Missoni Pre-Fall 2012

Missoni Pre-Fall 2012

What do chic, social young women want to wear these days? That seems to be the question on Angela Missoni’s mind as of late, and, for an answer, she need not look any further than her stylish eldest daughter.
Last year, Margherita took an official role in the family business designing accessories and, more recently, swimwear. The 28-year-old isn’t involved in the nitty-gritty of ready-to-wear—yet—but already her influence is apparent. Pre-fall, with its form-fitting puckered leather skirts, bomber jackets with large collars, and party-ready Lurex knits, felt very suited towards what she and her gorgeous pack of jet-set girlfriends would want in their closets (and their suitcases). Silhouettes are slim—all the better to show off the twenty-something bod—and there are plenty of wide-knit belts to accentuate the waist. The macro-floral-print dresses with sequins were a little overpowering, but they did show that Missoni is making a more serious effort towards evening, and why not? This is the collection, after all, that hits stores in time for the holiday-party and charity-gala season. 

This is not to say that the collection was only for those with youth on their side though. Not at all. The oversize double-breasted coats and seasonless sweaters—especially a long knit vest with sumptuous fox and beaver trim—are elegant at any age.

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Burberry Prorsum Pre-Fall 2012

Burberry Prorsum Pre-Fall 2012

There’s a distinct atmosphere of something softer and more romantically English country house–like around Christopher Bailey’s pre-fall Burberry collection. It’s not that he’s plunged completely into a vintage narrative, but there’s a feel of a thirties aristocratic house party in the long, slim, langorous crêpe evening dresses with their puffed sleeves, the smart tailored coats with fitted, seamed waists, the corduroy jackets and narrow skirts with peplumed pockets, the muted colors and vaguely chintzy chrysanthemum prints. Agreed, the narrow flares, military bomber jackets, and sweaters with an owl cartoon on the front are hardly “period” dress—these are the expected continuations of Burberry’s young, contemporary pieces. Still, despite the stylized way Burberry photographs its lookbooks, there’s enough of the Nancy Mitford heroine (or is it Wallis Simpson?) about this collection to hazard a guess at what the main Burberry collection might look like by the time it’s fully fledged for the runway show in London in February. Even the accessories that are on exhibit at Burberry’s giant headquarters on Horseferry Road offer a hint about the thirties research that must have been done by the design teams. On display: modernized cloches, felt hats that wouldn’t look out of place walking the moors at Balmoral, and new, box-shaped evening bags whose ancestry clearly goes back to Art Deco Bakelite minaudières.

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Drawing Jewels for Fashion Reveals the How and Why of Modern Bling

 “When it comes to contemporary furniture, sculpture or artists, you tend to know a lot about the people behind the work, but jewelry designers still feel hidden,” says Carol Woolton, jewelry editor of British Vogue and author of the recently published Drawing Jewels for Fashion (Prestel Publishing), a compendium she hopes will chip away at this historical veneer. Charting the creative process from designers’ initial doodles on hotel note cards to intricate painterly sketches—Legge & Braine’s psychedelic Murano glass pieces, Victoire de Castellane’s sculptural, otherworldly creations for Dior, and Delfina Delettrez’s anatomical delights, among them—Woolton takes the reader on a fantastical, revelatory journey into the lives and thoughts of the minds behind the sparkling accessories. “After all,” Woolton says, “the more you know about jewelry, the more you can appreciate it.”

Drawing Jewels for Fashion, $40

Same Exhibition, Just Not as Great

Same Exhibition, Just Not as Great

As a title, the Great Designers was provocative, but perhaps it was a bit misleading.

When the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology introduced a two-part survey of its holdings last month, many of the journalists who covered its opening asked its curators the obvious question: Just who are you saying is great? And more than a few designers probably wondered, hey, what about us?

The exhibition is themed alphabetically, with representations of 50 designers from Alaïa to Zoran. While it was intended to focus its audience on the vast holdings of the museum, it rather had the effect of suggesting the curators were pronouncing those included as the greatest designers of the last two centuries. After some consideration, the museum announced on Friday that it is closing the exhibition until Tuesday, while it changes the name to Fashion, A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of the Museum at F.I.T.

“It has become evident that the title does not accurately reflect the theme of the exhibition,” the museum said in a statement. “Because the exhibition was curated exclusively from the museum’s permanent collection, the selection is not a qualitative statement about modern designers, but rather a display of the range of the museums holdings from the 20th and 21st centuries.”

The second part of the exhibition, planned to open May 23, will include a different group of designers than those already on display and will reflect the name change.

How To Make a Lined Hoodie

How To Make a Lined Hoodie
Ready for the Holidays?
Winter break is right around the corner.
Why not try making your own lined hoodie?

JUST ONE LOOK

JUST ONE LOOK
Want to keep up with your favorite designer?
Check out this blog by T magazine to be up to date with every designer with just one look! 

HELMUT LANG

VERA WANG

CALVIN KLEIN

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**JUST ONE LOOK**

Designers Take a Fresh Look at Africa

Designers Take a Fresh Look at Africa

IN the years since Yves Saint Laurent showed his iconic 1967 “African” collection, fashion designers have repeatedly tapped the heritage of Africa in search of inspiration. Just last season Burberry and Michael Kors were among several labels that mined the continent as a source of ideas. Yet in the popular imagination, especially in the Western hemisphere, African fashion more often than not means animal prints, mud cloth and cowrie shells. In her new work, “New African Fashion” (Prestel; $35), Helen Jennings, a fashion journalist, hopes to broaden that view. Part coffee-table book, part glossary, it highlights designers — some established, some fledgling — whose work is African made or inspired.

While there is no single way to describe African style, the fashion industry tends to favor characterizations that to many people smack of condescension. “Fashion is full of meaningless terms like ‘tribal’ and ‘urban,’ ” said Ms. Jennings, who is also the editor of Arise, a two-year-old monthly African fashion and culture glossy. “Like the word ‘exotic’ — it makes me cringe.”

The Nigerian-born designer Duro Olowu also finds the clichés patronizing. “Africa has always been used as a reference point,” Mr. Olowu said, “but not as a valued source of serious fashion.”

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Meriter Volunteer Part II

The second part to our Meriter Event was this past Sunday and thanks so much to those who came to help out!

We managed to finish putting embellishments onto the gowns.

Thank you everyone for all your help!

Dreams On The Runway

Thanks to everyone who attended our very special Dreams On The Runway Event this past Saturday, December 10, 2011.

It was such an honor to be able to share each others dreams as well as hearing the dreams of the wish kids.

It was such an incredible moment to be able to spend time with the wish kids and to learn their stories.

On with the show!!