Canary Wharf Motorexpo: Part II

It’s time for the second installment of the Canary Wharf motorexpo in London. As the name might suggested the name motor included any other viechle powered by a motor except mow lower off course. In the true spirit of the mighty Royal Navy, Sunseeker yacht manufacturer brought a fleet of luxury cruisers.

Contrary to people’s perception of yacht as means of transportations their purpose is more recreational like an RV but designated for the waters offering sea dwellers a means o residence for illegal fishing, gambling or freely marrying a zebra. Inhaling the smell of new leather one is overwhelmed by the generous space not anticipated when looking at a yacht from the outside.

The largest one of them was practically like a small family house coming with a whopping three bathrooms(more than people have on land), three bedrooms with a total of 6 beds and last but not least a lounge/living room lit up by a 47 inch screen TV. Sunseeker can customize the interior to the customers’ specific taste or needs, making the customers dizzy by the endless choice of wood and leather there is to choose from.

At the Expo there was a star striking sight of Amy Winehouse who was jumping all around getting close up with the cars while attracting the attention of all the bystanders. Realistically speaking the individual seen in the photo wasn’t actually Amy Winehouse but one of the most identical impersonators alive. Her face was a carbon copy of Amy Winehouse and if walking on the streets of central London she would be flocked by people wanting to snap pictures. She had the vast majority of people at the expo fooled except for a few who insisted that Amy Winehouse doesn’t look healthy as the near carbon copy of her shocking visitors at the Expo. In a nut shell she was a sexy mirror image of what Amy Winehouse would look like if she didn’t have a sweet tooth for illegal substances.

Gallery

SS09: Dolce & Gabbana Men

Dolce & Gabbana are as predictable as a race between a bunch of dogs. One season they present a rather despicable collection while the next one makes people wave their credit cards in the air. Their consistency is very low but when Dolce & Gabbana are good they are damn good like their SS09.

Inspired by metropolitan dandy lifestyle the Italian duo have created summer wear designated at people who want to look like they’ve got money. The type of guy who walks into a room and you can tell by the well groomed appearance and exquisite clothing that their wallet is thicker than a twin mattress. With exotic materials coloured in sexy midnight blue Dolce & Gabbana want to revive ostentatious Manhattan romance.

Propagating the use of a bow tie or a silk scarf resting around the neck slickness is guaranteed for anyone attempting to replicate either of these outfits. Perfect touches on an extravagant outfit designated to be worn while unconsciously eating a €160 for two at an overbooked fancy restaurant. This collection is undoubtedly dedicated to flamboyant stock brokers receiving bonuses the drop on lavish things like €1 540 sheets made out of the finest Egyptian cotton.

-Somewhat dreadful leather jackets.
-What’s up with the fetish surrounding laces?
-Naomi Campell. She’s soooooooooo yesterday.
-Alligator(snake?) shoes.

+The negative but very charming pompous image.
+All the nice little details like ties, pocket squares, scarves and different coloured collars.
+Theme and execution.
+Material and fabric mixtures.
+Blazers with Chinese prints.

Grade: 8.9/10 This is Dolce & Gabbana at their best. Absolutely splendid collection with zero over-expressive pieces. Ignoring the leather jackets they have hit it on the nail with a near perfect collection. Any Christian Bale fan or Tom Ford advocate should be quivering out of delight watching looking at these photos of Italian excellence.

Gucci SS08

SS09: Missoni Men

Missoni was brightest star as Milan AW08 overshadowing many other designers, as well as those in Paris. Behind the most stunning collection last season high expectations for the SS09 were imminent.

The first impression of the SS09 is deja vu, you recognize the colour of the runway and the wall, but most obvious is the color palette for the clothes remind your of something you saw 6 months ago…….the fantastic AW08. Browsing through the outfit a sense of sadness is evoked by high similarity with the AW08 but lack of WOW-factor. It can be described of listening to a lame cover of an old 80s song by an untalented British pop artist with low paid producers. Very unimaginatively Missoni have taken the AW08 given it a splash of 70s fashion and made it a bit more laidback. Speaking out of disappointment one can say that the SS09 is AW08 minus style and innovation.

