Comme des Garçons Womenswear SS15

Once again Rei Kawakubo did an amazing collection - few looks for this season but an incredible use of red among fairy tales inspiration and previous works. It is like we were watching the exit of a Disney movie after a crazy evening where everyone gone mad especially the princess. The inspiration where clearly from a chaotic scene where the fairyland turned into a dark asylum where blood were spilled, this first impression I had, was that the manga Knights of Sidonia could have been reality out of this catwalk. The little red hood transformed into a gigantic cloak of protection, like a shell to repulse the violent outside world. The dolls of Rei Kawakubo were either showing off some madness or either some innocence by being protected by the outfit.

This wonderful morbid combination was almost achievable only by the mysterious Mrs Kawakubo, this delicate taste that makes you want to feel it, graze it, touch it. Almost like a deadly rose among the flowerbed, its innocence captures your deep thoughts and carries you into its own world where the fantasy lives. I really love this collection, the colours are sumptuous and reveal a really high and talented skills displayed by the master.

Style 1 // Style 2 // Style 3

Eudon Choi

If I have to tell you one of my flaw is that I often write when something lit the spark, I make few adjustments and then I publish it. I hate spending too much time or several sessions on one article otherwise I lose the mood that I was trying to insert in these words. So whenever I do not write during a period, it is because I did not have that little thing that makes me write article in one go. Today I came across something very interesting, that lit the spark and that caught my attention, the work of Eudon Choi, a Korean designer based in London. After a small start in 2010 thanks to the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Merit Award at the LFW and by invitation by Anna Winter at the Milan Fashion Week, he is now well on his way to achieve something admirable.

Whatever you will think when you will see his collections, he is Korean and his work is well soaked by that. The clean cuts, the formal patterns, this idea of a lustful minimalism and this touch of crazy opulence make the Korean fashion so appreciated. Tidy outfits on the catwalk, reflecting this well-organised mind of his and the inspiration from menswear, Eudon Choi did not have to wait too long before being respected as a true challenger in the fashion world. I would be delighted to see him working on a collection for men, would it be the same inspiration or will we see more of this vintage aspect on a man's silhouette? Here are my three favourites outfits from his past collections. I have been seduced by this use of old styled garments such as the uniform and the dress we can see in his collection, brought back to life in this new century with a modern Korean touch.

Style 1 // Style 2 // Style 3

コム・デ・ギャルソン SS14

Designed by Rei Kawakubo, this new collection from Comme des Garçons is the result of the house, unstructured and totally apart form the human body. Sometimes you can feel an harmony with the body like a symbiosis but not on this catwalk. Each outfit is only carried by a model and there is no accord, the model is like a prisoner, like a doll from her dress. At some points she reminds me of Thom Browne, they both don't really think about ease and "wearability", they just do what they like, what they think about how to achieve what they want to show. This is a huge advantage that Rei holds, because she does not play with the whole marketing and trendy thing that remains outside the catwalk and in the street, she does not play with money. Of course she mades loads of money, but like an artist she will do her job first and see after that if it works like she thought it would, and like an accomplished artist it will work perfectly. Therefore she did not follow the trend of printed jumpers which invaded the catwalk since at least two years by now, and I am quite happy with that because we need some defiant, who will not give in just because of the greedy marketing aspect of the "brand", and who will carry on the arty way of thinking of the designers.

Créé par Rei Kawakubo, cette nouvelle collection de Comme Des Garçons n'est que la suite logique de cette maison, dé-structurée et complètement mise à part du corps humain. Parfois il nous arrive de sentir une harmonie entre le corps et la tenue comme une symbiose mais pas dans ce défilé. Chaque tenue est portée par le mannequin et il n'y a pas d'accord, le mannequin est comme prisonnière, un peu comme une poupée de sa robe. Quelque part, elle me rappelle Thom Browne, tous deux ne pensent pas vraiment aux termes d'aisance et de "portabilité", ils ne font juste que ce qu'ils aiment, ce qu'ils pensent afin de pouvoir obtenir ce qu'ils souhaitent montrer. C'est un énorme avantage que Rei garde, parce que elle ne joue pas avec l'aspect marketing et les tendances qui restent dans la rue et en dehors du défilé, elle ne joue pas avec l'argent. Bien sûr elle en engrange énormément, mais comme un artiste elle va d'abord faire son boulot en premier et observera les conséquences après, et tout comme un artiste accompli ça marchera. De ce fait, elle n'a pas suivi les tendances des imprimés sur les pulls qui n'ont fait qu'envahir les défilés depuis au moins deux ans maintenant, et j'en suis assez content car il faut bien quelques réfractaires, qui ne se plieront pas à une tendance juste pour suivre un plan marketing avide, et qui vont perpétuer l'aspect artistique des créateurs.

Womenswear Pre-Fall 2013-14

So there we are, these new collections are for some of them a real surprise and continue on the path they took since the last catwalk (no surprise for McQueen which is for me the best designer of this season), I am also quite happy with Gucci and Louis Vuitton which played on some greats and originals pattern. I have selected 4 looks that I really like, in fact I wanted just 3 of them but I could not decide of which one I had to let down so I put them all. The red is back.

Alexander McQueen :

I have nothing to say about this collection, the whole creation took my breath away, all these patterns are so well-mastered that it is a perfect for me. The first look could remind me the AW12 by Primark but  at 200floors above. The look 1 & 2 are my favourite, maybe because I love that kind of combination  between colours, white/black and red/black.

Balenciaga :

I really enjoy this collection as it brings a casual fresh-air to this market - I would not wear the outfit like that but i would take a piece of each and wear them on their own. 

Givenchy :

Even if I liked this collection, I am a bit disappointed by the fact that Tisci re-build this collection on the last one without many changes. So as I said most of these collections took the same way than the last season but at least some of them, even with the same breath they made it different and on this one I do not think that I look at a different collection.

Gucci :

This collection is awesome, I really encourage you to see the whole collection because I was really torn while I was selecting what look to put online. It is really classic, this is Gucci, but with an Italian touch, these looks 1 & 3 are really what I was waiting from them, this collection is more about Gucci than the last one for me.

Louis Vuitton :

After an impressive SS13 collection, this AW13 just finished the work for this year. Again we find some amazing patterns among this collection and some minimal pieces which balance the whole thing. My favourite looks are the first and the third one, I am really into pattern for this season I do not know why but at least I got some good looks to look at.

Lanvin :

I wanted to show you this Lanvin collection, a bit quirky for me and not really how I see the House, but still quite interesting with the fourth look and the second one, I do not really know how to explain my point of view on these looks but I like them.

During this week my selection for the menswear will be online soon, and more.

Cheers,

Thomas

Find me on - Facebook - Twitter - Bloglovin' -