Requires Reading: Suzanna Mars On LA General, LA Fashion Week, Pussycat Dolls and Lingerie

Susanna Mars is one of my favorite bloggers, because she is sarcastic, critical and has the excellence to tell real fashion stories. My favorite post so far is the one I read this morning, about which I think that it is so informative that should be read by everyone who gives a sh... about L.A. Fashion Week (pardon my wording, I am only converging to the whole ambiance). It is also interesting for those who deal with culture in general because it contains some sociological aspects which might lead to further conclusions upon closer research.

I recommend to watch this before reading:

Roses

Debut Défilé RAJESH PRATAP SINGH
Espace Commines - 17 rue Commines - Paris 3e

Mina Perhonen Spring 2008, Espace Commines, Paris 3ème

I was lucky to receive an invitation to the fashion show of the japanese label Mina Perhonen.
The butterfly is the logo of Mina Perhonen and the colours give an outlook on those used in the collection.
The show was opening with a model who was cutting her dress with scissor.
It was a quiet and exiting moment to see what will come up. She cut out a butterfly and this was the kick-off for the presentation of Akira Minagawa's spring collection 2008.

The other models entered slowly the runway accopanied by the music of a live piano player.
They wore beautyful loose dresses either in pastell colours combined with an effectual use of blue or yellow leggins. My personal preference were the knee-lengh skirts combined with comfortable cotton shirts with a decent but eleborate cut. All of the clothes looked very comfortable and "ready to wear" (as it should ideally be). A great detail and part of the show were the accessories in form of straw hats...as sophisticated as a straw hat could be.
The collection is perfect for those who like emphasize on the vunerable and innocent side not so much on femininity of a woman.To celebrate the birthday of the label each guest a porcelain clinger butterfly…and there the

circle closes.

NY Fashion Week: Spring 2008

This is personal post on a my personal favorites of NY fashion week 2008. I selected to write about 3 desingers with 3 totally diffent collections each unique for itself.

Tommy Hilfiger

I was never a "Tommy Girl" wearing sportive clothes, but this collection was different. From a "wearable" point of view Tommy Hilfiger striked the right note.

It still remained a typically sportive character, but in sophisticated, sartorial way. Tommy Hilfiger included my personal wardrobe favorites like marine blue blazers with golden buttons, trenchcoats, striped shirts, in "tommy coulours": navy blue, white, beige or red. Small cutted sailor pants with side buttons were worn with silk blouses, striped tops or shirts. The dresses were short and of beautyful elegance ignoring any sporty note. Main accessoiry was the straw head in a perfect combination with sailor pants and short dresses. The Men's wear was really "gentlemen", a mix of Cary Grant and Steve McQueen: striped and beige suits with white leather shoes reminding of St. Tropez in the 1960's. All in all a very classic collection mixed with old-school elegance.

Betsey Johnson

What I like about her and her collection the courage to be ironic. "This is so america stereotype" was the first thing which came into my mind watching the collection consisting of exaggerated glamorous dresses and suits.
All was a variation of petticoated prom dresses which went through the designs of the sixties, seventies, eighties to now. Colours being chosen included pastel colours as well as a demonstrative pink and red plus a bit of black and white. The models reminded me of Barbie and visiting the prom night of there high school. It is less wearable than fun, but this is Betsey Johnson.

Alexandre Herchcovitch

Having an eye for real innovations is rare. Brazil-born Alexandre Herchcovitch is a designer who has it.
Centre of his collection was the tuxedo blazer being cut and transformed to make it wearable for women.
Base colourblack combined with red and white and a pastel yellow. Borders between men's and women's clothes blurred without loosing the focus on a female silhoutte.
I think he played it well but I personally missed the spring feeling in his designs.

Pret A Porter Paris: Traffic De Mode Exhibition

As I Non Buyer I made my way to the Porte de Versailles to visit the Pret a Porter Exibition.
It is a fair, usually for buyers, presenting fashion and accessories from around the world from new and well-known designers.
It is a 65 000 sqm fashion hub including 1550 labels being presented on 3 floors. Top 10 visiting countries (excluding France) include Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Japan, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, USA and Russia

Main Exhibition Areas:
" Atmosphère d'été " - The meeting place for fashion designers
" The Box" - The meeting place for accessory labels
" Casabo" - Concept, crossover, discovery, lifestyle.

If you love fashion and if you are open for new labels it is really a good occasion to inform yourself and get a more personal view on new designs "HORS VOGUE" and other fashion magazines. The most interesting aspect for me was to see how much the culture and mentality of a country influence their fashion. Being german orgigin I could for example understand the work of the designer Annette Goertz very well. Her pieces were a mix of wide layering clothes in decent dark colours. It must be quite convenient to wear them, typically german. Having said that, I noticed how "french" I became with my selection of preferred designers. I found a lot new brands I totally like and I will dedicate my next post to them.

A day at the fair could look like this:

Morning:

Go to the photo exhibition to get your first creative inspirations for the day. Join the bar at VOGUE café to drink a strong french coffee followed by a delicious croissant at Pauls. Afterwards check out all the great designers "Atmosphere" on the first level.

After-Noon:

Have a short stop at one of the counters exhibiting fashion books and magazine and enjoy. Afterwards pick up a nice baguette at Pauls bakery and then make your way to the Zen Area to have a short sleep after lunch. I did it and I must say très agréable - I consider a Zen Center at a fair a great constitution! Afterwards you should be fit for Level 2. You should not miss to watch one of the defilés which is really fun.

Evening:

Level 3 is still waiting...take it slow and take your time to initialize. A great ending of your fashion day should be a nice glass of champagne combined with chilly music.

Still no impression what your day could look like? Check out the visors guide

Men's fashion spring summer 2008: Defilé Jeroen Van Tuyl S/S 2008

Lucky Girl! My membership at Icqons made me receive an invitation to defilé of Jeroen Von Tuyl , a fashion label created in 2000 based in the Netherlands. Jeroen van Tuyl and Edwin de Rooij founded it after graduation of from the Arnhem Institute for the Arts.
The defilé took place on Saturday at 10:00am. This meant that I had to get out of bed at 08:00am to find the time to get myself ready (for sure I don't want to look "undone" when standing between all those fashionable people) and to take the metro and find the place on Rue Marceau. I got there early and learned that fashion shows will never start on time and that the most important guests will arrive late but seated first. To get an impression of my importance I got standing place last. Being a decent girl I was just pleased to watch the show…
It was called "Tulip" the flower of spring. Dominating colours were black, white, grey and purple pieces and the invitation gave a first clue. Main inspiration for the show was again last seasons shorts combined with wool socks. The designs were simple, slender and close-fitting. Shorts were combined with grandfather-wool pullovers and flip flops or either sartorial evening shoes. Trenchcoats were part of the show and alleviated the intended smugness of the wool pullovers. To aggravate on the simle appearance of the models, accessoires were not part of it.