow and polka dots, during London fashion week. Afterwards, the items will be auctioned off on eBay to benefit the Fashion Arts Foundation. Whether we will also be seeing her cohorts, like Mickey Mouse, Daisy Duck, and Donald Duck, also hit the runway, remains uncertain for now.
The Closing Ceremony Bright Spots: Supes And Spice
Throughout the London Olympics, fashion statements came in the form of gold and diamond grills (thank you, Ryan Lochte), patriotic nail art, and envelope-pushing jewelry, but it was last night’s Closing Ceremony that won the gold medal by a long shot in the Games’ fashion competition. After Nick Knight-lensed billboards featuring Brit supermodels including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Stella Tennant, Lily Cole, Georgia May Jagger, and David Gandy made their way into the stadium, the supes hit the Union Jack-shaped catwalk wearing one-of-a-kind gold numbers by top London labels like Alexander McQueen, Erdem, Burberry, Vivienne Westwood, and Christopher Kane, to David Bowie’s “Fashion.” They were followed by performers wearing gold helmets, who created a giant gold skull formation as a tribute to the late Lee Alexander McQueen. The segment, put together by Closing Ceremony creative director Kim Gavin along with British Vogue and the British Fashion Council, was reportedly a year in the making. But perhaps the even bigger highlight of the night was watching Victoria Beckham shed her icy persona and step back into her Posh Spice role when she took the stage for the big finale with the rest of the Spice Girls. The designer, who wore a strapless black dress by Giles Deacon for the show, tweeted: “I was a pop star for the night! I love you [girls]! We did it!”
Dissatisfaction Is An Asset, And More Woolmark Wisdom From Alber Elbaz
Last week, the first regional winners of the International Woolmark Prize were named in the U.S., Europe, and China; following the upcoming announcements of the Australian and Indian winners, the finalists will compete for the global award at London fashion week. Style.com’s Tim Blanks was on the judging panel of the European edition of the prize; he writes in with notes from the judges’ bench.
“I’m used to being judged, not judging,” sighed Alber Elbaz more than once during Thursday’s European heat of the International Woolmark Prize. The 21 designers from 11 countries that Elbaz and his co-judges—fellow designers Giles Deacon and Dean and Dan Caten; Vogue editors Alexandra Shulman and Christiane Arp; and me as the Sancho Panza of the posse—were assessing represented the usual apples-and-oranges challenge of all such contests, but at least the criteria were crystal clear so it was relatively straightforward to edit them down to a final handful. And then Twelve Angry Men Syndrome kicked in, with occasionally heated debate among jury members. Passionately argued positions dissolved, allegiances shifted, wine flowed (for at least one juror), but it was finally those closely studied criteria that carried Belgium’s Christian Wijnants (left, with Albaz)—at 34, almost a veteran in this context—to the top of the heap with a capsule collection of knit dresses that matched expert technique to an inspired color sense. He’ll face off against Sophie Théallet (U.S.A.), Ban Xiao Xue (China), and yet-to-be-announced designers from Australia and India at the grand finale during London fashion week in February.
For me, the real pleasure of the day was watching Elbaz rise to his responsibilities. Less judge than mentor, he gave all sorts of subtle insights into his own working methods. Turkey’s Ipek Arnas showed a dress with a complex intarsia covering its front. Too in-your-face banal for Elbaz. He advised the designer to reverse the dress, and presto! It took on an entirely different personality. “Now there is a surprise,” he said, satisfied. Elbaz was seduced by the ingenious top half of J.W. Anderson’s outfit, but less taken with the skirt, so he asked to see it just with the underlying crinoline. The result was scarcely as its creator had intended, but that top truly came into its own.
“When you finish a collection, do you love it the next day or hate it?” Elbaz asked a young Italian duo. He was clearly speaking from experience, so it wasn’t surprising that he confessed to being nonplussed by the unambiguously upbeat answers he got to his probing questions, at least in the initial stages of the judging process. “Unhappiness is the motor to move things forward,” Elbaz offered. Take this to heart, designers of the future: Dissatisfaction is an asset.