Tradition, Innovation and Translation

Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese Fashion

The fashion of tomorrow has always seemed more lovely than the fashion of today to the “king of fashion”, Paul Poiret  in the 30s. Poiret would find the upcoming show in Barbican endeavoring to convey the same type of loveliness. The oxymoronically titled exhibit—Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion—opens in London this week featuring designers including Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto and Junya Watanabe, etc.

The galleries are arranged into four sections: In Praise of Shadows; Flatness; Tradition and Innovation and Cool Japan.

Do not expect a delivery of Japanese tradition as interpreted in Paul Poiret or Alexander McQueen or Quentin Tarantino who employed the language of orientalism. The non-Japanese designers inspired by the kimono create theatrical possibilities of visual effects, but the translation seems, insistently, a bit word-for-word. Rei Kawakubo’s monochromatic black may not indicate much Japanese revitalization. In her ingenious world however, Kawakubo is holding a Hattori Hanzō sword of creation and fighting the battles she wants to fight.

Reference: interviewmagazine

 Paul Poiret's kimono inspired dress, and kimono coat

 

Björk in McQueen's kimono

Photo credit: xolondon

 Quentin Tarantino in tuxedo-kimono

Irving Penn's queen Amidala in kimono

Fruit Faces

 Photo credit: mariankihogo.com

Portraying the direction for his Z Spoke line, Zac Posen was never ambiguous-- “for the hipster who has grown up and gone to work”. The idiosyncratic, if not childish, illustration by Daisy de Villeneuve might help Zac Posen to bring out the little kooky sensibility from the bottom of the heart of those grown-ups.

The collaboration of Daisy de Villeneuve and Zac Posen resulted an off the wall S/S 2011 collection of Z Spoke. The communication between the British illustrator and the American designer must have gone well enough to shun any “he said, she said” moment.

Having Peter Blake as a family friend, is it possible that Daisy de Villeneuve, delivering Zac Posen’s idea of fruit faces with the distinctive felt-tip pen, was inspired by Sgt. Pepper’s faces?

 Photo credit: Vogue UK

Milano

Robert Frank for the Aspesi Catalog

Photo credit: 5B4 

The list of design houses at the Milan Fashion Week could not be more crowded. Having no intention of joining the crowd or discussing hemlines or prints in interviews, the Italian designer Alberto Aspesi prefers to express his view in an un-posed way with Robert Frank. The Alberto Aspesi catalogue by Robert Frank is hardly available to the public and the Aspesi clothing is rarely presented in the photographs.

The Milan store of Aspesi on Via Montenapoleone, designed by Antonio Citterio, is a showroom displaying sculptures, video screens, and toys. The laundry detergent designed by Dirk Van Dooren of Tomato looks so much like a drink bottle that I almost asked the question that may make them go bananas: "what kind of drink is it?"

Shot in the late 1980s and the mid-1990s, the campaign photos may have, intentionally or not, pushed the budding ascetics of  “street” style--embraced by Corrine Day at the same period and followed by a generation of work by Juergen Teller, Craig McDean, David Sims and Glen Luchford.

In the city where dressing well is a responsibility rather guilty indulgence, the Milanese, strolling in the piazzas and the cafes, may enjoy more responsible-people watching this week.

Aspesi showroom display

Aspesi Detergent

Stay true to the spirit of traveling

to Prague and the marionettes

    Jan Svankmajer's Alice

 Milan Kundera

  The Kafka character in "Puppet Kafka"

 

Party on the Head

Philip Treacy’s hats are for conservative women.

So said the soft-spoken Irish Milliner. So said the hat architect who has placed lobster, shoes, orchid and swan's nest on the head of Isabella Blow, Ladygaga and the like. To Philip Treacy, Eccentricity is much more subtle. Women who wear his hat could be conservative outwardly, but inwardly they have their own sense of fantasy. Sounds like the fantasy of Juliet in Fellini’s “Juliet the Spirits”?

Drawn to the kaleidoscope of Juliet’s dreams, spirits, and memories, Philip Treacy understands the beauty of illusion, and empathizes in his design with the illusion because it's larger than life. The haberdasher does not consider himself as an artist, but someone who simply adds some spice to the dull of life.

The conservative women, with a heavier piece on their head, may keep  their foot more grounded and their heart lighter.

Reference: Philip Treacy's interview

Federico Fellini's 1965 film: Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli spiriti)

A Man in line in "Annie Hall" screams his opinion of Fellini
Photo credit: Annie Hall scene

San Francisco Fashion Week 2010

Paris, Tokyo, Milan, New York City. Many times, we see designers celebrate their establishments or origin in these cities. In 5 seconds, quick, any other city jumps into your mind as of fashion cities? huhhh… London? Berlin? Speaking of fashion cities, San Francisco does not easily, if at all, get pinpointed on the picture. SF is too laid back, SF is too hilly, SF has too many parades when costumes are louder than the pieces in fashion shows. SF has too many festivals when clothing is unnecessary item in the required list. Only on the screen do Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren appear elegantly in San Francisco.

SF originated designers know better to move to New York City early in the career. But there might be a bit of flashback of Bay To Breakers in the sporty theme of Alexander Wang’s 2010 Spring collection. The designers who choose to stay, their fashion shows may not be as glamorous as those in the other cities, not yet. Their shows, nevertheless, without big stages, have been much closer to the indie-friendly enthusiasts strolling from the high heel-unfriendly steep streets.

 Clu at San Francisco Fashion Show

Clu dress-- Bloomingdales

 Clu at San Francisco Fashion Show

Twelfth St by Cynthia Vincent at San Francisco Fashion Week

Vintage Joy at San Francisco Fashion Week

 San Francisco Fashion Week audiance