109 posts tagged "Lady Gaga"
For Nicola Formichetti, It’s in the Bag
Mugler creative director Nicola Formichetti can multitask with the best of them. In 2012, the designer styled Lady Gaga, launched his Nicopanda streetwear line and guest edited an issue of Dazed & Confused . Somehow, on top of all that, he still found time to conceive six collections for Mugler and launch the brand’s first collection of luxury handbags.
Ranging from $1,050 to $18,000, the thirty new Spring ’13 purse styles boast Formichetti’s sculptural, futuristic aesthetic. Structured top-handle satchels in a variety of leathers and exotic skins, like patent crocodile and rubber alligator, come with silver hardware accents shaped like talons, while evening clutches have a “weaponlike” appeal. The boxy Agent bag (left)—which, along with the rest of the collection, will be available in Barneys New York, Opening Ceremony, and other select stores from February—has already made rounds on the celebrity circuit, having been spotted on the arms of Kim Kardashian and Gwen Stefani. Naturally, Formichetti is keeping up the pace in 2013. Later this month, Mugler will present their pre-fall collection and unveil a whole new batch of accessories.
Plugged In: High Tech Fashion at The Museum at FIT
When side by side, the words fashion and technology oft conjure images of barely wearable ensembles destined for Lady Gaga. But at the Museum at FIT’s latest exhibition, Fashion and Technology, which opened yesterday, co-curators Ariele Elia and Emma McClendon reveal that technology is a crucial part of our ordinary wares. Spanning 250 years of innovation, the show covers such everyday inventions as the washing machine, rayon, and the zipper. But that’s not to say it’s without sci-fi novelties. For instance, there are jazzy space race-era looks by the likes of Pierre Cardin and Emilio Pucci. Also on display are garments by André Courrèges, who, convinced that space would soon become a hot holiday destination, developed an entire intergalactic wardrobe, complete with a sleek PVC helmet and moon boots.
However, as Diane von Furstenberg notes in a video playing at the exhibition, “Things we thought would be sci-fi exist.” Case in point, von Furstenberg’s Spring ’13 collaboration with Google Glass. Of course, she’s not the only Internet-savvy designer. In 1996, Jean Paul Gaultier created a cyberspace-inspired jumpsuit (pictured above). And don’t even get us started on social media’s fashion influence. Remember the frenzy Burberry caused when it released its Spring ’12 collection on Twitter before it hit the runway?
Perhaps most high-tech is the exhibition’s tiny LilyPad Arduino circuit board, which, when sewn into clothing, is pretty much a wearable computer. “You first see things like wearable electronics in places like athletic wear and the military,” said McClendon, explaining that it’s only later that most designers realize tech-fashion’s artistic potential. A cutting-edge innovation that may take a little longer to catch on? Clothing “grown” from bacteria. Not sure if we’re ready for a “BioCouture” top just yet.
Fashion and Technology is on display at the Museum at FIT from December 4 to May 8.
Nicola Formichetti: Asia And Fantasia
It is 4 a.m. and Nicola Formichetti is having a jet-lagged morning run around the Shinjuku district of Tokyo—at the same time as being interviewed on the phone. “It is very Blade Runner here and I’m running,” he confirms, when asked why he is mysteriously panting. This is the normal sort of schedule the stylist faces these days. The day before, Formichetti had been filmed alongside the Japanese actress Kiko Mizuhara, the face of Uniqlo’s womenswear, for the brand’s latest TV commercial. It appears that Formichetti is now the face of the menswear in Japan, as well as being Uniqlo’s creative fashion director. “It will really mean a lot to my mum and my grandma,” he explains of this particular string to his bow. “In Japan everybody wears Uniqlo, from tiny babies to the elderly. It is really like nothing else and has a response like nothing else.”
Such is the place that Nicola Formichetti now occupies in the fashion industry. The half Italian, half Japanese stylist—although that is a very limiting description of what he does—could have almost been grown in a lab to be the first test-tube baby of “global fashion now.” He helms a major brand (Mugler), directs the fashion choices of a major star (Lady Gaga), and is the founder, alongside his brother, of his own brand, Nicopanda (left), whose e-commerce Web site is set to launch November 19. Yet now he is going back to his roots, by being the guest editor of a special issue of Dazed and Confused—the U.K. magazine where he made his name—called “Fantasia.” It is an issue to celebrate all things Asian—including Nicola himself. Continue Reading “Nicola Formichetti: Asia And Fantasia” »
Steel Cut: Katie Gallagher Jewelry
RISD grad Katie Gallagher is slowly making a name for herself with her gothic, body-con label that caught the attention of Lady Gaga and Daphne Guinness just a few seasons ago. At her most recent show in New York, it was her new jewelry offerings that really struck a high note. The capsule collection of black and steel earcuffs and handlets, made in collaboration with jewelry designer Megan Isaacs, was intended to “make parts of the body into ethereal shapes,” explains Gallagher. (One of our favorites is the statement handlet, pictured above.) It’s her first foray into jewelry, and luckily, it looks like there could be more where that came from. “I think it would be special to collaborate with jewelry designers that I admire and that fit the concepts of my collection from season to season,” she reports. Also worth a mention: The young designer is beefing up her offerings with a new diffusion line, called Katie by Katie Gallagher. The range, which features core separates like tank dresses, sheer jackets, and leggings ($150-$250), is intended for customers looking for a more accessible and wearable way to try Gallagher’s aesthetic on for size. The jewelry collection ($170-$280) and secondary line will be available early next month when she launches her e-shop on KatiebyKatieGallagher.com.
Piers Atkinson Toasts Old Hollywood Glamour
Spring 2013 marks London-based milliner Piers Atkinson’s tenth season. His witty, often outrageous toppers have always emitted a certain vintage, big-screen glamour. (Can’t you just see Marilyn rocking a pair of the designer’s signature hyper-cherries?) So what better way to celebrate his brand’s fifth anniversary than with an old Hollywood-themed collection? Titled Director’s Cut, Atkinson’s Spring 2013 lineup pulls inspiration from films of the thirties, forties, and fifties as well as greats like Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford. “I think when you look at old films, all the girls are wearing hats and they all look a million dollars. It was an era when femininity was more demure,” says the milliner, who now sells his collection in the States at Opening Ceremony. Given the collection’s cinematic nature, it only makes sense that the designer would create a film to showcase his new looks. Directed by Morgan White and styled by Kim Howells, the black-and-white short, which debuts above on Style.com, features glitzy girls wearing Atkinson’s Spring chapeaux, like a swirling black feathered number cleverly named the Hitchcock and a black silk rose beret with a reflective laser-cut veil that bleaches out the face when exposed to a camera flash. Atkinson calls it the Incognita. Although the milliner tells us that the hat, intended to perplex paparazzi, was inspired by Lady Gaga, we think the starlets that influenced his Spring collection would have appreciated this veil of invisibility (as will his famous clientele, which includes a host of pop stars and British nobles). A mini bowler hat with a mustachioed veil also has a supporting role. After all, it wouldn’t be an Atkinson collection without a little cheeky whimsy.