Local clothing brands offer alternatives to corporate festival fashion
"Back when I started going to festivals, you’d care about what you wore,” says Arly Stroben, owner of the local festival wear brand The Thriftsy Gypsy. Stroben has been going to music festivals for eight years, and while she says it’s always been important to show up looking good, wearing unique and bold looks has become increasingly more of “a thing.”
As festival fashion became popularized over the past decade, corporate brands such as Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters launched clothing lines marketed specifically to festivalgoers. But local clothing brands have been carving their way into the scene, injecting it with unique pieces.
“I do a lot of up-cycling,” says Stroben. “I go thrifting and I find something with a really cool print but that’s very outdated and grandma-ish. I’ll put a new spin on it and make it sexy, make it cute and make it very festival-driven.”
Stroben started The Thriftsy Gypsy only about a year ago after taking sewing courses at Palomar College. What started as an Etsy account has since turned into a legitimate website and, most recently, a small live-work space in Oceanside. From there and online, she sells color-bursting fur-trimmed coats, matching two-piece sets, bodysuits, accessories and more. Stroben will be attending and vending at the upcoming Desert Hearts Festival, which is run by San Diego-based Desert Hearts, a DJ crew and record label.
Another local festival clothing brand to look out for is Little Black Diamond by local Adrienne Shon, who specializes in shimmering, psychedelic jackets, bikini bottoms, harnesses and everything in between. Meanwhile, East Village-based clothing brand Damascus Apparel caters to musical circles who favor crisp, black and white designs.
“Black and white is bold, and it really stands out when it’s done right,” says Damascus Co-Founder Nate Khouli.
Damascus has also worked with countless DJs to create shirts, hoodies and outerwear since 2008.
“Our brand is a way of saying ‘Hey I’m more of a creative type, and I’m open and seeking to create with other creative types,’” says Khouli.
In each of their own rights, the brands are catering to festivalgoers who crave originality.
“People want to look good and they want to feel good,” says Stroben. “They want the coolest thing they could possibly wear, the most stand-out pieces.”Read more at:cheap bridesmaid dresses australia
Kris Van Assche to head luxury label Berluti
Designer Kris Van Assche on Tuesday (April 3) took the reins at Berluti, vowing to complete the transformation of the top-end cobbler into a major luxury men's label.
The Belgian creator, who left Dior Homme a fortnight ago after 11 years in charge, steps into the shoes of Colombian Haider Ackermann, who parted company with the French brand on Friday after only three seasons.
But Van Assche has big ambitions for the label which under its CEO Antoine Arnault has morphed from an elite shoemaker that shod artist Andy Warhol and a fair smattering of European royalty into a luxury men's fashion label.
"Antoine Arnault spoke to me of his ambitions for Berluti and it is with great pleasure that I accept this new challenge which fits perfectly with my own will and vision," Van Assche said as his appointment was announced.
"I have always wanted to build bridges between the savoir-faire, the heritage of a house and my clear-cut contemporary vision," the 41-year-old added.
Van Assche will not show his first men's collection in Paris for the brand until January 2019, reflecting the major rethinking that is likely to go on.
Arnault, the son of French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, said: "I have known him for several years, have always admired his work at Dior Homme and I am looking forward to working with him." The men's arm of the LVMH group to which Berluti belongs has seen dramatic change in recent weeks with the departure of Ackermann, Hedi Slimane arriving as artistic director of Celine and British designer Kim Jones leaving Louis Vuitton for Dior Homme and being replaced by DJ, designer and Off-White founder Virgil Abloh.
Van Assche added a punkish street style influence to Dior's fine tailoring, and Berluti said he will be in charge of its shoes, leather goods and accessories as well as ready-to-wear collections.
He is another product of the famous Antwerp fashion school in Belgium which gave wings to the talent of Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten, Anne Demeulemeester and several other top creators.Read more at:blue bridesmaid dresses | white bridesmaid dresses
It’s Almost Easter! Here’s How to Pick the Right High-Fashion Hat
As Easter approaches and Irving Berlin’s lyrics about sonnets and Easter bonnets hits the airwaves, one might be forgiven for wondering not if clothes are modern (as the MoMA recently did), but if hats are. In England where there are races and an upcoming royal wedding, the answer is a resounding yes. “Hat wearing,” explains the award-winning London-based milliner Noel Stewart, “has been one of the most uniquely British conventions, as it plays to two of our opposing passions: our love of tradition and also of tearing up the rule book at the same time. From punks to princesses, everyone loves the drama and elegance of a hat.”
