Women's AW07/08

Sure most magazines have since several weeks ago laid down their comments of the women's AW07/08 collections and that I'm way little late, but hey better late then never. Women's collection beats men's collection by far, with their wide variety of short skirts, long skirts, dresses, trousers, shorts and styles, no to mention haute couture women's fashion have always been more interesting and have attracted larger crowds.
The number of high fashion women AW07/08 collections are about 2-3 times as many as the men's and great number of them of fabulous. Picking out the three best collections is almost impossible and therefor I have decided to list three of my favorite ones.


Celine
Celine's contribution is a very luxurious looking collection with it's silk materials and elegant pieces. It is all very Posh and remind me of those 35-50 years old tanned women I encounter once in while with their LV monogram bags. Most of the time they glow looking very wealthy, smell expensive perfume and drive a Porsche Cayenne Turbo which has been paid for by their husband. Gold digger and very self conscious inspired collection but it's great, isn't it?

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Balenciaga
At the opposite side of the Celine's collection we have Balenciaga with their youthful collection. It is a mix of several colors and garments from different cultures. I'm a big fan of colors and I think Balenciaga has done a great job standing out in the crowd with a living and playful collection.

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Christian Dior
Last but not least is the creation of John Galliano aka king of haute couture. You simply can't discuss AW07/08 without mentioning the Dior. Galliano is truly a master at creating dresses and this time he has focused on contrasting colors. The overall style of the dresses is glamor and red carpet, very first class. Further more variation is not a problem at all, the collection offers dresses of different materials and style, absolutely nothing to complain about. Galliano, you are amazing!!

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Not mentioned, but certainly not forgotten Moschino and Chloe.

Hedi + Dior Homme = Break up

Breaking news!! Although rumors have been circulating in several weeks it has apparently come to the surface that Hedi Slimane is leaving Dior. As a matter of fact Dior is showing him the door and LHMV and Dior will make it official in a few days.
Coming from directly from the horse mouth it seem like Hedi and Dior are in a dispute over his contract renewal and Hedi's requests have been said to be too demanding. It it sort of like the same conflict Tom Ford and Gucci had. I'm actually in chock and never believed that the rumors were true.

I guess Dior don't find Hedi to be too important after all. Him leaving the brand is both good and band. The good is that Dior can acquire a designer who is more versatile. Sure Hedi's style was cool and unique but like I mentioned in my previous entry he has a big problem with versatility. A big name like Dior simply can't afford to put their name on a designer's collections which are almost indistinguishable. The bad side of this is that Dior Homme is loosing a part of itself, Hedi and the name Dior Homme goes hand in hand.

So what now? Hedi Slimane will probably start and his own line and currently there isn't any information about what fashion house he is going to work for. As for the replacement there are strong speculation that Kris Van Assche is taking over after Mr. Slimane. That all there is for now and I'm pretty sure we will be hearing more about this story in the coming weeks.

Darkness is spreading.

A few years ago people only associated Dior with women’s wear but he changed it. He is what Tom Ford was for Gucci, what Marc Jacobs is for Louis Vuttion, his name is Hedi Slimane. If you haven’t heard of him then you better recognize because he is a rising star.

The photographer, album cover, store and furniture designer has redefined Dior and revolutionized the world of men’s clothing. His signature is very slim shaped clothes with a touch of femininity. Further more Hedi is known for using unhealthily thin models which celebs like Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan probably envy.

My favorite DH collection is the SS05 which featured a great amount of what’s in the DH stores today like the D-point belt and the “Brut” Denim jeans. The collection is his most “mainstream” one up to date, meaning that it is very uncontroversial and consist mostly of thing which you wear on the streets without getting stared at.

After the widely appreciated SS05 collection, the true design of Hedi came forward. Almost all his collection now days feature dark dark outfits with some exceptions where there are splash of a bright colour. The style and mood of DH collections tend to be very inspired by punk and medieval times. Hedi who is a good friend of the beloved and drug free Pete Doherty worked at YSL prior to moving over to Dior in the year 2000.

Personally I’m interested to see what Hedi has planned for the future of DH. His designs are great but some garments are too eccentric but my biggest with him is versatility. His 4 latest collections are almost identical and in the fashion industry people want to see new designs and a monotonic style will get you to the bottom pretty quick. So Hedi, if you are reading this, please surprise us with a revolutionary SS08 collection. Nonetheless I think he is a great designer with lots of potential.

