| I have missed Gareth on the 30th because of heavy office work... so I was kind of curious to see the clothes... Michelle Lamy, Rick Owens' wife has played good fairy to Gareth and took him under her wings. This season they have a new space outside of their fantastic hotel Place du Palais Bourbon where Gareth set up his showroom. As I mentioned earlier, everyone mentioned 'grey' about the show.... and they were all right. My verdict? Not so much new shapes or cuts, but the different shades of grey and finally the softness (versus the stiffness of previous collections) definitely added some reality to Gareth's evolution. It is pretty funny to think that Gareth and Rick are so related now when they come from totally different backgrounds: Rick built up his image mainly after his product (though he had a very strong universe) while Gareth is still trying to find his product after starting off with the strongest image possible. I wasn't sure he would be able to, but under Michelle's guidance, he is slowly getting there. |
|
|
The day was not over yet... and to make sure we squared the circle, here is the last treasure of the day - Ann Demeulemeester's show. One of my personal favourites and it was a very good show. People knowing my personal style won’t be surprised to know that I was drooling over most of the chain-decorative pieces and the black sequins too. I was so surprised because Ann tends to base her womenswear on the menswear (shown a couple of months before), but this time she totally departed from that (like SS09 which was stellar) and I am grateful for that (well, my wallet definitely isn't).
OK. Now is comes the scary self promotion moment. Saturday night we held the cocktail party at Printemps department store for our boutique launch (hence a lot of work and me not being too able to blog too much). I did try to take some pics but they looked so awful that I don't want to show them around! Plus I was running around like a puppy - I was kind of hosting the night you know! Maria Luisa looked amazing; Charles Anastase and Valentine were DJ-ing the best and the worse tunes (a lot of French songs so most of the foreigners were left kind of puzzled!). I will definitely try and get hold of pictures - I mean respectable ones (can you believe we were dancing in a department store?). For the moment you can check the official and slightly boring version on Style.com.
I was so happy because so many of our designers showed up and that is the best recognition and support! Nicolas Ghesquière, Rick Owens, Christopher Kane, Pierre Hardy, Edward Meadham, Benjamin Kirchhoff, Lazaro Hernandez... Suzy Menkes was also there and Sarah Mower... super proud and super happy. The champagne didn’t hurt either. Then - and this wasn't the greatest idea ever - I went to Pierre Hardy's 10 year anniversary bash at his fantastic office/showroom/ballroom. The party was so great it almost reminded me of a time when the cool parties took place, before the cool outsiders became the most boring establishment and André took over Paris. So we did party like it was 1999 and Sunday (morning) was pretty hard on me.
After Saturday night's fever, I have to admit that even concentrating on the buying was pretty exhausting, so just a short post about a collection, which happens to be my FAVORITE of the season. I CRIED at Meadham Kirchhoff’s show in London. Honestly. I was so touched by the beauty of the whole thing. |
|
|
|
The last time it ever happened to me was at Junya Watanabe's show Spring/Summer 2000 show, where the girls were walking through artificial rain on the runway...to the Carpenter's Rainy Days and Mondays'. Funnily it is Style.com's first Junya show online - I can't believe the pictures are such bad quality. At the time, nobody checked Style.com and people were still using fax a lot. I am not kidding. And this is Maria Carla! Cute young and fresh (and probably wet too). |
|
|
| That is also when you realize how important a show’s music is. Benjamin and Edward's show music was - among others but mainly - Nina Simone's rendition of 'Wild is the Wind' (can't even mention David Bowie's version, more tears will be shed...) |
|
|
Ok, back to fashion: they did a Yohji and in these times of photo printed mini body-con dresses worn with platform shoes, they showed black pleated deconstructed dresses with flat shoes and still managed to make it look 'sexy-rock' (whatever that means when 3 year olds wear skull printed T-shirts and your landlady has a studded jacket). Looking clever and adding a touch of poetry to the whole thing is not bad either, is it?
Back to music… David Bowie: MK's assistant - modelling the clothes here - totally looks like Christiane F. See? It all goes back to David Bowie somehow. |
|
|
| PS: ok a word about Marios Schwab’s cerebral collection: a commercial version of the 3-part dresses (all in black! no colour clash!) he showed in London… Sometimes black helps desperate buyers! Thank you Marios for giving us slightly more realistic options! Fantastic work (eww! that sounded like the cheesy articles 'from runway to reality'....) |
|
 
|
|
Hey! Buying appointments are properly starting, so less fooling around and more concentrating. I couldn't go to any shows... but still saw some amazing things - I always have the feeling I am working on a flat season but we always manage to get some excitement with the brands we work with.
OK, so Christopher Kane is definitely the king. He always manages to come out with something new that nobody's ever seen. He has that ability - I guess Tammy's role is more important than we think - to find what women will love always, special pieces that appeal immediately and unconditionally. Buying Kane with an all female team is quite an experience, I even feel isolated somehow as all the girls keep breathing harshly and ordering things for themselves.
The collection is not only great - it might be his easiest so far (I mean commercially in terms of fit, proportion etc...). Plus! Shoes! I love the heel! That will be black suede and flesh suede for us, thank you. |
|
  
|
|
At Richard Nicoll: loved the amazingly subtle colours, the softness, the scarves.... shame about my pictures. That dress is one of my favourites but the dummy was kind of limbless so it doesn't look as good as on Hanne Gaby in the show. By the way, the scarf is part of the dress, thank you Richard, so our customers won't have to book your talented stylist Jacob K. to look cool (the hat won't be necessary though). I loved the colours and the soft silk jacket (please don't mention Miami Vice, the proportion is so modern!). |
|
 
|
|
Richard just got appointed designer at Cerruti - I think he will do a great job with his pleated pants and cool jackets. I can't wait to see what he is going to do.
OK, I know I dissed Margiela earlier on, to be honest the show pieces do not reach the expected level of Margiela but the showroom had still interesting pieces to show, mainly the 'artisanal' pieces below. No comments to make, except the waistcoat on the left is made out of.... fake eyelashes. Yes! No fancy pantsy here... the bolero (bottom pic) on the left is made out of...fans and feathers, and the dress and jacket are embellished with broken car reflective plastic light protections! Who needs Swarovski when you have a car (and a few La Cambre dedicated students to sew its broken pieces)? The new embellishments are very clever, the cuts less so, but I do enjoy the cheesy postcard print!
Unfortunately the 'artisanal' pieces are out of reach for our modest Parisian store (couture prices!) so I will have to be content with my pictures... |
|
|
|
Some sunglasses action at Martin Margiela; their new item is a hybrid of aviators and plastic glasses. The glass itself is even split in 2 shades! Hilarious and very cool-looking. On the left, Rachel S., our Hong Kong correspondent for our store there, and our own Parisian Alice without whom I couldn't do a thing.
What about these Bruno Pieters glasses? They were asked for by Samuel Drira, the show's stylist, but not used. Like Bruno's show itself, its all about structure but transparency. For our store: we'll stick to black and flesh. |
|
|
| Next up, a quick appointment at Lutz with his cool understated dresses and knits, but still very researched and then off to Maxime Simoens’ static presentation - he participated at Hyeres festival in May and maybe should have won something? Anyway, he showed at David Mallet's salon. The venue was fantastic, full off beautiful and intriguing objects (even an ostrich – although not living though!). More beautiful things and exciting clothes tomorrow! |
|
|
| Robin Schulié |