Six days left! Lisboa Fashion Week

So excited to go to Lisbon to see new S/S 2012 collections from Portuguese (not only) designers. Just started my count-down!!!

The London Design Festival

// off to east london

London calling!

London Fashion Week is an apparel trade show held in London, England twice each year, in February and September. It is one of the "Big Four" fashion weeks, along with New York Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week. Organised by the British Fashion Council (BFC) for the London Development Agency with help from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, London Fashion Week first took place in 1984. It currently ranks alongside New York, Paris and Milan as one of the 'Big Four' fashion weeks. It presents itself to funders as a trade event that also attracts significant press attention and benefit to taxpayers. It is also able to get an official sponsorship from Mercedes-Benz, a worldwide known automobile brand. It states that it is attended by over 5,000 press and buyers, and has estimated orders of £40m or £100m. A retail-focused event, London Fashion Weekend, takes place immediately afterwards at the same venue and is open to the general public. The current venue for most of the "on-schedule" events is Somerset House in central London, where a large marquee in the central courtyard hosts a series of catwalk shows by top designers and fashion houses, while an exhibition, housed within Somerset House itself, shows over 150 designers. However, many "off-schedule" events, such as Vauxhall Fashion Scout and On|Off, are organised by other private-funded groups and take place at other venues in central London.

London Fashion Week returns to Somerset House with established designers such as Matthew Williamson, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood, as well as world class emerging talent from NEWGEN, sponsored by Topshop. 

Renowned for showcasing some of the world’s best designers, the Catwalk Show Space in The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court houses the catwalk shows, while the rest of Somerset House hosts the designer exhibition.

Tickets to shows are issued at the discretion of designers, but members of the public can enter The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court and watch live streaming of the catwalk on an LED screen. 

See more here.

via wikipedia,somerset house

Designers, designers, designers! Bye bye New York

My Mum picks her fav Oscar de la Renta looks

My Mum is the only person I know who squeaks so badly, when she sees new collection from Oscar de la Renta. She automatically adds all the looks she loves to her own lookbook on Style.com and plans what to wear and when. That's really lovely relationship, wish OdlR knows about it.

photos via style.com

NYC // COLOUR COLOUR COLOUR by Nanette Lepore

OMG! colour showed by Nanette Lepore makes me wanna put the whole collection in my wardrobe. It's fresh and funky, just like the designer. Have a look at her blog. YES YES NANETTE!

Nanette with her daughter, Violet at the end of the show:

photos via style.com and nanette lepore's blog

Meanwhile in New York ~ Oranges and mandarins

New Designer Crush: DAWID TOMASZEWSKI

Tomaszewski studied at London College of Fashion and Akademie der Künste Berlin under Vivienne Westwood. He also studied history of art at Academy of Fine Art in Poznan. In 2000 he worked for Sonia Rykiel in Florence and in 2003 for Alexis Mabille. In 2008 he took part in a TV show the next fashion talent and was selected to design a bag for Design Hotels, that was presented at the London Fashion Week. Additionally, during his stay in Boston in that year, he designed special collection for Reebok. In the same year he designed a charity t-shirt for Hallhuber. 2008 was the year, when he commenced artistic collaboration with artist and photographer Michał Martychowiec. The following year brought the Designer for tomorrow competition, where he got into the final. He spent the rest of the year in Paris, London and Tokyo working forComme des Garçons. At the same time he worked on art collaborations projects with Michał Martychowiec that resulted in a number of small art/fashion presentations and exhibitions. In summer of that year he was collaborating on opening Comme des Garçons shop with Rei Kawakubo. At the end of 2008, he returned to Berlin and launched a label under his own name. The collection he presented brought a grand success [1]. It was inspired by Frank Garry and Anish Kapoor. He was awarded with Young designer award[2] in January 2010. Additionally he exhibited at the Premium exhibition in Berlin. That collection brought him several publications in Vogue, Elle, Vanity Fair, and other magazines. The current collection Torqued Elipses[3][4], inspired by renown artist Richard Serra brought a great deal of interest toward his label. The spring summer 2011 collection was very positively commented by Anna Wintour[5]. It was presented at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin and Fashion Week Poland in Łódź. By the end of this season he intends to launch a second line called Dawid Tomaszewski Studio that is going to be more casual.


Looking forward to Dawid's show in Lisbon /8X2011

txt via wikipedia, photos from Dawid Tomaszewski website

Wear it like Jason Wu

style.com / jason wu s.s2012  / look #3

Pu Panel Knicker, Top Shop, £20.00, shop here

NYC // Jill Stuart sweet as candy

style.com / jill stuart 

Bursts of sunny, sultry citrus yellows and sexy violet met up with muted sea tones on runways filled with flowers, both literal and reinvented, at New York Fashion Week's spring previews as Day 3 kicked in Saturday.

Color is everywhere this time around, combined with plenty of flounce and peekaboo sheers.

"The violet color is very enticing and will be a must-have color for spring," said Adam Glassman, creative director of O, The Oprah Magazine.

Jill Stuart's easy femininity came in soft, sherbet tones and comfy, resort-friendly shapes reminiscent of the early 1960s — with palm trees thrown in. The relaxed wear was inspired by a book on lingerie she found in Copenhagen.

Prabal Gurung's futuristic flora was dominated by soft purples, full skirts and pants cut tight. Where there are flowers, there are birds. Look to Adam's runway for the winged motif in light pinks, purples and whites.