Look of the month: March

Lanvin AW0708


Pictures courtesy of Marcio Madeira/GQstyle.com

March can be an irritating month in countries with distinct seasons. March is very much a transitional month where we say good by to winter and hello to Spring. Since it basically is in between two seasons the weather can vary a lot from day to day. One day it's too warm to wear a winter jacket and during the next day it can too cold to wear a summer jacket.
The perfect outer wear for March is a trench coat, its light but cover the body properly. My favourite look for spring is an outfit from Lanvin's AW0708 collection. It can be very easily imitated by getting hold of a cheap trench coat, plain white converse shoes and some chinos with good fit. You should be able to find all three items for less than a total of €300 which actually isn't that much. After that it is just a matter of mixing the items with what you've already got at home.

Key garments:

• Light coloured trench coat
• High top sneakers
  
• Chinos

Hottest right now.

It isn’t Adriana and neither is it Gisele. The mystery model is Freja Baha Erichsen. There are very few of the 07-08F/W runway shows which haven't featured my favourite model Freja Beha. The beautiful 19 years old Danish model have featured, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Sonia Rykiel and countless other shows.

Pictures courtesy of Mercio Medeira

Freja's most spectacular appearens is without a doubt in Gucci's breathtaking SS07 campaign, which is the most beautiful campaign I have seen in years. It's so sensual, warming and full of harmony.

Worst face on a front cover this quater?

Just when you thought he was out of the spot light for good he reappears. Your favourite crack addict and blood-squirter-at-camera-after-injecting heroin is proudly featured of the front cover of April’s issue of French Vogue. The blood bastard is as you might know also dating the short and well known Kate Moss. Who knew that drug addiction can bring to many good things in life? I didn’t. Now where is the number to the dealer in my neighbourhood?

Justice has been served.

Picture courtesy of Associated Press

Long time super model Naomi Campbell is finally getting a taste of the American justice system and gets to pay for her evil habitual tossing of cell phones. In the first month of the year she was sentenced to 5 days community service for cold heartedly throwing a thick Blackberry phone at her maid.

On Monday the 19 of January the supreme diva arrived at sanitary garage in the dark, dark city of NYC to rock the mop and broom. Judging by Miss. Campbell rather tasteful army inspired outfit, high heel boots and the fact that she had a maid, suggest that she probably isn’t going to do great job getting the floor clean. Then again having to be in a filthy sanitary is probably agonising enough for her. Hopefully she will think twice next time she want to express her anger in the form of throwing gadgets at other peoples’ heads. For the sake of people around her I hope that she won’t get hold of the iPhone, because getting that heavy PDA/phone in the head will probably hurt a bit.

Picture courtesy of Associated Press

Bags, bags, bags.

You have probably read about it and so have I, the new bag carrying trend. Unfortunately I’m not going to spare you eyes, I feel that I have to jump on the wagon myself and explain what I feel about male bags.

Since the first cave man ever threw his first rock at rabbit men have not been walking around with a bag dangling from their right hand or shoulder. That’s pretty understandable. Unlike women we don’t have the need to carry with us 2 kilos of unnecessary stuff every time we leave home. Most dudes only takes their keys, cell phone, wallet and in some cases mp3players when walk out the door, and it all fits perfectly into their pockets. So the conclusion is that we men don’t need bags!!

Oh, I think I’ll take the last sentence back thank you. We do actually need bags. Next time your out doors take a look at the pockets of a man walking towards you, and what will you see? Bulging pockets! And it looks awful doesn't it?. Not only does it ruins the shape of your clothes but makes you feel uncomfortable, not to mention make you look less proper. Despite that I’m not going to recommend you to drag around a bag all day for the rest of your live. We all know how tiresome it is to even carry a small plastic bag for several hours, as a matter of fact the idea of fact having to carry anything at all is annoying. Therefore my recommendation is to get yourself a city bag aka a small messenger bag.

I call them city bags because they a small and light enough to carry with you on your pre-salary week window shopping. You simply let it hang across your body and you can walk around how much you want without being bothered in any way. Bear in mind though that city bags come in all different sizes. The smallest type one is a pouch and swallows nothing more than your cell phone, wallet, an iPod G5 and other tiny things you might have in your pockets like condoms. In my opinion this is the bag for the majority of the guys out there. Tiny, often inexpensive and does simply does the job.

Then we there is the proper city bag which has a foot print of an A4 paper. This type of bag suits those who carry novels, telescope umbrellas, hats and lotion bottles, simply things which you can’t carry in your pockets.