Falling for a hat is one thing, wearing one is another, as Stewart acknowledges. “It’s a totally unique experience and takes a little bit of time invested to get the rewards,” he admits. The point, he believes, is to have fun. For Easter, Stewart suggests the wearer focus on color and indulge in a sense of renewal. “It’s spring!” he writes from a drizzly London town, suggesting that revelers focus on fresh colors and “frothy and light textures. This time of year, more than any other,” he adds, “we want to be inspired and provoked by newness.”
Becoming a milliner wasn’t a long-held dream for this Southampton, England–born creative. “Until I was in my early teens, I wanted to be Lou Reed or Nico or an architect,” he tells Vogue. In fact, Stewart started out studying decorative arts before opting for work experience in what became his chosen field. Working with Philip Somerville, who was Queen Elizabeth II’s milliner, and Stephen Jones OBE (Stewart assisted his mentor at Christian Dior haute couture, Louis Vuitton, and John Galliano) inspired Stewart to open his own label after completing a master’s in millinery at the Royal College of Art.
“Classical elegance” defines Stewart’s designs; it’s from this base that he innovates, often finding inspiration in art and architecture. For Fall, Stewart created “spotty veils” for Erdem, wide-brimmed pieces for Mulberry, and “sexy sou’westers” for Eudon Choi, who was inspired by the English countryside of Cornwall. “There is no better way to express your individuality than the right hat,” Stewart states, “You just have to find it. [Once you do, it] will provide power and protection. What more can you ask for?”Read more at:formal dresses canberra | blue formal dresses
Fashion Week in the Deep South: Lexus Charleston Fashion Week
Let’s face it, there’s only one fashion capital of the Americas and that’s right here in New York City. The world looks to us for trends in design, fabrics and even manufacturing. So, it’s no surprise when this city dedicates an entire week to fashion (twice a year—even more if you count men’s and bridal weeks), the entire world watches and takes note. And that’s because no other city in the Western Hemisphere garners the same amount of respect as other major fashion capitals, such as Paris
and Milan.
But what if another U.S. city wanted its own fashion week? Could it also be successful? Yes! And for proof you wouldn’t have to look any further than Charleston, S.C. Having just wrapped their 11th season last week, Charleston Fashion Week has become one of the premier fashion events in the region. But, how did a small town that couldn’t be more opposite from The Big Apple develop such a successful event? Easy, they mimicked the structure of New York Fashion Week, but changed the concept and, honestly, the entire reason for having it.
Seven years ago, the team behind CFW enlisted Fern Mallis for help. There was no one more qualified than Mallis, the creator of NYFW and a former executive director for the Council of Fashion Designers of America, to help develop CFW into what it is today.
CFW is first and foremost a public event. Any and everyone are welcome and encouraged to purchase tickets for each night, unlike NYFW. This openness encourages an influx of fashion conscience bloggers and fans from all over the region to be a part of the five-night event. More importantly, however, CFW’s primary missions are to showcase emerging designer and model talent from across the country, while serving as a “pathway to New York,” and to raise brand awareness and media impressions for all participants. By the end of the week, one fashion designer, accessory designer, male model and female model will walk away as winners.
When asked about the differences between NYFW and CFW, Mallis’ assistant, Elliot Carlyle, said, “New York is a market week. It was created for the business of the industry: the press, buyers and stylists to see the new trends before everyone else does. Charleston is different, because while they want to give those emerging designers that are not able to show at NYFW, quite yet, the same experience and quality with professional hair/makeup, production and photography. … There’s, of course, the fun and the social aspect. It’s a big party and a love fest.”
A five-day party is a great way to describe CFW. But before you turn your nose up to the idea, remember the digital shopping age that we are living in. Remember how difficult it is for brick-and-motor stores across the country not only to get people in the store but also to purchase. Stores have to get creative if they want to stay alive. They have to entice consumers in new ways like they’ve never had to before. They have to get their product in front of consumers in new ways if they want to make sales. So, for five nights straight, that’s what happens throughout a series of luxury tents, known as “Fashion Village,” on Marion Square in Downtown Charleston.Read more at:formal dresses melbourne | bridesmaid dresses
‘Time’s Up’ Takes Fashion
At this year’s Golden Globes, one of the highlights of the night was the wave of black throughout the crowd to show support for “Time’s Up” and the MeToo movement. “Time’s Up” is a legal defense fund created by over 300 women in the film and TV industries to stand up against harassment, abuse and assault in the workplace.