Happy color, color everywhere. Pantone had a beach party in mind when the color experts named the Top 10 shades for women next spring: tangerine tango, solar power, sodalite blue, bellflower, margarita, cabaret, driftwood, sweet lilac, cockatoo (think sea foamy) and starfish.

Barely there is khaki and other brooding colors. Even the blacks were upbeat — though the music wasn't — on Helmet Lang's black-and-white show splashed with only yellow.

There was nothing understated about Cynthia Rowley's color muse. Her mirrored runway was about the "optical exuberance of gold" combined with "flash mobs of florals and animated shapes," according to her notes.

After eight days of spring previews in New York, the big show moves to London, then Milan and Paris.

Key for Stuart: "I wanted this collection to be a dream, a fantasy."

It came against a backdrop of mint green, lipstick pink, tangerine and a brighter shade of citrine gemstone yellow.

Stuart has significantly softened her look in recent seasons, moving away from the Stevie Nicks rocker look that had been her hallmark. The clothes on this runway seemed more appropriate for the next-generation Doris Day.

But there was something sweetly sexy in the drop-waist shifts, culottes and inverted-pleat skirts, too. Even the romper, which looked more like a cute mini shift until you got close to it, worked here. While girlie, they weren't prim or dowdy, which is surely important to Stuart's typically young customer — someone like Emma Roberts, who sat in the front row.

Stuart picked up on two print motifs, the palm tree and flying birds, both of which reminded her of "happier times."

txt via TimesUnion

NYC // Peter Som @ New York Fashion Week

So far, my favourite collection. Fresh, colorful and funny.

Paris Fashion Night Out: Anja, Isabeli, Natasha and Emmanuelle

Supermodels Natasha Poly, Isabeli Fontana and Anja Rubik joined forces with Paris Vogue’s editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt to celebrate Fashion’s Night Out at the Gucci store on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, France last night. For the global fashion party, the stunning quartet chose some incredible looks to party the night away in style.

Natasha Poly: Natasha picked an all-black Givenchy Fall 2011 ensemble which features a sheer top with sweater-style sleeves, tucked into a velvet pencil skirt and cinched with a patent leather belt. She added a mini black clutch and pointed-toe ankle boots to her look and styled her hair in sexy bed-head waves.

Isabeli Fontana: The stunning model wore a regal black and gold-embroidered Emilio Pucci Fall 2011 dress which she paired with patent leather buckled pointed-toe ankle boots. Isabeli wore her hair pulled back into a high bun and rimmed her eyes with seductive black liner.

Anja Rubik: Anja chose a colourful printed Balmain Resort 2012 high-waisted skirt which she wore with a plain white tank and an oversized tuxedo jacket with silk lapels. She accessorized with an amazing pair of printed peep-toe ankle booties and completed her look with thick black eyeliner and soft pink lips.

Emmanuelle Alt: The editor-in-chief of Paris Vogue stuck to her trademark look of skin tight black belted jeans, a grey jersey t-shirt and a black sparkly sequin blazer. Emmanuelle added lacy peep-toe ankle booties to her look and kept the rest of her ensemble simple.

via RedCarpetFashionAwards

NYC story

The first New York Fashion Week, then called Press Week, was the world's first organized fashion week. Held in 1943, the event was designed to attract attention away from French fashion during World War II, when fashion industry insiders were unable to travel to Paris to see French fashion shows. Fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert organized an event she called "Press Week" to showcase American designers for fashion journalists, who had previously neglected their innovations. (Buyers were not admitted to the shows and instead had to visit designers' showrooms) Press Week was a success, and fashion magazines like Vogue, which were normally filled with French designs, increasingly featured American fashion. In 1994, the event was moved to its former site in Bryant Park, where it was held inside a series of large white tents in the almost-block-long park. Admission is by invitation only, to the fashion industry, fashion press, assorted celebrities, and internet based Fashion press (e.g. District L, Fashionista, FWD). Beginning in February 2009 (showing Fall 2009), many designers opted out of their usual Bryant Park tent fashion shows because of the current economy and held smaller presentations. At the Fall 2009 Fashion Week the public got a taste of technology as it is shaping the future of fashion. It is not only making it cheaper and easier for designers to create their collections, it is also saving them travel time as many broadcast their lines over the Internet. Many designers opted to not only market online but also sell exclusively online. Designer Norma Kamali and the Polo Ralph Lauren Rugby brand both have an application for the Apple iPhone. In the Vivienne Tam show, models walked the runway carrying Hewlett Packard mini notebook computers instead of the expected handbag. Because of the recession affecting most of the world, designers were stepping outside of the box for fall 2009. In previous years, fashion houses would be expecting costs up to $750,000 to produce a quality runway show. The idea of using mannequins to display clothing was used by established designers Betsey Johnson and Vera Wang as a way to cut model and runway costs. Mara Hoffman, Sergio Davila and Nicholas K saved 40 percent of their costs by combining their separate lines into one show. Another trend seen during fall 2009 Fashion Week was recession friendly fashion. A number of pieces displayed were items that could be worn in the fall and carry over to the spring. A popular staple was bold color dressed that could be worn over a turtleneck in colder weather and stand alone in the spring; convertible blazers were introduced by Vera Wang and Karen Walker as a way to get double the wear out of one piece. Due to increasing pressure from Bryant Park management, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was hosted in Damrosch Park at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for the first time in September 2010. 

txt:wikipedia