Lacking masculinity, edginess or elegance there is very little that’s remarkable about Missoni’s SS08. The biggest disappointment is in the silhouettes, cuts and styling of the clothes which is middle-aged man would be wearing in the 70s on a Sunday sitting in the living room reading a newspaper. Some of the outfits even look a bit grandpa-ish with zero Italian sexiness.

+Colourful knitwear

-Recycling of the AW08 into something boring as ironing bed sheets on a Friday night.
-Pants widening down the knees.
-Too similar to the previous season.

Grade: 2.5/10 is Missoni’s SS09 would have been bakery, it would have been an apple pie with filling and apples all scraped off.

SS09: Burberry Prorsum Men

As one of the top three most anticipated shows, Burberry Prorsum always does a superb job as the ice breaker getting people warmed up and excited about fashion season. Delivering a show with trendy clothes and the most booked male models brining press and fans to orgasm there are very few reasons to despise the design house.

Although the collections delivered during the recent 4-5 season have been mouth watering eye candy, they have displayed a slight pattern of monotonousness. Looking at the collections from a technical point of view they have been near identical with minor differences such as color or theme. The resemblance between all the shows has been so strong that it has been impossible to mistake either of the shows for anything other than Burberry. Creating a strong brand identity is equally as important as designing something that consumers won’t expect in order to maintain a high level of interest in the brand.

Christopher Bailey is a smart design who has just as Barack Obama recognized that there is a need for change. Taking a bold 90 degree turn of creating a collection without one single.………..*make a guess*…………… trench coat, Bailey has finally left behind Burberry’s signature piece. This is turning point for the brand that shows the world that there is more to Burberry than just trench coats, which has been the most eminent piece in all their collections. Bailey has even gone as far as toning down the usually overly chic and bold appearance of his creations. With grunge flair the SS09 represents the back side of Burberry with pale colours that would fail to attract the attention of a 7 month old baby.

Promoting multi layering it’s safe to say that people in Barbados won’t be drinking pineapple cocktails wearing any similar outfits to these in 2009. Given how the unstable the British weather is this collection is targeted to people experiencing gray and non exotic summer weather. With coats and blazers sporting straight and simple lines the collection will attract the typical Raf Simons or Jill Sander customer appreciating discrete luxury.

- Slightly excessive use of blue in combination with gray.
- Wearing long cardigans reaching just below the bum, plus holding a murse under your armpit might pass you off as a cross dresser. On the border line of too much feminism.
- Will be too expensive for anyone not prepared to sell a kidney on ebay.

+Flat glossy shoes. *sweet mother of god*
+The Murses(man purses), especially the black ones.
+White shirts with “speed holes”.

Grade: 8.5/10 Presenting us with a predictable but unexpectedly boring AW08 collection Bailey has jumped back on the horse. Showing a different Burberry the SS09 still has poise and desirability without the over exposed Burberry trench coat.

Graduate Fashion Week.

As a warm up for the SS09 fashion weeks, GFW took place between Sunday the 8th June and ended on Thursday last week. GFW is the abbreviation for Graduate Fashion Week and is a fashion expo giving fashion graduates from the biggest fashion institutions within the borders of the United Kingdom, proudly show off their skills in hope of scoring some sponsorship money for setting up their own label.

On Wednesday last week the gala show took place in accordance with the previous years. The Gala Show is a recap of the entire week with 29 of the best graduates showing off their creations on the catwalk in front of judges who have nominated them for various awards and sponsorship money. Gathered at the Gala Show were “goodie bag” hungry stylists and various editors who were too lazy to attend all the collection which were exhibited throughout the week. Except for collections, other graduates involved in make-up, fashion marketing and other related profession have put their final year projects up on display. The level of talent is immense with creativity flowing like champagne at a P. Diddy party. Dedication and passion is what led to fantastic final year piece making all graduates worthy of applauses.

Unlike the top editors and influential critics I wasn’t allocated a front row seat, but a seat on the left side of the cat walk facing the very tip of it. Despite that I was happy that I wasn’t sitting on the very last row of “press” seats like a couple of fellow critics had to do. Spending close to a 100min with my head turned 90 degrees to the left did lead to tension and constraints on the left side of my neck. Still the pain didn’t deter me from my obligation of filling my note pad with comments and various thoughts and emotions evoked by what the Graduates wanted to off.