Lastly the world of fashion has recently introduced the male purse. If you are a trend whore than a male purse is something for you, but be warned, you might get strange stares with it, especially if you wear it with a kilt. There is no way to defend yourself if you get angry after getting laughed at. People around you will just say “You know where you got that bag from, and it damn sure wasn’t from the men’s department.” Carrying a male purse is a bit over the top if you ask me, the world isn’t ready for it yet.

Makeover of the decade.

I have always believed that the hair is our most valuable asset when it comes to changing our appearance, and Marc Jacbos makeover is a living proof of my belief.
Don’t get me wrong, I love his collections and handbags, and have great respect for his talent but his science-geek-on-prom-night-look never appealed to me. The hair, glasses, and the suit in combination with sneakers made him look out of place but that’s all apart of the past now.
His new look makes him look much younger and more alive. Like the changing trends in fashion it is quite should be natural that designers change their hair style once in a while. We guys can grow moustaches, beards, dye our hair, cut it or let it grow big. All those options enable us to alter the way we look and a slight change can even result in new female attractions.

Set sail.

Happen to join the navy soon, have a gay cruise on the radar or do you just want to give the impression that you have rented an 80 foot yatch in Monaco? Regardless of plans you need to get in character and the perfect choice of clothing style is none other than the cruise look aka my favourite look of all. The reason I love the cruise look is because it is so noble, elegant but yet warming.

Creating a cruise outfit isn’t that difficult at all. The main pieces are white chinos, jeans or shorts and a black or navy blue(preferably). After that is just a matter of grabbing a white shirt and you are good to go. Oh I forgot one thing, gold buttons details and accessories. Gold coloured buttons are really important because they give the garments the expensive and noble look. They aren’t really that difficult to get hold of either. Just visit a textile store and you should be able to leave with a full set of buttons for a blazer for no more than 10 euro. After that you sew them on yourself on a sunday night you usually waste on myspace.
What about accessories? Brown leather piece is my recommendation since brown is softer than black, it’s all about being relaxed and soft like the ocean.

Has D&G gone too far?

Unfortunately it seem like Dolce & Gabbana is in bad weather because of women degrading(?) ads. Apparently a women feministic organisation has used their wild imagination to cock themselves a fight.
The Dolce ad pictured above has been said by the organisation of anti high-fashion feminists to reminisce a gang rape. I don't know about you guys but it looks more like rough sex to me. Although the dudes in the background look wet and hungry for some sex they are technically not involved. Seriously speaking I would say the ad is in the grey zone and wouldn't recommend any designer to create something different. There are lots more different ways to express sexual tension between a men and women.

Most powerful at the moment.

There are people in the fashion industry that just follow the lead and then there are the industry people who define and rule the industry. At present time there are three invisible rings in the fashion world which are on the hands of the most influential individuals in the industry.
Listed below are the fashion gurus who can take you every corner on the fashion world. They are fashion royalty and get to sit on the front row on every fashion show they attend. When you catch them on the streets, you should be able to recognize them.

Arnhult Bernard

Bernard is not a designer, a stylist and neither is he an editor. To be more specific he does have any direct influence in the world of fashion but we all know that money is power and his wallet is as deep as a black hole. With a net worth exceeding 26 billion dollars he is the 7^th wealthiest man in the world. He had made money rain into his account by building up an impressive portfolio of luxury companies and his title is CEO of LVMH.
The abbreviation stands for Loius Vuitton Möet Hennesy and is a concern consisting of 60 companies, which includes; TAG Heuer, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Fendi and Donna Karan. As if the CEO title isn’t big enough he owns a staggering 51% of LVMH. Now that is what I call power.

Marc Jacobs

After getting fired in 1993 from his post as a designer Perry Ellis for creating an unconventional collection Marc Jacobs gained some fame. Since God closes doors and open windows Marc’s unwanted collection for Perry Ellis led a few years later to employment at LV, where he in 1997 was appointed creative director at the fashion giant.
Marc’s new post marked the start of his sky rocketing career. He designed LV accessories with pastel colours. Further more Marc also brought in another designer to create LV with graffiti and they became an instant hit.
Thanks to all the success at LV he got to start his own brand, while still working at LV. What he is known for is elegant and stylish designs, which usually follows no trends at all. As a designer with super star status, Marc will definitely remain in the spot light for years to come.