While fashion is sometimes perceived as a superficial outward expression of personal style, many have used fashion throughout history to protest and raise awareness about different causes. Fashion is not only a tool for self-expression, but it is how people display their values. After all, what is closer to your heart than what you wear on your skin? The all-black fashion statement complete with pins that read “Time’s Up” showed widespread support for the movement and all victims who have been harassed or abused in the workplace.
In the past, people at various award shows have used pins to draw attention and show their support toward a cause or initiative. At the 2017 Oscar Awards, many attendees wore blue ribbons to show support for the American Civil Liberties Union during the series of travel bans proposed by President Donald Trump. At the 2016 Tony Awards, stars wore silver ribbons to honor the victims and families affected by the Orlando nightclub shooting that occurred earlier that day. However, the 2018 Golden Globes was the first time in recent memory that a majority of attendees wore black to unanimously stand up for a single cause.
Fashion statements, like the all-black dress at the Golden Globes, have been made many times before. All-white was worn in the early 1900s by the suffragettes — women who wanted to earn the right to vote in the United States. This all-white fashion statement was revived just recently when a number of different congresswomen wore white during Trump’s first speech to Congress. In the 1960s, the counterculture movement used fashion to outwardly display its values as a movement, straying from traditional fashion, like sheath dresses and shift dresses, and opting for flowy skirts, tie-dye, flared pants and long hair. At the Women’s March in 2017, millions of women everywhere sported pink pussy hats to protest Trump and to show support for feminism.
Even fashion moguls have used fashion as a means of protest in their various collections. In Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2015 runway at Paris Fashion Week, the show was all about feminism, complete with a faux-street runway and models with signs of protest in hand. The signs had phrases like “history is her story” painted on them. At Talbot Runhof’s Fall 2017 runway in New York, Runhof showed off a collection of truth amid the lies and fake news plaguing the nation. Pieces were marked with phrases like “unpresidented,” “persist,” “sad!” and “lie to me.” Anish Gupta displayed a Fall 2017 collection at London Fashion Week with pieces that included statements like “more glitter, less twitter” and “nasty woman,” among others. The fashion world has never hesitated to spread political or cultural messages, particularly in the past few years.Read more at:formal dresses melbourne | formal dresses adelaide
Pretty dresses are no longer just for women
Why should women get to wear all the pretty dresses? Why can’t men also flounce about in the feathers, lace or fine embroidery if they fancy?
These are the questions being posed by the daring young Spanish label, Palomo Spain, whose flamboyant show kicked off the Paris men’s fashion week late Tuesday.
Designer Alejandro Gomez Palomo told AFP he wants nothing less than to “liberate” men from the straitjacket of convention. The 25-year-old is one of a new wave of young designers for whom gender fluidity is not just a fashion statement but a way of being.
“Chanel liberated women (after World War I) by dressing them in male fabrics like tweed,” Palomo said. “And when Yves Saint Laurent put women in dinner jackets it was an absolute revolution. I am doing the opposite,” said the Andalusian-born creator, whose men show their legs, wear plunging necklines and silk suspenders and proudly sport transparent dresses embroidered with pearls and sequins.
“It all comes naturally to me,” said Palomo, whose look owes much to the over-the-top world of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
The director’s muse Rossy de Palma has even walked the catwalk for Palomo, who struck gold in July when pop megastar Beyonce wore one of his spectacular flowery dresses to present her newborn twins to her 110 million Instagram followers.
Miley Cyrus also sported a Palomo Spain unisex white frilly silk basque in the video for her number one hit, Malibu.
‘Liberating’ men
Palomo said his style is about personal “liberation”, and rejects all comparison with a gay or transvestite aesthetic often attributed to him.
“It is just a way of giving guys who might want to, the possibility to wear really sophisticated materials, and certain shapes and silhouettes that used to be associated with women’s wardrobes,” he told AFP before making his Paris debut.