Chency Yiu Hung

What’s astounding was how professional everything was executed, and ranges from the facilities to the actually creations. At a graduate fashion week one would expect to see a whole lot of experimental designs by students who have the wrong perception of high fashion. Instead graduates demonstrated maturity and understanding that the best designer isn’t the one with the most eye catching creations. Not looking like amateurs the graduates at the Gala Show exhibited their very best designs which could easily melt in with clothes sold in a small luxury boutique.

Sarah Kennedy

Success in the world of fashion takes talent but more importantly consistency and the ability to communicate your designs in various ways. The graduates who managed to impress with self confidence, skills, consistency and maturity were the following: Chency Yiu Hung, Katy Homes, Elaine Kinney, Sarah Kennedy, Simon Waller, Nabil El Nayal and Edward Yip. Not evident in the attached picture is how stunning some of the pieces looked in real life.

Edward Yip

Nabil El Nayal

Milan & Paris SS09 Prologue.

It’s June and half the year has passed by before our eyes. The real vultures out there aren’t opening their wallets and are patiently awaiting the summer sale to pick up whatever unwanted clothes left in the stores. This weekend is going to be entertaining for anyone with zero plans and have planned on spending the weekend at home watching soccer and playing solitaire on their PC. Men’s SS09 is gearing up and will commence this Saturday. The questions are many, will Alexander McQueen manage to repeat his divine SS07 collection, will Van Assche stun us with a DH collection made up of outfit in more colors than black and white?? Most importantly, will Hermes and LV finally give us something that doesn’t make us yawn??? Drop a line in the comment is you have any requests regarding which designer collection you would like reviewed.

Italy

Saturday, 21 June
12:00 COSTUME NATIONAL HOMME
14:30 JIL SANDER
15:30 MISSONI
16:15 BURBERRY PRORSUM
18:30 VERSACE

Sunday, 22 June
09:00 BOTTEGA VENETA
12:00 ROBERTO CAVALLI
13:00 SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
14:00 VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
15:30 EMPORIO ARMANI
16:15 ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
17:00 NEIL BARRETT
19:00 PRADA

Monday, 23 June
12:00 GUCCI
14:30 JOHN RICHMOND
15:30 MOSCHINO
17:30 ALESSANDRO DELL’ACQUA

Tuesday, 24 June
11:00 DSQUARED2
12:00 FENDI
12:45 ETRO
13:45 CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION
15:30 GIORGIO ARMANI
17:30 ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA
18:30 BELSTAFF

Paris

Thurday, 26 June
14:30 Louis Vuitton
16:00 Number (N)ine
17:00 Jean Paul Gaultier
18:00 Yohji Yamamoto
20:00 Dries Van Noten

Friday, 27 June
10:00 Junya Watanabe Man
13:00 Kris Van Assche
15:00 Kenzo
18:00 Givenchy
20:30 John Galliano

Saturday, 28 June
14:00 Ann Demeulemeester
20:00 Hermès
21:00 Raf Simons

Sunday, 29 June
10:00 Antonio Miró
11:00 Lanvin
12:00 Bernard Willhelm
14:00 Dior Homme
17:00 Paul Smith

Sunglasses.

While Kanye West has got all the cool kids on the block wearing drape, shuttle or drapes glass, depending on what you call them, last year’s Wayfarer craze is still hot. Sunglasses the color of popsicles are also highly popular much thanks to Kanye West, and they can be nabbed up for cheap cheaply at a random open market, making them a perfect short term purchase for sprinkling up a summer outfit with something unusual.

The highest level of coolness comes with a pair of black shades. Stealth is the aspiration meaning that the shades should be darker than Ace of spade with discreetly or non visible logos at all. Large shades concealing the eyes and major areas around the face create mystery and mystery is sexy. Think of a female jet pilot wearing a helmet with a pitch black visor, not being able to too her entire face creates is intriguing curiosity. Preferably the glasses worn should have a minimalistic design, but the size and darkness makes them avant-garde, bold and eye catching. A point worn mentioning is that large shades might be overwhelming to people with small faces and it’s therefore advised to try pairs on together with an honest friend of good taste.

Motorexpo Canary Wharf: Part I

On Monday this week it was time for the Motor expo’s annual invasion of Canary Wharf. Like lions the resting on grass after a nice dinner the green areas in Canary Wharf have during the week been occupied with premium and exotic cars from various manufacturers.