Anna Wintour

If you are familiar with Vogue Magazine, then you have seen the work of Anna Wintour. She is the editor in chief of Vogue US, which is the worlds biggest fashion magazine. She decides what should and shouldn’t be in the vogue magazines around the world.
Her bob haircut in combination with sunglasses gives her a true monotonic Zoolander look. Don’t laugh at her though because with her power she can make or break your career in the world of fashion. She always walks around with an entourage of people, including someone which holds her purse for her. Anna is so powerful that some fashion shows are held up until she arrives. If you watch television and movies a lot you might have seen her portrayed as Fey Sommers in Ugly betty and as Miranda Priestly in “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Female Trend Setter 1.

Why do all good things come to an end? Last week I saw the last episode of the O.C. tv-show and now “Ugly Betty” is my only light is this dark, dark world of silk boxers, unnecessary wars and bad breaths. I was an O.C fanatic and have, in fact seen every single episode and guess who my favorite character was? Marissa Cooper off course!

Not only is she a very attractive young woman, but she also wore beautiful clothes through out all four seasons. Mischa Barton’s sharp dressing continued even off set where there has been a craze over every single garment she puts her nicely crafted body. Thanks to her proportions most runway dresses she wears fits her like a glove, and if I was a girl I would be jealous about how great she looks. Although I do admire creativity, Mischa has her share or tasteless outfits which I never in a thousand years would recommend any woman to wear. Have I mentioned that she has a cute smile?

The O.C dies but Marissa’s legacy lives on.

Watch Yourself.

Are you one of the 21th century people who use a cell phone to keep track of time? If you are, then it’s time for you to get yourself a wrist watch. Not only does a wrist watch make you more of a man but it is also a very convenient instrument for keeping track of time. The use of a cell phone requires you to stand up(assuming you are seated), reach into your right pocket, maybe even press a button or two, look at the time(off course), sliding the phone back into the pocket and then sit down again. Where as with a wrist watch, you just turn the watch towards and voila, you get to know the time without a hassle.

Pictures courtesy of Luc Virginius/The Watch Quote™

Choosing a watch might not be very easy since there is an endless quantity of watches out there with different or in many cases similar designs. What I consider most important is finding a watch which reflects your personality. Weather it is a Kermit or Hello Kitty watch it doesn’t matter, as long as the watch is YOU. The worst move is purchasing an Omega Seamaster professional 300m just because it is well respected watch. Anybody could buy that watch and it is quite a popular one too, which means that you will unlikely trigger curiosity with that watch on your wrist in a room full with watch fanatics. If you are an athlete the functions of a chronograph(timekeeping) watch along with a steel bracelet might reflect your personality. While someone who is conservative, enjoy classic music and like it low-key might prefer a thin watch which has a black leather bracelet and roman dials.

Pictures courtesy of Luc Virginius/The Watch Quote™

I know some of the nicer watches are expensive for the average Joe but there are descent watches out there for 300-500 dollars. My advise to anyone who’s in the market for a watch but don’t know what they want, is to take a look at the grand watches from the top manufacturers, because their watches often have the best designs. After having found an attractive watch that probably cost more then your car, look at watches in your price range and try to find similar one. Be warned though, watches priced below 400 dollars with lots of details tend to look cheap, so if you plan on purchasing a very cheap watch, choose one with few details are possible. At last don’t forget to match your watch with a similar coloured cufflinks.

Fashion review: The Devil Wears Prada

The title of the movie is not only catchy but unintentionally(?) also serve as advertisement for Prada. Watching the movie on the hand, suggest to me that Hermés is the main advertiser. The eminent Hermés scarfs are mentioned a handful of times and orange Hermés box are seen through out the movie. It is kind of in-your-face advertising like Sony engages in with their uber cool products in James Bond movies.

The Devil Wears Prada is one of those movies that every fashion aficionado should watch because it gives an, although twisted insight of the fashion industry and most importantly it features a great bunch of expensive well designed clothes.

Picture courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

The stylist who got the honor to dress the actor is Patricia Field. She is probably unknown to many fashion fanatics but if you have watched “Sex in the city”, then you are familiar with her styling talent.

Her main dressing doll in the movie is Anne Hathaway’s character in the movie who wears outfits which are in a very classic and proper style. In other words her outfits are very non-sexual and a sort of covered up, no cleavage and with skirts reaching below the knees. Although the outfits aren’t very chic a few of them are very stylish and elegant.

With a sequel on the way I hope the stylist in charge of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” gets to play around with a bit more edgy garments so that we get to see some very “off the hook” outfits.

