In Dries Van Noten Haider Ackermann Paris Fashion Week Womens Spring/Summer 2013 Review

Of Mice and Women: Dries Van Noten and Haider Ackermann Spring 2013 Women's Collection Review

There can certainly still exist a nirvana when the rules are broken, the patterns and lines of conformity not adhered to and when one marches outside of the normal drum's beat.  Nirvana is an interesting choice of word to describe the peacefully familiar and visually perverse Dries Van Noten Spring 2013 Women's Collection that heavily took inspiration from the clashing plaids and feminine florals made popular by assuredly smitten Courtney Love and the tortured late great Kurt Cobain.  Love in a hopeless place, perhaps.  There is also a nirvana in riding the wave of masculine strength with feminine lines to achieve a newfound exuberance of roaring female altogether.  Haider Ackermann's Spring 2013 Collection was a call to the defiant confident swagger of Marlene Dietrich and the braggadocio swagger of a salivating learned playboy all mingling around the sensuality of the female form.  Love in a hopeless place, perhaps.  Two very different collections with the message of taking the reigns and asserting a belief that there are many parts some disjointed, some cohesive, some masculine in theory and some nurturing like Mother Earth, to a strong woman. 

Dries Van Noten
Pattern juxtaposing, texture and transparency find a familiar harmony through color, layering and nostalgia.




Haider Ackermann
Modern elegant strength through texture, feminized menswear cuts and graphic print play.





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In London Fashion Week Milan Fashion Week Paris Fashion Week

Surface Sickness: Spring 2013 European Women's Collections Trend Alert

If there's a cure for it, they don't need it.  Some European designers had a case of textiles on the brain for Spring 2013 and it spread to their collections.  Thankfully so!  Several collections were far from minimal in how bejeweled, bedazzled, bedecked, fluffed, beaded and 'baroqued' some pieces were.  Texture was very evident from the following designers with some turning out the surface treatment in both muted and manic color, chunky and layered surfaces.  All symptoms will lead one to most certainly be tempted to touch.






 *Photos Courtesy of Style.com

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In Fall 2012 Mens Trends Fall 2012 Women's Trends Half United

Brand Profile: HALF UNITED: Pushing for the Cool Lunch Period

The next time you're impulsively buying that t-shirt with a God-knows-what on it or that non-descript necklace by the registers in some national chain store, let me give you something to ponder.  Will this tee or necklace hits its 'wow' factor once it gets a couple of wears or will their shelf lives go on in more ways than one?



That's the thinking behind redemption fashion, as I call it, and the message from Half United.  Half United is an über-tiny company with a voice trying to make big moves to FIGHT hunger locally and in third world countries.  How?  For every cool fashion item or funky accessory purchased from Half United, the company donates half the profit to provide A WEEK'S worth of school lunches to a student in a third world country and to local food banks.  The redemption is that child could go on to become the next great humanitarian, doctor, politician or leader for social change that could uplift the socioeconomic outlook of their country.  After all, learning should be of the utmost concern for a small child in school and not extinguishing hunger pangs.  





Half United makes it their effort to see to it that eradicating the need of a meal for a hungry student will increase their hunger for knowledge and progress.  Something to think about on your next trip to the mall is that he more support they receive, the more mouths they can feed, so that the mind stays on the books.  For cool wears and for more info, watch the video below and check out their site at HalfUnited.com.


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In Balenciaga Balmain Paris Fashion Week Womens Spring/Summer 2013 Review

Looking Back for Spring: Balmain and Balenciaga Spring 2013 Collection Review


Opening Looks from Balmain (l) and Balenciaga (r)

If you're thankful that great minds think alike then forget the person behind the mind for a second and just consider what you think of their thoughts. Olivier Rousteing at Balmain and Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga both opened their Spring 2013 collections with definite silhouette and high waists on the brain.  Balmain delved full on into the 80's and Balenciaga tore a page out of the 90's.  However, both offered the key motivating forward factor in their fabrics with Rousteing showing clever and pretty amazing unconventional knitwear even on top of tailoring and Ghesquiere offering updates of his scuba silk for a modern lace effect.  

Balmain

Not sure if the ladies are ready to delve back into the 80's full on but the techniques and handiwork in the Rousteing-led Balmain collection speak volumes (literally and figuratively).




Balenciaga

The house of Balenciaga has always been about shape and Ghesquiere brings his fabric innovations to the table in textural, innovative and deceptively feminine ways.



*Photos Courtesy of Style.com.

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