Canary Wharf is a cluster of skyscrapers on a small piece of land surrounded by canals. With big buys like Bank of America, HSBC, Citigroup as well as other capitalistic firms occupying offices, or in some cases buildings, Canary Warf is seen as London’s equivalent to the Financial District in Manhattan. With an average salary €126 000 per annum in Canary Wharf, most workers based in the area pack the dough necessary to finance the cars that were exhibited in there very own rest area? Clever of the organizers right? Showcasing cars at the work place of their primary target group. Besides that it gives the workers an excuse for running late from lunch break. Besides that the expo was open for anyone else who happened to be in the neighborhood.

In the frenzy of everyone switching business cards more faster than a police car switch lanes during a high speed chase, the Pagani Zonda F was the high light. Not surrounded by ropes it was exposed for anyone to get up close with and feel its carbon fiber shell. With of weight of just 1, 230kg (2,712 lb) the Zonda F is light as Nicole Riche and Tara Reid onboard sitting in a Mini Cooper.

Mechanical pornography is the phrase that sums up the car. Every single part of car was conceived with passion for engineering, an absolute marvel which makes the Mercedes SLR, Porsche CGT and Bugatti Veyron appear somewhat mass produced. Not only is the outer shell pure eye candy, but opening the engine cover reveals glorious naked mechanics made out of carbon fiber, magnesium and other materials you won’t find your kitchen. Hand built in a quantity of only 25 cars per year the Zonda F roadster is an Italian super car rarity which justifies the price of €538,000.

Gallery

Dressing with the intent to kill.

For the gifted ones, style is an unconscious way of dressing immaculately, in other words it’s not a math problem and is done without any brain power. Apprising to becoming a fashion guru style is an all high aim like Valhalla without hoping to one day get there. Along the way you are living the right life daily reading your dose of fashion news, worshiping your favorite dressed person, not eating high carb food and never commit any fashion sins.

Once in a while our ambitions are on top with excitement dazzling through the body in the build of a super outfit. The month’s wage has just hit the bank account, the weather is amazing, all the 9 planets are aligned and the new additions to the wardrobe are ready for a debut. We simply want to dress to kill and generate draw as many eyes as possible boosting ourselves confidence. If dressing good was a crime, the fella pictured would have been convicted of first degree homicide. One can’t argue the fact that he wake up and put on what ever was laying around. His swagger is at an all time high and he looks great, doesn’t he? Unfortunately a bit too good. The over matched touches give an imitation of fabrication as if he was dressed by a boy-band wardrobe stylist.

Everything is excessively matched, heck his shoes are whiter than skimmed milk. His flawless facial complexion combined with the awesome tan and hair makes him look a wax doll. Thankfully he didn’t wear a silver coloured watch. Despite the lovely appearance he tried a little too hard making him look rather uncool. He’s officially a die to match convict.

Orlando Bloom.

Red carpet antagonist.

The red carpet brings out the best in people. Arriving at a red carpet event, all celebrities turn into high class role model super stars. Top female extraordinary plan for big events like they are wedding, calling up Valentino or Roberto Cavalli several a few months in advance asking him to make create a one off dress. On D-day waking up early to spend 3-4 hours at the hair dresser getting the perfect hair cut and makeup is standard procedure.

Ryan Gosling on the hand didn’t bother too much with glitzing himself up before attending an award earlier this year. It is understandable though, since he hasn’t been on the front cover of a newspaper since 2004 when he played a leading role in one of the best love stories ever, The Notebook. So he turned up at award looking like his battling a hang over while in mourning over a dead dog, and hadn’t spent more than 30 minutes dressing up for the extravaganza. Despite the worn out manifestation of his face Gosling managed came on top with an effortlessly personalized red carpet outfit compensating for he’s lacking star quality. The tartan styled shirt blends nicely with his three piece suit but yet white colour evokes curiosity without distorting his admirable choice of colours.

Demonstrating self assurance and fine taste he choice of time instrument was a golden watch. Although golden watches were during the 80s highly desirable they went out of fashion because they their association with pretentiousness, drug dealers and porn stars, they are making they way back onto people’s wrist as inexpensive style accessories. As pioneers in the area of calculators and digital watches, Casio is the leads the field of retro gold watches.