Kick ass fashion ads

The world of fashion ads is a multi mullion industry. It involves top photographers, models with perfect proportions, money consuming studio time and very talented stylists. The full price of an ad can land at several hundred thousands of dollars. Magazine ads is the main tool designers use to show us their latest creations. Evidently some ads are better than others and in my opinion a great deal of the ads I have seen in magazines are garbage and not catchy. The ads which are worthless are those you glance at for a second and then turn the page.

What I consider to be great ads are those which capture you attention for more than 3 seconds and actually makes you look at the clothes, the models everything around them. There are only a handful of designers which consistently creates ads which make you tell you buddy beside you “hey look at this ads”. Without even thinking twice, Dolce & Gabbana takes my price home for “the most creative ads”.

Even though some of their ads flirts with the homosexual community and other might be considered tasteless, there is no denying that the majority of the D&G ads are cool. Most importantly Dolce & Gabbana has a unique theme for their ads every season. I can’t recall that I have seen an ad from the designers which resembles an ads from a previous year. To give you a glimpse of what ads from the fashion designer look like, I have a few of the more eye catching ads below.

A/W 07-08: The Fantastic 4.

London, Milano and New York fashion weeks have all ended and leading designers have had their chance of exhibiting their contribution to what will be in high fashion retail stores in autumn 2007. The fashion weeks are the most important events in the fashion world and very exiting for all the fanatics. People who are lucky enough get themselves are seat at the fashion shows love them, and so do I even though I have to settle for images from the net of run-way clothes I can only afford if I sell one of my kidneys on eBay.
I love fashion weeks because some of the outfits on the run ways are my source for inspiration. As with every fashion season some designer manage to create very appealing collection which stands out in the bunch, while other become a fast fading memory. Below here, you have a list of designers(in no particular order) which have created the most appealing collection for AW2007/2008.

Burberry Prorsum.
UK mega fashion house Burberry keep on delivering every season, and the 07 autumn/winter collection is no exception. Featured in the collection is the fundamental Burberry trench coat in colours like light blue, yellow, gray, and most interestingly in materials like fur and leather. The dominating colour through out the collection is gray, which is rather cool since most A/W collections tend to dominated by black.
The style of collection is very British in the sense that the coats and hats look like those worn in the UK around the industrial revolution. Burberry has always been very patriotic and you instantly recognise a Burberry collection when you see one.

Pictures courtesy of Marcio Madeira/GQstyle.com

Docle & Gabbana.
Light continues to spread as Mr. Gabbana and Mr. Dolce goes in Burberry’s footsteps and enlighten us a non-blacked-out AW-collection. In my opinion D&G is one of the few designers which have a consistency in designing collection which are fully wearable. The mod of D&G’s collection is still unchanged. It is all about hard piped and good looking young adults ready to pick up a woman at the closest bar. Further more variation isn’t a problem for the brand; the collection offers a wide variety of garments ranging from space suits, leather jackets, jeans, shorts to undies, t-shirts and sunglasses(even though there barely is any eye piercing sunshine in Italy during the winter).

Pictures courtesy of Marcio Madeira/GQstyle.com

Gucci.
Accessories are probably what most people associate the “big G” with and I’m pretty certain that you probably don’t even have a male friend who owns a proper Gucci garment. Unfortunately you won’t have one in the near future because their run-way collections are found in very few stores around world, and furthermore a single garment will suck you bank account try in a matter of seconds.
Although Gucci is Italian, hence the red and green stripes, their latest collection has a rather French style to it. The fur pieces on the jackets, French looking belt buckles and and velvet garments gives the collection a rather non-Italian flavor. If you ask me I don’t mind at all because I find the collection to be very elegant and hip at the same time. Lastly it is a little 70s inspired and the models being covered up in clothes indicated that it is a proper autumn/winter collection. Hopefully Gucci will in the near future launch a more affordable collection for us Gucci aficionados.

Pictures courtesy of Marcio Madeira/GQstyle.com

Lanvin
Lanvin!! What the hell is that you might wonder. Believe me, the brand is as unknown to me as parenting is to Britney Spears. After I glazed through pictures of their AW collection I googled the brand, and apparently it is Paris based.
Honestly the history of the brand is far less important than their A/W collection which features jockey like caps, kick ass sneakers and dark outfits with a sprinkle of purple. I love the whole collection and will look out for the brand the next time I walk on a major shopping street.

Pictures courtesy of Marcio Madeira/GQstyle.com