“I am not the first and the only person to do this,” he said, citing Jean Paul Gaultier -- who put men in skirts in the 1980s.
Palomo is, nevertheless, the most theatrical and extravagant of a growing wave of designers who are blowing away gender boundaries.
One of the highlights of London fashion week earlier this month was a raucous show by the Loverboy label in which men and women with made-up white faces and blonde wigs heckled the models and swigged wine.
Loverboy designer, kilt- and beret-wearing Scottish rebel Charles Jeffrey, finished his previous show with a man in a princess wedding gown after putting his male models in miniskirts and a woman in a striped business suit.
Like several other young London-based creators, he questions the relevance of gender at all, describing it as a “bit of an eye roll”.
Generational shift
Punk veteran Vivienne Westwood and rising young Turk JW Anderson at Loewe also regularly blur the lines. The movement has already filtered down to the British high street, with big retail chains such as John Lewis and Selfridges experimenting with gender neutral clothing lines for both adults and children.
Palomo, who trained at the London College of Fashion, sees himself as part of this generational shift which refuses to define people in binary terms.
His debut Paris show had all his usual cheeky panache: A line of Renaissance court dandies in silken doublets, dresses and hunting attire, full of delicious double entendres.
It built to a final flourish of imperial camp -- a feathered cape, plumed hat and thigh-high boots with white knickers.
Palomo is far from alone in mining the cross-gender vein at Paris fashion week -- American avant-gardists Thom Browne and Rick Owens are old hands -- and transgender models are now commonplace.
Rather it’s the exuberance of Palomo’s clothes which prompted the French Fashion Federation to invite him into the prestigious Paris fold, the only Spanish designer at style’s top table.
“We want creativity, diversity and a bit of disruption, and he brings the lot,” a spokesman for the federation said.
Palomo’s independence of spirit also extends to where he feels most at home. Instead of one of the big fashion capitals, Palomo has set up his studio in his birthplace, Posadas, a small town of 7,000 people near Cordoba.
Yet he has been dreaming of the Paris catwalk since “I was five years old and making clothes for Barbie dolls. It’s a huge honour for me,” he said. And he hopes his irreverence can put a bit of spark back into Spain fashion, so long dominated by safe mass markets brands like Zara.
“Spanish fashion is a little stuck, a bit rank,” he admitted. “But I have something to bring to the table.”Read more at:pink bridesmaid dresses | red bridesmaid dresses
People queue four hours at Paris exhibition on Christian Dior
More than 700,000 people flocked to a record-breaking Paris exhibition dedicated to the Christian Dior French fashion house, its organisers said on Monday.
The six-month-long show, which ended on Sunday, was the most popular ever held at the city's Museum of Decorative Arts, with visitors queuing for an average of four hours to see some of the luxury brand's most iconic designs.
"Christian Dior, couturier du reve" (roughly translated as "Christian Dior, Designer of Dreams") was organised to mark the label's 70th anniversary.
It told the story of the brand through some 300 of its haute couture dresses worn by stars from Marlene Dietrich to Rihanna.
The museum's director David Cameo said the turnout was "an absolute record" - the highest for a single show in its 112-year history.
It also attracted a string of Hollywood stars and top models - who were spared the queues - including Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson and Bella Hadid, some of whom are ambassadors for the brand.
But not everyone was happy with the show. The French magazine Marianne lambasted the venerable institution, which is next to the Louvre museum, for selling out.
Writer Agnes Poirier accused the museum of becoming a "shop window for commercial brands... under the cover of art" and also criticised its earlier link-up with toymaker Mattel for another hugely popular show on the Barbie doll.
However, Mr Cameo said the huge attendance had been a financial boon for the museum, helping it to notch up a large surplus that would "help us re-equip and pay for an overhaul of our restoration studios".
It is hoping to follow up its success with Dior with another fashion-themed show in March, tracing the enigmatic Belgian-born designer Martin Margiela's years at Hermes.
Despite breaking records, the Dior show was far from being the most popular Paris art show of 2017. That title is held by the Icons Of Modern Art exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, which drew 1.2 million people.
It featured the cream of a collection of 250 paintings put together by collector Sergei Shchukin before the Bolshevik Revolution, which had never before been seen outside Russia.Read more at:purple bridesmaid dresses