Father's Day.

The gift junkie has two annual events to look forward to and that’s Christmas and their birthday off course. Dads have a third day when they wake up to a rain of personal gifts, that’s if you have more than one child, and that’s Father’s day. Great right? Leaning back in the living room’s one and only lounge chair while your offspring honor you for being the alpha male in the house.

Not keeping up with important dates like these tends to end up with friends or media remind you that father’s day is coming up this weekend. As lazy or busy most people tend to be they fall into the “father’s day special” trap of picking up the “ideal” gift consisting of a shirt and tie discounted at the local menswear shop. Daddy opens the gift during Sunday dinner, says thank, wears the tie on Monday and that’s all there is to it.

Shirts and ties, which people love giving to men aged above 35, tend to carry zero sentimental value. Why not forget about material gift for a minute and usher your father into an experience of thrill and relationship bonding. Take the Sunday of for some man to man times. Leave the females of the family behind because we all known that they will require 2-3 hours to get themselves ready to step out of the house. More so women can be very non-diplomatic like when we men vote against them on what type of restaurant to visit. The outcome is always similar “Fine, we’ll eat there!” followed by them folding their arms holding their handbag looking directing their eyes away from you all dead quiet pretending that are content with the decision mate. Once in a while men need to spend time with men and take some time off that estrogen.

David Beckham is an active father whom we have seen taken his kids with him to Lakers basketball games. Sitting on courtside is a quite memorable especially the cheerleaders who offer exciting halftime entertainment. David has unfortunately been busted take, what he thought was an innocent and discrete, glance at a slightly voluptuous goddess swinging her onion booty in front of he easily distracted eyes. But hey! What is a heterosexual man to do? Married to a woman thin as a toothbrush you can’t blame him for scoping his environment of sexy cheerleaders.

Those who wish to engage in an unusual activity with their father are recommended to visit a spa or go on champagne/chocolate tasting. Or do something completely random which you’ve never done before and that could potentially make a nice story to tell at future dinners. In the case of indecisiveness a Nintendo Wii plus pizza and a pack of beer will certainly do the trick, as long nobody is so drunk that they mistake a beer bottle for a Wiimote and swing it straight at the television.

If your skin is itching from having too much money and need to get rid of some digits in your bank account, tangle gifts are still not out of the question. Every mature man appreciates fine leather not only because of the luxury factor but because they last long, are in many cases beautiful and can, down the road, be passed on to you or any evil stepbrother of yours. Here are some suggested products from Aspinal of London which would make any father proud of raising a son of great taste.

Tribute.

Yves Saint Laurent

1936 Aug 1st - 2008 June 1st

Designer annonymous.

As publication giants like Conde Nast introducing fashion and lifestyle magazines in emerging markets like China, India and South Africa nationally unknown designers get their chance to creep up on the international scene. Press in magazines like Vogue does generate high level of publicity for designers who name might never even reach beyond their country’s border.

Worth keeping an eye ball on from the Far East is SIEG, a Korean designer. Living in the world of fashion anonymous SIEG have expressed their disinterest for foreigner by design a website non-user friendly for anyone with Korean illiteracy. What makes a visit to their site even more annoying is the slow and sluggish speed. In other words dismay for anyone curious about their products.

Living in global isolation SIEG are apparently well informed about what we westerns are up to and have taken a taste of western fashion by hiring one of the biggest male models at the moment, Sean O’pry. That would be like a soccer team on Easter Island recruiting a top player like Andriy Shevchenko to play in their domestic league. What’s strangest in this secrecy is that their SIEG’s website isn’t even indexed on google.com or google.co.uk. They seem to want to retain all their attractive clothes for themselves which is ironic since their lovely creations look tailored to nicely blend in amongst western designs.

It’s a shame because the images in the look book are absolutely gorgeous. The clothes and scenery will make your left ear tingle if you are familiar with COS(Collection of Style) which is a fashion house owned by H&M designing clothes in the style. Despite the similarities in colour choice, product line and design philosophy, SIEG draws the longest straw in this duel. With a taste for simple lines and excellent fabric choices what’s sets SIEG apart from COS is the execution and presentation is utterly splendid. Everything look as tasteful and elegant as a violin or piano.